hello again.

so its been over a year since my last entry. it seems like forever ago that i posted... its like exercise. you love it when you do but as soon as you stop its just easier not to anymore, the more you think about not doing it makes you not want to sooooo much more  and the next thing you know you are sitting on the couch watching re-runs of adventure time, eating half a kilo of frozen mango while your bike collects dust in the shed.... 

alot has transpired but i thought i would start off small. 

i need to preoccupy myself.. i have a game on my phone. its called covet fashion...mind you it has only been 2 weeks since I've started playing. 

First of all you need to understand that unlike Mick i am not a iPhone gaming person. the extent of my iPhone usage is the camera, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Catch of the Day, my alarm clock, gospel library and the calculator. i didn't get into candy crush, flappy bird or sadly to say angry birds for that matter.. i can count on my hands a toes the amount of times i played it.

The only game i have played and was slightly "addicted" to was a game called cookie dozer (see picture provided below, to fully capture the lameness) the main aim of the game is to make cookies fall over the edge.. you get point, other desserts are introduced and they are worth more. 

Not sure what attracted me to it, or how i found it for that matter.. possibly because of the content, the fact that they are condiments of the sweet kind.. but mostly i have put it down to nostalgia. Growing up and going to FENACLE ( a local festival in karratha that spans over a weekend in august) had machines just like this one, obviously not filled with cookies but 20c pieces. they were a hit, everyone loved them. you would scope out a good machine with your stack of 20s and wait behind the person on it to get a chance to have a go. Always spending more then you would ever win but still go back for more because it was awesome. the suspense... to see if your strategically placed coin was going to be the one to send the rest flying over the edge. i loved it. 

 

but like i was saying i was introduced to a new game called covet fashion. where you build up a wardrobe, enter events with the clothes out of your wardrobe to fit the brief. you can choose hair, make up, accessories and use items from friends closets all to increase your style rating and a chance to win a piece of clothing to add to your wardrobe. Within the first night of having the game on my phone i had spent more money ( I'm talking real money, out of the bank account money, money i slaved in the hot sun for money) on the game and building up my repertoire of outfits than mick has ever spent on all of his games combined in the last 6 years! probably not the best comparison because that total probably comes to $10. Still! i was ashamed. i kept going.. under the realisation that if i stop now, the money that i had spent previously would be a waste... 

i would stay up longer then usual to compile outfits to enter events.. countdown until the results would come in to tell me what others thought of the look. I even started seeing people at the shops as these walking figurines from the game.. thinking about how i would have done the outfit differently, in my mind sourcing things from my closet to really set the look off... out of control. so i stopped cold turkey. and i feel good. i can get back to the things that matter.. likeeeeeee everything and anything else. 

i took photos that i have been meaning to do for a while. my inspiration came from a book i was given a few years ago called 'Little people in the city' from a  a photographer by the name of Slinkachu. It is amazing, seriously. i love the creativity that goes into every shoot, and the scenes he creates to photograph and leave for people to find, if they are looking hard enough. 

so this is the spot that inspired me. I love moss at the best of times but in karratha.. i didnt think it was possible This would have to be one of my most favorite places in karratha. I see it everytime I go to the hardware store. doesn't look like much but i adore it.. is that weird to say? The aircon drips onto the concrete and what is left behind is mossy goodness. People use it as an ash tray but it still makes me smile. I decided to add my own touch to it and leave for the smokers and passers-by the next day. got a few weird looks from people driving by on a sunday afternoon, didn't bother me much though. 

i haven't been back to see if they have been removed. i know if it were me i would absolutely love to find them. i hope that it added humour to somebodies day if only for a moment. 

i could get use to this. that is one less hour not on that retch-it game. small wins! 

sisterly-in-law LOVE

We are sooooo lucky!!
Only weeks after Tiana leaving we were graced with Ariana's (Micks younger sister) presence. Being over a year since they had seen each other he was counting down the days until she was here.

We didn't have much planned, we just hung out, took the scenic tour. It was so lovely. Even though it had only been a year you can feel subtle changes in her personality. Ariana has grown into a beautiful women.. She left a lovely spirt that could be felt weeks after see left. You take for granted having family close at hand.. its not until you are away from them that you realise how much you need them. A phone call just doesn't compare to a face to face conversation and warm cuddle. I guess skype dates will have to do until we see each other again. xxx

 

sisterly LOVE.

It has been so long since our last post.. pretty crazy in the halls household, Ive taken on more work and plus we moved house.

We had been looking for a house to rent for a while but nothing that we could both agree on. The cost of living in the Pilbara is a bit steep. We have grown accustomed to living by ourselves, as much as I loved living with our parents I think it’s worth the money to have our own space. After a month or so a house became available and it was perfect.  It ticks all the boxes.. including a huge shed out back for micks man cave. As much as packing sucks, it doesn't outweigh how good it feels to start anew. 

Micks mum and dad left to go back home, we moved house not long after and Tiana (my younger sister ) came to visit. It was just the thing I needed. Seeing her was like a breathe of fresh air.

Tiana turned 21 and came up from Perth to celebrate her birthday. I think  it was more like an early Christmas for the family, having her here. She leaves a lovely spirit wherever she goes.

When we were younger we would fight like no bodies business.  We shared a room majority of our adolescent life and hated it most of the time.. other times (not often) we got on like a house on fire.. We can joke about it now but the fights we would have were disgusting, the things we would say and do to each other I am ashamed of.. Dad would try and be the peace keeper. I always remember him saying “when you get older, you are going to be the best of friends” .. each of us rolling our eyes and giving each other dirty looks. I Finished high school and   6 months before I left Karratha to move to Sydney I don’t know what happened.. we became so close and since then we haven’t drifted apart.. I think it had something to do with moving houses. We left the house that we lived in for most of our lives and left behind all of the bad memories. We were able to start a clean slate, begin our new relationship from scratch and that’s the reason we are able to laugh about how bad we would treat each other. We have forgiven each other.   I think I felt so much remorse for the things I did when I was living in Sydney I would be constantly saying sorry for the way I treated her, sending her messages and reminding her how much I love her in our Sunday phone calls. There are moments when Ill just be thinking and a whole new memory that I completely forgot about or suppressed comes to mind. I feel  like the forgiveness process needs to begin all over again.. I feel that a general ‘im sorry for all the bad stuff ive done to you’ doesn’t quite suffice. Its all water under the bridge now.

Her visit was short lived, but it was just enough.. we had some laughs, danced a bit, ate food, took photos and then she was gone. I miss my sisters so much. It hurts sometimes. I don’t know how people live without sisters

where do i start...

As you may have noticed we haven't updated our blog in a VERY long time.. It was a mixture of things but lets just blame it on work. For 6 weeks it was FULL on.. 6 days on with sunday off (YAY!).. and everyone knows that you don't do anything on sundays. The six weeks came to an end and so much time had passed i didn't know where to start. I was, in fewer words.. overwhelmed. So I'm just going to take it as it comes and just write what comes to mind at the same time trying to keep a correct timeline of events.

So i am working back out at Woodside on the Gas Plant which is always awesome, it comes my mind busy and me out of micks hair on his days off.

Photography: Aaron Bunch

This is where i spend majority of my time.. this isn't my picture i would like to add. being a gas plant i can't take a camera or my phone on site so i google imaged this one.. At night this place lights up like christmas tree.. its Karratha's version of city lights. I think its spectacular.

Pluto Flame

Mick is still loving his job. He is in the process of getting passed out of his traineeship which is an exciting time... ill have more on that when it develops.

Last month we were very lucky to have Mick's parents stay with us and it was nothing short of AMAZING! Mick hadn't seen them in over a year and although he wouldn't say it out loud he was extremely anxious to see them. With not much to do we didnt really have anything planned. i think we just really wanted to show them what we get upto on a daily basis... Where we worked, liked to eat out, favourite places to drive, meet honey, the tv shows we enjoy watching..that kind of thing. 

They were here for a week and it was the best week we have had in a long time. At night we would sit on the couch and just talk like we did back in Sydney. Adrian ate grapefruit (we had a grapefruit tree ?? :s) off our tree out the back most mornings and Maree chilled out inside, catching up on movies. The weather is lovely this time of year.. this year in particular has been exceptionally cold and yet Maree thought it was hot.. hrrrmmmm i wonder how she would do in a karratha summer, not well I'm guessing. 

 Mick was able to take them on the tour of the town.. taking them on some of his favourite 4WD tracks. We went out to lunch at Point Samson, by the beach.. it was quite a lovely day. My Dad treated them to a night under the stars.. around a fire with cooked stew and camp fire scones.. Maree was dubbed the name princess at the beginning of the night but a few hours in she was munching on a scone and stoking the fire with a stick she had found. We exchanged stories had a few laughs and not once did we look at our phones... apart from taking a few happy snaps to send back to the family in sydney.
 

I enjoyed having them even though i wished it was for longer.. they make mick so happy, it is exactly what he needed, what we both needed. A cuddle from mum and a long chat with dad. Come back soon!! 

"you got like 3 feet of air that time"

It's not often that Ethan wants to "do anything".. so when he asked dad if he wanted to help him make a skateboard ramp dad jumped at the idea. They whipped it up pretty quickly and we went out in the afternoon to test it out. when i say we i mean ethan and dad. i was just there for photographic evidence.

He was pretty shaky at the beginning but by the time the sun set he was awesome.

friday the 13th

I swear Ethan has the coolest friends. They are a little on the nerdy side... but cool, any excuse to get dressed up really. He asked me to rough him up for a party. We had fun.

 Before & After

easter

Easter was a little quiet this year.  Its the first one back home in 4 years and i can honestly say I've missed it. Next to christmas, easter in the clarke household was always an exciting one. Dads famous egg hunts are forever spoken about in high regard. On easter morning once everyone was awake the hunt would commence. Its a race. "FOUND ONE" can be heard minutes sometimes seconds in. You need to get into the mind of Dad.. where would dad hide them? always in the back of your mind is where he hid them last year. As we get older the hiding places get harder. Sometimes its months down the track and you hear "FOUND ONE" coming from a random place in the house.
 There is always stories to tell; like one year he hid one in the toilet  -_-  seriously dad.. it didnt stop us from still enjoying the chocolate inside.

Here is just a sample of the ones he did this year.

There is something about the chocolate.. it may be the coloured foiled wrapping or the fact that you work so hard for it but there is no doubt about it. chocolate tastes better at easter.