Sri Lanka...Day One: Colombo

So last week P, J and I had an amazing trip to Sri Lanka. And you may be wondering why Sri Lanka...well let me tell you. When I was in high school I signed up to do this one week program in DC called "Future World Leaders Forum"...what a joke right? I have never pictured myself anywhere near a becoming world leader (unless the next world leader is all about planning parties), but i mean this is the random stuff you need to do to get into college! And well there were people from ALL over the world...including a large delegation from Sri Lanka (which at that point i had never even heard of). I ended up making a Sri Lankan friend kind of who I randomly emailed like twice or something...and from then on I dreamed of going to Sri Lanka. The winter after this program...the tsunami's happened and Sri Lanka was all over the news...I even at one point had the idea of going over to help (I was really ambitious about getting into college). But the point is after that happened i think everyone now has heard of Sri Lanka...and rightly so because its magical and you have to go!

So we got into Colombo early in the morning on Thursday. J had a family friend who lived in Colombo, so he let us use his house (he was on a trip). It was this great 2 bedroom home with super high ceilings...and we had 24 hour secruity outside the gate and a chef to make us breakfast...talk about living the good life.

breakfast of eggs, fresh fruit, toast and sri lankan coffee

our chef and a view of the dining room

So for the duration of the trip, J's friend helped us hire a great driver who ended up costing us each only about $100! He took us on a driving tour of the capital city...and to some great shopping points! Here is a sample of some of the things we drove past...

a giant statue of a phone?

cool looking temple

Galle Face Hotel: Oldest hotel east of the Suez...or as I would like to the Raffles of Sri Lanka, but by the beach (which makes it infinitely more awesome)

the beach

gem museum...this case was worth $2 million or something!

look at all the rubies!

We went crazy shopping in Colombo. If you go, you have to check out Barefoot and Paradise Road. Both are amazing shops with handicrafts and awesome decor stuff! Here are some of my finds...

cool handpainted elephant

peridot necklace from the gem museum

and a sari! i have no idea when i will use this but, p wanted one and when we were at the shop i just couldnt resist!

We later went to eat at this super cute restaurant...Gallery Cafe. The food was good...but i got attacked by mosquitos!

Cute cake display

cute tablescape!

cute restaurant

look they brought out "american" water for american girls

cute friends!

Dinner at gallery cafe was the perfect end to the perfect frist day in Sri Lanka! Stay tuned for another post on the awesomeness that is Sri Lanka...until next time, xxoo!

Travel Schedule!

So this week I had food poisoning or something gross...i was basically a zombie for three days and am still pretty tired. But on the bright side...its the weekend! And my roomie J and I made our travel schedule for the rest of the year and I am sooooo excited about it that I had to share it with you...so here it is:

Feb: Sri Lanka (we just came back from this trip!)
Mar: Somewhere in Malaysia
Apr: I havent decided where i want to go but there is a long weekend and I am going to do something with it
May: Vietnam
July: Nikoi Isand
Aug: Japan!
Oct: Korea
Nov: Cambodia
Dec: Home

So what do you think? Even with a trip every month I don't have enough time to see everything that I want to see...but i am soooo looking forwarded to travelling and getting out of this weird place! XXOO

So true Thursday....

So I haven't been able to write on my blog more because I literally had the worst week ever last week! First of all it was a terrible week at work. The guy with the pen totally came back to haunt me! And then Friday night my computer BROKE and I just got it a few weeks ago. Then that evening while I was asleep my email was hacked! And everyone in my address book got this crazy spam from me and my whole inbox/history was deleted. I mean literally everything that could go wrong did! So once I get my computer back from hp I will try my hardest to blog more!

I am writing this as I am preparing for my trip to Sri Lanka! Thats right...sir Lanka! I am using my iPad so this isn't going to be long....but I have a confession....

I am totally addicted to buying books!!!! It's like the weirdest obsession. I love everything from fiction to self help books. And even though I have a million books that I have but not yet read, I continue to buy them. I think I can count about 15 books that are in my possession that I have not finished reading yet. And it's not that it takes me a long time to read them...no it's that I like to read a lot at once! I have book reading ADD. And unless I think a book is amazing (ie nothing to envy....you need to read this book) I have to constantly switch back and forth.

Let me just share with you what is on my reading list now:
1. Shantaram
2. 48 law of power
3. How to win friends and influence people
4. Deluxe: how luxury lost it's luster
5. The girl with the dragon tattoo
6. Mao's great famine

Yep I'm totally in the midst of reading all of these books. As weird as it sounds I like them all but I just need to constantly switch it up. And my book buying addiction does not help. For some reason no matter how many books I own I always want another. And I'm all for real books no matter how bad it is for the environment. I love the way a real book fits In your hands and how you can fold the pages! Gosh I looooooove books! Do you have any suggestions for my next purchase? Until next time, xxoo!!

SO true Thursdays...the case of the missing pen

So I want to start a weekly blog entry where I tell you all something SO true! Whether its funny or awkward or cool, I hope you enjoy it! Here goes number one...


Last week I had a breakfast event off site and when I got back I got the craziest phone call! Some guy calling asking for a missing pen. At first I was confused what he wanted me to do about it..I mean its a pen! And then it became clear that he had already contacted the venue, which gave him a description of who they thought took the pen...and he wanted me to contact every attendee to locate this pen. I had no idea what to say, but assumed this pen was an expensive pen...like on of those fancy montblanc ones or something. But I mean what does this guy expect me to do about it, call every attendee and say "Excuse me Mister, did you take something that wasn't yours?" How rude is that?! Its a pen..get over it (and yourself). Then this guy proceeds to tell me that this pen isn't expensive, but has a lot of emotional value since he has had it a long time. Well that makes me less likely to even try...I mean thats like saying I lost my old stapler and I want you to call everyone who was near by to get it back for me bc I loved that stapler. Totally ridiculous right? And if I had taken the pen...I would have never admitted it! But the service side of me took over and I tried to figure out who had this pen...but needless to say the pen was not found.

Things like this could only happen to me in Singapore...completely insane right? Well its a great story to tell don't you think? Until next time, xxoo!

Carmel By The Sea

So I've majorly been neglecting this blog...but my goal this year is to blog more regularly! Hopefully, it will actually happen. But I did spend 3 amazing weeks at home...and it was sooo hard to come back to this place. I miss home sooo much! Anyways during my time home, I went to Carmel-by-the-Sea with my bff, V, and my puppy, Todo. It was sooo much fun. Carmel is just the cutest town EVER! And its super dog friendly. So here is a little more on our trip!

mini cupcakes for the road! too bad we didn't finish them...



Puppy was so anxious on the long drive up that he didnt fall asleep once (which is crazy because he spends most of his days sleeping). We hit major traffic, but it was a great time for puppy to smell the ocean breeze. Isn't he a cutie?!

We stayed at the Vagabond's House Inn, the cutest bed and breakfast! And they were super dog friendly...giving puppy a doggie treat when we arrived and a bowl of them at breakfast! Gosh I just wish I could live at this place. It came complete with a fireplace and kitchen! So adorable..

We are super corny obviously!

They provided a breakfast for us served in our room that we preordered the night before...and we could order anything we wanted. We ended up getting eggs, yogurt and granola, coffee, orange juice and these delicious pastries!!

We spent the one full day we had at carmel walking around town and the beach. Puppy was such a trooper walking up and down hills and even through the sand. I only had to carry him once. This trip made me appreciate how amazing puppy has gotten with age! He so well behaved, mostly beause he is too old to care. But everyone else we met adored him.

the beach!

puppy would not stop sniffing the sand! he was especially intrigued by the lumps of seaweed. first time at the beach..puppy had no idea about the ocean and when there was a big wave i tried to pull puppy away, but he didnt listen to me...and got completely all wet. the shock on his face was priceless!

dogs that were much more adventurous than puppy.

at dinner with puppy of course! they even had a special doggie menu..i ordered him a hamburger patty which came in a doggie bowl.

pooped after a loooong day!

Last day we did the 17 mile drive before heading home...which took us a few hours!! Alrght so its a bit expensive to pay 10 dollars to drive 17 miles, but it is beautiful out there.

i guess this tree is famous?

Anyhow this trip was so muuuch fun! Loved spending time with bff and puppy! Can't wait to go on another trip with puppy! Where should we go next?!