If I were a bettin' gal....

Another day, another dollar- spent, that is.


Aside from the ridiculous heat (finally!) this weekend had some fascinator shopping, horse racing, winning horse picking, and the beginnings of a nice Australian tan in store for me.


Friday night I bused it into the city to meet up with Kate (other Utah intern/now employed) and her friend/temporary roommate Tom. We met up at DFO (new favorite outlet shopping place) in search of Fascinators (for us, not Tom) for the Races.

**Insert explanation on the Celebration That Stops A Nation- The Melbourne Cup Carnival horse racing thing is Australia's version of the Kentucky Derby, Ascot, etc....***

As an animal lover, I'm not into the horse racing thing. I am, however, very much into the cute dress and funny hat watching thing. As much as I love DFO, there actually wasn't a great, or any, fascinator selection, so I ended up choosing a giant black cloth flower thing, which went quite well with my entirely non-cup outfit.

After some shopping, we headed out in search of dinner. I decided that I finally wanted to eat at one of the restaurants in the cute little laneways that I always walk down. Well, we did eat in the laneway, but at a chain place, not a cute little cafe. Lack of cutsy cafe aside, the food was AMAZING! So so good. I thought that Lord of the Fries was my favorite veggie burger making shop. I was wrong, so wrong. Grill'd is actually where it's at. I ended up with the 'Bombay Bliss' complete with Tatziki, roasted red pepper, and delicious chickpea patty. Soooooo yum. I think I will bring one of these home with me on the airplane.

It was pretty late after dinner, so I bid farewell to Tom and Kate and went off to catch my bus back to the crappy suburbs.

The next morning I was up bright and early to ready myself for the races. Dress. Giant flower. Contacts. Sunscreen. Done. Once back to the city, I met up again with Tom and Kate to catch the train to Flemington, where the races are held. It was so much fun to see everyone, young and old, dressed to the nines (except me, of course) with their hilariously outrageous head gear.

It was even better to see all of the girls in their ridiculously high heels that they could barely walk in! Idiots. I was perfectly happy in my less attractive, but less fashionable yellow wedges.

Once at the races, we scoped out a spot to lay out our picnic gear and re-sunscreen up for the day. We found a spot on the lawn right next to the track and made ourselves comfortable for a looooong day baking in the sun. At this point it was about 11am, 30 degrees (about 90F) and not a cloud in the sky. I could feel the sweat droplets running down my back. Yuck.

As the races started, Tom and Kate analyzed the horse book thingy deciding on who to waste their money on. I picked horses, too, just not to put what little money is left in my bank account on. The irony? I totally would have come out on top! Bah. Such is life. I thought it was fun to pick the winning horse anyway, and nine times out of ten my horse was in the top three! I am that good. My secret? It's all in the name. You know how they say high-powered people have strong names? So do horses. You don't ever see a horse named snuggles busting ass to win the race, do you? Exactly.

After the main race of the day, Emirates Stakes, (All-American won!) we decided to head back to the city. Lovely Tom and Kate invited me back to theirs for some dinner. I really lucked out on this one. Tom, a baker, lives with his brother, a master chef. Stephanie, say hello to 10 extra kilos. We chatted for a while about politics, rabbits, and healthcare in America then Tom made us the most delicious dish ever. Noodles with yummy sauce. Mushrooms. Leafy greens. Fried Tofu. Tom is my new favorite.

AND he lives in the most amazing apartment in the city which is close to everything. If you're reading this- Please Tom, let me live with you! Haha. Oh well, I guess it's enough that I can hang out there. After dinner, we watched and laughed at the hilarously old Independence Day. So old. So funny. Oh, Will Smith.

After a while I had to catch my bus back to, once again, the crappy crappy suburbs. Spending the whole day in the sun made me sleepy, so I took the opportunity to sleep in this morning. It was lovely. Til I got out of bed and saw a little baby spider crawling near my pillow. Great....

And that pretty much brings me to now. Haven't decided what my plans for this week and next weekend are, so the next blog will be a giant surprise! Lucky you.

Hope everyone is doing well! Happy Birthday to Peter and Angela! Save me cake. Thanks Mom for the pictures! And Dad, keep a look out (or tell Deanna to) for a text message from yours truly!

xoxoxoxoxoxo


3 weeks til my travels! Eeeeeep! Can't wait!!