Yo Quiero a Giant Burrito

Melbourne has some of the best food I've ever had, but I have yet to find good Mexican food. I'm fairly certain it doesn't exist, but if there are any Australian readers who can recommend a good burrito place, I will gladly treat for a weekend lunch!

Too Lazy to Type Today

so you get a few pictures from this past week to hold you over....

Friday's view from the office overlooking Albert Park and out to the ocean.

Out with girls from work for martinis in the city.

Lindsay and me at the Footy game last weekend.

Around the corner from my house is Brunswick Street, filled with shops, cafes, bars and plenty of falafels and souvlaki huts to satisfy anyone's appetite.

****Mr. Yummy Update****

Or in the words of Ms. Minneapolis "Mr. Dummy" has been sick all weekend and therefore have yet to see him again. I'm not really upset about it all actually because it turns out I had a pretty busy weekend without his McDreamy hair getting in my way and I don't really enjoy chasing after him. So if he calls to get together this week - great. If not no worries.

Date With Pretty Girl or Work?? Date With Pretty Girl or Work??

Can you believe he chose work! Mr. Yummy rang late afternoon to say that he wasn't going to be able to get out of work in time for dinner, but would make it up sometime this weekend. WHAT A LAME ASS!!!

Obviously the standards for date #2 have seriously gone up in the past 6 hours after hearing this. He could have gotten away with a simple pasta dish and a movie, had dinner tonight gone over; but now that he bailed, I'm thinking that something along the lines of a beautifully prepared steak or seafood dinner, followed by a bottle of red and some sort of tiramisu dessert will be just what the doctor ordered.

As far as weekend plans go, tomorrow after work is 'Friday Night Drinks' with the ladies and then off to a small birthday soiree for one of Lindsay's pals. Saturday I'm catching another round of Footy in the late afternoon and then to a party with some people from CHICAGO!!! whooo hoo!

Any big weekend plans on your side of the globe???

{Clever Title Goes Here}

I'm feeling uninspired about blogging today and nothing blog worthy has really happened in the past 48 hours.

Except, I should say that date #2 is tomorrow night (hopefully!) I conveniently forgot to mention that Mr. Yummy does have a slightly arrogant and almost too confident personality. He tends to go on and on about how sweet he is in various aspects of his life. Like the other night there times when all I wanted to do was stick my fingers into his eyes, through to his brain, and swirl them around; just to get the point across that I don't care how sweet his job is, or that he is really important to this project and that really, the company can't function without him.

So yes, the plan is to have dinner as long as work runs smoothly and he doesn't get caught up in anything 'monumental.' (MONUMENTAL???!!! You work in finance (I think or something)what could possibly be considered an emergency that you can't commit to dinner? We are already in a recession, chances are you haven't seen a rise in your profits for the last 2 quarters and that is not new news to anyone!)

OK sorry for the rant, I am a bit tired and my alarm is going off at 5am tomorrow. Which is exactly 6 hours from now. So that is all for today and I promise tomorrow I will back to my lady- like manners and sweet as peach postings!

Hope you are all having a wonderful day where ever you are in the world.

Date Recap

I'm hesitant to post about this because the date went so well and I'm nervous is he going to find my blog. I didn't mention anything about me having a blog during our date, but for some reason I just have feeling it may come up at a later time.

I do have to admit that after a string of very questionable dates, I am now implementing a strict Google policy before even going through the hair, makeup and clothes, date routine. So prior to going out with him I tossed all the info I knew thus far into Google, just to be sure I wasn't in for any criminal type situations. It didn't bring up anything too juicy and actually made him more interesting before he even got a chance to tell the stories for himself. (Side note: What are your thoughts on Googling someone before you go out to meet them for the first time? Am I ruining the fun of going on a first date with someone by already knowing the answers to most of the questions I'm going to be asking?) Anyway, my thoughts at this point, however, are that I know he is above average intelligent, very worldly and after the date he now knows a fair bit about me; (including my last name, where I'm from, went to school etc.) and I'm convinvced that he may do the same Google trick and be directed to my blog. (If you've noticed the posts about our introduction and me acting like a giddy little girl are now saved and not showing up at this point :)

I've thought about this alot this past weekend and am tempted to go private with my blog, but don't want to lose any of you wonderful readers as a result of it. Plus, I'm convicend that my family back home would lash out in some irrational manner at the thought of having to create accounts before they can read along again. Thus, I've decided to forgo that idea and just be a bit more general with date posts and possibly leave out any defining moments - unless of course they are too good to pass up, then you will get them in full detail!

Getting back to the good stuff. Met Mr. Yummy out early in the evening at a bar with a few of his friends to decide where we were going to go. (I'm thinking that meeting him out with his friends first was his way of safeguarding himself in case I turned out to be some freak of nature that he needed to bail on before the date even started.) Luckily, after a few drinks and a series of questions similar to those found in a police investigation we were off on our own. His friends were nice and a lot of fun, but they were REALLY interfereing with my one-on-one time with the man who seriosuly dresses like page 23 of the Calvin Klein catalogue. (Looks great in a suit, but man you should have seem him the other night.....please excuse me as I wipe the drool off my keyboard)

I wasn't very hungry as I had just been out indulging on the terrible Australian phenomenon that is meat pie, and was actually bordering on being ill at the site of any food at that point in the night. So we decided to skip dinner and headed out to a few different bars near his house; we had great conversation, found that we've travelled to a lot of the same places and been in shockingly close proximitiy throughout our entire lives. So it was even more bizarre that the first time our paths crossed was here in Melbourne.

Date #2 is scheduled for late this week....

PS: If you want the good details of the date leave a comment with your email address and I'll send out the good blog post there :)

Carlton Footy

I broke down today and traded my MN Twins, Vikings and Wild hockey roots in for Carlton Footy. I went to the Nike Outlet store during my lunch break and bought a jersey to wear to the game on Saturday. I live near the Carlton area and by default I suppose have decided to support them. I am a bandwagon fan at best and just enjoy going for the beer and obnoxious Aussie fans! So Saturday afternoon, along with a great group of other ladies, I will be sporting this jersey and enjoying the game - cross your fingers for good weather!

PS: Is it a game or a match? Can one of you Melbourne readers clear that up for me?

It's a New Day

After the terrible meet up last week I was really missing home and my friends back in Chicago.....BUT NOT ANYMORE!!! :)

Today was such a great day in Melbourne that I'm almost giddy just writing this post. Here's a quick overview of what made today so amazing:

1. Bus driver was running late on his route and gave me a free ride to work because apparently me swiping my card was going to set him behind schedule even more?? So that was a good start.

2. The lady I get coffee from each morning, already knew what coffee I was going to order and had it ready for me before I could even sort out which coins I was supposed to give her. ( I still struggle with which coin is worth what so it takes me a while. Ha)

3. Had delicious sushi for lunch. (not really that cool, but man was it good)

4. The bundle of beautiful bits of goodness man, finally asked me out at work today!! After the 3 whole days of passing by his office, making useless copies, and scans all while trying to slyly look, but not look into his office has paid off!

More to come on this....(the big date is Saturday night - but my only concern is that I am already going to the footy game early that afternoon and if my last experience is any indication of what this weekend will bring, I may be a bit too drunk to go on a date....we'll see.)

5. I booked a 10-day trip to Bali, Indonesia for a ridiculously low fare leaving December 1 and returning Melbourne December 11. (I have an accidental 24-hour lay over in Darwin once the trip is over, so if anyone reading my blog lives there or will be there on the 10th/11th and wants to play tour guide that would be great!) I have spent the last 4 hours looking at all the amazing things Bali has to offer and am getting more and more excited with every minute. AND the exchange rate there is unbelievable! 1 Australian dollar = 8,270 Indonesian Rupiah! When is the US dollar going to topple the Australian dollar like that?! (PS: please don't leave any negative comments about this - I am only joking and yes I know that will never happen)

Here are a few things that I've found that I know I FOR SURE want to do:

-A day tour filled with canoe/cycling tour near Mt. Batur (apparently that lake that the tour canoes around is beneath some huge active volcano - never actually seen a volcano feel like this needs to be on the list)

-Several people on TripAdvisor have raved about the massages at Jari Menari and after looking at the website and seeing that a 90 minute beachside massage is only $29 I don't think I can pass that up.

-A day trip through the jungle riding on an elephant. I can't get the link to work, but it looks really amazing!

And finally, last, but not least.....

6. Going to my second footy game on Saturday and can't wait!!

Now I'm off to indulge in an excessive amount of Tim Tams and Mint Slices, because I'm in Australia and I'm convinced this is what Australian's do on Wednesday nights!

Just Another Day on Public Transit....

I ride the same tram around the same time to and from work everyday. Lately, I have begun to recognize a few faces and know where they get on at and where they will usually sit when they arrive. For the past few days right around 5:30, as I get on the tram headed out of the city there is one particular lady who creates the same bizarre scene for every one to see.

She will come in and sit down right around the Nicholson and Johnston stop where the tram is still pretty crowded with people, but is also starting to tapper off from the city traffic. She is not dressed in business attire, like most of the people around her, she wears a tight shirt that always has huge sweat marks down the side accompanied by baggy pants of some sort. She will pull out the same motivational book on owning a your own business and will read maybe a page or two before the fun begins.

After about 2 or 3 minutes she starts to look around at the 3 or 4 people standing or sitting closest to her and start sniffing them. She will stick her head all around and smell really loud until people start to stare. She starts to make terrible faces like something stinks and than grab the tattered black scarf out of her handbag and wrap it around her head like a face mask covering her nose. A few stops later when that crowd of people seems to have gotten off the train she removes the scarf and will start the process over again!

Today was my lucky day and she sat down next to me. I knew the minute she got on that the empty seat next to me was about to be taken by the stink freak and I immediately wanted to get up and move, but had nowhere to go. So I sat there and thought well maybe today is a new day and she will just put that shnoze of hers away and none of us will have to suffer through her act this evening.

Wrong! After a few minutes she starts the sniffing routine and I can feel her long dread like braids getting closer and closer to my sweater as she begins to sniff. This time she even goes as far as saying, "What's that smell?!" followed by a few coughs and several more sniffles. The whole time I am thinking "hey freak, I see you do this everyday on the tram - did you ever think that the smell isn't coming from us and that maybe its YOU!?"

Of course I didn't and continued to look out the window and impatiently allow her to continue sniffing me.

Blog Friends to Real Life Friends

I have been part of this strange world of blogging and tweeting for almost a year now and I have to say that it has been one of the most amazing adventures of my life. I have met so many wonderful people through my blog and have been exposed to so many opportunities that I never expected to happen. I started writing one day out of pure boredom and curiosity. I didn't follow any blogs at the time, I had never read anyone's online posts or even known of anyone who participated in the blog world. (Except, of course, the infamous Richard Edelman 6am blog that was relentlessly quoted and referenced throughout my entire 4 years of studying Advertising at Loyola.)

I think when it came down to it, I needed another outlet to document what was going on in my life and was open to sharing that with whoever was willing to listen. I never really expected anyone to read along with my, at times, less than amusing banter, except for my close 'real life' friends and family back in MN. I still remember the first time someone from outside the US visited my blog, I think I probably went to bed that night thinking I was about to become some sort of international blogging sensation, but either way it was such a cool thing to know that in some weird way, I was touching someone else's life half-way around the world.

I have participated in a few blogger meet ups and have had created such great friendships with each person. You all know that Lindsay from Tales of a Yank was the first person to welcome me to Australia and even offered me a place to stay when I arrived. Lindsay and I had never met prior to that day at the airport, but I already knew so much about her through her twitter posts and daily blog updates. I had already heard about the places shes visited, the men that she's dated and lots about her recent trip to Europe.

I'm trying to imagine how different my life would be without blogging and all of the people I've met along the way. I was thinking about it today when I was reading This Minneapolis Life's blog. She had mentioned me in one of her recent posts and talked about organizing a meet up when I get back from Australia. And that just made me think how lucky I am to have met such a great person who I have come to know fairly well through cyber space and yet have never actually seen in real life.

It's funny because there are so many great bloggers out there that if/when I meet them in real life will be like we've known eachother for years and will be able to just pick up the conversation where our last post left off.

Back Soon....

I will hopefully be back in business with all aussie life updates, as well as episode two of my recession dating series by tomorrow or Tuesday. For some reason my wireless internet has a mind of it's own sometimes and I have no connection at home.

In the mean time head over to Tales of a Yank and wish Linds a happy birthday!

Book Review

Part of my 101 things list is to review a book each month on my blog. I'm not really into blogging tonight and giving a whole long review of the last three books I've read, sounds like a mountain I'm just not ready to climb right now. So here is what ya get:

Loved this book once I hit page 200 or so. It was a bit tough for me to get into, but half way through I couldn't stop! I give it an A-.



LOVE LOVE LOVE anything by Emily Griffin. She is such a great writer and so easy to read. Her books are light-hearted and funny - great for beach reads or before bed. I give both of her books that I've read so far an A!!


Nighty Night! Happy reading!

On My Way Home Tonight

Australia claims that Melbourne is in some sort of severe drought and has been for years, but I beg to differ. I arrived on July 4th, more than a month ago, and I am going to guess that it has rained almost everyday since I arrived. Admittedly, the rain for the most part is generally nothing more than mist, but rain none the less. Today it was sunny at 10 am, black skies by noon, hailing and pouring rain by 230 and by 530 on my way home there was clearing skies and a rainbow!

Quikie on Mr. Insecurity

Ok this post is going to be quick because I bought a new book today and want to get started on it before I go to bed tonight.

I promised to touch back on the goof-ball that I met Friday night, who was meant to be my inaugural man for the Recession Lunch Date Series currently going in my social circle.

I'm going to change his name and a few locational details so in case he finds my blog, he won't decide to 'off' himself once he sees that the 'most beautiful woman he has ever met' thinks he's a goober.

We will call him Matt. So we get to chatting after leaving the first bar, and clearly he does much better with the comfort of his friends around when talking to women, because he begins to show tell-tale signs of the main guy in Along Came Polly (whats his name?? well you know who I'm talking about, the guy who wont take any risks and is scared of everything!)

Once we are alone and talking, very innocent small talk topics I might add, he is seriously shaking and I'm now possibly even detecting a bit of a stutter when he is put on the spot. (And by 'put on the spot' I mean asked any type of question.) He is clearly not relaxed and for some reason his glass of red is not taking effect like mine. Anyway so I try to steer the conversation away from him since that is not helping matters, and start talking about other meaningless topics in hopes that something will resonate and tip off some great conversation. Not so lucky.

At one point, I reach over to touch his hand and ask if he is OK (he's seriously twitching or God I dont' know what to call it really - just extremely nervous I guess) and he looked at me like I was a leper or infected with some sort of communicable disease. IN FACT, he even had the audacity to ask me if I have been sick lately or immunized for all transferable sicknesses because "planes can be a filthy place, and you've been traveling recently and you could have picked up bacteria from the seats and the amount of germs floating around the air is unelievable....etc. etc." I'm thinking, "Ahhh excuse me? Did you just ask if I have been sick lately and if I am up to date on my immunizations?!!"

I am really trying to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, he is super nice, fairly good looking, and dammit I will not have a dud for my first recession date!

He has already made the classic comment of how dirty bar bathrooms are, and that he has to wash his hand several times before leaving them, and then use a paper towel before opening the door so not to re-infect himself. Don't even get him started about the community pretzel bowl near the beer taps or the amount of filth on the bar rag that the barman is using to wipe off the tables.... GOOD GOD MAN LIVE A LITTLE!

So we start walking outside and he's commenting on how if I ever drive in Melbourne I should really watch out for the red light cameras and never run yellow lights because I will undoutedly get a fine every time. Blah Blah blah. Finally it's around 1230 and I can see that having another meal or drink with this man could possibly make me lose my mind, so I begin to come to terms with the fact that I have in fact chosen a sour apple for my first lunch date.

We say our goodbyes and he unfortunately has my number from earlier in the night and says that he will definitely give me a call later in the week to catch up for lunch.

There is no way he could have been enjoying himself. He was nervously nervous all night long , asked if I had any diseases, warned me about every aspect of life and couldn't even look me in the eye when we were talking.

OH SHIT I forgot to tell you this part! God this is the best part! I can't believe I forgot about this. SO whenever he would say something that he would deem stupid or not funny, he would start talking to himself in the 3rd person right in front of me! He would look down and say something along the lines of "Matt why why would you say that?" or "Matt that wasn't what you were supposed to tell her." I almost freaking lost it right then! What do you say when you have Rain Man sitting across from you at the table and no one to turn to!!??

UPDATE: MR. Germ-a-Phobe just rang and blindsided me by calling from his land line as opposed to cell, that I don't have programmed :( We had an awkward 10 minute chat about nothing and unfortunately I bailed on meeting up again. He is leaving on vacation next Tuesday so if any luck he will go to Europe and forget all about me. I don't want you all to think that it was a bad night because for some of the parts he was normal and when it comes down to it he is a very nice guy. Just not worth the lunch date.

OK that was like the opposite of a quikie post, but once I got going all the crazy things just kept poppin' into my head!! :)

Etsy Obsession Begins

I read several blogs a day that feature different items off of Etsy. Until this morning I had never actually gone out to the site to check out all the handmade goods from the around the world. And let me just say I have now fallen in love three times over! There are so many extremely talented designers featured on this site and I just can't get enough. I've found sellers who create clothes that I could easily see being featured in a high end shopping mall, jewelery that is fit for a queen and home goods that would transform the ugliest room into a palace!

My favorite seller and designer of my most recent purchase is Eliz And Axel. This lovely desigener is based out of Arkansas (I think if I remember right) and she uses basic tees and tanks and adds a feminine twist with a variety of different flowers and ruffles. She does a limited run of each design and generally speaking you can custommize the color you want it in.

The minute I saw this tank this morning I had to order it. It's coming up on summer time (well hopefully soon) in Australia and I think this tank could become one of my staple items. I was going to order it in pink, but thought that it may be more versatile in black.

Recession Proofing My Life

As the drowning state of the financial world begins to really effect the economy down under, I have decided that it is only good sense to ensure that my finances are not tarnished by the spiraling value of the dollar overseas. I sat down the other day and brainstormed different goals and plans to recession proof my life and be sure that I am cutting back in certain areas, just like everyone else. I looked at where I spend the bulk of my money and mapped out the different stores that my visa card frequents each week. And as I looked at my purchases I thought to myself, I can give up the occasional coffee here and there and take more trains instead of taxis, but the one area I know I can't cut back on is my social life.

So I have made it my personal financial strategy to not only continue to save money throughout this recession, but to also increase the level of adventure in my blossoming social life. My plan each week is to secure at least one or two meals that I know will be paid for and arranged by a new gent. This plan not only allows me to get out and meet new people and get to know Melbourne a little better, but it is also allows me to cut back on the amount of money that I spend on food. A win-win situation for everyone involved if you ask me.

I was going to tell you all about the guy that I met last night to officially kick off the new plan, but I am so exhausted I can't type another word. Tomorrow's post will feature the new gent that I thought would be the perfect candidate, but man oh man was I mistaken.

Please tune in tomorrow for all the details.

Good Night!!!

Friday Night is Martini Night in Melbourne

It's been a strange day and I wish I could tell you all about it, but unfortunately I have a big mouth and when I started this blog I basically told everyone that I know about it. So now everyone I know and everyone they know reads along at some point or another throughout the week. Don't get me wrong I LOVE that people find humor and interest in what I'm writing, but sometimes I wish I had a blog where I was writing anonymously. Sometimes I find myself wanting to write about someone or something and be able to get honest, non-bias feedback from all of you other wonderful bloggers that I've met during the past year.

Anyway I'm sure I'm not making sense and babbling on about nothing really, so I'll just get on with it.

Lindsay and I are heading out after work tomorrow with a few other girls to take in our weekly fill of Melbourne's finest vodka martinis and of course to grab a few looks at the likes of what Australia has to offer in the line of gents.

Hopefully I will have lots of fun photos to share as always - (actually come to think of it I wrote about last Friday's events and I don't think that it ever posted....that's strange. I'll look into what happened there and hopefully get it up shortly. LOTS of great photos and stories from last weekend as well.)

I guess that's all to report today- kind of a lame post I suppose, but I will make up for it by Sunday morning!


**********UPDATE**********

MOM I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT YOU PLEASE CONTINUE READING AND ENJOYING MY LIFE VIA CYBERSPACE :) MISS YOU!!

Awards Time!

Three of my lovely readers, Dee Dee, Lulu, and A Girl Can Dream have all given me this award at some point during the last week or two and I am finally getting around to participate. Now, generally speaking I can't stand anything that resembles chain letters or the type of email that says, 'pass this on to 36 people and you will meet your true love standing in line at Starbucks.' I just plain hate them! And to some extent I resent the fact that these awards all come with rules on how many people you have to send it to if you want to participate. BUT I love the fact that I actually received an award and people are even reading my hopeless banter each day. So in an effort to play nice I will send this to 10 other bloggers who I can't live without.

Rules of this award:
1. List 10 honest things about yourself that your readers may not know

AND

2. Send the award on to 10 other lovely bloggettes!

OK here goes:

1. My cousin is fighting for our country in Afghanistan for the next 2 years or so and I couldn't be more proud to be an American living abroad knowing that he is there protecting our freedom. He is truly a hero and I can't wait for him to visit me in Australia during his break.

2. During my junior year in high school I was published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press for an article I wrote on legalizing gay marriage. (Caused quite the stir that I wasn't expecting, but don't regret it for a second)

3. After graduating high school I went on a mission trip to Guatemala. During the first week there I became so deathly ill and desperate to feel better, that I let a doctor take a needle out of a Ziploc baggie, that was stuffed into his back pocket and put it into me. Turns out I lived to tell about it and am currently showing no signs of any immunodeficiency.

4. I have a secret love for Richard Gere and truly believe that if we met one day in real life that we would fall madly in love and live happily ever after.

5. I have never broken any bones in my body and used to be jealous of the kids at school who got to have everyone sign their casts.

6. I am scared to death of spiders, centipedes, rats, cockroaches and tarantulas. One time I was in the shower at home and a centipede crawled up the drain hole and I jumped out of the shower and stood on top of the toilet screaming until my mom came in to kill the damn thing! (I don't think I showered for at least a week after that incident.)

7. I've learned more about myself in the past 45 days of living in Australia than I thought I ever could. Each day it's something new and different that I either never realized or never knew about me. (post on this to come - turns out when you are traveling and living across the world on your own and away from everything familiar, you start to get to know you on a much deeper level.)

8. During college I would watch unhealthy amounts of the TV show Friends and today can confidently say that I would be able to answer 95% of all the Friends board game trivia questions correctly.

9. I hate flying. Not because I think the plane is going to crash or because they are uncomfortable and have shit food, but because over the past 5 years I don't think that I have ever been able to get on a flight on time and get to my destination without some sort of hiccup. I just hate all that goes into the process of having to actually get on the plane.

10. I can't see anything further than 10 feet in front of me. I hate wearing glasses and don't like touching my fingers in my eyes. If you ever see me driving down the road you may want to take the first right and steer clear!


I give this award to ......

Wearing Mascara
A Day in the Life
Very American Girl in Oz
Mo in Oz
The Minneapolis Life
From America to Australia
Naturally Caffeinated Family
Tales of a Yank
Coffee, Calculations and Colombia
Elsja Down Under

Taste of MN here in Melbourne!

My wonderful mother has sent me another amazing package to remind me of all my favorite items from back home - and somehow she managed to fit them all into a container that went perfectly inside of my tiny mailbox.

Inside the package was:

1. My gray ruffle tee from JCREW that I ordered a few weeks ago, but couldn't get it delivered to Australia. (Fits perfectly and goes great with my new leggings and boots - I know I am ashamed and slightly embarrassed to admit that I now own a pair of leggings) Although if it's any consolation I will never wear them under a dress or long t-shirts and probably never in America. They're like a phenomenon down here I swear!

2. A refill on my M.A.C foundation that I can't live without, but at the same time have a hard time swallowing the $40 price tag in Australia versus the $25 in the US.

3. Two of my favorite snacks from CandyLand in downtown St. Paul. (Swedish Fish and Peanut Butter Logs) MMM Delicious and surprisingly still fresh!! :) Was a great snack when I walked in the door this evening, starving with no junk food in the house! Perfect timing.

4. And of course it wouldn't be a proper care package without a little MN accent to top it off...We now have our first fridge magnet with the MN tagline "U Betcha" (Neither of my roommates understood why that was clever or funny)

This was such a highlight in my day and reminds me that no matter where I am in the world MN will always be home!

What a Moron...

I know this had nothing to do with my time here in Australia and I have been trying to stay focused on posting solely about that lately, but after reading this article I can't stop thinking about it.

Taken from NBCNEWYORK.com.

She went to college to boost her chances of finding a great job once she got out of school, but now that that hasn't happened, Trina Thompson wants her money back.

Thompson, a graduate of Monroe College, is suing her school for the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found solid employment since receiving her bachelor's degree in April, according to a published report.

The business-oriented school in the Bronx didn't do enough to help her find a job, Thompson alleges, so she wants a refund. The college says it does plenty for grads.

The 27-year-old information-technology student accuses the school's Office of Career Advancement for not living up to its end of the deal and offering her the leads and employment advice it promised, according to The New York Post.

"They have not tried hard enough to help me," the beleaguered Bronx resident wrote in her lawsuit, filed July 24 in Bronx Supreme Court.

Thompson's mother is proud of her daughter for completing her college education, but acknowledges Trina is upset that all her high hopes haven't panned out.

The mother and daughter live together, but Trina's mother, Carol, is a substitute teacher and the only one of the two who makes any money. They're barely scraping enough together to get by, reports the Post.

On top of her unemployment woes, Trina now faces mounting debt from student loans.

"This is not the way we want to live our life," her mom told the paper. "This is not what we planned."

Monroe defends its career-advice programs and is adamant that its staff assists young professionals in their careers.

"The lawsuit is completely without merit," school spokesman Gary Axelbank told the Post. "The college prides itself on the excellent career-development support that we provide to each of our students, and this case does not deserve further consideration."

On the school's Web site, the career program boasts that it provides free services for graduates at any point in their lives.

This girl clearly went to college for all the wrong reasons and instead of looking at her university experience as a way to broaden her horizons and learn something worthwhile, she looked at it as her ticket to finding a job. I can't believe she actually thought that it was the university's job to place her into a position post graduation?!! And since when did going to college guarantee that you even get offered a job?

This story really irks me because she is wasting so many people's time by trying to get her money back when she could be out looking for a job! It's women like her who give the rest of us a bad name in America. In my mind, there is much more than just plain inequality to the fact that women make less than 80 cents to every dollar than men; and if you ask me, it's women like Trina Thompson who can be blamed. It's clear that she learned nothing in college and is nowhere near ready to be offered that high paying I.T job that she thinks she deserves, just because she a little bachelors degree and no training or experience to back it up.

Grow up and get a hold of yourself - you are embarrassing the rest of us.

Mornington Peninsula and the Vineyards

I went out with a friend of mine the other day and we drove down to Mornington Peninsula. It was about an hour drive from my house down the coast and it was so beautiful! I have yet to have fish n chips since arriving in Australia so he took me to a little restaurant right on the ocean that looked out across of all of Mornington and you could see the city skyline of Melbourne from across the water. I can't say much about fish n chips, but the weather was perfect and we sat out on the patio watching people fish, take their boats out and even go scuba diving. (very daring if you ask me I mean the weather was nice, but not swimming nice!)

Restaurant in Mornington right on the water.

View from the restaurant - little box hut things that line the beaches

After lunch we drove up to the top of the mountain to get a better view.

Before heading back into the city we drove a little further down the coast to stop at a vineyard for a few tastings. It's the middle of winter in Australia so clearly there wasn't anything growing in the vineyard, but we still stayed and tasted delicious wines and bought a few home for later.

I Miss Preservatives

I need to get used to loving fresh foods. I went to the store and bought a loaf of bread and three or maybe four days later, there was already mold growing on it! I couldn't believe it, I hadn't even opened the package yet. Turns out I've been spoiled by the nastiness of America for too long and clearly written on the front of the package "NO PRESERVATIVES."

How is one person supposed to finish that much bread in that short of a time?