The Deep Exhale...

What a year it has been!  A quick year in review...

We started 2011 with a fun party with friends at our condo in the Pearl... and a hangover!  :)

 

January 31st... my best friend and the most kind, sincere, intelligent, not to mention smashingly handsome man I have ever met became my fiance after a proposal at Piazza Italia.

 

In March, we moved from the Pearl to our cute house on Hume Street... this was the "after" picture.  We put a lot of work into it - painting the interior and exterior, re-finishing the floors, replacing the hearth, etc.  We loved our house, our neighborhood, and our amazing neighbors...

 

July 15, 2011 - Brian and I became husband and wife.  We put a lot of work into making the day representative of what we wanted it to be; I think it was a good expression of our love and our dreams for the future.  It was so amazing to get to share our love in front of our family and friends from all over the US.

  

Next stop... our honeymoon in Peru.  We spent an amazing 10 days in Peru, of which 5 of them were a trekking trip over the Salkantay mountain pass and into the breathtaking Machu Picchu Incan ruins.  A fantastic trip, but to be honest, not the most relaxing honeymoon a couple has ever taken...

This is where facebook and our time with friends went dark for about two months...  about one week after we returned from Peru, I got an e-mail from an old Nike friend that had gone to work for Reebok/adidas about 5 years ago.  He told me about a job opening with adidas, working in Hong Kong.  I had been wanting to move to Asia for some time, but the right opportunity just hadn't come up at Nike.  This job was not only an amazing opportunity for me, but it was also probably the best location we could have hoped for - Hong Kong is pretty much the most western city in Asia, which makes things like language, groceries, and transportation a piece of cake.  Over the course of the next few weeks, I had ten interviews, including one in Hong Kong... I was only in the city for one day - which meant that my travel time was actually longer than the time I was on the ground. In the end, I finally got the job offer.  It was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make... Nike felt like a family to me, and adidas was a big unknown.  Brian and I spent many sleepless nights deciding what to do, and, finally, on September 19, I gave my notice at Nike.  To be honest, I still can't drive by campus without getting a tear in my eye.  I loved working there, and miss it terribly.  At the same time, Hong Kong, and my new job, are both great.  I'm finding my way in this new company, learning the people, the culture, and the acronyms.  :)

Right before I gave my notice, we had a very exciting new addition to the family, Oliver Adin Crowley, born on September 17.  We were so happy to get to meet this little guy before we left for Hong Kong.  We made a whirlwind trip through Ohio and Washington D.C. right before we left.

 

The Crowley Family - we can't wait to see you in March!!  :)

 

After many goodbyes, and eating way too much food in trying to have one LAST meal at all of our favorite restaurants, we sadly left Portland on October 14th.  We LOVE that city, our friends there, and the life that we had.  It was tough to leave, but so exciting at the same time.  We arrived to the madness of Hong Kong... people everywhere, tall buildings, and a hectic new job.  It's been exhilarating, but insane at the same time.  For my job, I was on the road for all but about 2 weeks of our total time here, and Brian also started working nearly immediately, which also added a layer of insanity to our lives.

Which brings me to why I called this post "The Deep Exhale"...  it's what we've been waiting for since we got married... we didn't really get it during our honeymoon, and it certainly never came in the madness leading up to the move to Hong Kong.  We've been waiting for that moment where you just find yourself sitting down, and taking that one, deep, cleansing exhale that signifies some semblance of peace in your life.  And, we finally had it this Christmas.

Rather than continuing the craziness with an international flight home, Brian and I decided that we'd take our Christmas holiday to have a relaxing trip to Phuket, Thailand.  I had been there once before, so we went with the safe bet and booked the same resort I had stayed at about 5 years ago, Le Meridien.  It was amazing there, and certainly didn't disappoint this trip either.  Most of the trips I have taken in my life have been jam-packed with activities.  Brian and I made a conscience effort to NOT plan too much this trip... most of our days consisted of breakfast by the pool, laying out on the ocean, working out at some point, a mid-day pina colada, more ocean time, and dinner with amazing food.  We also tossed in a snorkeling trip, an elephant ride, a trip to see the world's largest seated marble Buddha, and a cooking class.  Other than that, it was pretty much lazy days...  :)

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our pool-side breakfast...

Snorkeling trip to the Similan Islands...

Love...

The view from the top of our hike...

Salah the elephant...

The Big Buddha... in case you couldn't tell.  ;)

Our resort by night... yes, this place was amazing!

CRABS!  Yum!

Cooking class, poolside.  :)

Finally, we got to Christmas morning.  I have to say, it was a bittersweet year for me.  I've been home to Ohio every single year of my life, spending Christmas with the same people.  I was so happy to spend our first Christmas together as husband and wife, but at the same time, I missed my family terribly.  I guess growing pains don't got away, even after you enter your thirties.  We didn't have stockings (Santa is hopefully making a list for next year), so we improvised...

We had a really nice Christmas morning... as usual, I was up at the crack of dawn, WAY too excited to sleep.  We Skyped with both of our families, and opened our stockings (we had already opened all of our gifts before we left - BAD!).  The day was peaceful... beach time and more pina coladas.  The hotel put on a special Christmas dinner that evening - we really enjoyed it.  Our flight back to Hong Kong was unfortunately at 3:00 am on the 26th, so we had just a few hours of sleep, and then had to leave our wonderful resort.

It was all in all a fantastic vacation, and we finally are feeling a little bit of peace in our lives.  Here's hoping we can keep this feeling as we enter the new year...


 Wishing you all the very best in 2012!!