Change

Spring has sprung and while the flowers have begun to bloom and the magpies eye us off before a traumatic swoop, I have been working away at revamping my blog site and giving it a fresh new look and with a whole new section dedicated to healthy food! I won't say too much, but you can read about my health journey here. In the last six or so months, I have found a new love for cooking. But not just any kind of cooking- healthy, vegetarian, wheat and processed sugar free cooking. Now that's a mouthful! I wanted to share with those who have the same passion (or maybe even the same food intolerances) as me and make people realise that yes, vegetarian food is delicious and yes, cooking wheat and processes sugar free is not difficult. Believe it or not.

I am still currently snapping away, this time with my new 35mm 1.4 lens that is proving to be a real winner in my eyes. Slowly I am building a portfolio of albums in which I hope to maybe one day soon pursue part-time photography and even teach digital photography to the school kiddies. But right now time is my biggest constraint. Being a full time teacher doesn't allow for much else other than my usual routine. On top of that we made a very big decision in these last few weeks just gone...

In a previous blog post (home), I mentioned how difficult I found it leaving our family and friends at the end of what was a fantastic visit home. We moved to Perth almost 3 years ago to start something new and fresh. Both Pete and I scored our first teaching positions and we were keen to live it up in Western Australia's endless sunshine as opposed to Victoria's four-seasons-in-one-day. It was an adventure and I still can't believe how truly amazing it has turned out to be and all of the incredible moments we have had along the way. We have made some fantastic friendships here in Perth and visited some of the most unreal places but our 3 year adventure sadly, is coming to an end. In the last few months, returning home to Victoria kept lurking in my mind. I don't really know what it was or why but I guess I just got to a point of seriously thinking about our future's and what might lay ahead. Neither Pete or myself could afford to purchase a house here (No thanks to Perth's expensive lifestyle and competitive property market) and the thought of raising a family (although still awhile away yet!) away from our own families was just too daunting. I think I have got to a point in life where although I do my best to live by the motto "living in the present", we really did have to consider the future and where we see ourselves after we are married. I would do anything to bring everyone I know in Victoria over here...Perth would be complete! 

It was the toughest decision that I've had to make in a long time. But when we both saw teaching opportunities to teach at a Melbourne school for next year, it was a case of "what if that opportunity isn't there at the end of next year?", so we had to grab it now. I am absolutely gutted to be leaving Perth and everything we have made for ourselves here. But at the same time I am bouncing off the walls to be returning to family, friends and a new chapter of our lives. It has been a whirlwind of emotions, stress, loss of sleep, prayers, patience and impatience these last few weeks. Receiving that phone call to say I was successful in my interview for a Visual Arts teaching position was the weight taken off my shoulders knowing that we were now both going back to employment, stability but also a whole bunch of other new and wonderful things that are completely unknown. I am saddened knowing that I will have to leave my 3 nephews and how much I am going to miss their excitement each and every time we would walk in the door. How gutted I am to be leaving some of the many friends we have made and ones we have grown closer with. How I'm going to miss the sun, the beaches, the Swan Valley day trips and the madness of Fremantle on a weekend. How I'm going to miss those well-behaved and even not-so-well-behaved students that I've been fortunate enough to teach. But I know that I have made the right decision and that wherever you go in life and wherever you live, there is always going to be someone and something that you miss.

For now, it's about making the best of these next few months that we have left living here in Perth. I am excited for what is ahead of us. One more school term for the year- the last one being "Miss Nichols", the move back home, our wedding (eeeeek!), honeymoon, a new house, a new school and after all of that, planning a trip with my mum and Pete to the Philippines over Easter. Life just doesn't slow down. Plus, it would be boring if it did anyway!