Bilaeva

You can't really sum up an experience like Marrakech. So let's just look at pictures!

The complete set of photographs are here. There are lots of pictures of tiles and patterns as one of the reasons I went to Morocco was to look at geometric patterns and designs in Arabian and Islamic decoration. I wasn't disappointed.

Lucy, Jonathan and I went to Rome for three days. I had planned a trip to Rome before Christmas, but travelling isn't half as fun without Jonathan and Lucy along. Thank goodness they were available as it was absolutely freezing and it would have been miserable without Lucy's company and Jonathan's comic relief.
The rest of the pictures are here. We're thinking we might go back... sometime when sun is out and our gelato actually melts rather than cooling down when we take it outside the shop.

I covered 2 continents and 3 countries in less than 24 hours on Sunday/Monday. That's a first. And I'm still exhausted.

My Michael-designed hair has been drawing complements ever since I touched down in the UK on Monday. Two particularly enthusiastic thumbs up from Jonathan and Eleanor (and I know Mike will appreciate the Eleanor seal of approval!) Views of this fantastic do are available below...do enjoy.

I went to my nephew Jonathan's school Christmas concert yesterday (I hope to add a picture when I get access to Lucy's camera tomorrow). Despite much talk in recent years of banning references to religion at Christmas time here in the UK (including the banning of the word 'Christmas' itself), the concert included traditional Christmas carols like Silent Night and O Come All Ye Faithful. The focus of the programme was Christmas in countries around the world, and while much of the dialogue was centered on Father Christmas and gift giving traditions, there was also references to the Christ child and the three kings. It was quite refreshing to see they had not "cleaned up" the presentation and expunged the very center of Christmas. Take away Christ and all you're left with is overcooked turkey and credit card debt, and that's not a Christmas I want any part of. Jonathan had a couple lines in the Christmas in Mexico skit. It was a really good little programme, very enjoyable. Lucy and I sat in the first row of adults, and my little niece Eleanor sat on the floor in front with the other Infant School classes. She kept turning around and waving to us and smiling. Absolutely adorable.

I'm at the airport on my way home. My fingers are raw, my toes still thawing and I honestly don't remember when I last washed my hair (I was afraid it would freeze and give me the mother of all headaches, not to mention the flu). I had a good time but am not sorry to be heading home. Here's a quick recap of what I did over the last four days.

And now you can look through all my pictures from Wisconsin

Day one in Wisconsin was all about snow. It started snowing at 2pm and it was still snowing when I went to bed. I've never driven in snow but now I know how. I only skidded once (it's those wretched trucks!) and even managed to drive in Madison rush hour traffic during the snow storm. I only managed to visit Hancock Cemetery before the snow started, so went back to Madison early and had the whole evening to twiddle my thumbs. I did wander up by the Capitol in the evening.

At the Shake Shack...

Justin and Matt and I in my office...

Monday 3 December - last day at EMI
Tuesday 4-Saturday 8 December - in Wisconsin
Saturday 8 -Sunday 9 December - back in NYC
Sunday 9 December - flying to London
Monday 10 December - Thursday 13 December - in England
Friday 14-Sunday 16 December - in Rome
Monday 17 December - Wednesday 19 December - in Marrakech
Thursday 20 December - Saturday 5 January - in Englang
Saturday 5 January - flying to NYC

I needed to go away somewhere for Thanksgiving. I called up Stephen and convinced him that he wanted me to come visit him in Salt Lake City. I don't see enough of Stephen, my favourite brother. We're seven years apart but we get along so well. So I flew to Utah last Wednesday to spend the holiday weekend with him. I haven't been to Utah in 14 years. All I remember is mountains, a little bit of Temple Square and that brand new rental car whose breaks made an awful stink. The accomodation was top class: I was well set up with my own bed in the lounge downstairs, with the cat Eli for company. Every night I had to get into bed around him, and when he wasn't napping on my bed he was sat on the stairs swatting at us as we walked past.

Stephen made us cornish game hens for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. Good idea, turkey is so much bother. We watched the Jolly Boys Outing and stayed at home all day. I haven't had a lazy day like that in AGES. Stephen was back to work on Friday so I spent the day at the Family History Library. I was all prepared with long lists of books and microfilm to examine. I found some birth/death/marriage/burial information for some distant relatives, but the most important finds was a cemetery transcript for Fairchild Village Cemetery where I knew my great great grandmother Hannah Pettis Bovee was buried. We had no death date for her husband Cornelius, but it turns he is buried with her in Fairchild, along with their son Truman and grandson Hiram. I now have some new leads to follow up when I'm in Wisconsin next week and some places to visit. I also found maps pinpointing the location of the land plots belonging to Charles Henry Patterson and his father-in-law Daniel Baldwin. I also found the marriage for Evelyn Ducie and Elmer Pehrson and the funeral bills for her parents John and Ellen.

Saturday Stephen drove me to Provo (under protest, he's a Univ of Utah man and Saturday was a big game day between the rival schools). I wanted to have a quick look around BYU to see if I could bare to live there. Turns out the law school building is just about the ugliest thing I've ever clapped eyes on. Provo wasn't exactly the Garden of Eden either. The temple was quite pretty up close though, a nice surprise as it looks pretty weird in photographs. Stephen took us up over the mountains on the way home, via Alpine which my roommate Juleen calls home. He had to rush off to meet his mates to watch The Game, so he dropped me at Temple Square. I watchd the Joseph Smith film in the Memorial Bldg and then went to the temple to do initiatories for some direct ancestors (Ellen Mulherin, Margaret Kelly and Annie O'Brien). It was my first trip to the Salt Lake temple so I took the big guns along with me! The temple of course is lovely, although you do get a bit lost in the underground labyrinth, but i'm not complaining. They had a cafeteria and a dozen intiatory booths. Our temple in Manhattan is so dinky, so it was fun to explore one of the big ones. Stephen picked me up after the game. His lot lost and it was surprising how much quieter the car was.

On Sunday, Stephen dropped me at church where I sat with one of his friends, Alison, who is a BYU law graduate. After church, Stephen was back in the kitchen, this time cooking us a Sunday, leg of lamb and yorkshire pudding, with Bisto gravy from England and boiled carrots and broccoli. I think someone misses home... I was ever so proud of him! After dinner, he showed me round the University of Utah, his old dormitories and classroom buildings. I think he really enjoyed his time there and it was nice to see where my little brother spent four years of his life. We made one last trip to Temple Square to take pictures with the Christmas lights, and then it was on the airport. I was just starting to get acclimatised to the city. And I was really enjoying being with Stephen. Shame I had to leave... but I might be back.

This morning I accepted to the offer of a job with Mercer, an HR consulting firm here in New York. I'll be working with their Workforce Sciences Team. I heard about the job through my Dad who has been working with two members of the team on a project at Aramco. His sharp ears overheard a conversation between them about this job opening and he jumped in and told them about me. They interviewed me immediately upon their return to the New York and made me an offer last Friday. I think they really wanted me. It's nice to be wanted. They seem like a good group of people, all braniacs (labour economists, organisational psychologists), they were very friendly when I met with them, but pleasantly quirky as well. I think I will fit in. My new office is at Sixth Avenue and 45th street. I'm scared of midtown but will just have to toughen up a bit. Best part is I don't start till January 7 so I have plenty of time to spend in England, with a couple side trips thrown in. Morocco and Rome have already been booked. There may be more.

I'm going to Salt Lake City! I haven't been out of the city since April - I'm climbing the walls. I can't wait till Christmas. So I'm going to visit my little bruvvah. We'll have Thanksgiving dinner at home on Thursday with Stephen's flatmates. On Friday, Stephen has to work so he's going to drop me off at the Family History Library (this will be the real day of indulgence!). I'll take a lunch break around noon and wander around Temple Square. And on Saturday he's going to take me down to Provo to have a look around BYU. I went thirteen years ago but don't remember a thing so it'll be nice to get a good look at the place and see how I might feel about living there. I have all Sunday there as well so we'll take a trip up to the University of Utah so Stephen can show we his old stamping ground and then he says we'll go on up into the mountains and to see the "This Is The Place" monument.

And Stephen says we'll watch a bit of Del Boy on the wide screen tellie. Lovely jubbly!

It hate it when daylight saving time ends. We were in the dark of night at 5pm today. It's quite depressing... and there are other problems. I'm going to make a Lexia-like confession:

I'm scared of the dark.

When Lucy and Jonathan used to go to Saudi Arabia to stay with my parents I would have to sleep with the lights on in all the rooms except my own bedroom. Nuts, huh?!

I have figured it out. I know what to do. I have a life plan and I'm poised to implement it. This is exciting for me, I've never know what I wanted to be when I grew up or where I wanted to live or anything. I'm just a big bundble of indecision. Until today. But, errr, it's a bit personal to go splashing all over the interweb. So if you're close enough to want to know, then you know where to reach me and I'll happily fill you in.

Feels good.

My mother was born in an English town called Luton. I was born in a Canadian city called Vancouver. But I was soon whisked away to grow up in Saudi Arabia, a country I could never call my own. Long happy childhood summers were spent in Luton and after university it became my semi-permanent home. So I claim it. Luton is my hometown. People outside England imagine quaint communities of cottages and cobble-stoned streets, jolly little freckled street urchins, witty tea-drinking adults, all watched over by the lord of the local manor from his mock Tudor stone castle. Some places in England are a lot like that.

Luton is nothing like that. It's stubbornly modern. We have a river (stream really) choked up with take away chicken boxes, no old buildings and bad race relations. The rest of England looks down on us. We look down on ourselves. It's sad. They've been working to give the place a bit of a face lift with some recent projects in the town center, but more than anything the place needs a good pep talk and a dose of self-confidence. Up the road in Harpenden and St. Albans, they like their town and they like themselves. Luton has a lot to learn.

But I have deep roots there and in the surrounding villages. I have family and good friends there. It's the closest thing I have to a home and that alone makes it the best place on earth.
Well, sort of.

Mike and I played the new Guitar Hero 3 game on his xbox 360 last night. I love new toys and we played with this one for four hours. My hands were cramped, my eyes were red, my heart was full of joy. Mike's even got a super spiffy new wireless guitar with KISS plastered all over it. What more could any man want! I knew more of the songs so this one is my favourite game so far. I'm not into all that classic rock and motorhead metal mallarky. I'm a postmodern indie girl with no real musical roots. I want to play some frivolous guitar pop from yesterday not just yesteryear. A bit of Strokes and Kaiser Chiefs was just the ticket. Step a few years back and there was Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica and Stone Roses. I remember when these tracks were singles, it was a happy trip back to a (early!) teenage me. They've added some frivolous new extras like new venues, characters and costumes. I rocked out in some skin tight silver leather pants. It occured to me that I can now wear something like that in real life. Should I get some? answers on a postcard.

Where do crazy dreams come from? I'm still fighting off the after effects of one I had in the early hours of today. We were on holiday, Mum, Dad and Jonathan had gone to some town in Bosnia, but Lucy had to go to a conference (for work? who knows) in some unidentified town in Greece. And on a whim, I joined her there. Suddenly the conference was over and we had 24 hours to meet up with the others. We couldn't fly so renting a car was our only option. But there is no way to get to Bosnia from Greece without travelling through Albania, Macedonia or Kosovo. Dodgy places all of them. We were chewing down our nails worrying about bad roads, bad drivers and, scariest of all, BANDITS! Convinced we would be stipped of our possessions and all the gold in our teeth, we were having a tough time coming to terms with the trip ahead. And then, bless her heart, my roommate Juleen started shifting around in her bed, and for once I was glad to have been woken up early. I don't understand what causes these weird fantasies... a warm room and a lot of Bonbon Chicken might have had something to do with it...but really! Sometimes I wish my subconcious would be nicer to me. (And by the way, I've been looking at google maps and in case anyone ever finds themself in this very situation, you can always take a long route through Bulgaria and Romania... the roads and the drivers are still terrible, but you won't get waylaid)

Just a quick word to say that the LSAT did not kill me... it was bloody hard, though! Over the last two weeks I have been giving my brain a little bit of a rest, although I'm obsessed with crossword puzzles at the moment so I hope that's keeping me sharp. My score is due in about a week so fingers crossed. In the meantime I've had a marvelous birthday where I was spoiled yet again by wonderful family and friends. Thank you to everyone who took part! I'll add some pictures from my home computer when I have a chance.

One of my favourite scriptures is from Ether 12:27 (Book of Mormon) "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness, I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, [here comes the really good bit] then will I make weak things become strong unto them." I feel like I had all my weak things shown to me this morning!!!!!!!! It wasn't fun. Oh and three days to the LSAT and I'm developping a cold, on top of everything else. I don't dare ask if it can get any worse, because I know what will happen. I am so afraid that I have taken on more than I can manage. I just need to forego all thoughts of giving up and keep it together long enough to get to the strengthening bit.

And if I don't ace the LSAT, I suppose I can always try the MCAT next year...

Ooops, I meant to save this as a draft, not post it yet. But since it's up I'd better give it a caption. This is Interpol at Madison Square Garden last Friday, 14 September. The show was amazing. The new songs sounded great live, but the best thing... the tickets were free. A friend at work had put them aside especially for me.

before I have to tell you about Labour Day weekend, the end of the summer and adventures to come...

Dad says I can go to Wisconsin!!!

You may have heard that it rained here a little yesterday. We had about 3 inches in just a couple hours in the morning. The sound of rain on the window had stirred me a little, but I didn't know what a mess things were till my roommate texted us to say that the subway was all shut down. I didn't have a horrendous trip to work, I only had to walk to Canal St (about a mile) and got on the one subway line that was still running up and down the island.

I couldn't understand why the rain had caused so much havoc until this afternoon when I was listening to an Wisconsin NPR programme. Apparently, even on a sunny day, the transit authority has to deal with 13 million gallons of ground water in the subway. There are over 800 pumps working to keep the water out of the tunnels. No wonder a deluge like we saw yesterday very quickly puts them over the edge.

I was listening to a programme where they were discussing a book called The World Without Us about what would happen if humans hastily exited the planet and how nature would reclaim everything. There's a whole chapter devoted to New York City. Without the pumps, the subway would be completely flooded within a couple days, and the city would soon begin to rust, rot and eventually crumble from beneath. It was fascinating.

I'm coping with a boring patch at work by listening to back to back episodes of Excess Baggage, a BBC radio programme about travel. In the last 24 hours I've heard dozens of tales of people's adventures across the globe, bringing into painful focus the fact that the last time I ventured to a new country was 2003! Ideas are swirling around my brain, slowly taking shape as escape plans. I think perhaps it's time I took a gap year! I could renew the lease on my apartment, thereby securing a home for myself, then sublease my spot for a couple months, quit my job (it's about time anyway), and disappear on a hair raising adventure. Ok, so you would never find me paddling up the Amazon or hitchhiking across the Sahara, but there are some once in a lifetime adventure destinations I'd love to hit up...
Peru Georgian Republic









Vietnam Samarkand












China

Something I can do is put a ball in the back of the net. We played five-a-side football on Saturday morning over in Battery Park City. Three goals were scored on each side, and I scored two for my team. Not bad for my first ever match. It was a glorious morning and we had ridiculous amounts of fun. My skills don't extend to passing, dribbling, or tackling opposing players but there's the rest of the summer for that.

I can do a few things that no one could mess up and occassionally I get lucky if I follow a recipe exactly. But on the whole, I'm a dead loss in the kitchen. Every time I try a baking recipe I come up with something different. Same recipe, same ingredients, never the same result! I tried making curry a couple months ago. Even spent $50 dollars on a small food processor I was so excited. It cooked for over two hours and I still didn't have a proper curry in front of me, finally ended up taking suggestions from the floor, adding flour, cream, and whatever else my roommates shouted out. They all said it was delicious. They're good people, aren't they!

But I'm not one to give up easily (ask me about the last bloke in my life...) and having seen the film Ratatouille twice in the last two weeks, I figured if the rat could cook so could I. I hurried to our posh supermarket, the infamous Jubilee, and collected up all the ingredients for, you guessed it, ratatouille, a dish I love so much I used to eat it cold out of a tin. I laboured for ages over thinly sliced tomatoes, squash and eggplant, I even made my own special sauce to go with it. The anticipation could have been measured on the Richter scale, and the result was utterly deflating. It didn't taste unpleasant, but it was nowhere near anything special.

Dad can go to a restaurant in Thailand, come home and collect up all the revolting looking ingredients and reproduce the dish he had in Thailand for our own dinner table. Clearly this is not something that is passed genetically. I got all his quirky stuff, but not his talent in the kitchen. The only consolation is that I live in places like London and New York where there's never a shortage of delicious food to be found. Oh and if I ever invite you to dinner... think about it carefully before you say yes.

If you don't like my peaches, don't shake my tree!

No, I didn't schlepp out to Colorado Springs to hobnob with former classmates from boarding school. I did, however, drop by a party this Saturday given by fellow Fountain Valley School graduate Heather Rees. I really liked Heather. We haven't kept in touch (I haven't kept in touch with anyone from school except my roommate Meredith), but she emailed me out of the blue along with a couple other FVS people in NYC and invited us over. It was such a great evening, catching up with her and two other classmates, Alison Perry and Cameron Stanford. I took Jason along in case it was a bit stilted, but I had a jolly time chatting to all three and was really pleased to see that they're all doing well. And we have plans to get together again soon. I

For those who don't know, I spent two years at Fountain Valley School of Colorado. There's no high school in Saudi Arabia, so I had to come stateside to finish up. It's all mountains and adobe buidings, very outdoorsy, which isn't me at all, but I liked the school and the people and I did well. Found my own little niche. But I've never had any inclination to go back and take part in the whole alumni love-in thing, so this little get together was the perfect way to reconnect with a bit of my past.

Errr... that's me. Just received my first stake calling this weekend. I'm afraid it might be a fairly big deal. We used to have a family history center in NY that was open to the public but it closed when they added the temple into the Lincoln Square building. They've been talking about reopening a smaller scale center since last year and I was very excited as this would mean I could ordered much needed microfilm from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I even remember approaching Linda Cameron, the previous stake family history chairperson, and telling her I would be willing to help out with getting the center up and running. Well, looks like I got my wish. So I shall be not only the center's director, but it's first and most eager patron. I'll be helping people outside the Church with their family history research which is very exciting. I wouldn't mind being a professional genealogy researcher. It's not something I could support myself on at this point, but it would be a great job to have if I were married and not the sole income in the family.

Monday night Mike and I went to see Arcade Fire at the United Palace Theatre. I dont' want to sound all soppy, but, honestly, it was a dream come true. I have been desparate to see them for two years since I discovered "Funeral" back in March 2005. I remember playing tracks for Ian on my iPod between sets at an Aqualung concert at Bowery Ballroom. I so wanted him to love it as much as I did.

By the way, if anyone who reads this is not listening to Arcade Fire then I seriously recommend, nay insist, that you remedy the situation.

We got there just as the show was starting, the opening strains of "Black Mirror" echoing/booming in the corridors and we scrabbled up the stairs to our seats in the balcony. The show was chaos, you never knew who would be playing what instrument from one song to the next (Regine went from singing to accordion to drums to organ and back again).

I don't have any pictures and I could only find one video on YouTube from the show, "No Cars Go" and it was there literally five minutes ago and now I can't find. So instead here's David Bowie playing live on "Wake Up" - David Bowie loves them, what does that tell you!

I don't normally keep note of these, but the set list was: Black Mirror, No Cars Go, Neighborhood #2, Haiti, Black Wave/Bad Vibrations, Neon Bible, Windowstill, the WEll & The Lighthouse, Ocean of Noise, Keep the Car Running, (Antichrist Television Blues), N #3, Rebellion (Lies), with an encore of N #1 and Intervention (now and forever enshrined as a playlist in my iTunes).

We usually leave the show with one song strain in our heads, sung wholeheartedly and without shame on the streets as we make our way to the subway. For Kaiser Chiefs the other week it was "we are the angry mob...". This time it was "you have your reasons, and me, I have mine, but all the reasons I gave, were just lies to buy myself some time..."

Well they said Michael was doing well at hair school, and they weren't exagerating! It was time for me to get my hair sorted out and I wanted to give him a chance to experiment on a friendly head... So on Thursday he came over and gave me a much needed haircut. I wanted shorter... I got very short. But it turned out marvelously. I love it! And everyone at work and the temple yesterday was gushing about how terrific it looked.

How's this for a celebrity sighting... only in this case, they spotted me...

I walked out of my office building last night, talking to myself and pulling faces as usual. I noticed two people walking towards me, pointing and laughing to each other. I thought what are they laughing at and then became aware of the ridiculous look on my face. And then I noticed that they looked a bit familiar. It was Will Arnett (Gob in Arrested Development) and Amy Poehler (SNL). I made the comedians laugh... at me, yes, but still...

INFLAMMATION, n. swelling and soreness caused by the accidental ingestion of a flamingo.

I got to participate in something rather special last night. I went to the temple to do the 6pm session. And as I was coming out, the shift coordinator asked if I would like to participate in some sealings. I assumed that it was just some proxy sealings. Turned out however, that there was a couple there, who were sealed together on behalf of her parents. And once that was done, the wife and her sister were sealed to their parents. This was the first living ordinance sealing that I've attended. And it made me think of my grandfather Tom and grandmother Doris, and Mum and little Molly and their little eternal family. It was a lovely evening.

I haven't been writing because I've been too busy working and playing Guitar Hero in my off time. Dave Almond lent me his playstation while he works on some bloody awful take-home test for PhD school. Me and the girls have been playing until our eyes bleed. I've got Mike hooked as well. He's rocking out on "Carry On My Wayward Son" while I write. He played for the first time last Sunday and it truly was love at first sight.