One year down....many more to come!

Wow, our first anniversary and what can we say other than....ALOT has happened!

Let's see, in one year of marriage we have:

• Rented out our home
• Sold our cars
• Quit our jobs
• Moved in with family
• Left our comfort zones and moved to a foreign country
• Moved in with friends in that foreign country
• Applied for more jobs than we can even remember
• Landed jobs in a foreign country
• Moved into our own flat in SINGAPORE
• Underwent an extreme case of culture shock
• Am overcoming culture shock
• Adapted to 90 degree heat with 100% humidity
• Experienced new foods and culture
• Travelled to Malaysia, Thailand and throughout Singapore
  
  If that is not stress on a relationship then I am not sure what is! Giving up our jobs and moving away from our family and friends definitely gave me more eczema than I could handle! One thing is for sure; our first year of marriage and our recent experiences have only made us even closer. We have endured more stress than we imagined with the unknown outcome of our decision to move and we only have each other to lean on. If this is the toughest our marriage will get, than I am so excited to what our future holds!
  
  Jamie and I celebrated our actual anniversary date by spending the day at the market looking for the best cuts of meat and produce and then cooking up a yummy Apple and Pork Roast at home, thanks to one of Jamie Oliver’s recipes! We have recently become fans, the movie Julia and Julia has inspired Jamie to do the same after Jamie Oliver: Jamie and Jamie! Ha-ha!
  
  To continue our celebration Jamie and I are off to Thailand this weekend. We are heading to Koh Lanta Island and staying at the posh Pimalai Resort and Spa (check out the website) thanks to our good friends Grant and Caroline! We are looking forward to this weekend with close friends and lush pampering! Grant has booked us the 2 bedroom villa and we fully intend to play a round of IRON CHEF one night to cook up a storm of fresh seafood and yummy spices!
  
  Looking forward to sharing more of our celebration when we return, in the meantime, here is the website for your reviewing and some photo’s of where we will be on this long weekend!
  
  I CAN’T WAIT!!!

The arrival dock

The resort!

The villa!

XVIII Limited!

Finally the launch of XVIII Limited! Our very close friend Grant (who grew up with Jamie in the Philippines and was one of our groomsmen) has just launched his own luxury leather line made from Crocodile Skin and lined with only the best, Jim Thompson Thai Silk!

If anyone is interested (Christmas is just around the corner), let us know and we will put in touch with the owner!!!

http://www.xviiilimited.com/

blackberry curve covers

interior lined with Jim Thompson Silk

card wallet

blackberry cover

Braclays Singapore Golf Open

Woweewowee the Barclay's Singapore Golf Open! This week, Jamie and I got tickets to attend the golf tournament as my company is one of the major sponsors. So, for Jamie's birthday, we spent the afternoon at the course in a box suite (with air conditioning, a MUST!) and enjoyed the free flow bar and buffet while "golf clapping." No Tiger Woods appearance, but most of the major players were there from Phil Nickelson to Darren Clarke. Enjoy the photo's below.....

Oh lala, VIP entrance!! Drop me off here please.

Jamie! LOOK! The SCOREBOARD!

Jamie on his 28th bday!

VIP Suites

IFS (the company I work for) Suite!

GOLFERS!

The view from the suite deck

Darren Clarke

Jamie enjoying the free flow, "it's my birthday!"

Liz and I (one of my super fun colleagues!)

Nothing like a day of golf!

Sitting in the Tokyo airport

After so much anticipation leading up to our trip home, time flew by too quickly and we are now sitting in Tokyo enjoying the Sake and awaiting our final flight back to Singapore.  

Our trip started out busy as ever with me wrapping up my short session at the St Regis working until 830pm on my last day!  With my final day at the hotel, the weight was lifted off of my shoulders and I was even more excited to head home to visit friends, family and see our very close friends Becca and Lowell tie the knot (photo's and wedding story to follow).  Congrats to the newly weds!!!

As we sit here (and as Jamie pounds the complimentary beverages at the Delta lounge to be able to "sleep" through the next leg of our flight.....) I can't help but feel so blessed to have such an amazing family and such wonderful friends in our lives!  Thank you to all for the super fun filled week, I only wish we were able to extend our trip longer, and I really tried too!!!!! 

Looking forward to downloading our pictures and sharing the stories from our trip home!

A night of Fabulosity

A few weekends ago, we joined our new friend Sonia for her big 30th birthday bash themed "Fabulosity" at the fancy Mimolette deep in the heart of Singapore! Mimolette is an old Black and White colonial house turned to a French restaurant by early evening, to a night scene by 12 midnight.

The Dinner was so yummy and the decor was perfect. As we arrived we each had a costume prop to show off for the night, and you can see some of the craziness here! It was such a fun birthday event and here are some photo's of our evening.

Cool kid glasses!

You really can't see, but I had a black halo....hmmmmm???? Harry got the fun wig!

Belly dancers came out halfway through dinner, they were an inspiration,
I want to learn how to shake my hips like they did!

oh that Jamie, can not bring him out ANYWHERE!!
I turn my back for one minuet and there he is dancing away!

Kyle (Sonia's hubby) and I stealing the fun props from others...I liked the hat!


The birthday girl and I on the dance floor! Happy Birthday Sonia!

Formula 1 MADNESS!

Mayham! Our first Formula 1 experience in Singapore and WOW, was it crazy! Celebrities everywhere, models here and there, fashion shows all over, fancy cars every which way you look.....exhausting! I think Jamie and I averaged about 5 hours of sleep each night last week! Sadly, we were so busy with work that we missed 1/2 of the activities and events leading up to the big race, but it was a great experience and now we know....next year, keep our work schedules light and anticipate taking "sick days!"


I could drive a red Ferrari, no problem!

So work wise, Jamie was busy as the head of InXpress USA was in town. Between meetings and entertaining, it was a FUN week. I had the opportunity to met Ken and he is a fantastic guy! Motivating and encouraging! After meeting with him, we are even more excited about the opportunity that we have here in Asia!

For myself, leading up to my last few days at the St Regis was tough! Boy oh boy, about 8 events and 1 group all in 7 days, OUCH! I had met with my DOSM at the St Regis whom, has been trying to convince me to change my decision for the past 30 days....and until today, my last day, he was persistent, however..........I think I want a break from the fast paced, stressful and over the top long hours! Today was my last day and I left work at 8:30pm and was the first to leave the office, keeping in mind that I came in the office at 815 am, catching a bus from our house at 740am......LONG DAYS!!!! I am about to look like I'm 40 at the age of 25!

After a busy busy week, we capped off our Friday evening by attending one of the F1 parties. One our friends here in Singapore the "Munday's" had organized a fun VIP party at club in downtown Singapore. Our invitations were awesome, they had each invitation personally delivered to our door step with a packet. The packet consisted of checkered flag material, VIP passes and drink vouchers. We were to make an F1 outfit with the material and it was tough! Jamie was more creative than I was by crafting a "Smiley Face" on a white t-shirt and wearing the remaining material as a cape, while I cut the material into a hair tie and wore all black (surprise surprise!). The night was a blast and it was a great way to start our weekend!

By Saturday, I had my first (and last) wedding at the St Regis (9am in the office, ouch!) I dragged my feet in exhaustion all day! The wedding was an experience and needless to say, I miss my weddings back home!!!!!!! Where is the open bar around here?!?!?!?!

Sunday was rest and relaxation until the BIG NIGHT RACE. So Jamie and I lounged by the pool, worked out and then joined our friends Mike and Kristina for brunch. After a quick after noon nap, we were off to the Pan Pacific Flagship Hotel for the race!

View of Singapore from the balcony

Our friends Kyle and Sonia rented out a room with a balcony over looking the track where we looked right down on a long drag of the race as well as three of it's turns! It was on the 28th floor so Jamie had a tough time looking out and down, but managed, it was after all F1!

Here is a video of our view of the race:



The race and the cars were SO LOUD!!!! Even from the 28th floor I had to put in ear plugs as the cars were giving me a headache! After 61 laps and almost 2 hours, Lewis Hamilton pulled in the big win!

Tuesday night here now, and still we have not had a chance to catch up on our lack of sleep, hoping to do so on our flight HOME!!! Catching the plane in 5 hours, woohoo!!!!

Wakeboard Mania!

So for the past two weekends we have become fans of wake boarding! Jamie has been eager to try the wake board cable park here in Singapore and well I, I like to watch and "sun bath" :) With the bum knee, it's all I can do at the moment, but it is a fun sport to watch!

One our friends Mark Griffin is a professional wake boarder and we had the opportunity to watch him at a local competition last week. After watching Mark, Jamie was pumped up and ready to try it out as well! Here is a video of Mark's "ride" from last weekends event.




Watch the WHOLE video, there is a great close up shot at the end

Kim (Mark's girlfriend) and I as spectators



This past weekend was a 3 day holiday so Jamie and I, along with Mark, Kim, Mike and Kristina hopped onto a ferry to Batam, Indonesia where there is a great wake board cable park, as well as cheap spas to enjoy! Batam is only a 45 minuet ferry ride away from Singapore and it was a great day trip (aside from the rainy weather) to get away from the city and to enjoy a new activity (wake boarding for Jamie and lovely spas for myself). We did not have an opportunity to walk around the island and see the town itself, but from what we heard, there was not much there aside from the wake park and the few small resorts around.

Jamie, excited as ever!



Jamie riding around the course, looking like a PRO! You can imagine, he was like a kid at the candy store....all day, wake board and cheap beer, Jamie was in HEAVEN! (cheap beer as in $1.50 a beer in Batam compared to the $12-$14 for the same beer in Singapore! Crazy huh?!?!?!?)

Mark, Mike and Jamie, "flexing" Captain America's

Kristina, Kim and I relaxed after our day at the Tea Tree Spa, oh la la! Nothing like a hot stone massage on a rainy day.......reminded me of home!

Ending the day, Nick, Mark and Jamie barefoot wake skating around the course,
beer in hand.....that's Jamie who falls in the video (after going around 6 times, so he says)

TROUBLE!

A few weekends ago a group of us decided to head to a local Aussie bar to watch the rugby Tri-Nations tournament. What was to be a nice casual evening of cold beers and rugby turned into a night of fun mayhem. To quote Jamie "you and Anya (my partner in crime) at a bar together are TROUBLE, we all blame the both of you!" Whatever that may mean!?!?!?!?!

Anya, Grant, Kim, Jamie, Mike and Mark

Anya, Bee Suan (my good friend from work) me and Kristina (whom I met a few weeks ago, she too is an American, WOOHOO!)

Kim, me, Anya and Kristina just shortly after the "mayhem" began

And the two crazy Asian's get a hold of a camera......the fun begins...

"hmmmmm I wonder who's camera this is......oh well...."

"what did you do Ja-mal?"

Okay! Okay! peace already!

"What do you mean I have to go home? Jamie!!!!! Every party has a pooper that's why we invited YOU!"

Polo anyone?

So we have been MIA on the blog site for SO LONG! I have no excuses, rather than we work crazy hours and have no time to do anything else!

So a few weeks ago, our close friends Grant and Caroline were back in Singapore for the Singapore Women's Polo Open (Carol is an avid polo player). They had invited us to join the open and watch, my first Polo Tournament, what a treat! I did not know what to expect and it's a good thing Grant told me to wear a dress as I was about to go in jeans and a t-shirt, boy would I have been out of place! The only thing that was missing was my big fancy hat....next time! There were so many beautiful people at the match enjoying Polo......half the fun was people watching!!!! The hats, the outfits, oh la la!!!!

The Singapore Polo Club is beautiful! It has that old classic look and feel and the setting is even better. Just a few min from the heart of the city, the club is located in the middle of charming Singaporean Black and White Houses (more on what that is later) and it feels like the club is in the middle of the jungle....really cool! Carol's team was playing in the Gold Cup Championship, unfortunately they lost, but it was a close game!

Grant and Caroline our famous Polo Super Star

Caroline and her team getting awards

Jamie and I enjoying and learning about the sport

Looking back at the Polo Club from the playing field

Me looking at what I got in my goodie bag, Grant looking at what he can take from my goodie bag.

Sipping the champagne, pinky UP!

March of the players

"man talk!"