BEST. WEEKEND. EVER.

me with my girls
me and the new chrissy
rainbow!
bottlesssss
swimming in the rain!
the storm approaching. ive never seen boats move so fast
matt laura and i at the hamilton st pattys day parade!
girls with the rainbow
boys with the rainbow

us swimming in the lake
amazing
just heading out!
Krazy Kris, Ranga, Toast
me and Rosey at Fanny's!!
thats kris on the left and rosey on the right
he won $1,400 and only put in $150. I was so jealous
just showing off my bangs
us with our friends from Chicago!
Turton Road Crew

So its Monday night and I'm still recovering from this weekend. Friday through Sunday was just a blast, I couldn't have had a better time. Here's how the weekend went down...

Friday night we decided we wanted to go out with the people we would be boating with the next day because we had only met them once and we had to make sure they weren't rapists or killers. Luckily, they were not. They are actually some of the funniest and coolest people I have met here. Obviously, we agreed to continue with the plans of our boating adventure.

We (Chrissy, Laura, Caroline, myself, Kris and Rosey who we knew from the week before, and a bunch of their friends) were supposed to be going out to breakfast and then to get the boats and heading to the lake, but that didn't work out. It ended up being too late in the day so we just made breakfast at Rosey's house and headed to the lake after. When I say we "made breakfast at Rosey's" I actually mean I drank 2 Jack and Cokes while everyone else ate. Caroline had a shot of Tequila. Not the best way to start the day with a group of strangers and an empty stomach (and before my mom or any of my uncles makes a smart ass comment...NO I did not puke once that day.) After everyone was finished eating (and drinking) we went to pick up Kris' boat, a 20-something foot Bayliner, and headed to the lake in Rosey's car. I cannot put into words how these men drive. The worst part was that they all knew we were terrified of their driving so they decided to have a little fun with us. Even with the boat trailing on the back, they didn't let up. Thank God for those 2 cocktails because otherwise I would have been screaming bloody murder. After 14 near death experiences (I'm totally joking of course- Rosey is an amazing driver and I would never put myself in a car that I thought I might die in) we made it to the lake, piled into Rosey's boat, a 33 foot Searay, and headed out. (As a sidenote: dad this is the exact boat you have been dreaming of. You would have been SO jealous if you had been there. Keep reading though, and you'll thank God you weren't.)

We didn't get there until about 2 o'clock, but I didn't care- I already felt great! We stopped by a marina to get some fuel and clean out the bilge when we first noticed the storm approaching. There was another girl on the boat who interestingly enough is also named Christine Elizabeth (the same first and middle name of my friend/roomate Chrissy). She told us it was no big deal and that we would stay out and party in the rain and it would soon pass. Obviously, she knew what she was talking about, so we popped the first bottle of Moet and stopped worrying. We went over to a more secluded part of the lake to basically watch the storm approach. It was the strangest thing because tothe right it was a regular gorgeous day out, but to the right it looked like Hell was approaching rapidly. It wasn't our boat, and we weren't in charge so we only had one option: keep drinking. Once the storm approached though it got really windy, so we moved to a spot where there wouldn't be as much wind knocking us over. Shortly after moving the rain began. Normally this would suck, but we had all already jumped into the lake so we were all wet already- so we took our glasses of champagne and danced until we couldn't stand anymore.

Once the dancing in the rain grew old, we decided it was time to go tubing. I have been tubing millions upon millions of times, and I have never done anything like this before. Those boys showed us NO mercy. They made it their mission to not only knock us off but also knock the wind out of us and with any luck our suits right off of us (both top and bottem happened to Chrissy. I was a lady and kept myself covered) After one ride on the "tube" with Chrissy biting the shit out of my arm, I decided I was done. Stupidly, I thought it would be smart to swim back to the other boat which was God knows how far from where we fell off the tube. I made it halfway before Caroline had to come save me with a noodle.

When I got back I realized I desperately needed another drink. The Moet and Veuve Clicquot was gone (which I was heartbroken over) so we started on some other champagne I had never heard of. Once that was gone we broke into the Vodka. Obviously, it was a hell of a day. After the rain let up, the sun came back out and the most gorgeous rainbow made an appearance. We took 2 million pictures, and danced some more. After that, we basically just hung out and drank for a little while later until a certain red-headed friend of mine got too drunk and we had to call it a day.

Chrissy and Mark drove Caroline home and broke into our house (because of course she forgot her keys) so we could all have a change of clothes. Laura also went home because she had a friend coming into town for the night. So for a while (I have no idea how long) I was alone with a whole bunch of people I had just met a few hours before. I handled it like a pro- I hung out with the twin 3 year olds by swimming in the pool with them and dancing in the living room. I had a blast.

Once Chrissy finally made it back we lit up the Barbie and started grilling. No, we didn't cook shrimp on the barbie, they don't even call them shrimp here- they're prawns. Most of the food was delicious but I wouldn't trust my judgement at that point, it was like 9 at night and it was the first piece of food I put into my mouth all day. We all drank a little bot more, got into the hot tub until everyone was so pruney we had to get out, and after watching half a rugby game on tv, headed home.

I forgot to mention we had a new roommate move in earlier in the day that none of us were aware of. She got the welcoming of a lifetime. All of the other roomates were gone for the weekend so we had kind of left a mess (aka 2 boxes of wine, 2 bottles of champagne, a bottle of Jim Beam, a bottle of Bacardi, and a bottle of Southern Comfort. No we didn't have a party, we are just messy drunks.) She also got to witness Chrissy breaking into her own home on the night of her move in. I can't believe she is still living here.

Obviously, I had one of the best days of my life. These are some of the coolest guys (and girl) I have ever met, and I'm so glad we met them. They are funny, and just like to have a good time, plus they all have good heads on their shoulders and good jobs- so we know they are good people. One of them, Mark, is training to be a pilot. He should have his commercial license by June, but for now he's still studying and trying to log enough hours. He offered to give us a free lift to Carines for the weekend in a little 4 seater plane. If it wasn't the oppertunity of a lifetime (for us a one-way flight to Carines is around $500), I would say no because of my fear of flying. Obviously, we plan on taking him up on his offer.

The day was amazing, but in true form I did manage to lose a few things. One of my flip flops (stupidly I only brought one pair with me- I'm screwed), my Michael Khors sunglasses and both pearl earrings. I did however manage to hold on to my dignity, and all of my money. We didn't have to spend a dime all weekend.

Mark also loves to give people nicknames. Rosey's real name is Actually Shane Rose, so his is obvious. Allan Swystun is called Swiss, but not because of his last name- because he is neutral, like Switzerland. The new Chrissy is called Connie because she is a hypocondriac. Seriously, she thought she was having a heart attack that morning because of chest pains. It hilarious.

Everyone else has nicknames, so it was only natural we got them as well. Caroline's is Ranga, which is what Australians call red-heads (like how we say ginger and day walker). It originates from Orangutan. I find it hilarious. I'm sure red-heads do not. We now call Chrissy (my friend) HAMO because her last name is Hamalainen. Laura is Stone Age, for reasons I'm not sure of other than apparently she acts like a Neanderthal. I didn't get a nickname at first, which is actually worse than getting a bad one. Last night I found out that they called me Toast (because I came across dry as a peice of toast when everyone first met me). Once they got to know me they decided I was not like Toast, but I wanted them to keep it, so they did. I actually suck when I first meet people because I can get really shy, so it fits.

Yesterday we went to the Hamilton St Patricks day parade. It was amazing, but not what we expected. It was just a closed off street with a ton of vendors selling cotton candy, snoballs, blowup slides, cheap beers, and people selling homeade soaps, clothes, and pretty jewlery. I actually got my moms birthday gift there. Some of the stuff was awesome. After we left the parade, we met up with Mark again and went to the beach for a swim, then the pool nearby with some of Lauras friends who have an apartment on the beach. After that we went to The Brewry for what we thought we just a few drinks. Come to find out Sunday's are actually Sunday Fundays and we were out for the night. You can imagine how Chrissy and I looked after a day at the beach and a swim in the pool. It wasn't pretty compared to some of the people who showed up dressed to the nines. Whatever, we had a few beers and tried to forget how gross we looked and had a really good time. Most of the guys from the day before ended up showing up, so it was really fun.

Next weekend we managed to get a free night at the Westin in Sydney, so were going to spend another night living it up there. Who knows what we are going to do the rest of the weekend, but we aren't missing Sunday Funday for anything!

Chrissy thinks that we are all going to die a young tragic death because we have gotten to have such a good time and do so many cool things so far. I think shes an idiot. There are tons more things I made mental notes to write on here and tell everyone, but this is long enough so I will leave them all for another time....

xoxo