Welcome to the November’s Ultimate Coffee Date of the year! I know I say this every year, but where has the time gone!? It’s already the second-last coffee date of 2024!
Ultimate Coffee Date: November 2024
One of the lakes up in Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龍雪山)!
If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d tell you that…I came back from my China trip 2 weekends ago! I got home at 1am Monday morning and went to work the next day + worked for 6 days straight, so I’m super excited to have a free weekend. :] (By “free,” I just mean not-working — I roped myself into volunteering for a hula festival this evening and will be singing at Awesome Orchestra’s 102nd event tomorrow!)
China was beautiful! We went to Hong Kong, Zhangjiejie (张家界/where they filmed Avatar!), and all over 云南/Yunnan (aka one of my favorite places in China because the scenery is so pretty)!
It was really fun to explore the ancient towns + markets. I feel like my Mandarin has improved somewhat, but there’s still a lot I need to fix/learn, so my book money this year may be dedicated to books on learning Mandarin. (I am definitely still way more comfortable with Cantonese, haha.)
The streets were super picturesque! It was super hot/humid in Hong Kong, but since Yunnan is way up in the mountains, it was a lot cooler up there. I snagged the knit scarf/cover-up below for less than $2 USD! :D
We stopped by a place where they dye fabric with different designs! I actually went to a similar one 15 years ago (picture on the left), but we got a souvenir to keep this time around!
They had us participate in “helping” to make this by leaving one part of the design unfinished, so we sewed the rest up. I definitely thought I’d effed mine up royally but it looks like it turned out okay after all!
If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d tell you that…Halloween fell on my virtual day this year, so I didn’t dress up. (I feel like it would’ve been hard to top last year though.) My pets did though!
Here’s Muffin as a bat-kitty!
Tofu is being a good sport about being a chicken (his head is too big for the hat! :( ).
See past ultimate coffee dates here!
(Link-up with Coco @ Running with Perseverance & Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner! Also linking up with Darlene, Michelle, Renee, Jenn and Zenaida, for Fit Five Friday.)
- Did you or your kids or pets dress up for Halloween?
- Do you have any holiday travels planned?
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That trip looks wonderful! We have one in the works for Hawaii in December; I’ve booked all our main things like flight/lodging/etc. but haven’t really looked much for daily things to do yet. I like to have a tentative plan that we can always change if we need to but then at least we aren’t sitting around 1/2 the day trying to decide what to do.
Love your pet’s outfits. I put a collar around my cat… that’s it. Maybe next year.
Your trip sounds so exciting. I’ve love to go there.
Your trip looks fantastic! so glad you were able to get away from work and enjoy
Ha ha… noooo I didn’t get a costume on either of my cats! My daughter dressed up though for trick or treating.
Your trip sounds amazing! Coming straight back to work like that sounds hard though- I guess it was worth it.
More amazing adventures! How beautiful is that fabric?
Your pets are too cute! Halloween was a bit of a cluster this year… I didn’t dress up the pugs, but next year, it might have to happen.
We might go up to North Carolina to support the Christmas tree farms, but I’m not sure yet. We have to think about it.
Your trip sounds amazing! Glad you were able to get away for a bit!
I have a 100+ lb German Shepherd so no costumes for us LOL
What a great trip! Looks like you got in a lot of fun stuff while in China!
OMG , the chicken costume for your dog is amazing!!
Your trip looks amazing too. The scenery looks so lovely.
It’s always great to see you for coffee. :-)
What a fabulous trip! I can’t imagine going to work the next day after getting home that late. :-)