Celebrations!

The month or so that passed saw several notable events and milestones. A two-year mark since I moved to Muscat, a favorable court decision back home in Marikina and, last but definitely not least, our wedding anniversary! So, to say that the build-up of the celebratory mood was about to reach critical was an understatement. Fortuitously, Vivian had a term break come up and I had a couple of weeks-leave I had to take. Plans and schedules fell into place, reservations were made and so, again, drove off to Dubai.

First on the agenda, we took care of the things we needed to buy first. So, we had our usual breakfast stop at IKEA in Festival City, then bought a bookshelf and a few kitchen and household goodies. After a quick check-in at our hotel, we sped off to Wafi Plaza. Wafi was a big mall as well and had a pretty unique set of stores...but I really had just one shop in mind - Al Ghandi Electronics - apparently, they were the one and only store that carried the KitchenAid brand. I'd been wanting to buy Thess her own for years now. We got to the store, picked from several hip and cool colors available but finally settled on a classic black finish...tadaa...my anniversary gift for my wife! As for my gift, I opened up mine back at the hotel. Thess had bought me my very first bracelet which I...ahrm...LOVE(!) - am so fortunate I have a wife who knows what I like.

Last on the day's agenda, Jollibee for dinner! It took me a while (GPS! woot!x2) - it was right smack in a construction heavy area and the evening rush was no help either - so, after about half an hour of getting lost, we found it. Of course, pinoys manned the restaurant. The menu featured more or less the same lineup - from the jollihotdog, 2pc chicken, palabok and of course the burgers. Unfortunately, the food was far from the original's taste and appearance. It was good in its own way but it seemed the Jollibee branding was simply a novelty that quickly wore off the moment you chomped on the jolli-less hotdog. The good thing was, the little girl didn't mind it. Albeit, she noticed the taste difference, she was just really hooked on the concept - 'I'm inside Jollibee again!!' and just kept on chomping. And for that, it wasn't a total disappointment. Except for the parking ticket I found back at the car...