Guangzhou

This is the only photo I took in Guangzhou. I was there for about five days, including a full weekend, but sadly, this glimpse from my hotel room was all I caught on film. Blame it on the food poisoning that caught up with me after a sketchy Thai dinner. Still, shame on me during a visit to the third largest city in China.

We did head to a famous mall at one point during the weekend. It was basically made up of specialty shops selling whatever mass-produced item they designated. I saw a lot of pillows made of Angry Birds, tons of keychains, and more clip-on hair extensions than I ever though possible. I did end up grabbing a couple nice gifts (a vase for us and one for my mother-in-law, some textiles) but since I wasn't in the market for the famous Guangzhou pearls...that was about it.

The food in Guangzhou (when our colleagues took us out) was uniformly excellent. We had some amazing Sichuan food and some of the best Vietnamese I've ever had. Plus, I had a lovely stroll through the gorgeous Shamian island while on my way to a meeting and admired the French/British architecture.

In which I went to the Forbidden City

My trip to China came up at the last moment (as in, emergency taxi rides to the Consulate to get my visa) and the trip itself was quite rushed.

But. But. I could NOT LEAVE CHINA without seeing at least one freaking tourist attraction. So, when our schedule didn't have us leaving Beijing until noon, we (I traveled with a colleague from an adjacent office for this conference and set of visits) knew that we had to drag out jet-lagged selves out of bed and make it to the Forbidden City. Beijing traffic is such a bear that we went straight for the subway where...man, this nine week pregnant girl could barely handle the crowds. Luckily, it didn't matter that I didn't have a pole to hold on to since we were packed like sardines. But we made it.

While we had gorgeous weather in Beijing, the pollution is typically so dense that you may not even see the top of this building. In fact, on our return flight through Beijing, the BeijingAir twitter feed ranked the pollution as 'very unhealthy'. No kidding, you could even see it hover against the ceiling inside the airport.

But back to the Forbidden City. I learned virtually nothing there. We did a quick path through the palace area, dodging Chinese tourist and vendors, taking a few photos.

We admired the traditional Chinese palatial architecture and the home of nearly 500 years of royal dynasties. Always a sucker for painted ceilings, I spent a lot of time staring up at the trip and ceilings above me. We got a little distracted (wouldn't you?) and lost track of time, requiring us to book it out of there. Heading out through the famous Tianamen Square, we ducked back into the metro to grab our luggage and head to Shanghai.

Sadly, no photos from Shanghai. We stayed there one night, left at 5am the next day and spent the whole time working. However, from the short walk between our hotel and office, I made the quick assessment that resulted in a phone call home along the lines of "honey, we should totally bid on Shanghai!"

On a snowy day...

It seems like a good time to update the blog!

I can't believe that it's not even Halloween yet but there's snow falling, and sticking, in our backyard. We've fully moved into our new home and love it. Our little Cape Cod has three bedrooms, two baths, and a gorgeous deck and backyard. Our disposal is already broken and we just got the first mortgage bill so I guess we're officially homeowners! We still have a bunch of boxes to unpack but there's enough set up that I can spend most of the afternoon baking. I'm experimenting with kale chips (oven baked) and comparing two pizza dough recipes for tonight.

I guess that's the nesting instinct coming in. We're excited to be in the house and even more excited for our little new addition that will be joining us in April! I'm nearly 15 weeks and overwhelmed with stuff to do! We need to find a daycare, find a pediatrician, buy a crib (did you know they can take six months to be delivered!?), and make sure this darn house is set up before baby arrives!

I went to China last month and took some pictures. I was there for work so the only fun thing I got to do was race through the Forbidden City in 45 minutes but regardless, it was pretty and I need to get those pictures online.