Party at the Hilton Hotel

Hey guys. I can't believe it's been two days since I blogged. That's the longest I've been away since I started!

On Friday, one of my coworkers who is getting married in March brought me some of her bridal magazines. I flipped through them in the afternoon while snacking on a square of cheesecake. I'm not lazy at work; it was just 4 pm on a Friday, and I finished my tasks. I still answered all of the phone calls!

 I'm not usually a very big cheesecake person (chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory in the US is a big exception, though), but this one was very satisfying. It tasted like it had pumpkin pie spice in it.

After work, I met Al and his work friends at the Hilton Hotel. This place is often mixed up with the actual Hilton (from the international Hilton hotel chain) in the city. The Hilton pub and restaurant that we went to on Friday  is near where we work, and it's in a small suburb called Hilton. Interestingly enough, if you leave the Hilton Hotel in Hilton and head directly east through the city, you will find the other, fancier Hilton on the same street. I know, it's confusing.

It was Al's last day of work, which was very bittersweet. He has a great new job, but he worked with some amzing people. We still plan on seeing them a lot!

While there, we snacked on a bunch of appetizers and called them "dinner".

Pictured: Risotto balls served with house relish and sour cream

Assorted cheese plate with water crackers, crustinis, strawberries, apples, raisins, sugared figs and three delicious cheeses. We never got a description of them (the menu says "three cheeses"), but I'm thinking they were brie, a fancy cheddar and something resembling blue cheese.

Not pictured: potato wedges with house relish and sour cream.

It was a lot of food, but that didn't stop us from getting pies and sausage rolls from the 24-hour Norwood Bakery. Oops.

I also want to share that I watched the Glee version of Rocky Horror Picture Show last night. I immediately downloaded the soundtrack (Glee version) and then decided that I just had to watch the original. I LOVED IT!! How is it that I'm a self-confessed musical theater freak, but I've never seen that movie?

Anyway, that's how I celebrated my Halloween. I also ate chocolate. Here's a fact: Australian's don't really celebrate Halloween. It's sad news for such an awesome country. Everybody knows about it, though. There are some costume parties and trick-or-treaters, but it's not the norm.

Here are some more fun pictures from Friday night. I get distracted a lot when I'm out having fun, and I usually forget to take pictures. However, I managed to get one with me and Shona.

After our midnight snack at the bakery, we came home. Al went to sleep, and I stayed up so that I could arrange Al's going-away presents from his coworkers into picture-ific poses. They knew how much Al loves chocolate, so four bars of Cadbury chocolate was necessary.

Other things I arranged and photographed included instant noodles, a gigantic card and a bottle of wine from the Barossa. My fingers in the bottom corners were not part of the gift.

They also got him a mini jar of vegemite and about 100,000 different objects with the company logo on it including a hat, paper weight, stress ball and a tape measure.

My favorite part was a generous voucher to Guacho's, which is an Argentinian steakhouse in the city. It's one of the most popular eateries in Adelaide, and it's expensive! Al loves good steak, so he'll be very happy with this place. It was also my idea :)

Now, Al has one week off before he starts his new job. We should have booked a trip to Bali!!!