Elliot's Engagement Party

The work crew: me, Texas, Robbo, Dills, Cass, and Rocco


The man of the evening (Elliot) is between Rocco and Cass


Elliot's sister Laura and bride-to-be Louise


The bar was situated in the back courtyard. Herby is the guy on the far left who I met mid-evening while wearing one of his shoes. Strange story... I noticed another guy Chopper was wearing two different (men's) shoes, invited me to be part of the new rage, and we swapped a shoe each. He insisted we show Herby who I met wearing one of his shoes. A truly interesting way to meet people. The fascination continued from there...


Dills couldn't resist the urge to wear BOTH my shoes. He wobbled a bit but really pulled off the look.


The heater was a popular place to stand in the courtyard as the nights are getting a bit chilly. Winter is upon us.


Another view of the backyard crew.


And speaking of backs... there's mine. Just thought I'd show off the back of my top.


Let there be dancing... good music!

Elliot (co-worker) and Louise hosted an engagement party at their new house in Ascot Vale Saturday night. I have to say this was among the best parties I've ever attended. The crowd was fantastic. There were lots of cliques - the family clique, the work clique, the Geelong high school clique, the Melbourne Uni clique, and the footy clique but I boraged them all. The people were astoundingly friendly, funny, and interesting. The food and drinks were classy. I'm thinking maybe for my 30th, they could just do a repeat party. Too much to ask?

Auction Day

In Australia it is common practice to sell houses at auction. The house next door to ours was sold at auction Saturday morning. There were two dates for inspections prior to the sale where each potential buyer is allotted a short 15 minute window to determine their interest in the house. There were three parties vying for the house and the value continued escalating with a little prompting. The run down shack you see before you (covered under heritage so that's what they're stuck with) fetched a whopping $687,000.

Taco Bill's

We started with half price margaritas...

...and moved onto the fishbowls. Mhairi, me, and Mel are sporting our accompanying sombreros. They're keepers!

Making funny faces

Mhairi and Ian


Texas, Ian, Waz, and Mhairi at the pub

We had a week off from coaching so I headed up to Friday night drinks then out for margaritas with friends. Mel and I organized a night out for 10 of us... Mel and Waz, Mhairi and Ian, Des and Ally (Waz's friends), Lesley and Enrique (hosts of American Thanksgiving), Texas, and me. There is a severe derth of quality mexican food in Melbourne, but it doesn't stop us from trying. And really the margaritas are the priority anyway. We headed to Taco Bill's in South Melbourne and arrived early to take advantage of the half price margaritas. What a time we had! We followed up dinner with a stop by the pub across the street where I helped the live musician create his line up of cover songs. Oh so helpful.

Creating Happiness

I always cycle past the art centre and wander what amazing musicals and ballets and concerts are happening inside. This time I was in on the action.


Raf, Fi, Nicole, and me as if I need to tell you that when you can read it off our ever present name tags.


Siamak and me. Siamak was in my group in the Self Expression and Leadership Course; he's going to run the world sometime, or at least create peace in the middle east.

Look at all the little people. You can't tell, but they are waving up to me in bountiful respect and adoration as is only appropriate.

Wednesday night I attended the Creating Happiness event at Haimer Hall at the Art Centre. It was an event designed for Landmark graduates with a 2-hour seminar on creating happiness, followed by a party with drinks and hors d'eourves and an opportunity to catch up with various people we've met along the way. The event was pretty 'fancy pants', held in one of the swankiest venues around. Lots of people dressed up for the occasion, myself included, sporting one of my new Melbournian finds. There were 1,400 happy people who attended the event and I was shocked to see people I knew or recognized everywhere. I guess that's what you get when you run through every course on offer, then start coaching. Happy happy.

b. movement

We were greeted at the entrance by fire twirling. Ooh la la!


Deb, Raf, and me


me and Narelle

Raf and I got our 'serious' on.

This guy was incredibly talented and able to identically replicate the portrait in a very short time. Another guy was rapping and doing some kind of impromptu spoken word while he painted.

This belly dancer happened to be in the Communication Course I did over the weekend. Small world!

Daylight Underground, the featured band (Michael) who created the event

Thursday evening I went with Narelle and met up with some other friends (Raf, Myles, Deb) at Miss Libertine's to see a massive gig of a particularly distinct nature. The evening was designed to blur the boundaries between performer and audience and consisted of fire twirling, live bands, live painting, spoken word (which I'd describe as free prose rap), belly dancers, and more. Their invitation was so inspiring, I'm including it:

It is here and now that I surrender
water as my muse
I choose
to dissolve
with a view
to evolve
beyond who I am becoming
and just be who i am
just b.
lower case with out the e
just
b.

Thursday 22nd of May, from 8pm, at Miss Libertine (34 Franklin St, Melbourne), tix $15 on the door

http://www.bmovement.com.au/
http://www.myspace.com/bmovement
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=9965909630

The official launch of the b. movement
A celebration of sounds, paints, visuals, words and movement.
An invitation for self-expression, for connection, for cross pollination
An opportunity to blur the lines between audience and performer
b. who you want to b.

URS Expat Picnic

URS sponsors an annual picnic for all expatriates, meaning people who've relocated to Melbourne from outside Australia. The picnic was held today in Flagstaff Gardens near Vic Market. It was a great chance to mingle with all the "foreigners" - lots of Americans, a few from England, and others scattered across Singapore, Czech, India, Scotland, and elsewhere.

From the bbq, I biked to church, where we had a guest pastor from the U.S., Erwin McManus. He was excellent. At times I felt I was watching a comedian but he interjected real shots of wisdom and insight. I actually bought a couple of his books. There I go buying books again. I must remind myself I do not read.

This evening, I met up with Jojo. We went to one of her favorite Lebanese restaurants called Mezza which happens to be located very near my house. I enjoyed a delicious chicken dish with pine nuts, really lovely. We laughed hysterically through dinner, as we tend to do whenever we get together.

Transport

Saturday, I coached the third workday of the Self Expression and Leadership course. We went from 8:30AM-11:30PM, and still somehow we were rearing to go at the end of it all. Fellow coaches Raf, Myles, Fiona, and I headed out for a few drinks at Transport in the city. We talked and danced and danced some more. We closed the place down around 3AM. It took nearly an hour and a little strategy to score a few cabs home. Good thing I have some experience in that department.

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Em is third from the left in the peach hat

Em is second in from the top left

Emily, one of the girls from work, is a dancer and regularly performs in musicals. Friday night eight girls (Cass, Dena, Mhairi, Danni, Tracey, Kerry, Jill, and me) went to dinner at Northcote Social Club, then joined other URS supporters to cheer her on in her performance. As usual, this amateur theatre crew surpassed expectations.

Hanya's Farewell

Too bad Hanya didn't have any friends... I think she had the largest farewell lunch ever with a loooooooong table of colleagues to wish her well. She's been commuting over an hour each way to come to work at URS for the past year and a half. She decided to take another engineering job in her home town of Geelong to save a few hours each day. Six of us marched Hanya and all her boxes out the building at 5pm in a procession to her car. I think I hugged her goodbye half a dozen times. I will really miss her spunk, energy, and smart witty remarks.

Big Plans

I don't have any new pictures to share, but it's been a great week! At the forefront of it was booking my Asian excursion. My sister Katie is coming for 2 months and arrives in less than a month on June 10th!! Woo! I can't wait. We will be traipsing all over Australia (Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, Great Ocean Rd, the Whitsundays) and will be taking the trip of a lifetime to Asia. We're going for nearly the whole month of July, and we'll be stopping through Beijing, Hong Kong, Thailand (Chiang Mai, Phuket, and Bangkok), and Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur and Penang). It sure didn't take me long to adjust to the Australian way of taking holidays. Of course, if I was doing it in true Aussie style, I'd probably be in just one location for the entire month. Ah well, I have to throw a little Sorenson flair in there.

I had a jam packed week with my regular boxing Monday and Wednesday evenings with an extra long session Wednesday night, followed by coaching calls Monday night and a special evening introduction to Landmark Wednesday evening, where I had the great privilege of coaching a couple with a very troubled marriage. Who knew I would have access to that kind of training? Tuesday night, I went to some Arbonne training to see what the company is all about, as my dear friend Michelle is now selling the product (see her if you want to buy anything!). Thursday morning, I met Julia from Urban Life for breakfast at the most lovely restaurant, and Thursday night I met my new Texas Exes friend Heide for dinner at my favorite Japanese restaurant. It's so wonderful to think that one of my Australian friends is also planning to return to Austin eventually. I won't be leaving EVERYONE behind when it is time to come home. Friday, I facilitated an all day workshop for Melbourne Water which was the culmination of many weeks' work. It went really well, and I topped it off with some shopping along Bridge Rd. I purchased a number of new clothing items which was a great thrill for me as I'm buying smaller sizes than I can ever remember. Friday night, I coached. Then I spent the weekend RELAXING. I barely left the house. I did purchase some reflective straps since I seem to be doing a lot of night riding on my bike, a Crumpler messenger bag (huge in Australia!), and a full length mirror which I somehow toted home on my bike. I'm unstoppable! But mostly, I got tucked into a movie marathon with Jade and Aimee. P.S. I Love You was my favorite.

Texas Exes

Believe it or not, there is actually a Texas Exes group here in Melbourne representing alumni from The University of Texas. Today was the first event of the year, where we met for a picnic in Studley Park. I knew no one when I arrived but met some great people. One of the girls (Heidi, the blond two over from me in the picture) is an architectural engineer so we had some fun swapping work stories and sentiments. She and Josh brought their dog to Australia with them, while another couple elected to re-home their dog before coming. It was interesting to hear everyone's stories and for a few hours, I actually felt like I was in Texas again. We reminisced about our fondness of Christmas and Australians' lack of regard for the best holiday and season of the year! We ate American food... well... bbq, guacamole, brownies, pumpkin pie, these kinds of things. While we miss home (mostly family and good friends!), all of us love living in Melbourne.

Neighborhood House Party

Dan and Aimee


Aimee and me


Dan with the birthday boy, Brendan


Gabe and Adam performing their first gig together

Susan, me, Megan, and a new friend

Lane making fairy floss (that's cotton candy in Australia) - a new party pleaser

Let there be dancing!! Lots and lots of dancing!

We had a big night out on the town Saturday. Dan, Aimee, and I started in the city to celebrate Brendan's birthday. I met a random girl from Chicago at the bar, who is traveling around Australia for a couple weeks. Later we picked up Jade and moved onto a house party just up the street from our house (friends of a friend from work, Susan). Gabe and Adam performed their first gig together. I got to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a long time. Lane tried to reintroduce herself to me because she didn't recognize me from the first time she met me because I'd lost so much weight. That was pretty sweet. We met lots of french boys and danced the night away. It was so nice to have a 5 minute walk home at the end of the night with no fight for taxis!