School is done, and the fun's begun

Wednesday afternoon, I finished my final exam for Database Management I. It has been a brutal quarter for me. I never should have signed up for a class that coincided with looking for a villa and unpacking. The overachiever in me just can't say "no", so I soldiered through it with lots of whining and complaining. Last week, as I was finishing my final project, I was *really* close to dropping the class, but Scott convinced me that I had done all the work so I may as well finish. And finish I did.

In perfect timing, we had tickets to the Maroon 5 concert in Dubai for Wednesday night, too. Scott and I caught their sound check and show in Philly days before we moved to Dubai (the photo of Adam Levine in white is from the Philly show), and I was so excited when Time Out Dubai magazine had an ad in August that they would be coming to Dubai in December. I bought tickets the day they went on sale, as any card carrying fan club member should. The tough part was finding a babysitter, so we could go to the show. I interviewed 2 expat girls that were on vacation the day we needed a sitter, and I did not have a maid lined up. Since Natalie and I have been hanging out and having lots of fun, I decided to see if she wanted to join me and leave Scott home to hang out with the boys. Despite limited rock concert exposure, she was brave enough to say yes. Natalie and I got lost on the way to the venue, even though it was at a mall I had been to many times before. Then, I forgot my mobile (that's Dubai-speak for cell phone) in the car and we had to walk back. Once we got in the mall, we had to follow the sparse signs to even find the way to the outdoor stage setup. Confident that we knew how to get back to the venue, we headed back into the food court for some dinner at a Lebanese restaurant. We enjoyed lemon-mint juices, fatoush, grilled halloumi cheese, mixed grill and spicy shish tawook. After dinner, we joined the other cattle and corralled into the standing room only audience. A short wait later, we were dancing and singing. At the show, Natalie tried to convince me to don a Santa hat to get in the holiday spirit... and I did, albeit briefly. Maroon 5 delivers a fantastic show, and Adam Levine is easy on the eyes and ears.