The week of decadence...

Due to Easter, Passover and a wedding we are starting April with 4 days off from work. The holiday week of decadence began with our first trip up to the Hunter Valley, wine country about 2 hours north of Sydney, for the wedding of our friends Alex and Esther.

With a temperature that stayed in the high 70’s, we arrived Wednesday and went straight to Tempus Two Cellar Door for a quick bite to eat and some wine tastings. The food was good as was the wine. It was a very modern cellar door and the lady who served us told us stories about the original owner who was a lesbian and bad business woman and so has decided to stick to just wine making.

At 4 O’clock we head off to Woolshed Estates where the wedding was being held. We ate, we drank, we danced, we painted and we all celebrating together under the stars on this special occasion. It was a beautiful wedding, very intimate with rolling hills and vineyards as our backdrop. Plus, we couldn’t have asked for better weather.

Next day began with group breakfast back at The Woolshed. Biggest take-away was.. Nutella is good but its a lot like eating cake for breakfast. Goodbyes were said and we headed off to Bimbadgen Cellar Door for some good wine and tips from the viticulturist. Later we met up with some friends, Jacinta and Lincoln, for a very long lunch and wine at The Muse Kitchen at the Keith Tulloch Cellar Door. It's really great food in the perfect setting; in fact it was so perfect we ended up closing it down around 5pm. After parting ways, Adam and I headed to Amanda's On The Edge for a delicious dinner that wasn't too expensive. I would recommend it if you are headed in that direction.

After another night in the Hunter Valley we headed back to Sydney around 11am. We ended the evening having dinner at Jamie Oliver’s  new restaurant in Sydney with a group of friends. It was good but I have had better Italian. The best part of the night was the view from Orbitz, a highrise spinning bar that gives you a 360 degree view of the entire CBD.

With still 2 more days off from work, we have a Passover Seder, a mini road trip and some more relaxing to do. Overall, a very good break.

Happy Holidays!

We're Married!

As of December 31,  2011 Adam and I are now husband and wife!! We had a long 26 hour flight to Tampa, Florida where lots of last minute wedding planning took place.

After a few long jet-lagged days we had an amazing time celebrating our nuptials and New Years Eve with all of our friends and family. Thank you so much to everyone for all your love and support. My only wish... that it didn't go by so fast.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

This day last year...

I was on a Sydney Scavenger Hunt!

Today, I arrived back in The United States to get married to my best friend on New Years Eve!

Our U.S Tour

On Tuesday morning we arrived back from our two week whirlwind tour of America. Like many holidays it was not a relaxing one. Because this was our first joint trip back since moving to Australia in November we had many stops to make.

First stop: Los Angeles

We had the pleasure of spending our 4th of July weekend with friends and family in LA. We spent a night in Costa Mesa with Adam's sister Sarah, brother-in-law Tim and brand new niece lil' Taylor. Then we headed to LA to stay with some great friends and celebrate America's Independence Day! We even got a special visit from Adam's brother Andrew who will be leaving in October for his second tour of Afghanistan.

Tim, Sarah, Taylor, Me, Adam in Costa Mesa

Friends for dinner and drinks at Pink Taco, LA

Amazeballs on July 4th!

Second stop: The Burgh (also known as Pittsburgh)

We flew to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a quick 3 night stay to see Adam's family. We had a lovely time seeing his parents, his brother, his uncle, 2 aunts, 2 grandmas and a great aunt. Phew!

Third stop: Penn State

After our stay in The Burgh we took a bus to Penn State for our amazing friends' wedding. We got to see so many people and had a wonderful time. It was my first time at Penn State since I am originally from Florida and it was nice getting the tour. Congratulations to Renae and Travis Kochel!!!

Us with the beautiful Bride and Groom

Chris Stewart/ The James Bond of Beer

The Bride and Groom

Fourth stop: NYC!

After the wedding, on Sunday, we hitched a ride with our friend and headed to NYC! We went straight to our dear friends Luke and Mandy place where we crashed for the next 3 nights. First night there we had a lovely dinner at Mama Mexico with both my parents, Adam's mother, and Luke and Mandy. After dinner, we went and had some drinks at a cute wine spot along Riverside Park. The next couple days included shopping, dinner in Long Island with my family, more shopping, Happy Hour party at The Cooper Square Hotel with our amazing friends and then an early flight out next morning. I LOVE YOU NYC!

Dinner with Family in Long Island

Drinks with friends at Cooper Square Hotel

Dinner with friends in East Village

Fifth and final stop: Tampa, Florida

Our 4 nights and 5 days in Tampa went by fast. My mom picked us up at the airport Wednesday morning and then the madness began. Without even going home first, she drove us to our wedding venue to have our food tasting and meet with the florist. Then we were off to our first cake tasting. The next few days included looking at wedding invitations, another cake tasting, a gown fitting, lots of shopping, and an amazing co-ed shower hosted by my mother's amazing friends. About 50 people came and that included my sister and her boyfriend who flew down from Chi-Town and two of my bridesmaids: Megan Lathinghouse with her boyfriend and Heather Wiseman with her future husband-to-be. It was such a great time in Florida. Turns out we got a lot done and all thanks to my mother who so generously schlepped us around the whole time. Thank you Mom!

With friends at our wedding shower.

My Mom and Shower Hostesses

Now we're back in Sydney where it has basically poured every day all day! I just hope it doesn't rain this weekend because we are headed to Hunter Valley for some wine tasting.

The Ultimate surprise!

Two of the coolest friends we have made since arriving to Australia recently got engaged. Due to the drama that usually follows planning a wedding, they opted out of that and plan on eloping. They had recently decided to do this in Vanuatu, a group of tropical islands near Fiji.

That being said, they decided to throw an engagement party before they ran off and got hitched. We were excited to hear that we were invited to this fun affair and quickly RSVP'd YES! We were instructed to arrive at 5:00 sharp as dinner would be served at 5:30. Adam and I thought that seemed early but thought nothing else of it.

So this past weekend we got all dressed up and headed to the historic district of The Rocks to a great restaurant called The Italian Village. Elma & Max, the soon-to-be-runaway bride and groom, rented out the whole top floor. It was beautiful! They stood at the entrance and greeted all their friends and family as they arrived.

Max & Elma

While waiting for dinner to begin, wine, beer, and champagne were offered by the waitstaff. There were also at least two bottles of whiskey on each table. This would not be a mellow night. Soon everyone began sitting down and Max stood at the front of the room to make a quick announcement. He told everyone that he and Elma had a little surprise for everyone. There were whispers all around the room.

All of a sudden, two double doors in the back opened, some music started pumping, and out came Elma in a full-on gown!!! SURPRISE WE'RE GETTING MARRIED, Max said.

 

Bride and Groom

Everyone's jaw dropped. No one -- not friends or family -- had any idea this was coming! We all thought we were going to an engagement party but really it a wedding and the trip to Vanuatu was for their honeymoon! It was such an amazing night. Lots of eating, drinking, dancing and celebrating.

We also had the most amazing view of the Sydney Opera House from the room and turns out the wedding coincided with Vivid Sydney Festival of Lights, not to mistaken for the Jewish festival of lights. Max joked that he arranged this little show as part of the wedding celebration.

The Vivid festival is a two week event in Sydney's CBD, where light shows are project onto the Opera House and other buildings all night long. It might sound lame but it's pretty cool. On top of that there is a fire show -- not to be confused with fireworks, they literally just blast fire into the air -- on the hour every hour from 7pm-midnight

What a great night with great people! Congrats again to the wonderful newly wed couple Max & Elma!