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...
Sarah Novak
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...
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.
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...
Hello Readers! This is the 5th and final installment of my Gujarat Wedding series. Today’s post will be on the various ceremonies that we got to witness as guests. I’m gonna be honest, I might get a lot of this wrong. It wasn’t super clear what was going on during each...
Nothing excited me (or freaked me out) more than the clothes. I was given this basic information in advance: – There will be five events over three days. – People change clothes for every event. – Jewelry is a must. The bigger, the better. You can never wear too much...
On the day we arrived they were doing Mehndi for the ladies. Mehndi is what we would call a henna tattoo in the States and is very common before an Indian wedding (for both the bride and the women attending). It’s an ancient form of body art in which designs are created on a...
The food experience in Gujarat definitely merits its own post. For starters, it was all vegetarian, all the time. What was surprising was how many different distinct dishes they could make out of vegetables, especially given that the only bean they used was chickpeas. There was also no...
I’m so excited to share this all with you. We just finished up what will undoubtedly be one of the coolest cultural experiences of our lifetimes — a 5 day wedding in a rural village in Gujarat!! How did we get this opportunity, you ask? Why only because of a friendship we made...
Happy 2019, my dear readers! If your December was anything like mine, then it is only a hazy blur in the memory. And the weirdest part is I can’t even think of what we did that kept us so busy. Such is the holiday season, I guess. Speaking of the holiday season, would you believe...
One of my favorite holiday traditions is scouring Itunes for the best new holiday albums and adding my top finds to our carefully curated holiday playlist. I thought my readers should benefit from my research so here are a few of my top picks this year. Unfortunately I don’t know...
Nia turned seven in October, and ever since she’s been struggling to define herself as a big or little kid. On one hand, she desperately wants to be seen as a big kid doing cool, big kid things. But with that comes greater independence (read: less pampering) and some missed...
Last Saturday we had the pleasure of attending the American School of Bombay’s Incredible India annual celebration. I continue to be in awe of the level of quality at which ASB does everything. You would have thought we were at a paid festival, not some school event on the soccer...
Nia was off last week for Diwali Break so she accompanied me to Lilongwe. Oddly enough, I didn’t spend much time with my daughter, as she had a totally different social calendar than I did. Because of that, I thought I’d devote a post solely to her trip adventures. She would...
Muli Bwanji Readers (that’s Hello in the Malawian language Chichewa for those of you who didn’t know). Why am I speaking Chichewa to you when I’m posted in India, you might ask? Great question! Well, Malawi just happens to be on my mind after 10 rejuvenating days spent...
Oooh, I am embarrassed by how behind I am on posting this. Totally meant to get it up before going to Malawi (and then while I was in Malawi) but the time never materialized. But better late than never, right? So….October. Overall was a tough India month for me, but we did have a...
There is rarely a dull moment when taking Nia out in public here. She attracts loads of attention as a fair-skinned, blonde child (a rarity here, I’ll admit). It’s almost guaranteed that if she starts showcasing her big personality in one way or another that a small crowd will...
Hello friends – Can you believe I’ve been in India six weeks already? I continue to be shocked by how fast the time is moving and how each week seems to hold some fascinating new learning opportunity. This week’s adventure: Taking a two-hour-course on learning how to buy...
Twas a week of firsts, dear readers! The highs continue to be very high and the lows, while less frequent, still feel very low at these early stages. I will prevail though, so don’t you worry, my dear readers (thanks to all of you who have sent encouraging messages). I write about...
Hello – Me again. Good news. Alice, our housekeeper/cook/nanny finally started on Monday and I’m feeling much more capable of managing the household now (mostly because I’m not anymore – ha ha). :) It’s so great having a person who knows where to buy the...
Ughhhh. Not gonna lie. This week sucked. People who were gonna show up didn’t show. Orders that were supposed to be delivered were incorrect. Salads that were supposed to go down easy came up as vomit. It just was not pretty folks. And I was a crabby pants. Because everything felt...
Awhile back I posted the initial photos we received of our Mumbai apartment. If you’ll remember, it was pretty dang barren and the lighting wasn’t great (although, don’t get me wrong, I was very appreciative to get any photos at all in advance). But, given that, I...
The Hindu deity Ganesh (the God of new beginnings and remover of obstacles) is the patron saint of Mumbai. Mumbaikers LOVE him. Today marks the beginning of the 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival which celebrates his birthday. The festival is centered in the Lalbaug area of town that used...
Nick & I went out for a city tour on Labor Day (Monday, September 3rd), which happened to be the day after Janmashtami (see my last post). Dahi Handi is celebrated in the Maharashtra State (where Mumbai is located) on the day after Janmashtami. The term means “earthen pot of...
My general approach to life overseas is to say yes to as many opportunities as I can, even if I have little information about what I’m getting into. As long as there are no safety concerns I’m willing to risk a little discomfort and embrace the unknown. Sometimes these gambles...
Seriously people. It just keeps getting better! Yesterday I joined a shopping tour that our Community Liaison Officer (CLO — my former job) put together. It consisted of three shopping stops + lunch. Our CLO is a rock star and this trip was beautifully laid out. We took off around...
We are almost one week in and I’m floored by how quickly the time is going. It’s been a shockingly busy first week and I attribute that to a few things: 1. Nia’s school was already in full swing. 2. The General Services Office at the Consulate is very well run and on top...
My daughter has no idea how lucky she is. Her new school, the American School of Bombay, is the creme de la creme. Every aspect of her education has been carefully crafted and shaped around the school’s unique value system and IB learning structure. It’s not a question of...
We’re about 60 hours in to our stay in Mumbai and man oh man am I feeling optimistic. Jet lag’s a b*tch, as usual (it’s currently 3 AM) but even that can’t bring me down. Malawi felt so foreign at first, but here I see all sorts of similarities with our past posts...
The Novaks are back in DC for the first time in two years. Although I’m not a big DC fan, it’s nice to come back to somewhere that’s familiar. For the first time ever we’re staying downtown, just blocks from the White House. The location is great and makes for easy...
We wanted Nia to have the quintessential American summer experience during home leave. In my mind that means, tons of family time (bonus points if done at the cabin), oodles of swimming and LOTS of summer camps. In typical Sarah fashion I overdid it a wee bit. So instead of a reasonable...
Hello Blog Readers – Forgive my absence. I had anticipated having more time to blog but somehow it all slipped away. But I’m here now to update you on all the fun that transpired during our month in MN! Now that Nia is older, I am loving that I can share all my favorite...