Boo, blogger

So I wrote and saved this massive blog. I'd been working on it for weeks. Somehow it got deleted and I really don't feel like writing it all over again.

October Book Review

This was the long awaited sequel to The Fall of Giants. I actually liked this book more than the first one which is unusual. This takes places during WW2 with the offspring of the main characters from the first book. A few twists, turns and surprises. It was really hard to read the violent parts, but was a good read. He's such a good author and I always enjoy his historical fiction novels. Can't wait for the 3rd one, but it won't come out until late 2014. 

Hilarious. I loved this book. It's a fake memoir about a rich girl from Beverly Hills. She's like an honest Kardashian. So over-the-top, but I loved it. Not for everyone though, you must enjoy satire and fashion.

I loved/hated this book. I really like reading about Bhutan which sounds like an amazing place. She's not a great writer and it's one of those books where I'm like, hey, I could write a book. Some of the chapters are good stories about the Bhutanese, but some are just her random thoughts on life kinda like a blog. She talks a lot about finding happiness in life and how most Americans are just comfortable and probably fat and not really happy. She moves to Bhutan and finds her happiness in a simpler lifestyle. The part that she leaves out of the book is that she was 40 years old (mid-life crisis?) when she moved there, stopped smoking, lost 30 lbs and finally found a man who wanted to marry her. She completely leaves all of this out of the book. I think most people would find happiness when they get healthy and find love regardless of where they live. However, a great book about the culture of Bhutan as there are very few out there. I really want to visit this amazing country that doesn't have plastic bags and has a Gross National Happiness scale. 

This was a free download on my kindle. Gotta love free books! Not bad, it's a Jane Austen-ish book about a girl who can't practice medicine as a woman and has 3 guys in love with her. Oh, and also her mother disappears when she's a girl so there's a little mystery to it. If you like that time period- late 1800s- then you'd like this. 

Honeymoon # 3

Back in April, we knew we had this break in October and started looking for places to go. There's still so many places in Southeast Asia that we want to visit, so our options were plentiful. O found 2 roundtrip tickets to Langkawi for $150 TOTAL. So we bought them. Since our tickets were so cheap, we decided to splurge on a villa. We've been to several beaches/islands in Malaysia before. However, one thing that was really surprising was how many women were dressed in the full burka here. Here's O with some of the ninjas... 

Some pics of the villa.....

 We did a lot of this.... 

 Another burka watching the sunset. One of my friends asked "Don't you think those women are looking at us thinking Geez, I wish I could just wear a bikini?" No, I really don't think they do. I think they look at us like we look at some of the Russian girls out on the town, "Wow, what is SHE wearing?? I'm glad I don't dress like a whore."

It was a very relaxing week. Not much happening. Just reading books, drinking beer, watching the world go by.

moving and stuff

We've been really busy with moving the past few weeks. It's nice to move because it's chance for things to change. We threw out about 6 bags worth of clothing and nonsense. It's a chance to get new furniture, get rid of the old, and best of all, redecorate! Using what we already have, I created a document to see how it would all look. Here's the plan for the living room. O made fun of me for this, but I'm quite proud of this idea. Some of rugs didn't look right once I put them in with the couches. And I wanted to see how the pictures would look above the couch. Here's a screen shot of it: 

I definitely recommend doing this before you go pick out furniture. Just use the images from the store's website. (Everything we own is from Ikea.) And then just move it around in the picture and see what looks best with what you already have.

books.

This was another classic Ken Follet book. It's set in WWI in Europe involving lives of various people from Germans, Brits, Russians, and Americans. I liked the characters and the history of that time period. Already have pre-ordered the next book in the series on my Kindle. Recommend this one if you've got a lot of time to read. 

A classic Peter Moore book. If you haven't read his books, you're missing out. I think he's freakin hilarious. He writes books about traveling with a sarcastic/witty sense of humor. The book before this one is The Full Moctezuma which I highly recommend. In that book he has decided to travel through Central America for 6 months with the GND (girl next door) who he has only dated about 2 weeks before the trip. Bad idea? Obviously, but hilarity ensues. This book deals with his heartbreak after she dumps him- which pretty obviously will happen right from the start of their Central America trip. He's dealing with the breakup by traveling from Cape Town to Cairo on buses, back of trucks, whatever way he can. Having been to most countries that he talks about, I loved reading his view on each one. An easy, entertaining read for anyone with an Australian sense humor. Absolutely loved the way he described Egypt and Cairo, especially. 

so many places...

We've started to plan our Christmas holiday. When you start looking at where to go for 3 1/2 weeks, the possibilities seem to go on. Several ideas were thrown around....

• renting a camper van and driving around New Zealand
• renting a car and driving up the western coast of Australia
• backpacking through Laos and Cambodia
• island hopping through Malaysia and Thailand
• a Caribbean Christmas with the family
• and trekking through Nepal. 

After lots of thought and discussions with friends who have done all of these things. We've decided on Nepal. December/January isn't the most ideal time to go. However, having had several friends go at this time and came back saying how nice it was to not have all the touristy crowds, and considering how much I hate other people, it's perfect. The research has started and the clothes have been assembled. (I just had to know how many cold weather stuff we actually have) We've got a pretty good amount. The more I read about Nepal, the more excited I get about this trip. The plan is to book our flights next week and work out a loose travel plan. But first...

we're going to Langkawi in October. Just found out 4 more friends will be there with us. Can't wait! It's always fun to have friends on holiday. Also, planning the trip for Chinese New Year. Even though that's in February, flights fill up quite quickly so now's the time to book everything. Thinking about Boracay in the Philippines. I've been there and loved it. Trying to find a villa for us and several friends.

Now for the last holiday of the year... a week in March. A few ideas have been thrown around...

• Bhutan- perfect time of year to go- direct flights start in Feb. 
• Mauritius- that little island off of Africa- direct flights are nice.
• China- go see the Great Wall, maybe a panda too?
• back to Myanmar- this time hit up the beaches
• Hong Kong- why not?

Just have to wait and see.... 

just another long weekend....

After our first full week of school, we get another long weekend. Lots to do today. First, we booked our villa in Langkawi for our October break. We are staying HERE. My favorite part about this place is that it clearly states "no kids allowed" and has great reviews. Also, I found out that before I can change my name on my passport, I need to change my Social Security card. I have not used my SS number for about 4 years and probably won't for the next 20, but gotta update it. Why am I changing my passport name in such a hurry? Oh, just because I can't get a new email address at school until I do... What? You don't see how those are related? Me neither. Anyways, SS card, Passport, new email address. So I will be filling out the SS card form and mailing that in. I'm sure that deserves a celebratory glass of wine at some point. 

At brunch yesterday, everyone was talking about the Treetop walk at McRitchie. O and I haven't done that in awhile so we're gonna go walk over there in a bit. It's about a 2-3 hour walk. The rest of the day will consist of sitting by the pool reading my book. Later we have dinner plans at a friend's place. 

Busy busy day. 

oh google, you're so silly

I was going to type "california wine" but Google had other suggestions....

randomness.

After looking at so many wedding websites for months looking for ideas for a winery wedding, I got pretty excited about all the things you can do with wine corks. I just ran across a few things this morning and got really excited about one. THIS VIDEO has Lauren Conrad (who I love- I don't care what you say) making a cork board in the shape of a heart. I think this is a cute idea, however, what got me really excited was looking at the corks. Most of the corks she uses are from Ledson Winery. That's the first winery we went to the day before our wedding for the wine tour. Anyways, I kinda want to make a heart out of wine corks, but smaller and use it differently. We have yet to find Nicholson Ranch wine in Singapore, but it would be rad to use those corks for the heart.

Ledson Winery

6 years

Wow, 6 years? I just realized I've had this blog for 6 years now.  I was looking back at one of my earliest posts and came across this gem :

The Cure for AIDS

Working with the future of America does have its perks sometimes. I had a student in class today stand up and announce(completely in the middle of class) that he had discovered the cure for AIDS. Super. Not only had he written down his theory, but he also had diagrams to go along with the theory. His theory goes like this: "Take AIDS blood and mix it with non-AIDS blood. Then separate the AIDS cells out of it. That is the cure. " Let me tell you I wish I could scan his paper and post it on here because it's just about the funniest thing of my life. Please someone alert the media to confirm that we did , indeed, discover the cure for AIDS in 4th grade today.

I totally remember this kid, but I'd forgotten about this moment. So 6 years ago, I was 26 and teaching at a Houston public school. It was my 2nd year teaching and had rough but hilarious group of kids. Now I'm older wiser and it's my 9th year teaching. Amazing how time flies.

Things I Like.

The Latest and the Greatest in things I'm currently obsessed with: 

1. Have you seen this website?

http://knotworkshop.bigcartel.com/

Oh, how I love thee. I want them all!

2. Some of my friends, The Conrads, have opened up this shop:

http://t-n-o.co/

Love love love these boots! I want them sooo badly! Can't really justify getting them since I'd never be able to wear them in Singapore. 

3. Our new Nespresso machine! Do you have one? If you like coffee, you should get this. Really amazing coffee expresso in about 30 seconds. We used some of our gift certificates from friends in Singapore to get this. Also, you can order the capsules online and they deliver them to your door. Talk about convenient.

book review.

 Got through a few books this summer and we've had some lazy days at the pool here in Singers.

 Here are the latest books: 

I loved this book. It's a memoir about her life growing up in small town, texas. I think she's absolutely brilliant and it makes me want to write my own memoir about random funny/embarrassing shit. 

Her blog is equally as funny- check it out! 

http://thebloggess.com/

Epic novel. That's all I think when I look at this book. Make sure you have lots of time to read this. I really like his books. This one is set in the Middle Ages just like his first book, Pillars of the Earth, it's about the same cathedral they built. Lots of drama. I like the characters and the time period is fascinating, but I always keep thinking about how badly they would smell back then. They seem to only wash like once a week and don't have deodorant, toothpaste, soap, etc. I'm now reading his next series of books, Fall of Giants, set in WWI. 

 Ok, so I had to know what all the fuss was about.... This book has been on every single bookstore's front shelf at every single airport we've been to this summer. (Which is 7 airports, I just counted) It's shocking. Like shockingly BAD. Terrible writing. It's like it's written by a drunk teenager. The author is OBVIOUSLY British in her word choices, but the setting and characters are from Washington state. That bothered me. But what really through me over the edge was how often the phrase "Oh my God, he's so fucking hot." was used. Maybe I should have created my own drinking game based on that. Might have made the book more enjoyable. As everyone knows, it's porn. That part doesn't really bother me, why is that even controversial anymore? It's not any worse than HBO shows. The part that everyone should be absolutely fired up about is the way women are portrayed in the book. The feminist in me was freaking out while reading this. The main character, Anna, is an absolute nightmare. She's the worst. I feel like this is just another Twilight book with the same main character. She's timid, really beautiful (but has no idea how beautiful she is- gag), men fall for her beauty and fight over her. She has no self-esteem and can't say no to this Christian Grey because, yes, you guessed it, "he's so fucking hot" OH, and he's super rich. Really? Of course, I had to finish it, gotta know the plot was going to pan out... and of course I had to.....

read the 2nd book. It HAS to get better, right? This is a BEST selling novel! No, the 2nd book was even worse. I forced myself to finish it. Save yourself the time and I'll just tell you what happens. So this girl with no self-steem or self-respect falls for this super rich guy who is into kinky sex. They have lots of sex. In 2 weeks of knowing each other and doing it alot, he decides he wants to marry her.... Yes, this sex-crazed control freak has changed his ways and wants to settle down after 2 weeks. They don't even know each other. Lust, not love. I hope young women don't look at her as a role model and Christian Grey as a hero because that's what we should be protesting. Forget the sex, we can't have women thinking this is what a real relationship is all about. I really can't say enough bad things about these books, but I'll stop here. 

Happy National Day!

Today is Singapore's National Day. Singapore has been a country now for 47 years. We've had 2 days of work and now a nice little holiday in the middle of the week. Been back in Singapore for 2 weeks now and loving the life. Since it's Singapore's b-day, I'm going to name my favorite things about living here:

1. Safety- I love going for morning runs in the dark feeling incredibly safe. I can walk home from the MRT station at 2AM by myself and not be in danger of anything happening. Low crime doesn't mean no crime, but I love how much freedom I have to do things.

2. The Food!! You can get a good plate of chicken and rice for $3 at the local Hawker or go out for gourmet dinner costing over $300. There's just every kind of food from around the world and you know how I like to eat.

3. Public Transport- Not only is it super cheap, but really efficient. I've got an App on my phone that tells me what buses are coming to whatever bus stop I'm near and how long until the next bus gets there. The MRT arrives every 3 minutes at each station. With taxis also being very cheap, there's no need to get a car.

3. The weather-  Every day is summer. My wardrobe is the same. Dresses, skirts, shorts, tank tops, sandals, all year long. That means every day after work you can just lounge by the pool soaking up the sun.

4. Travel- Where do you want to go? Singapore probably has a direct flight there. Our flights to Langkawi, an island in Malaysia, were $150 for both of us roundtrip. Our flights to the Perehentian Islands were $15 each. If you've got a flexible schedule, you can find some amazing deals. Our flights from Canada to the States this summer were $700 EACH. Asian airlines rock!

5. The parks- Singapore has done a really good job creating park space within a concrete jungle. You can get out on your own in a rain forest pretty quickly and not have a single person in sight. Lots of monkeys, lizards, turtles, birds, etc. Also, I love the Botanic Gardens which are gorgeous to walk through.

6. Shopping- Stores from all over the world. It's more usually more expensive than the US, but if you need anything, you can find it. Some of my faves are Zara, H&M, Gap, Banana Republic, Cotton On, Pull &Bear, Aldo, Sephora, and Esprit.

 7. The diversity- We live next to a Bible College and 3 other churches of different denominations which for some weird reason this shocks people when they see how many churches there are in Singapore. There's also a Buddist Temple and Mosque down the street too. So many different religions and nationalities living in harmony. In my class of 22 students, they are from 14 different countries.

THIS Video is pretty funny. The govt here has been really promoting local families to have more kids. They want to increase the population of Singaporeans.

Facts you probably didn't know about Singapore:

• Singapore is among the 20 smallest countries in the world, with a total land area of only 682.7 square kilometer. The USA is about 15,000 times bigger.
• Apart from Monaco, Singapore is the most densely populated country in the world, with 6,430 people per square kilometer. Total population is about 5 million. However, it very rarely feels crowded.
• The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore contains more species of trees than the entire North American continent. You can walk around this nature reserve somedays and not see a single person. 
• Singapore consists only of one main island and 63 other tiny islands. 

Honeymoon # 2

Texassss..... After California, we went down to Texas to see my grandparents and to also explore Austin. We had so much fun. Got a hotel off 6th street in Austin. Went bar-hopping each night and ended up getting tickets to see The Barenaked Ladies who I love love love. They played lots of their old stuff and we were on the floor drinking Shiners all night. Of course we had to stop at a Taco Truck to get some burritos to go. Absolutely a blast! 

 Drove to College Station and walked around A&M. It was hotter than hell and slightly bigger than O's university.

  We just walked around like we owned the place and ended up just walking on Kyle Field. I haven't done that before. Hard to believe that it seats 80,000 and is full every game day. In Texas, football is a religion.

 Shiner, I forgot how good you are!

 Taco Truck! One thing I miss from Texas. 

 O at the Other University.

 Me! 

 Blue Traveler was one of the opening bands

If I had a million dollars...

honeymoon #1 continued...

I hate how on this blogger, you try to add more pictures and it puts the pictures on the top. It's like you have to think backwards, like what's the last photo I want on here and then work your way back to the top. Anyways, we had an amazing hotel right on the water. The first day, they had a farmer's market featuring jewelry and art from locals. I could have shopped all day here. There were lots of little seafood restaurants, candy shops, coffee shops, etc. Great little town, can't wait to go back someday. 

We went to Carmel one day. There's a beautiful mission there. 

 Back at the harbour, lots of seals....

 There were several tasting rooms for local wineries on the harbour. We tried several different wines, then bought one and enjoyed it at the restaurant next door overlooking the water.

 We went out to Pebble Beach one day. This was the most stunning golf course I've ever seen. Lots of celebrities have massive homes along the course. The course runs right next to the ocean. To play, it's $500 and there's a 3 month waiting period. Crazy.

Honeymoon #1

After the wedding week o' fun, we left San Fran and drove down to Monterey. We took the scenic route on the way down there and it was absolutely stunning. I wish had I had taken more pictures, but I was just admiring the views. 

 Seals and pelicans were surrounding the harbour. Also, little otters, but I didn't get a picture of them. They are too slick.

 Some guy had this really pretty birds and was letting little kids hold them. 

We stayed right in the harbour, so beautiful. 

wedded bliss.

There seemed to be lots of talk in the States about gay marriage and how God defines marriage in the Bible. I don't know why this is an issue. Do you think that if you ban gay marriage then people will just stop having gay relationships? They are still going to be together, live together, and basically act like they are married, so what's the point? Anyways, let's see what the Bible has to say about a honeymoon. In Deuteronomy, it says:

 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him. He shall be exempt for one year for the sake of his family, to bring joy to the wife he has married.”

 Yes! I fully support the Bible's definition of honeymoon. Lots of people have asked where we will go, what will we do since we already travel mucho. It's also been noted that we "already go on like 5 honeymoons a year". Well, with what the Bible has stated, that's exactly what we are supposed to do. 

Webster's dictionary defines honeymoon as : 

1. a period of harmony immediately following marriage

2. a period of unusual harmony especially following the establishment of a new relationship

3. a trip or vacation taken by the newly married couple

I'll take definition #3 and add that to the Bible's definition of a year of bringing joy to the wife. So the question is, not where are we going on our honeymoon, but rather, how many honeymoons will we go on our first year of marriage? 

wedding week.

I think I'm going to wait to blog about the wedding week when we get our "official" pics back from the photographer who was awesome and photographed the wine tour as well as the wedding. It was the best week of my life and I can't wait to see the pics!

pre-wedding vacay.

When we first got to California, we stayed in Mill Valley, northern San Fran area. We went to a baseball game on the 4th which was super awesome and super American. The A's were playing the Red Sox and Big Papi hit his 400th home run which made the game even more exciting. 

 We went hiking in Muir Woods. 

 Drove around the coast to Stinson Beach. It was so pretty and so cold!

 We drove up to Sonoma/Napa area to get some wedding chores done. After each errand, we went to a winery. For example, pick out desserts for the dessert bar, then go to a winery. Pick out flowers, then go to a winery. They were all stunning and had amazing wine.

This is Vine Alley in Sonoma Plaza. There are several tasting rooms that feature wine from local wineries. What a great idea, you don't even have to drive! What a great, relaxing way to start the wedding festivities. I totally recommend this to every bride.