yeah cupcakes

the magnolia cupcakes were a force to be reckoned with last night. we weren't sure what to expect at the beach volleyball play-offs after a season of ups and downs. i'm not sure the organizers had a clue what they were doing either. we played like crap our first game against a team we already had some history with (ie: full contact volleyball). but the cupcakes rallied to dominate the next 3 teams, putting us in the finals for next week. eric gets the mvp award. we celebrated like any magnolia cupcake would, with a trip to mcdonalds.

me next

the valima was held the night after the shaadi. traditionally, this is an islamic ceremony celebrating the consummation of the marriage. these days nobody actually verifies anything of the sort, but the party goes on. afterward, farhan's uncle arranged for a boat ride, which i thought was quite romantic. just look at these two! farhan's parents can arrange a marriage for me any day...

the big day

even though farhan and roohi were married and could actually look each other in the eye and talk face to face, their actual wedding, or shaadi, was two days later. i missed this too as my inexplicable karachi illness caused me to pass out and fun things like that. staying home was not so bad, as helena too was ill and together we were tasked with preparing the wedding room... or as we called it, the love nest. farhan's sister gave us a bag of rose petals and instructed us on how to sprinkle the petals all around the wedding bed. i kid you not! we did our job well. it wouldn't surprise me if i was asked back to karachi to prepare other wedding rooms in the near future... (ehem, urooj...)

back to pakistan

after farhan's nika ceremony, joost, helena, zoe and i escaped town and drove about an hour southwest (i think) to the shore. we spent some time in a fishing community with men working on beautiful boats. we even stayed for tea, which was delicious. this was probably one of the least touristy places near karachi one could find (not that there are lots of western tourists anyway) and i was loving it.

some of the men and women use henna in their hair to give it a red color. in this case, the fisherman was likely trying to emulate one of the prophets. at least that's my guess. some men wear beards to be like certain prophets as well. if you're following a prophet closely, you apparently follow his grooming habits as well.

unfortunately, this was the day i started getting pretty ill. i don't know if it was the heat or the food or what... but i completely lost my appetite and ate nothing but tea and crackers for the next two days. sadly, i missed two of farhan and roohi's ceremonies because of it. here is a pic of roohi at the mehendi (henna) party. talk about glowing! wish i had been there. instead i was at (farhan's) home writing letters and listing to podcasts.

birthday break

i've been mia for a week, but for good reason. lau's birthday season is in full force. this calls for a break from the karachi chronicles, which will recommence shortly.

the birthday shenanigans began friday night with a federal hill style block party. tons of peeps joined in to celebrate 4 birthdays, an engagement, a housewarming... lots of reasons to party it up. i only got to see about 1/4 of the people there, so i'm sorry if you attended and i missed you. here's a pic of me, tim and carolyn. note: i chopped my hair off.

the fun continued saturday with a retreat at northbay (on maryland/delaware border) complete with my first ropes course experience. even though i'm scared of heights, i totally got a kick out of playing in the trees way up off the ground. i did get some major rope burn that looks absolutely disgusting on the back of my leg, but i think i fared pretty well otherwise. i will say my arms felt like jello the following day. i wonder what happens when you fall...

sunday i went to lex for some emergency tlc (family is goooood) and some much needed time spent reading and napping in the hammock on dad's porch. it rained monday and tuesday mornings. hammock + rain + book + mountains = heaven on earth. monday i was thrilled to spend some time with college mentor laura and college pastor bill. monday night my favorite prof eduardo and his lovely family joined us for birthday dinner. my bro pierce also dropped in after learning i had snuck into town. pictured is eduardo's daughter eliana getting kisses from our puppy anna belle.

tuesday i made the trek back to b'more feeling a bit more like myself, though a year older of course. farhan and roohi are back stateside, so they took me to dinner... followed by yummy homemade birthday cake at brian and erin's place. i know everyone thinks they have good friends, but mine are really the best.

farhan seals the deal

farhan's nika was on a hot monday morning at this lovely mosque not too far from his house. the nika ceremony is when the bride and groom sign the marriage contract. farhan went into the mosque a single man, and walked out a married man.

the women and men are separated in the mosque. we all gathered in one room with roohi, who seemed pretty calm about the whole thing. she's super cool. the ceremony began and her dad and an attorney and a religious leader walked in and read the marriage contract to roohi, which she agreed to. the men walked out, went to farhan and said a bunch of things in arabic that i couldn't understand, and then farhan too agreed to the contract. presto-change-oh... the two are married! farhan was then brought into the room with all the women where he sat next to roohi and the two of them had to do a number of things. in this picture they're both covered and then they look into a mirror to see each others reflection. this is supposed to be the first way they see one another, but of course that wasn't really the case. anyway, it was a nice touch. what people couldn't see was that the newly weds were actually playing footsie in the mosque... ah! like i said, roohi is super cool.

so while all of this is very exciting, i was having a little pity party for myself. i typically cry at weddings, and this was no different. but this time my tears were in part because it became very real to me that i was going to have to share farhan with someone else! i mean, i'm a sharing person... and technically i've been sharing farhan all along. but he's like my brother. and you know how that familial bond is a little different. plus, this was the onset of my paki illness, though i didn't realize it at the time. so yeah. while i'm smiling in this pic, there was a lot of pouting going on too. i'm just being honest. the bonus, of course, is that i get to chill with roohi now too... which makes it all worthwhile. not that this is about me...

sunday market

it was tough to get out of the house and do any shopping since farhan's family was clearly preoccupied with all the planning that goes along with two weddings. fortunately some family friends offered to take us around. i think farhan's family was a little nervous because the city had shut down the previous day from riots and fires following the death and funeral of the shia priest that was bombed days before (a pizza hut and a petrol station were both burned down near some of the events we were attending), but joost, zoe and i felt plenty safe with our trusty driver asef (not to be confused with arzoo's husband asef).

first we went to the sunday market near the arabian sea. before we could even stop the car children swarmed around begging to carry our things for us. one urdu phrase i used a lot was "nahiin chehia" for "i don't want..." (i'm sure i spelled that wrong). the market was open air, but with fabric tarps tied together for shade. i did more people watching than anything, though i did manage to haggle with some men over a few items. buying food from steet vendors is always a no-no, but the roasted corn seemed safe enough. corn kernels were mixed with coarse sand which sped up the cooking i think. the sand was then sifted out and the corn was seasoned and hot and yummy. great afternoon treat.

after leaving the market, our driver overheard zoe, joost and i plotting on ways to escape the house to see more of the city. eager to please his foreign patrons, asef turned to ask if we had a camera handy. we asked where he was taking us, but he just put a finger to his lips indicating our destination was a secret. after an always adventurous ride (the traffic in karachi is worse than south america and (according to joost) africa), asef parked the car outside a mosque and signaled for us to follow. as we walked to the entrance we saw the mosque was actually much larger than it appeared from the road. we took off our shoes and entered karachi's largest mosque, the white-marbled masjid-e-tooba. its single dome is simple, elegant, and supposedly the largest of its kind in the world. asef turned to us and asked, "you happy?" yes. very happy indeed.

arzoo's shaldi

after days of ceremonies and preparation, the time had come for arzoo's nika and shaldi. the nika is when the marriage contract is actually signed. this occurs without the bride and groom even seeing each other. after the contract is signed, the bride is brought to the groom, sits beside him, looking down the entire night (acting bashful is key... i had to tease arzoo into looking up at me for this picture), and receiving guests until the time comes to leave with the groom, and only then do the two get to know each other. okay, asef and arzoo had been talking on the phone for 8 months, but still!

because this was such a special night, all farhan's female friends wore saris. putting on a sari is no easy task... nor is walking around in one. baby steps are crucial. i loved it, though. i would definitely wear a sari to any formal event. they look so regal. if only i had a torch and a crown, i could have been a pakistani statue of liberty. note the henna and the bangles. the bangles are glass bracelets, and it's common to break one (or 4) when putting them on or taking them off. you can also slice your hand if you're not careful. i had to use lots of soap and farhan's mom and sisters would fold my hands in ways i didn't think possible.

sad day

the day of the shaldi (the actual wedding ceremony) the family has a very special tradition. the parents dress up in their old wedding clothes, celebrating their own marriage. then their child to be wed sits on the mother's lap to be given away. this can be a very sad and happy moment all at once, but i was mostly sad when farhan carried arzoo in and placed her on his mother's lap. arzoo's shaldi meant she was leaving the house to live with her husband's family, and i felt like she was leaving me too. i was also just so scared because i knew so little about her husband asef who i had yet to meet. we did a lot of crying. farhan's dad was all smiles and laughing the whole time, but farhan's mom grieved the loss of her child. my heart was breaking for her and for the family.

after the ceremony we snapped a group shot of farhan's foreign friends and family. joost (a dutch man living in london), naqi (farhan's dad), me, rahana (farhan's mom), zoe (a swiss and swedish chick who came from belgium), helena (a spanish chick living in london), urooj (farhan's younger sister) and farhan. farhan's dad told everyone we foreigners were his kids from his previous marriage :-)

fun with henna

after 2 days of non-stop wedding ceremony fun, we had a 2 day hiatus from the festivities. kinda. we still had parties to attend, but of a purely social nature. farhan's high school buds helena, zoe and joost trickled in from their respective countries to join the wedding throng. we were fast friends. after their arrivals, we had a slight scare. a suicide bomber killed a shia priest about 10 minutes from our house. but really, no trip to pakistan would be complete with a little bomb scare, right? it barely made the news back home, but we let our loved ones know we were okay just in case. i was having clothes fitted that day and could barely get this top to fit over my head. or you could consider it a scare tactic.

meanwhile, as we endured what we gingerly termed "house arrest," we took turns getting henna on our hands. before the wedding, the bride has a mehendi ceremony where the bridal party gets painted with henna. 3 ladies came to our house and spent hours painting different designs on us all. arzoo's henna was of course the most elaborate work, trailing all the way up her arms and covering her feet and legs as well. the henna is like a brown paste that dries and cracks and rubs off the skin after 2-3 hours, leaving behind red tattoos that last for days/weeks. i still have faded evidence on the palms of my hands. note the peacock on the back of arzoo's hands. cool, eh?

mayun video clip

here is a video clip from farhan's mayun (if it works!) i was supposed to put mehendi on a leaf in farhan's hand, but chose to put it on his face instead :-) his aunt then returned the favor. apparently this signifies something will happen to me, but i couldn't understand what exactly. i hope it's something good!

arzoo & farhan's mayun

my second day in karachi was extremely busy as urooj (farhan's youngest sister) gave instructions on how to prepare for the mayun ceremony to be celebrated at the house that night. this was a double party for arzoo (farhan's older sister) and farhan as both were getting married.

during the day urooj and i made mehendi (henna) and put in in different small pots and containers. we hung thousands of marigolds (orange and yellow) as the backdrop to the platform where arzoo and farhan would sit. i've never seen so many brightly colored flowers in my whole life. it was super cool. flowers were part of every ceremony, usually worn by the bride and groom, but the guests as well. the women would all receive bracelets made of orange blossoms as they arrived. they smelled soooo good!

during the ceremonies, i would sit with the women as they sang prayers. when praying, the women keep their heads covered. the girl singing prayers for arzoo's mayun had a beautiful voice and genuinely felt the words she sang. even though i couldn't understand what she was singing, her sincerity was moving.

i don't really understand the point of farhan's mayun, but for arzoo it signaled the beginning of several days where she would stay home always wearing yellow. she even put yellow tumeric mixed with rose water on her skin. all of this was in preparation for her wedding, when she would go from yellow to red, as a bright flame. here are farhan's dad (who i call baba), arzoo, farhan, his mom (who i call ami) and urooj in the back.

roohi's mayun

as soon as i arrived in karachi i barely had time for a shower and a nap before i was fitted for clothes and whisked away to the first (of many) wedding ceremonies. initially, farhan was not supposed to attend roohi's "mayun" because the bride and groom should not see one another. but roohi's family invited him anyway with the understanding that he'd stay far away from his bride to be. little did they know the devious nature of farhan's friend... me. toward the end of the night roohi was telling me she wanted to see farhan and one of her friends basically dared me to bring him to the stage where roohi was receiving guests. i was, of course, obliged to unite the couple. i ran off to find farhan, took him by the arm and said, "come with me." he said, "are you kidding?" but i wasn't. farhan looked pretty nervous sitting next to roohi as everyone giggled and took pictures... not because of his bride, but because of her very upset grandmother. so i got him in a little trouble. but he had just flown all the way in from america to meet his bride! the romantic in me had to intervene.

during the mayun, the bride's head is covered so you can barely see her face. throughout the first several ceremonies the bride is supposed to be bashful. this took a lot of effort on roohi's part as she is anything but bashful. here you can barely see her laughing from behind her veil. mayun colors are yellow, green and red... all of which roohi was wearing.

as women offer prayers and sing songs, different family members and friends come up to bless the bride. roohi held a leaf in her hand as people came up to smear things on it (like henna). women would also take money, circle it around roohi's head three times, and then put it before her. this money is then collected and given to the poor. then they give her sweet things to eat, similar to donut holes. i was mesmerized by this whole process.

the big departure

i'm back in one piece, so it's time to put together a chronicle of karachi events... starting with the journey to mc paki's homeland (um, that would be farhan).
here's mike getting ready to drop me off and say goodbye. hmmm... he doesn't look too upset...our long layover in london was made even longer when our plane needed a few parts... but the lovely flight crew bought us krispy kreme donuts to hold us over. hurray!after 40 hours of travel, we land in karachi. farhan's family was thrilled to see us.the first thing you see upon exiting the airport? mc donald's, of course.

long distance laughing

i won't be posting for a few weeks. internet access in karachi will be sporadic at best. but i can promise to laugh up a storm and take lots of pics and share it all with you later. here is roohi, farhan's bride-to-be. i am SO excited. peace out... lau.

snafu fixed

travel plans are a-okay. whew!

bits and pieces

i'm all over the place today, so here's a little update...

i got to see my brother pierce this weekend. he's at camp for the summer as a counselor. i used to love being a camp counselor (though the washington post clearly thought this was a strike against me). it was great to be in the mountains, put my feet in the creek, and sit on an old southern porch while catching up with my little bro. he's one of my favorite people. this pic is a year old, but you can tell there's a lot of love.

travel update: there's a slight snafu in my flight to pakistan. cross your fingers and say your prayers that the situation is resolved SOON!

birthday shout out: mollie has blessed the world with her presence for a quarter of a century. yay mollie!

new digs: i moved into a new office. it's bigger, has more windows, and the lady in the office next to me yells things like "numb nuts!" for no apparent reason. good times.

northern aggression

i may have lived in the capital of the confederacy for a while, walked past stonewall jackson's grave every day on my way home from middle school, sung countless concerts in front of general lee's marble likeness... but i never owned a "south will rise again" t-shirt. not my style. this weekend mike and i were driving to lex and spotted signs indicating you could tune in to some am radio station to get battlefield updates. sadly, we didn't catch the call letters and thus had to speculate on what exactly these updates could entail. "the time is 3:40 pm. the temperature is 88. field conditions are the same as yesterday, and the day before that, and pretty much every day for nearly 150 years. but stay tuned for the latest..." edge of your seat excitement.

borrowing content

i actually saw this movie on a blog belonging to someone else. i can't take full credit. but i wanted to share it with you, so here's my first shot at embedding video feed. i hope it works.



happy fourth of july weekend (even though the actual holiday is nearly a week away, we're all taking off work until then, right?)

magnolia cupcakes

beach volleyball season is in full force. and despite torrential downpours yesterday, the "magnolia cupcakes" stepped up to the proverbial plate and scored their first big win. present were french fry, bri bri, curious george, general li, nicole (who needs a nickname) and me. the cupcakes dominated the lp strikers, likely because of the video which you too can access at the link above (click the 3 dots). scroll down to the chronicles of narnia clip. you'll be glad you did. i'll get a team pic soon so you too can share in cupcakes' glory. well maybe you won't be part of the glory, but you'll feel it.

errr... doctors

so i've been sick a lot this winter/spring. and for no apparent reason. i eat healthy (okay, except for the number of quesadillas i fix for dinner each week, but breakfast and lunch are much better), i take vitamins, i don't party too hard (it's relative, i know), i work out regularly. maybe i should sleep just a little more. but it's not like i'm doing cartwheels at work... i don't need that much rest!

anyway, i'm sick. again. and i finally caved and went to the doctor. i thought, 'maybe she'll figure out all my illness is connected and she'll tell me how to fix it... maybe she'll take a holistic approach this time.' but deep down, i already knew the answer. i knew she'd ignore my previous symptoms. i knew she'd treat only what was right in front of her. i knew she'd send me home with a z-pac. and that's exactly what happened. she said the average person gets sick 6 times a year. (since when am i average?) she said allergy season is much worse this year than ever before. whatever. that was a waste of a $15 copay for sure.

so tomorrow i'm trying a new approach. acupuncture. considering my fear of needles, it promises to be a good time.

pups in pubs

thirsty dog is a great pub for a number of reasons... yummy pizza, delicious salads, special brewskies, and the sheer brilliance of serving all drinks in two's. even water. double fisting is not optional. pictured are stephen (not my brother), alicia, jill, allison, mike and adam. note alicia's cute puppy. yes, this is a dog friendly bar... one more thing to love about this local watering hole. however, last night two ladies had two terriers that would not stop yapping at any and every pup or person that walked past. my ears are still ringing. and of course, the ladies were convinced that everyone else was the problem. *sigh* some dog owners are impossible. if your dog is friendly, cuddly and quiet... i'm happy to share bar space. leave the yippies at home though, please.

biodiesel is the poo

take a big whiff. (thanks, callie). maryland finally has its very own biodiesel production plant. YAY! seriously, biodiesel is my favorite fuel (and yes, there are many to choose from... you just don't hear about them too often). put simply, biodiesel is a domestically produced renewable fuel that can be used in any diesel engine with no modifications. it burns cleaner than petroleum diesel, increases energy independence from foreign sources of oil and benefits farmers whose crops are used as feedstock for the fuel. i've had the opportunity to work pretty closely with the family running this gig, and i'm so excited the project is finally off the ground. if you're lucky, soon all those buses and trucks emitting black clouds of gross smelling soot will instead smell like french fries or popcorn. mmmmm. just look at that clean soybean oil glistening in the sun.

par for the course

mikey and farhan celebrate their birthdays today and tomorrow, but we partied it up last friday. the fiesta had a golf theme, just for kicks, and allison and alicia did a great job of dressing mikey and farhan for the occasion. funny thing is, those are actually mike's shoes. while the initial plan to play nine holes of pub golf was abandoned, everyone had a great time laughing at the guys. easy targets. taking them out in public was especially fun. farhan got a number of odd looks and guys yelling, "put your collar down!" chin up McPaki. you wear that collar high. happy birthday boys...

new music

last week i went to a show at 8x10 to see mat kearney, which was good... but the guy opening up for him was the best. justin king. he solo-ed the short set, which was amazing, but i think he sounds good with his band too based on what i've heard online (his latest album hasn't been released yet). if you like unique acoustic genius sounds, get his "le bleu" album. i love it. if you like catchy music you can sing to, find their new cd when it comes out.

i love being in a city where i can actually see great musicians so easily and frequently. i left wanting to practice guitar forever...

life in a bucket

this weekend i got some serious sun, but only my face and feet are pink... whew! my friend john was the host with the most in oc (maryland, not california) who let me crash his pad and his family. i can't remember the last time i went to the beach with a bunch of kids... it's so entertaining! i have to admit i'm a bit jealous of little emma. i miss the days when i wore bows and ruffles on my swimsuits, thought trips to the trash can were adventures, was encouraged to take naps, and could fit in a bucket.

a girl's best friend

so farhan is definitely one of my best friends... and has been for years now. i can rely on our friendship as much as i can any familial relationship. we're leaving in a few weeks for a very special trip to pakistan. both farhan and his sister arzoo will be celebrating marriages and farhan will then bring his loooovely bride roohi back to b'more to start a life together. all the baltimorons are eagerly awaiting roohi's arrival! we can't wait to welcome her to charm city.

last night farhan and i went ring shopping. FUN! it's really funny, because though i consider myself to be a pretty low maintenance gal (wishful thinking, i know) i get pretty girlie-girl around diamonds. i couldn't stop laughing, they just sparkle so much! i got to try several on since they just wouldn't look the same on farhan's hands. haha. again, they're so sparkly! woe to the man that sweeps me off my feet.

phos

i started a new blog. it's called "phos" and it serves a different, less social, purpose. check it out if you want http://phosislight.blogspot.com... "lauren laughs" will of course continue :-)

mellow yellow

if you live in charm city or the surrounding areas, you may have noticed a change in your fuel. or maybe you didn't notice since it won't affect the performance of your car. basically, the epa has identified certain areas (usually urban centers or coridors between major cities) that must use fuel meeting a higher air quality standard than the fuel used in... say... small town lex vegas. we call this "rfg" or reformulated gasoline. in the past, fuel suppliers were using an additive called mtbe, but have since switched to ethanol for a number of reasons. all you need to know is that ethonol burns cleaner, is less toxic to the environment, is a renewable fuel (usually made from corn, so we can just keep growing more!) and is domestically produced (though we're getting some from brazil right now too). a 10% blend of ethanol (or E-10) has been approved for use in all vehicles, so you don't have to make any modifications to your car. pretty seemless transition, eh? you may have seen the "live green go yellow" ads gm has been airing. these vehicles can run on a higher concentration of ethanol (E-85) and therefore do a lot for our environment, our farmers, and our energy independence.

maggie the wonder dog

i wanted to leave you all with some thoughts before the weekend, but i wasn't sure what to say. i figured a picture would be a good place to start, so i checked my archives and came up with this little gem. if you're from around here, you may be able to tell that mags is running around federal hill (note harbor in the background) which dates this pic because mom and maggie both moved to texas a month-ish ago. hmmm... maybe that's a talking point... though it doesn't go well with the "lauren laughs" theme. shoot, i'll do it anyway.

maybe you're used to living far from your parents, but i'm not. when i broke up with a boy a few years ago, my mom hopped in the car and drove to my place for the weekend... mostly so i wouldn't have to search for a church on my own (i wasn't that broken up about the boy). when someone in the family has needed something, we've always been able to drop what we're doing and get to the person in a few hours drive... usually with little to no interruption in the normal routine of work and life.

now i saw my mom a month ago, and that's do-able, and we're both peachy. but if i wait until one of us needs the other person, then i'll have to buy a really expensive last minute plane ticket and probably miss several days of work and school. can i do that? i don't know... so maybe i need to act preemtively and buy a ticket now even though i don't feel the need to just yet? and maybe i should plan to get out there before school starts since it's impossible to travel when it's in session? but i know mom is coming up here later this summer or fall to pack up her baltimore house... so would that be a prudent use of time and funds considering i will have just spent some time with her. ahhhh... it's not that any of these thoughts are overwhelming (really, mom... don't worry as you read this) but they're just new to me.

but isn't the pic of maggie the best? ha...

mighty fine memorial weekend

it's hard to know what pics to post from this weekend (hence the delay). it's one of those "inside joke" kinda times. but i'm just going to post my favorites since this blog is really about what makes me laugh anyway... haha...general li's namesake... love for the oc and everyone's favorite family...the view from dinner on the porch... no, really.... *sigh* legs flying in goshen...brian pre-splash...dad showing how to use a blow torch for creme brulee. yummy. most of the weekend was spent napping, reading, eating, napping, reading, eating, and of course laughing. a big thanks to mike, erin and brian for coming to lex and making the weekend so fun and special. a HUGE thanks to my dad for a beautiful home and delicious food and the best company!! y'all are the poo and a blessing too.