Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

This must be the season for anniversaries.   

Our favorite bar, Black & White, recently celebrated it's 1 year anniversary.  Unfortunately, I only got one picture that night.  But it was a fun-filled night full of customer appreciation with free drinks in honor of the opening day anniversary and free desert in honor of the owner Jay's birthday!  It's crazy because it doesn't seem like a year ago since Mark and I were some of Jay's first customers at his soft opening.  Congrats Jay on your first year in business and we wish you many more!

Julie, Mark, and Conrad at Black & White's 1 year anniversary

Yesterday was also Mark and I's 2nd wedding anniversary and it definitely doesn't seem like 2 years ago since we were saying our I dos.  So I guess it's true, time must fly when you're having fun!  To celebrate we spent the day together on Saturday and capped it off with a delicious sushi dinner at one of our favorite places nearby. We also exchanged gifts, both getting each other cotton shirts since cotton is the 2nd anniversary material (I never knew this, thanks Google).  We celebrated on Saturday thinking that Mark may have to work late on our actual anniversary doing some month end stuff.  Luckily he finished everything on July 2nd so we actually got to have another special dinner together on our actual anniversary! This time dinner was at home where I made a shrimp cocktail appetizer and steak, mashed potatoes, and broccoli for the main.  Desert was fresh strawberries.  Then we watched our wedding video and rented a movie.  I love watching our wedding video and looking at pictures to remember the day - it really was the happiest day of my life!

Enjoying a sushi dinner for our anniversary

Wedding Video by Blueline Photography

Aside from celebrating anniversaries we've been keeping busy in SG by trying some new hobbies.  Mark recently did the 11km MacRitchie hike with me on one Saturday.  And I'm trying my hand at indoor herb gardening.  I'm starting with just three herbs; mint, basil, and rosemary.  Being that I'm notorious for killing plants, if anyone has some tips I'll gladly take them. 

Mark walking the treetop bridge at MacRitchie

"Lifting" the Singapore leaning tree (I had to beg to get him to take this picture)

My attempt at herb gardening. Don't be too impressed, I bought them like this so the real test will be keeping them alive.

Colt's been up to his routine of naps and the occasional "bad boy" chewing.  The most recent chewing victim was Mark's forearm spring grippers so we made him wear the stickers from the grippers on his head for a picture.  Yeah, I think he learned his lesson...

Good boy getting ready to take a nap

Bad boy having to wear reminders of items chewed...

Yeah, he's ashamed. Can't you tell?

Had to include this.  Posted by Colt's breeder on Facebook and I thought it was too funny to not share :)

Anyways...Next up for the Singapore Vogel's adventures is a trip in mid-July to Hong Kong and a trip in mid-August to New Zealand so get ready for TONS of pictures to be posted soon!

Just When I Thought Hockey Was Over…

Someone (I couldn’t tell you who) finally won the Stanley Cup so I thought I’d caught a break from hockey for a while! But, I was wrong – thankfully I enjoy watching Mark play hockey exponentially more than I like watching hockey on TV so I can’t really complain.  Last mention of hockey on the blog, Mark was starting to do drills on Friday nights to get his “ice legs” back but he’s since got picked up by 2 teams: a division 1 team (highest division) that plays on Thursday nights and a division 2 team (middle division) that plays on Sunday nights.  Both nights the games are pretty late, either 9:45pm or 10:45pm but Mark doesn’t mind and is just happy to being playing again!  I think he’s doing really well, especially for not having played in over a year.  He’s even scored most games but of course he thinks there is lots of room for improvement.

I’d been taking pictures at his games /but at his last game on Sunday, 7/30 I managed to get some pretty good videos too!  Below are 2 of my favorites.  In the first video you can see Mark score his first of two goals during the game.  And in the second one you see him get held in the crease which he was not too happy about!

He Shoots He Scores!!
Held in the Crease

I’m sure this is just the beginning of many hockey pictures and videos to come :)

Birthdays, Babies, and Goodbyes – the Evolution of Singapore

I admit, I’ve been slacking on the blogs lately.  I’ll do my best to catch everyone up on the some significant Singapore happenings in this blog.

First, I’ll start with Mark’s birthday which fell on a Saturday this year but turned into a weekend of celebrations.  Since a pub crawl with friends was planned for Saturday night, Mark and I did some celebrating with just the two of us on Friday night.  As soon as he came home from work, I was practically bursting with excitement to give him the gift I was most excited about!  Our friend Julie, whose dog plays with Colt, is a super talented painter and did an oil portrait of Colt!  Mark said this painting was one of his best birthday gifts and it has become one of our most prized possessions (knowing the time she spend on it, it may be valued more than the actual dog!) so thanks again Julie!  After gifting the painting, we headed to Morton’s for a delicious dinner where Mark had the New York Strip Steak and I had the grilled salmon which were both very good.  Not only was the food delicious but we got great service and a personalized birthday menu and picture so, all-in-all, it was a very good experience!

Mark with "The Colt"

Personalized Morton's Menu

Enjoying Dinner with the Birthday Boy

On Saturday during the day we celebrated Mark’s birthday with a few more gifts and a homemade desert, Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes, a recipe I got from my new best friend – Pinterest.  Mark got a few things he’d been wanting such as a jump rope and new book.  He also got a Luck Colt’s jersey from Todd!  And Colt got in on the fun too by getting to wear some of the bows!  He wasn’t quite as excited about this as I was…Anyways, soon it was Saturday night and we were meeting some friends in Boat Quay at a place called BQ Bar to have some drinks.  From there we made our way through Clarke Quay and finally home to Roberston Quay while hitting some bars along the way, making it a legit pub crawl!  It was a very fun night and Mark said he had a great birthday so thanks to all who helped celebrate :)

Present time!!

Reading his cards

Getting "wrapped up" in all the excitement

Colt thought the jump rope was a new toy for him...

Pouting because he can't have the jump rope :(

Mark was VERY excited about his new jersey!!

These are the kind of birthday gifts you get really excited about when you live in Asia because you can't find Old Spice ANYWHERE here!

Colt is clearly overjoyed about the Old Spice...

Oreo Cheesecake Desert

The gang (minus Julie who's taking the pic) at our second stop on the Pub Crawl

Hayley, Mark, and Julie enjoying some drinks

Hayley and Sarah at our 3rd stop, Highlander

Mark and Christian cheersing (yes, I invented a new word)

Conrad and Julie being silly at Highlander

We stopped at a booth in Clarke Quay and had these tasty frozen mint shots

IndoChine, the last bar we visited which also has an Ice Bar inside

Hayley and I - sorry for the poor quality, it was taken on my cell in a poorly lit area.

42 Below, the ice bar inside IndoChine

Sarah and I

Mark, Conrad, and Sarah checking out the decorative ice

On Sunday, Mark and I went back to Boat Quay to Smith's a place with delicious English fish & chips!!

We soon had another cause for celebration when our Singapore expat friends, Ashley and Ryan, welcomed a daughter, Grace Olivia!  Congrats again you three!  After bringing Grace home all of us girls we’re very excited to meet and hold her.  She is very beautiful so I think we can all go ahead and blame Ashley for officially inciting baby fever even if she didn’t mean to ;)

Excited to hold baby Grace!

Niki, Hayley, Mommy Ashley, and Tania with baby Grace :)

The day baby Grace was born, us girls got together sans Ashley (for obvious reasons) to toast mommy and baby and also spend some quality girl-time with our friend Hayley before she moved back to Perth, Australia after living 8 years abroad.  We met at Hayley’s one last time for wine, a yummy pasta dinner, and a movie.  Although we did get to see her a few other times before she left, it didn’t make saying goodbye any easier.  I’m finally starting to realize the evolution that is Singapore; birthdays, babies, and goodbyes. 

The start of a silly photoshoot...

We'll miss you Hayley!

Bali Round 2

During Todd’s visit in April, the three of us took a side trip to Bali, Indonesia.  We spend a weekend at W Hotel in the Seminyak area for a little rest and relaxation which I can confidently say I think the boys needed more than me!  While Seminyak is just a beautiful as the Ubud and Nusa Dua areas that Mark and I visited in December, this trip had a different feel to it.  I think mostly because we usually do quite a bit of sightseeing when we travel and the farthest we ventured out this trip was a short trip into Kuta, a livelier town about 30 minutes away. Other than that it was mostly reading by the pool and beach strolls which were a welcome change.  Since as previously mentioned there were no crazy excursions to detail, I think this is a trip best recapped through pictures. Enjoy!

Our room at the beautiful W Hotel in Bali

View 2

View 3

Delicious drink - fresh lavender martini

The boys decided they needed to buy Cubans at the airport

Enjoying some brotherly bonding

The amazing hotel pool where the majority of our time was spent reading books or, in Mark's case, napping :)

The pool and the ocean.  Sadly, the undertow was too strong to actually get in the ocean :(

The giant waves were another reason the ocean wasn't safe to swim in.  Very beautiful though.

Mark and Todd next to the ocean.  This was the sunset the first night we were there and was by far the prettiest one we saw!

Mark and Niki sunset picture.

I couldn't get enough of this sunset - I think this would make such a beautiful painting!

Pool time!!

Beach stroll - one of the few times we left the comforts of the hotel.

Vogel's in Bali

Trip into Kuta to get Mark's Hard Rock glass.

Very crowded Kuta Beach - tourist trap!

A successful trip to Hard Rock - we got the glass!

Sunset Dinner at W - this was my traditional Balinese rice and fishcake. It was very good!

Mark got a Balinese pork dish cooked with vegetables - delicious!

And Todd got a curry dish.

Dinner Sunset.

Panoramic beach photo.

Inside the W dance club on our second night.  

This was a great trip to compliment a lovely visit!  Although it may be awhile we definitely look forward to our next trip with Todd :)