Appreciating a Simple Garden

Growing up in America can make it difficult to appreciate the simple and little accomplishments in life. Most things are handed to Americans (me included) on a silver platter and we've been trained as a society to demand the best of the best because we "deserve it". I'll save my opinions on that for another post :o), but today I want to share my growth for appreciation. Approaching almost 2 years in Dubai has been a very humbling experience.

Living in Dubai in 2013 is nothing like it was just a mere 20 years ago and while it's hard to find drastic changes in America over the span of 20 years it's not uncommon to find drastic changes in a short amount of time out here.

Source
The famous Shaykh Zayed road after (circa 2005) and before (late 80's) 

While massive stretches of land have been significantly transformed this image is still vary common across Dubai and the UAE. 

Picking up my kids from school and walking back to our car. 

Z2 decides to take the more adventurous desert route.

The sight of open land is very enjoyable and peaceful, but all that sand can be overwhelming at times. Though, for every sandy landscape there is also a colorful and cheery garden just around the corner. 

Gold and Diamond Park near More Cafe 

It's a simple garden in a courtyard between numerous buildings, but when I saw it I felt so drawn to it. Pink shrubs for ground cover, green bushes and palm trees, not to mention that interesting pyramid structure in the background. 

Someone could easily pass this garden with out thinking twice about it. I, on the other hand, couldn't stop staring at it and thinking how lovely it was. Don't you think it's special, considering it's in the middle of the desert? Of course there are more intricate and beautiful gardens, but this one was beautifully in it's own right.  So many of these beautiful spaces are gradually changing the landscape of Dubai and frankly I'm enjoying every little bit of it. Have you seen any spaces that have increased appreciation in your heart? Thanks for stopping by! 

-Debora

More Surprises at More Cafe

Hello all! I have to say, these days I am pooped! I've been driving my kids all over Dubai for activities and while I swore I wouldn't be that soccer mom, here I am, being just that. My point? Well, some times I need a lovely cup of jo, like this one, with a pretty spoon too!

After dropping of my oldest at his activity for the day, I decided to stop by More Cafe. I had been there once before, had a great experience and thought I would rest there instead of the noisy location my son was at. 

More Cafe inside and out. Located at the Gold and Diamond Park, Dubai. 

To my surprise this wasn't your typical More. It had a mini library section and a large conference style table equipped with power outlets to connect your electronics. Not your droopy worn out Starbucks couches. What's even more cool is they have a program or system if you will, where you can bring in 5 of your own new or used books and trade them in for 5 of their books. Unfortunately you can't buy, a trade is a must. 

I moseyed on over and picked up one non-fiction and unexpectedly found an awesome book on tiles!! Ohhhhh, this book was sooooooooo fun! 

The Art of Tile by Jen Renzi

This book may be old news for most, but it's new to me and might be for you too. Since I couldn't buy this book and I didn't have 5 on hand to trade, I decided to take a few pics of my favorite tiles. With out influencing you too much, I'll let you decide what you like out of my personal favorite pics. 

Up close of the above pic.

Tile in a pixilated form. 

What I loved the most was it's layout. She categorized all the styles ( and there are hundreds) perfectly. it was a great resource especially for someone who doesn't know much about tiles and wants name references, inspiration for usage amongst other things. I'm definitely going back to get my hands on this, that's if no one else has snatched it up :o) Hope you enjoyed this little surprise tidbit of tile education. ;o) Thanks for stopping by.

-Debora

Having Fun With a Glass Swan Vase

Many moons ago, I want to say almost 8 years ago, my mom bought me the tiniest bouquet for mothers day that came in a simple and delicate glass swan vase. It was so cute. I hadn't seen anything like it before. I saved it and recently rediscovered it and figured, let me do something new with it.

I thought it would be so fun to fill it up completely with tinted water. No flowers, just water and food coloring. The results were so bright and gave the vase more depth and appreciation. 

How fun would this be for a themed party? 

Essentially any pretty shaped vase could be filled with tinted water. 

All the colors diffused so beautifully which made this project that much more enjoyable.

Though, the green was the most amusing to watch dilute into the water. 

Trying to spread the color throughout the neck and up to the head of the swan. Took a lot of shaking to get the color evenly throughout. 

Some of my favorites...

                                   Dark green                           Light Green

I started with a dark green then diluted it with water to create a lighter shade. 

                                 Ombre effect                                   Solid red

The ombre effect happened accidentally as I was trying to spread the red up through the neck. The dye just kind of stayed there. What a perfect shot. 

Yellow was gorgeous and the 'belly' of the swan had an orange tint even though I only used yellow dye. Be careful though, that yellow dye sticks to skin like skin to bones. 

And of course blue. Got to love that deep blue! 

One vase, endless options for color and usage. It doesn't dawn on most people that vases could be used without flowers, but if you have vases around your home, especially with unique shapes, the options are endless for decorating. You can spruce up your everyday decorating or do something special and unique for an even or occasion. This is also a great and cheap way to test out new colors in your home with out committing to buying something other than food dye. Hope this opened a plethora of ideas for you to try in your home! Thanks again for stopping by! 

-Debora

DIY Resizing a Leather Belt

Hey folks. I have a really easy DIY project today. I wish I figured it out ages ago so I could have saved a few bucks, but that's life. When I got married, I noticed my husband had this really cool eagle belt. Ironically he never wore it throughout the years. I loved it and begged him to wear it, but I guess he just lost touch with the cowboy in him. ;o) I, on the other hand, was bursting with cowgirl fever and was set on resizing the belt for yours truly. I took to my trusty drill and drilled a perfect hole to my exact size. It was risky of me to use a drill, but luckily, this country tale ended happily ever after and now you cdan try it too.

The belted eagle in all his her glory.

(top view) I measured the belt around my waist and embossed a mark where I wanted the hole to be. 

Warning: I was very careful in not puncturing a hole into my finger, but I must acknowledge this isn't a safe way to drill. The hypocrite in me suggests that you either wear durable gloves or secure the belt with clamps to a table and hold the other end and then drill through. Or you can have another person hold one end while you hold your end and drill through. IN ALL CASES DRILL SLOWLY!!!

I used a small drill bit and drilled SLOWLY through the top of the belt making the initial hole. 

I had more control with the smaller drill bit. 

Then I flipped the belt and continued drilling from the bottom so the top would have a cleaner puncture. 

Initial hole is small and surface of the belt is not frayed. 

Then I got a bigger drill bit and widened it. 

All done. 

All I needed was one extra hole and you can't even see the gap between the original and new hole. 

And there you have the first ever Egyptian American cowgirl who can't even ride a horse lol.

A girl can dream can't she? 

I've never tried this with a synthetic belt, but if you are daring I suggest sticking painters tape on either side and then drilling. I faced no problems with this leather belt so I don't see any problems occurring with a synthetic belt. Now you can avoid spending $10 bucks at the shoe repair and drill a simple hole your self. Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!!

-Debora