Australian Thanksgiving

Team Thanksgiving

On Thursday Stephanie, Meredith and I put together a traditional Thanksgiving for our Aussie and American friends. The party was a huge success largely due to Meredith's unbelievable turkey cooking skills. She managed to turn out a juicy, flavourful turkey despite the fact that we did not know how to properly operate our oven which resulted in us broiling the turkey for the first hour....OOOPs :-)

We had a severe spoonery drought in our flat and asked our guests to bring peace offerings in the form of spoons...another HUGE success, thanks to the creativity of the attendees we collected enough spoons to have enough serving utensils for all of our dishes....next party chair donations?!

Throughout the evening guests wrote what they were thankful for on our "Thanksgiving Canvas"....here is the result....

I personally am incredibly thankful for the opportunities I have been blessed with this year...Australia has been a dream and I am thankful for the new friends and old who have made the transition so smooth and also for my family and friends scattered across the globe for their support of my dreams and faith in my abilities....

Harbourlife 2010

On Saturday we danced the day away at HarbourLife Music Festival...

Line Up:
SOSUEME DJS
KNIGHTLIFE
METRONOMY
FLIGHT FACILITIES
YACHT CLUB DJS
EMBER
THE TEMPER TRAP

This is probably the best music festival in Sydney because of the stunning location, fun line up and limited attendees (only 5,000 tickets are sold--which keeps the dance floor danceable).

Venue 505

Another amazing night in Sydney...I'm making an official pact to let you all in on more of my life in this incredible city....sooo Alice has been in Sydney since Friday...more about that and the weekend tomorrow.



But tonight we went to a jazz venue called 505. I went to a show there last November when it was still a studio of apartment of a jazz connoisseur..But they have since expanded and now occupy a very cozy bar in Surrey Hills (corner of Cleveland St. and Perry St...but shhh...I'm really wanting to keep this as a local secret!!)



We saw a SPECTACULAR performance from Gerard Masters Trio...one of the most inspiring jazz performance of my life...two former music conservatory students and their teacher.... video to come!

Sailing in Sydney Harbour

To really experience Sydney, one must really get out on to the water. You get a completely new appreciation for this amazing city. I've been incredibly fortunate to have found myself out on the water on numerous occasions. One of my favorite water activities is the Twilight Sail. It is a more casual Friday evening race which starts around 5:30 p.m. The race can take anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3 hours depending on the winds....here is a few photos of me sailing Caroline la Duce.

Lunches and dinners at the Royal Sydney Yatch Squadron are also very memorable...great food and company. On Saturday I had the Steak Sandwich...fresh baguette, with a 1-inch steak (med-rare), tomatoes, rockette, onions and a fantastic sauce---wish I took a photo :-)

MelBIN and the Race that stops the Nation

I've spent the last week in Melbourne. Stephanie and I went down to see friends and watch the Derby Day Races. This year marked the 150th anniversary of the Melbourne Cup, also know as the "Race that stops a Nation". The Aussies take horse racing so seriously that the state of Victoria has an official day off on the Tuesday of the Melbourne Cup race! This year a horse called Americain won....coincidence?! Unfortunately, Stephanie and I only bet once on Darby Day on Race 7 Horse 9...but lost :-(

The races were quite the event. 100,000 people were in attendance, everyone dressed to impress, ladies wearing their racewear best---hats and fascinators included. Unfortunately, the photos from the last week and half have been erased due to the poor judgement of a guy who went to take our photo...at least we got a free dinner out of it :-) Tip ladies: If it rains on race day (which inevitably it will--b/c let's face it, it's Melbourne)...bring a HUGE umbrella. It's a great way to make friends :-) Fortunately, Stephanie and I were in the Member's Enclosure and were safe from the rain--but got the pleasure of meeting a number of interesting characters on our walk back to the train station.

Here is another tip for Melbourne: Bring a JUMPER, JACKET, SCARF and most importantly--an UMBRELLA...It rains quite often in this city.

Case in point--we were NOT prepared

Despite the weather we had a good time...caught up with old friends that I met in Greece years ago travelling (no photo unfortunately from our lovely dinner at a Spanish tapas place in St. Kilda). We also took a drive down the Great Ocean Road (spectacular views but not recommended for those prone to motion sickness)...and saw koalas in their natural habitat...

Our wonderful hosts Nigel and Amy & Joseph....Thank you so much for your hospitality.

You all were so kind!