This week is my friend Cheri's 50th birthday. (Not sure if she wants that publicly known -but hey, I'll be there soon too!) We celebrated with a girls lunch at a new gourmet pizza place called Pizza 419 in Provo.
Today we hit the road again, heading 284km (176 miles) north from the Gold Coast through Brisbane and on inland to visit our friends Cathy & Tony who, a couple of years ago, decided on a lifestyle change and had moved from the city to several acres in the country near the town of Kingaroy.
We met Cathy & Tony in the town of Yarraman, and did a bit of local site-seeing first, taking in the local historical museum and then a visit to Pottique Lavender Farm. Apart from the rows and rows of lavender, the farm has some lovely gardens and a large gift shop selling every kind of lavender product imagineable, not just soaps and oils, but also prints, bears, painted furniture and pottery.
We took a break sitting on the terrace and enjoyed a homemade Devonshire Tea (an English tradition that is popular in Australia for a morning or afternoon "snack" comprising a pot of tea served with scones and cream & jam).
We were very excited to see Cathy & Tony's new place, a charming old farmhouse with lovely hardwood floors, nice views and so much land! After meeting the animals, we sat on the verandah enjoying the cool breezes, Tony's homemade margarita's, cheese & crackers and talked for hours.
Here's Cathy & Heather taking a walk around the gardens with the dogs.
After dark, we enjoyed a wonderful roast "Christmas Dinner" with our dear friends. While we were cleaning up, Heather was excited to see a whole host of green tree frogs gathering on the verandah railings. These frogs are common in Queensland with it's moist climate. They hide in tree hollows and under plants during the day, and come out at night to feed on bugs, beetles and insects. They love to hang out around houses, because the lights shining through windows at night attract a feast!
This weekend Mark & I travelled to Houston for four days to celebrate Thanksgiving with Mark's best friend Mike, his wife Lindsey and their family. We have started a bit of a Thanksgiving tradition with them, since we moved to the US in 2004. Mark spent the first one with Lindsey's parents Micki & Jerry in Houston. Lindsey's sister Sarah & her husband Paul live in North Carolina and we then spent two great Thanksgivings there, when we lived a few hours away in Virginia. When we moved to Utah last year, they all made the trek to join us for Thanksgiving in our new home, and this year was Mike & Lindsey's turn in Houston. Mike's mother Bruna (who makes a mean lasagne) was there to join us as well. We had a great weekend of eating, talking and playing mind-stretching trivia games. (I swear I get dumber every year!) We also ate out at Chuy's (Mark's favorite TexMex place), visited a contemporaray art museum (strange stuff!), had dinner at an Indian restaurant, and went to see the new movie "Australia" (bit of a disappointment). Thanks everyone for a great weekend and especially to our wonderful hosts Mike & Lindsey.
This week I travelled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to visit my friend Mary. Mary and I met at the gym when Mark & I first moved to Virginia and we soon became friends and "scrapbooking buddies". (Mary taught me everything I know about scrapbooking!) Mary & her husband Kevin (a keen golfer) bought a holiday home just north of Myrtle Beach 4 years ago and this year decided to make a "sea change" and move permanently from Virginia to Myrtle. I decided this was a perfect opportunity for me to catch up with a dear friend, see another part of the country and get in some sun, sand and surf - the latter of which I haven't seen for 3 years. We spent a wonderful 5 days, chatting, relaxing, scrapbooking, dining out and (of course) going to the beach. Although I love the mountains, snow and scenery here in Utah it was great to feel the humidity, smell the salt air, feel the sand between my toes and swim in the surf again. 
A huge stretch of the coastline along the Carolinas (both North and South) is made up of a long stretch of sand "islands" with a marshy inland waterway separating the ocean side from the rest of the mainland. There is a lot of boating traffic moves up and down this Atlantic Intracostal Waterway so many of the bridges that cross the waterway contain a center section that is "opened" on the hour to allow boating traffic through. (see pic below)
Looking across the dunes towards the many holiday homes that stretch along the oceanside at Sunset Beach.
Yes that small dot in the water is me, enjoying a refreshing swim in the surf. The water was actually quite warm.
We also went for a couple of evening walks after dinner along the beach. Sunset at Sunset Beach -what more can I say?
