Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash Have you noticed how during the pandemic there don’t seem to be any “good” options anymore? I definitely have. So much so, in fact, that I even coined a phrase for it last summer – “What’s my least worst option?”...
Sarah Novak
Howdy blog readers! Happy Tuesday to you all. Please note that I am writing my third blog post in two weeks (woot woot). Really trying hard to write consistently and get back in the habit of blogging! Keep the encouragement coming! Our life continues to be pretty mundane. January was a...
I was so delighted with how many of you took the time to read my post yesterday and comment. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside….which makes me want to do it again! I guess that’s behavioral reinforcement theory in action. :) The focus of today’s post is THE HOLIDAYS...
Ughhh. I’m embarrassed to write because it’s been sooooo long. Was my last post really in October?!!? All I can say is that COVID fatigue has hit hard and writing feels like way too much work. Today I was feeling inspired though, so here I am trying to get back into a blogging...
We transferred from Bend, Oregon to Minnesota on October 3rd. I knew it was risky coming back to MN in the fall but I was hoping for mild weather since we have no winter clothes along (who knew we’d stay out of India for so long!?!). Of course, I should have known that MN would...
I’ve been a bad, bad blogger. Forgive me. It’s just that I don’t feel much like writing lately. Mostly I blame COVID-induced malaise. And the fact that I’m rarely without my mini sidekick who is always asking for things from me which leaves little time or headspace...
A lot has happened this I last wrote from Bend. In late May we decided to make a cross-country trip from Bend, Oregon to St. Paul, Minnesota. We broke it up into 6 days and took a day of rest in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Our two big stops were in the Grand Tetons near Jackson Hole and...
One of the things that made me a great Life Coach was that I was deeply empathic, meaning that I could feel others’ emotions (especially pain) quite intensely. This served me well in coaching but also has a downside too. You see, when there is a lot of pain in the world, I feel it. The...
I typically have a very positive outlook on life and can discover beauty in even the most challenging situations. This COVID-19 pandemic is really pushing my limits though. I’m having a hard time finding ANYTHING good about it (will write a longer post about that later). But if I...
As promised, here are the details of our repatriation flight from Mumbai back to the U.S. If you haven’t read my last post then you should probably start there. That way you’ll have some additional background. Rewind back to Wednesday, March 25th when the Government of India...
Uff da. It’s been a hard 4 weeks hasn’t it? I, for one, am EXHAUSTED. Trying to work, oversee school and cook/clean left me feeling hopelessly ineffective at all 3. There’s a reason why each of those is a full time job! When I last wrote March 13th, we were on the cusp...
I was feeling so good about things. Virus reports everywhere, yet nothing in Mumbai. Mind-blowing, given how many people are in India and what close proximity they live in. Now, it may just have been reporting naivety, but I was willing to go with it, especially since I tend to be a...
My 40th birthday is just around the corner (July 9th) and as a result, I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of aging. I had a sobering moment the other day when I heard an old favorite song on Spotify, looked up the release date and realized that it was 20 years old, not 5-7 years...
Hello dear readers – Goodness gracious, can you believe it’s mid-February already?? Everything feels like a blur lately, which is largely because work has been so intense. Happily though, something has changed in the last 6 months that has shifted the intensity from...
I haven’t written about Nia in awhile and I know she’s one of your favorite subjects so today I’m devoting an entire post to her! Nia is 8 now and continues to evolve as a little person. The top words I’d use to describe her at this stage in life are: curious...
Hello everyone!! What happened to January?! I could have sworn I’d blogged last month but I guess that wasn’t so. Sorry ’bout that. Will try to compensate for that in February! When I think back on January and what consumed my mind, a good chunk of it was fretting about...
As I’m sure you can tell from the pictures and blog posts I’ve shared thus far, Bhutan as a whole was pretty darn special. However, there are 3 experiences we had that stood out from the rest. Oddly enough, they all involve monasteries. Today I’ll share a little about...
Happy Holidays all. I hope things are grand in your world. We just wrapped up a one week trip to Bhutan, also known as the Kingdom of Happiness. Since most people haven’t been to the Kingdom, I thought I’d give a short primer filled with a mix of fun facts and an overview of...
Hi – This is Nia. This is my second blog post. We got to go to Bhutan last week and see this really cool Dzong (or fortress) in Punakha. I’m going to tell you about it in this post. And just in case you were wondering, I took all these pictures! Let’s get touring! This is the...
We were delighted to welcome our first visitors to India last week — my parents! Since all of us are working full-time, we had to jam a month’s worth of fun into a 10 day trip. Thankfully my parents have the energy of 20-somethings – it was me sneaking in daily naps! :)...
What do you think of when I say the words “Hare Krishnas”? Most likely, you think of orange-clad devotees singing and proselytizing in airports in the 1970’s. And yes, you’d be right. That is part of their history. But it’s just one part and honestly, I think...
October has been such a stellar month. We’ve had three 4-day-workweeks in a row. And here’s the best part – Nia had school on 2 of the 3 days we had off of work! You know what that means . . . date day for Mom and Dad! We literally put her on the bus at 7:30 and...
October has started out in spectacular fashion. The 9 day festival of Navratri just came to an end on Monday. During this festival Mumbaikers honor the divine feminine by worshiping a different Hindu Goddess each day. There is a “color of the day” that everyone wears and large...
If you have been reading for awhile, you know that I like to keep it real. Mostly because keeping up a perfect facade is EXHAUSTING and I thankfully learned that lesson early in life (hello, depression at 25!). I’ve found that by sharing all the facets of me – both the good...
Oye. How did another month pass without me blogging?! This full-time working thing is getting in the way of me keeping you updated! I’d apologize, but it’s really work’s fault, not mine. :) Speaking of work, when we last spoke I was managing the Motorpool section (15...
It’s my favorite time of year in Mumbai – Festival Season! For the next 3 months it’s non-stop festivals. This week is Janmashtami (Lord Krishna’s Birthday) & Dahi Handi (human pyramid day), September has Ganesh Chaturthi (the Ganesh idol immersion in the...
We just wrapped up our 4th and final week of our 2019 R&R trip in a place that was about as opposite as you could get from Minnesota and Florida – Innsbruck, Austria! We found a lovely apartment with mountain views via AirBnB and reveled in the cool weather and stunning vistas...
Like many children, I have strong memories (and emotions) tied to Disney World. My 1st visit to Disney World in Orlando, Florida took place in the Fall of 1991. I was 11 years old and not only was there the excitement of experiencing Disney for the 1st time, but it was my 1st airplane...
Twas the night before Disney and wouldn’t you know it, a frickin’ tornado hit the cabin, took down 10 trees and forced my parents to have to back out of the trip. There were lots of tears but the Novaks had to press on because nothing was refundable and as you probably know...
Greetings all – The Novaks are a little over halfway into our month-long R&R trip. We kicked things off by parting ways in Mumbai with Nick heading to South Africa for two weeks of diving and Nia and I heading to Minnesota for 2 weeks of Miller family fun time. We are currently...
Wasn’t expecting to write again this soon but jetlag has kicked in full force and I am wide awake as of 3 AM today. Speaking of early mornings, I wanted to introduce you to a new 2019 practice of mine that’s rocking my world. Before I tell you all about it, let me give you a...
After 35 days away, I am finally reunited with my family and back in my own bed again! And boy oh boy does it feel good. As you might imagine, being away was quite novel at first… no demands from anyone, loads of free time, reunions with old friends and all the U.S. restaurants and...
I feel someone tapping me and catch sight of the clock – it’s 5:58. “Mom, wake up!” Was it Christmas? Oh heck no. Even better. It was self-led conference day. What are self-led conferences, you ask? Good question and one I had asked myself several weeks earlier...
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m a wee bit behind on my blogging due to my computer dying. But I didn’t want you to miss all the excitement from April and May, so I’m just going back and filling in the gaps now. The event in this post took place a month ago, on Friday, May...
I’m sure you’re wondering why I haven’t been writing these last few months. Well, it was a combination of things – lots of end-of-year activities, still finding work/life balance and my computer biting the dust. And now I’m going to attempt to make up for...
So unfortunately the surgery thing didn’t go as planned this morning. We got to the hospital at 7 AM and they were VERY disorganized (seemed to be just opening but I can’t imagine how that can be given they’re a 24 hour hospital). Wanted us to go to the ER to check in...
Three months ago I noticed that I had this strange little scratch on my chest. What was odd was that I didn’t remember scratching myself. So I slathered it with ointment each night, waiting for it to go away. No such luck – it just sat there, remaining unchanged day after day...
Hello again. Hopefully you aren’t sick of Egypt yet, as I still have one more post to do. Here are the first 3 in the series, in the event you missed them: Nia’s Blog Post (As in, Nia wrote it and took the pictures) My Blog Post about Nia in Egypt Extraordinary Egypt Part 1...
It was truly and incredible trip folks. Egypt really does live up to the hype. Nick did a great job crafting our 8 day/7 night trip. We worked with a tour company called Cleopatra Tours out of Cairo and were quite happy with their guides and overall service throughout the trip. Cairo We...
As you learned from Nia’s post yesterday, we just returned from a 7 day trip to Egypt. And I definitely agree with Nia, it was a pretty fantastic trip. It’s just impossible to do anything but marvel at these magnificent, GINORMOUS structures that were built thousands of years...
Cairo Hi – This is Nia and I’m writing my first blog post ever. It was my idea to do a post and I’m really excited about it! This blog post is about my trip to Egypt last week. I thought Egypt was quite cool. I liked that they had lots of monuments like the Sphinx and the...
We recently learned about the Cat Café Studio in Mumbai (near Versova Beach) and decided to check it out one Sunday. The premise of the cafe was simple – come sip coffee and munch on some food while 25 kitties roam around you in an enclosed space. The studio part comes into play in...
I’ve never been one to take many risks when there was the potential for injury. I was so injury averse, in fact, that I earned myself the nickname “Safe Sarah†from my family during my teens/early 20’s. I was totally cool with this though. I was proud of being the rational girl...
I’m glad so many of you enjoyed my recent post about how I had decorated our apartment. I thought for today’s post I’d go into more detail about my design vision, the unique items I found or had made and how I pulled it all together. You might want to refer to my last...
Hey Everyone – I’m short on time tonight, so no narrative along with this post. I will, however, come back later in the week and show you some more close-ups and explain what I was going for with my decorating choices here. So you have that to look forward to. I still have 3...
Hello everyone – Greetings from frigid Mumbai (overnight lows of 70 F). It’s no Minnesota snowstorm but we’re staying warm with extra layers. The Indians just can’t get over how cold it is. I am enjoying the reprieve (although I will admit to bringing along a...
I have to say, I’m a bit embarrassed to be posting this so long after our tour ended in Lilongwe but better late than never, right??? If you’re interested in seeing the recap of our second year in Lilongwe, this is your post. Just click the image below. It will take you to a...
I’ve mentioned in previous posts how much we love Nia’s school in Mumbai. They just go the extra mile in everything, which never fails to impress me. Take STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) Maker Saturdays, for example, which they do one Saturday a month. The...
Parenting is hard. Like really hard. Just when I think we’ve gotten through one issue, the next comes on full force. I find that aspect of parenting really exhausting. However, it has helped to have a teacher Mom, a Doctor sister, a teacher sister and a child psychologist sister...
So I’ve been hard at work decorating for the last month. I’ve had furniture and mirrors hand-carved, slipcovers made, custom pillows & runners made, tons of painting done and 16 pieces of art framed. So yeah, real busy. Overall I’m really happy with how it turned out...