Conversation with Cyra about Martin Luther King

Cyra: Mom, look, I colored a picture of Martin Luther King. I drew him in pink and purple.
Me: Oh, tell me who that is.
Cyra: He died and he was resurrected and then he had a dream that he went to the beach.
Me: And then what happened?
Cyra: And then he dreamed that they killed him.
Me: Why did people like him?
Cyra: Because they were afraid he was going to kill them.
Me: (explaining that he was a Black civil rights leader and he wanted everyone to love each other).
Cyra: (excited) Yeah! We're Black people!
Lulu: (overhearing our conversation) I want blackberries. I want blackberries.

Dress on, shoes on!

Lucia's first words every morning when she wakes up are: Dress on, shoes on. Every day. She prefers short-sleeves. If the dress has long sleeves, she just pulls them up.



What she is wearing is actually a shirt, but it's one of her favorite "dresses." Usually, I try to make her wear something more modest.

Top Ten Lists

Dear Reader,
Excuse me for this post because it is a little self-indulgent and a few more words than is usual. To be frank, I've got to write this stuff down or I'll forget it all by the time our cars can fly.

My favorite part of the New Year is all of the top ten lists that people put out--everything: top ten movies, books, sports moments, quilt designs, etc. Whatever it is, I just love the rankings and the picking of the most important. It's especially cool this year because it's the entire decade. So I thought I would do my own top ten lists for the decade:

Top Ten things that happened to me this decade:

10. Internet, email, google (this obviously didn't just happen to me, but I just can't believe how much the internet has changed my life)
9. Being Sunday School teacher in the Harlem Ward for three years. I love the ward and I loved that calling a lot.
8. Quitting my job to stay home with the kids and learning how to be a mother. It has been rewarding and challenging, but it was a great decision.
7. Becoming a US citizen and voting.
6. Making and keeping great friends and having reunions with some of my best college friends in the city and in LA(in the last few years, my good stay at home buddies, Rebecca and Sunny, whose daughters - coincidentally - are Lulu's best friends have saved me.)
5. Living close to my family and having Shima and Hediyeh live in the city for a few years
4. Voting for Barack Obama and watching as he gets elected
3. Completing my mission (I was on my mission during the millennium)
2. Living in NYC for most of the decade (and I am including the NYU experience here)
1. Marrying Jared and having and raising Cyra and Lucia (this is a tie!).

Just look at them:



Top Twelve (whatever, I can do 12) Trips of the decade:

12. Hermosillo, Mexico (2002): Actually, this probably shouldn't be on the list and the only reason it is is because it was our first trip together married and we lived there for three months. It was fun just being there together and visiting some local beaches, but it was way too hot and the work was a little frustrating.
11. Dark Canyon, UT (2008): Of all of our Southern UT trips, this one stands out as the most memorable. We went with Shima, Jeff, some great old friends and Gerson came along too. It was the perfect wet/hot/friends/stars/outside experience.
10. Spain (2004): the ranking would be higher, but we lived there for a month (without kids) working for my firm so it wasn't pure pleasure.
9. Puerto Rico (2005, 2006 and 2007): We went a few times to Puerto Rico during these three years, but the best was when I went with my mom and my sisters and then when I went with Jared and Cyra when my firm was putting us up at the Ritz for free because I was doing a deal there, and then when my whole family went for Thanksgiving.)
8. Cusco, Peru (2001): We lived there for a few months in the summer and we got to go to some amazing places like Urubamba, Machu Pichu, etc.
7. Cross-country Road trip honeymoon (2001): Favorite places: Havesupai, New Orleans, Memphis.
6. Nicaragua (2009): The cops totally sucked, but gorgeous beaches, no kids. Beautiful.
5. Hawaii (2007): We went there for 2 weeks with Cyra and our friends Chris and Alia and the place totally lived up to the hype, It was amazing! It would be even higher ranked, but I was pregnant with Lucia at the time and very nauseous.
4. Oaxaca, Mexico (2006): We went when Cyra was 5 months old and we took about 4 weeks. Went to the beaches (Zipolite was the bomb) and stayed in the city. It was gorgeous.
3. Argentina, Brazil, Chile (2004-2005): We took a month during winter break in law school to visit the three countries and spend some time in the Patagonia. Besides a few near-death experiences, it was remarkable.
2. Bali (2008): One month in Bali with both kids. It was incredible and I wish we could do it again.
1. Iran (2004): My first time back since we left. We saw the entire family and it was a wonderful reunion.

Honorable mentions: Dubai was a nutty place and cool to see; California every year with Jared's family is amazing and we have gone to Southern CA several times just as a family, and sometimes just Jared and I, and it has been amazing and one of my favorite places in the world.

(PS. I wish I had a scanner so I could post some of these pictures, you remember printed pictures, don't you?)

Top Ten Books I read for the first time this decade (they were not necessarily written this decade):

10. The God of Small Things
9. Slaughterhouse Five or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Tie?)
8. Reading Lolita in Tehran
7. Shantaram or Blindness (can't decide)
6. Dreams from My Father
5. Revolutionary Road
4. Never Let Me Go
3. American Pastoral
2. The Corrections
1. Beloved

Top TV shows (I don't watch 10 shows, but I will rank the ones I do watch):

5. American Idol
4. Friday Night Lights
3. Daily Show
2. 30 Rock
1. LOST


Top 10 favorite foods/snacks of the decade (if you know me, you'll know that is is not as weird as it sounds - when I find a food I like I go cray):

10. Mixed Salads anywhere in midtown. My favorite: Cafe Bistro, because they have the best portobello mushrooms and marinated artichoke and because it was the closes to my office.
9. Boursin cheese with ruffles chips
8. Homemade bread with Nutella
7. Fage yogurt with honey and flax seed granola, chopped pecans and craisins (nightly snack)
6. Shake Shack hamburgers
5. Aash (spinach soup with lots of different beans)
4. Gooshteh Loobia (White bean and chicken dish)
3. Fesenjoon (Iranian dish with pomegranate, walnuts, and chicken)
2. Green beans with coconut, toasted almonds and a ginger sauce and parmesan cheese with chicken (lunch every day for many more days than I would like to admit to)
1. Grapes - a) red seedless, b) crispy green, c) black seedless crunchy - any time, any place.

Honorable mention: The carrot cake we had at our wedding. Amazing!

A few things I would like to work on in the next year and decade (not in any particular order):

1. Be more charitable
2. Be more faithful
3. Be more patient
4. Learn to be content and peaceful
5. Learn how to be a better parent and teacher to my daughters and a better companion to Jared
6. Work toward my career goals and find a good balance
7. Be more kind and less critical
8. Greet 40 gracefully ;)
9. Send Christmas cards at least once this decade.
10. Get on Oprah or speak at Womens Conference, but not for something sad (I realize I only have two years for Oprah).

I would enjoy hearing any lists of yours or resolutions if you'd like to share.