Orange you glad….

In celebration of my birthday, Adam + I took spent a long weekend in Orange, NSW – an off-the-beaten-path Wine Region about 4 hours from Sydney.

Upon discussing weekend plans with friends, Orange didn’t seem to be a town too many people were familiar with.   I was beginning to worry that we had signed up for a long drive to a sleepy town with nothing going on.  Luckily, my fears were completely put to rest.

From the moment we checked into The Black Sheep Inn, I knew we were in for a treat.  Even if we did/saw nothing else – this B&B would’ve made the entire trip worthwhile.

Attention Overath Ladies, are you listening?!

Our accommodation was an old sheep shearing shed (say that 10x fast) that has been updated and modernized into a stylish little B&B while still maintaining many of the original fixtures.   The walls are corrugated tin, the sheep chutes remain, the shearing machines are still intact, the old wool sorting table is now the communal breakfast table.  My words are not doing it justice – I hope my photos do a better job:

First night in Orange we went for pre (okay, and post) dinner drinks at the Union Bank Wine Bar, a very cool scene.

Next we had dinner at a shmancy hatted restaurant.  (For all my homebodies:  Hats are the Australian equivalent to Michelin Stars).   Simple translation – dinner was divine.  My belly was full of delicious food + wine.

*note, Adam did not make this cake.  

** I also just realized there is no cake shown in this picture.  Sorry, my photographer was too slow?

The following day we spent exploring the local wineries.  4.5 hours, 5 wineries, and over a case of newly purchased wine later…..

The tasting rooms in Orange are all located in the winemakers homes.  Such a unique experience.  At first you feel a little creepy approaching what is clearly their front door – but a few tastes in and all creepster feelings are abandoned.  The highlight was at Orange Mountain Wines, when the owner and his wife showed us their processing equipment and allowed us to taste wines straight from the barrel.

Another success!

Ta,

n

Birthday blues no more….

It’s February.  That means it’s my birthday month.  I’m turning the big 2-7.  Yikes!

It doesn’t much feel like a birthday here.  The weather is much too sunny.  All you Australians are probably just excited that Summer has finally decided to make an appearance.  I, on the other hand, keep looking at the clouds wondering if they look heavy enough to carry the proper amount of snow for a full-on blizzard, as that’s what I’ve come to expect of my birthday weekend.  But no, they just look like they are wispily painted to break up a bit blue sky or to perhaps shade me for a few seconds from the blazing sun.

So without the family, the friends, and the fuzzy sweaters it’s felt very unbirthday-like, which is just no way to get into the birthday spirit….

Thursday evening, I was feeling a bit wonky – happy that my work week was over, but otherwise rather blah.

I headed out for a mani/pedi as I strongly believe every girl deserves to pamper herself with some polish every once in awhile.  In my Australian life, I’ve gotten quite accustomed to the DIY version of polishing, so this time I was looking forward to someone else doing the buffing and filing.

My mood had improved a notch as I looked down at my toes which were looking perfectly cajun shrimp-y and my fingers especially bubble bath-y.

A success.

Then things took a major turn for the better.  As I got up to hand over my monies for this treat – I was informed that my appointment had already been taken care of earlier in the day by a gentleman who phoned up curious if:  “a Nicole had an appointment around 6pm“.

Luckily for Adam, who only knew the neighborhood for my appointment, there are only 2 salons on the block, so he didn’t have to make too many of those inquiring phone calls.

I walked home with an extra swing in my step – feeling full of rainbows and unicorns and all things good and birthday-y.  As I approached our front door, I was greeted by the aroma of cake fresh out of the oven.

Adam baked his first cake.  Ever.  You can’t even tell, right???

Please note that the cake baking took place in a brownie pan and that the icing was applied to a piping hot cake.

What.A.Guy.  I can’t wait to see what he turns out next year!!

The rest of the celebration continued over the weekend in Orange, NSW.  More on that later….

Ta,

n

 

 

A seat with a view.

As a thank you to Adam + I for playing “house” with Harper the other weekend – her parents kindly gifted us tickets to the St. George OpenAir Cinema, adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens.  You may recall that we had one of our first dates there just over a year ago, when we saw 127 Hours.  At that time, I wrote of the dilemma faced when attending a movie at this location: watch the screen or watch the scenery.  Win/Win!

You need to arrive early to reserve your seats, but then you can hang out at the bar + restaurants under the tents or head out into the park to enjoy a picnic.

I decided to make the most of a beautiful evening and stroll through the park, and up past the Opera House where I was struck by a quote on the wall alongside by Architect, Louis Kahn:

 The sun did not know how beautiful its light was, until it was reflected off the Sydney Opera House.

Then it was back to the screening area for the start of the film which begins just after the sun sets – meaning we had the opportunity to watch the colors change over this beautiful city we are lucky enough to call home.

(ps – if anyone from Tourism Australia is reading this, I may consider selling the rights to this amazing iphone quality image….)

Oh yeah – we saw The Descendants.  Recommend!

Moment of Truth: It was a total tear fest for me.  Must’ve struck a sensitive chord.  I’m not sure I’ve cried that hard at a movie since M’Lynn broke down at Shelby’s funeral….

Ta,

n

You’re Invited to a…….Party for One!

Well followers – I hope you have enjoyed my Australian Adventures thus far.  They aren’t ending yet, not even close.  Rather, I am embarking on yet another new adventure.

This one requires lots of traveling – both near and far – back through time and into the future….

The best part is that I will be able to do it all from the comfort of my couch, the beach, or while nursing a cup of coffee.

If you haven’t guessed it (…or heard my mom talking about it), I have begun writing book reviews for Cosmopolitan here in Australia (!!!!).

Check out this perk:

Books (months before they go on sale) get sent right to my doorstep!  I couldn’t be more thrilled to finally use a bit of the reader advisory skills I picked up while earning that silly little Masters Degree!

In the past, reading has been quite a private affair for me.  I sit quietly with a book and indulge whatever it brings my way; a smile, a giggle, tears, sobs, etc.  But now I’d like to take the opportunity to share these things with you.

To go along with the Cosmo project, I will be blogging about books + reading.  I want to get my feet wet and get some feedback from anyone who is interested.  My new blog will feature book talks on what I’ve recently read, what’s coming soon, and other things that may cross my path in the world of reading/writing.

I figure, if I’m going to take the time to write about it – it’s a safe bet that I found it worthwhile and there’s a possibility you may even enjoy it too!  I’ll leave you to make your own opinions (and encourage you to share them!)

So how about we all channel our inner-Cosmo girl?  Let’s laugh and/or cry together!

It is with open arms and open books that I cordially invite you to my: Party for One!

Ta,

N

Hot Wheels

Sorry for the announcement cliffhanger on the previous post…

Didn’t realize it would spark the rumour mill quite like it did.

Allow me to clear the air – We haven’t adopted any kangaroos or koalas.  We didn’t win the lotto.   We aren’t moving to back to the UK or the US – not yet, anyways.  I do NOT have a ring on my finger NOR a bun in the oven.  So there.

I’m afraid this is going to be a little anti-climatic now….

We bought a car!

We’ve been braving the public transport system (like pros) since the beginning of our Australian time.  It has been handy enough – quite convenient on most day-to-day fronts, but we were getting the itch to have a means of getting out of town on the weekends.

Now that we have this set of wheels, I’m going to try to resist driving EVERYWHERE.  My current commute to work is a 4.5 minute walk,  I’m going to fight the urge to drive on rainy days.

Road trips are getting planned.  We are now accepting mix tape suggestions!

Ta,

n

 

The World’s Most Liveable City

In all the ways that Sydney is about the sun, the sand and all things beach-y; Melbourne is about the bars, the cafes and all things city-living.  From the day I arrived in Australia, I have had all intentions of getting to Melbourne, especially as it is only one little hour by plane.  Finally that day has arrived!

The weekend was jam packed with activities so I’ll try to keep this limited to the highlights only…

Saturday morning, we visited The Eureka SkyDeck, the Southern Hemisphere’s highest viewing platform.  Which offers spectacular views of the whole city and beyond for miles and miles.  “We Survived The Edge” or at least that’s what our lame rubber wristlets said.  After arriving at the 88th floor in a whopping (and ear popping) 38 seconds, we paid a few extra monies to ride in a moving box that extends over the edge of the building with a glass bottomed floor.

Adam was disappointed with lack of adrenaline rush.

I was relieved to have not tossed my cookies.

Melbourne was described to me as New York-y; discrete bars, down hidden alleyways. No way to know they are there, unless of course, you know they are there.   Sounds cool, right?  Maybe for anyone withOUT a rodent phobia.  I quickly remembered that that is exactly what I don’t like about New York.  Luckily, I didn’t see any rats – next time I’ll stick to lit up busy streets, or at the least prepare better with closed-toe shoes.

What I truly loved about Melbourne was – casually strolling through seemingly ordinary shopping arcades like this:

Only to accidentally happen upon quirky cafe-lined alleyways like this:

Several additional highlights included…

This bar, positioned below a pedestrian bridge on the Yarra River:

This amusement park, Luna Park, that we briefly visited in the St. Kilda neighborhood.  Doesn’t it look like just the place to play the Zoltar  machine and wish to be “big”:

One of our favourite Australian beers is Little Creatures – has a dining hall in Melbourne.  It was a scorcher of a day on Sunday – perfect for an ice cold Ginger Beer, Mmm:

The ultimate highlight of Saturday was the privilege of attending the Women’s Final of the Australian Open.  The trip to Melbourne was planned in advance of any tennis plans – however, we were fortunate enough to be gifted tickets coincidentally on the same weekend we had already booked flights and sorted accommodation.  It then became a no-brainer as to how we would spend our Saturday evening.

(please disregard my awk smile – as I was on day 4 of kinked neck and this was honestly the most rotation I could muster without bursting into tears.)

The Arena was within walking distance of our hotel, so we casually made our way to the stadium, stopping at sights along the way.  Our tickets granted us access to some VIP entertainment areas, so we wanted to arrive early enough to take advantage of our totally undeserved status upgrade.  It was nice to be able to dip into some tented air conditioned VIP bars to escape the sweltering heat that Melbourne was experiencing all weekend long.  The seats were amazing, just behind the serving line (Bonus!  Refer to neck status as mentioned above: I was totally dreading the prospect of following the ball to and fro over the net)

It was obvious from the cheering crowd that Sharapova was the fan favourite.  I felt un-biased, as I often do at non-Philadelphia sporting events.  My inclination is to cheer for the winner.  Let me clarify:  I do not necessarily mean that I route for the stronger player or team, or even that I am a fair-weather fan (okay, this is sometimes true).  I mean that whenever I watch an extreme display of athleticism and perseverance that yields a result – there is something magical in that moment of victory.  And I am just so happy for the winners.  So while I had no real investment in Azarenka (okay, I had never even heard her name before), watching her win that last point and then collapse to her knees in overwhelming emotion – only to get up and hug her nearest and dearest, well it brought a tear to my eye.  I just like watching winners win.  There – that’s what I like about sports!

Sorry for the time lapse between posts (I’m talking to YOU Aunt Gina!).  I’m pretty sure I don’t have an excuse.  I will however have some exciting announcements in the coming days – so stay tuned!

Ta,

n