The Address Hotel

WOWIE WOW WOW...

Don't like to "brag" on this blog...but let me tell you...in this case...it pays that Jon has done business and is a friend to the area Director of Security for The Address Hotel and the other Emaar hotels in downtown Burj Dubai!! Yesterday, Jon came over to check in and couldn't wait to get back to tell me about our "home" for the next week. See...we have to pay final bills and close up accounts & such after moving out so we needed to stay an extra five business days. Not to mention the fact that Jon is incredibly busy right now and may need to goto Oman and Saudi this week before we leave. In this case...besides TERRIBLY missing a little person...not such a bad thing!!

All I can keep saying is WOW...nothing like going out with a "Bang!"

See, we had a budget to adhere to but wanted to stay in downtown near our friends and former apartment. So...Jon contacted his friend, Dirk, and needless to say...he set us up, BIG TIME!!!

We were suppose to get a studio apartment and face the front of the hotel (which was still an AMAZING and very expensive room...well OVER our budget)...well, when Jon arrived...he was given a one bedroom apartment with a view of the fountains, old town, the mall, the infinity pool, and stunning Burj Khalifa!! I must tell you...I think he was "pooping his pants!"

Well, then I arrived and about died!! Dirk, Jon's friend, came up to check on us and make sure we were "alright!!!" YEAH RIGHT!!! Little did he know it was going to be a question and answer meeting...along with a hundred thank you, thank you, thank you's!!! I wanted statistics...so here they go!!

1. The Address is a Five Star Hotel. It has only been open a couple of years.

2. It has 196 rooms that are hotel rooms and 626 that are apartments.

3. Our room is called a "hotel-pool" room and is owned by a landlord but The Address has the rights to rent it out and they both get a "cut!" It is cleaned, serviced, has products (they are AVEDA) etc...just like a hotel room but has a family room, kitchen, office and the best damn bed sheets I've ever slept in!!! I'll get to that later!!

4. It is suppose to be 3,600 AED a NIGHT........which is 986.00 a night!!! Who has that kind of money!!! MY GOD...can you believe it??!!! And it's not even the Burj Al Arab!!! We truly are living in la-la land!!!

5. If we were to buy our room it would be 3 million AED which is a little less than one million dollars!!

6. It has a kids club, amazing pool (see the photo), spa, gym (which I'll be hitting) and many bars and restaurants!! Too bad it's Ramadan and you can't eat or drink in public until 7:00 pm!!

Now...I must tell you about these bed sheets & bed. I am not exaggerating at ALL...I got in bed...and I think it was the softess, smoothest, silkiest, coolest, comfiest most amazing bed I have EVER laid in!!! I just kept saying OH, MY GOODNESS...

I think a little person would have loved jumping on this bed... she would have thought it's like a slip-n-slide on a cloud of pillows!!! I sure wish I could fit the bedding in my suitcase...but then again...don't really want to wind up in the Dubai Jail. And quite frankly...I think I'd be thrown in as I don't think we could afford this bedding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I can say is...what a way to leave this country!! Thanks DIRK...it's an amazing hotel and room. I think we are still "pinching" ourselves!!

Moving Day

Thursday morning at 8:30 sharp, Crown International Movers, showed up to pack up our belongings and transport them to the cargo ship. Our items, mainly clothes, a few pieces of furniture, photos, picture frames, scrapbooking stuff, and ALL OF FAYTH'S ROOM, will be headed towards Chicago and reach the port in about 50 days. The movers were grateful as I had already done so much!! They were like "machines" and so organized!! We just stood back, watched them, packed our bags for the airplane, and took photos of course!! And then, just like that, our apartment was empty, sad, and bare. Mary, our friend, babysitter, and house cleaner headed over to help us give the apartment ONE LAST SCRUB DOWN!! Four hours later it looked like it did two years ago...ready for a new "someone" to move in. The best part of it all...Philip, our young HOT German landlord and owner, is actually moving in. He rented it to us for two years, made some good cash, and is now going to move into his place and enjoy it. He has been an amazing landlord for two years and quite frankly we have been "dream tenants" as well. We hardly changed the shell of the place and have taken very good care of it...like it was our own!! He allowed us to stay 10 extra days to pack-up and we were grateful for that. Our original contract should have been up August 10th and he allowed us to stay until the 20th, rent free!! In the end...it was a win-win for everyone. And like a friend told me the other day, "Good things happen to good people!"

p.s. sorry for the crotch shot (of me) in the one photo...I was on the floor organizing our Dubai binder and bills.

p.s.s. enlarge and notice the photo of the boxes...it's hysterical...that's not even all of them...I think six or seven boxes were picture frames and photo albums!!

Full Circle...

Two years ago we moved into South Ridge in September and slept on a blow-up mattress on the family room floor until our bed was delivered...and this week on Tuesday & Wednesday evening (after selling our bed) we did the same on Fayth's mattress!! Kinda fun I must say...we laid and reminisced about how far we'd come and our family adventures over the past two years and HOW FAR THE TOWER HAS COME AS WELL!!! It's been very exciting to watch it's the "Burj Khalifa's" progress and see the finished product right out our window. I look at these pictures and think...where did the 2 years go??!! I guess...Time flies when you're having fun!!

Our Clean...

Hallway...Yippee...!!!!!!!!!!

Vinegar, a sponge and hard brush has done wonders on the walls!!!!!!!!!!! Two rooms down, six to go!!!!!!!!!!!!

BINKY BUTT...

Stinky, Chuckles, Bump, Galpal, Girlfriend, Sweetsees, Lil Lady, and a million other nicknames...you know who you are...we just want to say

We miss you a ton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's an extra few hugs & kisses..........

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And to our families that are watching her and SPOILING her rotten...thanks for everything!! This seriously would have been about a million times harder if we had her here right now!! THANK YOU!! Love, Suzanne and Jon

A GREAT IDEA...

came from Lauren yesterday and we jumped in the car & sped to Pottery Barn Kids...Dubai!! I had just ordered ALL new bedding for Fayth's new room back home and she said I ought to have a throw pillow made with her name in Arabic on it!! Well...why didn't I think of that?? I have it tattooed on me and everything!! Well, I'm glad she did because after a little "sweet talking" to the embroiderer at PB (they are on a 2 1/2 week wait right now) I got to leave the store with a cutie pillow for Fayth's new big girl bed!!

Thanks Lauren...I LOVE IT...and I think it will match her Santa Barbara bedding perfectly!!

Wild Wadi

We have worked hard so we decided to play hard. No photos to prove it...just sore backs and butts from all the water slides!! On Saturday, from noon to 4:30...we went to the Wild Wadi Waterpark in front of the Burj AlArab hotel. Of course I had a two for one voucher which we used!! It was so fun to hit the slides, as a couple, and take on the tunnel of doom and others!! It was probably 110 out so it was a PERFECT day for the park!! I must say...the waterparks here are so genius and well developed!! You never had to climb a stair...just sit your "fat butt" on a float and it shot you up the slide, round and round, hill over hill, twist after twist, and then back down!! IT ROCKED!! Needless to say, we slept good Saturday night!!

Good-bye Dinner

On Friday night we went to Souk Al Bahar with Ann, James, and Aaron (Karen his wife is home on v-ca). About 6 more friends and their spouses were invited but everybody is home on summer holiday. However; big or small...it was a perfectly wonderful evening planned by Ann. We dined on Thai food at "The Mango Tree" and had yummy drinks as well. The best part...it was the first place EVER for our girls night out two years ago...and Ann planned it that way so it would be an extra special and meaningful evening...not to mention it's one of my favorite restaurants with a stunning view of the fountains and the Burj Khalifa!! Suky and Sajjad joined us after their Iftar dinner which was really sweet. I will really miss all of my good friends that I've met over the past two years. The past two years is a part of my life I will hold near and dear to my heart forever. I will never forget the South Ridge afternoons at the "playarea", or the tea OR cocktails mid-afternoon on Karen's veranda, or the ladies nights out, or the days at the pool, all of which are wonderful memories and I have a million photos to prove it!! Thanks Ann...for treating...and making our departure extra special. To my lady friends who weren't there...hopefully Jon will be making a trip or two back here in the next year and I'll come with on a two for one (wink...wink) and get to see you all...ONE last time!! Love you girls!!!!!!!!!!

Still Behind...

and catching up with this blog!! This past Friday was Veronic Vanney's 1st birthday party!! We attended without Fayth (this was sad for us) but still had a super time!! Lauren went above and beyond with food, decorations, dessert, drinks, and EVERYTHING!! Veronica was so cute in her cupcake dress and loved her very first real cupcake!! Lauren (and "V", too) loved all the clothes we got her...especially the cutie flared paint outfit I couldn't resist!! They had a good turn-out and Jon's boss Shamim, and her daughter Zayneb, were there too. Thanks Vanney's...it was a wonderful party!! p.s. don't tell Fayth...I ate the chocolate in the goodie bag...yum yum!!

FIRST TIME IN OVER 13 YEARS...........

and I'm not lying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See the photo...................need I say more...except it was AM...not PM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I totally slept until that time on Friday morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess the hardwork, sleeping pill the night before & jet-lag finally caught up with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!