Aging

I moved several times last year- different continents, climates, time zones. It was interesting to see how my body, hair and skin reacted to the changes. My face especially would either glow with grease or dry out and show all wrinkles I had. Airplanes, travel and stress- all influence my skin in a bad way, leaving marks around my eyes and mouth. I, naturally, started to look for something to protect my skin. I found out that nothing works as well as water. I drink lots of water and the skin on my face stays plump/tight. Another thing I noticed, is that when I drink 8 or more glasses of water a day, I feel happier. On the days I felt grumpy, I didn't drink much liquids. May be there is another link I am missing, but for now water is my best friend. And living in a cold climate I make some hot tasty tea and drink away

where to stay when you travel

Right before we planned our trip to NY, I read a "Guide to New York City" from A Cup Of Joy.  So, when we started planning our trip I went back to her site. All  the hotels she recommended were either booked or way over our budget. She also recommended airbnb.com website, and I went ahead and registered there. Basically, it is a website where you can rent an apartment or a house or a bedroom or even a futon. We were looking for apartments in Manhattan, hoping we could get the "whole/entire apartment" deal. I wrote several people and said a few things about me and my hubby. I waited for responses and got several rejections, and lost a couple thousands of nerve cells before we finally found a great room in Lower East Side. The pictures looked great and the host (a Japanese girl) responded  right away. We wrote back and forth with her and got to know each other before our arrival. She turned out to be great. We had a separate bedroom (clean, airy, cozy) and shared her bathroom (which was better than I expected). We were out all day and came home pretty late. So, it just worked out great. We lived 10-15 min from the subway and a walking distance from East and West Villages.

Now, we had a really bad time finding a place to stay in Boston. Nobody from airbnb.com had answered and all hotels were booked or way too expensive. I started looking for B&B and even tried calling one in Cambridge (the lady said she was all booked). Finally, hubby found and booked a good hotel in Back Bay area. And that night, right before our trip, we had a good sleep, satisfied that we had everything arranged.
When we arrived in NY and were on our way to our airbnb apartment, a lady from that Cambridge B&B called me back to ask if I was still looking for a room. I didn't want to waste my precious phone minutes, so I briefly said that we got a room, thank you, good bye. While I was hanging up my call, hubby was starting to curse. Apparently, our hotel room was cancelled! I dial back that B&B lady and asked her for room :)
She gave me the phone of her neighbor who was renting a bedroom. I immediately called that lady. We  talked about the details and the room was ours! I couldn't believe that it was that easy. A day before our trip to Boston, I called her again and made sure she was holding our bedroom for us :)
It turned out great too! Her house was 10 min away from Central Square Train, 5 min away from Whole Foods! We had a comfy bedroom and shared her bathroom. She even had light breakfast for us in the mornings.

Both of our hosts were incredible. Youko,  our NY host, was a fashion designer. I loved her apartment and decor. It was an inspiration for us to have a simple, elegant, clean and minimalistic place in the future.
Our Boston host, Francis, was a inspiration of a different kind! She is a professional Chinese chef (if I understood it correctly). She is very well traveled, she is sooooo interesting to talk to. She just had both of her hips replaced a few weeks before- but she looked great. She has art in her home from all over the place- it was great discovering some unique pieces on the walls from different countries.

I think we got very lucky!

Fasten your seat belts..

When were living apart, thousands miles away from each other, we dreamt that once, when we get back together in the States, we will travel together and explore new things/places together.
Our first trip was to see Our city: city where we met and fell in love and drove across to spend the weekends together before we moved in, the city where we got married and lived happily together. It was wonderful to see it again. It was somewhat sad to see our old house. It was great to spend time with our friends and keep talking for ever.

The next trip was to see New York and Boston. The planning was hectic (as usual) but we were lucky and pulled everything together at the very last minute.
We landed in NY and spent 4 days in it, mainly walking... a lot. We did see the Statue of Liberty ad Empire State Building. We did most of the touristy things and just enjoyed the views, walking around.  Few exciting things we got to do in NY were - Fuerza Bruta show, where I stood right next to Zoe Soldana! And dinner at a nice "All you can east shush" place - we got really full that night.
Then, we took a bus to Boston. In Boston we relaxed. We met interesting new people and fell in love with the city. We drove to New England and saw Walden Lake. We ate hot apple cider donuts and dumplings, we got full and sick of eating different varieties of apples at the apple-picking farm. We went wine tasting and cooked our delicious dinner together with friends, sipping on some good wine we picked up at the winery. We played games and got "funny".
This trip was great as we met with old friends and made a few new ones. We had involving and stimulating conversations and remembered our manners (as before, we were pretty secluded in terms of socializing)

Apparently, we got lucky and enjoyed the cities and Fall foliage during the last warm days. We left right before it got cold there.

New York

Museum of Modern Art

Walden Lake

2ND Home

It has been 2.5 weeks since I came here. It feels homey, close and strange at the same time. Some parts strike me as very repulsive, while others are very encouraging and inviting.
This country definitely has many aspects -good and bad.
At first, it is very overwhelming: with the wide variety of possibilities in everything. But I think I am finally getting excited about future plans.
Like everywhere else, I realize that I am the one who makes my life interesting or dull. If I make the right decisions, if I am brave enough to get out of the house and go explore things- then life can be very interesting.
This is how my life feels like: (very colorful and smelly :)

ME

Things I like about Middle East:

Bidets in every toilet
Good quality shishah
Mango/Agave/Strawberry juices with pulp
Fresh Mangosteens (I first tried them in Abu Dhabi)
Delicious pastry (mango mousse, chocolate cake with real Belgian chocolate frosting)
Authentic Arabic and Indian cuisines
Excellent service
Can order any food online/phone and it will be delivered to your house
Premium delicious dates
All kinds of beauty services for reasonable prices (waxing/threading and keratin treatments. moroccan baths are all nice and cheap)
Aromatizers with a very pleasant exotic/arabic smell (can be used for rooms/houses, clothes, even hair)


I will add up anything I forgot to mention