just laura

I need to find 3 white elephant gifts

I’m going to 5 holiday parties in the next 16 days

I’m going to be in Egypt in 18 days

I’m going to be a year older in 21 days

Wish me luck!

Party recap: Last night was our first stab at a house warming-holiday-birthday-fondue extravaganza and I think it was lovely! I’m going to be out of town for my birthday, Xmas, and New Years, so I decided to throw an early, all purpose party to see folks before I leave and miss them at all of the year end festivities. Erin and I had fun going overboard on the decorations and I have Samantha to thank for helping with last minute prep and Caroline to thank for lending a light up fiber-optic Christmas tree that was quite a hit. We had lots of fondue (homemade caramel, chocolate, and Swiss) and we had lots of friends over (I think 20 people RSVPd and think we had close to 40 stop by over the course of the evening). Not everyone knew each other, but if people wanted to meet new people – they could, or if they wanted to catch up with friends they already knew – they could do that too. Everyone played nicely and Erin and I decided not to force anyone into scary party games like Poop the Potato. A few generous bloggers even brought gifts… thanks Steph, tyd, and John… very sweet of y’all! Overall, and most importantly, I got to invite lots of friends into my home and see lots of folks before leaving for the winter break. And an added bonus: fondue leftovers make for a yummy breakfast!

Stef and I during an airboat ride

I’ve posted a few Florida photos from our family reunion. Enjoy! :)

So after about forever, I finally made the switch away from Blogger. I’ve been playing with WordPress today and I’m proud to say I think I’ve adequately installed and configured my template and CSS. If you find anything I missed, do let me know. Oh, and if you have any ideas for how to import HaloScan comments into WP, I’d love to know that too!

I’m starting my research and am starting to get really excited! :) Just in case you wanted to follow along from home, I think my trip will look something like this:

Dec 18 Leave Seattle
Dec 19 Amsterdam (hang out with Wouter)
Dec 20-21 Cairo
Dec 22 – 24 Luxor (and my birthday!)
Dec 25 – 26 Aswan (and xmas!)
Dec 27-29 Cairo (Samer arrives!)
Dec 30 – Jan 1 Camping in Sinai mountains (for new years!)
Jan 2 Cairo
Jan 3 Camel market!
Jan 4 Cairo
Jan 5 Return to Seattle

I love this time of the year, when there’s a party almost every night! Update the numbers again… there are now six seven holiday parties in 16 days… three of which are apparently “dress fancy!” parties. Should be fun! (Note to self: Christmas in July could be great fun next year! Why not have a holiday party in the summer to spread out the holiday cheer for another month?)

If all goes as planned, I’ve even get some prints made today and have pictures from Montreal to pass around at tonight’s photo meetup.

8pm Uptown Espresso in Belltown. See you there!

Published in 1869, it’s Mark Twain’s crazy account of a huge trip he did on an ocean steamer from California to Europe and the Holy Land. I’m usually always entertained by Twain, and his chapters on his time in Egypt didn’t fail me. They just built even more anticipation for the pyramids and adventures and meditations they can spur!

“The Innocents Abroad is one of the most prominent and influential travel books ever written about Europe and the Holy Land. In it, the collision of the American “New Barbarians” and the European “Old World” provides much comic fodder for Mark Twain—and a remarkably perceptive lens on the human condition. Gleefully skewering the ethos of American tourism in Europe, Twain’s lively satire ultimately reveals just what it is that defines cultural identity. As Twain himself points out, “Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” And Jane Jacobs observes in her Introduction, “If the reader is American, he may also find himself on a tour of his own psyche.”

• Just so you know… I finished my scarf at Friday’s party! My focus wasn’t too great, but Steph was patient and helpful! Yes, I can officially claim to be among the cool kids who know how to knit! It’s fabulously long (longer than me) and is fabulously warm (virgin wool) and fabulously narrow (so you can wrap it around your neck without suffocating). I had many missed stitches and it’s nowhere near perfect, but I’m definitely proud enough to wear it in public.
• Also on the cool kids list this week: Jim Dedman, a net friend from UT, has finished his new indie flick “Pleadings” and had the trailer premiere last week! You can download the trailer and watch it from home!
• Oh, before I run out the door to work, I wanted to welcome two new readers to the site…. Laura – Thanks for reading, and thanks for coming over last weekend! It was great to see you!
  Sundi – Was great to see you too… though remember that any likeness in this blog to real people is imaginary. If you find anything incriminating, please disregard immediately. :)

Who’s the cutest couple ever? Well, if you had already checked out their wedding site, you’d know that it’s Laura and Ajit. They’re currently in India for the (first half of the) wedding ceremony… so think strong thoughts with your best wishes! I’m quite excited to say I’ll be heading back to Texas for the second (domestic) half of the wedding in February. Should be great fun to be there for the event, and great fun to see the old Houston crowd for a weekend. Hope everyone is well!

The countdown continues…

# of cool bracelets I made at work today: Two
# of days till I leave for Egypt: Seven
# of holiday parties in the next seven days: Five
# of staff meetings I have to lead in the next month: Zero! I’m done till Jan 7th!

I love this time of the year! Or maybe that’s just my sunlamp speaking! Either way, I’m content to be alive and excited to be around friends and excited about my upcoming trip. Hope everyone is well!

Yesterday I went to the Blogger holiday party hosted by the lovely Stace and Sean. (I think that’s maybe the third or forth time I met Stace, and she’s always quite fun). I ate well more wheat than I should have as it was hard to resist the brie and crackers, spinach dip, pasta, apple cake, and lemon bars. The gift exchange quality was much higher this year and I think my gift was quite impressive (or shocking?) for the crowd. No one guessed it was from me, which was great! Yes, I had a lovely time and will post pics later. Today I braved the crowds downtown in an attempt to do shopping.

Today I saw close to 100 Santas downtown, a couple of reindeer, and a Christmas tree. One Santa even kissed me, told me I was on his naughty list, and said he wanted to spank me. Gotta love Seattle.

Ya know… I think I’m in a better place than I was at this time last year. Maybe I’m more content with the friends I have. Maybe I’ve gotten so deep into my job it’s only able to stress me out for shorter periods of time. Maybe my “be healthy” idea of working out and using a sun lamp is actually working? I’m not sure about what all is contributing to my current mental state, but I’m pretty content with life right now. And holiday parties might well have something to do with that too. :) My issue with not having one circle of friends is that I only get to see friends from time to time as I “rotate” through the different groups. However, holiday parties solve that problem as you get to see lots of friends in a compact period of time.

The blogger white elephant party on Friday was lovely… half the folks I see on a regular basis, and the other half (the stitch and bitch crew) I’ve only met once… a year before at the same party. The gift exchange was entertaining and the crowd was quite fun. Thanks Stace!

John’s party on Saturday was fun too… and he wasn’t kidding about the planned overkill of Christmas music and holiday goodness! I was kind of sad that Santa never showed up, but I was more than content to make Christmas cookies and hang out with cool new folks from around the globe. Thanks John!

The Sag party on Saturday was also entertaining in the “it’s such a small world!” kind of way. I went expecting to know just one person and ended up recognizing a whole room full of people… some I’d known for a couple of years, others I just met earlier this year! Crazy when you never expect the circles to overlap, but as always, Seattle remains a small town. Thanks Caroline!

The girls’ holiday party last night was fun too. It was a “dress fancy” affair and quite fantastic to see everyone looking so snazzy! And I do mean snazzy… girls were wearing makeup instead of fleece and the boys we’re looking hot in their ties, suspenders, and even suits. I’m quite happy that Sunday dinner has become a part of my weekly routine… it’s really nice to have that connection with a cast that includes so many fantastic people.

And now, on that note, I should really get back to work. :)

Pimpin’ Santa

On an unrelated note: I have two holiday parties left and two days left till Egypt! AND… I’ve got friends in town! Dot and her lovely boy Bruce are moving from Austin, Texas to Vancouver, Canada and staying with me for a few days on their way up! It’s been a few years since I’ve seen Dot and while it’s crazy hectic this week (understatement!), it’s fun to have them here!

I’ve been trying to be more intentional about making quiet time for myself. When you barely have time to eat and sleep, making quiet time is hard for me. I feel like I’m pretty good about seeing friends and keeping up relationships, so most nights I’ve got dinner plans or exercise plans or music plans or coffee plans to hang out and catch up with someone. Which still leaves little time for just me to sit quietly and read a book. Sometimes if I do have quiet time I’ll stay at home and cook, sometimes I’ll read a book that’s been on my list forever, sometimes I’ll go on a quiet walk. I can’t remember all of the books I read for pleasure last year, but are some of the ones I made time for…

• Franny and Zooey (J.D. Salinger)
• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers)
• Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)

• The Day I Turned Uncool: Confessions of a Reluctant Grown-up (Dan Zevin)
• Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (Tom Robbins)
• I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
• Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

• The mistress of spices (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni)
• Running With Scissors (Augusten Burroughs)

• Holes (Louis Sacher)
• Turning to One Another (Margaret Wheatley)
• Waxwings (Jonathan Rabin)

• The Deep End of the Ocean (Jacquelyn Mitchard)
• The BGF (Roald Dahl)
• Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War (Deborah ??)

• House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros)
• a simpler way (Wheatley & Kellner-Rogers)

• Lonely Planet Guatemala
• Bodega Dreams ( )

• Ishmael (Daniel Quinn)
• 1,000 Places to See Before You Die

• Map of Love (Ahdaf Soueif)
• The innocents abroad; or, The new Pilgrims’ progress, being some account of the steamship Quaker City’s pleasure excursion to Europe and the Holy Land (Mark Twain)

• Lonely Planet Egypt
• Another Roadside Attraction (Tom Robbins)

Clown Santa

* Last night was our holiday party for work it was lovely, yummy, cozy, classy, and entertaining. Dot and Bruce joined us for the festivities (and did quite well meeting a new group of 20 tight knit people). I really do love my team, even if (on rare occasion) I might want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them silly. :) Last night was not one of those occasions. Last night was a love them, love their quirks, love their funny, love their mad Pictionary skills, and love their fantastic hugs kind of night.

* Today, however, Dot and Bruce are leaving me a little earlier than expected. I told them about the fun I had with Santarchy last weekend, and when I mentioned there were other SantaCon events happening this weekend in other NW cities, they started planning their costumes and packing their bags! Everyone wish them well sneaking their way into Canada with a car full of belongings!

* And on a final note… I just got a call from a guy who was looking for Pampered Chefs reps in Seattle. He found my website, found that I had a friend that did it, and called me to order some stuff holiday gifts through her. I just gave Kathryn his number, so hopefully it will all work out. Ahh… the wonders of the internet.

Just a head’s up… mark your calendars for Fri Jan 28th. I think I’m going to show some photos at a Fremont gallery, then maybe have folks over to the apartment? Not sure yet, but details should materialize sometime after I return in January. :)

I got home from work tonight around 1am and what did I find outside my apartment building? A bubble wrapped package addressed to me! I opened it up and found an autographed copy of a cool book called Wildly Austin: Austin’s Landmark Art. There was no card, no inscription, and no return address. It’s just a brown envelope with the book inside. I don’t know if it’s from an anonymous fan, a friend back home, or from the author(!). If it’s you, do share! I think it’s quite fabulous!

And speaking of fabulous books… Charles told me he was sending a bunch of us the same gift this year… and I admit I was a bit skeptical about what would be good for all of us. I got my answer this week when the Fed-Ex package arrived containing “a thought experiment that will leave your brain spinning inside your skull.” I’m looking forward to it!

And speaking of fabulous birthday gifts… The radio station this morning was having listeners tell about bad gifts they’ve received, and at the very top of the “bad gift” list was art and lingerie. Personally, I like getting both lingerie and art. This birthday tyd and John both gave me great art… very cool stuff that I already have hanging on my wall!

Next… File this under Very Cool Kitchen Gadget: the lovely and generous John Dunn sent me a cool high tech tea cup like no other I’ve ever seen. Creative, useful, and perfect for the cold Seattle winter! Thanks John!

Then… Who doesn’t need a little more fun in their life? Steph and Ryan gave me a magnetic dart board (to prove just how uncoordinated I am?). People see it then they walk right over and grab the darts. I think it’s been used every time someone’s come over to the apartment since then!

Finally… Money is always the right style and color. I give thanks to my lovely family who sent a check!

Not a bad pile of birthday loot from generous friends… and it’s not even my birthday for another week! :) And now… I really am off to pack!

“Now that’s what I call a good night! I want to go home with you!”
-Trader Joes cashier when I was shopping for yesterday’s party
(2 bottles of red wine and a box of chocolate dipped almonds)

One final holiday party yesterday, and now I’m out of here! I suspect I’ll be off-line for a couple of days, but I’ll try to post once I get into Cairo after I get some sleep. I suspect I won’t be online too much, but feel free to leave birthday wishes on the site or send email. :) Hope everyone has a great break! Take care!

I’ve made it from Fremont to the airport (thanks Caroline!), Seattle to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam to Cairo, and the airport to Tahrir Square for the Sun Hotel. I’m way tired (haven’t slept since Thursday), but am otherwise doing quite well. :) In Amsterdam I meet up with Wouter (a wonderful host) for a fun day of catching up and sightseeing. We rode bikes, went to the Red Light District, saw the parks, took pictures of canals, sat in Santa’s lap, drank wine out of paper cups, and all kinds of other good stuff we could fit into one fast day of tourism. Now that I’m here in Cairo (it’s 3am), I think I’m ready to pass out for some serious sleep before hitting the train station or seeing any museums. Hope everyone is well!

It’s 4:30pm on Monday, I slept for a long time, and Samer asked my first impressions. So, here goes…

• Everyone is very welcoming to their country.
• It’s loud, yes, but mostly just horn honking. And some chanting, but nothing like the chanting of the monks in the Tibetan village where I stayed in India.
• Most people who talk to me want to sell me tours or perfume.
• The streets aren’t that crazy. There are parking meters, and stop lights, and even some lines painted on the street. That’s about a 10 times easier than India. Plus, there are no horse drawn carts, bicycles, or cows… so make that 100 times less scary than India. Cairo’s pretty tame in comparison (so far, anyway).

Anyway, I was just online looking for Marwa (hopefully meeting up with her tonight for dinner), and I wanted to make the most of my time at the internet cafe. I’m off to attempt to navigate the streets. Hope y’all are well!

When I first met Samer in Guatemala, I thought he was quite a sweet talker… very smooth, lots of jokes and big smiles, and able to get anything we wanted, anywhere we went. He was quite impressive with his sweet talking ways. He modestly denied it, and said he was actually shy (ha!). However, jump forward a couple of month’s to my current trip in Egypt and it’s like there’s a whole country of sweet talking boys and men ready to use their charms on me. Boys in the street, men in the hotel, guards in the museum… everyone wants to say hello and chat and smile big charming smiles. Even some of his favorite phrases (“trust me!”) are repeated back to me by other Egyptians I just met. Too funny!

7:40pm
Marwa called yesterday and made plans to come by and pick me up for dinner from my hotel. Later, she called to say she’d be a few hours late and was sending a friend of hers (Hassan) to pick me up. He called, I told him I was wearing a black jacket, he said he was wearing a white car, and we agreed on a time to meet for dinner. I don’t know many people in this country, so imagine my surprise when I saw in the white car someone I actually knew! Out of 17 million people in Cairo, imagine my surprise that Marwa’s friend was actually another man I met this summer in Guatemala! He knew her from nonprofit work, she knew Samer though college, and crazy enough I knew both of them!

And now I’m checking out of the hotel and heading for my overnight train to Luxor. The staff here at the New Sun Hotel are quite lovely, and have promised me a birthday party if I would stay one more night with them. I told them my train ticket wouldn’t wait, so they said next week they’d throw a party too. Have I mentioned that the men keep giving me phone numbers and email addresses? I bought a fake wedding ring to wear, and think I might have to start wearing it! Hope everyone is well!

6:30pm

Yesterday I turned another year older, and happily no one here noticed. In fact, the men of Egypt all seem to like me regardless of age.
Note to self: Don’t ask for directions anymore. Or shake hands. Or smile. And quite looking up from the ground. By now I should know that all of those just mean I’m asking for a marriage proposal from some young boy, teen ager, man, or old man.
Btw, did I mention I danced with an old man yesterday? He gave me a crystal to remember him by, and a second crystal for my daughter. (Note to self: maybe I do look older?) It was entertaining. Pictures will be posted eventually.

What else to babble about? I’m seeing lots of temples and tombs. I started to take pictures today. Eating lots of fallafel (it’s like 1/2 Egyptian pound = 10 cents).

That’s Arabic for happy birthday to me! (a few days late, but that’s okay!)

3:20pm

My first day in Luxor seemed way too long, with too many people harassing me, and now my last day in Luxor seems to have come too soon. I’ve been bike riding nonstop since arrival. I’ve hung out in the market (one of my favorite places in Seattle, and one of my favorite places anywhere really). I’ve meet some really nice folks from around the globe (all folks traveling alone)… a British piano teacher, an engineering student from CT, a policy grad student from DC, a stoner from Barcelona, and other random folks. And I’ve met some very nice Egyptians too. Yesterday I spent an hour chatting with an 11 year old school girl, Kareema, and her neighbor Ibrahim, a 23 year old trying to sell felucca rides. I had so much fun last night I decided to spend the whole day with them today. We started with a five hour donkey ride through the Tombs of the Nobles, the Ramesseum Temple, and up to the top of the mountain high above the Valley of the Kings. I think it was maybe the first time in my life I’ve ever experienced true vertigo. The sheer drops of the cliffs overlooking the temples and tombs were astounding. Although my little donkey didn’t seem to bat an eye at them as we galloped along the tiny, rocky, steep path, I was sure at various times that we were on our death march. This land continues to amaze me… and I’m at a loss for how to describe the magnitude of the mountains or the monuments with the backdrop of the bluest sky ever. I have faith my pictures won’t do them a bit of the justice they deserve.

After the ride, Ibrahim invited me to his family’s house where his sisters, mom, aunt, cousins, and neighbors kept me entertained for a long time! He showed me all of their family pictures from over the years, his sister Miriam fed me a late lunch, and finally I regretfully had to bow out so I could get back to the hotel and head to the train, which is where I’m going now. Tonight I’m off to Aswan, the southern most city in Egypt. I’m expecting more temples and tombs and wonderfully nice people. (Samer told me he thinks Nubians are some of the nicest folks on the planet, so I had to go and see for myself). Hope everyone is well! Take care!

My already dismal travel wardrobe just got even worse. First, after two days of bike riding, my khakis are covered with bike grease and torn up a bit. (Old bike = no chain guard and unprotected spiky things that tear clothes). In addition, when I checked out of the hotel this morning at 8am, my remaining clothes weren’t cleaned and dried yet like the owner promised. He said he’d have them waiting for me when I left for my train. Well, about an hour into my train ride I had a startling realization: both he and I seemed to have forgotten about my clean, dry clothes. My already small travel wardrobe is now missing 1/2 my short sleeve shirts (the nice half), 1/2 my underwear, and one pair of fantastic SmartWool socks. Way to go, Cat! Guess that just means I’ll have less to carry in my pack…

7:14pm

After I didn’t post for a few days Dad sent me a nervous email making sure I was okay. So, here’s my post. :) Aswan was lovely, but very brief. It’s not really the southern most city, but it’s the largest southern most city. I actually got up one morning at 3am to take a bus 240 km south to Abu Simbel… an amazing temple that has been moved to a new location on the Nile. (The original location flooded when they built a dam a while back). If you have free time, look for the story online… it’s the largest rescue project even undertaken by the global community with the help of UNESCO. Very impressive.

After Abu Simbel, I was back in Aswan to see the Nubian people, villages, and culture. I made a lovely new friend (Mustafa) who took me on a tour of their island, took me around the Nile on his boat, etc. Very nice guy.

Upon leaving Aswan, I called my Nubian Oasis Hotel in Luxor. They remembered me and I told them I was on an overnight train to Cairo that would be passing through Luxor later that night. When the train went through the station a few hours later, the owner himself was there for the 5 minute stop to hand deliver my laundry. What a sweet man! And so I arrived in Cairo yesterday morning with a backpack full of clothes, and full of the start of my souvenir shopping.

Note: If anyone has requests from Egypt… stuff they want me to pick up for them… let me know. Spices? Belly dancing outfits? Scarves? Alabaster vases? Tiny granite pyramids? Hooka water pipes for smoking? Flavored tobacco? Leave a comment if so.

Okay… so anyway, I was saying I’m back in Cairo. Samer arrived the same day I did and so now the social calendar is VERY busy. It’s like when I go home to Texas… balancing time between family, high school friends, college friends, old coworkers, and all of the different groups of lovely people I want to see in a very short, limited time frame. He lived all of his 30 years in Cairo and has lots of folks to see, and family, and of course he’s determined to be my tour guide too. Needless to say, we’ve been busy going from dinner to party to coffee to pyramids to drinks to gardens to dinner etc. I’m getting to meet tons of people and am staying with his super sweet and very generous friend Marwa.

And on that note, I’ve tied up her family’s phone line long enough and should shut off the dialup. Hope everyone is well! On Thursday we head to Sinai to go camping in the mountains for New Years. (Note to Dad: There’s no electricity, no phones, and definitely no internet, so don’t expect a post for a few days. I’m safe, in good hands, and having fun). :) Take care y’all! Happy New Years!

1:16pm

We apparently don’t leave till about midnight tonight, so here’s another post. :)

My new favorite food: Kushari. For less than a dollar you get a huge bowl… it starts with rice, which is then topped with lentils, topped with chick peas, topped with fried onions, and finally topped with herbed tomato sauce (not sure what spices). I added their hot chili sauce, though it was just as tasty without it! I think I might go back to the same place for lunch today! Dessert last night was a decadent rice pudding topped with nuts, raisons, and ice cream. Craziness in a bowl.

Last night Samer and I met up with yet another friend… this time to see a puppet show at the Cairo Opera House. I was pretty excited (I like puppets!), and I was hoping for a kid’s show (as were all of the kids in the audience?)… something silent with puppets instead of something with lots of Arabic. Unfortunately, I got a puppet show with lots of talking and some puppets. For adults. I don’t feel too bad about having to sit through an hour log diatribe in Arabic… I feel worse for the kids and their parents who seemed to expect a puppet show suitable for families. The first (really long) scene was a man beating a woman, over and over an over. The next scene was two men fighting. Etc. One of the final scenes was about oil, from what I could see of the props used. Afterwards Samer told me it was apparently a political play about Westernization and global domination. I couldn’t understand a word, but suspect I’d likely agree with many of the angry sentiments about the US and other countries plans for greed and destruction in hopes of gaining control of more money and Middle East oil. Alas, I couldn’t understand anything other than the puppet violence… something else I can’t support. ;)

Happily, we then said goodbye to his friend and decided to take a lovely walk along the Nile, near some of the fancy, smancy hotels (apparently for rich Arabs and rich tourists). The hotels were amazingly gorgeous (fancier than most I’ve ever seen), and the river views were quite gorgeous too.

Oh, and I’ve now got my list of souvenirs needed, and I plan to shop in my last two days once I get back from the mountains in Sinai. Of course, in those same two days I hope to hit the camel market, take a day trip to Alexandria, see Sufi dancing (the famous Whirling Dervishes), take a felucca (sailboat) ride on the Nile, go out to a fancy dinner (at Samer’s suggestion), and see a couple more of his friends. I suspect it’ll be a busy few days.

Hope everyone is well!