Well another Sunday is here and I’m exhausted! I ended up talking to a friend from home who I haven’t spoken to in months so that went about 2 hours…at 12:45am I had to put an end to it so I could get some sleep! So much for an early night. Agh well. Last week was long and a bit stressful trying to keep up with my job here, my job at home, boot camp, etc.
Monday was work and then I hit Nails for a much needed mani/pedi (they had been full the last 3 times I tried!). After I finished I went down to the pool bar armed with US work, had a delicious club sandwich and got through ARC files (ARC is our year end annual review which is going on now and there is so much to do to prepare for it). It was pretty warm but was nice to be out of the house. After I finished with that I went back upstairs and Alice had just landed from London so she came by to debrief me on her sisters hen weekend which sounded fab. She is such a good planner and her sister is very lucky to have her! She also brought me truffles which she made herself at a truffle class they did. I had one and then took the rest to work so I didn’t get stuck eating them all!!! We all agreed they were delicious and she could have a side business!
Tuesday was work and then BC. At this point I had about a thousand bug bites on my legs from Sunday (as I wore shorts) and the bugs seem to have gotten much worse as the temp has risen. Speaking of that. It’s hot. It seemed to have gone from nice to blazing with no warning. If you look at the 10 day forecast no day is under 100 degrees and I’m pretty sure it’s only going to get worse. Anyway, hell week arm day was good..I wish every week we got pushed as much as hell week. I got home and then ended up on a US work call til about 11 (my phone bill is going to be horrendous this month!) and then hit the sack.
Wednesday I had a date with Liana so I could see her before she took off for her next adventure for 2.5 weeks. She picked me up and we went to Hanoi, one of her favorites and it was delicious. Then we walked around that area as she had errands to do..played the..how many pharmacies do I have to go in to before they’ll sell me something without a script game. Ha. Thankfully there are pharmacies (or chemists as she calls them, everywhere). I was saying how funny chemist sounds and she was like, yeah well you flat out call them drug stores. Touche. She needed some other stuff for her trip but finding rain coats and long underwear in Abu Dhabi is not exactly easy, esp when its in the 100’s! I went home exhausted and so ready to pass out and then slept terrible. Just a lot on my mind, stressed out and did a lot of tossing and turning.
Thursday morning I woke up feeling like a zombie but thankfully it was the last day of the week. I had planned to do morning BC so that I could leave work a little early (as most ppl do on Thursdays) and take a nap before all my work stuff hit. Since I couldn’t sleep Wed night..there was just no chance of that happening. I conveniently left my sweater in Liana’s car the night before and forgot to bring her the papers she needed so we decided to meet for lunch at the place where we used to do our Thursday lunches (Jk..it was accidental..but nice to have my lunch buddy back!)
I suffered through work, stayed way later than needed to because I just go straight to BC from here. Well then BC turned out to just be a ton of running for an hour. I was so irritated cuz I was thinking I could have gone home 2 hours ago and done that myself!!! We essentially went to this massive car park and ran around it, first one lap at 90% capacity, then 1.5, then 2, then 2.5, etc. It was rough. It was hot, I was in pants cuz of the bug bite issue and thinking we’d be in the sand/grass like usual, and there was no breeze. Oh and I’m not a huge fan of just running in squares. One of the guys in the class was funny..as it was me and this other chick that “won” every time…her half the rounds, me the other half. So finally he goes….can we get a lap head start or something…I hate chasing women! Ha. The other obnoxious thing was that there were these two cars full of local guys that kept circling me as I was running. They stayed in the lot driving around and/or parked staring at me the whole time. A couple times I was running solo and way off in one corner of this massive lot and felt a bit creeped out. That’s prob a first for Abu Dhabi. It ended up being fine…just weird. I raced home as I had a webcast I was supposed to be on that started at 9 and I was just getting in then. Of course because I was in a hurry my internet decided to be slow and trying to do anything took forever. At the end of the day, I couldn’t get on because something is wrong with my webcast database so that was sort of a waste! It did give me time to eat and shower before my next call so that was good. Alice had just landed from Doha (yes, she travels a lot!) so she stopped by for a quick catch up. I love having her in the building..its so nice to have someone to stop in or me swing by. The ARC call was supposed to start at 10:15, which became 10:30, then 10:45, finally 11 which really didn’t start til 11:15. Thanks guys. I had already written the night off and planned to stay in for the first time since I can’t even remember when. I was so beat from the week and in no mood to go out after my call ended at midnight.
Friday was great to sleep in. I should have gotten up and gone to the gym but I was pretty sore from running so much and wanted as much sleep as possible. Talked to a friend from home first thing which started the day out well! Alice and I were doing brunch for one of her friends and she wanted a Plus 1. I had met Paul once awhile back so agreed to go and it made for a nice afternoon. Paul is 47..his girlfriend who was super sweet is 22. Rock on buddy, rock on! We had lots of mojitos and sparkling wine, as well as an enormous amount of food and they had a white chocolate fountain. YUM! I love white chocolate so ended up with white chocolate soup…a bowl of white choc with various diced nuts mixed in. Hey, whatever makes me happy right? They didn’t have as cool of candy as Yalumba did, but the white chocolate made up for it! Oh….this one couple brought their 5 day old baby to brunch. 5 DAYS! Crazy. She seemed to calm and relaxed too as they passed her baby around. I was thinking you realize its all you can drink right…these people prob shouldn’t be anywhere near your kid! We were joking too as I was saying it took me 6 months to get to my first Abu Dhabi brunch, and it took this kid 5 days…ha. When brunch ended we went out to the beach club for a bit but it was soooo hot and neither of us brought our bathing suits. Just doesn’t seem right to eat and drink for hours and then want to put on a bikini. We stayed for about an hour and then were both beat and needed naps so we went home. I wish I could have just slept until the next morning but my boss was flying in at 8:30 so I had to be a good employee and get my a** up. At that point I had a decent hangover headache and wanted to do nothing! I went and met him for dinner (an hour of which was spent with him on a conference call and me admiring the fish in the water…ha…that is what happens when you do meals with work people..it has happened to me way too many times!). After the call he wanted to go grab another drink so we went to Trader Vics which I haven’t been too in ages. Their Mai Tais…or rather all their drinks…are lethal. None of them taste that strong…..but the next morning you feel it. It was good to have the night with him to chat about work stuff, plans, etc and at this point I know that Boston is a go! Wooohooo! Nice to have some finality to all the maybe’s. I even just booked my bachelorette party tickets for Miami since now I know I’ll be flying from Boston! Anyway…..got home and in bed around 2 so not as bad as a normal night out which was a plus. Dean has been coming to AD once a month for about 15 months….and has never had a day to do anything. He always flys in late, has work for a few days, then flys out early. We keep bugging him to fit a weekend day into his schedule so he can actually enjoy the city and stop complaining about working so much and he finally did! It was funny because he stays at the Beach Rotana everytime…and on Friday night asked me how to get to the pool for the next day. Lol.
Saturday was hot……really hot…minimum of 110 deg. Dean got out to the pool early….I slept in a bit and went around 11:30. Alice came down shortly after and then Oliver showed up a bit after that…although he was being a baby about the heat and went to the office for a couple hours instead. Day at pool, sitting at pool bar, strawberry margaritas in hand vs the office. I can see how that is a really tough decision! Most of the day was spent in the pool as it was just ridiculously hot. My dumba** didn’t put lotion on my face or back and I’m paying for it now. I think I even burned my lips!!! At about 3:30, Alice and I had had enough and hit the coop for some groceries before heading up to our rooms. Dean had wanted to go to Ferrari World which I was all for since I haven’t been yet, but Oliver clearly didn’t want to go (hanging out with these two is like babysitting 5 year olds sometimes…seriously…they even had an argument about who was more high maintenance, I think they both are and I’m the only sane one!). Alice decided to bow out (smart girl…wish I had a choice!!!) We ended up skipping FW but taking Dean over to Yas since he had never been. Hit up the Skylite bar at the Yas Hotel which was dead since we got there about 6pm on a Saturday but he was glad to see it since he had heard a lot about it and you can see the Formula 1 track. We had a couple drinks here, they nit picked at each other some more, and then we went to Cirpriani’s for dinner. I’ve wanted to go there since I got to AD but it’s just never worked out. My birthday was the last time we tried to go but there was a private party. The venue is beautiful and we sat outside with a great view of the Yas Hotel. The food was okay. I wasn’t overly impressed but it was still good. If a restaurant has buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes, I’m usually pretty happy! At this point I was really tired…..after being in the sun all day, entertaining, etc..I couldn’t wait for bed. I politely excused myself as they went for another drink back at the hotel as I had my phone date but then that ended up going so late that the early bed plan didn’t happen anyway. I was not thrilled when my alarm went off but what can ya do? Duty calls!
It’s Monday evening and I’m gonna finish this off and post. Yesterday was a decent day at work but I was very tired and was dreading bc. That’s the great thing about bc..the workdays that I’m exhausted and would otherwise go home and sit around, I go to bc and get my a** kicked instead! Once we get going I wake up and am fine so I’m always glad I went. It was not hell week anymore but mine as well have been and judging by the fact that I burned more calories than last week, I’d say it was unofficial hell week. We did 50 sprints in the sand, along with a variety of other horribly awesome things. I am pretty sore today and loving it! Went home, watched Invincible (or Invisible…something with Mark Wahlberg) and it was a really good movie. Had some wine and passed out as soon as I got in bed!
I’m headed to a client dinner tonight and really in no mood for it. Oh well..gotta do what I gotta do. My promotion fate is being decided right now. Oh and Alice, her friend and I just booked a trip to Oman for next weekend. SOOO excited for a relaxing, pool/beach filled girls weekend. Oh and its 10 degrees cooler than AD so that will be very nice. We’re trying to get DC Maria to come with us but shes still unsure.
Ohh…and as of tonight, I officially only have 6 weeks left. CRAZY!!!!!
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