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Tuesday, February 05, 2002

 
I am long overdue for a blog submission. I've thought of it often, but putting finger to keyboard is another matter.

Where to start? Well, we had an absolutely fantastic weekend. My parents kidnapped Devon around noon on Saturday and didn't bring her back until noon on Sunday. How good is that? We were giddy with excitement. We went to a pub for lunch, went curtain-rod shopping (having found our dream curtains a few weeks ago...did I write about that already?), then headed to a movie. We decided to see The Royal Tenenbaums. It was very good and just what we needed: humourous (mostly) and light (mostly). We then headed to Star of India for dinner.

I like to think of myself as somewhat of an indian food expert. When I worked for the Aga Khan Foundation (where 80% of the staff and 99.9% of the volunteers are of East Indian descent), I did a lot of traveling. Everywhere we went we ate Indian food. Also, all of our meetings were in the jamatkhanas (Ismaili mosques) and food was always a central element. Our volunteers were only too happy to help educate my palate. I was quite happy to be educated.

There are some beautiful jamatkhanas in Canada. A few of my favourites are:

* The Lion's Gate JK
* The Edmonton JK
* The Burnaby JK (spectacular)

Anyway, this is a long way of saying that I've eaten at many Indian restaurants in Ottawa and the best, by far, is the Little India Cafe near the Coliseum theatre. Where Star of India is full of non-Indian customers, Little India Cafe is always full of East Indians. The food is great. The prices are reasonable and the service is gracious.

**Devon's Birthday**
Devon had a great birthday party on Sunday. She was really in her element and was especially cute when we sang happy birthday to her. She was the belle of the ball and she knew it. She had her very first piece of cake (with lots of icing) and I saw her eating chips at one point. It all came back to haunt us that night when she woke up at 11:30pm and wouldn't fall asleep again until 2:30am!

Devon continues to do lots of new things: she's climbing down stairs as well as up (and she's very good at it; she can say 'bubbles' (it sounds like bubba); she can make a roaring sound when you ask her what a tiger says; she takes things out and puts them back in (she especially likes sitting inside her toy box and throwing her toys out, then pulling them back in); she can climb onto the coffee table; she graduated from a bath ring to a straight bath (after climbing out of the bath ring); she can point to my nose when I ask her to... and lots of other things that will come to me after I press "post."

Work is pretty good. I'm incredibly busy, but am getting better at prioritizing. Next week I'll be down to 4 days a week (3 at the office and 1 at home). I think it will work, but will have to remain flexible. I got new office furniture which has really made a difference. I can actually close my desk drawers now and my desk matches the bookcase. Paint has been decided upon (terracotta), so my oasis is almost complete.

S***t...I just looked at the time. I'm supposed to be studying! I'll write more later.

Leah