As she lay there, she purred. Her whole teeny body was vibrating, and I felt it (in a non pervy way) reverberating all around my abdomen. It was the most calm feeling, and it was such a lovely way to relax after the stress and drama of the last weeks of IVF treatment. I kind of wish I could spend the entire TWW that way.

We were joking about it earlier, and J suggested that it might be because she knows something we don't. I think he's being crazy optimistic since we don't even know how this will turn out, but I love him all the same for thinking it.

Anyone who knows me at all, will know how long I've wanted a dog. I grew up with dogs, and have always wanted one of my own.The puppy plan went out the window when we moved to the UK. In the meantime, we adopted our two sweet kitties. I adore them and wouldn't change our decision to be a kitty mama for anything.

Today started out like any other holiday.

I slept late, lounged around the house in my pyjamas, lazily arranged plans to get out of the house & had a wonderful afternoon - I caught a movie with the bff and ambled around a local shopping centre, not really looking for anything in particular and enjoying some company. Later that afternoon when it was time to go, I did what I always do: walked Kirby to the door, and stood with it mostly closed, saying goodbye.

Usually, Oscar sits behind me and watches through the crack. Today, he shoved his head out the door - so I had to nudge him back inside out of sight, since he's not really supposed to be here, and I'm always frightened of our neighbours hearing/seeing him. All was well, until he decided to make a bolt for it. Oscar flew straight out between my legs and onto the landing - and that's when panic ensued. Kirby stayed guarding the stairs, in case he tried to make a run for it and disappear, and I lunged out of the apartment after him and grab him while he was close.

I was successful - I swung out, grabbed him up into my arms and breathed a sigh of relief. That relief turned into panic, when I saw the door swinging closed out of the corner of my eye. I ran for it, but like in slow-motion, it slammed shut literally seconds before I'd got to it.

So. There I was. Standing in the hallway of our apartment complex, holding onto a terrified cat who is not supposed to exist. Kirby looked on in panic, as I frantically tried the door knob several times, realising with a sinking feeling that my keys, phone and handbag were all just inside the door... which was locked. What else was I missing? Why, my shoes, of course. I was barefoot and freaking the eff out.

First things first, we hid in a stairwell. I couldn't risk Oscar being seen, and we didn't want to leave the entire apartment complex because otherwise would have no way of getting back in. We rang Jase from Kirby's phone, explained the situation & asked if he could leave work early to let us in - except that he was in the middle of a deployment and physically couldn't leave the office.

We ended up hoofing it to Miss K's car and driving to his work with the cat sitting on my lap - talk about some strange expressions from people in surrounding cars! Oscar coped remarkably well, making friends through the windows and being pretty calm about it all considering the situation. I think I was more stressed than he was. We met Jason at his work, grabbed his keys, and headed back for home.

Honestly, talk about an eventful evening. In the end, we managed to smuggle Oscar-cat back upstairs, thankfully not running into any neighbours on the way, and sat down to laugh about it all. Talk about a random way of ending the day! I'm so thankful that Kirby was there; it tells you a lot about a person, if they're willing to shuttle their friend AND their cat halfway across town of an evening.

Moral of the story? Wear shoes, always. Keep an eye on your naughty feline. And always, always unlock the door's dead-bolts before opening it - just in case.

Yep, my little guy is THREE today.

So it's that time of year again - can you believe it!

Since Australia is a few time zones ahead, we'll shortly be off celebrating our last Christmas together as an engaged couple. It's pretty special to think that by this time next year, we'll be married. How bizarre is that, hey?

First up is a Christmas Eve traditional feast here at home at my parents place, followed by Christmas Day at Jason's parent's place. We'll be wrapping up the big day by relaxing with more family on Boxing Day, stuffed with leftovers and nursing full bellies. This is the first summer Christmas we've had in a while, having spent the last three winters in London town, and it feels strange but good at the same time. It'll be nice having our own place to celebrate though - maybe this time next year we'll be able to set up our own Christmas traditions.

I hope that wherever you are and whatever holiday you're celebrating, that you have a safe and fantastic time. Merry Christmas - and if you've been good this, maybe you'll be paid a visit by your very own Santa Claws!

So even though I'm spending my Halloween somewhere in Vienna and Oscar is still chillaxing back in London with Jase, I'm magically able to share some cat-costume goodness with you all. Behold, Oscar: rocking the 'stache:

I realised the other day that I forgot to mention how everything was going with Oscar-cat and his transition to moving overseas with us. Let me just start by announcing this: SENDING A PET OVERSEAS IS FREAKING EXPENSIVE. Okay, I feel better already. Well, I don't really - I'm still in a bit of shock as to how much this is costing us, but you do what you've got to do when it's for your family.

Yes, we consider him to be a part of our family. No, he's not just a cat. Yes, we could have left him behind and saved some money. No, we're not those kind of people. Seriously, you should hear some of the things people say when we explain how difficult this process has been for us. They're beyond obnoxious. Do they think we don't know that this is a costly venture that not everyone would choose to pay out for? Do they think we don't know that we could have an entire farm full of kittens for what we're paying for Oscar? He's our pet. When we adopted him over here back in 2008, this was one of the decisions we were prepared for.

Okay, rant over. To summarise what's happened so far, here's a bit of background information for you:

Two years ago, I researched the cost involved in having Oscar imported. You paid a fairly hefty sum in British Pounds for his export certificate, his specially made travel crate and his actual plane ticket. And then, upon arrival back in Sydney, you paid the Australian quarantine agency a per day fee {like a boarding fee} which would cover his mandatory 30-day stay there. Back then, the cost was pretty reasonable: around $15 per day, in Australian dollars. Still a bit hefty, yes, but it's pretty comparable to if you were simply boarding a pet in a kennel.

Unfortunately, when I got more quotes in the past few months, the prices had skyrocketed. I'm not just talking an increase of a couple of dollars, I'm talking over double the original cost. And here's the problem: it's not like you can shop around and get a better deal. Quarantine is quarantine. You pay, or you don't take your pet home with you.

This threw a few spanners in the works, especially in budgeting terms, but we'd already made our minds up. Let's face it, we knew the day we brought his gorgeous kitten face home with us, that he'd be ours. Always. No getting around it. I mean: LOOK AT HIM. And he's gotten even more handsome as he grows up.

Fast forwarding to now: we have his flight paid for. We have a company organising his carry case. We've done all his shots. We have his final veterinary visit booked for next month, which Jase is in charge of chauffeuring. His place is booked in the quarantine cattery back in Sydney. He's all set to go. We've timed our own travels so time up perfectly with his release from quarantine. We fly home from Honolulu and pick him up that very same afternoon.

I know we're doing the right thing by sending him home - but I still have The Guilt about doing it. He'll be travelling by himself, he'll be looked after by strangers for an entire month, and he'll exit all of that in a very hot Australian December to a brand new place to live. I plan on spending as much quality time with him this week as I can.. because I know how much I'll be missing my little man for the next two months.

Oh, Nikon D3100, where have you been all my life?

{On pre-order, of course!)

I've had a DLSR on my wish-list for the best part of this year and I've been researching them for just as long. Let's face it, I'm no photography expert. What did I want? An easy to use camera, one that I could learn with as I went along, and one that wouldn't cost me my first-born child cat. I tested out my brother's Canon 550D while he was visiting and fell in love - but I was won over by everyone telling me how great the Nikon models were. Add the fact that the D3100 was a newer, lighter, revamped model of the D3000 classic AND shoots video, well, I was sold.

I pre-ordered the camera at the end of August. I knew it was a bit of a gamble, since no official release date was announced, but there were so many pre-order deals going that I bit the bullet and went for it.

Things were all going fine, until I noticed that the estimated delivery time on all the websites stayed as an estimate. I was worried. What happened if the camera release was delayed? What happened if the delivery was late? What was the point in ordering a fancy pants camera that didn't even arrive in time for me to take it with me to Europe? Imagine, if you will, me in a mild state of panic.

I emailed the store I'd pre-ordered through. I emailed other stores, to see if they'd heard anything. I even emailed Nikon Europe to see if they could tell me when it was due in - but I still didn't get an answer. I got a call last week though, to tell me that it was in stock! The store I bought it through were really fabulous, and shipping it next day for me - complete with a free memory card, storage backpack & photo editor. I've been playing with it constantly since, trying to get my head around all the bells and whistles.

Unfortunately it's been gloomy and rainy outside for the past week, so I've spent my time capturing two subjects: Jason and Oscar. One is being more co-operative than the other in regards to having his picture taken, so here are some of my favourite snapshots so far, straight out of the camera. I hope you like them as much as I do!

Because everybody {well, most everybody} loves starting their week looking at cat photography. Or at least I do.

Oscar cat, you are so handsome.

Even when you wake me up at 5am. And then 6am. And when you scratch on our carpet. And try and eat our food.

You're lucky you're cute, buddy.

Thanks to everyone who jumped in and left a question for me over the weekend - it's been great to have some food for thought while I try and arrange the other random bits of information that are spinning around my brain right now. The travel plans are pretty much all officially booked now, so I'll be sharing those details with you soon as well.

So without further ado, here's the Q&A responses; this will be broken into two posts, so it's not too heavy on the eyes.

Valerie asked: Since you're getting married, I'm sure people will be asking you this soon: Do you and your wonderful fiancé plan on having kids?

We definitely plan on it - and hopefully not too far into the future. Obviously we're not going to be actively trying until after the wedding next year, but all things going well medical-wise, I hope to fall pregnant the following year. That will give us some time to enjoy being 'us' and getting settled back in Sydney. Of course, who knows what will happen - depends on how much of a hindrance my PCOS diagnosis will be when it comes to fertility.

Britt asked: What made you guys decide to move abroad? Were your families ok with it?

We had talked about it for a while before we made the decision, for a good few years actually. We'd both travelled together to Europe back in 2004 and had fallen in love with it, and Jason's older brother had already moved here with his girlfriend at that stage. I wanted to get a few years of teaching under my belt before we could really consider it, as did the boy with his IT career - and then one day he found a job, interviewed for it, and was offered - it all happened really fast. He ended up moving over mid-year in August 2007 while I finished my teaching year out and joined him in December 2007. The rest is history! His family was very supportive, and knew it would be a good move career & finance wise. My family were supportive as well, but not as pleased when the original twelve months turned into two years, then three.. hee. They're pretty happy we're moving back home soon!

& What is your most favourite aspect of your wedding so far (besides your groom of course!)

Hee, I do rather like my groom. From the little bits I've managed to scrape together so far, I have to say my favourite thing has been how supportive everyone has been so far. My parents have been great, driving to random venues and bridal shops while I've been away, my girlfriends have tried on dresses and got excited over little things like stationery with me, and it's sweet to see the boy starting to look forward to it a little bit more since it's not quite as far away in the distance any more. (I may or may not have a countdown going.)

Britt is getting married in just over a week - squee! You should totally stop by her blog & send her some well wishes.

Mary & Britt asked: Where else do you want to live? Will you move abroad again?

To be honest, once we're based back in Sydney I don't think we will move again. I'm itching to get back home, to get back to the suburbs and to eventually own our own home. At the moment, we have our little plot of land ready to go, but we're not in the right position to build yet - so we'll get there, slowly. Plus, our stint here ended up being 3.5 years for Jason/3 years for me, and I don't see us living abroad again when we have a family. Plus, I think my mum would kill me if I left her to go overseas again!

Amanda asked: Would you like to have coffee with me?

Um, yes! Let's hurry up and organise it soon.. this year is going by way too fast.

& Have you done your US electronic travel notice thingemy? They're going to start charging, so do it while it's free.

Yes, we certainly have. I did it as soon as I found out we were definitely going home via the USA. If you follow me on twitter {@breathegently} you probably already have a brief idea on where we'll be going, because I hollered out for help & advice so many times in the past few weeks. But still.. you'll find out for yourself soon enough!

& What are you planning on doing once you get home? Going back to work? Same field/different field?

I'm not entirely sure. Logically, I feel like I should go back into teaching - maybe just as a relief teacher for a little while to get my foot back in the door again. The problem is that we will be home in December, as most schools are closing for the year - and they won't re-open until late January. I'd prefer to work almost straight away when I get home, as we'll both need income in order to find an apartment or house to rent and to pay off wedding costs & start saving for a home. If I don't teach, I don't know what I'll do; possibly look at something else within the education field, maybe recruitment - but I'm open to anything. If you know anyone with jobs going in Sydney, holler at me.

Becky asked: Have you ever been to the U.S.? Would you ever come to Washington, D.C. (hint, hint!)

Oh my lovely, I have been there before - and to Washington to boot! You can read about my epic USA adventure by clicking here. I did start recapping everything but apparently I got tired at around the Texas mid-way point of our trip. Lazy blogger! I would love to come back to D.C. at some point in the future, we had such a good time checking out the monuments & museums. Would you ever come to London/Sydney?

& Since you and J are taking such big holidays at the end of this year, are you going to take a big honeymoon or scale it back a little?

We'll definitely be scaling it back. I keep calling this trip our pre-wedding-moon, because we'll be visiting some pretty scenic and amazing places together. It just makes more sense for us to see the northern hemisphere now while we can, rather than adding on a crazy long and expensive flight back here again in the future after the wedding. We haven't decided on honeymoon locations yet, but we're thinking of somewhere closer to Australia: maybe New Zealand or the Pacific Islands. {Bora Bora, I'm looking at you. Lush!}

Kathy asked: What have been the 5 highlights of your time OS?

1. Finally moving in with Jason - our first five years together were spent living with our parents.
2. Getting to revisit some of my favourite countries on several occasions, especially France & Switzerland.
3. Oscar. He's one of the best things that could have happened to us, and we love him so.
4. Being self sufficient, saving our money {thanks to my hard-working fiancé} & getting ready to take the next step.
5. Realising how amazing Australia is. Being away from where you grew up makes you appreciate it so much more.

Nathan went crazy on Formspring & asked several questions: What is your biggest failure?

There are two things that come to mind when I think of failure. The first: health, body image and weight loss. I've always struggled to get it under control and even now, years later, my sole focus still remains on getting healthy. I hate that it's always been such a struggle and I hate that I didn't manage to have this sorted out years and years ago. The second: not being as social as I would like. But I've grown to love this - not everyone is meant to be a social butterfly, and living abroad and away from friends & family gives you a good indication of who really is a good friend. I've always said I'd be happier with just one or two really close friends than a room full of acquaintances, and I stand by that.

& What is your adult beverage of choice and which one is guaranteed to be your poison (bad experience)?

I'm not a big drinker, I never have been. If I am drinking, I'll tend to go for vodka and lemonade or vodka and diet coke - mainly because they're light in calories. The drink I've had the most, er, tipsy experiences with would have to be cider. I never drank it before I came to the UK, but since I don't like beer, I had to find something I liked that was on tap. Queue the cider. It's great, but wow, it hits me really hard.

& Body hair: Like? Dislike? On You? On Others?

This question made me laugh. I've never really had a big stance on body hair.. to each their own and all that. I'm blessed in the fair hair/pale skin department, so I've never really worried much about body hair. My mum taught me two things: don't pluck/wax your eyebrows & don't shave above your knees if you don't have to. I haven't done either of those things in my twenty-six years. Again, all praise goes to the pale genes for that. What I do dislike on me would be the chin hairs that sprouted when my PCOS problems went nuts. Those I could live without, they make me really self conscious. On others, I don't mind. Jase is really cute with a five o'clock shadow, I like guys who are fairly natural in the body hair department. I have to say, I'm not a big fan of a full blown 'stache. Unless it's like this:

There will be a few more answers coming soon - and if you haven't already left a question, feel free to add one below!

Remember how I'm a slightly obsessed planner and an organiser?

Well as I mentioned a few days ago, I've been spending a lot of time planning for how the end of the year is going to work for us. It was one thing moving from Sydney to London - trying to plan for a life on the other side of the world with just one suitcase and a carry on bag to contend with. But that little life experience was nothing compared to how difficult it is preparing for the opposite journey home. People, it is harder than I imagined. Insanely difficult.

I should put it out there and say that we'll be officially out of the UK by November - which is only just over four months from now. I've already started the ball rolling for Oscar's departure and he's now the proud owner of an import licence from the Australian government quarantine officials, woohoo! Very soon I'll be handing over an extraordinary amount of money to a pet transportation company to arrange Oscar's flight details, travel crate, quarantine stay and vet fees, and then he'll be ready for the travel process in November when we are.

And as for Jase and me? Well, I've become a one-woman planning machine. I've started getting quotes for excess baggage. I've started donating things and throwing out items we won't be taking home with us at the end of the year. I've started researching travel deals some more and have been frantically trying to make dates match up to go on a travel adventure or two prior to heading back to Sydney - and that part has been more than a little bit stressful. It's not just our own travel dates that I have to work with here: it's tour operator dates, it's the date I return from Europe, and it's Oscar's travel preparation and flight dates. And, oh yes, it's the expiry  date on Jase's UK Work Permit in mid-November that we've been working with, too.

Wait, did I say mid-November? Silly me! After finally working out dates that matched up and getting a mock itinerary scripted - with papers and dates and prices strewn all around me, I had this horrible feeling that we were forgetting something. I went and checked the date on the boy's Visa and then I died.

Okay, so I didn't really die, but my heart did stop beating for just a few seconds & I believe I looked a bit like this:

When I'd asked what date we were working on him having to be out of the UK by, he'd sworn it was the 14th or 15th of November, so I was working on that assumption - which worked great with our dates: I returned from Europe on the 8th, we'd have a week to get the cat sorted out, finish cleaning and packing, hand over our apartment keys and fly away to our first travel destination. Er, no, not that simple. The expiry date on his Visa is NOVEMBER 7th.

(!!!!!!)

If you go back and read my last sentence, you might recall that I don't get back to London until the 8th. And the boy has to leave the UK by the 7th! Cue panic and freaking out. Basically, we're going to have to readjust everything - dates we leave, who does what, plan plan plan and so on and so forth. While I was going to be the one in charge of Oscar's vet visits and final transportation, that is now going to fall on Jase - so I'll have to get him up to speed and in charge of the paperwork very soon. It also means that he'll be finalising all of the apartment cleaning and handing the keys over - and then he'll fly over to our first travel destination and wait for me to join him a few days later. It's crazy: it also means that after living out of a suitcase for a month in Europe, I'll have no home to come back to - so I sense a whole lot of washing will have to be done in a random European laundromat somewhere along the way!

We'll manage, we always do. And I'm glad we found the spanner in the works this early on before all of our travel plans were booked and set in stone. See? Always have trust in your gut instincts. I firmly believe in mine!

We haven't done things the easy way; we never have. If we'd wanted that, we would have stayed back in Sydney, got married, bought a house and a dog and maybe popped out 2.5 children, or whatever the 'average' is nowadays. Instead, we've had an awesome adventure. We've travelled. We've saved. We rescued a cat, who is possibly the best thing that's happened to us since being here. We've lived together and learned together as a couple before finally getting engaged - and now we get to plan the long way around back to where we started from.

Wish me luck with this travel planning: to be honest, I'll need as much as possible to make this all work!

Happy July, friends. I have to say, this is one of my favourite months of the year - mostly for selfish reasons. It's the halfway point of the year, it's usually leading into cooler weather (back home in Sydney anyway; here it's the start of warm European summer) and it's my birthday month. I love birthdays. Love, love, love.

• He sits with his paws tucked up underneath him, so quite often it looks like he has no legs.
• He has several favourite resting spots - the above picture shows one of them, which is next to our bed on the carpet near the window. You can usually find them by the amount of cat fur that has accumulated. Other locations include the arm of the lounge, the mat outside the bathroom door, the top of the treadmill, sprawled out on the wooden floors near the window and lying on Jason's laptop.
• He has to be locked away in our bedroom when it's time to cook or eat. He has no concept of the fact that human food is not cat food, and goes mental when he sees milk, butter or yoghurt.
• He will harass you for your breakfast cereal. He is unrelenting in his quest to EAT.
• Despite being a short haired cat, he is currently shedding. Everywhere. He adores being brushed and I have to vacuum a few times a week. It's possible that he's even shedding more than me - that's impressive.
• He's not a big cuddler. He'll choose when he wants them, and he'll let you know {aka he'll bite you} when he's done. If you pick him up at around dinner time, he will be patient with you and try his best not to bite, because he knows food is coming. We may or may not take advantage of this.
• He's vocal. Oh so vocal. You only have to open the fridge door and you'll find out for yourself.
• He wins visitors over fairly quickly. He's a fraidy cat at first, but he warms up quickly and becomes a bit nosey. His cute little white paws & nose smudge get talked about quite a lot and people think he is charming. {Until he starts stealing their food.} He likes to stalk people, and think it is all a big game.

• He knows when Jason is getting home from work. Despite our heavy apartment complex door opening and shutting loads of times during the day, he can always tell when it's going to be his daddy. He'll wait in the hallway just for him. But when I come home? He doesn't even bother jumping off the treadmill. 
• He is incredibly naughty. He knows when he's doing something wrong, and he'll give us this look of guilt before bolting.. only to come back and try it again to see what we'll do.
• He is also incredibly clever. He wakes us up at least once every night {okay, he wakes ME up, since the boy conveniently sleeps through it all} to have a 3am snack. His first trick to wake me up was climbing up onto the bookshelf next to our bed and subtly (!) knocking things off one at a time. We thought we were being clever too, and stacked our books in a way that he can't fit up there anymore - but he's just found that he can walk over to our cupboard and stomp around, which will make just as much noise. We've raised a monster.
• He knows his bedtime. Around 10pm every night, he'll come and sit directly in front of us and meow until someone gets up to feed him before bed.
• He has developed this super cute habit with me while I'm trying to make tea or coffee. He'll jump up on the counter and give him giant nose rubs/head bumps over and over again. While he's probably just being territorial about the food cupboards, I'm going to go ahead and say it's just because he loves me so much that he feels the need to Eskimo kiss my nose. SO CUTE.
• He'll happily sit at the window and watch the pigeons fly past for hours.
• Every night, we bring him into bed with us for family snuggles. Sometimes we make him dance for us. Mostly, he just sits and purrs. It doesn't last for long. Yes, we're THAT kind of family. 
• I have no shame in admitting that he's the most spoiled cat on the planet. He really, really is. 

You all know Oscar. He likes fish-smelling food, appearing out of nowhere like a ninja to attack feet in his general vicinity and knocking heavy items off our bookshelf in the wee hours of every morning to make sure we wake up to give him a midnight snack. He's also just a tiny bit feral, but we still love him.

Oscar is one spoiled cat. He's an only child, and he knows it. He has more cat toys in our little flat than I care to admit, and he's got both of us wrapped around his razor sharp talons of doom paws. Despite the growing number of mice and jingly balls that are taking up residence under the lounge and in dusty corners of the room, sometimes I just can't help myself. Friends, I'd like you to meet Lobster.

He may not look it, but Lobster is deadly. You have to watch those giant claws and glittery hind legs. He moves fast. And those eyes. They're always watching you. Oscar, prepare meet your nemesis. Mwahaha.

It's amazing how much time J and I spend playing around with Oscar, especially on weekends that we are chilling out at home.

Oscar is a constant source of entertainment and has grown up to be quite the talker. It helps having treats around; he goes bananas for them and always has us in stitches.

(He's also a daddy's boy. Can you tell? It's disgusting. Really.)

It's been that kind of weekend - the kind where you sort of want to curl up in your pyjamas and not venture outside. Add the rain and the gloomy weather, and it all adds up to hiding indoors like a hermit. Which is exactly what I've been doing.

Two days indoors, indefinite cups of tea, and my newly opened box-set of Ally McBeal DVDs, and I feel a bit sorry that this weekend is coming to an end. Even though it's not been memorable in any sense of the word, it's been exactly what I wanted. And getting a weekend off this close to Christmas is pretty darned impressive.

What does this week hold? Let's see...

Work: can't escape that! I like my new job but it can be sometimes draining. Last week saw my colleague and I off on a roadtrip around some of our branches in South England, and even though it wasn't a super challenging week, just being away from my own desk made it exhausting. I'm happy to be back in our regular Central London branch this week. We have a new starter for our team starting on Tuesday, so I see lots of training days ahead that will keep everyone busy.

Play: not much planned yet! Will hopefully be squeezing in a showing of New Moon this week with a few friends. I think I'm about the last person on the planet to have NOT seen it yet?! Ah well, hopefully there will be one or two less screaming girls in our screening, if I'm lucky.

I'm also eagerly anticipating a parcel at work, full of new cat toys. I'm sure that isn't exciting to most of you guys, but if you had any idea of how naughty Oscar has been lately, you'd be excited too. He's a whopping 1.5 years old now, and is most definitely on his way to the Terrible Two's. Any ideas on how to keep an ever growing indoor kitty from losing his mind (and his owners from losing their sanity) are welcomed.

Happy end-of-November!

I walked in the door yesterday, and he wasn't as responsive as I had hoped. He was happy to see me, but something wasn't quite right. He listened to my stories, he looked at what I had brought home with me, but he wasn't fully paying attention. We ate together, but even that felt strained. Maybe he didn't miss me as much as I missed him?

We're slowly connecting again. He relented and hugged me for a little while, before busying himself with other things that needed his attention. It felt strange sleeping beside him, especially since things felt so tense, but we managed. Things are getting back to normal again. I woke up at 3am and he was asleep on my face, just like old times.

... and that was just Oscar.

HA.

Jason is doing great. He cooked dinner for me, let me snore myself to sleep at 8pm, and he and Oscar are joined at the hip now. I'm just a little bitter, but it's too cute not to like. This from the person who never really wanted a pet - ha! Now to work on Kitty #2.

The place looks a bit like a bachelor pad though. I will clean up a bit today, but I am not looking forward to unpacking. It's by far, the worst part about coming home.

I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday wherever you are, scattered across the globe - we had a quiet one at home, usually prying spare ribbons out of the cat's mouth and trying to stop him from devouring the Christmas tree. Today we're off to Canary Wharf for a bit of Wii action, and I'll have to try and hone in on my tendency to sulk when I lose - it's the holidays, after all.

Merry Christmas! (Oscar is not impressed.)

And as an extra special treat, here's a bit of karaoke for you all. Sing along. Just do it.