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

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Hunter Valley at Belleray (and our Australian Thanksgiving)

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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!