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...
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 4 hour car trip plus 1 hour boat ride. Despite the long travel time, it was a much-needed break from the chaos of the...
We had a fabulous turn of events today, Nick got Monday off and we had an unexpected 3 day weekend on our hands. So, at 4 PM today we wired money (so bizarre) from a local bank and booked a weekend vacation on one of the Southern Islands. It was hard to pass up when $100 a person gets...
VS. 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...
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! The...
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...
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...
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...
Today is the day that I’m celebrating my 200th post! Who knew I’d love blogging so much! It wouldn’t be nearly as fun without all you fabulous, devoted readers out there – the blog is averaging 125-150 views a day. Thanks so much for following our...
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...
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...
I never thought it would be possible, but I managed to find a gym that has Bodypump classes in Manila (and it’s within walking distance of our place!)Â A little background on Bodypump… it’s a fabulous weight routine where you do 10 tracks in one hour, each of which is...
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...
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. ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
It feels like this day couldn’t have gotten here any slower, so I’m delighted to say that we’ve finally reached Wheels Up Day! We’ll be in transit until Wednesday, so expect less blogging than normal. We’re stopping off in San Francisco on the way and...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
I’ve been reminiscing about my childhood recently and was thinking about the TV shows that I couldn’t live without. Full House and The Price is Right were definitely favorites, but the one MUST-SEE show each week (or day sometimes) was Saved By the Bell. I can’t...
….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...
Hi all- These are another great find from my conference on Friday and they are just too COOL to keep to myself. I only found it because someone handed me their business card and I stopped dead in my tracks because it was so beautiful. Vibrant colors, unique photos on every one - ...
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...
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...
We’ll start with a video. Music on the video is by the Hotdogs, a Filipino pop/rock band that topped the Filipino charts in the late 70’s/early 80’s. Watch out, it’s a really addicting song…. enjoy the 3 minute pictorial tour of our new home!
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...
         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. ...
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...
Nick and I had been debating the merits of taking a video camera with us to Manila. Initially, we were looking at full-size HD cameras, but then we stumbled upon the pocket camcorder. We ended up purchasing the Kodak zi6 HD pocket video camera for $179 at Best Buy. We’re...
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...
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...
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 Christos Union Depot. It was no contest. We walked into the Union Depot...
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...