Random Thoughts

A few weeks ago an article came out about the most expensive cities to live in the world. Singapore ranked 10th on this list. The newspapers around here made a big deal out of it at the time, but even then I didn't pay too much attention to it. You would have to be dumb, deaf, and blind not too notice how expensive things are if you live here! As I walked around the grocery store today, I thought to myself "I don't need a stupid list or article to tell me how expensive it is here, I just need my receipts!"

So, to give you an idea, here's a short list of some of the things I buy and how much I pay for them. These prices are in US dollars.

1 gallon of low fat milk $8.50
1 pound lean ground beef $9.24
1 8oz Ribeye Steak $12.34
Small box of Cheerios $8.05
12 pack Diet Coke $6.76
1 can Cinnamon Rolls $9.62
1 pint Dreyers Ice Cream $6.76
1 pint of Haagen-Dazs $10.54
6 pack Miller Lite $15.91
8oz block of Kraft Cheese $9.92
1 lb bag rice $3.40

It's been a while since I've shopped in the US, but I'm sure some of these prices are a little high!
To give you an idea of how expensive it is here in general, the US cities on the list were New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles which were all tied at 23 along with Hamburg. Think of how expensive it is to live in those three cities, and how far ahead of them Singapore ranked!

On another note, the photos from the girls "mini vacation" were uploaded and emailed to me. If you are interested, or just bored you can view them below.

http://www.supercuddles.com/video/lets-wrestle.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24531431@N06/3448890019/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24531431@N06/3449704524/in/photostream/

Over Easter, my sister took her kiddo's in to have their photos taken. Here are a few of my favorites. Dylan (brown hair) is 4, Mathew (the blonde) is 2, and Morgan is 4 months.









I just found out that my sister is getting married when we come home in Aug! Our little trip home is starting to get really busy! We now have a stop in Houston, a wedding and family time in Florida/Alabama, and a wedding in Connecticut! All this to cover in a week and a half! We'll need a vacation after our vacation!

My nursing license FINALLY got approved (again) last week! Woo Hoo! I'm now back to working as a full nurse. So far I'm really enjoying the clinic. The McMillan's arrive in exactly 1 week, and it will be nice to have a touch of home in Singapore.

I'll update everyone on our fun adventures soon!

Krabi, Thailand

The trip we've been awaiting finally arrived! For this trip I found a new place to put the girls and I didn't even cry when I dropped them off! They spent their vacation at a pet sitter, who keeps them at her place. I was so relieved to know that they would not be in a cage all day and it made leaving for the trip that much easier. We had a day visit on Monday to make sure they were okay with the place (and the other dogs) and everything went great. She took some photos and video of them while we were gone, and when she gets them posted I'll post the link as well.

Our trip was off to a great start. The girls were in good hands, and we made it to Krabi with no problems. The car was there to pick us up when we arrived and we were off to our beach resort. It was not until we were filling out the check-in paperwork that I noticed the problem.

When they asked for our flight info to go home I noticed that my flight confirmation said Tuesday May 12th, not Sunday April 12th. I could not believe that I had made a mistake! Out of all the trips I've booked for us not once have I ever gotten a date wrong, for anything! I spent the next hour trying to speak to someone about fixing the date. I ended up paying more for the fix than I did for the original flight. I was so upset with myself that I just knew the trip was ruined! Jamie told me not to worry about it, and that he wasn't upset just as long as we got it fixed. He told me to relax and enjoy the rest of the trip. So, that's what I did.

The place was amazing! I would venture to say that it was one of the best trips we've been on. The resort grounds were very well kept, and the service was impeccable! By dinner time everyone knew our names and we were always addressed as Mr. Richard and Mrs. Erica. The resort had a private beach as well as a restaurant and spa on site. It was so peaceful! We had plans to go on a few trips to the surrounding islands (including the Phi Phi islands where The Beach was filmed) but we liked the resort so much we ended up staying there instead! We ventured out only once and that was to have lunch and do some shopping at Ao Nang Beach.

Most of our time was spent lying on the bean bag pillows and having drinks on the beach but we did make it to the spa for a couples Thai massage. I was SO sad to leave, and can't wait till we visit again! Here are a few photos of out stay, you can see why we loved the place!

Our Villa


The bathroom (This is one of the coolest bathrooms I've ever seen! The bathtub is outdoors and at night you can take a bath under the stars!)


Restaurant in Ao Nang Beach


Jamie on his bean bag! (In Krabi there is a law that states you can not have lounge chairs or umbrellas on the beaches, so our resort got around that by putting out large bean bag pillows to lay out on)


Jamie and I on the beach. If you look at the photo on the right it was taken in the same spot we were that afternoon. You can see how drastic the low tide it!


The gorgeous sunsets with the Hong Islands in the background!


Our last day!

6 Years

On April 5th Jamie and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! Wow, it's been 6 years since I went from Erica Marie Hunter to Erica Marie McMillan!  I was so busy getting everything together for the trip and the dogs settled that I didn't have time to make a post.

Jamie and I have been through so much in the past 6 years it feels like we've been together forever! We've been through 9 moves (including Singapore), buying and selling our first home, my graduation from nursing school, and three major dog illnesses just to list a few of our adventures! It's been all of our adventures that have made us the the couple we are today. We've both grown so much and I can honestly say that neither one of us are the same people we were 6 years ago. If you would have asked me on my wedding day how I thought our lives would play our over the next 5-6 years I would not have been even close. Real life has been so much better than I would have guessed!













Even after these past 6 years I can't imagine anyone else I'd rather go through life with! It's been a great 6 years and I can't wait to see what crazy adventures the next 60 have to offer!

Update

It's been a little while since I've blogged, but there really hasn't been too much going on. I have semi-started my new job and things are going well so far. Right now I am learning the computer systems, dispensary, etc, until the nursing board gets everything straight with my license and transfers it over to my new employer. Until then, I'm stuck with the basics!

Jamie is also doing well. He has been busy pretty lately, and seems to be enjoying his job more and more. At the moment, he's in the middle of a contract signing and awaiting another bid to be awarded so that they can move on to the next phase of bidding. With these two going on at the same time, he has had to spend some late nights entertaining or making calls after hours. Sometimes that little blackberry annoys the crap out of me, and I envision myself throwing it off of our 25 story balcony! Then I remember that we didn't pay for it, and that he will just get a new one. What would be the point.....right?

On the home front both girls were sick this weekend. On Friday, Budder started having belly issues. Punkin had something similar the day before, but was doing fine then so we thought maybe just a 24hr bug and decided to let it go. On Saturday she started pooping blood, and I don't mean in small amounts (sorry to be so graphic, but I really don't know any other way to put it) so we decided she needed to be taken in. I ended up spending ALL of Saturday afternoon at the vet office. After running some tests they still had no clue what was wrong with her. We thought that maybe it was amoeba again, but nothing on the smear indicated that.

In the end, she was put on antibiotics because of the bleeding, and we were told to return after 5 days if it did not clear up for additional testing. By Monday afternoon there was no sign of blood so I guess the meds are working. Still a little scary not to know what was going on, but we're just thankful she's better!

Then on Sunday while trying to get a treat from Jamie, Punkin jumped up and landed on her right front leg wrong. She couldn't use it for the rest of the day and I was just sure she had fractured it. We decided to wait it out until Monday before I took her in, as this is my accident prone dog and she injures herself quite often. By lunchtime on Monday she was able to walk on it with a slight limp, and by that evening she was completely weight bearing. I don't know what I'm gonna do with these two! They will surly be the death of me, if they don't drive me insane first (....sigh).

On a better note, Jamie and I leave for Krabi in two weeks and two days (but who's really counting?)! For 4 days I plan to do nothing but sit on a beach (including Leo's beach from the movie "The Beach"), shop, and eat! I may even throw in a massage here and there, depending on my free time of course!

Cable Ski 360 - Take 2

This weekend we went back out to the cable ski area. Jamie was so aggravated by his last performance he was determined to do better this time.....and he did! He did so well out there he looked like a pro! I was so excited for him! We went at night this time and there aren't many lights, but I still managed to get a few good photos of him.

Way to go babe!

Perth, Western Australia

Last week Jamie had to go to Perth for work and I was able to join him for a long weekend. It was a good chance to get away and see somewhere different.

I arrived late Wednesday night and explored the city center (or downtown area) while Jamie was at work Thursday and Friday. The actual city of Perth is quite small and since we were staying on the main street I was able to walk to almost anything. The weather was perfect, and the food was great! The only problem I encountered was that everything closes at 5pm during the week. Restaurants are open, but shopping centers, cafes, even most grocery stores are closed! They stay open a little later on Fridays (till 8 it seems) and most places don't open until after 1pm on Sundays. It's a little different, but the area more than makes up for it with all it's beauty!

Since we were only there for a few days we wanted to make this a relaxing vacation. We didn't do the whole "tourist thing" and take all the bus tours, but we were able to cross a few sites off the list. We got to visit two of the beaches, Kings Park, and the Swan Bell Tower. Not to mention the few places I was able to see walking around the city.

The whole area is absolutely gorgeous and I must confess that by Friday afternoon a big part of me was hoping that the reason they wanted Jamie to fly over there was to tell him we would be moving to Perth soon. Unfortunately, that was not the case and I sadly returned to Singapore Sunday night. I didn't want to leave, but I guess the saying is true that "All good things must come to an end". Here are a few of the photos I took in Perth. You can see from these why I loved it!

Swan Bell Tower, View of city from the harbor


Cottesloe Beach


View of city from Kings Park, Bridge in Kings Park




City Beach (the beaches in Perth all have this grassy area that people lay out on in addition to the actual beach area. This worked out great for us, since Sunday was so windy that it was like being in a sand storm. We ended up laying out here and it was great!)


Things here in Singapore are good and we've got a busy few months ahead of us. Not to mention that Jamie has got a lot going on at work and as of last week I have a new job. At the moment I am in limbo, waiting on all of my work permits and such to get approved. I also have to re-apply for my nursing license, since I did not stay at the hospital for 6 months. Things should be faster this time, but you never know. As it stands now, I've got the next few weeks to hang out and enjoy the city!

My new job will be at an expat clinic. It is a general practice clinic with a few specialists, including a Pediatrician who will be arriving in a few months. I will learn all aspects of the clinic, but my main focus will be on the well baby clinic. As of now they have one already established, but it's not as big as it could be and the nurse who started it has left Singapore. My primary job will be to get it up and running turning it into a full time clinic as well as organizing classes and seminars from time to time. I think it will be lots of fun and a little more challenging than my job at the hospital was. I'm excited to get back to enjoying being a nurse and I am hoping that everything works out this time!

Other than that, it's life as usual in the McMillan household. We miss everyone like crazy, and our home trip in August could not come soon enough!

Big Rob is Back!!

Those of you who worked with me the night that when Rob and Big had their final episode know how devastated I was. The first few times I flipped past this show I wasn't impressed. Then one day I was watching TV while Jamie was working out. There was nothing else on so I decided to actually watch an episode. It was the one where Rob decided he wanted to be an "one hit wonder" and went to Big Black for some help to accomplish this. During this show I was laughing so hard that Jamie could hear me all the way upstairs! He came down to watch it with me, and we became instant fans! After getting caught up, we watched every show from that point on. Jamie would even call me at the hospital if I was working to tell me how good an episode was and that I must watch it as soon as I get home. I am now going to share that video with all of you.



As of two weeks ago, Rob is back on MTV. He has a new show called Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory and it's on Sunday nights at 8pm. While it's not the same without Big Black around, it's still a great show! We can hardly wait for Mondays (that's when we have to watch it since it's like 10am Monday morning when it comes on in the states) to come around to watch the new episodes!