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We finally had the first wedding in our family last month.  My cousin Shalu, as she is affectionately called, got married on April 15th in Houston, and I of course, went home to take part in the festivities.  (Tax day will never be the same in the Kenia household, Neelesh you better be expecting a refund each year so you can take your wife out!) 

I got there on a Wednesday afternoon, after my luckily uneventful 10 hr flight from London (it’s true, I still have a slight fear of flying).  That night was spent bonding with my family as mom, dad and I went out for some Mexican food, and caught up over enchiladas and a few margaritas.  The jetlag (and the margaritas) soon set in and we called it an early night.   

The next day was the mehndi, a traditional ceremony where henna is applied to the bride’s arms and feet in preparation for the wedding.  The festivities were being held at my aunt and uncle’s house.  Shalu looked radiant, grinning away as she sat there patiently for hours while the mehndi was being applied meticulously to her hands.  Of course, we were all around to make sure she was constantly entertained…I’ll have to give my brother credit for that one.  By the time it was all said and done, she had spent eight hours sitting there!  I’ve never known Shalu to be the patient type, but I suppose knowing she had to look good for her own wedding might have convinced her to stick it out ( just kidding cous).  I had some henna put on one hand, just a simple design as I had no desire to sit there any longer than was necessary. 

That night my friends drove down from Austin with my favorite adopted niece, Liah (who I’ve decided is the cutest baby in the world) to spend some time with us and of course attend the wedding.  My dad was especially thrilled with having a baby around, and I’m not sure who was entertaining who.  I do remember at one point sitting at the kitchen table and looking over at them.  All you could see was the tops of their heads and hear both of them giggling.  Apparently they were playing a game which involved hide and seek with Cheerios, which I later found in various nooks and crannies in the sofa. 

The wedding and reception took place on Saturday, which started with frantic phone call from Shalu as she needed help getting dressed before the wedding.   I, along with Shalu’s sister Ruchi and one of her friends Kim, helped her with her final touches before taking her down to the wedding hall.  I got my first glimpse of the groom on that day, and while I had heard a lot about Neelesh, I had never met him in person.

After Shalu and Neelesh were seated in the mandap, I sat there still finding it hard to believe my little cousin was actually getting married!  We had some family visiting from Chicago, and I hadn’t met one of my cousins yet so it was great catching up with them.  After the wedding, we took some family photos and then hung out with our cousins in the hotel before getting ready for the reception.  Chaitan was practicing his speech for that night as he and Ruchi were to be the MC’s.  Poor guy looked like he was ready to get the show on the road which started an hour after we had originally thought.  Somehow we forgot about cocktail hour (how is that possible?)  Anyway, Chaitan and Ruchi were great as the hosts for the evening, and after sampling the food and grooving to a few tunes, it was all over.  Time for the after party!  We thought we’d be hanging out at the bar in the hotel lobby, except that they forgot to keep it open for us.  Then we thought we’d hang out at the local bar nearby, which we managed to get kicked out of.  So, in the end we sat by the hotel pool and chatted…wrapped in towels as it was kind of breezy that night (you would think I would have gotten used to the cold by now having lived in London for a year).  With only a stolen pitcher of beer from the bar next door (no, that’s not why we got kicked out), we passed the next couple of hours just relaxing and chatting…which ironically was a nice way to end the night. 

It’s a lazy Sunday morning and raining outside so before my pea-sized short term memory disappears I thought I should probably document what’s been going on this year.  2006 has been a busy one so far.  I moved flats in January and now live with one of my colleagues in a townhouse in a great part of the city.  Those who have visited so far can attest to that!  I no longer have that matchbox feeling and being able to walk around my place and up and down the stairs has led to a sense of home and freedom.  It’s amazing how feeling more settled just changes your outlook on things. 

February was the month to reconnect with old friends.  As some of you know, I spent part of my early childhood in Tripoli, Libya.  My parents had made some good friends there, and everyone had kids around the same age.  One of my buddies at the time was Sejel, a fellow oil brat a few months younger than as me.  Of course being girl friends at the age of 3 involves running around and being silly.  Not much seems to have changed in almost 30 years!  While digging through some old papers Sejel’s dad found my parents contact info in Houston.  After a phone call, they realized we were all living in London, and about a week later, Sejel and I met up for dinner after a hiatus of probably 15 years.  We bonded instantly and have spent a lot of time together since then.  I met her brother Sachin as well later that evening, and I’m amazed at how well we all get along.  We’ve been enjoying everything London has to offer, which is a completely different experience when you’ve got two locals showing you around.

Later that month I had my first visitor of the year, as Phil came over from New York for an extended weekend of fun with one of his favorite friends (yes, that’s me putting words in his mouth)  :-)  We had a blast, visiting some great restaurants, including Chutney Mary (a must visit if you are looking for great Indian food in London) and partying until dawn on a few occasions.  One of those nights involved a visit to the famous Ministry of Sound.  We didn’t get there until 3am, having closed down the club at another venue before that.  Even at that hour, the place was packed with young 20-somethings grooving to music which was playing at an ear-piercing volume.  We settled in and joined the party for a few hours.  Finally at about 6, we decided to head out, and by the time we got home the sun was up.  Needless to say, it took me a few days to recover from that weekend! 

In early March, three of us (myself, Michelle and Parul) headed down to Pau, a small town in southeastern France for some fun in the snow.  On Michelle’s insisting, I spend the first day attempting to snowboard.  Of course, being the tender age of 32 my body isn’t as young as it used to be so after falling for the 20th time, I decided I had enough.  On Day 2, I was back on skis and feeling a lot more confident!  Woohoo!  I was still a bit nervous as I hadn’t skiied in probably 5-6 years, but I was able to pretty much pick up where I left off.  The weather unfortunately wasn’t cooperating that day and taking the ski lift up, we were wondering what we were getting ourselves into.  The higher we went, the cloudier it became, and at the drop off point, visibility was about 10 feet.  It became clearer as we skiied down as the outline of the nearby scenery appeared.  I thought, wow, it must look amazing on a clear day, with snow-capped trees, and beautiful chalets dotting the French Pyrenees which served as our surroundings for the weekend.