Friday Favorites

One of my absolute favorite things to read on other blogs are Friday Favorites or 5 on Friday posts. Soo I got a little inspired and have decided to try my own.  And I think it might be fun to look back later and see what things I was enjoying at the time.  So I'm going to copy my friend Jordan and link up with Christina, Darci, April, and Natasha

1. Number one is definitely House of Cards. Darren and I wanted to find a show on Netflix we could watch together since we can't usually watch tv at conventional tv times because Darren works nights. Neither of us had seen House of Cards and now we're super into it. We're only a few shows into the first season but I love it. I can't wait to watch more and try to get some of these characters figured out better.

2. First Aid Beauty Lip Therapy.  My lips have been super chapped because of the cold lately and this stuff has worked wonders. I really like the way it feels on your lips. It's kind of like vaseline but petroleum free so it's not quite as slick. It's a little more than I would normal spend on chapstick but I have a feeling it will last quite awhile (if I don't lose it) since I usually only wear it at night.

3. Cinnamon Rolls. I tried my hand at making the Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls and they turned out pretty great if I do say so myself! They also make a TON. This is only half of them. So I've been eating a lot of cinnamon rolls lately and I'm not hating it. Darren asked me the other day around dinner time if I had eaten anything that day other than cinnamon rolls and coffee and I had to think really hard about it until I remembered I did have some almonds at one point. I'm not proud of my diet but I'm happy :) And I like to believe that if you make something completely from scratch that it can't be bad for you. All the calories you burn making it makes everything OK. No one rain on my parade and just let me keep believing that, OK?

4. My new candle. I'm a bit of a self-proclaimed candle addict. I don't know why. I just like them. I like cozy things and I just think candles make everything seem cozier. Plus with two dogs jumping all over the place a nice little scent never hurt anything. This candle from Bath and Body Works smells great... it's kind of sweet but also just kind of clean smelling. It's perfect for in between seasons when nothing else really works.

5. College basketball. I don't think there's any better sport to watch than college basketball. College football is right up there but honestly I think I enjoy basketball more. In undergrad I used to go to games all the time because I could just walk there super easy (and they're free) oh and Bruce Pearl was our coach and games were actually pretty exciting. Last night Darren and I went to the game with our friends Brad and Emily. We hit up some Mexican food and then went to the game. The only thing better than margaritas before the game would have been margaritas during the game... One can dream, right? Anyway, we had a great time even though the Vols ended up losing and the atmosphere was a little lacking due to a snow storm the night before.

February Update

I interrupt the normal Thailand stories to bring you a little update on what the Renwicks have been doing since I got back from Thailand. Key words being "the Renwicks" because we have actually gotten to do a few things together which has been a nice change from my Thai lifestyle.

The day after I got back from Thailand we celebrated Darren turning the big 2-5! haha. Luckily with the time change I was up super early so I had time to make his favorite breakfast and take it to him in bed. Pecan waffles it was :)

And here's my guy wearing two of his new birthday presents. My parents got him the hat and I bought him the vest in Hong Kong. Lucky for Darren he got a lot of presents from Thailand and for his birthday so the day was full of presents. Unfortunately Darren had to work that night but we had a fun lunch at Dead End BBQ at the request of the birthday boy. I was planning on making him dessert to take to work but jet lag set in and I was completely out of comission after about 3pm. I finally made it for him a few nights later. I'm pretty lucky he puts up with my sleepiness. And I'm just pretty lucky in general... 

Right after I got home the flurry of residency interview traveling began. I can't say it was my favorite thing in the world since I wasn't even over the jet lag from Thailand but it was definitely exciting at times and I made it through it. Now I'm just waiting and waiting for March 20 to find out where we'll be next year!  I happened to be in Detroit for one interview with coincided very nicely with an already planned trip.  A few months ago a bunch of my friends noticed a huge Southwest sale and decided to go visit our friends, Andy and Danyelle, in Detroit. I'm pretty sure it was on sale because obviously no one else wants to travel to Detroit in the middle of February but.... hindsight. I wrote a blog post about last time we went to Detroit and how Andy gets to take home cars every so often since he works for GM. Well this time was even more awesome and Andy got a giant passenger van that happened to be school bus yellow/orange. It was hilarious but actually very handy since there were so many of us. We spent most of the weekend freezing our a$$ off, having endless snowball fights, and enjoying spending time with all our friends and pretending like we all still lived in Knoxville again.. and pretending like we can drink like we did when we all lived in Knoxville. I mean how do old people drink? Even 25 is a million times harder than it was at 21. woof.  Anyway we ended up having an amazing time and were only a little devastated to leave. 

When we got back from Detroit I did a whole lot of NOTHING and have enjoyed every second of it. I went to a few more interviews but other than that my days have been spent barely getting out of my pajamas, catching up on tv/ netflix, sleeping in, baking, and loving on my puppies. Is there anything better than off months? The answer is definitively NO. Eventually I'm going to be bored but I'm not quite there yet. We've had quite a bit of snow and ice lately so the idea of feeling snowed in has made everything so cozy and made it feel semi-ok for wearing my pajamas past noon and not going anywhere.  Here's some pics from our cozy week.

I felt like a terrible dog mom when I realized Annie was forming a dread. I seriously don't know how that happened

Bawse loooooves sitting outside in the snow and ice but he also loves to get snuggled up nice and warm when he comes inside

 Annie is quite happy chewing on anything... ice included

They just can't possibly be any sweeter. They're convinced the guest bed is their personal bed.

I tried making the Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls. This is only half of them and they are ahmazing.

Sometimes I feel like I neglect Gracie a little bit so I felt like she should be included here somewhere. This is her in her bed and practically the only place you'll see her in the winter. Except by her food bowl of course.

Koh Phangan

After our amazing time at the floating bungalows we headed to our last Thai Intro destination, Koh Phangan. This is a fairly small island in the Gulf of Thailand. To get to the island we had to take our first ferry ride of the trip (more on that later). I don't usually get sea sick but I have one time before so I was a little nervous when I saw that the ocean had some pretty large waves going on.  We played cards most of the time to keep our mind off it, but I was definitely not feeling 100% during the ride. I was very happy to arrive at that little island. When we got there we checked into our seaside bungalows, which were part of a resort that the tour group that we were on owned. So you didn't have to be on the tour to stay there but everyone on the tour stayed there. It was called Sarana and I would highly recommend it for anyone going to Thailand. It's pretty basic (no hot water) but that's all you want/need in Thailand and was absolutely beautiful. We also really liked the restaurant/ bar they had open most of the time. Some of our favorite Pad Thai came from that place... I'm pretty sure a few people ended up eating it for breakfast and just for a snack because we loved it that much.

After we settled into our bungalows we had some time to explore the beach and just kind of hang out around the resort which was really nice. Our group all went out that night and we got to experience our first "full moon party". It wasn't technically a full moon so it wasn't the full on full moon party but it was still pretty awesome. A dance club right on the beach, actually in the sand and water, complete with glow paint and swinging fire ropes is pretty great regardless of the moon's status. Although apparently it is much much more crowded and crazy during an actual full moon.  We got painted up for the night while we were at dinner and definitely had some fun with that. I had some videos of the fire rope but can't figure out how to get them online.  Picture a jumprope completely in flames with drunk people jumping into it. It made me nervous because obviously a few people got burned but it was also super exhilarating to watch. I did not partake but I loved it!

We stayed up pretty late that night and enjoyed some fabulous late night 7-11 toasties. I guess now would be a good time to introduce the concept of toasties as they were a staple in our Thai diet. First, there are 7-11s EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. At one point, we were standing on a street and there were 3 7-11s in a row. Literally in a row. I don't quite understand the point of that. However, that made it very easy to find toasties, which are basically just a grilled cheese pocket with ham inside. But I promise you they taste way better than they sound.

Bangkok cooking & Khao Sok National Park

The morning after our first night out in Bangkok we had a (thankfully) late morning and rested around the hotel until we headed off for Thai cooking class. We also had to check out of our hotel that morning so commence hauling the 50 lb suitcase back down allllll the stairs. Our cooking class was so much fun! On our walk there we witnessed a motorbike crash. Luckily no one was hurt too bad. I'm incredibly shocked that this was the only one we saw on our trip. We heard somewhere that 90% of tourists who die in Thailand die on motorbikes so we decided to forgo those for the rest of our trip (or did we....). In cooking class we learned how to cook Tom Yum Soup, Pad Thai, and Massman curry. Pad Thai was the only one of the three that I had every had before and I absolutely loved the other two. They became some of my favorite things to eat after that. Probably the best part about cooking class was that they measured everything out for you and have all the ingredients in little bowls so literally all you had to do was cook it. I wish someone would always do the food prep for me. I'd cook way more often!

After cooking class we headed back to our hotel, got our suitcases, and headed to the train station to head south! The 12 hour overnight train is something I can only describe as "an experience". While we were waiting to leave Chelsey, Elly, and I decided we'd buy our tickets to get from Bangkok to Chiang Mai later in the trip. And after the our first experience we decided to just forget about the money we spent on train tickets (it wasn't much) and book a flight instead (which also was less than $100). I can't say that the trains was a bad experience but it just wasn't something I really wanted to experience again.  The main issue was that there were bugs EVERYWHERE. And when I say everywhere I mean everywhere all over mine and Camille's beds... while they didn't seem to bother anyone else. I could handle sleeping in the small train but I was just a little uneasy about the bugs crawling around me. Camille saved my life by letting me sleep on the top bunk where there were a few less bugs. She even found one in her pillowcase! Another issue was the bathrooms. They were Eastern style which is definitely not my favorite, but add in the moving and shaking of a train and I just decided not to use the bathroom for 12 hours. I actually think I would have slept ok except for the fact that the fan closest to me (definitely no AC) decided to stop working half way through the night. And I don't want it to sound like I'm complaining too much because I'm definitely glad we did it and ended up actually having fun but I just don't need to do it again :) Also, don't judge the roughness in this picture. Never underestimate what a few days in Bangkok can do to you.

Before they turned our seats into beds

my view in my bed

After we got off the train we drove a few hours more until we ended up at Khao Sok National Park. This was absolutely one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was just unbelievably beautiful and uninhabited. We took long tail boats to the floating bungalows where we were staying for the night. We stopped and swam in the rain on the way and it was pretty much a surreal experience. 

The floating bungalows were so cool! We spent the afternoon just swimming and hanging out, and more swimming and more hanging out. It was great! None of us could stop looking around and just being completely in awe of where we were. Unfortunately it was a little cold and at times a little rainy while we were there but we didn't let that stop us and still had a great time. There is no actual electricity at the bungalows. There is a generator that turns on from dark until 10 or 11 pm which is pretty cool. Our group hung out and played games together after dinner until the power went off. I was actually a little nervous about this because our bungalows are all connected by tiny little walkways and the bathroom is at the verrrry end of all the walkways. I was just a little paranoid I would have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and not be able to see anything and would just walk into the water. Luckily that didn't happen to me or anyone else but the thought definitely crossed my mind! We were all soooo sad when we woke up in the morning and had to leave our little paradise. It's definitely one of the most beautiful and awe inspiring places I've ever been.

I think we all would have spent the rest of the week at this place if they would have let us. Luckily they didn't and we had some more adventures coming up...