PrincessMonkey.com : News by Shaili, the ORIGINAL Princess Monkey ©

News, thank-yous, updates and very small notes:
From Shaili — PrincessMonkey.com Webmaster

June 2007:

I think this site needs an update. You can look forward to an overhaul of some pages here in the coming weeks. Don't worry -- I won't remove any of the popular pages. I am adding profiles of some of my new monkey friends!

Check out my MonkeyTravels page that I just reformatted. I think it's much easier to see the pictures this way.

May 2007:

I just returned from a two-week stay in Italy. This is funny, because I visited Italy, including Rome, Florence, Liguria and Venice, in April 2006 as well. (Sorry for the lack of an update, for anyone following my notes.) We used a similar itinerary for this second visit and decided to create a few more "adventures," shall we say.

My travel style is to stay away from group bus/boat tours, and to explore a particular city or country at my own leisure. I still use an extensively planned itinerary, which I develop on an Excel spreadsheet, so that I don't miss any important hours or events during my trip.

I did book private guides for cities like Rome and the Vatican City, which have particular historical importance. I certainly don't want to have my head stuck in a book while I am walking around. I liken that to those tourists who keep their nose stuck behind a camera the entire time. In any case, self-sufficiency on vacation leaves me more time to explore whatever I want to see, meet the locals & other travelers, and enjoy my meals. As long as I can walk, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Of the areas I have visited in Italy, I really enjoyed the challenging hiking trails along the Mediterranean coasts of the Cinque Terre national park. The greenery is breath-taking, and the water is so wonderfully blue and clean. Some of those drops are steep, so be forewarned and don't go without grippy shoes and sunny weather, which is easy to find in this part of Italy. (I can't imagine doing some parts of those trails in the rain if the rocks were slippery! Eek.) In any case, it reminded me of how much I enjoy rock climbing and being outdoors. I would be interested in checking out some of the hiking trails in Yosemite Park someday.

There were so many magical moments from this trip, but I'm still a bit jet-lagged and I have to go to work soon, so I will end this here. I should have more pictures and details in the Travels section of my site soon. Ciao!

October 2005:

I spent a week in Beverly Hills, CA living at the swankified Beverly Hills Hilton. I presented parts of some topics on technology at our annual QRCA Conference. What a place to have a business trip!

Beverly Hills was much like my previous month's trip to Walt Disney World, except this was a real world environment. Their cars were so clean and expensive. (We saw Mercedes, BMW, Rolls Royce, and chauffeured cars driving everywhere...One would be bound to capture these cars in almost any picture taken in this area.) Think of the latest Weezer song, "Beverly Hills." The Jimmy Choo shoe definitely fits.

There were two highlights of this trip to Beverly Hills. One night, QRCA hosted a glitzy Red Carpet Party at the Beverly Hilton's Ballroom. Apurva and I volunteered with a few other QRCs to dress-up as celebrities. I transformed into Audrey Hepburn playing "Holly Golightly" from Breakfast at Tiffany's and Apurva was a much-complimented Indiana Jones. Audrey and Indy were a couple (didn't you know?), and we joked that Audrey's alter-ego, "Holly," had her eyes on the priceless treasure Indy was discovering, which was as good as anything that was sold at Tiffany's. We had a blast.

The next night, we attended a real Red Carpet Party in the lobby of our hotel where Al Pacino was honored by AMC with the 2005 American Cinematheque Award for his cinematic acheivements, notably in Scent of a Woman and The Godfather .

I was standing a couple of feet from the doors of each limosine as it pulled up, thus I was inches from the handsome 6'2" Keanu Reeves; the lanky and beautiful Charlize Theron; shorter-than-I-imagined Bruce Willis and a pretty girlfriend; Andy Garcia and his daughter Julie, Jeremy Piven, James Cann and Marisa Tomei.

When Al Pacino arrived, he was shorter than I imagined, and he has very fine facial features. I was just inches away from him, so I smiled and congratulated him on the award and he thanked me for the good wishes!

I saved the best part of the evening for last... I am thrilled that I actually met Emmy Rossum , who (I think) is best known for her performance in the 2004 film Phantom of the Opera . She was also in The Day After Tomorrow. I really admire Emmy, and it was a wonderful opportunity to meet her. She is kind, focused, intelligent and of course, undeniably beautiful. That said, I will always be a fan of hers. She totally reminded me of Audrey Hepburn when we met.

September 2005:

I celebrated my "golden" birthday in September at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. I've never been to Disney World in the off-season, when lines are at their shortest, and believe it or not, as much as I love visiting DIsney World, I've never celebrated my birthday there.

There were some Disney cast members that really made my trip. They managed to celebrate my birthday in unexpected, magical ways every day for the six days that we stayed in the WDW resort. I'll never forget it; there were so many park guests, young and old, who thought I was a celebrity or a V.I.P. as I walked around the parks. It was neat to hear so many positive comments and good wishes every day. By the day of my actual B-day, I was even a tad partied out. But what a way to go.

We had the best of both resort worlds; the first half of our trip, we stayed in the newest Disney addition, the Pop Century resort. It is colorful and much more our style. I loved its quick transportation to MGM, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. During the second half of our trip, we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge, in one of the most expensive "hotel" rooms at Disney World--a "Villa" room, they call it, which cost more than my entire week-long stay the Beverly Hills Hilton in October.

I wouldn't take a single moment of that magical trip back. Due to the short lines and small crowds, we finished the four parks in a couple days. We even visited Disney's Boardwalk on a Friday night, for the video-fun Atlantic Dance Hall and the piano-dueling Jelly Rolls. It was by far the most wonderful trip I've ever had at any Disney park. To view a few WDW pictures, visit my PM Travels page.

August 2005: What do you know about swing dancing? Apurva and I stopped by the Chicago Swing Dance Society classes at the University of Chicago, and we finished our first few sessions over the summer.

Swing dancing is lots of fun, and as a Dance Dance Revolution ( DDR ) player, I'm much more coordinated now than in my college days, when I basically had two left feet. If you've watched Swing Kids and always wanted to try it, give it a shot. If you can walk, then you can swing dance! Want to learn more about Swing Dancing? Read this. For free swing dancing in the Chicago area, check out Java Jive at UChicago or WindyHop.org for current dancing schedules.

June 2005:

We had a few Diamond Star flights over Chicago, of which I grabbed some exquisite pics. I have shared some of these large images on my Travels page. (I plan to separate the different cities of pictures soon, so it doesn't get confusing.) With the city as the backdrop for Batman Begins , with Katie Holmes, it seems like Chicago is THE place to be in Summer 2005! ;-)

April 2005:

"Mind the gap!" I just returned from London (and a few surrounding villages) with Apurva. We arrived on the night that Pope John Paul II died. We were also there during the Prince Charles and Camilla's royal wedding. Everyone was tuned into these events; no one could help it. In fact, the wedding had to be moved a day later due to the Pope's funeral. What a newsworthy time to visit Europe.

Of the areas we visited, Windsor & Eton were thoroughly charming, Avebury & Stonehenge were eerily delightful, and merry old London was fabulous ...jewels, fur-capped guards and all. I loved "The Lady of Shalott" at the Tate Britain (my Anne of Green Gables reference from the trip). The "Special Access Tour," allowing us to sit on the Stonehenge rocks at dusk (instead of standing 50 feet away, like everyone else who visits this World Heritage site) was worth every pence.

Speaking of pence, I bought a fascinating postcard of Pope John Paul II meeting with Queen Elizabeth. It captured the timing of my trip, and I was saddened that these might never be sold again.

We met up with Jane, who's studying in Essex (and who, as a matter of fact, met and spoke with The Queen last Thanksgiving). The three of us saw The Producers at the Royal Drury Lane Theatre. We laughed so hard that our faces hurt. (Update: the new 2006 movie of The Producers was not even half as funny as the show we saw. London has excellent theatre from our experience, and it is really worth the price to see a show.)

I will have pictures on the Travels section of my site soon. Ta!

January 2005:

Our lives are back on track. Thank you for all of the good wishes everyone. (I apologize for the lack of updates.) To note, at the end of last year, I had some horrific food poisoning, which left me in a "greenish gray color." (Who knew that you could go to the hospital for that?) I look forward to knowing that 2005 will be a better year for us all. Happy New Year!!

October 2004:

I had a professional photo shoot with headshots for my research firm! The pictures turned out unbelievably well, and the photographer, Robert Potter III, who has previously worked with Jim Belushi and John Malkovich, did a fantastic job. A makeup artist did my makeup; interesting fact: I wore mascara for my first ever! The headshots belong to my firm, but perhaps I can have a couple for PrincessMonkey.com. We'll see.

September 2004:

I celebrated my birthday at Medieval Times, for a spectacular dinner and tournament in "Calahorra"... Our romantic and strong Red Knight won the battles, and he threw me a flower! It was my first experience to be in the winning land, and it was such a blast. I have wonderful pictures with my family and the (very friendly!) Red Knight at the castle, to be uploaded soon.

I attended a "must-see" concert this summer: Maroon 5 and John Mayer . The guys totally rocked, and everyone had a great time. They played all of my favorite songs off their CDs; I was totally singing along. Click the small pics (below) to see actual pictures from this concert!

Apurva and I have been flying around Chicago this past summer. Some gorgeous pictures are up from the flights on our Travels page.

AdMonkey's Pop Culture Commentary

The West Wing : Heck, even the re-runs of this show are Good TV! This is going to be an election year; let's hope their voters don't muck it up.
LOST : Who isn't watching this show? And WHY aren't you watching this show? If you're just starting, ask someone to catch you up with the story. I wonder what the "monster" is!! (And I have my theories.)
Gilmore Girls : This hip mom-and-daughter show is still running strong. Rory, Luke & Lorelai always manage to fascinate me with the tibits of their small-town life.

More Importantly Serious, but Highly Monkey-friendly News:

Sheiphali and Samit are in college. Wish them luck in their uni years.
2nd Lt. Beth Creutz is back from Kuwait! We are relieved that she is safe and in the country, although we cannot wait to properly welcome her home. Did you see Beth wearing her PrincessMonkey shirt in the desert? How cool is that. (About 108 degrees, according to Beth; Ha!)
Melissa and Ryan were married on August 21, 2004! The wedding was romantic, and everyone knows that they will be together forever. Very cute couple.
Who goes there? Let's take a peek at the diversity of guests that visit PrincessMonkey.com.
Princess Monkey and her friends have a lot going on. Take a look.

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