25

Quarter Century Birthday! I turned 25 on May 19th.

Richard had a business meeting in Abu Dhabi on the 18th and 19th, so I tagged along and we made a party out of it!

Richard, Mark and I drove to Abu Dhabi (techically their driver drove) and while they went to meetings, I went to the Marina Mall. I took the below picture from our hotel room, in it you can see the tall structure out in the marina - that is the mall. Although I was there for at least 3 hours, I didn't buy a much, mostly just window shopped. I actually only bought a book and lunch. After the mall I went to the hotel, worked out, and then got ready for dinner.


This is the lighting in the Orchid restaurant where Richard, Mark and I ate dinner. We had dumplings, red and green curry, and peach ice cream.

When Richard travels, they always put him up in a hotel. Sometimes it's nicer than others and this was one of the nice ones for sure! We stayed at the Hilton Abu Dhabi which is right on the beach. The pool and fitness center is just to the left out of the frame below, but it was so much fun to relax here for my birthday. I woke up early to have breakfast with Richard before he left for meetings and then I went straight out to the beach. I was the only one out on the chairs and I loved dipping into the Persian Gulf and reading in the hot sun. (Mid day, it gets up to around 45 degrees Celeus, that's about 113 F.)



This is my first experience with the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Sea. Look at that white sand and clear water! Ahh.


After a morning of swimming and sun, I came in and met Richard for Lunch. Then I went back to the suite (Hilton upgrade since it was my birthday and Richard has Diamond VIP Hilton status) and took a long shower and relaxed! This shot below is included because you can see how happy I am to just be taking it easy on my birthday. Also because other shots of me later didn't turn out and I know I have to start including shots of me or I will get more email complaints. :)


In the late afternoon we drove back to Al Ain and headed to the Rotana Hotel for dinner. We got there at about 6:15 and the Gardinia restaurant doesn't open until 7:30, so we chatted in this lovely out door sitting area.





Isn't this huge lantern chandelier awesome! I want one for my house, don't you?


This is the Gardinia, it was soooo good. It's a buffet with International foods. We also happened to be there on the meat night so there were some tasty stakes, kababs, and everything else you can imagine. There was also a funny moment when the staff snuck up on me to sing Happy Birthday. The main singer came from behind and yelled it to start off the song, and then he yelled it in my ear each time he said happy birthday. Although it almost made my heart stop, it was pretty funny.



Thanks for all of the kind emails and other birthday wishes, they were wonderful to receive and made my 25th even better!