I'm a fat kid at heart.

You can't tell it to look at me, because I can't gain weight in China no matter what I eat, but I really have a fat little girl inside of me. Nick catches glimpses of her all the time, like when I have ice cream bars for breakfast. We are home in the US this week and I have been slowly working through the list of places I wanted to eat while we were here:

• In N Out- this was our first stop on the way home from the airport. 
• Postrio- This is a Wolfgang Puck restaurant at the Venetian. I haven't tasted anything there that I haven't loved. Seriously delicious. Mom wanted to take Nick and I out for an early birthday dinner while we were in the country and this was my pick. 
• Panera- I miss cafes and bakeries in China. Sometimes I just want soup and salad for lunch, but there aren't many places to get it.
• Spicy Tuna- some of the best sushi I've ever had. I am a little wary of eating fish in China (in my head it is all mutated carp), so I was super excited for this one.
• Zaba's- Not a trip home if I don't stop here. I ate here at least 3 times a week throughout high school, and on every trip home since. 
• Red Robin- 3 words...BOTTOMLESS STEAK FRIES.
• Del Taco-My guilty pleasure. I have loved Del Taco since my freshman year at BYU when my roommate Brittany and I used to go there for nachos at midnight more times than I'd care to admit. Also, I tried the new funnel cake fries thanks to a recommendation from Tim. YUM!

Really the only place left on my list is Cafe Rio, hopefully I'll get there in the next few days. 

Ouch!

Nick surprised me the other night when he got home from work. He wanted to go get foot massages. Usually I am the one suggesting it, and usually I go by myself because he just doesn't enjoy them. I don't know if it is because he has trouble relaxing and so it hurts more or what, but I was excited to go with him. I figured he must have been super stressed to actually want to try a foot massage with me. The last one he got was back when we lived in Dalian and I made him go so we could spend some time together.

Well we got to our regular place just across the street from our apartment and sat down. They could only massage one of us at a time so Nick went first. The whole time the man was telling him what was wrong with his body. (Reflexology is crazy! I don't know if they can fix other parts of your body by rubbing your feet, but they can always tell what is wrong with me... One time a girl even knew how often I wear my hair in a ponytail just from rubbing my feet) Apparently Nick has way too much stress, because the guy had a lot to say and kept telling Nick he needs to come back more often. I know most of it was a sales pitch, but we are going back for the next few weeks to see if it makes a difference.

Well towards the end of the massage the guy convinced Nick to try fire-cupping. He said it was good for people who have a lot of stress. It was cheap so we figured why not?

Fire-cupping is a traditional Chinese medicine technique. They basically suction glass bowls onto your body by heating them up inside with fire. It is supposed to help open up your body to improve blood and qi circulation. They put the bowls on and left them for 15 minutes. As the air cools inside them it creates more suction and pulls on your body.

It was pretty painful judging by Nick's face and the comments he was making. I was trying to take pictures with his phone while getting my feet rubbed, so they aren't great but you can definitely get an idea of what it was like. Nick has crazy bruises on his back from it. The first night he was a little uncomfortable sitting or laying on them, now I don't think he notices it much, although it will probably take a few weeks for the bruises to fade.

He won't ever try the fire cupping again, but the next morning he did tell me his feet felt good. So the night was a semi-success!

Sunday mornings for the next few months

One of the biggest (and only) complaints I hear from Nick about being in China is not being able to watch sports on TV. It was especially an issue this week since college football is starting. He has discussed the problem many times with friends here, some of them have slingboxes and we considered getting one of those. In the end though, Nick came up with a much simpler solution.

He found a website that streams all the games live, and since our internet connection works best in the morning the timing couldn't be better. The games are Saturday afternoon at home, and with a 15 hour time difference that makes it Sunday morning for us. He got up this morning and turned on his computer and got comfortable. It has worked pretty well so far, hopefully I'm not jinxing it for him!

So for the next few months I guess I will have to find a way to entertain myself in the morning.

New Trick

It took us about a week to train CoCo to get up and down from the window sill by himself. He loves to look out the window and watch people go by. He has done it since he was a puppy, although in Dalian he had a much nicer view from our balcony than he has here. Our house here has presented a little bit of a challenge though since the windowsills are all very high.

He was pretty intimidated by the height at first, but now it is no problem. We coaxed him with treats onto the small table you can see in the picture and then coaxed him up to the next level slowly. For awhile he would jump onto the table and then put his legs up on the sill and look out, but he eventually realized he didn't have to jump much farther, and he got a much better view when he was all the way up on the sill.

We padded the table with my yoga mat so he doesn't slip when he's jumping down, and he has since spent many hours staring out the window. It's also great for me because it keeps him entertained when I'm too busy to play.