Adventures in London: Issue 45

After the island vacation it was back to NYC for some last minute chances to catch up with friends, co-workers, and family before heading back to London. Visiting NYC is always wonderful (even if with each visit I feel more and more like a visitor rather than a person who used to live there).  There is a certain essence about NYC that I do miss. In addition to the people, I miss that spirit (not the hussle and bussle spirit, but the living life spirit), I miss the food (some of it), and I miss my Wharf - the place that welcomes me with open arms (and a round of shots). 

New York may not have been the city for me, but I truly am thankful for the years that I had there. When/ if I move back I won't fight living there and will just enjoy the wonderful city that New York is. If nothing else, New York is the home of my girls, my family and my dear Kadin. 

The second round of visiting NYC, before flying back to London was purely about spending time with Bhai, Jamila Bhabi, and Sir Kadin. Bhai and I never really did do a good job of living in the same city as each other. That said, we were the best for visiting on another. I cherish the spring breaks in UMASS, the 21st birthday surprise at BU and the beginning of this week when I got some good ole brother & sister time. We may be 180 degrees opposite (I am the person that can just pick and move to another city without ever visiting and he needs to calculate a plan, visit for at least 3 weeks and then needs at least 6 mos to decide), but I love spending time with him, talking about life and laughing over old memories (or the fact that I cannot walk in my new heels).  

For the first time, I was able to attend one of Kadin's classes. That kid is just something. He is a precious bundle of joy and there is no doubt in my mind that I left a piece of my heart with him. I wish I took a video of him and I don't know why I did not think to do so. 

Wish I took a bit of video so I could hear his voice, hear him count to 10, hear his response when you ask "what does a horse say?", and how he says my name followed with a bear sound. Oh that was definitely the coolest - - "Eenie, Eenie, EENIE growl! tee hee hee hee!" I cannot wait to have him visit London is just a few weeks!!! I am going to need to do some serious baby proofing before the family comes in June. 

While in New York, I came to the realization while running through central park that a 3hr40 marathon may not be feasible given the NYC hills. I am used to running at a faster pace in London and I realized that it is due to 

(1) the lack of humidity

(2) the flat surfaces

I do not think I am going to have to deal with the humidity in November so that is fine. In regards to the hill situation, I am going to have to find a way to add hills to my workouts. I think there are some good hills to run on in Richmond park and in Greenwich - - will aim to do hill repeats on them. The challenge now will be to find a weekend to actually do so. This was my last free weekend in London. Between going to Amsterdam, seeing Britney with my Millennium Extravaganza girls, and family visiting, I don't have a free weekend until the end of July (which will mark my 1 year anniversary in London). 

I spent the weekend just relaxing. I did a bit of house errands and cleaning, but my true focus was just on enjoying the weekend. On Friday, i went over to a friends new flat to help her and her roommate paint. On Saturday they were hosting a house warming party and BBQ in the sun. After an afternoon of Pimms, surfers on acid, chicken legs, burgers, and fairy cakes, I was delighted to discover that beer pong exists on this side of the pond. The rules are slightly different, but the game is ultimately the same :-) Being the token American at the party and the only girl that knew the rules, I had to back it up. I am happy to say that I did not allow my days at Whisky River to go to waste ;-)

Today after a quick run, I relaxed in the common with Mia, and some of their mates. It was a nice day of just relaxing in the sun, playing a game of rounders, eating melon, and catching up on some reading. I am just about finished with New Moon, so it is time to move onto my non-fiction book. Yes, I am sticking to my fiction-nonfiction-running book cycle!! 

Now that I am caught up with the blog, I should say that I will not post next Sunday as I will be in Amsterdam. Hope you are all well. Miss you dearly 

xoxo

T

Adventures in London: Issue 44

How can you beat a week that starts in London, finishes in St Thomas, USVI and has a stop over in NYC?!? You really cannot. In every which way, this has been an utterly blissful week. 

Despite a rough weekend of all work and no Wolverine, everything worked out on Tuesday when we had our presentation with the client.  I am not going to bore you all with work stories since I am trying my best not to make this the "work adventures in London". I will say, please try to understand that when I do talk about work it is not because that is the only adventure that I have here - - rather it is part of the adventure. I am playing a whole new game here and it is terrifying and exciting at the same time.  Each day I am expose to new facets of thinking, communicating and working and with that comes numerous opportunities to learn and grow. I am trying to make the most of every opportunity that I have here cause I am truly amongst some of the greatest minds and abilities to view the situation here. 

Who knows how I did it, but Tuesday night (well really Wednesday morning) I managed to tidy the flat, pack and even took a 2 hour nap before my 0630 car pick up for NYC!!!

Arriving in NYC, I immediately went to my brother's apartment where I was greeted by my lovely nephew Kadin. It took him a bit to recognize who I was or what I was doing there, but soon enough he was all hugs and kisses (or headbutts and "mmmm" sounds). 

There have been so many "Kadin first" that I have missed out on living in London, but there is one that I was happy to be there for...the day he said my name!! It may be more "Eenie" than "Tini"...but I am not going to complain!! It is the greatest and most touching moment when  you hear your 18 mos nephew say your name.  There is just something precious about this boy. I cannot put my finger on it, but something about him is .... well I cannot even find the word for it. To be able to hear his voice, laughter and see him run around the house... well that is a lucky person that gets to be able to spend time with him. If there are 2 things that I am truly jealous of my brother it is the 5 extra years of memories he had with Dad and all the next 5 years worth of memories and moments that he will have with Kadin. 

Speaking of memories, a friend pointed out while I was in NYC that my memories are dictated by my stomach. Aside from spending time with my family and friends, a good portion of this weekend was about having some of my favorite meals and cuisines in NYC. I think I covered all the bases - Mexican at Sinigual, Mac N Cheese and crispy bacon at Cafeteria, $1 tacos at the Wharf, everything bagel with cream cheese at Daniel's, Jamba Juice, Brother Jimmy's BBQ, french vanilla coffee at Dunkin', Patsy's extra garlic pizza....okay I don't know about you but I am hungry and therefore am going to stop. Each time I come back home I am always afraid that people are going to thing that I have changed so much that we can no longer just pick up where we left off. I know I am going to change while living here, but I can only hope that I don't change that much that people don't recognize me anymore :-( 

On Friday, it was off to St Thomas for "my little sister's" wedding. This was the most unique, breathtaking and peaceful wedding that I have been to. The weekend in general was a rather unique on. For starters, I made the decision do the island vacation solo. I rented a car in the Virgin Islands (interesting experience as they drive on the left side, but the steering wheel in on the left too), and I spent the first day just exploring the city. I am not going to lie, it would have been nice have a +1, but you cannot always wait for a +1 to do the thing that you want to. Some times you just have to get on with things before you miss the opportunity and ability to enjoy the world around you. 

On Saturday, a few of the folks from BU went on a boat ride to the British Virgin Islands. The day was absolutely amazing. We arrived at the boat at 0715 and were greeted with the question of whether we wanted a "Bloody Mary" or "Mimosa"? Served in sippy cups the drinks did not stop flowing until we returned 9 hours later. Our tour of the Virgin Islands included a hike in the Baths at Virgin Goudas, lunch on Marina Cay, snorkeling in the Diamond Reef, and a swim into Jost Van Dyke to visit the Soggy Dollar Bar (the birthplace of the yummy Painkiller). 

It was great to just have a day in the sun, relaxing, swimming and just enjoying the island spirit. I came to an interesting realization while catching up with my friend's mom. We were talking about the experience of moving to London and I told her that for once I was truly happy. I don't mean to imply that for the past 29 years I have not ever been happy....don't misunderstand me. It just that right now, this whole experience just seems to make sense. It seems to fit me and I am not looking for any missing pieces. I often spent too much energy focusing on the missing pieces that I failed to enjoy what I had in front of me. Moving here has given me perspective on things :-)

Back to the one-of-a-kind truly mesmerizing wedding. Nay & Matt got married at his parent's house that overlooked the Virgin Islands. It was a rather intimate gathering of friends and family to share in their glorious moment. There really are no words to describe the wedding and that evening. It was a sincere pleasure to see Nay; to see her glowing, smiling and all around happy. 15 Sept 2002 seems like such a long time ago. When we meant, we were at such different places in our lives, 8+ years later I am so very lucky that although we are at different stages of our lives that we are still in each other's lives. Nay, thank you for allowing me to share in your day... I am truly blessed and honored to have you as my sister xx

Adventures in London: Issue 43

Before I start, please allow me to apologize for not updating the blog on time. I am a couple weeks behind and I apologize for that. To be honest, I was in no shape to update the blog on Sunday...but I will explain all that later.

This has been a rather interesting week. After a challenging gym session on Monday, I went home to warm up some yummy leftover curry. While trying to dig out the dessert, I ended up dropping the entire pot on my foot. It took me a moment to realize what had just happened. I stood there in front of my fridge just staring at the Rasmalai dripping everywhere with one thought in my head, "If the Rasmalai fell inside the fridge, can I still eat it?" Yes you read me correct, for the first time I was not concerned with whether or not I injured myself or if I just delayed my training schedule...at that moment my tears were for the dessert that was splattered all over the kitchen floor (in case you are wondering, I did not eat the dessert -- come on).

After skyping my dear mom to (1) calm me down and (2) check and see if I should be worried that the top of my foot had turn deep purple, I opted to eat my dinner (having Galab Jamun instead as dessert -- rough life I know) and ice my foot rather than making a trip to the A&E. Sadly, after a client meeting the next day, I had to make a trip cause my foot was killing me. Thankfully, nothing major was wrong :-) Just several days off of training, and a lot of painkillers and ice.

The rest of the week was entertaining to say the least. I made a second and third attempt to see Wolverine, both of which I failed at. I do not think it is written in the stars for me to see this movie in the theaters. C'est la vie. It wasn't for a lack of trying, I can say that much. So what exactly prevented me from seeing Wolverine? Well the answer is work.... now before you start with me...I was happy logging in the hours that I did. I cannot put in words how much I've learned and grown in those 80+ hours. I owe a great deal to my friend NA who would not allow me to beat myself up over this pitch, no matter how hard I tried. She said that I would figure it out and by golly I did (really had no other choice about it). What drove me was the most interesting realization. I was not focused on the career, I was not focused on the exposure (I am not going to lie, they were great benefits of this project), but at the end of the day I was purely focused on not letting my mentors down. I took a massive risk moving to London for this new role, but I am not the only one who took this risk. There are others who took a risk on me too, cause they believed in me. The last thing I want to do is to let them or myself down. So when I those moments come when I loose site of the reality, I need to remember to keep the faith. To quote journey, "don't stop believin' - hold onto that feeling". Having faith does not mean that the race is not going to have it tough bits. What it does mean, is that you will finish it and you will be okay.

In the midst of the massive work week, I had a great night of dear friends, birthday celebrations and DANCING!! On Friday night, NA celebrated her birthday at a bar up near SoHo. It was literally one of the best parties that I have been to in ages! Not going to go into details. What I will say it is was great to see NA have a great time and it was also rather fetch to dance old school style (i.e. Britney vs JT style).

Well on that happy note, I am off to bed.

xoxo

T

Adventures of London: Issue 42

Another joyful week in London come and gone... and what a lovely week it was :-) For starters, I ran my first UK race. Alright, it wasn't really a race - it was more of a fun run.  Wednesday night afterwork NA and I went to Battersea Park for Cancer Research UK's Race for Life. It was an amazing evening and just what I needed after a couple of not so satisfying training sessions. NA and I ran the first 4K together at a reasonable pace. This was NA's first race in a couple of years, so it was a pleasure to run with her. You know me, I enjoy seeing people discover a joy for running especially when they innately have great running form :-) I know that I should have finished with NA, but the runner in me wanted to have a strong finish so I sped up for the last kilometer. I also had the secret desire that if I ran faster to the finish that I may be able to get another glance at Paula Radcliffe!!! I had no idea she was supposed to be there, but NA nudged me when they announced that Paula would be officially starting the race. I later read that she participated in the race for her mom. I cannot explain how great it was to see her. I am sure I annoyed NA with my glee, but after just finishing her book and reading about her highs and lows - - it was a sincere delight to see her in person. 

If the joy of running and seeing Paula Radcliffe was not enough; on Thursday in the smack dab in the heart of London at the mystique entertainment center of Trocadero, I found a "BUCK HUNTER" console!!! You cannot grasp my excitement when I saw this -- actually if you have seen me play then you would know just how happy I was to play this game. Oh it was just like riding a bike... somethings you just don't forget. The animals and treks may have been different, but they were no match for my big buck skills ;-) 

So you are probably thinking, "How do you top a week of running, Paula Radcliffe and buck hunter?!?"Well under normal circumstances there wouldn't be, but this week there was - - CURRY NIGHT!!! Last night I hosted my first dinner party for 13 people. After nights and hours of cooking, I am happy to report that the evening's meal was a success. Granted I was not 100% satisfied with the outcome of all the dishes, but for my first attempt... it was rather tasteful (at least that it was everyone else thought). It was a great experience cooking this dinner and I am happy that I did it. Aside from the desserts (where I used premixed boxes), I am proud that I made everything from scratch.  

4 years ago when I had to cook for my mom after her heart attack I was so scared cause I could barely make oatmeal from scratch.  Thanks to Superbowl parties, Easter brunches, NYE parties, and small dinner parties here and there to "test run" dishes, I started to experiment more and more with my menu. That said, my abilities were rather basic - cous cous salad, citrus salmon, chili... nothing earth shattering really. All of that changed after moving here. Over the last 9 months I have discovered a new love for cooking and venturing out side of the safe zone. I would be a lucky person (as would the others around me) if somewhere in my DNA I picked up my Mom's ability to cook. I know my brother has in so many ways, but if I could have a share in that, I would be utterly grateful. 

(Sheikh kebabs w. mint chutney) (Chicken Curry & Alu Gobi)

(Palak paneer) (Galab Jamun)

Today I went over to East Ham to have lunch with my mom's cousin/my dad's best friend in college, his wife and my cousin. It was the perfect ending to a lovely week. I wish I was able to spend Mother's Day with my mom, but being able to spend it with my Aunt was a great substitute (not that you can substitute moms, but you know what I mean). After lunch, we headed over to the Canary Wharf and walked along the river bank. On our walk, I learned one of the greatest facts a girl could know about her father - - he was a runner too!! Back in his college days, he would wake up early in the morning and run with my uncle. I guess he also biked too. Being the "city guy", he would be the first of his gang to have the bike and would spend the first few weeks of getting it cleaning it after every ride. Funny how you pick up some traits without ever knowing it. And like yours truly, his OCD polishing of his bike would fade after a handful of weeks. Doesn't sound like much, but it meant a lot to me. 

Hope you all had lovely weekends. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU MOMMIES & MOMMIES-TO-BE!!! 

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 41

I don't have a lot to recap on from this week. In fact I am a bit lost as to what to type. There are a million thoughts swimming around my head, yet I cannot create a sentence from any of them....hmmm

This is bad, I am really struggling to remember the week. It wasn't a bad week in any which way. In fact it probably can go in the books as an overall good week - had some great training sessions, caught up on some personal projects,and work was fine. OH I know what I can share. For my birthday, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and purchased a Nike iPod+ . This little widget is incredible. I went for a semi-long run on Wednesday to test drive the new toy and I am thrilled to have it. For those of you unaware of how this gadget works it's simple: there is a sensor that goes onto your shoe and a chip that plugs into your iPod. You can the choose to have a workout based on (1) time or (2) distance. That's it. While you run, the screen will display your time, distance and pace. Periodically, your "trainer" will tell you how far along you are, etc. Anyway, I am really pleased to have this (despite it being a Nike product) as it allows me to gauge my pace, measure my distance and not be on a treadmill. WIN WIN!

On Saturday I went over to Hammersmith/ Barnes to spend the day with one of my close friends here in London. The day initially called for dinner and a show, but the weather was absolutely beautiful, so we decided to start the day early and walk around the beautiful neighborhood. I don't know what is was about Saturday, but during dinner is dawned on me that it felt very much like a NYC day. I woke up at a reasonable hour, my friend called at 11:00 (which used to be my staple time to sort out which brunch place we were to meet up at), I went to the gym (where I attempted to swim and soon discovered that swimming is not a talent of mine), and then it was off to meet up for good conversation, drinks on the riverbank, tasty food, and splendid memories.

If you thought that was a full day...the main event hadn't even started. After all that, NA and I went to see a great show called Havana Rumba. If it comes to your town (or if you are living in London), I suggest you go and see the show. It is an amazing showcase of talent (and unbelievable bodies), culture, and all around it has such a great spirit to it.

It was a great cap to the weekend. No wait, I still had two more days to go (it is a long weekend here in London). Sadly the rest of the weekend was not as good as Saturday. The rest of the weekend was plagued with a series of disappointments - disappointing long-run, disappointing responses, disappointing behavior, disappointed that unlike my friend I was not told by the boys of Barnes that I was marriage material - just had a general sense of disappointment. The bittersweet thing about living in a new country and meeting new friends is that you sometimes need to relive the past; a past you thought you moved on from, a past you thought you dealt with, and a past that you wish you could just leave in the past.

Not to be one to "sulk" for long, today I snapped out of it and travelled down to the indian market for some shopping. I am hosting a curry night next weekend for what looks to be 15 people. Lord knows how in this world I am going to pull it off, but I can only pray that I somehow

(1) learn how to cook curry and

(2) learn how to cook for 15 people (am realizing how many people that actually is). Cooking for 4 people is usually an adventure for me, so this is going to 4 times the fun and excitement :-)

In order to prep for next Saturday, I figured I would start cooking this weekend. The full menu that I (thank you Mom for NOT helping design the menu), envisioned is...

... veggie samosas (made this from scratch, well not counting the shell), chicken samosas, alu gobi, rajma, palak paneer, chicken biryani (will be sure to make this like my Mom's older brother used to), parathas, galab jambun, jelebi, and ras malai.

Writing that all out made me very nervous. Deep breathes!!

A friend of mine came over today to help with the cooking preparation. I am generally not a fan of having people help me in the kitchen, but today it seemed to work. I could really use a sous-chef in the flat! Come to think, I could do with a cleaning lady, and a masseuse. I will start working on those treats ;-)

So, this weekend may have had its lows, but it certainly had its highs and I am pleased to say that I started my weekend with a smile and I am ending it with a smile. Everything else in the middle.... they are just filler. Nothing to focus on.

Hope you all are well and I hope that you are smiling today and always.

xx

T