the wife almost forget my bday last year, how did she do this year?......

Although the wifey was knee deep in TFA and district training she made time to throw me a surprise party. What you don't see in this picture is a room full of people. What you do see is killer cupcakes (childhood favorite),  a super chocolately cake (more chocolate the better), and a happy Mr. C receiving a Giada cookbook (I love Giada)

home.

seventh day of cruise.

one last picture in front of the ship.

and then back to real life and responsibilities.

p.s. we totally recommend checking out cruises on vacationstogo.com, then booking it through another travel site--we got the ATV adventure for almost free by doing that!

day at sea

sixth day of cruise,

celebrating our one year anniversary.

j surprised me with a cake, flavored the same way as our wedding cake!

puerto vallarta

fifth day of cruise.

ATV adventure (including helping some ranchers coax a pregnant cow into a trailer!)

swimming in the river,

riding a horse (i promise i am not hitting it!),

checking out the streets of a small village,

and admiring architecture.

cabo san lucas, round two.

Fourth day of cruise.

Jet skiing,

exploring the sea arch and caves,

finding a pelican,

snorkeling,

and taking more pictures.

cabo san lucas

Third day on the cruise.

Gorgeous beaches, clear water, and fishermen.

debarkation!

The first day of the cruise!

Ship exploration, a nice dinner,

and a relaxing stroll around deck.

And of course, Jeff being mischevious.

our newest home decor improvement..

Since wifey has been gone at TFA training and I am on summer break

 I decided to channel Martha with this wall.

It took a surprisingly long time to make sure the

diamond design was symmetrical.  however..

Japanese tape+mirrors+demilune table+classy pitcher=happy wife

teaching americans

i owe you guys an update on a lot

like china, sedona, and the cruise

but right now i am at teach for america training.

and it. is. awesome!!

there are so many people who share my vision

and want to change the world

and save all the children

and all that jazz

i am so inspired by the energy here and cannot wait to start teaching!

and closing the achievement gap!

p.s. explanation behind the title:
my friend was applying for teach for america
and one of the students she worked with said,

"miss g, good luck teaching americans."

he didn't understand it was teach for america...

how could you not want to teach children who say things like that?!

tropical breezes

lots of things have happened since i last blogged.

and i will write about those things later...

because we have more exciting things happening NOW!

mister c and i just booked a cruise!!!

neither of us have ever cruised (is that a verb?)

but we have heard really good things about it.

we had a mini-honeymoon and wanted to do something more

so we are using this as our big hurrah because this is the last summer that academia grants us 

(well, at least for jeff)

anyways. we are p.u.m.p.e.d!!

it is a seven day, mexican cruise and we got it for a killer price.

you should all come with us!

back again

just got back into hong kong,

where internet sites aren't blocked at all.

(unlike china, where i couldn't access blogspot at all)

so i have tons of things to share.

problem is...it's one a.m. here and we have a big day tomorrow.

but i promise when i return to the u.s.

i will do recaps of china.

for now, i am enjoying our last night in asia.

see you in the states!

picture from here

the motherland (literally.)

i got three hours of sleep,

ate two delicious meals,

and almost died at least once.

i love asia.

pictures to come--i am too jet lagged to do anything more right now.

picture from here.

happy LOVE day!

mister c and i have never spent v-day together.

(this picture was from our honeymoon back in may)

the combo of me living in taiwan in 2009

and then me planning our wedding (in the bay area) in 2010

has made it so we've never been together for this lovers holiday.

so this is our first one together! 

not sure how it will go, since this was our conversation last night...

him: so what do you want to do for valentine's day?

me: uhhh, i dont really like valentine's day. so let's just have a dinner, nothing special.

him: but it's valentine's day! why don't you like valentine's day?

me: bad high school experience. 

him: but we are married! now valentine's day can be awesome!

me: okay, so let's just eat leftovers?

him: i live with a grinch.

sooooo we will see what he comes up with tonight.

but i have a feeling it might be a little more than leftovers.

and you know what,

i am open to valentine's day becoming an awesome holiday.

happy valentine's day, everyone!

it's a party!

my friend and i threw a party for her daughter.

it was sesame street-themed

and it was way fun!

i am even more convinced that i want to be a party planner 

(amongst other things)

when i grow up.

oh and...shout out to mama mork for sewing those pennants!

(not) sparing the trimmings

one freezing (i.e. under 50 degrees) night,

i made some hot cocoa.

mister c laughed how i "didn't spare the trimmings"

(meaning marshmallows practically spilled over the top)

so i said

"no way did i get this body by sparing the trimmings!"

(is there such a thing as too positive of body image?)

and then i thought

if i want to maintain this body that i lovingly created,

i will eat all the trimmings i want.

the more, the better!

note: trimmings include marshmallows, chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc.

p.s. did anyone see that awesome post on cjane's blog?

picture from here

it's been awhile

sorry for my blogging absence! 

i thought you might enjoy this picture,

jeff and i frequently wear these outfits for fun

(kidding.)

but here's a little collins fun fact:

the first time we laid eyes on each other, 

we were dressed like the above picture.

our life has been busy busy busy.

we had an awesome christmas break

with lots of food and family time.

and we are settling back into arizona life,

keeping busy with school and grad school applications.

life is good!

i promise (to my two readers)

that i will blog more often.

you can consider that a new years resolution.