No Focus

I'm counting down the days to my departure and having a really tough time concentrating on anything for very long. Not much holds my interest for very long and I'm easily distracted. I am trying to prepare myself emotionally, mentally and spiritually for the upcoming roller-coaster-ride. I don't see how it could be anything less than. I will do what I can to minimize the change, but moving jobs, moving home, living out of suitcase for a month, leaving behind what has become familiar and moving to the unfamiliar is stressful-even if it is something you signed up for.
The best I can do is to keep a check on myself and try to manage how I respond to the inevitable unpredictable. Remember the saying "...even the best laid plans."

ATM Dispenses Gold

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Only in Abu Dhabi would there be a vending machine that dispenses pieces of Gold-and there is.

Installed just this month in the Grand Lobby of the Emirates Palace Hotel (self-proclaimed 7 Star) is a machine that will give you small pieces of gold pressed into coins and tiny "gold bars" of approximately 0.05 grams. Pretty small, but still expensive. The price you pay per ounce is slighter higher than the gold rate of the day, but it comes in a beautiful gift box.
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The machine was cleaned out in only a few short hours the first day it was opened.

Fabric Adoption Party

I have discovered that people who travel a lot, move a lot can become a bit eccentric about strange things that they simply must have, in spades. One of my friends here is very serious about clothing and shoes. She has turned one entire bedroom into a closet/dressing room; a small office serves as her shoe room. She spent a lot of time in Asia where having items custom made for you is very inexpensive plus she sews clothes for herself, too. As a result she purchases a lot of fabric, much of it still on the bolts. It lines the walls of her sewing room, dining room and half her hallway-floor to ceiling.
We all regularly razz her about it, because she will tell us about this new fabric she bought. So she decided to have a fabric adoption party where she would allow her friends to come select anything they wanted as long as they promised to actually have clothing made of it.
What an absolute sight we were-15 women eating brunch and pawing through all her fabrics. One lady cut fabric solidly for about 3 1/2 hours.
I came away with two armful loads of some of the neatest fabrics. I got pink/cream hounds tooth tweed (skirt suit), black sequined (cocktail dress), Chinese silk brocades (fitted dress), the perfect red twill (sheath dress), dark blue/white dot rayon (full skirted summer dress) and so much more...there's linens, silks, shantung, chiffon, cottons, formal fabrics, casual, fabrics for skirts, jackets, pants, even proper broadcloth to have a perfect white shirt made. I have to admit she’s rubbing off on me. I have had several items made for me because it is just so cheap here, plus shopping is pretty poor.
EVERYONE left with loads of stuff and she was left disappointed that we didn't even get into several (like 20) full chest sized bins.
We had so much fun! I simply cannot believe how much and the quality of what I have been given for free. We are planning to put money into a pot to pay for her to have a spa weekend retreat-what a wonderful gift to us.