Spring round-up: Home is where the adventure is

Six months in Doha? Impossible. I've spent the time:

Exploring Dubai (where my first Ski Dubai experience ended in an hour of me going around the ski lift):

Catching up with this talented rising musician who's performing at The St. Regis' Vintage Lounge:

Boot scooting at a Texas A&M Qatar fundraiser, where I wore subtle amounts of burnt orange.

Wandering the Museum of Islamic Art's Marvelous Creatures exhibit ...

... which wasn't nearly as trippy as witnessing Carnival in Venice ...

Celebrating my first Easter without family at a local church, where the kindest strangers helped me and a friend out of a sitcom-like parking mishap.

Crashing the British Embassy's birthday party for The Queen:

Surviving my first sandstorm (and subsequent trip to the ER for a swollen eye).

Quadrupling my knowledge of sports with my first handball game, equestrian competition, tennis tournament (at which David Beckham made an inexplicable appearance) and club "football" match. I'm as surprised as you are:

Searching for ways to channel my overseas experiences into writing (stay tuned), and coercing my Houston editors into letting me write from afar, including this profile of a savvy local boutique owner and this defense of my favorite movie of 2014:

Being enamored with this guy's insanely good solo album:

Applauding this parody that smartly tackles rape culture:

Coveting these:

Missing this:

Digging this (unbelievably, May 25 marks 10 years since this creative force won "American Idol"):

Anticipating a trip to this fascinating country next month.

Standing by my best friend of 15 years on her wedding day, and getting ready to join the festivities for another in a few days ...

... and feeling humbled by new perspective, new challenges and new friends, one of whom anonymously gave me this oddly endearing housewarming gift (identify yourself!):

*Post written to the sultry tune of Little Big Town's "Girl Crush," the non-controversial song that sparked the most ridiculous non-controversy earlier this year. 

Overseas round-up: In my first month in Doha

...my new home gave to me:

Twelve more months to seize my 20s. More on that in a second.

Eleven bottles of red wine: eight purchased with my newly acquired liquor permit at the only store that sells it, and three gifted by kind (read: empathetic) neighbors during my first week. 

Ten rows of falcons at Souq Waqif, an eclectic marketplace that's forcing me to learn the art of bargaining.

Nine ways (at least) I could have failed my two-part driver's license test, thanks to the language barrier, the insanity of Doha driving and my arch-nemesis The Roundabout. Miraculously, I passed and will be braving these roads in a very un-Tara-like SUV come next week.

Eight hours at the Singing Sand Dunes - and yes, they do in fact sing.

Seven courses at the lovely IDAM restaurant on top of the Museum of Islamic Art.

Six songs performed by Rayla Sunshine and her band at Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha. Live music is hard to come by in this city, which makes the recent Bellamy Brothers' concert all the more amusing (sadly, I had not yet arrived).

Five weeks at the local office, where I'm constantly learning from my incredibly welcoming colleagues, both culturally and professionally.

Four Arabic words I've learned to say - so basic that I'm embarrassed to mention all but:

“Insha’Allah”

Three nearby countries I'm itching to explore --Thailand, Oman and India--, the third of which I haven't visited since I was 12 years old.

Two Thanksgiving dinners that helped nurse my homesickness, hosted by gracious new friends...

...and one birthday with girlfriends (and a fun bartender) who were nice enough to celebrate with someone they'd only known for a week. Here's to spending the next 349 days topping off the decade that taught me to laugh at myself, embrace change and, most importantly, treasure my relationships. 

(And, shamefully, zero attempts at writing - hold me to it in the new year.)

*Post written to the tune of this sweet song on Lee Ann Womack's The Way I'm Livin', soon to land on my best-of-2014 list.