To: Dad

Love: Ninnie Marie

One Christmas, when I was probably 6 or 7, I realized I hadn't gotten my dad anything for Christmas. I went into his closet, and found something I thought he would really want. A wooden shoe shining kit. I was so excited to give him that gift, and died of excitement when he opened it. Because the reaction was so great, I gave it to him again next year. And the next year, and the next...

Now, it's pretty much become a tradition. I've tried different things over the years, to camouflage it's identity.

A huge box filled with rocks and the shoe shining kit, etc. This year, to cover up the distinguishing legs, I taped flip flops to the bottom, you know, to make it flat.

I don't have pictures of the top, but to camouflage the slanted shoe shelf, I taped a glue stick at the end for height, and then taped a Cinnamon Toast Crunch snack bar across the top and the glue stick for flatness.

It was a brilliant job; dad had no idea by the exterior.

Also, I wore my favorite Christmas sweater, complete with bells. I love this sweater. I wore it every day pretty much since I stole it... uh, borrowed it... from my grandma's closet.

Love,

Brittney

One Riyal, Two Riyals, Three Riyals, FOUR!

Most of my Christmas presents I adored. My mom did get me one pair of boots that I didn't love as well as would negate the keeping of said boots. I LOVE boots. And clothes. So the idea of taking these boots back and getting something I wanted was thrilling (I have been wanting grey boots for about a year now, but haven't found a pair I love in my price range).

It ended up being my parents and Taylor and I. Which I quickly found was the BEST way to go shopping. Taylor had some shirts and pants to return at this one store. We had SR120 to spend after returning the stuff, and we looked and looked for something to get for him, but all the guys stuff was insane. We're talking gay clothes on steroids. Seriously. Hello Kitty for men. Eeek.

So I got to spend his money in the women's section - which was INSANELY cheap and had good stuff! So here is what I got...

2 cute shirts. The black shirt has beading on the shoulders.

1 cute dress

2 cute boots. I am in love. I have been wanting flat boots. Grey, as previously mentioned, and black. I'm in love.

And how much, you might ask, did all of this come to?

SR160!!!!

Insane, you may say. No way, you may think. But, YES WAY! For a dress, 2 shirts, and 2 boots, all of which are insanely cute, I spent SR160 ($42)!!

Dress: SR20 / $5

Black shirt: SR10 / $2.60

Purple Shirt: SR10 / $2.60

Black Boots: SR60 / $16

Grey Boots: SR60 / $16

TOTAL: SR160 / $42

AND THEN, THERE WAS MORE!

So the boots, which was the only and real reason I went into Khobar in the first place. For the price of the one boots my mom got me, I got both of these:

I am in love! Both of the boots are the most beautiful boots I ever could have imagined. I finally got my amazingly cute grey boots I've been holding out for for years! 4 pair of boots is a little excessive, some such as my parents might say. BUT - I wear dresses to work every day. And it's so cold every day. Which means, I wear boots almost every day to work. So to me, these boots will save my feet from frostbite!

And here it, the total purchase!! All for under $80! In the states, each of these boots would be around $80 a piece. I'm thrilled. But I already said that.

Merry Christmas!

Things that made this Christmas great:

• The music and lights and snow (obviously prior to Saudi...)
• The parties and jolly mood.
• Christmas sweaters. Especially my favorite one, stolen from Grandma. There are no words for this particular sweater. Lets just say - it has bells. Honest.
• Having a bunch of Christmas' with friends and family, and their super wonderful gifts.
• Taylor had his Christmas presents shipped to me to take home for the family. Their contents were the highlight of, almost, my life. Which may at first sound a little sad - but seriously, they were awesome. Lets jut say they came from a company called something akin to: Adultswhostillwishtheywerekids.com

*   1 Leg lamp - just like in a Christmas Story

*   1 A puzzle alarm clock. Looks like a child's toy.

*   1 T-Shirt that has a digital display of the time across the chest.

*   1 A picnic bench condiments set

*   1 A sarcasm ball. Like a fortune ball, but it says mean things. Like: Yeah right you pathetic loser. Dream on.

*   1 A green bag that says, I use this environment friendly bag because my wife makes me

*   1 little plastic green finger puppet monster with a packing peanut carefully twisted and shoved in his toothy mouth. This particular item was NOT listed on the packing slip. My theory - someone was playing with this item, or it was on their desk, or SOMETHING, and somehow it found its way into our box. The whole how behind its mysterious existence makes me smile. Someone obviously took time to get that packing peanut in its mouth - which I highly doubt was intended for us. Especially since we didn't pay for it. 

• Getting to come home for Christmas.
• The way our home is decorated, all the familiar ornaments and decorations and the tree.
• Getting Christmas jammies, like every year. And getting matching ones with Bobbie.
• Watching Christmas movies, especially White Christmas. Which I found, even though Bob and Camree hid it from me. Haha, better luck next time ladies.
• Christmas Eve dinner - namely brisket and green bean casserole.
• Sleeping in one room, all of us kids together.
• Waking up to Bobbie jumping on me, yelling, "IT'S CHRISTMAS, NINNIE! IT'S CHRISTMAS!"
• Sitting in the hallways, staggered, like every year.
• Bobbie's plan to not go into the living room last this year. Her plan - we draw numbers out of a hat. Taylor drew 1, I drew 2, Mikail drew 3, and Camree drew - Duplicate. Which means she gets to go in with whoever she chooses. Naturally, she decided to duplicate Taylor. So what, you may ask did Bob draw? 5. Skipped 4 and went right to 5. Foiled by her own plan. What a special Christmas surprise.
• Walking in and seeing a brand new Mac Book Pro - 15" sitting on my pile of goodies. I had no idea! No seriously, I had no idea.
• All of my other goodies: boots, jewelry, clothes, movies, my leg lamp.
• Giving dad his shoe shining kit for the 20th time. And the way he totally had no idea what it was. And camouflaging it beforehand. 
• Having 7-layer dip
• Getting to go to Church and see all those people who I dearly love. Most everyone was gone, but I did get to see the Waites and Sis. Conner. I love seeing people I've known for forever. 
• The Christmas program. Getting to sing all those Christmas songs, and hear the Christmas story. It was a wonderful experience, on Christmas, to actually go and sing all the songs.
• Getting to snuggle with Bobbie the whole time. I miss sitting next to her at Church, and having her cuddle with me. So nice. 
• Getting a super awesome call from Becki and Jenni and Andrew. Best cousins in the history of the world. I swear.
• Sitting here alone, at midnight on Christmas, in my new comfy PJ's, in our cluttered messy living room. Filled with all the goodies of the day, and the tree and ornaments. At home. Typing on my new laptop, with the blue keyboard protecter. 

Love,

Brittney

I must have been super good this year...

I got quite a few Christmas' this year, lucky me. I'll just highlight some main gifts from some of the Christmas celebrations.

Gift #1

The first one was with Becki, since she couldn't wait to give me her gift. Although, I already knew what I was getting. She'd been telling me for months. She hates my wallet. She says it is "an insult to women everywhere."

I agree. It is old, grimy and falling apart. You know when people say, "I really need..... " and you think, no, you really don't. Well, I really did need a new wallet. It was falling apart so much that my cards would fall out. You know, my ID cards, debit cards, etc... and I'd have to retrace my steps and there the card would be, on the ground... Yet as bad as I needed a new wallet, I couldn't spend money on one. I either wanted to put the money towards a new car, or spend it on something I really WANT, not NEED, like new boots.

Here are some pictures of my old wallet... Can you see the grime? Gross, I know. Yeah, and it would barely shut and was lop sided.

I just want to say, that I've had this wallet for YEARS. I can barely remember a time before this wallet. And, also to clarify - it was NOT an insult to all women everywhere when I bought it. Also - it was a lovely shade of blue.

This is how Becki felt about this wallet... and our time spent looking for things that had fallen out of it.

This is the brand-spankin-new Christmas wallet Becki gave me.

Is it too obvious to just say that I love it? It is also a lovely shade of blue. But without the grime or fading spots. It holds much more stuff, while being waaaay skinnier. It also holds my keys and my cell phone, hence my pockets are much less bumpy these days. Also, notice the detail? So elegant. And it matches my beautiful new blue coat. I love Blue.

This is exactly how Becki feels about this new wallet of mine. Thanks, Bex, I LOVE IT!

Gift # 2

This gift was bestowed on me by my loving grandparents. I eagerly opened the box they presented me and found...

A LEOPARD PRINT SNUGGIE

I kid you not. You thought a Snuggie would be awesome enough, right? But a leopard print Snuggie? There are no words. Here is the box, folks. Just like advertised.

I felt the lady in the commercial did not show the proper enthusiasm such a purchase requires. I'm thinking of signing a contract to model for Snuggie.

I felt a little like Moses. Or Bam-Bam.

Gift #3

A 15 inch MacBook Pro! YEAH!!! Best present ever! And this may be lame - but my favorite part about it so far - it has 8 hours of battery. Yes, that's right. 8 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE.

I seriously got the cutest gifts ever. I would take pictures of each one, but that would be a little extensive. So these three highlights will have to suffice. So much thanks to my wonderful friends and family!

Love,

Brittney

Going Home...

Saihat House

Birch House

It’s been a year since I’ve felt the Saudi sun shining down on my face.

A year since I last rode bikes through the streets of Aramco with Bobbie, singing the song, Rain drops keep fallin’ on my head! at the top of our lungs, scaring all the workers waiting for the buses to come take them home.

A year since I sat on the sand dunes talking with my sisters, went dirt biking/quading with my bro in the jebels,

walked to the racquetball courts with my dad (and sometimes mom), put on my beautiful abaya and headed to the souqs and malls, crammed all 5 of us guys in the front seat of our Desert-Storm era blue suburban (Car-ie), or took Kamiah out to the 2 foot patch of sand a quarter mile from our house.

When I was in boarding school, I would wait all week to go home… to get away from the British dorm parents, the Bahrain School, which was commonly mistaken for a prison (I’m completely serious. It was so secured and foreboding/horrible looking, people thought it was a prison), from my isolated life as a white Christian Dormie.

I would sit on the crowded, loud Saudi-Bahraini transit bus and think about the gates to Dhahran. The pretty rock/waterfall facade as you drive in, the white mosque on the left hand side. And the gates with Welcome to Saudi Aramco above them. And then, as years went on, they got a digital display that would encourage safe driving, and my personal favorite Aramco saying, Water is Life, Save It (That has become my very favorite phrase for life. Every time I get a drink from a drinking fountain, I think it. And when I miss home. And when I go swimming. And when I see someone waste water. And when I see some stupid slogan saying something to the effect of conserve water. Nothing is as clever to me now, after having grown up in Aramco).

And the Security guards, standing there ready to raise the gates to my personal paradise, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. In their brown security jackets. Some cross and others just as jolly as Ole’ St. Nick. And I always do the gun check. Not all security have guns. As I’ve always heard it, and I can’t verify it, but everyone knows it, Security only get guns if they pass this mental test. If they have a gun – they passed. If not, they are not mentally stable. So naturally, I do the gun check.

The big green tanks with the camo-mesh-netting and the 16 year old boy sitting on the seat texting have even warmed their way into my heart. The front gates just don’t seem as complete without them now.

Yes, the front gates to Aramco have a special place in my heart. I can’t wait to go home. To drive up, be waved on through, and continue through the familiar streets to my house.

Park next to my Saihat house, where I spent most my time as a kid. We played every game imaginable. Night games were our favorite. This view is accross the street from Ghada's house. With the top left window brown from her fathers' smoking.

Closer view of the park

The phonebooth in front of our Saihat house. We used it like a second phone line. Seriously. At any point of time while living there, one of the Johnson's could be seen standing there having a casual conversation. My house is right behind the phone booth, and to the right.

Saihat Phonebooth. Saved our family. This was, of course, back before we all had cell phones.

Khalas

Sunday in the Snow

Love,

Brittney

Buying Some Time

I was just informed my internship has been extended to mid February – a year from when I started, the maximum time an internship can go. So this is way good news!

This time when I’m home at Christmas (I AM GOING HOME FOR CHIRSTMAS!) I will have a job to come back to. That relieves so much stress. I’ll have more time to figure out what to do from here on out. This is such a HUGE stress reliever for me. Also, it gives more time to try and figure out HOW to get me on as a full-time employee. Odds are still not looking very good for that, however.

So that is my awesome news for today.

Awesome news for Friday – I had a Winter Formal I attended. And I wore my high school prom dress.

Fun thing 1 – It is pretty (the dress)

Fun thing 2 – It was only the second time I’ve been able to wear it (the dress)

Fun thing 3 – It was way fun getting all dressed up (me)

Fun thing 4 – My cute new blue coat looked super cute with it (the dress)

Fun thing 5 – IT FIT! YEAH, BABY! Personal triumph. My high school prom dress fits!

Fun thing 6 – I got it zipped up all by myself. (Becki was going to be home to do it ((It goes all the way up my back – and I’m just not that nimble – or so I thought! HA!)) But then she ended up leaving early. And I was left in a sticky situation. How on earth do I get my dressed zipped up? I am home alone. Do I ask my date to do it? How awkward/inappropriate is that? Or do I just leave it not zipped up and put on my coat, and have one of my friends do it once I got to the formal? Anyways, it all worked out, obviously).

But, I didn’t take any pictures. Sad, yes. But I wasn’t feeling particularly into pictures. And now, of course, I wish I had some. Oh well.

Anyways, today is a good day. There’s a plethora of snow outside, which always makes me happy. And I have a job until at least February. I have time to figure out my life. I had an awesome weekend filled with good friends and food. What more could a girl want? (Lots, but I’m trying not to push my luck…)

Winter Formal

Officers and our Dates

Officers

Group Shot

Thanksgiving

ALPHA Officers
Battle of the Chapters!

I died all our tights. In my trash can at work. I'm awesome. And resourceful. It took all day of them stewing. I'm sure all the guys though I was nuts. But I don't care. I didn't have time to do it at home the night before, and I didn't have a bucket or anything - so I used my trashcan. Then I used the sanitary sacks in the bathroom to wrap the wet tights up for each girl. I felt proud of my ingenuity

ALPHA Girls!

Love,

Brittney