I figured before the new year starts I better get an update in! I am currently in very, very sunny Adelaide (40 degrees/103F) til tomorrow afternoon. I have been here since the 23rd and had a lovely time. I just returned late last night from paradise. My three days in Kangaroo Island were phenomenal. I will be doing an update about there when I get back to Melbourne. For now I will fill you in on my first ever summer birthday and Christmas!
As most of you know my birthday is on the 21st so it made sense to have my celebrations on the Sunday so people could make it. As you all know I was determined to be outside and thought it appropriate to have a picnic in the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was also a potluck which can always be risky because you don't know what kind of effort people are going to make. Well I am thrilled to report that the whole day was a roaring success!!! I had about 25 or so people turn up throughout the day which I think is pretty good going considering I moved here five months ago. As for the food it was glorious and plentiful! People really outdid themselves! Some highlights included homemade banana bread, spinach balls and a personal favourite unbelievable artichoke dip. All my friends mixed well and it was interesting to see all the people I have met since moving out here. The weather was also never too hot or too cold. The last few guests and I stayed lounging in the park till around 6ish. In the evening my Gold Coast guest Miss Alana and I went and had a few drinks at one of the rooftop bars I like in the CBD. On my actual birthday I woke up to phone calls from the parents which was not as good as being woken up in the morning with cake and presents but it was a good alternative regardless. I also had a chance to open Amanda Panda's amazing birthday care package that she spoiled with me. Later that morning Alana treated me to breakfast at a cafe near my house that I really like. We then headed in to do some sight seeing and shopping. We ended the afternoon with birthday cake and a delicious Jameson cocktail at another rooftop bar in the city. She went to catch her flight and I stayed on befriending nice people in the bar. Finally around 8 or so I headed home to make food and start to pack for my trip. It was truly a perfect birthday.
And so I got to Adelaide where I have been catching up with my friends Adam and Justin from NL. It has been great to see them again. Adelaide is an interesting city of feeling very small but also very spread out. It does not have all the old architecture that Melbourne boasts but still some interesting buildings. My favourite place has been the Central Market which is a hum of activity and interesting food. On the 24th we went to Justin's relatives place for a Polish Christmas Eve dinner. Sadly no carp was kept in the bathtub! We did though have lots of yummy lobster and other non meat food. Santa came by too which was awesome! On the 25th we were at Adam's parents place. I got lots of nice chocolate, knickknacks from their trip in Antarctica. We had lots of nice cold meats and prawns. I was determined to have a dip in the ocean on Christmas and Justin made it happen! The water was a perfect temperature! All and all a lovely Christmas but very hard to be away from the family. There is talk of us celebrating all together next year in NYC which could be something!
Tonight is the most overrated night of the year! Thankfully we have nice plans that suit me fine. We are going to a family run Chinese restaurant in an area called Glenelg which is kind of a Brighton/St Kilda area of Adelaide. We will then hang around the area having drinks before catching the fireworks on the beach. It is one thing to be hours ahead of you all but to be a year ahead of you all is very strange!
Starting January 7th I continue to be a very, very lucky girl. It is the start of many visitors next year. My dear friend Phoebe who I know from high school and her new fiance (!!) are flying in for three days. I have not seen her since her 21st birthday so very much looking forward to catching up. That same day the Fabulous Fabris sisters will be flying in too for five days! Stephanie is one of my best friends from Uni and we always have a good time. The last time hung out was when she flew out with me to Scotland for Hogmanay. I also of course will be applying for work.
Here is a great 2010! I hope to see you all at some point!
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Thursday, December 31, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
A lot of you lovely people have been asking what I am doing for my first Christmas away from home. My first summer Christmas at that! I feel very lucky to have some amazing plans in store. When I was living in Amsterdam I had a wonderful Australian colleague called Adam who I enjoyed lunching with. He had moved out to Amsterdam about a year before I had with his Australian husband Justin. We stayed in touch and met in London when they were in town last year. They take food just as seriously as I do, they love travelling as much as I do and are truly kind people.
Earlier this year when it was confirmed I would be living in the Southern Hemisphere come the holiday season this year, the lovely Adam and Justin invited me to join them for Christmas! They are currently on a cruise of the Antarctica for Adam's 30th and will be making their way home after which is South Australia. I will be arriving late in the evening of the 23rd in Adelaide (Australia's third largest city/known as the city of churches) and staying through till New Years Day! South Australia has the most famous wine region in the country, Barossa which we will be touring on the 27th! The 28-30th I will be going solo to my namesake, Kangaroo Island! Here is what I will be getting up to: http://www.groovygrape.com.au/kangarooisland_10.html. We have not decided what we are doing for the most overrated night of the year. I feel so lucky to be doing so many lovely things this holiday season!
Speaking of festivities, as many of you know my birthday is on Monday! My first ever summer birthday! I go from having the shortest day of the year to the longest day of the year just like that. Brilliant! I will actually be celebrating on Sunday though. I figured I had to take FULL advantage of my summer birthday and be outside! I am hosting a birthday picnic in the Royal Botanical Gardens! It is going to be a potluck picnic so people are baking and cooking up storms this weekend. I also got a wonderful phone call this morning from my friend Alana up at the Gold Coast. She is going to fly in Sunday morning for the picnic!!! I know her from London but she is an Aussie who returned shortly after I moved out here. She was my tour guide when I was in Sydney in September. It will be grand to see her again!
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all you lovely people who have been sending me Christmas and birthday cards!! It has been such a pleasure coming home to so much mail everyday! I am being a good girl though and not opening the birthday cards till Monday.
Alright I am going to go make myself a peanut butter and banana bagel!
P/S My dear friend Michelle is getting married tomorrow in Birmingham, Alabama. My current geography prevents me from fulfilling bridesmaid duties and sharing her special day! I love you Michelle and wish you and the husband to be Collin a wonderful wedding day!!!
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Earlier this year when it was confirmed I would be living in the Southern Hemisphere come the holiday season this year, the lovely Adam and Justin invited me to join them for Christmas! They are currently on a cruise of the Antarctica for Adam's 30th and will be making their way home after which is South Australia. I will be arriving late in the evening of the 23rd in Adelaide (Australia's third largest city/known as the city of churches) and staying through till New Years Day! South Australia has the most famous wine region in the country, Barossa which we will be touring on the 27th! The 28-30th I will be going solo to my namesake, Kangaroo Island! Here is what I will be getting up to: http://www.groovygrape.com.au/kangarooisland_10.html. We have not decided what we are doing for the most overrated night of the year. I feel so lucky to be doing so many lovely things this holiday season!
Speaking of festivities, as many of you know my birthday is on Monday! My first ever summer birthday! I go from having the shortest day of the year to the longest day of the year just like that. Brilliant! I will actually be celebrating on Sunday though. I figured I had to take FULL advantage of my summer birthday and be outside! I am hosting a birthday picnic in the Royal Botanical Gardens! It is going to be a potluck picnic so people are baking and cooking up storms this weekend. I also got a wonderful phone call this morning from my friend Alana up at the Gold Coast. She is going to fly in Sunday morning for the picnic!!! I know her from London but she is an Aussie who returned shortly after I moved out here. She was my tour guide when I was in Sydney in September. It will be grand to see her again!
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all you lovely people who have been sending me Christmas and birthday cards!! It has been such a pleasure coming home to so much mail everyday! I am being a good girl though and not opening the birthday cards till Monday.
Alright I am going to go make myself a peanut butter and banana bagel!
P/S My dear friend Michelle is getting married tomorrow in Birmingham, Alabama. My current geography prevents me from fulfilling bridesmaid duties and sharing her special day! I love you Michelle and wish you and the husband to be Collin a wonderful wedding day!!!
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Friday, December 11, 2009
It has been far too long since I last updated all you wonderful readers. I am at that first temp job I did reception cover for, back in September. It is much quieter today then it was the last time I was here. And what better way to make the last couple of hours go by then finally get back to writing on here.
Since you last read I have been lucky enough to celebrate Thanksgiving again, on Thanksgiving Thursday! Gabe the Australian and Liz the American a lovely couple I know from London have recently moved to Melbourne. I was out with them about three weeks ago for a bit of a bar hop through Fitzroy. It was in the mist of the hop that Liz asked if I was doing anything for Thanksgiving. I explained I had been lucky enough to already celebrate upon which she asked me if I would like to celebrate again! How could I turn down such a kind offer? Especially as I had been to her Friendsgiving party last year in London and was wowed by her cooking and baking efforts! To seal the deal we would be going out to Gabe’s parents place in country Victoria about three hours from the city! And so it was Thanksgiving and time to celebrate again. This time I would be making green bean casserole something I had never had or made before. It was incredibly easy to make and I thought tasted okay. Gabe’s mother did an outstanding job on the turkey and Liz’s grandmothers stuffing recipe! Gabe’s sister attempted her first sweet potato dish which was incredible. She also brought some fresh beef from her farm for those who did not like turkey. All of it was so tasty. Dessert was a particularly spectacular round with homemade apple pie, pumpkin pie and cherry jam cookies all made by Liz. Gabe’s mother also made my new obsession something called a pineapple snap! It is basically pineapple, cream and crumbled cookies. Tasty and oh so good! It was a very memorable meal with many thumbs up from the Australians! The following day Liz, Gabe and I headed out to a wildlife centre for a unique afternoon. Once there we were able to feed many, many animals! This included kangaroo (!!!), emu (sassiest birds you will ever meet), deer, rabbits and possums. The icing on the cake was when we had the opportunity to cuddle and hold a 6 month old koala! Photographic evidence is way over due and I will get to putting them up soon, I promise! After these magical encounters we went to a local country town opshop (thrift store/ charity shop) where I picked up a wonderful blouse for $2. Later that day we headed back to the hustle and bustle of Melbourne. It was a wonderful escape from the city and I look forward to going back out again in the next seven months.
That weekend I went to the choral pop concert I talked about in my last entry. A friend of a friend from Amsterdam was performing. It was all music about ‘Real Men’. It was a fun afternoon and included a free glass of champagne upon arrival. That evening I went to go meet a very old friend from London that I had not seen since our last reunion in New York City in the winter of 2005. He was in Melbourne on his way to move to Japan. You all may think I travel but this man has me beat! We met up for many, many jugs of beer. It was as always great to see him and I look forward to working out where we meet next!
Last week I applied for about 101 jobs and had an interview with another recruitment agency. I am basically getting the same answer from everybody. It is not a good time to be looking for work. They will have better prospects for me in the new year and so on. Also the company I had been previously doing the long term temp role with gave very positive feedback to my recruiter who got me the job. That has to help some right!
Last weekend I volunteered at the Scandinavian Christmas bazaar! I had never been to the Swedish church here in Melbourne before. It is in a very swanky neighbourhood, on a very posh street and is very, very impressive! The grounds are massive it even has a swimming pool! And there were just over 100 Scandinavian stalls. The friend I brought with who works for a German cultural institute was bowled over by the fair too! I sadly did not do any shopping as everything was quite expensive. I did treat myself though to an open faced sandwich and a cinnamon role! As for my actual clowning duties it involved a very goofy costume and handing out free candy, nothing too challenging! The following day I went to my first Christmas party of the season at one of the members of the book club. Her house is made for socializing with lots of open space. I had a really good time and hope she hosts more parties in the future.
This week has seen me temping here for two days and hanging out with friends visiting from London. Monday I went to a friend of a friend’s barbecue. I suppose I can safely call her my friend now too as we have socialised a few times. She is a Brit who came out here on the working holiday visa and has landed herself some sponsorship! Monday was a celebration of her first year in Australia. We were along the Yarra River which has public barbecue facilities. Great concept if you ask me! Wednesday night Liz, Gabe and my friend from London and I went to Transvestite Bingo! Sadly the hostess does not dress up as much as she use to but still has a wicked sense of humour and I had a royal ball! I will definitely be taking future visitors there. Last night a few of my fellow Yanks and I went to a Christmas market near me which had lots of pretty things but nothing worth buying sadly. We had average Mexican food afterwards.
My time is really flying by here in the Southern Hemisphere. I can hardly wrap my head around it. There were a few periods in October when I thought I am for the most part happy out here. That has changed quite a bit in the last six weeks or so. I actually really, really like it out here. I don’t want to be out here forever but certainly longer then my one year visa allows me.
I hope you all enjoyed the update and I wish you all a wonderful weekend!!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Since you last read I have been lucky enough to celebrate Thanksgiving again, on Thanksgiving Thursday! Gabe the Australian and Liz the American a lovely couple I know from London have recently moved to Melbourne. I was out with them about three weeks ago for a bit of a bar hop through Fitzroy. It was in the mist of the hop that Liz asked if I was doing anything for Thanksgiving. I explained I had been lucky enough to already celebrate upon which she asked me if I would like to celebrate again! How could I turn down such a kind offer? Especially as I had been to her Friendsgiving party last year in London and was wowed by her cooking and baking efforts! To seal the deal we would be going out to Gabe’s parents place in country Victoria about three hours from the city! And so it was Thanksgiving and time to celebrate again. This time I would be making green bean casserole something I had never had or made before. It was incredibly easy to make and I thought tasted okay. Gabe’s mother did an outstanding job on the turkey and Liz’s grandmothers stuffing recipe! Gabe’s sister attempted her first sweet potato dish which was incredible. She also brought some fresh beef from her farm for those who did not like turkey. All of it was so tasty. Dessert was a particularly spectacular round with homemade apple pie, pumpkin pie and cherry jam cookies all made by Liz. Gabe’s mother also made my new obsession something called a pineapple snap! It is basically pineapple, cream and crumbled cookies. Tasty and oh so good! It was a very memorable meal with many thumbs up from the Australians! The following day Liz, Gabe and I headed out to a wildlife centre for a unique afternoon. Once there we were able to feed many, many animals! This included kangaroo (!!!), emu (sassiest birds you will ever meet), deer, rabbits and possums. The icing on the cake was when we had the opportunity to cuddle and hold a 6 month old koala! Photographic evidence is way over due and I will get to putting them up soon, I promise! After these magical encounters we went to a local country town opshop (thrift store/ charity shop) where I picked up a wonderful blouse for $2. Later that day we headed back to the hustle and bustle of Melbourne. It was a wonderful escape from the city and I look forward to going back out again in the next seven months.
That weekend I went to the choral pop concert I talked about in my last entry. A friend of a friend from Amsterdam was performing. It was all music about ‘Real Men’. It was a fun afternoon and included a free glass of champagne upon arrival. That evening I went to go meet a very old friend from London that I had not seen since our last reunion in New York City in the winter of 2005. He was in Melbourne on his way to move to Japan. You all may think I travel but this man has me beat! We met up for many, many jugs of beer. It was as always great to see him and I look forward to working out where we meet next!
Last week I applied for about 101 jobs and had an interview with another recruitment agency. I am basically getting the same answer from everybody. It is not a good time to be looking for work. They will have better prospects for me in the new year and so on. Also the company I had been previously doing the long term temp role with gave very positive feedback to my recruiter who got me the job. That has to help some right!
Last weekend I volunteered at the Scandinavian Christmas bazaar! I had never been to the Swedish church here in Melbourne before. It is in a very swanky neighbourhood, on a very posh street and is very, very impressive! The grounds are massive it even has a swimming pool! And there were just over 100 Scandinavian stalls. The friend I brought with who works for a German cultural institute was bowled over by the fair too! I sadly did not do any shopping as everything was quite expensive. I did treat myself though to an open faced sandwich and a cinnamon role! As for my actual clowning duties it involved a very goofy costume and handing out free candy, nothing too challenging! The following day I went to my first Christmas party of the season at one of the members of the book club. Her house is made for socializing with lots of open space. I had a really good time and hope she hosts more parties in the future.
This week has seen me temping here for two days and hanging out with friends visiting from London. Monday I went to a friend of a friend’s barbecue. I suppose I can safely call her my friend now too as we have socialised a few times. She is a Brit who came out here on the working holiday visa and has landed herself some sponsorship! Monday was a celebration of her first year in Australia. We were along the Yarra River which has public barbecue facilities. Great concept if you ask me! Wednesday night Liz, Gabe and my friend from London and I went to Transvestite Bingo! Sadly the hostess does not dress up as much as she use to but still has a wicked sense of humour and I had a royal ball! I will definitely be taking future visitors there. Last night a few of my fellow Yanks and I went to a Christmas market near me which had lots of pretty things but nothing worth buying sadly. We had average Mexican food afterwards.
My time is really flying by here in the Southern Hemisphere. I can hardly wrap my head around it. There were a few periods in October when I thought I am for the most part happy out here. That has changed quite a bit in the last six weeks or so. I actually really, really like it out here. I don’t want to be out here forever but certainly longer then my one year visa allows me.
I hope you all enjoyed the update and I wish you all a wonderful weekend!!
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