I drove from Huntsville to Ft. Worth then to Norman, Oklahoma to visit Chelsea (my best friend) and Brandon (her boyfriend) for the Halloween weekend. We watched football, played board/card games, hung out with friends, made pizza and chips/queso, watched scary movies, and ate lots of candy! Definitely a weekend I'll never forget :) Music: Tulips by Bloc Party At Last I Am Free by Pretty Lights

Derek and I walked around Darling Harbour after we visited the Sydney Wildlife World and Lindt Cafe. Music: Favorite Things by Pomplamoose You can find all my related Australia blog posts at: http://bit.ly/rachelaus2009

Mom sent me a package with a few weird contents... anybody need some foot thongs? Also, Happy (almost) Halloween!

Got a lovely surprise from Derek today, definitely a happy anniversary :) See a better picture of the flowers here: http://bit.ly/LGBbe

Derek and I visit the Sydney Wildlife World. Music: Kingdom Come by Coldplay For my Father by Andy McKee Into the Ocean by Andy McKee Naked as we Came by Iron and Wine You can find all my related Australia blog posts at: http://heyitsrachel.com/blog/search/australia

On day #9 of my Australia adventure, Derek and I decided to take his mom's convertible to drive out to Newport to pick up my newly fixed laptop. We drove the scenic route, and stopped halfway at West Head Lookout. At night we went to acting class at the Actors Creative Studio (which you can see my tour of here: http://bit.ly/3TgZUL) to perform a little Christmas skit. Music: I'm Like a Bird by Nelly Furtado Wizards in Winter by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra --- You can also find all my related Australia blog posts at: http://bit.ly/rachelaus2009

My mom sent me a little box of goodies from the U.S. to share with the Steens... lookit lookit! :D

Derek, Jackie, and I go to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney to check out the wildlife and greenery. We ended up staying too late and getting locked inside, but Derek saved the day! :) More pictures from the day can be found at http://flickr.com/heyitsRachel --- You can also find all my related Australia blog posts at: http://heyitsrachel.com/blog/search/australia

I went with Derek to his callback audition at Fox Studios in Sydney for a lamb commercial. I couldn't record any of the video inside, so here's us chatting before we went in :) You can find all my related Australia blog posts at: http://bit.ly/rachelaus2009

Derek and I go for a hike down the Cascades Trail, where we ended up at some beautiful scenery. We both took a bunch of pictures (some of which I hope to experiment with HDR) and a little video. When and if I'm able to get those pictures edited correctly, you'll be able to see them on my flickr (http://flickr.com/heyitsRachel) :)

Derek and I at the Sugar Fix in the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney, Australia. Crazy sweets abound!!! http://www.sugarfix.com.au Music: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Tchaikovsky

At the Actors Creative Studio in Artarmon, NSW with Derek. He did a small photo session with one of the actresses before we had an acting class together (taught by his mother, Suzie) at night. Here's a quick tour of the studio and a snippet from the shoot. You can find out more information on the studio at http://ActorsCreative.com p.s. the inner site is being re-designed by yours truly, so please excuse the current design ;)

Traveling from airport to airport, but still always had a good seat on the plane so I could get clips while I was flying :) Derek ended up not being surprised (which initially really upset me) but then I had some delicious raspberry crepes, so I felt quite a bit better, lol. Music: Nantes by Beirut In the Waiting Line by Zero 7

Doing laundry, cleaning, and packing in order to get ready for my trip to Australia. Mitch and I talk about where/why I'm going and what it's taking to get there. Check out my blog for entries I'll be (trying to) post every day: http://Blog.heyitsRachel.com

Yah I know it says the 11th, but really this was for July 10th. We both decided to have a ridiculously lazy Friday. We watched a lot of Popular and Charmed, ate at a Chinese buffet, and drank raspberry tea. Mitch is pretty neat.

We went out to a friend's place for a pool party/barbecue. Of course then I got really sick towards the end of the night so I couldn't go play with the sparklers/fireworks, but it was still overall a good time :) The puppy was SO CUTE! Song: Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen

Mixture of a MeToday and a PackageToday- describing the horrid weather in southeast Texas, opening up a massive box my mom mailed to me filled with goodies, and describing my idea on how to make iPhone users happier! Music: How Soon Is Now by Love Spit Love (I sped up the tempo by 65%)

Derek (@djsteen), Cait (@kissmecait), and I (@heyitsRachel) were eating at Johnny Rockets on the Third Street Promenade (in Santa Monica, California) where we got to watch and listen to Mr. Eddie Wakes perform some great covers of classic songs. Check out his website: http://EddieWakes.com

Thanks to Tim for sending me "Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2009" (and the neat shirt)!

Derek and I got a cute little wake up when Piper decided to prance on in and play adorable at 9 am. Warning: watching this video will waste away 4 minutes of your life if you don't like cats. Dog-only people beware! ;)