Goddess of.. Where did November go?

Seriously, where did the past month go?

I wake up suddenly, one crisp-cold morning and, it's December 1st, a Wednesday with yet another newsletter to send out. I read on Facebook about my friends who've just shaved off their Movember mustaches.. and those who've completed NaNoWriMo. The latter being the #1 reason why I didn't blog this past month, I must confess: I failed epically at NaNoWriMo.

I was so determined, but it just did not happen. Projects piled on at work, and that meant extra money.. so I wasn't totally willing to give that up (or the 5 hours of sleep a night, that kept me barely functionning). Also, I didn't have an outline and did not think my "rough idea" of the story I wanted to write would suffice to create a full-on 50,000 word novel. However, I did manage to write well over 36,000 words for my extra projects (SEO optimization texts, for those of you who speak nerd) at work. That's gotta count for something, right? I also managed to hand-in my freelance work on time, every week, despite the extra projects. Go, me!

Now, we're here, on the 4th of December.. the eve of my third bellydance show. I am finishing the freelance work I planned on getting done last night but finally had to postpone due to the arrival of some family friends' first grandson last night: Welcome to the world, baby M!

Did I ever mention that I don't really like newborns? All tiny, fresh-out-of-the-womb, fragile newborns.. don't make me go Awww or Ouhhh.. and I don't think they're cute. Give me a chubby/chunky 2 year old and I'll go nuts.. but those still covered in goo, not so much. Anywowzer, I digress.

My first show, Dec. 2009

Bellydance tomorrow should be fun, got friends coming: Violet, Lolita and Frantz will all be there, along with Mom. 

It's a bit of a big deal for me to invite more than 1 friend.. as Violet and Frantz have never seen me dance in person. But they are both great friends so I don't feel too shy to dance in front of them (and 200-300 strangers). Plus, this semester, I am performing with the most advanced bellydancer group at my dance studio so I nervous, but somewhat proud :)

Talk to you soon, 

Love XOXO

Goddess of .. My Big Fat Indian Wedding !

Finally, I'm posting about the awesomeness that was the Indian wedding I went to last month :)

The bride is a friend of mine from college and also a long time friend of some of my close friends from High school. The event lasted two days and it was wonderful, colorful, bright, especially full of love and I got to attend it with my close girlfriends ! What more could you ask for ?

The first day was the pre-wedding ceremony where everyone gives the bride and groom their blessing and the women get hennah tattoos (mehndi) on their hands and / or feet. 

The 'Mehndi' : Personally, I wanted the full experience and would have wished for tattoos all over my hands and feet !  

However, so many girls wanted the mehndi and there just wasn't enough time to have more than a hand done per person. 

I loved it and would do it again in a heartbeat. The paste they apply is in a tube with a tiny opening, allowing the artist to make some pretty detailed drawings. 

And it smelled so good !!! I know a lot of indians hate the smell because they're used to it or are sick of it, but I loved it. It smelled minty fresh to me :) 

You leave the paste on your hand for a few hours until it dries completely. They also recommend that you dab on some lemon juice with sugar to help the tattoo set and last longer. 

Eventually, the paste dries and falls off .. or you can rinse it off.. and it reveals a dark reddish-brown (in my case) hand tattoo. The tattoo can last anywhere from one week to three weeks. Mine lasted a week, I guess I wash my hands pretty often .. :( Boo !

The bride, of course, had mehndi done on her full arms, both sides and on her feet as well :) She was a trooper because it took forever and then, she had to spend most of the evening without bending her arms because the henna paste was setting in.

The blessing : One by one, every guest gave the bride and groom their blessing. To bless the bride & groom, you dipped a finger in turmeric paste and smudged it on your own forehead. Then, you would smudge some on the bride's forehead and then, the groom's. It was a tricky thing, considering that the bride and I were both wearing bindis (forehead decorations). 

Also, I was grateful that one of the bridesmaids had babywipes in her purse because turmeric paste is babypoop green ! Note to self ... always carry wipes.

After the turmeric paste, you had to hand feed the bride and groom some sweets. It was really cute and I thought it was a great way to show your approval of their union and to literally "feed" their love for each other.

The 'saris' :  The very generous bride had arranged for all bridesmaids to have matching saris (dresses) which she had bought in Toronto beforehand.

During the afternoon of the pre-wedding, my friend and I went to the bride's parents' house and picked out our saris for the evening.

All saris were made of stiff (cheap) cotton, rather than silk, because according to my Indian friend, the Holud  (pre-wedding ceremony) is supposed to be hosted by the village (poor) women. The Holud is a Bengali tradition (Bride's family is from Bengladesh) that takes place before the actual wedding.

The colors were red, dark red, orange and pink .. I was pretty happy to get the pink one ! And especially happy that we got to keep the sari and take it home :)

And now, I have an awesome Halloween costume !

The food :   It was delicious ! The bride's family hired a caterer for the pre-wedding and wedding.

.. and I have to hand it to him, wedding food is usually not impressive but he made awesome wedding food :) 

On the night of the pre-wedding, we had daal (lentils), another veggie dish, basmati rice (YUM !) and chicken jalfrezi that was just to DIE for. 

Actually, it's making me hungry just thinking about it now. The chicken was really well cooked and the whole dish was not too spicy .. it was just perfect !

I could eat it all the time :)

The dance :  Towards the end of the night, one of the Bride's Bengali aunties (or cousins..) performed a traditional dance for the Bride & Groom ! 

She's an amazing dancer, without a doubt, and a very pretty girl .. so I thought I'd post the video for you guys. It gives you a good idea of the overall feel of the pre-wedding celebration night :) and embraces tradition. I loved discovering everything that the Holud entailed and that's part of it .. so I hope you enjoy it !

P.S. I'm really sorry about the poor sound quality, I recorded it with my camera.

*You might want to lower the volume on your speakers before pressing play*

Wedding celebration re-cap.. to be continued !

Goddess of .. Glamorous Holidays of '09 !

These days, I am totally living in a fantasy world of alternate AWESOME reality .. so keeping up with that theme, I've decided to put together the perfect wardrobe of cocktail & evening dresses for all the holiday events & parties of 2009 !

It's gonna be Legend ... wait for it (and I hope you're not lactose intolerant 'cuz the other part's) dary !

I may or may not be totes obsessed with How I Met Your Mother right now.. and I am now smitten.

Glamorous Holidays 2009 by AritzaGoddess featuring Christian Louboutin shoes

Forgive my recent lack of blogposting ..

but I am currently dying of a bronchitis.

I shall return to you from the afterlife
(God, I hope they have wi-fi over there)

.. just kidding (..well hopefully).

Oh, and also, you will be PROUD to learn that I managed to pull myself out-of-bed .. for several hours yesterday .. as I had to rehearse and perform for my end-of-the-year bellydance performance !

The whole dance school performed their acts last night, in a sold-out auditorium (200-300 hundred people including my Mom and Lolita), and all seven girls (including myself) from the beginners' bellydance class put on quite a show! I'm pretty proud of myself .. I didn't forget any parts of our choreography, executed the movements very well, didn't cough my heart out and even managed to smile :o)

Yay for me !

Goddess of .. Uppity pricks and snobs !

Of course, things are never rarely the way you envision them.

Last night was no exception ..

The "hip club" as I remembered it.. was really just an outside bar on top of a skyscraper. Sure, it sounds cool but the sky looked like it was about to pour, it was chilly and windy (i.e. tangled hair).

Picture them just like this, except they were wearing suits! Silly, uh ?!

The "cool crowd" was really just a bunch of uppity pricks and snobs. In typical high school fashion, everyone stuck to their cliques. Every law firm had its clique.. there wasn't any mixing really. I actually saw a guy I knew from high school who, apparently, now has a french accent .. how f*cking snobbish is that !?! OMG ! Thank Lil' Jesus, I was with Lolita (Mr. Unreliable didn't show up .. see how he got his nickname!?!) so at least she introduced me to the peeps from her firm.

Thanks for the support, as usual, you are awesomeness in a bottle !!!