Health blog for a health puppy.

Hey, Everyone!

    To start here is an update on Dippy's leg. It's healing fine ( so far that we know.), but she has an appointment with the doctors today to possibly get the cast off. YAY!!!

   But other then Dippy's leg, there hasn't been much going on.  In a week or so we will be going to another brunch with friend. And they have told us it's like going to a night club, but with food and no loud music. Apparently the people treat it like a party! Dressing up, getting their hair done, just so that they can have a buffet and maybe attract somebody. All in all sounds like my kinda place!! High energy AND delicious food and drinks!! Sign me up.................Oh wait I did already!

   But in preparation for this feast of delights, I have been diligently going to the gym and trying to get back in shape. ( I once had abs and I will again!!!!). I have meet some cool people in the circuits class I take every now and then. also I workout with one of Dippy's bosses. Yay networking!

   So far I have lost ten pounds in two weeks and 6% body fat as told to me by my scale. I have been using one of Dippy's fitness monitors and doing well in my opinion. But ya, we will see if I reach my goal by next August.

 Yep, as I said nothing happening quiet yet. But stay tuned for more!

Hop-Along and the Tales of Brunch

So Dippy and I went to a Dubai brunch. which at first I thought should be peaceful............... think again, readers! Nothing about Dubai is basic or mundane!!!

First though, I should mention that Dippy's ankle got worse! Now she has a cast. Poor Dippy! But don't worry, I take good care of her!

The health care here is pretty amazing!!! ...As long as you have insurance (which we do!).
Sooo send your get well soons to Dippy.

But back to the topic of the day! We went to Dubai's famous brunch. Which should be called a "drunch" (portmanteau of drunk and brunch). We went to the Wafi hotel . Which hosts an amazing brunch; and as long as it's "culturally appropriate" they offer an alcoholic brunch as well.

You can only guess what Dippy and her co-workers picked!
So the deal is you can have all you can eat food from three of the restaurants of the hotel, and included, if you wish, is "house beverages". The stylish bracelets shows that you can order alcohol.
It kinda reminded me of when I worked for Club Med.
( shout outs to our Club Med Readers!)

Now this is where Dippy and I behave ourselves, of course.
But when the last call came around, without asking, the waitress came to the table with soo much alcohol!!!

I asked for one drink to end the day, and got three. La Cat asked for "a rum and coke, but can it be a half glass" and wound up with a half glass... of rum! (with a can of cola on the side). Another co-worker got brought a half bottle of wine!!!

So if your ever in Dubai. I suggest a brunch if you want to get your day drunk on.

Other then that I got a haircut to clean it up a bit. We got some wrapping paper for Christmas as well. Being so big about shopping, they rep Christmas here big time, just not quite as extravagantly as Canada does.

Which I like, since I am a twin to Santa Clause apparently.

My apologies for the lack of picture. we didn't stay long after the brunch.

National Day at Abu Dhabi

Dear Readers

Get ready for a long one!! Cause this post is covering everything from the Abu Dhabi trip!

National Day horses delay our return to the hotel

Let's start off with: be sure to not injure yourself before you go on a trip!! Dippy did just that! Of course it was an accident. But she was so blown away by our driver's new ultra-patriotic decals that she fell in a hole and sprained her ankle before even getting into the car! This meant no time for ice and rest. Her ankle swelled up real good! So we tried to keep her off the ankle for most of the trip.

My next warning is: Careful which hotel you book if you're going to Abu Dhabi on National Day. I'm not saying that it was a bad stay or that it was busy. On the contrary! It was wonderful! ... once the military lifted the lock-down in and around the hotel. We had trouble getting to the hotel because the military shut down the entire area around it. So after some talking, we were escorted by armed guards to the hotel and then told not to leave it for five hours. The whole area was closed down from 12pm to 5 pm due to special National Day events at the Expo Centre adjacent to the hotel. This put a bit of a damper on our plans for the day. But after waiting for two hours, we snuck out.

We had made it out and now were off to Yas Island for Yas Mall!
and here is were warning number three comes in:

Don't go to Yas Mall (yet).
Go sometime after April 2015.








The mall is big and it boasts over 300 stores... if the mall were finished. Much of the mall is unfinished and the stores haven't opened. The building is nice, but we had planned to shop a a few stores that you could only get back home. The store I wanted to go to most was the Under Armour store.
But as you can see from my grumpy expression, it was one of the many stores not yet open. The only store that was open that we particularly wanted to go to was Pie Face.

The store is all about pies, as you can tell from the name. both sweet and savory. The meat pies were very good! Next time I go, I'll be getting a bigger pie though! I could eat through all the small pies without any trouble.

While in Yas Mall we thought we would check out Ferrari World. Which is a huge indoor amusement park based solely on Ferrari cars. However, the tickets were really expensive, so we decided that could wait for another time.

This store is called On Time... alas, like many stores at Yas, it was not.

After Yas Mall, we came back to the hotel and decided to have sushi at their roof top lounge. Dippy enjoyed the sushi because in one roll (the "aloft maki") she got every single one of her favourite sushi ingredients. But unfortunately for La Chat. they messed up her order and the communication between servers seemed rather off. So we all went to bed and chalked that night up as a failure and would start a fresh the next day.

The next day we went to a few of their other well-known malls. Al Wahda was a much better experience than Yas had been. We went there to have Red Lobster for breakfast/lunch. For a moment, I felt like I was back in Canada. Looking around that mall, we found a cute little Christmas tree for our apartment, and new shoes for poor Dippy's injured feet! Dippy's favourite brand of dress shoes had a whole shop there as well, so we all went and tried on new shoes. When we were done with Al Wahda Mall we took a taxi to the Gold Souq (also known as the

Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre & Gold Centre).

I have never seen so much jewelry in once place. Sooo much Gooooooold, and for really good prices, too! Bangles, earrings, necklaces, watches... every form of jewelry and gold that you can imagine!

The Marina Mall was the last stop of the day because they boast some of the best views of the coast in the area. I wish we had gone up their tower; it probably would have been a really great view. But we were tired and so we stopped at an ice cream shop that makes ice cream according to your specifications by hand with liquid nitrogen. You choose the milk base, the mix of flavours and add toppings or mix ins! It was called Sub Zero Ice Cream Shop and it was a lot of fun to watch. I remember being told to wear protective gear when dealing with liquid nitrogen, but these guys didn't!! They do it day in and day out, so I suppose that they know how to handle the stuff better then I could. The ice cream they made was very tasty too! We don't know if it tasted any better for being made so fresh; but it tasted exactly like we hoped it would!

To wind the night down we took a scenic drive past the Emirates Palace and went back to our hotel. We ate dinner at their poolside restaurant/bar/shisha lounge/night club, took a dip in the pool and spent the night watching "The Terminal" while having our own little spa night.

Once we woke up and packed up for our final day, we went to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

The Mosque was absolutely amazing! What a perfect way to end our trip! Ohh the marble flooring, ohh the delicate design! If you ever get a chance to come to Abu Dhabi, the Grand Mosque is a must see!

There is really no worlds to describe the place! the photos here do not do it justice, and that is saying something cause Dippy is great at taking pictures!!

What an amazing trip. Bumpy and slightly scary at the beginning. But it smoothed out in the end!