Monday, October 27, 2008

Halloween in Melbourne

Last August when I arrived in Melbourne, I was shocked to discover that Halloween is not a vastly celebrated holiday in Australia like it is back home. As Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, this news was overwhelmingly disappointing. So, I decided to host a Halloween party this year, given I have a house and all. After fielding several questions about costume ideas, to which I responded that Halloween costumes do not always have to be scary, I was quite pleased with the array of creativity that showed up at my door. And what's more, we were able to combine the party with Skye's birthday celebration, so it was a night enjoyed by all! Tim and I went as Peace and Quiet - he dressed up as a mime, and I was a hippie!

Skye, Lois (Tim and Skye's mum), Dana, and I had a great time prepping all day before the party (the boys found an excuse to get out of party prep)! We baked, and baked, and baked some more - there was a gigantic spider cake, cheese pumpkins, mummy toes, small chocolate spiders, Day of the Dead punch complete with a frozen ice hand, scary Halloween music, spider webs everywhere, and Halloween movies going in the background.

We even had a costume contest with prize Halloween-themed bottles of wine in titles like "Killer Stiletto" and "Dungeon Gully". Some notable turnouts included: a bunch of grapes (Dana), white trash (Dave), a mermaid (Belinda), Steve Erwin and his killer stingray (Andrew and Amber), Medusa (Skye), Ghostrider (Shane), Borgs from Startrek (Emily and Jess), Aladdin and Jasmine (Chris and Jinee), and of course, yours truly and her mime =)






























Monday, October 13, 2008

Reminiscence

As much as I like living in Australia, there are some things I'm starting to miss about home. Dana, a friend from home who has been backpacking down under for about 10 months now, is currently staying with me in Melbourne. Last night, we were reminiscing about the things we missed most:

1) Chick-Fil-A.
2) A trip to the local Mexican hot spot for chips, salsa, and margaritas (Melbourne has like 3 Mexican restaurants, and they do not use spices).
3) Iced tea, southern style.
4) Driving to the store at 2am in the morning, because you know it will be open and stocked with whatever your heart desires at that time of morning.
5) Not hearing "Ta", short for "Thanks" here. Why "Thanks" needs to be shortened, I will never understand.
6) Central heating and air conditioning.