Four Out Of Five

Today the Fourth Nur Brother arrived! Haider, brother number three came back with his son, Yakub. They had left for Paris after spending one night in Glasgow last Thursday.

Meher left early in the morning for a dentists appointment and decided to get a massage afterwards. She was then beckoned to Friday's event venue to confirm the placement of the dance floor!

Father Dear and Jejums went to pick up 25 helium balloons, which we will use for decorating the house before the final guests arrive on Thursday.

Aino Phuppo, Mother Dear, Ayesha and I left for Glasgow at 1.30 to get our henna out on for the wedding. At the same time Aamer Chacha and Baba Jan left to pick up number four and son from the airport.
(I asked Baba Jan to count off the arrivals on his list- he assured me he has crossed off the names as his children have arrived at McNur Manor.)

Tomorrow the count will be complete :)

Before heading to Glasgow, Ayesha and I went to drop Poppet off at Kennedy farm. There's too much traffic and excitement for her and she will stay there until the wedding is over.

By the way, our Henna looks SHA-MAZING! Let's hope the colour doesn't fade before Friday :( On our way back home, we stopped at Kennedy farm and gave Sally some Pakistani sweets as a thank you for looking after Poppet and lending us the flat and caravan. She is truly a life saver :)

The henna ladies arrived back form Glasgow to find the house in full swing. One too many cars were parked int he driveway and when we entered, we found Mother Dear's niece and her family paying their respects to Baba Jan. 20 minutes after that, our family friends, the K.P's arrived. 5 mins after that, Ann arrived to pick up her Henna ceremony dress. Tea, cake, samosas, Russ Malai and a few channas later, Lakshmi and I went upstairs to choreograph and practice a couple of dances for the Henna ceremony. Usually, by now, I would have choreographed and taught too many dances to all the cousins but since we haven't had any time (or cousins :P ) that hadn't happened…
But Lakshmi is amazing and said she would like to do a couple of dances. We managed to finish one song in about 40mins and the excitement is rising. NOT LONG TO GO NOW!!!!

Once all the visitors had left, we all sat and helped Haider Chacha unpack his suitcases and then dropped the two younger brothers avec son to Medowview Bed and Breakfast of the night.

Then I went upstairs to massage Baba Jan's feet and tuck him in to sleep :)

The last task (after writing this blogpost) was to create a playlist for the DJ to give him an indication about the kinds of songs we want him to play for both events.

Eid Mubarik

Today it is EID! It is the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting and we all celebrate by eating more food than usual… Usually, we don't really celebrate Eid because there aren't any other Muslims in our area to help us eat.. But this year, things are different! We have many people to share our joy and help us lick all the plates clean. After cleaning the entire house top to bottom,

we all showered and put on new clothes. Needless to say, we all looked FAB.U.LOUS.
The rest of the day was spent having numerous conversations with Baba Jan about Persian poetry and how he wants to download some poetry onto his iPad- which he calls "Dabba" - (box in Urdu)

Later we ate out in the garden, enjoying the thousands of flowers Ammi has planted all around. A delightful day, indeed!


P.S. Last night, some ingrate, non- educated-deliquent, climbed over our gate and broke it… He also cut the wires to the lights draped over the trees outside. We were quite heartbroken- it took a lot of effort, time and not to mention, money to get the job done. Gavin and Ross, the electricians, were upset as well. Although we couldn't see in the CCTV "who done it", but we found out what time the ligths went off- it's been reported to the Police, but I doubt anything will come of it :(

(5)

Three Out Of Five

Today my Dad's youngest brother arrived :) Ayesha and I picked up Aamer Chacha (Father's younger brother) from Glasgow airport and then went to Silverburn. Despite (or maybe because I was) using a SatNav, I got lost four times. After asking directions twice and using what was left of my brain, we arrived at Silverburn and met the rest of the family there.
The only reason I wanted to go to Silverburn was because the shoes I ordered from Amazon for the wedding haven't arrived yet!!! I found the perfect shoes on sale at Dorothy Perkins.. or so I thought.
Meher said they wouldn't match the dress and Mother Dear declared that they were much too high!
As Mother and daughter began to argue over why my shoes were not suitable, I (being Swtizerland as usual) removed myself from the situation before things got out of hand.

After the afore-mentioned heated discussion, I drove Baba Jan, Aamer Chacha and Ayesha back to Maybole. On the way back, I stopped at Ayesha's friend's house and dropped her off there to play for a few hours. Once we got back home, my friends, Lauren and Joe came for an impromptu cup of tea and slice of cake. It was a lovely, unexpected surprise and it was great to see them. 

The house was jumping as the guests talked, laughed and caused general merriment. The conversation continued late into the night and everyone went to bed, filled with food and happiness. 

(6)

Sat Sat Saturday

Today was spent getting things in order as usual. Between loads of laundry and impromptu trips for a spot of sight-seeing to Girvan, the day sailed by hour by hour.
Baba Jan is getting used to the Scottish weather and the McNur Manor. It's nice to see him so relaxed and happy.

(7)

Fri-egg Day

Today was spent pampering Baba Jan and Aino Phuppo.
At breakfast we managed to consume a considerable/ impressive amount of eggs…

Then, Mum and Aino Phuppo went to town and did a spot of sight seeing and shopping. And we took Baba Jan for some ice-cream. Later, we sat outside in Mother Dear's fabulous garden, enjoying the weather, flowers and company.

This time next week all systems will be go-go-go!

Let's hope the weather isn't too warm/ too wet!!

(7)

Be our guest, Be our guest, put our service to the test!

Our first set of guests arrived today:

Baba Jan (Grand dad, Father Dear's Dad)

Aunt (Dad's Sister) Annie

Uncle (Haider) and his son (Yakub)

Before they arrived, I took Ayesha into town to get our nails and eyebrows done.. Then a surprise trip to the hairdresser to make Ayehsa look like a queen! Also, I booked us appointments for next Friday!

Meher, Mother Dear and Father Dear went to pick up the travellers from Glasgow airport and Ayesha, K homehodeja and I stayed at home and waited.. and waited.. and waited and waited. They arrived late at night and there was much fun to be had, including a tour of our home, cups of tea, gifts and gossip. 

Overall a brilliant day. It was amazing to see Baba Jan and Annie Phuppo after such a long time. Haido Chacha and Yakub are away to Disneyland Paris for a title trip before the wedding and will be back on Tuesday. They stayed in Glasgow since they will be flying from there early tomorrow morning. 

(8)

Lights, Camera, Action! (and more lights)

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I spent running around the house with two electricians in tow. It became my job to put up fairy lights around the house in order to decorate it for the wedding :)

Monday and Tuesday- Ayesha and I untangled a THOUSAND lights and leads and handed them over to the professionals to hang up around the outside of the hoooooose.

As seen below, yours truly climbed the big tree to wrap lights around it. 

Also, the sun is scaring the locals… I'm not sure they know how to deal with the 'heat'…

Wednesday- Today the inside of the house was decorated by the light of a million fairies! It looks fabulous! We've got flowers and lights all around the bannister. If possible, our home looks even more magical than usual :)

(11, 10, 9)

(SINGLE DIGITS!!?!?!!??)