Day 386: Haute Couture Humanitarianism

Lara got three compliments today on how “smart” she looked…this term means one looks pulled together, appropriate, or even just clean according to the particular situation. Today it meant that Lara’s bedhead had been particularly horrendous this morning, so she was wearing a headband that covered most of her head. For Claire, it may mean she has whipped out the “magic pants” that are Adidas warmup pants that fit snugly around the ankle and which she has owned since she was in eighth grade.

I’m afraid that the subject of today’s post would not find such shoddy outfits “smart” or even particularly amusing. We speak, of course, of the infamous Diana.

When Claire first met this wonder woman in India, she determined that Diana would be best suited to be a general life coach for anyone who thinks they could do life better. Diana seems to always know what’s best, and be able to do it flawlessly with a sense of humor—and not in that snotty way most people like that have.

Last year, she took our pathetic dirty selves in at the precarious stage of month 6 of our trip, did our laundry, and let us use her lotion. But this year, she again has come to our rescue, though still remotely. All the wonderful changes you view on this blog are by her. All the de-widget-ing that so many have expressed gratitude for: her. And most impressively, she was able to do such zen maintenance of our blog in the face of a LOT of protest from you know who. She most importantly got the http://www.hoperuns.org/ site up and running, and has been on call to fix all the problems we create whenever we attempt to modify her work.

What’s most impressive, is that she does this while maintaining her own extremely impressive self. Down with the non-profit people, helping out with various global projects, AND working as a highly in-demand diplomat from her own homebase of Singapore, this girl has got it together. She’s also hot, as a side note.

In addition, she sent us socks for the kids here (she scoffed at our suggestion of rounding up used socks, and just bought us some to pass on) and snuck into the charity package amazing luxuries like handmade scented soap and Chanel eye cream. She has a point: just because we’re working in an orphanage doesn’t mean we have to be an eyesore.

But we are pretty much. Even with Diana’s help ...

All this to say…a HUGE THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! It is people like Diana that keep this blog and the people who write on it going ...

Read more about her fabulous self at: http://asparageese.blogspot.com/