random photo monday... happy late mother's day

may 10th- mother's day

i hope everyone had a great mothers day! the folks at the oasis on lake travis...

vines, wines, and ocean views... western australia

april 30th- may 3rd- margaret river, western australia

we had a great weekend planned in western australia's wine country with some friends. we flew into perth, wa (5 hours from singapore) then drove three hours to busselton just a hop, skip, and a jump away from margaret river. we shared a chalet with two other couples and wine tasted our little hearts out... maybe too much on the wine and not enough "just tasting"

tassel park winery- bought two bottles and some mulled wine mix

the ladies at tassel park (farah armstrong, kim de jong, and me)

dirk was our skipper in the dunlap car- i am guessing they mean DD

some of the vines

margaret river is on western australia coastline- simply breathtaking

the ladies again- overlooking the coast

looking out over smith's beach

sunset on the beach with good friends

footprints in the sand

most gorgeous sunrise the morning we left

we were able to walk away with four bottles of wine, some great pictures, and awesome memories with friends. dirk and i are now trying to figure how we can move here next... hmmm

cool weather, amazing public transportation, and hong kong island

april 21st weekend- hong kong island, china

the day i arrived back in singapore from my home leave dirk was called out to china. so after a quick doctors appointment and tucking me into bed to recover from a 24 hour journey and 13 hour time difference, dirk left for shekou, china.

shekou is only a ferry ride away from hong kong island, therefore dirk flew into hong kong and took the ferry to shekou. i was lucky enough to meet him in hong kong after his work was done for the weekend. we ended up staying on the kowloon side of hong kong and not the island side but transportation between all the islands was very easy and fun at times.

the hong kong island side all light up at night

busy kowloon side

we stayed at the lux manor hotel on the kowloon side. neither of us had much information about hong kong so we took a gamble on location and hotel. this was the lobby of our hotel, i liked the super modern decor but dirk thought it reminded him of alice and wonderland... the whole hotel was like this...

the lux manor hotel; kowloon, china

it always amazes me how even fastfood is the same half way around the world- dirk is excited can you tell?

typical asian meat market, mind you this is not refrigerated at all, open to the elements. they also do not refrigerate their eggs in asia.

this is how the weather was the whole weekend, a mixture of cool, humid, rainy- it was much welcomed from hot, steamy singapore.

we found a great pub near stanely market, smugglers inn, we were thrilled when we saw they served coors light! the pub was great, and a very laid back atmosphere.

all the different currency on the walls- notice all the $1 USD

there was a light show across the harbour from either side every night- we did the star ferry tour and saw the lights from both sides

along with custom seafood you can get just about anything custom made, handbags, shoes, clothes. dirk got some shirts and pants made and i bought some shoes. we also found some great fresh water pearl earring for really cheap! we loved hong kong and are currently trying to find a way to move there.... hmmm

cold light beer, baseball, and mexican food...

march 5th- april 14th

our first home leave, here is a run down of some events we packed into a few short weeks. dirk's was a little shorter than mine but he was able to participate in a good friends wedding; visit his grandparents in uvalde, tx; and make a short trip to san antonio. i was able to spend more time with my family, celebrate my mother's birthday, sell my car finally, and participate in my good friends wedding and bachelorette party. we are not exact on our next trip back to the lone star state... i guess we are waiting for some visitors in singapore... anyone anyone?

march 28th- austin, texas

ashlely kittles bachelorette party in austin, tx. we had a fabulous girls night with dinner at the iron cactus and some fun at qua night club

bachelorette party for ashley kittles in austin, tx

table service at qua night club (me, ashley, elise)

march 6th- preston bruce & michelle kolpin's wedding rehearsal at ouisie's table

all the grooms men and ushers
(mitchel martin, bonham leinweber, matt lewis, austin grubbs, preston bruce, justin vaughn, dirk dunlap, jonathon bruce)

the ladies after rehearsal at the classiest joint in town (roll n saloon)
(sarah vaughn, melissa lewis, anne deuermeyer)

march 7th- bruce wedding

the ceremony was at trinity luthern chruch and the reception at the junior league of houston.

the happy couple (mr. & mrs. bruce)

the ladies at the reception
(catherine helle, me, erin holt)

the dunlaps

first dance

march 11th-15th- san antonio- the boerckel house

quick visit to san antonio and uvalde. we were able to spend sometime with all of our san antonio friends and dirk was able to make a spurs basketball game with his dad.

the dunlap's with the boerckel's baby, drew

march 17th- rice village area for st. patty's day

catherine helle & me at brian oneils

march 25th- college station mom's birthday

what better way to celebrate a birthday than on northgate in college station with your kids...

brother & sister at BMO's

happy birthday!

a quick kappa delta reunion at lane & jonathon's house

(beth robinson, dayna nance, me, lane harris, ashley moses)

backbone of memorial hermann memorial city cardiac wellness center- i loved seeing you ladies!

(cece, me, and betty)

the center moved to a brand new building and it looks great, flatscreen tvs and a view

opening day at the astros game- cubs vs astros

having a couple of beers before the game at larry dierker's bar

april 10-13th- austin easter weekend

spicewood, tx at the crow casa- loved seeing you little momma

(me, sonny crow, and meggan crow)

april 10th- ryan simonak & ashley kittles wedding rehearsal on a boat in austin

sarah was my date, dirk was already back in singapore, we like to dress alike

(sarah burke, ashley kittles, me)

april 11th- wedding reception at barton creek country club

dr. ryan & dr. ashley simonak with their med school friends

missed these girls so much!

(sarah burke, beth robinson, me)

random photos monday

may 3rd- margaret river, western australia

we took a weekend trip with some friends to the wine country in western australia, i will have a different post about the trip but i wanted to share these pictures first! i was upset we had to leave early sunday morning but this sunrise was worth every bit of the alarm at 6AM. we are truly blessed by God to see such wonderful moments!

western australian sunrise, the most beautiful i have seen

western australia sunset over smith's beach, with friends is AWESOME!

cambodian sunrise at ankgor wat, the most awaited (we were up at 4:30 AM)

costa rican sunset, the most memorable

Random photo Monday

lane i am stealing this idea from you!

otto and his new bestfriend bailey! bailey watches otto while we go on all our spontaneous trips... we are so blessed to have friends like the garretts! bailey and otto play together, sleep together, and i am sure even eat together while he stays with them. we are going to miss you guys but i think otto might miss you more.

otto (16 mo) & bailey(4 yrs) on easter 2009

DO NOT ENTER

if you do not want to hear about womanly parts!

february 23rd, 2009

so a quick update on myself and my health. i found out on february 19th (dirk's birthday) that i had a huge uterine fibroid which was making me rather sick. i had gained a couple of pounds but chalked it up to not working and the fact that i had been making full meals each night for dirk and i. i knew something was wrong but as all nurses may do at one time or another, i diagnosed myself and did nothing about it for longer than i should have. so after two doctors visits and much discussion on whether i should have the surgery in singapore or the states, we decided to do the myomectomy as soon as possible in singapore.

the surgery went great! dirk actually got to see our pride and joy (febe the fibroid and her friends). i cannot say enough good things about the healthcare system in singapore or about my wonderful doctor (dr. brenda low)! i was left with a bikini line c-section incision and 5 lbs lighter. the fibroid was almost 7 inches long and weighed 2 lbs. i cannot believe how much better i felt after the surgery. i ended up staying only one night in the hospital, which dirk endured with me, and a week and a half in singapore until i boarded a plane back to houston.

fortunately my parents were able to come over for the surgery and we all arrived back in houston together. while in houston, some of you know, i was having some more symptoms and was a bit worried. i did go to my normal ob/gyn while back in the states and he diagnosed me with another fibroid the size of a peach and was planning on taking me back to surgery as soon as possible. this was devastating!

i had so much faith in my doctor in singapore that i was hesitant to believe my doctor in the states. after all, my doctor in singapore did my ultrasound ($80 SGD) and explained everything she did point by point. my doctor in the states had a tech do the ultrasound ($500 USD), not even sure he looked at the picture. i had been seeing him for 4 years and it was apparent that he did not remember me or even bother to look at the chart before he discussed my options... he asked me who i had been seeing that they did not see this fibroid sooner... i replied quickly with, your self doc for 4 years prior to moving to singapore.

so with all that said. i waited to go back to singapore before believing anyone. dr. low did another ultrasound (free) and explained to me that it was not another fibroid but a hole, or what looked like a hole on an ultrasound. the surgical technique she used to repair the large hole that the fibroid left in my uterus looked like a fibroid at first glance but if you printed out the ultrasound picture you could see the different layers and clearly see it was not. i tried to go back to dr. rockman's office and retrieve all records to bring with me to singapore. they don't even print out ultrasound pictures nor do they keep them on file (point being he let a TECH diagnosis me with this fibroid)

i just want to say a couple of things about healthcare.

1) you should always follow up with the doctor who did the surgery, they know what they did and are the best to answer questions about the surgery
2) doctors are sometimes WRONG, always get a second opinion! defiantly when they want to cut you open again!
3) trust your gut feeling and listen to your body! doctors are not God and they are not YOU
4) something about the U.S. healthcare system HAS to change- my surgery in singapore cost $8,000 SGD ($6,000 USD) if i were to have had it in the states it would have been over $30,000 USD.

all in all, the surgery was a very positive experience for dirk and i as a married couple along with our trust and faith in the singapore healthcare system.

i have been seeing dr. low regularly to record my progress in healing. the fibroid made my uterus measure the same as 16 week pregnant uterus, as of today it still measures 10 weeks causing my stomach to look and feel larger than it really is. hopefully as my uterus heals it will go back to normal size and allow me to wear my skinny jeans again!

introducing FeBe the fibroid