To All the Dads I've Loved Before...

The sign says, "We Love You, Dads!"

Sorry about the cheesy title, but I was too embarrassed to actually post "Happy Father's Day" up there, being that I kind of missed the (fishing) boat on getting this posted on their special day. But I figured with the combination of "better late than never" and the classic, "Isn't everyday Father's Day" philosophies, I could attempt to redeem myself with a touching tribute to these very special men. And to further redeem ourselves and clear our names, I have to say that we actually did send real cards in the mail to them (albeit those were probably a bit late as well). But I digress. This one, after all, is all about the dads. And what very special dads they are! I've been blessed from the get-go with some pretty incredible father figures in my life: my very own sweet, wonderful dad, and my two amazing grandfathers, the late, great Son Daddy and my very dear Daddy Buck (now 87 years old and living in Ballinger). I just can't sing their praises enough. These men are responsible for making my childhood pretty much the best one any little tomboy could ever hope for! From all the fishin' trips to the hours spent playing catch, kick, and cards, these guys taught me everything I know about knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep. I'm sure there were some other very important life lessons thrown in there as well, but every gambler, I mean little girl, knows these are among the most crucial to the secret to survivin'. I don't know that a blog is necessarily the appropriate medium for diving much further into the depths of how much these amazing men mean to me, but let it be known that these men are at the top of my Papa-Pedestals, and in my own personal opinion anyway, they are the greatest dads on earth (and now that I've gotten to experience a great deal more of the earth, I can make that statement in all honesty without reservation). And now on to my next dads, the "in-laws" so to speak, but I've never really thought too highly of the term "in-law."  I suppose it has a great deal to do with the fact that my dad's parents, dear Daddy Buck and precious little Grandmommie, never referred to my mom as anything else but their own daughter. I just always thought how sweet it was for them to drop the whole "in-law" thing completely and it's something that always stuck with me. So with that said, I have to recognize my other two dads, the father-in-laws (and I use that term here for clarification purposes only), that I was so very fortunate to have gotten out of the whole marriage thing: Will's dad, Neil, and stepdad, David. These two men have welcomed me into the family from the very beginning and have blessed mine and Will's lives with such love and laughter along the way. Not only did I get an amazing husband in Will, but I also got two more amazing men in my life that I'm proud to call dads and whose family's I'm so delighted to be a part of! I love them both dearly and hope they know just how very special they are to me. Will and I miss all of the dads in our lives more than blogs can ever say. So here's to our own fathers, our grandfathers, our fathers-"in-law", our godfathers, our best friends' fathers and best friends that have become fathers: We think of you guys so often and talk so much about wishing you were here to share some of these great experiences with. We cherish all the times we've spent together, the memories we've made, and the laughs we've shared, and we're so looking forward to the many, many more times, memories, and laughs to come! We love you all very much and wish you each a very special, very belated, happy Father's Day!

Here are some more pictures of the special dads in our life: Dads

Pick a couch, any couch...

So most of you know that we arrived here with very little furniture. A television stand, an antique/make-shift coffee table, a butcher block, and a couple of small hand-me-down end tables were pretty much the only furniture items we owned worth shipping over here. Besides that, we had at least 2,000 pounds of dog food and the entire toiletry and canned good sections of the local Houston Heights Kroger that took up most of the space in our crate. So with that said, furniture shopping became a high priority for once once we moved into the house, and all we had to sit on were mounds of Taste of the Wild dog food. So rather than pile and position these bags into an entire living room set, we set out on a mission to find furniture. Real furniture. Rumor has it that you can find good quality furniture over here for relatively inexpensive prices. You just have to know where to look. Well after looking in all of the WRONG places for quite some time and growing increasingly desperate, we decided to hit up the Convention Center for the Furniture Expo that happened to be in town at the time. It was mainly designed for furniture manufacturers to showcase their products to furniture retailers throughout Asia, but with enough begging and pleading, sometimes these manufacturers can be talked into making products directly for normal, needy people just like us! We met the woman representing the Chesterfield Collection and got an invitation to their manufacturing plant out of the deal (after some phone calls, emails, and more begging and pleading of course). Will and I made an appointment to meet the man in charge of the whole operation and drove out to the plant one morning to see how and where the Chesterfield creation is born....and what a thing of beauty it is! We pulled up on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere (actually, it was very much in the middle of somewhere....that somewhere just so happened to be rows of old Chinese villages now mostly occupied by stray dogs), and once the cloud of dust cleared from our drive in, we finally saw this magical little place where all of the furniture elves were hard at work, crafting couch after couch by hand in this furniture fairyland called Chesterfield. We sat side by side with the man in charge, and he talked us through the entire process. All we had to do was tell him how many pieces we wanted, and in what size, styles, and colors, and those little elves I just mentioned started hand-making them for us, exactly to our specifications!! Amazing. In just a little over 3 weeks we had a whole new living room set custom-made, plus an extra leather loveseat for the tv room thrown in just for grins. Granted, our house looks a bit like a Chesterfield showroom now, we couldn't be more pleased with our purchases! Our furniture family is finally starting to take shape, and we are so excited to have met the wonderful people of Chesterfield to help make our sofa, chair, ,and ottoman dreams come true!
 
















Will enjoying a very rare chance to kick his heels up and relax in his new chair after work!

Reunited and it Feels So Good

We are so excited to report that after 3 long months of separation, Boo has finally made her way "home" to us in Malaysia! It was certainly a team effort, made possible by a one pet relocation company, my loving and loyal family for all of Boo's temporary housing arrangements and EVERYTHING her 3-month room and board entailed, the support and understanding of my wonderful husband that ever agreed to this in the first place, and one....no, make that two, steep credit card statements that might have just catapulted us into Elite Status and Very, Very Important Customers of American Airlines....Very Important. This dog has certainly racked up the miles over the last couple of weeks (hopefully earning us some serious points along the way):  Midland to Dallas, Dallas to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to KL. I can't even imagine how long that flight must have been in dog hours! Once she arrived in KL, she was taken through customs and then sent straight to quarantine to spend the next 7 days serving time for a crime she didn't commit. Poor thing was all caged up like an animal or something. But we drove the hour out there and back each day to see her and make sure she was surviving the culture shock ok. The sweet man that was hired by the pet relocation company to check on her was kind enough to hook up a fan in the cage for her and made every effort to keep her as comfortable as "humanly" possible. We were originally concerned about the possibility of her getting fleas, ticks, and heat stroke, but the only thing she seems to have picked up at the "puppy pen" was a bad case of separation anxiety because she is not letting us out of her sights even for a second. Every step we take, she takes. As soon as we get up, she gets up. There's no way she's going to let us do that to her again! Yes, it was a rather long, tiring, and expensive journey, but she's worth every penny of it. She is home sweet home with us once again, and now our transition into crazy expat life seems complete. We have the house, the car, and the dog...life is good.

Boo's time in the pen.

Playing it Cool.

Boo....international dog of leisure

Movin' On Up

                                                    Home Sweet Home
                 3 Persiaran Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 55000

Well it's official. Will and I are now the proud new residents of a lovely little (and I use that term loosely) home here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We moved out of our serviced apartment a little over two weeks ago and into this charming bungalow a few kilometers from downtown. We're located on a great block of restaurants, shops, and embassies (Kingdom of Lesotho to the right of us and Republic of the Sudan across the street....yeah, I had to google them too). We couldn't be happier to finally have a HOME! A real honest-to-goodness home!! Most people here live in an apartment, condo, or highrise of some sort and for us to have an actual home with a yard, a gate, and our own driveway is huge! Always the kind to keep our priorities in check, the first things we did after moving in were to put together the BBQ pit, set up the hammock, and find the perfect place on the front porch for our rocking chairs. I guess the only thing left to do now is to get out the flag poles and find a place to proudly wave Old Glory and the Lone Star State somewhere out front. I think they'd be a nice addition to the flag family already flying high on the block (in between Sudan's and Lesotho's). And now that the grill, hammock, and rocking chairs are in place, we finally saw to it that the phone line, internet, and cable were hooked up. Actually, we tried to see to this before we even moved in but apparently things happen a little slower on this side of the world (which to be quite honest with you I don't really understand because we're supposed to be 13 hours ahead of you guys)! Anyhow, after a few no-show appointments and days and days of waiting around for these workers, I'm proud to say we are up and running once again (hence the updated blog). 

And though we didn't come prepared with a whole lot of furniture or fixtures for our new home, we did come fully stocked with what seems like a year's supply of cereal, spices, and soaps. One thing I made sure to do before we moved was to load up on our favorite snacks and sundries every chance I got and have the movers cram our crate full of these goodies. I'm happy to report that these goodies made it all the way from Houston to Malaysia safe and sound with only a few dented boxes of granola bars and graham crackers to show for their nearly 3-month adventure on the high (and slow) seas!!

Pick a spice....any spice

Rotel? Check. Community Coffee? Check. Jiffy Cornbread? Check. Check.

Happy Anniversary...What a Ride!

                                     Wedding Day: March 24, 2007
Wow, it's hard to believe that three years ago today I married the man of my dreams and love of my life. I certainly can't speak for the masses here, but what a wonderful time we had at our wedding! A beautiful church, a phenomenal wedding party of our closest friends, and a congregation full of our loving parents, grandparents, and other family members that went to great lengths to join us for the celebration. And by "family members" I am referring to every single person that was in attendance that unforgettable night. That's exactly what it was all about....bringing our family together and sharing the night with all of our loved ones. I probably shouldn't mention the air conditioner going out and the cheese trays melting from the heat, or the surprise (and shiny) uniforms the catering crews showed up in, or even the fact that the DJ kept mispronouncing our name all night, but that's all a fabulous part of why it was so unforgettable for us and why we should have known from that moment on that we'd be in for an exciting adventure! Besides that, Will's homemade gumbo more than made up for any minor distractions in my opinion, and to have him by my side and for us to be surrounded by our fabulous family are the real reasons I cherish that night as a night I'll never forget. And looking back on it three years, two moves, and one opportunity of a lifetime later, I can recall in very vivid detail just how much fun I had and hope that everyone else had to! I recall every step of my darlin' daddy walking me down the aisle, I recall Will and me laughing (very respectively, mind you) through the vows, I recall people's faces and conversations and dance moves (for better or worse), I recall the sweat dripping from my face from the whole unfortunate AC thing, and I recall Will taking his hand in mine, and I cherish every single minute of it. We can't wait to go out and celebrate our 3 years together tonight and to reminisce about what all has happened since March 24, 2007. I'm pretty sure that moving to Malaysia pretty much trumps everything else, but there are countless of other amazing moments and memories and lessons and laughing fits that we'll have a good time recalling tonight. I'm sure a lot of those memories will contain stories about you, whoever "you" are that might be reading this right now, because whether you were at the wedding or not, there's a reason you're reading this blog....there's a reason you're following our lives.....and there's a reason you are so very much a part of ours and why we love you so very much. Yes, three years ago I married the man of my dreams and love of my life. And in just three little years he's already given me a better life I ever dreamed of having. Tonight we're celebrating our first 3 years in Malaysia....who knows where we'll be celebrating the next 3! I love you, Will.

Sneak Peak

           Here is a look at the front porch with fountain at the far end.

Great news, everyone - after weeks and weeks of house hunting here and looking at everything from high rises to low rises and everything in between, we have finally found a place to call "Home." However, we've been notified, again, that our shipment has been delayed, again, and won't be arriving now until April 3rd(ish). In the meantime we're just waiting it out at the temporary apartment still and counting down the days until our stuff arrives so we can officially get moved in to our charming new (old) bungalow. The place is absolutely perfect for us - we'll have more bedrooms and bathrooms than we'll ever know what to do with, but that just means more room for visitors (hint, hint). We chose the house based primarily on the fact that it has a great fenced in yard for Boo, a great detached library for Will, and it's just a short walk to the expat grocery store for me. Oh, and it just so happens to be conveniently located a couple doors down from the best margarita joint in town. Location, location, location!

...and We're Back!

Hello loyal followers.....all one or two of you out there that check the site on a regular basis to see what exactly we are up to over here on this side of the world. I apologize for not keeping this updated as often as I promised myself (and many, many others) that I would. I don't really have any excuse for taking a blog break so early on in the game except to say maybe that the loss of Gus might have knocked the writing wind out of me for a while. But Will and I are very much still alive and well in Malaysia and making the most of this experience as we possibly can. In fact, several weeks ago we took a day trip down to Melacca with some friends of ours to enjoy a smaller, simpler city here in Malaysia. Perhaps it just seemed simpler because it happen to fall on the widely celebrated Chinese New Year holiday and everything in town was closed, but it was a nice getaway nonetheless.

               Day trip to Melacca with friends Courtney and JJ