Welcome to my little spot in the blogging community, or as my teenager once told me ... my little dirt road trying to be a highway.

Want to know a little bit more about me?

1. I was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia before packing my bags (okay an entire shipping crate) and moving to California in 2003.  To dispel all of those Aussie stereotypes that I'm sure you are already thinking of asking read this post.

2. I'm on the downhill slide to the big 4 0 *gasp*

3. I'm a list girl.  I write lists for EVERYTHING - what needs to be done each day; what I hope to accomplish; chores for the teenager and husband; even a lot of my blog posts will be in list form. 

4. Things I love: my family and friends; champagne; chocolate; seafood; chick flicks; social media; chai; chick lits; the beach; crafts; brunch; party planning; open fires in winter (yes, even though I'm scared to death of fire and won't burn candles in the house); cooking; photography; shopping; crime shows; traveling and exploring; helping those who need it.

5. Things I loathe: putting my head under water; candles (3rd degree burns, 5 days in hospital it's no wonder really); people who pretend to be something they are not and those who harm children; liars; sport; reality shows and spiders.

6. I don't have a daredevil bone in my body.  You won't catch me skydiving or water skiing, hang-gliding or even climbing on the roof ... I tried the last one once to watch fireworks and I couldn't get down.  I totally freaked out.

You may notice that I have different hair colors in the 2 photos I've posted here and my profile picture.  That's because I'm an indecisive Gemini, so to save myself having to repost pictures every time I go to the hairdresser I thought I'd just post a range in different colors.

Now for a little on the rest of my family

The hubby (Randy): Officer in the USMC; helicopter pilot; only child; rugby player; cigar smoker; scotch drinker; NPR addict; big word user.

The teenager (Jayden): homeschooler; skateboarder; surfer; video game addict; phone hog; pants around the knee caps wearer;  hat and shoe collector; lover of reality shows and wrestling.

Twin A (Marisol): she who runs the house; demander of attention; severe asthmatic; mummy's girl; head of the Wiggles fan club; lover of jewelry, hair accessories and shoes; dancing queen; kissy monster; collector of My Little Ponies and back-up mother to her twin brother.

Twin B (Flynn): daredevil; foodie; book reader; train junkie; water lover; alphabet lover; builder of tall towers; the world is his bathroom.

The dog (Sparky): ankle biter; chewer of children's toys, collector of balls, lover of plastic buckets; escape artist.