I had no plans for today. I truly allowed myself to see where the day would take me. I started my morning with a great brekkie around the corner of my place.

I decided to go to the Opera House so I walked about 30 minutes and signed up to take a tour. It was very fascinating to go through the inside and learn about what it took to build it. And the views from there were amazing!

When I finished the tour I had lunch next to the Opera House. Same place where I had dinner last night with the girls. So the seagulls are aggressive and can nose dive toward you if they see a French fry in your hands. They’re nuts!!!!!

I continued my day on a boat to Manly Beach. I was able to take nice pictures from the boat of the wharf. I walked around Manly Beach then headed back to the boat to return to Sydney. Once I arrived to Sydney I walked back to my place. There is a LONG set of stairs I’ve been taking daily and tonight I decided to take a picture. I’m excited for tomorrow...

We left Featherdale and boarded a boat at the Olympic village that took us to Sydney Harbor. It was a nice boat ride and I had beautiful views of Sydney.


When I arrived, I met up with Cat and Kellie whom I met last month in my trip through Scandinavia. Janette, Kellie’s sister also joined us! We went to dinner near the Opera house, and it was amazing to see the seagulls completely surround us hoping to eat our food. We also enjoyed dessert nearby at a creperie. It was so great to hang out with them again, I had so much fun!!

I began my day early, leaving my place at 6:35am to walk to where my tour bus would pick me up. I was set for a wine tour of the Pokolbin region in Hunter Valley which began in the 1820’s. It’s the oldest wine region in Australia.
I saw a cool sign on the way... all the cities and how far they are!

We has a two hour trip back to the city. I was excited because I had reservations at the Tower in Sydney: a revolving restaurant high up in the sky! It takes 70 minutes for the restaurant to do the full 360 turn. I had a great dinner and even made friends with the couple next to me. A great end to a great day!

I find it hard to believe I left LA on Thursday and arrived to Sydney on Saturday. I am 18 hours ahead. That’s crazy to me!

I arrived to the airport at 7:30am, went through customs and immigration. I realized that in order to get to the AirBnB I booked I needed my phone and it was near dead. So I sat around for about an hour while my phone charged. I ended up booking a shuttle service and I arrived around 11am. I decided to take a one hour nap before I went out to explore the city. When I woke up, I went to lunch across the street. It was delicious. I went grocery shopping to a place called Woolworths. I remember we had this store in the states but it was more than just food. Does anyone else remember this store? Am I off? Anyways, I did some shopping then returned to my place and unloaded what I purchased. Afterwards I walked to the botanical garden area. There was an event there tonight and it was super fun! Octoberfest was in full swing. There was also a great event for bike riders. My favorite thing was the silent disco! You put on headphones that are playing dance music, but outsiders can’t hear the music. It looks really cool! From a distance I also saw people climbing the bridge. That will be me soon! Here are some pictures of my first day!

Today I realized that I never had a chance to post about our last day in Vermont. We had a leisure morning and drove back up north to Burlington. We wanted to spend time by Lake Champlain. We parked at the lake and walked to a chocolate factory, then back to lake. It was a beautiful day!

Since we both had very early flights the next day, we had an early dinner at a place called Misery Loves Company. It was a great dinner to end our trip!

I had a great time with my friend Jane and I’m excited to see her again next month when she’s in LA! I can’t believe we have been friends for 25 years!

We took it easy today and enjoyed some historical sites and shopping, not to mention some good eats. First we went to Todd Lincoln’s home called Hildene. It’s a beautiful setting in the mountains.

We enjoyed a Thai lunch, then went to several stores to browse. Jane found some amazing lamps at an antique shop and I found some angel figurines. A great shopping day indeed. We also went to some glass shops and art galleries. After all that shopping we had dinner at an old restaurant. It was delicious!

Jane and I covered a lot of ground today. We had a great breakfast at Klingers with Apple cider and a wonderful croissant sandwich. We also had an almond croissant that was probably the best we have tasted.

We drove a bit to Ben & Jerry’s where we took a tour and tasted a new flavor of ice cream. I also had the opportunity to spread some of Chris’s ashes there. His favorite flavor was Chocolate Therapy.

After having something substantial to eat in our bellies we went to Alchemist to try the best double IPA in the world: Heady Topper.

We drove to Cold Hollow Cider Mill and did some shopping, and also enjoyed lunch there. On the way there we also stopped at a glass blowing studio. The apple cider at Cold Hollow was amazing, so perfect for the cold weather. We also did some wine tasting after lunch and bought Ice Wine.

We drove to Shelburne Farms after enjoying this side of Vermont. We went on a hike at the Farms where we found a beautiful view of Lake Champlain. It was a stunning day!

We completed our hike of Shelburne Farms then headed to their Inn for dinner. It was a stunning property, and the food was delicious. We enjoyed a cornucopia of fresh vegetables and lamb and steak, with Panacotta for dessert.

After dinner we drove two hours to Manchester. Looking forward to exploring more of this beautiful state tomorrow!

I woke up at 3am to get out of the house by 3:30 and to LAX by 4am for my 6am flight. I had a lay over in Philadelphia. Nice airport, big. 15 minute walk to my connecting gate. When I arrived there I realized I’d be taking a tiny plane to Burlington, VT.

Upon descending to Burlington, the view was beautiful from above!

When I arrived, my good friend Jane picked me up from the airport in a Mustang! We’re going to have fun this weekend!

We went to our hotel to drop off our things then went to dinner at a great restaurant called Hen Of The Woods. It was a wonderful first dinner. The fact that we are both wearing red is a total coincidence!

​What a great first day!

I traveled for 20 hours and stayed awake for 28 hours coming home from Greece. It was rough, but I arrived home and my parents had King Taco tacos waiting for me. Oh so good! Afterwards I just passed out. I went to the doctor on Thursday morning because I can’t shake this cough since I got sick in Sweden in September. I got meds and it’s been helping, but no antibiotics from the visit to my primary.

The weekend was pretty awesome. I attended the James Beard Foundation event with a VIP ticket. I thought I’d treat myself to the Taste America event at the SLS hotel in Beverly Hills. I had a lot of fun. I met a woman named Patty who was also attending the event alone, and we totally hit it off. We hung out the whole time, she even made it so that my table was changed so we could sit together during dinner. We had a great time crushing on Curtis Stone!! Here are some photos of the event.

The weekend was just as fun. My good friend Ray and I went up to Los Olivos on Saturday morning. We stopped off some look out points to see Lake Cachuma, it was a beautiful morning. I was able to spread Chris’s ashes at one of the look out points. We arrived to Los Olivos and had lunch at the local market: some tri-tip bbq sandwiches. We went around to several tasting rooms and enjoyed some wine. Since I have been on meds, I was spitting. By mid afternoon, we drove to Solvang and checked in to our hotel room. We relaxed a bit then walked to the town and went to a shop called the Mystic Merchant. We walked around and just enjoyed the town. We went in to the Thomas Kincaid gallery and I bought a beautiful glass butterfly that I set up in my bedroom. We had dinner and then went to the premier of the SOMM movie. It was a cold night so we were bundled up with jackets, scarves, and gloves. It was a great film and it was a fun night to be among so many wine lovers. We left after the event and both slept soundly since we were exhausted from the day.