This is like digital scrapbooking!

Still in the effort of playing catch up, I figured I would do a picture bomb post with some of the highlights over the last two months. I feel like after that I can officially move forward with the craziness. Lofty goals but you know, someone has to have them.

So up above we have:

1. Two days after my husband arrived in Abu Dhabi we stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant on the roof of the Abu Dhabi World Trade Center Mall. This was also the inaugural run of the self stick. A win all around. 

2. Finally some living room furniture and lamps. I am in love with the final look. 

3. The fog here is real. Very real. In fact, often because my school is a bit remote and outside of the city we have "fog days" and we have to wait for it to clear up before it is safe to drive. It is definitely a bit unnerving to drive when you cannot see. 

4. I broke down and bought a nescafe machine or something like that. It makes pretty drinks but it has NOTHING on my Starbucks Espresso machine that is scared and lonely in my POD storage container back home. 

5. My first henna - LOVE it!

6. Our first sunset on the beach outside of our apartment <3

7. If you follow me on Instagram you will notice that I use the hashtag #thingsthatshowuponmydesk -- these fruits are one of those items. They are kind of like an apple/pear combo. They are pretty good! No idea what they are called.

8. We found an Applebees! Yay! No bar...boo!

9. I cannot even begin to describe the nightmares that this gives me. I don't know the official name for this non-toilet but squatty potty has been used at work where I encountered my first one. Just no. It freaks me out on so many levels. 

10. Best coffee I've had here thanks to The Bagel Bar in Yas Mall :)

11. A great vintage find in the Virgin Music store - I love Gizmo!

12. When driving in Abu Dhabi you never know when a wrong turn will take you into the longest under ground tunnel ever. 

And for the late January/Feb collection:

1. Al Bandar building. I can see it everyday from my apartment and I think it is the coolest building. I am a bit disappointed that it is just boring office spaces. I mean they could put a starbucks on the ground floor of that bad boy and I would definitely keep it in business.

2. My new dining room table with buffet table. Not sure what I will ever do with the buffet but I am positive that some holiday decorations will looks fabulous on it!

3. I really want to go see Drake in Dubai. However, I just saw him in September. I mean... I could justify it under the category of "But I'll never have this chance again.."  That will become a catch all ;)

4. This is the foyer of my school. HUGE. I wish I could take better pics but there is a strict no picture policy for fear of showing someone who cannot be seen in pictures. So we settle for little glimpses and I always make sure I am solo so I don't mistakenly get someone in the picture.

5. This is how so many things get to my apartment, including groceries. I just bring a shopping cart up the elevator. Yep, no shame. There is even a number on the handle of the cart and they will come pick them up. I usually just leave it in the hallway.

6. Repeat picture... moving on..

7. Driving through Al Ain on a Thursday evening.

8. Opposite view of the living room looking towards the kitchen and balcony.

9. 24 caret Ferrari - no big deal

10. Some large lighted display in Al Ain smack dab in the middle of a roundabout. Not the safest place to put it because it is definitely a distraction but it is really pretty. I am pretty sure it is a national day left over decoration. They love them some national day.

11. I like to take pictures of my cappuccinos, what can I say. #bagelbarlove

12. One of the most bizarre occurrences since moving here.  I asked for a pedicure and I get hot wax and thermal booties put on my feet. It was beyond strange. But my feet felt amazing.

13. Saadiyat Beach Club - love this place!

14. I knew we were doing a fire drill but I had no idea that the fire department actually comes to the school and unloads the truck an does a real life scenario. It was pretty cool.

15. The view of the courtyard from my office.

16. Another item in the #thingsthatshowuponmydesk I was told it was that orange thing you use to celebrate the costume day - aka a pumpkin - but I am not 100% sure. It wasn't bad just super sweet for my taste.


Hope you enjoyed the sampling or the "photo dump" of the recent happenings. What have you been up too??

Hello, Hey, Hi, How ya doin?

So here I am. A full two months have flown by and I have thought about typing it all out several times on the computer, yet I just could never seem to get the precious minutes to sit and just spill things. Moving away from home will shake you to your core if you have never taken this leap before and I will say that even for this 30-something that is so strikingly true. I have felt emotions I didn't even know existed. I have had the highest highs and surprisingly not so many lows. For that I am thankful. I don't like to pat myself on the back much but I think that my state of mind had a lot to do with that...and I have great friends. So now I am at the cross roads where I have to make the choice of do I try to summarize the past two months or do I just say - it was okay and move forward?

Yep, not skipping it. It is bad enough I failed to blog about it, but wait for it... I didn't even write in my planner the month of February. Not.one.day. The horror. So we can hit the highlights...shall we?

So I spent NYE 2015 in the desert amidst the sand dunes and people from the U.A.E., Syria, America, South Africa, and multiple other places. I wrote a camel, had henna done on my hands, and I stayed in my new home for the first time on NYE night. The picture is definitely blurry but it serves as enough photo evidence that I have in fact ridden a camel. Check that off the bucket list.

At the beginning of January I was invited to head out with some fellow expat vice principals and that was the best invite that I have received since arriving here. These ladies have come to be my daily source of help, support, and many laughs. I also now car pool with one of them and she is by far the funniest person I have ever met. She hails from Ireland and uses the F bomb often. I like her.

My husband joined me January 8 here in the U.A.E. and that made everything seem so much better. I had been here since November 28th completely on my own and I was ready for a piece of home, especially my husband. He is adjusting well to life in the UAE and he has made a friend with a fellow husband of an AVP that live in our complex. It makes my life much easier since I know that he is not sitting amongst these preverbal 4 wall everyday. Upon his arrival we were able to pick our furniture (thank goodness!!) and get all the final touches for the apartment so it is starting to really feel like home now. We have even been out a few times to a local club - the Saadiyat Beach Club and that has proven to be a great time. We have really began settling into our new life here in Abu Dhabi. We have both found that we are becoming much more active in our lifestyle such as going out, meeting new people, and not staying in as much. It is so much easier here because if we want to have a drink or two we will but we always use the cabs here as the UAE has a zero tolerance for drinking and driving which I completed support. Since I work for the government, I definitely keep myself in check and I am careful of my surroundings when I decide to have a few drinks. I guess I am overly cautious but then again I don't think there really is such a thing.

We've had to do two separate border runs for my husband since his residency visa had to be activated by exiting the country then re-entering. We just made the trip to Oman to complete this and I will be posting specifically on this later this week to add to my previous series of post about Moving to Abu Dhabi. The border run really is easy, but it is also easy to miss steps. Luckily everyone here (and in Oman) is super nice and helpful.

While this isn't everything, it is some of the major highlights. We also bought a car (!!!) but I will do a separate post on that later this week because of those who may want to purchase once they get here. There are a few steps you need to go through so look for that later this week.

It feels good to be back :)