I have an IDEA....

Abu Dhabi has gone and built itself a new IKEA, roughly a 5 minute drive from where we live. The previous IKEA store was a good 30 minute drive away, but that's now closed and making way for a new Marks & Spencer *happy dance*.

MissL and I actually went to the grand opening a couple of weeks ago. Lots of handsome, high end business Arabs, dressed in their crisp white dish-dashes, lots of Swedish business men in freshly pressed suits, loads of media - felt rather like a celebrity as we went up the escalator into the store, let me tell you!

MrL is very scared that his home will consist of IKEA this, IKEA that. Our aim though, is to return to Australia (at whatever point) without any IKEA furniture, even if it is much, much cheaper than back home. One thing I do love about that Swedish home store is the knick-knacks and the weird and wonderful names. I quite love the prices too.

Our new massive store has a massive restaurant, but MrL and I had a giggle at the sign which states that 'You should clean your own table when you leave' - as if that would happen here of all places! It also has a little supermarket of Swede goods (anyone recommend anything?) and a little cafe where the 1 dirham soft serve cones have three new fans....

My goodness, talk about deeeelicious!

And only 5 minutes down the road. Wanna come? Chocolate or vanilla?

Piggy Tails

Somebodies hair has just got to the right length to be put into 'Piggy Tails'...

And the most impressive thing is, she doesn't pull them out!

However, I have a concern - I live in a Muslim country where pigs are considered dirty creatures, so what shall I call MissL's do then? I know, how about 'Cutie Tails'. ? =)

Times Gone By

I'm loving that I have recorded (recent) times gone by in this blog. Especially of MissM. Oh boy has she grown since I first started blogging when I was 7 months pregnant! (She's now 6.5 years old!) I've used 'Blogger' since late 2006 so my older, previous posts don't exist on the WWW but are instead saved onto CD-roms somewhere.

And now with MissL in the picture, it is good to look back and read those previous posts, because my two have a lot in common. I've been trying to fish around here in finding some 'similar' pics but I know they were on the 'previous' blog!

MissM, at around MissL's current age (18 months) used to pose for the camera, against a door, or a wall, showing off her outfit or sit with her teddies and dolls and I'd have to take a snap. I have quite a few in my photo albums but none on this computer to share. And you will see why I mention this, because my memories came flooding back when the girls did this the other day...

I'm pretty sure MissM loves being the older sister and MissL just adores her big sister. And I'm glad I've been blogging away for, coming up to 7 years. (Even if it seems like no one reads this blog any more! lol )

The Things You See

I love seeing weird things in this country.

Growing up in a Dairy farming community in Australia, it was not unusual to see cows being transported around in the back of a truck, or sheep for that matter.

Here in Abu Dhabi, we get chickens roaming around developed city streets (true!) and once in a while we'll see a camel roaming around somewhere (usually on the way up to Dubai.)

Driving home from school pick up the other week, the girls and I spotted this, in the back of a new 4-door ute. Hopefully you can figure out that it is a camel.

However, on a more serious note, last week at school pick up, one of the 'local' mother's picked up her Grade 2 daughter, with the girl's pet in the back of the family's SUV. The girl's pet cheetah. I kid you not. I didn't see it for myself but word and vibe in the car park was buzzing. I felt sick to know that a cheetah (A F*%^ING CHEETAH!) was in a place of school children when it clearly did not belong there - obviously it belongs in the wilds of Africa. No doubt this animal was declawed and the family probably had it since it was a little 'kitten'. Having 'wild' animals as pets here is not unusual, I hate to say, but it is illegal. I'm pretty sure this family has been dobbed in to the right people, according to a lot of horrified western parents, at MissM's school.

Seen anything weird in your neck of the woods lately?

38

How quick is 2011 going? Oh my. I also can't believe how quickly my 37th year came and went too, considering on the weekend I celebrated my 38th.

I had a few neighbourly girlfriends pop around for a couple of pre-birthday drinks on Thursday night (which in the UAE is like 'your' Friday night) and I had made some pizzas which went down a treat - it was like they had never had homemade pizzas before. (They were very pleasantly surprised! Lol.)

Late Friday morning MrL and the girls took me up to Dubai Marina, where MrL had booked a 2 bedroom apartment. We stayed here and we were upgraded to a sea-view...

That's the view we got from level 8, looking out towards the Palm Jumeriah, towards The Atlantis Hotel. The Dubai Boat show was also on at this time so there seemed to be a constant flow of cars along the road, in front of us, but all was good.

Down at the Marina there is restaurant after restaurant, all in a row so the choice seemed endless. We settled on some delicious Chinese for a very late lunch which had us all holding our bellies, we were so full. Oooo it was good Chinese.

After having a rather sleepless night (having something to do with a certain 18 month old who wouldn't sleep in her Portable Cot), we were up and walking down to The Walk (click here for a 360 degree view of The Walk) for breakfast. It was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g (seriously) but MissM and I soon warmed up on big mugs of Hot Chocolate to go with our breakfasts.

We ended up getting home early in the afternoon on Saturday, where I proceeded to enjoy a small birthday nap on the couch. MrL went and got takeout Indian for dinner and a bottle of Moet for the two of us to enjoy in celebrating me turning the big 3 8. (Shite, does this now mean I am in my late 30's? When did that happen??)

So yes, a birthday surrounded by food.

Oh, and what did I get for my birthday? I got this little beauty.

(And yeah, I know it is a household appliance but I have been after one, especially when my last mixmaster blew up a couple of months ago and was sorely missed - not any more.)

Raw Indulgence

A couple of weeks back, when MissM was at school and MrL was out with our VIPs who were visiting (hello Nanna and Poppy), I decided to do some baking with MissL. Not that she did a lot other than sit in her highchair and watch me as I explained (cooking show style) what I was doing.

And then she got to lick the bowl, which was her first time in doing so, as she had no big sister fighting her for it.

I fear there is no going back. No more bowl-licking for me for a few years now. Darn it

Apparently u r a bus (playing with words) =P

I got a new steering wheel the other week.

She (because my car is female), belongs to this...

To start her, I don't need a key, I push a button.

And hand brake? I call it a 'finger brake'.

Can you see the 'hand brake' is missing from the center consul? Yes, it took a while to get used to that. The round thing below the gears controls what type of car you want to drive. She spends a lot of time in 'sports mode'.

She has a number one fan too, who loves the 'car, car'.

My only complaint is that she (the car, not the #1 fan), comes with a speed alarm which goes off at around 115km per hour. Not annoying if you lived in a country where that speed is illegal, but annoying in a country where most highways have a speed limit of 120ks with a 20+ lead way over that speed.

But in the meanwhile, I will continue sitting back and enjoy the driving.

*waving*

Can you believe it has been over a month since my last post? Heck! And this, my readers, is by no fault of my own. It took THAT long for the local telecommunications company to change our account from one compound to the compound next door. Ridiculous I tell you.

A lot has happened in those 4 weeks too - besides happily moving to a new place with our own heated pool, we've bought a new car for me, had a sleepless 17 month old, kept tabs on a Tropical Cyclone that passed through our beloved Cairns, two of my closest friends (one here and one in Oz) had new bambinos and we had a couple of VIPs visit for a couple of weeks.

I'll get around to posting at regular intervals asap.

In the meanwhile, here's a pic of our girls who are both growing up sooooo much. Some mornings I swear I wake up in shock at how much either (or both) have grown over night.

Stay tuned.