Happy New Year's Eve!

We hope everyone had a wonderful 2007! Tony and I definitly had a big year! It's fun to think about last New Years-Tony and I had a big party at our home in Texas and we got even the most reluctant of game players to have a blast playing cranium. We had no idea what life had in store for us in 2007. We moved to Abu Dhabi, I finally got to travel Europe (which had always been a big dream of mine), I have become a pretty good cook-considering how bad I was before. Lately I have been rocking the kitchen and all my dinner's have been delicious-Even with my devil oven! Tony's favorite dish I make is Mushroom Porkchops which has the most AMAZING sauce!

So of course I have made New Year's resolutions-and I have made the to most cliche resolutions ever! Number 1: I am going to quit smoking. Tony's not doing it with me which is going to be hard, but my friend Kasey downstairs is so I'll have some support from her. We are even rewarding ourselves on our first day of not smoking by going to the spa to get our nails and toes done! Number 2: Get healthy! Notice I didn't say lose weight-lol. That will be a plus, but really I just want to be healthy. Tony and I joined the gym yesterday-it's SO beautiful. I know, how many people have gym memberships they never use-but this fitness center has rewards for going! Included in the price of the gym are access to their very nice pool, their beach, and cheap massages...to name a few! So here's to a healthier (and tanner) 2008!

One of the first things we are doing in 2008 is taking Kieley in for surgery-she needs to be fixed-poor puppy! Everyday her personality is coming out more and more which is great! When we first got her, Kieley didn't know how to be dog. She didn't get excited about treats, didn't know how to fetch, or tug, or any tricks. In just the past month she has learned how to shake, LOVES treats, and can tug and fetch-but she has to be in the mood to play! I was actually excited yesterday when she tore the squeaker and fluff out of one of her toys-my dogs in Texas accomplished that within the first five minutes of getting a new toy! The other thing she loves for some reason is laying on bathmats. I bought a new one for the bathroom and she was always laying on it so I went back to Ikea and bought another one for the kitchen and then I bought her one of her own. Well instead of being excited she had a mat of her own, she thinks she has three now! Tony and I just LOVE having her in our house, she makes it feel so much more like a home!

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's and a great 2008!

Eid and Christmas

We hope all of our family and friends had a wonderful Christmas! Thanks to everyone for all the cards and well wishes-it made us feel like we weren't so far away.

The week before Christmas the boys had a five day weekend to celebrate another Eid-we're not quite sure what this one was for though. We spent most of the time relaxing. One day a bunch of us went to the beach which was nice. It is still warm enough to go swimming but we didnt really get any color even though we were outside for most of the afternoon. (I used to turn pink just by being out for half an hour.) The boys tossed the football while us girls layed out and swam. Kieley is still afraid of the water. I took her out in the deep end a few times and she's a good swimmer-she just doesn't like to do it. On the other hand, our friend's son, Andrew, loved being in deep water!

The boys had to work Sunday and Monday before Christmas. Christmas Eve, Tony and I went to a party at a friends house and had a great time. They made Christmas dinner, and we played pool and had a White Elephant exchange that was a lot of fun. We didn't do much Christmas day. (Tony got that day off.) We just relaxed and enjoyed the middle of the week break. Tony did some studying because he is going through midterms right now. Even though it's lame, we picked out our own gifts this year. I got a new iPod that I love! Tony got a new PS3 which may not have been the best idea with it being midterms right now...

That's about all we're up too! Just wanted to day hi to everyone and we hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

New Friends to Play With!

Well a lot has happened the past couple weeks that has totally changed my daily routine-for the better!

First-Tony and I got a dog! On accident! What happened was our friend Matt decided to get a dog from the pound. I was going to watch her during the day while Matt was at work. I was so excited to have a "part-time dog." Tony and I were adament that we were not going to get a dog in Abu Dhabi because it is a very expensive hassle to ship a dog back to the States. Well after about a week it wasn't working out between Kieley (the dog) and Matt so he decided to take her back. He couldn't take her back for another week though so Tony and I volunteered to keep her during that week.

Kieley fit in perfectly in our house! She's a little cuddle bug and has a hilareous personality which comes out more and more as she gaines confidence. Well the day came and Matt took her back. I had a horrible weekend and missed having Kieley around. So Tony and I decided "What the heck!" and went to the pound and adopted her. She makes my days so much happier! And she is such an easy and loving dog. After we adopted her, Tony and I found out that the dogs can only be at the kennel for six months before they get put down to make room for other dogs (the kennel can only hold 6 dogs at one time). Well Kieley had been there four and a half months. This fact confirmed we had made the right decision!

This is Kieley on our window sill. She likes to sit up there in the sun and and growl & bark at the people waiting for taxis or playing cricket.

To be honest, Abu Dhabi is not the greatest place to be a dog. The people here do not see dogs as pets but as animals, and they do not understand why the British and American population here would let an animal live in their houses, clean up its poop, ect. This often results in stray dogs being abused. There are only two shelters here. The dogs you find at pet stores (like the one two blocks down from here) are often half-starved, abused, and have all kinds of diseases. It is a little humorous because when I walk Kieley many of the locals are so intimidated by her that they will actually walk across the street (usually in a hurry) to get away from her. And she is a very timid 30 lb dog! On the other hand, the local children who play cricket across the street love her. I always make sure to stop and let them pet and play with her, hopefully, so that they'll grow up with a different attitude towards dogs than the majority of the population.

My other exciting news is that Kyle's wife, Kasey, and son, Andrew, moved here a week ago! I love hanging out with Kasey and it's so nice to have a female friend to hang out with during the day while the boys are at work. The other day Kasey and I loaded up Andrew and Kieley and walked to the beach which is about an hour away. It was Andrew's first time to see the beach and he had a blast!

In two weeks I went from spending weekdays alone to having two great friends so things are going great here! Now that it's cooled off in the evenings we have been BBQ-ing a lot and having game nights. We actually need to get the new Cranium edition because we've gone through all the cards! Tony only has to work two days this week because of a local holiday so I'm sure there'll be some more beach trips and BBQ-ing soon!

We hope eveyone is having a wonderful holiday season! Love you!

Thanksgiving and a few other tidbits...

Well, we hope everyone had a wonderful turkey day! We had a bunch of fun...even if things were a little hectic. We spent the night before playing euchre and making some cheesecake. We gave our friend Matt the job of crushing up grahm crackers and let's just say he really got into the roll.

Tony took the day off, so while the rest of the boys were at work Tony and I got to sleep in. The morning didn't start out too well for me. I was making breakfast and after burning the first batch of bacon, I ended up dropping the whole pan of bacon, grease and all, on the floor. Then, I decided to rearrange the living room so we could put the island in the dining room table-and I broke the coffee table somehow. You name it and Thanksgiving morning I either broke it, spilled it, or triped on it. We still had a great time.

With all that was going wrong I was really nervous about making homemade rolls from scratch which I had never done before. Thank goodness they turned out beautifully!

Besides taking all day to make dinner, Tony and I were using all of our friends ovens as well which means we had things in 5 ovens at once sometimes!

Even through all the craziness, Tony and I had a wonderful day together. Dinner turned out so YUMMY! I know Thanksgiving is all about the food, but I have to admit that my crowning glory was the table. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it the table all decked out...but check out those napkin roses! Yep-I did those! (If Aunt Elaine and Uncle Ron read this-yes those are bottles of Amorone on the the table-I think the exact same wine we had at your house! We managed to find three bottles here and it was a big hit at dinner!)

Prior to Thanksgiving we had told all of our friends that in order to eat dinner they had to dress up as either an indian or a pilgrim. We were joking of course, but thought it'd be pretty funny if anyone actually did it. And someone did! Here's Kyle who was a wonderful sport-he actaully went to the Carefore (the grocery store here) and bought crayons and spent and evening making his costume.
One of the firends who joined us for Thanksgiving was Kat who is from Iran but lives in Dubai now. We had a wonderful time explaining Thanksgiving to her. And since it was her frist Thanksgiving, we let her do the wishbone-but first, Tony taught her how to win. And she did of course!

We spent the rest of the evening playing euchre and Cranium. While we were sad not to be home for Thanksgiving, we had a wonderful time celebrating with all of our Abu Dhabi friends! But after making that meal, Tony and I are thinking instead of making Christmas dinner in a couple weeks, we're going to have everyone over for desserts and drinks instead!

The next day Tony and I had to drive to Oman-AGAIN- to get my passport stamped. This is the new mosque that is being built in Abu Dhabi-the largest mosque in the world. I think I read something that said it could hold 45,000 people during prayer!
The other interesring thing we saw on the trip was a little pickup with a gigantic camel just laying in the back...weird! What was even more surprizing than seeing seeing a camel in the bed of a truck crusing down the highway, was that the camel seemed to enjoy it!

Since then Tony and I have just been hanging out. We had another Lockheed party last night that was in a beautiful ballroom. The reason for the party was to welcome Ralph Heath, second in command of Lockheed Martin. He got up and made a speech and everything and as soon as he was done the power went out in the entire hotel! Tony and I used the sudden pitch black darkness to make our escape!

Well that's about it for now! We love and miss everyone!

If I posted more I wouldn't have to cram a whole month into one blog!

I know it's been a month and once again I've been slaking in my blogging duties! Which is especially sad since so many of our family and friends have been giving us positive feedback! (By the way hi Dolans! It's been a LONG time!) Now, where to start...

A few weeks ago we went to a Lockheed party dontown. The purpose was to welcome Bob Stevens, the CEO and president of Lockheed Martin. Yup-we hung with the big dawg himself. Tony and I spoke with him and he's a very nice personable guy. (He's in the middle of course, and that's our buddy Kyle on the right.)

Since then we had a couple bad weeks. My poor car (ah-Carman) got broke into. Thank goodness we have Jon back home who takes such good care of us! Then I cut my own hair-which, in my defense, I've been doing since February and it's not horrible-and this time it was the worst hair cut EVER! Then I found spiders in our bedroom and AHHH to cockroaches in the apartment. So what's a girl to do?

We arranged for an exterminator and while he was killing bugs I went to the salon and got my nails done and a beautiful new haircut! What a rough day! Tony, of course, was at work...but he came home to a happy wife with great hair, beautiful nails, in a bug-free apartment which he hasn't gotten to do in a long time!

So this week we are preparing for a houseful for Thanksgiving. It should be interesting...thank goodness Tony took tomorrow off to help me cook (No the boys here don't get Thanksgiving off). It should be a challenge because we have a small gas oven with no temerature settings. Our choices are a big flame or a little flame...I can't even make cookies in it! We'll see how a 14 pound turkey does! (If it fits in there that is...)

I should go because Tony's coming home in 2 hours and after a last minute trip to the store we are making pies tonight! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and do better at the blog!

We hope our family and friends are having a wonderful Turkey day! And if any of the cooking goes wrong on Thursday just keep thinking to yourself...at least I know what temperature my oven is! Gobble Gobble!

Ramadan Kareem

So we've been home from vacation for about a month and haven't been up to much. Tony is busy with work since his promotion. He will be even busier soon since he should be returning to school (via online classes) in a few weeks! Also it's Ramadan here.

Honestly, I don't know a lot about Ramadan besides the fact that it is a Muslim religious holiday where for a few weeks (the amount of time changes every year) no one can eat or drink during daylight. Can you imagine working outside when it's 100 degrees and not being able to drink any water??? We can of course but not outside or in the view of any Muslims. Just aout every restraunt is closed until sundown. At no time, day or night, can any music be played. Tony and I went out to dinner last weekend at an AMAZING Mexican restraunt and it was weird that there was NO music. It was silent.

A little side note-the restraunts in Abu Dhabi are the best in the world! The food is ALWAYS fabulous, the atmosphere is beautiful, the prices aren't bad, and I've never had such wonderful service anywhere! Eating out is definitly one of the best features of this city!

Ramadan is ending this weekend which will be nice. Especially because it's finally cooling down here and is pleasant and less humid even during the day. Tony and I have been wanting to go to the beach, but I don't last long in hot weather without water. The worst feeling is when I call the store down the block to deliver our big bottle of water, and it's daylight and I'm asking a guy to carry a really heavy bottle in the heat knowing he can't drink anything. We have been cooking every meal though instead of ordering any delivery.

Besides that this month has been pretty quiet. It is strange going to the grocery store and there isn't any Halloween candy or decorations for sale. Every one knows how much I LOVE decorating for holidays so that's a bummer-and for some reason Amazon wont ship most Halloween decorations...bummer. I better find a way around that before Christmas! I've threatened Tony that I'm just going to buy a big thing of construction paper and make my own decorations!! And there will definitly be tissue-ghosts!

We hope everybody is doing great back in the states! Love you all!

Pinswang, Austria & Heidelberg, Germany

I figure since Tony and I got home from Germany almost a month ago I should finish the posts about our trip-oops!

Tony and I were so reluctant to leave Hallstatt, but we were also incredibly excited to move to our next destination: a small B&B on a farm in Pinswang, Austria. First, however, we had an incredibly sobering stop to make. We headed to Mauthausen Concentration Camp, one of the first and the most severe concentraion camps. What was strange is the camp is tucked away on a wooded hill above a beautiful and serene Austrian town. Tony and I spent three hours wandering the camp and it's grounds and we're completely exhausted at the end-physically and emotionally. While I think it was an invaluable experience, I don't know if I'll ever go to another camp again. It was definitly one of the most chilling experiences I've ever had.When Tony and I got back in the car it was difficult to reurn to the lighthearted tone that our trip had. This was further complicated by the fact we had a six hour drive in the pouring rain around hairpin turns in the side of the mountains to get to our next destination. When we finally reached Pinswang at dusk and saw the lights of our B&B around the corner with cows meandering in the yard I felt like I was home. (Come to find out later that evening, the cows were RIGHT outside the window in our room!) We sat in the restraunt and had a couple beers. It turned that the oner was celebrating his birthday in the pub that night with a large group of his friends so the bar had an incredibly boisterous feeling. Good beer and schnapps around good friends sitting by a ancient wood burning stove was EXACTLY what we needed!

We woke up the next morning and it was still pouring down rain. We took a quick walk around the property to get a look at the cows and the deer who were roaming around. We spent the rest of the day in the hotel's restraunt/pub eating good food, drinking great beer, playing cards, and getting to know our host. It was a wonderful rainy day. Oh and I made a new friend! A couple who worked at the B&B had the sweetest dog who was allowed to lay in the hallway. Anyone who knows me would not be shocked to find out that I spent the majority of the evening sitting in the hallway petting the dog! The owner got a good laugh at Tony whose wife had abandoned him for a hound.

Pinswang is only a few miles from the place where Sawarski crystals are mined. Tony surprised me at dinner with a beautiful Sawarski necklace I had been admiring (yes, even though I repeatedly abandoned him for the hound). Since we had a long day ahead of us we tried to retire early, but the owner insisted we celebrate with him and continued to give us shots of some of the best Shnapps I've ever had in my entire life-we slept well that night.

The next morning was bittersweet because it was our last day in Germany and we had a long drive to make it all the way to Heidelberg. On the way we stopped at Weiskirche which is a little church that houses a statue of Jesus that was reported to "weep" in the 18th century. The church was built in the baroque style, which I've always found overwhelming. My favorite part was outside the church ponies, cows, goats, and chickens layed around in the shade. (I took more pictures of the cows than the church!)

Once in Heidelberg we got completely and utterly lost and had to stop several times before we got accurate directions to our hotel-VERY accurate directions. The men at the gas station literally spread out a 7 by 7 foot map and wrote down every road, every building, and bascially every street light we would pass during our 3 minute drive to our hotel-but they were extremely nice and we got there!

Knowing we would be exhausted, we got a beautiful sweet at a fancy hotel for our last night in Germany. The hotel used to be a fencing school and dorm. The tables at the restraunt are the orginal tables used for the "cafeteria." As a result, both Mark Twain and Otto von Bismark carved their names into the tables. While our room was beautiful, the service was amazing, and the food was exquisite, the thing that impressed us the most was the TV. In the sitting room there was an antique looking cabinet with an old fashonied key. When you turned the key a flat screen tv raised up. Pretty cool!After dinner, Tony and I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and recovering. First we took a dip in the enourmous jetted jacuzzi tub. (Added note: dont add bubble bath to a jetted tub-the bubbles litterally got up to three feet high at least!! Oops!) We spent the rest of the night laying around the sittingroom in robes, drinking wine, and watching BBC-the only English channel we got.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up our vacation. We had such a wonderful time that we would definitly consider moving to Germany or Austria if the opprotunity came up. The food and drinks were amazing, the scenery was the most beautiful I have ever seen, and the people were so friendly and welcoming. Wir lieben Deutschland und Osterrich!

Hallstatt, Austria: Day Three

Our third day in Hallstatt was our favorite during the whole trip. We woke up early and had some Bratwurst for breakfast and-yup, you guessed it-fed the ducks. Then Tony saw a waterfall on a map so we decided to walk to it-little did we know we would be hiking for four hours, and most of it up hill. The trail was absolutely beautiful. The river was roaring so loud. Somehow Tony convinced me to climb out on this log...only afterward did he tell me that the tree by my foot meant the log was probably rotting. When we came to a bridge the trail forked and we thought the waterfall was left-so we went left. After 45 minutes of hiking up hill we got to the waterfall...which was dried up because it hadn't rained...Oh well. We started hiking down and and then we saw another waterfall (with actual water) that was to the right of the bridge. So we hiked all the way down, crossed the bridge, and hiked another hour up hill. It was worth it though. The waterfall was beautiful. Then Tony notice a bridge above the waterfall and wanted to hike up there but the trail was marked "experienced hikers only." This is because the trail is basically narrow stairs carved into the mountain over a hundred years ago along the edge of the cliff with nothing but a frayed rope to help you up. Tony decided to go up and I, very wisely, decided to leisurely make my way back down. When we met back up it was time to go to the ice caves-but first we stoped at another one of the Trinkwasser fountains. Yummy!We took a "sky taxi" up the mountain to the ice caves and were then told we had ten minutes to hike the rest of the way up in order to get there in time for our tour. Yep, MORE up hill hiking! The tour of the ice caves was a fourty minute walk up slippery stairs. Can you tell I was pooped? The ice caves were amazing. I had never been in a cave before and it was beautiful!After a wonderful day Tony and I decided we deserved a wonderful dinner. We went to the hotel next door that had an outside restraunt on the lake. It was beautiful and the food was amazing...until it started to sprinkle. I asked Tony if we should go inside and he said it was only sprinkling-no big deal. Then it started to RAIN. Everyone else grabs their food and makes a run for it. Waiters start to gather up tableclothes and wine bottles and everyone runs for cover-everyone except for us that is. Tony really wanted to eat outside by the water. Suddenly he gets up and drags one of the sun umbrellas to the table, rolls it open, and sits down. The waiter came outside to see if there was anything else to bring inside-and there's Tony and I eating steak, drinking wine, and having a great dinner under an umbrella in the middle of a downpour. I was afraid he would be annoyed at having to walk through the rain to get to our table, but I think even he found it incredibly romantic.

Even the storm didn't make us want to go inside (remember, in Abu Dhabi it's HOT and we can't spend time outside-and we hadn't seen rain in six months). Halfway down the street there was an outside bar in the shape of a circle around an enormous tree where we had gotten to know the owner. I took off my shoes-I'm not walking in heels down soaked cobbleston paths-and we ran to the bar. The owner had opened a giant unbrella around the bar and Tony and I sat down and continued our outside-in-the-rain evening. We had such a great time and were dreading leaving Hallstatt in the morning. We have found the place we want to spend the rest of our lives.

Hallstatt, Austria: Day Two

Our first full day in Hallstatt was pretty low key. We started the day off by renting a small boat and cruising around the lake for a while. All of the electric boats, tourist taxi boats, and shipping boats must go under a certain speed on the lake-and the speed in VERY slow. It was really nice actually because if you're on shore and watching the boats, it nice to see how lazily they float across the lake. It really adds to the feeling of relaxation; time literally slows down in Hallstatt. After our boat ride we grabbed the BEST ice cream cones I've ever had, and went to sit on the lake and feed the ducks. The ducks and I really bonded in Hallstatt, I fed them every chance I got. Besides the regular ducks (Malards I think?) there were the small black ducks that dive into the water and hunt fish. They stay underwater a long time and were a riot to watch.Next we went to the Bone Chapel. The chapel is an extremely old Catholic Church over looking the water. In Austria, burial plots aren't bought or owned-they're rented. Every ten years the porperty owner sends the relatives a bill and if they dont pay the rent-they're out and someone else rents the plot...weird. Well Hallstatt is a very old town built into the mountains and space for graveyards isn't abundent. About one hundred years ago, the Catholic Church decided to "clear out" it's graveyard to make room. They exumed all of the remains, built a small chapel, and painted the skulls with the person's names, the dates they lived, and a special design that states something about the person. The roses mean love or romance, a snake stands for pre-marital love or romance, ivy or laurels stand for courage and so on. The chapel will accept anyone who would like to be placed in the bone chapel, the last woman who did this died in 1981.We spent the rest of the afternoon walking up and down Hallstatt's one street which never gets old simply because it's so beautiful. Many places in Halstatt have water spouts by the side of the road labeled "Trinkwasser" which means "drinking water." In Abu Dhabi, Tony and I have become terrified of tap water, not because of the taste, but because it will make you sick. We even have to use botteled water when we make coffee. So it took us a while to be comfortable drinking fresh well water out of the tap-but once we got up the courage it was wonderful! And it tasted great!We spent the evening sitting by the lake reading, drinking a couple beers, and watching the ducks-again. That night we went out to a beautiful dinner outside on the water. The restraunt was under one of the largest trees I've ever seen-and the potato soup was to die for! After dinner we went to the main square to one of the two places to have a drink after ten o'clock. We enjoyed our glass of wine so much that we bought a bottle to take back to the hotel. We didn't have any glasses though so the owner of the bar let us borrow two of hers. Tony and I took the bottle to the lake and spent the rest of the evening wondering if we could just get waiter jobs and stay in Hallstatt forever.

Hallstatt, Austria: Day One

After a great breakfast in Baden-Baden, Tony and I loaded up the Mercedes and headed into the Austrian Alps. After a couple hours on the autobahn (which is actually a very beautiful and well maintained road), I suddenly yelled at Tony to pull over. The reason: Legoland. After asking me twice if I was serious, Tony exited and we decided to go hit a couple roller coasters...until we got up to the gates. It as 45 Euros to get in! So we decided Legoland wasn't doing to happen on this trip.

Driving into the Alps was absolutely beautiful. We drove through some amazing ski towns. Hallstatt is hidden in the folds of the Alps right on the lake. Tony and I spent a lot of the first day just staring wide eyed and slack jawed. Every corner of this tiny town looked like it was straight out of postcard or a fairy tale. It was absolutely beautiful. Our hotel was right on the water. It was ran by a grandmother, a daughter, and a granddaughter who were wonderful to us. The first night we had a room with no bathroom in it. But for the last two nights we switched rooms to a room with a balcony overlooking the lake. We had such a wonderful time that we decided to skip Vienna and spend an extra night in Hallstatt. We spent the afternoon walking around the town, drinking Austrian wine, and people watching.