Goodbye 2008...

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Happy (belated) Holidays, everyone!!

Hope you all had a wonderful, cold Christmas back home. As much as I hate winter, Christmas and the whole holiday season just hasn't been the same. Buttt I can't complaing, I've been working on my tan while you guys are shoveling your driveways! Mua hahaha...

Anyways, since moving into my new place and finishing work for the holidays, I have been so busy!! Last week my mom and I went to dinner with Andy so they could finally meet, and we went to one of my favorite restaurants in The Rocks, a deliciously amazing tapas bar called Firefly, right on the water. I probably have never been so full in my life. We had so many amazing tapas and drinks, it was a great night! Afterwards we took my mom to Observation Hill (or something like that) and its some observatory on a hill that basically shows a great view of the Harbour Bridge and the harbour itself.

Not sure what happened in between there and Christmas Eve, but I spend a lot of time at the Botanical Gardens walking around and enjoying the weather (when it's not raining)!!

So, Christmas Eve I went with Andy and had dinner with his family and some of his extended family. I think we had dinner at his cousin's house (which was BEAUTIFUL) and he's married to a woman from Mauritius and they have 3 adorable/gorgeous kids. There was maybe 10 or 12 people total? I had a really good time and the food was sooo good and reminded me of Christmas dinners back home... minus the 6 glasses of delicious sangria I has because his family kept refilling my glass 😊 I brought along some chocolate covered strawberries and pretzles (which no one in Australia has ever heard of!) Anyways, it was a great way to spend Christmas Eve, even though it was a little nerve racking to meet his family for the first time 😊

Christmas Day I met up with mom in the morning and we had breakfast by the Opera House, then walked around the Botanical Gardens for a couple hours. After we Italian food for lunch, the weather cleared up and we went to Manly (big beach, cute little town) and hung out for about 2 hours. She came back and spent the night.... and then the 26th was Boxing Day and they had tons of sales, but I hate shopping during the holidays so she went alone. Then later that afternoon we took a bus to Macquarie and met up with Andy, and he took us to Dee Why beach, where his Dad's friend was having a birthday party. We had tons of yummy Indian food and cake. I had a great time, and I think Mom did too. Andy and I went for a walk on the beach and I found a dead shark!! It was only like, 2 feet long, but still, it was a shark!

Last night I went and saw Slumdog Millionaire with Andy and Marlow, and it was GREAT. If you haven't seen it, GO SEE IT. And then today, my roommates Michaela, Raphaela, and I went to the beach at Manly and stayed there the entire day... the weather was PERFECT and the beach was packed. It was probably about 90 and it was perfectly sunny. So I laid on the beach all day and worked on my tan while listening to Bob Marley. Ok, now you can be jealous.

The next 2 weeks are gonna be crazy busy but so much fun! My friend Erin, from Iowa, gets here on Wednesday and will be here for 2 weeks. We have tickets to a bar for NYE, Friday we are going on a wine tour in Hunter Valley, and Saturday night we are going to a play at the Opera House with 3 of my guy friends. We have a lot of other stuff planned too: surf camp for a day, Taronga Zoo, doing the bridge climb of the Harbour Bridge (Andy got me 2 gift certificates to do it!), and from January 7 to 11 we will be in the Whitsundays on beaches and the reef. Google 'Whitehaven Beach' and then you will really hate me 😊

Hope everyone is doing well... my Christmas postcards have yet to make it to the post office, so be patient 😊 Love and miss you wall!! Stay warm and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! 2009, WOO!!!

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