Jaca-What?

Spring is in full bloom here in Sydney and I am making the most of it before the super hot weather comes in another few weeks. All the roses have come up and there are poppies and bougainvilleas everywhere you look. My favourite new floral discovery is the jacaranda tree, as you'll see in the not so fantastic picture I snapped with my blackberry. I have never seen a jacaranda before, and they are not only gorgeous, but absolutely huge and everywhere! I took the metro over the city today and it was just a blanket of lavender - magnificent!

I took the day off today to run some errands and do all the chores around the house that I neglected while I was working over the weekend. I learned that unfortunately, Australians do not celebrate my most favourite holiday - Halloween! Can you believe it? They dress up on any occasion, but not on the biggest dress up day of the year. It's ludicrous. Luckily, they do celebrate Melbourne Cup, which is next Tuesday the 3rd. No one goes to work and everyone goes out to fancy lunches and drinks Verve and dresses up and gambles. So although there won't be any Monster Mash in my calendar this year, at least I have a little something special to make up for it!

Empire State of Mind

It's been too long since I've written, but my recent trip back to the States had me sidelined for a few weeks so there wasn't much to write about with regards to the land down under. It was sensational being back home and getting to see my family and friends again. My Nolita girls made my time in Manhattan fantastic, with plenty of party nights and some fantastic evenings just chilling at home with a NY slice or two! I had a blast with my family in Connecticut and got to see all the kids, visit with the grandparents and spend some quality time with mom and dad.

I was excited to come back to Australia, but I must admit that I left a piece of my heart back in Brooklyn. It was tough to leave everyone who knows me so well and come back to the other side of the world, which is all still fairly foreign. The 24-hour plane ride didn't help matters much either!

Luckily work has been really busy to I haven't had much time to be homesick. I worked back to back beer festivals the past two weekends, so while it's been good getting back into the swing of things, I am also exhausted! The photo is of me and the owner of one of our breweries after a few Lemon Myrtle Witbiers at the Australian Beer Fest at The Rocks in Sydney. I'm looking forward to a little bit of quite time, which I hope will happen this coming weekend. Until then, back to the grind!