Greetings everyone, and Happy New Year!  Welcome back to our weekly Happy Hour.  I apologize to everyone for missing last week’s Happy Hour (Sorry Mrs. P!) but as the great Zac Brown Band once said, “I had my toes in the water, ass in the sand, not a worry in the world, and a cold beer in hand!”  (if you don’t know the song, check it out here) But I’m back now!

We made it home to Kuwait on Saturday, so this week’s Happy Hour is taking place in the confines of our living room while sipping on water! (boooo, no more booze!)  I’m still bummed that we can’t have booze in Kuwait, however I can still hear my liver cheering as he slowly recovers from my 17 day bender while on vacation.  Here’s the recap of our lives:

My first taste of water in 17 days, trying to cleanse my body from all of the beer and rum in my system.

• Our vacation was absolutely fantastic!  We had a ton of fun exploring around Sri Lanka and enjoying some chill days at the beach too.  It was the longest vacation I had ever been on, yet it was still difficult to come home.  We were having so much fun, that I just didn’t want it to end.  We made it back late Saturday night, and had the day off on Sunday to start the long process of laundry, unpacking, grocery shopping, and all of that other fun stuff!  We have so many awesome pictures and stories to share with everyone, so we are going to try to post some over the next couple of weeks.

• When I woke up on Sunday morning, I headed straight to the kitchen in search of some food for breakfast. Unfortunately all I could find though was chips & salsa, a box of teddy grahams, and a bag of croutons.  I contemplated throwing together a quick hot dish, when our good friend sent us a text message and invited us over for breakfast!  I was so pumped that I practically sprinted to her house, and was greeted with scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, coffee and juice.  It was so good, however the best part was the company! We were once again reunited with our friends, and couldn’t wait to hear about everyone’s trips.  There were 7 of us total, who had just returned from our vacations to Sri Lanka, Japan, Morocco, Thailand, Maldives, and Minnesota!  It was a blast hearing about everyone’s travel experiences and reconnecting with our “Kuwaiti family!”

• Upon our return to Kuwait, it was a bit like Christmas morning for Rachel.  One of our buddies who went home for the holidays, brought all kinds of stuff back for her.  She has been cruising Amazon & Target.com the last couple of months, buying a bunch of hair products that she can’t find here.  She had them shipped to his house, and he was so kind to toss them in his luggage and bring them back for her.  You know you’re getting old when you get excited for shampoo, conditioner, and hair spray for Christmas!

• During breakfast today I was cruising through the news feed on my Facebook page, when I read some awesome news.  One of my former employees, who worked during the summers for me for a few years, posted that he was leaving Minnesota this week and moving to Spain for the next 5 months. I think my face literally lit up, I fist pumped a few times, and felt a small sense of pride.  Last summer when I informed my job that I was leaving and moving overseas, he was super intrigued about the idea and mentioned that he had a desire to maybe try something like that one day. I tried to encourage him as much possible, but lost contact with him until I saw his Facebook post. I know he reads our blog, so when you see this bud, I’m proud of you!  Your upcoming adventure is something you will never regret, and cherish for the rest of your life!

Cheers for now, we’ll catch ya next week!