Christmas Smells, Lost Pictures, Mango Salsa and a Tight Arse

I will be honest this evening I was ready to hunker down and write a sappy little post. A wah wah Rachel pull your big girl panties up post. It all started when I walked into a little market and I smelled a smell. A smell I associate with Christmas and my house. The aroma of a Christmas wreath. I stood there in the aisle and took it in. I think I even closed my eyes and pretended I was in St. Paul, MN. ( Yes, there was Christmas in Thailand but all wreaths, trees and pine cones were plastic or some other artificial material.)

Just so happens Christmas Eve will be at our house which in my mind is the best.(Our house..like I am still living on James Ave with mom, dad, famous, and the alien) At the end of the night when the dinner has been eaten, the pie has been served, Christmas carols sung in anticipation of Santa coming in all snowy to call each cousin up by name for a lap sit, photo opp and a present.... we get to stay in the warmth of our house.  We don't have to pile into a cold car!! We drink, we be marry, dry the dishes and tuck ourselves right into our warm bed. I WANT TO BE THERE!!!!! Ok. see this is what I was not going to do.....many many more chilly Christmas Eves will be had, I should really appreciate these sunshine Christmas's while I got them!!!

So lets switch topics shall we??

A few months ago Brad and I would discuss one of our Chicago run-ins.  This particular run-in just happened to fall on St. Patricks Day. There was friendly banter about the place and the activity that had taken place that day.  He kept telling me I was on a bar crawl and I kept being like...I have NO IDEA what you are talking about. Bar names were thrown out and google maps were brought up. Brad got points for the day it was and the bar we were at. However he lost some points because I was coming home from a day at the South Side of Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade with Rach...so really not an "official" bar crawl.  We shook hands and it has not really been talked about again. Until today. I checked my email and this little treat was in my inbox.

To: ME
From: Rach
Lookie what I found!  I was organizing and deleting a bunch of old pictures.  I've only seen Brad via your blog, but is this your live in lover?

To: Rach

From: Me

THAT's HIM!!! THAT's HIM!!!

Look how cute he is and how overserved I am!

Now the next thing I have to talk about really quick is how Brad and I are getting really good at cooking dinner. Not to toot our own horn but we have been whipping up some cookbook worthy dishes. I am just so proud of us I have to share our Wednesday night dinner with you....easy, healthy and quick!

 Shredded chicken, mango salsa, avocado, and red bean salad!! We made everything...so gooood!!

Last but not least yesterday was tight arse Tuesday. I wish I was the person that came up with this clever name for cheap movie night....but someone else gets the credit for that.  Brad and I went on our first movie date to Moneyball. See it. We really enjoyed it...the only thing that was missing were the gummy worms. Next Tuesday those gummies are going down!!

Sunday Night Picnic

Soccer was in

Miss Bondi was out

Grocery Store Run Complete

Team Dinner

Vegggies and Fish to kick off a healthy week

 GET IT!!

 FOOD COMA

Our New Past Time

The End

Forgot how to sleep in

It is true, I can't sleep in! Sunday morning after sharing some Captain with Brad I am up before 8AM. I could blame this on a few things.

1. I am just so excited to attack this beautiful day! Grab a coffee, head to the beach then go watch the Miss Bondi contest.....or

2. Maybe it was the alarm sometime in 5AM's then the 7AM's  to check the score of the BIGGEST game of the year. Ohio State VS Michigan.  Dang it Ohio state!!! All those early morning score checks...for what! You guys must not understand Brads dedication to you....could have kicked those field goals a little better.

Does not matter why I am up or how I am up the important thing is there is lots to catch up on so I will take this time to do just that. I guess we should start with Thanksgiving.  At all these parties and gathering there are at least 3 people with fancy cameras working on their skills. Once I harass them to email or put the pictures up on facebook I will share. For now I will just put a few sneak peakers up!

There were two big things that happened on Thanksgiving that I will never in all my life forget. Well no....3 things.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I CARVED THE TURKEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look at the size of that BIRD. Ryan started it....gave up...all the American boys were outside playing catch. No one else really understood what an important job the turkey carver has...no one stepped in. I WAS HUNGRY. 

So. 

I carved the beast. 

!!!!!I MADE MY 1st APPLE PIE!!!!!

Thanks mom for the recipe and the confidence that yes, I could maybe not burn the house down.

Grandpa Vesta you would have been proud of my apple pie!! 

They like it, they really did. Unless they were just being nice or they had so much wine anything was tasting good. 

  Our housemate, Danielle was on decorations. Danielle is from Australia and has only celebrated Thanksgiving one other time. She ordered them online and they arrived a few hours before dinner was served...they were American flavored. It was pretty much 4th of July meets Indians and Pilgrims. 

Best

Decorations

Ever

Thanksgiving...check check

The day after I woke up feeling the worst I have felt in a long time so Friday was cleanup, cookie eating, movie watching, rainy day.  I worked a short little after school shift then headed home right back to bed. The red wine always tastes so good the night before but the pounding head the next day has scared me away from wine for at least 72 hours. 

Saturday morning it was rainy again. The 5th day in a row with rain. I had had enough! I wanted beach time.  I was slowing becoming addicted to Fruit Ninja on Brads Ipad and getting cabin fever. Just as I started my 15th game of Fruit Ninja the clouds parted the sun came out to play!

Rob, Ryan, and Brad joined me sea side. I started with a few laps in the sand and needed a cool down. We went for a quick dip and no more then 5 minutes after we got out of the water the alarms sounded. These are not tornado alarms friends and family. These are shark alarms.  The life guards were blowing their whistles and getting everyone's attention to GET OUT OF THE WATER. It was just like a scene from jaws. Boats and a helicopter were zooming and flying around. We did not actually see the shark but we are pretty sure they spotted him, tracked him and scared him back into the deep blue sea. In 2 years Brad has only heard the shark alarm one other time!  Oh and some goofballs, I am sorry, really bad ass surfers stayed in the water with their little legs dangling off the side of the boards! FOOLS!!!!

Alright. That is all for now! Not a cloud in the sky I think it is time to put my swimsuit on and head down to the beach.  Maybe just put my toes in today in case our little friend finds his way back to Bondi. Then it is time to be one of the guys and help them choose a lucky lady to be Miss Bondi while reminding them to keep their mouths closed and they will never get her number with drool trickling down their chins.

HAPPY SUNDAY FUNDAY

Meet My New Cousin

Congratulations to my Aunt Molly and Uncle Steve on bringing Miss Mary Lucille into the world! I am so excited to have a new little baby cousin and could not be more happy for them.  I can't wait to meet her!! So much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving a whole 15 hours early

This is another one in few Thanksgivings where I am up and bright eyed and bushy tailed.  Usually the night before our big Thanksgiving feast you can find me and my St. Paul crew bellied up to any of the good old St. Paul bars...ok lets be real I would have been at Plumbs last night.  I talked to Liz yesterday and she said the whole gang was in town and going out for drinks.  Liz, Laura, Marybeth and Elise all amazing women who I can not wait to catch up with someday soon!  I hope you had a few extra for me ladies.

Last Thanksgiving I was in Bangkok the land of Som Tom, Pad Thai, street meat and soup stands. All the American teachers came together and one of our favorite bars put on on a Thanksgiving dinner for the a whopping price of 500 Baht ($16.14) We stuffed ourselves with turkey, mashed potatoes, fresh rolls gravy and wine!!! In Bangkok!! Who would have thought that was possible?

This year I find myself in another foreign country where most Thanksgiving ingredients can be found to cook a feast at home, just at a steep price. How much do you think the turkey cost?  Ok I will tell you. $143.00. If I was Australian that would be a good enough reason not to host a Thanksgiving dinner. 

Price is no issue for having a home cooked meal! Right!? Right!?  I am SO excited for tonight because like last year this will be a Thanksgiving to remember.  123 Blair Street has a great group of friends from all over the globe that are living in Sydney and will be joining us for an epic dinner tonight.  I can't wait to see what ends up on my Thanksgiving plate this year and what I can put in my back pocket to add to Thanksgiving feasts in the future.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving

I AM THANKFUL FOR

Ice Cream

My wonderful, caring, loving, supporting, super cool parents

My horse loving, beer drinking sister

My hockey playing, sweet little brother...well he is not that little anymore I guess

My generous, handsome, loving Brad

Old FRIENDS and New FRIENDS

Aunts, Uncles, Cousins
Grandparents even if they live far away or watching over me from above

All the things I got to see and experience this year and staying safe while on the road

Sunshine

Memories

SKYPE

Red Wine

Bondi Beach runs

Music that makes you happy inside and starts dance parties

Books

Blogs

Cafes with a tasty treats and perfect cups of coffee

I could go ON and ON and ON but it is time for the pie pan hunt to begin.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Details, pictures, and stories of a Thanksgiving Down Under coming soon......

Celebrating when Pilgrims meet Indians meet Aussies meet Brits meet Canadians

Oh man alive. Thanksgiving eve here in Australia. It was spent playing rummy, drinking wine and snacking on pretzels with Bradley. Perfect!

 I have run into some problems with my contributions to Thanksgiving dinner. I can't find a pie tin to try to make my mamas apple pie and they don't sell cranberries in this country. So the hunt continues tomorrow for a pie pan!! 25 people plus for turkey day dinner tomorrow at 123 Blair Street.  I will keep you all posted on the outcome as usual. 

gobble gobble 

Going to have to kick this fear of spiders

BUT IT IS SO HARD WHEN THEY ARE SO GIANT!!!  I am sitting at home right now, just getting done with my morning chores of the dishes, putting away clean clothes, making the bed all while hoping my phone will ring and send me off into the city for some work.  Since I have not got a phone call I thought it would be safe to put some towels in the wash. Well as I was about to walk out the back door I spotted huge big bellied spider hanging out. There was a shriek as I dropped the arm load of towels, got the shivers and ran into the bedroom. Over reaction. Maybe. But I kept thinking what if I did not see it and it flew at me with fangs and those big harry legs!?!?  I don't know what these Australian spiders can do. They can probably jump, bite, kill and I would not be surprised if they could chase.

I walked ALLLLLL the way around the house to the back where the laundry machine is. I will be spying on him so he does not creep into the living room and if he does I will be taking leave from the house today.

Alright that is all for now. It is 9:30 AM so if I do not get a call in the next few hours my day will include a power walk downtown for a lunch date, getting a library card to get a certain someone started on the good old Harry Potter books, spider spying and maybe a few skype dates.

Please send me spider repellent. 

Culburra Beach Time

We pulled up to the beach front house late Friday night and when we piled out of the car we were all taken aback by the number of stars that were above us. Brad kept trying to point out ORION'S  belt and I am pretty sure there were more stars then actual sky that night. As the Australians would say, "There are heaps of stars out tonight!"

The weekend was just what I had in mind and better. We got boat loads of food and booze. We made eggs, toast and bacon one morning then pear, blueberry, and ice cream crepes the next morning. We had a taco night with turkey tacos, chips and salsa, refried beans and super hot sauce. For snacks we chowed down on juicy watermelon, puppy chow and gummies.

 Weekend activities included bronzing in the sun, reading, sipping captain cokes, beach volleyball, coffee runs, poker(oh yea watch out Vegas Rachy learned how to play Texas Hold'em), kings, a beach run followed by me having a solo dance party that turned into a morning swim with my hunk of a boyfriend. The only reason it was a solo dance party is because I was the only one who could hear the music and I was in such a good mood my run turned more into some sick moves I usually bust out on the dance floor.

The house was fantastic. The view was unreal. There was a main house and a bunk house all with a little old fashion decor. Which made it sweet, simple, homey and comfortable. Ashley has a fantastic gramps for letting her bring friends down for the weekend.  I feel very blessed with the group of people Brad has introduced me to so I have memories like this weekend that are adding to such a wonderful experience in Australia.

AUSTRALIA!! I almost for one second forgot where I was this weekend, however I remembered because instead of deer signs on the side of the road....there were kangaroo signs!!!!! My eyes were hunting so bad for one I needed a Tylenol Sunday night. No dad, that is not from to much captain!!!

There are more pictures..somewhere so I will throw them up when they surface. Thanks to Brads smart tele he snapped this one of me and the sunset.

Warning to Vegetarians

Ribs

Ribs

Ribs

Baked Potato

Garlic Mushrooms

Calamari

Red Wine

BBQ Chicken

Salad

Rolls

Hurricanes Bondi Beach

We did not want to have a last dinner with Mr. Waller but Hurricanes was a good place for it.  We had a great time while he was here and wish him safe travels back to the states and a happy extra long Friday!

Brad and I are off with some friends to go to Culburra which is a few hours south of Sydney.  Culburra is a small little seaside town known for fishing and surfing. We are staying in a quaint little beach house and hopefully we cook up some good family style dinners, play board games,have plenty of tan time, maybe a beach bonfire and some impromptu dance parties.  I will have a full report Sunday night!

xo

My new gig

I did not want to jinx it earlier in the week but I have a job. Kinda. I have started working for this company that provides casual workers for preschools/kindercares/daycare facilities.  I call in the morning at 7AM and they direct me to where an extra set of hands is needed.  Pros and cons to this job for sure but I am going to embrace the positives today.
1. I call in when I CAN work. So if we have something planned or going on one afternoon I do not have to try to get a shift covered or off!
2.I am getting to know my way around Sydney even more.  I take buses, trains and walk through new neighborhoods.
3.I am learning important lessons. ALWAYS carry cash because if I am at a center where no cafe or restaurant takes cards within a 5 min radius walk all I get is a coffee. Better idea, I start making lunch! Save money and no lunch hunting!
4. Everyday is different from location to people!

Now I just have to hope they are as busy as they say they are so I can work Monday-Friday!!

The Australian Open

I am not going to lie, I had my doubts about this day.  Was not sure if I would enjoy going to a golf tourni....turns out don't knock it until you try it!  I loved it!  We had some sun and some wine.  We got to yell "get in the hole!!" to Tigers golf ball and "coooome on BUBBA!!!"

  We walked into the tournament and 40 seconds later we hear a thud and we all ducked and covered to late as we see the ball rolling inches, inches from us!!

 Tiger on the 15th green in his Sunday best

Brad and Rach on the 9th green

It is not the safest spectating sport with those little white balls being turned pretty much into bullets flying down the fareway.  Sure some of these guys say they are professional but they can't control a bad shank into a crowd of fans. Tiger had a mob following him the whole day but we were lucky because it was not that crowded so we never had a bad view on the green or to the tee box.  

Bring on professional golf tournaments. Thanks Mr. Waller and Brad for a great day on the course!

Blair Party Photos Leaked!

Big Waller and Little Waller

We have had a great couple of days so far with Mr. William Waller.  I will take this opportunity to share some pictures of his first 48 hours in Australia.  We have seen the bridge, the Opera house, had plenty of beers, wines, Arthur's Pizza, got sunburns on Bondi, cooked burgers, had story times and viewed seaside sculptures.

Giant Ocean Bathtub!!!

 The old TV was art. Thinking outside the box

I am a  lucky girl getting to hang with these guys and can't wait to see what the rest of the weekend and next week brings us! 

Missing Person

So I have been doing many things to really pimp myself out here in Bondi Beach. Adds on Gumtree where I am not only posting that I am looking for a job but I am also applying to them as well on this site.  I have dropped resumes off, gone on group interviews and hung my picture with a little something special written about myself below it in a coffee shop around the corner. The ladies who run the place told me yesterday that they had to scribble babysitter across the top because some people, at first glance, thought it was a missing person add. grrrrrrrrrrrreat.

Back to gumtree.  I have gotten one text asking if I could pretend to be an immigration officer to catch a cheating husband. It would be a 2 min phone call, she would meet me anywhere and pay me 20 bucks. I did not respond. I also got an email asking if I would like to get intimate  for $160 an hour. I did not respond to that one either. Come on crazy people and creepers.... scram!!! I am trying to be real here!  

Flower Girl

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Rachel who was asked to be a flower girl for her Aunt Colleen.  There was also a young boy named Micheal. He was a  nephew of her soon to be husband Tom and was given the title of ring bearer. After that wedding weekend in Minnesota these two, pretty cute kids if you ask me,.

Never saw

each                 other

again

Until Derby day 2011 in Melbourne, Australia

CrAzY

WE both arrived in Australia 3 weeks apart from each other and Colleen got us in contact! Micheal lives in Melbourne and has had some luck in the teaching department there. Landed and BOOM a teaching job. Way to go buddy! Micheal hung out with us Friday and Saturday gracing us with his outgoingness, friendliness and capturing some great moments at Derby Day with his fancy camera!  So here we are trying to recreate that pose from a few years ago!

Vana what??

Short and sweet updates from down under

--Blair Street BBQ pictures are coming soon.  Out of the hundred or so people here 5 of them had fancy cameras and they were working on their skills.  As soon they are released to the public I will put some up!

--My buddy Joe hooked me up with a catering gig on occasional weekends.  It is at this place pretty far from my Bondi Beach bungalow but the cash, people watching and free food are worth the treck.  Let me see if I can explain it to you what this place is like.  It is a casino/buffet/restaurant/lounge/bar/rooms upstairs for functions and then there is a Chinese Restaurant attached to it.  So I put on my new uniform and helped cater two first communion luncheons.  Fast paced, easy, nice people...not to bad!  After working from about 11AM to 5:30PM Joe and hung around for the one and only meat raffle, a few cocktails and Joe got himself a steak while I nibbled on pumpkin. (My NEW favorite veggie) 

Mostly Italians are hanging around here and this was a group of older gentlemen watching the meat raffle screen like it was the last important thing on earth.  

 Our unlucky meat raffle ticket with our refreshing Sav Blanc, brewski and this delish little drink with lemonade, bitters and I think lime?? So refreshing. So good. How I had never had something like it before I am not sure.

--I have some great opportunities for some babysitting/nanny gigs coming in.  I am meeting with two moms and one agency that will place me with families or child care centers. The pay here is pretty high so I could rebuild the bank account pretty fast with regular work while I am getting my teaching paper work sorted out.  Ideally in a few months I would like to have a second grade class in a lovely little private school but like I said I need to get recognized as a certified teacher first which could take some time. 

--We have a special visitor coming to Sydney this week and will be staying in the EXACT same pent house as mother and father Dietsch.  MR WALLER!!! Very excited to meet him and for Brad to get some father/son time.  Parents are just the best and when they travel 1/2 way around the world to come see us they are better then the best.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE

-- WE ARE GOING TO VANUATU--

To be honest I do not believe it. We have booked the trip and just have to pick the long weekend where we explore the exotic island. Actually, I did not even know this place was a real place till a few weeks ago when Brad expressed interest in heading that way. I will give more details maybe some facts about the island as we put the trip together in the next few weeks. I love traveling, I love my new travel partner and planning all these adventures with him is so exciting and well I think quite special. Keep them coming!! 

Vanuatu here we come