Can someone tell me why end of season women tennis championship is held in Doha?? Ah yes, that is to "further women's rights" in Qatar and supposedly in the Middle East in general.

For the uninitiated, the girl on the left is Caroline Wozniacki, Danish tennis star. On the right is a lady whose rights are about to be furthered by the said event.

I love spending weekends in the mountains during our hot summer. This time we went for a drive on Saturday, from Nicosia on to Kakopetria, Troodos, Platres and came back via Pedoulas. It's been a while to see all these places, and I enjoyed the trip.

First weekend in Cyprus we ran away from the heat of the capital into the sanctuary of Columbia Hotel in Pissouri. It was fab! Beautifully positioned down the slope of the mountain by the sea, it is a perfect getaway. Sort of in the middle of nowhere, little village of Pissouri still has everything you need for a lovely minibreak. Complete with Greek dancers! :)

I am a man's girl. Never liked pretty boys. The likes of Pitt, Cruise, Farrell et al do nothing for me. One exception is Johnny Depp, sometimes he catches my eye. Sometimes. Not enough to be featured here, I am afraid. I would choose Bardem over Bloom and Alan Rickman over DiCaprio anyday. I don't go for puppy eyes (a la Nicholas Cage, Jake Gyllenhaal or Adrien Brody) and if a guy is too polished, he simply makes me laugh (cough cough McConaughey cough). Here are the men that I find extremely sexy.

Antonio Banderas - presses all the right buttons. Plays guitar, sings very well, excellent horseback rider and habla Español. Knickers in a twist. Saw him first in "Desperado", but love him more in "Original Sin".
Gerard Butler - the accent does it. The horrible movie "The Timeline" was bearable because of him. And of course, who can forget the leather and the red cape? LOL Still, he rocks my socks off.

Sean Connery needs no introduction. He keeps getting better! And he stars in one of my fave films, "The Name of the Rose".
Kevin Costner - "Rumor Has It" rings the bell - he is definitely up to the task of seducing 3 generations of women!

Hugh Jackman. Love me some Wolverine! Or old school class in "Kate & Leopold"- that always wins me over.
James Purefoy - absolute raw masculinity with everything it stands for - good and bad. First saw him in "Knight Tale" and fell in love. Then fell in love with him again in "Rome". Medieval and ancient gear suits him well. Drool!

The other day I got into a heated discussion about beautiful actresses with my colleagues - of course we failed to agree. Well, they are men (and therefore clueless) so I will not list their picks here. I will list mine, please feel free to agree or disagree. Just remember, it's looks I am talking about, not acting skills.

Angela Basset - saw her for the first time in "Strange Days". Then liked her even more in "The Score".
Charlize Theron - impossible not to like, and one of the girls that featured on my colleagues "best of the best" list, too. Love her in "Italian Job". I don't like many blondes, she is one of very few exceptions.

Keira Knightley - here is one love/hate relationship. Love her when she looks serious, hate her when she smiles. She knows it, and has her Posh act perfected. I like her in "Atonement".

Milla Jovovic - we were born same year in the same city. So where did I go wrong? LOL. "Fifth Element" is hard to beat, but I also like her in "The Claim".
Monica Bellucci - the sexiest woman alive. Perfect in one of my fave movies, "Brotherhood of the Wolf".

Natalie Portman - I don't know what it is about this girl that I like so much. She is great in "V", and equally great in "Star Wars". Just, beautiful.
Nicole Kidman - the ultimate femininity. I chose this pic on purpose - not the most flattering or airbrushed one, she looks very natural, and the movie I like her most in is "Cold Mountain". For a change, the one where she wears more clothes than makeup.

Rachel Weisz - amazing amazing amazing. Quirky, interesting and unusual kind of beauty. Love her in "The Mummies".
Salma Hayek - I saved the best for last. Traffic-stopping knockout in "Desperado", and that dance with the snake in "From Dusk till Dawn" - it doesn't get better than that.

So yeah, what's with these blonde Western chicks wearing abayas? Or worse, covering their faces?

One thing is to convert, another thing is to adopt local Gulf culture - how does one relate to another? You can be a Muslim and remain Western, you know. It's not like you'll turn into an Arab by wearing this stuff - you won't. And why should you want to, anyway?

If it is by virtue of marriage that you are now all covered up, then what, you aren't good enough for your husband and his family unless you try to look like one of their women? And that makes you happy?

Islam calls for modest dress, not for abaya and niqab. Look at Haya. She's Muslim alright. And she's an Arab, and married to Emirati, but doesn't feel the need for black overalls and face mask. So why do you do it then?

I'd really like to know.

Hi there!

Been a while, eh?

To be honest, I forgot about my blog. I am online every day at work, but I didn't have anything to share and I didn't even think about blogging. Well now that I finally have a little bit of good news, I can write about it.

Some of you might know that in February my husband lost his job. It threw us off balance financially (but not enough as to panic), and forced a whole chain of events in rapid succession. First, we moved out of our new house into our old house (our lovely landlady is one in a million). Then, I moved to another, higher paying job, which took the financial pressure off. And a few days ago, my husband finally got a job offer he was hoping for, and accepted, and now he will be working in Doha. I decided to stay in Dubai with my new job as my chances of finding a similar job in Qatar are next to zero. So we shall see how that works out. I suppose I'll commute every 2 weeks or so, make Emirates Airlines happy :) Actually, I am quite looking forward to all this. We've been stuck in our routine far too long and I am ready for a change.

I am thinking of bringing my mom over to stay with me as I don't think I'll enjoy living alone long term. If she accepts, that is. Don't know whether she will like to live in Dubai. It's fun to visit, but living here is another story altogether. I suppose if she drives and has things to do, she won't be bored out of her mind... but we'll deal with this when we get there.

For the time being, I have my hands full with handing my work over to my assistant before I move to my new job. As soon as I start, I will fly to Singapore for training and orientation, and yearly regional meeting (the timing was great). I can't wait! Never been to Singapore, and I will have some free time to explore. No idea what to see, haven't gotten around reading up on it, so suggestions welcome.

And that is all for the time being. Talk to you later! :)

Time is ticking away. Those fabled options better start appearing pronto.

As of today - no options other than moving out of our house and into a matchbox to save on rent. That would give us about 3-6 months, provided a lot of other issues solve themselves out. The issues don't seem to be willing to do that, however.

Man I hate this freaking crisis!

FML