Home Again via One Epic NYC Shopping Spree

Apologies for my absence. I have been --what else? Traveling.
I also got married again (see "Kuala Lumpur to meet the best man and how to avoid prison") so that explains my extended leave.

The countdown was on for our wedding day and I was back in Trinidad last month to get things rolling,.. and by 'get things rolling' I mean check in with my wedding planner, who has single-handedly organized everything while I lived the life out in the Middle East. I cannot imagine what I would have done without her except that it would have involved a lot of tears. (Laura Darwent Weddings).
Special thanks to my mum, dad, and my best girl-friends.
How do you plan a stress-free wedding? Surround yourself with these wonderful people.

So, what have I been up to in the last month and a bit?

We re-visited Kuala Lumpur.. for the pork of course.


We flew back to Doha from Malaysia and I left for New York three days later.

I met a famous 'Fugee on my flight this time. He walked up and down the first class aisles stretching his legs during our 13 hour flight. He introduced himself and took a seat next to me. He was friendly and down to earth. Poor fella, after chatting about Haiti, traveling, and visiting Qatar, I think I embarrassed him when I asked for his autograph,.. for my mum.



Mum met me in JFK hours later. We stuffed our bags into a cab and off we went on our week-long pre-wedding vacation in NYC.
Really, this trip was supposed to be all about the final fittings for my wedding dress and bringing the dress down to Trinidad, but let's be honest here: two women + New York = Plenty Shopping.
The buy-an-extra-suitcase-to-come-home kind of shopping.

We stayed at the gargantuan Marriott Marquis in Times Square in the heart of the Broadway theater district. The weather the week we were there was glorious. We shopped, we went sight-seeing, we took rickshaws, had nice brunches, dinners, went to the theater, picked up some last minute wedding things, and visited Kleinfeld several times to have my dress fitted within an inch of its life.

We went to see Billy Elliott. The Tony Award winning show did not disappoint. We left the theater and ran into (quite literally) Robin Williams who was exiting through the back door of his Broadway production next door, "Bengal Tiger at Baghdad Zoo." Mum wanted so badly to get his autograph on our playbill (from a totally different play), but I pretended I didn't hear her and did one better by getting her a great photo with her blackberry instead.

Twelve pairs of shoes, eight cocktail dresses, ten gym outfits (yeah- outfits), five bathing suits, two mother-of-the-bride evening gowns, eighteen wedding candles,... tops, bottoms, undies, nighties,.. things we needed, things we didn't...
Mum and I flew home to Trinidad one week later and 52 pounds heavier (if we're grossly underestimating). We had a fabulous mother-daughter-fun-filled trip. We were homeward bound and counting down the days to the big day.


I spent the few weeks home before the wedding having a great vacation with my friends and family. I wasted no time stressing about the wedding, and was happy and enjoying every valuable moment there.