Zara!!

18. Visit a Zara store in Australia

When I was in Europe in 2006 my older sister introduced me to the wonderful world of Zara. I fell in love with their clothes and shoes and over that holiday I went to various stores, sometimes every day, and bought up as much as I could. When I went to Thailand, and again when I went to Malaysia, one of the things I was secretly most excited about was being able to visit Zara while I was there. It's kind of sad that that was one of the things I was most excited about but....it's true. You see we never had a Zara store in Australia so it wasn't a store I could usually visit...up until recently. Earlier in the year the first ever Zara store opened up in Sydney's new Westfield Shopping Centre, and just last week the second store was opened in Bourke St, Melbourne.

I decided that I would wait, and try to avoid the crazy first day crowds. I watched the news the night of the opening to see that people had been waiting all night for the shop to open and was glad of my choice. Finally by Saturday (the store opened on Wednesday) I couldn't wait any longer. I had to go and see if the store met my expectations. I wandered up Bourke St and found a 3 row line up outside the door. It's the first time I've lined up just to get into a store! But finally I was in...and man is that store huge! So many clothes and so many people. I loved all the bright clothes and there were some beautiful shoes. With all the people around, though, I felt a little rushed and felt like I didn't get to have a good look at everything. I ended up leaving with a long creamy coloured cardigan and a bright green cardigan which I was happy with, since I've been needing to buy more cardigans for my wardrobe.

So another goal out of the way! I'm slowly getting there. :)

Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show

16. Go to the Melbourne Good food and wine festival
I was able to tick my first goal off my list over the weekend! The Good Food and Wine show was on at Jeff's Shed - or the Exhibition buildings and I bought tickets for myself and my Mum to go. Included in the ticket was a reserved seat in the Celebrity Theatre so we could pick which chef we would like to see. As fans of the TV show Masterchef we selected to see George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan on the Sunday morning. I'm really glad we did choose Gary and George because they were fantastic to watch. They really complimented each other and were very funny to watch, as well as inspiring with their cooking. The theme for the day was seafood, which isn't a part of cooking I really love, but I still enjoyed watching them cook it, especially the caramalised onion and anchovy cigars (which is saying a lot for someone who gets squirmy over anchovies)

After seeing Gary and George we went back out into the main hall to have a look around. I couldn't believe how packed the place was - not only with stalls but people! We were able to taste lots of yummy foods - actually I wouldn't say there was anything I didn't like - and bought a few goodies for ourselves like passionfruit and lemon curd, lots of different spices, a peking duck pack etc etc. And, of course, there were so many good wines to try. I didn't get to try many myself because I was driving home, but I did try a couple which were beautiful, including a wine I tried while on holiday to Torquay with my friends earlier in the year and which I haven't been able to find since then. It was a great day, which I'm glad we went to - definitely worth the $30 entry fee!