Cut Some Hairs.

So, I haven't had a hair cut (and color, which, let's face it, is the most important part) since December before Mimi and Papa came for two reasons. First, a cut and highlights here cost an arm and a leg. Second, because of the first reason, I can hardly justify spending said arm and leg on a cut which only my son and husband, and the occassional work buddy will ever see. I stay inside most of the time, why pay to have my hair look decent when no one sees it anyway?

Anyway, but I was due. It was getting to the point where I was actually changing my make-up to fit a brunette look instead of claiming I was a "blonde". So, off I went yesterday to Le Meridien hotel to try out their salon (or "saloon" if you ask the bell hop) for the first time. Up until yesterday, I'd gone to The Beauty Spot, but they keep raising their prices and it's killing me.

I do like the Le Meridien salon much better though, both because the hairdressers don't chatter on about nonsense and because they are super fast. (Less than two hours, which takes 4 hours at the Beauty Spot and 3 hours back home) I only saved about 50 Dirham (it was 500 Dirham total, about $140) but it was a nice experience. I think I'll go back there again instead of The Beauty Spot. Throughout the course of the color and cut, 5 different people cycled through the process of getting my hair done (the two Lebanese guys, who are the hairdressers, and 3 Filipino helpers) and every single one of them told both that I had "a lot of hair" and that my hair was "beautiful", or "exquisite" (which sounds far more awesome in a French accent). I typically hate my hair until it's getting done because hairdressers love it (probably because they don't have to deal with it daily, haha).

This salon was cool on another realm because I got a 15-minute scalp massage too while getting my hair washed after the color. I almost fell asleep and had to focus more on not drooling than on enjoying myself after a bit. Very nice.

So, here's a pic. Excuse the no-make-up. I left right after breakfast to go get it done and I was wearing only yesterday's mascara. (See how my freckles are back though? Haha. I'm a-working on my tan for vacay!) The end result included a bit more than 4 inches off the whole thing and then layers as usual. Pretty basic. :)

Bathtime Extravaganza!

Kaden loves the bath and he normally takes one after we play on the roof because he comes down all wet and sweaty, but I am sunburned and it's just freaking hot out so I decided again roof time today. He took advantage of not being tuckered out from roof playing and proceeded to create a masterpiece in the bathtub instead of working on his outdoor mural. Here are the results and the happy artist hard at work!

He wanted a high-five.

UAE's Road Safety.

Hopefully the dangerous roads here can become a thing of the past. Doubtful, but what's the harm in hoping?

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090705/NATIONAL/707049842/1182/enewsletter

4th of July Weekend

We started out our weekend with a package from Aunt Marcia, which had my new Kindle sleeve (yay!), some candy and magazines, and Kaden's new favorite toy:

And here's Kaden with his cool new Cars jammies! He loves them!

This thing is SO cool! It is a microphone that has so many settings that sometimes he'll set it to one I haven't heard before. It echos when you sing into it, and our little American Idol sure does love singing! Awesome toy. Thanks, Aunt Marcia and Uncle Deven!

Then yesterday was the 4th of July (American Independence Day, for those who don't know... if that's possible) and we celebrated by having Mike, Matt, Dan, and Kyle over to grill out on the roof. It was nice, though hot (check out the sheen on everyone... it was sweaty). Kyle brought his famous baked beans (with pork) and we made hotdogs (all-American as it gets, eh?) and I made Mimi's Macaroni Salad. We finished off the night by watching The Blue Collar Comedy Tour (which is certainly strictly redneck American!)

Stu with his favorite beer: Miller Light :)

Dan and Kaden chatting

Mike striking a pose.

Matt tending grill.

Kaden with Kyle (they have the same color eyes).

Watching Blue Collar Comedy Tour

All-in-all, a very nice night, although I did finish a bottle of wine by myself since Stu found Miller Light at the store (which happens to be more expensive than the imported Irish beers, lol), so getting up with Kaden this morning was a struggle for my head and my stomach. But it really was a good time.

Soy Faux Pas.

Last night I made a killer dinner of Shrimp Linguini with garlic, lemon, tomatoes, and fresh herbs, Red Lobster biscuits, and a salad with avocado, onions, tomatoes, and fresh parmesan. Stu mentioned that this was "as close to Red Lobster as we're going to get any time soon." A few minutes of thoughtful chewing later he declared, much to my delight, that this meal was "way better than Red Lobster". Such a great boy. Then, since Stu has been craving sushi for a few days now, we decided that sushi could very well count as "dessert" so we decided to head to Marina Mall to get some.

Before we left, I was rushing to get the dinner dishes washed so they wouldn't have stuff stuck on them later and since I don't have a dishwasher (damn the Abu Dhabi gods), I have to cautiously stack pots and pans and dishes on my little drying rack. With three pans to go, this shit happened:

Stu came in and asked "Was it my fault?" which I told him it wasn't, that I had carelessly stacked a collander (you can see the culprit in the above picture) and it fell over, striking the full, new bottle of soy and fell over. But I think he was worried because Mr. I-never-put-things-back-where-they-go had left the soy sauce on the counter and not safely in its home. Lol. So, WE caused a catastophy which consisted of tiny fragments of glass and soy-soaked grout (black and white match, right?). So needless to say, we got out of the house a bit later than we intended after I had to mop my kitchen and hunt for shards.

The sushi was so yummy though and we split a coke while we ate. It was nice. We walked around for a bit and discovered a new little wing of Marina Mall where there is a Home Center with household stuff that is cheaper than anywhere else I've seen here. We may have to go back there at some point. I had my eye on a set of salt and pepper grinders. Fresh salt and pepper would be a fabulous addition to my culinary delights. :) (Stu has been cchecking out fountains lately as an addition to our bedroom)

And, in omnipresent lazy-UAE-style, here is a great example of why things here are all half-assed. Car in your way while you're laying tar? No biggie, tar around it:

Movies.

This weekend we did a little shopping, which was kind of new. Kaden scored some stunner shades that are his size, a potty chair (we'll see how that goes) and some squirt guns in an effort to keep slightly cooler on our roof visits.

Stu picked out an Ansel Adams (my fave) picture puzzle for me. That was sweet and I hope it goes well. Kaden has been known to run (crawl) off with puzzle pieces in the past, so hopefully this one will get put together in its entirety.

We watched way too much TV this weekend though. On Saturday we were on the roof before 9 AM and it was so hot we were all miserable within 15 minutes. After hitting up Toys R Us and Marina Mall, we'd exhausted our "out" time and had to come home and make lunch for Kaden and put him down for nap. So Stu and I watched Apollo 13 on TV. We also watched Never Back Down last night and Untraceable and Madagascar 2 the nights before that. I'm basically TV'd out, but Kaden wanted to watch Cinderella this morning. Sunday mornings are worthless for cute kids' shows and since he decided to get up at 6:30, we have a long day ahead of us.

Now I am going to go get some house stuff done and play shapes with Kaden. 38 days until vacation!

Happy 19th, Steener!

So, it feels like I JUST wrote this blog post. Which makes me hope the coming months of waiting and saving really aren't going to be too bad, or too slow. Sometimes Stu and I talk about things we've done here and we realize that a year really is quite a long time as far as the stuff you can get done, but it does feel like it's passed pretty quickly. We've done so much since we've been here and it's nice to be able to take those memories with us when we leave.

BUT, today is Justine's 19th birthday and it is days like today that make going home and missing home all the more forceful. Justine's birthday is particularly hard for me though because it's not only the second birthday of hers in a row that I'm missing, but she is going to be stationed in Germany before we come home to see everyone again. Since we're taking all of Stu's leave time during this upcoming vacation to the States, it's pretty unlikely that we'll be able to squeeze in a trip to Germany too in the next 6 months. Then, when we get home we'll both have new jobs to contend with and I'm just not seeing any overseas vacations in our near future.

That said, I am sure Justine will visit back home eventually. I just haven't seen her for a year already and it will likely be another one before I do and it breaks my heart. So, we're ever repeating our mantras about how this is all for the future of our family and we're doing better by Kaden for coming over here and getting ahead while he's young, etc. But it still doesn't stop the holidays from passing without us there.

So, I love you infinity Steenie! Happy 19th Birthday!

Bad quality, but gorgeous girl!