Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a Funeral Part 1

I spent Thanksgiving with my family, but left that day to drive back to Mayur's place and hang out with him. My mom and grandma packed all kinds of food up for him to try (they knew about him at this point - though I'd only known him for a grand total of about four weeks by then, I suppose). He promptly took my grandmother's delicious mashed potatoes, frowned at their bland taste (in his opinion!) mixed them with chili powder, salt, and probably something else, then pressed this mixture between the two sides of a dinner roll, declaring that this greatly improved the taste and quality of the food. I'd like to see him try that in front of my grandmother!

The holidays rolled along, as they do, and both our office Christmas parties were coming up. He worked at a proper large corporation, and as such this large corporation had a huge, very corporate holiday party planned. I was fairly surprised when he invited me to go with him. We'd had a few discussions by this time about my existence and the lack of the knowledge of this on the part of, well, anyone from his life outside the town he'd lived in for three months, so I didn't really think he'd want anyone from his office to know about me either. I was starting to get the feeling that I was some kind of dirty little secret.

I work at a large proper corporation too, but at the time, I worked in a small regional office (I work from home now, which is awesome!) in Texas. We were having a Christmas party too, and I was planning it. I booked us a suite at a hockey game - lots of food, good wine, and plenty of fun. And of course Mayur was coming with me. It was the first time he was meeting some of my coworkers - he quickly settled into a quiet conversation with the resident IT guru, talking data, technology, and things like that. This guy happens to be a very senior person in my company, and a good friend to me. I was glad they were bonding.

After the home team's victory, everyone was still eager to keep the party going. We headed to a blues club which, fortunately for me, was on the way back to the town where I lived. After a couple of hours of loud music, drinks, and a smoky bar, I decided it was time to go. I work with a rowdy bunch.  I heard that after we left a couple of guys nearly got into a smackdown fight in the bar with some random guys who were hitting on some of the girls from our group - I was glad I was not there for that drama.

I felt like he was really my boyfriend then, walking into to his company party. I felt so proud walking in on his arm, navigating (on heels that made me nearly as tall as him) through the massive corporate office transformed into a winter wonderland. In one room a hired photographer took semi-professional photos, to be delivered to the employees in their offices the following week. Our first photo together. We met some of his coworkers, too - this was the first time I had the fun experience of standing quietly as he spoke in Hindi with the guys while their wives looked at me suspiciously.

Our third holiday party was at the home of a friend of Melissa's. All my girlfriends were going to be there; he'd only ever met Melissa, and I was excited for him to meet everyone else, most of all Melissa's boyfriend Brian. I knew they'd have a lot in common. We had a great time at the party and enjoyed ourselves until late that night, returning back to our shared neighborhood that sparkled under the glow of tens of thousands of holiday lights and a giant community Christmas tree that I could see through the panes of the French doors in my tiny apartment.

Christmas approached, and I wondered if Mayur and I would celebrate together and exchange gifts. This would actually be his first Christmas - growing up Hindu in a part of India without many Christians meant he hadn't even really been exposed to the pop culture version of the Christmas season - shiny red bows, Christmas carols, traditional foods - this was all new to him. I planned to leave to celebrate the holiday with my mother, stepdad and his family the day before Christmas Eve, then head to my grandma's house to celebrate. So we decided to celebrate before I left.

We both ended up getting each other stockings filled with all kinds of different treats. I was really touched by how well he knew me and what sweet presents he picked out - from the stuffed kitten that I would end up taking with me on all my work trips over the following two years to the bottle of perfume that I used to the last drop. He liked his gifts too, and we both just seemed so happy that Christmas.

I never would have dreamed that just two days later my whole world would be ripped out from under my feet, and that this sweet boy would be the only bright spot in my life as the twinkling lights dimmed and everything around me turned very, very dark.

What I Did With 72 Hours in India

Most people do not make whirlwind three-day trips to other continents. And of those who do, I would guess that most of them do not make these trips to get married. I did just that - went to India for what felt like one very long day to get married. I was slightly busy, so not many BlackBerry photos on this trip, but here are a few of (in order) - my beautiful friend from Mexico who lives in London yet somehow made it to my India wedding getting her henna, my hand and foot post-henna, some awesome sign I took a picture of because it reminded me of a friend from work, and the champagne KLM gave us even though we were in the cheap seats (I guess the flight attendants on the Delhi-Amsterdam flight are pretty aware at this point of how recent Indian brides and grooms are decorated):

Orange Fever

Ever visited a country when the national soccer/football team is about to play for a spot in the World Cup Final?

You see things like this everywhere (yes, I know the photo is sideways. But you get the idea. ORANGE FEVER):

Then after said team wins this game, people go crazy and party in the streets. I took this poor-quality photo from up in my hotel room, because I was alone, and somewhat afraid to be by myself in a bar with a bunch of drunk Dutchmen just in case the team lost. I really wish I had video here - the noise was just unreal:

Timing on this trip was impeccable. I was heading to India the next day for my wedding, and husband and I would be coming right back to Amsterdam on our way back to the US, just in time for my birthday, which ALSO happened to be the day of the final World Cup match against Spain.

Delta = Devil

Wow. Delta managed to screw my booking up so badly that it caused a KLM agent to actually curse me, then make me cry (Delta jerks had actually cancelled my booking on the flight to India) then fix everything and waive some fees she wanted to charge me. Dealing with other airlines makes me realize how much I truly love Southwest Airlines. Heck, Delta has even made American Airlines seem appealing!

Now just killing time here at the airport. Lots of orange shirts today...Hup Holland!

Sent from my BlackBerry

Back to India

On the second leg of the long journey. Made it to Minneapolis, now on to Holland. Awkward seat but nice neighbors. Here's to sleeping the whole flight!

Sent from my BlackBerry

Arizona Week

Spent much of this week in Arizona, for a work conference, but the true incentive to be there was getting the chance to tour Taliesin West and the Arizona Biltmore (FLW was a consulting architect here, and his influence is pretty obvious, at least to me). My slight obsession with Frank Lloyd Wright has now grown into a full affliction. Sure, he was a cad and perhaps not the nicest guy, but with that much genius crammed into his brain, there couldn't have been much room left for morals. Below are some BlackBerry photos from the trip.

Taliesin West, Scottsdale, AZ

  

 

 

 

 

Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, AZ

Airplane party that never ends

I am going to create a diagram of my flight paths from the past 36 months or so. That will be one nasty spiderweb of lines.

Just so tired, but yet can't sleep. The plight of the business traveler (or, at least this one).