Back to the grind

Well, we made it home from UAE just fine and dandy. Our flights to and from Abu Dhabi from New York were more than half empty, which was divine. Check out photos at http://sharisadventure.blogspot.com/. We had tea at the Emirates Palace and the Burj Al Arab - pretty sweet!

If you'd like to visit the UAE, I have the place to stay (our friend Shari's) and she's a tour guide extraordinaire.

Our good friend, Rebekah Sauter has passed away.

rebekahsauter.blogspot.com
We got a call from David this morning that Rebekah had died of an unknown cause in her sleep. He did CPR and the paramedics came, but she was gone. Click on the link above to stay updated.

Laser hair removal - it looks like this!

Ahhhhh screamed the girl. Ok, so about a year ago, my someone (who shall remain nameless unless they choose to identify themselves) got one gift certificate for $100 for laser hair removal. After some checking, you can get just about ...nothing for just $100. So we jumped on the bandwagon, bought a zillion dollars of gift certificates for $1/2 from the online gift certificate thing.

The point of my post: I've been through the torture this monkey has been through; zapping of a laser could be the only explanation for such a face (my face started out this hairy, but with several treatments, has been reduced to its' current state of hairiness).

They did warn me that my leg hair was quite light and may not respond well. However, my underarm hair was very average and has had nearly no change after 5 painful treatments. Lasering feels like someone's flicking a rubber band into your skin, about one inch below the surface.

My real disdain: I'm going on a desert vacation getaway to the middle east and I still have to shave my underarms and legs, not to mention the time and pain put into this...I think I'll go in for more appointments in a few months.

My new career....race car driving.

Well, ever since I've been driving (my first trip was out to Wendover with Gramps over 10 years ago), I've always thought someone should pay me for it. I'd like you all to know I've applied to be an amateur race car driver for VW in an upcoming series. It's quite safe, it's on a street track - not just an oval; it's a track with turns and all kinds of stuff.

So, this would mostly just be a fun diversion and a good launch into maybe, my sports journalism career. And, I'm ready for school to over so I can go to sunny Abu Dhabi!

Mommy? Are you my mommy? barked Caesar

Are you my mommy? No Caesar. Your mom's a nurse in dangerous and very scary place. She's coming to town in one week. But she'll only be here for 3 days and 3 nights.

Will she take me on long walks?

Well Caesar, I don't know. Maybe she will and maybe she'll just play tug of war with you instead.

Will she feed me steak?

Yes Caesar, she will feed you steak. I know you don't like ham so we'll cut back on that for you this week.

Will she let me sleep on her bed?

Yes Caesar. Now go to sleep my little pretty. We've got to get up early tomorrow cause we're sooo tired. k8

Tell her what she's won.....a new car!!

So, I haven't won anything, but this is my dream car. It's a Diesel (yeah) 4-door (bigger yeah!) WAAAAAAA ...gon (HUGE YEAH! said Tracee Morgan/Oprah Winfrey Style) Volkswagen Jetta (yes, I said VW).

I know, I know - VW has not proved it's justification with my current car, a TDI Beetle with 144,444 miles on it. It's had significant and costly repair. And, as Tim would like to point out, I could probably find a $2,000 wagon (like Nick and Kara's) somewhere on the Internet. I just really want a 4 door car, wagon for the dogs, and diesel - cause that's about the only mindful nature saving thing I do (I have lowered my intake of bottled water and increased exponentially my inhalation of Diet caffeinated beverages). So please, hope with me that the factory can crank these puppies out and that we'll see it sometime in the next 12 months. In the meantime, I am going to have my drivers side window in the beetle fixed next time I go out of town - you have to help it roll up which makes it hard to hold a big gulp, drive, shift gears, and apply makeup all at the sametime.