I re-lived the weekend =]

Hello girlies!
First off, I'd like to join hands in prayer...may this post be half as cogent as I would like it to be, amen.

So as you know, and if you didn't..you do now, this weekend was a reunion of sorts with some of the girlies from McGill. Two pairs of wives and sumaira, to be exact! Ayee arrived in K-town Friday evening and both shani and I went to pick her up. Friday was also my dad's birthday so we spent the evening having some very spicy thai food at a very nice restaurant, and watching in amusement as the waiters hovered solicitously around Shani ;) First they offered her the menu, then they served her water first, she got her cutlery changed before all of us, oh the love!

Pertinent details of the evening: pan friend lobster, chicken with cashew nuts, stir-fried calamari and dried curry chicken. No celebrity sightings (last time we saw Vaneeza).

After dinner, we frosted some cupcakes, delicately devouring a few along the way and then retired for an hour long gossipfest before Shani's parents arrived to pick her up. Ayee and I went to be shortly after (what can we say, Shani is the energizing force)...an example: Shani was SO brain dead from jet lag that she tried to tell us the same story three times, each time looking completely befuddled when we started giggling.

Saturday morning I was up early (9 am people!) and scurried off for a de-gorillafying session at the salon. Ayee woke up by the time I returned, we had breakfast and then headed over to Shani's house after finding out that Sumaira's flight had been delayed by three hours. We arrived to find tami, who had the WHOLE MORNING to do, had chosen 15 minutes prior to take a power nap. Obviously, that would never do, and we were quite vocal in our protest. Poor tami :P We proceeded to eat some more things, and shani, duly recovered proceeded to tantalize us with the promise of "stories" later in the evening. By the time we went to the airport to pick up sumaira, we were all a little high and might have freaked out (or wildly entertained) shani's brother aka our chauffeur. (Ayee was cracking highly inappropriate pathan jokes, tami was poking at Ayee's newfound snarkiness, and shani was just giggling from the front seat). Sumaira's arrival was no less exciting with every news agency in K-town parked outside the airport. While we tried, to no avail, to peek over the crowd Tami proceeded to take pictures of important public notices such as "Spitting paan is forbiodden" and "Beware of the terrorist". She then also showed us all up by walking very calmly to the head of the hustle and bustle and asking the first moustached, pot bellied uncle who made eye contact what all the fuss was about. Turns out it wasn't anyone TOO important so I won't bother you with the details. Anyhoodle, Sumaira finally made it out, we all pounced her, it began to rain and we walked arm in arm to the car :P

At home we managed to eat some more, tell some more stories, and then curl up into a bed too small for all of us. Then Shani decided to show us K-town and we packed into a car and drove around some rather sketchy areas which even I had not seen (note to all: Shani is a true and through karachi girl, I am a pansy). After that Shani informed we were not hungry, so we sat around a while longer before finally, finally heading out for dinner at a cafe call Kahva which wasn't at all mediterranean in any way. The food was GREAT though: steak with bleu cheese, moroccan chicken, club sandwich, cheese stuffed chicken, and jalapeno and caramelized onion steak. Finished off with a molten lava cake :D There was more storytelling (for those who are confused, the term "story" pertains to any account involving a marriage prospect or potential) from Shani, none from Ayee, a few from me, and a maybe baby from Tami.

Since it was Sumaira's last night and her flight was at some unholy hour in the morning, we all hit upon the brilliant idea of staying awake till it was time to leave. Here's what the evening looked like, in summary:

11pm: OMG U GUYS DID I TELL U?WAIT ME FIRST!!OH THATS A NICE LIPSTICK!I NEED PJS!I'M HUNGRY..OOH WUS DAAAT?

12am: I need a 5 min rejuvenation nap(shani). YOU CANT SLEEP. NOOOO WAKE UP! Is she sleeping? OMG U GUYS DID I TELL U?

1:30am: Are your 5 min done yet? Nuh uh. WAKE UP. What time is it?

1:40am: What time is it?

1:45am: OOH let's watch a movie! YAY OKAY! Yes! Is she still asleep?

1:50am: Wait can i check my mail first? ME TOO! Hey who's thaaat? Is she still asleep?

5:00am: THANK GOD. *sleepy* hey guys what'd I miss? (shani) *slapslapslap*

5:10am: Tearful goodbyes, we all pass out while Shani takes Sumaira to the airport.

We woke up at noon, got ready in a stumbling, bleary-eyed haze and then headed off to Sheraton for brunch with Shani's family. Food was AWESOME. They had real shawarmas!!!!!! And a few cute guys :D

After that we scurried over to change into jeans and drove out to a fantastic beach hut, also with Shani's family where we inhaled a few bowls of junk food, walked along the beach, harrassed a dead jellyfish and picked up a disgruntled sea slug from the surf. Then Tami and Shani played volleyball while Ayee and I relaxed with nice clean, non muddied feet. We also rode a camel, shrieking the poor beast into a new level of alertness and giving the handler the impression of being slightly mentally delayed :P Whatevs! Got home past sunset, took some hot showers to feel human again, lazed around and ate some more and then had hot chocolate rich enough to put ordinary humans into a coma. We managed to stay awake till just past midnight before crashing.

Monday was the last day so we spent it having breakfast at my place, running around zamzama market in the fruitless but revitalizing shopping endeavor, and topping the afternoon off with dark chocolate mousse pie before hustling off to the airport and heading home :)

Whew!!!

Now I am at work, bored, jobless, but obviously alert enough to have written this :P Let's see how it looks!

*publish*