Christmas Wishlist 2011

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is...

1. Fuzzy bootie slippers

2. "Normal gets you Nowhere" by Kelly Cutrone

3. MacBook Pro
4. Tiffany & Co.'s Golden Bow necklace

5. Any big cuddly dog
6. Diptyque's Pomander candle

7. MAC 8 piece brush set
8. The Sims 3 for Mac

9. Beats by Dr Dre
10. UGG boots

Love,

Liesl

20 Things I'm thankful for

 Even though I'm South African and don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I like the idea of sharing what I'm grateful for this time of the year. I have too many blessings to count, but here are the top 20 things I'm thankful for.

Top 20 Things I'm thankful for: 
(in no particular order)

1. The Boyfriend - How lucky am I to have met the love of my life. He is kind, generous, loving, my best friend, and the person I want to grow old with. I'm very thankful that he loves me just as much as I love him.
2. My family - I'm truly thankful for my amazing, supportive family. There is so much love and laughter, and if I had to choose a family myself, I would definitely not have it any other way.
3. My friends - Having friends from all over the world is a huge blessing. Even though I can't see all of them often, I carry them around in my thoughts and prayers every day.
4. Excellent health - I can use all my senses, my legs, my arms and my brain. I'm very thankful for physical and mental health. And not just for myself, also for my friends and family.
5. Traveling - I'm fortunate to be able to travel regularly and I couldn't imagine a life without being able to see the world.
6. My job - I can honestly say that I love my job, and I'm so thankful to be able to walk into work everyday, getting to be creative and happy, and to feel proud of my work.
7. Internet - I need to thank the World Wide Web for giving me so much. Not only can I stay in touch with friends and family around the world at the click of a button, I can also get any information I need in less than 10 seconds.
8. Food - I'm thankful that I get to go to bed every night with a full belly, and that I never have to worry where my next meal will come from.
9. Water - This is often taken for granted, and I'm thankful that I always have access to fresh water, and that I can swim in the ocean.
10. Digital cameras - Thanks to digital cameras, I will be able to share so much of my life with my children and grandchildren one day. 
11. The future - I appreciate the fact that I can dream about the future and that almost anything is possible. I'm thankful that I will be able to get married one day and be able to have my own children.
12. Humor - In a world filled with hate, violence, war and crime, I'm thankful that humor still exists.
13. Technology - It makes my life so easy and convenient. We have smart phones, that can basically do anything now except our laundry, internet, airplanes, iPods, TiVo and the list goes on.
14. Taiwan - Taiwan has been very good to me. I'm thankful for always feeling safe and free and that I'm able to work here and have a good life. 
15. My childhood - Whenever I see an elementary school student here in Taiwan, walking home after public school, additional English classes, violin class and science class at 8pm, I'm so thankful that I got to finish school at 2pm and got to play sports and with my friends for the rest of the afternoon, and then spend some quality time with my family in the evenings.
16. Books - Reading is one of my favorite hobbies and I'm very grateful that I can visit the bookstore often and buy amazing books.
17. My dogs - I'm very thankful that I grew up always having dogs in the house. Currently, my dogs are very old and living with my parents in South Africa. They still bring me lots of happiness though.
18. My apartment - With all the crappy apartments in Taipei, I'm very grateful that The Boyfriend and I found an apartment that is perfect for us and that is our little sanctuary here in the city.
19. Seasons - I love the fact that the seasons change every three months. I can't imagine living somewhere where the weather is always the same. 
20. Music - Music is always there for me, no matter what mood I'm in.

I would love to hear what you are most thankful for.

Hong Kong Weekend

Who doesn't like a weekend away in another country? So when my brother told me that his cruise ship will be docked in Hong Kong (only an hour and a half's flight from Taiwan) this past Saturday, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands to see him. The Boyfriend and I decided to make a long weekend out of it, so we went shopping and met up with some friends, too.

I got to spend the whole day Saturday with my brother on the Diamond Princess, getting to see what his everyday life is like, and all the amazing things the ship has to offer. It was truly breathtaking, and hard to imagine that this "city" of a ship can actually sail around the world.

The Boyfriend and I met up with one of his friends in Lan Kwai Fong, the famous restaurant and bar area in Hong Kong. It was really crazy and actually felt like a wild New Years Eve party.

The rest of our weekend was spent doing some damage at Diesel, H&M, Michael Kors, Marks & Spencer and Tory Burch. Hong Kong truly is a shopper's paradise and I just had to keep reminding myself that my suitcase really wasn't that big to take everything back to Taiwan.

I'll post a more detailed description of all the great stuff I got over the weekend in my "November Favorites" post that will be out early in December; so keep an eye out for that.

I hope everyone else had an amazing weekend? I surely did!