2012, The First Six Months...

I've decided to pick up blogging again. I've been encouraged to write about my latest adventures so here's another go at chronicling my life. Don't get too excited, I can't promise any inspiration. 

I left off with departing from Kenya in December of 2011, it's been a crazy 10 months since then. As soon as I arrived back on US soil, I was in a state of bliss consumed with family and friend time. Man, I missed these people. Christmas was awesome. I was engaged and now a legit family member. I got my very own stocking! Growing up Muslim, I hated Christmas because I loved it so much and we didn't celebrate it. When I got engaged, my mom said, "your life-long dream of celebrating Christmas is becoming a reality." It was true, the mulled cider, the presents, the cookies, the mistletoe, snow, and the tree, I got it now! Santa didn't just pass over my house! 

Following Christmas, we headed to Canaan Valley, WV where we had a joint (Jack & Jill)  bachelor and bachelorette party over New Years weekend. Most of our closest friends made the trek out to WV and the party that ensued was unforgettable. Definitely my best new years to date!

Shortly after New Years, I embarked on a wedding shopping trip to Karachi, Pakistan with my sister, grandmother, and mom. My sister was getting married four months after me, so we were doing this together. Chris and I decided to have a massive bridal party so I was shopping for 15 women, myself, and handful of family members. I don't like shopping. Most times when I head to the mall, I get itchy, my throat starts closing, and I typically leave the mall in tears because nothing fit or looked good and I wish I just had money for a personal shopper. So put me in a country where the security situation is uncertain, traffic is a nightmare, bargaining is a must, and when you ask for "something in a bright yellow," they bring you olive green because "I think this just looks better." Well, sir you haven't been planning every last detail around a jewel-toned wedding! When I said I want bright yellow, BRING ME BRIGHT YELLOW. As stressful as this was, I'm so glad my sister was with me, I think I would've jumped on the next plane home if she hadn't been there.  So between incidents of food poisoning, riots and curfews, sitting in traffic for hours, and overly excited shop keepers, after 10, 12 hour shopping days, we were done and determined to make our marriages work. We were never doing this again. Wedding shopping is not what the bridal magazines make it out to be, at least not in Pakistan. 

Actually, wedding planning in general might have been one of the most dreadful tasks I've completed to date. Don't get me wrong, I loved my wedding and the weekend surrounding it. It was actually a total fairytale, but the planning, I totally could've done without. I definitely have a new found appreciation for weddings. I am also glad I had a wedding because during the planning, I wasn't sure I would be. The speeches, the toasts, the hugs, the worlds colliding (my liberal progressive college friends chatting it up with my uber-conservative uncle) and the random acts of kindness from family and friends have left permanent indentations in my heart, and that was definitely the best part. 

So, I got married to my best friend! It's been about four months and people ask "how's married life?" and I answer, "it's like having a slumber party every night!" It's true, we might be 30 but inside we're really 12 year olds, totally stoked to play games and stay up late watching movies. 

Well, this might actually be because shortly after getting married we moved to Lucknow, India, where the nightlife is "provincial" rather than "cosmopolitan." In other words, a night out includes: a trip to McDonalds at the mall, eating a paneer burger under parking lot lamps swatting buzzing flies and mosquitos. 

This is all for today, hope someone reads this and is enticed to continue reading about our crazy yet not-so-exciting life in India.