Some pics

Just a few pictures of random stuff. I went up to Sydney a few weeks ago to see my Mum when she was over here (she came unexpectedly to visit her brother - my uncle - who has extremely advanced cancer). We stopped in an international candy store and I couldn't resist a bag of my all-time favorite jelly bellys - juicy pear! I was so excited and they were oh so good.






Brent and I went to the annual Australian American Association black tie dinner and this was my attempt at a girly up-do. It wasn't perfect (didn't look as good as I wanted from the back), but I am still happy with my attempt and I don't think I looked half bad! The evening was a lot of fun and we met some interesting people as well.






One of the biggest sporting events in Australia is "Melbourne Cup Day" - a horse race. Though the race itself only lasts about a minute, it is a day of celebration, even outside of Melbourne. We had a work party where we ate the traditional cold chicken lunch and most of the women wore big fancy hats (even me, though I didn't take a photo). My colleague in this picture won the best costume prize as he wore his jockey glasses and a fitting rain coat as it was pouring! It was a fun afternoon - even better knowing we were getting paid while partying! :)









On Veteran's Day we went to the US Embassy for a concert by the US Air Force Band that came from Hawaii just for this! It was a lot of fun and I even got to chat up the Ambassador for a while. He is from California so we had a nice chat about that. The Ambassador is singing with the band in this photo (wearing the light hawaiian shirt) as he loves Elvis and he joined in to sing it!

Happy Halloween!

Puking Pumpkin! (guacamole)


I love Halloween, I always have. When I was little and we lived in Melbourne, my Dad would take us out and we would knock on doors and give them candy since Halloween was not celebrated at all here at that time. Over the years, it has gained in popularity a little bit, though most people 40+ scoff at it (they do about almost anything American). I didn't do anything last year and I was sad about that so this year I decided to have a party.
I started planning back in September and in early October a few things started to appear in a couple random stores here and there. I stocked up on what I could and my parents were so good to me and sent me a ton of stuff. I made up some cool e-vites and sent them out and got the house all decked out. I put spiderwebbing everywhere, had small lights and candles everywhere for cool lighting, had fog machines and even made a cemetery in the backyard with tiki torches. It looked awesome. I made a ton of food and even managed to find a cauldron to put the main drink in and had a cool little fogger in it. I was so excited for weeks, but when the night came, only 6 people showed up. I had a really good time with those that were there, but I was really disappointed that not many people came. It isn't about the money, but I spent I think at least $500 on everything. Most of the decorations I can use again in the future though.
But despite the bad turnout it was a lot of fun. I had scary music playing, we bobbed for apples and I even had a pinata. Here's hoping next year's numbers are better! :)

Living Room



Backyard foggy cemetery



Cauldron drink table (you can't see the fog)



The food table