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.  

Visit with Jamie, Elisa, and Mary Beth.

My oldest and dearest girlfriends visit to Melbourne was everything I had hoped it would be and more.  With only one week with Jamie and Elisa, and two with MB, things continue to fly by at an exceedingly speedy pace.  While the girls were here we had a terrific time exploring Melbourne and on our Great Ocean Road trip.  

Striking a pose at Builders Arms.

 

Enjoying the trampoline's on the beach in Lorne after hours...

With friends at the races.

The girls at Erskine Falls in Lorne. 

Mary Beth and Prior at the "best tram stop in Melbourne"

The girls vacation wouldn't have been the same if wasn't for all my wonderful friends who reconfirmed that Aussie's are super friendly and hospitable by showing us an excellent time daily.  

I had the Monday the girls arrived off of work and Tuesday was a state holiday, the Melbourne Cup Day; the race that stops a nation, but I was up bright and early the rest of the week!  I also took a three day weekend for the Lorne trip.  Work has been busy and going really well.  Thankfully they are flexible because Neal arrives on Thursday and they are letting me take a couple of days off for his visit as well.

I posted a couple of photo albums compiled from a sampling of the 900 shots Elisa, Mary Beth and I took during the holiday.

Heading to the Melbourne Cup!

Pictures!

Me and Neal at Bolsa Chica Beach.  

Thanks to Neal and Maaike for some of the California album photos...

Lily, the birthday girl, and me minus our masks...

Had to go into the field for work...

Stopped to pick these from the canal bank :)

Check out the links to the new albums...  122,000 more words.  

Yo quiero un burrito.

I miss Mexican food!  Not only is delicious but it is also so cheap in the southwest and of course Mexico... aww the memories.  

I don't know if you can read this menu but it goes a little something like this:

Burrito $3.79, Taco $.49, Shrimp Ceviche $2.99.

Photos I snapped of the menus at Holy Mole, a great authentic Mexican joint, down the street from the LB apartment.  Besides all the wonderful salsa choices they also have free roasted and seasoned peppers, bonus!  

If you are in PHX go to Rito's and think of me!  Or Amados, Revas... the Ranch Market... 

27

Things have been busy since my mom’s visit.  I barely had time to get back into my usual routine before heading out to Los Angeles.  I was able to take a week off of work to go home to celebrate my birthday with Neal, friends and family.  The four flights to get myself there and back were less than fun but the week in LA, Long Beach, and Newport was very nice.  The weather was perfect and I was able to go to the beach four times.  The ocean has already cooled down quite a bit, but I was able to relax and get a start on my tan for the approaching summer here in Melbourne.   My good friend Maaike was able to fly in for the weekend and Neal, Peter, Maaike and I all went to see a show at the Hollywood Bowl (which is my absolute favorite venue).  Unfortunately we are slackers and headed out way behind schedule and tried to use LA’s less than adequate public transportation system to get there so we ended up missing two of the bands we had really wanted to see.  The rest of the week went really smoothly and way too quickly.  My parents drove over from Arizona and brought their bikes so the three of us had fun biking around Long Beach one day while Neal was at work.  The area is really beautiful and has really nice bike paths and trails all along the coast.  It was very hard to say goodbye to Neal again but thankfully he is able to come out to Melbourne for a visit over the Thanksgiving holiday (which of course is not celebrated here in Australia). 

 

I got back into town Sunday and back to work Monday morning… I handled the jet lag very well and made it through a busy work week.  This past weekend I went to see two shows, had a picnic at the botanical gardens, and attended a nice potluck dinner party.   The weather this weekend was very nice but yesterday was cold and rainy.  Last evening I got caught in an intense downpour that was accompanied by strong winds that turned out my new umbrella, (which had just replaced the yellow one that the wind had already destroyed)!  Just as I was thinking, I’ve had about enough of this Melbourne weather; I turned and saw a huge, stunning rainbow spanning the Yarra River perfectly.  It was really beautiful and I was very disappointed that I didn’t have my camera on me.  I hope to post a new album from my trip home soon....

Here's one I took of Neal on the beach.  

Sunny Days

I uploaded some new Melbourne Pics...  checkout the link.  Highlights include the Melbourne Zoo with my mom.  Here we are at the Fitzroy Gardens:

The weather is warming up and the days are much longer, spring is in the air!

Brighton Beach with my Mum ;)

My mom is here in Melbourne for a visit!  She spontaneously bought a ticket for a nice two and a half week stay with me and arrived on Saturday, August 23rd.   We have been having a great time, as I do my best to show her all Melbourne has to offer.  Here are a few pictures from our day at Brighton Beach, famous for it's colorful "bathing boxes" and the "Million-dollar Mile" describing the string of amazing houses along this stretch of beach.  Despite a bit of rain and wind we had a very lovely day exploring this beach community.

National Gallery of Victoria, Palace Theater, The Prince of Whales, Degraves St. & Cathedral Arcade.

Recently I went to see an Art Deco Exhibition at the Nation Gallery of Victoria.  This was first time I had been inside the museum even though I live practically next door.... its a beautiful space, I went on a wednesday night, which is their "after dark" and student night. I had a great time with the girls and seeing all the extraordinary design from the 1920s.

 You weren't permitted to take pictures inside, but of course I couldn't

 resist ;)

Last weekend I went to see a band, PNAU, at the Palace Theater in the city.  The venue was amazing and the show was really good, so incredibly loud that my ears were ringing a solid 24 hours afterward. 

The ceiling and balconies in the Palace, the disco ball is gigantic. 

Last evening I went to a show at The Prince of Whales which is a venue in St. Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne, by the water.  The show was really fun, we saw Ladyhawke and Van She, I really liked how they had DJs mixing before, in between the bands, and after the sets, keeps the party going :) Jacqui and Liz came over to my apartment before the show, my first visitors except for Neal and Pete... we had a great time.   

Another cool spot that I have been frequenting is Degraves Street and the Cathedral Arcades, which are right by Flinders Street Station but easy to overlook.  

As you can see I have been busy and am already more familiar with the city than most of my coworkers, haha. 

My view from 22nd floor Southbank...

You can see half of a white, arched pedestrian bridge crossing the Yarra River near the bottom of the shot... and just beyond the CBD.

Pete showing me around town...

My good friend Peter stayed with me for 10 days, it was the end of his 6 month studying/working vacation.  He came to Melbourne for a semester at La Trobe University and an internship... then went to Barcelona for a skateboarding holiday and stopped back in Melbourne on his way home.   It was so great to see a familiar face and to be introduced to the buddies he had made here.   The strange thing about having a friend around was that it really made me miss Neal, my friends and family so much more...  

Pete and I really enjoyed showing each other the restaurants and spots we had found around the city.  My favorite of the new spots is a bar called Carlton Club which is just a short walk from my place.   I can't wait until my next visitors :) Check out the new photos, link on upper right.

 

My favorite iChat Buddy.

Every night before I go to bed I iChat with my sister, Nancy, and baby niece, Jillian, while they are having their breakfast in Maryland.  Tonight I took snapshots while chatting and I just have to share them.  
After breakfast Jillian gets a quick rinse in the kitchen sink.

And you can see me in the corner, the proud Auntie.

Keeping Busy...

I've been doing so good filling up my schedule that I haven't posted in two weeks!  The picture above is the roof top patio at Bimbo Deluxe, a cool bar and restaurant, where tonight we celebrated one of my engineerings buddies roommates birthday... it was a great spot, M-Th they have $4 gourmet pizzas!  I've been staying quite busy with work, bikram yoga, and socializing.  Friday night I went to dinner and a movie with a super sweet couple, Jacqui and Alistair.  Saturday night I was dinning alone at my favorite Italian restaurant and I was about to head home for a quiet evening when I started chatting with a nice guy who was in town from Brisbane for the evening... keeping up with the Australian hospitality he invited me out for a drink and we ending up going to a few bars and having lots of great conversation.   Sunday I went to yoga, did my grocery shopping, laundry and cleaning... but even that was a bit different in Melbourne... my furnished apartment didn't come with a vacuum cleaner so I asked my apartment if I could hire one (no one says "rent" here) and the concierge on duty said he could lend me one... check it out:

I was laughing so hard at myself while wearing the vacuum I had to take a pic.  

Friends!!!

Saturday I went to a really fun 21st, 50s themed, birthday party.  My bosses daughter, Liz, has so kindly included me in her group of girlfriends, thank you!!!  I just got back from dinner with them tonight as well, they are a great group of ladies and know all the local hot spots.  Besides the much needed social activity, I also found a secret sale this weekend!  I was looking for a mid-length black coat, for all that damn wind, at the big Australian department store Myer's.  I had narrowed it down to two coats... debated with myself for a good 20 minutes, made my choice and feeling pretty good about the $100 marked down from $180 purchase.... then the cashier says, $10.  I was on cloud nine as he explain that today only, not advertised, any Miss Shop or Tokito previously marked down items were $10!!!  So, of course, like any good shopper I continued to look at ever other item included in the sale and made four other smart choices.  I ended up with two jackets, two dresses, and a sweater for half the price I was originally prepared to spend.   What a sweet weekend.  

Gale Force Winds

Things are going great. I am slowly making some Australian friends, I am trying not to come on too strong but it's hard cause I have none... so any potentials are being hit with full force Marilyn, hopefully I don't scare them off.

I have been learning a lot at work and thankfully all my coworkers have been very welcoming and patient in teaching me how system control theory can be applied to irrigation water management, Rubicon calls it Total Canal Control, TCC.

Today was by far my coldest day in Melbourne so far... not because of the actual temperature but because of the Gale Force Winds. (The National Weather Service defines a gale as 39 to 54 mph of sustained surface winds). I was listening to the radio while getting ready to leave for work this morning and there was a severe weather warning due to Gale Force Winds, and I thought, hmmm... I wonder what that means... I knew windy, but how windy? I soon found out that Gale Force Winds can actually push you along or stop you in your tracks. Wow, weather! Something new for a native Arizonian.

The wind won the war... my MJ umbrella is officially toast. 

TGIF

Me at my desk.

So I made it through the first week of work and it was really no big deal.  The office is way more laid back than I was expecting... when we are getting tired of working we take ping pong breaks!  I have joined a group for lunches and have settled into a nice schedule of work, bikram yoga, and the internet.  Thursday was also exciting because I broke my routine of eating dinner alone and had a dinner with a coworker.  Tonight I went to dinner and drinks with my bosses daughter and her friends and had a great time.  I am looking forward to the rest of my weekend and plan to explore more of the city and nearby parks.

A shot I took from a cool rooftop bar in CBD (Central Business District), I will take you there if you come to visit me ;)