My 30 Day Challenge

The ripples in life are funny.  When a stone hits a pond, you never know how far its ripple may go.  A ripple started for me this past summer when I was at home in Ohio, in a pedicure salon of all places.  The girls that were doing my mother and my pedicures were having a good ol' time chatting with each other and with us.  The one girl mentioned that she had lost 60 pounds.  She looked fantastic.  I asked her what she did, and she told me that she had read this book called Skinny Bitch, which encourages a vegan lifestyle.  She had done this, and changed a few other things in her life, with great results.

Now, I've always had a few pounds extra, but by no means was I looking to lose a crazy amount of weight.  I was, however, intrigued by what she told me, and I downloaded the book on my iPad.  I download a lot of books on my iPad, which is why it was easy for me to kind of lose track of this for about a month. 

Fast forward to August 2nd.  I was on the train, on my way from Guangzhou, China, back to Hong Kong.  I normally work during this 2 and a half hour trip, but I was pretty exhausted and wanted to read something non-work-related.  I flipped through my iPad selections, and saw Skinny Bitch.  I started reading and could not stop.  I nearly finished the entire book on my trip (don't think I'm a miracle speed-reader - it's not that long.)  I decided that very minute that I needed to at least try eating a vegan diet.  Thirty days seemed like a reasonable target, so I got home, told Brian, and away we went.  He was about 50% in.  Eating vegan requires a bit of prep - making lunches to take to work, making sure good ingredients are on hand, etc.  So, when we are together and eating at home, he eats vegan with me.  When we are out at a restaurant, he eats whatever he wants, but tries to get at least a vegetarian option.  When I'm away on business trips, I don't want to know what goes on... but the stack of pizza receipts on the front table sort of clues me in...  I'm okay with that.  :) 

So... why did I decide this, I know you must be asking?  I've only known a few vegans in my lifetime, and I never really understood why they were doing what they were doing either.  It seemed like a total pain in the ass, to be honest.  Special butter, no milk... ugh.  My roommate in college was vegan (I think...), and I REALLY didn't get it at that point (but, like I mentioned in my last post, I had A LOT of things I needed to figure out at that point in my life).  There are really two reasons that I wanted to try this: 1) for my health - there are so many studies linking meat and dairy with both cancer and heart disease that I thought I needed to give this a try and see how I felt - I owe it to my husband at the very least and 2) there is a lot of gross stuff that goes into meat and dairy, even "free-range" stuff.  Seriously.  Check it out for yourself.

I've found so many resources to help find recipes that are fun to try, and really yummy to eat.  Every time I make a vegan meal, Brian and I look at each other after the first bite, and are both surprised at how delicious things taste.  It's been a fun challenge trying to combine different things, and we both feel so good.  The main things that I have noticed are my energy level (much higher than before - workouts feel amazing) and my mental health (despite an insane amount of travel and three stressful negotiations, I feel amazing and have not had any of the anxiety attacks that have plagued me since college).

Now, I know you are asking, but, what about protein?  Are you getting enough iron?  And, calcium, don't you have to drink milk to get that?  The answer is, I have never paid more attention to making sure I am getting enough of all of these important nutrients in my life, and I would argue that I'm actually getting more of them now.  You can get protein from all kinds of things that are not meat: beans, lentils, soy milk, quinoa to name a few (um, and peanut butter - hello, yes please).  Iron: same - edamame is a source of iron, along with kidney beans, green leafy veggies... Calcium: green leafy veggies, almonds, tofu.  Yep, it's all in there, so not to worry. The one amino acid that you can't get through a plant-based diet is B12.  I already took supplements for this before giving up meat  and dairy (it's good for stress!), so I think I am covered there too.

What is the hardest part?  Well, I travel a lot for my job.  On the road, sometimes it is hard to find exactly what you want.  In Vietnam, I went into a restaurant near the office, and they had NOT ONE THING on the menu that didn't contain meat or dairy... so, I asked them to make something up for me out of ingredients that I did want to eat.  It was not ideal, but it worked.  On the other hand, I asked my colleague in Fuzhou to find a restaurant that at least had some veggie options.  No chicken feet for me this time, please!  She went one step above and took me to an entirely vegetarian restaurant - in FUZHOU (AKA po-dunk) China.  It was amazingly delicious.  So, I'd say, while it is challenging, it is not impossible. 

I don't want to shove anything down anyone's throat - this a personal choice, but I wanted to share some resources if you are curious in reading for yourself. 

Obviously, I started with Skinny Bitch.  It's an easy-to-read book, which actually made me laugh out loud a few times.  Not for those who can't tolerate some colorful language. 

I also watched the following documentaries:
Forks over Knives
Food Matters
Vegucated
Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead
Food, Inc.

Watch if you want to - once I started, I couldn't stop, and it helped to keep me motivated to keep doing what I was doing. 

Can I do this forever?  I don't know.  To be honest, I was never a big meat eater to begin with.  So, that part is easy.  Dairy is hard for me.  I think it would be easier in the US, where there are so many health food stores with lots of vegan options.  Here, I was able to find one brand of vegan cheese only... makes it difficult, but not impossible.  We'll see how this goes, but I can say that 30 days went by in the blink of an eye.

Again, this is a personal choice, but after seeing how good I felt after this first 30 days, and knowing the health benefits of what I'm doing, I couldn't help but share with my friends and family.  It comes from a place of love.  :)  And, if you want to eat a big, juicy steak in front of me, I will not say a word.  Just also don't say a word if I'm nibbling on a tempeh burger.  :)

The "Click"

Moving is hard.  I was one of those lucky kids that went to the same schools with the same kids for my entire elementary to high school years, so moving was not something that I was used to or comfortable with.  The farthest I had moved up to the age of eighteen was about 10 miles, from the house that I was born in to the dream house that my parents built when I was about 12 years old.

It's hard to describe, but at a certain point after a move, I can almost feel the "click".  This is the moment when, all of the sudden, for no real apparent reason, the place where you are becomes home.  For me, it always takes about a year.  I remember the first time, in Portland.  I loved that city, and had made some good friends, but there was something holding me back from really "committing" to being there.  I always talked about "home" as Ohio, and thought about when I would be moving "home" again.  To be honest, when I moved to Portland, I didn't really know how to think for myself.  Life had been easy up to that point.  Go to school, do well, graduate.  Check.  Go to college, do well, graduate.  Check.  Get accepted to a finance leadership development program with a Fortune 500 company, move to Portland, start the first of three rotations in three parts of the company, move back to Ohio, start a career and work your way up the corporate ladder... wait.  Move to Portland?  Move to Ohio?  For the first time in my life, I took a step back and asked myself, "What do I want?".  It was so easy going through life up to that point - success and happiness were pretty well-defined.  But, after moving to Portland, I realized for the first time that I get to choose what I want.  I ended up making a tough decision to leave the company that brought be to Portland, because what I really wanted was a little more time in that fantastic city.  I wanted to have some roots.  I wanted to commit to living there.  That was the"click".  I bought a house, invested fully in my friendships, and started truly becoming a part of the community there (hehe - I even sat on the HOA Board of my neighborhood as a 23 year old... that was not so fun, but, a good experience in the end).  I remember clearly the night I returned to Portland from Ohio, lying in bed and realizing that I was choosing not to go back.  There were tears for sure, but a huge sense of relief as well.

My "click" in Hong Kong has finally happened.  I'll be quite honest.  I was not sure about this place for quite some time.  It's a huge city.  There are tons of people.  I like driving a car.  I miss my friends.  I miss being able to call my mom on my way to work.  Everyone told me to give it a year; I was not convinced.  But... they were right.  I think one year is really the time period it takes to wean yourself off of all of the things that you miss.  Being in the US for three weeks this summer made me miss it even more.  When we left, I was so sad, and really having second thoughts about being so far away.  But then, something miraculous happened.  I had told myself during our trip that I needed to stop thinking of Portland as home.  I needed to start thinking of Hong Kong as home, and stop thinking about when I will get to go back.  When we got back, suddenly, figuring out the bus system was a piece of cake.  My commute to work didn't seem so stressful.  Shopping for groceries became a fun challenge, and we discovered some stores that we didn't know about.  We actually CAN find everything we need here, and sometimes things I had never even heard of.  Best of all, the seeds of friendship that we had planted are truly blossoming.  I am so thankful for the people that we have met here.  I wouldn't say that we have a lot of friends, but the friends that we do have are just quality people.  I was lamenting the fact that I missed "my community" in Portland, and running into people that we know.  Well, I'm not sure what happened, but since we got back, we randomly run into people nearly every weekend.  I do finally feel like we are a part of a community.  We are starting to take advantage of all there is to do here, especially the water activities.  Living on an island gives us the opportunity to try windsurfing, go kayaking, and hang out at the beach for the day.  We are truly embracing our life here, and my attitude and mental health are in such a better place than they were even a few months ago.

Finally, I am just so happy for Brian.  He is teaching this year at Hong Kong International School.  This school has got to be one of the best-run schools I have ever encountered, and it sounds like an absolute dream for teachers.  In Portland, we had really struggled.  Jobs for teachers were few and far between.  It sounds like after further budget cuts this year, it is even worse.  Brian of course had a positive attitude... that is just him.  But, I have never seen him so lit up and happy as he is right now, in his element.  He works with a group of true professionals, and the school gives them the time and the tools they need to give these kids an amazing education. 

This move has been such a good move for BOTH of us.  I think maybe we'll just stay here for a while and enjoy it.  :)

Another dose of humor...

Walking around Hong Kong, you just need to keep your eyes open in order to see things that will make you laugh.  Last weekend, Brian and I went for a run up to the Peak (those of you who have been to Hong Kong know this place... killer hill!).  On our way back down, we saw a group of three elderly people walking up the hill.  I gotta say - it's no wonder the life expectancy in Hong Kong is the longest in the world (they have recently surpassed Japan) - you see elderly people out and about exercising everywhere.  It is a very active lifestyle here.  Anyways... I was thinking, "Oh, how cute", when I noticed the one lady's t-shirt.  I think I've mentioned before that people just like shirts with English on them - it doesn't really matter what they say.  Well... this lady's shirt had three pictures on it, all in a row.  Left to right, there was a picture of a man and woman (picture like a bathroom symbol), and underneath it was the word "good".  Next to that one was a picture of two women, which read "better" underneath it.  Finally, on the far right was a picture of a man and two women, which had "best" underneath.  I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard.  I unfortunately didn't think fast enough to get my camera out.  Love it!'

On a positive note, I DID get my camera out to snap a picture of the view from the top of our run.  It was a beautiful day in Hong Kong, and I'm so glad we got out to enjoy it!!  :)

And now, for a dose of humor...

I was in Guangzhou for work this week, and, as my colleague and I were walking through the mall, I did a double take when I saw this elderly Chinese woman.  She was wearing a very nice shirt with the Eiffel Tower on it, but the word on the bottom was "P-A-S-I-R".  I had to chuckle.  I suppose this is how the  Chinese feel when they see Americans with Chinese symbols tattooed on that don't mean what they are supposed to...  hehe

America, the Beautiful - Part 3

Okay, settle in.  This last one is going to be lengthy.  For our third and final leg of the trip, Brian and I decided to fly from Florida to Las Vegas, rent a car, and do a road trip through the Western States.  Why?  Well, it all started with one of those quizzes that they have on Facebook, where you check what beers you've tried, foods you've tried, or, in this case, places you have been.  I had been to nearly every place in Europe and Asia on the list, but, sadly, had not seen my own country.  So, we decided to correct that this year!  I had driven to New Jersey to see my mom's family many times growing up (about a 10 hour drive), but had never taken a "road trip" per se.  Brian is a king of the road, and has more road trips under his belt than I can count.  So many of his stories come from these trips, and I was excited that my first trip would be with him.  (okay, and after stopping to "look at stuff" about 5 times on our mini-trip from Wapakoneta, Ohio, to my parents' house, I was a little nervous that we would never make it back to Portland, but, I had faith...)

We arrived to Las Vegas super late, and, after waiting for nearly 30 minutes for the hotel shuttle, a kind airport employee told us that the last shuttle had left at midnight.  So, we got in the LOOOOONG taxi line and finally got a taxi to our hotel.  The guy made us feel REALLY old, questioning why we weren't going out to the clubs (um, clubs?  do either Brian or I really strike you as "club material"?  Yeah, thought so...).  Anyways, we got a few hours of sleep, and awoke at 6am to start the road trip.  I was seriously so excited that it felt like Christmas.  Sometimes, Brian just looks at me and laughs, because I'm a little more animated than he is, especially that early in the morning.

 

We picked up our car, a Jeep Liberty, and we were OFF!  Now, I let Brian do this road trip his way.  My way would have been to have already had a map, marked our route, prepared our snacks the night before, etc.  I let go of my type A personality for this trip, and I have to say, it suited me.  :)  We had no map to start with, and just sort of felt our way through to the Strip.  We made a quick pass through here (sorry, no gambling this trip!), and then made our way out of civilization for the next 6 days!

Brian was so happy to be driving after nearly 10 months of public transportation and taxi cabs!

First stop was the Hoover Dam.  I had no idea how old this was, or how beautiful it and Lake Meade are.  

Road trippin' with my best friend

Our first stop for a meal was Denny's... I had fond memories of this place from my childhood, but... um, I guess you could say my standards have changed?!?  :)

The miles passed quickly, and I was just taking it all in.  I kept offering to drive, but my sweet husband kept telling me, "No, you just sit and look out the window.  I have seen all of this and want you to see it".  Either that, or he was afraid that I didn't remember how to drive!!  ;)  It was amazing to me how different the landscape could be from one stretch of road to the next, and, I have to say, I had the song "America, the Beautiful" in my head for much of the trip.  How could I have waited so long to see all of this??  Every place that we went seemed more beautiful than the next, and every stop we made had me longing to stay just a little bit longer.  I think you could say that is a sign of a good vacation.  :)

Then, just like that, we were at the Grand Canyon!!  There is little you can do to prepare yourself for this sight.  It is just... IMMENSE.  I have to be honest, I had a hard time to take it all in, because it is just SO HUGE.  I think that is what makes it so special.  Approaching the Canyon sort of reminded me of the first time I walked up to the edge of another one of my favorite National Parks, Crater Lake.  You are walking up a hill, slowly, slowly, and then, holy crap, there it is!  Beautiful.  Breathtaking.  It's so hard to describe.  Perhaps it would be better if you asked one of the many other visitors that were there... so fun to hear French, German, Mandarin, Russian, Dutch... these sights attract people from all over the world!

My first view of the Canyon!  All I can say is "Wow!"

There were some elk just hanging out as we walked to dinner that night.  You know, nothing special, happens all the time...  ;)

July is a pretty special month for us.  We have three days that we call "The Tri-Fecta".  July 15th is the anniversary of our marriage.  July 16th is the day that we met.  July 17th is my birthday.  We happened to be on our road trip for all three of these special days, and we celebrated properly.  :)  For our anniversary, we went to dinner at the beautiful El Tovar restaurant at the Grand Canyon.  This place was built in 1905, and is just gorgeous inside.  We also had a nice surprise when we arrived to the park and were checking in to our cabin...  I had sort of sheepishly told the lady at the desk that it was our anniversary, but at the time she said there was not much they could do because those cabins were fully booked.  Well, it turns out that the cabins we were supposed to stay in had flooded, so they had an overbooking situation.  The front desk lady found out about this as we were walking to our car to get our things, and immediately came running out saying "Wait, wait!".  She told us to go to this other lodge and check-in there... turns out, they had upgraded us to a cabin RIGHT ON THE RIM OF THE CANYON!!  What an amazing way to celebrate one year of marriage!

Hard to believe it's already been one year, and things just keep getting better and better!

The next morning, we woke up early to watch the sun rise over the Canyon.  It was a little too cloudy to get good pictures, but it was still nice to wake up to... silence.  Living in the city, it is never quiet, and this relief from noise pollution was surely welcome.

Next up, more driving - on to Moab!!

But not before driving through the painted desert!!

Even KPO took a turn... after 10 months, I still got it!  (just don't ask me to parallel park... that brought on a panic attack!)

This was actually our anniversary, so, once we got to Moab (and checked in at the Brandin' Iron Inn), we went to the Moab Brewery to celebrate.  Kind of strange rules in Utah... I'm not hating on the Mormons, but, seriously, we could not order a "beer sampler" because there would be too many beers on the table???  This was the worst brewery I have ever been to!  We had to order one sample at a time!  But, we still had a nice time.  :)

We finished up with dinner and there was still light, so we drove to Arches National Park to watch the sun go down.  We were not disappointed.  :)  Arches had been this mystical place for me ever since I saw a friend's pictures about 5 years ago.  I could have seriously spent an entire week there - it was absolutely gorgeous.

Sundown at Arches

Since it was the end of the day, we had one of the arches to ourselves for about 5 minutes.  Such a nice, quiet place.

Balanced Rock

The next morning, we again got up early and went back to the park.  We took the ~1 hour hike to get back to Delicate Arch - I am so glad we did.  It was so beautiful!!

Such a beautiful sight!

No rest for the weary!  After visiting the park (which I really did not want to leave), we started our longest day of driving.  We drove from Moab, Utah, all the way to Jackson, Wyoming.  While Arches was my favorite National Park, Wyoming was my favorite state.  There was just NOTHING there.  I'm not sure if I would have said this years ago, but, coming from a place where all you see are skyscrapers and tons of people, this was just a breath of fresh air.  If the real estate offices in Jackson were not owned by Christie's and Sotheby's, I would have looked for a house and just stayed there.

Now I know why they call this "Big Sky Country" - you can see for miles and miles!!!

We spent the night in Jackson (at the Ranch Inn... don't you love these names!?!), and had a nice time listening to live music and checking out the local life.  We woke up early (are you sensing a pattern?) the next day (my birthday!!), and made our way out to Grand Teton National Park, followed by Yellowstone National Park.  The Tetons were absolutely stunning!  And Yellowstone, well, I think you just have to go there and experience it for yourself.  It's such a special place... interesting figure - nearly half of the world's geothermic features (like geysers, ie: Old Faithful) are located in this park.  There are all kinds of weird bubbling mud pits and hot springs.  You have to see it to believe it!

It doesn't really get more beautiful than this!

We originally drove by this lake... but after about 5 minutes, I told Brian to turn around.  These are some of my favorite pictures from the trip - so serene!  I wanted to pitch a tent right here and stay!

Next stop, Old Faithful!  We got there just in time to see her erupt!

Artist's Point

Mammoth Hot Springs

Our next day was a lot of driving as well.  We made our way out of Montana, and through Idaho, stopping briefly in Boise just to see what it is all about.  We finally made it to Pendleton, Oregon, home of the Pendleton Round Up.  When the lady told us our room rate at the Knight's Inn was only $55, we both looked at each other, wondering what $55 in Eastern Oregon would get us.  Well, we got a nice cinder block room with a microwave and refrigerator plugged into an extension cord.  Okay... note to self: we will not stay at a Knight's Inn again!  The location couldn't have been any more perfect though - we were right across the street from the local brewery, and we had such a nice night just talking about our trip and all the amazing things we had seen.  The next morning, after a two hour drive, that was it.  The road trip was over.  Brian and I met his two best buddies, Erin & Gavin, in Hood River, Oregon, and they went off for an evening of camping and fishing.  It was weird to drive the car back to Portland by myself.  I missed my road trip partner!  But, I was so glad that Gavin had flown in from New York (Erin lives in Portland), because I know that Brian misses those guys so much.  I made my way back to Portland and got to spend my afternoon and evening with friends that I miss dearly.

The campsite - Brian can write about this if he ever, ahem, blogs again!

The next morning, I woke up, went for a peaceful run around Portland, and then got to meet my dear friend Anna for coffee.  This was kind of special, because right after coffee, Anna was driving up to Seattle, where she and her family are relocating.  I felt so happy that she made the time to see me even in all the craziness she was going through.  I also ran into another friend at Starbucks while I was waiting for Anna... these are the things that make me miss home.  I am so blessed to have so many friends in Portland, and I miss these random run-ins and friendly faces.  But, alas, Brian and I love our life in Hong Kong too, so we are sort of bi-polar that way...

Soon enough, the boys were back from camping, and all of us (plus Sareana, Erin's wife, their kids, Alex and Dean, and Gavin's wife Katie) all made our way to the Oregon coast.  This trip was literally coast to coast for us (and, yes, I realize that the Gulf of Mexico is not technically the coast, but close enough!).  We had a great time in Pacific City, renting wet suits and boogie boards and just enjoying our time together.  

The Oregon Coast is chock full of these amazing monoliths - and, yes, you can drive on the beach at Pacific City!

Alex in his wet suit... I didn't look nearly as cute in mine!

We made our way back to Portland, and had one last meal there.  Sadly, we hadn't had any good Southern food while we were in the South, which Brian loves, so we went to his favorite Southern cookin' place in North Portland.  We had a great evening with our friends Chad and Suzie, topped off with ice cream at a place where you pay by the ounce (reminded me of the sundae bar at Ponderosa as a kid!)  That night, we started the not-so-fun process of trying to pack all of the things we had purchased into our 5 suitcases... we eventually got everything in, and all of our suitcases were under their weight limits (whew!). 

 

After a few more essential Portland moments the next morning (breakfast at Lovejoy Bakers, getting a few India tour books at Powell's), we made our way to the airport and bid a fond farewell to our Jeep Liberty.  

This really should be the end of our exciting trip, however, the fun did not end here... we made it safely to Tokyo, and were patiently awaiting our next flight to Hong Kong when I saw one of my friends in HK post to Facebook that there was a level 8 typhoon about to hit.  Oh dear!  Our flight was slightly delayed, but they decided in the end that the "storm should clear out" before we landed.  So... we got closer and closer to Hong Kong, and the air got bumpier and bumpier.  I have never been sick on a plane, but I was darn close this time.  We tried to land once, and missed the runway, so the plane quickly returned to altitude, circled, then tried to land again.  We missed the runway AGAIN, so then the pilot came on the loud speaker and announced that we did not have enough gas to circle again, so we would be making an emergency landing in Taiwan.  Awesome.  We landed in the south of Taiwan, and, I have to say, I was impressed with how organized they were getting 275 people off the plane, through customs, and to an hotel.  We didn't get to go to bed until 3:30 in the morning, but we were jetlagged anyways, so it didn't really matter.  We finally got back to Hong Kong at about 6:00pm the next day.  The damage to the trees was amazing... turns out that the time that we were trying to land, the typhoon had turned into a level 10, which was the worst the city had seen since 1999.  Epic. 

In this picture, we look the most fresh and well-rested of the whole trip.  ;)

Anyways... we are back in our home now, and getting back into the swing of things.  It was hard to go back to work after spending 24-7 with my wonderful husband, but, it's also nice to be back to a normal routine.  I will never forget this amazing road trip, and I'm already looking forward to our next one... maybe a road trip through China... yeah...  ;)

America, the Beautiful - Part 2

I'm back after a short delay.  :)  After a wonderful visit with my family in (very) hot Ohio, we flew South to Alabama to see Brian's family.  We had a connection in Atlanta, and, when we got there, we thought we were really awesome and savvy travelers when we noticed there was an earlier flight to Huntsville, and managed to get on it.  This would have put us in an hour earlier, so we were excited (hey, cute babies were waiting).  Everything was smooth sailing until we noticed we were circling the Huntsville Airport.  There were some bad thunderstorms in the area, and they could not land the plane.  Eventually, we needed to stop circling or we would run out of gas... so, we went to Birmingham, landed, filled up, waited, shook our fists with frustration, and eventually made it back to Huntsville.  Our suitcases from the other flight made it before us.  So much for smart, savvy travelers.  grr...

Despite the minor delay, we were in such good spirits when we saw Randy, Brian's dad, Lisa, Brian's sister, and our nephew, Oliver, waiting for us at baggage claim.  I've said it once, and I'll say it again, but I couldn't have married into a better family.  Brian's mom, Joan, and his grandmother, Leona, were waiting back at the house for us, cooking up some yummy Mexican food (Joan got the recipe on Pinterest = hip mother-in-law.)  

It's been so fun watching Ollie grew up.  We really wish we could see him more, but we treasure the time we have.  We've seen him at 2 weeks old, 7 months (in Hong Kong) and now 10 months.  Every time, the development is just amazing.  Now, it's teeth and crawling!  He's getting big too fast!!!

 

The next morning, all of the girls (and by girls, that includes Lisa's dog, Picadilly, and Joan & Randy's dog, Darby), plus Ollie, piled into Lisa's mini-van (which is like an awesome spaceship), and drove South through Alabama and then on to the Gulf.  Brian's family is pretty cool - they are spread out all over the US, however, everyone somehow has stayed so connected.  We made a lunch stop in Birmingham, where Brian's cousin, Anna Beth, is doing her internship, and she met us for lunch.  She's a doll, and it's always nice to get to spend time with her.  We also made a dinner stop at Brian's Aunt Cathy & Uncle Joe's house.  Believe it or not, but this was the first time I had ever had chicken salad, and I could have eaten it all night.  Still need to get that recipe...  :)  Finally, we made it to the beach.  This is Cathy & Joe's family beach house, which they kindly let us use for the week.  We had a really nice time relaxing and catching up.   

We also spent one entire morning having Leona show me how to make her famous peanut butter balls.  Um, hello, right up my alley!!

Seafood basket - fresh caught and SOOOO yummy!  (shhh... don't tell, but Brian gained about 10 pounds on this trip.  But, don't worry, he needed it!)

This didn't come out as well as I would have liked, but it was so nice to go to dinner with our whole group, plus Joe & Cathy.  A really cozy evening!

One of our days in Florida, we drove to Brian's Aunt Rosemary & Uncle Doug's house.  Now... Brian and I have this conversation a lot.  If we could live in any place, what would be the requirement.  I say - mountains, a lake, and a BOAT!  I am not sure what it is about me, but I love being on the water and I always feel so at ease on boats.  So, it's on our 15 year plan.  Doug already has achieved his 15 year plan, and has a really nice boat that he was kind enough to take us out on.  We went to this really interesting place called Crab Island.  I think he said that it used to be an island, but now it is below water and actually is a sand bar.  People anchor their boats there, and there are ice cream, BBQ, canoe rental, and anything else you can imagine boats anchored there to serve your every need.  Really cool place.

The first of the sunglasses pictures... 

Ahoy!!!  Ollie's first boat ride!

I was very spoiled on this trip.  My birthday was July 17th, but I got to celebrate my birthday TWICE before the actual day.  My mom made some amazing "buckeye cupcakes" (yes, chocolate with peanut butter inside).  Then, in Florida, Brian's family surprised me with a "Peanut Butter Playground" cake from Cold Stone.  Yes, I am one lucky (and dieting) girl!

Before we knew it, our time in Florida had come to an end.  It was so hard to leave our families... we had been looking forward to this trip for SO long, and then it came and went in the blink of an eye.  Being away from our families is the hardest part of living in Hong Kong.  I was used to talking with my mother every day, but, with the 12 hour time change, this becomes a bit of a problem now.  It was so nice to be physically in the same location, and we can't wait to show my family our new home when they come to visit (hopefully next year!).  One thing is for sure - Brian and I both come from wonderful families, and we miss you all so very much!