I'm not one that is naturally and continually happy, hot-temperedness describes me better. My sister calls me a sabra, a prickly cactus on the outside with a soft inside. But I'm a firm believer in the ability for people to change and grow. And with that, I thought I would focus on what I am grateful for.

• My family, and the wonderful memories I have growing up with parents and siblings and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins all around. My family isn't particularly big, but there were close, so my childhood life was full. Now that I live so far away, I miss this closeness even more.
  
• My fiance', who can mostly handle my hot-temperedness, for some unknown reason likes my back with a crack in it butt, and all my freckles. He's kind and patient, and way to good to me.
• My friends, particularly the Suede. You can't do much better than a practically stream of consciousness continual conversation. And with all my other friends, I know it's like I never left whenever I come back!
  
• My little apartment by the sea. I never valued living by the ocean, until I moved 25 metres away from it.

That's it for now. Just putting that out there in the blogosphere.

How could you not be grateful for a view like this?

As a foreigner in a foreign land (though admittedly it could be a lot more foreign) there are a lot of aspects to life in Australia that I both love and hate. A big one is how there is much less product choice here compared to America. On one hand, having fewer options means making a choice is easier. But on the other hand, I go on websites based in America and look at all the beautiful things that could be at my fingertips if I just had stayed home. It's probably a good thing, both for my bank account and for my personal development. It's hard to break a consumerist culture mentality. I still wouldn't mind being to buy used books as easily as I can in America on Amazon (without having to pay international shipping rates).

A pretty thing from Etsy
www.etsy.com