My, how quickly the days are passing! I think that’s a good sign, right?? Pretty normal week here but it seems worthy of a posting. The Helper– We finished our first week and are gelling already. I am amazed at how fast I adjusted to having her around. I honestly missed her...
Sarah Novak
Since my posting got a bit wordy yesterday, I’ll keep it more succinct today. Just wanted to introduce you to my second home (AND NO, it’s not Starbucks)! I am privledged enough to live right next to a fantastic mall called Greenbelt. Being that I visit her religiously EVERY...
Today, as many of you know, is the funeral and burial of Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. It is impossible to ignore the impact of her life on Filipinos – yellow ribbons adorn cars and poles, hundreds of thousands have turned out to wait in line to say...
Since I haven’t written about ice cream in quite some time, I thought I’d use a post to share my latest indulgence with you. Doesn’t it look good!? And let me tell you, it’s DELICIOUS! Here’s the simple recipe: Just buy your favorite flavor of vanilla ice...
Sadly, my 5 week photography class came to an end yesterday. Hard to believe that it’s over already! The good news is that we formed a Photography club and have our first meeting already set up for mid-August! It is hard to articulate how meaningful this experience has been for me...
In the spirit of radical self-care, I decided to treat myself to an eyebrow make-over last night. During my many, many visits to the Greenbelt Mall, I had happened across a shop entirely devoted to the art of eyebrow shaping. Please, allow me to share my find: it’s called Browhaus...
I thought you’d all enjoy seeing me pick out my dinner for tonight. This is definitely NOT the US of A! I’m adjusting slow but sure. Sorry for the poor video quality – I’m still getting the hang of it (plus I was trying to be convert since I was shooting a video in...
Oh the beautiful bobbles I saw today. Pearls as far as the eye could see… and like most things in Manila, very reasonably priced! Today I participated in a group trip to Greenhills Pearl Market, featured in Vogue as one of the 10 best-kept shopping secrets in the world! I was so...
Nick and I visited our first movie theater last week and like most things here, it spoiled us miserably. A colleague of Nick’s organized a group gathering and rented out a 30 person theater at the Mall of Asia called the Director’s Club. For a mere $7, each person got their...
Sorry for being absent for a few days – we had the opportunity to take our first weekend trip outside of Manila. We ventured South to the island of Mindoro via a four-hour car trip plus one hour boat ride. Despite the long travel time, it was a much-needed break from the chaos of...
Well, I had a chance to visit the Mall of Asia this week. As you know, Minnesotans are quite proud of the Mall of America, which we claim as the largest in the world. Imagine my disbelief when another Embassy person told me that Mall of Asia was larger. No! How could that be?? And so I...
not to write about massages anymore! But then the internet went down yesterday….and I just felt like The Spa was calling to me….”Come visit Sarah, we miss you”….and I was feeling bold and adventurous….and so I tried my first THAI MASSAGE! I had no idea...
Nick and I were having the most delightful day yesterday. We had just returned home from a dinner of Spanish Tapas and I thought I’d do a quick load of laundry. All was seemingly fine until I went to move it to the dryer and realized that the washing machine had discharged the water...
Hello all, please indulge me for a moment and allow me to gush about my most recent pleasure, The Spa. I know that I’ve written about this before, but I haven’t really given you a run-down on the entire experience. I’m sure you think my attendance is a bit excessive (and...
As I wrote yesterday, we have a household helper starting on Monday, August 3rd. Her name is Norma and she’s a Filipino in her mid-30’s. She was the first person we interviewed, but she seemed like such a perfect fit that we didn’t look any farther. We are going to do a...
I am proud to say that I successfully hired my first household helper. In the US we would commonly refer to this as a maid, but she’s going to do so much more than just clean that it isn’t a sufficient name (nor do they have an equivalent for maid in Tagalog). And so we use...
Great news – we have internet! I can’t tell you how much I missed it. I do believe I’ve developed something of an addiction, as it’s my primary means of communication now. I practically hugged the internet guy when he came today. I stopped myself just in...
Greetings all – Hello from hot, sticky Manila. I have lots of little updates to give, so I’m just going to fill this post with various subjects of my interest (and hopefully yours). Where to start… I had a fabulous 29th birthday. I indulged in a massage, took a nap, had...
I never thought it possible, but I managed to find a gym that has Bodypump classes in Manila (and it’s within walking distance of our place!) A little background on Bodypump… it’s a fabulous weight routine where you do 10 tracks in one hour, each of which is coreographed...
apparently do not mix. I ventured into my first salon on Monday to get a much-needed trim. As I previously mentioned, I already stick out horribly amongst the dark-haired, dark-skinned Filipinos. What I had failed to notice was that no women have short hair cuts. The most racy look is a...
Yesterday was the BIG DAY – Photography class started! Just to refresh your memories, this was the class that I had found online and registered for back in June. It takes place over 5 Sundays for a total of 40 hours of fun-filled learning about digital SLR photography. Let’s...
Hi folks – Still in the internet cafe, so I apologize, but it’s not a good environment to write in. Here’s a little highlight from the last 24 hours: Nick and I are woken up at 2 AM by a shrieking fire alarm in the building. He peeks out the door and sees mild smoke near...
Hi all- We’ve safely landed in Manila and are adjusting rapidly to our new life. It’s exhaustingly hot, but the people are so kind that you just forget about the heat. I have been going nonstop and Nick has been trying his darndest to get me to sit down. I just can’t...
Honestly, I did nothing all day except eat on day 2. And it was FABULOUS! I love food and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I don’t like to do it all the time, but a well-researched gem in a new city is a delicious splurge. Here are my reviews of our picks. First up for lunch was...
Day 1 of our trek to Manila is complete. The day started out a little rough, requiring us to awake at 4 AM to catch our flight. I hadn’t slept very well, most likely because I was so eager to get going. Any crabbiness I had in me was washed away by the fabulous in-flight experience...
Well, pack-out day is over and we did manage to survive it…. While we did have a moving team running the move, we still had the difficult task of splitting everything up between 3 categories: Things we hand-carry (2 suitcases a person) Things we send via air shipment (up to 450...
Today I’m going to educate you on the concept of the Escape Bag. First, a brief history on my introduction to the Escape Bag. When Nick and I had been dating for a few months I started to become annoyed by this black messenger bag that sat right in his living room next to the TV. We...
I have a feeling that I’m going to get some flack for this post, but I’m going for it anyways. Think of it as a Public Service Message (only via the internet). Having gone through the recent process of completing our wills recently, I started asking around to get a sense of...
Well, given that nearly every facet of my life is in transition right now, it makes sense that my business would need an evolution as well. I think most of you know this, but I’ve been a life coach since 2007. It was by far the best leap I ever took (next to marrying Nick, of course...
The shopping is done. FINALLY. I feel complete now with my Ravioli and Diet Coke rations. Nick and I comprised on the final numbers and here’s what I ended up bringing: 20 – 12 packs of coke for a total of 240 cans over 730 days (roughly 1 every 3 days). I currently drink 2...
Sorry folks! All this packing has been getting in the way of my blogging. I’m going to attempt 2 posts today to make up for it! This tardy post is a follow-up from last weekend’s trip to Philly. We found this incredible lodging and I just have to share it with you so that...
Today was a big day – we knocked out all the Costco purchases in one run. Pretty amazing. It’s a huge relief to have that crossed off. I used to feel like $1000 got you so much more – welcome to 2009, I guess! While this pile in itself would be manageable, unfortunately...
We got back on Sunday from a relaxing weekend in Philly. We were in desperate need of a getaway, as our place is becoming overrun with foodstuffs and paper products as we wrap up our shopping. It seemed like an ideal destination – only 3 hours away and home of my sister Beth and her...
Wow! We are officially less than 2 weeks out from Wheels Up. It’s hard to believe. I want to thank you all for being such diligent followers of the blog – it topped 150 readers one day last week. We really appreciate your support and the fact that you’re keeping tabs on...
If I was to pick out the one singular dance performance I’ve seen that’s stuck with me for years, it would be Parson Dance Company‘s “Caught”. In this video excerpt, you’ll see David Parsons himself performing. The first half is more lyrical in nature...
If we’re talking about all-time favorites in dance, then I would definitely have to give my vote to Diavolo Dance Company, which I’ve seen perform 3 times at St. Ben’s. They blow my mind each and every time! The company is out of Los Angeles, where Artistic Director...
It’s all dance for the rest of the week! I’m feeling inspired by the arts lately, so we’re going to feature some great work. Since I haven’t done any dance videos on the blog yet, that seemed like the perfect selection for this week. First up is Complexions...
….to becoming an amateur photographer! Today I ventured out with our brand new Canon Rebel Xsi Digital SLR camera. If I’m being honest, I must confess that we’ve had the thing for 3 weeks now and I’ve been so scared of it that I mostly just stared at it in its case...
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a fabulous coaching workshop in the DC metro area. One of the keynote speakers was a man named Michael Bungay Stanier, the 2006 Canadian Coach of the Year and owner of Box of Crayons. The premise of his recent work is that we spend too much time...
Today we’re going to learn some fun facts about the Philippines, so that you can be as knowledgeable as I am about this great country! Here we go: The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,107 islands. Luzon is the largest island in the archipelago and includes Manila...
Refreshingly fun on a Tuesday! A shout out to all the twins in the world!
We’re all about new experiences lately and this definitely fit the bill. My in-laws live on beautiful Chesapeake Bay and they invited us over for a crab-eating shindig before we left the country. All in all there were 7 of us there, 6 of which were employed in the foreign service at...
Whenever I’m new to something, I like to observe and information gather for a period at the beginning. Given that the Foreign Service is like an entirely new planet that I landed in, you can make the assumption that I need to do lots and lots of observation. This helps me in a...
Oh my goodness gracious. What is happening to my life!? I just picked up a package at the post office and learned that I am now the proud owner of a Head Flashlight. Nick was in charge of ordering us some nice durable flashlights and THIS is what he got for us. Note to self: do not...
Oh my gosh. This is really happening. We are exactly one month out from leaving! That is insane. For those of you wondering about the Wheels Up reference above, it references the wheels going up on the plane (during take-off). Yet another term that I needed to be educated on for my new...
Perhaps you didn’t know this, but I am an ICE CREAM JUNKIE. I love it, love it, love it. In fact, in 2007 I committed to eating ice cream a minimum of once a day from Memorial Day to Labor Day (successfully completed)! I also allow myself to eat ice cream for all 3 meals on my...
Never been much of a cake girl, so the thought of spending loads of money on something I don’t enjoy pretty much seemed pointless. Now ice cream, that’s a different story! Izzy’s Ice Cream had long been our favorite ice cream shops, as it was the site of one of our most...
From the very beginning Nick and I were set on NOT having a DJ. Originally, we thought a concert would be neat, but I couldn’t get the artist to agree to do it (he doesn’t do weddings). Then we tried for a Dueling Piano group but they were out of our price range unless we did...
The choice of venue for the reception was perhaps the easiest decision I made. We were set on St. Paul for the location, so I set up tours for 317 on Rice Park, The James J. Hill Library, The MN Boat Club and the Union Depot. It was no contest. We walked into the Union Depot and I knew...
Perhaps the hands-down coolest thing we did at our wedding was hire a wedding painter. Yes, that’s right! A real, live wedding painter who created a complete picture during the course of the reception. I’m sure you’re curious how I found her. Well, my whole motto for the...