today i finally succumbed - we went to krispy kreme and got a mixed dozen. my parents live near fountain gate shopping centre, where the melbourne chapter of this american institution is located. we'd driven past a couple of times before just to marvel at the queue - both of cars at the drive-through, and people at the counter (which was snaking out the door and around the corner outside the building the last time we were there). today, there was one four-wheel-drive truck in the drive through, and maybe seven groups of people in the walk-up queue. we took our place in line and watched the doughnuts go past as we waited, and as fascinating as the display was, we felt no urge to whip out our mobiles and take a video (as the girl standing next to us with the pink razr did). then, something happened that i wasn't expecting - we were given a free doughnut each. why i didn't take it, thank the nice lady and leave right then, i'm not entirely sure - i must have fallen under the sugar-spell. so, coming home with us was a pair of the following - devil's food, blueberry, apple & cinnamon stuffed, cream stuffed, cherry stuffed, and lemon stuffed. gazing at the treasure-chest of sugary goodness in my lap as we pulled out of the carpark and made our way home, i realised what else we had in the car - two slabs of VB stubbies in the boot and a couple of sky blue vodka lime & soda RTD four-packs on the back seat. even though the alcohol is courtesy of my penultimate monthly staff allocation from work, i couldn't help thinking to myself - britney would be so proud of me right now.

finally, we're out of the old place and (nearly) settled at my parent's house. it's a little squeezy, but not in a bad way - cozy would be a better word. it's nice to be back in their company again after such a long time, and now that we're not going to spend every weekend driving all the way back to kensington to move things out of the house i'll actually be able to spend a little time with them. not that we're here for too much longer - next week we're at the ubud writers festival, which i am very much looking forward to - then two weeks after that we're away on our trip. i can't believe time has flown by so quickly... i'm still a little freaked out by the whole idea of travelling for three months, but looking forward to it, too. mark and i will be keeping you updated on our travels on this blog, so stay tuned.

well, it's nearing the end of yet another era in my life. rightly this era should have ended on august 22nd, but we're aiming for this weekend now - we're moving out of our place in kensington after two and a bit years of living here. i'll have a lot of great memories of this place - the parties we threw (of which there should have been more, i know). also, apart from fiji, this is probably the only other place i've lived in that's resulted in writing about it - a long time ago, i had a story published in a local paper all about living in this house. i had always wanted to live in a shopfront before we moved in here, and now i can cross that off my list - though i never did get used to the noises that flew straight in to our lounge room from off the street. i've overheard lover's tiffs, drunken philosophising, and quite disturbingly once, an amorous couple copulating on our front gate (he was irish and very persuasive; she australian, and had apparently 'never done it standing up before'). i must admit though, the street is lovely - tree-lined and wide, changing its colour and texture with the seasons. apart from the occasional arguments, the only other sound that made me nervous was hearing someone running down the street - my hyperactive imagination would jump to fantastic conclusions about what the person was running from. it's just occurred to me that i never thought the person was running to anything, which could have been an equally plausible thought...
anyway. goodbye kensington. hello narre warren for a couple of months. then, the world. i am so excited about this trip! though the control-freak in me is a little worried about not having any plans for europe as yet. any hints/tips/offers to crash in spare rooms are welcome. i'll cook you a curry.