Sweet Treats

Just a quick thought & a big thank you...

Myla, my sweet friend: I want you to know that you have seriously inspired me. Why you all ask?

My ever-so-thoughtful girlfriend Myla is one of the best gift givers in my life. She always remembers occasions special to me/us (big bonus for me/us!) and ALWAYS finds some fantastic thing to send along in the mail that undoubtedly makes my heart all warm and fuzzy every time.
She's sent me handmade baby clothes (made by HER OWN hand), a funky knitted scarf in the winter time, fancy kitchen gadgets, sexy undies, sparkly jewels... just real great stuff. And know what else always accompanies these little packages? A handwritten letter. Yes folks - the real deal. Pen to paper with your thoughts and feelings. Anyone out there that knows me, also knows I am almost fanatical about checking the mail.** Can't be helped - I don't even try to fight it. I just love getting mail. Myla somehow knows this, and honestly, when I receive a hand written letter just sitting in my mail hole here in our dusty ol' compound, waiting to make my day...well... it makes my day! Imagine how I feel with presents and a hand written letter! Score!
Anyhow, here I go wandering away from my point yet again... My point is this: Myla's latest box to us included one especially awesome gift.
To say Myla is a 'cook' doesn't do her justice. She's one of those people who is truly at home in the kitchen, and when we all lived in Texas, Good God, the meals she would prepare. She & her hubby would come over and we would all just sit and watch as she dashed around our kitchen making some magnificent mouth-watering recipe from memory. I think even my pots and pans had a crush on her. YUMMY!

So, yeah... my inspirational gift: Myla has begun a cook book for me from an empty journal, and she had filled the first thirty or so pages with some of her very favorite recipes. She also included colorful tips and little notes to me along the way. SO FREAKIN' GREAT!
So lately - I have been experimenting. I have to say that I have only ventured into the desserts she wrote me so far, but OMG! So yum.

So, I am taking up a new hobby. A renewed hobby? I have actually always enjoyed cooking, but the last year has forced me to spend less time creating yumminess and more time on, well... mumminess. This new book & my new enthusiasm may or may not affect all the work I am currently doing in the gym (hope not - see my last post), but this month, I am seriously taking up BAKING. Seriously. I am really into it.
I have treated the folks on Colin's floor at work with treats three times in the last two weeks. Who doesn't like surprise sweets at work? I am going to stock up on baking supplies this week and try some more new ideas - I found a few recipes online that look change-your-life good.
My mom is here this week for a visit, so perfect timing, as she has a very sweet tooth. (Added bonus: she can keep the little rascal out of the kitchen while I get my bake on.)

So thanks, Myla. Your thoughtful gift has left me feeling kitchen creative again! Bring on the cooking... well, baking first - to get my feet wet again... gotta start off with what I love the most & expand from there, right?

A big hug and kiss to you tonight, Myla. You rock!
PS - Anyone have a fun recipe I need to try? Please send! Nothing too complicated...and sadly, no pork : (        I miss you bacon!

Made it!

Here I am at Day 30, and, I must say, I am feelin' pretty damn good. Not lookin' too shabby either!  I have met and  passed my weight goal (applause heard in the background here), and I am starting to see signs of some muscles in places where I haven't seen them in a long while. Three cheers for me!!!

I still Hate the gym (note the capital H), but there is not much that can be done about that. I realize that as long as we live here & I can't get outside to do the things I used to love doing outdoors, that the gym will be a necessary reality for me if I want to keep fit. So, I am now committed.

And May, when you read this, thank you for coaching me through not only the last thirty days, but the last several months. You have been an awesome friend and a great motivator. I know I am not the easiest client you have (insert groans, swear words and constant complaints here), but I think  you  have a soft spot for me.

So friends, please hold me accountable. I love all the love.

Day 19

It appears I did get a little too confident. Day 19 welcomed me with soreness all over. Even my knee caps are sore.

Just can't wait to see what is in store for me tonight.  Eleven days to go and then I promise to stop complaining...

Day 15

I don't want to get too confident, but I am actually starting to enjoy my workouts. (Insert 'gasp' here).  Feelin'...not too shabby at all these days! Hooray!

Day Five

So, today is Day #5. I am on a thirty day fitness program that May has designed for me, which is going to kick start my 2011 and help me on my journey to becoming in great shape. Perhaps I didn't give enough thought to just how long 30 days actually is...

She has charted out new cruel and unusual things for me to do each day we meet, and, she has actually emailed files to me ahead of time with each exercise series mapped out in detail... but to be honest, I would rather not know. Knowing what I am in store for will produce a dread that will hang over me hours before I arrive at the gym. Ruin my day, really. Kind of like how your Sunday night is always darkened with the promise of having to get up early the next morning for work... except way worse than that.

I am keeping this short, as I am trying to conserve my energy for the dreaded session #5. Every bit counts.

I am actually still recovering from days 1 through 4.

My Current Status:

• My leg muscles feel weak and unpredictable when I try to walk. If my steps are too large, I get shots of pain in all kind of muscles I didn't know I had. Hence, I am doing a sort of shuffle walk today. Extremely sexy.
• I am quite sure my hips have been swapped with a pair belonging to a very creaky ninety-five year old, as they ache with even the smallest movement.
• When I tried to 'pop' out of bed this morning, I had to fight against the intense ache in my abdominal region that made me want to lay perfectly still forever.

It all hurts. Day 30 seems so far out of reach. SoooOOoo farRrr. Everyone please channel all of your workout energy and send it my way. Ì need it...

Dune Bashing in Doha

It's 2011. Can hardly believe it. Talk about time flying! Happy New Year to you all - I hope this year is the best one yet for all of us! Our Christmas was jam packed with lots of fun things. Having visitors made it extra special - lots of shopping & sight seeing, trip to Dubai, desert adventures, camel races, lots of great meals cooked up in the kitchen, some fine dining out, and many many laughs... really good times.

I must elaborate on our day trip to the desert to go "dune bashing" as it was by far the highlight of our holiday adventures. I had heard stories of how hair raising these trips could be, so I managed to put it off until now.

Starting our adventure (our guests in the background)

 For as long as I can remember, I have avoided all rides at any type of amusment park or travelling fair. I am really not cool with anything that spins me around, tips me upside down, shakes me from side to side, or projects me out into the world at speeds that only a gun shot should travel. I like to be the onlooker, as Colin will attest to. Take a few pictures or munch on a tasty treat.


If I am in a really good mood, you may be able to persuade me to get on a merry-go-round, or, if I am feeling a little wild and crazy, possibly a smallish ferris wheel. That's it though - no Pirate Ship, Gravitron, Zipper, Spinning Tea Cups, Space Mountain for me... you get the idea. This girl likes her feet firmly planted on the ground, thank you very much.

So, dune bashing. In honor of Laura and Stan's visit, I arranged a babysitter for Ella and prebooked a trip to the desert with a local tour company. Our driver was Qatari, and picked us up near our house to drive us out to the Qatar desert for a day of  fun.


He stopped along the way a few times so we could take pictures and ride camels (Colin & I happily acted as photographers as our guests saddled up).

I was busy sizing up our driver Mohsen's skills behind the wheel. As we scooted along, I must say, I was impressed. No crazy speeding on the highway, and he even used his signal lights (I know, be still my beating heart). *see my earlier post on Qatari drivers


Speeding along through the desert

At our last stop just outside the desert, I watched Mohsen deflate the tires on his Land Cruiser to about 15psi. He tells me this allows the vehicle to properly handle driving in the sand. Boy was he right.
We started off with Colin sitting up front and Laura, Stan and I in the back. Before we begin climbing our first big sand dune, Mohsen carefully selects some sort of arabic-techno music to get us going. He turns it up loud and off we go!
To say that my stomach was doing flip flops and my heart was 'in my throat', would be putting it mildly. Going up and down those first dunes caused me to let out some serious screams and grapple onto Laura in a sort of frantic bear hug. Craziness!
We zipped up and down dunes, went backwards down shockingly steep hills, drove alarmingly close to sandy edges, and went at speeds that I was stunned we could reach on sand.
Oddly enough, I actually felt safe the entire time. Was I scared? Yes, out of my mind scared... but, not like so-scared-I-might-pee-my-pants kind of fear... more like an electric I-don't-want-to-know-what-is-coming-next-but-I-can't-wait-to-find-out kind of feeling.
I can't think of a more perfect description, but to call it hair raising. It really was.

I know for a fact that the boys were pretty rattled as well. I could tell by their occasional cries of "OhhHHH NooO" or "Holy Sh*****tttt". We all laughed really hard for about two hours straight.


Qatari Roller Coaster

Highlights of our day included getting to put our feet in the Khor al Adaid (also known as the "Inland Sea"), while looking over at the hills of Saudi Arabia. The sun was shining brightly, the temperature was perfect, and the desert couldn't have looked more beautiful. I had a few of those moments where you look around and think to yourself, yep, this is pretty damn cool.

Me next to Khor al Adaid, overlooking Saudi Arabia

All in all, a really good experience. I have now crossed Dune Bashing in the Arabian Desert off of my bucket list (and feel no need to do it twice). After we got home, I had a solid two hour nap to recharge the batteries (all that excitement wears a gal out), and the next day, my voice sounded like I had swallowed an ash tray. Apparently I screamed and hollered more than I realized. Haha!





Festive for Sale

Ho ho ho-ly sh**, it's hot out here!

It is December is Doha, and as we gear up for the holidays here, I have to say that this is the most un-Christmas-y I have ever felt. Not in a bah-humbug way, but in a more general, not feeling like 'tis the season kind of way.
First, there was the issue of a Christmas tree. I don't know what we were thinking when we packed our boxes to come here, as we did not bring ONE  decoration with us. Not one. No dingle balls for the tree, no decorative manger with a wee little Jesus, no lights, no beads or pine bows, no wreath, and most notably... NO TREE. I must have been in some kind of post pregnancy fog or something.

As per usual, I start to fret about the availability of trees (real or artificial) here in Doha, where Christmas is not a big event in the stores. So about two weeks ago, I get wind that a few stores are indeed selling artificial Christmas trees, but it's slim pickin's, and the prices were on the high side. Off we go one Thursday evening (our 'Friday') in search of a new tree.
We find two possibilities. The first, is in a home store rightly named 'The One' (http://www.theoneplanet.com/), and they actually have a decent variety of artificial trees, but one look at the price tag and my night is ruined. The tree we liked... a mere 3700 Qatari Riyals! That is about $1000 USD (give or take). WHAT? Here's the crazy part - we both stood there and considered spending that much on a just okay looking tree. It wasn't dipped in gold, or so real looking you might mistakenly water it. It didn't walk or talk or do tricks.  No, it definitely looked fake, and was a bit bare, if you want to know the truth. I told Colin we needed to walk away and discuss this. Obviously, we had lost our minds.
Clearly, the sand was once again clouding our better judgement. I could fly to Canada one way for that price. An expression I heard my husband use last week sums this up perfectly: paying that much for a Christmas tree is just a little bit "Qatarded". (I know, funny right?) So, we walk around the mall a bit to talk about our options.

And there it is looming in the distance. Carrefour (http://www.carrefouruae.com/). Carrefour is like a European version of Walmart, but in Doha, this store really isn't European-like at all. It is often over crowded and poorly staffed, and since it is a combination of home goods and groceries, you always seem to get a faint 'raw meat' smell in the air when you are shopping. I secretly think it is the store where all other stores send their products that no one else will buy. I try and avoid our Carrefour whenever I can.
I know they probably have trees in there, so we agree to check. Yep, five different styles of artificial trees - including one white and one black one. Who would want a black tree? But there is one the same size and fullness as our tree in The One, and guess what? It is 497QAR (about $140USD).
Funny thing is, I would scoff at paying 140 bucks for a tree like this one back home, but now, it appears a steal of a deal. Did we load it in the cart and wheel it home immediately? No, no we did not.
We actually debated. Yes, we went back and forth between the two stores, trying to decide if the uglier tree was worth the big price break. Or, if the nicer tree was really THAT much nicer. Foolishness.

After too much time had passed, Ella had had enough of our inabilitiy to decide and started to complain, so we finally settled on the cheaper tree. (If we hadn't, I don't think I would have been able to write about it, for fear you all would think I'd lost my mind!).

It is now up, decorated, and looking pretty nice, I think. All the decorations are new, so no old favorites or family keepsakes this year. Trying to find a tree topper proved to be an extraordinary challenge, as well.
We have since put some lights up outside, decorated inside, and even gotten some good Christmas music all ready to go. I have dragged out my Christmas cookbooks, looked into where we can get a good turkey (don't get me started on the price of the turkey), sent all our cards in the mail, and found out what time the English Christmas Eve service is at our church.

We have been to a few Christmas parties already, and we did get quite the kick out of Santa arriving on a camel. That was a sight we had never seen before!



A final thought on the tree thing... after we made our purchase, I stumbled upon this website: http://dohadailydeal.com/. God Bless the Dutch - fresh Christmas trees shipped to my door in Doha, from Holland, for a mere 1000QAR (about $275USD). Haha! I guess you can get anything here if you are willing to pay the price.

OUR BIG NEWS: We are having company for Christmas this year! Who would want to come to the sandy desert for the holidays, you ask? The Janz`s from Calgary, that`s who! We are really looking forward to their arrival -  nothing like great friends to make us feel a little more festive. Can't wait till they get here next week!

Here's hoping that Santa finds us all here in our new home. No chimney this year, but we'll leave the patio door open just a crack. Ho ho ho!