moving

Tonight we've gone from this...


to this...

It's our last night in this place and we're sure going to miss it. We've loved our time here.

volume 2

I'm listening to this today and really enjoying it (hear the entire album here). I still like volume 1 best, but maybe that's because it reminds me of the summer I fell in love with you know who. This is making me dream of warm weather, even though it's all gloom around here!

I just wanted to give a shout out to my beautiful sister who has officially left teenagerdom behind! (her birthday was really on Saturday, but our internet was down and I've been completely cut off).

Isn't she a show stopper? Love you B Rock!

p.s. B- i don't think you should ever replace this pic for one of you and beck!

After the Wedding

Watched this film last night which came recommended by my father. It's quite emotional and sad. You won't be able to stop thinking about the characters.

Red Eye

I have a playlist on my iPod that I created for a red eye flight once, and it has become one of my favorites for any long flight. It always soothes me right to sleep. Here are some highlights.



The Water soundtrack is also incredibly beautiful.

I have no words

http://trololololololololololo.com/

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

It looks like we will be making San Francisco our new home! Patrick will be starting school there in the fall. We couldn't be more thrilled to get all settled after we get back from our trip. We visited in January (it was my first time), and we fell in love with it. We're excited to see what our new life there brings. Patrick's friends are already looking for a duplex for us to all live in.

P in Chinatown

This song gets stuck in my head everytime I think of SF...

Veitnam Bay Cruise

I'm so thrilled for this Halong Bay cruise we're taking in Veitnam. We'll be on the boat for two nights, and going around to islands, beaches, and caves. I'm especially excited about sleeping on the boat- I love falling asleep on rocking waves. After much research, we've decided to take the Red Dragon.


Isn't she a beauty?

Slopestyle

P's parents were in town a couple of weeks ago and we spent a few days skiing. As excited as I am for summer, I am terribly sad ski season will be over, and we won't be living in the state home to greatest snow on earth next season. But we do have a few more days on the slopes planned before we leave for good.

Visas

We're working on the visas that we need to get before we go, and it is such a joy. Here are some details on what's required for China and Vietnam.

China: Fill out the form found here. The form needs to be hand delivered to the Chinese embassy or consulate that has jurisdiction over your state (check this map) along with your passport, and a 2x2 passport sized photo. Make sure your passport has at least 6 months left on it until it expires. You also need to include the fee (it's $130 for a single entry visa for Americans... per person of course).

It's hard to believe that you can't just mail all of this stuff, especially since we fall under the jurisdiction of the consulate in Washington, DC and there's no way we can deliver this stuff by hand. You can find services to deliver it for you, but they can run several hundred dollars. Luckily we have a friend in DC who has offered to drop it off for us.

Vietnam: The form, passport, and 2x2 photo can be mailed to the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington, DC rather than hand delivered. Include a check for the visa fee (also call 202 - 861 - 2293/0694 to check fees), and a prepaid return envelope (USPS or FedEx) so they can send your visa back to you- unless you can pick it up in person.

Thank goodness the visas for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan can be acquired when we arrive at the border.

Also, just heard today about some demonstrations expected next week in Thailand. Doesn't sound like it's anything to worry about... hopefully it's no big deal since my brother is planning on going in a couple of weeks.

I know this post is such a bore- these things are no fun, but it's the only way to get to the fun stuff right?

Afternoon ADD

I'm having a hard time with work these days, probably because I know I only have 42 days left before I'm a free woman (temporarily at least). When I received a meeting request today for June 27th, I wanted to respond and say "sorry, i will be traipsing through China and not thinking about how to streamline the client onboarding process", but instead I RSVPd in the affirmative because I can't let anybody know. All of this is making it hard for me to be my best, most productive work self.

My husband and I both have full time jobs which we will be quitting in May. P will be starting grad school in the fall so we will be moving out of state, and we figured this would be a good time to make our dreams of traveling together come true.

I think my ADD today was perpetuated by the fried chimichanga special I ate for lunch, which always makes me sleepy in the afternoon and extra distracted. So, instead of working I'm blogging and watching videos. Here's a little delight for you:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/f5a57185bd/funny-or-die-s-presidential-reunion

Photo credit (I don't want to do anything illegal)

Itinerary

Here's a quick rundown of our itinerary:

We're flying in to Singapore May 14, and will be making our way to Hanoi, Vietnam by train via Malaysia, Thailand, Laos (maybe), Cambodia, and then up through Vietnam. We have 4 weeks for this journey and just have to make sure we are in Hanoi in time for our flight. From there, we'll be flying in to Beijing, and then taking more trains south through China to Hong Kong (3 weeks in all). Finally, we'll fly out of Hong Kong to Taiwan where we'll spend 10 days. P lived in Taiwan for a time and is as anxious to visit again as am I to finally see it for myself. We'll be staying with a family he knows and touring the island together.

So speaking of Laos- any feedback on whether it's worth a visit? We're feeling a little pressed for time unfortunately, and it sounds like it takes about a full day to get to where we want to go in Laos from Thailand (Luang Prabang). However, we hear it's beautiful and would hate to miss out. Any opinions?

We're working on our Visas for China right now- more on that to come. I will say that I can't believe they charge Americans about 4 times more than citizens from any other country... why do they have to make it so difficult for us to pop in and say hi?

Oh, and of course a happy International Women's Day!

Happy Weekend

I had the most horrible nightmares last night. P leaves for work at 5 in the morning, and after he left some crazy things started happening. I swore I heard someone in the kitchen and when I tried to call P's name to see if he came back for some reason, I couldn't speak. Anyway, after about an hour of experiences like this I curled up on the couch and fell asleep to the ever relaxing Food Network (I adore Nigella).

So today is a day for German Pancakes (http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/12/loopy-breakfast-goodness/) and Lonely Planet reading. We've been working on our plan for Southern Thailand. We heard Krabi is less touristy than Phuket and has equally as beautiful beaches. Has anyone been to Ko Phi Phi? Right now we're planning on spending 3 or so days on the island and can't wait.

*I just set a dish towel on fire. This is the second time in the past couple of weeks. I'm going to burn the house down one of these days- or do I just have unusually flammable dish towels?

**I can't figure out how to hyperlink my links to say a word rather than the whole URL on blogger. I'm sure it's simple but I'm lost- help?

***This song gets me excited for the weekend. I want to play it loud in the car with the windows down. Have a good one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIZkCSfiP9o

Walking shoes

I can think of nothing worse then running around all day with feet that hurt. So I made it a top priority to find the best shoes possible for our trip. I'm very excited about our choice (I even considered Crocks but I think these are much more fitting). Tom's shoes are cool, plus they donate a pair of shoes to an underserved area for every pair you purchase. I chose red, my husband P went with army green.P trudged around in the rain yesterday and said they were comfortable and dried quickly. I've already worn my just about every day this week. I'm dying to get some of these when I get back: http://www.toms.com/womens/aira-cordones-shoes. Plus, who doesn't love the Goldmember ones?

So here we are

Welcome to this new blog. There are a couple of reasons I decided to start this little thing, the primary being that my husband and I are soon to embark on a two month journey through Asia. As we've been researching travel tips, what we've been able to find has been quite limited. I (being the worrier) feel a little lost about certain things. So i'll be documenting our preparations, discoveries, tips, and of course our journeys through the East.

Which leads to this blog's other purpose, which is a place for me to upload pictures and stories, for our documentation and the enjoyment of the fam and anyone else back in the states.

We're so glad to have you here.