Easter Pickies

Some pickies from Easter!

The Easter Potluck

We survived the Easter Potluck! (Hopefully Angela survived the Ham)! Last night Grant and I about 25 people over to our tiny apartment to celebrate Easter. The funny thing is, the majority of people here were Canadian! We also had 3 Ozzies, 1 American, 2 Kiwis, and 1 Indonesian. Everyone brought some yummy food and we feasted! Happy Easter to everyone!

The Easter Miffy

A Lovely Sunday Arvo

WOW! I can't believe it's been since November that I last wrote. I think I'll be updating this a bit more so feel free to check in more often. Also Grant is helping me to re-vamp jentrance.com so stay tuned.

Here's the short version of what I've been up to. Grant and I met his family for Christmas and New Years in New Zealand. We spent about two weeks in Ohope beach (North Island) near Whakatane (the "wh" is pronounced "f' so it's fun to say). It was amazing... we spent the whole time trying to surf, swimming, and relaxing. At the end of the time we traveled through Rotorua, Waitomo and Auckland. Since then I've been working for a place called the Beachclub (www.thebeachclub.com.au). It's in a newer area of Melbourne called Docklands which is right on the water, so the views are spectacular. It's a restaurant, bar, and club all in one. Most of the people working there are also travelers so everyone is really fun to work with, and we've all become pretty good friends.

Today is Easter Sunday so I had the day off and I thought I would write a blog. It was about 24 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Pretty good for an autumn day. I went off to church, and when I got back Grant and I headed off to the Victoria Market. Conveniently located directly across from our building we are able to easily pick up some fruit and veggies and something for our picnic lunch. We walked up passed Federation Square and had a look at the Market over by the Art Gallery. Then we found a nice shady area in the park to sit and read. It was so relaxing. My mom bought me the book "The Secret" for my birthday. It's going to change my life.

Tonight Grant is going to see New Found Glory, and some of my friends are going to Asia Night at one of the clubs on Collins Street, but I think I might pass on that because I'm feeling quite lazy and I have a lot of cleaning to do for tomorrow. (besides the search for the new Pussy Cat Doll is on, and you all know how I love those skanky reality shows). Tomorrow Grant and I are hosting an Easter Potluck Dinner. Most of the people coming are Canadian, but for the few Ozzies and Kiwis we needed to explain what Potluck means. We have somehow managed to invite 30 people over to our small apartment so we will see how that goes. I'll get some pictures up here as soon as possible.

Speaking of pictures, you can check mine out here: http://flickr.com/photos/jentrance/

Cheers Mate!

Check soon for the next update.

Scenes from my life

This is the view from our apartment at night!


Burke Street (main shopping area) all decorated for Christmas!


















It's always busy at Flinders Station





















Lately I've been working a lot here: http://www.thebeachclub.com.au/ click on the link that says "check it out"

Don't hold the peace

Seriously, how many cities can brag about having snow and 35 degree weather in the same week? Well, Melbourne is definitely one of them. Thankfully the warm weather welcomed Sean and Amanda this weekend! Sean is a friend of mine from highschool who now lives with his girlfriend in Sydney. They were nice of us to put up with Audrey, Christin and I last year, so it was nice to re-pay them by inviting them to stay with me!

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to spend a whole lot of time with Amanda as she spent most of her time on her “Bono Quest!” She’s a huge U2 fan and saw both shows in Melbourne… and on Sunday she finally got to meet Bono! Meanwhile, Sean and I explored the city. For the first time I felt like I was on vacation!

Somehow, the most exciting part for me was when we went to check out the rally against the G20 Summit that was being held in Melbourne. We left by the time the violence broke out, but for those of you who know me, I love being in the midst of the excitement! Here are a couple of pictures I took from the rally. (Sean picked a great shirt to wear that day)

Did I bring the weather with me?

Well I guess I must have brought the weather from Canada here to Australia... the last couple of days has been one of the coldest November days on record. It even snowed just outside the city which shocked everybody just two weeks before Summer.

On the weekend I was invited to celebrate my friend Sam's 21st birthday! In Australia the 21st birthday celebration is HUGE! She had the whole bar to herself and 60 of her closest friends... complete with appys and drinks and a great live musical performance! Her family gave a couple of great speeches, and even the birthday girl herself got up there and sang Drops of Jupiter! She's got an amazing voice! After we shut that place down we headed to a bar across the street and danced the night away. (don't worry, there was no judging after midnight)


Grant celebrated his 26th birthday this week! For his birthday we did something real special. We went to the Gaol. (aka Jail) I know it sounds silly, but seeing as Aussies are jail birds it seemed like the appropriate thing to do. We got to see Ned Kelly's death mask. Strange that A thief and murderer could become a national hero. Well I guess since they're all criminals....

just kidding!

Anyway, after the Gaol we headed over to Docklands, a newly developed waterfront area with many different restaurants to choose from. We picked Italian. We enjoyed some yummy pizza and a nice bottle of wine and then headed back to our apartment where some of our friends joined us for the delicious cake I got for Grant! (he had hinted to me previously where he wanted his cake from!)

Tomorrow Sean and Amanda (Sean is a friend from highschool) are flying in from Sydney for a visit. Well actually Amanda is here to visit U2, and I guess Sean is stuck with me! So we should be in for an interesting weekend!

Jen

(HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO MASEY!!!!!!!!!!!)

RIP Ed, Lavinia and Darth

RIP to our 3 beautiful fish. Ed, Lavinia, and Darth.
October 2006-
November 2006

Some parents we are!

The Pad, Halloween & The Cup

I've been having troubles updating my blog... it's mostly because I have this urge to report all of the things I've done and the longer I put off writing a blog the more things there are I want to write about, and since I'm so lazy I just put it off even longer and it just snowballs. So with that said, I'm just going to report the highlights of the last month. So Grant and I found a great little apartment on the edge of the CBD, just across from the Victoria market (where we go buy all our fruits and veggies) and it's only a 10 minute walk from the Uni. We furnished it quite quickly...and quite cheaply. Our best buy was our black leather couch and matching chair for only $8.00!

We have been going to heaps of things like arts festival, fringe festival, Australian Idol, Final footy game, concerts, bars... it's been great.

As I learned last year, Australian's don't celebrate Hallowe'en. At all. Luckly we have some Canadian friends who decided to throw a party, complete with a pig roast, apple bobbing, and a great live band. Everyone dressed up. I found a great 80's prom dress from an op shop and made myself a sash and crimped my hair and went as Miss Canada 1985... Grant bought an old suit and ripped it all up and I put some make up on him so he looked dead. I must have worked because when we stepped out of our apartment there were some guys standing outside and when they saw Grant they said "aw man! you look like death." Except they sounded real serious! Anyway we had a great time at the party!

A couple of days ago we joined in the celebration of the biggest day in Melbourne... The Melbourne Cup. Some of you may remember me talking about it last year. Basically its a huge horse race that the whole city stops for. But it's a really fancy beer garden and it's as much about the fashion as it is about the horses. Women wear designer dresses and huge hats or fascinators (feathery clips you wear in your hair) and men wear their best suits (and pink ties). This year I made my own fascinator! But seriously though, I'm not gonna spend $100 on some ugly feathery thing I'll never wear again!

Of course in the middle of the worst drought Australia has had in over a thousand years, the weather decides to cloud over on Cup Day. It was far from fine. However the rain only lasted about a half an hour and held off for the rest of the day. Grant, Hamish and Sam and I hung around in the bar tent again as we did last year, and I managed to remember that champagne isn't really my friend! I put a bet on 2 horses and considering I had no idea what I was doing I was pretty lucky when they ended up coming in first and second. That's $110 more dollars in my pocket that I had before!

Anyway I know thats not a very exciting update but I will be updating more frequently now so keep checking back!