There once was a house that fell ill And racked up an emergency room bill. They hacked all day and night With no end in sight, Thank God the Neti Pot works better than a pill. WE LOVE YOU NETI! ...
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Nick took up golfing in Manila recently and even joined the Embassy Golf Club! Last night he played his first round of night golf at one of the few public courses in the heart of Manila. The...
Greetings- It’s been a full couple of days and I’m horribly behind on my posting. Just got Rachel off on the airplane this morning, so now I have a moment to catch you up on the rest of...
With my Manila adventures becoming more routine, I thought I’d begin sprinkling in a few of the “must share” ideas and products that I come across. This one is beyond cool. ...
Must give all the credit to my talented husband for this great video and the underwater shots. My coordination is definitely not at the level where I can keep up with a shark and shoot video of it...
On Monday we got back from what could surely be titled one of those “once in a lifetime” adventures. We had left early Saturday morning and flown to Legazpi, on the Southern part of...
Greetings- I hope you enjoyed last week’s photo and video highlights of our time with the whale sharks. After a weekend of extensive usage in Donsol, we have nothing but rave reviews for the...
Richard Branson totally inspires me. Talk about a man who’s dedicated his life to making the impossible POSSIBLE. Let’s take his latest project, Virgin Galactic, for example. In...
Seriously, this concept is sheer brilliance. The basic premise is that there’s a daily deal at a significant discount that only becomes redeemable if enough people sign up to get it on that...
I know that I have a tendency to over-hype things, but I tell you, this one merits the hype. You see, in the last few weeks, Nick and I have become totally and completely addicted to Jamie...
Our last two days have been pretty bi-polar. Friday was devoted to our first (of two) day trips. We were off to see Hidden Valley Springs, a stunning rain forest paradise a few hours from Manila...
Dear Sam, I’m afraid I must let you know that your singing makes me weak. How can you be so talented and barely even able to legally drink? And just when I thought I’d heard your best...
Wow, big day for this girl. Â First ever Acupuncture treatment! Â Truly, I’ve been wanting to do this for years, but never had the courage. Â Maybe I was just being cheap too because now that...
A week ago I couldn’t have even told you where Sri Lanka was (right of the Southeastern tip of India, by the way) but now I’m checking out flights there. Â Why, you ask? Â This beautiful...
Since it’s become obvious that I can’t stop time and prevent the one year mark from happening, I’ve decided that for today’s 1 Year Commemorative Post we’ll take a more...
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Can’t get enough of this new song by Sara Bareilles! Â It’s on continuous play in our house at the moment…. enjoy!
The following is from DailyOm, a personal development site my friend Liz introduced me to that provides a daily dose of wisdom or inspiration. Â What amazes me is how succinctly the authors can write...
Our good friends Andrea and Brian gave me a very cool birthday gift this year – a $25 gift certificate for a loan to give out on Kiva.org, a micro-lending site. Â (Check out this post I wrote...
Once upon a time a girl named Sarah went out on a second date with a boy named Nicholas (a rare occurrence indeed). Â When the boy named Nicholas arrived at Sarah’s door, he delighted her by...
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Nick and I took a trip down to San Pablo this weekend, both for a little R&R and to capitalize on potter Ugu Bigyan’s Birthday Sale (see previous...
It was an exciting day at Friendship Home. Â We did a fun science project exploring thermodynamics by making ice cream from scratch using only ice and zip lock bags. Â While the entire process was...
Forgive me, I’m feel like a little cheesy High School Musical today…
I’m proud to report that a mere 24 hours after arriving in Minnesota, I was happily strolling the grounds of the Great MN Get-Together, the Minnesota State Fair! Â Now mind you, I’m not...
Just one week before we left for Hong Kong Nick and I were having one of our nightly debates/discussions. Â The question was: Which sense would you LEAST like to lose? Â I insisted that sight would...
This will be my third and final post about Hong Kong. Â Today’s post will actually focus on Macau, an island that is a 1 hour ferry ride from Hong Kong. Â Macau is best known as the Vegas of...
I know I said that sailing past the Sydney Opera House was as good as it gets, but I’m going to have to retract that because the last 24 hours topped it. Â This last day was out-of-this...
After we got done with our helicopter ride, we continued driving south to Fox Glacier where we had booked lodging at a 700 acre working farm/bed and breakfast called Clearwater B&B. Â We had...
We had just wrapped up our stay at the B&B/Farm when Nick threw another surprise my way – he told me we’d be spending 2 nights in a private apartment on a vineyard in the Otago Valley...
On Monday we had the pleasure of taking Nick’s parents to Ocean Adventure in Subic Bay for an up-close-and-personal encounter with the dolphins. Â Nick and I did this back in May of 2010 and...
Lately Facebook has been abuzz with talk about an exercise class called Nia. Whenever I hear something come up again and again, I just trust it’s a sign that I’m supposed to explore...
If you’ve been reading for awhile, you’ll recall that on Day 5 of being in Manila I started a Basic Photography Class in Fort Santiago. Â Just 5 weeks later I was a Proud Graduate of...
It is decided. Â We’re going ALL-OUT for our final trip in Southeast Asia. Â I can’t even begin to explain the ginormous amount of pressure we had placed on planning this trip… You...
Hi all- please forgive the lack of posts this week. Â I have felt like absolute crap and needed to use all my available energy to drag my butt to a 10 hour Photoshop class on Friday and an 8 hour...
Can I just say that I am thoroughly enjoying my Photoshop Class and all the cool new tricks I can apply to my photos. Â And no, I do not consider that ‘cheating’, it is merely ENHANCING...
So here’s how we’re divvying up the overwhelming amount of baby-related information to learn in Novak land. Â It’s really quite simple, I take care of anything that has to do with...
Honestly, I can’t say enough good things about ABC’s new show Secret Millionaire. Â I first heard about the show through my coaching network, as several of the Millionaires are...
It’s hard to believe, but it’s T-minus 3 months until I leave Manila for good. As one of my parting gifts to you, my loyal blog readers, I’d like to bestow upon you a list of...
Bohol Beach Club This is my second and final installation of ‘Best of the Philippines’ where I sum up all I’ve learned in the last 21 months of living here. Â I know you’ll...
I’m all about trying new alternative therapies (especially after having such amazing results with Network Spinal Analysis a few years back), so when my friend Selina suggested I check out an...
I’m well aware that I owe you a MAJOR apology for not posting for the last week. Â It’s just that I’ve been so damn tired and I had to go on Medevac to Singapore for 3 days (more on...
A Joint Labor of Love One of Nick’s many roles in Manila is President of the US Embassy Club (USEC). Â USEC is the charitable arm of US Embassy – Manila that supports 13 local...
Me and heart-touching stories go together like peanut butter and jelly. Â Suffice to say, this is one of the most remarkable I’ve come across in some time… Please allow me to introduce...
I know I’ve been MIA for too long by the large number of emails and FB messages I’ve been getting about why I’m not posting. Â Thank you all for being such devoted readers who...
Big day today.  After an extensive search, I finally selected my Prenatal Yoga Studio.  I ended up choosing Blooma in St. Paul, which is devoted exclusively to Pre and Post-natal Yoga, in addition...
I’ve been a girl on a mission this last week. Â While the setting up house was important insomuch as it made Nick and I feel more at ease, the critical issue at hand was putting together our...
I had an experience on Wednesday that gave new meaning to the phrase “Rolling Out the Red Carpet.” Â It was, hands down, one of the most exceptional service experiences I have ever had...
Patience has never been one of my strong suits and honestly, these last 10 days have been downright torturous for me as I await Baby Nia’s arrival. Â So much open space on the calendar and...
This is very amusing (and definitely makes me sound more important than I am). Â Browhaus, my favorite eyebrow threading place in the Philippines, turned my blog post into an endorsement of...
Friday was a big day for little Nia. Â It was her first visit to see Dr. Tonnie at Wellness Wave. Â As many of you know, I’ve been doing Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) with Tonnie for several...
Much like Christmas, our New Year’s Celebration had a bit of a different feel to it this year. Â The biggest difference would be that it all took place on New Year’s Eve DAY since we knew...