Erin and Kevin Visit!

Erin and Kevin, friends from business school visited Australia for a little over a week. While we were not the main attraction (a wedding in Perth was) we loved to see them and hang around Sydney! Having friends around is just what the doctor ordered!

We packed a lot in the few days they were here! Christmas Eve drinks with our neighbors, Manly, Bondi, Coogee, Sydney to Hobart race start, well really it was just the longest ferry ride EVER, Chrissy with Jules and Oscar, Speed Boating, exploring the city. We also got to meet with with Curtis and Allison who were enjoying a Sydney holiday for a BBQ on Boxing Day at our apartment.

How is this the only photo of all of us I have????

Walking around Bondi! 

Bone Crusher says, DON'T LEAVE!

Thanks for visiting, we miss you guys and can't wait to see you again soon! XOXO

Happy Chrissy (even if its a bit late)

When we first moved here we both wondered when we would get homesick. We figured it would happen around the holidays. So, I braced myself for thanksgiving, but we were both working and no one here celebrates t-giving (duh), so we didn't really have time to think about it. I've been much more homesick in the states not being with my family than I was here - since no one is with family you're reminded you aren't, if that makes sense.

We talked about leaving Sydney for Christmas for this very reason. Instead we opted to stay in Sydney and I have to say it was the best decision we made. Here is what our day looked like:

Everyone enjoys the sun and goes to the beach. On our bus to the beach (at 10 AM) there were two English bros rocking out to Bob Marley and drinking vodka slushies. #stralia

Started off at Coogee beach with the Pisca's 

It was a picture perfect day. And I got to Skype with my mom from the beach :)

Everyone was in santa hats and red 

People set up with their Christmas trees on the beach

In true Australian fashion Christmas is actually just a drinking event. As you leave the beach and walk up to the grass you see where the real parties are. This was about 11:30 and people were going hard already. This takes planning because EVERYTHING is closed on Chrissy - I mean everything, you can barely even get a coffee. And that goes for Boxing Day, the day after Chrissy as well.

These guys were crossing the street to get to their party with all the important things, cases of beer, propane and a BBQ....no shoes, no shirt, santa hat, check.

Then we heeded to the Dean's for a proper family Christmas celebration. We ate dinner outside, thats right, Christmas outside!

The Chrissy spread - seafood on seafood! 

No Christmas celebration is complete without poppers 

The table aftermath 

Then we transitioned to the backyard, where we played some games and continued generating with sparkling red wine. The Australians were outnumbered out there - only 2 of 8. So we had an American country sing along. It was great fun!

The "kids"

Fun with Lollies aka candy 

Love these guys! Wine teeth much?

As always, thanks Oscar & Jules and their families for welcoming us into their homes and making us feel right at home in Australia! And I can't forget that Greg had an Australian Quiz prepared for all the Americans, which was awesome!

Thanksgiving Down Under

Thanksgiving week was a big week in the Speelman household! I started work that Monday and then we hosted a party on Saturday to celebrate. It was strange to start week after all of my time off on Thanksgiving week! I was definitely not planning on drinking until about midnight on Friday with new co-workesrs, grocery shopping at 1 AM and then waking up at 7 AM to cook....but hey you only live once. #YOLO as the kids say.

Of course we celebrated in style. We wanted to really give the Australians a true thanksgiving experience, that meant fancy dress. (Fancy dress is what Australians call costumes, it still gets me a bit confused, fancy dress = cocktail in my head)

The whole family 

The cutest turkey out there!  

We had a mix of American and Australian friends over and one Frenchmen. The food all turned out well, it was my first turkey. Most of the ovens here are fan forced, I am not sure if I like them more or less. It does cook faster. We took the turkey out to baste and discovered it was already done in only 3 hours (it was a 7kg bird). Please also notice the baster - we could not find one anywhere, so we used a tomato sauce bottle, empty of course.

Chef Oscar made an appearance and I forced him to wear this apron.

Our kitchen is soooo small - three of us in there was intense!

The spread - thanks to Hayley for the photo I stole from her blog.

And of course there was a drinking game, it was called chug a beer as fast as you can. This consultants have a way with coming up with creative games.

We had a great day with great friends! My only regrets were not taking a picture of everyone and not saving leftovers for Jules :) This is sure to be an annual event!

Visitors!!!

We were so excited that Cool Mix (one of my college, called uni here, friends) and Topher were flying though Sydney after their 40 day honeymoon in New Zealand. They were only here one night and it could not have been more perfect (well other than the torrential downpour they get stuck in trying to find "the basement"). Seriously people, you have no idea how nice it is to see friends in Sydney!

We went to Mr. Wong's for dinner. It was SOOOO Good, I have been dreaming about the twice cooked pork cubes daily since Wednesday.

If you visit Sydney Mr. Wong's is a great place to go! And you will look cool, cause its in an alley, there are a few restaurants right near it as well if the wait is too long. 

Road Trip - Day 37 & 38: San Diego and LA

The last two days of the road trip really centered around getting to LA on time for our flight and seeing a few more friends along the way! And this time we had Bone Crusher along for the ride, on my lap specifically since our car is jam packed. He is only 19 pounds, but man that gets heavy!

Shane, one of Chris' college buddies, is in the process of moving to San Diego for work and was there for the week so we changed our plans of going straight to LA and went San Diego for the night. Its always a good time seeing Shane. Lots of our friends are in process of big life changes, moving across the country, having babies, etc. It's a nice feeling to see an old friend when everything is changing, it just feels like its all ok and will work out - if that makes any sense.

Bones' first time to the beach (no, Lake Michigan does not count) - La Jolla

Bones wanted to eat the seagulls and the sea lions in the background

After San Diego, we headed up to LA. Holy traffic - it took us 4 hours! Glynn & Charlie were nice enough to let us stay with them in their awesome West Hollywood pad (I think) with Bone Crusher. I think he might like Charlie as much as Chris and me.

He stayed at Charlie's door for at least 15 minutes after Charlie went to bed

We went to dinner with KK, my college friend, at Goldie's! It was really good - the turned the music up at 9 PM and I felt old because I wanted to ask the DJ to turn it down. Oh LA :) I'm gonna miss you KK, you have to come visit! We will see her again before our flight takes off tonight.

One of my Fav's - Katie K! 

 We went to brunch with Bone Crusher at BLD...and we saw Jonah Hill. We were pretty excited to see a celebrity - we were to shy to say hi.

Brunch at BLD (breakfast, lunch, dinner), SOOOOO good!

Thanks Glynn and Charlie for hosting us - Bone Crusher loved your house!  

Bones Chillin' with Lobster

And super exciting, Ian and Emily booked their flights to visit us down under in February! Our first confirmed visitors - can't wait!  

Road Trip - Day 25 & 26: Dallas, TX

Top Ten reasons we love Dallas, more in chronological order than anything.  

10.  Ian, Emily and Hattie were amazing hosts, seriously, they even gave us weather in the 80s. In Texas, in the summer!   

Is Chris wearing a name tag that says Lauren?

9. There is no shortage of crazies on the grassy knoll, so many conspiracy theorists. There is also a huge X in the road where JFK was shot, it was too eerie and strange to take a photo of for me....although it didn't stop people from darting into three lanes of traffic for a selfie. Seriously, I kind of wanted them to get hit. 

8.  Hands down the cutest pup in Texas, Hattie! Just 9 months old and such a lover!  

Look at that mug - Harriet La'Queeshia

7.  Shooting shit, its not Texas if you don't shoot guns.  If we broke into Ian & Emily's house we would rather have him shooting at us than Emily...maybe but, she did hit 3 bulls eyes in a row! 

One of our targets

6.  The staff of Baby Dolls has their pre-game meal at Velvet Taco, which was delicious.  

5. Everything is bigger in Dallas, EVERYTHING. Especially their trucks and highways.  

Five Deep!  

Texas is that BIG!

4.  But don't worry, Texas is green too. They built an awesome, huge park over the highway that is really cool!

3.  Sunday Funday at the pool was awesome -  after traveling so much it felt like just a normal day with friends!

Emily, Ian, Chris and Me

2.  Enter the grocery store with Ian at your own risk!  Welchs sparkling cider explodes when you drop it and this is the aftermath :) I haven't laughed that hard in a while!  

1.  We discovered that Dallas is definitely a place we would consider moving when we come back to the states. There is no snow, but generally you still get at least 1 ice day a year - sounds perfect.

In all seriousness, we had a great time in Dallas! Thanks for showing us such a great time Ian and Emily!