A reason to celebrate

Last week was my friend Roshna's 27th birthday and we had a small party for her. I just love other people's birthdays. I like celebrating things even the things that we celebrate every single year. The best part about birthdays here is that you can almost never find normal birthday hats instead you get amazing things like these feathered crowns you see us wearing! We had a few girls over for cake that Shiny made. Shiny is getting married in March and we like to tease her that she is in "wife training" now so we let her cook all the time.

Roshna is the birthday girl in the middle and Shiny is the "wife in training" on the right.

All the pretty girls are doing it

A popular thing women do here is get henna on their hands and feet. The best comparision to it a manicure for us. Henna is interesting though- it is a plant material that is crushed and made into a dye and leaves the skin a dark brown or reddish color. There are versions of henna which are not actually henna that are not derived from plants that will leave the skin black. As my friends here say "that is not good for her skin" when they see the black design on someones hands.

Women go to the salon here to get henna done prior to weddings, parties and holidays the same way I get a manicure before any of those things.

Now, this is different then Indian Mendhi which uses the same type of plant but the designs are much different.

P.S. This is not my hand- I don't like getting henna because I hate how long it takes for it to come off and I can't stand the inbetween stage when your hand looks dirty because the design has faded.

Photographer in Training

A few weeks ago we had a hospital event and as usual I take photos at our hospital events. I take pictures for a few reasons; to send out press releases to local papers, our hospital website, our hospital event archives, it's my job and oh yeah, I like to do it.
Well, there is this one newspaper photographer who loves to take pictures of us Hulsey Kids or maybe it's the Hulsey Ladies! He dropped the pictures off at the hospital from the event this week. It's nice to have pictures of yourself when you are always taking pictures.

It's Designer

If you have to know, yes, my new shirt is designer.

And, according to the sign above me I am "a winner". This picture is from a going away party for our friend Latifah. She will no longer be working at the hospital but, since I mostly see her at home I will still see her. So, in short- the party wasn't very sad for me!

Now, about this designer shirt of mine.

Tailors here tend to be pretty amazing and fabric shops in Al Ain are like Dunkin' Donuts in America- they are on every corner. So, getting clothes made that you dream up is easy as pie! And I dreamt up this fancy schmancy thing. Picked out the stripes and then the oh-so very American accent material.

And I did shamelessly just post a self-shot photo booth picture. That's it, my designer shirt. Put your orders in now before this stuff goes to the red carpet and you people can't afford it anymore. It's the next big thing buttons ups.

I don't really do resolutions.

Resolution: Be content.

Source: moneysavingmom.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Top 6 of 2011

Last year I did a top ten and that's just taking liberties with top lists... if you have too many then they aren't really "top", are they?

Here's my top 6 memories:

6. Visitors- Aunt Louyse, Hannah and Cheryl all coming to see me in just one year!

5. Christine becoming Mrs. Emery and all the fun that came with it!

4. Running the Lowell half marathon with these ladies.

3. Afghanistan- an adventurous and memorable trip, because sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

2. Moments with friends from here when I'm reminded that the same things make us all come alive.

1. Becoming an Aunt to J.J.

And yes, we made it pool side!

We did spend a few days at the pool while Cheryl was here. It's one of my favorite places in Al Ain!