HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Hello friends n family!
December is a GREAT month!!!

I went to NJ and NYC for my 30th birthday!!!!
I drove down thurs the 16th with my friend Sara who I went to college with. we stayed in NJ at Sheraton hotel on the water looking across to NYC!!!
Thurs my friend Marc made us lunch then we went shoppin then Marc took us out for dinner- YUM!
FRI DEC 17th- woke up and took bus into NYC went to cold stone/tim hortons, time square, empire state building where we went up to the 86th floor observatory! Fun!
bus back to NJ to shower and get ready for birthday hockey!
NJ DEVILS vs my NASHVILLE PREDATORS!!!!!!! My preds won 3-1 and I had a blast cheering for my team on my 30th birthday!
We went out for drinks and had a nie night!
Sat we went to time square again then shopped a bit and went walking around ground zero and all around NYC.
We got tickets to see WINTUK cirque du soliel at Madison Square Gardens theatre!! Amazing!
Had nice dinner in with my gift certificate that Trish gave me!!!
Went shopping more then over to Marcs to watch a movie!
Sun we went to CAKE BOSS and then drove home to Canada!
GREAT WEEKEND.... I love being 30!

Now I am in Nashville TN... trish and I drove down yesterday to catch Preds vs Sens... sadly we lost BUT....
My Nashville friends told me that I was on NHL highlights from the NJ game... cuz I was cheering so loud n proud in my Preds jersey!! lol awesome!
I was on tv here during the game and then was FIRST STAR of the game on NHL!!! soooo fun and exciting!

i love life..

Its Christmas eve and we are chillin today!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

DEC

brrr its cold and everyone thinks I am crazy to be home in the winter.... but its So nice to be near family n friends for the holidays!

I am soooooo excited that I am turning 30 in 10 days! I am heading to NJ/NYC for my birthday weekend with Sara H and we are going shopping and skating at Rockafeller Centre and of course watching NJ Devils play MY Nashville Predators ON my BIRTHDAY!!!
DIRTY 30 here I come!!!!!!!

After NYC I am home for a few days then off to Nashville Dec 23-Jan 4th with my Seestor! For Xmas, New years and more HOCKEY of course!!!

I love life!

Talk soon

SURPRISE!!

I am back home in CANADA,,.,,,, SURPRISE!

I know I have not written lately and therefore most of you might know... but I secretly made my way home to Ontario to surprise my family for Canadian Thanksgiving and my nephew Lucas' 2nd birthday!

After Vietnam I flew to Ireland and stayed with my friend Adam (who I used to work on cruise ships with) and watched him dance in the musical FAME! Then I took the bus up to Dublin for 2 days of sightseeing and met a girl named Marta from Italy... so we went sight seeing together and went to the Guinness factory for some fresh free beer!

After Ireland I flew to Nashville Tn on Oct 9th for the home opener hockey game of my Nashville Predators!!! Great night we beat the ducks and I got to see friends and surprise friends and the players who all thought I was still in Australia!
The next morning I got on a plane and flew into Buffalo NY and my friend Sara picked me up... we drove home and I rang the door bell and knocked on my parents door... hid behind the wall then when mom opened the door I jumped out and yelled SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


She was VERY shocked and surprised and kept asking if this was real or just a visit.. LOL
I am home for good... well for now ;) lol you all know me... I don't stay anywhere too long!!

I have enjoyed being back, close to family and friends and my car lol
I drove to Nashville Oct 14-22 to watch hockey and hang with friends
then flew to Florida oct 22-29 to see hockey and friends.... then back to Nashville Oct 29-31... HALLOWEEN i drove home in time to see Lucas dressed at THOMAS for halloween!

I am back... hope to see you all soon!

thanks for reading... this will probably be my last post.... cuz I am no longer DOWN UNDER!

Cheers

michelle <><

Updates from Nam

OK I am loving my time here... SO great to spend time in this beautiful place but also to be with Krista and hang out!!

Tues I went for a manicure/pedicure and loved that... very chill and lovely! I read my book (Krista lent me "Girl with the dragon tattoo") by the pool and soaked up the sun!
After Krista got home from school we went to Yoga led by our friend Hang... she is awesome!
Yoga was SO good.... much better then my first try :P
We went out to eat after and I tried PHO (pronounced furr) anways... beef was NOT my fav... broth was ok but it was still hot/spicy or something.. my upper lip felt like it was on fire :P
No more PHO for me... sorry!

Wednesday I laid by the pool and read my book forever... lots of sun today! I then wanted to work out but was so caught up in my book that I just read it while walking the tredmill for 1 hour and riding the bike for 30 mins! Its a good read!
Krista and I met her friend Arnault for dinner at a Lebenese place... was nice... people smoking hooka etc..
I had some chicken and veggies... plain I know but my stomach is not made tough enough for Vietnam food :P
We then went to a bar with a live LATIN band, very cool but sadly VERY smokey and gross. Small dance floor but Krista still kicked off her shoes and danced up a sweat!

Thursday I went on an adventure to the Cu Chi Tunnels... which is about 1.5 hours away but it took us over 2 cuz my Driver Hue was lost :P So my butt was numb by the time we arrived there by scooter after 2 hours of sitting :P
Tunnels were cool and Hue was very nice to come with me... he doesn't speak english well but he tried :P He also called me KRISTA all day even after I spelt out my name! All good!
We were there for a few hours, Hue bought me water then took me out to eat on our way home! I have NO IDEA what I ate... but it was not my favorite :P Some thick soup with egg and crab I think and possibly pork.. I didn't finish it but slammed my orange juice :)
Came home to try and make some start to dinner for us girls.. scrambled eggs.. yes I am not a chef!
We had some chicken as well as yummy snadwhiches (which was our plan, not due to my lack of cooking skills)
Krista and I tehn headed out to shop...... dangerous!! LOL

We found nothing until we got to SHOE street,.. game over.... I knew what I wanted.. I wanted CONVERSE all stars aka CHUCKs or CHUCK TAYLORS! I bought 3 pairs... BUT 1 pair is for my Sister :P
I got black high tops with a cool star on one side and the logo on the other, and 1 low pair of green! LOVE THEM!

Krista got some shoes... we were happy girls! We then got banana/mango/pineapple fresh juice mix to go as we jumped on 2 scooters to take us back to home!
FUN TIMES HAD BY ALL!!!!
Popcorn and online chats when we got home.... lots of laughing then bed!

Today I went to visit Krista at Canadian International School where she works... got a tour and took pics!
I came home and hit the gym and then laid by the pool and finished my book :) What a great day!

Tonight we are heading downtown to SAIGON INK to get my new tattoo done!!! I am so excited... its a doodle designed by Krista that she did over a year ago and I loved... its a TRIFECTA tattoo for CVD, Krista and Me!! I love my Bff's! and yes I will still love 10o years from now... you'll see in pics to come... its very cool and very meaningful to me!

Ok off to shower and get ready for my tattoo night.. then of course dinner out! Its my last night in Vietnam :(
So sad to leave this place... its been amazingly wonderful!!

I LOVE LIFE!

Toot toot tooter on a vietnam scooter

Oh man Viet Nam is amazing!

So wed night we went for a nice vietnamese dinner at the markets and then Krista showed me "shoe street" filled with shoe vendors.. I will be back! We walked after dinner to Fanny's which is a cute ice cream shop, yum!

Thursday I went to work out at the gym and swam in the pool here.. lovely weather :)
Had a great dinner at home, then took my 1st scooter ride W/ krista and I riding on the same scooter, driven by Dung her personal driver..... lol... not like that, just that she uses the same guy each time so its easier, and nicer for him!
We went to Blue Gecko which turned out to be an Austrlian bar-cool.. but WAY too smokey :( Also lots of older american/canadian (white) men with young hot asian girls-very weird!
We met 2 french guys there to pay for the race on sat! Biked home and bed!

Friday I did gym and pool again but it rained :( Couldn't work out too hard either had to save energy for the race on sat. Friday night we walked to a quaint place for pizza... I had a chixken n rice bake thing, was yum! home and early to bed!

SATURDAY- The day I will NEVER forget :P

So we get up at 4:30am.... meet friends to take a cab to FV hospital to catch our bus, the bus then goes to another stop to pick up a fwe more people and we are on our way heading toward the BLACK VIRGIN MOUNTAIN for our race!
I asked Krista all about it of course cuz she did it last year....... she said I'd do fine and it took them 45 mins up the mountain and 1 hours down... so prob!
Ok so I am set... I can do this... have my water and my ipod ready for this "hike" race up the black mountain!
Krista goes running when we start... I knew she would, hence my ipod!
So it starts with MANY MANY stairs and it just keeps going and going... finally comes to a temple and I swear the asians there thought we were all CRAZY for racing up a mountain!
After the stairs and more stairs came rocks and more rocks... ya very steep trek up this mountain.... I was sweating to death and stopping to catch my breath, as i got higher n higher it got harder and harder!
The mountains elevation is 996 m (3,268 ft) at the top! Which took me 2.5 hours JUST to get to the top..... man I was hating krista as I climbed :P (not really but I was not ready for this)
On our way.. I sort of trekked with some fellow Canadians and we would stop n break together etc.... anyways there was like a line up at one point and so we asked wzup and they were waiting on a territorial MONKEY that was blocking the path (only way up) and looked a lil mean!
One girl was terrified and so I was offereing to go with her past the monkey and we'd be ok.... well she took off before me and so the girl in front of me goes and I follow and the monkey runs at us.... straight to her, right at her face... she screams and falls backwards on the hard rocks.. as the monkey is right in her face... I grab her hand and pull her my way as the sneaky monkey grabs her granola bar that is in her backpack!
She was fine.... she was just scared the monkey would scrath her face... thankfully he did not and he just wanted her food- whew!
Ok survived that... now just need to survive this mountain!!!
SO happy when I made it to the top.. we rested and took pics and enjoyed the view... no rush now :P
Prob stopped for 10-15 mins..then headed down.... which in its own way was very hard as well.
Hard on the knee and ankle joints as we stepped down this steep mountain on rocks and cement like stairs... very strenuous!
They had stopped a few times but my legs were like Jello and so I couldn't stop or it hurt more... so I just kept going... down down down, past american group, past engligh girl who monkey stole her granola bar, past a father and lil son.. ya kids were beating me on the way up!
I just kept going... following along the power lines and luckily the poles were numbered so I sort of new or hoped that the end was near!!!
Noticed the poles at 89 ish and went down to 1!!! Very steep way down! I got to the bottom and an organizer game me some more water and said the rest is about 1km flat land- HOORAY!
I trekked it, passed 2 french ladies on the last bit in!
MADE IT ALIVE!!! So proud of myself!
Got water and went to find Krista who had been done like an hour ago :P
She was proud of me too... and she had realized on her way up that it was HARD and that it tooker them 1hr 45 mins to get up last year not 45 mins....oopsie :P I still love her!
Shaky legs, we sat and ate lunch they made us!
Krista won 2nd female over all!! Cheritein (her roommate) got 3rd overall... I was just happy to finish! :)
Bus back to town.... you think we'd go home and crash but no.... we shower and head to dinner with Hang a Canadian teacher here as well. Beautiful dinner w/ wine and now we are ready for bed!
Sunday- Soooooooooooooooooo sore.. wow... every muscle hurts.
We went to swim at the pool and it rained...but wet is wet. then we got ready and headed to YOGA which Hang leads! Intense, and very hot in there... was great... we needed that stretch!
Ate dinner at the BLACK CAT (top 10 in the world) it was ok! We then met up with Kristas friend who used to teach with them at CIS (Canadian International School) for dessert!
Sore and ready for bed.

Monday(today for 15 more minutes) I slept in and then went on scooter with Dung for 4 hours.... he took me everywhere to see the city and its amazing to see it by scooter and be IN the organized chaos!
We saw a bike crash right in front of us and had to stop so we didn't run over the lady.... everyone was ok :)
I went to markets, museums, shops, and the independence palace! Such a GREAT experience to ride around Saigon and see the local culture! I bought a few fun things.... gifts :)
Home to work out and pool, read one of many books I have on the go!
Came back to upload pics to facebook etc.
Krista and I cooked a stir fry dinner then went to fivi mart to buy kettle corn and we watched Slum Dog Millionaire - the FIRST time to see it for both of us... crazy eh!

Life is good.... so thankful for these traveling opportunities... I def would not be in Viet Nam if Krista was not here.... amazing how things work out!
Her life here is busy and good... I am happy to join it for 10 days!
Lots planned for this week.... spa day, massage and more yoga! Shop for fun things and new shoes of course and even a lil INK surprise for fri night!!!

I LOVE LIFE!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL SEESTOR TRISH!!! (tues) Much love to you today and always!

Cam on (thank you in vietnamese) bye bye

Viet Nam

Hello to everyone and greetings from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

I flew out of Brisbane on tuesday and flew into Kuala Lumpur on wed morn, then flew KL to HCMC and arrived here 10am wed morning!
I had to get my visa and then come through customs and get my bags and I was set... I walked out to a huge crowd of people and saw a guy holding a sign with my name on it. He looked at me and pointed to his sign, I nodded in agreement! He came over and asked "are you michael?" I said "MICHELLE, yes" lol.... he crossed the busy pick up area and he motioned for me to wait while he went to get the car! Well it was hot out... sort of smelt of Urine and everyone was honking every 2 seconds.... lol ahh the sounds on Siagon!

We drove and drove... I needed a bank so I took my bank card out to show him and ask to stop for money.... we stopped at a lil ATM which also smelt of urine! Drove on towards Krista's place.... very cool sights.
MANY scooters of course, carrying all sorts of things from long 2x4 pieces of wood, some with a family of 4 or carrying a new born baby in the mothers arms, lots of women in high heels on scooters, so fun to see!
The telephone wires here are like huge masses of black wire... strung from pole to pole... I wish my camera was working to capture it all as I first came in.... I will def take pics of all this with Krista's camera during my stay!
I was trying to figure out if there were actual RULES of the road.. people were going every direction and scooters would weave in and out of cars and traffic... it was crazy and I thought NYC was scary driving.... it is not anything compared to here!
There were scooters on the sidewalk, on both sides of the roads going every direction... but somehow they make it work.. it really is ORGANIZED CHAOS!

I saw carts of food, candy, toys, balloons, cigarettes and more.. everyone had a push cart or stall that was parked on the sidewalk or road. Every other building seemed like a scooter repair shop. I even saw a man walking a med sized horse through traffic.
It is amazing to see this all... very different to any place I have travelled before and I like that!
I started to get sleepy and nodded off for a bit, was about 1 hour drive to Krista's,
We finally got there... I got out and paid the nice man who drove me! I then carried all my bags up the steps and went walking to find her building... found it, went in, up to 8th floor. Got her note on her door w/ her mail key... went down to her mailbox and got her apt key... nice work K!

Back up to floor 8.. inside her apartment.... thankful for A/C!!!! I dropped my bags, drank some water and was happy to be safe n sound at Krista's!
I took a nap and checked my email and waited for her to come home from school, I just woke up before she came in!
Soooo good to see her! She is so thin and fit, I am jealous!

We caught up and chatted and enjoyed sitting for a bit, then got dressed and ready for dinner out. Krista even braided my hair for me :) I was looking forward to that forever!
We took a cab to the markets and ate at some out door place. I ate some snapper and some veggies and drank water and guava juice! Yum. then we walked to see "SHOE" street.. so many shoes... I def want some! We went to FANNY's to get Ice Cream, yum.. I got Berry berry!

Cab home and off to bed.... well I went online and Krista went to bed! Good sleep!
Tomorrow is work out and enjoy the pool day for me!
Cheers

Worst Day Ever....

I know sounds harsh.... but let me tell you all about it....

It rained ALL last night... thunder and lightening.. and I had to run back n forth to get my laundry done. Finished laundry and cleaning and got to bed around 1:30am. Loud rain w/ thunder all night, restless sleep!

Woke up to of course MORE rain and it was a cold rain too, not fun at all! Took the bus into Clownfish Club to meet a friend for brekkie.... he was 30 MINS late.... oh bother.... he is lucky that he got us FREE breakfast buffet or I would have been mad to wait the extra 30 mins, thanks for free brekkie Will!  Yummy buffet, with all kinds of nice fruits and yogurts and eggs etc.. delicious!

From there I took the work Buggie (golf cart) to my place to finish packing and cleaning! Had to be out by 10am.... rain did NOT let up.... tried to carry all my luggage in garbage bags to the buggy under an umbrella... hard to do. Our buggy had NO rain covers on the sides... so rain came in from ALL angles.... sucked, I got soaked just driving!

I went by Ally's to drop things off to her that I was not taking from Hamilton Island and had to walk up a STEEP walkway in the rain in thongs (FLIP FLOPS) and they broke... good thing they pop back together:P

Said my goodbye to her.. drove into Clownfish Club to store my bags... which of course got wet in the moving process!

Tried to dry off and chill... blah!

Called home to Mum n Dad to say hi.. update them on my trip etc... phone cut out 3 times.. So Frustrating.... finally got to just say bye and talk soon!

Sally my boss took me to the airport for my 2:50pm flight... I wore a garbage bag over my body to the airport in the buggy... tried to get a ride in a van but they were all booked already!

Got to airport.... still pouring... and I was just READY to go.. ready to get off the island and start another adventure!

All flights were DELAYED and some were CANCELLED.. oh man.. I was praying I just get out alive.. lol.. no just get OFF this island TODAY!

Waited around and finally boarded my flight.. texting my friend RICH my flight info etc keeping him updated on my delay getting into Brisbane!

Flight was ok.... landed around 5pm in Brisbane... FINALLY! :) Free....

Got my bags which were SOAKED.... ya, still raining and they unload the bags in the rain so my stuff was all soaked :( Not happy!

Carry my wet bags... call Rich.. no answer... text a million times... NO reply :(

Called again and someone answered (thought it was his cell.. but seemed like a house number) and the guy on the other end said "I think Rich went to Canada" OH BOTHER...........

So upset, wet, tired, and a headache from this rain... made it the WORST DAY EVER!

Internet was NOT free in the airport either.. I waited around for an hour to see if Rich would call- nothing., so I booked myself into a dodgy hotel not far from airport!

Took shuttle van to my place- Kingsford Riverside Inn.

Room is fine, I am just happy to be out of the rain.... 

I called CVD to chat/vent about my day... always feels good to chat with her, she makes it all better:)

My lil hotel has free internet which makes things better and free brekkie :) so the night got a lil better!

I went to BP to buy a wrap and a Slurpee..... Slurpee's make things better too :)

Chillin here watching my fav show - Criminal Minds, still raining but at least I am inside with my clothes ALL over the room drying!

I got on FB to see that Rich had posted on my wall 5 hours ago that he got a NEW cell :P boys.... urgh

 I was suppose to stay with him, but I already paid for this place, so I'll meet up with him tomorrow! Thankfully! At least I don't have to bus around and carry my luggage around all day!

My next flight is tues night at 11:20pm to Kuala Lampur and then onto Vietnam to see KRISTA!

Rain rain go away! Hope its sunny tomorrow!

I was thinking of going to Australia Zoo, the Steve Irwin one but its $57.00 to get in- sheesh!

Much love to CAROLYN for making me feel better on my shitty rainy day!

:)

look in the sky...

Its a bird, its a plane... no its ME!!!!

Today I took the early ferry over to Airlie beach to go SKY DIVING!!!

Went to Airlie beach sky dive at Whitsunday airport.... did a 10 minute lesson and got some gear then went in  a plane and jumped out from 10,000ft!!!

It was amazing!! So fun, I laughed the whole time... also drooled a lil-Sooo funny! It was amazing, I was excited right before jumping and my instructor Matt was awesome, I called us team M&M!

I got video and photos of it all.... the photos are just stills from my video but still so fun!

My co-worker Will went with me, he jumped first and looked very nervous, I couldn't wait!

35 second free fall then parachute and I got to steer on the way down and we did circles in the air, so fun!

I watched 2 girls jump before us while their friend watched too.... I asked where they were from and she said WATERLOO....... ya SMALL WORLD! fo sho! One of the girls was in teachers college here so 2 came to visit... awesome!

Anyways.... def worth the money to jump... I knew I wanted to do it and here was the place... flying and jumping out over the WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS over the Great Barrier Reef in QLD was truly fantastical (as Dane Cook would say)

I wanted to jump again as soon as we landed on the ground! Smooth landing too... yay!

I am going to look to see if Ontario has any sky diving places so I can apply for a job one day :)

Working 3 more shifts here on Hamilton Island... counting down the days til I see KRISTA!

I am hosting a "smoothie movie" night tomorrow at clownfish club for us to hang out and watch a movie after work, and make smoothies-how fun!

Much love to all!

Happy Birthday to Marta and Angela R.