2nd match of the night

Tennis Time

Nadal, Tsonga, Anderson

Mubadala World Tennis Championship

Got to the compound at 1:30. Bought a tennis ball to have Nadal sign which was too begin at 2:30. He came out. At 30 minutes he stopped and the event people announced nothing. Very unprofessional.

My seats are awesome. First match is Tsonga vs Ferrer.

Happy NYE Day Off

Woke up this morning before the sun. Talk about a beautiful sunrise of orange and hot pink!
We got internet, finally! Spent an hour this morning sorting the bill out though.

Decided today I am off and to spend my time as I would like.

I bought tickets to a tennis championship! Nadal will be playing! How cool.

Will post more later once I go.

No plans for tonight as I have to work tomorrow but unsure how long the matches will be today.

Happy New Years Eve To All

The Good Dinosaur

We went to Cine Royal at Dalma Mall to see The Good Dinosaur by Pixar.
The theatre was full, of tiny loud children.
It was the last showing of the night at 6:40.
M and I always go see the latest Pixar movie but Brave, was not good so hopes were not too high.

Tickets: 35 dhs each
Seats: You reserve before going in.
Concession: see attached photo.
      They had full bags of chips haha!
       Coke products, popcorn and nachos.

We only bought 2 Cokes.

Movie Review: Soooo Cute!!!
Great picture quality, adorable characters & good story.

365 days of discount in Abu Dhabi

Last night we bought the 2016 Abu Dhabi Entertainer book.

Every use I will post the benefits and stipulations, if any, each coupon contains.

Burger Time

After roaming this labriynth of a mall I stumbled into this Burger Bureau.

I have ordered the Al Miriachi. Guac, tortilla chips & cheese.

We will see... so the verdict is:

Never again. Not good. No taste. Also they were out of tortilla strips but did not tell me that until I asked. Cost 50 AED for a mint lemonade, burger and fries.

Christmas in the air...

Gizmo can't decide which toy should go under the tree

Merry Christmas! First Christmas abroad and away from home. You have to make the most of it..even if the tree is fake.

M & I exchanged gifts after watching Christmas movies like Prep & Landing, How The Grinch Stole Christmas & Charlie Brown. We turned on "Four Christmases" to start the gifting.

"Mistletoe!!!!!"

Let the games begin

Happy Happy Happy

Merry Christmas from the Sparkmans. Abu Dhabi 2015

Merry Merry Christmas from Abu Dhabi

I awoke in the middle of the night, again! Turned on Last Man Standing and sat up in bed watching. Mac did for about 2 hours but drifted off around 6:00.

We got up and I decided to cook bacon and grits. Well deciding to use Christmas plates and not thinking of what would happen next I put the bacon into the microwave. I heard the ding before I smelt the smoke. Opening the microwave a cloud of smoke billowed out and I saw the black mess. It had all melted in the microwave. No bacon for Christmas breakfast. 

Decided to make turkey and cheese wraps and eat some blueberries. I normally don't like blueberries but after everyone telling me how good they are for me I decided why not.

Turned on How The Grinch Stole Christmas to see Mo's twin, Max. Such a cute movie!

Then we watched Charlie Brown Christmas Special.

We decided to open out presents to each other. During this we turned on our favorite Christmas comedy, Four Christmases.

Mac got:

New Nike tennis shoes

Desk Bran teaser calendar

Shower head

GPS

Socking full of his favorite goodies

I got:

Ipad mini

Zeus & Gizmo's paw prints on canvas done by Mac

Book

South Carolina cutting board

Mini Steamer

Headphones

It was a great Christmas. We had some snacks and sat around deciding we would try to go see a movie and have dinner as we needed a few things from ACE hardware.

We got picked up at 6 and headed to Dalma Mall. It was all lit up and sparkly for the season.

We went to El Chico Mexican for dinner. They served Chips and salsa. I got a taco plate and Mac got a burrito and chicken special . He liked his. I ordered wrong.

We then went to see about a movie. We wanted to see Little Dinosaur but only one showing and it was at 6:45 which had passed. We went down to Carrefour and bought 2 shower curtain rods.

After looking and not finding a duvet cover in Pottery Barn we headed home.

We busted out my mini bottle of Champagne from home and cheersed to Christmas in our new apartment.

Turned on an episode of Homeland and fell asleep....

Merry Merry Christmas 2015 from Abu Dhabi UAE.

Day 3- Public Holiday & Hubby's Arrival

Today I awoke way too early for having the day off, but I decided there was lots to be done. Got up and started cleaning as Mac was set to arrive at 1:30.

I had plenty to do from cleaning the house, unpacking and trying to do a few small Christmas gift shopping.

I have never scrubbed floors, furniture and cleaned like I did. It is so funny to me how people here when they move out the apartments aren't remotely cleaned for the next tenant.

I set up the Christmas tree which we had acquired in Kuwait and hung lights around one of the windows. I put out our decorations but waited to do the tree with Mac.

Gizmo is still exhausted he sleeps and follows me around waiting on me to sit to obscond onto my lap.

Weather was cool so I decided to wear a scarf to feel holidayish in the desert.

Called my new taxi driver as my driver stopped driving without telling me, go figure. He came at 12:00 to pick me up. We headed to Carrefour so I could buy Mac's Christmas gift, a tv. This Carrefour was really nice and very large. They are in their 20th year so many items were on sale. Carrefour is a European large box retailor like WalMart but not discount just carries a lot of items from food to home to electronics and appliances overpriced for the middle east.

Got us Subway for lunch because I was about to pass out and knew even if he had lunch a snack would be needed soon after.

After Carrefour I came back put up the TV and we headed to the airport.

I went inside and was looking at the gate when I saw a familiar face. A fried from Kuwait was waving me over. She had flown on the same flight as Mac and they were seated next to each other. She was coming to Dubai for Christmas so she wasn't stuck in Kuwait before she flew to Australia for 3 weeks. what are the odds?

Mac had been hassled in customs so he took another 30 minutes after Vicki. Come to find out he was upgraded to business class on Etihad. How lovely!!!  Carrying 4 bags he was finally out. He told the story of a rude customs agent who wasn't happy with apparently working on the holiday and was taking it out on Mac. He had to not only show his passport but everything he had on him with his name or photo. this has never happened over here and I believe is not allowed. He finally shook off the bad mood and we arrived at the apartment. He loved what I had done and Gizmo freaked out when he saw him.

We watched a Disney Christmas movie called Prep & Landing. It is about the elves who get the house ready for Santa. So cute! 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night..

Day 2- Chills overcomes me

Woke up too early and freezing nont the less.

Had to get my laptop & email password reset. Was on the phone for an hour & half with our service desk.

Driver arrived & took me to Deerfields Mall. Upon going up the escalator there is a huge Christmas tree with lit deer & poinsettias. It was unusual yet very pretty!

After catching up on 400+ emails I went into my store.

I had taken two advil, but still felt like I had a fever.

Work was long and so tiring. Had to hail a cab after I bought a few groceries. Got home and passed out for a few hours.

Gizmo has landed but they say he will not be here for 4 hours. He has to sit at airport and go through customs. Expected to be here at 2am.

Gizmo has arrived. It is 3am Abu Dhabi time. Poor little guy started his journey at noon that day. He arrived via Snoopy Pets a service out of Dubai who cleared him in customs then delivered him here to Abu Dhabi. He was in a massive crate marked live animal with toys, food and water. He jumped out of the van and did laps then began kissing me. It was such a happy moment. If I had had it on video it would have been hilarious how fast he was running. I paid the Snoopy Pets driver and we came inside.

I had his bed and toys ready for him on arrival as well as some water. They say pets will easily get dehydrated from long flights (flight was 1 hour & 1/2) and with his history I didn't want to take that chance.

I slept about 30 minutes when he barked and after that just stayed up.

Move to Abu Dhabi

Date:
December 20 2015

Saying goodbye, Mac and I got into the car with bags in tow. As he was jumping in his pants split right up the zipper! We both burst into laughter. We had to improvise by wrapping his shirt around his waist and wearing his jacket for when we went into the airport.
Tonight I arrived at the airport with my 2 suitcases and large carry-on. Not sure how they were over weight I didn't even buy any shoes!
Waiting to go to security we saw a woman fall smack down to the floor. Mac ran over to help her thinking to himself this poor woman is going to get a face full of my underwear! We spoke to her until her husband arrived. She had just tripped trying to peek to see the Poinsettia tree. She was on her way to Texas for Christmas.
Said my goodbyes and headed to the new security eing of the airport. Not a fan. Longer walk & more stairs. I saw a customer bad left a bin full of their items... Aren't they suppose to be watching this type of thing?
Decided I needed a juice so I went over to the kiosk. The Minute Maid was marked 13.45 while the apple was 3.45. I had to ask bc these days you never know. He joked saying he squeezed it fresh for me right before. Only paid $3.45.
Plane was tiny & my throat started to feel sore & my voice went away...go figure. I was on a 1 seater row and played Spot It with myself.
Ran through IAD as my plane was boarding so did not buy anything. There were 5 zones & all were already full. Tried to logon United site to buy premeire access but noticed I was in zone 2 & we were moving. U got to the ticket scanner & he said ur zone 5 but its OK go on. Thank the Lord bc it was a sold out flight every single seat. I was row 2 of Economy Comfort where there is no seat in front of me so at least I had that but on the aisle. Weirdly neither man asked to pass by.
Flight was long and I drank juice trying to sleep. Horrible film selection. Tried to watch a Meryl Streep but could not get through it.

I realized I gave my driver the wrong day while waiting in the over hour long passport line. Finally got through that and went to baggage claim. I noticed there were not enough bags for people and over heard an attendant saying these were all so I followed a few guys to baggage services.
Come to find out TSA had really searched in depth all bags so they were 2 hours behind us.
Met a nice guy from Toronto here to see family for Christmas. Made me sad. First time away from home in 31 years. Not a fan.
Our bags arrived and I made my way out to find a driver.
Negotiated a rate which I would pay my normal driver and headed on.
He said he's been here 32 years yet when we got to my area he drove 20 minutes past it. I had to show him how to go.
We arrived at midnight and I began to unload my suitcases straightening the house.
Saw an email Gizmo lands 10:30pm tomorrow night :)
Ate all the pecan twirls Jeanne had given Di who shared with me. I have never been so grateful.
Awoke to being freezing at 4am and now covered in 5 blankets.
Being picked up at 9:30 for work.