Lifes a Beach!

We drove back to Dubai today- it's an hour drive. Had a lovely lunch on The Walk and walked down to the beach. Atlantis Dubai is visible from the beach but was too far for my camera. Later we found a supermarket called Spinney's that has PORK! I didn't realize how much I missed ham and bacon. We came back to the villa in Abu Dhabi and made bacon and eggs for dinner- yum yum! Can't wait to get into our apartment and be able to cook dinner and settle in. It's bad enough not being with my babies and family, but living out of a suitcase just intensifies the feeling of being away from home. It will likely be Monday before we can move in-I must be patient. Jimmy is finally feeling better-thank goodness! Remember pull tabs on soda cans? Thats what they have here- so retro. Otherwise all is well. Hope all is well in Bamaland. PS - shout out to Carole- so glad you are following! And a special shout out to Jacob-  I miss my biking buddy! Peace love and happiness to all- J&M

Beach 31 Mar

Beach 31 Mar

Beach 31 Mar

Jimmy on the beach

Parasailing anyone?

Dudes about to paddle boat

Glad to hear from you!

So cool to see Sarah and Crystal are following! Crystal- Jimmy & I are doing wonderful. He has been so great to get us into a location he knew I would be happy with-he spoils me! Please tell Wayne to check out the site-we would love to hear from him, too. You are welcome to visit us anytime. You have always been supportive of us and a good friend.  Tell your precious girls we said hi. Please be sure to keep in touch! Sarah- so glad I got to give you hug good bye. It was very sweet of you to make time to come by the house and wish us well. Be a good girl ;)!

Pics!!

I have finally accepted the fact that I can't just wish the pics from my camera onto the site- there is some technology involved. Thank you to my fabulous tech support team- Jimmy! Unfortunately I was so overwhelmed with the amazing views from our apartment that I only have one pic inside. The pic does not do the neon lime green walls justice! Like I said earlier, The Walk is almost 2 miles long; it would take way too long to post enough pictures for an adequate reprentation of how awesome it really is. Missing my friends and family so very very much :(! Hope ya'll enjoy the pics! Love, love - Jimmy & Michele PS It takes at least 5-7 minutes to upload each picture; as you can see I have been doing this for a while!

                                                               View of The Walk

View of The Walk

Fabio Lombardi in our apartment

View of the Arabian Gulf from our apartment!

View of steps leading to our building from The Walk

Closer view of the steps on The Walk leading to our apartment building

View of the Arabian Gulf from the steps leading to our apartment building

Outdoor seating at an Indian restaurant located at the top of the steps leading to our apartment building

Just past the Indian restaurant are more shops and restaurants right outside out apartment building

Main entrance to our apartment building.

Fabio Lombardi- our agent who found our cool apartment. he is from Naples, Italy and has been in Dubai 8 years. Great dude!

A Place of Our Own!!

We met with Fabio today. He took us to see 8 apartments. He saved the best for last-it's GREAT!! Two br 2 bath, fully furnished, balcony LOOKING OVER THE ARABIAN GULF!! The views are all wonderful.  It's on the 11th floor. When you go to the ground level you are on the Marina Walk- right across the street is the BEACH!! The Marina Walk is appr. 1.5 -2 miles long filled with restaurants, cool shops and cafes. People stroll along the wide walk way; families, couples and even skateboard dudes. The beach is right there. It is amazing; I know we will be very happy there. After we signed the paperwork we walked a little way down and had a lovely Italian dinner outside on the Walk. So cool!I'll post somepics tomorrow. What a great day! Just wish Jimmy wasn't sick-all that walking and going from place to place was exhausting.

Monday Morning

What a special treat to wake up see a message from my Angel, Dara. Now I have all three of my precious girls blogging me! We are driving into Dubai today to meet with Fabio and find a place to live. I'm so excited to finally see the city where we will be living. Wish us luck! Maybe I can learn how to post pics sometime soon, too! :)

Today in Abu Dhabi

I am on my own today-Jimmy had to go to the office. I went to the mall and wandered around and got a few groceries. It's good to have some fresh fruit  to snack on. I won't go into detail but the cost is pretty comparable to home. I've seen more women in burquas than I thought I would. I wore a tye die skirt (goes to my knees) and a short sleeve t-shirt- no cover up and I was perfectly comfortable. Didn't feel out of place or stared at. I think I get more attention because of the blonde hair than anything else. The people are friendly and warm. Went through every channel at the villa we are staying in and we have 40 english channels! Not bad but I don't have a single news channel- thank goodness the Internet isn't too bad. Skype appears to be blocked-major downer; I really wanted to see my girls. I hope it isn't blocked in Dubai. Feels close to 90 degrees today but it is breezy so it isn't too bad. I feared the language barrier would be an issue but not so much. Almost everyone speaks english and are really friendly. Turns out learning the money is the hard part! I'm ok with the paper money but the coins are a challenge. Can't wait to get started looking for a place to call home. Hope all is well in Bamaland. I'll check in again soon- ya'll leave me comments and keep me updated. Peace, love and happiness!

Technical Difficulty!

I haven't had any problems until today! Skype appears to be blocked in Abu Dhabi and I can't get anything to post on FB. This will have to do for now. Wish I could wiggle my nose and you girls be here right now! Will get here soonest but we need a place to live first! Jimmy went to work to in process and stuff and I am here all alone today- it is 8 am. MISS MISS LOVE LOVE YOU SO SO MUCH!  Please use the blog to keep in touch- it seems to be the most reliable.

Safe Arrival!

It took almost exactly 24 hours from the time we left Hsv til we got to the villa in Abu Dahbi. It wasn't a bad trip-just long. Jimmy did GREAT with no cigarettes the whole time. What a trooper. The temp here was 84 at 9 pm when we landed. The villa is ok- it is kind of shared with another housemate but we have plenty of room and privacy. We can walk across a big dirt/sand lot to a really cool mall. Very large and nice. Our first meal was at an Applebee's. I am the only western woman I have seen yet and most certainly the only blonde! I'm very easy to spot in a crowd. There was a neat festival going on outside at the mall- lots of cool booths with dresses and doo dads and live music. Of course the music was traditional but it was still pretty neat. Need to unpack a few things and get a little organized. I'll check in again tomorrow. Missing my family and my precious babies so very much! Thinking of you all every minute.

1 Mar 2011

This first post is dedicated to the one I love! And Justin for getting me up and going and Jimmy Kean for naming my blog. Thanks so much!