Congratulations Annie and Derek! 9/27/08

Pretty Little Princesses

What a fun Girls' Morning Out with Pretty Little Princesses! Catherine and I took Ally and Avery to the El Capitan Theater to see Sleeping Beauty on the big screen, a special screening to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the film. Before the movie there was a special character breakfast in the Disney Soda Fountain Shop where we even got to meet Sleeping Beauty herself!

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Video footage at breakfast...

We noticed all kinds of crazy characters passing by on Hollywood Blvd...Avery even spotted Spiderman!

Video footage in the theater...

Right before the show, Sleeping Beauty came out to welcome us...

After the movie, we walked across the street for a little stroll along the Walk of Fame, stopping at the Olsen twins' star...

...and a visit with Captain Jack Sparrow, who gave the girls sword balloons!

Put Another Candle On My Cake...

Well, this birthday was not quite as fun as last year, but i suppose I should get used to that at this point...I got to celebrate a few times...first with Tony, out to dinner at Mastro's for a delicious steak and seafood feast.


Daisy even brought me daisies at work that day!

We celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa's with Tiramisu...

and again with all the Lima's to celebrate the September, October AND November birthdays...that was a lot of names to sing...

Alli was a great little helper in blowing out candles and opening presents...

I tried to trade Brent for his 29, but he wanted no part of my 31...

and Happy Birthday, Uncle Kenny!

I just had to add this "duplicate" picture because of how cute Austin's expression is...

I Heart Melbourne

I can hardly believe that Paul has been living in Australia for over 3 1/2 years now! My, how time flies...well, this was a very fun trip to celebrate Paul's last full week in Melbourne...we spent our time enjoying all of Paul's (and my!) favorite things in this wonderful city!

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We started off the week with Paul's last day of PwC...that night, the company hosted a lovely dinner at a great Greek restaurant called Kri Kri. There were about 50 people there in honor of Paul! Several people toasted him and said very nice things, including Alan Elliot, Paul's first manager there.
And Paul gave a great speech filled with heartfelt gratitude and fun stories about some of his most memorable moments with the firm.

Erin and I were a little embarrassed that Paul decided to wear a t-shirt when everyone else was dressed up, but hey, it was his party, so who were we to argue - and what were they gonna do, fire him?! Anyway, it was a great way to start off the trip!

Saturday morning started out as a beautiful day in St. Kilda, which Paul said was the first in months, a sign that Spring was arriving. We headed across the street to the Grocery Bar for some scrumptious poached eggs and avocado mash on toast with flat whites, of course.


After brekkie, we headed for a nice drive down the Mornington Peninsula to the TGallant Vineyards where we enjoyed a late lunch of wine and pizza. We even ran into someone Paul knew - funny though, it is such a small social city that it seems like it harder to go somewhere and NOT know someone there...as Paul puts it, "That's Melbourne!" Unfortunately, our beautiful morning turned into quite a gloomy afternoon as it poured down rain the rest of the day. Paul shrugs again, "That's Melbourne!"
Sunday morning I was up bright and early for a great run around some of the city's most beautiful sites in the Nike 10K "Human Race," which I had originally registered to run in back in LA, but subsequently registered in Melbourne once I knew I was going to be there. So as not to waste my unrefundable LA registration, Catherine ran in my place. Here were the results:

Carly Lima Los Angeles 48:52
Carly Lima Melbourne 66:08

Now, without looking at the cities ; ), guess which one was Cat and which one was me...hee,hee...seriously though, Cat, GREAT JOB!!!!!



Later that afternoon, we enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea with Johnny Webster and his girlfriend Jess at the Hotel Windsor. Good thing I went running that morning, because that was quite a feast...

After tea, we went to evening mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral...my pictures don't do this place justice, it is BEAUTIFUL!


Monday morning we had breakfast at Cafe Domain, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens.



Then Paul took us to USA Foods, where he first found Libby Pumpkin Pie Filling. Among other "American" items, there were various brands of cereal and more varieties of hot sauce I have ever seen before!
We had a late lunch back in the city at Sherlock Holmes - it was a quaint little pub and I was excited to enjoy my first fish 'n chips of the trip! We made it an early night and rented a movie from downstairs.




Tuesday morning we had breakfast at Fringe on Acland Street and then went shopping in Collingwood at some outlet stores.

Dinner was at the Vegie Bar, where I have never seen such interesting a delicious vegetarian creations! Yes, eating and drinking were definitely strong themes of the trip...it really is quite amazing how consistently good the food is throughout all of Australia!


Wednesday morning was beautiful, so we enjoyed brunch at the Beachcomber, right on the water.


Then we pampered ourselves with blissful massages at the Aurora Spa Retreat at the Prince Hotel, something I've been dying to do since my first trip to Melbourne, but was never able to squeeze it into my week before...ahhh, it was worth the wait!

That night, we met up with Foxy for drinks at The Butterfly Club...this place was quite a site...their decor is largely supplied by patrons actually bringing in bric-a-brac from their own homes, so it kinda looks like one giant garage sale...think hula girl lamps, old kites, etc...cute and cozy, though! And some very strong martinis!

After drinks, we headed to an African restaurant on Brunswick St. called Nyala...really REALLY good food and a fun time catching up with Foxy, who also has a twin sister!

Thursday morning we met up had brunch at the Boathouse with Daz, who plays on Paul's footy team. This is a place that Catherine found when she was visiting Paul last year and the two of them went rowing in the Yarra. We just enjoyed the food and the scenery, though!




After brunch we headed for a leisurely drive to Mansfield, stopping at a winery along the way.



Then we had a fabulous dinner of Paul's favorite, "Steak-on-a-Stone" at the Mansfield Pub. Mansfield is a cute little town just a few hours drive from Melbourne and was one of Paul's favorite weekend destinations. We had a great time visiting with Chelt (a friend of Paul's friend and the owner of the pub) and his girlfriend Kylie.


We stayed at a cute little motel in town and had brunch the next morning at The Deck on High St., which Chelt also owns. It was a beautiful day and we had a great view up on the deck.
On our way back to Melbourne, we stopped at a bunch more wineries...


and even came across the cutest little Shetland Pony along the side of the road. He looked just like one of my "My Little Pony" dolls!


We had dinner that night at Sharat and Bhavna's...a magnificent, mouth-watering Indian feast -literally mouth-watering, as I accidentally ate a whole pepper...yikes! Paul was so cute, he ate one, too, for sympathy! We had a lovely visit with them altogether - and I enjoyed meeting their adorable little boy, Samey...they are such great hosts and always treat us so well! No chance of leaving this place hungry...or sober, for that matter!



Saturday we parked ourselves at The London Tavern from 2p to 10p, where Paul invited people to stop by throughout the afternoon as a final farewell. This is a really fun place with a great atmosphere. The Melbourne culture is pretty cool - people actually bring their kids to the pub for the afternoon...Alan brought his girls Matilda and Harriet (Maddie and Hattie for short)...they are so cute!







Here are a few of Matilda's shots...


...which are quite good, I think! Especially funny to see Dora the Explorer next to a wine glass : )


Contrary to the picture, Alan's girls actually really like Paul! Mostly because they like his funny American accent : )


We were there while a footy match was on the telly...Collingwood won, so we heard a lot of this (their fight song)...




Paul's footy coach from this year, who is married to an American woman.


Johno and Tulsi, who both work at PwC. Johno also plays on Paul's footy team. Tulsi is from Sri Lanka and is the guy who drove Paul home from the hospital when he had his wrist surgery last year.


Daz and his girlfriend Grace.


Some of Paul's footy mates



All in all, it was a really fun week! We managed to do/see quite a bit, yet we never felt rushed! I just hope Paul doesn't get too used to being unemployed! One thing's for sure, we are all really looking forward to having Paul home soon! Thanks for such a fun trip!