I just got back from seeing an amazing performance--Mercan Dede and his ensemble who were performing at Century Ballroom. The Turkish born, Montreal based, world-beat musician/producer subtly fuses the Eastern spiritual traditions of Sufi music with contemporary ambient sounds to create a unique mix of old and new, sacred and secular, East and West. All of the musicians were extremely talented, including a very young 15 year old clarinet player. What really amazed me was the presence of two Whirling Dervishes. Before tonight, I had no idea what a whirling dervish was. Essentially, they twirl around in a circle like mad throughout the entire piece, as much as half an hour--not even spotting and not getting dizzy at all. This is apparently a sacred Sufi dance to elevate the dancer to a trance-like state, bringing him/her closer to Allah. At one point, the lights dimmed and this electric jagged light stitched to the dervish's skirt lit up, creating a beautiful effect. My jaw was dropped for most of the tonight's show...this is a must-see. Everyone in the audience was feeling the groove of the music and jamming away.

Jigna's Bachelorette weekend was absolutely fabulous--everyone was relaxed, happy and there weren't any dramas at all. Friday evening, we arrived for a late dinner at a "casual upscale" French tapas restaurant called Fiction, in the Kits district. The food was just incredible, a pleasant surprise considering I just picked it out last minute. Saturday was our spa day---we all got wonderful spa treatments at the Miraj Hammam Spa, a Middle Eastern inspired spa. We all got the traditional hammam and gommage treatment, involving an invigorating steam treatment followed by an exfoliation. Relaxing in the Soltana Lounge, sipping tea and munching on baklava was a perfect ending to this amazing spa experience. In the evening, after shopping on Robson a bit, we had our obligatory dinner at Jigna's favorite restaurant, Vij's...fabulous as always. If you ever go there, you must try the wine marinated lamb popsickles in fenugreek cream curry with tumeric spinach potatoes: it's to die for and my absolute favorite. After dinner, we headed to the much too-hyped Skybar off of Granville Street for some late night dancing to old school hip hop. Sunday involved a brunch on Granville Island where we bid adieu to some of the women who had to go back early. I ended the weekend sitting on Kitsilano Beach with Asayo and Jigna, followed by an Italian dinner before heading home. All in all, it was a rather tame weekend as far as bachelorette parties go. We had a few dares for Jigna to do but it was all in good fun and nothing raunchy at all. Yay!

Today, I said goodbye to my car of 8 years, my '96 Acura Integra SE---my college car. I have so many wonderful memories with that car...it was so hard to part with it. So odd..never thought it would be hard to part with a car, but it was! In its place, I got my "adult" car...an Audi A4 1.8T Quattro. Love it...it's a really nice car. It handles amazingly--the 6-speed manual is so fun to drive! I'm sure I will enjoy this car and come to love it as much as my Integra.

oh my god--bellydancing kicked my butt tonight. i tried out the "mixed level" class for the first time (beginning II and intermediate) and boy, was it a challenge. i don't think i can naturally move my hips that fast! i did love the class--everyone is so good...something to look up to. we even whipped out some zils, which i suck at---my fingers do not coordinate with my hips. whew.

This land is your land....funny.

Just got back from my first ever bachelorette party---that of Jennifer Gilreath's: she was the first person ever to put me on a snowboard and force me to go down the bunny hill at Snoqualmie. All other girlfriends that have gotten married over the last few years lived so far away so it wasn't practical for me to be a part of the bachelorette evening. It was fun, considering I literally didn't know anyone except Jen. It was a very typical Belltown bachelorette party, starting out at Axis, followed by Ohana, Seasound and then dancing at Tia Lou's. Jen was forced to wear a veil, candy jewelry and a sign that read "Bite For A Buck - No Hands". What a good sport...Congrats Jen--you've scored a wonderful guy. Thanks for letting me be a part of your bachelorette evening!

Sorry I haven't written in awhile...been pretty busy. Last weekend was such a blast. It started with a spontaneous trip up to Vancouver with my friend Jason so that we could catch the Jazz Festival. We started off Friday evening checking out an Afro-beat jazz musician, Tony Allen. He was amazing, great sound. Coincidentally, Joe & Sri went up to see the same show. The rest of the trip was fun, going to places I'd never been: brunch on Granville Island, strolling along Commercial Drive, visiting Kitsilano Beach and eating the most amazing meal at Bin 941.



Sunday, came back and stopped at Home Depot on the way back and picked myself up a Weber Q Portable Gas Grill. (Before y'all bash me for getting a gas grill over charcoal, it's because I'm not allowed to have charcoal grills up on the rooftop of my building so I have no choice but to get a gas grill) I'm very happy with my purchase as I was able to use it quite a bit for my 4th of July party that evening. What started out as a casual conversation with 2 friends about having some friends come over turned into quite a sizable party. It was great! We had fabulous views of both the Puget Sound and Lake Union fireworks and ate a lot of good food. I should have people come to BBQ up on my rooftop more often....



I'm actually staying home sick today. I'm not as horribly sick as I've gotten in the past..but with the weather being so up and down recently (Monday I was speedboating on the lake in my swimsuit, Tuesday I was wearing a sweater and swearing at the bitter cold), my body's panicking and trying to bring on a cold. So I decided to just stay home and rest it out so that I don't get any more sick.

My family ended up switching plans and eating at an interesting restaurant called Basta Pasta, a Japanese-Italian fusion restaurant down on 17th--yeah, who would've guessed it? For example, Aaron had spaghetti with sea urchin sauce. The food was pretty tasty in the end.



As mentioned, we saw Aida on Saturday night and I ended up liking it more than I expected. One surprise was seeing Micky Dolenz performing in it. I kept expecting him to burst out in "Here we come...walkin' down the street...". The musical takes place in ancient Egypt times and is about a love story of a princess from Nubia who falls in love with the captain of the Pharaoh Army, enemies of her native country. The storyline itself was so-so---I was much more interested in the costume choices for the show. Much of the women's clothing had a slight contemporary look to it which I found different and interesting. If you're in New York, check it out--it's in its last run on Broadway!



Later in the night, I met up with Smithies again--Katie, Debbie & Li Mei--to go barhopping around the East Village. Met some new people and had an overall great time again.



Sunday was the day of the wedding---but first, of course, we had to check out the NYC Gay Pride Parade since it was literally a block away from the hotel. Do you know this parade lasts SIX hours in this city? Crazy! It was quite..ahem..entertaining...





The Chang-Wong wedding was oh so very chi-chi and very beautiful. It'll probably be the fanciest wedding I'll be attending all summer. The ceremony itself was simple and took place at a beautiful church on Park Avenue. Hester just looked amazing in her dress and the weather was perfect as we all exited the church.



The reception. First off, let me say, this'll probably be the only wedding I'll attend where the majority of guests wear one thing to the ceremony and another for the reception. I can see why. The reception itself took place at the fabulous Essex House Hotel across the street from Central Park. Most of the men had changed into tuxedos and the women into formal gowns. You can tell it's going to be a fancy reception when the h'ors d'eouvres in the beginning include items like foie gras w/cucumber and goat cheese & black olive mini quiche. At dinner, I found myself separated from my parents as I got placed at the big singles table (aptly named "Smoke's" after one of the big bars on the UPenn campus, where Hester & Mike went to undergrad---my parents weren't thrilled about being at a table named "Class of 1920"). Coincidentally, I sat next to a former Amazonian that I had heard so much about in the past few years, Ben Margoles. Anyhoo---dinner was absolutely delicious. We started off with shrimp & scallops in a puff pastry with beurre blanc, followed by an asparagus & arugula salad. Main course was a choice of striped bass fillet or a cut of veal. Dinner was a raspberry sorbet Baked Alaska, petits fours, chocolate covered strawberries AND the wedding cake. Yum! The whole event was rather upscale with a very good live jazzy-ish sort of band playing all evening. Quite a number of people danced, including my parents---it was my first time ever seeing my dad boogy down. He even asked me to slow dance! What a shock! Well, now I know what to expect whenever I get married... Congratulations Hester & Mike---I think your wedding was absolutely beautiful.