Note to self:
MAKE SURE TO TAKE MORE PICTURES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK!
I feel like I had such a great week! But I was going through
my photos on my phone and realized that I barely took ANY pictures. I will make a point to take more photos of the things I do!
Random: Melbourne's weather reminds me a lot of Austin weather. It is 95 degrees and sunny one minute and then the next minute it is 20 degrees cooler and pouring down rain. As I am typing this I am looking out into our backyard and it is a terrible thunderstorm.
Monday morning I had a bit of a "One Direction Hangover". Haha I had SUCH a great weekend going to the concerts and I had gotten home so late. I was pretty worn out. Zoe and I went to the park and when she took her afternoon nap, I laid down as well. Monday evening I ate dinner with the Quick's and then just stayed in for the evening.
On Tuesday, Zoe and I walked to the library for story time in the morning. I was excited for Tuesday evening because I was going to see 50 Shade of Grey with my girlfriends! Around 7pm we met at Melbourne Central Station. It is easy for everyone to get there on the train and so it was the best meeting point. They have a nice cinema and restaurants in the train station too, so we figured we would hit those up before the movie. After one (or four) glasses of wine and some yummy appetizers, we went into the theatre to see the movie. I had heard it was not the greatest movie... but since I had read the books, I was seeing if it lived up to the hype. SPOILER ALERT: Nope it didn't. It was cheesy and uncomfortable and I felt like the acting was subpar. I felt uncomfortable watching Jamie Dornan portray this character whom I loved so much during the books... He is married with children. I don't think he should have signed on to do this movie. Anyway, it was fun to have a night out but not my favorite movie! I got home pretty late, so I crawled into bed right when I got home.
On Wednesday I was a bit sleepy due to getting home so late after the movie. Zoe and I had a busy day of playing and parks and during her nap I decided to get on my computer. For some reason I decided to check my "Other" folder on my Facebook messages. I had received a message from a girl named Hannah. She explained to me that she was an American girl who had just moved to Melbourne. She was a fan of my sister Ruthie's blog and when she read on Ruthie's blog that I was going to be moving to Melbourne, she checked out my blog too. At that point she wanted to reach out to me, but she was nervous it would appear creepy. She kept up with my blog and my first few experiences here and when I posted about my Daily Devotional, "Jesus Calling" and posted the bible verse Jeremiah 29:11, she realized she needed to message me. She explained that is her favorite bible verse and she felt compelled to talk to me. I mean how much cooler could this story get?!!? I was SO happy that she did. THIS is what social media is meant for. Making genuine connections with people. I messaged her back so excitedly and we planned to meet up for lunch on Friday. I had SO many questions for her but I decided to wait until I saw her on Friday, so I knew we had tons to talk about. Wednesday night I just went to sleep early. I was planning on going out on Thursday, so I needed a good night's sleep.
I love Thursday's! We are so close to the weekends! Thursday was a busy day for little Miss Zoe and I. We attended music class. Zoe hated it. She is so funny. She loves singing and dancing at home. I think she is Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift's youngest fan. But the second she gets in that classroom, she is mad and does not want anyone to talk to her! Oh to be two years old. Matt got home from work really early that day because of a doctors appointment and so I ended up leaving with his mom, Cheryl, to go to her house in St. Kilda. Thursday night I was planning on going out in St. Kilda with my friend Morgan and so instead of taking the train, it was nice to hop a ride with Cheryl. Cheryl and Robert live right on the beach in St. Kilda and it is the house my parents, brother, and I will be staying at when they come in town! I showered and got ready over at Cheryl's house and then she dropped me off at Morgan's house, which was 5 minutes away. Her host family was gone and so we enjoyed a glass of wine and girl talk. We were going to a bar called, X Base, which is actually a hostel/bar for backpackers. They had cheap drinks and Thursday was Ladies Night! Michael had invited us out for a night of fun and so I was looking forward to it. We had SO much fun. There was great music, delicious drinks, and fun people. It was probably one of my favorite nights in Melbourne so far. I think it was because I didn't have any sort of agenda. I was just happy to be there and enjoying every single second. I stayed out until about 3:30am.... a little late for a 7am Friday wake up call. Time flies when you are having fun.
If you can imagine, when my alarm went off on Friday morning.... I was wrecked. I was so tired. Luckily, my only duty on Friday is to mop the floors and so I got that done and went back to sleep for a little bit. I had my lunch planned with my new friend/connection from Ruthie's blog Hannah! I took the train into town and we met at Flinders Station and walked to a pizza place close by. We immediately hit it off. She had married her husband a couple months earlier and they were living in Melbourne while he pursues his passion for playing basketball. It is always nice meeting another American girl who can relate to missing her family. Hannah and I chatted for about two hours and then parted ways, not before promising to get together again soon! Thank you to www.ruthiehart.com for not only being a role model to me but helping me make friends on the opposite side of the world! Friday evening I went to dinner with my Au Pair friends at Sporting Globe. I was kind of a blob at dinner because I was so tired.... so after dinner I excused myself for bed.
Saturday morning I slept sooo well and woke up to an empty house. The Quick's were all off doing different activites - tennis, gymnastics, salt therapy. In the afternoon I took the train back to Morgan's house. Her host family goes to their country house every weekend and so it is nice having a big quiet house to ourselves. When I got over there the weather turned ugly and so we curled up on the couch and spent the afternoon watching Sex and the City re-runs. When the weather cleared up, we walked to the corner store and bought stuff to make dinner. I made a delicious guacamole that we gobbled up with chips! Felt like I was back in Texas. Along with that we made chicken cesar wraps - yummy!
Saturday was "White Night" in Melbourne. Apparently it is this festival that goes from 7pm on Saturday to 7am on Sunday morning. The city would be filled with gorgeous lights, music, artists, and different vendors to check out. Over 900,000 people attend. I wasn't too keen on the idea of going to this due to my dislike of crowds, but I was open to it since it is something tourists were supposed to do. We slowly began getting ready. We were planning on going to White Night and then meeting some friends at a bar on Chapel Street - which is a really cool area.
Sunday, my oh my.... I was sleepy. I am not used to going to bed THAT late. So Sunday morning we woke up and I wanted to quickly get home. I got home to a quiet house, which in my condition... was exactly what I wanted! I put myself down for a nap and woke up a lot happier 2 hours later. I spent the afternoon getting my room organized for the week. When the Quick family got home, I went downstairs to hang out with them. It feels so natural and I feel apart of their family. It was nice to just sit on the couch with them and watch Family Feud and not feel like I was wishing I was with my family. After an enjoyable evening with them, I was in bed pretty early. Although the nap had helped, I needed a solid night's sleep to fully recover. I know 22 is not old, but staying up late and hangovers have gotten tougher since I was in college!!
I am looking forward to another good week! The fact that I have the option to drive now makes planning my weeks way more fun! My parents and James will be visiting so soon, so the countdown on that gets me excited everyday. I know I have said it before, but the days here just fly and I think it is because I am 1 day ahead of the rest of the world. So when I am living through Tuesday, everyone at home is still in Monday.
Here are the photos with descriptions I have from this week:
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| God's work bringing Hannah and me together! So cool that I have a forever friend in Melbourne. |
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| 50 Shades of Grey and a glass (maybe 2) of wine |
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| A little excited for 50 Shades |
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| My doodle bug |
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| Park Day with Zoe |
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| When you see a nice backyard, you must take pictures! |
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| It's always "wine o'clock" in Australia |
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| Teaching the Aussies about the best sorority! |
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| Bartenders dressed as girls? Happy Thursday! |
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| I love anything with an Aussie Flag on it! |
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| Thursday night out for Nanny's! |
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| I was having a conversation with someone about not having Mac and Cheese since being here... then I went to dinner on Friday and found it! (wasn't as good as Kraft or Velveeta though..... |
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| Thank goodness for FaceTime. 3 of my best girls were together in Houston over the weekend and I got to be apart of the party!! |
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| I love Saturday Nights and my new friends: Tori, Morgan, Bek, and Ansley! |
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| Sunday Night snuggles with my favorite kiddos. |
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| My new iPhone background. I found it to be incredibly appropriate for me right now. I love being reminded not to have any worries every time I look at my phone. |
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| Happy birthday Daddy! My dad celebrated a birthday on February 20th and it was quite fun/confusing calling him on the 20th here in Australia and then the next day on the 20th in America to wish him a happy birthday. I guess that just makes him super special. Thank you for being my number one supporter in everything I do. Cannot wait to see you so soon! |
God Bless,
Tomi
