Honeymoon Recaps: Male

We spent one day of our honeymoon not lazying around like bums, and actually doing something! We took a day trip to the capital of the Maldives, Male, which is of course an entire island, and we even had a private tour guide arranged by the hotel. It was fun to see the history of this span of islands, that only became known in the 70's.

I forget what the building in the background is. Some type of government building I think. But the flag of the Maldives was huge.

Here we are outside the President's Office. It faces the water and there are a fleet of navy vessels "parked" outside.

Male was packed with scooters. There were very few cars mostly because one would have to pay 100% tax on a car brought to the Maldives!

This is an ancient cemetery for royalty. The large, pointy stones are for men, the rounded ones for women, and the small one for kids.

And this is the Presidential Palace. There was a newer one built a few years ago on an island a few minutes away, but the current president has chosen to live here we were told.

This is their museum in Sultan Park. It was built with China Aid and hence the building reminds you a little of Chinese culture.

This is their largest mosque and one of the only ones that can be visited by tourists inside. 

My favorite part is visiting the markets. In this particular one, locals were only allowed to sell local products. The dynamite looking packages are a mixture of crushed coconut and brown sugar. Really yum!

Lots and lots of bananas! Makes you think about the gigantic things we buy at the store!

Betel leaves. Good for aiding digestion apparently. 

Betel nut. 

Local fishermen in their boats.

More boats. 

Beautiful tuna from the fish market

And finally a souvenir shop. We got some beautiful pieces from in here. 

We spent about 4 hours on the island and I feel like there was a lot more to see. If we had the time I would have gladly gone back and just walked around on our own. 

So thats it for the honeymoon ladies! We had a great time and would love to go back to the Maldives again at some point. Next time I post will be about the wedding! Should be getting our pro pics any day now and I can't wait! 

Just Stopping By...

...To say a quick hello to you ladies! 

Sorry to have been MIA on you again, but as most of you know this is a super busy time for us. Our best man is in town until Saturday and we were on a trip to Portland over the long Easter weekend. I have been reading along and staying up to date on your blogs but just not commenting very much. 

I did want to quickly share with you that I checked one more thing of our to-do list! My wedding band! And it looks something like this...

source: Google Images

I am so excited to wear it! I love all the bling! 

Hope everything is going well for you ladies and I will be back to normal posting by this coming week.

Our Trip To East Coast Canada

So as usual I am late with our trip recaps! It was nice to spend 10 days straight with Mr. Milk and Monday felt kinda lonely! Lame I know. Anyhoo, here are some pics from our trip. Since we are total foodies, most of our pics revolve around that! :) (click on pics to enlarge)

So this is milk in Ontario. It comes in plastic BAGS! I about lost it when I saw this! Never seen this before! Anywhere! Most people have one of those pitchers that you place the carton BAG of milk, snip the corner, and pour in your coffee, cereal, whatever. I think its more environmentally friendly so kudos to them! 

We went to this amazing chocolate store Soma Chocolatemaker in the beautiful Distillery District in Toronto. Well no need to say that this Chocolate Lover felt like she had died and gone to chocolate heaven! We got spicy hot chocolate, almond caramel clister, dark chocolate truffle with aged balsamic vinegar (doesn't sound so great but tastes de-lish!), an espresso truffle, and dark chocolate with caramel and fleur de sel! Yum-O!

The Montreal Biodome was a fun place and great experience for any animal lover like myself. Look at that little monkey in the middle there! So cute! And those in the bottom right corner are King Penguins (a la March of the Penguins). They are huge!

We went to the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal and it is ridiculously stunning! I think its one of the most beautiful churches I have seen!

So this is Mr. Milk and I being pigs! We couldn't just order those yummy chocolate drinks at Juliette & Chocolat. Oh no, not us! We had to order couldn't resist the semi-sweet chocolate fondue! I'm drooling just thinking about it!

So this was a wonderful boulangerie (bakery) a block away from our hotel called Premiere Moisson. I swear if I could have bought one of everything I would have! Their chocolate croissants were divine! Should have brought a bunch of those back here to freeze...

I'm Baaaaack

Hi Ladies! How are you all? I feel like I've missed out on so much in the week that I've been gone! A couple of you even got married! Congrats! 

Mr. Milk and I had a great time in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, but are pretty happy to be home too. We were on the go almost the whole time and it always amazes me how tired you can get when you're on vacation! Thankfully we had all day yesterday to get back in gear, do laundry, go grocery shopping, and clean up the house. As soon as I get the chance I'll post some pics from our trip.

In the meantime, take a look at these:

Thats us! Courtesy of the lovely Penga over at Convention of a Wedding! This lady is so talented! Not only is she DIYing EVERYTHING for her upcoming wedding, she also does Line-Art and very generously offered to do some of her fellow bloggers so she can practice! She makes it sound like we are doing her a favor! If you look closely, you'll see that she even colored my shoes teal! What attention to detail! Both Mr. Milk and I love it! We are trying to think of ways to use it for our wedding. 

If you haven't already, I highly encourage you to rush over and check out Penga's blog. There's a quick-link on the right side-bar which takes you to her line-art post and where you can check out all the other pieces!

Some Trips, Some Visits, And A BIG Announcement!

Lots of things have been going on in the Chocolate Milk household (I just put that together!)! 

To begin with, we are going on a trip to the East Coast of Canada. Mr. Milk has a work thing and I am tagging along since I've never been. We leave tomorrow evening and our first stop is Toronto. We spend the weekend there, then take the train to Ottawa, where Mr. Milk will have his meeting and I will be a tourist. Hopefully I'll have some time to blog then and post some pics. After 3 days, we get back on the train and head to Montreal for 4 days. This is the part I am most excited about, as I've heard great things about it! If any of you have any advice, tips, must-sees, please let us know! 

So needless to say I will be a little absent next week, but will be popping in whenever possible.

The following week, Mr. Milk will be in Miami for a bachelor party. Hopefully I can get him to take lots of pics so we can see what goes on during these affairs! A day before he returns, his best man will be coming to visit us from Cyprus for a couple of weeks! We are very excited about this. We are also planning a road trip to Portland for some tax-free shopping while he is here, and my hope is to return with my wedding band! :)

My chocoholic friend and her husband are looking into coming up to Vancouver at the beginning of May to spend Mr. Milk's birthday with us! We are super excited about this visit too because we have tried to plan it since September!!! So after 2 failed attempts we are hoping that the third time will be the lucky one. Mr. Milk and I have it written down in our calendar that they will be here so there. 

As for the BIG announcement... you'll have to wait a little more for that :) 

source

Sorry! But have to keep the suspense going a little longer! 

I Am Back!

Hello All!!!

We arrived back in Vancouver late last night and are back to the old grind. Mr. Milk is off to work and I am at home trying to get this place looking less like the airport threw up in it! :)

source

I will try to catch up with as many of your blogs as possible and will be back to posting regularly asap!

Back On That Darned Jet Plane!

Here we go again! We are starting our long trip back to Canada. This time will be even longer as we have more time to spend in London. And of course, our journey could NOT be without drama!!

If you have heard international weather news, then you already know about the crazy a** cold conditions that have taken over most of Europe. For those who don't believe in global warming I really don't know what more proof is needed! Anyway, BA once again has been cancelling flights left, right, and center! Temperatures in many parts, including London, have dropped to around 15F and worse! The snow fall has left people without heat and electricity and airports, trains, and buses have cancelled trips. Our flight from Cyprus to London so far appears to going ahead as planned, but that can change depending on the overnight weather conditions. And then there is no way of knowing if we will be able to leave the next day for our flight to Canada.

Oh well. Such is life I suppose. Think good thoughts for us for minimal delays and inconveniences please! Hope you are all having a good weekend!

We Are Leaving on a Jet Plane!

As you read this post, we are gathering our last minute things, shoving them in the overly packed suitcases, and getting ready to head to the airport for our long-ass flight to Cyprus. We have spent the last two holiday seasons away from our family and friends so we are looking forward to this Christmas. Unfortunately we waste 2 days as we have a stopover in London, both on our way there and on our way back. While this may sound like a good opportunity to some, being jet lagged does not inspire a "lets hang out in London" attitude. Luckily we both have enough friends living there that we don't have to pay for accommodations. 

source

I have to say though, travelling is no longer fun. The airlines have done their best to squeeze every ounce of fun from it, and they have succeeded in my book. Tickets are ridiculously expensive, airlines charge for every. single. little. thing (then they tell you "we will be serving complimentary beverages during the flight" - nooooooooo, I actually paid hundreds of dollars for your lousy beverage!), and they charge you for checked-in luggage but have weight restrictions on your carry-on! The latest craze for those flights that don't charge for luggage is to limit it to one piece. Not really too much of an issue, except when you have trans-atlantic flights! Aaaargghhh

To top it all off, this is the first time in 5 years of travelling back and forth to Cyprus that we booked our flights with British Airways and they have been threatening to strike! Lets just add more stress shall we! We've tried changing our flights but of course everything is already booked during the busy holiday season. We can get to London but then who knows what will happen the next day when the strike is supposed to have started and we are scheduled to be flying to Cyprus. Luckily, FMIL is a travel agent, and has made two one-way bookings from London to Cyprus for us on a different airline. Prices are ridiculous this late in the game though so not sure how that will work exactly!

Rant over! Thanks for listening.

I will try to write some posts while I am in Cyprus, and post some pics so you can see this little spec on the map :)

Are you travelling for the holidays?  Hope you all have safe travels with less craze getting there than we are having!