THE LAST HURRAH IN DUBAI!!!

Oh, the joys of jet lag!

One huge benefit, however, is the time I have been given

to catch up editing and posting pictures!

MY LAST HURRAH IN DUBAI.....

is now another check mark on my Bucket List--

DIVING WITH THE 

SHARKS AND STINGRAYS

in the DUBAI MALL AQUARIUM!

Yvonne and I are about

 to enter the bowels of the aquarium!

YIKES!

We are soon joined by our fellow divers,

Wendy and Janette,

and proceed to sign our lives away!

Be sure to read the first line of the form, people!

YIKES!

Yup, we just agreed to swim with the

SHARKS and STINGRAYS!

YIKES!

This is the view from the mall --

let me just tell you, it was way different inside the tank!

A group of our friends came to watch....

Watch what?  Who knew!

YIKES!

It was beautiful deep down in that water!

And then a shark came to visit!

YIKES!

And another....and another....and another!

YIKES!

Take a close look at those teeth, Internet!!!

Are those some 

gigantic chompers or what?

YIKES!

I LOVE this picture as it shows

the four of us diving inside the aquarium

and it shows the reflection of all of our friends who

were watching!

I'm happy to report that no

SHARK or STINGRAY

had us for lunch!

Speaking of lunch, we all gathered afterwards

and enjoyed a great lunch together

in celebration of our survival!

Thank you ladies,

(and sharks and stingrays),

for making my 

LAST HURRAH IN DUBAI

a fantastic memory!

WE'RE LEAVING ON A JET PLANE!!

I've got SHALLIE'S bag all packed and ready to go.  check

I've got my bags all ready to go.  check

We grabbed a taxi 

and are on the way to the airport.  check

IT'S REALLY HAPPENING!

So long DUBAI.

So long DUBAI FRIENDS....

I'm sure gonna miss every single one of you!

USA, here we come!!

Yes, 

WE'RE LEAVING ON A JET PLANE!

NEVER CAN SAY "GOODBYE"!!!!

SHALLIE

sure is ready to fly to her new home in

INDIANAPOLIS!

LUFTHANSA,

on the other hand, has a different idea!

Due to an airline pilot strike, our flight has been delayed

until April 7th.

Never can say "Goodbye"!!!!

...AND YET ANOTHER "LAST"!!!

I attended 

MY VERY LAST 

MARINA Gals! THURSDAY COCKTAILS

last week.

(Less the cocktails!)

We met at the brand new

BEACH MALL

at Leopold's of London.

No alcohol was served, but we enjoyed a delightful

afternoon tea!

(And yes, JA, we all survived just fine!)

Afterwards,

some of the Marina Pals (our husbands)

joined us for dinner at

WAVEBREAKERS.

This was a special moment shared by

RON and JOHN.

(Nope, don't even ask!!!)

We sure enjoyed our final

DINING WITH SPOUSES....

...and just look at what happened after dinner!

OMGoodness, 

I thought the MARINA Gals! 

had organized this for

JOHN and I!!!

Hahaha -- it was actually a celebration at the 

Meydan Beach Club

at a party put on by our very own

 Sheikh Mohammad!

Yes, it was yet another "LAST"

....and it was certainly a memorable one!

POOLSIDE DINNER PARTY SEND OFF!

 

Last Friday night,

our good friends, Yvonne and Gary,

hosted a going away party for us and

for Susan and David Fisher.

It was



an absolute

blast!!!

 



We are certainly

going to miss

                                       
                                    these folks!



 

The MARINA Gals! and

and their MARINA Pals!

-- we're sure going to miss you!!

 



And we'll miss the lights of the Marina as well!

 

 

IT'S REALLY HAPPENING!!!

The movers came on Sunday and began 

PACKING.

The movers came back on Monday and

MOVED IT ALL OUT!

                             It's REALLY happening!!!!

BEACH SIDE MOVIE IN DUBAI!!

John and I found ourselves walking around

THE NEW BEACH MALL

on JBR's The Walk last weekend.

OMG, it was amazing!

I, 

(along with every single person I know),

bashed the building of this mall from its beginning.

Why?

Because it sits right beside the Arabian Sea.

Who does that?

Who builds a mall literally on a beach?

Dubai does, that's who!

And, I have to admit, they did it right!

It is simply gorgeous and is choc full of

cafes, restaurants, and shops!

(Just what Dubai needs more of, right?)

As we were walking around 

we noticed this sign

saying that the Outdoor Cinema Lounge

was open and ready to use!

We just couldn't believe our luck! 

And Frozen Ground (Nicholas Cage) was playing!

We went to check it out and found

white bean bags 

and white leather couches waiting for us!

We plopped down,

ordered our dinner (limited menu),

watched a beautiful sunset and waited until it turned dark!

See, just like I said....

it's actually a beach side outdoor cinema!

Finally it was show time!

We were given head phones so we could hear

the movie which was projected on the large screen

on the side of the REEL CINEMA building!

What a great evening it turned out to be!

Afterwards, we walked by this stage (also beach side)

where several Emirati musicians were

singing their hearts out!

The crowd was enthusiastic and the music was great!

BEACH MALL in JBR.....

if you haven't been yet, you simply MUST GO!!