New Central Bank Building

I was at a meeting on Broad Street and happened to check out the new Central Bank building. Quite impressive, don't you think?

Good morning

Christmas decorations next door

Kavita and I were checking out the X-mas stuff at our neighbor's Unique Design next door during lunch. 

One love

See some pictures of the rooftop from when I was up there this morning for my work out. Ashland is definitely make each workout tougher. He had me trying to do sit ups and exhausting stretches, two sets of everything. We also did 20 rounds of jogging up there. Gulp!

You'll see pictures of the One Love chair we just bought. We spotted it walking to Mama Susu's on Saturday evening walking to our friend Nagraj's farewell party (where we sang "Kiya Hua Tera Vada" for our departing friend). It was adjacent to Stop & Shop on Randall Street. There was a number taped to the chair which we called and negotiated the price.

 Since it was getting quite dark, both Haresh and I thought it was a wooden chair. 

When the owner of the chair called back a few days later, we agreed on $ 100.00. We sent our staff Emmanuel to take it up to the rooftop. Little did we know that it was actually made of cement and 5 people were required to move it!

Good morning

I managed to do 20 jumping jacks today instead of breaking it into 1 set of 10 each. My body is also learning to stretch once again. 

It's good to know I'm making progress. 

Ashland now has a new style where he says "Exercise position. Exercise commence"  at the start of every new exercise. It's so cool that I wish I could have it as my ring tone.

Next time I'm going to take my Nikon CoolPix L810 to take some photos with the timer to get a shot of Ashland training me. They'll make for an interesting series. I'll even ask Ashland to do the "Exercise position. Exercise commence" so I can record it. I want to capture it forever. 

See some photos of flowers on my rooftop. 

What do the contents of your fridge look like?

New stationery

I love the new stationery I got from Ecobank! 

Good morning

Rainy December

It rained the better part of last night and we woke up to a cloudy and cool day. After a few cups of tea and hot baths, we sauntered off to the Royal for a mediocre brunch which reminds me to ask the  universe whether it is just me or have good brunch options in Monrovia dwindled to none? The brunch was livened up since we ran into a friend and Kavita made a new one. The day continues to be overcast providing the perfect ambience for a late afternoon nap. I do not remember such a long rainy season. By December, the skies are blue and clear and the beach is where most people end up on a Sunday. As I nod off, I know that it is snowing and extremely cold in other parts of the world.

Photos of my baby-fied office

Good morning

Good morning from the rooftop. For the past two weeks, I've started my exercise regime again with my trainer Ashland Henchman. He is a boxer and also trains people in personal fitness. I started training with him in 2013 a few months after Kavita was born. For the first time in years (since my momentary obsession with personal fitness from our days in Dakar, Senegal when I was a teenager) I started getting up in the mornings to exercise. 

I've never been fond of getting up in the morning, much less getting up at 5:30 AM to go for a rigorous walk followed by difficult exercises. It's been a re-tuning of my body as well as my frame of mind. I've grown to really look forward to this time when I stretch my body, try to put it back in shape and enjoy some solitary moments. I don't dread getting up early and find myself with a fantastic sense of energy. 

I completely gave up exercising while I was away on my long sojourn in Pakistan. I only walked a few times in Islamabad.

Since I've started exercising with Ashland again, I realised how badly out of shape I am. My feet started to cramp up after 10 jumping jacks! I couldn't even do a sit up! I could not lie down and lift my legs up. After the first session, I felt like an exhausted sack of potatoes. 

But after two weeks, each session feels better than the last and I like pushing myself harder. So far, we've only been up on the roof but I'm working up to the walk up to the Benson Street Hill. 

The good news is that I finally do not feel any pain or discomfort in  my waist as I have since the C-section. 

I'm determined to get back into shape so I can start thinking of making a sibling for Kavita.