This weekend Josh and I went to the Navy Ball. A first for us since we’ve never been stationed on a Navy Base before moving to Bahrain and since we always go to the Marine Corps ball, I thought it might be redundant. But a group of friends were going and asked if we wanted to join their table so we thought we’d give it a go, especially since it might be our last chance to go to one.
I took this photo because I was trying to check my hair in the car on the way. I went from the shower to the car and was trying to dry my hair with the air blowing in from my open car window. Making sure it hadn’t blown all over the place.
I decided the Navy Ball is super fun because it doesn’t matter to us. It’s not a work event so Josh doesn’t have to make the rounds to say “Happy Birthday” to all the VIPs and no one is there from his office to get him sucked into the latest work drama. Much less stress and lots more fun.
We made the rounds and said “Hi” to the people we knew that weren’t at our table and Josh got lots of compliments on his new uniform (because it stood out from the sea of Navy ones). He better get all sorts of compliments for how much it cost. He was promoted 8 years ago and avoided having to buy it until now. I was hoping he could get through 2 more balls without the purchase, but he said it was time. Don’t make me calculate the cost per wearing or I’ll sign us up for every ball that comes along over the next two years to get maximum usage out of it.
The ball was held at the newest hotel on the island, the Art Rotana. In addition to the beautiful ballroom and lobby they had a toasted marshmallow station as part of the cocktail hour with a guy who would hand out toasted marshmallows for us to dip in chocolate.
Nice job not getting any chocolate on the uniform!
My dress is one that I had made when we lived in Oman. My mom picked out the fabric on one of our shopping trips to the souk.
The Navy ceremony is similar to the Marine ball, but less serious/formal. And there’s a section of toasting to the President, the King of Bahrain, the head of the Navy, the Army, the Marines, the Coast Guard, basically to everyone and their mother. Surprisingly the Marines don’t have this at their ball, since they seem to find drinking to excess almost a badge of honor, but Josh said they save that for their Marine-only formal dinners. I guess to keep it respectable in front of the general public.
Let’s do this again in a month! (November: Marine Corps Birthday Ball)
The food was excellent. Best ball food in a while. Filet with sautéed mushrooms and asparagus, salad with feta, watermelon, and basil, and desert of creme brûlée and salted caramel chocolate.
And then we danced until the end. Josh and I have been watching The Voice with the kids for the past 18 months or so and thankfully the show has kept us current with pop music. 95% of the music played has been featured on the show so we were right in the middle of it, singing along. And laughing every time the next song started playing and we were able to identify it: Pharrell! Adam Levine/Maroon 5!
The next day Josh had a holiday, but the kids were in school so after we went to CrossFit together (yes, I’m still making myself go every day) I took him to this hole in the wall restaurant that I had been to with friends the week before.
The draw is that they serve an amazingly cheap Arabic breakfast that is eaten sitting on the floor and you can leave your mark on the walls if you want. They repaint every month or so and the fun begins all over again.
From our feast last week: fresh flatbread (hot and chewy), eggs with tomato, dal (lentils), eggs with sweet cardamom noodles (my favorite!), grilled flatbread with cheese and honey, and fried donut holes with date syrup and sesame.
Josh was happy with my menu choices. I need to find a reason to go back for more donuts, eggs with sweet noodles, and the cheese/honey quesadilla thing. Maybe I can take the kids when they have a day off from school.
