November photos

My favoured sailors hat at the Marine Corp Ball. I'm thinking of embarking on a career as a 1950's pin up!!! hehe
Me and my friend Tim who invited me to the ball.
The pool right outside my room in Al Bustan Palace, Muscat, Oman
The hotel beach in Oman, with the mountains in the background
Me and Nicola Robbins at the Amber Lounge night club on Sunday 14th November. Photo has been published in Ahlan magazine here in the UAE!
Me and Nicola Reilly at Linkin Park, Saturday 13 November
Me at the F1 Qualifying, Saturday 13 November
Jenny and Sean Paul.....what a night I had, utterly amazing!
In the DJ box at the Sean Paul after party gig, Yas Island
On stage with Sean Paul at his concert on Abu Dhabi Corniche.....37,000 people, and I think I got the best seat in the house!

What an amazing November!!

Wow, what a fortnight it has been!

Aside from the 16 hour work days, parties, F1, concerts and a trip to Oman I guess you could say it has been a quiet time!! ;-)

Well, Formula 1 weekend is always going to be a busy one, especially when it's the final race of the season. At the hotel we had so many famous singers and artists staying with us, 2 or 3 a night for 4/5 nights. I was lucky enough to meet some amazing people including Kelly Rowland, Chipmunk, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Basement Jaxx, Gabrielle and Sean Paul and all of their lovely managers!!

Sean Paul's manager was great, when he found out I wouldn't be able to make the concert on the Thursday night because I would be working too late and the gates would have closed before I got there, he gave me a backstage pass so that I could get in, and not only that, so stay I could actually be ONSTAGE when Sean Paul was performing! Then we headed to the after-party where once again I was able to enjoy the gig from the DJ booth at the back of the stage! Such a great experience!

On the Friday night I was lucky enough to be able to go to Amber Lounge Ladies Night (Amber Lounge is the nightclub which travels with F1 and only happens 4 times a year in Monaco, Barcelona, Singapore and Abu Dhabi). So my lovely friend Nicola came with me and we had a great night.

On Saturday it was the F1 Qualifying, beautiful day, fun at the track and then, to top it all off, I went to the Linkin Park gig. Such a fantastic band to see live!! Very good fun, and got to spend the evening with a few of my close friends which made it all the more special.

On Sunday it was back to work for the day, before being super lucky and getting to go to Amber Lounge for the Drivers Night!! Loads of the F1 drivers were there and some even came up to the DJ booth to start tracks and get the dance floor moving! Nicola was my date for the night again and we had such a fab time!

Then Monday was announced as the first day of Eid, so no work, a chance to get a lie in and catch up on my sleep!

On Tuesday I drove to Muscat. The drive was around 6 hours and was pretty straight forward. I stayed at Al Bustan Palace hotel, just outside Muscat. It was so beautiful. I went there on my own, a chance to be by myself for 3 days, chill out by the pool, read some books, and not have to make any form of conversation!!

My room was a lagoon room on the ground floor. I stepped out of my room, onto my balcony, and then opened a small gate in the balcony and stepped straight into the pool!! The weather was wonderful. 28 degrees for 3 days with glorious sunshine. The hotel is set right on the coast, so I went snorkelling out into the rocks surrounding the area, saw some cuttle fish, lobsters, crabs and other cute fishies (Not mentioning the scary looking thing whose eyes were twice the size of its head! Is that even normal??) the hotel is also surrounded by green gardens and a huge mountain range. It really is pretty spectacular! I went into the local town to the Souk and bargained for some new earrings and shawl (gorgeous green shawl made in silk and cashmere).

I came back from Muscat on Friday morning and will never make that mistake again....border crossing was a nightmare, what with it being Friday and the end of Eid, it was utter chaos. But got through in little over an hour and a half (baring in mind it took me 20 minutes on the way into Oman).

Last night (Friday) I went to the Abu Dhabi Marine Corp Ball. My friend Tim invited me, so I pulled out my best party dress and had a good evening with lots of lovely food, drinks and dancing! I also took quite a shine to a sailors hat....but he managed to wrestle it from me before I ran away with it!!! hehe.

So, now it's Saturday night, I have spent the day doing all the things I haven't had time to do this past week or so, like dusting, cleaning, washing etc etc. Back to work tomorrow, lets see what this week will hold!!! Photos to follow above. xxxx

October pics!

October been and gone!

So another 4 weeks gone. I have no idea where the weeks are going! So, before I loose any more weeks, here is a quick over view of what's been happening!

Abu Dhabi Film Festival - saw the film Never Let Me Go (or something like that!), very strange movie, good though and even better cos I got to see it for free!

Abu Dhabi Corniche Swim - I swam 850m (advertised as 700m!) across the Abu Dhabi Corniche. Seemed like a really good idea when I was dressed from the 80's drinking wine on the Friday night, seemed a little less like a good idea when I was in the sea on Saturday morning!! Did it though, was very proud of myself!

Halloween - made my Poison Ivy costume and was quite pleased with it overall. Had a good time at Rachel and Virgil's party and was really impressed with all the effort that everyone put in!

Dubai Boat Party - Nicola's birthday party, sooooo much fun! We took a yacht from Dubai Marina and went out past Burj Al Arab, close to The World and then back down the edge of the palm before mooring and having food, drinks and a bit of impromptu jumping in the sea!!

The rest of the photos will follow as I've seemed to manage to delete them from this post! Ooops!

Thinking of you!xx

September

Another month come and gone. Was a good month though! Went back to the UK and had a great time catching up with friends and family.

I have seen a lot of new babies in the past few weeks.....goodness knows what's in the water at the moment!

Then obviously it was birthday month, so I completely over celebrated and spent the entire month using it as an excuse to eat and drink too much!

After getting back to Abu Dhabi, I went up to Dubai to watch some friends play water polo and then went for a great dinner at a place called Benihana which is Japanese tepenyaki. They cook the food in front of you. I had a lovely night!

This weekend, I went for my first brunch of the post ramadan season. Was really nice, at a restaurant called Pearls and Caviar. I've been before, but they have improved it, and it's great food and drink! We watched the Dragon Boat racing as well, from the roof bar of the restaurant.

Then on Saturday (after giving my mate Stewy some much needed interior design advice) we went out on his boat from Yas Marina, where the F1 track is, and, after passing an Ostrich farm, we landed on a sand bank island, had a couple of drinks and watched the sunset. Really lovely sight. Looking forward to going wakeboarding from the back of the boat soon!!

Dragon Boat Racing - Abu Dhabi Creek.
Me at Pearls and Caviar, eating....Caviar!!!!

My birthday cake at work!

Photos!!

Paddy, Mark and me at the last brunch before Ramadan....Pearls and Caviar restaurant

Suzy, me and Matt at brunch at The Club

Me in the pool at Crowne Plaza Yas Island - overlooking Yas links golf course

Rachel, Laura, Amanda, me and Suzy at Amanda's "Girls night" prior to her wedding!!!

Clare "Minnie", Rachel "Rainbow Bright", me "Wonder Woman", Vicky "Spongebob" and Sarah "Cat woman" at Vicky and Daren's cartoon party!

August already?!?

When did that happen?? The year has gone so fast, I can't quite believe it! I've realised that I've been in Abu Dhabi for 20 months now. It's the time of year when it's hot, hot, hot and I'm still being crazy and doing silly things like going for a 15km cycle ride on a Friday morning at 7am....when it is 35 degrees celcius!! Had fun though!

So what have I been doing since May when I last wrote? Well, working mostly! Obviously in true Abu Dhabi style I've been to a few cheeky nights out as well, and generally just hanging out. Oh yeah, and I bought myself a beautiful new car!!! My Ford Edge is so great! I love it!!! (don't quite love the bank who in all probability couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, but I got there in the end!).

I've done a bit of Dog sitting for friends which also involves house sitting a huge villa out in a developing residential area (which in some parts resembles a sand pit and in others, something from a strange theme park with quirky houses and villas decorated to look like castles and all sorts!).

I guess I have been working an awful lot, and haven't really been doing anything too exciting!! (Except maybe dress up as Wonder Woman...I've missed making costumes so much I hadn't quite realised!) I am looking forward very much to coming back to the UK to see family and friends. Meet new babies and women with new surnames!!

I'm also looking forward to the next 4 months!! Going to make the most of the rest of 2010, end of the decade! Then head into the unknown territory of 2011. End of 2010, I want to go back to Oman, to Muscat, drive into the desert and see some more camels! See a couple of concerts, have a great birthday and a fabulous Christmas!! Let's just wait and see what lays ahead! Photos to follow!xxx

Trip to Oman!

Hello!

Thought it was about time I wrote and said hi. I went to Oman last weekend. It is such a beautiful country and the people are really nice! A good over night camping trip and a long (10hr) hike up (and down) a mountain (the highest peak in Oman!) Jebal Shams.

I wanted to put some photos on here so that you can see what I'm talking about, so here we go. We have the Beehive tombs (apparently created in 3000 BC) then views from the mountain, down the Wadi (valley created by rushing water) and the mountain goats who rushed towards our camp site first thing in the morning!!

Enjoy!

Love Jen.xXx

Photos...second try...

Photos

Ok, I tired. I will upload the images tomorrow...internet doesn't want to do it right now...so I guess...Computer really does say No!

Bits of this and bits of that!

Hello.....I looked over my previous blogs and realised that there is a reoccuring theme....I seem to always need to apologise for taking so long to write...what can I say? Sorry again, I guess!!

So Happy Easter to everyone and Happy Birthday to Grandad!!

I am currently dog and house sitting for my friends which was going well until this evening when the garage door (only entrance to their property that I have access to) wouldn't open....remote keys do fail! So with the help of the next door neighbours, crisis averted and all is well....lets just say there was a very happy dog when I let him out!

Work is going well, the weeks are passing by so quickly! I am heading to the UK in just over a week for 2 weeks, I am looking forward to being back, even if I will be working, and to be honest, think I need the cold and the rain to make me appreciate the weather here....you become very complacent living here!

The past month or so has been good fun, I have been to brunches and watched the Red Bull Air race from a yacht, been to concerts in Dubai, celebrated St. Patricks day with actual Irish people (!) and worked my socks off as usual.

So...next post will be some pics for you to look at...a random mix!

Take care veryone, keep in touch and hope to see some of you soon!!!xxxxx

One final thing...

I nearly forgot!!! I won Best Muse for the Inter Hotel Basketball Championships 2010!!! We also won Best Kit!

InterContinental Abu Dhabi - Team Basketball 2010!!

Long over due images!

Me in Dubai, overlooking the Palm with Atlantis hotel in the background when I was there for Mick's birthday brunch.

Malaga.

Actual orange trees, growing in the middle of the street with fruit on them! I don't know if I've ever seen an orange tree before!

One of the tiny alleyways I was talking about. I went down this one, turned left and then found...

...This. Which just happens to be where the recommended tapas place was!(the one with the brown sign on the far left).

"Turret for sale"


After all of the shopping, I was feeling peckish. So I stopped here. Cute little bakery! The pastry I had was so good I swear it would be illegal in at least 12 countries!!

I saw the most beautiful stained glass window, tragically hiding away in the reamins of a disused market hall.
The fastest flowers I've ever seen!! (Called Mercedes in case you can't read it!)

Has it really been 2 months???!!!!

Wow, just logged onto here and realised that it has been 2 months since I last wrote! I cannot believe how busy I have been....time has flown by!

So I'm writing from Malaga, Spain. I'm here for a conference which starts tomorrow and is on for 3 days. I'm really looking forward to it actually! (Especially now that my 12 hours of travelling are out of the way!). Spent today wandering around Malaga old town, lovely town with gorgeous architecture! (will post the photos later) and the shopping is amazing! So cheap! The sales are still on, so I did pretty well to limit myself to a new handbag for 20 euros reduced from 180 euro!!!! I have also stocked up on the mandatory 3 bottles of spanish red wine to take back with me!

Oh, I nearly forgot, I got rained on! Ick! It was cold and everything!

The past few weeks have been pretty uneventful. I was in Dubai last weekend for a friends birthday and the usual socialising and work functions have been managing to fill my evenings and are making the weeks go even quicker!

I have been frustrated that I haven't been able to go to the gym for my classes for the pas couple of weeks. I have hurt my shoulder and will get the results of my MRI scan when I get back to Abu Dhabi next week. (aparently they think it is tendonitis, just making sure). It was feeling much better this week, until I played badminton at work (Nuwan and I won the mixed doubles tournament again!!!) and then went bowling for another friends birthday, and although I'm not back to square one, the shoulder has been feeling pretty fragile the past couple of days!

I've been planning the year ahead and it looks like it will be another crazy year ahead at work! I'm actually really looking forward to it. Plenty of exhibitions to go to, lots of events coming up in Abu Dhabi too, I'm already busy with the requests for formula 1 season! (Which is great!). Before we know it, it will be December and Christmas all over again!

I am trying to plan holiday time around my work trips! (Not as easy as it sounds, esp as there are so many places that I want to go to!). I think I have a lot of long weekends ahead of me this year. I want to go to Muscat in Oman (that is a weekend trip). I also want to go to Egypt (a long weekend trip). Then there is Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand again and, if I can possibly get away, I'd quite like to go to Jorden and the dead sea for the weekend too! I'm thinking that I may have to reassses my 2 year plan in the UAE if I want to fit all that in while I'm there!! That list doesn't include my annual trip back to the UK or any other unexpected trips!! Glad I signed up for every frequent flyer programme I could think of!!

Going full circle and coming back to now, I went to this lovely tapas place this afternoon. The lady at the hotel reception recommended it, said that she and her friends go there all the time! well, it took me an age to find it, the map made alleyways look like roads, so I walked past it 3 times! But it was worth it, just a shame I was on my own, if I'd had company I would've been able to try more of the food!! But the tortilla patatas (spanish omlette) and the croquettes jamon (ham and potato croquettes) were amazing, as was the tomatoes which were sliced and drowned in olive oil with garlic and parsley!! I was very impressed. It was nice to eat outside (20 degrees today) have a glass of cold beer and be able to walk to the shops and not be in a hotel! There are certain things I really miss about Europe!

Well, I guess I'd better go now, will try to upload those pictures and will try in vain to write again within the next month (I'm being realistic!!).

Take care and stay safe.
Jen.xxxx