red, white, and BLUE!

july 4th- independence day

RED is for sunbathing

this is how otto spent his july 4th morning (and practially every morning)... sun bathing on the patio WHITE for the new spence house walls... they just moved to singapore :)

the spence's had a good ol fashion bbq at their house complete with brisket, patotoe salad, and stingray?

some of the ladies at the bbq


chatting over mass quantities of food

otto made a new friend- tyler spence

BLUE is for the mood i am in since dirk has left...

so dirk left two weeks ago for perth, australia to go offshore. he won't be back until mid to late august (in engineer terms this means add two weeks on to that date, so I don't expect him until september)... this makes me a little blue. but i have been very busy at work learning the ropes and all the new terms. the first week of work i got terribly ill and have been sick for two straight weeks... not much fun. especially since there is no one here to take care of me.

i might get to travel to perth to see him if he comes back onshore. i will also be traveling a bunch to keep my mind off not having my husband around. i am planning a trip to ho chi minh, vietnam with some friends next weekend. then maybe china soon to see a sorority sister.

on another note... please keep the garrett family in your thoughts if you know them (they are the ones we went to phuket with) misty's mom had open heart surgery in the states and while traveling back to be with them frankie had a cardiac event which landed him in the icu along with misty's mom. life is too short to not be with the ones you love...

work what?

july 8th- nurse dunlap



so this is a rather monumental day. dirk and i both have been working towards this goal since 2004. it all started by just getting into nursing school, which in itself is a rather daunting process. i retook and took all required courses and still waited 6 months to get into a school even with a 3.9 gpa. then even with that done, i still didn't get into a school in houston and instead moved to the middle of nowhere... east texas but more like west louisiana (university of texas at tyler). that is a whole other story (had my first experience at a state run hospital... made bentaub look like the ritz carleton)



so getting into school was one thing, then transfering schools after one semester per request of one brilliant man (i think dirk was just tired of driving to the middle of nowhere) AND much thought on getting out of a dry county... no really i had to get outta tyler for my sanity. texas woman's university in the houston medical center was a much better fit for me and nursing school (plus it was much closer to civilization and dirk). so once settled into the u.s.'s largest medical center (coming from tyler, where they video conferenced professors to two other cities because they didn't have enough educators)... 4am wake up calls, psych rotations at harris county pyschiatric centers, and the gunshot floor at bentaub were a daily experience for me to handle and dirk to support (everyone knows how lovely i am in the mornings... poor dirk).



dirk finially thought he was home free when i graduated in may 2008 from school. i even had a job in the intermediate intensive care unit at memorial hermann memorial city hospital. we even celebrated becoming "dinks" (double income no kids) in aruba 2 days following graduation. but had to for go the job, the "dink" status, and all the effort when asked to move to singapore for dirk's career.



so this day is long over due... working as a nurse in singapore was my first goal to cross off. i am a proud memeber of the international medical clinic staff and actually getting paid (for the longest time my picture was just up on their website). i was very overwhelmed my first day but can't wait to be more and more confident each day. the clinics care for the whole age spectrum of patients so i should get some good hands on experience from newborns to the elderly. here they dispense the medication in office so no middle man needed but the nurses and doctors must know their drugs extremely well. i will keep you updated on my progress and the funny language barriers i come into contact with. today... blood group= blood type, shot= jab, and pop off= take off your shoes. measuring everyone in meters and kilograms is a little different too.

one other unusual thing they do here and not in the states... rabies vaccines to everyone especially children and they don't even have rabies in their country... but in the surrounding countries you never know when you will run into a crazy monkey...

this is some of the staff at IMC...

very diverse but we have two american doctors and 3 american nurses now

camden medical center



this is where most of the international doctors are located



IMC at camden- waiting area

IMC jelita- waiting area

so i guess check back with me... i will only work 3 1/2 days a week so i should be able to update. other goals for upcoming months... getting a drivers license (actually getting fairly good at navigating singapore from the wrong side of the road) and start volunteering at a hospice hospital on my days off. plus... mine as well start the process for my nurse practitioner degree... seeing how long it too me to be a practicing nurse... couldn't hurt.

N.E.W.

june... why am i so bad at updating this thing?

so dirk and i have taken june off from traveling. we have been saving our money for some new furniture and some of it came in the other day. our friends farah & patrick found this little teak shop in china town that makes, recreates, and sells all types of teak furniture. we have bought our outdoor patio furniture and umbrella from them so far. the other weekend we went back with some ideas and bought a desk, tv stand, coffee tables, and a pub height dining room table. our pride and joy would have to be the desk. it is 1.8 meters long and they even stained it to match the rest of our furniture. they had it on hand from a chinese shipment therefore it is not teak but chinese elm. we got it for $400 USD. i have a couple more projects to do to decorate the study so i will post pictures when it is all done.

desk made from chinese elm

patio complete with plants

we decided to go with this idea of having two coffee tables side by side... saw the idea in pottery barn. it has worked out so far but i need to get all the colors flowing better in this room.

i have been busy trying out new reciepes and this one takes the cake! dirk loves this homemade pizza. i don't think we will ever buy another take away pizza. thanks emily for all the reciepes... i am slowly trying them all out.

i thought i had killed my orchids when i went back to houston for two months but they ended up coming back! i just love how green everything is and how easy it is to grow... or lets say not kill :)

small orchid planted in a shell

larger orchid

who knew singapore could be so fun?

june 20th- swissotel

dirk and i have managed to stay in singapore for a couple of weekend and have found the island to actually be pretty fun. we managed to hit some tourist hot spots that we haven't been to as well as hang out with good friends and new friends. the always popular wine tasting night is a big hit with this group along with new and fun places to eat. the other weekend we ventured out to robertson quay for some belgium beer and mussels at brussel sprouts then out to clarke quay for dancing.

this past weekend we hit up the swissotel for drinks on the 70th floor bar. the armstrong's had a visitor in town so we had to show her a good time right? after drinks we headed to chijmes (and old converted church into restuarants and shops) for some japanese sushi at japanese sun.

the crew at the swissotel for drinks before dinner

the armstrong's, the kirkham's, the dunlap's, and lauren

had to get a picture in the crazy elevator

view from the 70th floor of the swissotel

clarke quay waterfront

st. andrew's cathedral

all the ladies

farah, me, laura, and lauren

sushi fun! at japanese sun in chijmes

sunday we wrapped up the weekend and father's day at the pool. the kirkham's came over and brought their little guys for a dip in the fabulous kiddie pool. dirk and i were just excited about having an excuse to play in the kiddie pool... thanks kirkham's for giving us this great opportunity! come again any time :)

big kids down the slide

slacker random photo monday (really almost friday)

i guess when you don't have kids, you blog and post pics of yourself!

so i was looking threw my photos today so i could print some out... since i haven't done that in ages and have so so so many photos stacking up... and i found these. pictures of our wedding day. you see, i was a bit crazy with the photographers and i am glad i was! i hired one for my wedding day and one for our honeymoon in costa rica. i love love the ones from costa rica! but the actual wedding day ones are growing on me. i have yet to even print one of them out?? we were married january 5th, 2008 in college station at a&m methodist church and the reception was at messina hof winery.

i suggest every couple take some time after your vows and have a private photo shoot, these were some of the best pictures of us... outside, happy, married, and being dirk & tina :)

yes... my brother and his friend did the solider boy dance at my wedding. the reception was from 5pm-9pm, something we were torn over... the time... but in the end, one keg of beer left standing, no wine out of 6 cases, and everyone on the dance floor. i think the time didn't really matter... it was the company who entertained.

i love love love this church!


all the ladies

this picture it PERFECT! it depicts everyone's personality just by their smiles... everyone one of these guys has seen dirk and i become what we are today! it is great to know we have such good friends :)

i have much more to blog about but never find the time... i will try better.

random photo monday

may 31st, 2009- misty's birthday at indochine

this is what happens when you bring texans to singapore!

you get one BIG party!

my friend misty, her daughter bailey, and misty's mom bonnie are all on their way to texas as i type... they are going home 7-9 months before frankie to get settled. we will miss them. so on to making new friends and hanging out with the ones still here. being an expat is like being an elderly, old person... except your friends don't die, they just move away :(

late random photo monday

a tribute to my

dog otto

life is much better in this view :)