Another week comes to an end (and the time is going by so fast I don’t like it!!!!!). Last week was mostly filled with Boot Camp (BC) and trying to figure out what to do with my life, which will be a continuing saga this week as well. Ha. A rundown:
Monday I hit the pool for 30 minutes of laps as I didn’t want to do a full work out between boot camp days so that was nice. I was tired and felt like doing absolutely nothing but forced myself into not being lazy. It helps that I order food to be delivered at the pool and the evenings have been amazing weather wise so it’s a great way to get out of my room and get some fresh air. Speaking of the weather…I don’t know what happened last week but d*mn did it get hot. It went from being very comfortable to feeling you have been smacked in the face with heat when you walk outside. Thankfully being down by the water for BC at 7:30 is still quite nice. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive through June, but ideally my body will start to adjust. I don’t mind at all when I’m by the pool or in comfy clothes, but in a suit it’s not too much fun.
Tuesday was more BC although this time we didn’t hit the beach, stayed in the grass and did a lot of MMA style work (there is an MMA class right before mine) so we I guess instead of clean up that class, we just used their stuff! So on Sunday he made us grab dumbbells to take down to the beach which we never used. I asked why at the end and he said we weren’t going to, he just wanted us to lug them over. So when he told us to grab them this time, I grabbed heavier ones thinking we’d be doing the same. Wrong. We used them…a lot. OUCH!!! We also did a gazillion pushups and burpies. At one point he split us up into groups and stacked our group with the really fit ppl since he wanted us to compete against each other. So we had 5 minutes to do as many sets of 5 pushups/5 burpies as possible. He gave us a heads up when we were 1 minute in….I wanted to die already!!!! Anyway..at least I wasn’t full of sand at the end although being in the itchy grass is not the best either. My knees are always a mess when I finish. Went to Spinneys for some more fresh pineapple and turkey (my new go to dinner!) and went home.
Wednesday I had a call with a partner in Boston to discuss options for me. Last week I had a call with a partner in DC as well as my overall partner right now for this UAE gig so I’m getting called out. One the one hand its nice to have options and nothing tying me down to any one area, however now that’s opened up almost too many options and its hard to sift through. DC wants me back in DC, I don’t really want to go back for lots of reasons both personally and professionally. At this point I’m quite excited about making a change to Boston but timing wise is not great professionally. But at any rate had a good chat and my UAE boss is in town from NY this week so we’re going to meet to discuss all my options (of which today some new ones materialized which could put me in NY and then Boston……we shall see!). Went and had dinner and a few drinks at Oceans and then called it an early night even though it was Ladies night….just can’t do the late weeknights anymore!
Thursday went by pretty quick at work and the place that has the soup I love FINALLY had what I loved again. I love the chicken/corn and the chicken /vegetable and for awhile was getting it quite often but for the last 3 weeks they NEVER had either when I went to check which was a min of 3 days a week. So Thursday we usually go to Jones for lunch and sit outside but we had a fire drill and went to Jones for coffee at like 10 instead so didn’t really want to go back for lunch (plus it was sooooo dusty out and I felt dirty after sitting there for 30 minutes). So we went by the salad bar and sure enough, the soup was there….I was very excited. Thursday nights BC was awful (although I imagine every session is awful in its own right!) We did cross fits which I hadn’t heard of before, they are the devil. So its 50 pushups, 50 squats, 20 burpies and an 800m run. We did this 4 times. I was hurting after 1. HA! Plus that was my first Thursday night session on the Corniche and there were SO many ppl down there….there was a music festival, an autism walk, kids galore, ppl taking pictures, being obnoxious. It did not make for the most fun workout. So we all survived and then I decided, hey, I’ve got nowhere to be or anything better to do, let me jog home. I did not think it was as far as it was. It was far. Ha. I ran for about 15 minutes but at this point my legs were shot from squats/burpies and the running we already did so 15 was as far as I was gonna make it. Plus my ovaries were on fire (sorry guys….TMI and you wouldn’t understand but running like this is miserable). So I power walked the rest of the way..in total it took 45 minutes. The only bonus was that I picked up some KFC (its literally right across the street from my hotel but I never go there). Got some chicken breasts and dragged myself the last block home and up to the pool.
Got to bed nice and early Thursday night and then up at a respectable hour on Friday (9:30ish!) as we were heading to Dubai for my first ever UAE Brunch! Brunch is a huge thing here in the UAE and almost every big hotel has one on Friday afternoons but for whatever reason, I have not dragged myself to one yet. Liana had some friends in Dubai who invited her to this one and I’m really glad we went. Apparently the Yalumba brunch is known for being a bit out of control and I was told if I was going to do one, it mine as well be this one! Had an easy drive up to Dubai and dropped the car and our stuff off at Oliver’s. He has been in his new place since February and I just got around to going to see it. He was kind enough to let Liana and I crash here so we didn’t have to pay for a hotel room, score! We didn’t have much time so literally dropped and jumped in a cab. Got to brunch and most of the other ppl at the table were already there although we wren’t too late, I was proud of us. The bubbly started as soon as we walked in the restaurant and did not stop for another 6 or so hours. The actual brunch was only 3 hours and included unlimited champagne, buffet and a la carte menus. So many choices! The champagne folks were never far away and I literally never dropped below a half glass before mine was refilled which made counting the # of glasses impossible. Oh well! I had some amazing fruit, a made to order omelette and then lots and lots of candy. Liana gave me so much sh*t for essentially paying 500dhs to eat candy but I was happy so it was worth it (plus lets get real, I drank my moneys worth, I never planned to eat it!) I had a number of suitors at brunch…the first being an older British guy who found me at the candy to tell me that I had an amazing figure and that his whole table had their jaws on the floor (as I’m loading my plate with junk!), ha. I was polite and took his card but that’s about as far as that went. Next up was #3. Oh #3, how stupid you are. So when Liana and I first walked in, there was a very good looking guy at the table behind us but we ended up with our backs to the table. He eventually came and found me at the buffet (I may or may not have been back at the candy!). So he starts chatting with me and then I go sit back down…..he came and hung at our table for a little bit and then the whole brunch essentially ended up outdoors for happy hour once they turned the champagne off. At this point he decided it would be a good idea to buy a ginormous bottle of champagne..I don’t think Magnum is the word..it was bigger than that. I’m thinking holy sh*t..I don’t think I can drink much more! Anyway…we did lots of dancing, general goofing around and sweating our a**es off. It was soooooooo hot until the sun went down (plus all the dancing around didn’t help!) So at this point #3 is starting to just become annoying cuz I wasn’t really interested and he was feeding me loads of bs and then started asking if I was with him. Umm…no. So at one point I go sit down cuz my feet were killing me and I can see #3 and Liana and he’s clearly all over her. It turns out he started feeding her the same load of bs he told me. HA. What an idiot. We swapped stories later on and were crackin up at what he told us both (clearly he assumed we were dumb and would not talk to each other!). She had given him her number but didn’t remember and he texted the next day to say he was sorry for being an idiot and wanted to make it up to her. And then proceeded to ask her for my number so he could take me out to apologize. Lol. Nice effort #3 but you are out of your d*mn mind!
So we had this kickboxing thing we were going to at 7ish so left happy hour around 6:30. At this point I had stopped drinking and was fairly sober but Liana was quite drunk and didn’t even remember leaving or the cab ride to the hotel that was hosting the fight. Ha. We had a friend fighting so were excited to check out the action. Got great seats in the front and then scarfed down some schwarmas (we realized by this point we were starving!!). And then Liana started heckling people. Fighters, the ring girls, guy sitting next to us. Whoever. She is hysterical when she gets in moods like this! The ring girls (there were 2) came out between each round to hold up the # and just alternated. Well after the first girl came back for the second time, Liana starts yelling out “Change your dress, we’ve already seen that one…or tell us where you got it”. Lol. It did get kind of boring with same chicks in same outfits but I guess they weren’t trying to advertise clothing. When the chicks fought she started yelling “get some hot guys out there”. You probably had to be there. (If Katie or Alice are reading this…think Dubai Rugby and you’ll get the idea!). So we watched two short ones before our friend was up. You could tell he was so pumped up to fight and we were to watch. Well, the other guy ruined all that. First he came out with his shirt on…no one fights with a shirt on right?! Then the fight starts and about 4 seconds in, he just falls down and we’re all going what the h*ll just happened. It looked like he was having a seizure so then I was worried he was really hurt (although this didn’t come from getting hit…he literally just fell back on his own). Turns out he dislocated his shoulder throwing a punch. What a loser!!!! So that was it….ha. We got VIP tickets and watched the next fight from some pretty sweet seat and then called it a night. At this point I was already having a hangover from earlier and my head was throbbing, I felt disgusting from dancing around sweating all day and couldn’t wait to get in bed.
We slept in a bit on Saturday although I always end up getting woken up by Liana as she gets up crazy early and then gets bored! She had a pretty bad hangover when she woke up but I felt great since got mine out of the way the night before. We went to breakfast at the Marina with Oliver and talked places for Liana to move. She resigned on Sunday and took a job in Dubai so will be moving in about a month. She is very excited to live in Dubai and I’m so happy for her although just wish it wasn’t happening til I left! I have a new place to crash in Dubai though so that works. Oliver went through the whole apartment shopping thing fairly recently so gave her some good advice as we walked around the Marina. After brunch we packed up, said goodbye to our host and then headed to the Palm for a poolside afternoon at Liana’s old boss’s place. His complex is pretty sweet so we just lounged at the pool until 4ish and then continued down to the Atlantis at the end of the palm for Chill Out Fest. It was a 2 day thing on Nasimi beach but we only went Saturday. Got there right when it opened so got a great spot, got some schwarma and drinks and plopped down in the bean bags and began chilling out like we were supposed to! The music was not great….they had a bunch of acts performing and we ended up leaving before what were the main 3 (I hadn’t heard of 2, but the last was Eryka Badu). It was a very chill place and we had some friends come around 6:30 who had a table with bottles of vodka but at this point we were both tired, not drinking anymore, and not wanting to wait around for the good music to start knowing we had to drive back to Abu Dhabi. We left around 7:30 and I was very glad to be home and in bed early. Of course we got word that the end of the night was amazing, great music, Erykah was awesome, etc but oh well…..I was happy with a really great night of sleep!
Sunday was back to work and since boss was back in town I “brought” my BC stuff so I could just go from work since going home first leaves very little time and just results in an extra cab ride. I didn’t want to leave right at 6:30 since I’d be to BC way too early so I started writing this blog and then around 6:50 left. Well I get to bathroom to change and what do you know, I only brought my socks and sneakers. Oops. So now I’m like sh*t…I have to get myself home, changed and back to BC by 7:30. This should have been my first sign that it was going to be a rough night. So I get in cab and of course he is in NO hurry to go anywhere and was one of those nervous drivers. Great. So finally we get to near my building and I just pay him and jump out and run across street to my place. My groin was hurting at this point (it was sore from Thursdays BC) and I was thinking great its leg day, should be fun if I’m already sore. So I get in elevator and of course, so did 10 other ppl who were going to every d*mn floor. This never happens to me. So I finally get to 10, run to room and start changing with a quickness. My clothes were piled nicely on my table, just forgot to put them in bag that morning. I had considered asking cabbie to stay since I knew getting another one at that time of night was going to be rough but I figured I’d take my chances and get someone who could actually drive. Took forever of course and I’m watching the clock tick. Finally get close and got stuck behind line of cars turning so again just tossed him my money and jump out. I rolled up with about 60 seconds to spare, sweet. Well then we start our warm up run and as I go to fix my hair, bam, my heart tie breaks. Now with as much hair as I have, there is no way I could ever work out without a hair tie! So I’m tying my hair tie back together, trying to do the warm up run and feeling every step in my groin. Great. So then he tells us that its hell week and its going to be the hardest leg session we do the whole month…..could it get any worse?! So we head to the beach and its sooooo windy so sand is flying everywhere and made doing any running very difficult. We did 150 squat jumps to start and my groin felt okay for those so I was feeling better about the workout. Well then we did suicides. My groin was done on the first leg of the first one. Ugh. Sucks. I managed the rest of the workout and did a pretty good job except for the left leg lunges since that killed my right groin. I was half crying, struggling through the pain but refused to stop (why do I insist on being so tough sometimes?!). It ended up being a great class and I burned 659 calories in an hour!!! Hit Spinneys for some more pineapple and turkey and also picked up an ice pack (icing my groin was not so much fun!). Took a cab home this time, had some dinner and got in bed.
Yesterday was interesting because my right butt muscles were sooooo sore from the right leg lunges and my right groin hurt so I was walking around all lopsided. My left butt off course didn’t get quite the workout cuz of the modified lunges..hopefully I don’t end up with uneven butt muscles! Had a pretty busy day at work and then we left early to meet my boss and some others who are in town to have a Real Job/Current Job happy hour. A bunch of ppl couldn’t stay for dinner for various reasons so it ended up being Dean, Oliver, Liana and myself which worked out cuz I was gonna have to do dinner with Dean tonight to talk Boston and that would screw up my BC schedule, etc. Only bad thing was we didn’t end up eating until 10 and I ate WAY TOO MUCH but it was sooooooooooooo good. French onion soup, lobster tail, ribeye…yum yum yum! I could barely move when we left and immediately regretted my decision to stuff my face cuz I felt so bad all night and still pretty full this morning.
Headed to BC tonight and actually brought my stuff to work so I’m doing better than Sunday. Also it’s arm day and he assured us no leg work (although there will prob be running and that’s what really kills the groin) so we’ll see how it goes.
I did a ton of planning for friends upcoming visits this morning so I feel much more organized! Helena and Martha will be here next Wednesday, yay! Maria is not til June but its still nice to have a good idea of what we’re going to do (especially since that’s my last week here so anything I want to do and haven’t yet, needs to be done then!). I also am considering moving to the Beach Rotana. I go there to the pool on weekends a lot anyway, they have a much better gym than mine with classes, its connected to the mall and has a hypermarket below it so all in all, would be much better for me. Plus bigger room so for guests would be great. I got them to negotiate an amazing rate (wishing I had done this months ago!) so I think I may pay the difference from where I’m at now and go for it. Alice is there so that would be nice as well. Don’t really want to deal with the actual moving part but I think its gonna be worth it. Oh and the kitchens have stoves…so if I decided to not be lazy I could actually cook something other than pasta! With Liana leaving it makes sense too as I liked where I was cuz it was walking distance to her place and I went to her gym with her all the time so had really stopped going to my own..but now I have no reason to stay where I’m at so think I’ll prob go with it.
Oh and had a good chat with Dean about whats next for me. Its still up in the air but might have a more clear path now which would put me in New York for a short time and then to Boston. Not sure if this means moving to Boston and then commuting to NY during week or what…so much left to be figured out but ideally in the next few weeks will know. I was very against flat out moving to NYC but I think it would work out well for a short term stint since all my friends are there, etc. And I could start getting acquainted with Boston and settle in somewhere (ie: move my stuff somewhere) but split time between the two. As much as I love to travel, I think it will suit me just fine for the short term!
I’m excited for a fairly chill weekend. Liana’s dad is coming to town and we’re taking him to Anwar’s birthday/house warming party so that should be fun! Other than that I plan to spend two full days pool side, and do some major pampering. My nails are a mess, my hair is in desperate need of a cut and I could use a massage.
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