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!
