Sheila K. Brown…Where in the hell have you been???

Hey Everyone. Sorry I have been MIA for the past several weeks. There have been lots of changes going on, some I can share and some I cannot. This may end up being a long boring post.

First, I finally left my favorite city in Australia, Sydney on May 19th. After 8 weeks there, the Universe told me that it was time to move on for now. As it is my favorite city, I will be returning in the near future. I was going to head straight to Melbourne, but an unexpected & happy detour was placed in my path (it feels great to just say “YES”). I ended up meeting someone that has become an amazing Internet Marketing Mentor to me and I went to go and stay in their city – a very small town between Sydney and Melbourne for 3 1/2 weeks. It was supposed to be for just a week, but as we started working together, it became apparent to both of us that I had some internal work involving some Major UNBLOCKING (personally & professionally) so that is what we spent our first week doing – along with getting to know enach other. Week 2 was spent sharing ideas/resources and me learning/implementing and the unexpected week 3 was spent doing the same along with the student teaching the Mentor as well. It was awesome sharing that energy. I can honestly say that those 3 weeks were a major blessing in my life that will stay with me forever. My Mentor and I have developed a very deep & real friendship and I look forward to many more times spent together learning from each other, working with each other on successful projects, sharing resources, supporting each other and getting to know each other better. I grew in ways that I never knew possible and for that I publicly say, “Thank you A. for so graciously opening up your home, life & family to me. I truly appreciate your brilliance, generous sweet spirit & kind heart and I have much Love & adoration for you.”

After sadly leaving this small, beautiful town on June 6th, I took the bus 4 hours south to Melbourne. I have very much looked forward to going to Melbourne as I have heard & read many wonderful things about it. It is known as being one of the most Liveable cities in the world. I had also heard horror stories about its weather though. It is known for frequently having 4 seasons in one day and this is seriously the biggest understatement ever made!! My girlfriend from Sydney, Ceri, joined me in Melbourne from Monday the 8th to Wednesday the 10th of June. I spent my first 2 nights in Melbourne staying with my friend Paul – I met him at an Internet Marketing conference my first month here and we kept in touch. He has a beautiful apartment in the seaside suburb called St. Kilda. It is a totally awesome bohemian, arty, cool area of Melbourne – in my opinion, the best area of Melbourne. He lives in a beautiful waterfront apartment & he let me couchsurf for 2 nights before I checked into my hostel with Ceri. On my first night, we went to an R&B night that coincidentally happened to be at a bar that one of my other friends in Melbourne, Dan owns. It is called The Laundry and it is an awesome club!! It was crazy though because there are literally thousands of bars in Melbourne and for this once a month event to be at my friends club was beyond weird. The R&B night was pretty weak because it ended up being dj’s playing music from the 50′s & 60′s and not Black R&B from the 70′s-90′s as Paul & I expected. It was really great seeing Dan again though.

Ms. Ceri Jones arrived in Melbourne on Monday morning and I was soooooo glad to see her. She has been traveling up the East Coast for the past 2 months and it was good to have my gorgeous partner in crime back. We spent 2 1/2 days exploring Melbourne by foot and experiencing every type of weather you can possibly imagine. In one day, we went thru 2 thunder storms, followed by sunshine, followed by an antarctic tornado follwed by hail followed by more rain!!! WTF?!?!?! It is so psycho that I literally felt like I was losing my mind. We did get to party on Monday night in St. Kilda at a club called The Vinery – my new regular hangout since I heard that the pro rugby players hang there on Sundays!! Yay!! Huge men in little shorts – I am ALLLLLLLL over that!!! Yummy!! hehehehe Had a great time with another girl from New Zealand that was staying in our room and decided to join us. We met up with another group of girls at the bar and danced, drank and partied for several hours. Sadly, Ceri & I had to part on Wednesday – she left for the Outback & New Zealand then back home to England on the 25th of June and I left for Christchurch New Zealand on Wednesday for 2 days.

Christchurch: I just returned from 2 days in Christchurch, New Zealand. I had to leave Australia & go to Christchurch for Visa reasons. I am on a one year tourist visa and I can only be in Australia for up to 3 months at a time otherwise I will be an illegal alien and Australia DOES NOT PLAY when it comes to immigration. They will kick your ass out of the country quick-fast-and in a hurry!! When I return to OZ on Saturday, my 3 months starts over again. Christchurch is a really pretty town, thankfully not freezing cold as it is supposed to be. I spent the days touring around, doing free things – going to art galleries, trolly tour of the town, walking all over the city, museum & I took the gondola up to the top of a mountain area and got some great photos. I actually met a fellow American while on the Gondola. I have only met 4 other traveling Americans out of hundreds of travelers over the past 3 months. I think it is so incredibly pathetic how our culture does not encourage international travel as other countries do. Anyway, the American I met is named George and he is from San Francisco. He is in NZ to be a Rugby referree. He was soooooooo cute and sweet!! It cracks me up how with the exception of one person, all the men that I have met that I am attracted to are all American. I thought I would have many flirtations with foreign guys this trip but that is sooooooo not the case.

When I returned to Melbourne on Saturday the 13th of June, I was immediately overcome with a wave of sadness/borderline depression. This completely alarmed me because for many years, I battled depression (overcame it several years ago thankfully) and it is no joke & I am very careful to not let it reappear back into my life. Melbourne was incredibly cold and gray as usual and this really sent me downhill. I have that weather affliction that many folks in Seattle have in which I have to be in sunny weather or else my mood is greatly affected. I had originally thought I would be here for 2 months, but due to the weather, I’ve had to amend that to one month.

While back in Melbourne, I was able to work out my tentative travel plans for OZ & the next 12 months: Stay in Melbourne for the next 4 weeks doing some internet consulting work and building up the cash reserves, make new friends and settle down for a second. I am going thru money like it is water!! Dayum!! I’m over the whole backpacker/hostel thing so I’ll be looking for a shortterm roommate situation in St. Kilda. After that, it’s time to start traveling/having fun again. Heading North for fun in the sun in Cairns on July 15th. Will spend 4 weeks in the Great Barrier Reef and traveling down the east coast having beach fun as I head back to Sydney (more consulting work for $$$). Tentatively in Sydney from August 5 – Sept. 12 and then leaving OZ to have 3 weeks glorious weeks of Pacific Island fun in Fiji and Vanautu then Maui, Hawaii for a week before hitting Los Angeles around October 1st. I’ll be in the States until December 20th spending time in LA, TX, KC, Jamaica for Halloween – Hedo II baby!! & Vegas. I’ll hit the road again on 12/20/09 with my Mommy to spend Christmas in the sun on some island, then we’ll head to Sydney for New years. I’ll then continue on alone in mid January with 3 weeks in New Zealand touring both islands now that it will be warm. This now has me into early February where I’d like to head to South America for a month to celebrate Carnivale in Rio followed by stops in Buenos Aires Argentina & the coast of Honduras. Gotta find someplace to set down roots for 2 months from March – May 2010 – this will probably be LA. I’ll then go to KC in June to pick up my Goddaughter to take her to Europe for June & July for her 13th birthday present. I’m sooooooo looking forward to that Divalicious trip!! If anyone wants to join me for any of my travels, just hit me up on Facebook. I’d love the company!!

Anyway, I’m rambling and you guys are probably bored. I have definitely settled into a routine of non-thrilling stuff. I’m just focused and pre-occupied with things as the newness of being in OZ is starting to wear off and I am back to being regular old Sheila.

Love you guys and Ciao for now!!

xoxoxo

Sheila

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