Well, I'm back in Armenia. I thought I would return home to see the new North Avenue progressed ... BUT ... not really. The 2 buildings they have been working on for months now look the same too me; the third one which is being built ... well, that looks the same as well. The Ara Abrahamyan building (the building where Square One and Marco Polo are located) has progressed quite a bit, and the Russians have bought a plot of land in front of my building and are working around the clock. The other night my jetlag woke me up around 4am, with flashes of light throughout my room. I opened the curtains to see the Russians still working. Bravo! There's been a lot of talk lately about many huge investments they, along with the Italians, Indians and other governments and investors, will be making in this country.

Sure this is all exciting, but this damn cold is SICK! For an entire month, all my friends and relatives in Toronto kept asking me why I don't stay for the holidays. My answer was always, "Are you nuts? Yerevan weather is so much nicer this time of the year!"

Reality is that I'm now in hibernation mode.

I spent a tonne of cash in Toronto, buying some new clothes and goodies for my studio, but the main reason I took the trip was to see my 3 month old niece. :-) My family is crazy for kids, so I had a blast spending as much time with her as possible. Well, now I'm back on the other side of the world. No more waking up in the mornings with her by my side. :-( Or those 2 and 4am wake up calls to feed her. OH!!! I loved every bit of it.

Check her out in her Halloween outfit...