4th of July

Saturday we hosted a little 4th of July get together at our flat

I thought my strawberries turned out pretty darn cute:) (gosh they were GOOD too!)

I also made red velvet cake - my great Grandma's recipe

Berries made a nice topping!

Steve & Selina & Amelia & Clara brought these CUTE cookies - loving the stars & stripes!!!

Also - of course - I made spinach dip with the ranch spice my Mom sent! oh it was GOOOOOD!

Helen also assembled the bean dip (which Betty Crocker calls Mexican dip) - everyone LOVED it !!!!

Cute Clara was collecting flag sticker to put on her cheeks!

She also popped over to the table now and then for a snack, then had to peek over the sofa to see the TV - toooooooo cute!

We also made tater tot casserole which went over really well!

From left Steve, Me, Ali, Anna, Amelia, Selina, Tom, Helen, Nicole & Cameron

Helen, Nicole & Cameron

Of COURSE we made hot dogs! With all the fixings of course - chili, sauerkraut, onions, etc)

Murray & Steve (and the very festive hats Steve & Selina brought along!)

Amelia, Selina, Me & Clara

Tom enjoying a brewsky on the balcony

Amelia & her Daddy

Tom & Murray with a hot dog........... enjoying the BBQing a bit too much I think!

Cameron & Nicole

Ali & Murray

Selina & Anna

Me with the lemonade! (I admit I couldn't find any lemonade mix, and I couldn't be bothered to make lemonade from scratch, so I used 'lemon tang' and then added slices of lemon. It was pretty good though!

Super festive Amelia - even her outfit is red white & blue! So cute:)

Nicole & Helen

Murray, Ali & Anna

Clara joined me for dinner - she did LOVE the hot dogs!

Me & Murray (do you like my t-shirt that I got at Target in the states when I was back in April?). I totally didn't realize it matched the cake until I put it on........... lol

A VERY lovely evening. I am just sad we didn't get a photo of the AMAZING 7 layer salad Helen assembled - it was SOOOOOOOOO nice (especially since we put ranch dressing that we made from another one of the packets my Mom sent on top). I really do think the peas & radishes made that dish AMAZING! :)

And can you BELIEVE I forgot to take a picture of the Minnesota cookies??? Bummer - but gosh they were yummy!

Dinner with friends :)

Last week I went out to dinner with friends in Manly to the Bavarian Beer Cafe
Emma, Sue, Me & Helen

The meal was yummy - German of course - schnitzel & sausages. But the homemade strudel dessert was AMAZING!

Sue & Me - it was good to see her again as she will be heading back to the UK soon :(

4th of July prep

I started with my official 4th of July prep last night by making Missouri Cookies. I don't know why they are called that - but they are no bake - and they are yummy. I ate one for breakfast, and I have a tupperwear full of extras on my desk to share around at work today. I figure it's the start of a holiday weekend - so cookies for breakfast are acceptable right?

I don't have the recipe on me right now - I'll have to post it another day. Suffice to say for now that the main ingredients are oats, peanut butter & sugar - yummmmm.

You know what - just because I can - I may rename them Minnesota cookies - because they remind me of home:)

Half a Year in Oz

Today is exactly 3 months since I started working, which was 3 months after I landed in Oz.
Gosh where have 6 months gone? Time flies!

It's a terribly cold winter day today - the forecast on the radio said 23 Celsius (76 Fahrenheit) this afternoon.

Really?!?!? ?Is this winter? WOW.

I'm glad I didn't get my warmer coat out today! Since July is meant to be the height of winter I thought hmmm maybe I should break out my slightly warmer 3/4 length jacket - but no - no need - my short jacket + pashmina was even too warm this morning!!

Back to Monday again!

Lovely weekend - Sunday we took a walk down to Manly and noticed all the fencing they have put up!
The high tides recently have washed away a lot of the sand on Manly beach, causing a dangerous drop down onto rocks - thus the fencing. You are allowed down there, it's just to stop people from falling due to the drop I guess. The interesting thing I read in the local paper is that the fencing is costing $6000 a week to rent - WOW - is it just me or does that sounds like a complete rip off?

Everyone here is excited about the biggest ever lotto draw in Australia tomorrow night - we saw these scooter guys this morning - cute with the balloons (and they had fake money taped all over there scooters too - ha ha)! Yes we have a ticket - fingers crossed for a big win!

My First Ever Netball Game!

I filled in on Anna's netball team on Wednesday night. I was up front from the start though -saying not only had I never played netball I have never even SEEN a game!

We each had to put a little jersey on with the initials of our positions. They had me start as a Goal Defender (that's GD on the below map...) and the girl who I was supposed to be covering was SOOO fast - I spent the whole time just turning around going 'where the heck did she go?' then running after her (while trying to remember what lines I had to stay between, how far I had to stay from other players, etc. - lots of goofy rules...)

So after the first half they had me change to Goal Shooter. We lost BIG time - 18 to 3 (but there was a few people on our team that had never played before - and the other team had played together for a year...), but guess who got 2 of our 3 goals???
I was pretty happy with myself! The basket is just like a basketball basket - but with no backboard. But somehow - goodness KNOWS how many years it has been since I last shot a basket, but I did ok! If they ask me back again I'd go - it was fun:)

Oh and one funny thing - when you are shooting, the defenders from the other team have to stand 3 feet from you, but they are allowed to lean forward and wave their hands around to try and block/distract you - I do NOT like that part!!! The first time I went to shoot a girl was doing that. I just stopped aiming - and said 'well THAT is distracting' I think she was surprised I said that because she stopped and moved away, then I shot and scored HA! Too funny:)

I can NOT wait for this movie...........

The book was amazing and I am SO excited to see Eric Bana is the film's star (he is Australian)!

Oh my gosh - how disappointing though that it doesn't come out here til November!!! :(