ready, set, go.

It's happening again. Once again, it's our last night in New York and I'm trying to stuff my life into a suitcase no bigger than a back pack. Each time we do a massive trip I downsize in luggage from the trip before... you just start to realize how little you REALLY need to get by.  So this new little gem is a "boarding bag" and allows just enough room for the basics + an extra or two... and I'll be using it for three months abroad. Eeeek! After the tour we'll be working on the new record and getting things in line for the release next year. I'm excited beyond words, but of course have a little anxiety as well. I've never left for 3 months and the thought of not seeing my family and friends for that long makes my heart sad. 

The adventure is just beginning! I'll try to keep this updated as much as possible - so check in often. If you don't already, go ahead and follow me on twitter (@dancepanda) as that will surely be updated more than this. 

And as always - come see us if you're in one of these cities!

xoxo,

b

wrapping up Australia (with a bow)

as we're winding down on 2012 (and what a crazy year it's been), I wanted to FINALLY wrap up posts from Australia.

Our final adventure down under was ill-planned and very last minute, but we made it work and had the best time. We realized we had not yet done the very thing that Ron talked about doing non-stop before our trip... he wanted to actually HOLD a koala. Yes, we had seen one, stood next to one, and even tousled it's little furry head, but hold one, we had not! One small situation: due to our lack of planning and busy schedule, we had no more time. We had to drive back to Brisbane from Byron Bay in order to catch an afternoon flight to Sydney that would eventually connect us to our flight to LA. We realized we had ONE shot - we could squeeze in one short hour at The Lone Pine Koala Reserve before we had to turn in the rental car and make it to the plane before it took off. Challenge accepted!

Knowing we only had one hour to hold a koala, feed kangaroos, and see the dingos meant we literally had to run from one spot to the other, pushing little kids down left and right. I'd say looking and acting like idiots was 100% worth it for THIS:

That's it! I simply adored being in Australia and can't wait to go back... so much we missed and so much more slang to learn! Until next time...

-b

Australia, we've arrived!

And we are loving being on your shores. To be fair, we arrived almost a week ago***, but I haven't had time to post out our life yet.

We arrived in Sydney after a pretty uneventful 15 hour flight. I watched: Beasts of the Southern Wild (loved), The Lorax (obsessed with), a documentary about Koalas (um, duh, I loved that times 10), a documentary about the beginning of time (I fell asleep), and the Star Wars episode of Family Guy (best thing to happen in years).

Wait - I lied! Most of the flight was uneventful... then after we landed and I stuck my contacts back in my eyes, I noticed the most important piece of jewelry that I own was MISSING. After a frantic 10-15 minutes and ripping apart the entire row of Qantas seats... I found it.  A little piece of metal stuck in between other pieces of metal. In that time, I cried, died, and finally came back to life when I found it. It sounds so fine as I'm writing it. It wasn't - it was horrible! I'm still scarred.

From there, we hit the ground running. Cam picked us up and we went straight to rehearsals for The Morning Show. We finally got to our hotel room later that day, showered (how good does a shower feel after a long flight?? the best), and took a walk around Sydney CBD. This area reminds me a lot of midtown Manhattan... the area I managed to escape when I left corporate world! Blah. Nonetheless, we had a VB at a pub and went out for Thai food. We were recommended Spice I Am - great spot! However, the servers barely talk to you and rush you out of the joint. To be fair - it's super small & there is always a wait to sit, so I think that's just the environment there. Great food though.

By 7pm, our jet lag reared its ugly head. So, we bought some Tim Tams and went back to our hotel room to crash.

We stayed in Sydney 'till Sunday doing press & general touristy things. Now we're in Melbourne & I think I'm borderline obsessed with it! More to come. For now, take a look at some of these here pics!

OH - and watch The Morning Show clip! They did so well!

view of Hyde Park, the Harbor, and Sydney CBD 

Lovely tree in Hyde Park (taken for my Dad who loves parks)

colorssss!

... I forgot what this is. St. Mary's? I think? Sure!

we found the water!

my exploring travel partner. Looking out for fish!

This is a joke, right? Why would you have a boat if you can't have these things?

There she is! The opera house

a touristy, but lovely area!

having a drink at the Opera Bar

Oh, did I tell you my hair is navy now? well, it is. It usually looks better than this. I still want a pink/purple, but the salon in LA only had blue. 

Up next, I'll show you around Bondi Beach! Stay tuned, my loves

***CORRECTION: Ron just informed me that we have not been here even close to a week. We just got here 4 days ago. No idea what day/time/month it is.

missing in action

... are ideas of what to blog about. I guess that means it really is time to go back out on the road? SIGH. MAJOR SIGH. I just got back to New York and now I have to leave again! At least I've been able to squeeze in some visits with my favorite people and demolish my favorite foods (or some of them... 5 days is much too quick to get them all in). 

For this post, I'm going to take the opportunity to pimp out my instagram. If you follow me, you'll get to see all sorts of fun pictures of the guys, various cities, and my face that I don't post on the blog. 

So, give me a follow, why dontcha? username: dancepanda (duh)

While I'm on the topic of blog topics. Do you guys have anything in particular you want me to write about? Anything you're curious about or want to know? I know I did a Q & A sesh a while back, but didn't know if there was anything else you wanted to see on here from me... since we all know I do what YOU want sometimes. You guys are such slave drivers. But I love you anyway. Thanks for reading and sticking around. 

Instagramness.