Christmas in Charleston

Our first Christmas as newlyweds was spent in Charleston. We did a lot and took very few pictures but the highlights included the Tecklenburg and Barnwell Christmas parties, playing with Avea in the snow (or blizzard as she called it) and, of course, sharing great meals and moments with family.

Sohail took almost all the pictures so I was surprised to find photos of some things that seem commonplace to me now like this countdown to Christmas piece my grandmother made years ago.

The tree at my Mom's house was beautiful.

On Christmas morning I made eggs benedict for everyone.

We were all in a rush to eat so we could open presents!

Addy got a backpack go to hiking with her Dad.

first business trip

In mid-December I took my first business trip ever to beautiful Houston, Texas. The work was fascinating and I got to see Sohail's aunt Azadeh who lives there. It turns out Houston's not the most beautiful city in the world but it was a fun few days nonetheless.

With Azadeh at the Galleria Mall

This hotel is named after my brother

Azadeh also took me to see this amazing fountain.

Helen and Josh's Wedding

A few weeks ago I was in Charleston for my Helen and Josh's beautiful wedding.

The beautiful bride and handsome groom

Same people - celebrating their recent nuptials

Derek, Helen, and me

The rest of the weekend I got to bond with Max who was delighted when I found his Halloween costume.

On Sunday I had lunch with my Mom and Derek

And I had lunch on Saturday with my Dad and Joanne

Thanksgiving

This year was my first Thanksgiving with the Zandiehs as a Zandieh. And it was delicious!

Davyde saw a NY Times article on carving turkey and he put his learning to the test.

with great intensity

Then he recruited some help for the dark meat and I was happy to oblige remembering my childhood dream of being a butcher.

The dinner was fantastic. Sohail's parents prepared it all.

We all had to work a bit so the dining room turned into a computer lab for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday we all went to best buy to have a real suburban experience.

Saturday night we got together with Nate, Nerys and Daniel for dinner.

Nerys loves Persian food!

More November Fun

As we were wedding planning, we often thought about how much free time we would have in November. And now November's arrived and we're living it up. Here's what we've been up to.

Last weekend we stumbled upon this photos exhibit which was part of Photo Week DC.

Then we had lunch at Leopold's - a cafe in Georgetown that reminds me of Europe.

On our walk home we saw the amazing tree.

On Sunday, Sohail's family came over for lunch.

And this morning, I made eggs benedict.
Thanks Sarita for the poaching pods and Afsaneh for the double boiler!

Autumn Leaves

The leaves in DC have been spectacular lately so today we went hiking on Sugarloaf Mountain to really enjoy them.

A view of farmland

Sarah and Boston

having a picnic

frankie and boston fighting over a stick

Sohail was thrilled because Sarah and Barney brought Halloween candy including sweetarts

all of us

boston leading the way

the view at dusk

on our way home we stopped for apple cider

at this little vegetable shop

Rally to Restore Sanity

A few weeks ago Sohail and I went to the Jon Stewart / Steven Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity with our friends Cathleen and Peter. I'm not sure everyone there was sane and we didn't see or hear much of the rally itself because there were so many people but it was still a really fun day.

Cathleen and Peter fueling up to fight the crowds

These police officers and their horses were going nowhere fast

Probably

Reminds me of high school

Why not?

Excellent - a dog/dragon mobile

And a giant head. Sohail loved this!

At least some people could see

We were hoping to meet Sarah and Barney on the mall as well but there were so many people, no one had cell phone reception (apparently there's only one satellite over the mall?) but we did find them later in the day.

honeymoon

as if the wedding wasn't enough... we escaped to tanzania to seal the deal.

safari day 1

this was our first campsite - not very rustic but very nice

we visited the town and met these boys who were swimming

banana saleswomen

tasting local beer made of fermented bananas

biking through a forest of banana plants

baboons!

zebras

inside a masai home. this is 1/2 of it and about 6 people sleep, cook, and eat there.

masai dance

thompson gazelles

leopard right by our car

our second campground. i was a bit sick at the beginning of the trip and here i was awakening from the dead

we didn't go in this but it was a pretty sight at the start of the morning

giraffe

ostrich

lion - seeing this was the most incredible moment of the trip

at breakfast

setting up the tent with steve and estomieh

this elephant was drinking the water from the campground's cistern - so much for hot showers that night...

the third campground was spectacular

masai trying to sell sohail some trinkets

elephant

hippo

people in arusha

view from our room in kendwa (west coast of zanzibar)

dhow sailboat

the water was incredibly blue

people rallying for the presidential elections (oct 31)

visiting a former slave trading site in stone town

a church which originally had as a goal to end the slave trade on zanzibar

ordering lunch in stone town

exploring the city - we loved it - reminded me of old jerusalem

a view of stone town's port

having a sunset aperetif at the hotel serena in stone town (our doctor's recommendation!)

breezes - the resort where we spent our last two nights

the tide on the east side of the island was extreme and at low tide we could walk out to this dock - at high tide we had to swim a fairly long way.

spending a morning in amsterdam during a long layover. the fall colors made the canals even more beautiful than ever.