I don't believe it. I mean since I've been here there are lots of things I was surprised you could buy over the counter at the pharmacy. I suppose I'm really only surprised because I was raised in America, land of overprotection and over charging.

Anyway, so I needed to get birth control pills right? I'm thinking to myself, shit. Now I have to find a doctor here, get in as a new patient, justify why I want it, etc etc. Oh no my friends. I walked into a pharmacy, asked about the pills, am guided over to a shelf and told, "all of these on the top shelf, you can pick". WHAT!????

There must have been 20 different brands just sitting there on the shelf waiting to be chosen. No prescription needed, you can stock up with as many boxes as you like, AND they only cost me like $8 each!!! Compare that to $35 of non-insurance covered bullshit!

Plus I got a free gift bag with my purchase (weird) so ended up with a cute black and white scarf and some lotion.

Yah, so I'm not entirely in shock about being able to buy it over the counter because you can in most of Europe too. I WAS shocked that I could buy it HERE -of all places! Women here don't even use tampons before marriage because they believe it takes your virginity!!!

So yeah, that was my discovery this week. I know I have more pics of the trip to post. Soon!

Ok, Rory just told me about this video and it's hysterical. You have GOT to watch it to the end. That's the BEST part!!!

Tomorrow morning I'll be heading west, traversing the continents, hopping the pond stateside. It's a 15 hour flight from Doha to D.C. but Business class makes it humane, even enjoyable.

I have 9 days to play before I head down to Orlando. If you would like to see me, get in touch.

Ciao, LC

I'm here!

As I was flying business class I got to check out Doha's new 'premium terminal' for business and first class only. Yah. They built an entire terminal JUST for the elite traveler. It was very lush. A bell hop takes your things from the car, then you sit in big leather seats until it's your turn to check-in, in which you get to sit in another big leather seat. Then you can enjoy the lounge. I got a buffet breakfast with a latte. The bathrooms were crazy fancy and set up like a spa. They even had showers. Sadly, the more I travel this way the more difficult it becomes to cram my ass in coach for a long flight. Of course, now it takes a flight to be over 6 hours for me to even consider it to be getting 'long'. Amazing how perspective changes when you start doing these 2/3 day marathon flights.

Anyway, when I landed in DC I was supposed to have a 3.5 hour layover. This turned into 8.5 hours. My flight was delayed because of all the storms. Well, everyone's flights. There were tons of cancellations and delays. By 11pm I was confident I'd be spending the night in the airport. I could hardly keep my eyes open to stay updated since I'd been awake for some 30 hours at that point (I don't really sleep on planes). But in the end, the Buffalo flight crew really wanted to get home so we flew out at 1:20am and got into Buffalo at 2:30am. My poor parents had to pick me up, I felt bad. I would have just rented a car but I could barely walk let alone safely drive a car for 1 hour.

So here I am, trying to acclimate to the time. No way would I ever be up at 5am! Except that my body thinks it's 12 noon. So dear peeps...looks like my weekend is probably committed to familial events, but I'd like to see ya'll during the week. Perhaps a little dinner? Lunch? Playing frisbee? Has Shakespeare in the Park started yet? Give me a shout, sooner than later. Time flies and I only have a few days
Ciao, LC

Ok. This won't be my only appearance, but I needed to just pick something to start with. So...I'll ride into town Monday night and let's have some dinner. Where is still undecided. I was actually thinking a picnic at the park would be fun because then everyone can bring whatever they want. But....maybe it's late notice for a picnic.

I'd have you all over for a bonfire but I know no one likes to drive out to the lovely country. You know, smores and all that jazz. Mmmm.

I'm thinking maybe Pearl Street or Ambrosia would be decent choices. I'll post something tomorrow morning to identify for sure where I'll be. I hope to see many of you. I know some of you can't make it, hence another day will be announced if you can join then.

Ciao peeps!

p.s. HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY JOSHUA and JASON!

I'll be down at Pearl Street Brewery at 7pm for dinner. If you can make it out, I'd love to see you! Please come if you can

Ciao, LC

I made it down to Disney. The flight was uneventful until we were just about to land in Orlando. Either we had a mechanical issue or we were about to run into another plane. We had to abort our landing. We were really close to the ground about to land when suddenly we accelerated into what felt like mach 5 and made a sharp climbing turn. Jeepers!

So here I am at Disney. Seems like we'll have a lot of free time with this conference so today Mohammed and I went to Epcot. The rides aren't so great, but it's really cool meeting and talking with the staff. They come from all over the world and of course that floats my boat.

Most pleasing of all, I finally got to have a video chat with Rory this morning. The time difference is so wrong it makes it very difficult to communicate 'live'. I was just pleased as punch to get to spend an hour with him, hear his sexy accent, see his face. In all my life and experiences I've never felt 'homesick' the way I am when I'm so far away from him.

I'll get some photos up when I get back home in Qatar. Sorry if I didn't get a chance to see you, talk to you, or meet you while I was home. It's an exhausting trip and there's only so much catering I can do considering how far and long I had to travel to get there. So, hopefully next year! Because I won't be home for a year. But next time hopefully I'll have Rory in tow and you can meet the fabulous man in my life Ciao peeps.

I had a delay getting out of Orlando, but still managed to get on my plane in DC. I was so, so, so happy to be back in Rory's arms. I also came home to an amazing surprise. They put up a partition in my hallway. "What does that mean", I hear you ask. Well dear friends, it means I now have a relatively private entrance to my part of the building, which means it is now acceptable for me to have male visitors in my residence. Which means, for the first time ever, I'm going to make Rory dinner at MY place and he can some over and enjoy it!!!!

Really, having that type of restriction wears on you. I mean I'm almost 33 for crying out loud! With the inability for any public display of affection AND not having 'boys' over, I was seriously beginning to feel like a 13 year old trying to enjoy a chaperoned date. So, needless to say I am over the moon about this new addition!

Further more, I got some newer furniture and my apartment almost looks like it matches and belongs to a grown up! We requested 'new' furniture back in January and it's still a tit-for-tat battle as to who actually does the work. I swear this country wastes about a bajillion man hours working to avoid work and about 10 hours actually working. Not that I'm hatin' on anyone, just to make that clear.

I'm on duty this week, then I'm off to Paris next weekend. Rory finally got the time off approved, so we get to spend a whole 3 days together! No work, no moral police, just US....freedom.....and an exciting adventure together Let me hear you say, FUCK YEAH!

Travel photos to come.