No time to blog right now. (Obviously, right?) I'm on Facebook though, so if you're interested in keeping in touch via FB, leave a comment or drop me a line. Or, look me up: Christine Coleman Al-Qattan. I've just outed myself, so long anonymity.
My Son Takes Pictures Too
Written by Stinni on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
I wasn't even aware he took this picture until I uploaded it to the laptop. They had a bunch of different signs with cities around the U.S./world and the distance to each from Oak's Bluff in Martha's Vineyard. He has obviously inherited his mama's italophile gene because he chose Milan.
P.S. The other day my son looked at me and said, "Sei la piu bella del mondo." I was shocked. I mean, I know he speaks a little Italian (mela = apple, rosso = red, machina = car, etc.) but to come up with that?! Turns out he was reading a burned CD cover.
Vacation, All I Ever Wanted
Written by Stinni on Wednesday, August 27, 2008I'm sitting out on our deck, trying to enjoy the cool weather, courtesy of Canadian wind blowing south; trying to soak it all up before we head back to our hot/dusty home. With the exception of a few humid weeks, this summer has been fantastic weather-wise. For the past few weeks, it's been more like fall than summer, which will make leaving even tougher.
My children are with grandma and papa (don't call him grandpa), a luxury they/I don't get in Kuwait. I chose to use my free time wisely: look through rental applications for the winter, do laundry, fold clothes, and write a blog post.
This morning I saw a private jet fly over my house and instinctively said, "Teddy's flying back from the convention." Whenever you see a private jet flying into the Cape on Friday, you say, "Teddy's coming home." On Sunday it's, "Teddy's going back to DC." It's just what we do here. I can't imagine a time when we won't be able to say that.
I lied, I'm actually going to use my free time to write two blog posts. Maybe three. Mostly pictures.
Salem 2008
Written by Stinni on Monday, August 04, 2008We made our annual pilgrimage to Salem over the weekend and as usual, we took some interesting pictures. Here's my favorite:
I forgot to ask his name, but his red-tailed boa is named "Stone". As you can see, they're very close. After he was done showing us how he could put the snake in his mouth, the snake wrapped himself around the guy's neck. The guy was super friendly and offered to let my children pet the snake but my children were kind of freaked out by the whole thing.
Here are the other two favorite pictures taken this year. The first is of a snail on a cemetery wall. We saw a couple of snails there. The last picture is of an old home in Salem, where we fell in love with the misaligned windows.
You can see a few more pictures on my flickr page. Just click on any of the pictures above to bring you there.
Girlie Post
Written by Stinni on Thursday, July 31, 2008I got this list from a beauty forum. List the products you currently use. I'll start and then you copy/paste in your own blog or in the comment section. Ready?
Skin CARE line/product--Oil of Olay Regenerist, 24.7 (Have only been using this for a few weeks now for blotchiness but the verdict is still out.), RoC, Ponds.
Foundation/cover up--Revlon's Beyond Natural foundation. Awesome stuff. It comes out white from the tube and then you rub it into your face and it matches your skin. It literally disappears into your skin. Doesn't settle into pores/fine lines. Good for oily skin. Usually doesn't need powder as it leaves your skin looking fresh and natural. Not too matte, not too oily - perfect!
Spot cover up--Makeup Forever Face & Body makeup or Revlon's Beyond Natural concealer. Both look incredibly natural and blend right into your skin.
Blush--N/A
Powder--Makeup Forever Duo, Max Factor Facefinity (not available in the U.S.)
Lipstick/stain or gloss--Too many to mention! I usually just use clear gloss because I like the natural look.
Eyeliner--Revlon's Beyond Natural black eyeliner. It's big and easily blendable.
Mascara--Yves St. Laurent waterproof (black) and more recently Revlon's Beyond Natural mascara (black).
Eyeshadow--I don't use eyeshadow that much. But because my eyelids are about ten shades darker than my skin, I use Clarin's Instant Light Eye Perfecting Base to lighten them up to match the rest of my face.
Tweezers--Revlon, the really long ones with slanted tips. LaCross.
Skin highlighter or tanners--Clarin's Instant Light, L'Oreal Sublime Glow (for Medium skin tones).
Curling irons/straighteners--N/A
Shampoo--Lakme. I can't remember the name of it but the bottle is gray, the shampoo is purple and it takes out the yellowish/brassy color from your hair/highlights. Lakme is from India and I get it from a friend's salon in Hawally. In the States, Clairol Professional has a similar product called "Shimmer Lights" (Thanks, Kerrie!).
Conditioner--N/A
Leave in conditioner--N/A
Gel/Mouse--Got 2 Be 24 Hour Hair Thickener. Just found this product and am so in love with it!
Shave cream or gel--N/A
Body or bubble bath--Not too picky about Shower Gel but it has to be moisturizing. I usually use SebaMed in Kuwait.
Razor--My husband's. Heh. Even when I buy my own razor, I always revert back to his.
Finger nail products--N/A
Lotion--Molton Brown Narn Ji (smells divine), Ponds Dry Skin Cream, Nivea (the cheap blue tin never fails!).
I Haven't Even Left Yet
Written by Stinni on Friday, June 13, 2008And I'm already missing Kuwait.
Off the top of my head, here are some things I'll miss (besides people, natch) from Kuwait:
- Hot and fresh Iranian bread, straight out of the clay oven for a whopping 20 fils. For those of you in the States, that's about 7 cents. One can never go hungry here.
- Warm and fresh pita bread.
- Pulling up to a bacala, beeping my horn and having friendly Iranians bring what I need to my car. Bread, soda, juice, milk - you name it. By the way, none of them hate Americans, not to my face anyway, and some are convinced that I'm Lebanese or Syrian even though I speak to them with full-on Khaleeji Arabic.
- Having my eyebrows threaded for as cheap as KD1. In fact, I have a friend who owns a salon (a very good thing) and I can get anything done for KD1. My favorite hairstylist works down where I live though, and I'm faithful to her when it comes to my hair. Last night I had my roots touched up, had a color rinse to make my hair look more natural and not so streaky, had a cut and a blow dry (seshwar) and only paid KD25. Love it.
[Embedding the video wasn't possible, so check this video out to get a sense of what I'm talking about, and multiply it by about 100.)
- Italian television. Even though most of my shows are on hiatus for the summer, I'm still going to miss programs like "Chi l'ha visto?" which is sort of like "Unsolved Mysteries".
- Kuwaiti and Arab hospitality. Nothing beats it. Nothing.
- Free medical and dental. The key is finding the right doctors and dentists and then you're golden.
- Al Kout Mall. I love this place, it's beautiful and believe it or not, the weather is still good enough to sit outside. I took the kids there last night and we sat outside to eat our gelato (from Gelatini), watching the dancing fountains. It was perfect.
- Palm trees.
- The gorgeous light blue waters of the Gulf.
- Oranges/tangerines from Lebanon, Turkish lebnah, Turkish kebab and shewarma by Pinar (if you haven't tried the turkey shewarma meat or turkey kebabs from Pinar, you're missing out. They sell it in plastic tubs in the frozen meat section, for just under KD2.)
- Shish tawook.
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