Thank you, ABC

Of all the networks back home only ABC lets you stream their shows online while in Australia....we can't get Netflix or Hulu....or Pandora even, as my wife here reminds me. Everything here is reruns from the US or reality TV...you know they still have Beauty and the Geek here?

A Surry Hills Saturday

After our decorating was done, we headed out to a new area of Sydney called Surry Hills. Several people have recommended it to us so we had to go!

We spent several hours tour the area and shopping in the cute boutiques.

Jeff and I were wandering the streets and ran into a cute pop-up shop so we stopped in. I am so glad we did because we both came out with some cute new clothes.

Apparently pop-up shops are big here because we seem them all over but have never been in any. They basically open a shop in an empty store front and it's just the clothes. Most are at a big discount from other stores (big plus!).

We found several other cute shops but got so wrapped up in having good time, no pictures were taken! We found one that was very eclectic and had fabulous furniture and we bought a few cute ornaments for our tree.

I am pretty sure if we could, I would buy all the furniture at the store and try and ship it back home.

This is the old school that they are renovating in Surry Hills - so cute!

It even had two separate entrances for boys and girls. If you look closely you might be able to read it.

Check out the old police station too - very cool.

I am sure we will be back here too! It's so close and very great shopping!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

If only in my dreams!

So Christmas time is upon us and as everything is getting cold in the states, things are just getting warmed up here! It was 85 Sat but that didn't stop us from decorating the place for the Christmas season.

Since we already have several decorations and two trees at home, we went with a minimalist approach to the decorating. This was hard for me since I LOVE to decorate for Christmas, but there is always next year.

Jeff and our little tree

Every time the hubs and I go on a vacation, we like to buy an ornament to commemorate the trip and remember for years to come. This year we got this guy - a koala wrapping presents!

We even customized him so we could remember when we were here.

I got to place him on the tree!

Here is Jeff topping off our little tree.

TA-DA!

Our stockings are hung on the banister with care. In hope that St. Nicholas soon will be here!

Another random side note - Coke is doing a really fun marketing campaign here that encourages you to share a coke with someone. All the cans and bottles have a name or person on them.

Jeff was sharing with Prancer!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Our Thanksgiving Celebration

Jeff and I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday here in Australia because he did not have time off from work and that it was still Thursday in the States! We figured this way we could celebrate with everyone from far away!

So after several trips to the store looking for our normal ingredients, we were all ready to start cooking.

We found almost everything we needed for the dinner but never did find the fried onions to top our green bean casserole. :(

Another thing to point out - we never did find a uncooked turkey so we used what we had - this guy! He was a precooked 6 lb Turkey. Sorry Ellen - we did not have Dingo as you were told!

Here is Jeff ready to perform his Thanksgiving day task of carving the turkey.

Looks yummy!

I also made thanksgiving cookies instead of a pie. Jeff and I are not big pumpkin people so we wanted to make a chocolate pie. I looked all over for Jello to make my grandma's chocolate pie recipe, but there was no Jello to be found! Cookies did just fine.

After everything was cooked we were ready to eat. We had homemade stuffing and green bean casserole with the mashed potatoes and turkey.

What a spread!

Jeff and I were ready to dig in! It was great!

My only suggestion for next year - do not use the bag of pre-made mashed potatoes. They tasted a bit like cookie dough and were not kept for leftovers!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their family and friends. We are so thankful to everyone who is a part of our life.

Pretty Bird

Friday morning as I was drinking my coffee, I look out our balcony window and saw the most amazing bird. It was really rainy so it is hard to see - but this little guys colors were so vibrant!

He sat on the ledge there for a good 5 minutes as I took photos and watch him.

Now I am not a bird watcher by any means, but he was so amazing!

This was the perfect start to our thanksgiving celebration.

Thanksgiving Aussie Style

Even though we are in Australia where they do not have thanksgiving, that didn't mean we were not going to celebrate.

We are cooking our big meal tomorrow(Friday) as it will still be Thursday in the states. I know we wish we could be with everyone during this wonderful time but we are very thankful for all the blessings we have and our family and friends back at home.

I will keep you posted on the cooking and hopefully it goes well!

Fingers crossed and gobble gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sydney Soccer

After the Paddington markets, we went to our first A League game, the professional soccer league in Australia. Soccer is one of the summer sports here, but not as popular as rugby or Aussie rules (footy) both played in the Fall. The more popular summer sport is cricket. Don't get Jeff started on that as he continues to watch the games on TV to figure out what the heck is going on.

Regardless we went to support the hometown team Sydney FC play the Central Coast Mariners. Honestly I have no idea where the Central Coast is, if I had to guess it would be between the North and the South coasts, somewhere in the middle, hence the name. The stadium is just around the corner from the market so it made for a very balanced day!

Here is Jeff in front of the Stadium - wearing his new jersey! He had to fit in :)

Once inside - we realized everyone here was right in telling us these games are not well attended. We didn't care - we had fun!

The blue team is Sydney FC and the yellow is the Central Coast. The game was exciting but we ended up losing 3-2.

These are the crazy fans that even yelled profanity as a group as the ref did something they did not like- very funny!
It was another fantastic night in Sydney!

The Paddington Markets

On Saturday morning, Jeff and I made another (of many I am sure) trek out to Paddington. Ever since we went before, people keep saying - "oh did you go to the market?" Well no we didn't because we went on Sunday and they only happen Saturdays.

So we had to go back! You all know I cannot turn down a great shopping trip!

Once there, I knew what they were talking about - It is amazing! If we lived in Australia - I would make us live there and go every Saturday!

The market is just rows and rows of booths around a church/school in the town. There is everything from homemade soaps, leather wallets and purses to paintings and cute clothing. We founds some really gifts for people, and I even got an adorable handmade dress!

Too Cute! We had such a blast walking around and exploring the market

After we finished shopping we went across the street to have a snack before our next adventure. We got a seat that overlooked the street and we watched as they took down the market for the night. It was great people and puppy watching on the street as they are much more pet friendly than other areas.

Random side note:

Before we left, I went to the ladies room and found this -

Yes ladies - that is a straightener in the ladies room - Genius! Except for the hygiene issues that gross me out a little, it is a perfect idea! We all have gone out at night and when we are in the loo realize we need a little fix but nothing is there to help.

They have taken care of that! For a mere $2 everything is fixed!

After I snapped this pic we were off to our next adventure...

Be back soon.

Aussie Friends

So we have been a bit busy all week but have had some time to go relax with our new Aussie friends.

Our first outing was to a European movie based on a TV show here. It was a hilarious movie about 4 high school grads who go on holiday before the go off to Uni (University).

The movie was called The Inbetweeners and it was really funny. I do want to warn people if you want to see this, it is much more crude than even The Hangover. They have less restrictions on movies here than we do in the US.

We went with Dina and Robert - two of our new friends here. Jeff and Rob work together and it is nice because they live really close to us!

On Friday, we did what most working folks do - happy hour! This is where we discovered new types of ciders.

Here are 3 that we tasted-

There is also apparently a Strongbow Light- just like the one in London but a lighter version.

Here I am with all the guys!

We all had a great time on the patio . We are really loving all the new people we are meeting and having a great time exploring the city!

Shopping in Sydney

This week has been a bit rainy over here, but I have gotten out and done a bit of shopping in the city.

I took the train early one morning to a stop I knew had GREAT shopping. This is a beautiful building right outside the Town Hall stop - could be the actual Town Hall but I haven't explored THAT much (shopping was on the brain!).

I had already explored one shopping area around here but had heard about another right around the corner.

I was right...The Queen Victoria Building was a great shopping center and an absolutely beautiful building!

looking over the enter areas - it was 4 levels tall! I love this center clock.

Look at these stained glass windows!

You can even see that they are already decorating for Christmas - since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving it is acceptable!

I am fighting myself because I want to join in on the decorating!

Sunday Funday

Sunday Jeff and I decided to have a relaxing morning before we headed into the city for a nice night out with drinks and dinner.

We Skyped with the families in the morning and then Jeff found a site to watch the TCU Boise St game on the web.

I heard yelling and went to the office and found this...

Cheering on the frogs to a very close game! They ended up winning but it was very humorous to watch him watching.

After doing some basic things for the week, we headed to the CBD for the evening.

On the train

We had decided to go to the top of the Tower and grab a few drinks and see the view. If you have ever been to the Dallas Ball, it is very similar in that it rotates so you get a 360 degree view of the city. So pretty as we were able to see everything!

The sunset in the tower - look at all the windows!

Then we were off to the Peter Doyle Restaurant for some much needed seafood!

The restaurant is right on the Sydney Harbour next to the bridge and has amazing views of the opera house.

Here is the view from our table - stunning!

Jeff decided to order Crocodile tail - I was a bit disappointed when it came out and didn't look like a tail - but it was very tasty!

Us in front of the bridge but its hard to tell with the lighting

Right as we finished taking the pictured fireworks started going of above the opera house! It was amazing to see and a great end to a wonderful day!

Final Stop, the North Shore!

After leaving the cute Koalas, we hopped back on the ferry to head to the north shore of the harbor.

One of Jeff's new coworkers here lives in a neighborhood called Kirribilli just across the Harbour Bridge. She told us all about the area and since we loved

Paddington we decided we had to explore this area too.

It is so cute and had some fun street shops and real houses, not row houses! - It was so cute that I completely forgot to take pictures of since I was exploring!

We found Jeff's street and I had to take a picture!

View from the neighborhood street! Amazing

Walking to the Wine Bar we found this park - Blue Point, again amazing!

After hiking up a very large hill, we found the wine bar that was again recommended to us. I was so excited to see it since we have been to several pubs since we have been here.

Another self portrait

It was so cute and the decor was all red and black. Loved it!

We sat on the outside patio for a few hours and drank Sangria and had tapas. I was in Heaven!

The peach Sangria was so fresh and delicious

We even decided to have desert.

Churros con Chocolate, Dulce de Leche as a do it yourself!

The dark chocolate and fresh caramel were too good for words! I wanted to drink the chocolate out of the bowl after we finished!

I told Jeff that I am sure Brenna and Kendall both would love this place! We could all spend hours here!

Once the sun started to set, we knew we had to head out. Hopefully we will be back soon.