Still Call Australia Home

Now, we have some news that we excluded (to keep it a surprise for our Aussie relatives) from the last blog post... We've moved back to Australia!! WAHOOOO! We've been so blown away by how welcoming and wonderful everyone's been, we really couldn't be happier with our decision! 

When we told the kiddos they were completely speechless (which never happens with Eddie) and Eddie's eyes welled up with tears. A couple days later, she'd obviously been processing it, she said "so now we'll be like real sisters!" Over and over the last two weeks Eddie and Will have just been such sweet, funny, amazing little things and we're SO glad that we won't be missing out on their lives anymore. Truly all the validation we've needed - and we've gotten tons more validation on top of that! We totally lived up to the big sis role at Eddie's dance recital where we screamed our hearts out for her! Such a proud moment, she did soo well!! 

Totally worth sitting through the 2 hours of other kids, but hopefully next year she'll be in more than one dance.. We're also still trying to convince Will to take a boys hip hop class, he's shockingly coordinated, it's quite amazing.

A few days after we arrived Sue and Sir (Claire's parents) had their 50th wedding anniversary and took us all to an incredible seafood buffet lunch at the Hyatt! We caught up with the whole Dace clan and it was really lovely - great atmosphere, food, and company!

That afternoon we had the whole Dawson clan over for an early Christmas dinner - prawns, lamb, sausages on the barbie, the traditional Aussie feast! It was amazing to catch up with all the cuzzies (especially Phe! Looking forward to our "Single Summer" with that awesome chick!) and we had such a lovely time exchanging pressies and stories.

Another highlight of our first week back was catching up with old friends. Lucy and her former (and maybe future) best friend Ali spent the afternoon and evening hanging out around Canberra, shopping, walking around the lake, filling each other in on all the goss, and spent the evening at Ali's watching Love Actually. Han and Claire went out to a funky bar, Public, for a cocktail and a chat. So lovely! A couple nights later, on Christmas Eve, we both went out to the Kingston pub with a bunch of our old friends from high school! It was SO surreal seeing them all, they haven't changed a bit! 

From left to right: Fairlie (super athletic and fun), Courtney (the biggest sweetheart and so gorgeous), Luce, Paige (the absolute life of the party, totally hilarious), Ali (very funny and so nice), Han, and Georgia (absolutely lovely with the most killer bod). We had a wonderful night catching up, drinking, dancing, and having a fair bit of trouble wrapping our heads around us all being back in the same place after so long! 

We also saw Grandma and Grandpa earlier that day for a yummy lunch, Christmas pressies (thank you guys!), and a couple fun rounds of cards! We got a bit lost driving back without GPS but it was actually nice to get our bearings and have a drive around Canberra - it took us a while to realize that the average sized road we were on was, in fact, the freeway and that we wouldn't be able to just turn at the next set of traffic lights haha. We made it back eventually though, with a minimal number of dangerous moments!

The next day was Christmas!! YAAYY! We were hosting so we got to spend the day at home, bonus! Eddie and Will put out milk and cookies on Christmas Eve and in the morning Santa had come!!

Woo! We totally weren't expecting stockings and we're thrilled to find ours full of lovely little things. Eddie and Will are truly the cutest two kids and we had a wonderful morning unwrapping the prezzies in our stockings and all our family ones.

Karen, Zac, Sue, and Sir came over for Christmas lunch and we had yet another delicious feast cooked up by dad! 

Everyone left in the early afternoon and we spent the rest of the day playing board games and card games with Eddie and Will. Such a lovely day!

The next day we partook in the Boxing Day sales with great success! We also ran into Emma Pullinen and our auntie Louise which was kinda crazy..! They're so lovely, looking forward to catching up with them properly in the new year!

In the last couple days we've been mostly hanging out at home by the pool, riding bikes and reading books. We went and saw Big Hero 6 with the kids and it was SUCH a sweet movie, we all thoroughly enjoyed it! 

We also had lunch at Sue and Sir's to celebrate Samantha's 25th birthday (so nice) AND we all made guesses about whether or not she and her hubby Grant would have a boy or a girl - they were finding out the next day..! We both guessed it's a girl buuut we were wrong! A new little baby boy will be with us in a few months, yeee so exciting!! 

Yesterday we drove to Thredbo, a little skiing town a couple hours from Canberra, where we're having a mini-holiday and spending New Years. We have a lovely little apartment and we're planning on cloning Mount Kosciuszko (the tallest mountain in Australia) tomorrow! We had a delicious dinner last night at a restaurant with a gorgeous view of the mountains!

Today we rode the chairlift up part way and had morning tea, then came down and went on the bobsled! Han filmed it on the GoPro which was very cool, we're loving our new little camera! It's pretty quiet here but it sounds like new year should be a lot of fun! We're really enjoying the family time and are just overall very happy with how we're finishing up this crazy, challenging, wonderful year!

La La Land with Papa!

We had the most wonderful week with our Dad! Exactly what we needed to clear our heads a little and escape from the madness of LA - even though we were still in LA.

Dad arrived Saturday morning, so we woke up early and got everything ready, then went out to the airport to pick him up! 

We got there right on time but ended up waiting a while because a HUGE flight had just gotten in from Korea. Getting excited every time a man would round the corner only to have it not be dad has, rather unfortunately, conditioned us to be disappointed when we see Asians (just kidding! Haha we're seeing someone about it). But then finally Dad was here YAAYY!!! We each got a massive and long overdue hug from papa and headed back to show him our flat!

We hung out and caught up for a while, ready to bunk close quarters in our lovely little place, then went out for a Shakespeare show in Topanga Canyon at the Theatricum Botanicum. 

We saw Much Ado About Nothing and it was soooo funny! It's one of our faves but we've never seen it brought to life and they did a really good job! Beatrice and Benedick stole the show and had us laughing out loud, very well done! 

After the show we went to a lovely Italian restaurant for dinner and it was so yummy, such a great first day!

Sunday was Aussie Father's Day so we planned an action packed day of activities and food that we'd all love. First off, we made a big cooked brekkie of eggs, bacon, mushrooms, toast, and hash browns, in true Father's Day style, to keep us going. Then we headed to the Getty Villa in Malibu to have a look around the beautiful museum overlooking the ocean. 

Once we'd soaked up all the culture we could for one day, we headed to the beach! Woo! The weather was perfect and the waves were HUGE! 

Dad and Han went out to swim/jump waves/body surf and Han got absolutely destroyed by a few waves, total dumpers! After those underwater somersaults, nearly losing her togs, and half the ocean up her nose, Han called it a day in the water - so exhilarating! We hung out for a while, loving the vitamin D, then went to a little fish and chips place down the road for dinner. It was absolutely perfect, looking out over the ocean, eating some seriously delicious calamari and fish, and just catching up on life. 

After dinner we went down to Malibu pier and had ice cream sandwiches for dessert and watched a surfing competition on the beach. 

It was a wonderful Father's Day and we were so glad to be able to spend it with Dad!

On Monday we had a chill day. Luce and Dad slept in and Han worked out in the morning, then we walked down Laurel Canyon to have a sticky beak at a film that was going on! They'd turned the whole street into a derro, post-riot type set and it was really convincing! 

We've never seen a location set so distressed and altered, very cool!

After that we went to the Americana at Brand to do some shopping! We bought Eddie a birthday present and Dad found some really nice stuff, then we had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. 

We had a quiet evening in, the two of us cooked a curry for dinner and then we all played cards for a couple hours, lovely!

On Tuesday we went to LACMA for some more culture and it was such a cool museum! 

Then we had a yummy, organic lunch at Urth Caffe.

We spent the evening going to Amoeba Records then to the Arclight cinema in Hollywood to watch Guardians of the Galaxy - and it was SUCH A GOOD MOVIE! Hilarious, unexpected, badass, we highly recommend it. We took Dad to Cactus for authentic Mexican food for dinner then headed home and played another round of cards.

On Wednesday we had our big day trip - out to Catalina Island! The weather was incredible and it was such a relaxing day in paradise. 

All too soon we were back in hectic LA but it was a wonderful day of beaches, shopping, food, and fun!

On Thursday we hung by the pool in our apartment in the morning then met up for lunch with an old colleague of Dad's who's living and working in LA. We had a great chat and got to walk around one of the studio lots where he works - they filmed True Blood there! After lunch we went over to Bronzed Aussie to say hi to Samantha and show Dad where we work, which was really lovely, then we went and explored a bit downtown. We went into MOCA, the museum of contemporary art, and had a look around but it honestly all seemed a little self-indulgent and a bit of a stretch as art. Still kinda cool though! We didn't stay long anyway cos we had a dinner res to get to at a beautiful tapas-style restaurant in Hollywood called Eveleigh. It was AMAZING! One of the nicest restaurants we've been to in LA - a beautiful outdoor seating area, great waitstaff/service, and fantastic food and drinks. 

The perfect combination of hipster-cool and inviting warmth. The perfect way to spend our last night!

Before we knew it, it was our last day together..! What?! Where'd the time go?? We packed so much into the week but the time flew by and we weren't ready to say goodbye! We still had one more day though and we made the most of it! The two of us had another Disney audition in the morning, this time for Tokyo disney, but it was honestly a bit of a fizzer cos they appeared to only be looking for Jasmine/Pocahontas look-alikes, sooo not us. Han also had to finish her script in the morning to submit it for a screenwriting competition we'd heard about, which was really exciting! She felt really satisfied to have it finished, even if it wasn't quite perfect. Gotta be in it to win it! After all that stuff was done, we went to Santa Monica for some more shopping, beach time, and food! We spent the afternoon on this awesome shopping street, 3rd street Promenade, and had a look around. Once we got to the end of the street we found a smoothie making food truck and got drinks to sip sitting in the shade overlooking the beach. 

We had a light seafood dinner down on Santa Monica pier, then went back up to 3rd st for crepes for dessert! All too soon, it was time to take Dad to the airport. Noooo!!! The only thing that kept us from being teary messes was knowing that we'd see him and Claire and the kiddos in just a few short months! Already soooo excited! The week couldn't have been more perfect! We're feeling very rejuvenated and have a lot more clarity on some things we were unsure of about with the future, so that's great too. Nothing like a week with Dad to help us get some perspective and figure out our priorities, whatta lege! 

We had a relaxed weekend and then we were straight back into a big work week this week - more details on that to come!

TWO DECADES BABY!!!

We're officially in our 20's!!!! YAAYY! We had the most WONDERFUL birthday!!! SUCH a perfect day! Here's what we got up to..!

We woke up early(ish) and got ready for a beach day! Before we left we started our the day how any birthday should start.. With presents! Thanks SO MUCH G'ma and G'pa, Uncle Matt, and Sue & Sir for the lovely cards and pressies! AND a huge thank you to Sarah for our beautiful flower delivery!! We really were showered with love from the start of the day to the very end, so special!

We left (a liiiittle behind schedule) to pick up Sully and start the day's adventures! 

We pretty much planned the day based on what free stuff you can do/get on your birthday - and we made out really freakin well!

First up was a free brekkie at IHOP! 

The three of us absolutely went to town! We demolished this WHOLE MEAL in 8 minutes flat. Kind of scary. Kind of impressive.

Number two on our list of freebies were ferry tickets to Catalina Island, a beautiful little island off the coast of LA that we'd never been to before! We got to the port no worries and hopped on board!

(Han was pretty proud of her artistic skills on that 2nd pic!)

The hour-long boat ride sped by and before we knew it, we were there!

It was soooo beautiful! Sort of had the feel of a cross between Sydney and the south of France, it was the most glorious getaway from the city that we could've hoped for! 

We started walking around the little beachy town, exploring and window shopping, and we'd only been at it about 15 minutes when we ran into these three hilarious, good-looking, and veeery drunk guys..!

Their "island names" were Ruffles, Thunder, and Ninja hahaha they were super nice and they gave us their Wicky-Wak hats. After heaps of laughs, we went our separate ways (they were headed to breakfast.. At 12:30pm) with the assurance that it's a small island and we were bound to run into each other again later. 

We were planning on rock climbing or zip lining or parasailing but the beach was so stunning and it was such perfect weather that we couldn't resist the idea of a cocktail on the beach! We were laying out and catching up when a waiter from the beachside cafe came over to us..

Waiter: (looks at the funny hats) "ohh I see you got your Wicky Wacked!"

Han: "Yeah, we did!"

*we all laugh*

Han: "Hey do you have a drinks menu?"

Waiter: "Sure, I'll bring it right over!"

.......

Cool! Thank you boys for those hats! In no time (actually that's a lie, it was at least 45 minutes later) we were sipping on daiquiris and mojitos, yum!! Thanks Sully!

A little while later, our friends bumped into us on the beach! We learned Ninja's signature look, heard the stories behind their nicknames, and were given nicknames ourselves!

From left to right: Ice, Pearly Whites (aka Teeth, aka Jaws, aka Chompers. Nice.), and Sugar & Spice (aka Gucci, aka Sporty Spice. ???). Too funny! 

The time flew by and we didn't have too long before we had to catch the ferry back! We said goodbye to the boys (again) and went off to the ice cream parlour to get our free bday ice cream! Rocky road and Dulce de Leche, soo good! 

Next up we went to Luau Larry's to try their signature drink (no luck this time, the hats failed us.. That and the waitress was a girl so of course she asked for ID. Ahh well.) we still had a delicious fish and chips to split before going to the dock to get back on the boat! 

When we got back to the mainland we went straight to Silverlake, near Downtown LA, to a little place we'd scoped out on Sunday called ALCHEMY TATTOO!!!!

WE GOT INKED!!! The tattoo artist, Wyatt, was super nice/patient with us (he was also gorgeous, ohmygoshh) and worked with us to get it exactly right. Even though it's probably a bit of a shock to all our wonderful family reading this (it was certainly a massive shock to Mum! Hehe sorry..!) we've actually been thinking about this tattoo for about 8 months now - since we were apart from each other in college. We decided on a little "&" on our left wrists in a really pretty aqua/turquoise colour and Wyatt took us back to get em done! We were kind of terrified, SO glad Sully was with us for moral support!!! Luce went first and was done in no time!

Han was up next and 5 minutes later we both had tattoos! 

It was painful but really not unbearable - although we wouldn't have wanted anything bigger - and we couldn't be happier with how they turned out!! We're SO in love with em, such a special way to mark the start of a new decade and declare that, no matter what, we'll always be "Hannah & Lucy"/"Lucy & Hannah" 

We'd planned on going out to a lovely Spanish restaurant for dinner but it was so late and we were all so tired by the time we got home that we decided on pizza delivery instead! 

So we finished the first night of this new, exciting decade with pizza, champagne, choccies, and a chick flick - oh and, of course, each other.