What were we talking about?

One thing I miss desperately about working as a Speech Therapist is the time I would spend with the part of our population that is more advanced in years.

I'm talking that point in life where you just talk about whatever is on your mind with reckless abandon and you can totally get away with it. You pretty much have to be 4 or 84 to get away with it, but today I am going to take exception to that rule.

Because I'm 40 now. And I'm feeling.....well.....reckless.

First of all, I apparently wrote the last post before uploading all my photos and left out a very important picture.

These amazing folks are the Poseys. Her name is Michelle but I call her Posey and his name is Will but we call him Poppy. We are wild and crazy like that.

This family has provided housing for not only myself and my boys, but also both of my sisters at one time or another. We love them.

A major issue with expats is going home but not having a home. It means living out of suitcases in the guest rooms of friends and family and as much as you love being there, it can get old. The Poseys have given us a home away from home and it feels really good to be at their house and for that, I am eternally grateful. They actually go to their home in Florida for the summer and won't have to have us underfoot while we are camped out in their house...and for that, THEY are eternally grateful!

Now, for the ongoing randomness....

It took me all of a month after living here to notice a certain shoe that everyone seemed to be wearing. I had never seen this particular sandal before so to see Singaporeans and expats alike wearing them peaked my curiosity. I finally cornered a neighbor one day and asked her about them.

They are the FitFlop.

You know, one of those shoes that advertises how wearing them will make my hiney go from the size it is now to a much smaller size. Oh, how I wish it was that easy!

I went on the hunt for this very popular brand of sandal and found them to be ridiculously expensive here so I waited until I was home for Christmas and bought myself a pair. They are incredibly comfortable and I wear mine around our house because my feet ache from walking on hard floors all the time.

I am SOOOOOO 40.

Moving on.

There is a popular tradition among the Parker sisters known as the Happy Dance. It is nothing more than a hiney wiggle, but it still requires practice for a non-Parker sister to get it just right. If you've hung around us long enough, and my sister Cyndi happens to whip up a batch of her infamous chocolate chip cookies, then you've seen the Happy Dance with your own two eyes.

Sometimes I throw in a little kick at the end. Noone ever sees that coming.

The Happy Dance makes an appearance over good food, good music, good news, and good stories. It's us being giddy.

Apparently there's an actual rule in Singapore for drivers who are not allowed to get behind the wheel of a vehicle if:

"you are prone to sudden bouts of giddiness".

Suffice it to say, the Parker girls will probably never qualify for a driver's license here. Because we do like to wiggle!

The randomness continues.

Did you know that you could go to school to be a professional dumpling maker? There is a popular restaurant here called Din Tai Fung that has professional dumpling makers and they take their job VERY seriously. The exact twist at the top, broth that stays in the dumpling until you bite into it. *sigh*

I am not an adventurous eater....at all. I am actually nervous most of the time about food here. But this place?? Oh my. It is amazingness. It literally makes me giddy when I get to go eat there. *insert hiney wiggle here*

Tiffany, Lisa and I took some never-been-there-before friends on Monday because we feel it's our calling to convert people to dumpling and fried rice heaven.

They are so serious at this place that if you are served a dumpling that is imperfect in any way, they will replace it. Hence, this photo of the lone dumpling.

The original one had its shrimp fall off when served.

I seriously think that's the funniest sentence I've ever written, but it's the truth!

Since we are talking about food, let me just share with you my little slice of heaven. There are no big giant birthday cakes with loads of buttercream icing and big flowers here in Singapore. At least, not that I've ever seen. This obviously created a stressful situation when my birthday was approaching so I flat out asked Tiffany to make me her infamous, hands down best carrot cake ever. I wanted to share it with all of you.

If coming to Singapore to visit me or to see a new country or to travel to neighboring countries isn't enough to get you here, this cake ought to do it. It would be worth the flight just for a bite, I promise you!

Just make sure to pack your FitFlops.

And start practicing your Happy Dance now. You are going to need it!