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.