L I T T L E S H E E P

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Shanghai's Finest!

There is a traffic police station around the corner from our apartment.  While walking back from the grocery store, B spotted this 'police bicycle' in the police scooter parking and had to snap a quick pic!

Bubble wrap and all!

Sweatin' in Shanghai

Let's talk about summer here in Shanghai....it's HOT.
While this summer was definitely not as hot as last year (actually pleasant compared to the searing heat that greeted us when we moved to here) it was still hot enough to sweat through clothes and ensure the outfits in closets were getting rotated!  Example below of this poor fella and his sweaty torso.  There's even the 'man-kini' where guys will lift their shirts above their bellies for extra breeze...something to look forward to for next summer!

Impromtu Brunch Day!

We started the day only going to the Super Brand Mall next door to our apartment to look for eye drops in the pharmacy - I'm having some bad allergies due to the air pollution here in Shanghai...

But, food was most certainly required first!  Up on the 8th or 9th floor of the mall (yes, it's really that big!) we found a place called 'Ashley's' which was also playing Gone With the Wind!  Of course this Belle had to try it!

And nope, the L is not supposed to be falling off the wall....oh, China....

Food was just okay - not hot, just kinda warm under the heat lamps, pretty large selection, but what it did have was three barrels of cheap wine that came with the price of the buffet!  Sold! 

We sat, snacked, and drank while enjoying a lovely view of The Bund and Shanghai skyline.

A group of young, Chinese women sat next to us.  I've never seen people eat so much food!  They must have devoured over a dozen crabs - these are small crabs here that are much more work than worth in our opinion - and after eating, they too starting drinking.  It was our goal to last longer and boy did we!  We were the last out of the restaurant, around 3:30pm, before the dinner service began!

Next we went to the pharmacy which did not carry the eyedrops my doctor told me to get - sigh.

Then headed to a small grocery store down the block that carried some locally made GOOD coffee B likes - the store was no longer there, sigh.  But had some fun along the way :)

We decided to keep brunch going and headed up to the Can Opener building (World Financial Center) for our favorite ginger mojito cocktail!  They even had some amazingly strong wasabi peanuts that are so strong, they make you cry but keep you going back for more ;)

 

It was the clearest day we've experience when hitting the bar on the 97th floor!

Still some smog though...

Cheers to a fun day!

Strawberry

While on home leave, Kimber colored me a kitty from Strawberry Shortcake's story and named her 'Strawberry'.  Strawberry now lives in our apartment in Shanghai :)

Thank you, Kimber!

Home Leave!

We had an AMAZING time while home in the US the past two weeks!  It's hard to put into words how it felt being able to go home to our apartment in LA for the first time in 14 months and then back home to Georgia to be with family.  So grateful for the time and looking forward to our future move date back to the states.

First stop:  Sunny SoCal with our rental Mini Cooper!

 

We were welcomed home to our apartment by our good ole friend, Mr. Skeleton!

The sign says:  "Welcome! You have beer?"

Ha Ha!  Thanks to our neighbors Donn and Char for the fun welcome home!

 

I spent three days in the Glendale office while B spent a lot of time at the pool. 

The pool was so nice with gorgeous weather, warm water, and clear blue skies the entire time we were there - couldn't ask for much better :)

  

B and Donn enjoying the day!

 

We planned our trip home to be able to celebrate the 4th of July with Sean and Michelle.  We spent the first part of the day at the pool with neighbors then headed to their house for dinner, more pool time, and fireworks!  She decorated the house and patio for us to really have a fun 4th! :)

Our time was up in LA, we turned in the fun little cooper and head South to ATL!

 

Where we ate.....

and ate...

and ate...

and ate!

You have no idea how GOOD everything tasted to us - we probably gained 10lbs a piece!

And when I asked B why he bought this...

 ... he said because he could!

We've missed things you never thought you could really miss ;)

I also got some 'girl time' in with all my Steele ladies!

Amber, Kimber, and new to this world, Miss Piper!

Just perfection :)

We also stocked up on necessities to take back to Shanghai:  cold medicine, new clothes, socks, toothpaste, face wash, makeup, spices, and of course some delicious Frank's Hot Wing Sauce!

 

And funny enough, while Mom was cleaning up, she came across a notebook of mine from pre-school.  Apparently I had a Chinese teacher and we found my name written in Hanzi (chinese characters)!  Too funny and random...

 

A perfect trip!