back in 'Nam...

Yes, let's rent one!

First night in Pho Quoc, gorgeous sunset from our villa on the beach.

When I was lying in the Vietnamese hospital, I was thinking 2 things. #1: What is that stain on the ceiling? #2 How the hell did I get here? On our 2nd day on Phu Quoc island, we got up and had little breakfast, sat around with Jen and Jay having some coffee. Then we decided to go for a quick little ride on the motorbikes and be back in time to catch Lauren and Kev as they got up for breakfast. Apparently there's a gorgeous beach on the other side of the island, but we never got that far. Vietnam is known for terrible motorcyclists. Like really terrible. In fact we were just talking about that when this chick who was about 12 years old drove straight out in front of us. O swerved to miss her and we crashed. Our wreck was so sicking to watch that Jen and Jay crashed behind us from the shock of it. As we got up and pieced ourselves together, I look at O and he's covered in blood. His legs were gushing blood. I can't handle the sight of flowing blood so I'm down for the count. Everyone rushes around me and thinks I've had a concussion or internal injuries or I'm in shock. I can't speak and am fighting not to pass out cold on the sidewalk, I just kept thinking how disgusting it looked. This woman came over and started pouring cologne on my arms which was bleeding. I couldn't feel a thing. Jen grabbed me, put me in a cab and we went straight to the nearest hospital. After an xray with an ultrasound machine because that's all they had, nothing is broken. The docs decide to hook me up to an IV. Well, it must have been their first time to ever use a needle because they destroy both hands while trying to get a vein. I later had massive bruises for weeks. This was so incredibly painful. O got really mad at the doc and on the 5th jab in my arm, he leans in the doc's face and says "ALL RIGHT YOU GOT ONE MORE TRY AND THEN WE'RE OUT OF HERE! ONE MORE! THAT'S IT!" Sure enough, that doc just needed a little pressure because he suddenly got it in. Later they come in to give me an injection of god-knows-what. I ask what it is and they say it's Ultatron. Jen said, "Wait, isn't that one of the Transformers?" We send him away and say I'm allergic. (Later, over beers, we had a good laugh about that part of the story.) The doctor was insistent that I needed to stay at the hospital overnight. There was no way in hell I was going to stay in a hospital that belonged in a horror movie. We stayed there a few hours while I went through a few IV bags. We were all beat up pretty bad, but things were really put in perspective when this French couple came in. They had been in a motorbike crash and the girl's leg was gashed straight through. I don't think the doctors knew what to do. O talked to the guy who was freaking out, asked if he needed anything. Found out the next flight off the island was in a few hours. Counting our blessings, we paid our bill and left quietly. The plan for this vacation was to just sit on the beach and drink some beers which is what we did, but we just weren't at the beach. Mostly hung out in our room or on the back patio with our friends, healing our wounds. It took several weeks for everything to completely heal, but we were so incredible lucky. I've got a scar on my arm, but O has got huge scars on his knees. I think he really likes it when someone asks what it's from so he can say "I got this back in 'Nam". Also, Forest Gump quotes never get old when you're in Vietnam.

super sick.

I've been at home super sick with a high fever for the past 3 days. Now I'm able to actually sit up and get out of bed, it's time to catch up on stuff. Have I mentioned that I'm planning a wedding? Oh, right and a wedding party in Singapore, too?? Well, this one is so much easier. We're getting everyone together for drinks/dinner at the Shangri-la Hotel. The manager has been so nice and so far it's been so much easier than an actual wedding. Invites sent out on evite.com. No need for decorations. Apparently it's the best dinner buffet in Singapore. Everyone has raved about how great the food is at this place, and if you know me, you know I'm so excited about the food! Bridearexia hasn't kicked in yet, obviously. But I keep hoping, any day now.

Here's part of the buffet- this is the sushi buffet. I've had High Tea at the Shangri-la several times and they have the best scones I've ever had in my life. I even asked our Desert Bar caterers (for our wedding) if they could make the pistachio-flavored macaroons like they have at High Tea. She said she would try. Yay! Yummy food!

Let's see, what else can I do while at home? Walk around in my bridal shoes. If I've learned one thing in life, it's this- cute shoes are sometimes 4 inches tall. If you are going to wear said shoes without causing blisters, then you need to wear them prior to the event. Not only that, but I've learned that if I wear thin socks with the shoes it helps to stretch them in the right places so you won't get blisters on the side of your foot. So I'm wearing the tie-dyed hot pink socks my grandma gave me for Christmas and my Badgley Mischka sky-high heels. Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me? By the way- did I mention these shoes are so gorgeous!? Found them online for $120. I love me a good deal. I read several reviews about these shoes before I purchased them. Everyone kept saying how uncomfortable they are. Umm...hello?? They are 4 inch stilettos. What kind of comfort are you expecting? I have to wear them when O isn't around. For some weird reason, he doesn't want to look at them before the wedding. He's so old-fashioned. Several people have asked if he's seen the dress. Yes, of course, it's right here. It's in a clear bag. But he won't LOOK at the dress. He refuses to look at it before the wedding day. It's one of those dresses that when it's just sitting there, it's like, ho hum, boring wedding dress. But when I put it one, it's like Woah! Talk about slimming! How many wedding dresses can say that for themselves? It's actually way too big right now so I've got to get it fitted on Sunday. Hopefully my snot-face will be better by then.

wedding planning....

I feel like I should blog about the 2 latest trips to Vietnam and Indo, but the only thing that's been on my mind lately is the wedding planning. Everyone keeps asking, "so how's the planning going?" or "Wow, I still can't believe you are planning a wedding 3,000 miles away for a place you've never been". One thing I've realized though, if YOU are not actually planning a wedding at this very moment, you don't really want to know how it's going. I get it. You're just being polite, or you might just want to hear a crazy story or something, but you don't want to help me decide on what color table cloths to use. However, I know and have met several girls who are planning a wedding and it's been great to share some ideas. I've only really been planning for the past 4 months, but I feel like such an expert on wedding planning now. I really think I could do this as a living. Well, just for someone planning a wedding in Sonoma, California from Singapore. I guess you always learn as you go along. There are several things we would do differently if we had to do it all over again. Like, first, get married in Thailand and hire someone to do everything for us. That was the original idea, but I think the controlling teacher side of us and seeing the price that wedding planners are charging these days, made us want to do this on our own. We've got almost everything planned/booked/paid. I have a friend-of-a-friend who lives in Sonoma and I've been in contact with her. I had a million questions for her, but the biggest one, "is it normal to pay $$$ for this/that?" Turns out, NO! Our wedding venue is a place where $100,000 weddings take place....so that's why all these vendors keep quoting ridiculous prices. That was good to know and I left off our venue until they have agreed on a price. My friend, Jamie, has been an amazing help in the this whole process. She's given such good advice. This was the first thing she said to do- make your inspiration board. Browse all the good wedding websites and take screen shots of the pics you like. Drag and drop these onto a Pages doc and see how it all looks together. Thank God for my MacBook Pro.

Inspiration Board- with actual pictures of what we're using- don't worry, the dress isn't the same as mine- sometimes O reads this. :)

Another inspiration board- with the actual pictures of the winery.

There's been lots of wine involved. I either need a big cup of coffee early in the morning while O watches his sports or a big glass of wine in the evening. This is when I was addressing the envelopes or really just licking them. The computer and internet have made this process sooo much easier. How did people get married before the internet?! Just a quick google search helps you find all the answers. For example, I literally googled this "How can I find ties that match the J.Crew spiced wine color scheme for cheaper than the actual J.Crew tie?" Yes, there were SEVERAL forums that were devoted to answering this question. That is insane, but so awesome. We've found a lot of ways to save some money. I found the bridesmaids dresses on Ebay. I found a florist who isn't a "floral designer". Invitations were from ETSY. Found things I can DIY- thank you Martha Stewart Weddings.com. If you are into weddings or even planning your own, here are some of my FAVE websites that have awesome ideas:

http://www.stylemepretty.com

http://www.weddingchicks.com

http://www.oncewed.com

http://www.weddingbee.com

http://www.theknot.com

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com

http://www.etsy.com/category/weddings

http://junebugweddings.com

http://www.herecomestheguide.com

http://thesonomaweddingguide.com

Things that I'm so OVER:

Vintage-themed weddings- geez, I swear if I see another mason jar I'm going to break it.

Checks- why are vendors asking for checks? Who uses checks? We don't even have checking accounts, we have to use a COMPUTER to fill out an ONLINE form and then go to the bank to have them PRINTED. I can't even remember how to fill out a check.

Weddings with ONLY 2 color scheme- I really like when things don't match exactly, but look pretty together. This seems to shock most vendors. No, I don't want baby blue and brown or pink and black or yellow and grey. And p.s. blue and red do NOT look good together unless you're getting married on the 4th of July.

Bridal cleavage- put the twins away, girl! You are not single anymore!

Hair pieces- If you really want to date yourself, put some kind of feather in your hair. I bet you'll regret that in about 5 years looking at those photos.

Tuxedos

Bridesmaids dresses that are all the same- I let my bridesmaids choose their own- they're not twins, so why should they all look the same? Choose what makes you look good. I want y'all to look good to make me look good. Why have ugly, unflattering dresses?

Overpriced DIY items- I love ETSY, but why are people being greedy about something that is so simple to make? Martha Stewart gives you step-by-step directions on her website.

Not having your fee on your website- come on, just tell me how much you charge!! I don't want to waste my time corresponding with you if you're out of my budget.

Here's an example of what this looks like:

Dear Melissa/Owen,

Thank you for your inquiry and my services are available for July 11th. Too go over services/fees, please feel free to contact our office and we can discuss your wedding ceremony in detail.

Warm Regards, Kimberly Thompson

Hi,

We actually live in Singapore and will be traveling to Sonoma for our wedding so the time difference might be a problem for a phone call. We are just looking for a really simple ceremony, nothing more than 20 minutes or so. I'd like something where we say what we love about each other, then the legal vows or whatever needs to be said and that's about it. We will be in Sonoma on July 3 and are going to meet with some of our other vendors at that time. We were just curious about pricing and putting down a deposit if necessary.

Thanks,

Melissa

THEN, we got this about 2 hours later.....

Dear Melissa,

Unfortunately, my services are now booked for July 11th. I would like to refer you back to Here Comes The Guide for their wonderful recommendations.

Best Wishes, Kimberly

Oh really, you were suddenly booked on a WEDNESDAY as soon as I want to know how much you're going to charge....

Trends that are over-done but I still love:

Blue Shoes

Cupcakes instead of cake

Ivory wedding dress

Pearls

Creative photography

Guest Madlibs instead of a Guestbook

Having a photobooth- I don't care that this is so old, photobooths are fun.

Anyways, some parts of the process have been fun i.e. looking at websites for ideas. Some have been boring- i.e. looking at flowers and hair styles. It's weird to think that everything you've been planning for so long is only going to take a day. 88 more days and I can't wait!

back from spring break....

Back in Singapore! Before I blog about another amazing trip, I want to clear up a misconception. Just because we travel all the time, doesn't mean we buy a lot of crap and decorate the apartment with it. For some reason, people say, "Oh, I bet you have tons of stuff from your travels". Actually, no. It'd be really easy to collect stuff, but what are you going to do with all that stuff when you move every couple of years? I completely believe in the belief that "you can't take it with out when you die" or, more specifically, "you can't take it with you when you move across the world". However, I do LOVE to collect a few things. The first is postcards from friends who have traveled around the world. (And yes, Court, I love love those random postcards from Boerne, Texas just as much)

I keep the postcards and cards in this lil contraption from Pottery Barn. We're collecting the postcards for our wedding reception. Not quite sure what we're going to do with them, but I've got a few ideas.

And this is the other thing I collect. I started collecting oil paintings from each country, but then kinda got overwhelmed with them all. I have some of my favorite ones in the hallway.
Everything we own is from Ikea. Why? Because it's so cheap and awesome. I hang pics from our travels all over the place.
Why does the place look so clean? Her name is Anna and she's like a ninja. We rarely see her, she comes on Fridays when we're at work and we communicate by writing notes back and forth. She receives notes that tell her what to clean and she leaves notes with cleaning supplies she needs refilled. This is one of my faves. I really like the picture at the bottom. O thinks she's drawn a picture of her and an Easter basket. I think she's drawn us a picture of her stealing our stuff in a basket. I absolutely love her and I want her to come twice a week, but O says that I would become too lazy. As if there's such a thing....

what expats don't miss....

I read an article on CNN about what expats like coming home to. I couldn't really relate to those things. I don't actually miss Taco Bell, even though I talk about it alot. However, this next part is SO TRUE!

It’s not so great to come home to:

Can we all agree to stop? This talking and dressing like Britney thing was tired 10 years ago.

Incessant U.S. marketing of stupid and unnecessary products.Smirnoff’s “fluffed marshmallow” flavored vodka. A $500 electronics cord.

Really? We’re supposed to be a superpower. The leader of the free world. This is what’s important?

Airport security at JFK: oh, never mind, we'll just go back to where we just came from.

Gargantuan food portions in restaurants, and hyper-close-up TV ads of gleaming, steaming food. We worship food to a degree approaching hysteria. No wonder only one in five Americans has a passport. We’re too busy eating to leave.

The fact that everyone in the United States speaks as if in a constant state of surprise. At least judging from our peculiar abuse of the language: “Wow, really?” “No way!” “You’re kidding, right?” “OMG!”

The unnecessary attention paid to our pets. In most countries, a dog is a canine companion, period. A descendant of the wolf, that guards the home. Or in some Asian countries, a tasty meal.

In the United States, dogs have their own memory-foam beds, preservative-free diet treats shaped like pork chops and anorexic celebrity owners who carry them in bags to fashion shows.

Airport security. You can travel between countries with ease. It’s cultured. It’s cosmopolitan. It’s happened for centuries.

But try to fly anywhere in the United States and everyone’s stopped and patted and stripped and scanned and interrogated like an insurgent with C4 suppositories.

i'm so connected right now

We finally got our iphones and have taken full advantage of all of the technology. I've signed up for twitter and instagram and have everything connected on here. The first thing O did was download a "fart" app on his phone which is definitely abuse of technology. I think it was too much, too soon for him.

Remember when I said I would try new beauty products and write about them... Well, here is a new one. I love love love this thing. It's totally overpriced and ridiculously expensive- just found out that it's twice the price here in Singapore. Can't believe I spent that much money on this thing, but I also can't remember what it was like to not have it. I just use Clean and Clear Self-foaming Cleanser and it works miracles. My skin gets so much cleaner and I've had hardly any acne at all since using it. I only use it once a day, but I think my skin is oily enough to use it twice. If you haven't tried it, you should.

Book Reviews

Just realized it's been a long time since I've shared some good books. We've been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to read, but when we are traveling that's the time I do most of my reading. Also, I still love my kindle- best invention ever.

This is a memoir by Mindy Kaling, the girl from The Office. She's pretty hilarious. Except these kinds of books make me jealous because I feel like I have just as funny stories and it makes me want to write a book. Maybe one day.... we'll just stick to blogging for now.
I knew this book was going to be terrible, but the depth of terribleness was really shocking. I would recommend this for a 12 year old girl with insecurity issues. She would love this. I still love Lauren Conrad's style, just not her writing. Oh, and it was totally based on her time on The Hills. Some parts were changed, but others were very obvious.
This book is amazing. It's Anthony Kiedis' memoir. In case you haven't noticed, that's my favorite type of book. He has lived a ridiculously interesting life and it's a miracle that he is still alive. He's the lead singer from Red Hot Chili Peppers.
This book is written by Dave Eggers, but the story is of a guy who was a Lost Boy of Sudan. It's technically a work of fiction, only because there are parts of the his life that he couldn't possibly remember in such great detail. Dave Eggers does an amazing job telling this man's story. This is not for the weak of heart, but such an experience. It's good to read about the afflictions of others to truly appreciate what you have yourself.
This is Dave Eggers' personal memoir. Both of his parents died when he was 22 and he had to then raise his 11 year old brother. Well written and almost rambling at points, but a good read.
I wasn't that interested in Cleopatra until I started reading this book. Amazing. She went through quite a bit in her life. This book is very well written and incredibly fascinating. I don't usually like nonfiction, but this is worth a read.

One of the best days of the year is when we get the school calendar for next year..... I love planning our vacations! I always think that we'll have more breaks than we know what to do with, but that's never the case.

Here's a rough draft of our travel plans (and some google images of each):

9 days in October- back to Burma- hitting the beaches this time

5 days in November- Kota Kinabalu- diving and/or climbing the mountain

3 1/2 weeks in Dec/Jan- a few ideas for this one:

choice #1 Chang Mai & Laos

choice #2 Southern India

choice #3 Nepal- this is not the ideal time to go, but after talking to a friend who trekked through Nepal at the same time of year, it makes me really want to go!

Chinese New Year- 1 week- Boracay, Philippines- can't wait to go back here!

Spring Break- little islands off of Cambodia or Vietnam

engagement photo session? gag.

As part of our photography package for our wedding, there was a mention of an engagement session. No offense if this is your thing, but gag. Really? Let's get some pictures of us trying to look at cute and cuddly in some random location we've never been before. Now let's have a prom pose and possibly spell out "true love" with some block letters. Now let's change outfits so it'll look like it's more than 1 hour of our time. Gaze into the distance, yep, got that one. Now kiss her on the cheek. Yes, now face each other and but look off into the distance as if you're thinking of how much you love him. Oh, wait I forgot the one where we are holding hands facing each other. Or maybe just a picture of our shoes- just the knees down. Ok, so it's not my thing. You end up with an assortment of pictures like this. Like EVERYONE else's engagement session. It seems very forced and contrived.

HOWEVER, instead of an engagement session..... my friend, Jamie had an great idea. I've asked our photographer, the amazing Dia Rao, to come to the wine tour with us the day before the wedding. How fun is this going to be?! She wants to get a photojournalistic set of pictures of all our friends and family at each winery. I'm so excited about this. Most of these friends/family are ones who we rarely see and it will be so awesome to get even more pictures of everyone in a casual/fun setting.

angkor waaat?

Cambodia was just as awesome as last year. It's one of those places that I can see us going back to every year. The temples are just as amazing as the first time you see them. This time we went with a group of 17. Six of us stayed in the same hotel and everyone else stayed down the road. It was fun to just walk around keep running into friends. There's already talk of going back in May....

I think this temple is Angkor Thom.

This is a random pic of us on Pub Street. We all got those cheap RayBans and wore them the entire night refusing to take the sticker off. I don't know why I'm making that face. This was at the bar called Angkor What? Loved it, such a good time with so many friends.

I love the carvings and the attention to detail. I would love to see what it looked like when it was new.

This is Angkor Wat, the biggest and most famous.

I think I blogged earlier about my friend's charity that she's set up to help fund an orphanage outside of Siem Reap. We went there and delivered the clothing and food that was given from Singapore.

Here is a picture of their classroom. Volunteers come and teach the kids English.

We went to the local market to get some food and shampoo for them. I can't really handle any kind of meat market, but this was especially smelly with the heat. Yeah, it's a pig's face.

It was early morning so it wasn't a busy as it usually is.

We got a variety balls for the kids and they loved them. Every kid was playing with his/her own ball. Apparently, my friends who went back the next day said not a single ball was in sight. I wondered how long they would last.

Pub Street is one of my favorite parts of Cambodia. There was this guy who jumps through a circle of knives and fire each day around 1:00pm. We watched him each day.

Should I attempt this?

the last ones....

FPD # 21 a fave photo of you- I think I love this picture so much because I just remember how awesome this place was. We were in Hvar, Croatia and it was just so beautiful and such an amazing holiday. I can't wait to go back some day.

FPD # 28 money- Cambodia has got to be the cheapest country in the world that is set up for tourism. There were 6 of us having a few cocktails before dinner. The guys had several Canadian Clubs and I had a few beers. The mixed drinks were $2 each AND buy one get one free! This was our total bill. The best part.... free popcorn.

FPD #27 something you ate- I ate a lot of these in Cambodia over the weekend. The peanut sauce was amazing.

FPD # 15 phone- We have tried to get an iphone since Christmas. Every Saturday they get new ones in, and by the afternoon they are sold out! Seriously, every Saturday. It's the most insane thing I've ever heard. So this is a picture of the phone I want and will someday have. Inshallah.

FPD # 29 something you're listening to- We had some friends in town last week who were equally obsessed with the Zac Brown Band. I'm really sad that we won't be able to make it to one of their concerts this summer when we are in the States.

more foto.

FPD #26 night- I love downtown at night. This is a picture from the Shakira concert. I really like Singapore's skyline in the background of this park. It's such a big city, but never really feels that crowded. It's an amazingly well planned city to have parks everywhere.

It cools down a little and it's great to just walk along the river. There are some pretty amazing buildings that are all lit up at night.

FPD # 25 green- Everything in Singapore is very green. It rains at least 10 minutes every day so there's so many plants, flowers, and trees everywhere. This is probably why I fell in love with this city after coming from Cairo which was completely covered in dirt. This pic is from MacRitchie park which is about a 15 minute walk away.

FPD# 18 Drink- Not exactly a drink, but what I will be drinking a lot of in the next 3 months! I've got this idea to use wine corks as the place cards at the wedding. As you can see, I already made one- the only card I could find was our realtor. I've got about 30 good corks, but I think I'm going to need about 30 more... anyone for a wine night?