A few random snapshots

Still obsessed with coffee and Game of Thrones

Pho for lunch!

I found a store that still sells scrunchies

I snapped this picture in the elevator at work one day.  I am wearing a black skirt and holding my blue wallet.  A girl in a green dress is standing in front of me, and someone with black pants on is standing to my right.  Notice how I have ZERO personal space.

Red bean green tea frappuccino - apparently, this is what summer tastes like in Asia.  A lot different than grilled corn on the cob and blueberries...

Changing it up - avocado sandwich instead of avocado toast

I brought Girl Scout cookies to my team.  They brought me crab flavored snacks.

I've officially become a regular at my neighborhood sushi place - they know that I get the sushi and udon set!

A British Weekend

I'm lucky that there is quite a large community of ex-pats here in Singapore.  Although I naturally gravitate towards the Americans, I've become friends with a circle of Brits as well, and now a good portion of my social circle is comprised of British ex-pats.  This weekend, I had a bunch of Anglo activities on the agenda. Just prepping for my trip to London haha :)

Friday night, my friends and I headed up to the Turf Club for some horse racing!!  Previously, the only horse race that I'd ever been to was Steeplechase in Nashville, where you don't even see the horses, so this was quite the new experience for me.  The girls had even taken me shopping for a proper hat to wear!  (Then I decided to wear a different dress, so my hat no longer went with my outfit, but luckily, Rachel let me borrow a hairpiece.)

Girls with hair accessories

I actually had a really great time!  The guys taught me how to read the program and the odds, and it was fun to cheer on the horses during the races.  I only placed one bet, but I won $24!!

Horses lining up to start a race

Fuzzy picture.. but there they are!

I won!!

Saturday night, we had tickets to see Othello at Shakespeare in the Park at Fort Canning.  I actually live right next to Fort Canning, so it was pretty convenient.  We all packed a picnic and grabbed some space on the lawn to watch the play.  I've got to say - the Brits that I went with are much more well-versed in their Shakespeare than I am!  At one point during the first half, I actually Googled the plot to Othello to make sure that I was following along correctly :)

So this advertisement is a bit deceiving, as Desdemona (and about half the cast) was actually Asian

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Cheeses, dips, chips, etc

The stage looks a bit weird in this picture, but I was really impressed with how well they managed to stage a play in the middle of Fort Canning

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key.  I've got an insane schedule for May, so I'm resting up while I can.  We have a public holiday on Wednesday this week, and then I am heading to London on Friday!  So excited!!  And when I get back to Singapore, I will officially be THIRTY.

Things I'm Loving Lately

Here are some random things that I have recently become obsessed with!

Feedly - Since Google Reader is biting the dust pretty soon, I've made the switch over the Feedly, which has gained some buzz as the best replacement.  I have to say that I love it, and it syncs with your current Google Reader to import all your feeds seamlessly!

SmartWool Socks - I bought a pair of SmartWool socks on a whim after Lena lent me her pair while I was in the US.  I absolutely love them!  They aren't cheap, but they are so comfortable, so warm, and super great - especially on a long flight!

Game of Thrones - I recently got the books, and I am hooked!!  I don't have cable out here, but I watched the first season on the way back from the US (thanks Singapore Airlines!) and I love it.

Trip It - I just started using this app within the last year or so, but it is really great.  It helps keep you organized with all your travel, and you can share itineraries with friends!  That way, if one person books the hotel, you can still all have access to the information.  Really great!!

JPMorgan Corporate Challange

This past Thursday, I participated in the JPMorgan Corporate Challange.   The event is held in numerous locations globally, but this was my first year living in a city large enough to host!  It was a 5.6K charity run that tons of companies participated in.  My company actually had the highest number of participants - we represented about 665 of the 16,500 people.

Even though the race didn't start until 5:30pm, it was SO incredibly hot outside.  I was sweating just making the walk from our office to the starting line, and then once we got into the crowds, it got even hotter.

The course was heavily shaded, which I was really thankful for, and it wasn't too crowded, considering the amount of people there.  I was really impressed with the way that the race organizers were able to effectively use the different waves to manage the race, even though it was a shorter distance.  I ran the race with my friend Rachel, and we finished in 36:32.  Average pace of 10:27 per mile - a bit slower than I would've liked, but considering the heat and the crowds, I was more than pleased.

The race ended right under the Singapore Flyer, and after we hung around the corporate tents for a while, a group of us went out for some post-race treats.

Group dinner at a hawker center

I haven't been running as much as I would like to, but I've started running with a group of girls after work on Mondays, so hopefully I am back on the wagon soon.  In the wake of what's happened in Boston, I've kind of wanted to get into the running community a bit more.  My friend Stephanie and I just signed up for a race in Auckland, New Zealand in November.  She is doing the full marathon in tribute to Boston, but I am just doing the half.  I know that November is really far away, so I could do the full marathon as well, but I am just trying to be realistic about my tendency to not stick to training plans.  Plus, I feel like my lifestyle out here is a bit less conducive to marathon training.  One day, I'll run 26.2 - but probably not for a while :)

Speaking of Boston, the Watertown situation has been unfolding over the past 24 hours or so at this point.  Definitely in these times, I really wish that I had American television, but I am super thankful for Twitter, even though sometimes there is a lot of conflicting information that can lead to confusion.  Technology is amazing.  So is America.

I'm off to get started on my typical weekend activities - yoga, work, chores, friends, etc.  Hope you guys all have a great weekend too!

Some blog updates

Hi friends.  I've been up since 3:30 am today.. just woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, so I figured I might as well do some blogging.

I made some updates to some things - including adding a new page with some recaps of my travels!  Feel free to visit my Travel Log section if you are curious about some of the trips I've done while out here.

Other fun things that are currently on my agenda are to plan out some more of my fall travel - I'm thinking Cambodia and New Zealand! - and finalizing some details for my upcoming trips.  I am racking up my Star Alliance miles!!

Also, I tweeted this yesterday, but I really loved this post by a blogger that I read on her thoughts and feelings following the explosions at the Boston Marathon.  It is definitely worth a read, for runners and non-runners alike.

Boston

There are no words.  But it's on my heart.

Weekend Edition

This guy was sitting next to me in the office one afternoon this past week.

Just napping in the middle of the day.  No big deal.

The week ended with a busy Friday, which is not really how I like to roll into the weekends, but oh well.  Friday after work, I went out for dinner with a friend and called it an early night.  I've been really tired this week, so I knew that I needed some extra sleep!

View on the walk to dinner

Saturday morning, I went to yoga, and then proceeded to stay in my apartment the entire day.  It was SO hot outside!  I did a lot of damage on Game of Thrones and The West Wing, so it was all good :)  

Saturday night, we did a girls night out, which was so fun!  It is still crazy to me how basically everyone in my social circle was a complete stranger to me less than a year ago.  It's also funny to me that my go-to late night food has gone from grilled cheese sandwiches and sweet potato fries to dumplings and spring onion pancakes (I know it sounds gross, but seriously - don't knock it til you try it)!  

Here is a funny anecdote from last night.  One girl I am friends with transferred from the New Zealand office.  Before she moved over here, she had a phone interview scheduled with HR.  My friend had laryngitis, so she tried to reschedule, but HR insisted on keeping the phone interview as scheduled.  So she manages to hoarsely whisper through it and all.  But then, when she actually moved here and started work, one of the people that she interviewed with said "Have you lost a lot of weight since we interviewed you?  You sounded  fat on the phone."  #Singapore

Today has been another low-key day.. laundry, groceries, travel research, a little work, etc.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Almost 30

So in less than a month, I will be celebrating my 30th birthday.  Thirty.  Three Zero.  Whoa.

(Side note - I am the same age as a certain young leader of a certain country that is currently making lots of international news based on their escalated levels of rhetoric.  Crazy, right?!)

Anyways.  My birthday is coming up, and to be honest, I am really excited to be 30.  I feel like a lot of celebrity interviews (the obvious source of all stories of the human experience) talk about how women really seem to enjoy their thirties.  Like, you spend all of your twenties trying to figure things out and to live up to all these expectations you have for yourself.  And then suddenly, once you hit 30, you just kind of realize that life is exactly the way it is supposed to be, and you just really feel comfortable in your own skin.  I've definitely spent the majority of my twenties both all over the place and putting a ton of pressure on myself, to the extent that you can really do both of those things simultaneously.  Since I've moved to Singapore in my 29th year, I've definitely felt like I have started to lift a lot of burdens off of myself and let go of a lot of expectations.  I've tried harder to plan less obsessively and just take life as it comes to me - welcoming the doors that open and not trying to force open doors that are closed.  So I'm looking forward to turning 30 and continuing on in that spirit.

Deep.

Let me liven the mood with some Singapore pictures.

"This is my pencil case."  I saw this in the office today.  People write like this.  For real.

This picture is for Nadia, Andre, and Kim.

One of my team members brought Kit Kats from Japan!  Strawberry, sakura, and green tea flavored.  The green tea one was pretty tasty!

Ah - familiarity.

So, in the spirit of my last few weeks in my twenties, I feel like I should try to do some sort of list of 30 things?  I don't really know what though?  Any ideas?  A bunch of you have mentioned to me that the comments don't work on here.  I played around with the settings the other day, so give it another shot.  What are some things that I must do while I'm still in my twenties??

Hope everyone's having a good week!

So this week was a bit weird - I'm not going to lie.  When I left the US last Friday, I was ready to get back to Singapore.  Meaning, I was sad that my vacation was over, but I wasn't really sad that I was leaving America and going back to Singapore.. does that make sense?  Anyway, this week has been pretty tough in terms of missing home again.  Other co-workers of mine have told me that they also had a hard time getting back into the swing of things after coming back from the US, so I'm hoping to snap out of it quickly.

A friend texted me earlier in the week asking about the banana oatmeal that I love so much, so I figured that I would share the recipe on the blog as well!  I eat this breakfast all the time, and I totally love it.  I use regular rolled oats (not instant!), but it really only takes about 6 minutes to make, and you only dirty one pot. I know it's not as fast as those small microwave packets, but it is also way less processed!!

Oatmeal is not photogenic.

For a delicious breakfast of banana oats, put 1/3 cup of oats, 1/3 cup of almond milk, and 1/3 cup of water into a small pot.  Turn it on medium-high, and slice a banana.  After about five minutes or so, the oats will begin to bubble just a little bit.  Drop in the sliced banana and then stir the whole pot like crazy.  You'll start to smell the sweetness of the banana, and the oats will thicken up.  It's done when the oatmeal is your preferred level of mush!  I always stir in a spoonful of almond butter at the very end - just because I love banana and peanut butter together so much.

Other morning activities this week included some running

I know I've mentioned office dress code before.  This girl was walking into the office in front of me one day this week.  In a sheer shirt and a super tight and super short mini skirt!

Weekends always help to relieve mental burdens and help me reset, so this weekend was good!  Friday night, I went to an impromptu block party, which was actually a ton of fun, and so representative of the social scene out here.  Club Street is near my office and has a lot of bars and restaurants, and someone (that I didn't know) who lives on that street had heard that Club Street was going to be closed to cars at night!  So this guy decides that he wants to have a block party on Club Street.  I went with a couple of friends (who also didn't know the guy throwing the party), and the party grew from about 8 of us to about 60 of us.. all just standing in the street (which actually did not get closed down) hanging out.  It was so incredibly random, but awesome.

Yesterday, I went to the Red Dot Design Museum.  It was more like a store than a traditional museum, showcasing cool things (lights, bags, sinks, chairs, you name it) that you could go online and buy.  Afterwards, we went for Korean barbecue!!!  Yum :)  Sadly, I took zero pictures of the day.  Oops!  You'll just have to trust me - the museum was cool and the food was delicious.

This morning, I was supposed to run a 10K here in Singapore.  Unfortunately, after I got back from my travels last Sunday, I completely forgot to go and get my race packet!  Also, I hadn't done any running while I was in the US, so I felt less than well-prepared to run a 10K this morning.  So, it was a pretty easy decision to sit this one out.  But I am bummed that I didn't get a t-shirt!

That's all I've got for now friends.  Hope you're all having a great weekend now that spring has finally sprung!

Treats, snacks, and spinach smoothie

My first few days back in Singapore have been pretty low key.  April (can you believe it is April?!) should actually be a bit quiet for me.  I did have one trip to India planned for work, but that's since been cancelled, so I actually have zero travel planned for the month.  But I think it will be good to take it easy, as I've got two exciting trips coming up in May!!

I got back to Singapore early morning on Easter Sunday.  After a whirlwind two weeks in the US, all I really wanted to do was nothing.  Even though I had spent the past 24+ hours sleeping, reading, and watching TV on an airplane, being able to do those things from the comfort of my beloved sofa was exactly what I needed.

I'm not super fashionable (as we all know), so I won't really share with you the boring clothes that I bought, but I feel like you guys are more interested in what treats I bought instead!

I was my own Easter bunny this year.  Treats from Target!

Grains and legumes!!!

A re-stocked snack drawer.  Microwave popcorn, snack mix, granola bars, Kind bars, and Starbucks Via packets.

Duh.

Everyone knows that I love peanut butter.. almond butter.. etc.  I didn't buy any while I was home, but don't worry - I am pretty well stocked!!

The second shelf of my (fairly empty) fridge.

Two more jars of Justin's in the door!

I am tentatively scheduled to be back in the US in early June for work, so I think I should be good on treats and snacks until then haha.

Monday was back to business.  After two weeks of zero exercise, I was glad to be up early (thanks jet lag!) to go running.  Omg - my legs felt like lead, and I was totally cursing myself for not running at all back home. It definitely did not help that it was so insanely hot outside.  81 degrees with 94% humidity at 5:30am sucks. I did just over a mile (better than nothing!) and felt like crap.

Tuesday was a bit better - 3 miles in the heat, but it felt a lot easier than Monday's run.  So far this week has been life as usual.  If I am honest, work has been hard to get back into.  I guess that is to be expected when you take two weeks off.  And after feasting in the US, I wanted to spend the week eating healthy and fresh foods.  My days have started with spinach smoothies, which is good, but lunches and dinners have been dumplings, sushi, and pub fare - not so good haha.

Yum!

Dumplings!!

While I was home, some of my friends commented to me about my love of avocado on toast.  I guess I post a lot of those pictures on Instagram?  Anyway, if you guys have never tried a spinach smoothie, you really should!!  It is a really great way to get in your greens (I would go through two bags of spinach a week just for smoothies), and they are delicious!

Here is the recipe that I used (in order that it goes into the blender) back in the US:

1 sliced banana (I used fresh, never frozen)
Two big handfuls of bagged spinach
Five or so big glugs of almond milk (I think this is about a cup.. I usually used unsweetened vanilla)
A little water (maybe a quarter cup or so?)
One scoop of smooth peanut butter (about a tablespoon, I used the same knife that I sliced the banana with, and I would use a spinach leaf to scrap it off the knife)
Five frozen strawberries (make sure these weight down the spinach leaves)

Blend!  Enjoy!!

In Singapore, I use frozen spinach and no frozen strawberries.  Fresh spinach that is not grown in a country I don't trust is hard to come by, and frozen berries are incredibly expensive, so I just do without.  Bananas, like everything else, go bad a little bit quicker than they did in the US, so I often end up using frozen ones.  Oh, and I add a squirt of honey to the non-strawberry mixture.  And sometimes a dash of cinnamon too!

And.. I'm back

Hi all - thanks for your patience with my slow blogging over the past couple of weeks.  I was glad to step away and spend some time in the US!!  It was a very busy two weeks.. Most of you probably know that I was all over the place, but to recap - I took eleven (11!) flights and hit five cities in just under two weeks.  My days were generally jam packed, and it was really nice to be back home.

I basically took no pictures while I was home, so I don't really have anything visual to share with you, so I thought I'd just share some random musings with you from my time in the US.  Please excuse the disjointed nature of this post, but I think my brain is still suffering from a bit of jet lag :)

On travel...
- Gold status is such a game changer.  Lounge access, early boarding, and priority baggage are so clutch.
- The Lufthansa lounge at the Frankfurt airport is probably the nicest lounge I've been in to date.
- I still hate regional jets.  I think I hate them even more now than I did before.
- I also now semi-hate airplane food.
- I flew JetBlue from Tampa to JFK.  What a great airline!  The seats were comfy, I could watch cable television, and the snack selection was practically gourmet.  I will definitely fly them again when I get the chance!
- I can never resist the Frontera Tortas at Chicago O'Hare.  It is probably the one redeeming thing about that airport.
- I bought some new SmartWool socks to wear on the plane, and they are awesome!!!  I highly recommend them for anyone who just needs some cozy socks that are incredibly comfortable.

On food...
- When you're away, the things that you miss are never the special meals.. it is the everyday meals.  The things that I was craving were my old favorites.. nothing fancy.. just delicious foods.
- I ate Chobani pretty much every day.
- I introduced my mom to Chipotle.  She was impressed, obviously.
- I also didn't realize how much I miss Jimmy John's.  I used to totally despise Jimmy John's because I couldn't get a hot sandwich, but I've grown to love the un-wich so much.
- Tampa friends, if you haven't yet been to the Oxford Exchange near UT, go!  It is so great.
- Whole Foods Market is just so incredibly outstanding.  Publix may have great BOGO deals and all, but Whole Foods just has such a great selection of stuff!!  And the hot bar!!  And the salad case!!  (The garlicky kale is literally one of my favorite things ever.)  And the desserts!!  I am obsessed with Whole Foods Market.

On shopping...
- I bought a million things.  Seriously.
- Singapore would be so much better if we could just get a Target.  It was so refreshing to be able to go to one store and buy popcorn, bathing suits, and shampoo.
- I feel like Old Navy has lot of cute stuff right now for really cheap!  I bought a bunch of casual dresses, shorts, workout clothes, etc.
- The customer service at Nordstrom is just so good.

On friends...
- So good to see everyone!!  The most common comment that I got was that I look very tan haha.
- Babies are interesting.  It is weird to see how different they can be, even at such a young age.
- I love weddings!
- I miss you guys already.