All Was Merry and Bright

Riz and I had a great mini-vacation in Horseheads. A recap of our Christmas break:


Faheem and Riz spend some quality techie time together.

Meanwhile, the girls are preparing for a Cajun-themed Christmas Eve Dinner

Sameena sets the table with a smile
We tried baking some Christmas cookies
But got a little ahead of ourselves and ended up with Valentine's Day treats instead

We stuffed the stockings,

finished up some last-minute wrapping,
and awoke at 4am Christmas Day to spread some cheer. ( This was Riz's 10th year delivering presents for Arctic League)
Back at home there were oodles of gifts waiting to be unwrapped
Lots of surprises
and lots of laughs
Happy Holidays everone!

Just Finished Assembling T's Gift.

Hope she doesn't check any blogs before unwrapping presents tomorrow!

You Shouldn't Judge a Present by its Wrapping...

but I do.
One of my favorite things about Christmas is the way the presents look beneath the tree. When I was younger I used to arrange and rearrange the boxes until they were neatly but casually stacked just like in the magazines. I also took wrapping very seriously. When my parents' co-workers and neighbors delivered presents stuffed in gift bags, I stuck them behind the tree. There was no room for bags in my perfect Christmas picture.

There's nothing quite like a beautifully wrapped package; carefully measured paper, crisp corners, and a certain je ne sais quoi that says " I thought about this". You can imagine my disappointment when for our first Christmas together, almost 10 years ago now, Rizwan presented me with an unwrapped gift from behind his back. Things are different now.

Over the years I and the rest of the family have evolved as wrappers. Even Rizwan will spend hours wrapping a single gift. This secretly pleases me and the results are pretty amazing.

Here's a sampling of some serious wrapping from last year:


Aziza's handywork featuring old black and white photos to personalize each gift.

My gifts. I was going for homey and warm with the plaid ribbon and initials made from string. I was accused of "going country".Rizwan's snowman masterpiece. So cute. We were all impressed.


To avoid upsetting the present police this year (Aziza) I've gone "chic and icey"

Hope you're busy cutting and folding, Ejazs ! I look forward to this year's creations!

This End Up

Last night we attended our first baby class, or, as Riz likes to say, the "this end up" class. It's a good thing we don't work together. We'd both be pink slipped.

It was just like being back in school. We had busy work before the class began, introductions, group presentations, and videos that ended just as you found a good napping position. We made the 3+ hours bearable by creating our own entertainment.

We laughed at the worksheet that asked us to 'circle all the dangers' in the nursery. Did anyone find the smoldering ashtray placed next to the unattended baby teetering on the end of a table?

We laughed out loud during the breast feeding presentation. It was totally Rizwan's fault for referencing Meet the Parents. I had no idea you could milk a cat, Focker.

We laughed again when Riz placed our "baby" in a back bend position to get his shirt on. We're horrible.

The class wasn't a total wash. I did learn a few things and it was good to have reaffirmed what I already knew. We left feeling pretty confident. I think we'll rock this baby thing.

New Baby Training Tonite!

Say hello to our little friend! (we'll tell you how it goes...)

Pics from the Aviary

What a Fantastic experience. We saw dozens and dozens of interesting little (and big) feathered friends, and managed to not get :&@* on once! Definitely recommend this as a fun family trip for anyone coming to western PA.

We're at the Aviary!

More pics to come!

willkommen

Now that you've seen the Pink Room, it's probably time we showed you the rest of the house. Like all homes, it's a work in progress which will probably be done when we're ready to move.

Come in!
The living room

We actually weren't going to look at this house. The fireplace pretty much sold me.

The family room
Rizwan's contribution

The kitchen. Is it ever big enough? Let's go upstairs!
Our guest bath
Another view

The (cat free) guest room
From another angle

This is our bedroom. Our neighbors were throwing out their old windows. I thought they'd eventually come in handy for something crafty. I used one of them to frame the joker card Brett gave me at the wedding.

Our bathroom. It's pretty small but it's great having it right off the dressing area of the bedroom which is so convenient.

The end!

The Pink Project

Now that we know Peanut belongs to Team Blue, I'm all geared up to begin work on the nursery.
The pink walls have got to go. All of our house guests have attempted to describe the intensity of the current color. It's been refered to as "hot pink", "Barbie pink", and "80s pink"to name a few. It's easiest just to show the pictures and to note that it's so bright, there's no need for lights.

I had my heart set on a Serena and Lily bedding ensemble. After seeing the $600 price tag Riz vetoed it immediately. I know it's completely unreasonable and Peanut wouldn't know the difference... I do love it though. The problem with seeing the expensive bedding, is that everything that follows pales in comparison. Everything except the walls.

My issue with forgoing boutique shopping is not that I don't like saving money, but that I'm strictly opposed to themed rooms. I find rooms decked out in Looney Tunes, Winnie the Pooh , and the like completely repulsive. The light switch cover matches valance which matches the lampshade and the sheets and the mobile. Of course, most of the the big retailers boast shelves upon shelves of this crap.

After searching through countless of bad choices, I've decided to recreate the Serena and Lily bedding on a budget. A much much smaller budget. The challenge starts tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Snips n' Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

oh boy

Gender results today!

Tahera and I can't wait 'till 2:30 to find out whether it's Mr. Or Ms. Peanut. Stay tuned!

This is Where We Used to Live

Heading back!

An Interesting Find...

Well folks, the latest development to hit chez Parvez is that our little peanut's now "got his ears on."

In preparation for this event, Tahera and I have been brainstorming over what the very first song Peanut hears should be. We came up with a bunch of great ideas, and finally decided on Heartbeats as done by Jose Gonzalez. I first heard this song through this fantastic Sony ad.




Details about how the ad was made, as well as a high-res quicktime version can be found on the Bravia advert site here. The ad was directed by Danish photographer Nicolai Fuglsig. The filming was done in San Francisco using 250,000 superballs and high speed cameras. I think it's awesome to see something done "for real," rather than using a bunch of computer generated images to create the effect. The motion is fluid, sometimes random, and breathtaking.

As for the music, it fits the flow of the video perfectly; warm, simple, and beautiful.

Jose Gonzalez is a Swedish born indie/folk musician. Heartbeats is a track from his 2003 album Veneer. The rest of the album tends to run in a similar vein and all-in-all is quite good.

Now here's where things get really interesting. Tahera, being the dilligent one did a bit of background research on the song and made a very cool discovery. Heartbeats was actually written by a Swedish duo called The Knife. They have their own video directed by Swedish Trio Andreas Nilsson, Johannesen Nyholm, and Bo Melin. Theirs (apart from being awesome in its own right,) lends some insight into the Fuglsig's vision for the Bravia ad. What's more, it's a terrific throwback to early CGI.



I really enjoy the contrast between these two pairs.

One is very organic. It uses almost no computer effects (either song or video) to make its impact. The other is entirely electronic. It's a deliberately rough-edged sort of animation that celebrates CGI's beginnings.

I go back and forth over which one I like better. I hope you enjoy both.

Kickin' It Old School

Tahera and I went home to visit the family a few weekends back (and make some fun announcements.) As we were getting ready to leave, the Old Man mentioned that he'd been following our blog (Hi Dad!) and was wondering if I'd like to take his old Minolta SLR film camera since I've been hobbying-up the photography lately. Well, of course I did, and thought I'd post some of the early results, and my impressions on the camera.

I took the Minolta out on the town shortly after we returned to Pittsburgh. Tahera and I decided to go into the Squirrel Hill district and get some italian ice at one of our favorite local places, Rita's. When we got there, it was about mid-sunset. The light was just teriffic. Everything had this great glow to it. Right after we parked the car, I looked around for something to photograph. Pretty quickly I noticed what seemed to be a nice view of the sunset. I turned on the camera and prepared to take a picture.

I leaned back and pressed my face to the viewfinder. It was already, instantly different; one eye closed, only being able to see what the lens saw. The lack of peripheral vision really forced me to focus on composition. A little to the left... less tilt... move it lady... Then, presto! The shot I wanted. I held my breath to keep the camera steady and braced against my car. There was a brief creak before the shutter release gave way and I was rewarded by the glorious snap-and-whir of old machinery exposing film and advancing for the next shot. real film. No crappy afterthought .wav file played out of a tinny camera speaker. No mega-anything. The real mechanics at work. That sound is my favorite part. You can feel it.

So let's see what it looks like. Oh wait..reality has it's price. Where before there was the flick of a switch to playback mode, I now had 6 exposures left, then winding, then removing and capping the film, then driving down to Rite-Aid and dusting off the octogenarian at the photo booth and then...dear god...Paying for DEVELOPING! Stir in an extra hour (gimme an hour-anna-half, dearie, justincase y'know?) and we've finally come to payday. Like a real payday. You know, days after the work was done.

But wow. I think I'm really starting to see what people get so on about when they're talking about using film cameras. Don't get me wrong, I still love our point-n-shoot Canon. The way I burn through digital shots, (yeah, why not forty two shots of our cat sleeping. We only have a thousand already saved on the computer. This shot might not ever come up again [this hour], ) we'd be living in a cardboard box if it were film. And I'd be on the evening news for going berzerk at a neighborhood drugstore's photo counter...dearie.

I'll still use the Minolta for special occasions. Hell, I'm still using it right now. The pictures I've been able to get out of it are too good not to. But even on those occasions, I'll still have the digital as back-up with me. The convenience is too much for me to give up, even with the crappy fake shutter sound.


The Pics:

Introducing Grandma Ejaz!