Happy NYE Day 2012!

We've been enjoying time with friends in Park City, Utah and will be celebrating NYE mountainside.

Wishing everyone a Happy NYE Day, be safe and have fun!

Why I Love Houston...

The past week we got to catch up with a lot of our friends and it's been nothing but good times. What usually starts off as a chill night always ends up in craziness. Some things never change and I love how we just pick up where we left off; even if it's been a few years....

We had a night out with some old friends, met up with my girlies, and had a mini reunion with our UT group and a few of my CVX buddies. Let's just say a lot of alcohol has been consumed. I think its time to give up alcohol for my New Years resolution...haha

Here are some pics from the festivities:)

Christmas 2012 in Houston

We arrived to our Christmas in Houston with a bit of an inconvenience, as all 5 of our luggage did not arrive on our flight. We were expecting this since our plane was a delayed in Aberdeen and our connection time in Paris was less than an hour. Anyhow, they gave us $100 bucks each to buy first needs to help us get by for the next day, since our luggage wasn't going to come until a day later.

I really wanted to avoid going to any malls before Christmas, but I guess we didn't have a choice, so our first stop was the Galleria. There were lots of sales so I ended up getting more than I needed for my one day, which worked out because it took another extra day for MY luggage to get here. Gerald's luggage still hasn't arrived but hopefully it will get here soon.

We didn't really let that stop us from enjoying time with family and friends though. We literally have been on the go since we got in and I'm actually looking forward to a loud, but chill day at my parents house today. We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Pena's last night and Gerald and I cooked up a meat feast. By Gerald's request, we didn't do the traditional turkey for Christmas this year and opted for brisket and sausage,with ham and all the fixings. Let's just say it was a good meal! All the cousins are getting older now.  We're now talking about jobs and weddings, and we're still getting the baby question, from EVERYONE! It doesn't help that there's a cute little one running around, that makes everyone want more. The last time I saw him, he was only a few weeks old! I also feel older, instead of gossiping with the cousins, I was playing mahjong with the aunties! What is the world coming to? haha. Gerald got me a new mahjong set for Christmas so we've been trying to get as much play time in as we can. I actually learned how to play the Chinese version, since they all thought the American version was too hard.







It was also my first time to meet my first goddaughter, Danica. We had to go to the mall again to get Gerald more clothes, so I got to have some cuddles with her while walking around. She's so adorable and I discovered she really likes to look at herself in the mirror.



Anyhow, just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Enjoy your day wherever you are!

Love,

Nary + Gerald

Germany Christmas Markts

With it being our last winter in Aberdeen, I really wanted to visit the Christmas Markets in Germany, so  managed to squeeze in a trip before our trip back home for the Holidays. Our friends, Jill and Ryan, accompanied us for some good eats, good drinks, and shopping. Gerald and Ryan did the eating, and Jill and I did the drinking and shopping. We visited 3 markets altogether and thoroughly enjoyed each one, as they were all different. We used Frankfurt as a base and took the trains to Heidelberg one day and Nuremberg the next. We stayed at the 25h Levi hotel, which was conveniently located next to the train station, so it made things super easy.



Heidelberg's markets were set in the different platz around the city, with each one offering different goodies. For the most part, the markets here were focused on food, but they were still neat to see. We just didn't get to buy a whole lot. Our one must have buy for this trip was a German Christmas Pyramid, which are wooden windmill like structures that were used as Christmas trees by those that couldn't afford real ones. We ended up buying one at a famous German Christmas store, Kathe Wohlfahrt, to make sure if was of good quality, as these things are quite pricey these days. You can definitely get a cheaper Christmas tree! haha. We did a tour of the Heidelberg Palace and Jill and I tested our skills on ice!

The Castle





Largest Wine Barrel - used to store wine in the castle; wine was retrieved from above using a pump!

 



German man at work with the awesome fire pit



Ice Skating!



Old Bridge



Our German Christmas Pyramid



Life size one at the market

Nuremberg's market was centrally located in town with loads of stalls. They definitely had more to offer as far as decorations go, but the massive crowds took away from the relaxation of shopping, but we fought through.  We started the afternoon off with a visit to the world's oldest sausage restaurant and each had the house special, Nuremberg sausage with potato salad. After lunch, we were determined to find everything else we didn't get in Heidelberg here, so Jill and I were on a mission. We went up and down the stalls with the boys following behind and managed to get what we wanted. My finds...

Oldest sausage restuarant - est. 1419

Market Scene





Photo Bomb, thanks to Ryan!



Nutcrackers



German Prune Man - made from dried prunes and nuts



German Smoker - you place an incense inside the figure and the smoke comes out from the back



We still had a whole full day in Frankfurt before heading back to the 'Deen so decided to check out the markets there too. Since we did most of our shopping for the weekend, we ended up just drinking some apple wine and hanging out. My cousin, Steven, is serving in the US Army and is based about an hour and half away, so he decided to come down and meet us for lunch at Hooters (his choice, but we weren't complaining).







The trip went by way too fast, and we enjoyed our time with the Mahan's.  Only 3 more days until Houston! Hope everyone is having fun gearing up for the Holidays =)

Best of Asia - For your Viewing Pleasure

With everything going on lately, I haven't really had time to sit down and go through all the pics we took during our Asia trip. My mom was bugging me about sharing pictures so I finally took an hour to pick some of my favorites. I usually like to play with the pictures a little bit in Lightroom before I post them, usually just to crop, brighten and darken some but just can't find the time. Anyhow, I did manage to upload them into Picassa so here goes. Facebook is just a bit too busy these days so I rather share them here =) We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and can't wait to go back and visit that part of the world again one day....probably later than sooner though, as I've had my fix of SE Asia =P

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

https://plus.google.com/photos/113800854067220705176/albums/5818869280124457009

Siem Reap, Cambodia

https://plus.google.com/photos/113800854067220705176/albums/5818855635587950225

Chiang Mai, Thailand

https://plus.google.com/photos/113800854067220705176/albums/5818875104615905697

Krabi, Thailand

https://plus.google.com/photos/113800854067220705176/albums/5818958831451146817

Bangkok, Thailand

https://plus.google.com/photos/113800854067220705176/albums/5818962733943366529

Bon Accord Tanvi & Ram

The past 8 months, we've been hanging out with two fellow Houstonians, who have made their way to the 'Deen. Tanvi and Ram are super laid back and so much fun to be around. Tanvi shares my love of baking, going out, and party planning; I think those three items spell F-U-N, in itself. Ram and Gerald are both hotel snobs, love gambling and eating. So let's just say, we've enjoyed their company.  The four of us together is already fun in itself, but when you add 15 other fun people, 5 bottles of Vodka, Scotland flag and highland coo cupcakes, Paramount and music, you get a pretty AWESOME night out in celebration of Tanvi and Ram's leaving do.  They are leaving the 'Deen for Dubai at the end of the month and although we'll miss them very much, we are very happy for them and wish them all the best in their new adventure. Our time with them was short, but "We are glad to meet, Sad to part, and Happy to meet again." - Bon Accord Aiyer's! We hope to visit you soon in Dubai!

St Andrews Day

Our friend, Regan, is currently working on a short term assignment in London and decided to come visit us this past weekend. He's an avid golfer so we had to make a trip out to the birthplace of golf during his visit. Friday morning, we woke up dark and early to get ready for our visit to St Andrews and as we were about to leave the house, I checked FB and saw one of my friends posted something about St Andrews Day. Turns out that November 30 is the feast of St Andrew and it just so happened that we were heading that way; how special for Regan.

We got there around 10:30 and decided to start the day off with a bellini at the Road Hole Bar at the Old Course Hotel. We were then told that The Royal & Ancient Golf Club would be open to visitors for the day so we walked right over to get a glimpse inside the famous clubhouse. The R&A is a male only club and it's only open to the public on St Andrews Day, so we consider ourselves lucky! This is where British golf elites lunch and sip gin and tonics, while looking out onto the 1st tee and 18th green. During our past trips to St. Andrews, we've had a couple peeks inside and I've seen people do just that! So, anyhow, we went inside, talked to some of the members, sat on the comfy leather chairs and even saw the original Claret Jug! FYI - The winner of the Claret Jug gets a 75% replica when they win The British Open, but the original is housed in The R&A at all times. Even though it's a men's club, it actually had some pretty nice feminine touches to it, like the beautiful porcelain ceiling and huge chandelier. There was also a picture of the Queen in the middle of the lounge; apparently pictures of females are allowed but not females themselves.  I guess the Queen is a special exception. After about 45 minutes of admiring the place, we were getting hungry and headed to our favorite Ameri-Scottish bar, the Dunvegan's, for lunch.









After lunch, we walked to the Castle and Cathedral. It was 3:00 pm and the sun was starting to set, so we didn't have too much time to wander around town. We got to go to the main square, poke our heads into the University grounds, and then stopped at the infamous Northpoint Cafe for a light snack. Kate and Wills frequented Northpoint during their time at the University, so we had to see what the fuss was all about; I actually wasn't very impressed. They made milkshakes with no ice cream, ice tea with syrup, and my chai tea latte tasted more like hot milk than anything else. We did enjoy a nice brownie a la mode and a rhubarb crumble. Now that we were all sugared up, it was time to drive back to the 'Deen. We had a tee-rific time celebrating St Andrews Day in St Andrews =)