Back in the USA

I am now happily married to Neal and living in Long Beach, CA.   Check out my new blog to see some of what I have been up to.

http://beaboutitblogaboutit.blogspot.com/

Packed up.

Saying goodbye to Melbourne and my aussie friends...

My final Melbourne Album has been posted...

Another lovely weekend.

My last weekend here in Melbourne was quite nice, I went to the Oakes Beach House in Aireys Inlet, with Liz and Jacqui.  We had a great time on the beach... my first time actually swimming in the AU ocean.  We also went horseback riding!

Check out more pictures of the weekend in the Aireys Inlet photo album.  

Australia Day!

I have been thoroughly enjoying summer here in Melbourne. It stays light out until 9:00pm, very unlike winter here where it was still dark at 8:00am and again by 5:00pm. I finally made it to the Melbourne Aquarium and have been enjoying the numerous gardens even more now that the weather is nice. Last weekend was a three day weekend for Australia Day, historically this day marks the arrival of the first British Fleet in 1788, but now it is known for an all day radio broadcast of the Hottest 100 tunes of the previous year, BBQs and beach going.

I went back to the peninsula for Sunday and Monday; this is a shot of me relaxing on the beach. For more photos click on the new link, top right. I only have one week left here in Melbourne, it is truly crazy how time flies!

Holidays.

I spent most of my time over the last two long holiday weekends at Jo & Cam Buick's parents house on the Mornington Peninsula.   It was a very beautiful, relaxing and fun getaway outside of the city.  Highlights include the beach, deliciously cooked meals, desserts and drunken pictionary.  

I only have five weeks to go here in Melbourne and have been trying to squeeze in as much recreation as possible around the 40+ hour work week, the weather has been quite encouraging!   I posted a link to a new photo album on the top right....

Festive banana bread. 

Happy 2009!

Fresh Flowers.

Some flowers I "rescued" to brighten up my apartment:

I first fell in love with these flowers in San Sebastian, Spain...

What are they called, Mom?

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Thanksgiving!

Even though Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here in Australia I couldn't just let it pass by when I have so much to be thankful for.  Neal was able to come to Melbourne for a week visit after a work trip to Asia. We were both very happy to have the time together as we didn't think he'd be able to come back down here during my work holiday.  As we both like to cook we decided to prepared Thanksgiving dinner for some of my Aussie friends.

Neal carving our perfectly prepared bird.  It was roughly 13 pounds and it only took an hour to cook!  We found this video for a 45 minute turkey but since we didn't have a meat thermometer we decided to leave it in for and hour to be safe... If you like roast turkey or chicken you must watch this video:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/11/21/dining/1194833563448/roast-turkey-in-45-mintues.html

A beautiful homemade pumpkin pie baked by our hostess, Jo.  This was a first for the Aussies, which is quite surprising because they eat a lot of pumpkin here but just not as a dessert.  

Stuffing my Dad would be proud of! 

Our group getting ready to devour Thanksgiving dinner.