two hours of free belinis and jello shots at the ivy

Thursday night, Katie D, Katie K, Alexa, Alex and I all met up straight after work at the Ivy for drinks. The Ivy is this super fancy/swanky bar with all these different rooms and outside area. It is gorgeous : check it out on merivale.com. Anyways, so our plan was to go straight from work (especially so we would fit in with the crowd in our work clothes :) ) and then go to oxford street for Indian food afterwards.
Lets just say that we never made it to Indian food hahaha....So Katie D and i got to the ivy first, sit at the bar, and order a Rose (for me) and a sauvignon blanc (for Katie), but then the girl asks, do we want free belinis? FREE BELINIS!? um yes! haha does she realize that belinis are on my top list of favorite drinks. So of course we say yes, and then we find out that they were launching a "Classics Night" Thus, it was decorated all retro and the bar tenders were dressed in 80s gear, and free belinis, beer, jello shots, and appetizers until 8! we flipped haha so we classily downed those belinis and of course ordered more. Katie K came and then Alex and then Alexa. Sweet Alex brought me a bag of chocolates and candy! haha
We sat at the bar and had wayyyy to many belinis and jello shots. Then, these two old men started totally flirting with Katie and I and then he bought the most expensive bottle of champagne on the menu!!! $150!!! just for us! omg! hahah it tasted fabulous of course! i could not believe it! and then they were inviting us to a show upstairs that was "invite only" at 9 and also inviting us to see the horse races down in Melbourne, it was hilarious.
I ended up drinking a lot more than a normal thursday hahahah and we had to stay there until 8! luckily we got some chicken wings and hot dog pieces, but afterwards katie K walked me home haha and got me some wedges with sour cream and chili sauce! my fav haha
Then i woke up this friday morning, ohhh what a great feeling hahah NOT. Luckily its friday, and also free food day (aka health expo) haaha and bobbi brown just came back with lavender macaroons and vanilla ones too (i tried those two, fabulous!) and then lavender muffins, but i just tried a bite because i am gonna save that for later snack ;)
the days are flyingggg by!!

One Classy Night… Show at the Opera House!

So I don’t think that many people can say that they have seen a performance at the Sydney Opera House, but tonight I fulfilled that dream. Check that off my bucket list J. After work, I rushed home and showered super fast, threw on my heals and dressed to impress for the Opera House! A good group of us went to see a dance performance called “Of Earth and Sky”… it was a performed by The Bangarra Dance Theatre, which is a modern dance company devoted to Aboriginal culture in Australia. According to an article in Where Magazine, the director and committed dancers are virtually all of Aboriginal descent, and the company’s inspiration comes from dances said to have existed since the dawn of creation, which the Aborigines call Dreamtime. “ ‘Of earth and sky’ is an original and evocative double bill inspired by contrasting traditional and contemporary themes through the fusion and dance and visual art.” The show was very intense and unique. The group of dancers was small, and we sat in the very FIRST row! They were actually perfect seats too because we could really see the intense expressions of each dancer. The dances were hard to interpret, but full of extremely meaningful art and movement. Wow how the dancers moved their bodies, I couldn’t believe it!
The show was so unique, and “so Australia,” I am so glad I saw this saw at the Opera House because I would certainly not be able to see something like that anywhere else.
Before the show, we went to the Opera Bar before for drinks and food. I love the Opera Bar because it overlooks the harbor with the bridge, “The Rocks” area, and the ferries that drive by.
Then after the show, we went back to the Opera Bar for dessert, of course! We felt so high class ordering our $12 dollar desserts haha but then again we were wearing heals and fancy dresses (Libby wore her fur and red lipstick and Edwin was rocking a suit)… Edwin, Tobby, and I all ordered the “Quince Tart Tartin with Chantilly” and Libby got an Espresso Crème Brule..
Of course mine was nothing far from fantastic, but the presentation of the dessert and the ambiance of my surroundings made it even better. Here we were at the bar with two extremely hot men strumming Jason Mraz on the guitar, surrounding by a bunch of chic Australian people getting drinks, dessert, and food after the show. We even saw a few of the dancers! What a chic night J
I really really really don’t want to leave. I am actually panicking about it because there is still soo much I want to do but soo little time! and I have NO idea how I will be able to bring all my stuff home, gah!

Happy Birthday Alexa!

Today Alexa turned 21!!! So exciting!! Right away after work, I quickly ran home, ate dinner, and met everyone down stairs to begin Alexa’s big celebration! We went to Bar 333 first where I splurged and ordered a Kir Royale (cassis and champagne…aka one of my favorite drinks of all time) I thought I would splurge for Alexa’s birthday, and I haven’t ordered one the entire trip, and its coming to an end L so I thought I would just go for it J! After that I ordered a vodka with apple juice, which pretty much just tasted like apple juice, but was pretty tasty.
Then we went to Oxford street to hit up a fun place to celebrate more! We stopped to re full with cheap drinks at a total gay bar (it was called the Stonewall inn) what do you expect haha and they were singing karaoke, who knew gay men were such amazing singers!?!?
Then we went to the Gaff which is the most happening night club/bar on a Tuesday night to say the least haha… Alexa got the total treatment for being the bday girl: free entry and vouchers for free drinks! She even gave me a voucher! So I ordered my other fav drink…a bellini…yummy yummy! The Gaff was super crowded and the downstairs was certainly happening. We got drinks and went downstairs to dance, and then had a stage where there was going to be a “wet t-shirt” contest later… oh goodness…. At the bar I met a super super hot guy!! Oh my gosh, we talked for everrr about Melbourne where he was from…apparently Melbourne is more cultured and into music, etc…just my scene J he was soo my type too! Wearing flannel too! He was a news reporter and just got transferred to Sydney and lived in Bondi. He bought me a drink and I told him to just get me something sweet and he was going to order me a vanilla vodka with ginger and lime…just like a vanilla vodka and ginger ale which is SO my drink at home!!! It was fate I swear! They ended up not having vanilla vodka though so she put frangelico, blaahh totally ruined it haha but that’s okay because free drinks are always good… anyways, we talked for a bit and he said how we should get drinks in bondi (he apparently knew all the chic and cool places to go) and gave me his card! But he had to go because he had work at 7 the next morning. Boo haha
But then my attention turned to the wet-t shirt contest. No words can really describe this. lets just say that it was pretty gross haha but after that we danced a little more and then called it a night! I love Alexa and hope she had fun!!

i was proud of my outfit haha

Monday Night: An extremely cultured night to say the least….

Today after work, I met up with Edwin and Libby to go to the Art Hotel, which holds every Monday night the opportunity to draw naked people. Yes I said it, we went to sketch naked people. But don’t get me wrong, it was actually really cool. It was upstairs with a bar and all these people drinking wine and surrounding two separate women posing nude. There was good music, and hot young men with their sketch pads and charcoal, sipping wine and eating ordeurves. We had such a bad angle that it was so hard to draw, and I was not in the mindset, I haven’t sketched for ages! Libby was really good though. The women changed positions about every 20 minutes…one had an intense hair style (like partly shaved and dyed pink or something) … we felt so cool haha
Then afterwards we met up with Katie and went to the “blackbird bar” overlooking darling harbor for some drinks, but of course libby and I wanted the usual potato wedges with sour cream and sweet chili sauce so badly that we both ordered our own…nothing like a huge bowl of deep fried potato wedges and sauce at 10pm at night ;)

Monday in Woollahra

So today I worked at the Jo Malone in Woollahra again, which I really enjoyed. I got there early because the store doesn’t open until 10 so I got to sleep in too! I walked around the street for a bit in the morning, scoping out a place for a yummy muffin. I haven’t really been able to find a good muffin here because they don’t understand the meaning of bran or wholemeal or like the good stuff in hearty muffins haha I mean I like a white floured raspberry or blueberry one once in a while, but I was craving a big bran muffin…well long story short, apparently Woollahra is chic enough to understand good muffins!
I randomly popped into this adorable French café with a cute bar seating overlooking the adorable street, and got the BIGGEST muffin I have literally ever seen in my entire life!!!! And I am not joking. I know I over exaggerate sometimes, but this muffin was the size of my head, like I almost laughed when I saw it. and it was a morning glory muffin! Aka the good stuff, I could not believe it! I got so excited that I bought two haha (one for tomorrow morning when I will be back in the office). Kerry who works at JO Malone (she is a super nice lady with a 16 year old daughter and a husband from New Jersey! ) kerrry was like “omg that is the biggest muffin I have ever seen!” ahah we got a good laugh out of that one.
I liked working at the store because I got to take a nice walk/break along the street for lunch (there are tons of adorably cute cafes and little markets) and of course some extremely expensive clothing stores. I popped into a specialty market that had the same teas that we bought in London with Sien! They had the “marco polo” one, one of our favs too!
I ended up not finishing my grueling task, so it’ll be another day in Woollahra tomorrow, but I am not complaining :)

17th Bienalle of Sydney: Cockatoo Island

Sydney Harbor is known for its 8 natural islands that are scattered throughout the harbor. Right now during July is the 17th Bienalle of Sydney, which means that throughout the surrounding harbor area (the botanical gardens, the rocks, the opera house, 2/3 pier, and cockatoo island) they are exhibiting hundreds of artists.

After the Aroma festival, Edwin and I took the free ferry over to Cockatoo island http://www.cockatooisland.gov.au/about/index.html...

A little history about this island....

"The history of Cockatoo Island is emblematic of Australia's history. Before the arrival of Europeans, it was undoubtedly used by the first Australians, the Aboriginal tribes of Sydney's coastal region. In 1839 it was chosen as the site of a new penal establishment by the Governor of the colony of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps.
Convicts were put to work building prison barracks, a military guardhouse and official residences. Not long after, the maritime history of Cockatoo Island began with the construction of the Fitzroy Dock by convicts.
For the next 50 years the island was both a place of incarceration and the site of the colony's ship repair and shipbuilding activities. During the twentieth century maritime activity grew, notably during World War I and World War II. For a time, Cockatoo Island was the largest shipbuilding yard in Australia.
When the shipyard closed in 1992, Cockatoo Island lay dormant for a decade until the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust was established and given the responsibility of revitalising this significant site. The Trust is rehabilitating the island and creating one of the most unusual places to visit in the city."

The island was the PERFECT place for a magnificent photoshoot and scary movie set! haha Edwin and I walked into the old buildings where they had video artwork playing, so cultural. We walked into a live performance of a group of 5 people playing violin and the cello, with one woman singing opera with the most amazing voice i have everrr heard! wow it was awesome! We walked around there for awhile, and then took the ferry back home, making friends with people of course along the way :)

Then later that night, Katie and I went out for sushi to a "sushi train" place. I have never been to one, but the sushi rolls come out in front of you on a train and you pick them up as you go! so funny! but then you end up picking up like every plate haahah

please

please read my entire blog before, i worked so hard on writing everything about it... i know its overwhelming but it would make me happy :)

The Rocks Aroma Festival

Sunday, July 25th, my favorite part of Sydney city, aka "The Rocks" area outdid itself and any farmers market/festival I have ever been too. On this very beautiful, special day commenced the "Rocks Aroma Festival" : http://www.therocks.com/sydney-Things_To_Do-The_Rocks_Aroma_Festival.htm. Basically it was the biggest farmer's market I have ever been too, a festival of "coffee, teas, chocolates, olive oils, and spices, galore!" It was separated into different areas too: The Latin Quarter, The Oasis (this was the Turkish area with Camel Rides!! and baklava and golzemes), the Continent, the list goes on! Check out the different area and the different vendors that came here: http://www.therocks.com/sydney-Things_To_Do-The_Rocks_Aroma_Festival-Regions_of_Aroma.htm.

when we were taking pictures, official photographers from the event took pictures of us too! because they thought we looked fantastic with our "aroma bags" . look out for us on the cover next year!! ;) Edwin and I were the only ones that woke up to be there at the beginning of the festival at 10 am (it went until 5pm) and I was SO glad we got up early because later on towards lunch, it was extremely crowded, you couldn't even move!!! Luckily it was just Edwin and I because we honestly went up to EVERY stand! haha we sampled every single tea (they had the best chai tea lattes), chocolate, jams, spreads, nuts, olive oils, breads, you name it!

My favorite chai tea place was called "bondi chai": http://www.bondichai.com.au/ (check out the section for recipes... such great ideas!) I really like the vanilla honey bondi chai.

Another place I really like was a honey stand where they had this amazing honey popcorn and creamed honey.

Edwin and I squeezed in and grabbed every pamphlet and sample you could! haha I go so excited about every stand, and got so many great food ideas! I could have bought everything! no joke, but I wrote down my favorite places and I am going to travel to their stores to buy the "most unique Australia" items.

We tried a bunch of "dukkah:" http://www.oztukka.com.au/... this one was my favorite out of the billion haha... these stands were my favorite because you could dip the best white bread in every olive oil known to man! Dukkah is a mix of spices and nuts (the austrailans make it with macadamia nuts)... what you do is you dip a piece of bread in olive oil and then in the dukkah crumbs and voila! yumminess! I am going to buy some to come home with for sure! My FAV olive oil came from here: "Rainforest Macadamia Nut Oil" infused with lemon and ginger, sooooo fantastic!!!

I bought an amazzzinnggg tin of honeydew green tea! so excited for that! There were so many cupcake stands too :)! Also a place that put honeymustard dressing just on top of cream cheese, and voila the best little cracker accompaniment.

My all time favorite olive oil and balsamic vineagar place was this one: http://www.pukaraestate.com.au/... i was sooo soo close to buying like 5 balsamics (after literally tasting 20! hahah yesss) my favs were: 1. Blackcurrant balsamic, 2. vanilla and cinammon balsamic, 3. pomegranate balsamic, 4. truffle olive oil, 5. lemon olive oil, 6. white wine vinegar... and there were tons more!

Edwin was the perfect companion because we had to try EVERYTHING! haha and scopped out what we wanted to buy etc. They had a bunch of "hot chocolate" shots too ...and of course Edwin bought one.

We saw the coolest thing too: every year they make a huge art piece out of cups filled with coffee, milk, and darker coffee.. and this year they scuplted it into Marylin Monroe!! it was awesome!! We were there ALL morning haha and then it was maddness during lunch time! I got of course a Turkish Golzeme, my new fav thing! (layers of flat bread with pipping hot spinach and cheese inside, yum yum!) ...maddness during lunch:

the turkish ladies making TONS of golzemes at the speed of light, maddness!!and Edwin got a wagu burger. We then met up with some of the others who came a lot later, but we had already been there for hours!!

It was the BEST thing ever!!!!