Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day...

It's a day of fun and family - and of reflection and thanks.

Thanks to all our veterans who gave their lives that I could be free.

That I can say what I think and not be imprisoned.

That made America a country where I, as a woman, can live with the same rights and freedoms as a man.

Thank you, veterans for your sacrifices that allow me to live in a country where we have the highest standard of living, the most opportunity, freedom of religion, and where we have peace and the luxury of living without fear.

Thank you.

Thar She Blows!

There is a pretty good sandstorm blowing outside right now.

I can honestly say this - when I move back to America (please Lord let that be soon) I will NOT miss the sandstorms.

I'm not sure there will be much I do miss - but I KNOW I will not miss the sandstorms.

The tiny grit of sand that is ever present in the air makes it impossible for me to wear my contacts for more than two days. 

My poor dog even has issues with the sand - her eyes water and she sneezes a lot.

And as I'm apparently allergic to the sand, hot air, and sun (it gives me a rash) the sand makes that worse too.

Well the sand and the 100+ degree weather (Fahrenheit).  The high temp today is suppose to be 101 - but it's already 101 and it's only 9:17am.

So needless to say my eyes and my rash are out of control.

Well maybe not out of control - but it is worse.

bleh (I love this word it just looks so cute).

On another note - I had the weirdest dream this morning...

I was standing in the door way of a room, but mostly in the hall.

With my back to the hall facing the wall at the end of it (not sure if that's clear to everyone or not).

And I would shout a word out periodically.

Just one word.

Twitter.

Think someone is trying to tell me to start Twittering?

Don't think I can because I have absolutely no idea how to use it or why one would want to use it.

Anyway that was my dream.

TWITTER!

New Camera!

I have a new Camera!

It's the Cannon SX210.

I've been dinking around with it today - it takes fish photos!

Or fish face photos or something like that - anyway here is Gabi!

She looks like a seal!

I don't know how photographers take these photos head on - Gabi didn't want to look at me to take this photo - this was the best I could do.

I took some of the hubby too but I think he'd kill me if I posted them - but they are super funny!

Anyway I can't wait to go on vacation with this little point and shoot it seems like it'll do a lot.

So exciting!

I'm an Artiste!

Look at what I did...

I went to a place called the Jam Jar where you choose a canvas ( I chose the largest one) pay a fee then paint!

The Jam Jar provides all of the necessary materials - paint, brushes etc... you just have to paint.

Each session is 4 hours and you can break up the time anyway you want.  This was my painting after the first 1.5 hours.

It was my first time painting anything.  Ever.

After my second session I finished with this...

I had a blast painting it!  The colors they had at the Jam Jar were so bright it inspired me to paint this scene.

Tulips because I'm not sure how to draw any other flower.

Sheep because the picture needed something aside from tulips.

And clouds because I love white, fluffy, clouds in a bright blue sky.

This is my first painting and I won't sell it right away...I'm going to hold out until "they" are clamoring for my paintings.

And when they are selling for tens of thousands of dollars.

Only THEN...

Will I consider selling this, my most special of paintings....

The first.

This one will sell for hundreds of thousands.

Maybe millions.

I'm CURED!!!

Not of my insanity, just of my illness.

I lost 5lbs.

But I wouldn't recommend this method of weight loss. 

It's really not pleasant.

I've made progress on the shower - sugared almonds have been found and purchased.

If I had realized that it would be a bit of an effort to find those here I would have bought them in Switzerland.

They even had some in our hotel room when we arrived - they had the perfect amount of sugar coating and a thin layer of chocolate over the almond.

Sammy and I ate the whole bag - it was a small bag - but a tastee bag.

Yum.

Next item to check off the list - cake.

French pastry chef here I come!

The question is - can a French pastry chef make a baby shower cake?  Or will it be too fancy?  I don't want some kind of weird croissant type of cake - I want a real cake.

But if I don't like the cake I'm still getting the Macaroons.

I'm going to gain back those five pounds at this party...

My next post will be about my artistic blossoming and my first art critic.

Who by the way loves my work, and I quote:  "Is that yours?  It's beautiful!"

Out of the mouths of babes the truth spews forth...

Crap

I'm still feeling like crap.

But I'm still at work and only have an hour to go until end of day.

So I'm better than yesterday...

But not as good as I'll be tomorrow!

I need a nap.

Oh and by the way...

I'm on the notebook blog! 

http://thenotebookjourney.blogspot.com/search/label/Abu%20Dhabi

How cool is that!?

Exciting News!

My furbaby does not have the big C.

She had surgery last week to remove a tumor and it was benign!

How exciting is that!?

In other news - I feel like crap.  I didn't go to work yesterday and I'm most likely going to leave early today.

I hate feeling like this - I feel like I'm being lazy.  Even though I'm miserable and don't want to do anything but lay in bed.  I feel like I shouldn't be laying in bed.

I feel like I should suck it up - which is why I'm at work today.

I'm sucking it up.

bleh.

I'm also in charge of planning a baby shower.  I hate feeling like crap when I need to do something like that - I get scared that I'll forget something and ruin the special day for the guest of honor.

Now I need to find a cake place here in Dubai that can do an American cake decorated for a baby shower.

ciao,.

Back in the airport again

My holiday is over.

Sad...

But Switzerland was so much fun!

More later - I have to catch the plane back to Dubai...

Oh by the way I wrote my page in the notebook - now it's on its way to the next person!

Yeah!

It's our Honeymoon!!!!

Not really - it's our 8 year anniversary trip - but I like to call it our honeymoon.

I'm in the airport lounge - thank you my husband for being a points whore!

Away from the masses - which means I get a nice breakfast, free internet connection, alcohol if I want it (but at 7am it's a little early for me), I'm charging all my electronics (can't fly without my ipod fully functional), and the bathrooms are more private and very clean.

Unfortunately I'm not getting upgraded b/c my flight is not full.

Bummer.

But since I'm off to meet my hubby in Switzerland who cares!?

We're going to Bern and from there we're going to drive around and explore the towns and country side.

Yeah!!!

I love Switzerland it's so beautiful and relaxing.

And I'm going to do a bit of shopping.  Man do I love shopping - I don't even really have to buy anything - I just love to browse.

I love to browse in countries that are older because you see really interesting shops, crafts etc...

Dubai doesn't really have a developed crafty side.  I'm not sure why...since it's such a young country you would think things like embroidery would be really popular - but not so much.  

They mostly have it done in India then shipped over.

I guess it's cheaper that way.

So I'm going to see if I can find some yarn, thread etc... to buy, to look at, to touch!

We're also going to buy a new camera - the Canon SX210 - in black.

I'm very excited about that, although my other camera is now working again.  It was a bit damaged after the Thailand trip - it was doused with water - but it seems to have recovered.

---btw the guys sitting next to me - they are German and one of them is really tall and athletic looking.  He just pulled out the tiniest computer I've ever seen!  I'm not sure how his big hands are going to be able to type on the thing....

Ahhh - he's a one finger typer!

Anyhoo - I'm going to go now - I'm going to attempt to transfer more of my travel blog over to this account.

Later!

Moving Blogs

I'm trying to move my travel blog to link up with this blog on my Google account. 

When I tried to do it the way the FAQ suggested it didn't work.  I ended up with an empty blog.

No Bueno.

So I started moving the posts one by one.

This means i have to log into my old account copy the post then log into my other account (the Google one) and paste it. 

Guess what?  You can't be logged into both at the same time.  Even though they have two different e-mail adresses and two different passwords.

Go figure.

So after moving about 5 or 6 posts guess what happened?!

I got a big fat error message.

And I was no longer allowed to log into either blog.

I can see this is going to be a slow process...

But I will persevere and my blog will be moved!!!!

The momentum has slowed

Not sure why but my writing has slowed to a trickle.

It could be one of the below:

1.  I've been sleeping in late every morning...oops!
2.  I don't want to face the fact that my vacation is over.
3.  I'm lazy...
4.  I don't want to organize my thoughts enough to write about them.

I have been thinking of things to write about, I just can't seem to actually write...

Here's a list of items I've I intended on writing about but just didn't.

1.  Personality tests - I took a morality one and a political one.  Here is the results of the Morality test:

"Based on your answers to the previous questions, your overall score on a conservative/liberal dimension of moral attitudes--compared with the general population--puts your percentile at 5, with the 99th percentile indicating the most liberal possible rating. Another way of explaining this is to say that out of 100 randomly-selected people, you will most likely be more liberal than 5 of them."



Hmmm I didn't realize I was THAT conservative. 
 
And the political test said I was a conservative but had liberal social views.  WTF?!  I have no idea what that means!
 
2.  The health care bill that no one read before signing (evidenced by the fact that the politicians screwed their own health care).
 
3.  Vacation plans - where to go?  Vietnam, Malyasia, where???
 
4.  My house - the A/C is leaking, we have to find a new place to live in August, the landlord isn't responding to e-mails.
 
5.  My sister is going to live with our mother - which is good it will allow her to get back on her feet.
 
6.  I joined a gym - that was interesting...let's hope I use it...
 
7.  We're going to Switzerland for our anniversary or as I like to call it, our honeymoon.

8.  The notebook was sent to me - but of course it didn't make it.  ARGH!  Living over here really chaps my ass sometimes.  I don't even know why I bother giving out our address over here - things only make it here about 50% of the time.  The rest just wind up return to sender. 

9.  I just realized all my blog links have disappeared.  WTF?!  It must have happened when I tried to change my layout.  So I need to add them back...
 
Many things to write about - many opinions to share.  None have made it on here.  Well at least I have a list now and if I want to write about these things later I can.
 
Oh and can I just say I can't stand people who don't manage their calendars.
 
It really pisses me off.