An Urban Girl

Yesterday, we waited all morning for the showers that were promised to fall outside our window.  There was just a lot of wind and no smell of Spring showers to pour into our living room. I went through my entire repertoire of stories, twice.  And still no rain. We danced again and again to this YouTube video .  And still no rain. We finally cracked open the box of finger paint that my friend had given to the UrbanToddler last week.  I had hoped not to introduce finger paint to the kitchen counter, now belonging to new owners.    But one must entertain, so we threw caution to the wind and dipped those cute fingers in tubs of rich paint...   And still no rain came.  But at least we got some sunshine in the room... After lunch we decided to walk over to my girl's ballet class.  On our walk home drops of water fell on our heads.  At first small slow drops and then big ones and faster.  As we ran home, my pink tutu'd little girl said  "Mom, I love the smell of Sp

It has been a fun week.  New year festivities and meals, celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary, and luncheons with lady friends to celebrate Spring.  It's been a great week of Spring Fashion and Cuisine for ladies and little girls! And to make matters even more wonderful, a dear Iranian American friend was profiled on Forbes as the Silicon Valley Cinderella , as another was invited by Sir Richard Branson on a voyage to space aboard Virgin Galactic , both on the first day of Spring and the start of Persian New Year. This weekend, we make the rounds of visits to dear friends to renew friendships, sip fragrant black tea and eat sweets infused with Cardamom and Rose Water, wearing our very best new year clothes.  Culture, in all its glorious shapes and forms and dialects and colors and flavors and sounds,  is a gift.  Without it, how bland this lovely world of ours would have seemed.  If you wish to celebrate the coming of Spring, why not meet some friends and family at

The Countdown to Nowruz and the coming of Spring has officially begun. We have set our Haft Sin, the Spread of Seven S's, each inviting goodness and prosperity into our home for the coming year:   Sabzeh  (Sprouted wheat) to symbolize rebirth Sonbol (Hyacinth) to symbolize the coming of Spring and Nowruz, a New Day Somagh (Sumac) a reminder to sprinkle flavor into our life Sir (Garlic) to ward off illness Sekeh (Gold coins) to invite prosperity Senjed (dried Oleaster fruit) to symbolize love Samanoo (Wheat pudding) to signify sweetness and fertility Sib Sorkh (Red apple) to invite health and beauty In addition to the S's, we put a mirror to invite light, candles to symbolize enlightenment, gold fish to symbolize life, and painted eggs to symbolize fertility (FYI we have 5!). Tomorrow night we will put on our new clothes, dine on fresh fish and herb rice (Sabzi Polo va Mahi) prepared by Mr. Urban's mother. We will have many cups of well brewed cardamom

My girl, Mr. Urban's mother and I made a ladies only date to visit a Nowruz Bazaar on Saturday morning.  I had planned the outing to plant some fun Persian culture into the UrbanToddler's life and psyche...   they say you enjoy as an adult that which leaves a lovely impression on your senses as a child, and I would love for my girl to be able to enjoy her Persian Heritage as she grows up an American.  The Nowruz Bazaar was organized by the [Iranian American] Ladies Charitable Society, with the proceeds benefiting the Kahrizak Foundation .  What a nice name the society has I thought... And you must know that Persian ladies, especially of a certain generation, are meticulous in cooking, baking, crafting, homemaking, pickling, making jams and preserves, sewing, knitting...  very Victorian indeed.  The Bazaar was lovely.  Rows of beautiful jars of organic pickled vegetables, fragrant carrot and pistachio jams, the most perfectly sprouted wheat plates, gorgeously pai

Last night we celebrated Chaharshanbeh Soori, the Wednesday Feast, which is celebrated on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year before Nowruz (Persian New Year). We light bonfires to jump over, inviting light and health into the coming year.  We eat good Persian food.  We snack on a special sweet and salty trail mix to open up any knots our lives may have encountered throughout the past year. In Iran neighborhoods celebrate together.   Even throughout the past thirty years where the Iranian Regime has repeatedly outlawed the celebration of Chahrashanbeh Soori and "Public Gatherings" on this day, the always spirited Iranians pour out in their neighborhoods in the cold of the year, and old and young jump over fires and celebrate.  They celebrate this ancient "Feast of Souls" as a way to honor their culture, and they celebrate as a small gesture of their joyful and loving nature despite the hard times they live in... to breathe light into their imposed darkne

The Persian new year celebration Nowruz (New Day), which falls on the first day of Spring, is just around the corner. I always feel like my five year old self around this time of the year.  There was always so much excitement all around, on the streets, in every home.  Everyone was busy cleaning, buying new clothes, worrying about their plates of sprouted wheat or lentil sprouting properly, feverishly baking hundreds of tiny, rose watery, cardamomy Persian cookies or fretting about placing orders with the best bakers in town, ordering Fresh bills from the bank for gifting to kids at New Year... I have always really connected to all celebrations of humanity and cultures... I adore Christmas and Chinese New Year and Easter and Diwali...  but Nowruz is the first celebration I have come to know as a person.  It was my first experience with a collective celebration of Joy where for a time each year everyone became One. As you know I  am hooked on Pinterest.  This morning I created a

Got a great night's sleep!  Woke up early and hiked The Dish with a beautiful friend. By the time I got home the UrbanToddler was dressed and fed and ready for Friday, singing songs and playing those muffled sounding fantasy games that little girls play sitting on the floor amidst their dolls and whatever special things they can scavenge from mama's purse or drawers.  I live for these moments. My cup of instant "cafe" was extra delicious and creamy this morning... A glorious sunny weekend is upon us...   Praise the Gods!

After what Mr. Urban and I considered the most competitive endeavor of our lives, we finally managed to stick our flag into this beautiful land that we have come to adore and appreciate. And when I say competitive you might be taking it lightly.  But Do Not Do That!   Between the two of us, Mr. Urban and I have some experience with instances of adolescence and adult competitiveness, and we consider them a joke next to buying a home in Silicon Valley. And by the way, if you seem to have judgement about competitiveness as some sort of an inferior trait allow me to enlighten you for a moment....  When something is really good and in small quantity, you and some others may envision that good thing for yourself and your loved ones, and may reach for it, and if you are fair and graceful in your pursuit of it, then I hardly see a problem in that.  As you know I talk, talk, talk.... and so I did through this recent undertaking in our life.   Surprisingly or not, I encountered some "