Indianapolis and the Brickyard 400

On the 31st of July, we were 700 miles from New York City in Indianapolis and it was the day that Dave had been waiting his whole life for, the NASCAR race.

Our tickets for the Brickyard 400 were the second thing we booked for the USA trip and Dave was so excited for it.

We arrived at the Indiana Motor Speedway super early for the race because Dave wanted to make sure that we could get a park nice and close.

We had plenty of time to waste, so we wandered around a little , Dave looked at some merchandise, and then we climbed, and climbed, and climbed the stairs to our seats. Wow, were we high up in the stadium!

Even though we were so early, the day went pretty quickly, especially as there was some great music for us to listen to. Live performances by Rascal Flatts, Jason Aldean and The Band Perry kept us entertained until the race began.

Did I mention that NASCAR is LOUD! It is. Dave disappeared at one point to get me a "present." He returned with these designer ear plugs.

I'm pretty sure this was one of Dave's favourite days on our trip, and I will admit I rather enjoyed myself too.

Especially the swim at the hotel pool that evening!

New York City Wrap Up

I know, I know. We have been home from America for 7 months and I still haven't put up pictures of a lot of our trip.

I wish I could explain why, but I can't. But since Dave and I have been talking about trying to go back there some time in the not to distant future, I thought I should finish off posting about the last one, you know, before I put up photos of the next one!

So without further ado I give you the last few days in the fabulous New York City!

Believe it or not, we actually spent our third day in New York holed up in our hotel room. Crazy I know, but we both were exhausted and felt like we needed the break. So the only time we left was to get ourselves some dinner at check out one of the beaches on Staten Island. Especially since our tobacco chewing, spit friend from the Yankees Game had bragged on about how good they were. (He said even better than Florida - I was skeptical.) I was right. The one we stopped at was definitely not nicer than Destin Pointe. It was nice enough, but if I'm completely honest, I was expecting to step on a syringe at any moment.

It did provide us with a nice little sunset so I really shouldn't complain.

Our last day in NYC, which was really a last morning in NYC, we were again up at the crack of dawn so we could get in line for the Statue of Liberty ferry nice and early. We did the audio tour of Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We couldn't believe the security we had to go through to get on the ferry for the tour. It was like airport security when you travel internationally!
Both the tours were fantastic. We both really loved hearing more about America's history, and what it was like arriving to this country and having the Statue of Liberty be the first thing you would see of your new homeland. It was really very moving.

It was just too bad we had to rush the Ellis Island tour because we had to make it to Pittsburgh that night.

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

Dave and I bought tickets for the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Melbourne concert months ago, and Tuesday night was finally the night!

After work we drove to Melbourne (made great time), got a fantastic park (thank you Lord) and settled in for a night of great music.
Their support act was the Eli Young Band, who we were super excited to see/hear too.

I am in LOVE with Faith Hill's voice, it is just incredible.

Tim McGraw's pants were so tight, I'm not sure how he was able to bend his knees enought to climb the stairs onto the stage!

It was such a great night and to end it Faith Hill and Tim Mcraw performed a beautiful duet of their song "I Need You." The stunning vocals by Faith Hill on this song was probably the highlight of the night for me.

Why, Hello There

This poor little blog has been quite neglected lately. I have been a little under the weather and so this has become like my housekeeping - put on the backburner.

Here is a little of what has been going on when I haven't been napping!

We had a long weekend a couple of weekends ago and so Dave planned for us to have a day out in Melbourne. We were going to go shopping at Chadstone, and we did eventually get there but we made an unexpected stop at USA Foods for some goodies.

We then got our shopping in, picked up a few little items and headed home around the bay.

Home

Dave and I spent most of the first two years of our marriage obsessed with how we were going to save and afford our home one day. We had given ourselves the goal of being in our own home within three years.

With the average Australian home loan being nearly $300,000, we were both becoming really stressed about achieveing this goal.

We then came to our senses one day and realised that we don't in fact need to own our own house for it to be our home.

Owning our own home is not the be all and end all, and that having no debt is actually quite freeing.

In saying that I do often dream about what it would be like to paint our walls whenever, and whatever colour we liked. The nondecript, butter colour doesn't always do it for me. Neither do the strange-shade-of-green-curtains in the lounge room. The ones that went delightfully with our blue couch.

And it would be nice to be able to do something about the back of the house, the part where it has started sinking. (I'm not kidding. You can feel the slope as you walk towards the back door and if you put something round on the kitchen bench it will roll towards the backyard!.)

I also dream of having an updated kitchen and bathroom, with decent cupboards and a pantry.

But really, I have clean, fresh water that comes out of the old faucets at whatever temperature I want, and it doesn't make ill to drink it straight from them.

I might need to get a little more creative in how I decorate (thankgoodness for the GM removeable photo hooks) but at the end of the day there is only one thing that makes a house a home, and it isn't whether I own it or not, it is whether there is love in it or not.

Random Nothings

It's been a week since I last posted and many people would have something good to talk about after all that time. I don't.

Well, nothing that I can share just right now. Soon though.

So since I have nothing of any use to say, I will share all sorts of useless information.

Victorian weather is weird. We finally got summer last weekend and it was so stinking hot you couldn't even go to the beach, unless you like the idea of being cooked like a rotisserie chicken. I do not. This weekend, however, we had the heater going on Saturday morning, and parts of Victoria are flooded.

We got a new couch. It's nice. And clean. Our old one (that we were given for free when we got married) was so dusty that when you sat down dust particles puffed out and proceeded to fill the atmosphere around you. Dust free = good.

I am addicted to Shapes Aussie BBQ flavoured biscuits at the moment. I refuse to say how many boxes I have eaten in the last week.

Sometimes I really hate having to think of things to have for dinner. And then make it. It's in those moments that I wish that take away food cost the same here as it does in America.

Speaking of America, Dave and I are thinking about heading over the Pacific again this year. We haven't fully decided yet, because we need to confirm whether we are crazy to go again so soon or not. We are aware we are crazy, but we need to decide if this trip is crazy. Just felt the need to clarify that.

Umm...

This was the sky tonight at Kmart

I love a good sunset and the fading light reflected in these clouds was too gorgeous not to take a photo!

Have a great week!