Kristin's Bridal shower

I threw a bridal shower for a friend of mine in Shanghai, the same one who bought a Chee Pow for her wedding. She is back in the the states to get married and doesn't have enough time while she is there to have a bridal shower so we decided that we needed to throw her one before she left!  It was travel themed so we served boxed lunches like you would get on a plane and decorated with maps and paper airplanes.  It was a really fun event.  We played a bridal shower game where the groom was emailed questions to answer about Kristin and she had to guess what his answers were.  She was blindfolded and if she missed a question she had to grab a piece of clothing from the bag and put it on.  She did miss a few and looked hilarious after trying to dress herself blindfolded.  It was great being able to celebrate before she left!

Leather Anniversary!

Today is my three year anniversary with my amazing husband!  Did you know that traditionally couples give each other leather gifts to celebrate 3 years?  Funny, huh?  Anyway, I just wanted to say happy anniversary, i love you Joel!

I'm a comin' home...

My next blog will be from the good old US of A!  I am heading to the airport in 3 hours to fly home for a month long visit.  Can't wait to see everybody!  I will have my old number if you need to get a hold of me.

I think maybe I will just stick with my airplane ticket, not too comfy to ship myself .
Plus my hair doesn't fit!

Duke vs China Basketball

The night we got back from Anji we stopped for pizza on the way home and if you bought 2 pizzas you got 2 free tickets to the Duke vs China basketball game (and an extra ticket for every pizza after you bought 2).  Tim was going to be out of town so we bought 3 pizzas so that Joel and Kristin and I could go.  It was really fun!  Mostly foreigners surprisingly, but still a good turn out.  And Duke won!  Yay!  The arena was just like any you would see in the states with the exception that the concession stand did not have nachos.  ; )

Joel's Birthday

For Joel's birthday last weekend we decided to lay low.  He requested that I make my famous meatball subs (famous to him) and that we just hang out and watch movies.  So on his birthday, I got up with him and had a special breakfast treat, a donut and a bacon croissant and gave him a special snack for later at work (a pretzel bread from our favorite bakery).  We went out with a bunch of people from Joel's office for his birthday lunch and Joel treated everyone to pizza.  It is tradition to treat people on your birthday which I think it really funny.  I baked a cake and took it in for everyone to enjoy at the office just before everyone left for the day.  All of the Chinese were really excited to have a traditional American birthday cake and took thousands of photos of the cake and me cutting the cake and Joel and I with the cake , phew.  The only bad part about the day was me trying to get the cake to the office.  We live right on the river and Joel's office is directly across from us also on the river so we just take the ferry back and forth.  So at 4:15 I left the house carrying a huge cake plate, a large knife (which I hid in my purse) and plates and headed toward the ferry.  The cake plate was really heavy and it was hot outside.  When I got to the ferry it was closed because the river had risen too high and flooded the dock.  Great.  Did I mention it was really hot and the icing on the cake was starting to melt off?  So I waited to see if the ferry would start again, all the while drawing a crowd of curious chinese who were wondering why I was carrying a cake.  So needless to say I gave up and grabbed a cab (which takes twice as long) and of course the ferry started going again.  Ahh, the joys of living in the big city and not having a car to throw things in and to get around.  So, after the fun at the office Joel and I headed back where he got to open all his presents.  I got him a badminton set, a movie watching date kit and a few other fun things.  We had our meatball subs and just watched movies and hung out all night.  The next day we went to the park with some friends and spent the whole day playing badminton and hanging out in the sun.  It was a beautiful day in Shanghai!  Over all I think Joel had a pretty good b-day.

A visit from a brit

Our friend Tim had a friend from London come to Shanghai for work a few weeks ago and he was able to spend some time hanging out with all of us.  We had a few dinners together, one night at the bars and a fun filled day of exploring Shanghai.  Martin had some free time from working and told Tim that he would love to experience a Shanghai Tai Tai day (tai tai is wife).  So he was lucky to catch us on a day when we were planning on (gasp!)  shopping!  So we did drag him shopping but luckily in was in Yuyuan gardens which is a must see in Shanghai anyway.  We didn't put him through the torture too long before we decided to stop for a bottle of wine (he had to get the whole experience) and to teach him the art of Mahjong.  We had bought a travel set so it was small enough to spread out on our table at happy hour.  He caught on very quickly and we then moved on to one of my favorite bars in Shanghai to meet Joel who was getting off work.  It is my favorite bar because of the view.  It is amazing.  Since Martin had mastered mahjong we got the set back out at the bar and played a few more games with Joel before heading to dinner to meet Tim.

Playing mahjong, check out the view!

Kristin helping Martin with strategy.

The group.

The view.

More view.