Pet Peeve and Picture Perfect

Our furry, four-legged friends are in danger of being alienated in Dubai! Lately there is a complete mobbing going on and this "no dogs allowed" campaign has all doggy owners up in paws! Can't have dogs on beach. Can't have dogs in parks. No dogs on the Marina promenade (good thing we moved away from there). No dogs at Jumeirah Beach Residence promenade. No dogs in Satwa or Karama....which is probably a good thing - they may get eaten!

I may have to walk Slim in Abu Dhabi.

It's bad enough the unwanted dogs are being abused and abandoned. If they don't want dogs in the UAE they should disallow import and sale. RRRrrgghhh!! Luckily there is no problem yet at our Lakes area, and Slim still has his routes in our neighborhood where he meets and greets his fellow canines.

Today I am off to a Digital Photography class - finally learning to take pictures with last year's (2009) Christmas present, my Panasonic Lumix. It has more features than a souped up Formula 1 race car and I am just not capable of using all the settings. Look out for new classy, sassy pictures on our blog.

The [birthday] Hangover - starring Aric Ault

Could have been the long awaited sequel to the cult movie....Aric had to rebuild his memory and the evening prior, slowly, piece by piece. As it was, I flew back from London early to make sure I was well rested for a night out with friends and family on the 22nd. Instead, to my dismay - the "guys" had planned a night out on Friday the 21st, to celebrate Aric and convinced me to join. 9pm started a long and entertaining night which kicked off at the Observatory, a splendid bar on the 52nd floor of the Harbour Hotel (now Mariott) our old residence when first arriving in Dubai. Views of Dubai and The Palm are normally unobstructed. Aric's view was obviously obstructed by several Vodka/Cranberry cocktails and his memory started fading at the time we left the bar for Frankie's. Frankies is generally the last place you hit on a night out on town. Owned and named by and after Frankie Dettori, the Italian jockey known for winning several Ascot races, it's an "over 50's; drinks are spiked; don't leave the place alone" piano bar with a seedy clientele ranging from Russian ladies of the night to Bin Laden's "black sheep of the family" brother! Yep, we always have a blast when we go to Frankie's but we don't always remember how we got home!

As it turns out, Lorraine, Peter and 6 other of our Swedish / Emirati friends were there for dinner. We joined their group and when the clock hit midnight, we enjoyed several bottles of Moet to cheer Aric's 40-something. It went downhill from there! Leaving Frankies (after closing the place down around 2am) I should have been sensible and taken Aric home. Instead we went to Lorraine and Peter's house on the Palm and continued the party. While the guys were silly and started doing shots (oh they so paid for that later) - the 4 gals had serious talks about life in Dubai and being married to a local Emirati: Andrea (British) is married to Rany (Emirati), and she shared the pros and cons...obviously mostly pros, given the designer clothes, boots, jewelry and bling-bling she owns. They are both sweet though so who is judging ;-)

Around 4am Aric thought it might be a good idea to go home. I couldn't agree more after seeing him hang on all the guys, saying "I love you man" over and over again. He doesn't remember going home - or even being at their house for that matter! The next day, my mom, brother, his wife, their daughter, Hunter and I, sang Happy Birthday as loud as we could while throwing the gifts on top of Aric in the bed :) He spent the entire day in bed and was not a very happy camper.

On the rest of the family front, our oldest son has graced us with admission into Arizona State University, in the Industrial Design program. He starts in the fall and will be coming back to Dubai in May before heading to Tempe for his orientation June 21. We are immensely proud because this was his number one choice and it is one of the top 10 schools for Industrial Design in the US. It sounds as if he is ready to start tomorrow...he has had enough of working in a bar for a living, but will stay on Thursday Island until March 24, when we head to Sydney to visit him.
As you all know, the Aults tend to live on the edge - Aidan being no exception as he narrowly escaped the floods in Brisbane, where so many have lost their lives and homes.

Aric played 18 holes in a charity golf game yesterday, to support the victims in Queensland and they raised quite a substantial amount of money.

My mom arrived the 19th and is loving that both Mark and I live here so she can visit both in turns. Josefine has been accepted at a great local school and is friends with several other Danish children. Hunter tutors her in English so she can catch up and follow along in the classes; when he taught her the entire English alphabet, she proudly announced that now she "knows all the numbers"! She is a happy little girl and Mark, Tina and her are settling well here in their new surroundings.

Holiday cheers and farewell to 2010

Ahh the life of an expat. Never a dull moment here in the sandbox and never an opportunity to sit and relax before Aric gets antsy, or there is a call from a friend asking us to come and join them in some holiday cheer! We mustn't complain...just think of how many people have no friends, like Mark Zuckerberg for example!

So whether it's a sun-downer invite from Louise and Richard, a pizza night with Peter and Lorraine, or a 30km bike ride with Angus and Fiona, we are game. This holiday season has truly been about close friends and family, especially since Aidan is away (and he is really missed). Hunter has been the proverbial son in Aidan's absence and he is fully enjoying the attention as well as hanging out with us.

We have been to the movies a few times with he and Mariana, his new girlfriend and possibly "the ONE" (at least this year) who hails from the Greek side of Cypress. She is a lovely girl and they seem to have fun and enjoy eachother's company. He spent New Years Eve with her and her family. Just like last year, we went to Angus and Fiona's house with ten or so other Cisco folks plus another 25 or so family members and friends of theirs. It was a very nice evening with good Lebanese food and plenty of Cosmopolitans on tap!

The holidays also brought activities such as golf and wakeboarding. We were out on the last day of 2010 and the first day of the new year, and were spoiled because nobody else occupied the bay for a change, so we had mirror like conditions for boarding. Sugar is still going strong and is a favorite toy of ours.

My brother has settled in at his new home and has a few days off from flying so most of his days are spent at IKEA while I have had the kids in the pool. They have adopted up a stray female desert dog (Saluki mix) and Slim is wearing himself out in his effort to impress Sasja, a real diva dog :)

Aidan is now alone again after Courtney left Australia last night. He was very down when I spoke to him but I cheered him up by telling him the good news: He has been accepted at Columbia College Chicago in the Industrial Design Major! He is still (as am I - weatherwise) holding out for Arizona State Univeristy, but at least we have an in somewhere. Tomorrow he starts a new job on Thursday Island, all the way north in Torres Strait, close to Papa New Guinea! He is going to bartend and wait tables to make up the money he spent while Courtney visited him. We were also treated to a surprise, Christmas Eve, when he told us he had (not formally) proposed to her, with prospects of a wedding in "3-4 years, once he is done with school and if she still wants him" - we've all been there at one point, with our first true love I think!! Let's see what the next 3-4 years bring :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday_Island,_Queensland

Back to work and school this week has been a challenge and none of us are ready for the rat race again, but nothing comes from doing nothing. At least I got one round of Par 3 in with Lorraine and we managed to sit next to Hugh Grant for lunch....it's amazing how many celebs we run into in this sandbox!