Dylan, Cards and Root

No points for guessing which was the worst part of my weekend!  Sunday night root canal, not fun.

Luckily I had a great first part of the weekend to help me get over the pain. First, obviously our dinner Friday night (posted earlier about this) was delicious but then our weekend got even better (well until Sunday night).  We had a surprise visitor to the island, Dylan (our old neighbour in Quito), who came for a frisbee tournament.  We spent the day with him on the beach on Saturday, it was so great to see him.  Made us realise how much we miss him, Jodi and River!

Saturday night we had dinner and cards with Kim and Sean.  It goes without saying who won, but just in case the girls did...again.

 Groom and Best Man reunited

 The winners, this time no victory dance, as really we are so use to winning by now!

Poor fellas...  Maybe next time we will take it easy on them.  A lovely weekend, beautiful weather, food and people!

Dry and Lola

After a fairly bubbly celebration of 40, Luis and myself thought it might be time to hang up the beer and wine glasses for a bit.  I hate to admit it but I think I have never not had a glass of wine for six days in a row in my entire adult life!  But actually it is not as hard as I thought it would be, especially as we are both on the wagon!  What it has meant though is we seem to be eating out a lot more!

Last night we decided to go to a restaurant we have never been too before.  I am very good at deciding I love a couple places and never going anywhere else. But the fact is we have loads of highly rated restaurants around us.  So we went to a Tapas place that was highly recommended.  I can tell you Lola usually happily sleeps on the floor while we eat but the smells were making her very excited last night and she was desperate to join our meal.

 Mum..

 Dad..

 Oh pretty please Dad, I smell duck..

 Okay and I promise not to get up for an early morning walk tomorrow and will not chase crabs for a month.. Oh plllleeeassse!!!

The food was so delicious, it was hard to share, but Lola did manage a little as she is so damn cute.  A very civilised delicious meal, I even had a virgin cocktail (never ever done before in my life!).  On a side note, this morning I was doing a survey and had to check the over 40 box, that hurt!

Midlife Reflections

Well I have been forty for a few days, midlife, and there have been no melt downs or evidence on an upcoming midlife crisis.  I would like to think that this is because midlife is actually now 50, but who knows I guess we could all go at any time really (pleasant thought!).

I had a wonderful birthday weekend and I plan to continue to have an amazing year of forty.  I have my list of forty things all compiled and ready to start. If I finish them all I will have had a pretty accomplished year and will post them as I go.

I have spent some time looking back on the first forty years of my life and I can say they have been fairly eventful and happy.  I have been lucky enough to have fantastic parents, albeit my mother for a much shorter time then I should have had her for.  Still, I feel very lucky to have had her at all.  My father is pretty much the most fabulous father I know and I just adore him.  I have a beautiful sister, brother in law and now the best niece ever! And let's not forget my amazing extended family, as all our friends can a test to who came to our wedding.  

I have been lucky enough to live in six different countries and have wonderful friends all over the world reflecting this.  And currently I have a job I love, in a country that I love with a man that I love.  

But there is still loads to do, my list of things to do in the (hopefully) next half of my life is long.   So keep watching this space.

My sister and husband sent me this card and I just love it!  I thought it was a good one for this post and it is how I plan to continue my exercising!

I know I am repeating myself, I just feel so lucky to have the life I have had so far.  And especially the last year of my thirties that I spent married to the most amazing man and whom I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with!  I love you Luis!

And to top it all off, I still have the most amazing dog, who every day makes me smile and laugh!  

Glitz and Glam

My big mid life reflections will have to wait another day!  Today I am finding it hard to even type!!  Signs of a great party :) And what a great party it was!  Glitz and Glam was the theme and all looked stunning!

It really was a wonderful night thanks to all our brilliant guests and all the effort put in by Luis, Cookie and Jacques to set up the perfect event. Reflections coming soon!

40..!

40.. 40.. Really! I almost cannot believe it!  How the heck did I just turn 40, it seems quite impossible.  But I am a Maths teacher so there is no denying it, I have turned 40!  There will be a blog of further reflection on this, but right now I am too busy getting ready for the big celebrations tonight.  And we are miles behind as obviously there is little chance that we were not going to celebrate the actual night last night...

So we went to my favourite favourite wine bar last night to toast the big day.  And we definitely toasted it well!!

Cookie, Jacques and Lola

Some of you may be wondering what Lola was up to while we were relaxing in Myanmar, well she was having a wonderful holiday too.  She spent it being spoilt by her new best friends Cookie and Jacques.  They spent their days crabbing and then chilling out on the beach, they spent the evenings chilling at home or out for margaritas.  I think it was probably her best holiday ever and she was probably a little sad upon our return.  Lucky for Lola and lucky for us they are staying for a few extra nights to be here for the big birthday celebrations.  

Cookie and Jacques were the best pet sitters ever and Lola the luckiest pup ever to have had them.  We are so happy they are staying for a while as we also think they are pretty wonderful!

Final Thoughts

Our last day in Myanmar was beautiful, we just cycled around, ate great food and had a lovely day.  There are a few places that I have traveled that have had a lasting effect on me, Ethiopia and Cuba are two trips that definitely left a mark and now Myanmar.  I do not think I have ever come across a country full of more helpful, happy and friendly people.  Even the street dogs, and there were a lot, were super friendly. Not once did one bark at us or show fear, they all came over wagging their tails. Which shows they have not been taught to fear humans (very unlike many other places I have been).  

Before traveling there we did have to ask ourselves was it the right thing to do. Even though there have been improvements there, there are still horrific human rights violations going on today and I knew a lot of the money we spent would fall into the wrong pockets.  But I think we made the right decision. People need hope, they need to feel pride in their country and they need an income.  We tried very hard to put our money right in the hand of the locals, not always possible but we did our best.

I loved cycling everywhere, through the pagodas of Bagan and the mountains of Inle Lake, I think cycling will be a new feature of all our holidays.  I am happy to be home to see Lola who we missed loads and our wonderful dog sitters (and now friends for life) but will miss this place a lot.