OK, so here's what I snapped in Pittsburgh...it's not a lot honestly. Between hating feeling like a tourist somewhere I most decidedly am not & just not being very motivated to photograph the place, the Pittsburgh photos are few.
I have way more from the Frank Lloyd Wright houses I visited while in the area.

Pittsburgh album

Kentuck Knob album

Fallingwater album

Night Falls on Dubai

 Night Skyline album here

I don't think people quite understand how humid the UAE gets.  I always hear, well at least you have dry heat - but we don't.  Not always anyway.  It's a dry arid climate in the cooler months (Oct - April) but we actually have a sub-tropical climate in the hotter months (June - Sept) in which the humidity & haze is so great, it's like every day is foggy.  It is so bad at times, that the buildings you see in the photos below are only faintly visible at times & sometimes not at all.
Gross.

Anyway, since I moved into my current flat in Mankhool/Al Raffa it's been that awful humid heat & hazy every single day.  We finally - finally - had a clear day yesterday.  So nice for a change!  & the humidity seems to have left the air noticeably.  This morning it actually felt REALLY nice out & I went horseback riding at 5pm yesterday, worried it was going to be torture since the sun hadn't set yet, but the weather was actually pretty pleasant.

These are from the roof of my flat in Al Raffa.  Views of Sheikh Zayed Road & in the other direction, the local Al Raffa mosque & Burjuman Centre in Bur Dubai.

Abu Dhabi & the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque complete album


Le Meridien complete album

I spent a nice weekend in the neighboring emirate of Abu Dhabi.  I didn't do as much as I had hoped there, but that was mainly due to the heat as other things I would have liked to do are outside.  Also, really wanted to hit up their wildlife park, but it doesn't open 'til later this year.  Will have to go back in the winter & check out the park & go kayaking in the mangroves & stuff. 

Stayed at Le Meridien which ended up being pretty decent.  The decor was a bit traditional/old fashioned but it was still nice.  It had a lot of restaurants & bars/lounges & was landscaped quite lushly so had a nice tropical feel to it.
The only bad thing, which I should be used to by now, was that the view from the balcony, as well as from the beach, was marred by a ton of construction going on on the nearby Reem Island (Abu Dhabi is actually an archipelago, some of the islands are just a couple hundred meters away from each other).

***

My main reason for visiting Abu Dhabi was to the grand mosque, the Sheikh Zayed mosque.  It's the largest mosque in the UAE and one fo the largest in the world.  It's an absolutely stunning structure, not overly adorned or gaudy at all, really very beautiful inside & out.  It reminded me of a fairy tale palace or something from a Disney movie.  Really unbelievable.
All marble with tons of carving, mosaics inlaid everywhere.  The detail in this place was out of control!  It's a new mosque, I think it just opened in late 2007 or 2008 & during my visit the mosque itself was totally finished but the surrounding grounds are still being constructed.  They were even building ornate entrances/towers for the parking lot entrances!

One thing did rub me the wring way at the mosque -- I came prepared, clothing wise.  I had on a skirt which went to my ankles, a long sleeved blouse buttoned all up as well as a head scarf.  So I go marching through & then security stops me.  I'm worried I did something wrong.
Well apparently - women are not allowed to enter the mosque wearing western clothing...but men are!  I had to go rent an abaya &  hijab.  It's frustrating that the "no western clothing" rule applied only to women, but when in Rome, I suppose?

 

  

...& sometimes I draw

I went to college for & have a BFA in traditional animation (i.e. Disney's Sleeping Beauty, etc) ...however I do not draw so much anymore.

This is for a flyer for a music event (Show Me Love) in Pittsburgh on October 9th.  Vamp illustrations by me, flyer design by http://sara412.wordpress.com

www.LMUNSHOWER.com

One & Only Royal Mirage, Dubai

One&Only complete album

Sometimes it's easy enough to have a little getaway a mere 15-20 mins from your flat.  This weekend I booked at room at the One & Only Royal Mirage right in Dubai.  I had been to this resort before, but never as a guest.  They have a nice nightclub & outdoor lounge which I had been to on a few occasions & during those visits was always struck by the rest of the resort as well.

After being a guest there, I think this may have been my absolute favorite resort I've visited yet anywhere.  The service was excellent, the room was great, the restaurants were tasty, the shops actually had stuff worth buying, & the grounds & chilled pool were phenomal!  Just loved it.  The terrace of my room (in the "Palace" portion of the resort, there are 2 different areas the Palace & the Arabian Court) led right to the pool.  Spent pretty much 2 whole days poolside lounging in large comfy chairs, cooling off in the water while ordering bottles of wine. No complaints here.

Oman - Khasab, Musandam peninsula

Khasab, Musandam peninsula, Oman complete album

After wanting to for a while, I finally booked a trip on a dhow boat that took us through the khors (fjords) of Musandam.  It was sooooo nice!!  Went from 9am-4pm & I was worried it was going to be a bit miserable because of the heat, but it could hardly have been nicer.  Yeah, it was pretty damn hot & humid, & dhows are traditional boats which aren't air conditioned or anything....but it was shaded & the breeze from moving across the water kept things comfortable.  We stopped three times to jump off the boat & go snorkeling -- the water was crystal-clear & full of beautiful fishes & coral.  There was a small barbecue on the boat for lunch with fresh fish & everything.

Dolphins visited the dhows a few times, once there was even a mother with her calf.  Really great trip - I would definitely do it again!

 

Indonesia - Sacred Monkey Forest (Mandala Wisata Wanera Wana), Bali

Monkey Forest complete album

Not much to say.  Just crazy, cheeky monkeys.

Honestly I was never very interested in monkeys before.  I could take 'em or leave 'em.  But now that I've had the chance to interact with them & watch them behave outside of a caged environment I like them a lot more.  They were incredibly interesting creatures & it was really amazing to watch the human-like things they would do while entertaining themselves, especially the younger monkeys.

The area in which they lived was a holy & sacred site with temples most non-Balinese could not visit or enter, which was disappointing.  Even the monkeys were considered sacred here.  No wonder they were so naughty!  They treated humans like their own personal jungle gyms, stole my camera lens (which I eventually traded back with a banana), tried to get in my bag & pull off anything they could from my clothing - & we didn't even have food or treats to tempt them with to get their attention, unlike many visitors.

Indonesia - Elephant Cave (Goa Gajah), Bali

Elephant Cave (Goa Gajah) complete album

A cave, with a demon elephant relief outside.  Built around the 11th century was originally a dwelling for Hindu priests.  The fountains in the site are considered holy & its still used today by many Hindu.
...& like most places, was surrounded by rice paddies

Indonesia - Ubud, Bali

Ubud complete album

I cannot begin to say how very much I loved Ubud.  It was unbelievably gorgeous & stunning at every turn...  The shopping was pretty great too.  Lots of nifty boutiques & just as many delicious cafes in fantastic surroundings!  There were so many offerings of incense & rice & flowers everywhere you really had to watch where you were stepping at all times to be careful not to trod on them.  The scent on incense was always in the air.
Generally I feel it's a waste of time & money to visit places more than once when there are so many other places to see in the world, but I would be more than willing & delighted to make a return to Ubud one day!

I just loved the place to pieces, I don't even know where to begin.

The album & photos below are from the guesthouse/bunglaow wIstayed in there, the Ubud Palace (still in use), Lotus Pond Temple (where Balinese dancing performances were also staged at night) general in & around Ubud pics...

Indonesia - Ferry from Java -> Bali, Lovina & Kalibubuk

Singsing waterfalls & Air Panas Banjar hot springs complete photo album

Lovina/Kalibubuk photo album

Like all other transport in Indonesia, the ferry from Java to Bali, which should have only been 30 mins took over an hour, when the ferry randomly stopped outside of Bali's ferry terminal & just sat there.  Oh well.

Once we docked we caught more (slow) transport straight to the northern bit of the island, the Lovina beach area.  The northern part is s'possed to be much calmer & less tourist-filled than the southern part (as well as more beautiful, go fig) so we didn't even bother hitting southern Bali (places like Kuta).  We stayed in Lovina's main village called Kalibubuk.

While in Kalibubuk we hit up some nearby sights via motorbike like the Sinsing waterfalls & the Air Panas Banjar hot springs.  We each rented our wn motorbike for the day to get to therse things (about 80% minimum of Indonesia's population uses motorbikes to get around).  I was looking forward to the motorbike, especially as I had always desired a Vespa.  Well, no longer do I desire a Vespa.  I HAAAATED driving this thing!  I feel that generally I am not an easily scared or intimidated person - by anyone or anything.  FUCK those motorbikes, it was a terrible experience, & honestly Im bummed I hated it so much.  I found it difficult to control - I wrecked mine into the back of a parked truck - & just unpleasant & frightening in general.  I amost killed myself at least a couple times on it.  Especially one time when I was avoiding a lizard on the road (which may have already been dead but I couldn't be sure) & for some dumb reason I stuck my leg out & put my foot on the ground while the motorbike was zipping along and I was just in flipflops so there goes one flipflop lost, flying through the air...

Anyway, obviously I lived & made it first the Singsing waterfalls.  Not huge or anything but beautiful nonetheless.  The muddy waters (which I chose to stay out of, for fear of whatever may lurk beneath) are supposed to be healing.

Then off to the Air Panas Banjar hot spring.  The water was of volcanic origin, so smelled a tad on the sulfuric side was was very nice indeed still.  Absoltely gorgeous surroundings & the water was spewed into pools from stone naga heads.  Very nice.

& finally I had the craziest cocktail in Lovina.  It was simple - just some fresh fruit juices, wine & some sort of liquor...but the presentation is what pushed it over the top.  It was in a fresh hollowed out pineapple, the pineapple lid was cut off, then replaced (so the pineapple looked whole when you recieved it) & the lid had a serious buquet of lovely fresh flowers in it!  It was so pretty when they brought it over I thought it was a centerpiece to the table at first, hah.