Oops, I thought I would just go blind from doing that...

So, this is a real picture. I swear it. It showed up in the Shanghai Daily one day. I sent it out to my humorous friends and asked them for some other ideas for funny captions. Some of them couldn't be posted! Other good Captions:

- So, NOW do you believe your Mom when she said not to do that nasty thing in your bedroom?

- Who knew self-interest would have THIS side effect!

- The "L" shape on her forehead was the death blow...

- The palm reader exploded.

- My Grandma told this would happen if I pointed at people.

- Anyone want to play war?

Visiting the Red Tent

The title is only going to be funny to those of us that 1) read the book The Red Tent or 2) were at Ceyda Yuce's home last night. Last night was the first get together of my Shanghai friends and our husbands. We decided that after 6 months, all of the hubbies of the group of great gals I run around with should meet. So Ceyda hosted a happy hour at her house. We had all some what held our breath before hand as we all felt it would be quite the bummer if the guys didn't hit it off and we were relegated to 'girls-only' events. Fortunately, that was not the case, and at least from Tom I heard good news that it was a good group of guys. Whew.

So, the red tent... Let me begin by sharing that that everyone brought a bottle of wine, and I am not sure if there were any bottles left unopened when we left. The women all filled our plates and sat in the dining room which had french doors on it that could be pulled (or pushed, ha ha) closed. The men chose the chairs and tables outside of the room. After we all started chatting, the men decided to close our doors as clearly they felt our noise was inhibiting their own conversations. So even though at times we opened them to let in some cool air, generally it was agreed that the conversations topics we were discussing, such as the different styles of bikini-waxes one can select from, mandated that the doors remain closed. Hence, the name the Red Tent. We had such a great time last night! I am very lucky to have hooked up with such a great bunch of ladies. I was laughing so hard that my sides ached. That is a sign of a good time.

Some evening highlights:

• Why do they use the term apex to describe those female body parts?
• What is a "landing strip"? What are it's benefits?
• Frommer's translates to Farmers in Swedish (sorry Susanne, this one had me in tears!)
• Susanne probably ought not take her wedding ring off if she has an affair
• Sushi is meant to be eaten whole so as to provide long gaps of quiet time to a table
• Salt can remove red wine stains from white linens
• We need to go out to clubs to feel young (so says Rebecca!)
• Can you really make a profit selling Chinese wine in Sweden?
• Kathy has to make cheesecake for all future gatherings!

Oh, and a special thanks to Haken Yuce and Brian Miller for the giant size glass of liqueur. Kahlua, Vodka, Bailey's, and milk. Wow. Brian thought he had called out a recipe to Haken to for B52's, but I looked it up online and B52's have Grand Marnier in them instead of vodka. It is actually called a mudslide. Now I know why my mom drinks these...

Natalie's Birthday

Natalie turned 5 on August 14. Her Gammaw was here to help her celebrate. When I asked Natalie what she wanted to do to celebrate, she told me she wanted to go the Pearl Tower. So, that is what we did. We invited some of our friends and went to visit the Pearl Tower. We had lots of girls go with us. Natalie also had a dress made just for her birthday! Mom and I found sound really cute material with "barbie" on it that Natalie just loved, so we had the shop that has made some of my best copied clothes at the Fabric Market make it for her. She has it on in all of the pictures. Only in China!

Luckily it was a decent day for looking out of the tower. Some days it is very smoggy and hard to see. You can see from the picture that the sun was bright that day. From left to right in the outside picture are Grace Fansett, Jamie Miller, Natalie Bramer, Jessie Kovie (in the front), Lauren Miller, and Hannah Fansett. Up top, the kids had loads of fun goofing for the camera. The best part of that trip was the museum underneath the tower. It was very interesting and the kids loved it! The last time we went, we didn't even know it was there so we totally missed it.

After the Pearl Tower, we went to Buddy Bear Restaurant in the Times Square Pudong Mall. A themed restaurant geared at kids. The food was so-so, but the kids loved playing in the big play area inside, so it was perfect. I bought an ice-cream cake that cost me $50 (yes in American!) from Haagen-Daz and sent all the kids home with a big sugar buzz!

Even though Natalie is here in China, it turned out that all of her family sent her gifts! Since my mother had come over, she was able to bring most of the gifts

from her grandparents and aunts & uncles. So, she had quite a pile of gifts to open. She received mostly books, though as usual her Aunt Angel sent some good fun stuff (lots of stickers and little toys which she loves). She also got two new Webkinz from Angel and Tony, a frog and a chihuahua. She of course loved that. Her Aunt Jennifer got her a bunch of Magic school Bus books, which are science oriented. We have read two or three of those already. Excuse me, she has read them. She now tells me that she doesn't need me to read to her. Her Grandma and Grandpa Bramer got her a really cute outfit for fall (though she insists on wearing the jeans already as they have red hearts on the legs and she thinks she looks grown-up!) and two books from Beverly Cleary: Ramona the Pest (Ramona Quimby), and Beezus and Ramona. I talked Natalie into letting me read Ramona and it is pretty applicable since it is about Ramona starting kindergarten. But she is reading the other about Beezus on her own. She still has some struggle with some of the vocabulary, but she is getting about 70% of what she reads. Gammaw also gave Natalie a gift of a manicure. On the Saturday before her birthday, her and Gammaw went to the spa here and had lunch and their nails done together. Natalie had little, teeny, tiny, flowers painted on her fingers. Again, only in China AND only when Gammaw is visiting. The Ayi got Natalie some Chinese / English books and has been studying with her. That will come in handy this year for sure. Tom and I bought her some more books and her own Mp4 player. She has been getting car sick and can't read, color, or play her L-Max in the car and she was using Tom or I's player, so really you could say the gift was for us. But I have to say that one of her favorite gifts came from our driver, Zhong Biao. He bought her a Barbie with 4-5 extra outfits. She loved it! And since it was really the only toy she got, thank goodness. Pappaw gave her $10 which I converted to RMB and she went to Toys-R-Us and bought a little Barbie, Kelly. She told us that in Barbie Land, Barbie could have babies without a husband! Out of the mouth's of babes... So overall even though we tried to keep it low key, she got quite a bit. It was a big day and we tried to get her to bed early as the next day was the first day of school. At 8:05 when her head hit the pillow, she was out within 5 minutes. I guess she had a happy birthday!

We're Back... Diane's Arrival (one mth late!)

My mother comes to visit us here in China and my blog goes to hell! Well, maybe it not just her fault. But I am back now and determined to catch you all back up on what has been going on. My mom visited, Natalie turned 5, Natalie started school, I am looking for a part-time job, Natalie rode her first two-wheel bike, and Tom is in the U.S. So there, you are caught up!

OK, I will start with the highlights of Mom's visit. She was here from August 3-28. She had a great flight and Natalie was thrilled to see her at the airport. I was thrilled too! Our first visitor. We got her luggage and headed back to the house. Natalie had decorated a big sign that said "Welcome to Shanghai Gammaw" and I had hung it from the ceiling. Plus we had put fresh roses in her room along with some pictures I had made of Bob, Angel, and Jennifer so she wouldn't forget the rest of the family. Natalie basically hung out all afternoon and evening with Gammaw, playing on her bed with everything she had brought. The neatest gift that my mother brought was a scrap book she had made for Natalie. It is so beautiful! Any of you who know my mother know that she is a bit OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) so of course it was perfect! Mom says she made the book so that Natalie would not forget her and pappaw. Right, like that would happen. As you can see from the final picture, Natalie basically wore herself out!

I will get some more information out here on her visit. I promise it won't take so long!