I’m getting really excited for our cruise, in case you couldn’t tell.

This time next week we’ll be on the ship, sailing way (or is it cruising away?). So to say that I’m counting down is an understatement. Unfortunately I have a mad week at work that consists of meetings, planning, a training session and not to mention our work Christmas party, a farewell party for our student worker and then an event. So wow.

And in between all that, we have so much to do…like laundry, somehow needing to pack wisely so I don’t take half my wardrobe with me and bake TWO Pavlova’s this week. TWO, people!

Anyway, I bid you adieu. I have Christmas cards to write and address if it will have any hope of making it to Australia in time before December 25th.

Happy Holidays indeed!

Things to look forward to in the next 3 weeks:

1. Memphis
2. New Orleans
3. Western Carribean
4. Saint Augustine
5. (Even) Pensacola
6. Atlanta
7. (Even) Paducah

Basically, I’m looking forward to hours & hours of sitting in the car, hotel hopping, cruising and just plain traveling around this great land, US of A.

P.S. USCIS has extended my Green Card for a year, while they figure out whether they want to grant me a 10-year one. Now I can re-new my driver’s license and tell my employer that I can legitimately still work for them.

Baby L is adorable.
That’s all.

Life’s rockin’ & rollin’. Can you believe it’s already November 18th. EIGHTEENTH, people. EIGHTEETH. Of November. Next thing you know, it’ll be Christmas. CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What have I been up to?

• Work.
• Not doing Visa work. Seriously, what is wrong with us?
• Online shopping. The Aussie dollar being strong has made me think that I have an unlimited supply of money. But I do love, love, love my new clothes.
• Working out. Yes, you read that right. We moved our treadmill from the in-laws house to our place and I’ve been walking for at least half an hour each night. Baby steps.
• Shopping in real life. I scored some adorably cute stuff from Target clearance the other week. And I kept New York & Co. in business last Sunday thanks to my purchases. Ahhhh, retail therapy. You are my best friend.
• Watching Fraiser episodes. I used to hate that show (thanks to Kelsey Grammer), but now it’s the show we watch before we go to bed.
• Speaking of TV, I’ve been watching a lot of What Not To Wear while working out. It makes the workouts go much, much faster. It’s made of win.
• Missing my family. I want to go homeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee for a visit.
• Reading a lot of blogs. Blogs about fashion, shopping, cooking, make-up, shopping, clothing, shopping. You hear me?

So, all in all, you see why I’ve been MIA. Until next time!

So here’s to a Giants win tonight!

On a related note, I just wanted to say how enamored I am by AT&T Park. I must add it to my (currently non-existent) bucket list that I would like to see a Giants & Cardinals game (my two favorite teams) at AT&T Park, one day, some day – hopefully soon

In the meantime, I shall only enjoy its beauty via photos:

And of course, I would love to meet Lou Seal

Patricia. *present*

I’ve been around. The past month has been somewhat of a blur – busy days at work (the stress of Homecoming came and went), equally busy days in the social life and everything in between. VISA papers need to be submitted really soon (in a week), but no progress has been made. You would think, for something that is high in the urgency, we’d take care of it already. Apparently not.

Other highlights of the past week:

+ Video chatted with Mini Mayskis last weekend. She is adorable (that is a fact). My brother left her to chat with us while he went off and did something around the house (so essentially, we were virtually babysitting her). And she just sat there, in front of the camera and chatted her little self away. Most of what she was saying came out in gibberish, but she really acted like she was telling us a story. And then later on, when we were having a serious conversation with her father, she would politely say “Excuse me…” and interrupt us, mostly to say that she wanted chocolate. She is growing up too fast, it’s kinda scary.

+ I lost 2lbs last week. Mainly it was thanks to some healthier eating (kinda) and working out a lot. I had been diligent in dropping everything that is work related at 5pm and going straight to the gym and working out for at least 45 minutes. But let me tell you, I’m pretty sure I gained those 2lbs back over the past 3 days with some major eating binges and lack of activity. Fail.

+ I am completely and utterly enamored with baseball. I blame work. If they hadn’t sponsored a Night at Busch Stadium, I never would have gone to another Cardinals game and got the fever. And despite the Cardinals NOT being in the Post-Season, I still got hooked! My second favorite team? Yeah, that would be the San Francisco Giants. We’ve pretty much watched all of the Playoff games – much to my husband’s disdain (he just wants to watch normal TV already!). But luckily for me, the GIANTS are in the WORLD SERIES and so there’s at least 4 more games to be watched. I hope my Giants win – or else there might be a chance that my love for baseball will dissipate as quickly as it was gained.

And I love how this photo captured the Giants game. I absolutely would love to go to their stadium and watch a game. What a view!

+ Christmas Cruise in some 6 weeks (I think). CRAZY. Where did the year go???

+ November isn’t looking any less hectic. We have Thanksgiving and a Wedding.

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By 1pm that same day, I had already put in a bid for a hotel room through Priceline and by 4:35pm, we had already driven back home, packed overnight clothes and snacks and we were head to St. Louis!

By 6:58pm, this is what we were enduring:

Big city traffic. Primarily caused by wreck, after wreck on I-64. It was a long drive…

So long, that when we took a wrong turn after the Exit, we opted to just scratch the lure of the Balloon Glow and just went Downtown. Big mistake that was too, thanks to the Cardinals game.

So we ended up at the Galleria, to get some grub:

Nom nom. Zach ordered the Sheperd’s Pie and it was a very good choice.

I ordered the Baja Chicken Tacos. It wasn’t anything to write home about, unfortunately. So of course not only did I have food envy, but I also made up for it by ordering a cheesecake. But I only ate half of that ;( Self fail.

After dinner, we headed to the local Target store and wounded up buying gifts for a wedding we’re going to in November. We figured, we were at the store anyway, so we might aswell be productive. I love Wedding Registries, by the way.

The view from our 7th floor hotel room. It was my first foray into Priceline bidding and we ended up scoring a $350p/night room for a mere $45. I wasn’t willing to pay more than that considering it was a spontaneous road trip and we live only a couple of hours away. So it was lovely to score a great room. Too bad we didn’t really use any of the amenities.

We decided to check out the hoop-la that surrounded Whole Foods and tried it out for ourselves. Breakfast by the pound? Yes, please. Choc-chip scones and the yumminess of an “Everything Cookie”? Yes, yes! We’ll be back, for sure!

We also hit Trader Joe’s and grabbed some Vintage Cola, White Cheddar Corn Puffs, a delicious salad (yes, I said delicious and salad in the same sentence) and a wrap. How fresh and tasty. We <3 Trader Joe’s too – and glad that our TJ cherry’s were popped in such a manner.

And then, after a few hours of just lying around waiting for the balloons to appear, they did! But we got so restless (aka very bored) and ended up bailing before they actually raced. But it was still worth it.

All in all, it was a delightful weekend filled with complete randomness. We played everything by ear, dealt with the crappiness of traffic and chaos (living in a town of just over 135K – that’s with students), sure is relaxing when you compare it to a big city! And although we do these spontaneous trips all the time, it convinced us that we should do it more often

I’m really looking forward to Fall. Yes, it’ll be sad to say farewell to Summer but Fall is so pretty and refreshing. One cannot resist its charm.

As far as Winter is concerned, I can do without it.