So it's finally summer, hoooooooray!
It's been months since I've last blogged, obviously. Lots has occured over the course of 4 months, as you can imagine. Lake is finally back from India. He got back on Thursday, April 29th, it's been great having him back, it was so hard to have him gone for so long & it's so great to be able to actually see him IN PERSON everyday. Thank goodness for modern technology & SKYPE, that really helped us get through the 3 months.
What also helped me get through the 3 months were my amazing group of friends, both in San Antonio & in McAllen. I went down to the valley about 4 times over the course of the 3 months, so it was nice to get to visit with my friends as well as my family.
Around the World in 8 Days
During the past 4 months, I've also traveled around the world.....LITERALLY! So plans kind of changed with my India trip. I left from San Antonio on Friday March 12th & few to Houston, I had a long layover in Houston & finally flew out to London. We were very delayed in the air on our way to London & I landed at Heathrow with about 90 minutes to make it to my flight to Chennai, talk about rushing!!! I still had to ride a bus to my departing gate, then go through customs & go through security. I barely made my flight. I literally got to the gate when they were asking for anymore passengers. It was the only flight leaving London to Chennai for the day & not that I would have minded spending a leisurely day in London, but not by myself & also, I just wanted to see Lake, I didn't care where!!! So I made my Chennai flight, which was about a 9 hour flight. As luck would have it, I had my entire row OPEN! The 2 seats next to me were empty, so I was able to actually lay down & rest! Which I completely needed. When I finally landed in Chennai it was 11:00 p.m. India time, which is 10 1/2 hours ahead of Texas time. Landing in a foreign country, alone, is SCARY!!!! I survived though & found Lake outside the airport with one of the drivers, Moses.
India Adventures
So India...............um, let's just say it was interesting & very eye opening. It reminded of me of Mexico, but not as clean. :o/ I spent 3 full days in Chennai.
Day 1 I went shopping with some of Lake's co-workers, then attended my 1st ever cricket match. I have no idea what was going, still don't get it.
Day 2 I just lounged around the hotel & went to the pool. I also had a very exciting date planned by my super awesome husband. Chennai is on the beach & there are a few resorts on the beach. (the body of water is the Bay of Bengal), anyway, Lake made dinner reservations for us there & he wanted to me to get very "Indian" so he picked out the most beautiful saree (traditional indian dress) for me to wear to dinner. It was a very pretty shade of green, think of the most obvious shade of green & that was the color. It had pink & orange flowers & gold sequins on the sari, it was spectacular!!!! :)
Day 3 I spent with Lake, finally. He had to work the first 2 days that I was there, but the third day we went shopping & gathering tons of souveniers for friends & families. That night Lake & I flew out from Chennai (this was my final farewell to the country) & we flew into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
KL & Gang Talk?
We landed in Kuala Lumpur (KL) early in the morning & really had no expectations for the city. We had just kinda added it to our itinerary for an extra country to travel to, no real reason & not really knowing what the city had to offer us. KL is an amazing, beautiful, shopping RICH city, I absolutely fell in love with it!!! It was also to be in warm weather after spending time in SA with the weather in the 50's for the past 5 months, it was nice to be in 80 degree summer-like weather. We went sight seeing & the city is pretty history rich, considering how young the city is. It's a muslim country so Lake & I were able to visit the National Mosque which is located in KL, it was truly breathtaking!!! If you love basilicas & cathedrals, you'd love this mosque!!! Our first stop in KL was the KL Tower, which is essentially their "space needle" we were able to get a layout of the city from there, so that was nice. Our cabbie from the tower was named Zul & he made us a good deal to take us to the following 4 tourist locations in the city: The Sultan's Palace (the kings' house, don't cross the fence there, they shoot & ask questions later), The National Mosque (I got to wear a pretty purple cover up), The National Monument (reminded me the of the Iwo Gima monument) & Independence Square (this is where Malaysia gained their independence from GB). We took the deal b/c we were going to see all those places anyway. He was a great tour guide, until......he started asking us if we knew anything about gangs. WHAT?!?!?!?!!? I had mentioned that I grew up along the Texas/Mexico border & he found that fascinating & asked if I knew anything about certain gangs. Then he started saying how he was in a gang & how he's a cabbie to support his family but his love was for his gang. Oh MY-LANTA, I was scared!!! I made sure to get a picture of his cab # & us in the cab & him, just in case he kidnapped us, my camera would have the evidence of who did. So, who knows if he was actually in a gang, or if he thought that Americans think it's cool to be in a gang, who knows, I just know that I was scared. I mean, we're in a foreign country here, hello?!?!?!?!!? The rest of our day was fantastic. We went to have drinks & appetizers at a rooftop bar/swimming pool at the Traders Hotel which faced the Petronas Towers & got some amazing pictures. We then went to have dinner at La Fite at the Shangri La Hotel. I had the most amazing Duck L'Orange, ever! It was so tender & juicy, ah, so yummy!!!! The next morning, we woke up early again & made our trek back to the airport to fly our 45 minute flight to Singapore.
Singapore....Make Sure You Follow ALL Rules
Lake kept telling me to make sure not to piss anyone off in Singapore b/c as a country itself, it's very strict, which I know, but I just kinda put out of my mind. Well, when we landed I guess I looked at one of the security people funny & they insisted on looking through my large red carry on bag that I had gotten at H&M in Paris, which by the way, the American H&M stores are nothing like the international ones, this store was amazing...but I digress. Anyway, the security lady kept asking if I any "cigarettes"...to which I kept saying "no, maam, I do not".....after about 5 minutes of her going through my entire bag, she finally gave it back to me, I could tell that she was completely upset & disappointed that she hadn't found anything questionable. Thank goodness, she scared me! Singapore is the cleanest more manicured place I've ever been besides Disneyworld. It was beautiful, I loved the city & the food was amazing. We had a great time. We actually celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary in Singapore, so that was great! :) All in all the trip was so amazing, not a bad way to spend my Spring Break! Lake & I flew out from Singapore & he went back to Chennai & I went back to America via Tokyo & Houston. Hence, I flew around the world in 8 days! WOW!!!!!
Life After
Well life is pretty much back to normal, I survived my 1st year at my new school & I'm staying at my school. Thank goodness, I'm pretty over job searching since I spent my last 2 summers doing just that! My brother just celebrated his 30th birthday down in the valley, so I was able to go to that party & I wasn't sure when I'd be down in the valley again, until I got horrible news that my childhood friend had passed away on Thursday.
It's been hard to take, we'd definitely grown apart since HS ended, but him & his family always had a special place in my heart. My brother & my friend used to run summer track together, he was the most amazing athlete I'd ever/have ever known. I feel like a piece of my childhood has been taken from me & that's hard to swallow, I know that he'll live on forever through all of the people that he knew & loved & I know that he's most definitely in a better place, I guess all we can do now is pray for peace & understanding through all of this. His memorial service was such a testament to him, we all knew he was with us when the lights went out in the middle of his picture slide show, that was Louie, always joking around :)
In Closing....
I'll post pictures from all of Lake & I's recent adventures here & around the world. If I've learned anything in the last few months it's that we're only here for a short time, so as Leonardo DiCaprio so eloquently said in the movie Titanic....."here's to making it count!"
To my dear sweet friend Louie:"So much of me, is made of what I've learned from you, you'll be with me, like a hand print on my heart. And now whatever way our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine, by being my friend"
It's been months since I've last blogged, obviously. Lots has occured over the course of 4 months, as you can imagine. Lake is finally back from India. He got back on Thursday, April 29th, it's been great having him back, it was so hard to have him gone for so long & it's so great to be able to actually see him IN PERSON everyday. Thank goodness for modern technology & SKYPE, that really helped us get through the 3 months.
What also helped me get through the 3 months were my amazing group of friends, both in San Antonio & in McAllen. I went down to the valley about 4 times over the course of the 3 months, so it was nice to get to visit with my friends as well as my family.
Around the World in 8 Days
During the past 4 months, I've also traveled around the world.....LITERALLY! So plans kind of changed with my India trip. I left from San Antonio on Friday March 12th & few to Houston, I had a long layover in Houston & finally flew out to London. We were very delayed in the air on our way to London & I landed at Heathrow with about 90 minutes to make it to my flight to Chennai, talk about rushing!!! I still had to ride a bus to my departing gate, then go through customs & go through security. I barely made my flight. I literally got to the gate when they were asking for anymore passengers. It was the only flight leaving London to Chennai for the day & not that I would have minded spending a leisurely day in London, but not by myself & also, I just wanted to see Lake, I didn't care where!!! So I made my Chennai flight, which was about a 9 hour flight. As luck would have it, I had my entire row OPEN! The 2 seats next to me were empty, so I was able to actually lay down & rest! Which I completely needed. When I finally landed in Chennai it was 11:00 p.m. India time, which is 10 1/2 hours ahead of Texas time. Landing in a foreign country, alone, is SCARY!!!! I survived though & found Lake outside the airport with one of the drivers, Moses.
India Adventures
So India...............um, let's just say it was interesting & very eye opening. It reminded of me of Mexico, but not as clean. :o/ I spent 3 full days in Chennai.
Day 1 I went shopping with some of Lake's co-workers, then attended my 1st ever cricket match. I have no idea what was going, still don't get it.
Day 2 I just lounged around the hotel & went to the pool. I also had a very exciting date planned by my super awesome husband. Chennai is on the beach & there are a few resorts on the beach. (the body of water is the Bay of Bengal), anyway, Lake made dinner reservations for us there & he wanted to me to get very "Indian" so he picked out the most beautiful saree (traditional indian dress) for me to wear to dinner. It was a very pretty shade of green, think of the most obvious shade of green & that was the color. It had pink & orange flowers & gold sequins on the sari, it was spectacular!!!! :)
Day 3 I spent with Lake, finally. He had to work the first 2 days that I was there, but the third day we went shopping & gathering tons of souveniers for friends & families. That night Lake & I flew out from Chennai (this was my final farewell to the country) & we flew into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
KL & Gang Talk?
We landed in Kuala Lumpur (KL) early in the morning & really had no expectations for the city. We had just kinda added it to our itinerary for an extra country to travel to, no real reason & not really knowing what the city had to offer us. KL is an amazing, beautiful, shopping RICH city, I absolutely fell in love with it!!! It was also to be in warm weather after spending time in SA with the weather in the 50's for the past 5 months, it was nice to be in 80 degree summer-like weather. We went sight seeing & the city is pretty history rich, considering how young the city is. It's a muslim country so Lake & I were able to visit the National Mosque which is located in KL, it was truly breathtaking!!! If you love basilicas & cathedrals, you'd love this mosque!!! Our first stop in KL was the KL Tower, which is essentially their "space needle" we were able to get a layout of the city from there, so that was nice. Our cabbie from the tower was named Zul & he made us a good deal to take us to the following 4 tourist locations in the city: The Sultan's Palace (the kings' house, don't cross the fence there, they shoot & ask questions later), The National Mosque (I got to wear a pretty purple cover up), The National Monument (reminded me the of the Iwo Gima monument) & Independence Square (this is where Malaysia gained their independence from GB). We took the deal b/c we were going to see all those places anyway. He was a great tour guide, until......he started asking us if we knew anything about gangs. WHAT?!?!?!?!!? I had mentioned that I grew up along the Texas/Mexico border & he found that fascinating & asked if I knew anything about certain gangs. Then he started saying how he was in a gang & how he's a cabbie to support his family but his love was for his gang. Oh MY-LANTA, I was scared!!! I made sure to get a picture of his cab # & us in the cab & him, just in case he kidnapped us, my camera would have the evidence of who did. So, who knows if he was actually in a gang, or if he thought that Americans think it's cool to be in a gang, who knows, I just know that I was scared. I mean, we're in a foreign country here, hello?!?!?!?!!? The rest of our day was fantastic. We went to have drinks & appetizers at a rooftop bar/swimming pool at the Traders Hotel which faced the Petronas Towers & got some amazing pictures. We then went to have dinner at La Fite at the Shangri La Hotel. I had the most amazing Duck L'Orange, ever! It was so tender & juicy, ah, so yummy!!!! The next morning, we woke up early again & made our trek back to the airport to fly our 45 minute flight to Singapore.
Singapore....Make Sure You Follow ALL Rules
Lake kept telling me to make sure not to piss anyone off in Singapore b/c as a country itself, it's very strict, which I know, but I just kinda put out of my mind. Well, when we landed I guess I looked at one of the security people funny & they insisted on looking through my large red carry on bag that I had gotten at H&M in Paris, which by the way, the American H&M stores are nothing like the international ones, this store was amazing...but I digress. Anyway, the security lady kept asking if I any "cigarettes"...to which I kept saying "no, maam, I do not".....after about 5 minutes of her going through my entire bag, she finally gave it back to me, I could tell that she was completely upset & disappointed that she hadn't found anything questionable. Thank goodness, she scared me! Singapore is the cleanest more manicured place I've ever been besides Disneyworld. It was beautiful, I loved the city & the food was amazing. We had a great time. We actually celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary in Singapore, so that was great! :) All in all the trip was so amazing, not a bad way to spend my Spring Break! Lake & I flew out from Singapore & he went back to Chennai & I went back to America via Tokyo & Houston. Hence, I flew around the world in 8 days! WOW!!!!!
Life After
Well life is pretty much back to normal, I survived my 1st year at my new school & I'm staying at my school. Thank goodness, I'm pretty over job searching since I spent my last 2 summers doing just that! My brother just celebrated his 30th birthday down in the valley, so I was able to go to that party & I wasn't sure when I'd be down in the valley again, until I got horrible news that my childhood friend had passed away on Thursday.
It's been hard to take, we'd definitely grown apart since HS ended, but him & his family always had a special place in my heart. My brother & my friend used to run summer track together, he was the most amazing athlete I'd ever/have ever known. I feel like a piece of my childhood has been taken from me & that's hard to swallow, I know that he'll live on forever through all of the people that he knew & loved & I know that he's most definitely in a better place, I guess all we can do now is pray for peace & understanding through all of this. His memorial service was such a testament to him, we all knew he was with us when the lights went out in the middle of his picture slide show, that was Louie, always joking around :)
In Closing....
I'll post pictures from all of Lake & I's recent adventures here & around the world. If I've learned anything in the last few months it's that we're only here for a short time, so as Leonardo DiCaprio so eloquently said in the movie Titanic....."here's to making it count!"
To my dear sweet friend Louie:"So much of me, is made of what I've learned from you, you'll be with me, like a hand print on my heart. And now whatever way our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine, by being my friend"
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures
Amy, me & Cristina at the Willie Nelson Concert in Mission
Monica, me, & Cristina downtown McAllen
Kellie, Sarah, Megan, Amy, me & Jordan at Hillbillies after the Lady A/Tim McGraw Concert
Shaunda, Rachel, Michelle, me, Camp & Laura at Oscar Night :)
me & Lake at the Chennai Super Kings Cricket Match
my "corona" pic at the Asiana Hotel in Chennai
me in my beautiful green saree
Lake & I at our dinner on the Bay of Bengal
Kuala Lumpur from the KL Tower
me at the National Mosque
The National Monument in KL
Independence Square in KL
The Petronas Towers in KL
Lake & me at La Frite at The Shangri La Hotel in KL
Lake in front of restaurant sign in Singapore
Lake & I in the Singapore Eye
me at Merlion Park in Singapore
me at The Raffles Hotel in Singapore
me & Lake at Clarke Quay in Singapore
Rachel, Shaunda, Michelle, Janine, me, Laura & Dawn at Soluna for Rachel's birthday dinner
me, Laura, Rachel, Shaunda, Camp, Janine, Michelle, & Whitney at Gristmill for Camp's 25th Birthday Sunday Funday
me & my Clare-Bear enjoying our Easter Family BBQ
group at Silo after Alamo Heights Night
me, Malarie, Michelle, Janine, & Erica at Oyster Bake
Rachel, Camp, Janine, me & Michelle at NIOSA
me, Camp & Kristen at Beethoven's for Gartenfest
Maryn & me downtown Houston
Kari, Dawn, Kathleen, Lake & me at Lake's Welcome Home Party
Marshall, Laura, Joe, Peter, Vanessa, Janine, Michelle, Erica, me, Lake, Camp & Shaunda at Rosario's for Janine's Graduation Dinner
Janine, Rachel & me at the movies for SATC 2
Lake, me, Kelly, Dru, Jessica, Lindy & Jason in Luckenbach for some Texas Country Music
group at the botanical gardens for Shakespeare in the Park
Leah, Demitri, Dad, Maryn, Mom & me all ready for my brother's 30th bday party. Lake wasn't able to come b/c he had to work :(
Rachel, Shaunda, Bethany, Tanya, Camp, Elyse, Erica, Michelle, Janine, me, & Laura at Tiago's for June's Girls Dinner
Sarah, Shaunda, Laura & me at Laura's Baby Shower
Maryn, Leah, Amy, Lily, Monica & me at my parents' house for Bachelorette Night
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