I thought for a long time how to do this post. Or really, how to carry on blogging, since my write-ups, although focused mainly on deals, revolve predominantly around a party sorta life-style. Boozy brunches, ladies nights, good night-outs, and the occasional exciting adventures around the UAE.

So now that I am 21 weeks in, extremely excited…..  and we’ve done the announcements to all family, friends, my brother’s dog, it’s safe to broadcast it here on liloneoneoftheashes.com that I am now entering a new stage of life 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

I’m sure a lot of people go through the same thing I do. What now? How do you adjust from brunching every other weekend, last-minute cycles to an event on a schoolnight, a drink or two at all the coolest ladies night hotspots to being…. pregnant?

And more importantly, on liloneoftheashes’ mindset, is life going to be much more expensive now that I can’t avail to all these deals? 

It’s really…… not so hard ay 🙂 I’m sure I’ll say something different when I grow even more in the next few weeks, and when the bun is baked and out of the oven, it will be another whole new chapter.

For now, this is how I’ve managed the transition phase – still enjoying what I used to do, on a budget, minus the alcohol, hee hee. If you’re going through the same stage of life as me, feel free to drop a comment. I still have no idea how to reach out to like-minded people but hopefully this post will.

a) During happy hour,  it’s cheaper to pay for an alcoholic drink (for cocktails, ask them to put the alcohol on the side), than to buy orange juice.

I watched the bartender pour orange juice out of a carton in Carters in Wafi and charged me, what wasit, 30 AED? And happy hour beers were 25 AED.

In some bars, if you ask nicely, ask them to put the alcohol on the side. Perry and Blackwelders in Souk Madinat Jumeirah did that for me, as a virgin mojito was more expensive than a mojito so I paid for the latter. I then poured the rum into my girlfriend’s mojitos so they had a double shot. I’m happy, baby’s happy, girlfriend’s are even happier. Everyone wins.

b) Go to ladies nights that are smoke-free, and have an option of serving mocktails 

This is what prompted me to do a research on smoke-free bars in Dubai. Click here for my thoughts, and then here for a list of the smoke-free bars around town.

It’s not so hard to not drink, the tough bit is going to somewhere that’s smoke-free, especially if you didn’t organise the event. Lucky for me, as I’m usually the organiser, I now get to choose ‘healthier’ places for an evening out! Here’s one, at Observatory in Marriott in the marina.

c) Thank goodness for brunches with non-alcoholic options. Now let’s hope one of the troupe is not drinking as well so you can share that 241 voucher 🙂

Instead of forcing your other half to be sober with you, I’m sure there’s another person who’s not drinking who will be happy to share the Entertainer voucher (or similar) with ya. The only downside is putting up with everyone else acting like monkeys afterwards.

d) You can still go to music concerts, you just gotta stand away from the cigarette smoke.

I still struggle with this. It’s not so bad if it’s an outdoor venue like Du Arena and the Amphitheatre. We went to watch 30 Second to Mars and the World Trade Centre was completely soaked in ciggie smoke. We started moving away from this person, that person, until we were all the way at the back. Until they ban in-door smoking I wouldn’t recommend you attend music concerts that are held there.

Du Arena and the Amphitheatre isn’t so bad. I recommend you bring a paper fan at least, ha ha.

 

There really is so much other things you can do. Us pregnant girls don’t just stay home for 9 months while the little one is growing, ha ha. Especially when you’ve living in somewhere like Dubai, there’s so much out there.

Do join me on a super exciting chapter ahead 🙂

And if you’re going through the same stage of life as me, and you’ve always had a pretty eventful lifestyle, follow me on social media as I’ll keep us all updated on all the fun (cheap & cheerful) stuff we can still do while we grow, grow, grow!