Yesterday was my 50th birthday. Wow. I had a great day with friends here in Shanghai - it was a beautiful day as we dined at The Bund. No, this is not the name of the restaurant but rather the historical riverfront area in Shanghai. (Our family became expatriated Americans living here since 2007 but home will always be the Pacific Northwest) But I digress...my amazing husband has arranged for our whole fam-damily to fly out this afternoon to Hong Kong and then it's on to Johannesburg for the weekend! I will be at Saturday's concert and I couldn't be more excited. This will be my first ever Josh Groban concert! Now if I can just manage to sing a duet with Josh, well that would be the proverbial icing on the Big 5-0 cake now wouldn't it?! Is this the part where you say: "Holy Red-Eye-with-a-Toddler Batman - SHUT UP!!??" No, this is the part where you say I'm going all the way from Shanghai PRC to Sun City SA to FINALLY get to my first Josh Groban concert!! I can not wait!!

OK, here I am in Sun City at the Palace - heading out on a safari tomorrow at 0-dark-thirty - or as I would say in my commercial salmon fishing days in Alaska "the butt crack of dawn". Apparently the "cats" are early risers and we are keen to see some in the wilds of South Africa. My day tomorrow will peak with the concert. I am positively beside myself with eager anticipation. Pretty exciting for a girl from Tacoma. Josh if you read this, you are welcome to join us at 05:30 Saturday morning for the early morning trek.