Goodbye Old Year…..

Hello New Year!  I know it is still 2013, but I am anxiously awaiting our last adventure of 2013, and also our first adventure of 2014.  Tomorrow Ryan and I board a plane to PARIS!  We will be saying Goodbye to 2013, and Hello to 2014 in Paris!

Reservations are booked for New Year's Eve dinner at a restaurant specializing in Bordeaux wines.  It is a set menu with wine pairings for each course.  The perfect introduction to French wine, food, and celebrating the end of 2013 (a wonderful year).  After dinner we will join the party crowds on Champs Elysees to ring in the New Year.


A few days ago, I received this email from Ryan:

Subject: oh hey, just thought of something…..

We're going to have date night at the Eiffel Tower!

Besides our New Year's Eve celebration, and our Eiffel Tower date night, we do not have anything planned for Paris (if you know me, you know that's a teeny tiny lie, I always have things "planned" but nothing is booked or set in stone, just ideas), we are going to go, celebrate, and enjoy the city.  We will also be taking a weekend trip from Paris to Aberdeen, Scotland to visit the Perry Family (this is definitely planned, booked, and we are so excited)!

We are set for an exciting first week of 2014, and hope the remaining weeks of 2014 continue to be filled with many more exciting adventures.  This will be my last post for 2013.  We wish our family and friends a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone, near and far, at home, and abroad.  Being away from home at Christmas is difficult, but thanks to FaceTime, Vonage phone, and Christmas cards arriving in the mail, it makes it a bit easier to handle.  A time will come when we will be home for the holidays, but this year, we would like to send warm wishes from Russia to you, Merry Christmas!

In order to fully "appreciate" our family Christmas photo session, I have posted ALL the pictures.

A couch, a dog, two humans, self timer, and a few Christmas accessories.

Testing the height of the camera, and lighting.  Let the fun begin. 

World's Best Dog and World's Best Husband

Success!

Merry Christmas
Love,
Ryan, Virginia, and Macy

  

A Chevron Christmas

A very, Merry Christmas Eve to everyone!

A couple weekends ago, Chevron hosted their Christmas party.  It was at the Abrau-Durso Winery.  Once again, a very nice party, and a great way to celebrate the holidays with everyone working on the project.  Especially the expat families that have now left to celebrate the holidays in the States.

Selfie
(Did you know selfie is the word of the year?)

It's not a party until someone pulls out the chainsaw.
Kevin, the project director, chainsaw in hand.

Finished ice sculpture. 

Beautiful expat wives.
Monica, me, Linda

Mesmerized….

As children around the world are mesmerized with Christmas lights choreographed to music, or even the simple, mesmerizing "twinkly" lights, we recently discovered Macy's new source of mesmerization.

Fish or television, or maybe, a combination of the two.  We made this discovery while viewing our video from the Maldives.  

Watching a large Eagle Ray.

Thankfully she did not attempt to grab this creature moving around.
The television may not have survived the attack. 

What are those things?  Why are they moving around?  

Spouse in the House

Be very careful with the term "housewife" in reference to me.  For some reason, I do not like the term.

During one of my flights, a couple years ago, I had a connection in London, at Heathrow International.  I patiently waited through passport control, staring at the space on the form for occupation.  What should I put?  Unemployed….that makes me sound lazy.  Housewife……ugh, I do not like that term.  Expat wife…..well, that's what I am, so that's what I put.  I reached the front of the line, and the scariest passport control employee I have ever seen (imagine Gladiator contender), yelled Next! and looked right at me.  Oh goodness, initiate nervous sweat.  He took my passport, and form.  Read it over. Expat wife?! What is that?! I tried to explain that my husband works overseas, blah, blah.  He gives me a weird look, "So, you mean, you're a housewife (as he crosses out expat wife, and writes in housewife). Ugh, I do not like that term…..

Maybe I am a "term I do not wish to use" but, if I am, than I am one, awesome "spouse in the house." Yes, I prefer that much better, spouse in the house.

Some recent culinary creations this spouse has been very busily creating in the house.

Ryan loves Pho.
I found this super easy, close to Pho, Green Curry Coconut Chicken Soup. 

We were unsuccessful with our search for bagels in the UAE.  Maybe we were too busy stuffing our faces with Coldstone Ice Cream.
I decided to try my luck with homemade bagels.  Success!
Jalapeño, cheddar breakfast bagel sandwiches.  

Who knew People magazine was wonderful for the latest celebrity sightings as well as recipes?
I found this Thyme and Goat Cheese stuffed Chicken Breasts wrapped with Prosciutto, and a lovely Shallot Sauce.  Major Yum!

I have started an addiction.  Ice Cream Cakes!
This time I went for a ice cream pie, butterfinger style.
Oreo crust, peanut butter layer, butterfinger ice cream, and whip cream topping.
Butterfingers and Oreos were imported from the States. 

Meatless meals.
I have been cooking with Tofu.  I made Tofu Parmigiana, and this tofu, sun dried tomato, and spinach calzone.  Ryan enjoyed both meals (especially the calzone) so it looks like I will continue to incorporate tofu into our meals.  

For now, this spouse has to finish planning her holiday cookie plans.  Love Christmas, love baking….

Dubai and Abu Dhabi

We flew into Dubai two days before we were scheduled to fly to the Maldives.  It gave us a few days to do some shopping, some eating (taking in all of the foods we miss while living in Russia), and all around beginning our relaxation.

After the Maldives, we flew back to Dubai,

View from our hotel in Dubai.  I had to document this, a cloudy day in Dubai!
It actually rained for a bit!  The clouds did not last long, they quickly left. 

then the next day set off for Abu Dhabi.  Ryan was scheduled to have a week of training, and after some last minute changes to my flights, I joined him for the week.  Ryan had been to Abu Dhabi previously, once for business, and once with me to Ferrari World (when we were last in Dubai May 2011).

Ryan spent the days at training, I spent the days working on my tan.  One evening, after training, we took a taxi over to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.  It is the largest mosque in the UAE (United Arab Emirates, and the eighth largest mosque in the world.  Beautiful.

The courtyard is 17,000 sq. meters (180,000 sq. feet)

Strict dress code.
Loose fitting, long skirt/dress, long sleeves, and hair covered.
No tight fitting clothes, pants, or shorts.
Guys had it easier, no shorts, or sleeveless shirts. 

Second largest chandelier in a mosque, third largest in the world.
33 ft. diameter - 49 ft. height

SCUBA...

In August, much to people's surprise (myself included) I completed certification as an Open Water Diver!  To explain why this was such a monumental event, let's go back to November 2011, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.  Ryan and I were staying at a resort on the Red Sea, a very popular location for diving.  Coincidentally our resort had a dive center offering SCUBA certification.  Now, we could not complete  the entire certification due to necessary time prior to flying (you cannot fly within so many hours after diving), but we could begin with our introductory.  We thought it would be a great idea, something to do together.

The classroom portion was easy as could be.  We knew everything we needed to know, now we just needed to put our knowledge into action.  We were going to start simple, in a very deep pool.  How hard could it be?  I should have taken the fact that with all my equipment on, I could barely walk to the pool.  I pushed my worries away until I stood at the edge of the pool.  The instructor told me to step in, off the edge, into deep water.  Deep breath, relax, step, splash, I'm in.  This is where things got interesting.  I was a good student, I knew how to put air in my BCD, I knew how to let air out of my BCD.  The one key problem, when the instructor told me to let air out of my BCD, I did not follow his instruction, I chose not to let the air out, I was too afraid to go under the water.  No trust in the thing they refer to as a regulator that allows you to breath underwater.  My instructor tried to be helpful.  He thought I had forgotten how to let the air out of my BCD, so he did it for me.  Big mistake, a full battle started, he would let air out, I would put it back in, eventually his expertise outscored mine, and I was at  the bottom of the pool.  I had a face mask full off water, no it wasn't leaking, I was crying.  Not a good situation, panicking underwater while trying to keep a regulator in your mouth.  I resisted the urge to punch the instructor (how forceful can a punch really be underwater) and resorted to making my way to the pool wall, and climb my way up the wall, to the surface, with all my equipment on.  I finally made it to the surface, clung to the edge for dear life, and threw the regulator out of my mouth.  A split second later, the instructor and Ryan surfaced.  The instructor asked, "What's the problem?" my death glare response was all that was needed, Ryan explained to the instructor that it would be best for me to get out of the pool, and no longer continue with the training.  My loving husband knows me so well.

Fast forward to November 2013, Four Seasons Resort Kuda Huraa, Maldives.  Ryan and I are relaxing on the beach after days of diving.  My loving husband looks over at me and says, "You did so well with all the diving.  I remember when we were in Egypt, you were like a dying, wet cat crawling out of that pool."

Wet cat no more.  I am officially addicted to SCUBA.  I have always loved fish aquariums, now I can swim through giant aquariums, and see all kinds of interesting things.  Who knew there was so much hiding under the water?  Plus, the best part, I have my loving husband next to me.

I wish I knew how to upload videos, but unfortunately I do not.  Enjoy the following pictures Ryan took with his underwater camera.

Actually taken with my camera.
A picture of the back of our boat with the dive Dhoni next to it.  

Orientation dive at the first resort.  My first real experience with true open water.
I did all my open water dives in a quarry in Illinois, VERY different water conditions than the Maldives.  After the orientation dive, I had a better understanding of why people become addicted.  

Gold speckled moray eel.

Snail

Our dive "Dhoni" We would take this boat to the dive sites.

Ryan took this picture of me from below.
A pretty cool picture with the light and his bubbles.

Crab

Puffer fish

Wreck dive.
I can honestly say I do not enjoy wreck dives.  I was creeped out.
I kept waiting for Ursula to come out and snatch me. 

No Ursula, just lots of fish.

Puffer fish

  I think this very accurately shows how HUGE the whale shark was.  Look how TINY he makes the people look.
Ryan is a pretty awesome underwater photographer.  I just wish I could post some of his videos. 

SCUBA still is not the most Virginia Lee friendly sport.  I chipped my manicure and pedicure.  Wet suits will never be an attractive thing to put on or take off.  The equipment is heavy, and it is awkward walking to the edge of the boat, but once you are underwater, it is a very Virginia Lee friendly sport, graceful, and relaxing.  Until you blow a booger into your mask while equalizing your ears or clearing your mask underwater.  It happens.

The only question that remains, when and where can we SCUBA next!?!?