If you don't do it big, you ain't doin nothin

So I'm liking this list format of things, gonna have to run with it. Can't believe I only have 5 weeks (aka 4 weekends) left in this amazing place.. it's already feeling like home and its getting harder and harder to imagine leaving so soon. I've been trying to get in all the things I want to see before I do leave and here's what I got up to in this week's adventures for your (no promises) entertainment.

-Made it through week 3 at the internship. Absolutely loving my time @ Edelman.

-Wore lace dress from Vegas.. thought it went pretty well

^Vegas purchase finally put to good use^

-Attended halloween flat-party with Lily, Val, N. and G. Val had a fab veil/ tiara that I obviously borrowed during the night.. You know how I appreciate a good piece of headwear. See below..

I dressed as a hippie... aka the maxi I wear around the apartment all the time + lots of feathers. Maybe should rethink my "hippie chic" wardrobe situation.

love Lily! xx

-Went to Oxford Art Factory, had some yummy shots I don't remember the name of and a HORRIBLE one that should be avoided at all costs. Val's choice. It was literally called a "trashbag" and the description was- "Don't ask what's in it, just drink it" Probably should have been the first clue. G. can vouch for how absolutely horrible it was.

-Saw a play called "Loot" at the Opera house. Not really my favorite but glad I had the experience.

^in front of the Opera House before seeing 'Loot'^

-Watched the fireworks in Sydney Harbour with a bunch of the BU peeps. They were better than ours for 4th of July... Come on U.S. you really need to step it up!

-Found a cute fascinator for Melbourne cup on tuesday. For those of you who don't know what that is, its just a head piece Aussies wear to the races instead of a crazy hat. Mine's black with black lace to go with my cream dress with the zipper down the front. Pics to come!

-Drove to the blue mountains to see the famous "3 sisters" rock formation with G. Its like 1.5 hrs away and really pretty. It even stopped raining long enough for me to take some cute pics!

^the 3 sisters^

Had to do it.. Sozza! :)

-Went on the world's steepest tram thing over the valley. Me + fear of heights + glass floor in tram= basically hiding for 20 min. It was fun tho and the waterfall was gorgeous!

^the tram on the way down^

-Car pretty much fell apart in the middle of the highway and G. had to MacGyver it back together.. pretty manly- I was rather impressed.

our little situation..

-Saw the world's cutest/ fattest baby ever. Thank god for G's iPhone so we got a sneak attack photo of his chubby little legs... literally this baby had cankles, the only time those will ever be referred to as "adorable."

Wahhhhh! I wanted to steal him.

-Became obsessed with Rihanna's new song "we found love" when it played 9873958 times on the way to the Blue Mountains.

Here's the video if you want to have my new club anthem stuck in your head forever.

-Went to German bar called Lowenbrau... decided I'm clearly not German enough to fit in.

-Wore my new watercolor mullet dress. I adore it, the boys, not so much. #justgonnahavetosuckitup

-Had that convo with G. Excellent timing on his part (Priceless story for-> Linda, Hessie, Heather, Marissa and Michela), but making it very hard to leave soon. :/

-Went to Max Brenner with Lily AND Bess at different times this week. Chocolate heaven. Had banana bread with chocolate. I die.

Heaven in chocolate form

That's pretty much all I can remember (which means I'm probably leaving out something terribly important) so I'll quit this list for now..

Onto the next one..

Things I still need/ want to do-

-Find my size-koala to bring home with me- will make napping in the US much more enjoyable and I am 150% determined to carry it on the airplane if I have to. Advance apology to whoever has to sit next to me/ it.

-Go to The Winery in Surry Hills

-Make it to Bondi Beach, Coogi Beach and/or Palm Beach (hopefully this coming weekend)

-Get my hurr did. Appointment with Daniel on Saturday, I'm giddie with excitement!

-Not be pasty white.. its seriously an issue. Refer to #2 of this list for remedy.

Okok I'm really done! Met G's sis Mikayla who's totally fab (and has great taste in shoes- Obvi we get along) and apparently we're going out with her on friday etc etc so I'll update you on all the adventures of this week soon!

Miss you all! xxx

*I*

October Almost Gone

So since I haven't posted in about 2 weeks and running through every day would be taxing both on my poor short term memory and your attention span I figured I'd just make a list of fun things that have happened/ I've done since then :)

- Started my internship with Edelman Sydney- Its pretty much the most intense and hectic one I've done so far but I totally love it and I'm learning SO much

-played an inter-office game of flip cup- entertaining since most of the Aussies here have never played before but totally great

-Began my Australian cinema class and watched an aboriginal musical and an AU thriller so far. Should be a good class!

-Saw "what's your number" with Lily. A totally adorable romantic comedy!

-Made chocolate chip cookies in the apt for the first time :) #culinarymaster

-Found a perfect lunch spot right by work with a fabulous view- it's called observatory hill

^observatory hill^

-Had lunch at Kazbah in Darling Harbour- its a middle-eastern restaurant with the most amazing food EVER. We had prawns and lamb and potato cakes. Nom.nom.nom.

^yummy lunch with Lily and Danni @ Kazbah^

harbourside wharf

-Finally went to "the establishment" with G. Not as exciting as I was hoping, bit of a meat market really

-Saw a man dressed in full monk attire at The Establishment. breathtaking.

-Went to Karaoke/ Asian clubbing with Lily and Co. - it was quite the experience and I danced on the DJ booth til 430am... just the usual

-Decided I really like indecisive vegetarians who don't like chocolate, cookies, dessert or really anything but vegemite and pasta and totally opposite to me. Especially ones who are the sweetest thing. :)

-Went bowling with indecisive vegetarian at bowling/karaoke/bar called Strike. Won both games.. sooooooo good.

-Bought 2 pairs of new heels, nude mini-peep-toe platforms and grey suede platforms- realized I'm probably going to need a whole extra suitcase for when I leave. [sorry mom!]

-Laid out in the Botanic Gardens with some new friends in the amazing [finally SUNNY] weather, its beyond gorgeous there.

^bird in the gardens^

-Finally wore my black lace dress from Vegas, pics to come!

-Won a $200 hair makeover from DirtyGirl salon in Newtown. Daniel is going to do my hair personally. [His regular client is Alicia Keys] also pics to come!

-Got tickets to Stereosonic with G and Lil and who knows who else! I seriously can't wait!

-Watched a few rugby games at Bungalow 8 on the harbour. Fun atmosphere, but I'm still just not that into rugby.

-Went to the Crave Sydney Food Festival's night noodle markets with G. He was adorably out of his element

-Developed a nice chesty cough, hopefully this goes away ASAP.

-Am decidedly upset that I'm leaving in less than 6 weeks, I adore it here and have decided I will definitely be coming back sometime after graduation.

That's pretty much all I can think of right now, but I'm off to Surrey Hills tonight and beach/ show at the Opera House tomorrow so more soon!

Miss you all to the moon and back!

XXX

Spring Break Part 2- Friday -> Sunday

The Weekend

and the saga continues... because I know you all have been waiting with bated breath :/ ha.

Friday- everyone was still gone in Cairnes so I went out with Lily and a bunch of her friends to celebrate one of the couples who just got married and are moving away to Malaysia. So to begin the asian sensation that was my night we started with Karaoke at this place on pitt st. then headed out asian clubbing... yes I know... ASIAN clubbing at this club called Vola.. it was SO crowded you wouldn't even believe it.

But after like 130am it cleared enough to breathe and we finally made it to the dance floor! I made friends with the bouncer and he let me spend the rest of the night dancing on the DJ booth until 430am until I finally made it home and totally passed out!

Saturday- I went out with Alexa, Alexia, Peter, Liza, Mara, and Sarah to Argyle. Argyle is one of my fav places to go out in the city so far. Its pretty classy with a big outdoor patio that's kind of hidden down between 2 rustic looking buildings and theres all these tiki lights and a bunch of nice 20-30 somethings in dress clothes. Loved it. The group didn't want to stay very long tho and so we ended up stopping at sidebar.. this seedy little place by our apt that I've managed to avoid this far into the trip. Obviously we made a late night stop at McDonald's and then went home.

Sunday- The last day of our break was pretty relaxed. Met Katarina at the bar in Darling Harbor on the water called Bungalow 8 to watch the rugby world cup game between AU and South Africa with some of her friends. I had made plans with G. so he just met me there and we ended up going to Opera Bar... (by the Opera House) and sitting on these chairs by the water and people watching with a few beers for a while. He's super funny and the best people watching partner! :)

We got dinner at this dumpling house called Din Tai Fung which is actually really famous in Asia and delicious but it was even more enjoyable watching G attempt the whole chopstick thing.. he was definitely out of his comfort zone.. it was cute.

Then I came home and chilled.. not at all excited for classes to begin again.

But this week is a whole new thing and I can't wait to see what this second half of the program has in store.. because if its anything like the beginning it's going to be RIDICULOUS!!!

More soon,

xx

*I*

Spring Break Part 1

Mon-Thurs.

So, I'm gonna do this recap in 2 parts since otherwise there's just too much and I inevitably end up forgetting things, which will probably happen anyways, but oh well!

Also-i'm sneaking in Saturday too since i want to put up my surfing photos!

Here's a shot from the day at Maroubra Beach..

It was a little cold but i had a really good time and I wouldn't mind going back again :)

Monday- The first day of spring break. Officially since we (i.e. Bess and I) basically just watched a season of Mad Men and like every show on Hulu that we could find on Sat & Sunday being exhausted from finals. Bess, Kelly and I wanted to actually get out of the house so we tried to go to Oxford St/ Bondi Beach, but since it was Australian Labor day.. aka a public holiday.. the bus we needed was apparently not running, so we scrapped that plan and headed down to Circular Quay to explore. When we got there we decided that we would take the ferry across the bay to Manly (which is the northern suburb-ish part of Sydney right across the bridge. Unfortunately the weather wasn't really on our side and it was basically raining the whole time we were there. :( There was also a Jazz Fest going on so it was randomly crowded on the boardwalk and so we found a little restaurant to have some pizza and drinks and then we hightailed it back home after a couple hours. Not the most exciting day ever but at least we got out of the apt.

trying to enjoy our Manly Beach Day

Tuesday- Went to the gym finally, I'd been slacking bc of finals/ my lack of motivation but I figured I might as well get my $$$ worth for the membership and get my butt over there. After Bess and I headed over to the Broadway shopping center for a bit and I found some really cute stuff! I got a cute little blue plaid crop tank and a really comfortable hoody that I've been desperately needing. Also a silver cuff to match my other one so I was a pretty happy camper. Grabbed an ice cream cone and caught up with Joe for a little while in the evening and we all went out for drinks so I could meet Julian's gf who is here visiting him over break. She seems nice and a good match for him.

Wednesday- More gym. Basically everyone left for the Great Barrier Reef this afternoon (aka Cairnes) in the north on the group trip so I have the apt to myself. It's actually really nice and quiet and clean, so I don't mind. I've made a little cocoon out of my comforter and pillows on our sofa which I'm really enjoying. :)

Went out for drinks and stuff with V. and his friends at this place in the Eastern suburbs (aka the reaaaaaally nice suburbs) called "the Golden Sheaf" which is apparently where everyone goes (well, at least all the UNSW students) on Wednesday nights. It was actually really fun, there's a huge outdoor patio part, with a connected dj/ dance floor section and then an upstairs bar and stuff too. The upstairs dj was playing no scrubs and destiny's child when I got up there so of course I loved it! ha.

V. and I @ the Sheaf

Thursday- Sam, Julian, Julian's gf and I went on a tour ALL over Manly suburbs with our chill professor Daryl (who's class we just finished) which was awesome. We drove over the Sydney Harbor bridge so now I can say that I've done that, we stopped along the way and got out to take pics and walk along all these cute little secret beaches and stuff that tourists don't know about. SO pretty! [pics are coming I promise... I'm waiting til the weekend's over to upload] Daryl took us to get some drinks and chips after and it was a great afternoon.

^Manly Beach^

My Favorite new friend from Manly!!! I named him Chuck.

After we got back I went to the Shangri La hotel (so chic) that has this bar called Altitude at the very top on the 36th floor with G. He got me this drink called a HELLO KITTY! which was like rum and strawberries and yummy-ness :) He knows me too well. The views were phenomenal.

View from the ShangriLa... its WAY better in person :)

Then we went to this little Thai restaurant in Newtown. We went bc it apparently used to be called "thai-tanic" which is super cute and clever but when we got there it had been changed to Thai-something else which was SO not as witty. But the food was delish so all was good. Afterwards G suggested Max Brenner (the Australian Willy Wonka factory basically) so obviously that had to happen. White chocolate chai = so yummy.

All in all it was a very good night :)

Today is Friday and I'm going out with Lily and some of her friends so should be a lot of fun! I'm being lazy and avoiding the gym but I will definitely go tomorrow since Sunday I'm meeting C down in Wollongong for an adventure and coming back before class Monday afternoon! Then our internships start on Tuesday (cue hyperventilating)

Eek! Too much to handle.. pics and more stories soon!

xxx

*I*