who?

There are five of us in my family. I don't have a photo of us all together (cats are too squirmy) so everybody can have their own individual photo, instead.


This is Nic and I (Em). I'm not sure he cares if I use his name or not, and writing 'N' every time just seems weird to me. We met in highschool but didn't become a couple until five years after we'd both graduated, and had lived thousands of kilometers apart. It's a funny story, maybe I'll tell you about it some time.
We love to travel. In the 3 years we've been together, we've wandered around Paris (not sure that counts- it's where we met up after our five years apart), travelled parts of the US and Canada, gone to Far North Queensland, lots of Victoria, a tiny bit of New South Wales, over to NZ where we experienced three earthquakes (and isn't an experience we'd like to repeat, thanks).
We like cooking - it has taken Nic two years to convince me that eggplants and mushrooms are actually pretty good. His next mission is peas. I'll let you know how that works out (yuck). As a child, my Mum went away for two weeks and Dad fed me nothing but french onion soup and noodles. Weaning myself back onto vegetables has been a long process. Two years ago I was convincing myself that capsicums were worth a try. They're more or less a staple now. Random facts.
We are health conscious, we are runners. Though not training for any particular race or marathon, I finally enjoy running. I have a reputation at work. The other day my Mum suggested we could go to a cafe for lunch that she thought I'd like because it served 'wanky food', which she described as 'health-nut stuff'. So, apparently that's how I come across, though I don't preach when people are downing their white bread or we tell kids they can't go out to lunch yet because they haven't finished their packet of chips.
I'm a primary school teacher. I teach prep/1 children (they're kids that are in their first and second year of school- 5-7 year olds) and it's my first year teaching, too. Often I catch them looking at me with exasperation in their eyes, asking: what are you doing, Em? You suck. So, I guess I'm learning as much as they are.
Nic currently works as a customer service officer for the Australian Government. We hope that soon he'll climb the ladder and put his brain to use.
Also, we're getting married in November. I'm sure by October you'll be hearing plenty about that.

now for the animals, in order of appearance...
As you can see, they're not overly fond of each other.


Mallei



Mallei is our middle-aged Australian shepherd. Until about 6 years old, we did agility nearly every weekend. For a while, we were #2 in our state, which at the time wasn't so difficult, but it is now. 
Mal is our running companion, cat groomer, toy carrier, upside-down sleeper, door guarder, adventure dog and general goofball. 

Mia

Mia is our typical cat. She's just over a year old, and we adopted her from a shelter at 8 weeks. She is a moody young lady, going from aloof independence to needy head bumps and shoulder-rides. Mia and Mal will often be engaged in groom-wars, where both are trying furiously to lick the other's face. 
She inevitable loses. Mallei is much more slobbery than she could ever hope to be.

Darcy


 Darcy is also a young cat (younger than Mia). Nic and I decided to think of the top 4 words to describe him, and in order they were: black, fluffy, big, and heavy.
Ok, so he's a little overweight right now. It's not his fault.
Darcy was also a rescue cat, and we suspect he has some ragdoll in him (based on the way he drapes limply over your arm when you pick him up).
He is also our 'ADHD cat', and can't leap. If you thought all cats could jump, think again. Darcy can't jump onto our dining-room table, and often fails to make it onto the seats of the dining chairs, having to haul his back half on. Often when trying to leap onto the cat-scratcher, he forgets about his back end, and subsequently just... falls off. If you would like to meet an ungraceful cat, Darcy's your man. The second photo above is typical of how he dismounts their three-tiered scratcher. Forget leaping off, you have to sort of... slide forward, front legs extended... sort of like a seal sliding into water... and from there, hope that you don't do a somersault (it's happened) because you forgot about your back legs being heavy, and that you actually land on your feet.
He is talented.

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