Jacqui's Birthday

The end of the school year is fast approaching and it feels like we have become super busy.  It is always a crazy time at work and for some reason socially.  There are dinners, parties, farewell celebrations and of course some birthdays.  Last night we had a great night out celebrating a pretty fabulous girl.  Jacqui is also a newbie and we share a common interest in making BISP a far more social place to be.  We have great plans for this school and the other schools on the island!

A lovely dinner at a place that really needed to redeem its self to me and Luis (we took Jodi there and it was rubbish). I am not sure we will return (a bit far for us) but it was great last night with a fabulous bunch.

Run the Hour

Yesterday I was in my first kinda running race, Run the Hour at school.  You had to run as many km's as you could in one hour.  It was really in preparation for next weekend's proper real life signed up for race.  I did nine km's and ran the entire hour, okay jogged not ran, and a pretty slow jog at that.  But I was so proud of myself, it is by far the longest I have ever jogged for and I think I am ready for next weekend's race (where I only hope to finish without looking too silly).

 This was the first 'Run the Hour' event and it was so well done.  What I liked about it is that we ran around a 1km circuit so everyone was spread out and you did not feel like you were the slowest, even if you were.  The fastest people went around the track 15 times, but they were only 18 not 40! 

 Luis ran the hour too, these were the hottest shirts ever and we definitely wished we had brought our own.  Clearly our first race, as we did not realise that you did not have to wear the shirt, everyone else seemed to know.

 And we are off!

 My very first running medal!  We were so proud of ourselves afterwards, sore but proud.  Another event checked off my list!

BBQ and Patong Fun

Yesterday afternoon I attended what was a pretty fabulous BBQ while Luis stayed home to look after the girls.  First and most importantly he found the owners of Lily who were very happy that we had found her.  He gave them the medicine for her eyes and the new snazzy collar we bought her and she went home.  I must admit that we both felt a little bit sad she is such a sweet dog.

My plan was only to go the BBQ for a bit as I knew that on Sunday we were in our first running real life race.  Well that went right out the window and it ended up being a pretty fun girls night in the notorious Patong.

 Me and Julie who always take pictures together to send to our great mutual friend Jocelyn. 

Some of the group, it was pretty packed out.

 Patong ladies

 I only went as Kim had never been before, that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!

 These are the ladies who made the trek to the clubs and bars of Patong.  This is also the only picture of about 100 that is remotely postable, my picture taking skills seemed to deteriorate the later it got.

Nothing is What it Seems

Well this has been a week of 'nothing what it seems'.  Partially, brought on by our selves and partially just because this is just sometimes what happens.   So I sent, Freda, my niece a Madonna lullaby CD, as Madonna is the best performing artist of all time.  Now obviously this is a high selling item and they were out of stock for ages.  In ways of an apology for the late delivery they said they were sending a free gift that Freda was sure to love.

 This is the CD.. Lovely.

This is Freda...Lovely, beautiful, sweet.

 And this is the free gift that they thought she would love! I mean really can you imagine that adorable baby with this in her mouth! Really!! 

 And then there was Luis's rescue puppy who in fact is not a rescue puppy at all but a very old doggie.  Luis bathed her, she slept for a day and this morning went to the vet for her meds.  So now we are not looking for a home for a pup but rather a sweet old granny.

Finally, the White Rider, or shall we say the White Rider Death Trap.  Yep, driving it home last night was probably the scariest drive of my life.  But I guess when you pay the same for a car as you would for a bike this is kinda what you should expect.  So this has turned into a busy day of home hunting and car fixing.

How is Lola Cola going to Handle this....?!

Well it does not take a genius to answer this, any one who has met Lola knows that she is slightly protective of me and definitely not into making doggie friends.  She is happy with me and Luis and really shows no interest in most people and certainly not other dogs.  And to be fair she is not always interested in us either!  So I am not sure how this is going to fly with her but this morning Luis rescued this poor little puppy that we have noticed around the neighbourhood (well we hope rescued and not stolen).  Either way she was looking more than a little rough and needs some love and care.  We will take her to the vet tomorrow and get her all her shots and then see if any one in the neighbourhood lays claim to her (I hope they do not, as I might be  a little upset as to why she is always in the pouring rain, hungry and looking a little hurt).

Luis is already attached, named her and everything.  Me and Lola may take a little more convincing... 

Either way, we will make sure she is taken care of, by us or another home. In the meantime, I am going to try very hard not to fall for her!

The Artist Within

I am now working hard on my list which is keeping me busy and out of trouble.   This week will be my second lesson in finding the artist within.  Deep deep down I must have some artist talent.  My mother was an artist, her sister, my Grandmother, I must have gotten some of these genes!  I have signed up for 30 hours of drawing and sketching lessons.  They are held at a local art gallery in Phuket town and are just fabulous.  The place has such a relaxed feel and we can go in whenever we like for our two hour session.  It is all in Thai, so hoping this will help me work on my current two word Thai language situation.  I just loved our first lesson, next one again on Friday.

 The Studio

 Jacqui who is joining me for the lessons

 First we had to learn to shade.  I loved this exercise, all just so calming.

My first piece of work.  My very first cylinder.  I really enjoyed it and quite excited for the second one.  In other news, uke classes are going well, I am definitely making some serious progression!

The White Rider

I wanted 'Pop-up Princess' or the 'Mighty Mazda' but in the end I was happy with the 'White Rider' as I did love the Knight Rider and to be fair the car is as old as the show.  It is fabulous, I loved the Green Machine and it still breaks my heart when I think about the loss of her but I am happy to have a car with almost as much character.  I mean pop up lights, how cool is that!  And a window that does not go up or down properly, so exciting!

We will pick up the White Rider later this week and are super excited about the new addition.  The best part is that it is the same price as a scooter, and we both did not want to have to get a scooter.  We actually just said we would take it about one minute before another guy did when we were looking at it. He even offered more money but she told him she had to honour her first acceptance.

More pictures to follow.  We are excited about all the new memories we will make with the ever so cool 'White Rider'!

Weekend with Jodi

I cannot believe we do not do this more often, Singapore is a short cheap flight away.  It is totally unacceptable that we have not seen each other more often and something that we now intend to fix.  Jodi, flew over this weekend for a quick but wonderful weekend.  

Her arrival, a blurry picture as we were both so excited to be together.

 Mainly there has been a lot of eating going on, Friday Thai, Saturday lunch Thai and then night Mexican (which was a very poor choice on my part).

 We took her to a my first lady boy show.  The costumes were amazing and the show very entertaining.  Most of the audience were quite rude though and not really into watching the show, it was more like this was on the list of their package tour and it was just checking a box. I felt for the performers.

 Leica also joined us and we had a lovely night out.  It has been a quick but great catch up weekend.  I am just waiting now for all to wake up so we can head to breakfast before heading to the airport.

Taking Control

Five years ago I started investing some money for my later years and I was so proud of myself.  Finally, I was becoming a real life grown up,  my twilight years were going to be fantastic. And then the dream came crashing down when we had a visiting ex-teacher millionaire come to our school.  The first slide in his presentation featured the company that I have been investing in, Generali. This company and about seven other big ones have pretty much been making a lot of money of us International teachers.

Bottom line, today I have surrendered all the money I have invested in them thus far.  Yep, lost it all.  And I cannot even write that figure down on here, as it is very very depressing.  However, all is not lost, this man, Andrew who gave us this devastating news claims all is not lost and I can recoup this money by investing further money properly.  But still very hard to swallow.

But all is not lost, my father sent me a book that I received today and in the next year I am taking control of my financial situation.  By next year I will understand it all and make good sound choices so my twilight years will be spent on a yacht and not a row boat.

I will do nothing until I read and understand this!  Not that I have any money these days anyways!

Number One

I believe I have mentioned a few times that I have written a list of forty things to do this year, all measurable, not anything like 'be a nicer person', too subjective.  Anyways, the other day at a dinner someone pointed out that 40 things is not far off one a week and that I am quickly approaching week four with nothing accomplished.  Also many of these things will take almost a year to accomplish so there is really no time to waste.

Sooooo.. today I had my very first uke lesson (yes, if you are a player you get to use the slang!) and I have to say it is a good thing I have started now, it will take me at least a year to play a song!

My amazing teacher Adam.  If I were Adam I would have stormed out in frustration.  He was totally calm and patient as I struggled with my thumb position.

But we ended the lesson with all smiles.  I have some homework to do for next week and I am pretty excited about my future music career, maybe this is how I will finally meet Madge!

Taking Advantage

The rainy season is upon us once again, although some would argue we did not really have a dry season.  It was drier for sure, but still not what they are accustom too.  It is only the beginning though and still some pretty lovely days that must be taken advantage of.  So on Sunday when we woke to a beautiful sunny day there was no other option really then to head to the beach.

The water is definitely changing, the waves are returning and the huge beach is getting a bit smaller.  But we love the surf, even Lola enjoys the big waves and doing a little body surfing.  It was a beautiful day and a lovely day to end a pretty quiet weekend.

Friday Family Market

After almost a week of silence due to on going health and teeth issues, we are back!  And when I say issues, nothing that cannot be solved, we are pretty lucky people and I know it.  Tonight we had a much needed family night at our favourite Friday night destination, the Friday night Boat Avenue market.

Lola likes to be all high and mighty about wine, but you can see from the progression from photos that she is a wine girl too.

I love this market, I love coming here on a Friday night and I love most that these two L's turn a horrid week to a fabulous Friday night outing together!