Lots to celebrate...

I had a birthday last week and there were several odd, but fun, things about it. First...having a January birthday, I have always been used to having a cold weather party, wearing big sweaters, just cold cold in general. So, you can imagine how fun and different it was to have a 'summer' birthday after all these years!! It was also a little odd and a little sad to not be with my family and friends on my birthday...they always do such a nice job of making me feel loved and special. To my surprise, my new friends here in Australia made me feel just as loved and special!! I got cards from several friends at work, candy from a friend, a little individual cake from Sarah and Jeremy...and then, my friend, Lisa, insisted that we do something fun to celebrate, so me, Lisa, Erin and Sarah had a girls night and went to get pedicures and then to my favorite outdoor Italian restaurant in The Rocks! It was so wonderful to spend the evening with good friends and I am so thankful to have met them all!

Lisa did such a great job of making me feel special...she even called over the little band and had them play for our table. The waiter brought out a dessert with a candle, the band played and before I knew it, the whole restaurant joined in and sang happy birthday. (Pretty sure my face was bright red of embarrassment...hopefully, it was too dark for anyone to tell!) Here are a few pictures from our fun night out...

Thank you again to my new friends for making me feel so special! I am so lucky to have met you all and my Australia experience wouldn't have been the same without having you as friends!

On Saturday, I checked two things off my list that I have been wanting to do. Lisa and I met up pretty early and headed into the city to go to Paddy's Markets. Paddy's is in the China Town area of the city and is definitely a fun place to experience here. It was in a big enclosed building and was basically rows and rows and rows of stalls of cheaper goods and merchandise. They were selling everything from t-shirts and souvenirs, to makeup, to knockoff bags, clothes, sunglasses, etc, to umm, other interesting things! Was definitely fun to walk through and I did make a few small purchases. In the back, they have a large produce and fresh flower market and it is known to have some of Sydney's best and cheapest produce. I bought quite a bit of fresh fruit...just can't get enough of it here, yum! Here is a pic from inside the market and then one of China Town from outside...

Next, we walked over to the Sydney Fisk Market for lunch and Sarah and Jeremy met us there too! I had been wanting to go to the Fish Market for a long time, so was very excited to finally have the chance. Lots to see and do there...the main building has lots of specialty food stores and lots of the different fish producers have their own little cafes where you can buy the fish already prepared. We walked around there first for quite a while and saw what all everyone had to offer...and took a picture with a prawn! We picked out a great place to sit and share some fresh fish for lunch...yum!!

After lunch, we headed outside to look at all of the fishing boats and the other action out there. There were literally just people everywhere...all eating fish! We headed into a few of the big fish sellers stores too...that part was pretty smelly and yucky. The floor was wet, the fish smell was strong, and I'm pretty sure I walked by a few buckets that had extra fish heads and parts sitting there, yuck. It was cool to see all of the different fresh, raw fish they were selling though!

Another great Saturday in Sydney!

This is what I did on Sunday...

It was a breezy day at Manly Beach, so felt a little cooler than normal. It was wonderfully relaxing and I enjoyed people watching, reading and just relaxing! The only bad part...I stayed there a bit longer than I intended and I am paying for it now...sunburn, ouch. It is starting to turn into more of a tan now and someone at work today told me that I should start hanging out with the Aborigines, ha! Just goes to show how strong the Australian sun is...even on a beautiful and breezy day! Next time I will just be smarter and will wear more sunscreen...