The Weekender: The race to Christmas

Hey guys! Guess who will be back in the states in 5 days! Woo. 

For documentary purposes, here is a quick recap of our weekend - nothing special, but very productive as we race to get everything done before we embark on our holiday travels for the next couple weeks.

My Saturday morning stared off with a steamy run while Michael went to flag football. On my loop around the Mariana Bay Sands hotel, I spotted these guys. I have been eyeing these white balls filling up the Marina from my office all month, but had no idea what there were. Finally, I discovered they are little wishing spheres to celebrate the New Year. How cute! I couldn't resist making one for Michael and I - we are so blessed to be fortunate enough to call 4 different places home: Singapore, Omaha, KC and NYC.     

Hey ladies, have you taken your man Christmas shopping this holiday season? Have you done it in a foreign country, in 90 degree heat and 90% humidity? By the time I finally found Michael sitting on a curb near a pile of trash cans, I was afraid we were on the verge of a breakup ;)

It is as scary as you would image. 

Additionally, the weekend was equal parts home improvement as it was holiday shopping. Since we are leaving soon and have a friend staying with us when we return, this was a good excuse to get the place in order. Not to mention, when you are in a new and unfamiliar city, it is imperative you have a happy, clean and put together home - we have been itching to get the place finished up.  

On our list: rearrange furniture, hang pictures, buy headboard and night stands. 

• Rearrange furniture = Micheal's dresser now becomes massive living room bar (hmmm...)

                          

• Hang pictures = schedule and hire handyman (the walls are made of thick cement so you cannot simply hang things with a nail and hammer - that would be WAY too easy. They use cement instead of drywall because it is so humid, the drywall would adsorb too much moisture) 

                                                              

• Buy headboard = find the one store that sells US king sizes and will deliver on a Saturday (easy!)
• Buy night stands = Asian IKEA (enough said)

Even though we were crazy busy, we managed to squeeze in an amazing dinner at this Argentinian restaurant directly next door - BoCHINche - and marathon our new favorite show Alaska: The Last Frontier. 

The weekend came to a close with a frozen pizza and beautiful sunset over our newly hung lanterns.

5 more days! 

Xo. 

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Phuket, Thailand

First of all - thank you all for the kind birthday wishes, texts, videos (HOW adorable are my nephews, seriously) and Facebook posts. My first birthday abroad was great. On my actual bday, Michael and I both had respective holiday outings with our office so I spent it celebrating with my new girlfriends from work. Cheers! 

Extra special shout-out to my FIL (future family in law) and super sweet friend from afar for sending me flowers and cupcakes :) 

Michael on the other hand, no idea what they were up to, but he is now famous on the Singapore outdoor lazer tag scene. Normal. 

Anyway, my Singapore bday was super, then I woke up the next day and it was my bday in the US, so I got to celebrate all over again! 

Now to the good stuff. As an excuse To officially celebrate, we went to Phuket, an island off the west coast of Thailand. We stayed near Nai Yang Beach, which felt small and quaint and the perfect balance of busy and quiet (also lots of Russians, which we found kind of odd, but apparently is normal for Phuket?). 

It. Was. Awesome. Friday we were sitting at our desks at 5:30pm - hopped on a 7:00pm Tiger Air flight - 90min flight time, 10min car ride (you have to hire a car service from your hotel, the Thai taxi mafia will rip you off and then some) from the airport to the hotel - boom, we are sitting at the resort with a cold drink by 8:30pm (1hr time change) The rest of the weekend was the perfect mix of relaxation and fun. We went for a run along the beach (which is in fact  much less tranquil then they make it appear in the movies), snorkeling (my first time ever), paddle boarding, and lots of lounging, eating local food & drinking responsibly. 

^^ Classic 'views from the room'  

^^My favorite pic from the trip (our snorkeling guide, Sen)

My first time snorkeling! (Micheal is an old pro) It was absolutely terrifying at first, but really incredible once I got the hang of it. We saw all the fish from Nemo (except the Nemo fish) That was what my very limited knowledge of tropical fish was based upon. 

Fresh watermelon + gin = surprisingly tasty drink

 ^^ hi! self-timer

 ^^ be still my heart...

You regret 100% of the bikini shots you don't post. 

- Wayne Gretzky

Fun fact: I also saw my first real life jelly fish! and promptly decided I would paddle board the rest of the morning and forgo swimming. (jelly fish not pictured - even if it was, it was clear) 

^^ because, I mean, why wouldn't the tilapia have a full face

 Would You Rather: suburban dog or island dog?

Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas! Kidding. 

Sort of.  

Our hotel was nice, the beach was pristine, the people were friendly, the drinks were great and the food was AWESOME. Well done Thailand. Until next time...

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The Weekender: Half Marathon!

So as you may recall we have been training for a 1/2 marathon (both of our first!) The Standard Chartered 2013 event. This is the marquee running event in Singapore. There were about 16,000 people signed up for the full marathon, 12,000 for the half and about 20,000 people doing the 10k. 

Michael recently ran a 10k , but the only organized running I have even done was to walk a 5k corporate challenge through central park. My sister on the other hand is like a serious professional runner, but I am not. I could be the poster child for the 'couch to 1/2 marathon' program.

Anyway, here is the recap: 

4:30am wake up call, 5:15am taxi, 5:45am arrival, 6:30am start time!

At the starting line we were joking that Michael was like that one horse in the Kentucky Derby - the one that is favored to do well but the announcers are all like, 

'Uh no Bob, he's sweating way too much already!' as he being loaded into starting gate.  

Michael and I trained together for the most part, but did not plan on running together. He ditched me after the first 2km :) but it was perfect. I am more of a slow and steady type of distance runner. Michael however did tell me he saw a cute couple crossing the finish line running together connected by a string. Maybe next time?

The race for us began in Sentosa island and ended near The Singapore Cricket Club. The highlight of the race was near the beginning, running through Universal Studios. I felt like I was in a weird Asian alternate universe of my 2003 high school cheerleading championships in Orlando, FL. 

We did it! 

We ended up both finishing in the top 20% of men and women, respectively. Pretty good for first timers!

And my were the running gods shining upon us. It was literally one of the nicest and coolest days in recent memory. Everyone agreed the race would have been much more difficult 10 degrees warmer and without the cloud cover. 

PS - if you are wondering, the weather in Singapore is the exact same everyday (as seen below) between 88-92 degrees with an afternoon/evening thunderstorm. Every. single. day. It's way less fun than you would imagine. 

Our Sunday ended with a nice retox and time on the couch. 

We were also able to watch the Lancers in the State Championship game on our Sling box. Tough loss :( 

Maybe we were just overly tired, but we dying laughing at the local commercials while watching the game. We have not been outside the states that long at all, but the Golden Corral Triple Fountain?! #AMERICA

Thank you to our families and everyone who tracked us and gave their kind words of support and congratulations! This was a

 a big deal for us :)

Now, a swift (and sore) work week and we are off to Phuket, Thailand on Friday to celebrate our birthdays. Woo! 

Xo.

C

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