Farewell Adieu to You and You and You

The night after my Yankee Doodle Dandy party was a short one. I had to be up and on my way to the Radtke's farewell party in East Malvern. There were a few repeat offenders from the night before including Mike, Patrick, Ria, and Jasper. We were moving a little slow but happy to have cause for another party. Also in this picture we have Jane Campbell, Sasha, Richard and his wife, and Brian. We are actually standing on turf which is not an uncommon solution for low-maintenance and drought resistant grass in Melbourne.


Terra and Mike are headed back to Ft Worth, Texas!

Sasha and Marta will stay in Melbourne and possibly return to Poland someday (her home).

My last couple weeks in Melbourne were jam packed with lunches, dinners, coffees, and catch ups with lots of friends. Despite my photo obsession, I failed to capture them all but here are a few I did. Jamie Comley and I went to a great, well reviewed (we learned while eating) hole in the wall italian restaurant Bar Idda just up Lygon St from my house, followed by gelato from the famous Gelobar on the way back to my house. Jamie and his mate Rich came to Texas while I was working on Hurricane Ike, I showed them around, brought them tailgaiting and to all the great bars and bbq joints. He wore his 'Keep Austin Weird' longhorn shirt just for me.

I met Mhairi and Ian for lunch at Ti Amo 2 on their last day in Melbourne (before returning to Scotland, then to England).

me and Mhairi.

The Texes Exes did a last minute Thirsty Thursday happy hour for me at Bimbo's in Fitzroy. We had $4 pizza with a great selection of beer and good dance music.

I met Kristel and Adrian for a quick lunch at Blufish in the middle of Adrian's work day.

I went out for dinner to a Thai restaurant with the biggest menus ever with Joey, Caz, and Sam.

Then we went to the International Cake Shop for cocoa and baklava.

me, Caz, Joey, and Sam having a low key girls night out.

Mike came up to Brunswick and we headed to The Retreat.

Mike and me at The Retreat.

Somewhere in the midst of all the social engagments, I did manage to pack a few boxes. I ended up repacking them all at FedEx to fit into fixed cost boxes which cost less of a fortune. Of course, I didn't quite have enough time to finish the packing and paperwork-intensive preparation of boxes, so I left all my stuff at FedEx for several hours while I went to meet friends for tea. Good thing Australia is a safe, trusting kind of place.

I treated Narelle and Dan to high tea at Langham hotel to say thanks for all they did to help with the party. It was fancy schmancy good fun. Cheerio.

me and Dan. We all got the Chocolate Indulgence high tea, which came with little sandwiches, scones, and a bazillion gourmet rich chocolate desserts. It was delicious and entirely too much.

Jade had a tragic burn incident the day before so was unable to join us as planned. We brought high tea to her in bed from Brunetti's, along with a gift certificate for her and Holger to go to high tea at Langham another time.

Jade is the walking wounded. A hot pan of oil spilled all over her feet and leg. She ended up with really awful burns.

Charlotte and Sammy treated me to an amazing dinner at Kuna's. We have a tradition of eating cheap dumplings on Little Bourke St, but Sammy picked a really upscale place up the road from our normal dining locations. We had super gourmet chinese food (like beef wrapped asparagus) with sake, beer, wine, port, plum wine, etc.

Charlotte, Sammy, and me. Red cheeks, oh how I will miss taking the metro home after a night out.

On my very last day in Melbourne, I drove out to Mel's house to see her and Archer one last time. I also saw all my bedroom furniture in her guest room. I am happy a part of me (well my stuff) will stay with her.

me and Archer. I can only imagine how different he'll look next time I see him.

My last supper in Melbourne was dumplings, dumplings, and more dumplings at Shanghai Village with Brendan and Dan in Chinatown.

Chinatown in Melbourne CBD.

Dan, Brendan, and me.

We followed up dinner with churros and chocolate fondue from Chocolateria San Churro on Lygon St. They had the most divine hot chocolate I have ever tasted. It was like drinking hot liquid superior quality chocolate. I flew out the next morning so early that I did not sleep that night.

Over and out. That about does it on my time in Australia. Happy to have shared this amazing time in my life with all of you. Looking forward to the next great adventure in DC!

Yankee Doodle Dandy Party

I decided to throw a big party before I left Melbourne. In honor of my return to the U.S., we did an all American themed party at the house. We had red, white, and blue decorations everywhere - a giant swag hanging from the kitchen ceiling, paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling and across the backyard, streamers and balloons, an American flag in the hallway, etc. We had a keg in the backyard and a huge cooler full of potent long island iced tea (refilled later in the evening) with none other than red plastic cups. We had every kind of American food you could want... mac & cheese, hot dogs, buffalo wings, chili, sloppy joes, deviled eggs, peanut butter kiss cookies, m&m's, reeses peanut butter cups, and a giant american flag cake. We roasted s'mores over the fire in the backyard. Oh, and did I almost forget the red and blue jello shots? David Clark DJ'd so the music was hopping. The first guests arrived right when the party started at 8pm and I was still in the shower. What a host. Fortunately, my party planner extraordinaire Narelle was busy slaving in the kitchen so welcomed the troops til I was ready to go. Narelle, Stu, Jade, Holger, and Dan all did so much to help make the party happen. Big thanks to them!! Above it's Misz America (me) and trailer trash 'Candy' (Jade). Narelle made my sash and the store had apparently ran out of 's' letters so I have an alternate hip funky Oz inspired spelling for Miss.


Jade's getting down with her bad self. Also evidence that the kitchen floor was clean at the start of the evening.

Duncan came as Texas (Casey Wauters), a former American colleague in the Melbourne office.

I was so happy to see Matt again, who I coached in Landmark and who came as a green peace advocate, and here's trailer trash 'Darryl' (Holger).

The classy trailer trash couple 'Darryl' and 'Candy' (Holger and Jade).

The girls! Tori, Sam, Caz, Alex, Mel, Katie, and Jade. We moved a couple couches into the kitchen. Also very classy!!

Sasha from my Urban Life church group came to say farewell.

"Contiki!" Elliot razzed me endlessly about my Contiki trip through New Zealand and asked if this party was going to be 'Contiki' style. Close. Elliot, me, and Louise are Contiki-ing it up.

Yo, yo! Nice bandana Tori.

Here's some of the food and Long Island Iced Tea concoction. This single cooler holds (6) one-liter bottles of alcohol and one bottle of coke! Sweet and sour mix was not to be found anywhere in Melbourne so we had to make some substitutions. Holger helped doctor it up with lemons, limes, and some other Aussie fare. As for the flowers... my doorbell rang about 8am the day of the party and it was a guy with flowers, asked if I was Jen Sorenson, then these were for me. I was so surprised and excited to get flowers and wondered who they could be from. Camilla (from the U.S.) sent red tulips to me because she knew I was having a red, white, and blue party that night. How incredibly sweet and thoughtful. What a great start to the day!

Holger, Melody (animal rights activist), me, and Jojo

Fellow Landmark coach Raf came as a cheerleader and co-worker Jamie behind her came as Paul Simon.

Raf and me

me with cowgirls Alex and Hanya.

Eva and Brendan are giving me a little lovin'

Lousie, Duncan, Dan, Elliot, and Haacky

Here's my DJ extraordinaire and illegal immigrant David

Here's my men in black personal trainer Hosi.

The party in action with Duncan, Alex, and Katie in the forefront.

Canadian travel companion Katie and me

Up close and personal with 'Texas', er I mean Duncan.

Kristel from boxing and Caz's hand.

Sam, Caz, Katie, Jojo, Tori, and Alex.

Alex, Duncan, and Katie making s'mores. I'm thinking long islands + fire = bad idea but we survived.

Oh it tastes so good, doesn't it? S'mores are going to become an Australian tradition now!

me and Ritz!

Hosi and me. We went back to our vietnamese place after the party for one last dinner and catch up. He became such a good friend during our training sessions.

Jeremy and me. Jeremy is quite possibly one of the best communicators I have ever met. He has a voice for radio and an imagination for story telling. He shares my passion and desire to get the most out of life.

Liam (from down the street) and Jade.

From an American flag hanging in the hallway (courtesy of Narelle jumping off a tram when she saw it hanging in an Army disposal shop)...

... to one on a cake, cheerleader Narelle and boy scout Stu do it all! They made this gorgeous strawberry shortcake American flag cake along with a thousand other things. They are so good to me.

Anna sucking out a jello shot.

A peek at the wonder table of all-American junk food. Those little crackers left confetti and streamers and metallic flecks around the house and yard for days. Whose idea were those? (Mine.)

Ria, Patrick, Peter, Jasper, Andrea, and Cara.

me and Mike Radtke - we had so many heart-to-hearts on the Jetson grey chairs in the office level 6 tea room.

Jeremy and me.

Jeremy's friend Ben.

St Louis Cardinals player Glenn who I met through a University of Texas alumni happy hour in Melbourne, and who happened to live just down the street from me. It's a small, small world.

They made me give a speech before I cut the cake, but after a couple long islands, I think all I said was how much I loved everyone and how great they made my experience in Melbourne... over and over and over again.

Alex took a turn at the music when David ran off to another party. He returned to my party not long after he left with a couple friends from the other party because 'my party was way better'. Boo yeah!

Dan got really into the cake.

Oh how I love Brendy woo and his many Catherine Tate impressions.

Rory (from down the street) and his girlfriend.

Jamie, Jeanne, and me.

Narelle and her "wanna see my box?" party line.

Peter and me. Let there be dancing!!

Alex and me.

Professional snow boarder Kenny and Verity.

Oh yeah, the music is pumping. David, Brendan, Alex, Verity, Katie, and Hanya get down wit' it.

me with party promoters Stu and Narelle.

The first sign of decline. Anna took a fall on the filthy floors. No idea where all the dirt came from. Perhaps the fire in the backyard? It may have something to do with drink spillage, like for example when Duncan was holding his drink sideways and it was dripping down my leg. I said "Duncan, you're spilling your drink", he said "no I'm not" but managed to hold his cup upright again. People actually began skating and sliding across the sludge caked on the kitchen floor. Now that's classy.

Girls in disguise! The ever so coy Alex with happy-go-lucky Katie and 'stick 'em up' Hanya.

Barely still standing, we have Anna, Katie, Hanya, Alex, and Duncan.

You may notice a wardrobe change. I shifted into the casual portion of the Miss America evening sequence. Dancing Queen reigns, booty shaking with Duncan in this instant. Perhaps the talent portion of the evening as well??

The hard core ones! Peter, me, Duncan, Holger, Katie, Anna, Alex, and David were still going strong at 4:30am.

Don't we look strong? Or maybe a little delirious. Anna's eyes are even closed. Most people cleared out between 4:30-5am.

But a couple remained. DJ David and his friend Brendan showed no signs of fading, so about 5-5:30am, I headed to bed. They asked if they were being kicked out. By no means, eat and drink everything, keep playing music, enjoy yourselves! So they did. And I went to bed. Hmmm... in the shower when the first people arrived and in bed when the last people left. Maybe I'm not the best host. And take a look at this disgusting floor (remember evidence that it started clean?). Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore. It took Jade and me three mops/scrubs to find the floor beneath the sludge.

And look at the carpet! Yucko! The house got destroyed. Good thing it was a good party. I hired steam cleaners, and believe it or not, all this mess came out. Phew!