Goodbye Australia

Here is a little update of the last few weeks in Australia:

We went to Albury (Ash's home town) to have an engagement party with his friends and family.  Unfortunately we did not get too many pictures because we were super busy.

Ash MADE this cake.  Yes, he made it. Blueberry, white chocolate, lemon cake. I swear he surprises me with his many talents everyday.

Cake again.

All the yummy desserts.  Thanks everyone for your help!

We were smashes after this night. I had been on my feet for 12 hours getting ready and awake for about 20 hours straight.  We were exhausted.  This is our "after" picture.

Breakfast at Bondi Beach.  We don't really like to smile every picture.  And we are okay with that.

Goodbye Bondi Beach.

Then my wonderful friends threw me a bridal shower. The girl in Pink is one of my bridesmaids and she did an awesome job.  Lunch, Champagne, lingerie, and dessert. Such a perfect afternoon with such amazing friends!

Then on Monday ash had to work so I decided to bring him lunch and we had a picnic. It was perfect.  If I could go back to any place or moment in Australia it would be at this picnic. Perfect weather, yummy food, and a wonderful fiance as company. 

I make killer salads.

Then on my final night we walked across the Sydney view.  It was beautiful!

So that was it. I am back in Dallas for a bit and then I move to LA!  See you next time Australia.  You will forever have a place in my heart and I am positive we will be back!

Where did time go?

I only have two weeks left in Australia.  That is just crazy to me!  Sorry I have not been posting lately...its mostly because I havn't been taking pictures...because I have little storage on my phone... because I cant sign into iCloud...because it uses an old email address that does not exist anymore.  So there is a long chain of reasons why I have not been posting. But oh well here I am today!

Mostly my life has consisted of work, wedding planning, and hanging out.  Nothing terribly exciting.  Like I said in my last post I feel like I am now settling into this place so it doesn't feel like I am constantly doing new and exciting things...instead I am just living and loving life here.  And it feels normal now.

I am kinda going backwards with this post from what happened most recently first then back to what happened a few weeks ago.  But I will give you dates so you can keep track

After church on Sunday night (Aug 17) we went to a little restaurant and this was on the wall of the restaurant.  Ash and I liked it!

That same day (Aug 17) I had a yummy salad from a random cafe in the city.  This salad was too yummy not to be shared. Quinoa, spinich, pumpkin, feta, avo (which I picked out), tomatoes, onions, yum!!

Ash and I had breakfast at the boat house again (Aug 16).  But this time it was raining so it wasn't as beautiful but the food was still amazing.  And so was the company :) Ash did not want his picture taken. 

But I did!  Okay so I told ash to order me eggs and a coffee while I sat down at our table.  When we get our order he got me eggs but also got us a massive fruit platter to share.  It was wonderful.  I have trained my man well.  He knows I love fruit and he still knows how to surprise me even in little ways. 

We attended an Australian wedding (Aug 9).  Aussie weddings are somewhat different than American weddings.  The main difference was that the ceremony is like in the afternoon at 2pm and then the reception is like at 6pm at night.  So everyone just finds things to do in between.

These are some polaroids from the wedding.  Ash had just got off the plane from Canada from another wedding he went to there so he was a bit jet lagged lets just say.  At least he wont be jet lagged for the next wedding we attend together (our wedding).

Luckily for us we had amazing views while we were waiting

And we went to an amusement park.  I found myself a cutie.  He makes everyone around him laugh and I love that about him.

Oh and isn't this precious.  This is Ash with our pastors newborn baby.  He is kinda a natural.

These girls.  I will miss every single one of them.  Oh and the blonde two people to the right of me is one of my lovely bridesmaids and she is making the trip all the way from Sydney to Texas for the wedding! I am so happy to have her!  We have been doing 5am gym workouts together here and its been great to have a workout buddy again.  

Ash made me breakfast the morning of the same wedding from above (Aug 9).  And look at this fruit.  Did I tell you he knows me or what.

He is a stud in the kitchen. 

This photo.  I die every time.  It makes me laugh.  Yes, Ash is the baby and our friend Ben is the mother. (aug 9)  Just take a moment and laugh.  Then after your done reading this post come back to this picture and have a laugh again. 

On August 2nd, Ash was away in Canada so Chloe picked me up for a girls day.  We went to lunch and then watched her play netball.  Its a super popular sport here in Australia and in the Commonwealth countries.  Its basically similar to basketball except once you get the ball you can't move.  Also people have different positions and say if you are defense you cant go past half court.  Or similar rules like that.  It was entertaining to watch that is for sure.  

We also had a girls night celebrating Kaylene's birthday!  Homemade pizzas, girl talk, prank calls, pictures, cake, etc.  Nothing beats girls night with these girls!!

I want to do a post about my experience at Hillsong church and also about my experience as an Au Pair and just Australia in general.  So those posts should be coming up soon so be on the lookout!  I feel like if I tell you guys now that I am going to be doing those posts then I will actually do them!  So its more like self motivation.  

Next up this weekend.  Trip to Albury (Ash's hometown) for an engagement party with all his family and friends! YAY! 

Routine.

Just as I am about to leave Australia I feel like I am finding my place in this country! I am into my routine and have awesome friends and being here just seems "normal" it doesn't seem like a long vacation anymore.

I have made amazing friends - Like these two! Jade (from Australia but she's Columbian) and Leah (From Michigan).

I have driven on the other side of the rode and drove stick shift! Okay so I drove like 800meters but still it was an accomplishment.  I only stalled twice but that was while I was parking.  It took me like 10 minutes just to inch up 5 meters. 

I got extremely lost in the city looking for a bus station.  The trains stopped running once you got to the city one weekend so I had to search for this bus stop E.  45 minutes is how long it took me to find it.  Google Maps failed me. My sense of direction failed me.  Oh well I found it and after 2+ hours of traveling I got to where I needed to be.  (Horrible Picture - I was trying to look annoyed)

I had a birthday in Sydney! Golden Birthday might I add.  Turned 23 on July 23rd.  My parents spoiled me with the best birthday present ever - FRUIT BOUQUET!  I loved it and so did the little girl I nanny!

Ash took me out to a fancy dinner on my birthday to Cafe Sydney (pictured below).  It overlooks the harbor.  Then we had Yogurtland.  Because a birthday isn't complete without Yogurt.  I missed my free yogurt at yummilicous in America on my birthday!  I wonder if they do rain checks? Probably not. 

I was well loved on my birthday that is for sure!

Then my last birthday request was breakfast somewhere awesome.  We were going to go to the boat house, (remember engagement story)  but it was pouring down rain so we went to the grounds instead. I went to the grounds the day I arrived in Sydney last August when I was visiting Ash, but we had not been back since.  The coffee there was worth it enough.  It was such good coffee.

Our food -  I had an omelette and ash had a pancake.  Side of bacon and we were stuffed.  And had heaps of leftovers for lunch the next day. Two meals in one.  What a bargain. 

Here are some pictures from the internet of the grounds. Just to show you how beautiful and cool the place is. 

Fresh bakery stand.

Fresh fruit and lemonade stand.

Definitely on the to do list of everyone visiting Sydney.

I only have a little over a month left in Sydney and that makes me super sad.  But also excited to start the next steps in life as well!

Ash leaves for Canada for a week and a half for a wedding and I miss him already.  In case you were wondering, yes Ash and I travel a lot for weddings.  Its because now we know how much it means to us for people to travel to our wedding that we feel they deserve the same.  Its such an awesome feeling when people make the sacrifice to come see you get married. It means a lot all you people coming! 

Ben &  Rosie, Emmily, Jace & Karli, Mikey, Chloe and Nate!  So pumped!

Its been a while..

In the time since I last wrote I travelled almost 40 hours in a plane.  You jealous? Yes, I wouldn't be either.  But I did get to go home to Dallas, TX so I can't complain it was a lovely trip! This blog post has lots of pictures so just go with it!

I went home for my beautiful best friend from school's wedding.  And what a beautiful bride and wedding it was!

Beautiful venue!

Beautiful bride

High school reunions. 

And then of course the rest of my time at home included my own wedding planning, packing up my things for Los Angeles (my dad is driving my car there while I am still in Australia), enjoying the Dallas summer and laying by the pool, and spending time with my family.  So all in all it was worth the 40 hours of plane ride...next to three children under the age of 7. Where were your parents?  That is a good question.

Oh and I want to give a shout out to my new favorite restaurant in Dallas.  True Foods.  Yummy organic fresh food.  This is my watermelon juice with lemon.

And this my friends is the best dessert I have ever tasted.  Banana chia seed pudding with shaved coconut on top. Yum.

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This week in Sydney, Australia was Hillsong Conference.  Its where 21,000 people gather and worship Jesus and just learn about different things Hillsong does as a church for people to bring back to their home churches.  It was incredible to experience.  I got to go on friday night and Robert Madu spoke (from Dallas, TX).  So Dallas friends if you ever want to hear a Dallas preacher speak like never before try to go to his church when he is home and not traveling.  He is incredible.  

So of course we had an after conference party on Sunday night after church.

Great minds think alike #matchingjackets

These girls.  Love them to pieces.  Thanks for welcoming me in and loving me so well!

Cheers to conference being over.

And me getting my fiance back.  Missed you while I was home.

Oh and an engagement photo to end this post.