So last week I had the chance to go on my first-ever Medevac for the Foreign Service. Â The term sounds a little scary and that’s because usually it is just that – A Medical Evacuation. Â Medevacs are used when appropriate Medical care for your condition cannot be...
I’m well aware that I owe you a MAJOR apology for not posting for the last week. Â It’s just that I’ve been so damn tired and I had to go on Medevac to Singapore for 3 days (more on that in my next post – nothing to worry about). Â I was thinking the best way to...
I’m all about trying new alternative therapies (especially after having such amazing results with Network Spinal Analysis a few years back), so when my friend Selina suggested I check out an Energy Healer she had visited in Manila, I was all for it. I wasn’t sure what to...
I don’t know about you, but I get such a kick out of OK Go’s music videos. Â They always have such a fresh, creative element in them. Â This one is no different, featuring the Notre Dame Marching Band. Â I suppose this would be a good time to share with you that for all 4...
This is a nice combo: Favorite Song of the Moment + Favorite Up-And-Coming-Singer. Â Sam Tsui hasn’t been releasing much lately, so I was glad to see this one come through. Â Pretty sure you’re gonna love it!
Bohol Beach Club This is my second and final installation of ‘Best of the Philippines’ where I sum up all I’ve learned in the last 21 months of living here. Â I know you’ll put it to good use and I encourage you to pass it along to other ‘newbies’ in...
It’s hard to believe, but it’s T-minus 3 months until I leave Manila for good. As one of my parting gifts to you, my loyal blog readers, I’d like to bestow upon you a list of my Manila faves. You never know when you’ll be moving to or visiting the...
Honestly, I can’t say enough good things about ABC’s new show Secret Millionaire. Â I first heard about the show through my coaching network, as several of the Millionaires are motivational speakers or coaches I’ve followed for a long time. Â I knew I’d immediately...
After MANY, MANY weeks of being cooped up in the house, my dear friends Andrea and Brian took pity on me and invited me on an overnight with their family down to San Pablo (Nick was busy working all weekend, so I would have been all alone). Â San Pablo is one of my favorite places and I...
If you remember back just 3 short weeks ago, Baby Novak was a 1/4 inch, lentil-sized blob with a little flicker of a heartbeat in the middle. Â Fast forward 3 weeks and we’ve got a 1 inch, grape-sized gummy bear, complete with arms and legs (and what we think is an above-average...
Good morning all! I have a DELICIOUS treat in store for you today. . . The 25th Anniversary of the musical Les Miserables was celebrated in London this past December. Not only did this magnificent tribute feature the current London cast (including Nick Jonas of the Jonas...
So here’s how we’re divvying up the overwhelming amount of baby-related information to learn in Novak land. Â It’s really quite simple, I take care of anything that has to do with my body, including: Pregnancy Health/Nutrition Birth/Labor Breastfeeding Nick gets...
Hilarious, helpful tutorial on the “Filipino Accent.” No lie, I run into comprehension problems on a daily basis … now I can decode better!
A couple weeks ago, I shared the touching story of Maria Aragon, a 10 year old girl who caught Lady Gaga’s eye with her down-tempo version of Gaga’s new single Born That Way.  Maria’s YouTube version went viral when Gaga tweeted a link to Maria’s video plus the...
Awhile back I wrote about Chris Medina, whose story I fell in love with on Idol Season 10. I was instantly captivated by the unconditional love that radiates from him and the message he so BOLDLY put out into the world. Although he isn’t in the top 24 on Idol, his...
Nick here. I very rarely post on ‘our’ blog as it’s Sarah’s pet project and I want to keep it that way. As always, my views are my own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the US government. With that being said… Today I met my childhood hero, Ken Griffey Jr. He’s...
I feel misled. Â I was told that pregnancy was magical. Â And I believed it – hook, line and sinker. Â I was ready to GLOW from within and feel an INSTANT BOND with my unborn fetus. Â Instead, I am miserable. Â Today I went so far as to try and barter my 7 week...
There’s nothing like a little end-of-the-week baby scare to get a soon-to-be-parent’s heart beating faster… Earlier in the week on Tuesday morning I had a bit of dark spotting (for those not as familiar with pregnancy, blood = bad). I texted the doctor (how cool is that...
Can I just say that I am thoroughly enjoying my Photoshop Class and all the cool new tricks I can apply to my photos. Â And no, I do not consider that ‘cheating’, it is merely ENHANCING the beauty of the shot. Â You’ve still got to get the shot in the first place –...
Last Saturday I had the privilege of having an impromptu photo shoot with these lovely little girls who were playing in Fort Santiago.  The photos were simply stunning and as I was uploading them to my computer, I couldn’t help but think how fun it would be to print out a batch...
Dearest blog readers – This story is way too heartwarming NOT to pass along. Allow me to introduce you to Maria Aragon, YouTube’s newest singing sensation. Her version of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way has racked up over 4 million hits in 3 days! Not only is...
If you’ve been following me on the blog or Facebook lately, you’ll know that I’ve been very vocal about my top goal for 2011 which is (Drumroll, please….) TO HAVE A BABY. Â Being the powerful intention setter that I am (and with a little help from Nick), I’m...
Sam Tsui hasn’t been posting much so I was delighted to see this brand new original come through. Too bad he has to be a student too… :) Hope you enjoy it!
I was at Fort Santiago last Saturday enjoying lunch with my friend Christine while on break from our Advanced Photography course. Â We started wandering around the park after finishing up and stumbled upon these delightful little girls frolicking by the flag pole. Â Once they saw our...
Hi all- please forgive the lack of posts this week. Â I have felt like absolute crap and needed to use all my available energy to drag my butt to a 10 hour Photoshop class on Friday and an 8 hour Advanced Photography on Saturday (which I didn’t make it all the way through). Â I am...
It is decided. Â We’re going ALL-OUT for our final trip in Southeast Asia. Â I can’t even begin to explain the ginormous amount of pressure we had placed on planning this trip… You see, it was absolutely critical that we pick the **PERFECT** trip because: It is the only...
If you’ve been reading for awhile, you’ll recall that on Day 5 of being in Manila I started a Basic Photography Class in Fort Santiago. Â Just 5 weeks later I was a Proud Graduate of Photography 101 and was no longer afraid to touch my camera! Â Since then, it’s pretty...
Am stuck in bed with my umpteenth attack of the “Manila Crud” (will NOT MISS that aspect of living in Manila – pollution really impacts your health!) Doing everything I can to keep my spirits up including eating my favorite foods, watching TED Talks and listening...
Lately Facebook has been abuzz with talk about an exercise class called Nia. Whenever I hear something come up again and again, I just trust it’s a sign that I’m supposed to explore it further. So that’s exactly what I did in this case. I went to the...
Got really nostalgic watching this love fest about my beloved Minneapolis/St. Paul (although may I just say that it doesn’t look like any of it was filmed in St. Paul). Makes me excited to get some extended time there this summer!
On Sunday our good friends Mark and Kristen invited us to join them for Dim Sum at Golden Seafood near Mall of Asia. Â Nick had been there once before with them when I was home in Minnesota, but this was my first time trying Dim Sum in Manila. You could tell this place was the real deal...
I was first introduced to the concept of FLOW during my Master’s program while taking a class on Creativity. Â We were asked to read Mihaly Csikszentmihaly’s book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. Although laborious to read at times, I ended up...
This Monday morning inspiration is dedicated to all the AMAZING women in my life who ROCK MY WORLD on a daily basis! XOXO, Sarah
Two weeks ago my dear client (and friend)Â Magne died of cancer. Â She was only in her early 50’s, so her death left many young children and grand-children behind. Â I knew it was important for me to find my own unique way to say goodbye to her and honor her life. Â As I reflected...
It’s been a long wait for a new release but this remake of John Lennon’s “Imagine” was worth it. I think you’ll enjoy this beautiful tribute to the victims of the Tuscon shooting.
So when we last connected Nick and I were en route to beautiful Boracay for a weekend of kiteboarding. Â While we did indeed make it to Boracay, we failed to get the kiteboarding experience that we expected to have. Â When Nick showed up at the shop early Saturday morning he was told that...
OK – I’ve had change of heart and am switching my 2011 theme song to “No Day but Today” from RENT, also sung by the fabulous Idina Menzel. While I love “Defying Gravity” I feel like this better fits with my 2011 theme of INSPIRED ACTION and...
No, this post is not about the weather! Â :) What this post IS about is this strange pattern I see show up year after year in January! Â Here’s what it looks like. Â January (and the lead up to it in December) always start off with a bang. Â I spend hours reflecting, getting...
I think one of the coolest ‘take aways’ from our time in Manila is an honest-to-goodness appreciation of the concept LESS IS MORE. Â Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve known that saying for a long, long time but never really understood it in the profound way I do now...
In accepting this cancer work, I knew that facing loss was part of the deal . . . although part of me was hoping I wouldn’t have to deal with it so soon. Â Sadly, I lost my first cancer client last night at 6:55 PM. Â And even though I mentally prepared for that moment, it still hit...
Love, love, loving this story about the power of social media when used for good. This man had been a road-side beggar for a year in Columbus, Ohio when this youtube clip went viral, generating over 6,000,000 hits. Ted Williams has now traded in his roadside seat for a...
Hi All- One of my favorite annual traditions is to reflect on the year I’m finishing and set some intentions for the year ahead.  This year I happened to stumble across a really great tool that is facilitating the process for me.  It’s an online writing initiative titled #Reverb10...
I jumped out of bed this morning, eager to get online and see what replies had come in response to my first foray at putting myself out there as a cancer coach on some public forums. Â I had spent a long time crafting a thoughtful discussion item that I hoped would both incite...
I know we’re new to this Foreign Service thing, but I have a hard time imagining that we’re going to find household staff in other countries that love and care for us as warmly as Norma and Rudy. Â I’m not lying, they feel like part of our family now and I’m going...
On Monday we had the pleasure of taking Nick’s parents to Ocean Adventure in Subic Bay for an up-close-and-personal encounter with the dolphins. Â Nick and I did this back in May of 2010 and decided it was one of those must-do experiences for his parents. Boy oh boy did they love it...
Hi All- One of my favorite annual traditions is to reflect on the year I’m finishing and set some intentions for the year ahead. This year I happened to stumble across a really great tool that is facilitating the process for me. It’s an online writing initiative titled...
The night I had been waiting for months to arrive was finally upon us! Â After all the fundraising, all the wrapping and all the transporting, it was finally time to give out the gifts… and what a grand time we had folks! Â It’s impossible for me to describe the level of joy I...
WAHOOOOOO! Â Presents for Pinoys was a SMASHING SUCCESS! Â I will have lots and lots more photos for you tomorrow morning, but bed is calling my name right now. Â More later… In the meantime, check out what your generous donations bought for the kids! Every 9-11 year old girl got...
My expat friend Naomi over at DelhiBound wrote a fantastic post that caught my eye this week. Â It captured the Expat experience so brilliantly that I thought I’d share an excerpt from it. Â You can read the whole thing HERE. A Little Background Information: Naomi and her family...
Amazing Grace + Light Show + Techno Music = A Fun Time for All