this blog can suck it

here's the link to the new one:

http://theliesitell.blogspot.com/

and i'm just as flaky about posting in the new one too.

happy birthday uae

thursday night we went down to the corniche to partake in the celebrations for the uae's 40th birthday. there was a fly-over by fighter jets that spewed red and green jetstream; another flyover by helicopters toting the uae flag; a dancing, colored fountain show in the gulf and fireworks. my brand new ultra-mini camera doesn't take great pics at night, so none of those came out. but the ones below should give an idea of what the corniche is like. i'm thinking the bottom of their abayas must be filthy and caked with sand after a day at the beach.

yesterday was the actual 'national day' so jeff and i ventured out to the new jumeirah-etihad hotel to hang by the pool at the 'nahaan' restaurant, then we went up to ray's bar on the 62nd floor to get a good view of the heavily-advertised fireworks (which never happened).

the traffic was insane with solid gridlock for over 8 hours. the streets were filled with cars bedecked with the president's and sheikh's pictures, uae flags, streamers, and green and red fake fur. at about 10:00 we decided to ditch the bar and try to head back the 3 miles to the house. unfortunately, there were no cabs to be found at jumeirah so we hiked about a mile (in the sand, in heels, uphill, both ways) to the intercon hotel to see if we had a better chance hailing a taxi. no luck; we ended up staying at the intercon for the night listening to the sounds of carousing muslims honking, tire screeching, engine-revving and yelling into the wee hours of today. 

jeff's boss, nick (my favorite irishman) is in town, so we're off to the beach rotana to see how many bottles of wine we can make disappear.

ttfn,

tricia

happy national day

today begins the 3-day 40th national day celebration here in abu dhabi. its kind of the same as independence day in the states, but i'm not sure exactly who they would have gotten their independence from. basically, its just the 40th anniversary of when the uae became a country. so apparently things are about to get a little crazy here. supposedly there are fireworks for 4 days and traffic comes to a standstill for the entire time.

my school celebrated today too. they've been decorating for a week, all the teachers dress up in national dress -- dishdashas and abayas, and there were assemblies and henna tattooing and 'uae is awesome' films, etc. i was going to take pics at the assemblies, but muslim women can't be photographed, so i was told no. i did get these shots of the rotunda (or 'lobby' is what i call it):

the 3rd pic (which is kind of a crappy shot) is of a mobile (like you'd put in a baby's crib) with photos of the sheikh's on it. i found that incredibly hilarious. the last shot is of my boss, rob, who is from canada and not a muslim. he's an amazingly nice guy for a high school principal.
hopefully there will be more pics of the emirate shenanigans when jeff and i get out on the corniche this weekend. i was hoping we'd go to dubai for the rugby sevens, but according to several taxi drivers, if you haven't left for dubai by now, you'll never get there and jeff is probably working - again.

the movies here still suck (and jeff and i are old now and only go to matinees, eat early dinners and pass out by 10). 'puss in boots' has been in theaters for a couple of weeks, but get this: they have to call it 'cat in boots' in all the advertising.

we did go to al ain last weekend (one of the other emirates) and had a fabulous time. we went to the tallest point in the uae - called 'jebel hafeet', drank some cocktails, had some lovely room service (and a bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub! - just me) and went to the zoo. i posted most of the pics on fb, but here is one of my favorites:

the zoo animals were a bit lazy except for the lions that jeff is sure were having sex, the meerkats who were playing a game of chase and the monkeys who were randomnly picking bits off of themselves.

we stayed at the 'al ain rotana' -- 'aaaaarrrrrrrr':

starting the countdown to my texas visit - 18 days.

xoxoxo

tricia

dwts

you can totally see rob kardashian's "moobs" (some people call them 'man boobs') during his dwts command performance on gma.

i have a mad girl crush on ellen degeneres and kristin wiig.

i think someone needs to have a conversation with justin bieber about his pants.

making a quasi thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. chicken (cause i don't think jeff and i can eat a whole turkey and daisy is not here to hoover it up for us), semi-homemade stuffing, corn casserole, rolls and pie. this is the first year of my life (cue the violins) that i will be working on turkey day. the pity party has started.

going to al ain (another emirate) this weekend with my boyfriend. there's a wildlife park and a big hill there. riveting stuff. stay tuned for pics.

calgon take me away

its taken me a long time to get over the jet lag this past trip. more than a week later, i'm still basically a vegetable wearing mascara. its been a long week full of self-centered teenagers and cocktail hour is imminent.

not much happening this week in abu dhabi -  last week was picture week at school and michael bolton is coming to town (yeah, who cares).

jeff and i went on a dhow cruise with his co-workers this past weekend. i liked it better than the cruise we took at night once. weather was perfect:

jeff's co-workers (minus the guy who can't resist hookers):

the "news" on gma this past week is pretty crazy -- millionaires begging washington to tax them more, hordes of tornadoes in the south, giant drug tunnel in california (they showed this on 'weeds' a few seasons back). i miss the sensationalism of news in the states. my favorite headline of the week is "i shouldn't have showered with those kids". you think?

check out  my shirt from the school. i'm a "senior" (i think that has a different meaning when you're almost 50):

when is ashton going to stop wearing that stupid hat.

t.

i love back fat . . .

. . . cause its the kind of thing that reminds me of arkansas, pork rinds and britney spears (circa 2007). you can have back fat too; secret recipe provided for a small fee of $25.00.

maybe if people quit talking about the kardashians, they'll go away.

after two days of staring at my new iphone still wrapped snugly in its plastic, i finally released it. praise be to steve jobs - i'm a real boy and part of the mobile technology world again. its kind of nice being unreachable though. "can i call or text you?" actually, no you can't. i've time travelled back to 1973 where there were no cell phones.

my girlfriend frances told me about this thing website called 'pinterest' where if you see a picture of a cool (kewl) thing on the internet, you can 'pin it' and the pic is added to your own pinterest page. your friends can check out your page and the things you think are groovy, etc. kind of like fb but with mostly photos. well, it isn't working for me. and these very hip things i've been 'pinning' in the last two weeks were eaten by the world wide web. so i'm going to show them here. very slowly and one-by-one as to drive you all crazy. this is my favorite thing this week:

dainty, sweet and snarky (like me). well, probably not the dainty part. the site where i saw this cup is wanelo.com (and audrey turned me on to it). absolutely great site for christmas gifts. that is not a hint; i'm just saying.

tomorrow, i'll be modeling my new clothes from the school (here on the blog). i bought a polo shirt (i never wear polo shirts, but this one says "miss tricia" on the back). AND, i bought a tutu that the female students made to benefit habitat for humanity in indonesia.

going to bed now.

t.

fruit bribe

i mistakenly updated my iphone to ios5 while in dallas and now it doesn't work in the sandbox. i've read countless articles for hours on end on how i can only roll back to an earlier version if i saved my 'shsh blobs' ahead of time. i think they meant to say 'shit blobs'. i've learned more about iphones and the @sshole developers at apple than i care to know.

because some random chick tried to take my starbucks grande, non-fat, no-whip mocha frappuchino on friday and my phone doesn't work, i transformed into meltdown mode yesterday (yes, my husband is so lucky). so jeff went out and bought me this:

what a total jerk, right?

is bianna golodryga pregnant? her upper self above the desk on gma looks a little swollen.

rick perry is an idiot and is making texas look bad.

i went back to work today and it wasn't all bad. people actually missed me - raging bitch that i am. and it was an early release day so i got to leave at 1:30. there are definitely some positive aspects of working for a school.

i almost just set the oven on fire with a baked potato.

the snot has finally vacated my head.

its finally cooled off here.

i want a baby.

gotta run.

tricia

home - the sequel

made it back safely to abu dhabi. i tried my best to get detained by loudly throwing around the words 'explosive' (diarrhea) and 'terror' (at midnight by the toddler in 18g). but no one paid me any special attention.

i upgraded to business class for the dfw-paris flight (which was predictably awesome) except for the douchebag sitting next to me. my seatmate told me he was pretty much the george clooney character from up in the air (in that he has 4 million miles). he bragged on, and on and on about his ability to consistently charm gate agents into upgrading him at any time by batting his british eyelashes and just being his normal scoundrel-like self (his words). after i chugged 3 glasses of cab, dined on raw shrimp, steak, risotto and a hot fudge sundae, i took an ambien and one of bill's quasi-valium and promptly passed out for the remainder of the flight.

made my tight connection in charles de gualle and even had time to stop at duty free to pick up some scotch for jeff. now is when the trip really began to suck. i wasn't able to upgrade on the second leg and was relegated to a crappy seat within screaming distance from 3 toddlers. flight was delayed over an hour, AND (this is the best part) my bags didn't make it. apparently they're taking a lovely road trip around the french countryside soaking up the local color.

lastly, my phone is not working anymore. upgraded to the latest ios while in dallas and now its not happy in abu dhabi.

i'm sick of this place already.

tricia

home

i've been thinking about what 'home' actually means. is home where your spouse, children, friends are? or your possessions? or where you came into this world? i'm feeling a bit fractured in that i don't have a sense of where my home is anymore. the people near and dear to my heart (well, a majority of them) are far, far away. and the one i love most in the world is where my near and dear aren't. my beautiful child is on one continent and my perfect husband is on another.

forgot to take pics the last 3 nights at my random dinner parties with friends. i've been consuming food as if every meal might be my last. "more alfredo sauce, a pound of cheese and a stick of butter, miss"? why, yes please. i had a short-term boyfriend once when i lived in new york that told me i looked skinny from the side, but not so much from the front. thanks dude; way to make a girl's day. not entirely sure what that meant either.

jeff's been gone for almost a week now and i'm pretending that i'm french in that i'm not shaving my legs -- why bother, right?. when i came home last night though, the sleepy-eyed dogs thought i was a hedgehog after brushing up against my furry legs; seriously, they barked at me like i was a wandering forest gnome.

found a new place to live on saturday (yea!!). its everything i was looking for -- close to white rock lake, mostly hardwood floors, big yard that backs up to a creek (perfect for lindy). here are a couple of pics:

tonight is my last night in dallas. supposed to be big thunderstorms here tomorrow (since i'm leaving, of course). i expect to spend a dazed 12 hours in charles de gaulle airport.

happy trails,

tricia

zee-pack

i've been sick for four days -- i'm the grand champion mucus maker in the phlegm factory of snot (nice visual, huh). i went to 'carenow' (where my attending physician was wearing a giant gold texas belt-buckle and cowboy boots - dr. big tex jr.) and got a shot in my tushy and a zee-pack (not sure if that's how you spell it). sounds like something wonder woman might have -- "maven the magnificent and her Z PACK!!!" and having it makes me feel like a super-hero. like its a pack of zoom that i wear on my back (and it is making me kind of speedy). the zee-pack has transformed me into a new and improved, less-booger-making person. i'm not sure why they don't just distribute these at the local pharmacy for anyone honking the insides of their head into a kleenex.

despite the steady flow of crap from my nose, i've been cruising around northeast dallas (with a very nice, now-infected real estate agent) looking for a place for the dogs to live. if we didn't own those smelly furbags, i think our lives would be richer - literally we would save thousands of dollars. it would certainly make things a lot easier. i haven't yet found the perfect abode for our pet crew, but am hoping something wonderful will come up tomorrow. monday, i'm out of time, so i'm signing a lease on something.

tonight i took a break from blowing, sneezing & driving and joined heidi and tristan for the best dinner EVER at 'big shucks'. there was shellfish and shortening overload topped with a bit of tartar sauce (as it should be).

time for me to chug some nyquil, take an ambien and try to sleep.

sweet french fry dreams,

tricia

wedding shindig

i've discovered that i take fairly inferior pictures; and these photos from "juandrey's" wedding bash are decidedly sub-par. but i'm posting them anyway. not sure if any of these are in my last post. if so, sorry -- deal with it.

the happy couple:

most of the sanders family (plus richard :-)):

step(ford) sisters (not really; i just thought that was funny):

'cake makes me sleepy.' 'no! cake makes me laugh!'

the happy (blurry) couple dancing cheek to cheek (well, nose to bangs really - juan is giant next to aud):

'marriage!!! (this is best said like the guy in princess bride - mawwiage - that's what we were saying here):

suzan has a mustache (but its not real):

hadji badji and miss madi:

after the brilliant reception, we went to brunch on sunday to extend the party (and to consume mimosas) and make 'juandrey' open some of their presents - some people are very excited about crockery:

the mustachoed couple:

juan (not audrey) got a kitchenaid mixer! i'm stealing it the next time i'm at their house:

ok; that's all for now. for the amazing pics, check out alec hilliard on fb.

less words, more pics.

dogs dressed up (unwillingly) for halloween:

on halloween, we celebrated the initial 'meeting' (which is code word for drinking and hooking up) of heidi and richard. i introduced them on halloween 21 years ago. this is t-man (little heidi and richard), and katy and libby (sistas from the h&r hood):

this was also jeff's last night in big d and he looks a little sleepy AGAIN:

and that's all the pics for now folks.

still looking for a place to live in dallas - still IN dallas. till the 8th. countdown has begun. i'm sad.

:-(((

tricia

nonsensical, uninteresting stuff

tuesday, some of my intelligent friends and i played the world famous live team trivia. the only fun part about trivia is coming up with the most politically-incorrect name we can. we were: "andy rooney-gone in 60 minutes". we passed on the last question which we always get wrong, so we came in third place and won a grand total of $10. here's the last question -- put in order from oldest to newest these 4 films: out of africa, amadaeus, terms of endearment, and ghandi. i have absolutely no idea what the answer was. here is the college-educated, winning team -- joost, richard, heidi, bill, mr. sanders, carolyn and hank (and yes, i think bill is flipping me off):

there was also an impromptu fashion show where heidi modeled my high school letter jacket:

wednesday jeff and i met the centex gang for some fine cajun dining at pappadeaux:

thursday we celebrated daisy's 12th birthday and watched the rangers choke in the 11th inning of the world series:

friday bill, jeff and i joined laura at her chic, trendy lakewood home for a fabulous homemade steak dinner (where i won the salad contest). this has got to be one of the most ridiculous pictures i've ever taken. we're incredibly ecstatic standing next to that wall. laura's cat, eli, was taking the picture:

and yesterday, 10/29/11, we all celebrated the union of audrey and juan and got tanked on my ex-husband's dime (not me though, for once). there are many, many pics which i will post tomorrow. here's a sample of the merrymaking:

gotta run; jeff is making me go to the apple store with him to buy an ipad 2 for his girlfriend in abu dhabi.

happy anniversary heidi and richard!!!

tricia

let's start with farm animals

have i mentioned how much i love pigs? not necessarily eating them, but eye-balling them and making friends and stuff.

when we were at the fair last sunday, we visited one of my favorite exhibits -- boris, the 1192 pound sweaty swine. i've never actually seen him move; i don't think his stumpy little legs can support his girth. but i've seen his torso heaving so i know he's alive.

boris from the back (this is wrong in more ways than i can count):

after watching boris we wandered over to the cattle barn where we met the grand champion longhorn steer whose name is boomer or woodrow or something like that. he weighs twice as much as boris and sold for over $100,000. he too, was a little slow on his feet; and here, he's telling me to not come any closer:

there was also a cow who was milking itself:

and this is my new sheep friend:

these are a few more of my favorite, cool things at the state fair --

a giant sculpture made entirely of butter:

the petting zoo:

big tex (who is 52 feet tall and wears size 70 boots):

bad fashion

the 'glue a shoe' contest (where my friend carey won for her 'boothoven' design):

and the woofus:

now everyone can feel like they've gone to the greatest state fair EVER even if they didn't -- you're welcome.

wedding reception postings coming tomorrow.

corny dog kisses,

tricia