Holiday Work Party

As if the month of December wasn't busy enough, I also squeezed in an NBC.com work party for the holidays. This year, the party was held at super hip club of the moment, Voyeur in West Hollywood. It was casino-themed and the party planners pulled out all the stops. We were each given 500 dollars of fake money to gamble on all types of casino games. At the end of the night, each 100 dollar token was worth a raffle ticket. They were serving up prizes from iPods to 500 dollar gift certificates to Vegas.com. Needless to say, I didn't win anything, BUT, it was still very cool to see so many of my coworkers in a social setting. We manage to have fun and it reminded me I work with such a great group

I Love New York

Almost immediately after coming home from Australia, I had to pack my bags, again. This time, it was my first work trip to the concrete jungle of New York City. I was accompanied by my boss and it was an amazing trip. Not only was it great to get back East to the excitement of the Big Apple, it was great to finally get face time with people I had been on emails with for so long. The first night, we attended our sales department's holiday party in their building and watched the lighting of the big tree. The rest of the trip was filled with visiting the set of Law & Order: SVU, where I was placed in the prison, where all the perps go. Then, it was heading to Long Island to the set of 30 Rock, where I sat down with Tina Fey and watched a filming of an episode. I was also able to grab dinner with my friend, also named Maggie, who had recently transferred to the sales department at NBC in New York. The trip was capped off by attending a taping of Saturday Night Live with Blake Lively and Rihanna and getting to go to the after-party and then going to the after-after party and finally crawling to the hotel at 7 am, only to have to be at the airport at 11. The only way to do it in the city that never sleeps.

Australia

After my day in Fiji, I flew to Sydney, Australia. I had always wanted to do this trip and finally bit the bullet and bought the ticket. I managed to avoid jet lag and just hit the ground running. I saw as much of the sites as I possibly could, given the time. I met up with my friend, Warwick, who I had originally met in Buenos Aires last year. He and his girlfriend showed me around Sydney, took me out to an amazing dinner and even took me 45 miles North to Palm Beach for excellent surfing. The conditions were a little crazy, but it was still worth getting out to the water with a board. After a week in Sydney, I flew to Melbourne, where I met up with a friend I met last year in LA. He lives in Melbourne and was super fun just grabbing a drink and catching up with him. I stayed on the beach in Melbourne and saw as much as I possible could while there, then I wrapped up the the trip by flying back to Sydney for three more days before going home. Back in Sydney, I knew of a coworker of mine who was there at the same time, so we managed to meet up and hit the bar scene on the night before she had to leave. My last night there, I met a great group of locals and shared drinks with them at the harbor. This is definitely a trip I will never forget and hope to do, again in the future.

Fiji

So, still trying to work on this quick catch-up so I can finally live in the present time with this blog. I know I'll get there soon.
My last couple of months were filled with fun vacations. Late November was spent flying to Australia for the first time. I stopped in Fiji, first and with my extended layover, was able to grab a beautiful tour of the land. This only made me want to go back and spend more time there. I had no idea that they had such great surfing. Something to keep in the back of my head for next time.