Joelle Launches Fashion Festival at MODA Mall

MODA Mall had our launching event for Fashion Festival.  It is a marketing event to attract customers and to energize our tenants.  To get it started, we invited Joelle, a regional celebrity with a chain of salons in Dubai and Saudi, a weekly TV show, blogs, etc.  She is a great role model in the region...a strong, entrepreneurial female.  Her fans adore her.  We had a VIP launch in the morning and an open to the public event later in the day.  At both events she spent over an hour having photos taken with her fans.  She was exceptional at playing to her audience.  We were able to have dinner with her that evening ( I got to sit next to her), and it turns out her charms are natural.  She is very down to earth and kind.  It was a spectacular event.

 

 

Joelle and me...yup, lots of smirks...its a tough life somedays.

Shereen was our emcee for the events.  Egyptian by heritage, Australian by birth, she was total class.  She was as sincere as she was stunning.  Let's just put ti this way, I have had worse days at the office!

The models for the show.  Yup, they are that tall...yup, they have 3" heels, but are still THAT tall.  One on left, looked so much like Angelina Jolie, she was Serbian from Australia.  On the right, she was from Chicago.  She is travelling the world doing modelling gigs to pay her way.  She is a recent graduate of DePaul.  Both of these ladies were as sweet as their smiles. 

Shereen with our marketing manager, Celine.  Celine and her team did an exceptional job.  Joelle and her PR person commented that they had never seen such a professional and well-coordinated event.

We enjoyed dinner with the ladies at the end of the day.  I was sad it had to end...

 

Jewelry Arabia



Jewelry Arabia is the 3rd largest exhibition for jewels in the world and the largest in the region.  It is an enormous showcase for Bahrain and traders from around the world attend.  It is such a boon to the local economy, the Prime Minister personally, and officially, opens the event.  Since MODA Mall has a booth, I was treated to VIP passes for the day.  It was an interesting view of the world...much of the jewelry is in excess of $100,000.

 

I was this close to the PM.  Remarkably, the event had no security checks for admission while he was there.

A red carpet arrival.  The PMs motorcade arriving.

The crowd trying to catch a glimpse of the PM.

 

Firas, our Sr. Property Manager and one of our tenants.  Mikaela got a string of natural pearls as a gift from them...I paid.

A Fuzzy Night at Trader Vic's

 

It wasn't just the photos that were fuzzy that night...we were meeting our new regional finance manager out of Spain, Ignacio...Nacho for short...

 

Karan with the Tiki pookah pookah....I have no idea if that is spelled correctly...does it matter?

My turn.

Nacho...introduced to the wily ways of Bahrain.

Back in the US

I was back in the US from 12 September to 26 September.  I got to see a lot of folks...missed a lot too.  For those that I saw, it was great to see you...for those I missed, hopefully next time!  I spent five days with Mikaela in Duluth, had the opportunity to visit my mom who is in Hospice...but doing remakably well, was able to see two Gopher football games, both wins, got to see many of you at dinner the night I arrived, played golf with Jo, Jason and Gordie (forgot my camera...oops), 9 of us played Bunker Hills the next day (photo below) and laughed more than ever on a golf course, had a mini-reunion with the Grazzers (photos below), got to MP to see some of the team there, and was able to spend an afternoon with Cindy (who took care of some things for me) and finally a ride back to the airport with Julie (tahnks!).  All-in-all, it was too short...and a bit weird...it was odd being 'home' for a vacation...

 





My ham...love you kid!







Mikaela and Tanner near Enger Tower...color just starting. Being used to 90+ degrees, the drop to freezing at night was challenging...but my quest to not wear socks, other than while golfing, was completed.

 

Got to touch Floyd of Rosedale...what a treat...good thing too, he was gone the next week...with Durda and Mike.

Yup...Tubby Smith in the background...got to chat with him a little...nice man.

Ski-U-Mah

At the game...love that hat, comrade.

The Grazzers at Black Forest: Dave, me, Marcia and Brad, Dave and Beth.  Great to see everyone that could make it.

Dave, Melanie, me, Beth, Dave, and Brad.

Bunker Hills...45degrees and me wearing shorts...I reacclimated quickly.  l-r: Tim, Fridog, G-Rock, Russ (hiding), Mike, me, Jeff (who flew up from Phoenix just for this!), Durda, and Mike.



Sorry...it's been a while...

I have been very busy in the past month...a quick visit back to US, annual plans, transition of the mangement directly to the owner, business development...anyway, more posts today!