Update!

Wow.. It has really been a long time since I have updated the blog. It's not that i don't think about doing it, I just haven't really had much time to sit down and write!

A quick recap of the last few months!

November:

I was hard at work preparing for the 1st National consultation on HIV Social research in India for the entire month. Typically my work week consisted of work from dawn to bed 6 or 7 days a week! I loved it though - well besides one of the conceptualizers of the project who made my life miserable at every turn! But i managed to make it through somehow!

We also went to Ireland for a week for Tom & Syro's wedding. It was great to go for a visit and see everyone and the wedding was great fun as well. It was way too short though and it didn't help that i got up at 4 a.m. every day to work for a few hours before everyone else got up. But i was very proud of myself for managing to get work done every day and enjoy myself as well. We did have time for a little bit of shopping when we were there.. mostly for shoes! I got 3 pairs of lovely shoes and paul got a new pair of runners. Yeah! It really does seem that ireland is my shoe shopping destination these days!

We returned to India and I was right back into the swing of work. We completely missed thanksgiving which stunk. The AWC who normally hosts it here had their celebration on the 20th as the actual date of thanksgiving was on the 1 yr anniversary of the Mumbai attacks. We were in Ireland on the 20th and here for real thanksgiving :( But I did go down to one of the memorials with a friend to honor those that died that day for a reminder for myself, but also for all of my jewish friends who found such comfort at the chabad house here in Mumbai. After the memorial, Folo came down to meet me and we had an impromptu thanksgiving dinner at Indigo. It wasn't real thanksgiving, but it was the best we could do on such a sad day.

Dec:

December flew by in a flash! My consultation was held on the 17-19th of Dec, and our flight from Mumbai to the US left on the night of the 22nd, so I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off for most of the month. The consultation was a success and I was so happy that I managed to pull it off with no real staff or help. After quickly wrapping things up, running around for last minute xmas gifts and packing, we finally boarded our flight to the US at 4:30 a.m. on the 22nd and slept the entire 19 hrs to the US! Man was that a needed sleep!!

After getting delayed in SF for about 15 hrs, we boarded another red-eye to OKC via cinncinati. And in less than 24 hrs of being in OKC we were hit with a blizzard!! Wow! I don't think I have ever had such a white xmas! We had a great xmas eve dinner with my mom and were showered with gifts on xmas day. Seriously so many gifts we couldn't fit them all in the suitcases!!

And then due to the blizzard, we weren't sure what our xmas day plans were going to end up being. We had planned to drive the hour south to my grandmothers on xmas day and not until moments before we packed the car did we know if we would actually be able to go! But we made it. I felt I needed to go and at least try - it has been years since I've spent xmas with my mom or my grandmother and the plan was to spend a bit of the day with both!

Another xmas dinner and we were fatter than ever! We spent the weekend with my grandmother which was great, then headed back up to OKC to see my mom quickly before heading to the north of Oklahoma to see Stacie! A great, but short visit to Tulsa and then Chicago for new years!

Blistering cold is all I can say about chicago! We did manage to walk around a bit (well never more than 4 blocks!), but I will have to go back as I have no idea what the city even looks like! A quick visit with Julie and Colin and lots of quality time with Adam and Ang and then I was off again. (And folo was back to India for a short week of work).

Pittsburgh!! I finally made it to Pittsburgh to see grace and her newborn son Wyatt. He was a doll and set my internal clock a tick'n! It snowed the entire time I was there, so we had lots of chatting time and HGTV time!

New York! Another quick jaunt to NYC to see adam and lisa, david and of course for val's bachlorette party. It was a fab weekend, but way too short. I think I need a good week there sometime soon to really get a chance to chill with people.

And back to SFO to meet folo and continue on with the world wind tour! A quick 48 hrs in Sf and then to LA for a few days and then back to SF for val's fabulous wedding weekend, some shopping, errands a visits with a few friends before packing it all up and flying back to India.

whew... it was a quick trip for a month, but it was one of the best i've had in a long while. it was so great to see people i hadn't seen in ages and to visit so many places. Not that i'll be doing that kind of trip again anytime soon though!

And now back to Mumbai...and slowly slowly getting back into the swing of things (well work that is). I have actually been very proactive since returning and have *almost* finished this house - After a year of being in it! We finally, or I finally bought a dining table, got things hung on the walls and got curtains hung up in the living room. Whoa! Now a few more finishing pieces and we'll be finished and ready to move somewhere else ;)

Now.. i am sure so much more happened, but this is already too long! I will try to be more regular on here if anyone even reads this these days!

ta ta for now.