Butter

A group of us got together last Friday for brunch at the British Club. The brunch lasted most of the day, and the food was great, but my favorite part had to be the butter sculpture of the Sheikh that presided over the spread.

Reminds me of a song...Garden of Simple

Birthday Celebration

Pete and I went out to help our friend Mike celebrate his birthday in Abu Dhabi style last night. We went out for a delicious meal at the Yacht Club with him and his cousin. We might have stayed out a bit late for a "school night", but it was well worth it!! Happy Birthday Mike!!!

The four of us, and a bottle of vino.

Katie - this pic's for you. ;) I had seafood yakisoba noodles and Pete had Thai glazed chicken. Yummmmmm

Surprise!!! Happy birthday from the crew of the Yacht.

Make a wish, or three...

(thanks to the trick candles!)

Moroccan Bath

Three friends and I decided to set out for a different spa experience in Abu Dhabi yesterday. One of them had read about a "Moroccan Bath" and massage that cost 130 dirhams at the Violet Flower. Having never heard of such a thing, I decided to go ahead and give it a try. The four of us had no clue what we were getting ourselves into! When we walked into the Violet Flower...we realized that they take that name (and especially COLOR) very seriously. Everything in the salon was violet. The chairs, the curtains, the outfits....

The whole experience involved a soaping up with some mysterious green gunk, a long steam shower, full body scrub down and vigorous exfoliation, and finally an hour long massage - all by a very small, old, albeit aggressive Asian woman wearing shorts, a plastic apron, galoshes and a towel (tied like a bandana) around her head. The somewhat comical image of this little lady will probably stick in my head forever. I won't go into any more detail than that, but this pic from the salon sums up how my skin and muscles felt after the whole ordeal was finished. :-)

:-)

Giant Menu

Pete and I went out for dinner to the 18 Oz. restaurant with our friend Mike Miro tonight. The food was tasty, but the real take-away for me was the SIZE OF THE MENU....

Playing House

I've started following a couple of food blogs recently (especially this one) and I felt inspired to give you all at home an idea of what I've been cooking up over here. I got quite a few questions at home about what I make for dinner. The answer isn't all that exciting. Mostly, I cook things that most people probably make at home too. I get to cook in a kitchen that is PlaySkool sized though! Last night, I made chicken stir-fry with zucchini, red pepper, onion, carrots, and broccoli, served over brown rice. YUM!!

The big stove.

Sizzzzle...

The final product. Eat UP!

Sandstorm

I was greeted with some excellent weather upon my return to Abu Dhabi. The entire city was blanketed in a dense cloud of sand. Here's a view from our balcony:

Wedding Season Finale

My lovely friend Rachel just sent me a few photos from the last wedding I attended. What a great weekend I had with my teacher school friends!! After teacher school was over, a lot of us took off on new adventures. It was great to have a little mini-reunion back in Colorado. Miss you guys! :-)

Jen, Kari, me, Rachel, and Jodi

With the beautiful bride.

Congratulations Katie and Kevin!!! xoxo

Last Weekend Home

I thought a good way to big farewell to my lovely little hometown was to head out, downtown, during my last weekend there. My friend Jeremy, who I've known since I was just a munchkin, and a few of his friends were in town visiting family (namely, his brother Andy, who's lived in Colorado Springs for awhile now), and the group headed out to Jack Quinns for a night of Irish pub songs and other Irish-related activities. This was followed by a little tour of Tejon Street, including a tiny, little beer at the World's Smallest Bar.

Rebel, Sweetheart

I'm really trying to hurry up and post stuff from when I was in Colorado so that I can move on and get back to more Abu Dhabi-related things. So here goes...

The week I got back from Taos, I scored some tickets from a gal on craigslist to see THE WALLFLOWERS at the Denver Botanic Gardens with my lifelong concert-going partner, Katharine (who is moving back to Portland, so it's a good thing I got to see her before she moved and I left!!!! I miss you, K!! xoxo)

A couple of thoughts from the concert:

1) The Botanic Gardens rocks! It is really pretty cool to see a show there. The venue is small and outdoors and the weather was great, so that made for a lovely evening. However, they DO NOT serve drinks, of any kind. So, if you are ever going there to see a show, come prepared, or head to the closest Colfax haunt and pick up the necessary items. Katharine and I enjoyed a lovely bottle of rose. Mmmmm...

2) People actually get to the concert when doors open, and you should too. When Katharine and I arrived at 6:30 pm (doors were at 6) the place was PACKED...with picnickers. Holy cow! Everyone was there with their dining room and kitchen in tow. No joke! All the people around us enjoyed a gourmet picnic during the opening act. :-( Next time we'll know.

Anyway...we didn't really care once the Wallflowers came out, because we got to stand right at the stage!! I've loved this band for a long time and have seen them a few times live, but never this close.

Happy Birthday Nana!

The third weekend of July was cause for celebration! The Saulsbury's and Campbell's got together for a trip down to Taos, New Mexico to celebrate Nana's birthday. Mom rented a house that was a short walk to the town square and close to lots of beautiful New Mexico sights.

The whole fam fit into the ol' minivan :-) We headed out to dinner at Orlando's our first night there

Molnar & Madrid

Day 2: On the lift going to the top of Taos Mountain. What views!!!

On the ride down... whoa!

New Mexico has a really big sky.

Birthday Dinner for Nana at an AMAZING restaurant, The Stakeout.

The grown-ups were at the other end of the table ;)

The patio was set up for a killer view of the sunset!

Last night out in Taos. Steve-O and I standing in front of a mural painted by George Chacon...who also owns the house we stayed in! So COOOOOOL!!!