This Joy’s Life

As promised, here are some pictures to give you a feel for the traditional Indian wedding I attended at a Sheraton in the cornfields of Iowa this past weekend. It was a full on two-day affair. The fan-fare, outfits and colors were amazing, but, of course, the best part was seeing my friend marry his beautiful bride:

Fun times at the Sheraton!

The happy couple at the Sangeet

Kevin, the best man, Suzanne and Sylvia

Me dressed in my Salwar Kameez for the Sangeet

Sylvia, Suzanne, Me, & Jessica decorating the groom's car

The groom in his wedding day garb

Sylvia, Kevin & Yashan

Mother of the groom, Chetna

The groom's father, Praful

The groom's sister, Ami

A ceremonial coconut

Surrounded by ceremony

Man & Wife

Thank goodness we're finally married!

I'll dance to that!

Clara and I are still in San Fran, headed back to Seattle tomorrow afternoon. We’ve been visiting some old Georgia pals – Suzanne, Kevin and their 16 month old Sylvia and our mutual friend Shay who came to visit as well. There were also a few surprise friends in town, as you will hear.

We’ve walked around the cute little town of Alameda quite a bit, getting lunches and coffee, stopping off at a shop or a park or two. We went into San Fran’s Mission District to the Pirate Store, which David Byrne accurately asserts is “one of the top five pirate stores I’ve been to recently,” and where Yashan surprised me with both an appearance (he works in D.C., lives in GA) and his new fiancee. That was MAJOR considering I hadn’t even been told he’d been dating this girl for 8 months! His own parents (who you may remember meeting in this post) kept it from me. They met her parents the morning this picture was taken with NOT A WORD to me about it! But, I was too excited to see Yashan, meet his future wife and hear of their recent engagement to be terribly upset with him about it. And now, here are the pictures so you can see all this for yourself.

At the park with Suzanne, Sylvia and Shay:

Clara had her first bus AND train rides while in the Bay Area:

Suzanne become a pack mule for the kids as we walked to get ice cream in the city:

Yashan and his fiancee Priya:

Sylvia in the library at her house in the late afternoon sun:

The girls at play in the library:

Suzanne cannot beleive they get along so well!

Priya:
Kevin and Yashan:

All I need is this sippy cup and these wipes and that’s all I need. And my hightops. And these socks. That’s it. That’s all I need. And my blue shirt and this water and these wipes and that’s all I need.

As you are probalby already aware – because at least 1 person you know was running around foaming at the mouth last Friday like it was Christams Eve – the 7th and final Harry Potter book was delivered to stores and pre-order residences this past Saturday.

Carrie was going nuts on Friday night in anticipation of it. Chris’ boyfriend, Troy, a UPS driver, was called into work in order to get all the pre-ordered books delivered. (Carrie, you should feel at least a twing of guilt for making him work on his day off!) And bookstores stayed open until midnight Friday night to celebrate the event. Were Suzanne, Kevin and baby Syliva (a mere 4 months old at this point) partying in HP garb until the wee hours?? TSYBB*. In Suzanne’s own words:

Because Kevin and I are big nerds and because Sylvia loved seeing Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix at the first 7 pm showing, we took her to the Harry Potter party at Barnes & Noble. We originally considered dressing her up either as Voldemort in Professor Quirrel’s turban or the fetal Voldemort that Wormtail dumps in the cauldron. In the end, she went as Dobby wearing Hermione’s knitted hats and carrying the sock from Lucius Malfoy. She looked pretty darn cute, so we thought you’d like to see her.

*That’s Something You’d Better Beleive

Just can’t stay inside all day. Gotta get out and get some of those sunshine rays . . .

At the beach . . .






In San Fransisco for a day (visiting Suzanne, Kevin & 7 week old Sylvia) . . .

Big news! My friend Suzanne (who I grew up dancing with at the GA Ballet, later lived with in college and who married one of my best friends from high school, Kevin Crawford) had her first baby yesterday!!!!!

The sex was a surprise and the name came a day later, but their little girl is here now, safe and sound. Here are some pictures for y’all to enjoy!!!

Here’s a little tidbit for you: Baby and daddy share the same birthday, which also happens to be the anniversary of the Titanic sinking. Pontificate on that!