Merry Christmas!

December was an interesting month. I finished my course and actually today, the marks were announced and I got A+! After the final exam as planned, pishi and I went to Niagara for a 3 day relaxation. It was great! The place we stayed at was called Sterling Inn and Spa. Our room was amazing, we chilled in front of the fire place and enjoyed fabulous Shower. The shower was the best part, because it has the rain mode from the ceiling as well as wall pressure heads. After coming back from cold weather, the Jacuzzi was the high light of the nights!
We did our Christmas shopping at Niagara and enjoyed spending some time by the Falls. Amazingly, the fall walk way that is always busy was so quite and I think it can be attributed to cold weather. During the time we were there, the city had Festival of Lights event and that was interesting. I think people with small kids would enjoy this event very much.

In the mean time, different head hunters has gotten in touch with me for various supervisory and managerial roles. Interestingly, once I decided that I need change, it was announced that my boss will be moved to another site! This change was an unexpected but very pleasant change as our new boss is a lady whom I have worked with before I know she is a nice person and looking forward working for her.

This week I am off and I am enjoying every bit of it! I have started thinking about my new year resolution and what I want to do and a movie that I just watched, called "the secret" has motivated me to re-ignite the fire in my belly! I recommend watching this movie. I personally can attest to some of the things mentioned in the movie reviewing back through my life.

Today is boxing day and Pishi and I are planning to go for some shopping and getting ready for New Year's party!

Count down

Life has become much more enjoyable and manageable. I realized that nothing is more important than present time and nothing is really worth stressing over. Right now I am following the philosophy of "goor e pedaresh"!! Whenever I get the urge to rush for something, I stop, evaluate and see if it is worth it. If not, goor e pedaresh!! I think with this new found philosophy, I have found peace! This means going from caring for everything said to me, to stop taking things too seriously and putting pressure on myself for things that are out my control. I realized that I have created this illusion for myself at work that I have to be on top of everything, even things that are out of my control. So with this new found attitude, I feel I am doing better and now counting down to mini-get away after my final exam next week. So starting today, it's study time!

I have so many plans for the holidays and can't wait for all the stuff, we are planning to materialize! This winter, would be great, skiing and going somewhere warm are the high lights of the winter, specially that I think by end of winter, hopefully I am out of my braces!!

Vacation


http://peswiki.com

It has been about 2 month since the last time I wrote in my blog, I can't believe life has gone by so quickly. As expected, September was very busy, surgery went well, except that the first 1o days was the hardest time since I was on liquid diet really!
Health Canada's inspection went well and finally we had caught up with some of the work and it seems that it is not as crazy as it was before!
My course is going well, I did great on the mid term and have to work on the assignment today in less than a month I have my final exam!

Last week we went to Pishi's cousin's wedding in Austin. We stayed for a few days in Houston at the Houstonian Hotel, club and spa. This place was fantastic. Apparently, VIP stay there! It was interesting, in the Lounge, you would see mostly business people and distinguished political figures! At Houston we visited Galleria, one of their famous malls, it was pretty big.
We then went to go to NASA. Reviewing the history and the progress was amazing. The only sad part is that the next shuttle would be the last trip to space due to budget cuts!
If I every have a child, I would definately bring him or her there, one of the best places for motivation and hope for future!

We then went to Austin, where the wedding was, it was amazing. A smaller city than Houston, capital of Texas but beautiful in landscape. Both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding were in astonishing places. The rehearsal dinner had a view over a lake and we gathered there to view the sun set. The wedding was in a resort and the ceremony and sofr e aghd were beautiful.
We then went to San Antonio. This city is the get away of that area. The most interesting feature of that city was the river running in the middle of the city, making look like European city. We spent couple of hours there, at Mexican food and head back to Houston for our flight back to Toronto.

It was a nice get a way! Once I got back, I heard one of our employees had won 21 million dollars in the lottery! It made me thinking and that if I ever win that much, I would spend it on travelling. I have started to have this crave to go and see every where and wish I get the chance!

Surgery

September was a crazy as I have predicted. Trip to New York was fun. We really enjoyed the walking in Manhattan, visiting Metropolitan Museum. Walking on Brooklyn bridge, Central park, Wall street was interesting. We ate dinner at a place called Graffiti and truly enjoyed the food. The atmosphere was pleasant and we got to meet a family from Spain visiting NYC at our table!
Next day we went to Pizzeria place on Madison ave. There we bumped into Kelly Rutherford and her children. She is a star in Gossip Girl. It was interesting to see that she looks exactly the same in that series and even better. Afterward, we went to a an Italian Cafe, were they had the many different ice cream and gelato! Pishi enjoyed himself with a scoop of Pistachio and Coffee flavoured ice cream while I warmed up with mint tea!
We visited a couple of churches, as well as ground Zero. It was interesting our the churches were so different than European style churches.
We walked a lot but it surprisingly, we really didn't get that much tried, I must confess that Manhattan's subway system was incredible. I wish one day, Toronto has as much stations.

After our trip, the first day back, I started my advanced statistics course, the teacher is a strict one but he reminds of my high school teachers in Iran, where the teachers not only teach the subject, but to make you more interested, they add some life advice to it!

I was one of the only students that got the book, thanks to Pishi's fast order from Amazon.
Yesterday I went through teeth implant surgery and now that I am writing this post, I am feeling ok. except that my face is a bit sore and is swollen!
2 weeks to Health Canada's inspection and I am hoping it goes well, after this inspection, 1 more and we are off to a smooth ride!

September is upon us!

It has been quit busy in the last few weeks since last I wrote here. Trying to catch up at work and getting ready for Health Canada's inspection in September. I also am planning to take the advanced statistics in process control this fall and will be registering today. September will be a very busy month specially that I will be going through a surgery as well.
I am hoping October is more relaxing!
Last night we went to our friend's first year anniversary. It was lots of fun. Dancing, talking with interesting people and watching Lilli's Arabic dance performance was the high lights of the party. I can't believe she taught herself all the hard moves!
This long weekend we are planning to go to New York. It is not solid yet, but that is the plan as of now. This would be my first trip to NY and I have heard a lot from attractions there.

Relaxation!

FDA inspection is completed last week and this weekend, which is a long weekend we absolutely did nothing! Just rested and watched movies. We watched couple of Poiret movies. I finally got to watch "Love Affair".
During my teenage years, one of my friends told me briefly about the story but I never had the chance to watch it. It was a very romantic movie and I realized, how movies then were so different than movies now. Now a days, like many things, emphasis is on telling a story fast paced, whereas, previously, I find the atmosphere of the movie prepares you for feeling different emotions.
We have another inspection to go and by end of September, once done we will be done for at least 2 years!

World Cup Finale


Http://wikipedia.org

Today is the final game of soccer world cup and it between Netherlands and Spain. This wold cup I couldn't watch the games as much as I wanted but I had a chance to watch the last Germany games and I enjoyed them. Germany demonstrated the power of great team work and beat England and Argentina! However it got beaten by Spain. Unfortunately I was at work and couldn't watch the game but got very disappointed by the loss. Today I am cheering for Netherlands.
One of the funny things in the world cup was winner predictions by different animals! For example an Octopus predicted that Spain will win the final. So we are ready to see if it is true or not! Apparently so far its predictions have been correct.
Less than 2 weeks to FDA visit and we are catching up! Next week I will be going to my friend's baby shower and can't wait to see her and her beautiful home.
I can't wait to get to mid August and we are off this inspection madness and enjoy summer! Although Pishi and I are trying our best to enjoy! We watched Juno and couple of other movies this weekend.
Last weekend we watched Karate Kid and I think it is a powerful movie for kids to see. I was impressed although I think it was more for kids that adults! But watching the movie wasn't the point the point was being with my family and enjoying their presence.
I feel time is moving fast and I am losing the chances that will never come back.
I am beginning to realize that life is more than one set of rules that I have for myself for living. You can do other stuff and prioritize and enjoy as well. I have to start dreaming again in order to build those dreams. It has been a while and I think I haven't even got the time to look ahead and see what I want anymore from life?

June has been a very busy month at work. Now that we know when FDA is visiting we have been busy keeping up and trying to catch up! At the same time, we got to watch a number of movies and shows.
We watched "Prince of Persia" and "How to train your dragen" in theater. They both were good movies to watch. Although not jaw dropping, they were entertaining. We watched, "Kiss, Kiss, bang bang", " She is out of your league" and both were not that impressive. "Date night" was a fun movie to watch and I recommend it!
We started watching "Bagh e Mozafa" and I have been enjoying it. It is a comedy TV show starring Mehran Modiri. Although it has lots of yelling, it is entertaining.
World Cup is on going and we try to watch as many games as we can. This year I am cheering for Germany! As it is a young, energetic team.
A head hunter found me a week ago for a QA manager role but since it was in another city, I declined:(. I am hoping the craziness reduces at the end of the summer and life goes back to normal!
Last week we went to one our friend's wedding and it was fun to see old friends and chat up specially about the madness of G20 and police behavior.
Tomorrow we are going to watch Karate Kid and Saturday pishi and I will get to spend time with our friends at a BBQ.

Adjusting to the routine!

It takes a while for us to adjust to summer and the heat and our ice starts melting!-I told Pishi
As weather has become so enjoyable, it seems like sin if not to enjoy and be in nature. I can say for sure, nice weather has vast impact on my mood!
We try to go out and enjoy short walks with each other and plan our indoor tasks and activities that we at least can step out for a while even if it means short.
We finished watching all episodes of "Lost". I must say I was a bit disappointed with the ending as it was vague on several issues. It didn't explain how did the people who left the Island die and it doesn't really explain if all the afterlife sequences that was shown, why people were bleeding. After all, I thought when we become ghosts we don't bleed any more! Nevertheless, I think this has been the most influential TV series I have ever seen and I think the screen writers and the directors are very gifted.

Next week I am suppose to be in the same room as the corporate inspectors to comment on some of their questions and I must say, I am a bit scared. I hope we survive by end of next week! The inspection time, is always the worst time, it basically is the time that you are faced with all your flaws and in a way I think this probably is like how judgement day would feel like!

Last week I was a reference for one of my ex-coworkers/classmates and I am happy to say that he got the job!
We watched the movie "2012", I definitely would not recommend watching this movie unless you have kids of 10-15 that would enjoy the visual effects. The movie was totally fake to me and I must say with its scientific errors bored me to death!

Life is moving fast and I am trying to catch up. I am trying to understand and implement what is more important and what I should not be worried about and learn the art of negotiation!

Toronto in Heat!

This is the second week in a row that we have gone downtown to enjoy our weekend. Last weekend we went with my parents to Distillery District and enjoyed a French restaurant's food on Yonge street afterwards.
This weekend was great. Friday night, Pishi came to my workplace and I showed him around. Then went to my parent for dinner and movie. We watched a movie called "kard va panee". It was a funny movie. The first movie that I saw Soraya Ghasemi in a pretty aggressive role!
Saturday was quite. I French manicured both my hands and feet nails. I came out to be nice for the first time.
Today we went to visit one our old friend and his new bride downtown. He lives in Montreal and it has been nearly a year since we saw him. It was nice to spend the day with them, walking down to St. Laurent Market was fun. The road was closed as there was a bicycle race. We ate at an Irish pub close by and later walked a bit more and ended our time at Second cup, with me drinking mint tea and Pishi an ice cap.
It was nice to reminisce the old days but better to plan for future. I have started seriously thinking of changing my job as I really don't want to continue sacrificing my life for my career which ends in no balance in my life.
I am thinking seriously about moving to US with Pishi and starting fresh.

Back to T.O.!

Well, the Volcano kept its cool and allowed us fly to Iran. The trip to Iran was amazing. I enjoyed every single second of it! We visited family and could do sight seeing. We went to Isfahan and Kermanshah and both cities contained such rich history. Specially Isfahan, I was amazed of the beauty of "Naghsh e Jahan square"-400 years old. The beauty of the Islamic architecture combined with old persian bazaar and the history of each place was astonishing. We visited, Qayserieh Portal, Shah/Emam Mosque, Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and last but not least magnificent Ali Qapoo Palace. We did some spice and herb and art shopping from the Bazaar. I understand why now people say to see Isfahan it is like you have seen half of the world. In my humble opinion in comparison to EU cities, Isfahan is a jewel.
At Kermanshah, we stayed at my grand mother's place and visited the city including Tagh Bostan.
In Tehran, we visited the Great Bazaar. This Bazaar is where all the shop keepers come to buy goods from for their shops.
The weather was great and enjoyed eating good food. Relaxing and playing a bit of Agatha Christie's computer games.
I met pishi's friends and enjoyed their company. This vacation made me completely relaxed and energized. I was so over worked and stressed out with work and school that I really needed this vacation!
Afterwards we flew to London, England and stayed there for 3 weeks. It was great over there, pishi's family were very hospitable and the food and desert that host made was amazing! We spent majority of time site seeing and the icing of the cake was St. Paul's Cathedral! We climbed up the stares to the very top to visit the great view of London from the top. We also visited tombs of many famous people including Alexander Fleming and Florence Nightingale.
We flew back to T.O. last Sunday and Monday I was off to work. It was nice to be back to our home but this vacation has made me realize that I would like to enjoy the beauties of life and not to spent my time away with work. The funny thing is that the plane that we caught to get back to Canada got cancelled the day after we arrived due to Volcano's eruptions. Although I am happy to be back, but I wished it erupted while we were in Iran so we enjoy more time there!!I guess I lack excitement and creativity in my life and that is what I am going to pursue.
To that end this long Victoria weekend, I am revising my resume and I am going to start looking for some positions with less stress so I can enjoy the beauties of life.

Eyjafjallajökull volcano


http://news.nationalgeographic.com

From my last post, we have been extremely busy. Time flies! During that time, Pishi's friend visited us and stayed at our place for a few days and it was interesting to have him over. The most astonishing part was his opinions on women which I think he is a pure ref elect of what Iranian men think in Iran. I was shocked on some of the things he said and I thanked God that Pishi is nothing like him.

Last week Pishi and I visited pishi's cousin family and it was fun talking to them, realizing that his wife goes through the similar emotions at work as I do! It was a venting session for both of us and our poor husbands were just listening!!

Sunday, we visited my friend and their new born. He was so peaceful and cute. Seeing him really made me want one! such that I couldn't control myself and I told pishi in front of them :) The layout of their home was great and I think I really would enjoy living somewhere like that!

The SPC course final exam went well. I must say that was one the best courses I have ever taken. Now I am more confident in decisions I make and am aware of the risks statistically. The morning of the exam I got great advice on how to try take stress out of my life and get a balanced life style. I think one way is the vacation that I am taking. Next week this time, we are in London airport. Although there is a slight chance that it gets cancelled due to Iceland volcano activity but we both are looking forward to it.
Eyjafjallajökull volcano first erupted on March 21, 2010 this year. The first day of spring! Then it again erupted on April 14th which has forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes and has caused the planes to be grounded. Last time this volcano erupted was in 1823. In a way it is funny how events like that reminds us how fragile human life is. I am glad to be experiencing this event in my life time. I wish I can go and visit Iceland.

Pishi's last day at work in this Friday. He resigned from his work to focus on a company that he and his partner started.

Work wise, it has been crazy and let's just say, I am glad that we are off on vacation for 3 weeks.
My boss has agreed to show more flexibility so I can work from home if need be.

A head hunter did contacted me for another job that had less responsibility and more pay and I really was tempted to take offer to go ahead but I decided to wait a bit. May be after another 6 month. Hopefully things get better and less stressful.

Yesterday, we bought all the gifts for the kids of the family and I am glad to say that only 2 pending and today is cleaning time and planning for next week!

Happy Nowruz

Yesterday at exactly 13:32 spring arrived in Toronto. For the first time we got the hold of the Iranian radio and were hoping to hear the count down to the moment of "sal tahvil" which surprisingly it didn't! As I was lighting the candles on our haftsin, all of a sudden the radio played the music for sal tahvil and said congrats on the start of 1389!! Pishi and I looked at each other in shock and laughed. Usually we sit down and pray the last seconds but this time we missed it! Our Haftsin looks great. I bough Sonbol this year as our Sabzeh didn't end up growing well!
Afterwards we got connected with Pishi's parents through web cam and talked a bit. We talked to my parents and then I had to prepare to go to the hair dresser to make up my hair for the Nowruz celebration at IC Network. It was great seeing familiar faces and enjoying the first night of the new year among friends. The party was good but I think it could have been better! The DJ at the end of the night was fantastic. We enjoyed the music and danced the night off! By the time we got home and got to bed it was 3:00am. Today we continued calling relatives and did a bit of grocery. I have to get ready for the week to come by cooking 2 dishes and start working on my assignment that is due on Tuesday!
It is 1 month left before our trip to Iran and there are so many things need to be done before hand!

Spring is coming..

Well, let's review all the things had happened since my last post.. I got my mid term back and I thankfully I did well, 96%, I missed a question as I didn't read it properly.

Last week I was suppose to meet my friend's back in university but all had been busy except Christine. She announced her wonderful news of being pregnant! I am very happy for her. I hope she has an easy pregnancy. We went to Moxies for lunch and the same day, I ended up going to Moxies for dinner for one of our friend's b-day. It was fun talking to old friends.

This weekend, so far we did a Agatha Christie's murder mystery game. I am the type that when I start something, like a game, book, etc. I can't let go. I have to finish it. So the whole day we were looking for clues and some of them I have to say was hard and we had to cheat a bit but the end was rewarding! It was fun doing something different.
I must say though, I am used to enjoy these types of games more that this time. I think that being at work and trying to solve problems everyday has something to do with it as it gets very exhausting thinking and trying to put clues together as what happened when by whom and doing impact and risk assessments! But nevertheless It was a good break from reality.
Today, I am going to do our spring cleaning, grocery shopping and I have to start doing my homework! Monday, I will be in charge of the QC department as my boss and the manager of the other group are on vacation. An exciting week a head!!
A word on our trip. We have bought our ticket and our vacation dates are firmed. I am looking forward to the trip and we have to do last minute gift shopping after eid.
One of Pishi's friend is planning to stay at our place for a few days after 2 weeks from now and I think it would be great!
I just have to find a good hair dresses, know of any?

Office Politics

The past two weeks has been crazy at work. I am hoping that March would be a month that we catch up with everything. I know realize what my previous supervisor used to say, when she used to say that it's not the work that is difficult it is the office politics that slows things out.
After 9 month being in my position as a supervisor, I have made good allies but at the same time I can see that I have made a few enemies. The experience is really strange as I have never have been in a situation that some one viciously shows her jealousy toward me. I guess we will see in a few days how that rounds up to be!

I had my midterm last week and I think I have done well. I have to wait and see this Tuesday what my mark comes out to be. Yesterday, I went to one of my mom's relative's baby shower. It was fun. It's amazing, how much attention I get when I am with an older crowd! I actually enjoy their gatherings. I think the bottom line is in the attitude. I could have denied participation with activities like many of the girls around my age in that shower did or I could have come out of my shell and enjoyed my time there. The latter is the one I chose and I had a blast. Dancing and helping out with the host.
We are planning for our trip in May to Iran. I am looking forward to road trips in Iran and visiting the historical places and visiting the relatives.

February!

February so far has been full of events. First was my birthday and I got 1 day off by my boss for my birthday! This year I enter the Big 30. Few days before hitting that number, I was trying hard to calculate it back to 29!!Alas, I am no longer in my 20's.
It made me think about what my prof said in university, that after you graduate if you have some of the stuff you planned for yourself in your 10 year plan, you should be happy. And to that end, I should be happy, as I entered an industry that I wanted to. I did a leadership program that I wanted to do and now taking courses which my company is paying for. So in that sense I am successful, but I still want to do more. I don't know if it means, that I would do masters or I change my field all together.

Anyways, last week we went to Laser Quest with a group of friends! It was tons of fun! I enjoyed it alot and it also helped that the team I was in came in first! It was my first time tagging and I would definitely do it again and recommend it!

This long weekend, a group of our friends and us went to a cottage where Pishi and I made Ash for everyone. We also went to "Princess of Wales Hotel" for English tea in Niagara On The Lake. It was as I expected and more as the African tea was fantastic. It had spicy aroma and taste. The tea was accompanied a variety of sandwiches and sweets and they all tasted delicious.
We also got to do some shopping and we bought what we needed for our upcoming trip in April! More items ticked off from the list!

Valentines night we went to my parents place after coming back from the cottage. We had dinner and watched an Iranian movie!
Now we are at home since it's family day holiday. I am doing my assignment and have to catch up with housework and prepare for another week of work.

Party time!

This January, has been very busy. I had my friends over for dinner and had tons of fun playing Mafia and catching up with everything that has been going one in our lives. Each one of my girlfriends are going through a different phase of their lives. One is having a baby, another is getting married, the other is moving to South Africa for her master's Thesis.
More responsibilities are added to my workload since the beginning of this year. At the same time I have started a course in statistics and I am enjoying it as one of my co-workers is also my classmate.
Pishi went on a business trip to London, England and he is just back. The time he was gone, made me realize how much I love him. Even though I party when he was gone but I really missed him.
Busy times!Next week we are off to one of pishi's co-worker's place.
My 2010 resolution is to exercise more and focus on mastering art of time management!

Happy New Year!

As the world said good bye to 2009, I was in a deep sleep. I have been so tired that I went to bed at 9:00 pm and as Pishi put its, he kissed me at 12:00 am and I didn't wake up!
I guess that's why I still don't feel that 2010 is here, may be when I start dating everything 2010 it will hit me! I haven't started to come up with resolutions yet. I am planning to come up with solid ones! I am planning to continue with my certificate courses and 2 other tasks that have been hanging.
I wish this year brings everyone peace and happiness.
Last week, we went to a candle vigil with pishi for the unjust death of students in Iran. I think participating in the settings shows a person, who he/she really is. I learned that even though I agreed with one of the girls that were disagreeing with a guy on a political ground, I didn't not have the courage to back her up. And for that I felt so ashamed. Despite my attempts to show that I stand for my belief and the truth, I showed myself that at the time of action, I just stand still and do nothing. I think the biggest thing that I would like to change in myself is to learn not to be indifferent and pay the price of disagreements.