Mall Madness

I have had a bad cold all weekend, packing up a warehouse definitely did not help matters but it was worth it!  However on my return P announced that he had to go to MOE and that he really wanted me to come with him so he could buy me dinner as a congratulations for my charitable endeavours…oh and there were a few things he wanted to use my discount to buy!

Anyway as he had been lovely looking after me I decided to go with him.  We really had fun picking up the things he needed and doing some missions as well!

I got three pairs of lovely trousers from C wonder which I love – it’s getting seriously boring having to wear skirts every day because I hate all the trousers I own.  Now i have three pairs that fit well and that I can wear with flats or heels and look stylish.  This is my new favourite store for sure! I even managed to find some vital Christmas presents.

I have the ‘Bee Happy’ jumper…maybe the shoes should be my next purchase?

 

We have also been invited to a Christmas Jumper party so decided that we really ought to get something appropriate to wear.  Thanks to H and M we can both participate without sweltering or looking like total nits!

You know it’s Christmas appropriate attire when Tony Bennett endorses it

 

Then there was a VITAL shoe purchase at Kurt Geiger  – well it was a sale…

Dinner at Tribe was wonderful as ever and we were served by a terrific waiter called Gilbert.  He was so good I even filled in a comment card with a glowing review, something I usually try to avoid!

Carrefour was probably the only downside to the trip but I did need tissues and a few other basics so it was worth braving the hoardes!  Though they were playing Christmas Carols which I thought I had managed to evade so far…

All in all it was a fun outing that almost made me forget my cold!

P’s final weekend…

Before he headed to the fridge which otherwise known as London!!  We decided to try to make the most of our last weekend together before we meet again in Germany on the 23rd.

Thursday I was off paintballing, then on Friday we had a nice lazy day at the beach and had dinner at home while watching films.  First we watched Locke which is truly a terrible film with absolutely no conclusion.  It feels as though they suddenly went ‘oh that’s a two hour film – we should end it’ and turned off the cameras.  It was a shame as P loves Tom Hardy and all the reviews said it was fantastic.  Certainly his performance is great and it’s incredibly impressive that it’s basically a one man film…however it lacks a plot which rather leaves the whole thing lacking.  Please see the trailer though and make your own mind up!  We followed Locke up with the much more lighthearted Bad Neighbours  – it’s totally mindless but fun with an all star cast.  Honestly if you want a good casual film that you will both enjoy then I definitely recommend it!  Here is the trailer to give you a taste of it.

After our film binge on Friday we had a clearly well-deserved lie in on Saturday before we went to the beach for a few hours.  It was lovely to enjoy some sunshine and relax before we both leave Dubai for colder climes!  I did almost drown in the sea while almost losing my bikini bottoms but somehow disaster was averted and we managed to laugh about it (once I had returned to dry land!)

In the evening we met with a couple we are very close too out here, they both left for London this weekend so we wanted to have one last get together with them.  They suggested we met at Dubai Marine Resort which was a new spot to us.  Please read my review to get a full flavour of it!  We had a really lovely evening all together and are now looking forward to potentially spending NYE together!

This is my final week of work and things are quite quiet as most people are wrapping up before they leave for the holidays!  I fly out on Friday which is meant to be a busy day at the airport as the expat exodus begins in earnest – wish me luck!!

Dubai Marine Resort

This weekend we went to the Dubai Marine Resort for dinner at the Thai bistro with friends.  The place is quite old school Dubai and makes you think about what it was like before all the bling descended!  It’s a really lovely venue with a relaxed atmosphere and friendly helpful staff.  We were typically early and so decided to indulge in a pre dinner beverage, P had a Thai beer which he claimed was delicious and I had a great bloody Mary.  When our friends arrived we got started on red wine – whatever bottle it was it was delicious but my girlfriend and I left the boys to choose while we talked about her Fendi bag which was FAR more important of course!

We decided there were far too many delicious things on the menu and so got a selection of things to share.  I got crab spring rolls, P got chicken satay and our friends got papaya salad and beef salad.  All the appetisers were delicious.  Then for our main course I got beef in oyster sauce, P got pad Thai and the other two had two mad spicy things that were delicious but nearly blew my mouth out as I am not great with spice!

I would definitely recommend an evening there if you want a really lovely catch up with friends!  You can hear what each other is saying and the whole vibe is conducive to a really good conversation.  I am looking forward to going back.

Paintball madness!

It is the season for Christmas parties and I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the paintball event a bunch of my colleagues organised!

Having spent the day eating LOTS of cake at another Christmas party – those fashionistas must have a secret as to how they look so good when they bake that well – I didn’t exactly feel ‘match fit’ but i put my best foot forward!  The teams were sorted out and suddenly we realised things were going to be challenging as our team definitely had the weaker combatants…

While we got all dressed up everyone got very competitive and threats were issued…a really good friend turned to me and said ‘I feel sorry for you – for now you are my enemy’.  Suffice to say everyone was in the spirit of the thing and ready to shoot at will. Despite all the odds our team won three of the five games.  Unfortunately I took a shot to the thigh which was excruciatingly painful – i have a very unsightly bruise which is going to make bikini season a challenge to say the least.  However it was great fun and well worth a small injury.

I definitely recommend a game…if you think you’re hard enough!!

 

 

Charity begins at home

A few weeks ago the lovely lady who organises the charitable endeavours at my company approached me and said as one Brit to another that my colleagues and I have a poor track record of attending charitable initiatives.  Well I was shocked – for one I am new so haven’t had much of a chance to attend and secondly my colleagues are lovely! I couldn’t believe none of them attended these things.  However I asked around and it was true – due to travel commitments they often missed out on things or couldn’t commit as there schedule is unpredictable at times.

Now I really like to try to do something charitable around Christmas time, and it sounded great to be able to do something for my new home.  I really feel that as the UAE has been good to me, I live here tax free after all and get to live in a land with very low crime amazing facilities and a clean metro that costs 70p a ride; it was time to give back.  So I spoke to the charitable team and said that if they could propose an idea I would get them the people they needed!

Anyway the two of us put our heads together and came up with an event on a Saturday with plenty of notice that only required a few people and that people could commit to on that week.  Naturally I felt I should really be there having roped in the others so off we went.

The plan was to help Friends of Cancer Patients clear out a warehouse they had of marketing collateral and donations so that they would know what they had and make proper use of it.  Well the warehouse was a sight to behold and we did wonder briefly if we stood any chance at all of getting it done.  However once a plan was put into action things all came together and sure enough in three hours we had the place pretty much under control!

Despite dust, a few of us being ill, one pregnant lady and two of our fashionistas needing to dash off to a Fashion Show they were arranging we did a great job and left in great spirits.  Amazingly as well everyone is keen to go back and finish the job!

I was very proud of my team and was really glad we were all able to get involved and do something worthwhile!

 

Secret Santa Silliness

We decided to kick Christmas off a bit early as our lovely intern is leaving today (thankfully she rejoins the company in January but in a different department!) Anyway our boss decided we would go for a flashy lunch – I am very excited as I haven’t been to Le Classique before and it sounds lovely.

Our department is all women (we joke that we are the harem!) and it seems the girls take secret Santa VERY seriously indeed.  Every day we gave our selected person a small token gift and today we will hand over the BIG gift – it had to cost about 50AED and i went a tiny bit over budget but I couldn’t resist what I got.  Now I just have to hope it’s a hit when I hand it over.

We all clubbed together and got cufflinks for our lovely boss from S.T.Dupont so I hope he likes them as I chose them (with help from P and my lovely colleague – thank heavens for whatsapp!)

We all just had a team breakfast together and debated who we thought gave us our presents which was a lot of fun.  I feel very festive even though I have a slight cold and it’s still a while till Christmas!  It’s wonderful how celebrating here makes you realise you have proper friends who care about you.  To have achieved that in only a few months feels special.

Merry Christmas to you all!

National Day

Yesterday was the 43rd birthday of the UAE!  The festivities started a few days ago and everyone was very excited!  Even I felt very patriotic and I have only lived here a few months.  There just felt like there was something special in the air.

During the day on Monday I headed to Sharjah to check on a charitable initiative the company are involved in, while in the petrol station a lovely Emirati gave me a special union badge so I got into the spirit early on! P was rather jealous of my cool new accessory.

In the evening we joined some friends at the Jumeirah Beach hotel for dinner and lots of Prosecco.  We had a terrific view of The Burj which was celebrating it’s birthday too and had the UAE flag lit up on the side, it was very cool.  Then last night we went with a friend from London who was visiting to have dinner in JBR and watch the fireworks.  Seriously these were the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen, we were all totally blown away.  I had no idea that fireworks could even be that beautiful and unique.  It was a spectacular show and I felt very proud of my new nation.  It was lovely to see all the locals and expats celebrating together and wearing flags around their shoulders.

Who knows next year I may even rock these nails!

All in all it was a really special day and I can’t wait for next year!

Happy Birthday UAE!