Apartment move the social media way

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Move day is upon us. The packers are packing whilst I watch. In my defence I packed a lot of stuff for the last few weeks or put into easy piles for them to pack so now I can rest until I get to unpack it all in new place.

As I have mentioned before the move from one place to another in Dubai is a new experience for me and has been (touch wood) not to painful.

The painlessness has been due to the use of social media, apps and my many mac products to assist from analysing new location to noting content of boxes. This is something I can’t was the norm a few ago.

On deciding to move I went to twitter to get ideas of locations and views. I didn’t look at the property classifieds in the newspaper as a first point of call. Whilst tweeting I reviewed the choices on dubbizle.com and got real time advice whilst trawling the net.

On querying it was decided the best options were Jumeirah village or motor city. Once I had seen a few locations in both places I then got further feedback on twitter and Facebook on the best place to move. The deciding factor for me was that close tweeps lived in motor city or nearby in Arabian ranches. Also motor city has grown into a pretty community with nearby amenities and of course the thought of living near a race track made my heart flutter.

Once decided and I had found the ideal apartment for me (1 bed on 1st floor so if kitties jump off balcony they won’t die just lose one of their nine lives – maybe) I had to locate packers.

Instead of scouring and meeting different movers I asked on twitter and tweep @toffeeprincess who had recently moved and done the comparison recommended Mexico Movers. For me any suggestion by her was going to be good for me so I called Rafi and got him to see my place within a day. Reasonably priced and efficient I had no doubts and was sorted. They are doing a marvellous job whilst I write.

The list of boxes has been added to Evernote which I can sync onto my iPhone later. I used a measuring app to measure the co-ordinates of the new apartment. Dubbizle.com has been used to try and sell my stuff.

I have updated my parents and friends on the move escapades and especially the moods of my two kitties via path. Ideas for new stuff for apartment has been thanks to pinterest and the fancy (both my new app fetishes).

The remarkable thing is that this all wasn’t possible 5 years ago. With the use of technology and a new way to communicate the decision to move to move day has been possible in a few short weeks with limited aggravation.

Admittedly we are lucky in Dubai that we can get cheap packers and movers to help with the move. But I also had the agent register me for DEWA and Emicool which is not normal.

If you live in Dubai the chances of losing your cool due to something so stressful as moving is highly likely but this hasn’t been the case for me and I think it’s due to use of social media and technology (as well as some good karma for once).

If you want details on Mexico movers and other information please let me know.

Salt and Pepper Hair

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Recently a new obsession has arisen with salt and pepper hair men a la George C and Dermot Mulroney (he is soooo swoonsome in New Girl currently).

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Dermot

The salt and pepper hair man is older, refinded, cultured and mature on the outside. They like good food and can chat without belching.The other positive is that they are great arm candy. I would prefer to have a man looking like above holding me rather than a justin beiber/one direction wannabe.

I recently went out with a salt and pepper hair man. He was close to his forties and had an air of maturity that is lost with these twenty somethings and early thirty guys who have been buzzing around. He was from eastern europe so there was a bit of a culture clash going on (not emotional visibly; deadpan), but I didn’t care when I could run my hand through his peppery hair.

He was a muppet (as are all men I seem to be attraced to) but for a brief time I had moved onto a different level of speciman. It was a brief dalliance, but it ticked all the right buttons for me at this time of my life.

While I wait for something more long term, I’m going to be pursuing these men rather than accepting the child-boy into my life.

Change is coming

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The time has come after 5 years to leave the place i have called home for a new place in the sandy land.

Most people would say its nothing new. People move all the time especially in this town but for me it’s a new concept. The last time I moved in Dubai was to move back to England. Then I moved back. Long story.

I have been my normal anal self and cleared the junk and prepared for the movers to pack and take my stuff to the new place. The decision to move to finding the place has been fast and the date of moving is coming closer.

I wonder if it’s a mistake but I know I need to change my life otherwise I will be stuck in a rut. Also my two cats and I have lost love with the garden we adore due to two huge loveable dogs that are too huge for us to appreciate.

One of my babies has been a traumatic mess for months and now it’s got to the point where she doesn’t come home except to eat every few days. I feel like a terrible mother not able to look after her and protect her. I’m hoping the calm food I have bought today will help her.

The other is hiding back in her favourite kitty hiding place – the laundry basket. She may be easier to move as I’ll just carry the basket to the new place.

I’m putting all my emotional baggage onto the kitty problems and hiding from the fact that I’m scared shitless. I didn’t feel like this when I moved countries so i have no idea why i’m being like this to move across town. Maybe as you get older, the harder it is to move out of your comfort zone. Or maybe I’m just being an emotional retard right now.

Whatever the issue I’m hoping it will get emotionally easier. And that my kitties go back to being “normal”.

You Muppet!

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I have a tendency to call people, mostly blokes I know, Muppets. Usually when pushed I call them Gonzo as he is the muppetfoolish muppet of them all.

In light of this and that there is a new great Muppet Movie out which I have finally seen, I give you for your smiling pleasure the Muppet parody trailers that came out for the new movie.

 

(ps: all rights in the trailers with the Muppets and their owners).

Tag Copenhagen!

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If you follow me on twitter you may be aware of my love for Scandinavia and anything to do with the area. Despite never being there I have been in love with the men, food, clothing, music and sweet looking reindeer.

An opportunity arose recently to get a cheap ticket from the UK to Copenhagen so in the spirit of craziness I bought the ticket and got my  arse to Denmark to see some culture and Scandinavian deliciousness. Here is my adventure…

Of course being addicted to being on my mac/apple products (yes I am one of them now) I researched and found a lovely looking hotel on the harbour called 71Nyhavn.

 

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The hotel is predominately for business people but I look business enough and hey it was a convenient location. The hotel was lovely and had a great restaurant more about that later but the bathroom in my smallish room was weird. I forgot to take a photo but the lack of separate cubiclelising the shower was weird. Weird!!!

There are touristy things to do but you have to see them to enjoy the beauty of them. My writing on them won’t be useful but here is some useful stuff to know when being a tourist in Copenhagen:

1. Buy a Copenhagen card – 72 hours. They can be bought at the main  tourist office in Tivoli (very helpful) or in other places such as the Canal tours in Nyhavn. The card lets you go on public transportation in  the central area for free and also to the museums and other attractions.

2. Copenhagen is practically dead on Sundays (but going to change in  October 2012 due to a law being passed to allow shops to be open). Monday is also dead if you go from January to April. There are a few places open but not much.

3. Rosenborg Slot (Castle) – has the worst timings in the world ever to  see the place. The main castle is open till 2 and then crown jewels and  special exhibition are open till 4. A few of the attendants there especially one butch woman were really rude. But others were really friendly. Also get the QR barcode scanner for your iPhone so can scan info on the stuff inside otherwise you wont have a clue at what you are looking at.

4 Amalienborg Slot (castle) – beautiful palace with proper information on each room. Small but well done and the staff are really friendly. Outside don’t sit on the steps otherwise a Danish Royal Guard will come and tell you sweetly to get up (yes that happened to me).

5. Christiana – supposed to the hippie commune. I couldn’t find it even on google map and what I did find was a scary looking council estate.

6. Canal tours – its free with the Copenhagen card and you get to see a lot of stuff in an hour. You can’t hear anyone on the phone including the reservations line for Noma whilst on boat but still cool.

7. Noma (top restaurant in the world right now) – make a reservation to be on the waiting list online as soon as you know you are going to Copenhagen. Then keep your phone on high volume at all times to hear the bloody call. If you miss it you will regret it always.

8. Christansborg Palace – has a massive library with lots of books on Napoleon and none on Hans Christian Andersen. The dining room is massive as well. See..

 

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9. Nyhavn – its  cobbled. It has a sex shop on the street. They’re a lots  of pubs and restaurants there and blankets for when you sit outside and its bloody cold as by the harbour side. Pretty area though and Hans Christian Andersen’s house (which you can’t go in) is here.

10. Dansk Design Centre – its not very big and they replay the start of  Vogue too often but its still awesome.  Do you know how much stuff the Danish, which we use, created in everyday life???

11. The Little Mermaid – as the Danish will tell you it is not the national symbol of Denmark. It is in an open harbour area so at the time of the year you will freeze to death seeing it and people go mental taking photos of it. Here is a quick shot I took of it. All say awwww.

 

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Now onto serious matters…Shopping. Denmark is famous for clothes designers and design stuff for the home.

These are the places to go to for your fix:

DEPARTMENT STORES

ILLUM
Østergade 52, Copenhagen (00 45 33 14 40 02; http://www.illum.eu). A pretty department store. Not as big as Magsin but still good.

MAGASIN DU NORD Kongens Nytorv 13, Copenhagen (00 45 33 11 44 33; http://www.magasin.dk).Its like the Selfridges of Copenhagen.

LEGO Amagertorv 10, Copenhagen. – It is Danish and just brilliant to relive your childishness. I used the excuse of buying for my nephew the reason for going there.

FASHION

BY MALENE BIRGER AND DAY BIRGER AT MIKKELSEN
Antonigade 10, Copenhagen (00 45 35 43 22 33; http://www.bymalenebirger.com). Malene Birger, who started the famous fashion house Day Birger et Mikkelsen in the 1990s, is the unrivalled queen of Danish high fashion. I bought from Day Birger the most awesome clothes. It was like clothes heaven in there.

INTERIORS

ILLUMS BOLIGHUS
Amagertorv 10, Copenhagen (00 45 33 14 19 41; http://www.royalshopping.com). I mixed this up with Illum. Illums Bolighus has an amazing mutli floor haven of design stuff. It was orgasmic. I cannot emphasize how awesome this place was for buying everything and anything. They also had Designer Remix which is a fashion store and I picked up some stuff from them.

ROYAL COPENHAGEN Amagertorv 6, Copenhagen (00 45 33 13 71 81; http://www.royalcopenhagen.com). It is the Wedgewood of Denmark and very cool. Being close to Easter I got a porcelain egg. It’s almost next door to Illums Bolighus (see above).

FOOD

Copenhagen has become the gastronomic capital globally in recent years due to Noma, Paul and other restaurants getting the “stars”. There are other restaurants around which may not be famous but sold food which taste sublime. I don’t know whether it was the cold or something in the food, but I loved every thing I ate there. From the cheese roll to the whole lobster I was in food heaven.  The choice picks were.

Lagkagehuset – forget the Baresso coffee chain (it was not good) and go to Lag. It has an amazing choice of Danish’s (geedit) and the coffee was good. The best thing in the world as well is to get a bread roll and ask them to put cheese in it.

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Ida Davidsen – Store Kongensgade 70, Frederiksstaden, Copenhagen (00 45 33 91 36 55; http://www.idadavidsen.dk). They have over 250 smørrebrød (open sandwich), I had the steak tartar and also the salted fish sandwich (called Princess Marie). There are men at the front. One moody queen and the other lovable queen. He made me laugh whilst helping me choose what to eat. I finished off with the Danish apple crumble.

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Restaurant Pakhuskælderen –  located in my hotel 71Nyhavn. They had a tasting menu for the week which you could review every time  you got in the lift so I had to try it out. The smoked duck breast with horseradish foam and beetroot was divine as well as the Chicken and  Mushroom. The service was so good and they are accommodating. Thumbs up.

Noma – I would talk about it if I had not missed the call. *sigh*

I did take the train to Malmo for a few hours but Malmo disappointed me so I wont bore you with that tale but the service at the station (even when the train was delayed) and the train journey itself was great.

All in all Copenhagen was amazing for me. It was beautiful, cultural and amazing in its design and food areas. It is an expensive town and the Kroners went too fast out of my purse so I had to start using my visa for all purchases even small ones as there were not enough forex places to change money when I needed to change.

If you have some extra cash and want to go somewhere different then I highly recommend you get on an Easyjet/Emirates flight and go to CPH.

 

Didn’t We Almost Have It All

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The first album my daddy bought me on casstte was Whitney. It was August 1987 and we were in Orlando, Florida for our first holiday (which wasn’t to Kenya).

The number one song for those two weeks was “Didn’t we almost have it all”. Since then, its been our household’s Whitney anthem.  When we woke up today the song that we thought of was this one, even though we were in different continents away from each other.

Like all who loved her songs, it’s been a sad day. She may have had her demons and “bad habits’ but she was a beautiful gifted singer with a voice that cannot be matched.  There will be tweets, blogs, and other forums mentioning her today. My blog is for the singer who occupied my brand new walkman and my ears for two weeks in Orlando and for my life since.

Unfortunately she never did a proper video for this song, so here is a live version for your viewing pleasure…

Rest in peace Lady W.

Some changes…

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It’s been a month into this year and it already feels like half the year has gone. In recap…

 

1. I spent quality time at home with friends and family.

2. Spent a bit too much in Selfridges

3. Didn’t change jobs but hoping it happens this week (cos I need to be back with my old boss).

4. Went out with a guy for three weeks

5. Dealt with stressed cats and an influx of horrible dogs in my zoo of a village

6. Decided that I would go to the West Coast for my next holiday (tips would be nice thanks).

7. Quit smoking, shagging and anything else that is naughty.

 

Reading the list, it aint exciting but it feels like it lasted for longer than a month (especially the dating bit). I have decided not to discuss said 3 week relationship in blog although it is great blog fodder. But if you follow me normally, you may be suprised to know that for once i went out with a nice bloke instead of an arsehole. And i became the arsehole. Not good.

Anyway moving on… i have had thoughts about moving house to change my life a bit. I do love where i live and all that but I saw a beautiful duplex apartment the other day and it got me thinking. The only problem was the location of the amazing duplex apartment. If there was a similar one in Jumeirah/Marina i would jump on it. But for now i am here with my new vintage looking cupboard and state of the art cat flap to get me smiling (it’s the little things).

The main change of course is the quitting smoking. It was easier to quit this time and with less side effects. It kinda of helped that i put on the wrong patch and had 20mg on my arm rather than 15mg or 10mg which is what i should have been on. I might have the odd puff at night but i hate doing it so for all intents and purposes I have quit. The other naughty things which i have quit on are not intentional and I would be very happy to start them up again sooner. Very soon.

I was going to write a blog about television but that would have been more torturous than this update blog. But then again  I do watch a lot of tv, I am sure I could educate a lot of you on the merits of The Office USA, Modern Family, The Daily show and how I am going to start on the Killing….