happy birthday to me.

happy birthday to me.  happy birthday dear... me.  happy birthday to me!

this lovely cupcake is from crumbs bake shops in nyc.  go get one!

yes.  that's right,  today i am another year older, and hopefully that much more the wiser. 

i had an amazing time in nyc... i packed a lot into 24 hours!

i had dinner with friends at wildwood barbecue, i highly recommend the pulled pork sandwich!  and rounded out the night at corner bistro, one of my favorite little joints in the all of manhattan (if i hadn't already downed a pound of pulled pork... i would have enjoyed on of the famous corner bistro burgers, they are delish!)

i got up relatively early after my night out, jet lag aside, and headed out to find a legitimate ny bagel (something you absolutely cannot get in abu dhabi) and some iced coffee.  murray's bagels was my spot of choice!

next i was off for a couple hours of shopping, the only rule was that i had to stick to stores i don't have access to in abu dhabi or phoenix!  so i stopped in tibi, where i usually want one of everything!  and after lunch at macaron cafe with one of my lovely friends from work, i hit up a very new and very stylish boutique in williamsburg that one of my lifelong friends just opened called life:curated.  girl is talented, you must go see!

with not enough time on the clock i headed to the airport, scottsdale bound.  i'm so happy to be here with my family and am looking forward to a day of birthday fun, bachelorette craziness, and a weekend of wedding!

so here is to a great start to a new year of my life!  

who says

you can't go home...

this week my travels take me to a couple of places very close to my heart, starting with new york.

the last few times i flew through JFK, i left myself just enough time to make my connections and type out a few emails in the lounge before boarding. it was painful to sit so close to the city i love and not be able to just go... so this time i planned a little layover. i'll be there just long enough for dinner with friends and a day of shopping!

expectations

this weekend in abu dhabi, the ADNEC is hosting the Abu Dhabi Int'l Hunting & Equestrian Exhibition.  since my hotel is attached to the ADNEC, i had no reason not to check it out!  


now, i'll be frank with you here...  i'm from indiana, and when someone says the words "hunting expo" to me, i have visions of guys in bass fishing and beer tshirts (and a select few with the infamous mullet haircut) checking out the latest in day-glo orange hunting outfits and fish-finders.  not that there is anything wrong with that (except for the mullet part)... but you might be able to see why when i walked into the expo yesterday i was stunned by a completely new and different picture of what a "hunting expo" could be.  


here is what i saw:  

 extreme dune buggies

 falcons everywhere.

one of my favorite finds at the expo, falcon headdress fashions.   the crafsmenship of these items is pretty amazing, it is like a designer handbag for your falcon's head!

 extreme taxidermy

 camping.  arabian style.  i would love to go on one of these trips! 

around the "campfire".  now, i have a few friends that don't like camping. I think if i promised them a trip to the desert that looked like this they would be singing a different tune!

if it ain't broke...

apple is one smart company.  always coming out with new products and no matter whether or not you need another gadget, their all around ingenuity leaves you desperate for more!

now fortunately for me, i had what my dad calls "good raisins" which taught me to discern between want and need.  do i only buy what i need all the time?  no, that wouldn't be any fun.  but with my technology, i do kind of stick to that rule, if it ain't broke... don't buy a new one. 

so needless to say, i am more than excited at the timely breaking of my 2nd generation i-pod shuffle and its alignment with apple's release of the new nano.  

rip shuffle... we've ran many miles together!

i actually still have an ipod mini that still works! even though this one never officially died, it isn't really functional without being constantly hooked life support... and has been that way for quite some time..  remember these? 

 
is that a black and white screen? this gadget was first released in 2004... check out its modern day equivalent, just a short 6 years later.

less than two inches square, with a color touch screen! perfect for the gym :)

now the only question is... what color?

cinquecento

italian for "500", english for "my new car"!!!

i'm seriously in love with this car.  it is well detailed, efficient, and most importantly... affordable!

those of you who know me probably know i overuse the word cute (especially when it comes to vehicles), but this one is very cute!

you might know this car best for it's role as Luigi in the animated Disney-Pixar film, Cars.  

following the likes of the mini cooper and the vw beetle,the fiat 500 is a modern take on its original vintage version. 

something old... made anew:

 

now for sale in the UAE and coming soon to the US(scheduled for the end of this year)!

this just goes to show that good design is good design folks, it doesn't have to break the bank to be fabulous!

love.love.love.

now i just have to name him... hmmm

adventures in kazakhstan: part four

city walk. almaty.

panfilov park WWI + II memeorial.

zankov cathedral

almaty loves rosebushes.

zenkov, i love the colors on this building!

republic square.

view from kok-tobe.

opera house

local law enforcement, check out these hats!

value of a dollar.  local currency is Kazakh Tenge.
5000 tenge = $7 USD

adventures in kazakhstan: part three

some droplets of liquid falling from the sky sort of killed our plans for the waterfall hike on sunday... but rest assured we went out anyway in the hopes it would clear up.  along the way we were entertained by beautiful landscapes that were pretty opposite from what we saw the day before, farm animals that seemed to think the road was their pasture, a trout fishing farm, a famous skating rink and a mountaintop ski area where they will be hosting the 2011 asian winter games.

check it out:

sea of sheep

at the trout farm

famous medeu ice skating rink

shymbul ski resort

adventures in kazakhstan: part two

bus through the countryside to charyn canyon

this bus tour was very amusing... it started off with my friend saying "oh, i forgot to tell you, on the weekends the tour is all in russian".  we figured, how much could the tour guide have to say anyway, i don't think there were five minutes of silence on our four hour drive to the canyon!  we have no idea what was said other than the photo she held up of a farmer as we passed through the cornfields and another of a snake as we neared the canyon...

 views from the bus.

 fruit stand, looks lovely!

 but our bus tour decided to stop here... at the roadside fish "market"...

 and after about what i figured was 10km on a dirt road the canyon revealed itself!

 a view from inside.

 rock bridge.

 yurt in a canyon

 charyn river

 grand canyonesque.

bus gives perspective to the middle of nowhere

 sunset ride home.

overall a great day outdoors!  easy hike, good company, lunch by the river, and that irreplaceable feeling of freedom that you can only find when you are in the middle of nowhere!

adventures in kazakhstan: part one

 view from our abode.

hotel kazakhstan

first night out for some local food and beverages.  i found a new favorite, it is a local appetizer called chechil. you can't go wrong with string cheese!

airplane addict

ok, it is official.  i've got a travel bug and i'm pretty certain it is incurable.

since i've arrived in abu dhabi, i feel like all i have been doing is surviving.  completely focused on getting from one day to the next.  travel time was reserved for prior commitments.

finally, this last weekend i felt free.  being a holiday, the office closed leaving me free from the worries of work.  this trip to Kazakhstan was about building friendships and expanding my world view.

i am inspired by one of my friends traveling with me on this trip who writes a travel journal while she is on the road.  for some reason i only journal when i need to vent about something or think out it on my own.  i started this blog to act  as a travel journal of sorts, but i'm loving the idea of a hand-written log. 

moleskine notebooks are my journal of choice… i swear there is something special about the paper that makes my handwriting look exactly the way i like it best...

and when i jumped on their website today, i found this exciting treat... journals by city!  this is where the "organizer" in me got way too excited.  they have maps at the beginning and pages to jot down experiences, places you go, and anything else your heart desires!  they are limited in cities for the region i am in, but genius nonetheless.

i know you are all dying for Kazakhstan photos, and i'm dragging my a** on photo uploads.  coming tomorrow, promise!

break your fast

Eid-Al-Fitr 

(Festival of Purification) marks the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan! Like all Muslim holidays, no one is sure quite when it will start since it is based on the lunar cycle, but it should be around the 10th or 11th. 

what does this mean?  it is now acceptable to eat, drink, smoke, and play music in daylight and public places again... and most people have a few days off from work to travel or join in the festivities.

It is a time of celebrating their month of piety (for those practicing), a time of gift giving, and gatherings.

For those of you hanging around the Dhabi this weekend, Time Out Abu Dhabi is telling me the Ramadan exhibition will continue on as the Eid exhibition with exhibitors from all over the middle east selling local goods, and now that Ramadan is past there will be some live entertainment as well!  Plus, the Grand Mosque is hosting free tours on the last two days of Eid and is open to all.  Read more about Eid festivities in this week's issue. 

Eid Mubarak! 

kazakhstan adventure

with visa in hand, excitement is in the air for my weekend trip to Kazakhstan! 

yes, for all you Sacha Baron Cohen fans out there, this is the land of Borat.

luckily i've got a friend who is a "planner" going with me, because i certainly haven't had time to think about what we would do once we get there.

we'll be spending most of our time in a city called Almaty, which is the largest city in Kazakhstan. 




here is what is on the agenda so far: 

Friday Sept 11
By the time we get through airport and drop off bags I figure it will be around 5pm
I suggest we head to Kok Tobe, we take an aerial tramway to the top of this mountain and there are many restaurants where we can have dinner, watch the sunset and enjoy our first night with Borat.

Saturday Sept 12
Day trip to Charyn Canyon. The second largest canyon after the Grand Canyon in USA.

Sunday Sept 13
Republic square
St Nicholas cathedral
Zenkov Cathedral
Presidential palace
End off the day with a nice relaxing trip to Arasan Baths for a steam and massage :)

Monday Sept 14
big almaty lake

lots of fun planned...more to report once we are on the ground in Almaty!

armani goes hotel

 

only the tallest building in the world would be suitable for a hotel by a couture fashion designer like giorgio armani.  so i can only imagine the smile that slowly curled on armani's face when he saw the plans for a towering structure that tapered as elegantly as a stiletto reaching into the sky. 

so last time i was in dubai i was sure to check in; curious to see how armani's tailored sophistication translated into hotel.  and here is what i found:

true to form, pure armani.