November means it’s time for the Marine Corps ball. 19 years ago Josh and I were newly married, heading to our very first ball in DC, where we had the privilege of escorting a general and his wife to The Basic School ball. We were babies, scraping together $20 to buy my dress at Ross and we couldn’t even afford to pay for a ball photo from the professional photographer. The idea of staying overnight in a hotel so we didn’t have to drive home would have been out of the question.
These days we are celebrating the ball in style. Technically, just as cheap because we were able to pay for the room with hotel points that Josh earned from all of his work trips AND THEN they upgraded us to a suite because of the number of points he still has remaining in his account. Yay for free.
It’s also free to wear a recycled dress from a previous ball.
On the pricy side were our tickets to the ball in Dubai because it was being held at the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world (at this moment).
Totally worth it.
No, we didn’t get to go to the top of the building (I’m actually very happy about that).
The ballroom was on the ground floor and the cocktail hour spilled over into the courtyard with the famous Dubai fountains — a light and water show that plays every 30 minutes.
We even ran into friends from Bahrain who now work in Dubai.
The ball is ceremonial and beautiful in its own way, but I could have stayed outside and watched the building all night.
It changed colors and patterns to the notes of the background music. Like a high class laser light show.
Some speeches and food and then we headed back outside where the real party was happening.
It was amazing.
Bye bye Burj!!
Another week, another ball — this time in our home city of Abu Dhabi.
Another partially recycled dress. I wore this to the ball in Bahrain when I took Calvin as my date, but I had a new top made for it because 1) I didn’t like the original and 2) because since starting CrossFit, my shoulders are bigger and the original top didn’t fit any longer. Win, win, I guess.
It was a typical ball except for some minor excitement when I thought we were getting stuck in an elevator. It turns out it was just a fancy elevator that needed a room key to go anywhere. (There’s a reason I haven’t been to the top of the Burj Khalifa yet . . .)
Our next to last ball before Josh retires. What a crazy thought. The plan for next year is to bring the younger 3 kids so they will all have attended one while Josh is still on active duty.
Here’s to #19!
And we came home with photos. I really, really wish that I had a photo from our first ball to compare it to.
