We came, we saw, we conquered Taiwan!

I know it's been forever since I've blogged, just been so busy. Our trip to Taiwan was awesome!! It was so nice to spend a week (march 15-23, 2008) with my sister, Marisa doing stuff that she's been doing the past 8 months. We did a lot of walking, riding the MRT, trying new and different foods, some I'd prefer not to have again and sightseeing. I can't even begin to tell you ALL the things we saw into a couple paragraphs, so here's a brief list of things we did.

• Touring Sanxia (Marisa's town)
• Meeting her toddlers she teaches and her schools
• Random Temple visits
• Sun Yet-San Memorial
• Taipei 101 Building
• Meeting Angela & her family (mom & dad's exchange student last year)
• National Palace Museum
• Taipei Zoo & Mao Kong Mountain
• Dinner with 2 old classmates from Marisa's Exchange year
• Meeting Davids Parents, Eric & Stacey (David was another exchange student the same year Marisa was living in Taiwan, and actually living with Eric & Stacey, so Marisa's extended family)
• Chaing Kai-shek Memorial
• Shopping at the Chinese Handicraft Mart
• Dinner, Drinks & Dancing with Marisa's co-workers

We took over 300 pictures, so you'll have to go to my Shutterfly to see them all when you have an hour to go through them! :) But here are some of my favorite pictures!

Random Temple in Sanxia

Sun Yet-san Memorial

National Palace Museum

Taipei 101 Building

Gondola Ride up to Mao Kong Mountain

Chaing Kai-shek MemorialDrinking, Dancing and Having Fun with Marisa's Co-workers at Roxy 99

9 Days, 15 Hours, 9 Minutes & 10 Seconds.....

That's how much longer I have to wait until I'm off to Taiwan with my parents to see my sister Marisa!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. I'm always excited to be going someplace for vacation, even if I've been there before. Just to get out of Wayne and away from work is the best part. But to have this opportunity to go to Taiwan is just awesome and what makes it even more awesome is that Marisa is there and she'll be able to show us around "her" town. I'm sure she has a lot of stuff for us to see and do and both my mom and I think that this time will go by faster than we would like. We leave bright and early on March 15 and arrive back in Omaha on Sunday, March 23 early in the evening. I'm very anxious and nervous, more nervous about the flight, it's a LONG flight, I just hope they are showing a descent movie and that I'll be able to sleep. I will have TONS of pictures (mom and dad have put me in charge of picture taking), and I hope that I'll be able to remember the names of the places that we see. I will definately have to have a pad & pen along to mark down everywhere we have been. Laundry & packing start this weekend......

9 Days, 15 Hours, 1 Minute, 40 Seconds and counting......

GushyGrams

Marisa discovered this website www.mushygushy.com. It's a pretty fun website. She had sent us all (Mom, Dad, Nick & I) GushyGrams the other day -- I couldn't stop laughing and I think Nick's is hilarious!! I've sent off a couple to some friends and it's definately a website that is now in my bookmarks!! Enjoy!

Changes.....

I've decide to make a few changes......Guess I'm a little behind on my New Years Resolution. Here are a few things I'm going to start:

Exercise. I need to get my butt in gear and shed a few pounds. I recently took possession of my grandfathers treadmill. It's fairly old, but in good condition...it just needs to get plugged in (that's on the agenda for tonight). I also just ordered a Yoga DVD for weight loss. (thanks Jenn!) I've always thought of yoga as something that only skinny people can do. I have been glued to the Biggest Looser and seeing some of them do yoga, I've decided to give it a try. So we'll see how it works out.

Eating Right & Cooking: Nick and I tend to eat out quite a bit....McDonalds, DQ, Runza.....too much and drink way more soda than we should. I'm not particularily a fan of cooking and I don't cook as much as I should. My recipe collection is sparse. I need to start cooking more and try new recipes! So far I've been going on my 2nd week of no soda -- Thanks to getting my wisdom teeth pulled....but I did treat myself over the weekend with one, but only one. I used to drink 2 soda's a day, sometimes more, depending on how my day was going. So far I've been doing well and going to try and continue to do so.

Blogging: I've also been doing really well with this blogging. It's nice to share thoughts with others, weather they are really reading I'm not sure. I like to let everyone know what we're up to and I enjoy checking up on others (Marisa, Jenn, Scott & Mel). So if I could get one entry in a week I'd be happy! Unless I don't have anything important to say, then it might be longer. :-)

Taking Pictures: I LOVE to take pictures!!! I never leave my house without our camera, especially when we're going to see our nieces & nephew. I would like to get a newer camera this year, hopefully before the summer starts. I'm thinking of getting a more advanced camera, not just a small point & shoot one. I want one with a really good zoom, and high megapixels. I'm looking at a Kodak or a Cannon, we'll see.

Scrapbooking: I'm very much into Creative Memories, I just never sit down and work with it. Scrapbooking takes time, more time than I have. I did a Heritage Album that took me 2 1/2 years to finish -- it turned out awesome and I'm very proud of it!! I'd like to start setting aside a couple hours on Saturday or Sunday to get some scrapbooking done. I have some software for my computer that I used to make a hardcover, bound Storybook for myself & Marisa of our NYC trip, but that got a little expensive. It definately got done faster than a regular cut & paste scrapbook, but I actually like to use all my tools to cut out pictures & paper, and gluing everything onto a scrapbook page and be a little more creative. So, I think I'm going to start a new scrapbook for 2008 -- highlighting the main things we've done over the year, nothing too exciting, but something more fun than just photos in an album.

Wow, going back and reading everything I've written I sure hope I can stick to my guns and get these things accomplished. Wish me luck!!

"Kierah's Kitchen"

On the menu tonight.....Sgetti & Chichen
(pronounced just as spelled)

They didn't make play kitchens like
this when I was little. I'm so jealous!!