Yo ho, ho ho, a pirate's party for Steve….!
Is started as a joint birthday party, and evolved into a dress-up party after Holly re-told the story of Dave's childhood dream to have a pirate party (but his mum wouldnt let him!) So for his 30th, and for the October/November birthdays of Steve, Holly, Sarah and Meghann, we got our pirate on!
It's race week in Melbourne!
What a way to spend a halloween — at a murder mystery night at our favorite cocktail bar in Melbourne, 1806. Sarah, winning best dressed for her stunning red flapper dress, even got a book with all their signature cocktails!
We just bought a new camera (Sony HX20V), for a new, compact hiking and adventure version of the larger Sony we've owned and loved for the last few years. The new camera is a pretty rad little handheld with 20x zoom and a ridiculous amount of options and features.
We spent Saturday afternoon walking around Melbourne with Kristin, Dami, Paolo and Annabelle and testing out the color filter features.
As much as we are happy to be coming home (and trust me, we really are so happy for that moment), we have really loved living in Melbourne. The friends we have made here are no small part of that. In fact, they're a huge part of it. So it's pretty depressing to think that we won't see some of them again.
I'm reminded of a conversation I had when leaving D.C. See in my law firm life in D.C., there were the three musketeers (me, Laura and Mark, who all summered and started at the law firm together) and the wise sage who (with some reluctance) took us under his wing and guided us through the hard weeks with plentiful martinis. As one might gather, junior associate life at a "big law" firm is pretty much akin to torture. Our exit plans were a frequent topic of discussion; it was no secret that we all wanted out, it was just a matter of time.
So when I decided my "out" was moving to our firm's Melbourne office, I was frankly surprised my fellow musketeers took the news so hard. After all, we all talked about leaving one day, right? But as the wise old man pointed out, I was doing the leaving first. I was leaving them behind.
It honestly hadn't occurred to me to think of it in that way.
Recently, I've been in the uncomfortable position of being both the deserter and the deserted. My dear friend and companion in the Melbourne office has decided to cut her losses and run. Literally. Out of law firm life, out of Australia, back to a life that resembles what so many think of as normal — where things like family, friends and sanity take priority.
Which honestly, has shook me. After all, it was supposed to be her farewelling me in November. And now in a few short weeks, I'll be the one left behind.
And a few short months (weeks really) after that, we'll be leaving. Leaving great friends we've made in Melbourne behind.
So in between moments of feeling like a deserter (again), I'm just trying to savor the moments with friends. Lunch, movies, coffees, dinner parties in Richmond, pubs, cheap eats in Chinatown, after dinner drinks on Tuesday, Wednesday…is it Thursday yet???
This is probably the real culprit for my lack of blogging in the past few months; I've been spending too much time having fun in the real world. (see drinking English cider like it's going out of style).
Which really, when you think about it, is a pretty good reason.
After a Friday night of debauchery with the gals in Melbourne, we ended up at Senoritas — my new favorite restaurant in the CBD and the second restaurant in Melbourne to actually have decent Mexican food. The decor is Day of the Dead; the food a pleasing array of small dishes (tacos and dips) and standard mains (like a perfectly spicy and sweet rich chicken mole).
When the bill came, it was adorned by this cute little skull pin, which having had multiple rounds of margaritas, we promptly ooohed and aaawwwed over. So our server gave us each one – turns out they are little costume rings that they flatten and slide onto your receipt.
We spent the rest of the night (yes, we continued to drink…) rolling around the CBD and raising our rings shouting "sister skull power!!" Strangely, no magic powers emanated from the rings, but we had a good time showing them off nonetheless.
To commemorate the event, and take a little piece of Friday nights out with the girls in Melbourne home with me, I came up with this colorful design.