Marcy and Chris' Blogaroo

Marcy & Chris' Wedding (135 photos), by Marcy Miller

2009-10-20T10:13:00.001+11:00

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Hunter Valley at Belleray (and our Australian Thanksgiving)

2008-11-28T10:13:00.002+11:00

I know it's been ages since i've updated the blog, and I don't even know where to start! We've got so many exciting things going on right now! I may have to "back-post"... In the meantime, one of the best weekends we've had here was last weekend. It was a colleagues 30th birthday, so we rented a house up in the Hunter Valley. (Hunter Valley is basically Sydney's version of Napa or Sonoma). The weekend was an absolute blast, the company was good and the house was AMAZING!

The house was sitting on 160 acres of land. There were animals everywhere! When we first arrived, we were stepping over snails on the main walkway. We woke up the next morning, fed the horses some apples, saw some kangaroos bouncing around and then of course got to see the swans, the goose and the cattle all roaming around!

Can you see the kangaroo?

Here are the horses...

So, we woke up Saturday morning and a little bus picked us up to take us to some of the wineries. The 10 of us hopped in the bus and we were on our way... We went to some great wineries and had a wonderful "light" lunch and then headed back to the ranch!

Here's me and two of my (tall) colleagues at one of the wineries:

Saturday night, my friend Amy had some caterers come in to cook us a great dinner. We all got dressed up in our cocktail attire and had a delicious meal.

We then played some games - Smart Ass and Nancy and Marcus’ fun "charades" type game. It was a BLAST and there were LOTS of laughs! Oh... Socialism and Mr. T!

After a long night of games, we went to bed and woke up and made a big breakfast... Fry up! Here's us eating on the outside patio.

We then went for a little swim in our pool and relaxed in the sun. Then Chris - the romance that he is took me for a little ride in the row boat on our pond. We went to visit "Bruce the Goose" and got about 20ft away from the cows that roamed on the property...

At around 4pm, it was time to check out and head back to the real world. So, Team Belleray got together for a picture (and made a poor attempt at a pyramid). Here's Team Belleray!

If you'd like to see some more pics from the weekend, you can take a look at Gary's Blog by clicking here, or you can take a look at our slideshow below!

Whale of a time!

2008-10-20T19:05:00.006+11:00

This weekend was a great one. Friday night Chris and I went swimming after work and then met up with some friends at a local bar. We woke up Saturday and met up with some of our friends and did a walk from Coogee to Bondi Beach. It's a gorgeous walk along the ocean and it typically takes about 2 hours. As you're walking along you literally come across about 3 or 4 different beaches that each have their own little charm. So basically, from Coogee you hit Tamarama, Bronte, Clovelly and then Bondi. It really is an amazing walk.

As we were going along, we got to Bronte beach and noticed out in the distance (about 150 meters off shore) a mother whale and her calf. There was a surfer nearby who must have been about 20 feet away from this whale. It was unreal! Before we thought it couldn't get any better, we spotted about 10 dolphins swimming around and jumping out of the water around the whales. I swear these animals KNEW there was a crowd watching them and they put on a serious show.

We watched for about 20 minutes and more and more surfers started surrounding the whales and dolphins. I couldn't believe how close they were! Luckily we got some video and a bunch of pictures which I have put together in one video below. (If you take a look as this picture, you can see a dolphin jumping out of the water!

The original reason why we did this walk was for an event called "Sculpture by the Sea" which basically consists of a bunch of artists who... create sculpture and put them along the coast by the sea! In the video, I also added a slideshow of some of the artwork we saw.

It's a little hard to really see the whales and the dolphins and this video is very amateur, but I do hope you enjoy. I've never seen anything like this in my life and I only wish we could have better captured the moment. The video just doesn't so it much justice... but have a look anyway!

After the walk in the beautiful sun, we decided to have a late lunch at a restaurant called Icebergs. It overlooks the famous Bondi Beach and has an amazing view.

Our friends Amy and Gary who we went with also have a blog, so check out their post too!

Click here for Amy and Gary's Blog!

Bird's the Word

2008-10-12T14:37:00.003+11:00

G'day mates! I know it's been a while since we did our last blog posting. We've been really busy over the past month with Chris starting a new semester and Spring on its way. We'll be sure to update you as the Spring/Summer season passes as we have lots of exciting and fun adventures in the next few weeks and months.

In the meantime, Chris had a pretty exciting experience in the shower yesterday. Yes, that's what this blog has come to. But seriously - get your minds out of the gutter, this a PG rated video. Here goes!

To give you a little perspective, the cockatoo was literally 2 feet away from the shower and had absolutely NO fear of humans. I guess Chris is pretty engaging... even to a cock-a-too!

Quick Trip

2008-08-29T09:52:00.006+10:00

Hello to all of our loyal readers! For those of you I haven't spoken to, I will be traveling back to the U.S. of A. for two weeks. Unfortunately Chris will not be joining me as he has Career Week for school and can't miss that! However, I will be leaving tomorrow and heading to Boston for about a week and also going to CT for a friends wedding. I will then be heading to San Francisco on September 10th and flying out on a red eye the next night!

I'm organizing drinks for the night of the 10th in SF and will be in touch to update a time! Can't wait to see everyone!

Taking the Plunge!

2008-08-17T16:13:00.005+10:00

So after a suspenseful five or so years, I finally popped the question to Marcy, taking her up to the cliffs of Manly Beach in North Sydney, and with a small bottle of champagne in tow, told her how much I loved her, got down on one knee, and asked for her hand in marriage (fortunately she said yes!)

The popping of the question didn't completely take Marcy by surprise as I had previously asked for her father's permission when her parents were in Australia in June (fortunately he said yes, too!) but we've been waiting for the ring to be designed and shipped to us, which took longer than expected as the details around shipping it internationally became overly complicated, so we decided Marcy would pick up the actual ring when she goes home in September.

Therefore, I was left in a quandary of needing to propose sans actual engagement ring. So I did the next best thing and got her the finest 4 carat glass engagement ring the costume jewellery shop had to offer and place it in a ring box to make it official!

Afterwards, Marcy and I went to Otto Ristorante courtesy of Lois and Lee, who secretly hid a gift certificate in our apartment during their trip. The food, the company and the view were unbeatable. It was a great end to a perfect day!

Click here for a slideshow of pics from the proposal and dinner, or take a look at the slideshow below.

City 2 Surf

2008-08-10T11:57:00.005+10:00

This weekend was the big City 2 Surf event in Sydney, Australia. It's fairly similar to San Francisco's Bay to breakers (minus the naked people and the bar floats). It's basically a 14k run/walk through the city which raises money for a number of charities. This year there were nearly 70,000 people who participated and Chris and I were two of those people. Chris has been training a little for the event and ran most of the way finishing the 14k in about 96 minutes! Yay Chris! Here's a quick map that shows the route. Click here.

I on the other hand didn't train at all, and walked the 14k, took pictures along the way and finished in 136 minutes. Always room to improve... Maybe next year i'll run it?

Anyways, here are a couple of pictures from the day, and of course a pic of me crossing the finish line above. That was a pic courtesy of Chris - who made me run the last part which he joined me in!

There's also a pic of team AGSM!

Congrats again to Kerri, Ann, Pedro, Lee, Gabriel and Colin!

Three Miller's and a Kiely... Down Under!

2008-07-16T20:23:00.023+10:00

I know it's been ages since I last updated the blog. My only excuse is that we've had visitors here in the Land Down Under for the past 4 weeks. My parents came down to visit Chris and I and we did lots of exploring in the land of Kangaroos and Koalas! It was such a wonderful trip and it was so great to have them here to visit. Even the wildlife enjoyed their visit!

Below is a brief itinerary of their trip, and of course I will be posting more pictures. Please be patient though - for those of you who know my father - there are more pictures of the past 4 weeks than Chris and I have of the past 6 months. I will do my best to filter.

Itinerary:

Mom and Dad arrive in Sydney on June 14th. We spent about 5 days in Sydney where we went to the Taronga Zoo, saw the Opera House, explored different neighborhoods, ate great food and of course relaxed!

On the 19th, the 4 of us flew up to Cairnes (where the Great Barrier Reef is). From Cairnes, we drove upto Port Douglas where we rented a fabulous 3 bedroom house. It had a beautiful kitchen, washer/dryer and was in a great location. If anyone needs a good recommendation or place to stay... Let me know! Here's a quick look at the house...

We absolutely loved Port Douglas. It's a great little town with lots of shops and great restaurants. We of course spent a day out on the Great Barrier Reef and snorkeled. Chris SCUBA dived for part of the day and snorkeled with us for the rest. (We have some great underwater shots for you!)

Here's a fun one with us under water!

And of course one with mom!

We then went upto the Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation and did a great hike at the Mossman Gorge. We saw crocodiles in the wild, met a man who I think was Crocodile Dundee's twin brother and kept on running into people from our snorkeling trip the day prior. It was kind of nice having the "small town" environment! It was obvious we weren't in Sydney anymore. The question is, do you think people could tell we were tourists?

Here's a pic from our hike after Chris and I took a swim in beautiful fresh (freezing) water among the rainforest.

On all of our hikes, we were always on the lookout for wildlife... Some animals were easier to spot than others...

Chris and I flew back to Sydney and my parents proceeded to head to Adelaide (which is in Southern Australia). From Adelaide, my parents went to a little island just off the Australian coast called Kangaroo Island for 2 days. As you can imagine, they saw some kangaroos, penguins, koalas and lots of other wildlife.

From Kangaroo Island, my parents drove along the coast from Adelaide to Melbourne and along the Great Ocean Road. For those of you who have a week to spare, I think this was one of the highlights of their trip. The Great Ocean Road is along the coast just outside of Melbourne and stretches along the oceans edge.

Here's another snapshot along the Great Ocean Road.

The scenery was amazing, the wildlife was abundant and this is definitely a trip Chris and I are planning to do in the very near future! Below is a video that my father captured of my mom and some kangaroos. There's a golf course along the Great Ocean Road that has thousands of Kangaroos hopping around. These kangaroos have been there for ages!

Here's how close they were able to get to a koala! (We've got another video of a Koala eating if anyone is interested). It was actually pretty rare for my parents to see/video a koala eating as they sleep about 20 hours a day. (Not my parents - the koalas).

After the drive along the coast, my parents met Chris and I in Melbourne. Unfortunately Chris had a huge exam on Monday, so he spent a lot of time studying while the Miller's explored Melbourne. We absolutely loved this city. The food was amazing, the people were down to earth and we loved the different characteristics of the neighborhoods. Melbourne - we will be back!!!

The four of us flew back to Sydney after a wonderful weekend in Melbourne and we spent the rest of my parents visit touring around. We did long walks from Bondi to Coogee, ate at phenomenal restaurants, cooked, went to the cinema, visited Manly and played lots of cards.

Here's a couple pics from our Manly walk:

Right near Shelley Beach in Manly:

Our Bondi to Coogee walk:

We also did a little shopping at the markets. My mother and I are the IDEAL consumers incase you can't tell!

The very last weekend, my parents and I headed upto the Blue Mountains for the day. (This is where Chris and I went for Easter Weekend - there is another posting on that weekend). The Blue Mountains is kind of a mix between a small Yosemite or a tiny Grand Canyon. Below is a pic of us in front of the Three Sisters which is a famous landmark in the Blue Mountains. We had a quick trip up there, did a hike, had some lunch, my parents bought a beautiful piece of art and we headed back to Sydney!

It was truly an amazing trip and it was such a great experience for my parents. I don't think this is a trip they ever would have taken if we didn't live here. We may have even instilled the travel bug in them... They didn't even mind the 20 hour flight back!!! Who knows, maybe they'll be back visiting in a couple months ;)

I will upload the pics as soon as possible and will be sure to divide them up by location. Check back for updates soon!!!

Mom and Dad - we miss you already. Thank you again for a wonderful trip. It was so great spending time with you and I can't wait to see you again in September (and then maybe next year in Thailand?)

A Big Thanks to Chris and a Big 30th!

2008-06-29T21:05:00.004+10:00

I know that I am long overdue for postings. June has been a very busy and exciting month for us. However, last night was one of the best birthday celebrations i've ever had and I wanted to share it with everyone!

A very special big thanks goes out to Chris. He put together a surprise 30th B-day party for me that went above and beyond! He put so much planning, time and effort into the event and simply put... It was FABULOUS!

Apparently Chris has been planning this for weeks now and everyone (except for me) knew about the celebration. Chris got all of my friends and co-workers involved and the turnout was fantastic! Chris hired a 76 foot schooner to go out onto Sydney Harbour where 35 of our friends joined us ready to celebrate.

People brought music, cake, wine, champagne, martini's (equipped with plastic martini glasses, olives and shakers) and the boat was even decorated with balloons and Birthday signs (thanks Lucy and Laura)! Chris had the event catered with delicious food and the weather was perfection!

We sailed through the Harbour for about 4 hours and everyone had a wonderful time. I'm still in a little bit of shock! Chris truly did an amazing job pulling this together and I am so lucky to have him in my life and so grateful for all of our friends that came to celebrate with me! (We even had a special guest from Hong Kong - so glad you could make it Rachel).

Anyways, just wanted to send out a big thanks again to Chris for making this birthday a special one! Feel free to take a look at pics from the night...

Thank you also for all the birthday wishes from my friends and family everywhere!

I have a bunch of other pics and stories to tell of our wonderful travels with my parents! (I will most likely back date those postings, but expect them very soon).

Sex and The City

2008-06-12T17:10:00.000+10:00

Sex and the City opened in Sydney about a week or so after it opened in NY. A colleague of mine decided to rent out a movie theatre, invite about 50 girls (and one man), hire a bartender, pop open some champagne and watch the movie that every girl has been waiting 4 years for! For those of you who watched the series, the last episode was epic. It may have been the best "finale" of a series i've ever seen. Well, this left the writers and the 4 ladies a lot to live upto...

I won't ruin anything for those of you who haven't seen the movie, but I must say that it certainly lived up to my expectations. The movie was emotional, funny, sad and true to life! After the movie, a group of us went out and continued to drink champagne, cosmopolitans and of course a bottle of wine I found called "Bitch"! (Very appropriate!)

I will give the movie 5 stars... Now I want to hear from you!!! You can vote on how many stars you think the movie deserved! (See left and top side of blog to vote).

P.S. The one man who attended the show with us was genius. He was straight, single and in a room with 50 emotional women! GENIUS!

Meet Jimmy the Jeep

2008-06-09T21:21:00.005+10:00

Chris and I decided that it was time for us to get a car to allow us to get around more freely in Sydney. We have a parking spot in our building and our friends literally live all over the city. (Not to mention, public transportation costs about as much as owning a car!) Go figure.

This all came about because my manager's brother is moving to Zurich, so he was looking to sell his car. Chris and I went to test drive it on Saturday and we are now the proud owners of "Jimmy the Jeep". (The previous owners son who is 10 named it.) It had a ring to it and the name just stuck!

We officially own a car with the steering wheel on the RIGHT side of the car. How weird!!!

Luckily, the car is here just in time for my parents to arrive on Saturday, so Chris and I will be picking them up at the airport. Can't wait to see you Mom and Dad!!!

Bali, Bargains and Buddhas

2008-05-31T10:44:00.005+10:00

Chris and I got back from Bali a few days ago (actually about a week, but things have been crazy back in Sydney). What an amazing trip and cultural experience we had there. Before we left, we met a bunch of people who had been to Bali year after year, and we just couldn't understand the hype. Well, after spending nearly a week there, we now understand. Not only is Bali a beautiful island, it's also cultural, has fabulous (and cheap) shopping and you get treated like a King! The Balinese people are incredibly helpful, friendly and ready to bargain with you!

We arrived in Bali last Friday night where our Balinese butler picked up Chris and I and another couple (Michelle and Will) at the airport to take us back to our villa in a little town called Seminyak. Bali, as you may or may not know is in a very poor country whose economy is totally dependent on tourists. What this means for us is that the food, shopping and activities are all extremely cheap and the accommodations are top notch and priced to perfection!

We arrived at our villa which was amazing. The villa was almost completely outdoors (except for the bedroom) and we had our own pool, jacuzzi, indoor and outdoor shower and a kitchen. The most interesting part of these gorgeous villas is that just outside the villas, we were surrounded by rice fields and fields where cows were grazing about. (Always interesting to be showering in the morning and hear the lovely sounds of cows mooing).

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and had our own private chef come in and cook us a traditional Balinese breakfast. This basically consisted of rice, veggies an egg and shrimp chips. It was served with flowers on the table and our napkins and silverware beautifully wrapped. After breakfast, we went for a quick swim and proceeded to head into downtown Seminyak.

We decided to immerse ourselves into the culture by renting (or hiring as they would say) a motorbike. We got some petrol (which was stored in Absolut Vodka bottles) and we were on our way!

So, as much as I hate motorbikes, there's so many people in Bali with bikes that everyone's totally aware of other bikers. I did however find it amazing that you would see entire families on one motorbike. (In a link below, you can see all of our pictures and you'll see one of a family on a bike). Here's a pic of us fitting right in with the local Balinese bikers...

Another benefit to the bike was window shopping. We'd be driving along the streets of Legian, Kuta and Seminyak and I would spot a cute dress or houseware and scream for Chris to pull over. We'd hop off the bike (I'd usually forget to take my helmet off) and run into the store, try on the dress, grab a new piece of jewelry, buy a dvd (or 100) and be on our way...

What I didn't like (and Chris loved) was our 45 minute bike ride down to Ulu Watu where one of the sea temples is. Ulu Watu is in the southern tip of Bali near an area called Nusa Dua. The sea temple there was called the Pura Luhur and had the most amazing view of the Indian Ocean. It's perched on a peninsula above cliffs that drop straight into the ocean where you can surfers just waiting for the perfect wave.

This area also has little monkeys prancing around all over. When you walk in, local Balinese will sell you bananas and peanuts to feed the monkeys. They do however encourage you to take off any jewelry or sunglasses because the monkeys won't hesitate to grab them from you. Take a look at Chris making best friends with a local monkey...

There was a traditional Kecak Dance that was supposed to be wonderful to watch during sunset, but me being nervous about the bike, we headed back through to our little villa in Seminyak.

Now for one of my favorite parts of Bali. The massages! We got a massage literally everyday. Not knowing that $25 was way too much to spend on a massage, we went the first day to a spa and had massages in our own private outdoor, Balinese style spa. Below are pics and Chris will probably kill me for posting them. (sorry Chris). The next few days we got a few recommendations for places to get massages. One was in our very own villa ($15) and another was just down the street ($7). We were really spoiled rotten! I loved it as you can imagine!

I think we're at about Monday where we decided to head up to Ubud which is about an hour drive from Seminyak. We hired a driver for the day to take us around from 9am-9pm. For those of you who have read Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth lived in Ubud. We got to see a couple of places she mentioned (Cafe Wayan) and really got to experience what she wrote about in her memoir. If you haven't read the book and plan to go to Bali, I highly suggest reading it before you hop on a plane.

So, Ubud is up in the mountains and again it's got adorable little shops, a beautiful road of art galleries on the way into Ubud (sort of like Santa Fe style) and a real laid back relaxing feel to the town. There are tons of cafes where people just relax, eat and enjoy a drink (avocado fruit juice, coffee or a long island iced tea). We ended up eating at a little restaurant called Nomad which was recommended to us by a couple from the US who had been in Ubud for about a month. When we go back to Bali, we will certainly stay in Ubud for a few nights!

In Ubud, we went to a Cak Rina Dance. This type of performance is on every Full Moon and New Moon, so we were lucky to catch it. It wasn't like anything i've seen before but basically there were about 50 men on this open stage dancing and chanting. They make a "cak-cak-cak-cak" sound in many different rhythmical combinations. While they were chanting, they also played with A LOT of fire! They had big balls of fire that they were literally throwing and kicking around on stage.

The next couple of days we spent relaxing and exploring around the little towns near our villa. We ate lots of delicious food, met lots of locals, got Chris' haircut and of course hung out with our Australian friends Will and Michelle.

Not sure if you've noticed the different haircuts Chris had on our 6 day trip - but just to recap for you:

We also went for a great dinner with Michelle and Will in Kuta. Their local friend Harry recommended this restaurant and the ambience was certainly what made it so fantastic. Check out the little huts that we ate in. They were covered in pillows, so it was incredibly casual and comfortable to eat at.

And of course, here's the big debut of Michelle and Will to the Blogaroo!

We also have to bring in a pic of our celebrity siting in Bali. We went out for drinks after dinner and got to meet the trainers from "The Biggest Loser, Australia" (Shannon Ponton and Michelle Bridges). We are so hip - we go where the Biggest Losers go!!! Check out this pic below. And, if you want to see more of Shannon and Michelle, click here.

To view the rest of our pictures from the trip, see below:

And stay tuned for the next posting of Shig's (Chris Sheehy's) visit to Sydney and Cairnes and Chris' amazing SCUBA trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The blogaroo is going under water!!!

Overdue

2008-05-28T19:28:00.002+10:00

I know we are long overdue for a posting, so I promise to have a recap of our trip to Bali up by next weekend. It's been a crazy week with work, i've been sick and Chris has a friend in town. Chris actually went up to the Great Barrier Reef for 5 days with Chris Sheehy (who is visiting from SF), and 5 other buddies from school. They are doing a live-a-board scuba trip where they do 11 dives. 9 during the day and 2 night dives. (scary) I'm sure Chris will have pics from that trip and a recap for you all.

Anyways, I will be sure to post all of our pics from Bali and of course put up some pics of Sheehy's visit. Hope all is well with everyone and we will be in touch soon.

Cheers!

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-12T08:33:00.005+10:00

To all those mom's and mom's to be, just want to wish you all a Happy Mother's Day!

A mother's love
Is always true
It's all you need
To get you through

A mother's love
Can seem like hate
She's only tough
To keep you safe

A mother's love
Is always there
In simple ways
She'll show she cares

A mother's love
Can never compare
With anyone else's
Anywhere

A mother's love
Is here to stay
I love you, mom
Happy Mother's Day!

Final Exams

2008-05-08T09:46:00.006+10:00

Final exams are coming up for Chris in the next week, so I thought I would help him out a little and of course wish him some good luck! I found some proper examples with answers to some questions that might be on Chris' exams. What would he do without me?

(If you can't read the font, you can click on the images to zoom in).

Countdown to Bali = 8 days!

Technical Difficulties

2008-05-06T10:54:00.005+10:00

I got some feedback that the video of Chris tap dancing was not working for some people. I have done some troubleshooting and think I've got it fixed. Click here to retry. Let me know if anyone else is having trouble accessing the video. I am doing anything in my power to embarrass Chris... I mean, to show everyone his talent.

Last night was our first official tap dance class. I never realized how difficult tap dancing is. I was watching videos of Fred Astaire on YouTube and he was tap dancing on roller skates! It looked so easy!

Hopefully after an 8 week class there will be a video of the routine we learned. (Although, i'm not too big on embarrassing myself)

Kami sedang berlangsung liburan ke Bali

2008-05-03T09:19:00.013+10:00

That means... We're going to Bali!!! Chris and I just booked a trip to go to Bali for five days in May. Bali is about a 7 hour flight from Sydney and we've heard nothing but wonderful things about this island. We first discovered how wonderful this island is when we booked our accommodations.

We hired a one room villa at a place called Sesari Bali which was recommended by a colleague from work. It all begins on Friday night when a "butler" picks us up at the airport and takes us to our villa. The following morning and each and every morning we are there, the staff will come in and make us a fresh breakfast - maybe an avocado milkshake with chocolate? (Saw that in our Lonely Planet book - we are such tourists).

So once we get to our private villa, we actually don't ever have to leave. We've got our own private pool with lounges, a staff that will happily come and cook any meal we choose and of course a masseur who will come to our villa and give us massages whenever we like. This might be my favorite part of Bali, and we're not even there yet - massages are $15/hour! I think Chris and I deserve a massage everyday by our private pool! It's a tough life!

The area we are staying in is called Seminyak which is supposed to have great restaurants, shops and bars. It's about 20 minutes outside of Kuta (which is the most touristy area) and is close to Ubud (a very cultural area with arts and crafts and some temples).

Again, we can't wait to explore this new culture and can't wait to share our experience when we get back. There will be more posting before we leave. Sampai saat itu, sampai jumpa. (translation: Until then, goodbye)

Countdown... 13 days!

Ahhh... Bill Buckner

2008-04-30T12:45:00.003+10:00

Since i've been away from Boston (and the U.S.) for so long, I saw this video and it made me miss home and my beloved Red Sox!

Not sure if anyone else saw this, but thought I would share!

Go Sox! Great to see we beat the Blue Jays... Nice job Youk!

Tap Dancing

2008-04-26T21:28:00.022+10:00

So I just signed up for an 8 week tap dancing class with a couple of the WAGS (Wives And Girlfriends) of Chris' classmates. We decided it would be a fun and exciting way to exercise! I've never taken tap dancing before, so this is all new to me, but I am very excited to learn some new dance moves. The good news is Chris is an experienced tap dancer. Shocking I know... But take a look at some of the moves he's taught me! Now that i've learned these moves, i'm going to blow the socks off the other dancers in the class!

Watch out Fred Astaire! (Does this remind anyone of a scene in Dumb and Dumber?)

P.S. I apologize the video is sideways... If anyone knows how to fix this... let me know!

Happy Pesach

2008-04-21T13:04:00.005+10:00

Just want to wish everyone a Happy Pesach!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday this year and we do wish we were back home to celebrate with friends and family. However, we did still celebrate our Passover "Sydney Style" by having some of our friends over for dinner on Saturday night. Chris and I had a blast cooking together all day Saturday (and of course cleaned the apartment) for our mini Seder.

There were 6 of us at dinner and Chris and I got to teach everyone about the traditions of Passover. We had a great meal consisting of brisket, dill potatoes, veggie matzah ball soup, asparagus, charoset and Australia's version of Manischewitz (Carmel Concord Grape). My mission to find Manischewitz in Sydeny was obviously NOT a success.

Here are some pics from the First Night and of course pics of our clean apartment!

Please also notice the wonderful Seder Plate our honorary Jew (Chris) put together in the pics below.

We ended the night with a quick game of Pictionary. Unfortunately the boys destroyed us. Must be the MBA program!

Not That I'm Wining...

2008-04-16T15:55:00.009+10:00

For those of you who celebrate Passover, you will hopefully be able to relate to this. Chris and I are having Passover dinner at our place on Saturday night, so I started pulling together a list of the ingredients I will need. Simple list you would think...

Matzah
Matzo meal
Lipton Onion Soup mix (part of my brisket recipe - I will not reveal the rest although i'm sure every other Jewish person I know has this recipe)
Manischewitz (Concord Grape will do... no need to get fancy with the Blackberry, Elderberry etc.)

So, I went to two grocery stores and two wine shops and I couldn't find ANY of the above. I'm officially on a mission to find my Manischewitz wine. Until then...

Chopsticks and Zen... meet the Blogaroo!

2008-04-14T22:04:00.009+10:00

Thomson employees are everywhere! It was so great to have Rachel (i.e. Patch) come and visit Australia for a few days. Due to some "technical difficulties" with Rachel's camera, we're a little delayed in her "cameo" to our blog... But, the pics are finally here!

For those of you who don't know Rachel, she moved out to San Francisco about 2+ years ago from Thomson's Boston office and then decided to venture off to Hong Kong in November of 2007. It's great to have another friend on this side of the globe!

Our next trip...

HONG KONG!

I actually have to give some credit here to Rachel. She started a blog when she moved to HK which inspired me to start the Blogaroo... Her "Patcherific" blog is titled "Chopsticks and Zen" - the link is below along with some other friends blogs under the section "Bloggers".

**Please also note that i've added a new section called "Skypers". If you would like a cameo on the Blogaroo make sure your Skype accounts are up and running!

Certified and Perfecting the art of Sailing

2008-04-06T21:25:00.004+10:00

The past two weekends Chris has been working on getting certified for SCUBA diving. We are very excited about Shiggles (aka. Chris Sheehy) to come out (down) to visit in May. Chris and Chris (and Brent) will be heading up to Cairnes to do a 3 day dive trip. Unlike Mexico, you actually need to know HOW to dive in Australia.

So, Chris is officially certified in SCUBA and he is getting more and more excited about his venture to the Reef!

Those of you who know me well, know that SCUBA isn't exactly my thing. While Chris was getting certified and swimming with goat fish...

and Dusky Whaler Shark...

I was busy sailing through Sydney harbour on a beautiful catamaran! (Much more my speed). I went with one of my new friends Stephanie and a couple of her colleagues from Google... Otherwise known as "Googlers".

There are so many boats out all around the harbour, they actually have little "coffee boats" that go around serving up espresso, cappuccino, lattes and all sorts of ice cream. Very fancy!

I wonder if Chris had coffee delivered to him under water? Nah...

Visitors...

2008-04-02T09:52:00.001+11:00

A couple weeks ago Sabrina (from college) came out to visit a friend who is traveling around the world. Luckily she came to Sydney, and Chris and I got to visit with her for a few hours while she was here!

Sabrina - if you're reading this, it was so good to see you! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip! Also - I think we're going to go to Jervis Bay with my parents and stay at the Paperbark Camp that you recommended. It looks amazing.

To the rest of our viewers... keep a lookout from our trip to Jervis in June when my parents are visiting!

Mom and Dad - can't wait to see you!!!

Blue Mountains... Take One (Jenolan Caves)

2008-03-24T16:25:00.002+11:00

I know it's been a while since I last updated the site, so I figured I would go back to Easter Weekend and post some of our adventures! We had an amazing Long Easter Weekend where we stayed in Wentworth Falls (part of the Blue Mountains). We spent one day abseiling (repelling) down waterfalls and off of 30m cliffs and went canyoning and hiking. Keep your eyes peeled for a new posting of that adventure.

We also spent one day at the Jenlon Caves which are these HUGE, amazing caves that date back to the 1800's. They are the oldest discovered open caves in the world. We took a tour with about 40 people and walked through the caves and gave us some history on the different parts of the caves. There was one area of the caves where they actually hold some small concerts. The music must have sounded amazing.

Rather than listening to beautiful music bouncing off the chamber walls, we had the fortune of listening to children screaming and crying. There were a group of about 14 Americans (with their children) who had a little trouble actually controlling the kids!

Other than the screaming kids, the caves were absolutely spectacular. Hope you can get a little idea of what they were like from these pics!

Here is another link to our friends pics from the Blue Mountains. Click here

Blue Mountains...Take Two (Abseiling Adventure)

2008-03-23T17:02:00.001+11:00

One of our friends in Sydney suggested that we do this day canyoning, abseiling, hiking trip in the Blue Mountains. He gave us the number for "High and Wild" Adventures. Chris was beside himself with joy for this venture and signed me, Laura and Scott up for a full day trip. (I have to admit I was pretty excited when I first saw information online about this trip).

Well, we get out to the Blue Mountains, and the weather is nothing but cold, wet, rain and fog... Which as you can imagine got us not so excited about our little day trip. Here's a little taste of the weather:

You've gotta love Chris' enthusiasm... Saturday morning at 8am we head to the High and Wild office to go get all of our gear. It was of course downpouring, but that did not take the smile off of Chris' face! (Neither did this picture)

We spent the morning learning basic skills of abseiling and nearly 2 hours later, we were heading down cliffs of 30m! Check us out!!!

After the above picture was taken I got a little nervouse about abseiling. However, in order to do the canyoning, you HAD to do the higher abseil because at the end of the canyoning, the only way to get out of the canyon was by abseiling down a waterfall.

So, after a nice hearty lunch we began the trek! We put our wetsuits on, got our backpacks ready and we were on our way. Unfortunately we do not have picture of this part of the trip yet since it was raining and didn't want to bring our digitals along. We did however purchase a waterproof camera, so I just need to wait for those pics to be ready. (Note: What I actually mean by that is I need to actually drop the cameras off to get the pics developed!)

The conyoning was absolutely amazing, so I do hope that the pictures came out. We basically went through this canyon with rocks, water, trees and natural waterslides and pools. We basically, swam, walked, jumped and slid through the canyon until we got to the big waterfall where we abseiled...

Not sure how many of you looked at the original video we put up, but if you notice, the water was barely trickling down the waterfall. That's not quite the case when it's been raining for days on end... Needless to say, we had water pouring down on us pretty heavily as we were hanging from ropes 30m in the air. It was not the most enjoyable experience of my life. Not sure if hiking up 1000 stairs after was more enjoyable though?

All in all it was a fantastic adventure. I will certainly be visiting the Blue Mountains again and may even subject myself to another High and Wild adventure!

Happy Easter from the Blue Mountains...

2008-03-21T21:46:00.001+11:00

Not so Happy Easter for the Easter Bunny... Chocolate dipped strawberries. yum!

Surfin' Safari...

2008-03-19T20:33:00.005+11:00

A couple weeks ago I posted some pics from our surf trip. One of the guys who was on the trip was taking a little break from surfing and stood on shore with his camera in hand. I just got these pictures in...

I'm very excited that someone caught some pics of me actually standing on the board. I don't know if he's a phenomenal photographer or he just HAPPENED to catch me up on the board, but there I am! I know I don't look like a professional, but here is living proof that I went surfing and actually stood up! Does that make me a surfer chick? Hmmmmm...

I think we're going to contact one of the surf instructors who was on the trip to do a semi-private lesson at one of the beaches in the city (Maroubra). I have to say, surfing is a very relaxing and therapeutic sport.

(I'm about to fall in this pic by the way. Luckily the water was warm!)

I've gotta go pack for our loooong weekend trip to the Blue Mountains. A hiking we will go!

Off to the Blue Mountains we go

2008-03-14T11:59:00.008+11:00

Apparently Good Friday in Australia is like Christmas! The city shuts down on Friday, everyone has the day off and we get a 4 day weekend! Wooo hooo!

So, we're headed to the Blue Mountains which is about 2 hours West of Sydney. (See map below)

We are going with our friends Laura and Scott (from Scotland) and leave Sydney on Thursday night. We found this adorable little cottage which is located in Wentworth Falls (a little town in the Blue Mountains). How cute is this cottage?

Anyways, we're pretty much looking to relax, have nice dinners out, do some abseiling (repelling), bushwalking and some caving...

Take a look at this video of the "Empress Waterfall". This will be our Saturday activity...

Empress Waterfall

Buying a car in Sydney? Can you get a good one for cheap? I think so...

2008-03-14T11:43:00.011+11:00

In our move to Australia, Chris and I spent a fair amount of time not only AT IKEA, but also countless hours putting together the furniture.** We also had a number of encounters with his fellow classmates at IKEA.

(Thanks Yvonne for sending this along!)

With that said, and with the thoughts of potentially buying a car, I thought this seemed appropriate for our blog!

**Note: I actually had little to no participation in putting the furniture together. I'll give credit where credit is due! If anyone needs Chris to put together IKEA furniture, feel free to call him - he's got a real knack for this stuff!

LOST in Detox...

2008-03-10T16:26:00.013+11:00

Chris and I started a detox this past Wednesday. It's a 15-day detox and was actually my Valentine's Day gift! Some may think it was a "shitty" gift, but as many of you know... I absolutely love stuff like this! (Go figure - i'm a true product of my mother!)

Needless to say, we have been going strong for 6 days (almost half way there) and have 7 days left of NO meat, dairy, eggs, flour, processed foods, caffeine, alcohol and sugar. This detox made for quite the exciting weekend. We had a couple of BBQ's we were supposed to go to - but what fun is a BBQ when you can't eat or drink a nice cold one? So instead, Chris and I decided to rent the first season of Lost (Guitar Hero just wasn't going to cut it)!

We walked into the video store on Friday, grabbed the first Season of LOST and went home and began the marathon...

Taking you now to Saturday afternoon. We walked right back into the Video store like we owned the place and grabbed the next 6 videos! We're into Season 2 and we are completely hooked!!!

Wish I had more exciting news to report... We'll be back in action soon. We've got our good friend Rachel visiting from Hong Kong this upcoming weekend and the following week we are headed to the Blue Mountains for our long Easter Weekend!

This blog is almost as suspensful as LOST huh???

Lets go surfin now, Everybodys learning how, Come on and safari with me...

2008-03-01T17:03:00.001+11:00

So we're not "Surfin' USA" (incase you were confused by the lyrics in the title of the blog), but we did go surfing about 4 hours north of Sydney in a place called Seal Rocks. The venture began on Friday night where a bus picked us up in the city, we piled on board (all 17 of us), stopped at a Bottle-O** and headed up north!

I wouldn't say that our accomodations were similar at all to the Four Seasons, or even the local Sheraton. Well, unless of course you know of a hotel that has 3 bunkbeds to a room, a shared bathroom and SpaghettiO's® for brekkie**. It felt a little more like overnight camp than anything (I think our bunks at camp were nicer)!

Needless to say, there were certainly advantages to this place:

1. There were kangaroos about 500 meters from our "bunk" - can't really tell from the pics, but we did see them hopping around and actually saw some Wallaby's too!

2. The stop at the Bottle-O** on the way up made for a fun weekend

3. Great Company

4. The excitement of Surfing the next day (please note that the beach we surfed at was phenomenal!)

(Trying again Chris?)

Here we go!!!

Please click here for more pictures from our surfing adventure!!!

Boy were we exhausted by the end of the day... a new post will be coming soon for our "Lawn Bowling" experience... AFTER surfing!

**Please see the dictionary at the bottom of this blog for definitions.

First Weekend Away... Newcastle!

2008-02-23T16:37:00.001+11:00

Chris and I decided to take our first weekend trip away. There was actually a motivating factor behind this trip. Chris has decided to get his motorcycle license and had to take a class. The first class that was available was in Newcastle, NSW which is about 2 hours north of Sydney.

We headed up early Saturday morning and arrived in Newcastle just in time to drop by the Bed & Breakfast that Chris booked for us. He should most definetely NOT be a travel agent! (Just kidding Chris... the place was perfect... for a good laugh now!)

The couple who started the Bed & Breakfast were very sweet. They told us about all the hotspots in Newcastle (that was a short conversation), recommended a couple of beaches to go to (beaches were AMAZING in this town), made us breakfast in the morning and showed us pictures of their children.

Before I get into the stories of their children, i'll show ya a couple pics from my drive/walk along the beaches of Newcastle (while Chris was riding his motorcycle around a parking lot).

My first stop was Bar Beach where I grabbed my beach chair (please note: this beach chair was previously used as our "couch" in the apartment), vegged out and just read my book. If you haven't read Eat, Pray, Love yet, I highly recommend it!

Next I went to Nobby's Beach. The sand was white, the water was blue and clear to the bottom, the waves were big and the beach was surprisingly NOT too crowded!

I grabbed my camera and walked along the water toward the lighthouse and the jetty. I met this really nice girl named Marney on my walk. We ended up meeting up with her later at a local bar that was right on the water.

So it was about 4pm and time for me to go pick Chris up. When I got there, he was still in his class... Here's a little preview**:

**Please note that this does NOT mean I approve or want him riding a motorcycle (especially because the FIRST thing he does is run over a cone)!!!

We ended up going to dinner at a place called Goldberg's on Saturday night. It was delish. Sunday we decided to head upto Nelson Bay (about 45 minutes up North). We didn't stay very long, but take a look at what we found!!!

By the way... You know you're in Australia when you see this on the side of the road:

I've had some issues with this blog posting, and i'm getting annoyed, so i'm going to take a break and finish more later and put a link to the rest of our pics... Stay tuned! We still have funny pics of the B&B owners...

Dr. Marvin, I'M SAILING!!!

2008-02-22T13:45:00.002+11:00

It was a friend's birthday this past weekend so we rented a sailboat to take us through the harbor. It was Sydney at it's finest! It has been raining here for days, and someone must have been looking over us because the weather was beautiful for our Sailing adventure!

Here's a preview of our trip...

Sydney at sunset:

Reverse Titanic:

Chris and Casino Boat:

Ummm...Which way to the beach boys?

The Crew...

Click here for more pics!

American Gangster.... Sydney Style!

2008-02-14T17:23:00.006+11:00

Last night Chris, myself, Scott (from Scotland), his wife Laura, Reegan and Inga went to go see American Gangster at the Open Air Cinema. For those of you who are unfamiliar, it is potentially one of the best places in the world i've ever seen a film! It's a great place to watch a movie as it's RIGHT on the water across from the Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House and the CBD (Central Business District). To give you an idea of our view...

We arrived around 7pm and sat down at their outdoor bar/restaurant to enjoy the view, some food and wine getting ready for the screening to begin...

As most of you know, I have just a bit of trouble concentrating on much for an extended period of time. So with the view, the bats flying across the city (which thousands of them do every night) and cockatoos flying around and chirping away it was a little difficult to focus on the movie at first. However, for those of you who haven't seen the movie... I highly recommend it!

Here's a quick little preview of our experience:

To top the movie night off, it began raining for the last 15-20 minutes of the movie. It was actually pretty funny. They handed out ponchos and everyone was just chillin' in the rain and watching the American Gangsta!

Titanic...Minus the cold and the iceberg

2008-02-13T08:46:00.002+11:00

Do not be confused! This is not me on the Titanic...

Chris and I headed to a friends house for dinner on Saturday night and took the local ferry over. My friend actually rides this ferry to work every morning... What a commute!

Take a look at some more pics here of our ride over during the day and Sydney at night from the harbour!

This is one of my favorite shots...

Back by popular demand (and some complaints from our audience)... we now introduce the Didgeridoo!

2008-02-01T15:24:00.001+11:00

Due to some nasty fanmail* that was received regarding the lack of posting over the past week, I'm happy to say that we are back in full force**. Anything for our audience!

This past weekend was quite an exciting one in Australia. It was Australia Day on 26/1/08 (That's January 26, 2008 for those of you in America). Here's a brief little history on Australia's equivalent celebration to July 4th in the US:

Australia Day, celebrated annually on 26 January, is the official national day of Australia, commemorating the establishment of the first European settlement on the continent of Australia. The date is that of the foundation of a British penal colony at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson, New South Wales, by Captain Arthur Phillip, who was to become the first Governor. Australia Day is an official public holiday in all states and territories of Australia, and has also been known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day and Invasion Day.

For you history buffs please click here for more information.

Now let's get to the fun part... Australia Day is quite a display of proud Australians wearing flags and/or painting flags on their faces, lots of parties, lots of open markets with arts, crafts and food, lots of tall ship races in the harbor, lots of music, lots of excitement and LOTS of fireworks! (Please note that Sydney is OBSESSED with fireworks and pretty much sets them off for any reason).

We spent Saturday walking around the city where we started by watching some traditional aboriginal dancing down by the botanical gardens. It's called the Woggan-ma-gule. This ceremony honours the traditional Gadigal custodians of the Eora Nation, and gives recognition to the original shoreline of Sydney Harbour.

Next we walked up through "The Rocks" which is an area with cute shops, bands playing on the street, fun pubs and people dressed up EVERYWHERE.

We then taught Chris how to play a didgeridoo - see below:

Proceeded to Hyde Park where there was a vintage car show, food and more... Here we are getting into the spirit with "Tomato Sauce" (otherwise known as ketchup).

I don't have the rest of the pictures of fireworks that our neighbor took, but feel free to look around at some other pics of the festivities from Australia Day 2008!

Click here for more pics.

We miss everyone and hope to speak with you all soon!!

*Don't worry Sims family, I won't mention the specifics on who the nasty fanmail came from... but, watching the toilet flush 5,200 times? You really do miss us in California huh?

The Answer to ALL Your Questions... How Toilets Flush Down Under!

2008-01-21T20:09:00.000+11:00

Week #2

2008-01-17T22:51:00.000+11:00

So, we've been here for nearly 14 days now. This weekend is my last free weekend before I start work. (Believe it or not, i'm really excited to begin working!)

Last weekend Chris and I met up with some friends (Judith & Co.) and turns out one of Judith's friends just graduated from AGSM (his name is Noah). It's amazing what a small world it is - Noah is actually from Worcester, MA and he moved to Sydney a few years ago. So, we joined up with Noah, Judith etc. and went to this great concert in the park and met up with about 7 or 8 other AGSM students! There were some really interesting and friendly "mates" from his program who were from all different parts of the world - the UK, New Zealand, Africa, Venezuela and of course Worcester, MA. (Chris can fill you in on his first week of school)

The concert was right in downtown Sydney at the Domain which reminds me of the Hatch Shell in Boston. Only difference is... 100,000 people show up for these concerts, everyone brings wine, cheese and other fun snacks and just dances until the music stops! This weekend they have "symphony" music playing and the following weekend is "opera" music. These concerts and festivals are all part of Sydney's Summer Festival. Here's a link to other events - Sydney Festival Link

There's so much more that we've been doing, so i've added some more pics below... I'll write more later this week and next week is Australia Day which is their equivalent to July 4th. I'm sure we'll have pics and stories to tell!

Click here for more photos!

Thank goodness we're learning our way around the city!

Miss everyone and hope you enjoy the pics!

Our New Apartment!!!

2008-01-12T17:08:00.000+11:00

So Chris and I found an apartment yesterday and we signed the lease this morning over a cup of cappuccino! (Soy cappuccino for me). Turns out they don't just have regular "drip" coffee around here. Everything is espresso based. Delicious nonetheless!

The apartment is TINY, and when I say TINY... I mean NY apartments look HUGE compared to this. However, it's in a neighborhood called Potts Point which is EXACTLY where we wanted to live!

Click here for a Google map of our box... I mean, apartment...

Type in the following address: 1 McDonald St, Potts Point, NSW 2011.

It's this adorable neighborhood with great cafes, pubs, shops, grocery store (Woolworth's), great parks and great views of the harbor. Our apartment is in a 9 story building (we're on the 8th floor), and our view is UNREAL! We can see the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and downtown city. That's what sold us!

OUR VIEWS:

OUR STREET (MCDONALD STREET):

So one interesting thing we found while looking for apartments is that when it says "unfurnished" that actually means that there is no refrigerator. Very weird. So Chris and I will be buying a new refrigerator in the very near future... Go figure!

We spent the day at Manly Beach today which is a little North of Sydney. We'll post more pictures later of that venture!

Thank goodness Chris is willing to drive on the OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD! AHHHHH!

Shrimp (Prawn) on a Barbie

2008-01-07T22:17:00.000+11:00

Day #2 in Sydney - Coogee Beach and Pyrmont

2008-01-07T22:08:00.000+11:00

Today was our 3rd day in Sydney and we ventured around to look at some neighborhoods we may want to live in. I went into work to meet some of the "mates" I'll be working with and everyone was super friendly and the office was GREAT! The Thomson office is in Pyrmont which is this up and coming area RIGHT next to our hotel. We had breakfast at a little bistro and then ventured on the bus to Coogee Beach.

We walked around Coogee which has a phenomenal beach. It was sooo gorgeous (you can see pics on the link below)! We then went to grab some lucnh and heard a bunch of American girls chatting about Delaware! Sure enough it was 4 girls who were doing a Study Abroad program from the University of Delaware. Talk about a small world! Who woulda' thought we'd meet fellow Blue Hens in Sydney, Australia!

Still having a blast, but anxious to find an apartment. We're renting a car tomorrow so that we can go to more neighborhoods...

More to come... In the meantime, enjoy our pics!

Link to more pics

Last Day in San Francisco... First Day in Sydney, Australia

2008-01-05T21:15:00.000+11:00

Last Night in SF and First Day in Sydney...