The day has finally arrived...

I believe this is the most advanced planned/booked vacation Ryan and I have been on (to date).  I have been anxiously awaiting this day since either September or October of last year!  Approximately four or five months of waiting, and the day has finally arrived!

One duffle bag, one carry on bag, our Exsus travel pouch, Cape Town and Garden Route Guide Book, and most importantly my African Violet Kate Spade. :)
Not pictured: my camera bag (knew I forgot something)

I had to document this first major accomplishment, sixteen days of travel, and only ONE duffle bag.  A big thank you to REI for creating such a wonderful bag, many compartments, and the size perfectly meets the maximum size acceptable for our flights!!  I made sure to find the largest bag possible, that still fit within the airline requirements.  The reason for the duffle bag?  We will be taking small, light aircrafts from Durban to our two safari locations.  Small aircrafts do not have the luggage storage capability for my normal, enormous luggage.

I have blogged quite a bit the past few days, knowing that I will gone the next 16 days.  Our days will be full of many adventures, "seize the moment" list items, and all around, "scaring my Mother" as much as possible.

A few highlights include:
Hiking Table Mountain
Chasing penguins at Boulder Beach
Visiting Cape of Good Hope
Touring Robben Island
Wine tasting in Stellenbosch
Shark diving in Hermanus
Bungee jumping at world's highest bungee bridge
Finishing with 6 day safari

Ready or not, here we come.......

Local Trip

I frequently post about our adventures outside Russia, and I forget that we LIVE in Russia.  As I mentioned in the previous post, Russia!, never would I ever think I would run errands in Moscow, grab coffee at Starbucks in Moscow, or call Novorossiysk, Russia my home!  You do not see Russia on many Top 10 destinations for Conde Nest Traveller, or other travel magazines, but regardless, Russia is our current home, and I want to make sure I do not miss opportunities to explore it.  Just like in the United States, we fall into our daily routines, and forget to look around at what we may be missing.

Our first year living in Russia, we visited St. Petersburg, view post HERE.  Occasionally, we have explored Moscow during Ryan's business trips, HERE, our pre-assignment trip HERE,  a quick trip to nearby Gelendzhik, HERE.

Last week, another expat wife informed me that her driver was going to show her around a nearby city, Kabardinka.  She asked if I would like to join, and since I want to take full advantage of living, and exploring Russia (what little bit I may), I decided to join the local field trip.  The weather was perfect, beautiful, sunny, warm February day.  We were able to see, and learn a few new things.  You can view all the pictures from our local trip to Kabardinka HERE.

I don't want to refer to it as a goal, but my "goal" is to explore more of the surrounding areas, or simply take my camera along with me more often.  A day will come when we no longer live in Russia (insert smile), and I will want to look back on what life was like for us here.  A handful of Americans, living and working in Russia.  You know, when I am old and gray, and telling my grandkids about how awesome Grandma and Grandpa were, living in Russia! :)

Happy Valentine's Day

One benefit of time zone differences, I can post about Valentine's Day on February 15th in Moscow, and it is still currently February 14th in the States!  

 I know it is a very commercialized holiday, exploited by the greeting card companies, and florist, but I hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day.  I spent a portion of the day running around Moscow (I still pause after comments like that, "running around Moscow" Moscow!, we live in Russia!, craziness, sorry for the train derailment there, back to the original post) and collected a couple sweet treats for Ryan. 

Happy Valentine's Day, and welcome home!

Not one to buy many greeting cards, I decided to make good use of my resources, bag from bakery, pen from hotel, and a mix of English and Russian (I love you).

Tiramisu, and raspberry.  

Was very excited to find this cookie at the bakery.  I tried to explain to the worker (in Russian) that my husband LOVES Snickers, but she did not share the same excitement.  The result, an overly animated, excited American, slightly scaring the nice Russian lady.  

Love the little boxes the cupcakes are transported in.  Hello, America!
Translation (in light blue): American Laboratory of Dessert
I wonder if I could volunteer to be a laboratory tester!

The restaurant at the hotel was having a special Valentine's Dinner, since I had never been to the restaurant before, Ryan decided to take me there.  We may have slightly offended the manager when we decided to pass on the designated meal, and order off the regular menu.
Manager: "But it is a very special day, and this is a very special menu."
But, I greatly enjoyed the experience of having our caesar salad made table side, my slow cooked salmon with spinach ravioli, and bottle of Prosecco.
Note to the Polo Club: I know you are a Steakhouse, and I know you take pride in your steak, but next year, leave the raw meat hearts OFF the menu.  

No pictures of us, sorry.  I will say though, we looked mighty fancy. 

Champagne+Cupcake

Champagne is good, cupcakes are good, put the two together, and you have a celebration.  

My original purpose behind making champagne cupcakes was simply to try a new recipe.  Since I baked these lovely creations (last Friday), many reasons to celebrate have appeared.

it was Friday....let's celebrate!
Champagne was present.......let's celebrate!
One year until Sochi olympics.......let's celebrate!
Going to South Africa.......let's celebrate!
Running water.......let's celebrate!....?
?Allow me to explain that last item of celebration.  As I type this blog, I currently have a bathtub full of mysteriously odd colored Russian water.  My reason for filling the bathtub?  We were told that at 8 a.m. this morning (Tuesday) the water would be shut off, until 5 p.m. Wednesday for the entire city of Novorossiysk (apparently a water pump station in a neighboring city was in need of repair)!!!  Close to 48 hours without running water, panic!  Luck was in our favor today, 8 o'clock came and went, and the water is still on.  Now, the question remains, when will it be shut off?  So, until we are ready to walk out the door tomorrow morning to catch our flight to Moscow, my tub will remain full of the mysteriously odd colored, Russian water.
This leads me to another reason.....
Learning to flush a toilet with a bucket of water in preparation for the "Great Novorossiysk Water Shut Off 2013......let's celebrate!

Let's refocus, champagne cupcakes.  Friday morning, I began my celebration.  My normally nutritious breakfast plans flew out the balcony window with the champagne cork.  My morning would include baking, while sipping a mimosa, and then feasting on my creation (I did have a banana just to make myself feel healthy).
Mimosa+champagne cupcake.....let's celebrate!

I realize it is sparkling white wine, but it is local, and it had a Sochi Olympic emblem.  I felt it was only appropriate because it was a year to the day of the opening ceremony for the Sochi Winter Olympics 2014. 

 While baking champagne cupcakes, a responsible baker must sip a mimosa.  

Since Ryan and I will celebrate this Valentine's Day in Moscow, I decided to make a mini champagne cake, along with many cupcakes.
I went back and forth on what to top the cupcakes with, I ultimately decided on a champagne glaze, not as heavy as frosting, and with a drop of red food coloring to make it pink.

We recently had a couple new dinners worth celebrating....... 

First time making crab cakes, much lighter (baked, not fried), and very tasty.  Topped with a cajun flavored sauce, and served with a carrot buckwheat side dish.  

Also, first time making enchiladas.  I am not a fan of the messy red sauces that drown the poor, little enchiladas.  It seems you spend more time searching for the enchilada, and then eating a soggy mess. I consider these to be more like chicken fajita enchiladas.  Love seeing the enchiladas not drowning in the sea of red sauce, and loved the crispy edges on the tortillas.  Served with a thrown together corn, bean, tomato, etc. etc, side dish.  

Now, let me think of something else to celebrate so I can make more champagne cupcakes........

One month down....

eleven more to go......making our way through another year in Russia.

I realized I have not checked in on the blog recently.  Let's make this post a giant update:

Travel:
Ryan has travelled up to Moscow a couple times, nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual business trips.  Macy and I have stayed in Novorossiysk.

Macy:
As always, cute as a button!  When the weather is nice, she has been going on lots of walks.  I type this blog after returning from another long walk, and she is currently snoozing in the other room.

Weather:
Maybe it's just my family, but we always seem to ask each other what the weather is like.  Well, today was sunny, it's a bit cloudy now, but no complaints.  This week is suppose to gradually warm to the mid/upper 50s and sunshine.  Hopefully, the cold, rainy weather we had last week is behind us, and Spring is knocking on our door.

Cooking:
As I mentioned, Ryan has been traveling, so I have not been cooking.  I have a few recipes picked out for this week, so I may post later.

Russia:
Still here........

Adventures:
I am anxiously awaiting our departure for SOUTH AFRICA on February 16th.  We used a travel agent for this trip, so everything is pretty much planned out and organized for us.  We will be spending 16 days exploring Cape Town, the Garden Route, and safari-ing.  A couple extreme adventures will be thrown in, I was going to leave them out, since I know my Mother will be reading this, but she already knows.  On Feb. 21st we will be shark diving.  In the words of Bruce from Finding Nemo, Fish are friends, not food.  Well, maybe I should say, humans are friends, not food.  If we survive the shark diving,  we are scheduled to bungee jump on Feb. 23rd!!!!  If you wish, here is the link to the company/location we will be bungee jumping:

 World's Highest Bungee Bridge

http://www.faceadrenalin.com

MOTHER DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK 

If we survive the bungee jumping, we will continue to our safari location.  Haha, oh this is going to be so much fun!  Remember, this year is the year for us to get all our crazy, pre-children adventures out of the way.  We are starting with some big ones, but we do have a few more up our sleeves for the remaining eleven months of 2013.  

AND, since a blog post is just not complete without a picture.  

My sweet, lil punkin' butt!