Day 108: You're my biggest hit.

Last night's Ovid reading was made doubly fun by the fact that I also have the Ars Amatoria in Spanish -- Arte de amar, to be more specific. After translating a few more pages in Latin, I caught up with all that I have read so far in Spanish. Because the Spanish version I have is less abridged than the Latin, I had plenty of lines to "spare," i.e. practice my Spanish accent. ¡Que chevere!


This morning, I read Sonnet 108 and a bit of Dan Brown before getting ready for a special Christmas brunch my family attends every year. This party is held at the home of our friends the Kvams, who are Norwegian-Indian. This always makes for some beautiful Norwegian Christmas carols and awesome Indian anecdotes. Their older daughter, also named Priya, who is home from Scotland (where she attends college) performed for us today and has the most beautiful voice -- I hope to record a duet with her one of these days!


Here, I also got to see Debra Auntie again, meet her wonderful family, and introduce them to the infamous Priya (junior).


We left a bit early for the 16th birthday party of a very important person -- the superstar Iman Karram. Zane, Jaclyn, and I surprised Iman by showing up at the skating rink at Reston Town Center! After brother Zane had tied all of our skates and he and I had swapped hats an appropriate number of times, we were ready to skate.


Ice skating was eventful, to say the least. Although participating in this recreational activity today had been my suggestion, I admitted to the three quite early on that a skating rink would be a perfect place to interrogate me, as the slightest chance of falling scares me to no end. (Skating, anyone?)

Luckily, I had my brilliant baby brother to catch me when I was about to fall today, and the rink was a great place to fill my little siblings in on all the latest! After we had talked and skated in circles for about an hour, we headed to the cozy Cosi for s'mores and hot chocolate. I love winter. 

Satiated and smiling, we parted ways and the Karrams drove me home (not before an Iman-Ratna photo shoot in front of the Christmas tree at RTC!).

Back home, our families had tea together and discussed the bright future of the beautiful Iman. I can't wait to see where this girl goes. Whether it's the big screen or the courtroom, she will wow the world.

After tea, Iman even agreed to give me a dance lesson over winter break! Sister, I can't wait.

Having said our goodbyes to the amazing Karrams, Priya and I enjoyed a sister-tastic workout before I scarfed down some dinner and worked on this post. The fam is about to watch a Bollywood flick, after which I will imbibe my daily dose of Ovid before going beddy-bye. This weekend has been such a great start to the holidays!

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