Day 312: NYE

Wednesday: December 31, 2014

This is it. 2014 is over. What even, guys? It's been great, but it passed by so quickly. It's unnerving, really. We're passing into the new year with some great friends, as always. I'm very excited for the fireworks! Last year, we broke world records so I'm sure this year's celebration will pale in comparison. Either way, it'll be great.

Day 311: Power Tripping

Tuesday: December 30, 2014

I've been doing a lot of thinking. Ruminating, if you will. There are a few conclusions I've come to about Dubai. One, there's much more than meets the eye. I really hate hearing my city stereotyped as a super vain, rich city. It is, but it's also multifaceted and has other great sides to it. Two, there don't seem to be cemeteries anywhere and it's weird. Three, you can tell if a great Dubai shot has been shopped if there are no power lines or cranes. There is no way a nice photo of the skyline can be taken without at least one obstruction. Case in point: see below.

Day 310: Palmy Weather

Monday: December 29, 2014

I like to pretend that the reason my running time currently sucks is because I frequently stop to take pictures. I mean, I really do stop often. But I think that shortness of breath and foot cramps from breaking in new running sneakers might also be behind the detours, too. Either way, look at this. Isn't it neat?

Day 309: The Stallions Truck

Sunday: December 28, 2014

It's kind of a long story, but basically a rival football team's truck is being driven by people from our team, except they left it parked outside our house and I have this urge to trip and accidentally smash a few dozen eggs on it. Except I won't. Because that's mean.

Day 308: Did Somebody Say Chocolates?

Saturday: December 27, 2014

I started working on one of my stocking stuffers, which is/was a trial pack of Ritter Sport chocolate. Let me tell you, this is love. They are all fabulous, but my favorites were the hazelnut and cornflake ones. I just love everything about them. They're totally delish, and also easy to open thanks to their efficient German engineering. It's amazing.

Day 307: G's All Around

Friday: December 26, 2014

Without trying, my dad and I's presents for my mom coordinated. He got her a gold microphone, because she really wanted one [they do podcasts now, it's kind of a thing.] And I got her a golden "G" mug because her name starts with the letter "G" [not mom, her real name.] Anyway, it all looks really nice together.

Day 306: CHRISTMAS

Thursday: December 25, 2014 || Christmas

TODAY IS CHRISTMAS! I've had a great day with my family. We opened presents and stockings [everybody was happy, thankfully] and even gave a few presents to the puppy. He and I coordinated today, obvi. Then we had the same family friends over, and exchanged more presents and had a cook out. All in all, great day. 

Day 305: Cooking Out

Wednesday: December 24, 2015

For Christmas Eve, we're going over to a friend's house. Before then, another family is coming over to prepare their stuffing, and they are also going along for the Christmas ride. It should be fun!

Day 304: Salads can be festive!

Tuesday: December 23, 2014

Today I did some last minute Christmas shopping, as well as gift wrapping. It felt odd not having done this all weeks ago. I'm also really ready to watch my favorite Christmas movies! We watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special a few days ago, and that was nice.

Day 303: Personal Ornament

Monday: December 22, 2014

Finally. I get Christmas break! I'll still try and study through the break like the good noodle I am, but for now, that's not happening. Every year, [starting last year, haha] we each pick a special ornament to put on the tree. My parents picked mine this time, because I didn't go to the mall. I'm a... forest ranger ballerina or something. It's cute, I like it.

Day 302: Crossing the Ravine

Sunday: December 21, 2014

Kidding. This isn't a ravine, but I did spot it while I was out running. People have been doing work in the neighborhood, and they cleared out some shrubs covering the little dippy area. I'm glad, I probably would have tripped and fallen in and broken my face at some point in the future. It's still a possibility, but at least now I can see it. Also, I like how the weather has allowed me to go running during the day now!

Day 301: Blood Orange, She's so Pretentious

Saturday: December 20, 2014

We ordered Lemonade, and I got a Blood Orange Lemonade. It's very delicious! However, I always cringe a little drinking lemon drinks after my experience as a dental intern. I've seen a lot of bad enamel. It doesn't grow back. But anyway, it was a good drink haha.

Day 300: Spicy, Spicy

Friday: December 19, 2014

Wow. 300 posts!! It's so exciting looking back on all of the posts from the past year, nearly. Crazy. Today I went to Geant with my mom and they had this wicked awesome spice station. I thought it was cool and I kind of wanted to touch it except a lot of it was chili powder so that wasn't a good idea. Can you imagine doing a color run with these spices?

Day 299: Stockings

Thursday: December 18, 2014

We have our stockings up, and mine already has stuff in it! I typically don't use my first name, Ana. I usually go by my middle name, Lucero which is why it's on the stocking. I respond to both though. Now, I just have to find things to place in others' stockings, including the puppy's!

Day 298: O Tannenbaum, O Christmas Tree

Wednesday: December 17, 2014

Today we finally put up our Christmas tree! It's bootiful. It felt weird not having it around during the holiday season. It was a struggle, since my dad was at work and he's the tallest. I risked my life trying to put up ornaments [kidding.] But it's so pretty! It'd look nicer with a skirt but the puppy keeps eating it.

Day 297: Party Cracker

Tuesday: December 16, 2014

Over Black Friday and while my parents were gone, I ordered their presents online. A bunch of stuff came in for me. Oops. One of those things that I can show [because the rest are presents!!] are the Christmas crackers. We've never had Christmas crackers, because I'm pretty sure they're a European thing. I'm very excited, because they're supposed to come with paper hats and toys!

Day 296: Return

Monday: December, 15 2014

Today was mine and By-Tor's last day together. I took this photo while I was outside playing with him. I felt bad, because I had to put him in his cage in order to properly mop the downstairs area. I can't have him walking around, feeling a certain way because of Fabuloso. He wasn't too happy about it, even when I played Christmas music!!

But anyway, everybody is home and they're tired but they're safe so it's nice.

Day 295: Night Walkers

Sunday: December 14, 2014

I've been taking the puppy on evening walks, because it's cooler [sunglasses fall from the heavens.] Plus, our neighborhood is fairly safe and By-Tor is hilariously protective. Today we saw another dog named Mango, and it was a Lassie type dog. Therefore, she's Mango Lassi, like the drink! So cute. By-Tor and Mango touched noses.

Also, the fam comes home tomorrow! Woo!

Day 294: Friendly Outings

Saturday: December 13, 2014

Today my friend and her family picked me up and took me with them for the day. We went out to eat at this sushi place, which was really good. I then watched her play softball, and it was weird being back at the baseball fields. This photo is from there. They didn't win, but there are only two teams in her age division and so nobody really cares that much about wins and losses. After, her parents took me to go grocery shopping. I felt grown up. I bought a head of broccoli.

Day 293: Mileage

Friday: December 12, 2014

Today I ran a little on the treadmill. I'm not a big fan of treadmill running, other than the fact that when I'm alone, I can blast music on it. I also have been making a slight effort to keep up with running, because I plan on racing a 10k in about a month. I can't get lazy.

Day 292: Peas, Please

Thursday: December 11, 2014

I went out on a run today, and found that one of my neighbors is growing a pea plant on his/her fence. It's so weird! But also very cool, and respectable. I have no idea how he or she managed to get this plant to survive Dubai weather. It's barely getting cool. Here's a photo of one that had fallen on the floor.

Day 291: Brief Citylines

Wednesday: December 10, 2014

I took this photo waiting for my Careem service to arrive. With my parents gone, it's how I've been getting around. Not that I've been doing much, anyway. I've done school, played with the puppy, took him for a walk, shared some carrots with him, etc etc. We are doing okay.

Day 290: Watermelon Slices

Tuesday: December 9, 2014

Today I cut open my mini watermelon and I played Christmas music. The fruit was good, the music was not. I shared with the puppy. He doesn't like watermelon at all. He kind of just sniffed it, tried to eat some because I was eating some, and then left it alone on the floor.

Day 289: Interview Day

Monday: December 8, 2014

Today was exciting. I had my first college interview. It was with MIT. Granted, an interview is a mandatory part of the application process, but still. It went really well, I think. My interviewer was incredibly nice and smart and fashionable, and I want to be best friends with her. Also, my friend's mom came by with cake and lasagna so I'm set for food for the next few days. Yay.

Oh, and the café I met my interviewer at had an upside down Christmas tree, shown here.

Day 288: Sunset Silhouettes

Sunday: December 7, 2014

Again, nothing much happened today. I made soup with extra veggies in it and I threw in turkey bacon. I've had better things. I read some of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" for school and watched Modern Family with the puppy. Also, he likes carrots! By-Tor eats baby carrots. He's so cute. He doesn't talk, but he sure does keep me company.

Day 287: Walking Around, the Christmas Tree

Saturday: December 6, 2014

Since there isn't much to do for the puppy and I, we went on our first solo walk together. It was interesting. He isn't the most cooperative pup out there, and he has a surprising amount of strength to him. His tiny size is deceiving. He wanted to sniff everything, and thought that every house on the way back was our own. He didn't pee or poo like I hoped, so he's been kind enough to do it all inside the house.

Day 286: Departure and Doggies

Friday: December 5, 2014

So my family abandoned me. Kidding, they're away for over a week to do football things in Orlando. I stayed behind, since I have a lot of schoolwork and I didn't want the puppy to go into a kennel or something. So it will be just the puppy and me, for a week. Luckily, a few family friends have offered to have me over and whatnot, so that's nice. Here's a photo of the dog looking pensive. He was sad when everybody left [which is kind of insulting, because hello?? I'm obviously the best hooman here.]

Day 285: Mall of the Emirates [plus google edits]

Thursday: December 4, 2014

The Mall of the Emirates has been surprisingly festive this holiday season. They have decorations up everywhere. While I greatly appreciate it, I'm always thrown off a bit whenever I hear a store's Christmas carols mix with the booming call to prayer.  Additionally, I took this photo today and uploaded it to my Google profile for storage. I guess they're trying out a new editing system, because Google automatically edited this photo for me. It's not how I usually do it, but I like it! I might use their features more in the future.

Day 284: Walkways

Wednesday: December 3, 2014

Sorry, not sorry, for the abundance of sunset walkway photos. I keep meaning to take By-Tor to one of these trails, but it might be too far for him still. Plus, I don't know if it'd be safe to let him go off the leash at all.

Day 283: Rings -n- Things

Tuesday: December 2, 2014


Sometimes I forget how small my hands are. They're actually disproportionate to the rest of my body, I think. I'm still a travel-sized person, but this is ridiculous. Either way, I liked how they looked today. I've been very good about not biting my nails or cuticles.

Day 282: Shampooch

Monday: December 1, 2014

Wow. December. This year has gone by so quickly, and it doesn't even feel like December yet. I don't feel holiday spirit or even cold weather. I'm kind of stuck in early October, really. But anyway, this week the puppy finally got groomed and so he's stopped smelling like old spices and expired yoghurt. He even has a cute bandana!!

Day 281: Fruit Salad

Sunday: November, 30, 2014

I went to Starbucks, and picked up a fruit salad. It was really delicious! It was very colorful and didn't have too many hard fruits, like melon or apple. I think there was some passionfruit in there too.

Day 280: Pastel Pinks

Saturday: November 29, 2014

I noticed the sky was unusually pink around sunset time today. It was really nice, and I like seeing colorful skies.

Day 279: Black and White

Friday: November 28, 2014

I've felt the need to go running, especially after yesterday's food fest.

Day 278: Giving Thanks

Thursday: November 27, 2014

Today was a good day. We went over to a football friend's house for Thanksgiving and there must have been a thousand people there [just kidding, probably like 50 or 60.] I met lots of new people, and ate great food. For that, and for the past year in general, I am thankful. Also, this was one of the rooms in the house. Isn't it neat? They just had various rooms like this, for sitting...? Chit-chatting? Probably.

Day 277: Turkey Bowl!

Wednesday: November 26, 2014

Today was my little brother's Turkey Bowl. It was an exciting game, and we finished with a win! Here they are with the team trophy.

Day 276: Shadow, Shadow

Tuesday: November 25, 2014

I tried being artsy. That is all.

Day 275: Purple Mountain's Majesty

Monday: November 24, 2014

Flowers are blooming! Wintertime is springtime, really. I just had to stop my run to capture these flowers.

Day 274: Puppy Loathe

Sunday: November 23, 2014

Okay here's another puppy picture. His hair has been growing really long, and we haven't taken him to the groomers yet. He's very sassy which is funny because he also smells really bad so I don't think he has the moral ground to display such sass. But look at him! He's such a ham.

Day 273: Dirty Face

Saturday: November 22, 2014

By-Tor is adorable, but he smells awful. He doesn't even look white anymore. His face and paws are tan from eating messily and digging through the grass. His fur smells like a mixture of puppy food, grass, and a spice cabinet. Some of it is even matted. And he has the nerve to roll over and beg for belly rubs, in his state. I mean, I still do, but he's so gross.

Day 272: The Road Not Taken

Friday: November 21, 2014

Just kidding, this is a pathway that lots of people take. I've been really liking running now that the weather is slightly cooler in the evenings. I still end up super hot and sweaty by the end, but at least I don't have to start off that way anymore. 

Day 271: Holiday Lights

Thursday: November 20, 2014

Today I spotted these purple holiday lights on my neighbor's fence. They're really pretty, but I'm slightly confused. Are they for Christmas, or from Halloween? I'm usually not out past sunset so I wouldn't know if the lights had been up for a while. They're pretty, I just wish I knew why they were up.

Day 270: Partly Cloudy

Wednesday: November 19, 2014

Today I spotted a few rare clouds in the sky. The weather has yet to be forgiving on us, as it's still pretty warm out here. But hey, at least the view can be pretty nice.

Day 269: Dreary Palms

Tuesday: November 18, 2014

I was out on a run today, and saw this really sad looking palm tree. It only has two leaves! And they're droopy, at that. I wonder if palm trees can even recover.

Day 268: Flowers by the Side

Monday: November 17, 2014

This bush, and many similar types grow around the neighborhood. I have no idea if they're native to the region, but they seem to grow everywhere! They come in different colors too, like pink and red and purple. I don't think they're actual flowers, but more like colorful leaves.

Day 267: Other Side of the Tracks

Sunday: November 16, 2014

Today I took the metro, and I thought about how safe the transportation really is. I've been on subway stations in New York, London, Vienna, and Boston, and they're pretty efficient. The thing is, the tunnels are completely open. What I like about the Dubai metro is that the tunnels are sealed, so the doors only open when the cars arrive. I'm not sure if it's for safety purposes, or to keep the price of air conditioning down, or both. But I don't mind.

Day 266: He Came, He Saw, He Conquered

Saturday: November 15, 2014

I created this photostrip of By-Tor running around with a corner of our grass. He literally ripped up the corner, and it's his new favorite toy. He also knows he's not supposed to have it, so he runs like the wind whenever he grabs it. That puppy, I tell ya.

Day 265: Foliage and Blue Skies

Friday: November 14, 2014

Today I went on a run, and it was pretty nice. The weather has been cooler and there's actually been a breeze. Also, look at this tree! It's so nice. They've been doing work in this corner of the neighborhood that's dedicated to greenery and shrubs. The tree might be new. I'm not actually sure if that's the case, or it looks extra spiffy today.

Day 264: Puppy Photoshoot

Thursday: November 13, 2014

For my photography class, I had a little photoshoot outside with By-Tor. He's a natural, look at him!

Day 263: From Summer to Fall

Wednesday: November 12, 2014

I pulled out my favorite summer romper and attempted to make it fall/Dubai appropriate. I rather like how it turned out, because black is totally my thing. Also, lens flares. I love lens flares.