Posted by Nat

I passed by the Kuwait’s got talent exhibition tonight at Villa Moda and there were 2 things that I fell in love with. When i first came in, there was a little cute pink corner for “Nat Bakes” with boxes of cupcakes and cookies which of course was the first thing that caught my eye since I’m a huge fan of cupcakes and because my name is Nat. I grabbed a couple of tiny cupcake samplers, a red velvet recommended by a friend and the chocolate coconut cupcake. Both were delicious and surprisingly way better than the cupcakes I tried at Magnolia’s Bakery when I was in New York. I wanted to try all the different flavors but managed to stop myself. As I was moving on I saw the cutest cookie monster cupcakes ever with an actual real cookie in its mouth. The cupcake prices were very decent as well ranging from KD6 to KD8 per dozen depending on the kind of cupcakes. They currently just deliver and you can visit their website www.natbakeswithlove.com for more information.

The second thing that caught my eye was a little corner for local designer Ascia AL Faraj and her local concept Twenty Ten. She had these amazing scarves on display which I just fell in love with. The colors she had on display were vibrant and summery. I didn’t get anything tonight, but I’m going back tomorrow to pick up a couple. Twenty Ten doesn’t have a website yet but they do have a Facebook group which you can check by clicking [Here]. The scarves are also available in my secret closet boutique in Karizma, Sharq. You can email twenty.ten.q8@gmail.com for more info.

There were ten booths in total but only these two caught my interest since the rest were not my style. The exhibition ends on August 1st, check Mark’s previous post for details.

Posted by Nat

Posted by Nat

For the past 3 years I had been a member of Flex Health Club. Back when i first signed up to Flex it was one of nicest women only clubs in Kuwait. They had a good selection of professional fitness trainers and a schedule filled with challenging classes. The place was immaculately clean and not over crowded. The gym clientele was somewhat refined, everybody minded their own business and last but not least the membership fees were good as well (around KD550 per year depending on the season and the offers they had).

For around a year now things started going downhill. They started having a lot of promotions to entice more people to join and a lot more people did. They basically became a make as much money as possible by signing up as many people as we can try to fit gym. At some point the gym had more members than it could handle, the good trainers started leaving and their fitness classes were overflowing. Because there were so many new comers they stopped all the advanced classes and turned them into multi-level classes leaving long time members in disarray. Parking became a huge issue as well. I started parking my car 2 blocks away and walking for about 10 minutes to get to the gym.

Things kept going from bad to worse. I was getting checked out by chicks over there more than I was getting checked out by guys on the streets. They had daily AC problems, a major towel shortage (members were stealing them according to management) and nobody seemed to care.

In short, even though I loved working out and one of my favorite trainers was in Flex, I had had it and had to get the hell out asap.

Mark’s sister was a member at Al Corniche Club and got me a 4 day pass so I could check it out and it was love at first sight. I was very impressed with the professionalism and high standards of the place. I still had 3 months worth of membership at Flex but I didn’t care and signed up to Corniche in the beginning of June. A couples membership costs KD900 at Al Corniche so I just ended up paying KD450 for a yearly membership which was pretty decent.

The club is huge and really nicely designed. They have the advantage of a nice outdoor pool (pictured above), the lockers and showers area is huge and extremely clean. The gym is considerably big filled with every work out machine imaginable and topped off with a great view. They have a ton of clean towels available almost everywhere and a huge fridge filled with bottled water at the gym members disposal.

The trainers at Al Corniche are mostly from New Zealand and I really like the fact that they are all super duper fit which is a rare find in most gyms in Kuwait like Fahad had mentioned. Their class schedule consists of a wide variety of Les Mills classes ranging from toning to cardio classes. I’m not a big fan of Les Mills but the trainers at Al Corniche make the classes really enjoyable and challenging for everyone.

In the beginning I was a little worried about joining a mixed gym in Kuwait since I didn’t want to be checked out by guys the whole time while working out. But to my surprise everyone keeps to themselves which allows me to focus on my work outs.

Bottom line I’m really happy I joined Corniche. I do hope they maintain their current high standard as it would be really depressing if it just turned into another Flex.

Posted by Nat

Posted by Nat

If anyone from Al Corniche Club reads this blog, I have a tip. The lounge chairs and tables around the pool are made of metal which is very unpractical when its 50°C! They should be made of plastic or wood instead.

I spent the whole time today trying to avoid having my arms and legs touch the sides of the chair so that I don’t get burnt. The chair was almost as hot as an iron! The person who got these chairs for Corniche has obviously never been to the beach yet alone a beach club in Kuwait in the midst of summer.

Besides that it’s pretty relaxing during the weekdays, very quiet and peaceful. I just need to make sure to cover my seat including the side arms with lots of towels.

PS: One more thing, according to Google, alcornicheclub.com might harm my computer?

Update: Looks like Corniche are working to fix the problem with the website since it now says “Website Under Maintenence” (Note maintenance is spelt wrong). Also according to Corniche management the beach loungers are being replaced at a gradual pace with non-burning ones similar to the ones they’ve already started placing on their beach (Thanks MNS).

Posted by Nat

Posted by Nat

A couple of days ago I went to the Brands Bazaar that’s taking place at the Salwa Al Sabah hall near Marina Mall from the 1st till the 4th of April. When I first got there, i was quite disappointed, the space where the bazaar was taking place wasn’t that big and it felt quite cluttered with lots of shop names exhibiting their products that I’ve never heard of. As I decided to give it a shot and started looking around I came across a place that was selling Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin shoes for KD19 and KD29 which was quite a steal! I was really shocked. Some lucky ladies also scored a couple of really nice Jimmy Choo bags. I managed to get away with a gorgeous pair of high-heeled knee high brown suede Louboutin boots priced originally at KD320 for just KD29 and a really nice black Jimmy Choo wallet for KD29 as well! The rest of the shoes were sadly either not available in my size or not to my liking.

Even though sale merchandise is not usually from the latest season I do still love events like this as you can really find some great pieces, and we’ve been having quite a few of those lately in Kuwait. Today (Sunday 4th) is the last day of the Bazaar, so if you’ve got some free time check it out.

Posted by Nat

When I was in London a couple of months back having breakfast at Marks & Spencer I saw a woman use this tiny hanger to hold her purse high above the ground. When I asked her where she got it from she told me she ordered it online so I forgot about it until now. I was going to buy one from Amazon but thought I would first find out if they are sold in Kuwait. Has anyone seen purse hangers here in Kuwait? They’re really practical since they keep the purse off the dirty floor while dining out.

Posted by Nat

Update: Thanks for everyone that posted. The best deal seems to be from Sarah who has a Facebook group here in Kuwait. She has a large collection of hooks and sells them for around 5-6KD. Here is the [Link]

I passed by the P2BK event tonight but it was super packed. I could barely walk through the crowd, as I told Mark, I felt I was at Avenues on a Friday night during a holiday! I said hi to a few friends but then I left, it was just too crowded. I took some pictures (click on continue below) but not much to see just people and more people jam packed into narrow passages between the booths.

Posted by Nat

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The Villa Moda sale at Movenpick is back and starts Saturday. It should be pretty exciting this time with discounts up to 90% and according to one of my sources at Villa Moda, the items this year will be from recent seasons and not the really old stuff like how its been in previous years.

The sale is going to be held at the Movenpick Hotel car park and the Villa Moda Warehouse in the Free Trade Zone in Shuwaikh. I feel it’s going to be even more packed than ever!

The timings will be as follows:
Sat to Thu – 10:00am to 10:00pm
Fri – 5:00pm to 10:00pm

As for Ramadan timings:
Sat to Thu – 10:00am to 2:00pm & 7:30pm to 12:30am
Fri – 7:30pm to 12:30am

Good luck bargain hunting!

Posted by Nat

This post is for the female readers of the blog which Mark doesn’t cater to that much. A few days ago, the owner of a new nail care salon “Bubbles Nail Spa” invited me to visit her newly opened place in Al Jassem Tower in front of the ice skating rink. It’s always interesting to visit newly opened places so I took her up on her invitation and took my appointment for Friday.

I was happy to discover that the place turned out to be very nice. Beautifully designed, with a very modern and sleek yet girly look. It even had a slightly industrial design with all the metal pipes and metallic crafted shades and separators. The place has a nail spa section that can accommodate up to 6 people with very comfortably seating and a brow bar that can fit up to 3 people. The seating area was designed in a way that gives the person complete seclusion and privacy.

What’s also very special about Bubbles in particular is the hygiene which is very important for me. Everything is immaculately clean and the coolest thing is they use disposable stuff for everything. They use disposable foot scrub sticks, nail filers, nail brushes and even the sinks in front of each seat use disposable plastic containers. I found that very comforting. They even have a cabinet that can accommodate up to 460 containers for regulars who want to safe keep their things in the salon.

The seats are also as comfortable as they look which completes the whole soothing spa like mood of the place. In addition to that the whole time while I was there they were playing oriental yoga style music which made it easier for me to relax and enjoy the treatments they have. I hate it when I go to a salon and they have loud TV or Arabic music playing.

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There’s a stray Injured dog that lives near my work place. I used to see him before with other stray dogs and he looked fine. But this week I saw him again and it seemed like he’d either been hit by a car or some kids got a hold of him and tortured the hell out of him. His leg was busted, his tail looked like it had been cut off and he had a limp.

I called up Animal Friends yesterday and they told me they usually don’t go around picking up stray dogs but they would do an exception since the dog is hurt. So they told me to see if the dog is approachable. And so i did and the dog got scared and limped away, 3 trials later and he was still running away. So i called them back and they told me they couldn’t do much about it. I didn’t even try contacting PAWs since from my previous experience with them I’m sure I would have gotten the same reaction if any reaction at all.

Now the problem is that the poor dog lives in a sandy area located 50 meters away from where I work and I have to watch him suffer everyday from my window. I think it’s really sad that neither PAWs nor Animal Friends would bother doing much about it unless the dog gets delivered to their doorstep. I Put him some water and dry food today where he usually sleeps and I’m really feeling helpless about what else i could do. That poor dog is going to die unless someone decides to do something about it.

Any kind of help or insight is appreciated.. I will try to take a picture of the dog before I leave work today and post it here.

Posted by Nat

Update: AFL passed by awhile ago and set up a trap to catch the dog.

Mark’s new shoes just got delivered to me earlier today since he’s still in Lebanon and I think I will burn them later on tonight. They will make a nice bonfire..

A couple of days ago Mark told me they were selling Starburst flavored lip balm at Sultan Center. So after work I went to check it out and it turned out not only did they have Starburst flavored lip balm but they also had M&M, Skittles and Jello flavored ones. I ended up getting the strawberry-watermelon Starburst flavor and it was for around 500fils. I found them at the Souq Sharq Sultan Center but when I passed by the Salmiya one afterwards to pick up some more flavors I couldn’t find any there so I am guessing they’re only available at the Souq Sharq branch.

Thursday after lunch I dropped Mark home and headed to the gym. While waiting at a traffic light I heard a strange sound. I didn’t know what it was but it sounded like little rocks hitting my car. I found that odd since I was at a traffic light with no buildings over me. I looked around and noticed this Kuwaiti guy wearing dishdasha sitting in his car smirking at me proudly. To grab my attention the guy was throwing what looked to be tinny pebbles at my window! What was he thinking that I would be mesmerized by his smile and throw him my number? Can someone please tell me what some of these guys are thinking of sometimes when they’re trying to hit on a girl! Is the guy driving around Kuwait with a bag full of pebbles and throwing them at cars hoping that one girl would find his actions cute and smile back at him??