Jennie's Surprise Bridal Shower!

In joyful anticipation of our upcoming wedding, I had planned to head back to NY June 1 (a month ahead of Eric) to finish last minute plans and get everything in order for the big day, July 10!!! The first weekend home, I was out with on of my best friends, Melody. I first went to the gym, then I met her to get our nails done and then we grabbed a bite to eat. I came home, only to find 50+ of my family members and friends in my driveway greeting my for the surprise bridal shower hosted by Eric's wonderful mom, Barbara and the bridal party!!

What a wonderful day it was. I was greeted with champagne (strawberry inside, yummy!), the house was set up beautifully with a blue and white "candy bar" as the favors, a delicious Lola's lunch (all vegetarian, yes!) and yummy cupcakes for dessert! It was such a treat! My besties knew I wasn't totally in for the cheesy games so they put together a video of Eric (even across 7 time zones) with questions much like "The Newlywed Game". Eric had to answer and then I had to answer and see how well we knew each other.

(Thank you for taking the photos, Ant Merry!!)

Preparing the champagne and strawberries

Pre-arrival, my mom showing my dad how his camera works :)

Walking out before my arrival

The group waiting for me to arrive.

SURPRISE!!!

My feet were slipping all over the place b/c of the lotion put on my feet during my pedicure...so I am struggling to walk up the driveway. and...I am still sweaty from the gym...so,....

I greeted everyone and then headed up to take a much needed shower!!!!

Much better!

Two of the masterminds behind the shower!! Love you guys!

My bridesmaids...you girls are simply the best! Love you all!!!

Holy gifts!!!!

Such a magnificent day, which makes it even harder for me to write about it, because it makes me miss everyone so much. We are so grateful for such wonderful people in our life.

Our first trip to Dubai, UAE

Since Eric and I hadn't left Qatar since our arrival in February, we figured it was time to travel a bit at the end of May. Unlike when we were living in France, we have to fly anywhere and everywhere we want to go from Doha (unless we're staying in Qatar) so it makes it a bit more difficult to take weekend trips. Before our four week long separation, we decided to head to Dubai, probably the better known of the Emirates.

We only had a few days so we hit the ground running...and I mean running. We saw everything! We arrived late Thursday afternoon. A long time friend of Jedd's (Sat) lives in Dubai so he offered for us to stay with him. Sat ended up having to go away on business last minute so we were sorry to have missed him but it was so sweet of him to host us even while he was away.

One of Jennie's friends, Serena, from HS lives in Dubai with her husband, Rahul so we met up with them on Thursday night for drinks, dinner and then a night on the town.

Even though they're not far, I think Dubai might have more humid than Doha at this particular time. You don't have to cover up as much either so it's a lot more tolearable.

Eric and the world's 7 star hotel, Burj al Arab.

The next day we woke up early to get to the Famous Burj Kalifa - AKA the tallest building in the world. We thought we'd be impressed, but to be honest, we were blown away.

It's three times the size of the Empire State Building!!!

Views from the top.

View of the man made island "The Palm"--similar to "The Pearl" in Doha

We just couldn't get enough photos. It almost looked fake.

Fountains for the water show

Then we hit the mall and found this: One of Dubai's Gold Souks..definitely different than Doha's very old, run down gold souk...but still has some worthwhile shops where you can get custom made jewelery.

Being Silly

Then we hit the aquarium...

which was at a mall in Dubai. Lots and lots of shopping in Dubai and almost everything can be found at a mall including ice skating rinks, indoor downhill skiing and, you guessed it, an aquarium.

They even have a "glass bottom" boat (Eric pictured in the boat below) so you could see all the fish and sharks. We even got to feed them. You could even go scuba diving inside the tank but we didn't have enough time for that. Only in Dubai....
Ugly!

Then we met up with Serena and Rahul again. They took us to Dubai's museum....not quite as impressive as Doha's Islamic Museum.

Then we went on a boat ride across the Dubai Creek.

Tired men sleeping in the shade

Dhow Boat

Catamaran

And we ended up at the souq, similar to Doha's Souq Wakif

We then hit the well-known "Ski Dubai" for some slope time before heading back into the heat and humidity. It was such a strange sensation to be in warm weather clothes and then be in a jacket and hat. It was only one slope but it was pretty impressive for just a ski slope in a mall!

Unfortunately we didn't get any photos inside where we skiied because it was too cold for our camera!

A glimpse of the Ski Dubai Resort.

That night we went to the water show at the Burj Kalifa

After the impressive water show, we planned to get drinks at the Burj al Arab (world's 7 star hotel). Only a $55USD minimum. Most drinks cost between $20 and $30USD.

Not terrible prices for a 7 star hotel.

This is a photo of the foyer looking up.

Entrance to the bar

Eric and Rahul with their very "manly" drinks.

We were all mesmorized by the water (below)....it was synced perfectly....if you've seen it, you know....just amazing. This video (from youtube) will explain it better....(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Gd7FMUAWg&feature=related)

Outside of the hotel

The next day, we went to Atlantis for the water park. Wow! We went on the slides and hit the lazy river. It was the perfect end to our weekend in Dubai.

Inside Atlantis

Until next time.....