6 months and more gone by!
So I guess I have been relatively crap at updating this since I have returned from my whirlwind adventures. I realised that plenty of people here in Oz know exactly what I have been up to but those overseas and elsewhere probably don't know. Here is a run down from what I can remember.
When I first arrived in back in Australia I was in Sydney for just 24 hours before heading down to Tassie for Andrew Mackonis' wedding. A lot of people were there. The weather was fantastic and the wedding was lovely. I stayed with Alycia at her parents house in Hobart and it was a great way to return to Australia. Here are some photos from the day.
Liz and her Dad on the day
Andrew and Liz walk down the aisle together
Bianca and Kaelen
What?? Yeah that's right. I caught the bouquet. What a joke.
A group shot of some happy friends at the winery where the reception was
So that was an amazing time. I got back to Sydney and started work nearly straight away on the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This was about 4 weeks of prep for 1 day of 200,000 people walking across the Harbour Bridge from 9am to about 9pm. I met some amazing people and I know that none of those amazing people came from the general public. They were absolutely disgusting! We had to hand out special 75th anniversary caps. It was totally awful. We actually ended up having a sit in on the bridge itself when we eventually ran out of hats. After about a 20 hour work day and 2 beers, I was totally delirious and went to bed. Only to wake up the next day early for bumping out the left over compounds. It was an amazing gig and I am very glad I had the opportunity to work on it. Here are some photos.
Hats at the ready...
Night time lighting design
The crowds in the daytime...
The crowds at nighttime..
So after the bridge gig, I moved back to Melbourne and stayed with Bianca and Kaelen for a while. I didn't really know where I was going to live so hanging out with them was great. I think Kaelen got use to having 2 mothers as well. I got a full time gig with a theatre company here called The Malthouse as Production Coordinator. The company does about 8 - 10 shows a year in 3 different spaces. I look after the 2 smaller spaces and assist the production manager in the largest space. He is an amazing boss and I am learning a lot. The building use to be a brewery back in the day for Carlton so it is a pretty amazing place to work. Check it out here.
Probably after 5 weeks of looking for the perfect apartment, I found it. Just next to Eureka Tower in Southbank (for those of you who don't know, its just next to the Yarra River right in the middle of Melbourne!) And the amazing thing about the location is that I am only a 10 minute walk to my work! So at the moment I am walking absolutely everywhere and loving every minute of it. Especially since the weather is starting to be nice again. How I love living in the Southern Hemisphere - when all you poor bastards are stuck in the snow, I am beaching it up big time! I am living with Alycia Hevey and we absolutely love our apartment. We have a really amazing pool, a gym and the whole bit. We have a lovely courtyard which we are in the process of fixing up at the moment. We bought some plants for our garden bed, some bamboo screens to make it feel a bit more tropical and a bar - that's right a bar! So bring on the summer time pina coladas! Pictures below:
In August I had to head to the US for my 10 year high school reunion. This was absolutely hilarious. I hadn't been to Lakeville (where I grew up) for over 4 years, so it was amazing to see how it changed. Not to mention catching up with everyone from school! My best friend from school Sara and I went to the reunion together with the 2 guys we took to the prom! It was very funny. And I met my ex-boyfriend's wife and kid! Another friend of mine who I have known since grade 3 was pregnant for the second time so I met her beautiful daughter! It was a fantastic time in Minnesota. And lucky for all of the state that the bridge falling down disaster didn't turn out quite as bad as it could have been. Really strange though to have no bridge there! Here are some reunion photos:
Me and my friend Matt Kunes
Me and Sara after a few drinks
My high school boyfriend Josh and his daughter
My friend Angie's daughter
So after having a lovely time in Minnesota with the family (I even got to celebrate my birthday there which I haven't done since I was 22!), I headed to Brock's house in Seattle. Here I stayed with him and his girlfriend at their lovely house in Ballard. I also got to catch up with my dear friend Kelly White from college/uni. We had an amazing time reminiscing, checking out the city and she even cut my hair! We also had time to see lots of Brock's buddies who have moved out to Seattle as well including Mike Ice, Jack and Bale. Mike has started his own website which I really recommend you check out reviewing all of those lovely cat videos that circulate the web/inboxes. http://catcall.wordpress.com/ Brock did introduce me to some lovely activities in Seattle including a day trip to an island, kayaking in the lakes surrounding Seattle, a trivia night which was highly competitive, a South American happy hour with $2 mojitos, an amazing seafood restaurant on the waterfront and a garden full of homegrown produce. Not to mention their lovely cats Woody and Watson. Their house is amazing, Ballard is really cute and the weather wasn't half bad. Although it is required that you own some kind of really good rain jacket if you live there, so I have now acquired an amazing one that I seem to be getting some use out of at the moment in Melbourne. Here are some great shots of the trip to Seattle:
Me on the Ferry
The Island Day Trip
Brock and some creepy seaweed
Me at the Fish Market
Kelly and the best fortune telling machine ever
Brock and his produce
Mike with Brock and Caroline's Cats!
On the very last day that I was in Seattle, I got a bit of a sore throat. That night I had a really high fever and my glands got enormous. The next day I was meant to fly to San Francisco and then fly out that night. I got on the plane to San Francisco but when I got there, I realised I was just too sick to fly and cancelled my flight. They informed me that it wouldn't really cost much to change my flight and that I could pick up my bags at the airport the next day. I checked myself into a hotel that had a shuttle bus from the airport, called my parents to say I hadn't gotten on the plane and went to bed. The next morning I headed straight to a doctor because my neck was as wide as a bodybuilder's, I sounded awful, I was exhausted and my throat was killing me. He put me on antibiotics and told me that I couldn't fly for 3 days. So I extended my stay in the lovely Clarion hotel at the airport and tried to locate my bags. They were totally gone. No would take responsibility for them either since I had flown on Alaskan Air from Seattle and was heading out on Qantas. Alaskan assured me that Qantas received them and Qantas assured me they not only never got them, but that they wouldn't have put them on the plane because I never checked in. I knew I was going to be in the hotel for at least another few nights, so I cabbed myself to the local pharmacy, cheap clothing store and supermarket to load up on a few missing items that were in my now missing luggage. So 4 days in a hotel in San Francisco when you feel like shit is not so much fun. I texted my boss to say that I was going to be in San Fran for a few days because I was sick and he texted by "Yeah Right!" So I called him and once he heard me he knew I wasn't making it up anymore. After making a few phone calls and noticing that the hotel charged a surcharge of 110% on every call, I bought myself a cheap mobile phone so I could keep calling mom and dad. Because everyone wants to be with the parents when they are really sick. I watched stacks of cable tv shows about renovating houses and tattoo parlours, tried to eat food but didn't succeed and spent much of the time sleeping whenever I could. Then 4 days later I checked out of the hotel (with a $300 phone bill alone which they kindly sorted out for me) and got on the plane back to Aus. They didn't know where my luggage was still, but Alaskan Air was convinced they had actually come to Melbourne even though I didn't, so that was kind of reassuring. I tried to upgrade to business class, but it didn't come through. Luckily the plane was quite empty and I had a whole row with a window to myself. I must have slept for 10 out of the 15 hours. It was lovely. When I arrived in Melbourne, my bags were here and they had been all along!
Have been back in Melbourne for a couple of weeks now and I think I am only just getting back on my feet again. Whatever infected me (we are pretty sure I had glandular fever AKA mono) really knocked me on my arse and I really didn't expect it to. I am back at work now, enjoying the warm up, trying to stay out of the rain, and hoping my team keeps getting through to the grand final of the Aussie Rules! Every year my work has a competition to see who can guess which teams will win every week and guess who has taken out the competition this year! That's right - the American girl! I win $400 and the awards ceremony was this past weekend. Oh the irony. The Aussie Rules AKA the footy is something I have gotten into quite a bit actually. I go to the matches pretty regularly and know more about the players than even the average Aussie guy does so it really is quite scary. Me and sport never really went together, but watching a bunch of really fit guys run around in short shorts and tight tops is actually a sport I can appreciate! The Grand Final BBQ will be in our newly completed courtyard this year and we hope to start a bit of a tradition.
Haven't got any big plans for the rest of the year except to head to the Melbourne Cup - that is if they have it! (The Equine Flu is rampant in Oz at the moment) I have been on the concert prowl quite regularly here in Oz. The scheduled looks something like this at the moment:
March - Red Hot Chilli Peppers (which wasn't very good)
May - Dave Matthews Band
September - Snow Patrol, Powderfinger, Silverchair
October - Angus & Julia Stone, Ben Lee
November - Ben Kweller
December - LIONEL RICHIE at a winery!
February 2008 - Burt Bacharach
Hoping to add a few others in the mix. Will keep you posted.
I also plan to keep up with the outdoor activities, have plenty more BBQs, drink my fair share of beers, hit the beach big time and have a true Aussie summertime Christmas. Then in January my parents are coming back to Melb for a visit. Should be lovely.
I suppose that is how I sum up the last 6+ months. Sorry for being so lazy at the updating. Guess getting back to reality in Australia isn't quite as fun as circling the globe for work, but then again maybe it is. Of course the phenomenon that is sweeping the world Facebook has slowly entered my life - perhaps a bit late to you statesiders. So if you want a much more regular update find me there. And of course I am still on Skype.
Come visit me anytime. Love to everyone.
Sarah
When I first arrived in back in Australia I was in Sydney for just 24 hours before heading down to Tassie for Andrew Mackonis' wedding. A lot of people were there. The weather was fantastic and the wedding was lovely. I stayed with Alycia at her parents house in Hobart and it was a great way to return to Australia. Here are some photos from the day.
Liz and her Dad on the day
Andrew and Liz walk down the aisle together
Bianca and Kaelen
What?? Yeah that's right. I caught the bouquet. What a joke.
A group shot of some happy friends at the winery where the reception was
So that was an amazing time. I got back to Sydney and started work nearly straight away on the 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This was about 4 weeks of prep for 1 day of 200,000 people walking across the Harbour Bridge from 9am to about 9pm. I met some amazing people and I know that none of those amazing people came from the general public. They were absolutely disgusting! We had to hand out special 75th anniversary caps. It was totally awful. We actually ended up having a sit in on the bridge itself when we eventually ran out of hats. After about a 20 hour work day and 2 beers, I was totally delirious and went to bed. Only to wake up the next day early for bumping out the left over compounds. It was an amazing gig and I am very glad I had the opportunity to work on it. Here are some photos.
Hats at the ready...
Night time lighting design
The crowds in the daytime...
The crowds at nighttime..
So after the bridge gig, I moved back to Melbourne and stayed with Bianca and Kaelen for a while. I didn't really know where I was going to live so hanging out with them was great. I think Kaelen got use to having 2 mothers as well. I got a full time gig with a theatre company here called The Malthouse as Production Coordinator. The company does about 8 - 10 shows a year in 3 different spaces. I look after the 2 smaller spaces and assist the production manager in the largest space. He is an amazing boss and I am learning a lot. The building use to be a brewery back in the day for Carlton so it is a pretty amazing place to work. Check it out here.
Probably after 5 weeks of looking for the perfect apartment, I found it. Just next to Eureka Tower in Southbank (for those of you who don't know, its just next to the Yarra River right in the middle of Melbourne!) And the amazing thing about the location is that I am only a 10 minute walk to my work! So at the moment I am walking absolutely everywhere and loving every minute of it. Especially since the weather is starting to be nice again. How I love living in the Southern Hemisphere - when all you poor bastards are stuck in the snow, I am beaching it up big time! I am living with Alycia Hevey and we absolutely love our apartment. We have a really amazing pool, a gym and the whole bit. We have a lovely courtyard which we are in the process of fixing up at the moment. We bought some plants for our garden bed, some bamboo screens to make it feel a bit more tropical and a bar - that's right a bar! So bring on the summer time pina coladas! Pictures below:
In August I had to head to the US for my 10 year high school reunion. This was absolutely hilarious. I hadn't been to Lakeville (where I grew up) for over 4 years, so it was amazing to see how it changed. Not to mention catching up with everyone from school! My best friend from school Sara and I went to the reunion together with the 2 guys we took to the prom! It was very funny. And I met my ex-boyfriend's wife and kid! Another friend of mine who I have known since grade 3 was pregnant for the second time so I met her beautiful daughter! It was a fantastic time in Minnesota. And lucky for all of the state that the bridge falling down disaster didn't turn out quite as bad as it could have been. Really strange though to have no bridge there! Here are some reunion photos:
Me and my friend Matt Kunes
Me and Sara after a few drinks
My high school boyfriend Josh and his daughter
My friend Angie's daughter
So after having a lovely time in Minnesota with the family (I even got to celebrate my birthday there which I haven't done since I was 22!), I headed to Brock's house in Seattle. Here I stayed with him and his girlfriend at their lovely house in Ballard. I also got to catch up with my dear friend Kelly White from college/uni. We had an amazing time reminiscing, checking out the city and she even cut my hair! We also had time to see lots of Brock's buddies who have moved out to Seattle as well including Mike Ice, Jack and Bale. Mike has started his own website which I really recommend you check out reviewing all of those lovely cat videos that circulate the web/inboxes. http://catcall.wordpress.com/ Brock did introduce me to some lovely activities in Seattle including a day trip to an island, kayaking in the lakes surrounding Seattle, a trivia night which was highly competitive, a South American happy hour with $2 mojitos, an amazing seafood restaurant on the waterfront and a garden full of homegrown produce. Not to mention their lovely cats Woody and Watson. Their house is amazing, Ballard is really cute and the weather wasn't half bad. Although it is required that you own some kind of really good rain jacket if you live there, so I have now acquired an amazing one that I seem to be getting some use out of at the moment in Melbourne. Here are some great shots of the trip to Seattle:
Me on the Ferry
The Island Day Trip
Brock and some creepy seaweed
Me at the Fish Market
Kelly and the best fortune telling machine ever
Brock and his produce
Mike with Brock and Caroline's Cats!
On the very last day that I was in Seattle, I got a bit of a sore throat. That night I had a really high fever and my glands got enormous. The next day I was meant to fly to San Francisco and then fly out that night. I got on the plane to San Francisco but when I got there, I realised I was just too sick to fly and cancelled my flight. They informed me that it wouldn't really cost much to change my flight and that I could pick up my bags at the airport the next day. I checked myself into a hotel that had a shuttle bus from the airport, called my parents to say I hadn't gotten on the plane and went to bed. The next morning I headed straight to a doctor because my neck was as wide as a bodybuilder's, I sounded awful, I was exhausted and my throat was killing me. He put me on antibiotics and told me that I couldn't fly for 3 days. So I extended my stay in the lovely Clarion hotel at the airport and tried to locate my bags. They were totally gone. No would take responsibility for them either since I had flown on Alaskan Air from Seattle and was heading out on Qantas. Alaskan assured me that Qantas received them and Qantas assured me they not only never got them, but that they wouldn't have put them on the plane because I never checked in. I knew I was going to be in the hotel for at least another few nights, so I cabbed myself to the local pharmacy, cheap clothing store and supermarket to load up on a few missing items that were in my now missing luggage. So 4 days in a hotel in San Francisco when you feel like shit is not so much fun. I texted my boss to say that I was going to be in San Fran for a few days because I was sick and he texted by "Yeah Right!" So I called him and once he heard me he knew I wasn't making it up anymore. After making a few phone calls and noticing that the hotel charged a surcharge of 110% on every call, I bought myself a cheap mobile phone so I could keep calling mom and dad. Because everyone wants to be with the parents when they are really sick. I watched stacks of cable tv shows about renovating houses and tattoo parlours, tried to eat food but didn't succeed and spent much of the time sleeping whenever I could. Then 4 days later I checked out of the hotel (with a $300 phone bill alone which they kindly sorted out for me) and got on the plane back to Aus. They didn't know where my luggage was still, but Alaskan Air was convinced they had actually come to Melbourne even though I didn't, so that was kind of reassuring. I tried to upgrade to business class, but it didn't come through. Luckily the plane was quite empty and I had a whole row with a window to myself. I must have slept for 10 out of the 15 hours. It was lovely. When I arrived in Melbourne, my bags were here and they had been all along!
Have been back in Melbourne for a couple of weeks now and I think I am only just getting back on my feet again. Whatever infected me (we are pretty sure I had glandular fever AKA mono) really knocked me on my arse and I really didn't expect it to. I am back at work now, enjoying the warm up, trying to stay out of the rain, and hoping my team keeps getting through to the grand final of the Aussie Rules! Every year my work has a competition to see who can guess which teams will win every week and guess who has taken out the competition this year! That's right - the American girl! I win $400 and the awards ceremony was this past weekend. Oh the irony. The Aussie Rules AKA the footy is something I have gotten into quite a bit actually. I go to the matches pretty regularly and know more about the players than even the average Aussie guy does so it really is quite scary. Me and sport never really went together, but watching a bunch of really fit guys run around in short shorts and tight tops is actually a sport I can appreciate! The Grand Final BBQ will be in our newly completed courtyard this year and we hope to start a bit of a tradition.
Haven't got any big plans for the rest of the year except to head to the Melbourne Cup - that is if they have it! (The Equine Flu is rampant in Oz at the moment) I have been on the concert prowl quite regularly here in Oz. The scheduled looks something like this at the moment:
March - Red Hot Chilli Peppers (which wasn't very good)
May - Dave Matthews Band
September - Snow Patrol, Powderfinger, Silverchair
October - Angus & Julia Stone, Ben Lee
November - Ben Kweller
December - LIONEL RICHIE at a winery!
February 2008 - Burt Bacharach
Hoping to add a few others in the mix. Will keep you posted.
I also plan to keep up with the outdoor activities, have plenty more BBQs, drink my fair share of beers, hit the beach big time and have a true Aussie summertime Christmas. Then in January my parents are coming back to Melb for a visit. Should be lovely.
I suppose that is how I sum up the last 6+ months. Sorry for being so lazy at the updating. Guess getting back to reality in Australia isn't quite as fun as circling the globe for work, but then again maybe it is. Of course the phenomenon that is sweeping the world Facebook has slowly entered my life - perhaps a bit late to you statesiders. So if you want a much more regular update find me there. And of course I am still on Skype.
Come visit me anytime. Love to everyone.
Sarah
posted by sjg | 3:22 pm
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