Beaches to Birthdays

 Happy Australia Day and welcome back my friends!

I am glad you are all here, and I have some fun updates to share. My week started off slow as my roommates all shipped off to Tasmania without me 🙁. While I was sad I couldn’t join their adventure, the price I paid was well worth it for a special visitor. 

Before we get to that, I want to mention the adventure I took to Manly Beach. Just a short ferry away, Manly beach has the best waves ever and a cute vibe. I spent the day reading with the gals and soaking up the sun. After a long and hard day of working on our tans, (not that my efforts have brought on any success) Izzy and I went to our first of many “$20 curry nights”. Unfortunately, our waiter steered me in the wrong direction, and caused me to end up with a bowl of beef stew that was posing as a curry dish. However, things are looking up because I will be back for vengeance soon!

As alluded to earlier, the next day brought me a special guest. A best friend and second mom of mine, Renee Holmes, came to visit me! After her adventures of heckling tennis players in Melbourne and exploring wineries in New Zealand came to an end, Renee flew all the way back to Sydney just to see me! It was incredibly kind of her and I was very thankful for the visit. We started our time together with an 8 mile walk along the coast, and followed it with the most beautiful dinner at the Bondi Icebergs Restaurant. The next day, she invited me to join her at her hotel pool where we had some more giggles and relaxed in the warm weather. Renee, thank you so much for being the best second mom a girl could ask for. I am so grateful for the time you spent with me!

After my poolside adventure, I came home to be greeted by my treehugger roomies who had finally returned! I missed them so much and we celebrated with a yummy dinner and a movie night. All is finally good in the world again. 

On Friday, we had our class field trip! For those of you who don’t know, I am currently taking a “Marine Environment” class. We traveled to Maroubra Beach where we poked around in the tidal pools looking at the different species. How cool! This class has provided me with some tan lines, and a really stylish new lab coat! 

Finally, the week ended off with a bang as we celebrated the birthday of my wonderful roommate, King Benjamin! The day started off with a massive cliff jump – super cool but super scary and painful. Then the festivities really continued with some scary partner games and a bar crawl around Bondi that was not welcoming to me and my partner (Jay Fox). Oh well, I tried my best. 

I have a big couple of weeks ahead starting with another special guest, and Australia Day festivities later today! Keep the comments and emails coming– I love to hear what you are all up to while I am living in ‘The Land Down Under’. Check back in next week!

Australian fact of the week: they have the best mangoes ever here and it takes a lot of self-control to not eat at least 2 a day.

Welcome to Sydney! Let's go for a walk!

Post cliff jump selfie!

Me and my partner, Jay Fox

Birthday boy!

Absolutely fire steak dinner I made myself.

Look how cute she is!

Amazing amazing sunrise I watched.

Lol