Miami Fabulous - Fabiola Fleuranvil

You're Invited as my Guest!

MOCA Mystery Dates: February 1, 2014

Imagine a series of glamorous, intimate dinner parties held concurrently at the home of private art collectors and designers around Miami. The "mystery" is which glamorous dinner will you attend.

You're handed an envelope revealing your location during a sensational cocktail reception featuring live music and cutting-edge contemporary art at MOCA museum, and then you're whisked away to your "mystery" destination. On arriving, tour the private collections and enjoy a magical night of art, food, conversation, and philanthropy with other movers and shakers who share an interest in the arts. And that's not all - dinner is just a prelude to the after party. 

  6-8 PM COCKTAILS: MOCA, 770 NE 125TH STREET, NORTH MIAMI 8:30 PM DINNERS: SURPRISE LOCATIONS

The Museum of Contemporary Art’s young international patrons group, the Shakers, hosts Mystery Dates, Miami’s hottest fundraising event of the season for young patrons of the arts. Past Mystery Dates have been hosted at beautiful, art-filled homes in Golden Beach, Miami, Fisher Island, Morningside, Coconut Grove, and other locations. This event is ideal for couples and singles of all ages. It is a great opportunity to make new friends, experience fabulous art and design, and support the Museum of Contemporary Art.

  $200 NON-MEMBERS / $150 SHAKER MEMBERS +

**** As a MOCA Shaker, I have a 10 pack of tickets at $150/ea that you can purchase in my name.

Tickets: mysterydates2014.eventbrite.com

Imagine a city where the world's biggest mall, the tallest building, the most luxurious resort, fastest cars, over the top spending, and living the lap of luxury every day is part of the norm. That's Dubai and I am so lucky to have gotten the chance to check this destination off my bucket for an all expense paid trip. And in grown woman style, I didn't hesitate to take this solo trip and for the ultimate experience. Moral of the story: don't wait on your girlfriends to take that vacation!

Dubai is everything you've seen on TV and more and it's impossible to get it all done in an 8-day trip because there is so much to do in Dubai. I tried to squeeze in as much as possible but there's still so much that I wanted to do that I will definitely find an excuse to go back very, very soon and hopefully before the summer heat comes around. I got an even better experience by taking the metro and seeing the city on foot.

My summary about Dubai is that it doesn't have anything on NYC, LA, Chicago and other American cities that are iconic for their landscape and lifestyle.

My itinerary

My itinerary started off by visiting Sharjah, the third largest emirate in the United Arab Emirates. Most people only hear about Dubai and Abu Dhabi but Sharjah also has it's own cool lifestyle going on. It's more low key than the other two emirates and definitely more conservation where it's respectful to cover up. While in Sharjah I spent some time at the 32nd Sharjah International Book Fair, which is supposed to be the 4th largest in the world with more than 1,000 exhibitors. Those people there are in love with books and books were everywhere. If only we had such a strong love for reading in the U.S. I also checked out Al Qasda which is a waterfront of shops and restaurants and got on the Eye of the Emirates, which is a huge larger than life ferris wheel that gives a great view of the city. I also took a nice romantic stroll at Al Majaz park.

I then hit up Dubai to see and do everything that I've always heard about. Here's a little of what my itinerary included:

Dubai Mall - the world's largest with a huge walk thru aquarium and an underground zoo

Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building with a perfect view of the entire city. While here be sure to check out the fountain show at the Dubai Fountains.

Old Dubai - I can't go to a new city and not get an authentic experience by going where the locals area. Old Dubai is where the Dubai Museum is for a historical perspective of the rise of the UAE and this is located in the Al Fahidi Historical District which is filled with a bunch of cool little quirky shops and hole in the wall eateries. Imagine a cross between NYC's China Town, Greenwich Village, and Little Italy.

Souks - the UAE is known for its souks aka marketplaces. If you can imagine a huge farmers market, flea market, and mall combo. The cool thing is that I took the Abra aka wooden boat across the Dubai Creek to check out the Spice Souk and Gold Souk. Just as the name implies, the Spice Souk has everything herb, incense, scent, and spice that you can think of and the Gold Souk is all gold everything! I saw the world's biggest ring at the Gold Souk standing at 21 carat, 141 pounds, and 11 pounds of precious stones and valued at $3 million. Put a ring on it!

Mall of the Emirates - has the world's largest indoor skating rink

Desert Safari - You can't go to Dubai and not do the desert safari. This city girl was in for a treat for a camel ride, sand duning, belly dancing show, and a BBQ buffet to top it off. I went with the best company DesertSafariDubai.com.

Atlantis at the Palm - I met up with an expat from Miami and we had dinner at this super luxurious resort, which is where the super filthy rich stay when they come to Dubai. It's on the Palm Jumeirah, which is the world's largest man-made island and is actually in the shape of a palm tree. While here we met up with one of the rich gentlemen of Dubai who gave us a tour of the lap of luxury at Palm Jumeirah. FYI, liquor is banned in the UAE and the only place to get it is at a hotel. So all of the hotels offer ladies night with free drinks!

What I wish I would've had more time to do:

These are on my to do lists the next time I get to the UAE...hopefully very soon.

Hit up the Jumeirah beach

Tea at the Burj Al Arab - it's super exclusive to get in here but I know how to network my way to any spot

Spend time where the expats live at the Jumeirah Beach Residence

Definitely hit up Abu Dhabi which is 1 1/2 hrs away. The White Mosque is a definite must and is the mosque that Rihanna got kicked out of. I also heard that Yas Island and the Emirates Palace is a must see.

Go on a Dhow Dinner Cruise