A little Hazy

On June 17th, Singapore started to get a little hazy - and it definitely got worse before it got better!  Due to the burning of forests in Indonesia, the PSI in Singapore went to OVER 400! This caused many people here, myself included, to stay indoors or wear protective masks.  For more info, see the links below.

Indonesia Fires
Singapore Haze

Myself in the mask at the Great World City Shopping center

Colty and I in masks (Colts lasted for about 5 seconds...tops!)

Singapore Activities: Birthdays and Beerfest

Since returning from our trip back home, Mark and I have had lots of activities planned in Singapore the last month…

I had a “Girls night” which consisted of dinner and a show – Dirty Dancing to be exact - which was a lot of fun!  

 

Ashley and Melissa at dinner before the show

Amy and I at dinner before the show

The Coffee Group Girls at Dirty Dancing show

Melissa giving me a dip!

Melissa, myself, and Amy out with the guys after the show

Mark has played golf in Bintam, Indonesia with his hockey friends. 

We both went with some friends to Beerfest Asia 2013!

Amy and I at Beerfest 2013

Boy at Beerfest: Mark, Nick, and Evan

Niki, Amy, Jody, and Miranda

There was also a photobooth near where we were standing and the group might have had a little too much fun "photo-bombing" strangers...

We celebrated Mark’s actual birthday :)

 

Mark went out for a bunch with the hockey guys for his birthday and then I fixed some of his favorites for dinner :)

And we celebrated our friends’ daughters 1^st birthday!

Hard to believe she is now one as I met Ashley around the time she became pregnant - doesn't seem real that we've been in SG that long!

Trip Home May/June 2013

Mark and I were back in The States for a little over 2 weeks in May/June.  Our first leg of the trip was spent in Denver for our friend, Amit’s, wedding.  It was a great long weekend spent visiting with several friends from Houston, sightseeing Denver (where I’ve never been), attending a baby shower, visiting some family, and enjoying the amazing wedding festivities!

Our drive up to Mt. Evans

Mark, Amit (the groom), and Scotty B

Myself and the mom-to-be :)

Henna at the Sangeet/rehearsal dinner

Houston friends: Brian, Scott, Amit, and Mark

Dancing in the downtown streets of Denver as our Groom rides a horse!

Amit on the horse

Amit riding his horse into the Brown Palace Hotel

Mark and I at the wedding ceremony

Us and the bride and groom, Kavita and Amit

From Denver, Mark and I flew into St. Louis where we met Gordon, Gayle, and Mark’s grandma for an early dinner with Mark’s Aunt, Uncle, and 3 of his cousins – lots of fun! 

Following dinner in STL we made the 3 hour drive to Mt. Vernon. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I slept nearly the entire time! Jet lag never hits me right away, I think because I’m so excited to be back that I run on adrenaline, but then 4-7 days into the trip I CRASH!

While in Mt. Vernon, Mark and I got to visit lots of family and friends.  We also enjoyed spending time doing things that are either impossible to do in Singapore or significantly different – Mark played lots of golf (extremely expensive to do in Singapore), we visited our favorite local restaurants, and rode four-wheelers.  The celebrating didn’t stop in Denver either!  We celebrated Poppy, Gayle, and Mark’s birthdays and had an early celebration of Gordon’s retirement and I celebrated my little sister's graduation :)

 

My sisters, Rachael and Terra, at our sister sleepover

My beautiful niece Brinkley

Terra and Brink

Brink again - I'm a little proud in case you can't tell ;)

Me and my Poppy

The fam

Celebrating Gayle and Poppy's bdays - I purposely had the cake say "Poopy" as he earned the nickname after accidentally signing my birthday card that way once!

My Aunt Kimberly and her new baby, Charlotte

Mark and Dad grilling - Dad is a huge help on the grill ;)

Happy Birthday!

Brinkley's first trip to Nagasaki!

My little sister, Rachael, and I at her graduation party - can't believe she will be in college next year!

Indiana <3

Early celebration of Mark's birthday

All-in-all, it was another great trip home and we can’t wait for the next one!!

Colt: A Stalker and (more) Soccer

As of lately, Colt’s been up to his usual antics of trying to get pets from any passer-byers in sight and playing with his soccer ball until he can barely make the ¼ mile walk back to the condo.

No, I do not want your kisses!

Me and my best boy :)

Colty sure does love his soccer ball!

I've also been up to my usual antics and realized this last time that Colty was at boarding that I am officially a full-blown dog stalker.

Where's Colty?!

Other than his soccer ball, he's also enjoyed playing with some new friends and hanging out by the pool at one of our BBQ’s.  He was almost immediately swarmed by children, who were surprisingly unafraid to pet him, and he loved every second of it.

Colt and his new friends Buddy and Kierra

Mark and Colt enjoying some time by the pool

While Mark was out-of-town for hockey, I decided to let Colt sleep in the bed with me.  As you can tell from the picture, it didn’t work out exactly how I had imagined.  Colt took up most of the bed and blanket leaving me with only a small corner.  They weren’t the most comfortable nights of sleep I’ve ever had but we made it work.  We also stayed up and watched the sunrise together one night/morning :)

Yeah, the little section in the right corner is what I had left.

This perfectly illustrates Colty's night in the bed, haha!

Singapore sunrise from the bedroom balcony

Photo #1 of Singapore Sunrise

Colt post-bath. E.T. phone home!