London Olympics!

That should be all I have to write...London Olympics ROCKED my socks!

I can't believe the life I am living these last few years! I will never take it for granted or forget the people and places that have made my heart so full during my adventure of living abroad.

Here are a few Olympic pictures, as I hate blogging, so I will let the pictures speak for me:

New Zealand 2013

Howdy!
I am only writing this blog because it hurts my hands less than manually writing in my journal. PLUS, I am uber bored at work and this seems like the best solution.

South Island, NZ
Feb. 8: Christchurch

• Earthquake damage was crazy to see up close! Other than that, you only need one day in Christchurch.

Feb. 9: Picked up Steve & Kristen B. from the airport and off in our RV we went to Kaikoura!

• Spent first night in RV at Top Ten Holiday Park after watching the sunset at Kaikoura's highest lookout point and sharing beers with some Scottish/Kiwi folk.

Feb. 10: Whale watching!

• We saw sperm whales, a million dolphins and seals and beautiful weather through it all!
• Off we drove to Fox and had more amazing food/wine/beers and rode concrete ostriches.

These next few days were hazy because I pretty much took three naps a day and didn't care where we were or what we did, as long as I had food within reach. Think it went something like Fox/Franz Josef (where we hiked into a crevasse full of glaciers and drank pure, perfect glacier water) and then Haast (nothing to add cause I don't remember! But it is along the Tasman Sea which is the most perfect teal!) There was a Lake Wanaka moment in there that gave credit to my phone screen saver and will forever be in my memory as gorgeous. We also played a lot of Catch Phrase and SB is terrible at it. #fact.

We barely passed cars! There are only a million people on the whole South Island! Kiwi's are definitely the nicest people on Earth and NZ is definitely the most beautiful, untouched landscape I will ever see.

Feb. 13th:

• Another brewery and kayaking on the choppiest waters ever! The poor B.'s were struggling! My arms have NEVER been that tired! Had some ice cream and a nap. Great day topped off by a great night of winning an indoor cornhole tournament! Go Ohio! OH! And the greatest pizza I have ever, ever had was at Winnie's. GO to there. Now.

Feb 14th:

• Valentine's Day in Queenstown! Lunch at FergBurger's. Overrated, won't say more than that but it was definitely a tourist trap. We walked around the harbour and drank a LOT of martini's and ate at a lovely place called Ivy & Lola's. I "borrowed" a plate from there and plan on naming my child (if it's a girl) Lola.

Feb. 15th:

• B.'s went in a puddle jumper plane over the Milford Sound and I stayed safely on the ground in the RV driving to Glenorchy. It was amazeballs. Enough said. It was the most perfect day I have ever had with Kris and I will never, ever, ever, ever, never forget it.
• After sneaking into a rugby game (teenagers started it, we followed) we ate at The Bathhouse. Go to there also. Kris rated it as a "top ten meal of his life". I agree. Then we proceeded to play pool for hours and drink way too much and have a lot of laughs and SB ended up in a cowboy hat and I hugged a bear. A real bear. Word.

Feb. 16th:

• You ever pulled over on the side of a road because the beauty was so great? Yeah. Us too. We stayed on the side of the road by Lake Pukaki and stared at Mt. Cook during sunset, roasted hot dogs, potatoes and ate a bag of shredded cheese. As if you can't top that, we laid on our backs for hours star gazing. Not a cloud, skyscraper or light in the way. Just a gazillion trillion stars and possibly saw a meteor shower that attacked Russia. BUT I am gonna keep my wishes and say they were shooting stars.

High points:
-Banging on the WRONG camper in a failed attempt at scaring the boys, and proceeding to run amok with dishes in our hands and peeing our pants under a tree. A tree that was UNDER A LAMP POST.
-Kris and I lying on a peninsula in Glenorchy all alone except for one duck.
-Biting into a freshly picked farm peach and feeling the juice run down my chin. Glad I bought two.
-Making my own NZ sweatshirt!
-ALL beers in NZ. Oh man...I love beers.

Low points:
-Qantas airline sucks
-Sand fly bites that I have all over my feet and they kept me up all night scratching and now have scared! Awesome.

I want to retire here and raise sheep, maybe a few cattle and a lot of dogs. Only if my family comes, but it's that amazing.

June Update

I want to reiterate, I loathe blogging but love my Grandparents who thankfully, can't do Facebook.

Since my last update, I have gotten a pretty cool job at World Sport Group-www.worldsportgroup.com.sg.

I have traveled to Hawaii, Tokyo and Cambodia.

Can't say enough about Maui. So I won't even try cause it was the best place I have been so far, and I have been a lot of cool places.
It was beautiful, relaxing and so much fun!
Worst part was me discovering my only true fear, plummeting to death.
Kris make me get up at 4 am to drive up a volcano/mountain and every hairpin turn, I would make him go 5 MPH because putting it mildly, I was losing my sh*t. I was bawling, shaking and completely overcome with anxiety at dying. I hope to NEVER feel that way again. Poor Kris :)

Tokyo kinda stole my heart too! I loved it. It was freezing and I was ill prepared with only sandals, but it was a nice reprieve from the Singapore heat.
We meet Kris' Mom, Phyllis, there for her birthday present! She loved it!
We had sushi for breakfast, got lost a few times, walked around, shopped and soaked it all in that we were in a foreign country TOGETHER! Finally!
I can't wait to go back...

Cambodia with Jamie & Jason Walsh for my 31st birthday!
Again! How cool it was to be in a foreign place with friends!
I had the most "fun" experience on a vacay yet here...2 hour Quad ride through the country! We were hot, sweaty and filthy, but loving it!
Everything was SO cheap. We stocked up on the softest cotton tees, drank $1 beers, $16 champagne, had amazing food and I got to hold the cutest baby boy EVER! I would go back in a second...

So that's in a nutshell. I am at work right "working"...I am a CRM Specialist for 3 months, then transitioning to an Office Manager/Client Relations type role in August.

Hopefully my next update will be me in London for the Olympics! Go Sarah and Bryan!

xoxo (Just found out after all these years, I was using it wrong)

Singapore, Singapore

Howdy!
I just wanted to clear up some things about where I live...
I live in Singapore, Singapore, NOT Singapore, CHINA.


It is probably the richest city in the world, NOT a Third World country.

Yes, we can drink the water from the tap.

No, I do not live next to rice paddies.

No, we don't ride in tuk-tuks to work.


I live in a brand new high rise apartment with an elevator and marble floors. I have 3 bathrooms and a gas stove.

We do get cockroaches in the city, and geckos in our apartment but we live at the equator.

YES-I live at the equator! So yes, it's very hot all the time.

Yes, we celebrate Christmas. It's not an "American" holiday people.


It's super clean, the transportation system is perfect and most importantly...

EVERYONE SPEAKS ENGLISH! (They learn it as their first language in schools, believe it or not)

Japanese and Chinese are NOT the same thing, or the same culture.

Any other questions, just ask Google ;)

February Update Y'all

Welp, not much more to report than cooking, cleaning, cleaning, eating, relaxing, stressing, shopping, cooking, napping, playing soccer and lounging by pool. Rough life I know, but it does get super stressful being bored and unemployed. I wish I qualified for government assistance. Maybe I should have a few babies out of wedlock.

Kris booked our tickets to Hawaii in April! On the way back from Hawaii, we are spending 2 days in Tokyo with Ms. Phyllis Bare! Ariel will also be here and then Jamie and Jason are coming in May! So exciting to have visitors from home! AND in 3 weeks, the Cossman-Eardleys! Whoop whoop!

So...that's about it. Had my first job interview but they went with a local who was more experienced. I don't blame 'em. More time for me to sleep in...

Sorry I am the worst, most boring blogger ever.

January Update Update

Thank god I don't want a career in blogging. The last update was in November, my apologies Grandparents and loved ones NOT on Facebook.

I am still job searching, but with the holidays, there hasn't been too many options I am interested in.  Another blessing is I don't have to contribute to rent, bills or groceries (thank you Samson!) so the stress of being unemployed is not so stressful. I fill my days with cleaning, cooking/baking from scratch, lunch with friends, exercise, reading mass books, doing a 1000 pc. puzzle, painting, learning to sew, decorating, organizing and re-organizing, exploring and seldom relaxing by the pool. Much to what I used to believe, lying by the pool gets old fast. Fact.

Over the holidays I went to an island in Indonesia called Gili Trawangan and then spent a few days in Ubud, Bali. I will 100% go back to Ubud. Gili T. was a once in a lifetime spot and I am so thankful I got to see it. It was primitive in a different way than camping. The lights and AC would go off often and the water probably was contaminated, but I loved it. We rode bikes (there are only two modes of modern transportation on the island: bikes & horse) and ate tons of good local food, shopped and spent 75% of our time lounging on the beach listening to Bob Marley or snorkeling with sea turtles! Oh! And I petted a 4 month old baby monkey!

We spent a few days in Ubud, Bali (a few of them required me not leaving the room cause of a stomach bug) and I want to go back and buy everything in the streets to put in my future Bellingham house. I recommend everyone go visit Ubud.

We paid a man to climb a coconut tree so he could bring us down a young coconut! It was SOOO scary and cool!
We visited temples, hence the above attire...ate delicious food, shopped more, ate lunch in a rice field, got stalked by some lizard the entire trip and found really cool art.

Life is good. I am so thankful for this opportunity, I am thankful for my support system and the new people I am meeting from all over the world. I love my life, and I thank you for being a part of it.

Update

So it rains a lot here, everyday it rains...
I wake up to beautiful blue skies with big poetic clouds, and by 2 pm, it's raining and grey.
Good thing I get in my pool time early!

I just want to say, the grass ain't always more fun on the other side. I am so bored! Nobody is hiring because of the holidays, plus, I am not considered a "local" which is all that is being hired currently.  I clean, cook from scratch and clean. I am looking into taking sewing classes and the rest of the day is spent online looking for jobs or playing on Pinterest.

I can't wait to see my family again, and my friends. Thank god Alissa, Jason, Jamie and her Jason are coming to visit! I need it!

NOT complaining about how easy my life is by any means, but it's no fun not having your own money to kill time with ;)

I miss my American peeps and dog, but this adventure is so awesome, it keeps me sane and excited for the future.

Thanks for the support y'all! xoxo