28 and still learning to ride a bike

I may have woken up as a 28 year old last week, but there's nothing like having your mum rustle you from sleep with a big happy birthday kiss to make you feel like a worry free cake lovin' child again, just as she probably did 20 years ago. Feeling like the luckiest kid on the block to have my mum visiting, and depleting my wine rack, I began the day opening gifts from those near and afar surrounded by bunches of shiny colourful balloons strung up around the apartment that Miss Lauren had very quietly constructed before I woke up that morning.

Celebrations this year centered around a very civilised bubbly brunch with a few close girlfriends inside a beautiful hotel that is built around a Venetian style man made canal - which is why this hotel is sometimes referred to as "little Italy"! As the afternoon began drawing to a close we were approached by two American men with the foulest teeth you have EVER seen! With their deep Southern accent they declared to our table that we "sure were purrdy'" before dazzling us with their gappy blackened toothy pegs. Unsure of exactly where to look and what to say, we heard laughter coming over from their table which was when we realised the hillbilly teeth were thankfully made of rubber and their American accents slightly exaggerated.

Lauren and I en route to Brunch.......a table of celebrations

Our new dentally challenged friends and the rest of their table quickly came over and joined ours then began asking the waiters (sans rubber teeth) to bring more bottles of champagne, so next thing we knew our afternoon was gearing up again. Of the Americana motley crew most of them worked within a US government capacity however we discovered one of them works for the actual, real life, NCIS and yes we did grab hold of his business card for evidence and Lauren was the only one of us girls who actually knew what it stood for (Naval Criminal Investigative Service for those playing at home).


Three days later I was on my way to the airport with mum to drop her off in front of departures then keep on driving along to arrivals where I was picking up my new Brisbane visitor Georgie. Dubai was the first stop in her European holiday during which she will also be catching up with our mutual friends Mij and Troy over in Finland. I must confess that in the lead up to Georgie's visit her number one Dubai activity request was making me a little nervous and I initially wondered how I could weasel my way out of personally taking part. So to combat this feeling of insecurity I coerced Lauren and her visitor from home Jono along to the afternoon dune bashing activity of quad biking. It was much much more fun than I had imagined and towards the end I was getting up quite a speed. Nothing matched to Jono or Georgie's donut dirt spins but enough to feel the satisfaction of wind and sand blowing into my face - sadly the later of which is becoming a more and more familiar feeling to me here in Dubai.

Georgie, Lauren and I ready to eat dirt