Joelle door montageOver the last few days we’ve been keeping ourselves busy socializing and meeting up with friends and family. I know I have said it more than enough times here but I’m extremely happy to be home in Jordan.

Last evening we went to see my cousin Zaidoun and his wife Mirna who just gave birth to a girl they’ve named “Joelle.” She is so precious and takes a lot after her dad. I was so touched seeing the ways Zaidoun chose to show his happiness and love for his daughter. One of those is a top-notch, extremely creative flash website he created: www.joellekaradsheh.com. Zaidoun’s talent and experience in multimedia really paid off here. The website is really something else and a great idea for new parents (Dalia, are you out there? Take a look.)

Another impressive bit of celebration was this 2-meter montage of Joelle’s pictures shown here that he shot, designed and hung on the door of mom’s hospital’s room just one hour after Joelle was born. I was told it blew everyone’s mind. I’m really so happy for them and their newborn, who is already the recipient of oodles of love!

After our brief visit, we headed to the movies. The film of choice this time was Ocean’s Twelve, which we picked primarily because of the number of big stars involved. But I was disappointed and thought the first, Ocean’s Eleven, was more engaging and had a better storyline. This one had nice camera work but just didn’t compare with the first, which I enjoyed tremendously.

It is 10:12am now and I awoke with a runny nose and scratchy throat. The sudden change of weather from Doha to Amman (and perhaps the busy schedule) was bound to hit me sooner or late. It arrived sooner that expected.