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Tante Jane also called Nen Jane is 91 years old. She is the wife of my grandmother's youngest brother. Tante Jane made mention of my strong resemblance to my aunties but she seemed to think that I favoured my Aunty Zita the most. After pronouncing on this Tante Jane turns to my husband and says, "You know you are a lucky man. You married a beautiful woman."  

Can I tell you we love Tante Jane ;-)

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Tracey works with my husband. We'd never met but she was able identify me because she recognized my son who she'd seen with my husband at another birthday party. We had a lovely chat and bemoaned the fact that our children's heavy birthday party social calender left us with precious little time for any life of our own. I can't speak for Tracey but I can tell you that I'm a little birthday party worn out. It's gotten to the point where my husband and I draw straws to determine who takes the kids.

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The pretty mom of Xavier. One of my son's friends.

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Nikala was a pretty trainee at Valu Optical. My son was very taken with her after she let him peek through the machine to see the inside of his eye.

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A few of my photos were temporarily lost to me when my poor old pc died. I finally got around to transferring them from the old hard drive. This picture was taken last year when I went for my annual eye exam. This is my friend and optometrist Lara.

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Wow, some days I really suck at this. This was one such day. I hated all the pictures I took of Isabel who was incredibly gracious in spite of my atrociousness . In my defence I was distracted by all that chocolate.  You see Isabel is a chocolatier and being in her home was like being in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory minus the crazy Johnny Depp.  Isabel's chocolates are featured here. Go on check them out.  All that yummy chocolate will make you forget that I messed up this picture.

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Tracey is a Trinidadian multimedia visual artist living and working in Grenada. We met through blogging and when she was here in December she kindly brought me a little pressie. Yay! Click here to see what I got. I was a tiny bit nervous to meet her but we fell right away into an easy conversation while my kids invaded her home (my apologies) and were totally enchanted by her dad. Tracey herself is also a talented photographer who finds beauty in the ordinary little things you and I see everyday yet take for granted.  Click here to check out the work of this talented young artist.

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Doesn't Dahlia absolutely rock those curls? I was on the brink of giving up on an awkward growing out phase and contemplating just going back to straight hair when I saw Dahlia. I immediately took courage. Yes I definitely want my curls back!

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Gemma is a dancer. She has several agents who book jobs for her and her work takes her all over the world. She is married to Randall (#118) I had only ever met Gemma once before when I ran in to her at the supermarket maybe two years ago. We didn't speak then other than for me to ask for her photo which I never got around to taking. This time around though we were able to have a nice chat about her work.

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This lady is mom to Tessa (#113) and proud Grandma to Leigh-Anna (#114) and Shannon (#115). She practically raised me during my teen years since I was more often in her house than my own home. I'm fairly ceratain she saw more of me than my own parents. Her home was my second home. Janice is originally from Grenada. When she went to Grenada to visit her family she took her children...and me:-) From her I learned how to open my heart to my own children's friends. Thanks Mom!

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She could get to be a hundred years old with a walker but she'll always be my little sister and the baby of the family.  Donna-Maria is the youngest of my siblings. She lives and works in the British Virgin Islands and is mom to Leigha-Ceres(#21). If you are a millionaire with money to invest then boy has she got the hedge fund for you! She is Vice President of Fund Accounting/Administration.
 
Donna usually comes home for Christmas and as much as I might whine and complain about all the preparation that usually accompanies the season her arrival always chases away my bah humbugs.

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Kyria is CIA! She is Trinidadian but works in the British Virgin Islands as a Certified Internal Auditor. Earlier this year she also obtained certification as a fraud investigator. She is trained to examine data and can detect and trace fraudulent transactions. She also interviews suspects to obtain information and confessions. She is well versed in the law as it relates to fraud investigations and has even been called on to testify at trial. 

Impressive qualifications. Now lets talk about those eyelashes.  I never realized that Kyria had such amazing eyelashes. Damn do you know how many models buy theirs and stick them on. Those are not falsies but the real deal. I wonder if she bats those beauties at people before sending them to jail?

On yet another random note I found out that Kyria's mom is  Hindu and her Dad is Muslim. Kyria is Roman Catholic. Religion can be a touchy matter for many but embracing all religions is just so typically Trinidadian that  I just had to make mention of it. Conversion from one faith to another can be hurtful as a change of religion may be viewed by the rest of the family as a rejection of sorts. In this scenario no one feels slighted. Even better the family now celebrates three sets of religious holidays cause that's how we roll in Trinidad, best of all worlds.

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Tritia (pronounced Tricia) is married to Matt (#108) and mom to Grae (#107). She has a beautiful smile and flawless skin.

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Who Who is what Scott (#36) an Luke (#35) started calling their Nana because she would announce her arrival by calling out "who who" at the gate. In the sing song accent of a Trini  the words have an up and down cadence. It sounds a little like, "you hoo". When I asked her name for the blog she immediately looked at her daughter Michelle (#33) and almost simultaneously they both said "who who!" Then they started to laugh. After spending an afternoon with Nana Who Who and her family I found out that she loves to laugh and is a whole heap of fun to be around.

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Another of the Dreamy Creamy Ice-cream Company's crew.

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Kimberly works with the Dreamy Creamy Ice-cream company. Unfortunately my allergies prevented me from scarfing down the many samples on offer:-( Still I did steal a tiny spoonful and it was so worth the box of tissues and a red nose. Just one complaint. This company is located in San Fernando. Maybe I can start a petition for them to open a branch in the North.

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Looking at her you would not know that Gina is not Trinidadian. Gina's look fits in so well with the many racially blended people that you find all over this small island. Consequently I was very surprised to learn that she was born in Singapore. With a twinkle in her eyes Gina laughed and asked if I was expecting a short oriental lady. uhhhh.... yes :-)

How did Gina end up in Trinidad? Well while attending University in London she was swept off her feet by her Trini husband who was in turn probably swept off his feet by her glamorous good looks.

Gina is a certified accountant but food has always been her passion so now she runs her own business and makes the most incredibly, decadent and delicious truffles. To find out more about Gina's truffles click here.

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After living abroad for a number of years Janet decided it was time to return home to Trinidad. Inspired by London's famous Borough Market and others like it in the US she established Upmarket.

What is Upmarket? It is a fabulous space where entrepreneurs, artisans, people who grow, rear or prepare the food that they sell, gather together. There are also importers of shoes, clothing and handbags with truly unique items on offer.

Upmarket is special  not because of the variety of products for sale but the opportunity you have to speak directly with vendors about their products. The market is made up of a community of remarkable individuals, all of whom are passionate about their goods.

Let me introduce you to just a few of the people that I met and if you want to go check them out yourselves you are in luck because the next Upmarket is this Saturday. Click here for the details and tell them I sent you - you might even get a discount. LOL! Okay so most likely NOT but you can still tell them I sent you.