Birthday Celebrations

So it's Sunday morning and I'm just about to head off for work after my birthday weekend celebrations.  Duran Duran were great but the evening was marred by all the crap my son had with the mad ex.  Anyway, Friday was a good day.  My husband had a big event on at his work and had to work till 5 which wasn't so good.  However, I, along with another dutiful wife, showed willing and went along at lunch time to support to our hubbies.  We stayed for about an hour and a half, had lunch, then went shopping :).

Me in the changing rooms during my shopping trip

Unfortunately the shopping experience wasn't a great success.  It didn't matter what I tried on, I just felt like Mrs Michelin the spouse of Michelin man.  With the impending holiday coming up and no strong will power to lose weight, I thought I'd try out a tummy control swimsuit.  Hmmmmm, yeah well they do definitely hold in your tummy but it takes about 20 minutes to squeeze into it, your tummy looks reasonably flat, but all it does is push all the spare flab around to your back!  What's all that about then?  So, needless to say I came away from the stores empty handed.

My friend and I then decided to visit the new Hard Rock Cafe which has recently opened in Dubai Festival City.  We had a pretty chilled out afternoon and although we were there for almost 2 hours before our hubbies joined us, we only had two drinks.  I was so tired from the early morning commotion with my son, vodka and red bull were just the medicine (not normally my tipple). During the afternoon we were treat with a dance routine from the waiters and waitresses and every now and again, they would do the obligatory 'Happy Birthday' singsong to some unsuspecting soul.  When our hubbies arrived,  I was half expecting them to put out a birthday singsong request for me but thank god they never.

At 7:45pm we made our way to Meridian Village Terrace where we met up with our fabulous friends (the ones who we were with at the Duran Duran gig the night before).  We also met my eldest son (the one with the broken heart), his friend and another new friend of ours who has only just recently moved to Dubai.
It's a great place to go, lovely food, all you can eat and drink for 200 AED, music, dancing and just generally a great atmosphere.  We've actually spent our last two Christmas days in the same place, definitely recommended.  I received a lovely gift from my friend, a small 'Nominations' link to add to my collection, its Pieces, my star sign.  It was clear that she had thought about my gift and sentimental things like that mean a lot to me.

Hubby with his dance partner,
all those years ago

We had a lovely night, hubby and I danced a lot, which is a rarity.  We love to dance but I've two left feet.  But of course when I've had a few drinks I think I'm the best dancer ever.  My hubby, on the other hand, was a championship ballroom dancer when he was a child and is still pretty nifty on the dance floor.  I do have to keep reminding him though that it was even longer since he was a 13, bless him.  Instead of a 'happy birthday' announcement my friends ask the band to sing the old Barry Manilow song, 'Mandy'.  It was quite sweet of them and much better than Happy Birthday.
At the end of the night, we ordered shisha and everyone relaxed in the warm evening air.  I didn't have shisha, I love the smell, but being a non-smoker I just can't seem to do it right and the odd time I have tired it, I've just coughed and spluttered. 

At the end of the night, Someone found a dead gecko and thought it would be funny to try and scare me with it.  Which didn't happen as I actually don't mind lizards dead or alive.  Now if it were a spider on the other hand they wouldn't have seen me for dust.  The boys named the gecko Malcolm X for some reason for any animal extremists reading, no cruelty was carried out on the gecko as it was already dead.  Someone decided to put him in a Pepsi bottle full of water to replicate the look of a ship in a bottle and give him to me as a present.  I asked them to take it out and give him a proper burial in the sand which at the time I thought they did.  However, I later found out that they had placed said gecko in the shirt lapel of the unsuspecting taxi driver that drove us home. 

So, Saturday morning arrived and so did my 46th birthday.  Honestly, I still don't know where all the years have gone.  How did I get to 46?  I still feel about 18, its just a shame my body does look 18.  But, I do believe that just because my birth certificate says I was born in 1966, I haven't got one foot in the grave yet, there is plenty of life in me and I'm enjoying it.  Life is for living, not saving everything until you retire.  I work hard, my hubby works hard and we live for today.


Anyway, I had numerous texts, emails, Facebook messages wishing me a happy birthday from all my nearest and dearest.  I even had a text from my boss, which was a bit of a surprise but nice.  However, having 2 sons and a step son, I am sort of used to just a 'Good morning, happy birthday mom' grunt from at least two of them so I wasn't surprised when that happened.  My step son has been working away in Bahrain for the past two weeks but arrived home today.  With no mention of said birthday or any sign of cards from any one of the lads I gave them a quick reminder to which I suddenly got loads of excuses, of 'no time', 'no money', 'dad didn't remind us' etc, etc.   I actually don't care about gifts from the boys as I do know money is tight for all of them, but I am a stickler for birthday cards and do get a little upset if I don't get one from them.  Anyway, I suppose, that's boys for you and I should just learn to accept it.
Anyway, we had a bit of a lazy day, our friends came to pick my hubby up to get the car, with a lovely bouquet of flowers for me.  Hubby went off to collect the car from the hotel and bring in the obligatory bouquet of birthday lillies (designer handbag is already in use).  We then went up to Barasti beach bar in Le Meridian with my two sons + one.  My step son was already there on the beach with his friends.  This place is his second home in Dubai.  He had only been off the plane about an hour, washed, changed and off to Barasti.  We had a lovely late lunch relaxing in the sun and then hubby and I left the lads to it.

Later in the day we spoke to my sister-in-law and best friend on Skype which ended the day nicely.  That was it, the end of my birthday celebrations.  I had a lovely weekend.  Now I'm going to try and lose about 3 stone before my sister-in-law arrives on Thursday.  Not sure that's going to happen, but I will try to do something and attempt to use the treadmill which is once again waiting patiently in the corner of my bedroom.