My Life- Down Under: I am loved into my Dirty 30's.

The time of celebration had finally arrived. I had planned this party in like May or April of this year, knowing my friends schedules fill up fast. It was planned as a fancy dress up party at the Loft in West End. The girls and I were texting back and forth all day trying to decide what we were going to wear. Decisions Decisions.

I had wanted to theme the party from "My Fair Lady;" however, when I couldn't find this costume, I gave up and said to just dress nice.

Which was actually, for a number of reasons, really good fortune. PIB wanted to head to the Boundary Hotel to catch the Reds play before the party. After a half hearted offer to attend his game with him, he accepted with excitement and we were off to watch 80 minutes of Rugby.

Go reds!!

A very happy camper.......

After the Reds lost to the other Red team; we arrive at the Loft and only to be told have no reservation for us there, but it instead has been made for downstairs at Archive. A massive change of venue as downstairs is casual and loud, while upstairs is for dressed up people and its more for conversation and such.

No fear, we made it work. As Mel and Crispy arrived, we poured champagne (on the house for their mixup) and the guys were well on their way to drinking some of the fine craft beers offered at Archive. Mel waited until everyone arrived before we could open my gifts. And what gifts they were!

First, I'd like to take a step back and just say on the actual day of my birthday, Amber and Mel and I went out for lunch and then I came back home to Kara who had baked me a cake and we drank and had a great afternoon. That morning the Boy had purchased for me the most beautiful necklace from Tiffany's. My first ever gift received from there. THEN all of these awesome people come out to a formal celebration of my birthday and present to me my gifts. I have been rock climbing for a year and a half, but have used everyone else's gear. For the most part, to buy your own gear, like any sport, is extremely expensive. Slowly, one-by-one, my friends had been buying their own gear to accumulate a massive amount of gear between all of us. I believe now we all have our own ropes. Haha.

I was thrilled to see a pink and brown rope when I unraveled the gift wrap. Oh, how these lovely peeps know me! My sheer excitement though, was with the simple pink chalk bag that had a hello kitty doll stitched to the back.

As I was opening the gifts, Melinda said, "Just so you know; you are loved." From there funny commentary of how much time (two days of conversation and searching) went into picking out the rope, size and color, and the time it took to find the perfect chalk bag. You see, for some reason, no one makes really awesome chalk bags. I have wanted a hello kitty chalk bag for as long as I've been climbing. Much to my dismay, I have never been able to successfully find one. However, Mel and Heather went to "every shop in Brisbane" to find the perfect pink bag to go with the "impossible" to find hello kitty doll. From there, Heather stitched the doll to the bag. Helen was telling me about the conversation that went into the rope and how her phone continued to buzz throughout the day with the conversation. Mel and her were giggling as they told the story of Curtis explaining the difference between 2mm of rope. Knowing all the love that went into my gifts, the time and thought, its an unspeakable happiness. To be loved like this by friends I just met only a little over a year ago, its breathtaking.

Drinking in style

They don't replace my beautiful friends back in the States, not for a second. However, they are a fantastic addition and I'm beyond blessed to know each and every one of them.

From archive, the boys were itching for some more good alcohol. James told us about a whiskey bar that was right around the corner and we took the alcohol lovers over to the Cobbler. PIB, Graeme, and Mel were in heaven. Cobbler has 13 pages of fine imported single malt whiskeys. They have only five lines of blended whiskeys, with half a page of expensive imported rums.

I was promised bacon..,"It's good. Smokey. Tastes like bacon"

From West End, we took the City Glider to the infamous "valley" and finished dancing the night away to old school songs like "Sexy Back" (He's on the list...) and "Low" The boys losened their ties, pulled their shirt out from their pants and grooved, in a very uncoordinated, cute way to the music. The girls were beyond the moon to be dancing the night away. As the night got longer, our friends dropped like flies, only leaving the three of us standing.

With hugs and kisses, we promise to visit the dance floor once a month as a group. However, our busy lives take us away from these things that we love. This amazing group of people get together so often to do so many great things, its truly a fantastic city and circle to be apart of.

In the upcoming weeks we have Sexpo at the Convention Center, a two day hike for girls only, a trip to brooyer, climbing at KP, and so much more. I am in love with my social life.

A special thank you goes out to Curtis, Mat, Kara, Jaevis, Emma, Heather, Isaac, Helen, Sean, Gavin, Graeme, Amber, Simon, Tim and Melinda.

I can not wait to return the favor for your birthdays!! Amber you're next!!