Favorite Picture of Beijing - Day One

Beijing

I'm heading to Haikou tomorrow and then Beijing after that. I'll be back next Saturday. Hopefully with a few good pictures and a couple interesting stories. Probably won't be as saucy/sexy/sassy as in trips past as I'm tagging along with my cousin's family on this trip.

So I'll make them up.

Yumi The New Japanese Buddy

Saturday I slept until noon barely waking up in time to shower and meet Yumi at Stanley Market. Yumi is friends with Yuko. Yuko is a secretary in Tokyo that I hung out with when I was there for our company's Christmas party.

Yumi is in HK for business for a few months and Yuko thought we could get together. I let out a loud ass sigh when I read her email but remembered that Yuko spoke the best English out of all the secretaries so I thought it might not be TOO bad.

I was PLEASANTLY surprised! Yumi is really cool and speaks perfect English. She's atypical of the traditional Japanese woman so she's much more independent-minded which I like. I can relate to her more. I need my girlfriends to have some balls.

So now I have a new friend for a few months! I had plans to go to dinner with Cameron, his date and another couple in Lamma Island so I invited her to join us. You know...so I'd have a date too.

Restaurant was very casual...the seafood is alive until 2 minutes before you eat it so that shit is FRESH. We had to use several tools to crack open the various crustaceans we ordered which I hate because I always demolish the insides and have nothing to eat by the time I get to it. But I made exclamations of "Yummmmm" and "SO gooood!" and just ate enough fried rice to fill my stomach.

Didn't have much to talk about with Cameron's friends as they were another western guy/asian girl couple and the asian girl didn't speak much english. She and Cameron's date would prattle on in Filippino.

After dinner Yumi and I hit the same two bars I went to the night before. I wanted to make sure to establish a connection with the #1 bartender in Asia guy, Jackie, as that's someone I want remembering me. They play cheesy 70's Kung Fu movies on the wall.














Plus, I was looking pretty good and wanted to get my flirt on to make up for the debacle the night before. And I wanted to show off my top I got in Vietnam because it was the first time I was wearing it.















Jackie made us amazing drinks again. I got SMASHED and insisted we go to the only dance club I know where I proceeded to text WAY too many people (this is where I argue technological advances are NOT a good thing for society...and by society I mean me).

1 - I texted my roommate from NY because there was a chick there that looked just like her (it was true).

2 - I texted a guy from NY who I thought was going to be my boyfriend when I lived there but quickly realized he wasn't as there was a guy there that looked just like him (sort of true).

3 - I texted Matt the Brit because the first night I met him we went to the same dance club (we proceeded to text flirt for the next 2 hours - and this is where I argue that technological advances are a GREAT thing for society...and by society I mean my ego and/or vagina).

I gave my business card to a random guy who I'm not interested in which is a bummer because I now have to screen calls on my HK phone. I had a clean slate until Saturday night. Fudge.

I finally left (NO idea what time) for the hike home. See below.


















That's just one section out of four I have to scale to get to my apartment.

Here's a security guy I pass by on the way home who does a super awesome job.


















I was barely able to hoist my body out of bed around 1:30pm on Sunday and when I did I immediately felt pain in both my feet. My head fell forward - mostly out of curiosity but also because it weighed more than my entire body and my neck had no choice but to give up - and I saw two bloody pinky toes. Uhhh, guess my high heels didn't quite fit? I love how alcohol hides the pain so you can at least dance a little bit and deal with the consequences later.

The shoes are black so there was black shit all over my feet too. My eyes were swollen. I had mascara on my nose. The mascara that remained on my eyelashes smooshed them into one big clump o' eyelash. My hair smelled like smoke. There was an empty can of Pringles on my coffee table. An empty bag of M&M's next to it. And lastly, an almost full bottle of water on the floor. My sharp sleuthing determind that I was trying to balance out the wine, liquor, champagne, shooters and beer with.......hydrogenated oil, red #5 and 2 sips of water.

Sweet. Good times.

[SIGH]

Joyce The Philippino Bitch

I was reading "Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization" on Friday night (What? Yes huh, I WAS!) when I received a call from Cameron wondering if I'd want to meet he and his date out after their dinner. Some other people were likely to join. I thought, "Winston Churchill quotes.......or alcohoooooolllll?"

The promise of a sweet glass of Pinot Grigio and possible flirting with new men was enough to get my rear off the couch and into the shower.

Met them at the first bar which was packed as hell. Cameron was one of many western guy/asian girl couples. Joyce, a Philippino chick (not Cameron's date), started chatting me up. She was a close talker. She would only stare at my nose when she spoke. She had a thick accent. She was annoying.

She learned that I'd be moving to London in July. Her boyfriend has a house there with a spare room. She grabbed my waist and insisted I stay with them so she could show me around town. Reiterated this at least six times while groping a different part of my body each time.

On the way to the second bar she grabs her boyfriend (different body part than mine), points to me and says, "She's going to stay with us in London!" He gives me a "Okaaaayyyy" look.

At the second bar he started chatting with me in order to get to know this strange person who's apparently going to be residing in his spare bedroom. Everyone gets drinks and Joyce is the last one to get hers. Her boyfriend turns to give it to her (it's a beautiful raspberry concoction) and she proceeds to smack it out of his hand and all over ME!

I realized she's a total child and not someone I would ever want to spend time with in London or anywhere else (I learned later that she was mad because he wasn't paying attention to her. And I'M the single one?). But what REALLY pissed me off was that she never looked at me again. Never apologized.

B.I.T.C.H.

Joyce The Bitch is lucky I wasn't wearing something expensive or I would've gotten in her face. Instead, I decided ignoring her would be the best option. Poor Cameron felt really bad and kept apologizing. They all went to meet other friends of theirs at another bar. I remained behind.

I would've gone home since I was now all by myself but I needed one more drink after that debacle and the bartender at this bar, Yun Fu is the #1 bartender is Asia. He makes the most AMAZING drinks! I had one with mango and coffee that was so good (I know...weird combo but trust me). Here's the one he made after Joyce The Bitch left:

My Local Hardware Store

No, this is not a joke.

(I like the little buddha guy hidden in the back. If you're eyes have the energy to scan past all the crap to get there, that is.)

3 Steps or 250 Words

I'm a bit worried that my memory now only lasts for 3 steps. Or 250 words. It goes something like this:

- An idea pops into my head to go get something from another room
- I get out of my chair and walk 3 steps
- I think, "Why did I come in here again?"
- Then I think, "What the hell is wrong with me...maybe if I go back to my chair that'll jog my memory."
- I return to my chair and look at my computer
- This triggers another task that needs to be done and I completely forget about my original task until approximately 2:45am. When I should be sleeping instead.

This same story holds true for the internet. If there's a site I need to go to for a particular purpose I'll open a new browser window. CNN.com is my default page. Inevitably, there will be a new headline on their home page that is intriguing enough to click on to get the full story. I click on it thinking, "Well, I'll just read this first and THEN go to xyz.com".

I read (well, skim) the article and by the end of a mere 250 words I have absolutely no recollection of the original website I was supposed to go to. Until 2:45am.















I'm only 33 years old. This can't be good.

Where's The Love?

I switched from a Hotmail email account to a Gmail account about 2 years ago. Ever since I made the switch I've been slowly trying to reduce the amount of junk mail and newsletters that hit the Hotmail account. I’m tired of weeding through the junk just to make sure that this one friend of mine who simply refuses to change my email address to Gmail in their contacts didn’t send me something.

Because I’ve had my Hotmail account since the beginning of the internet I’ve used it to sign up for anything and everything. And I’ve actually taken the time to unsubscribe from each and every company/person/newsletter that would email me about their local events, movie screenings, volunteer opportunities, once-in-a-lifetime credit card offers, travel deals, new spring skirts, etc.

It’s an educational journey into the history of my moods, phases and interests over the past 10+ years. There’s still this chick in LA that emails me periodically to tell me to come see her at her next live show at XYZ bar because I went to go see her ONCE about 6 years ago at a 20-seat café and used my Hotmail address to sign the guest sheet. I only signed the damn sheet so she’d feel better.

It’s taken quite awhile but I think I’ve finally hit the bottom of the barrel because I checked my Hotmail account yesterday and there were NO NEW EMAILS!

My immediate reaction was bewilderment. “Maybe I logged into the wrong account somehow,” I thought. Then I realized it was indeed MY empty inbox.

I felt so alone and unloved.

I didn’t realize how attached I had become to the junk emails! A classic unhealthy, co-dependent relationship.

I logged in again today to check it again and received two emails. One from Job.com telling someone named Stephen Bunch that they’ve found the perfect sales job for him in South Carolina. Then one from Tagged.com telling me that someone looked at my profile but I need to add a photo to increase my chances of making friends.

I don’t know who Stephen Bunch is or what the hell Tagged.com is but Hallelujah! I’m worthy of being bothered again! Woo hoo!

Chinese People Don't Sweat

The humidity came back to Hong Kong with a vengeance this week which means there's a bit more strategy involved whenever I'm forced to leave my freon-filled apartment. For example, if FedEx is the destination then I make sure to walk on the side of the street with the largest stores because just as I teeter on the glisten-or-sweat tipping point, a luxury watch store will have it's front door open and I get just enough of that sweet A/C (or "Air Con" as the locals refer to it) to keep the sweat bubbles at bay.

However, this barely bearable route isn't always available so what usually happens is my core body temperature shoots into triple digits and the physical reactions begin.

My facial pores confuse the heavy, wet air for the beginnings of a lymphatic drainage facial and I quickly begin to resemble Edward James Olmos. Instead of lavender essential oils and natural plant extracts soothing my pores - it's Sweat. The chemical reaction between my foundation, eye makeup, blush and The Sweat results in a cellular-level clustering so I end up with gigantic, glittery globs on all the wrong parts of my face instead of the nice evened-out look I started out with only moments earlier. What makeup has remained intact is eventually removed when I'm forced to wipe off - The Sweat.

Then, despite my obsessive use of Secret's Clinical Strength Anti-perspirant the pit stains appear. Apparently I'm pro-perspirant. (I didn't realize I was so conservative. They say that happens the older you get though.) Due to my pro-perspirant stance I've never spent more than $25 on a white shirt because it'll be ruined by said pit stains by summer's end (or I will have spilled red wine, spaghetti sauce or black ink on it but that's another issue).

I'll spare you other details of my sweaty escapades (I wish they were as scandalous as that sounds) such as sweat dripping down my back and into my ass crack, hair getting stuck in my arm pits and other such attractive happenings.

I can even handle all of this - no problem - if it weren't for the fact that I'm the ONLY one that's having this reaction. Well, myself and a bunch of Aussie guys.

Chinese people DON'T sweat!

Makes me feel like this:

Billion Place

I had a great time Friday night. Brigitte invited me to dinner with 7 of her girlfriends. We had the entire space to ourselves and the chef was all ours. It was a pretty sweet set up. Here's some pictures.

It was inspiring to meet so many women who have their shit together. The ones I got to know the most all have great jobs. A couple of them (including Brigitte) own their own companies. They're all so cool too. Names like Neveen, Divia, Jade, Helena, etc. They're from all over the world. Cool clothes. Etc.

I wasn't feeling inadequate though because they're down to earth and easy to talk to as well. It was just a great night. It made me wish I was staying in HK for a couple of reasons. First, it's rare to meet women that I am not annoyed by after a couple hours of conversation. Second, I know if I stayed here I'd be able to start my own company doing something where I can import goods from the U.S. or other western countries and sell them to HK companies. Or sell them myself.

One woman I spoke with owns a company where she imports high end beauty products and has expanded to really nice candles, decorative pillows, etc. She sells them to luxury hotels and stuff.

There's just so much opportunity for something like that here but you have to be willing to live in Hong Kong. Eh, I can always come back after I make money in London if I want.

Last night I went to the movies to see "Once" again. It's finally showing here. No one in the audience got up after the movie was over. I think they liked it.

And now it's a beautiful spring day...1:20pm...and I'm typing on the computer. Must go outside!

First Batch of Wedding Photos

Click here for the first batch of photos from Kathryn's "Last Hurrah" night at Suburban Tap...her rehearsal dinner...and the wedding. Professional photos are coming in a couple weeks.

Michael Johns Baby!

He was the clear winner on tonight's Idol. DAMN that boy can sing!!!

Cracks me up

Okay, this picture is in my slideshow from the rugby 7's but I had to put it on here because it cracks me up.

This guy was obsessed with riding Matt and having me take pictures of it. We were on the dance floor in the tent after the games were over. This guy didn't want me to email him the pictures. Just wanted me to take some with my camera. Matt was like, "Get this guy OFF me!"

Took pics with my Blackberry so they're blurry but I love the laser lights and how you can make out Matt's expression.

Low/High

I was at such a low point this past Thursday and Friday after the whole Joe thing. I'm just so tired of not having anything in my life going on that matters on any real level. This job sucks and feels so pointless. It's not pointless because I'm paying off debt but I can't believe I have to do this for another 1 1/2 years. Poor me, whatever, but to not have a career I care about or a relationship or even many friends to see...it's just tough.

But then my friend Brigitte emailed me to say, "Welcome back to HK!" That made my day. Someone gave a shit that I was here. Sweet! We went shopping for our Rugby 7's costumes Friday evening and had a ball picking them out. We went with slutty nurses. Nice!

Then I headed to the tournament but she couldn't go so I met up with Cameron who was wasted but it was perfect. I got the lay of the land so I knew what to do the next day.

Brigitte and I had a BLAST yesterday at the tournament! Here's some pictures that she took.

She waited in line for over 2 1/2 hours to get us into the South Stand which is the "cool" area. All the costumed drunkards hang out there and it's totally crazy. I only waited in line for 1 1/2 hours because I forgot my ticket and had to go home to get it.

We actually had fun waiting in line and of course Brigitte had met some guys while waiting in line. Funny how men want to talk with slutty nurses.

We finally got in and then 10 minutes later they closed access to the South Stand for the night. We were so lucky! Then another 10 minutes later I look up and about 5 rows away is Matt the Brit in his horse costume. He looked so cute. I hung out with him for a lot of the day and then also hung out with Brigitte towards the front of the section.

It was quite the experience. Fans from all the different teams sitting next to each other and having a great time. Beer pitchers flying everywhere. Crazy costumes. Getting our picture taken with random people. Eating my first beef pie (My first of many I suspect after I move to London).

There was a huge tent that everyone went to after the games were over and it was so well-organized. Tons of clean bathrooms...hardly had to wait in line at all for alcohol and food. And the food was pretty good! We kept seeing the same people all night long and would just yell, "Hey! Elephant Guy!" or whatever their costume was. Brigitte had found a couple guy friends of hers and I wanted to get as much Matt time in as I could so we ended up separating.

Matt and I had the great time we always do. Talked a lot, drank a lot, danced a lot. Then he came back to my place and I finally got to be with him. It felt really good but when he left this morning I was immediately a bit sad. He had to fly to Japan today and is going to be gone for 3-4 weeks. He said that he's tired of doing so much traveling so his company is going to hire a few people that can live in the major cities he travels to and will be based there so he doesn't have to physically go anymore.

But by the time he hires them and they get settled and he doesn't have to travel as much anymore...I'll be moving to London. It's perfectly bad timing and pisses me off.

Here's a picture of us from the rugby tournament.





















Why do I look like I'm 5 months pregnant? Fuck.

Toronto Joe - again

Toronto Joe called me again. This is the second time in about a month. Which is strange to me. I thought I was over him enough to be friends with him. But I'm not. He was drunk and at one point in the conversation said, "You want to have my baby?"

I was like, "Huh?"

When I said no he called me a liar and laughed at me and was staring into his webcam at me saying that he could see me blushing. I got pissed off. Here's this guy that dumped me and I've felt vulnerable with him ever since and he says THAT to me?

I got upset and yelled at him and we drudged up all the shit from when I visited him for NYE 2 years ago. I guess I just never got to yell at him for the way he treated me and needed to get it out of my system.

But I also realized that I can't be friends with him right now. I've been so lonely and needy and fragile while in HK so talking with him - someone who hurt me - isn't a good idea. It puts me in too vulnerable of a position and I need to self preserve right now.

So I emailed him this and I could tell in his reply that he's not happy with my decision but understands enough about my reason for it.

I feel good about it.

Kathryn's Wedding

I had a great time while I was home for my sister's wedding. It was so much fun to be able to help her out in any way I could and do little arts and crafts projects. I love doing that stuff!

I got to go to a shower that some ladies from our neighborhood threw for her. They were so nice. Really went all out. The rehearsal dinner and actual wedding were so much fun. It was a huge family reunion and a little chaotic as there's never time to talk long enough with anyone.

My friend Aaron was my date at the wedding. He was the PERFECT date. Always made sure I had enough wine to drink. Didn't get annoyed when I'd have to dash off to bustle Kathryn's dress or something. All the women LOVED him. Kept saying, "Well, well aren't YOU handsome?" and would make him blush. It was really cute.

My sister looked amazing and had a great time. It was such a special thing to stand up there next to her while she got married and to watch my parents watching her say her vows. And I couldn't love her husband Andrew anymore. He's such a great guy and really loves her.

After the reception we all went back to a hotel and Aaron came with me and stayed the night so that was much-needed fun ;) We were gettin' it on in the morning and RIGHT at the CRUTIAL moment we heard a knock on the door and "Housekeeping!" We just froze because we couldn't believe their bad timing and she knocked again and I finally managed to utter, "We're fine, thanks!" Totally forgot to put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. Will never make that mistake again. Of course Aaron and I just busted out laughing and now it's a great inside joke between us.

It was tough to say goodbye to him. He's so good to me and I like him. :_(

It was tough to say goodbye to my family too after such a huge event. And knowing that I might not see them until the holidays isn't easy.

I try...

I was supposed to start eating really healthy this weekend and work out more than usual to begin the process of shedding more weight than is humanly possible in order for me to fit into my bridesmaid dress in two weeks.

As I would walk around the 7-Eleven zero-ing in on the oreos I would do the math in my head, "Wellllllllll, if I eat these oreos then I can do spinning tomorrow instead of yoga to burn more calories and then I'll be fine."

Only the working out didn't actually....like....happen.

Saturday I fully intended on going to either a yoga or a spinning class but as I described in the last post it became a busy day that ended with me inhaling two massive, life-threateningly large chicken enchiladas. And washing them down with a glucose-intensive margarita of course. I couldn't order water. That would be embarassing.

"No worries," I thought. I'll just do an hour on the eliptical tomorrow. Right. I'm still okay.

I woke up late this morning. Went back to my same breakfast place as the day before. Sat in the same seat. Ate the same thing (minus the potatoes, plus the bacon because that was somehow better in my warped mind) then decided to check out Victoria Park so I could continue reading my Economist while sitting on a bench and relaxing in the shade.

Here's what I saw at the park:



















All of the domestic workers don't have their own homes and instead live with their employers during the week. Sunday is their day off. So they hang out at the park. Naturally.

Lesson learned there. Avoid the only large park in Hong Kong on Sundays. The......main day I'll always want to go. Reason #157 why I miss NYC. Although I'm reminded of a Central Park post from my time there that describes an equally painful park experience.

After walking around Victoria Park for about 15 minutes - getting stares from all the Phillippino girls that enflamed my condescending "white guilt" - I decided to go to the movies.

"Hey! You could've worked out then, Stacey," one might say.

True. BUT I really wanted to see "Love in the Time of Cholera" before I go home to Atlanta because I don't know if it'll be showing there and it'll certainly be gone by the time I get back to HK. This was the rationalle I was going with anyway.

Movie sucked. For a couple reasons but the most annoying was all of the hot sex forced upon my eyes which took me to the "When am IIIIII going to get fucked, huh?" place in my brain which is no fun. After the Toronto Joe conversation and getting the text from Matt the Brit.... I'm hurtin' people.

I met up with Brigitte after the movie at a HEALTHY restaurant and had grilled veggies and lentils. VERY HEALTHY AND YUMMY. Then Brigitte smartly suggested we bypass the escalator and instead walk up the stairs to our apartment so I could call that my workout for the day. The girl is a good friend. She had biked for 3 hours, had a long run and a yoga class in the past 48 hours.

After about 30 minutes at home my stomach was growling because aparently I've expanded it to the size of a watermelon so a plate of grilled veggies just doesn't cut it for dinner anymore. I have NOTHING to eat in my apartment so I went to the fruit stand guy downstairs to grab something to eat. Did I buy a banana? No. I tried, but they weren't ripe yet. So I bought a can of Pringles and a Diet Coke and ate the entire can while watching TV.

I seriously triiiiiiiied but you heard me. The bananas weren't ripe yet.

Didn't make it to Lamma Island today with Cameron either for the 1 1/2 hour hike to the fresh seafood restaurant. I was too busy watching a 72-year old version of Javier Bardem have sex on a big screen.

Men

Story #1: Toronto Joe called me out of the blue on Thursday. I haven't spoken to him on the phone in over a year. We've kept in touch over email but only every month or two and almost always at my initiation. (did that phrasing make sense? eh, i don't care - it's 1am).

He downloaded Skype and we talked via webcam for over 3 hours. The last time I saw his face was in a trailer he sent me that he filmed. And before that was 2 NYE's ago when I was in Toronto visiting him.

It was a great conversation but torture at the same time. To have his face taking up my entire computer screen...and mine his...it's like we could reach out and grab each other. It was tough at the end to say goodbye. We didn't know how to do it. We get along so well. Talk about everything. Laugh at each other. Then just stare at each other for what seems like forever.

He's pitching a TV show idea to his cousin who's a big wig at HBO so I told him to let me know how it goes. Said that about 4 times trying to end the conversation.

He finally said, "Alright, let's say goodbye before I ask you to take your top off or something."

Yes, let's.

I miss so many things about him but I don't wonder what would happen if we ever lived in the same city. At least not at this point in his life. He's too emotionally unstable for me. I need a solid man. But I DO wish Joe and I could spend a few days together every once in awhile just drinking, laughing, having sex, etc.

Story #2: Matt the Brit texted me. We squished 3 dates into 2 days about 5-6 weeks ago. He's the closest to the whole package that I've ever experienced. REALLY like him. He said in the text:

Hi Stacey, long time no speak! I am in Shanghai right now. It seems that I am not in Hong Kong a lot these days. Just wanted to say that I would have asked you on another date but it just didn't work out with all this travel. Hope no hard feelings, but did not want to just leave it hanging! I'm sure I'll see you in LKF. Take care, Matt.

Fucking BUMMER OF ALL BUMMERS! He's so great! But never here. I really appreciated his text. Hopefully I'll see him at the end of March at the rugby 7's tournament. We both have tickets. And I'll be here for a few more months so maybe we can catch each other a few times here and there. [Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Am so over everything! WHEN is it going to work out?????????!!!!!!!!!

Story #3: Hung out with my friend Cameron all weekend so far. He's so sweet. Met him for drinks last night and then today I ate at my favorite breakfast place, read my magazine, took the ferry to Kowloon, went to the HK Museum of Art, then met up with Cameron again as he wanted to go to Lamma Island for good, inexpensive seafood. Sounded like a great idea but he was stuck in traffic and we missed the ferry. So we went to my fav mexican place and chowed down. I'm SO not fitting into my bridesmaid's dress in 2 weeks. Seriously...I'm going to have to STARVE myself for 14 days. Awesome.

We're going to Lamma Island tomorrow. He said you can take the ferry to one end of the island then hike for 1 1/2 hours and end up at the seafood place on the beach. I'm so excited! I love stuff like this. Am so glad Cameron's here! But of course I'm not attracted to him. So typical.

David Cook

MUST give a shout out to David Cook's performance of Lionel Ritchie's "Hello" on American Idol tonight.

BRILLIANT! I loved it!

He rocks.

THIS....is AaaaMERican Idol!

I love how Ryan Seacrest has to change up his routine each season. He tried and failed miserably with the whole "Seacrest: Out!" debacle and this season he has the huge dramatic pause and syllable emphasis in his introduction. I wonder how many different combinations he had to try. I still love him. He's really good at his job.

Am LOVING David Archeleta. My FAV!

My new friend Brigitte called and we grabbed dinner and drinks tonight. I'm SO excited she's come into my life. She and I have the same sensibilities but she's the much sweeter, nicer version.

AND - I was planning on volunteering in Vietnam building a house for a couple of weeks in June since I won't be that busy with work BUT she said that she and a few girl friends of hers were talking about going to Bali for an all-women's surfing trip.

Let's compare and contrast shall we:

Vietnam
Hot as hell
Physical labor
Mosquitos
Public shower
Indoor plumbing?
No guarantee of cute guys

Bali
Hot but with a breeze
Physical labor
Mosquitos?
Private shower
Indoor plumbing + ocean (whatever, you all do it too)
Hot surfers, Alcohol and high probability of vacation sex (a "lay-cation" as my friend Sarah would put it)

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........

I'm still on the fence. Maybe a visual comparison will help?













Bali.....



















ooooorrrrrrr Vietnam?

Yeah. I think you're right.

Weekend Update

Friday night was good. Hung out with my neighbor, Brigitte, who lives 2 floors below me in my apartment building. We're both SO excited that we met. She's great.

I had a glass of wine and we ordered food then I left her (she was getting up at 5am to bike with 17 guys) and met up with Joce (my cousin's trainer) and some of her friends. We were supposed to go to the movies but she got screwed out of the tickets somehow so we ended up drinking instead. I triiiiied to be good!

I talked with a reeeeeeally cute Australian guy, Andrew, for most of the night and he walked me home. Very gentlemanly. Told me on the way home that he has a girlfriend.

Of course.

Fun night though.

Saturday night I saw the Michelle Pfeiffer/Paul Rudd movie. Can't remember the name. Totally forgettable movie. Figured it would be but I saw it anyway.

Took my yoga class. 3rd one. It's SO HARD but I love it! The two instructors at my gym are both Indian guys which makes me feel like I'm getting the real deal. Not that someone from Atlanta, Georgia can't become a wonderful yoga teacher but I'd rather get my yoga from the Indian guy and my Coca-Cola from the Atlanta people, ya know?

I'm watching "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" as I type this post. It's only 3 questions into the episode and very clear that I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader.