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2014 is coming to a close and this year sure has turned out very different compared to the way it began. Who would have thought that this post at the beginning of 2014:

But what about my goals for 2014? Well that is pretty simple, but I am going to break it down to 3 parts this year Personal, Fitness & Travel.

My Travel goals for 2014 are:

* Return to Japan
* Visit Maho Beach
* Singapore Suites
* Lufthansa First Class

My Fitness Goals for 2014 is just one:

* Half Marathon

My Personal goals for 2014 are where what would normally been mixed into one of the other two categories I want to do this to challenge myself some more I guess. These goals are also something that I think if I put them out there it makes me more accountable. So my personal goals for 2014 are:

* Jump out of a plane
* Go on at least 1 date
* Get my weight back to pre USA levels and keep it there!

Well what I wanted to happen and what did happen are totally different things. Looking at these goals I can tell you right now I completed just two of them. I ran my first ever Half Marathon back in May in Vancouver. It was something I worked so hard to achieve and now looking back I am proud of that effort. The other would have to be that date, because obviously that happened. In fact I went on many dates with Heidi and look at how that turned out 😀 To be honest a lot of people criticized me over putting “one date” however I did point out the at least part. My original goal was really just to get out there, to stop being such a recluse. Well it worked and I can’t thank a few people more for giving me the push.

As for all the other goals. Well none of the travel ones happened. Originally the returning to japan and singapore suites would have happened, but sadly we had to cancel that. I am hoping to tick off Singapore Suites next year but that’s another story. As for LH first class, nope never happened and same with Maho. As for the other goals, well about that jumping out of a plane business….. yeah not gonna happen. The weight, well I did knock off at least 20lb but I didn’t really put any effort into it for at least 6-8 months, so that is to be expected.

My travel this year would have to be my lowest of the last several years. I didn’t fly that much at all but what I did fly was worth it. A few trips with Heidi, one for AirlineReporter and a couple of spotting trips made it fun.

Some of my favourite momentos of 2015 I might look at later in the week or after New Years Eve. I still love writing for the blog, but spending time with Heidi more and more means that I have less time to write as much drivell as I used to. But don’t worry. I can tell you that in 2015, this site will still live on.

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Today is Christmas Day (well here in the USA anyway) and to everyone out there in the World, I wish you a very Merry Christmas (whether you celebrate or not, and if you don’t well tough luck you will like it anyway). This Christmas is going to be a special one for me as I get to spend the day with my new Wife and her family. Heidi’s family has accepted me into the fold and I am greatly appreciative to have a new family over here.

Christmas the past two years has been rough. It is the one time of the year when I really do miss my family and sometimes a phone call just isn’t enough. I really do wish that I could spend the time with my parents over here but that isn’t going to happen (there are complications with my family and travelling). But Christmas isn’t just about family, it is also about friends, any kind of loved ones will do (does Booty calls count?). Christmas is a time about spreading cheer and good times, spending that time celebrating the year that has passed, and the year that it set to come ahead. Full of good times, and special foods.

This Christmas is going to be a great time and I can’t wait to get stuck into some good food, this day only comes once a year. O did I mention there are presents? I <3 presents! But First I have to get them away from Bigfoot B5qqa51CMAAU8yQ

From Me, Heidi & of course Bigfoot. We wish you all

Happy-Merry-Christmas

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I was going to title this the second half of the Honeymoon Avgeek photos, but it is Christmas Eve so it is appropriate to celebrate.

From Honeymoon Spotting

A New Livery Southwest 737-700

From Honeymoon Spotting

A Fiji Airways A330 heading to the parking spaces after a long flight from the South Pacific

From Honeymoon Spotting

A MasAir Cargo 767 (never seen this before)

From Honeymoon Spotting

A JAL 777-300ER

From Honeymoon Spotting

A Mesa Airways CRJ, flying for US Airways Express, painted in the American Eagle Livery (confused yet?)

From Honeymoon Spotting

A United 737-800 with Scimitar Winglets

Merry Christmas to you all!!! May you Christmas Day be full of Avgeekiness

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It is that time of the year, and that means that it is time to start prepping the Christmas Treats. This time there is more fun to it since I have Heidi’s family to add into the mix. But of course it means plenty of good stuff. Like Rocky Road:

From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014

White Christmas

From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014

and Rum Balls

From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014
From Life in Seattle 2014

The best part is making things like cookies, shortbread or fudge, just for the hell of it. This years treats took a solid 2 half days worth of work and it should make so many people happy. Double batches of Short Bread and Rum Balls means that everyone can enjoy a little bit.

I have loved that this year I can share out my favourite Christmas treats to so many more people, yet I have so much fun just making it and being able to share a little piece of myself to so many other people.

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Since it is a Sunday night, time to share some avgeek porn. Lots of planes from the trip with some spotting in Vegas, Tucson and also LA.

I managed to get some avgeek time at the PIMA Air & Space Museum (and you can read about it here) but the first half of the trip the most spotting I got to do (apart from some while we waited for our helicopter flights) was in Las Vegas. My shots during our helicopter flight were pretty crap (Bernie can you teach me your tricks?) so all I have from Vegas is from when I first arrived where I had about 45 minutes or so getting some arrivals as the sun set.

From Honeymoon Spotting
From Honeymoon Spotting
From Honeymoon Spotting
From Honeymoon Spotting

Other than that, the best I got was in Tucson while parking the car at our hotel (which was right by the airport mind you) we managed to score a flight of Arizona Air National Guard F-16s doing circuits. But this is about the best of that set

From Honeymoon Spotting

More later in the week!!

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Dearest Heidi

Today you turn a young 27 and it is not only the first birthday we celebrate as a married couple, but also the first birthday we celebrate together. Although I had an amazing birthday back in August when you suprised me with this:

IMG_20140805_200431

That card has even made several suprising trips to work:

From Life in Seattle 2014

But rest assured my love that your birthday today will be a special one. Let everyone please wish Heidi a very special happy birthday. I know that today has not been a great one for you (her car broke down, she had to work, had to go to Uni as well and has to do an assignment tonight) but I will do my best to make sure you have at least some specialness.

I

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It was 5 years ago today that I showed up early in the morning to a small non descript building in Brisbane. Down by the river, in a suburb full of rich residents & lots of up & coming restaurants. But that building and the people who worked there were the ones who changed my life.

5 years ago today I looked like this

image

O how much has changed since then. Look at me now:

image

Although I can’t say that I am 100% happy with the way I am today, I can say that I am happy the way I am overall. My life has changed a lot since that morning. I remember doing a 2km time trial to see my fitness level. A 2km walk took almost 30 minutes.  Now I can run 5km in less than that. A 2km run on average takes me 10-11 minutes!

I have many people to thank and they all know who they are and I have said it many times before. But this time of year truly makes me thankful for everything people have done for me in my life.

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As an Australian, one of the strangest holidays to me in the USA is Thanksgiving. A day that celebrates the Pilgrims coming to the USA and having a dinner with the indians that were later slaughtered… or something like that. But it is strange to me because it is celebrated in a time of year where there are already so many other big holidays or events (christmas, halloween, labor day, columbus day etc) and it feels like the time is just condensed with it. In reality the day is celebrated with copious amounts of food, football on the tv and for some people, lining up to shop till you drop (or in some cases start shopping super early).

But yesterday’s thanksgiving was a new experience for me. In the last couple of years, thanksgiving has just been a day off, sitting around watching tv, nothing special. However life is very different now, very very different. I have a wife and a new family and Thanksgiving for them is a very big deal. It was almost like the typical day, with plenty of food, plenty of family and football to finish off the day. But it was quite a bit more, I felt like I was truly part of the family. A lot of Heidi’s family said that they were happy to share the day with me, that they were thankful Heidi had found someone to love and cherish. I felt well and truly like part of the family and that was a big deal.

Although Thanksgiving isn’t a big deal with Australians, I guess I need to start thinking like an american for some things. Thanksgiving is so much about family, spending time with them or just seeing them. It isn’t about the food (although I will say that actually creating a dish to contribute feels much better than buying something, but that is something personal), it isn’t about the tv. It is more about spending time with my new family, getting to know them. I like the fact that everyone comes together to see each other, catch up, talk and spend time with one another. It is those kind of moments that I miss at times.

I look forward to spending many more times in the future with my new family and much more time with Heidi. I do love the fact that I now have a new family here in the USA, so many more people in my life!

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Just a quick piece to say that my honeymoon photos are up (Heidi’s are probably going to end up on Facebook) but there are still a good lot of ones that I need to work on. With plenty of photos taken as usual, but not as many as in the past, there is still plenty of good stuff.

The Spotting photos still need to be worked on and there are a number of artistic ones I want to work on. But enjoy!

Honeymoon

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I can’t believe this trip is almost over. Today is our final day and we fly home at 545pm this afternoon. Although I will be happy to be flying again, I am sad that it is all over and we have to go home 🙁  we both want to stay down here and keep having fun. The last few days have been a blast.

The time in Anaheim was great. Although we were not staying as close to Disneyland as we could have, it was still a good location. The Radisson Suites Buena Park was right next to Medieval Times (no we didn’t go) and surrounded by restaurants & shops. We were also about 500m to Knotts Berry Farm. Can’t complain about that right? The hotel wasn’t bad and had decent sized rooms. We really only stayed there to be close to Disneyland and it was only a 10 minute drive away.

Ahh Disneyland, what can I say about you. I had a blast acting like a 4 year old all day. We both got into the swing of things and at the suggestion of the ticket agent we went to guest services to get a celebration badge (we actually got 3 of them) and for the rest of the day we got many congratulations for our wedding. It was odd yet awesome. The rides were good and we didn’t have that much of a wait for anything. Longest wait for a ride was maybe 20 minutes if that. The longest wait we had all day was for Heidi to meet Thor. Yep, not even as long as for the mandatory Mickey visit (which was funny and a whole different story). Once we finally got into visit Thor, Heidi was star struck (and it wasn’t even the real Thor), she couldn’t speak.

Disneyland was fun but I am never going on Space Mountain again….. EVER! I just don’t like that ride, it is horrible! I would be ok with the roller coaster if it was light but in the dark my body (and mind) just couldn’t handle it. Not doing that again. O and I almost puked on the tea cups, so that was worth it!

We also headed down to Long Beach to catch up with a friend (hey Brett!) and also check out the Queen Mary. We didn’t do a tour as the prices are extortionate, but it was good to see the ship that my Grandfather came home on from Africa, during World War II. The boat is so small in comparison to others yet was one of the biggest of the time. I don’t know if that is a sad thing or a good thing.

We headed out to the Ontario (California) area so that we could spend some time with Heidi’s best friend Sylvia. It was good to catch up with her & finally meet her husband. I hear so much about them both so it was good to spend some time with them. We took some time out yesterday and headed to Santa Monica & Venice beaches. Santa Monica felt super touristy & posh and Venice was just weird. Although I don’t normally like touristy places all that much, I would take Santa Monica any day of the week. Venice was just an absolute clusterfuck. It was just amazing that people could live in that area with how bad the traffic, parking & overall stupidity of California drivers (that part deserves a post on its own).

We finished off our honeymoon by retracing the steps I took to head out to Vegas almost two weeks ago. Cruising down the 105 towards LAX really added to the fact that it was coming to an end. We had a good final couple of donuts, a last lunch at In n Out & then it was time to drop off the car.

Sitting here in Terminal 5 at LAX I am sad to be heading home. I wish we could keep going but it is back to reality.

Current Location: Gate 52A LAX Terminal 5
States Visited: 3
Miles Driven: 2000 miles
Slim Jims Eaten by Heidi: 8
Cookies Eaten by Mal: 38