WHERE TO START??

1. Thank goodness I broke the old cable box and we upgraded. I love my new HD, DVR and sports channel. I am loving catching up on all things HBO.
2. Matt & Ryan are off looking at old war forts (gag and gawd) so I'm home alone in the apt. Dont get me wrong I adore my husband & like his friends, but the quiet is super nice :) I'm so excited I could take a nap (serious I might while no one is home).
3. Today is our 11 month anniversary. Ha. Bet you thought these would trail off in the posts...but definitely not. Next month will be a year! WOW! I cant believe how fast time flies!
4. Pasta Brava tonight for dinner.....oh I cant even wait! I can taste it already!
5. Just over 2 weeks left here in Singapore. We are excited to be coming home!
6. Lots to see & do in the next few days (better get my rest).
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!

A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!

Matt at the start of the race

Matt, Husein, Allen & Darrell (fr his group @ work)

Matt ran an amazing 10k race this weekend, on black asphalt, in 91 degree F weather. I teared up a little bit because I was just so dang proud of him! Nothing like waiting near the finish & seeing my sweetheart just smiling' at me & running for the finish!!

Had a great time with the group at the bbq at Husein's apt's, which were super nice. Although we did start getting attacked by some leaches the guys tried to calm me down by saying they were slugs. But I know better. Ewww...they were just falling out of the trees right after it had rained. As far as I know, slugs dont climb trees. Anyone an expert on this? Have any thoughts or comments? Oh well. Nobody was hurt & they certainly didnt fall on anyone...I think Chin may have brushed one off....I'm shivering talking about it....no more. Anyways, all the food was awesome & some people's cooking skills definitely were a pleasant surprise. And the group loved my homemade salsa and cookies :) of course. And they were really impressed with the sausages we took.

Sunday was definitely a day for lounging around the apt. We were exhausted after Saturday. I did a bit of house work(ie: cooking pancakes, cleaning and laundry) and Matt did some playing around online....looking for cars to buy when we return home.

The weekend was great as usual, which always makes Monday the hardest day of the week. I never want to get out of bed or for Matt to go to work. Hope everyone else had a great weekend. Sounds like lots of people participated in the Route 66 run this weekend as we were at the Aviation run. Congrats to all those who ran this weekend, it's definitely good to see so many people taking good care of themselves!

Cheers!

JUST AROUND THE CORNER

Today being Thursday means that the weekend is just around the corner....we are so close! I am anxiously waiting. Matt has a 10k run & we are cooking out with his group from work; it should be so much fun!

We have been Christmas shopping, mostly online & have everyone's gifts planned out. Matt has done an awesome job helping out. It takes me weeks to figure some stuff out & it takes him like 30 minutes or an hour. Oh, the life of Matt & being able to do most things effortlessly.

Also just around the corner is Ryan's visit. I am in the process of making the office a home-away-from-home for him. Still a couple things left to do before he arrives next week. But at least its been in the works. We've also got tons of ideas on what to see, do and most importantly EAT!

I have also planned out a nice little Thanksgiving meal/snacks/food for all day. So much fun planning things with Matt. He definitely gets catered to when it comes to food around here. Anything for my man! And of course have to make sure Ryan is well fed too.

And then after that all the moving chaos begins. Then home. Ahhh home sweet home. Been filing out tons of paperwork. Yesterday I did inventory of everything we own in this apartment. Then hear from my husband he may have a copy of the paperwork from when he moved over here. Seriously? I just counted dishes, flatware, pots, pans, utensils,cd's, dvd's, books,etc.....and you are just now telling me that you have that paperwork?!?! Oh well. Thats ok...now we'll be able to double check the checking off of items plus things we've acquired over here together. There is definitely going to be a garage sale next spring, I cant tell you that for sure!! (as soon as I get the basement cleaned out and all our Singapore stuff unpacked & organized).

Have a wonderful end of the work week friends & a great weekend!

TUESDAY THINKING

Again. Working on packing, moving & customs forms. This is a full-time job. I cant even begin to do inventory (on what little we actually have) because I keep forgetting things, I get distracted (oh whats this or thats where this has been). It's a bit like spring cleaning I wasnt ready to do. But thats ok. I'll have even more spring cleaning to do in the basement when we get home. Stuff was thrown in the house from Matt's old house & from my old apartment & we never really have been able to go through everything & clear out all the stuff we should get rid of. Actually we did donate a bunch of clothes last winter. So there is a start!



A community in OKC is definitely in need of many prayers. Such a tragic story of a 9 yr old boy (who is in my cousin's 3rd grade class at school) was stabbed to death by his father. I cannot imagine how you can do that to a defenseless, helpless 9 yr old sweet child in the middle of the night. Not to mention that the father is a physician. I am struggling not to think horrible wishes for the Dad & how he should pay. What in the world could a 9 yr old do to warrant the onset of something like this? What is the world coming to? People throwing their babies in the trash, rape & child molesters, kidnappings, and now parents murdering their own flesh & blood?!! Lots & lots of prayers need to be said. Luckily the school has been handling this horrific situation very well, according to my aunt & the priest affiliated with the school is very good with kids, so that isa good benefit to them.



Not much else to say. Just a pretty, sunny Tuesday afternoon. I would like to go to the pool, but am not sure when I'm going to the the "urge" to do some busy work again. Better take care of this stuff while I'm in the mood!



Hope everyone is doing well & please keep the grade school community in your thoughts & prayers.

YOUNG AGAIN....

This weekend was awesome. Just like every other weekend seems to be.
We had a nice relaxing Friday night, which was much needed. I think we both went to bed before 10pm. Yikes.

However Saturday we both got up early & worked on the fitness. Matt is running a 10k this Saturday & I am so proud of him for being so dedicated on his training. I used to run with him, but am not the runner he is & I felt like I was holding him back from performing how he was able to. So I go to the gym & do my machines & stuff. It works out great for both of us!

Then we headed to Maxwell to sit across from Chinatown, watch the tourists & enjoying a cold beverage. Matt took us to eat at a bbq place called Jerry's that is owned by some Americans here. It was super yummy! Ribs & pulled pork were definitely THE way to go! Then, believe it or not, we made our way to Clarke Quay to the Crazy Elephant for some live jazz music. Ha! We stayed out until 1am!! Watch out college kids, these 2 are young again! We had so much fun!! I cant even describe it all, but its always super fun when you get to hang out & do stuff with your best friend!

Sunday was a relaxing day. I woke up early & headed over to the grocery store. Made pancakes for breakfast & cold pasta salad for lunch. Took in about an hour at the pool as well. Matt hung out & enjoyed the snacks I had also prepared. He's so spoiled, but I dont mind!

We are both definitely looking forward to this weekend. Matt is running a 10k sat morning & then Sat night we are meeting up with his group from work for a bbq/cookout party. Should be tons of fun!
Can't wait!

WIDE EYED & SLEEP DEPRIVED

I'm going to be honest....we haven't been sleeping well. So bad, that in fact, I have taken 2 or 3 naps this week. Ugh :( We miss our bed back in Tulsa. That thing is so huge we could both sleep spread eagle & still not touch!! We are being patient though....kind of.

We made a deal to fore go our budget the next month(and last one) we are here. We have done an amazing job with our budget. So much in fact, I'm almost shocked at how much we have saved. The value of saving!! Matt & I think exactly alike when it comes to money matters-such a blessing. So, no holding back anymore! Not like we are going to go hog-crazy, but if we want to eat out, we will.

And, I just realized I have some acknowledgements to make. I have 2 very good friends from the sorority house @ OSU that recently got engaged. Congrats go out to Kari & Chris as well as J. Glid & her fiance!! Love must be in the air! Not even kidding you, from Feb to May we have 3 weddings....and the 4th hasn't set a date yet, so we shall see when they pick!

We have absolutely NO plans this weekend. It will definitely be nice. Maybe we can even catch up on our sleep!!

SCIENCE, SALSA AND 7'S

This weekend we:

1. Went to see the Body Worlds exhibit here in Singapore. Totally awesome, Matt really liked it & found it to be very interesting. Even though my Mom had taken me to the one in Dallas, I still was excited to go. I was really impressed that I only saw 2 or 3 things that I had already seen in Dallas. It was a fun treat & the Science Center here is awesome, especially the kids water park outside.

2. Had Mexican all weekend long. We hit up El Patio after the science park b/c it was so close. And then had it twice on Sunday. Guess we were having a craving huh?

3. Sunday, because I am such a great wife to my husband, we went to the Singapore Cricket Club's International rugby 7's tournament. It had to have been about 90 degrees F or so & rained a couple times. Luckily we were under a tent in some stands, but somehow the tops of my feet got a tan. Not kidding. My feet had a tan-line when we left. How does that happen? Anyways, it was so much fun & I know Matt had a great time catching some live rugby (and instructing me on what was going on, who had good teams, etc...).

It was a great weekend, I'm not ready for the week to be starting, but I cant stop time, so I'll have to go with the flow :)

Hope everyone had a great week & hope my cousin Luke had an awesome 13th birthday.....cannot believe he is a teenager!!!

HANGIN' ON...

Super super super glad it is Friday :)

Matt & I could use a few prayers. This overseas assignment is about to do both of us in. There is so much going on with trying to arrange packing/moving/repatriating and it is wearing us out completely. It is definitely hard working with several people asking questions & you have no set guidelines as to what may or may not be approved. Things have been a constant struggle & we feel every day we are in some sort of negotiations, and yet our words continue to fall on deaf ears. We are also realizing that sometimes it sucks to be the nice guy, but our morals and values wont let us stray anywhere else.

With that said, we are keeping our chin up, trying to hold our heads high & thanking God more & more every day that we have each other. We are definitely hangin' on by a thin thread, but at least the thread is there :)

TO GRANDMA DIXIE:

What a sweet woman! Thanks for your wonderfully nice comments.

Ryan and Matt are such good friends & he has always been so nice, accepting and welcoming of me since Matt & I first started dating. Truly a gentleman and raised very well! Definitely a reason he was the best man in our wedding. Such a great guy all around.
We are so excited to have some company & I am planning on fixing a big Thanksgiving for us. Matt has that Friday off work for public holiday (although he is planning on taking some other time off). So it should definitely be a good time. I know Matt is so grateful to have someone come visit. We have been doing lots of planning on what to see/do/show Mr Sheehan. I'm sure he'll have lots of pictures to show you.
Thanks for the blessings....we'll use all we can get! We are anxious to get home & see all friends and family!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and thanks for letting us have Ryan on this one!!
And God bless you if you have read all the way through some of those long blogs!
Gratefully yours-

GOOD TIMES

Matt & I had an awesome weekend. Friday after the electrical guy left, Matt went for a run. He somehow came home with a bottle of pre-dinner wine. How'd he do that? He's just that smooth I guess. We had a delicious dinner at Pasta Brava.....its so good. Home made Italian dishes in a cozy little restaurant is hard to beat!

Saturday we bummed around waiting to see if anyone, including the agent, was going to shop up to see our apt. It was supposed to be shown from 2-5pm and so at 130pm Matt finally called the agent, well she said we couldnt cancel b/c she had already put an ad in the paper. Uhm...thanks for calling to confirm with us. So we waited around & nothing. At least we had Quiznos for lunch.
Then we headed out to the wine fiesta. It was huge. It was 99% outdoors & thankfully they had huge tents set up because it did storm quite a bit. My legs were soaked b/c I had on a jean skirt and Matt's jeans were wet almost up to the knees.

Sunday was for sleeping. Did a bit of correspondence of FB, but other than that, it was mainly naps & eating. Just the way Sunday should be. We both got lots of rest & are ready to see what is in store for us this week!!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend. I've seen lots of costumes online & everyone looks so cute. Just too bad the Pokes didnt get a win :(