How Are You Going?

That's Australian for "how are you doing?" We are currently on Bondi Beach in Sydney and it is gorgeous here! When we got here, the weather was amazing and we went to the beach and got lots of sun. It is summertime here, which has been the best part. Today and yesterday have cooled off a bit but we are still enjoying ourselves.

Friday, we layed out at the beach as soon as we arrived in Sydney. Later that night, Jason and  I met up with one of my mates, Nick. We went to Opera Bar, which has such a fabulous view of Sydney. It was a great day!

Saturday, Jason and I went to the beach all day. We watched the surfers and enjoyed the sun. We had a lazy night and just went to dinner and came back to the room to watch TV and get some R&R. With our hectic schedule, Lord knows we need it!

Yesterday (Sunday), Jason and I ran the Bondi Cliff Walk towards Coogee Beach. What a spectacular view! It reminded me of Positano, Italy in some ways! The cliffs were amazing and it was so awesome to watch the surfers while running. It was seriously my favorite run to date, minus all the stairs! Running with Jason is no easy task, by the way. Must be my short legs. Haha! Afterwards, we ate lunch and walked around the market in Bondi. Then, we were off to dinner and then took some pictures of the sunset on the beach. It was such a lovely day!

I now realize why Bondi is the most famous beach in Australia. I don't want to leave! Cheers!

Some of the phrases here just crack me up. Some of my favorites are:
1. Being pissed- meaning drunk, not angry
2. Ranga- meaning a ginger (or redhead) *insert joke about me here*
3. Mateship- used instead of the word friendship
4. Wanker- an insult similar to the word douchebag

Thankful

Well, it is officially Thanksgiving here in Australia.

Last night we went to dinner with some friends. One of them was asking Jason all about Thanksgiving and why it was celebrated and what it was like. Boy did it make me miss home. Then today, my bff Christina send me the.sweetest.facebook.message.ever! Totally turned on the waterworks! So now, I am sitting here in the hotel, feeling the most homesick I have felt since we've been gone... missing family, home, the holiday spirit, the turkey, the Thanksgiving Day parade, a warm fire, and the wonderful aromas of wayy too much food overlooking the beautiful Lake Burton.

But, even though I am missing home, I am so thankful to be where I am today, with the man that I love. I am blessed beyond description and thank God everyday for what HE has given me. Although I am super sad to be missing Thanksgiving with my family (for the first time ever!), I am so thankful to be spending it with Jason and to have had the opportunity to travel the world with him. I truly am one blessed girl!

So, as you sit down with your family and friends this year, make sure to count your blessings. Because you never know what the next year will bring. I would have never thought at this time last year that I would be with the man of my dreams a world away. So make sure to live, laugh and love... and eat a whole lot of turkey for me!

I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving and know that we miss all of our friends and family dearly. We love you guys! I am so thankful to have you in my life and can't wait to see you all at Christmas! And now the countdown begins...

Heaven on Earth

On Saturday, Jason planned for us to visit some local wineries while we are in the Geelong, Australia area (where one of his offices is). He knows that I love wine and that there are several vineyards in the area (he gets brownie points for this one!).  We started off our day eating an early lunch at a small cafe, which was super tasty.
We were looking for a specific winery that was recommended to us but could not find it. As we were driving, we stumbled upon the Jack Rabbit winery. We figured that we would just pop in to check it out before going to the other one.

It was actually my favorite of the two that we went to. Here is why:

It was gorgeous! They were actually setting up for a wedding that was to take place that evening (super jealous!).

After Jack Rabbit, we visited another winery, Bellerine Estates, before heading off to Torquay and Bells Beach to take some pictures of the beaches and  to watch the surfers. It was such a lovely day to do so. I took a bunch of pics, but here are some of my favorites:

What a wonderful day it was!

The next day, Sunday, Jason and I decided that we wanted to go back to Torquay and watch the surfers some more. We ended up driving the whole Great Ocean Road again, which took several hours. It was gorgeous this time around since it wasn't cloudy or rainy like the last time. We had a blast!

This little guy joined us at lunch:

GOD IS GOOD! :)



Drive Me Crazy

We are in Australia... and do you know what that means? We drive on the opposite side of the road.

Jason and I rented a car, as we did last time we were in Geelong, and drove the Great Ocean Road. This time it was much more pleasant since it was in the 70s and sunny this weekend.

Jason asked me if I wanted to drive. Of course, I couldn't say no and we quickly changed seats. Not only was I driving on the opposite side of the road, but we were on the Great Ocean Road, which is super windy and steep. It was a little nerve wracking at first but I soon got the hang of it. Jason swears that driving here is completely opposite because (and I quote) "You actually drive really good here." If I heard him say that back at home, I would drop dead from a heart attack.

The hardest thing to get used to is the turn signal. Just ask Jason. Everytime he is driving and wants to turn, his windshield wipers go off. Not that I am counting, but this has already occurred 7 times. Sorry to call you out, babe... just sayin'. ;)

Not a bad view, eh? Cheers!

Passports

A couple of months ago, being the good housewife that I am, I washed and dried Jason's passport while doing laundry just two days before we were leaving the country on a business trip. The poor thing did not make it and I began to freak out. Jason and I headed over to the US Embassy where they issued him a temporary passport for our trip. When we got back, his new one was waiting for him.

This past Tuesday, I went back to the Embassy because I had to have pages added to my passport. Before meeting Jason, I had 3 measly stamps. That just goes to show how much we really travel. I am picking up my passport today. It is usually a one day service but yesterday was a public holiday. Talk about efficient!

Which begs the question... why does it take so long to get a passport back home? I realize that services in other countries need to be pretty quick because we are visiting those countries, but why can't they be so quick at home too? Moral of the story: I'm going to try to get all my passport stuff done (i.e. changing my name in June) outside of the US. For now, I'm going to see how many more stamps I can rack up. :)

Cuz I Got A Golden Ticket...

In Singapore, at the movie theater, there is an option to sit in the Gold Class Theater. Since we had never done so before, we decided to have a special movie date night last night. We bought tickets online the night before (that are almost three times the price of normal tickets) and hoped for the best. (By the way, here in Singapore you have to book tickets beforehand and actually pick out assigned seats. Super strange and not convenient; if you decide you want to catch a movie last minute, the seats are either sold out or are right up front.)

When we walked in, we were amazed. The air con was on full blast, which made Jason happy. They had blankets on every seat, which made me happy. The seats are leather and fully recline. We were promptly brought a menu from our server... in the movie theatre. Does life get much better? Why yes it does... we ordered a bottle of wine and some food. Talk about being spoiled. It was the Rolls Royce of theaters, if I've ever seen one.

We ended up seeing the movie RED, which was such a great movie. We both loved it and had a fabulous time.

Overall, I'm not sure if I can ever go to a "normal" movie ever again. Gold Class was totally worth it, at least once before we leave Singapore, even though our evening ended up being pretty pricey. Good thing Jason is worth it! ;)

To get an idea of what I am talking about, here is the website for the theater.

Our Time in China

As promised, here are some pictures of China. Jason has some really good ones on his camera too, so maybe I will steal it one of these days. Here are some from mine.

We first went to the Jade Budha Temple. It was gorgeous!

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the Jade Budha, but here are some that are almost as good.

Here are some pics that were taken on the way to Yu Garden.

And finally, here are some of my favorite pictures of the Yu Garden. I took way too many to post them all.

(P.S. A ton of people on this side of the world always pose with peace signs, so I just had to get one of Jason doing it!) ;)

Outside of the garden is a very famous Tea House. I forget the name, but it is really pretty.

And finally some more pictures before we left! Always crowded everywhere we went!

Moral of the story: We heart China! :)