My days

Poker face ~ Is it so hard?

2012-01-18T17:28:00.003+05:30

Right from school days, my dad usedto warn me about showing emotions in public. He was a very emotional person(Seethe WAS, but Now he has changed, God I pray I somehow learn the attitude from him) ..but healways used to advise me not to turn up like him….Its always that Different Emotions have been part andparcel of my face…

Happiness is shown in full intensityand so is sadness and so is ANGER !!..

So When I am in really bad mood, everyperson around me can make it out and ask me tones of questions back..I don’t liketo answer them but I need to answer them..

I have met quite few people whoare so grounded and just have the brick face to any and every situation theyface..I used to judge that they are so fake.Things have changed slowly for me to realize that being grounded is what needed now and that's more harder to accomplish…When you don’t wantpeople to question every inch of your life, Do not show what you have in mind

When I read about these factors inWeb, its suggested to put emotions in a box , lock it and see it from thirdperson perspective…Before I could even think to put it in a box and closevirtually, my face would have shown zillion expressions..

Why is it so hard?

Day to Day Notes 1

2012-01-12T18:37:00.003+05:30

I thought tracking myprogress on weight loss online would help bring in more accountability for me , but I gotbusy to even start doing it!

2011 had been toughfor me…Things did not go the way I wanted. But I fought harder every day. Lotof sinusoidal moods …Lotof people & things to handle..I was becoming more grumpier than usual… mypatience running out day by day…I could see myself changing from ‘easy-patient’ to ‘most-irritable’…I am surebeing overwhelmed couldbreak myself down in a short time...

Now I want to givemyself a chance again this 2012 …I decluttered my mind and wanted to REALLYhave a go at it again. I'll try HARDER this time!

I'll spend time formyself …That also means having more self-respect and saying NO (to others'wishes) sometimes..Which again points to be being BOLDER..The FEAR ofAccusation/Confrontation scares me so much that I do lot of things I donot want to do eventually end up spending less time for myself and on thingsthat matters most for me.I read a book calledSecret which emphasizeson our old saying “எண்ணமே செயலாகும் ” …Myparents have said this several times, but this book had recently made me tothink every day about what I want to do.

Second thing is I want to look good ordress neat..I like to groom myself, but my dressing sense or colorscoordination is not so sharp that I get lot ofcomments…I am trying to dress smart – match my salwars/accessories/hair styleto something sharp and neat…

Hope to track more closely this time around

My weight loss diary -1

2011-10-21T12:43:00.000+05:30

Coming back with extra energy now :-)

I am going to follow up weekly on the weight I want to shed as it has almost become a day dream now! I see lot of inspiring people - quite a few ladies - who look very young eventhough they are older & also after having babies. I feel the only way I will get something done is by starting to note down my progress here. I have in fact started logging my intake since 11th October. I have taken a vow not to eat sweets & chat-food (I gobble them a lot these days - comfort food for my stress). I am holding good for past 9 days with a few stray incidents of me giving in to sweets/chat ;-)

When it comes to exercising, I literally do not do anything these days! In next 7 days, my goal is to walk for an hour and/or play outdoor with Eshvar for an hour at least 4 times.

Will post my updates next week - and thus starts my journey towards better health!

@ Native

2011-05-24T12:23:00.001+05:30

Last 3 days were fun... The little boy had fun at his paternal grandparents home

We also went to our athankarai pilaiyar kovil and had a good family time with my maternal family. The son was uncontrollable that even a family of 10 could not manage him..He kept us on toes :-)

@EA

2011-05-16T17:47:00.001+05:30

Talking about enjoying, I son and my sis enjoyed thoroughly yesterday. We finally went to Express Avenue mall and had a good time.The mall is truly a higher class for people like us who bargain and shop...Its a total different world out there...Chennai is spending :-)

We also went to the Polar express - snow world @ EA. The boy had so much fun on the dance floor.He danced for more than half an hour with lot of Annas and Akkas..Was so happy to see the kid dancing to his heart's content.I will paste some pics soon :-)

Then we went to watch Rio-A normal movie. He was so amused to sit in dark and watch movie...Maybe I should have taken him to a normal movie rather than 3D as 3D glasses were too big for him..They do not have small for kids..He loved the popcorn so much and asked me after the movie"Amma,night agiduchaa amma" when lights were switched off(Heights of Innocence:-))

All in All After a Longggggggggg time , a well spent weekend :-)

Changes

2011-05-09T23:47:00.001+05:30

It has been a long time away from blogging...Life has been full of changes recently for me ....

Param has travelled to US and things had been changing continuously...he is in other part of world...and I & Eshvar are at our new residence etc.I worked with a packers and movers, found new tenants for our house to rent out, located a small & perfect house near my parents neighbourhood for us to move and actually managed the move myself with last day help from friends a few weeks back...I have done things which I have never tried before.....crazy couple of months!

Changes & changes everywhere for a person like me who is too hesitant to even strike a conversation with a stranger! I think I did pretty well this time around...I like my new ride - a Scooty pep+...I like the freedom it gives me, though I hate the crazy traffic at Velachery...

Talking of the son, he is a very nice boy as he took the changes so well..I am in fact little surprised as well as proud... I had to put him on a summer camp at velachery rather than his favorite Amelio day care - no problem! Super cool boy as he knows how to enjoy with what he has at the moment...But before I can finish my compliments for him, I have to say he now also knows how to throw a tantrum! I donno if that is due to him missing his dad or something else...But I am hoping its just a phase...So as per a good friend suggestion, I & Eshvar are playing jigsaw puzzle all time to just keep his attention on something entertaining and engrossing....And for the mother's day, I & son got a haircut..Getting compliments for the new look -may be I should say a new makeover ;-)

Talking of changes and myself, a good colleague of mine suggested to me that I take life too seriously don't spend time for myself..May be its true, life has been pretty hectic and hard for last 6 months with all these changes- unending trips to hospitals when loved ones got sick one after another and the travel. But now that things have settled down a bit, I hope to explore more the lighter side of life more and get to enjoy it again!!

Where is the party?

2010-11-29T16:06:00.000+05:30

Last Saturday, we planned to celebrate LO's birthday with a small group of friends and relatives..
I just tried to make it little special...
My sis made few balls with color papers and I got some color balls from a shop..
I and Param hung it across the wall ..nearly took 3 hrs ;-)
Invited few friends..I was so happy my college friends could come...We actually met after
few years and it is so fun just to see them :-) careless gals to moms :-)
Tulika books were shared with LO's friends :-)

After the party had a poker night at home...Cousins were playing with full josh :-)

Overall an evening nicely spent with family and friends :-)

Last week...

2010-11-23T12:34:00.000+05:30

Who helps amma a lot these days?

Hope you all had a relaxing fun filled karthikai- We had a relaxing evening :-)

What am I upto?

2010-11-18T21:48:00.000+05:30

I am really back this time ;-)
*****

Yesterday was son’s birthday. It was a quiet day –quality time spent as three of us :-)
We planned to have a party later next week, Looking forward :-)
Baked a dates cake for the son, thanks to my cake class –It was yummy :-)
Leaving some photos....

                                               *****
LO shared dry fruits & nuts as with his friends at play school – got this thoughtful idea from a blogger. Thanks to hubby who took pains to drive in rain to get them
                                       ******

The LO has grown up so fast…What is he upto nowadays?
He loves his play school so much that he cries when we take him back to home ;-)
He calls his teachers “Aunty,Aunty” so fondly :-)
He cho sweetly tells sorry and gives me surprise hugs…truly knows me ;-)
He calls “Ashaamma” so sweet when he wants to have anything.
He is so fond of footballs and tennis ball…

He rides his cycle so easily :-)
He has picked up so many words - It's such a delight to see the boy emote back to us
I think I will go on & on :-)

*****
After a long time got chance to frame & hang the Egyptian papyrus from my dad and Kathakali momento- a gift from my sis

******
I am trying to get up early and join a yoga class. Am not able to get into a routine…Will have to try harder ;-)

Notes from my days...

2010-08-25T08:51:00.000+05:30

After a long time,I am back to blog world....

Last few months were with a lot of twists and turns for me...Remember my post about joining old company, I resigned and took a new job (quick commute & 9-6 work hrs) in a completely new domain :-) Every day is loaded with new lessons at work for me and I so look forward to build a stronger base in new company :-)

And Eshvar is hyper-active...He speaks few words and literally keeps me on toes. He loves to imitate us and is very interactive. Probably I should take a video of him and post :-)

We did few trips - One of them to Panaa thirtham and Agasthiyar falls - and had a good time, but I think we should go for these leisure trips more often :-)

Life is going good....One of my cousin got married and We had a quality family time :-) Love being in India for this :-)

Few things I need to do next few weeks is to get 2 wheeler license!!

Books - I read "Rich Dad Poor Dad"- Its a good book on financial literacy/philosophy. It helped me a lot to think how I handle my finances.

I read a blog post which suggested to write positive things for a week without fail..I am going to start the exercise from tomorrow ...Let's see how it goes..At least I guess it will put me back on track in blogging.

Balcony Garden

2010-04-13T11:08:00.003+05:30

Remember my resolution post...Time to see how far I have progressed...I am doing fairly good on the last point- Yeah, I have started growing plants in balcony....And the flowers have started to blossom...

One of Param's aunts gave her plants to me after seeing my interest...and Have a look at our small garden...

Hi 5 to our 5!!

2010-04-01T14:06:00.000+05:30

Time runs so fast atleast for me :-)

I and You have gradually grown to us, our family, our home

We are still taking little steps everyday to enrich what we have now

We still fight like there is no tomorrow and make up like we would never fight again.

I still nag him for nothing and everything.

He still doesn’t get me gifts without my alerts about the occasions ;-)

But at end of day I love him a lot more :-)

So Hi 5 to our 5 !!

Cycling

2010-01-25T14:29:00.002+05:30

Yesterday I and Param went to Chennai cyclathon. We were at the venue around 6:00am. Nowadays Chennai is cold at mornings. It was so calm and serene to ride in a bike across not-so-dark streets with no traffic. At the venue, after standing in 3 different queues and test of patience, we finally managed to collect our bibs & rent cycle for the race. The bicycle I got was little taller for me and it took some time for me to get used to that. The event started 1.5 hrs late and they reduced the distance from 25 Kms to 10 Kms. Finally they flagged off the ride and off we went. The traffic was blocked for us and so only cycles were on the road. The route was from Anna University to Madyakailash over the fly over and then a turn back at Tidel Park towards Anna university. I was not sure how fit I was. But once we started it was fun all the way. I was slower than my cousin who also participated but I made it a point to finish it. I was happy I managed to ride over a flyover. While I was riding down the flyover I lost my balance a little but somehow managed not to fall down (If I had fallen down I am sure there would have been lot of bruises). On our way back to Anna Univ, police didn’t manage traffic well and so we had to drive along with cars & buses. All in all, I managed to participate in an outdoor activity after months and it has definitely kindled my desire to buy a cycle …It reaffirmed my love for cycling :-)
It’s a new experience for us at Chennai. I and Param were happy to see big crowd who joined us in the ride. They didn’t mind to get up early on a Sunday and participate in this charity cyclathon. I also felt that organizers learnt a valuable lesson from their first cyclathon event (I guess it is their first time). I am sure they will do it better next year!!

Time for planning!!

2009-12-30T11:38:00.002+05:30

So 2009 is almost over and 2010 will be here in next few days
Time to reminisce and plan :-)
Few things I want to do in 2010 :
· First, I am going to set a daily reminder to track this ;-)
· I want to spend carefully. I want to budget my expenses so that I can save more to payout loans quickly.
· My reading curve has exponentially decreased, so want to read atleast 6 books this year .
· Continue researching on flexi job options. Every day reminds me that I should start doing something atleast before LO starts schooling.
· Start counting calories and hit gym daily no matter what....My target to lose - 10 Kg;-)
· Be more stronger and be more selfish!! I am more of a get-along-well-with-everyone person. But lately, I feel this makes me look weak. I want to slowly get out of this be-nice-to-all habit and express every moment what I really feel.
· Start growing more plants in balcony.
So what are yours?

Santa came to my house

2009-12-24T22:49:00.003+05:30

Today was one of the monotonous days where I was waiting for to finish my dinner and head to bed.That is when I heard a knock on my door and I received a gift package from Germany-I could not believe what I did receive.It was a gift package from my former lead at BMW.Miracles do happen !!

I was speechless and mere happy.When I started opening the gift,my happiness was beyond boundaries-Homemade sweets,small reindeer toy for LO,handcrafted wooden hanging,Lindt chocolates, and now comes the best part-HANDWRITTEN LETTER to me and our family!!
Truly I have no words to describe how I felt this moment.I feel blessed for such good people in my world.

This is one of the sweetest gesture anybody has ever done to me.I am moved.

Happy Holidays to Everybody!!

17/11/08-17/11/09

2009-12-14T23:23:00.000+05:30

Dear Appu,

2009-11-20T22:04:00.004+05:30

{A year is over and Long days and sleepless nights are behind me…My little boy has grown into a cute toddler}

Not a day goes by without thinking about you. I was not even 1% ready for you, unlike other women who imagine how their baby would be..All I was thinking about a year back was travelling back to India..Silly me.. You were so small when I carried you first. I was even scared to carry you…I was not even mentally prepared or confident about taking care of you well. You were so good and calm that you helped me to learn the tricks and take care of you were as cheerful as a baby gets… I could not help but thank and reminisce how you were like a perfect doll in when we took a 27 hour flight back to India even when you were only 2 months old….I am sure you are not going to be as nice today ;-)…From the day 1 in India, It was like a swirl, I did not know what I did but you were growing and teaching me…You took all the travel nicely - be it train or car or auto..The day you first rolled over..The day you first tried to crawl..The day you had your first taste of solids..The day we helped you to sit..The day we bought walker for you…The day you started saying thatha..The day you started to smile and wave bye bye..All are locked in my pleasant memories forever…And suddenly I realize a whole 1 year is complete with you becoming a little toddler who strives to walk steadily..I could not control my surprise and happiness when you start walking …taking one small step at a time…But you becoming a person of your own makes me fear that our bond is slowly widening and you walking away further..

I pray and wish you a very happy life. I wish you loads and loads of freedom for you to grow beyond boundaries..Everybody says I am lucky and blessed to get such a cheerful boy…I know I am and I always love you

Yours

Amma

Random thoughts

2009-11-10T17:36:00.003+05:30

After a long dilemma and incessant thinking, I finally made up my mind to join my former company again after my baby. I still do not know if I have taken the right decision but being out of job for a year surely placated me to take this up :-/

And from Day-1 at new job, my day is very hectic. I plan my day carefully so that every 5 minutes is used effectively.
Above all, my little boy who is cho cheweet is getting accustomed to traveling, staying with my mom without throwing any tantrums...I really feel blessed for this. You should see him trying to take his little steps with his cute strides. It is a treat to watch. We have taken a few videos of his tries (to walk) ...

Last year, by this time in November I was eagerly awaiting my little one's arrival. This year I have grown as a mother...I still could not believe how he grew in me but now not a single moment passes by without thinking of him ...Next week we have his birthday. Though it will be a low key event,we will be celebrating his Tamil calendar birthday in grandeur...

Amidst all these, few things I want to note and remind myself...
Though juggling between career and personal life is harder, it is not as hard as I thought so. A little bit of planning is helping me in a big way. But One thing I have noticed here is not many folks give positive advices and help me take it in good stride. In my previous job at USA,I have seen beautiful ladies who transform between career women and mother so nicely without any family help, but yet see life with so positive energy. But here we have family to support us but still few to help you take things with positive attitude. Nobody gives positive advice; Focus is on negativism....I think we are brought up with tough examples and little positivity that people never help you focus on positivity....

I am also planning to blog more from now on. I will also include a few interesting tidbits about Chennai or maybe few interesting places/things I see here...

To start with, I have seen a place called "Let's do something" at Velachery. It’s a new setup- a new activity centre which helps people to learn new hobbies and cultural activities. I am hoping my dance classes there will start from next week onwards. Will let you know how the classes go on, how the place is in next few weeks...

Do you know about Veggiebazaar? It is new to me, here we can order vegetables - either cut or uncut and they deliver to your office. Price is little expensive than the usual but I don't mind using it once a week to make my chores easy..

So Next post will be about the little monster's birthday
See ya

It's been a YEAR

2009-10-03T21:30:00.001+05:30

These days, every time I think of blogging,I postpone it so much that I complete forget what I wanted to write...

Kutti Esh is trying to stand and pull things down. He has started waving bye bye and crawling across all over the place saying thatha,athai,akka...He sure does make my mornings fly by....and showing that he is Appu of our home.

But what have I been doing...

I still cannot believe it has been an year since I quit my last job. Now I have again started to look for a job. Though I remember my optimistic post last September when I quit my job things are not as easier as I thought to get back one with such economic conditions. Adding to the woes are the simple difficulties in even getting ready for the interview and reading tech topics with all my other priorities. I have started to dislike the option of me justifying again and again that I deserve the job at interviews and proving that I am a good fit for a job. But anyway that's how life is and I will get through this phase with grit.....:)

I dont want to leave on that front,Leaving you a happy pic of the cute one :)

Few people...

2009-07-11T15:18:00.004+05:30

சில நேரங்களில் சில மனிதர்கள் தான் நம்மை ஒரு நிமிடம் திரும்பி பார்க்க வைக்கிறார்கள். Be it a person who has lost around 20 kg after delivery in a span of 6 months or Be it a person who maintains a physical fitness every time I see them or Be it a person whose thoughts have grown exponentially though he was struggling hard to study in school days or Be it a person juggling between work and home and still not cribbing any time or Be it a person who is so level headed even after lot of accomplishments or Be it a person who even at the age of 70 can lead an independent life or Be it a person who having worked in a government bank for around 20-30 years and then completely taking a new turn and joining in IT company and enjoying the new work culture and traveling around the world. The last person who I said is very special to me - He is my dad. As my cousin said , the only person in the family who has REALLY changed in the past few years is my dad. I am very proud that he could take such a bold decision at this age while I am sometimes scared to even say what I think !

New home,LO crawling....

2009-07-07T14:12:00.004+05:30

June was a happening month. We finally moved in to our new home after lots of delay. We did loads and loads of packing/unpacking and setting up. I have set up almost 60% of our home.Here are the few pictures :)

We are getting compliments for our picture wall :) I am so happy I could do it the way I wanted it. It’s a picture pile of 3 generations of our families :)We have few furniture/appliances to buy now. We will get them one by one ;-)

The best thing about our new home is that it has good cross air ventilation. It is so good that you don’t feel the heat at all in evenings and nights :-)

The only thing I always complain to Param (I know I complain a lot) is about the occupancy of flats in our complex being very less…Less than 10%...So I kinda of feel lonely, the Mr. is optimistic things will improve by end of this year J … I never cared about the occupancy rate or any such detail when I was in US,but now I am asking for better occupancy ;)…

And Eshvar is growing up. He can now sit without any support and he crawls all over the place. I am very happy to see his changes day by day…and I cannot believe in another

4 months he is goint to have his frist birthday cake….He poses well for photographs (Guess he got that gene from me ;-)) I am yet to see a teeth, let the tooth fairy visit late…

Last week was one of the memorable weekends here. We had my cousin and his wife at our home for virunthu :). The best part was after a game of poker, we all went to our apartment park and played swing and see-saw at late night (1 am) and had whole-hearted fun …These kind of days will remain in memory forever :)

Before I finish off, let me add that the microwave oven + grill is fantastic and I am getting grasp of grilling and baking in oven….Now I can start baking J which makes me the most happiest person… I even baked an eggless cake for my amma and some butter cookies :)…LG makes very good oven :)

Birthday time :-)

2009-05-26T22:24:00.003+05:30

Every Year on this day, I get on full swing to make cake for You-know-Who :-) But this time,As we have not still moved to our new home, I did not get a chance to bake any goodies personally for him.

We got a chance to be at my tirunelveli this weekend. So We arranged for a cake and my SIL did the decoration part...We had a small party and had good fun. I leave you with few photos

Happy birthday again my dear husband...Wishing you loads and loads of health and happiness :-)

LO,wedding,Home and more.....

2009-04-26T16:46:00.019+05:30

I cannot imagine its already 5 months since the little one has come and time is running so fast and the LO learns a thing a day and makes our life more interesting….

He smiles so cute…I don’t think stranger anxiety has hit him till now..Gives his பொக்கைவாய் smile to anybody and everybody…Sometimes he laughs so loudly for funny faces and pranks we do that we fear his stomach hurts…

You put him at one place..After 10 minutes He is exactly in opposite direction….

He loves to watch anything that moves-from a newspaper lying around whose pages flapping to curtains moving due to breeze ...

He grasps/catches anything that is nearby or we show to him.About a month back, he did not show interest to hold, but within 15 days, he now wants to hold anything

He still loves all bright colours :-)

5 things to go for 5^th month!!

Last month we attended wedding of my cousin..My LO was center of attraction and he and we thoroughly enjoyed with my Mother in law and Mother taking turns to take care of him while I had fun with my cousins…..

When it comes to move in to new house, Its already 3 months and we still haven’t moved to new house…One thing delays the other and We both are getting annoyed by the delay..But I know, sometimes the delay is for good….उप्पेर वाला is delaying for something else….I just will wait

In all these hurry I managed to paint my storage box..The storage box belonged to my great grandmother..She lived with us during my school years…And I was so happy I could get hold of that and paint to my desire ….

Fantastic Four

2009-04-01T07:09:00.000+05:30

This is going to be a pleasant surprise for Param.

Time for little rewinds
Time for little remembrances
Time to see how we have grown fond of each other
Time to enjoy sweet little things in life though we both have been very busy with lot of things past few months
Time to pray to God to bless this relationship even more...
And all these in 4 years .....

4 cheers to our meet-anniversary !!!

Last month was.....

2009-03-02T23:34:00.000+05:30

I logged into the blogger after a month. Where did the last month go? I don't know...It is hard to believe that a month has flown past. Here we are slowly settling down and I am doing great...Touch wood ;-)

We had 2 quick ceremonies within 10 days of arrival here. I am glad both the naming & housewarming ceremonies went well as planned. Eshvar's naming ceremony was more like an introduction of him to my friends & relatives here... And nobody gets his spelling right (Eshvar) - even my dad ;-)

Our house warming was a simple function as our apartment was not fully ready for occupation and my dad had to travel on a business trip just before the function. Wood work is still on and soon we will be painting interiors (in colors I like). ..A Aah I love Asian paints and the designs they showed me. I am hoping we can move in by end of April . I am tired of living out of suitcase.

And my little hero has started to roll over - on back to tummy in 2 second ;-) all when he is yet to hold his head steady. He gives the most beautiful smile to everybody :-) He was also enjoying all the attention he was getting at my in laws place at tirunelveli.

All in all an eventful & brisk month.....

I will miss her

2009-01-13T21:41:00.000+05:30

I know this would come as a surprise to her, but I just wanted to tell the world about the beautiful friendship we started sharing few years back.

We worked together in my first job. During those days,our conversation would be Hi's and bye'. Then when she came to US for her MS,it was then our friendship started.It graduated from half an hour phone calls to non stop chit chatting.Our conversation would be from day to day activities to little sandais at home to things happening in India to our work to our dreams to our wishes to our complaints.It just doesn't fit any frames. When I was working earlier, we used to IM almost every day.When she visited me to wish me the best of everything during pregnancy, it was like a sister visiting my home and having the girl talk. The best thing I like until today is that we do not pass judgments on each other.I am more frank with her than with anybody else.

If I just think of her, the first thing that comes to my mind is the kalatta vetti talk we had at small cafe in SFO. Now as I start preparing for the travel,I feel the talks with her is what I will miss the most.I know with all advancements, though we are just a phone call apart....the fact is that I will miss her !! :(

I know now I have written more like a testimonial to our friendship rather about her. But Anyway this is the best place where I could express it ...

Super fast rewind

2009-01-08T12:14:00.000+05:30

I just did a super fast rewind from 2005 to 2008 and now I am in an open vacant house with almost everything sold. I started my marriage life here and will never forget the last few happening years.

Looking forward to the new year !

2008-12-29T04:18:00.000+05:30

So Its been a month I logged in blogger to type...The little baby keeps me busy and when I am free I am too lazy to pen my days....

A year back, when we attended a friend's kiddo birthday party, we were in couple-phase and were surrounded by friends with kids...They were sharing tons and tons of stories about their babies and toddlers and stories/experiences about Diapers,Spit up,Colic,baby blues, dresses,toys,Strollers,Sleep,Swaddle- I was jus smiling there and wondering how I am going to handle it ....All said and done, being a new parent, now all I mind now is to make sure the little king burps at the end of his feeding, if the little one poops and pees, if the little one is sleeping properly and if I am doing it right...

And with all these things, 2008 is coming to an end and If I read posts from earlier this year, I see that it is quite an eventful year with pregnancy to parents visiting to 10 day road trip to nice vacation with friends to resigning job to 1-month old Junior :-), Quite an eventful year isn't it?

So There I am ready to welcome 2009 and looking forJan 17 for our trip back home. Yes, We are moving back to chennai and everybody in family are eagerly waiting :-) A lot of things to do and lot of occassions to look forward in the next year with family around.... So the next few days are going to be busy with us packing baggages to check in and I want to stuff all my belongings in check-in luggages and getting ready to travel with small one...The house is almost clear with most of the items sold and most of items packed for shipping...The shippers will be here next week this time and then we have 2 more week before we fly...A lot of occasions have been planned already and I hope and pray everything works out and we settle soon :-)

So I am ready to welcome 2009 with a spring in my step and wish everyone a happy & prosperouse new year ! :-)

.....The little one joins us

2008-12-01T04:14:00.000+05:30

After few days of dilly dallying, the little one joins my small world on November 17th, 2008.

My whole world is rocked.One day Life is a bliss. One day Its a total disaster. One day Life is totally blur. One day Its like Kodak moments. And we learn everyday :-)

Whats happening?

2008-11-14T09:47:00.000+05:30

A lot of things happening in my world …

I could have written a blog post about the super quick valaigappu arranged at my home after my parents arrived….Or will a pic be suffice ;-)?

Or I could have written about the humongous packing going on at my home and making an accurate inventory of small and large things to be shipped. Or will a pic suffice?

Or I could have written about last minute shopping and preparation for our baby's arrival at my home.

Or I could have written about Param’s latest addiction with his DSLR or should a pic be suffice?

Or I could have written about how my due date has passed and I am still waiting anxiously ;-)

But actually I could not put my thoughts in words with my world spinning so fast. So this post with little nothings - cluster of happenings……

Negotiator

2008-10-22T06:53:00.000+05:30

To start preparing for moving back, we started selling off few things from home. And one of them was a shoe rack. We advertised it for $10. One of the guys came to pick it up. And he started bargaining with me. I am not good at all with bargains and bargaining. I just told him I do not want to negotiate. Then he gave me money. I just counted and it was $9 and he immediately said that he forgot to bring $10. As I had already got the money, I said its fine. These guys are tricky to deal with ;-) Maybe by the end of all the sales and move, I will become a pro.

2008-10-19T11:05:00.000+05:30

Today was book sale day in my neighbourhood library. I added few books to my collection to bake more :-)

Time for sweet treat !!

2008-10-14T10:19:00.000+05:30

Once in a while, I need to treat myself with sweets - Sweet mini butter cookies.

Verdict - Delicious !!

Have been there....Done that

2008-09-30T20:36:00.000+05:30

I worked hard my way thru school, did not bunk any classes at college (actually it was more of I could not bunk), was very honest daughter to my parents and got a job after months of hard work !!, At my first job, I did my very best only to quit it at the end to get married. I could have continued to live in Chennai after marriage and while him in NJ. I see lot of couples who do successful long distance. But being the girl I am, I wanted to live together after marriage. I never thought of how this would change my life. I decided to take life as it comes. I came here with no clue about what I am getting into…In fact I was not forced to move here but decide I wanted to enter the next stage of life… In retrospect, if it had decided to hold on to my old life, I am not so sure if I would have changed to what I am now …Living together definitely makes both persons to work for the relationship…

When I came here, I just stayed at home idly and did whatever new to me…like blogging…Then the impatient me applied for work permit. Surprisingly I got into the same kind of job I was doing back home. Life went on and when things were getting better we had to move to West coast and I quit again. Once again, I had the luck to get another job in my field at west coast where opportunities were very meager compared to east coast. That leaves you with the question why I am writing all this today….Now I am resigning again....Today is my last day at work! As I continue to wrap up my work, present my overall activities to team, submit all my expenses, return the test cars, delete my old mails, uninstall Google talk from my laptop, say Good bye to colleagues, I keep wondering how the next stage is going to be and how life is going to unfold … I know I will have my hands full with baby and moving back home–but will I work again?-At this point I do not know - I leave it to Future-Me :-)

With all these things going on, one thing that I want to write down here is the way friends/families annoy me whenever I talk about quitting my job. A few friends commented that I should quit working at least for few years and that I will not be doing justice to my kid if I start working sooner. I get it that I need a break and will not rush to work again. But advises from people who haven't quit once, folks who have had kids and continued to work, folks who have always put career before everything, folks who don’t want to become financially dependent, folks who haven't handled any serious relationships really irks me…..

Any way, coming back to what I feel, I will be restarting again with a clean slate just like I did 3 years ago when I came here…At that time, It was leaving behind parents, family, friends and job and no confidence me! Given the situation, I handled it pretty well. Now it is again leaving behind friends and job but a stronger me. So I am more optimistic with the future :-)

I thank thee

2008-09-12T05:27:00.000+05:30

Thanks everybody for the wishes!!!

Jus flash back to February and thinking how things were happening from back then, I need to write it down before I forget how thankful I am to lot of friends and family…

Day when I saw 2 faint lines in the kit- day when I kept on assuring myself I am pregnant- Day when I was wondering how its going to be life changing from then on ….I think that was one of the days I was more thankful than ever to my guiding angel above

Day when I informed my whole family and my brothers - when they called me to wish the best- I said to myself- “You little bun, you are gifted to have a sweet family to pamper you soon“

A lot of days when I thank my body as the 1st trimester went as breeze with no nausea and vomiting.

Days when I have good friends around for lot of reasons
For
A friend who sent me fruit basket

Another good friend who sent me “A Cute T-shirt”
Best friend who visited me all the way from east coast to wish me luck
Nice friend who made me tasty Gulab jamuns

College Friends who arranged for a cute baby shower when I was lowest in my spirits
Colleague friend who took me to a nice dinner during a test drive after we were dead tired driving in LA

Days when Param tries his best to take care both of us – I am thankful for the wonderful support from my dear husband

All I can do in return is feeling grateful to everybody and God and just pray for the guidance for forthcoming months.

I jus feel contented and happy right now :-)

To our 3 !!!

2008-09-06T02:45:00.000+05:30

We have come a long way -From strangers to couple
3 years back existed 2 different worlds

F1, Partying & Laptop ruled one world
Work,TV & Shopping ruled the other
On this day both merged
and there we created our own world
With not mine,not yours
But our choices :-)

So Toast to us for
Respecting each other

Loving each other

Accepting each other
Admiring each other
Knowing our strength and weakness
And not the least
For soon-to-be-little addition to our family :-)

Pics :My cake creation for our anniversary :-)

Today

2008-09-04T01:25:00.000+05:30

Just when I see vinayagar chaturthi in calendar every year, I think of Tirunelveli days…Days When I had to get up early for Poojai, Days when I hear Seerkazhi Govindarajan singing "Vinayaganey Vinai theerpavaney" in nearby temple, Days when I get to eat sweets like kozhukkatai, ell urundai,sundal, sakkarai pongal and modhakam along with steaming idly/chutney .I guess almost all our festivals are associated with food and those memories. Days when we go to Kokkirakula pillayar kovil and pray (this is a pillayar on banks of thamiraparani, he sits on the river bank and Our families have been visiting this temple for years. It’s a favorite place for me and I have been going there every time I am going to start something new or big. The place gives me great inner peace.), Days I go to my chithi’s home and enjoy the food at her home…Days when we get blessings from elders...Things have changed a lot now and Still these memories are etched to my heart for ever…and once in a while I get to recreate them As far as I can and Today I wanted to celebrate my mentor’s birthday in a grander way

Quote

2008-08-19T04:35:00.000+05:30

Listened @ Olympics' 08:
From Dara Torres
"You don't have to put an age limit for your dreams."
Very true :-)

Choose !! Choose !! Choose!!

2008-08-18T00:46:00.000+05:30

When it comes to decorating a house, I don't have much idea. But I hear others talking about different ideas from Crown molding to Corner table and all I have is an avid interest to learn from the enthusiasts who write about it in web, who show their decor in Home TV, who write in blogs, who write books....And collectively I think I now have the resources to plan on decorating my own... leave alone the decision making part though ;-)

As our new home is getting ready @ Chennai, we will soon be selecting paints, main door, oonjal etc.. Though my mom and dad do regular progress check of construction, I wanted to start give my ideas to implement before it is too late.

And now one of the mind boggling things for me is painting the house & color selection -I know I want to paint the corner wall in a different color from the side walls and when I browse at Asian paints- OMG They have all kinds of choices and for a too-scared-to-decide-person like me, too many choices are always going to be difficult.

When we decided to buy a home, Param made the choice on builder and apartments and we decided then that I will have the final say on our home interior decoration.

Since it is almost time for me to call my shots, I am kind of getting overwhelmed with the choices and the thought that I cannot blame him if anything goes wrong ;-)

BTW, We do not want to have the usual dining table in our home, since we both realize we mostly use it as a table to leave our handbags etc. Hence I am thinking about a low dining table where you get to sit more close to the floor (though the downside is that it will be a little tough on folks with arthritis)

Anyway I need to start getting my shortlist of painting & decoration ideas, furniture choices in chennai soon and I need suggestions and your experience- Anything that worked out for you :-)

I am learning the ropes :-)

2008-07-13T12:27:00.000+05:30

A salute to Sun !!

2008-07-13T07:11:00.000+05:30

Finally, my Mini Sunflower has bloomed :-)
My 150th post :-)

Long Weekend

2008-07-10T08:20:00.000+05:30

Met one of my best friends after a year - check
Made umpteen changes to vacation plan and finally chose a nice place nearby - check
Had a mokkai dinner with all friends - check
Realizing how we are still the same old person among our old friends - check
Get stuck in holiday traffic - check
Using the phone like A walkie-talkie with OVER at the end of every sentence while coordinating travel between 2 cars- check
Swimmers swimming at Lake Tahoe - Check
Getting wrong food than ordered at restaurant - Check
Sitting at beach in evening sun continue mokkai - Check
Waiting for salad dinner over an hour at Gar Woods grill (Rachel Ray's favi) - check
Trying to get a glimpse of fireworks and driving into Coast Guard Area unknowingly- check Teaching Poker and Playing until 2 am with mokkais - check
Lying on beach with no sun block lotion and getting sun burns - check
Friends having fun with Kayaks - Check
Window shopping - Check
Having Good food at Local restaurants - check
Teasing a friend who was always hungry - Check
All gals in a car drive- check
Gambling at Reno and making $70 - Check
Late yet surprisingly tasty dinner at Casino - Check
Surprise party with friends at home- Check
Group photos - Check
Group collegians photos- Check
Boring Param with our college stories - Check
Having breakfast at local bagel shop with smoothies on the house- Check
Speed boat ride across the lake - check
Giving titanic poses - Check
An over enthu friend pestering everyone for photos- check
Broken car A/C in sweltering summer & traffic - Check
Trying to pass the snacks to gang in the other car on freeway - Check
Friends fooling us that they were ahead of us and we chasing them while they were actually behind us on freeway- Check
Muniyandi vilas dinner where non vegetarians had their night - Check
SFO tour in 3 hrs - Check
Clicked Lombard street with different cameras- Check
Grabbing to go dinner from Udupi restaurant - Check
Transferring photos and making CD copies in 10 min - Check
Dropping friends at airport and waving sad Good byes- Done
All in all had a nice memorable weekend along
with Losing a thing close to heart - Did not want to check but happened

Books again

2008-06-30T07:56:00.000+05:30

I had always wanted to read Biographies and I am glad I chose to read "Its not about the bike: My journey back to life" - A book about Lance Armstrong and his fight with Cancer. Fantastic & Inspiring book, more than review I would like to capture a few lines from the book:

As I rode upward I reflected on my life, back to all points, my childhood, my early races,my illness and how it changed me. Maybe it was the primitive act of climbing that made me confront the issues I'd been evading for weeks. It was time to quit stalling. I realized. Move I told myself. If you can still move,you aren't sick...I was meant for a long,hard climb...

Last Weekend @ SFO

2008-06-30T01:50:00.000+05:30

Last weekend at SFO with Param's chittappa and chithi :-)

Life is good..

2008-06-17T00:36:00.000+05:30

You go to San Francisco for a business meeting at 6 pm, have a discussion until 8:30 pm, reach office at 9:45 pm and drive back home at 10:15 pm, and see a plate of hot idly with chutney on the table :-)

Tid bits !!

2008-06-14T01:57:00.000+05:30

Last week was my birthday. I always like the month of June, with schools reopening and already half a year is over. But also for the fact that it has my birthday :-) My friends and family always make it a special day :-) My sister sent a cute presentation with my old photos from '81 -'08. I was so happy :-) The next day we met a bunch of my college friends. After watching a movie, we had dinner at Banana Leaf (Malaysian restaurant). There I had a surprise b’day cake (from friends & Param). It is a very nice feeling to be loved :-) I am very happy I got to hang out regularly with my college friends at least after a few years. It is good fun and I am sure I will miss them next year.

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Convertible கனவுகள்

From childhood whenever I see films with open cars, I used to dream about driving them one day. And when I was here, where we can rent any cars, I kept on pestering Param to rent a convertible one day :-)

And at my last job, knowing this, my team lead once gave me a ride in BMW Z4. It was a good experience with 2 girls in convertible, giggling and felt like cinema to me :-)

And today, I got a chance to drive a convertible on a super sunny day....

Glad One of my kutti kutti aasai has come true!!

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Now-a-days , they have quite a few costume days at my office -> Nice dress up day, Hawaii day, and today Shorts day...Cool to come to office in various colors and theme!!

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Why do I blog?

2008-06-07T01:54:00.000+05:30

Everyday when I go around blog hopping, I find a lot of beautifully written blogs! Be it joy or sad or remembrance or thankfulness or about baking or about cooking or be it travelogues – they express emotions very well. These blogs always inspire me to keep blogging.

I was trying to remember "Why did I start to write?”. It was mainly because I had ample time at home after marriage and I wanted to use it to improve my writing skills. Then I thought I should somewhere log my days. I used to write personal diary @ college but somehow discontinued it after college days. Thus, my blog tend to be more of an open diary. A nice friend of mine even advised me not to write so much in public. He fears it might somehow become my disadvantage one day. But I try to convince him the other way. In retrospect, I feel I chose to record all nice happy memories during these days rather than the sad & angry memories!

Days went on and friends started reading. Ex-colleagues started reading. Old college friends started reading. Then my family folks started reading. I am glad I chose this place only to record happy memories for my small world to read :-)

Does it count for short story?

2008-06-03T04:53:00.000+05:30

She was in her office attending 2 hour meeting. The last lindt chocolate was on the table tempting her. She knew she already ate a big share that day. But still she could not concentrate on her meeting.

All her concentration was on the small truffle wrapped in a white foil, smiling at her. She knew she had to work-out & burn 200 calories if she is going to eat it. She knew her friends & families are asking her to loose some weight. The meeting was over. The chocolate was still begging her to eat it. Though she only had salad for lunch, she ate that last chocolate without any further thought!

When will women stop feeling guilty about eating a chocolate?

Birthday time :-)

2008-05-24T02:20:00.000+05:30

Every Year on this day, I get on full swing to make cake for You-know-Who :-)

This year, I fast-forwarded his birthday 2 days so that we can celebrate with my amma and sister before they return back to India. With my new cake decorating skills, I grew in confidence to bake a 3D cake...As car is one of his favorite items, I chose a 3D cruiser cake.

I baked the cake day before yesterday. Since the cake was big, it took around 1 hour to bake and more than 5 hours to cool! Yesterday morning, it took 2 hours for me to decorate it with home-made icing...Thats the cake below.

The cream was real yummy and everyone loved it :-) We all had a fun evening yesterday
In retrospect, I should have made a red car for him as he is a Ferrari supporter. Anyway, I tried out my favi color :-)

And I am smiling ear to ear seeing it come out very well :-)
Happy birthday Dear Param :-)

Family Fun trip :-)

2008-05-19T04:55:00.000+05:30

Yay! I am back after a great 10 days of vacation!! We had a fantastic time with my mother and sister. My father had to return to India urgently before our road trip and hence couldn't join.

All in all,

We enjoyed watching Shamu @ Sea world.
My mother & sis did a lot of thrilling rides.
We went on safari at Animal park and fed giraffes.
Everybody had their dream day at Disneyland,LA and an easy day at Universal, LA
We enjoyed fabulous Vegas- took lots of pics.
We were amazed by Hoover dam - one of 7 engineering wonders.
Spell bound by sun rise @ Grand Canyon, thrilled by Helicopter ride over the canyon and mesmerized by the IMAX movie there.
Enjoyed American/Continental breakfast on all 10 days and I was very happy to see my mother and sis enjoying it as well (Denny's & IHOP were memorable).
Had a tasty dinner at Woodlands,LA and sumptuous dinner at Tamba, LV.
We did a lot of chit-chat during our road trip
Enjoyed ice cream, candy, juices & cotton candy.
Had a great road trip across lonely hills & desert like terrains of Nevada and Arizona.
Took tons of lovely family pictures during the trip

On a whole, my mother and sister had their best vacation trying out all sorts of new things. So did we :-)
These days will stay in my diary forever :-)

Super Busy days

2008-05-06T01:22:00.001+05:30

My parents have arrived last week and Its kinda of Super-busy from then! They came 8 hours late as they missed a couple of their connection flights due to delay!! We were at the airport 2 hours earlier with WELCOME Balloon and kutti hand made gift for my sis...I was very happy to see them after a year. We told each other how much we have gained/lost weight and had the usual chit-chat all the way to our home. Everyone enjoyed the nice dinner I prepared for them ;-)

The next few days, we did pretty much nothing as they had jet lag... Anyway, after the couple of days, we took them to a Mexican Restaurant and they seem to enjoy the food (to my surprise) as they said Mexican is good :-) My mother has even become a fan of Star bucks! Then came the weekend and we went on a trip to do white-water rafting. The whole gang (9 ppl) drove up to South Fork American river @ Coloma, CA. We had a sumptuous picnic lunch under the shades of trees while chatting/pulling each other's legs...Was great fun (Will post the rafting pictures soon when we get it from the photographer).

Then the gang set out for the river rafting while I gave company to my parents. My sis was all excited to try it and so was Param. I am sure they had super fun in the water, while we 3 gossiped family stories sitting on a bench and had the whole park for ourselves.. After rafting we headed back and had a good dinner at Krung Thai restaurant (2 hours) ;-) My parents seemed to be able to try it as well (surprise, surprise!!).The whole trip was quite memorable for me , with great company and Saturday ended with most of us tired/sore for different reasons...:-)

We had planned to go for 17-mile drive on Sunday, but everybody was so tired that we dropped the idea and instead went to Kuruvi -Kuppai padam....I had made vegetable puff for evening Tiffin and we had it in theater - just like old times.. And so the Whole week finished so fast :-) Now I am waiting for this Friday when we will be on vacation for 10 days - on a Road trip to LA, San Diego, Las Vegas & Grand Canyon. More updates soon.

Tag from NY girl :-)

2008-04-27T05:56:00.000+05:30

Last Movie Seen In A Theatre?
Billa..did not like it so much.

What Book Are You Reading?
Pastries.

A Favourite Board Game?
Trade while in school days and now Scrabble and Chess .

Favourite Magazine?
I don't read anything regularly..I need to work on this soon.

Favourite Smells?
Smell of Rasam on the stove, Jasmine flower, Ripen mango, jackfruit smell.

Favourite Sound?
Mouna Raagam BGM.

Worst Feeling In The World?
When I could not do what I had promised earlier.

What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake?
I need a coffee.

Favourite Fast Food Place?
Adyar Ananda Bhavan for me.

Future Child’s Name?
I haven't decided yet.

Finish This Statement: If I Had A Lot of Money, I’d…
Celebrate first and then decide

Do You Drive Fast?
Only when I am late to office meetings at 8 am

Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?
NO..

Storms– cool or scary?
Cool, A nice blanket around, Cup of tea and bajji, few good friends and card game.
Scary If I am driving.

Do You Eat The Stems on Broccoli?
Why not?

If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Colour, What Would Be Your Choice?
Brown may be, actually I do not like to dye my hair.

Name All The Different Cities/Towns You’ve Lived In.
Bombay,Tiruchi,Tirunelveli,Sivakasi,Chennai,New Jersey, Cupertino.

Favourite Sports To Watch:
Nothing as of now

One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You:
I love her passion for good film making.

What’s Under Your Bed?
Nothing.

Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?
Sure...Yes

Morning Person or Night Owl?
Night Owl.

Over Easy or Sunny Side Up?
I don't know.

Favourite Place To Relax?
Home.

Favourite Pie?
Cakes please.

Favourite Ice-Cream Flavour?
Dulce-di-liche and Arun Pistachio,Tutty fruity.

You Pass This Tag To–
Any one who wants to write a tag.

Of All The People You Tagged, Who’s Most Likely To Respond First?
I don't know!!

They will be here next week !!!

2008-04-24T08:54:00.000+05:30

All my friends around me would have already known my excitement, but writing it in my blog is always a special thing to me....

Last year around this time, I had returned from my India trip and this time , my parents are visiting us :-). It's been a year since we saw each other and so we are excited!

My mother has been preparing a long list of snacks to bring, and my sister is busy shopping clothes and already started her packing ;-).My father wraping up his work before the vacation, and I am cleaning our home one area everyday to make it more presentable ;-)

You can definitely expect a few travelogues in my blog in coming weeks :-)

Image source: cartoonstock.com

Dec 2006 ->July 2007->January 2008->Now

2008-04-08T08:25:00.000+05:30

Running->Tennis ->Poker-> Chess

We have started playing chess now. Few weeks back we got a chess board and now playing one game of chess is the last thing we do before we sleep. I have to say Its very refreshing. All I do now is trying to learn all tactics of the game and beat Param. That's the goal of the month :-)

My new stash box

2008-04-06T11:47:00.000+05:30

Personalised by me :-)

To us

2008-04-01T23:12:00.001+05:30

For 1 more reason :-)

I say

our

Images Courtesy: Google Image search

Cake class - Finale

2008-03-31T05:22:00.000+05:30

This weekend was hectic! With our last cake deco class on Sunday, I wanted to bake & take a 2-layer cake for the finale and so started baking on Friday night. The first cake I baked crumbled :-( So I had to bake all-over again and this time I decided to bake additional cake layers for back-up. Thus, finally I ended-up with a 3-layer cake after buring couple of extra hours on bake sessions :-) This time I did the cake leveling well. Then I did a joint frosting session with my friend on Saturay. Sunday's cake class went well as we learnt to do stems, leaves etc. At last we were left to decorate our cake the way we liked I am happy with the way mine came out :-).

I even got a course completion certificate!

Its a memorable experience which will stay in my diary bringing back sweet memories whenever I see it later. I am happy I tried this class.

Subha, now as I have little confidence,I promise to male a cake for you when you visit me :-)

B&W memories :-)

2008-03-20T08:36:00.000+05:30

I wanted to do this tag long back, but I had to wait until I could get Param’s childhood pics from my SIL.

Aren't we cute when we are kids? :-)
Now coming to tag, all that comes to my mind are:
We both are Gemini.
Our names match with Hindu God and Goddess pair, coincidentally.
We both studied at Trichi.
Anyway as destined to meet, we met and got married in Sep 2005 A.D.
Whoever is reading this tag, please do it as well and post both you and your better half's childhood pics....It is interesting to play :-)

Another fun sunday with cakes!

2008-03-17T03:59:00.000+05:30

To a great friend...

2008-03-14T03:46:00.000+05:30

இருவரும் வேறு வேறு இடத்தில் பிறந்தோம்
கலாச்சாரம் வேறு குடும்பம் வேறு
ஆசைகள் வேறு குணங்கள் வேறு
எங்கேயோ பிறந்து எங்கேயோ சந்தித்தோம்
வார்த்தை பரிமாறுதலில் ஆரம்பித்த நட்பு
வாழ்கையை பற்றி பேசும் வரை நீண்டுது
கற்று கொண்டது பல பல
வார்த்தையில் எழுத தெரியவில்லை
இன்றும் நீங்கள் என்னிடம் பேசியதும்
நான் உங்களிடும் பேசியதும்
நமக்கு மட்டுமே தெரிந்த ரகசியங்கள்
இப்பொழுது பிரிந்தாலும்
மீண்டும் சந்திப்போம்
சில வருடங்களில் :-)

The above are straight from my heart to a friend who is returning back home.She is a great inspiration for me and We had good time together at NYC.

Dedicated to our good friendship and Probably she cannot read Tamil :-)

My killer cake !

2008-03-10T05:31:00.000+05:30

Few days back, I came to know about Wilton Cake Decorating classes in Michales and decided to try my hands with it...(ஆசை யாரை விட்டுச்சு). On my first day, when the teacher wanted to know why I joined the class, I told I wanted to make a decent cake :-) There are only 4 persons in our class and all of them are Indians! Out teacher asked us to prepare and bring a frosted cake for our 2nd class this Sunday! I did a joint cake making session with my friend on Saturday ;-) Just like the group study at college, we baked our cake together, prepared and frosted it as we liked. But our cake didn't get a good shape. To add more trouble, we prepared a thick frosting while our teacher had actually instructed to make it thin!! I learnt about these mistakes when I showed my cake to the teacher..I am glad alteast I learnt how not to make a cake & frosting till now !! Anyhow learning basic cake decorating techniques was interesting. See my class 2 cake decorating attempt in below picture !

My favourite vegetable manchurian

2008-03-08T11:10:00.000+05:30

Yesterday when I came from office, I was craving for something spicy. So I quickly checked out few blogs and One of my favourite blogger had a recipe that exactly suited my taste buds

http://premascookbook.blogspot.com/2007/05/vegetable-manchurian.html

So My version of Vegetable manchurian (It was 100% tasty)

What do I want to become?

2008-03-08T10:42:00.000+05:30

At an early age, all I dreamt was to become a teacher (may be a dance teacher)...I love to teach, even now.....Even while we were in college, I liked to explain subjects to my friends and help them with assignments. I have lots of good memories of those sessions ...I'll save that for another post. Even my FIL (who is a Retired Physics Professor) once commented that I am a better teacher than Param ... When somebody asks me to explain something I know, I explain it with full enthu and Param envies me for that ;-) But yes, I did not become a teacher...

When I came to US, I started using CNET and liked their reveiws...I even thought about applying for a job to become a phone reviewer ... Something in me told me to give it a shot...I still haven't figured out my first steps for applying or what they look for (in qualifications/experience). Yes, I didn't apply at all.

Nowadays I am impressed by HR dept colleagues :-) I like their busy schedule arranging travel, arranging facilities, arranging business cards, making hotel reservations and helping others.

So my career interest has changed from teacher->reviewer->HR while I am an Engineer ;-) How does that sound? I am still trying to figure out what I want to become!

Life in fact has free lunches :-)

2008-03-07T03:52:00.001+05:30

Today was one of those days when I overslept (by weekday standards ;-). As I was already late, I packed a quick lunch and started to office in a hurry.

Once I reached my office, I realized I had left my lunch bag at home! I was totally irritated as we don't have a cafeteria at our office. Now if I have to eat lunch, I have to go out which I don’t like as restaurants are not very near.

But I was surprised to see an email from one my colleagues that he had won a free lunch at a Mexican restaurant (after having our team name on the raffle) and so our entire team get a free lunch!! I was happy to see veggie burritos in his order ;-) So I got my veggie burrito lunch with coke & dessert.

Sometimes, there are free lunches in life !

From seeds to flowers

2008-03-03T10:47:00.000+05:30

Getting seeds from Walmart -> 2 hours & $1
Transferring them to India through In-laws -> 24 hours
Planting seeds and waiting for flowers to bloom-> 3 months
Clicking Photos and Sharing them over Internet-> 1 hour
Feeling happy that it bloomed and seeing the whole family excited about it - Priceless.

Tagged by a friend :-)

2008-02-27T01:11:00.000+05:30

Daisy, Its for you... will do your other tag soon :-)

A - Available?: Just for a good talk :-)
B-Best friend: With few friends, I am really who I am, Don't want to list it here :-)
C-Cake or Pie?: Always Plum cake
Drink of choice: Hot coffee, but lately Frappucino
E- Essential thing used everyday: My Sony VAIO
F- Favourite colour: Blue and Black
G- Gummy bears or worms: Definitely Gummy bears all the time
H- Hometown: Halwakku famous Tirunelveli
Indulgence: Earrings and Chocolate Truffles
J-January or February: January for a fresh start
K-Kids and names: None, I haven't really thought about the names, but surely it will be a Tamil name.
L-Life: Life gives you an interesting twist always
M-Marriage date: September 5, 2005
N-Number of siblings:Younger naughty sis
Oranges or apples:Tangerine Oranges Please
P-Phobias: Sea/Swimming
Quote:Nothing is constant except change.
R-Reason to smile: Nice gestures from Param
S-Season: July-August in Tirunelveli due to Courtalam season..Ah,I love it :-)
T-Tag two people: Baru and Mohan
U-Unknown fact about me:I can get really quirky sometimes
V-Vegetable you do not like:Bitter gourd
W-Worst habit:Getting Angry for small reasons
X-x-rays you have had:Tooth
Y-Your favorite food:Always amma's idli and chutney, maggi noodles,panju mittai

Z-Zodiac:Gemini

Compliments

2008-02-26T04:33:00.000+05:30

How do I accept compliments? I am fairly awkward in this department :-( When somebody compliments me, I really don't know how to react. I just freeze or change topic...I don't say a quick "Thanks" like other folks. It will be usually an awkward silence at my end with a blank expression in my face when someone pass a compliment. I sometimes even say something irrelevant to change topic and take attention off me. I feel embarrassed when somebody points this out (about me not accepting a compliment gracefully). Everybody likes compliments and so do I.

I feel that genuinely complimenting others is a great thing. But to add to my misery, I usually mess it up when I try to pass a compliment to someone else. I don't put it right words and end up saying something embarrassing again ;-( Even Wikihow has something to say abt this: http://www.wikihow.com/Take-Compliments

How good are you in this department?

Today.....

2008-02-22T06:46:00.000+05:30

Today I went for driver training at a raceway with my team as arranged by our office. I was little bit anxious and eager to do it as they would expect me to do stuff which I would normally not do in my driving (like braking hard, accelerating quick etc). But I think I did pretty OK. We were asked to accelerate quickly and change lane without braking, accelerate and brake hard, avoiding skidding and drive in a S-curve etc. It was all fun and exciting. Moreover rain added spice to the outing. Another day to note in my personal diary :-)

Here and There

2008-02-19T05:59:00.000+05:30

[Sunday]
Spontaneous road trips are always interesting. Without much planning, we did a 1 day ski trip this weekend to Alpine meadows with my friends. It was really enjoyable though I did not ski ;-) Param was in full enthusiasm to learn ski. Since we went late to ski lessons, we could not join the class. We searched for instructor for more than an hour and so i did not want to ski until I get full lesson . Somehow Param & co caught an instructor for 10 minutes to learn the basics and even managed to use the lift once. Maybe I'll also do it next time...Talking old stories with college friends is always fun. We had good brunch and nice dinner and Talk, Talk, Talk.... What more could I ask for?

image source: cartoonstock.com
And to top it off, my best friend from college has come to US and I was happily surprised when she called me…Hurray! There are few friends with whom you don't have to explain things but they still understand each and every bit and byte of you. She is always such a friend of mine :-)

[Saturday]
I think every gal has complaints about her hair and secret wishes for the same. I had mine too and decided to do a hair make-over. My hair was little curly and I did not like it that way. Anyhow I was not good at doing-stuff-you-need-to-do-to-have-good-hair….
When I read that there is a chance to straighten your hair permanently, I wanted to try it soon. So finally I tried it this weekend. I spent 4 hours patiently while my hair dresser applied chemicals and straighted my hair in this eloborate process. They also promised me it will be straight for long time and I only need to retouch new hair growth when needed. When I saw the final outcome, I was happy and no more curly hair. Let's see how long it stays :-)
image source: cartoonstock.com

Life -2

2008-02-14T07:18:00.000+05:30

Previous moment here

Time is 5:00 pm..No cold weather, jus bright and warm....Driving the car with moon roof open...Nice Breeze on the face..Ilayaraja's 80's songs playing...No red signal through out the drive back home...Enjoying thanimai...Life is beautiful

Would like to hear your beautiful moments again..Has it changed?

Monsoon Diary

2008-02-12T11:49:00.000+05:30

If you had steaming Idli with fresh filter Coffee everyday you went to school, read this book.

If you have memories of your grandmother laying vadams and kuzhvathals, you'll enjoy reading the book.

If you had seen your great grandmother grinding the batter with her hand, add it to your "books to read " list.

If you have interesting memories of travelling in sleeper class train with idly and chutney packed, reminisce it by reading this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book which reminded me many of my fond memories, especially with food :-)

P.S: Subha, I strongly recommend this book to you.

In marriage

2008-02-10T08:28:00.000+05:30

Few days back, I saw a discussion in Vijay TV on whether folks are happy before or after marriage. People who claimed they are happy before marriage justified they had time for themselves- things like getting up late, do things they like etc., Those who are happily married argued they are leading a disciplined life etc., I got curious and asked Param on his opinon knowing what his answer would be ;-)

For me , I would say without any hesitation that life after marriage is more adventurous and knowing-myself thing. I started realizing my likes & dislike, tried new things I never knew about. Also my partner changes his mind so spontaneosuly that my life is like a roller coaster- but I enjoy my ride. As my friend said "tirunelveliyil kadalai mittai sappitutu iruntha ponna ippadi pesuthu?" when I chatted with him recently. Anyway I believe "God is a perfect match maker" :-)

Flash back ...

2008-02-09T02:40:00.000+05:30

When I was in primary school, when I first heard this word, I was the one with almost nothing to tell in a class full of stamp, coin collectors.... and one friend enquired "Why not collect stamps?". I had absolutely no idea whether I wanted to do it. But she lended me few stamps for me to start. Then I traded with girls from other classes and my collection grew. In a month, I was happy with my collection. I wanted a stamp album for my collection and started pestering my father. When he got me one, I stored all my stamps in my precious album and showed it off to everyone who visited our home. And to my surpise, even my father had a good collection of stamps and he did not even show it to me until he believed I am really into my new hobby :-). He had quite a few "First Day" stamps thats hard to get. But I guess he was not ready to part with his precious collection! I don't even remember now when I stopped enjoying this hobby.

My clean iPod :-)

2008-02-08T02:14:00.000+05:30

This Monday, in a hurry I washed my jeans with my new iPod nano in it. (After reading this,I can hear my mother telling me "how many times did I tell you to check clothes before putting it in washing machine?").But It was too late when I realised it as the washing was over :-(

I was quite upset about it as I knew I was going to get the "You-break-everything-I-gift-you" look from Param. After googling, we came to know a lot of folks have been through the same ordeal.In most cases just letting the ipod dry/blow dry will do the trick. Hoping to revive it, he left the ipod in front of our a/c in heat mode for 3 full days while I was still fearing the worst. After getting the royal-dry sevice for 3 days, my iPod did come back to life when he connected it to my laptop. I am so happy and worry free :-) The new iPod Nano design is quite amazing :-)

In case your iPod is soaked,here's what I can tell you

Please do not panic
Please do not turn it ON or connect it to desktop immediately.
Allow to dry (preferably blow dry) for almost a week and then try to Power it up :-)

Soup of the day

2008-02-07T10:51:00.000+05:30

My version of Sweet corn soup :-)

What's your romantic movie?

2008-02-07T02:34:00.000+05:30

When I was driving to work today, I was so bored to hear my CD again and again, I switched to a random FM channel. This was a talk show about "All time Romantic movies" as February 14 is right around the corner. I didn't know anything about each and every movie that was discussed except the last one.....

Somewhere in the time
Casablanca
Wuthering heights
The notebook
Pretty woman

Have you seen any of the above and What's your thought?

Anyhow when it comes to "All time Romantic movies" for me, Its always

Roja
Rhythm (I liked this movie a lot)
Mouna Ragam
Maine Pyar Kiya
DDLJ
Dil To Pagal Hai
Thullatha manamum thullum (for few songs)

What's yours?

Thoughts about Audio books

2008-02-07T02:30:00.000+05:30

I wanted to try out audio books when I saw a lot of them in the local library. I thought it would be more interesting than reading a book. Also I was also greedy enough to cover two stories in a week. So the last time I went to library, I borrowed the book "Life of Pi" just for these lines which I read somewhere.

I am a Hindu because of sculptured cones of red kumkum powder and baskets of yellow turmeric nuggets,because of garlands of flowers and pieces of broken coconut, because of the clanging of bells to announce one's arrival to God, because of the whine of the reedy nadaswaram and the beating of drums, because of the patter of bare feet against stone floors down dark corridors pierced by shafts of sunlight, becauseof the fragrance of incense, because of flames of arati lamps circling in the darkness, because of bhajans being sweetly sung, because of elephants standing around to bless, because of colorful murals telling colorful stories, because offoreheads carrying variously signified, the same word - faith. Source: Life of Pi

I started listening to the audio book in my car on the way to work. I finished the story in a week, but I was not able to get the finer points in the story. Rather I could only grasp the big picture of the story. The experience did not give me a chance to learn new words, improve my style of writing or improve my imagination just like a book. Maybe If I listen to it at home rather than while driving, I might able to do more but Nevertheless, Audio books are good ways to kill the boredom during everyday commute.

As for the story (Life of Pi), it is about an Indian guy who gets stranded in Pacific ocean along with a tiger,Zebra and a hyena in a life boat while he and his family were immigrating to Canada. Thats one crazy base to write a novel. Lots of Zoological and Botanical explanations throughout the book :-)

The Devil wears Prada

2008-02-04T10:44:00.000+05:30

I liked the film "The Devil wears Prada", especially Miranda Priestley (the boss character) for her self esteem though she is not the protagonist in the movie. So thought I should read this book this weekend ...

After the book I didn't like Miranda much! What kind of a person makes a call from Paris to NY and asks the assistant to connect her to somebody in Paris?

Do add it to your book list :-)

Apart from that, this weekend we had a suprise get together at my friend's home. We had nice dinner and me/param played poker for the first time. We liked it :-) May be we would get our own poker set soon...

Darjeeling

2008-01-29T11:35:00.000+05:30

A simple story between two sisters and an opportunist and how the two sisters make the best of themselves and their environment.

My most favorite character in this book was Aloka- the elder sis who is always generous to forgive the shortcoming of everyone around her, but doesn’t get the best she deserves. The way she transforms herself from a “beautiful daughter” to the “newspaper columnist” is what made me to finish reading this story.I have never visited Darjeeling but it is simply beautiful in the words of the author.

The book had a lots of tit bits about brewing a good cup of tea.I make myself a cup of tea every morning though I suck in making tea :(

Lessons from people around

2008-01-29T10:44:00.000+05:30

Param told me a real life story he heard recently from an old man. Here it is.

The old man and his wife had been to their son's place for 3 week Christmas holiday. They had real good time and it was surprisingly one nice holiday with least arguments between them. But before they could return back home, one early morning, his wife passed away

And to quote the old man, "I thought I'll be the first one to go as I thought she has better chance of taking care of herself .But things did not happen that way. On that fateful day when she was taken to hospital, I made a promise to her in my heart that I'll take care of myself as she would have and I will not let my health go bad".

I believe telling something like above to a group of people is setting a good example of how one would love his wife from the bottom of heart. I was moved by what happened and it made me think a lot about marriage & expressing our love to our loved ones when they are still with us. A husband and wife will always have arguments no matter how long they have been together. But letting the anger from these quarrels and arguments stay in our hearts at the end of the day doesn't make sense.

Also before I came to Uncle Sam's land, I did not have much idea about westerners and and their values for family & relationships. But these last two years have influenced my opinion on their values a lot. Their sense of togetherness and respect in family system seems a little different from what we have back in our place, but still commendable in its own way.

In families back home, it’s not common for husband/wife to express their affection to each in words that would set an example for kids/others to emulate (just my opinion).Isn't it good to express your affection to your loved ones in front of your kids (words/action) once in a while and set a good example for kids to emulate?

Life on the refrigerator door

2008-01-26T11:07:00.000+05:30

I recently read this book " Life on the refrigerator door"

This is a book about the notes exchanged between a mother and a daughter...on the refrigerator door !

I thought I'll read few pages before going to sleep, but as I read a few pages, the book got into me and I had to finish it ..

A simple story, yet so touchy at the end. Though I could not appreciate some of the subjects discussed as notes between the mother and daughter in the story, this is one of the good stories I have read in recent times...:)

Check it out when you go to library next time.

Holidays at Keys

2007-12-29T05:16:00.000+05:30

So Its been a month since I blogged and I am regularly irregular ;-) I was too lazy to write and I wasn't doing anything interesting ...I was just looking forward for holidays so that I can have fun time ...Param and his friends planned a trip to Florida Keys and I know it will be nice time together.

The resort (tranquilitybay.com) we stayed was one of the highlights...It was pretty good I would recommend it to all. It is in Marathon, 40 miles north of Key west and we had reserved 3 bedroom beach house with all facilities and a nice private beach in the resort... Param's gang is a big lazy group that won't rush to do anything..So we had a nice relaxing and lazy vacation...

Day 1: We checked out the resort/beach/tiki bar and couple of our folks went on Jet skiing ! The guys did it with all enthu and had real fun..Evening we manage to get ready on time for a 2 hr glass bottom boat to the keys coral reef in the sea south of Key West. We snacked our way through the cruise and the sunset was very beautiful on this cruise :)

Day 2: We decided to go on a Do-it-all day-long cruise ..The cruise boat took us a couple of miles into the sea . It was 10-15 feet deep with a near by coral reef which was shallow. Except Param and one of his Friends, none of the others in our group could swim. We para-sailed, hopped on a banana boat, jet skied and simply drifted in water whie trying to swim. Banana boat was fun with we on top of a balloon (in shape of banana) that was dragged by another boat into sea and we get tossed into sea at high speed ;-) It was the most adventurous thing I have done till date in my life.. Thank god for the life jacket ;-) When the waves in water toppled our banana boat, we had to climb on it again ourselves which was quite a challenge.. We actually fell off the banana boat when we least expected !! Out of 6 folks on the banana boat, we were a gang of 4 and a couple who had joined us on it were absolutely enthusiastic for the adventure!! We were all exhausted when the cruise ship brought us back to shore at 5pm.

Day 3: Its a lazy day and this time we played beach volleyball and monkey (game with someone hopping to catch the ball from other players ) for quite some time and then I wanted to try jet ski - which I shouldn't have done at all..Actually after driving the ski for sometime from shore with param on passenger seat, he jumped into water to remove the seaweed caught in the ski intake..When Param tried to climb back on the ski, from the sides of the jet ski (which he should not have done), the ski almost toppled and I got scared and started screaming which made param abort his climb back ..... Finally another person on jet ski gave tips to param to climb back on ski from behind maintaining the balance. Once param was back on ski, I was all scared of water and made him drop me back on the shore ..One of my night mares as I do not know swimming and sea was quite scary ! Param then picked up one of his friends from shore who was jet skiing the previous day and took a hour long lesson ;-).We stay at our beach house for dinner..Param Grilled some salmon indian style which all his friends claimed was mouth watering..Hope he starts making some vegge dishes as well soon ..We had a wonderful-family-kind-of-dinner.

All 3 days was spent playing cards, talking college stories- Always never ending and interesting :)

By the way, I am looking forward for 2008 for a lots of reasons...We are going back to India by end of 2008 and am looking forward to set up our home at Chennai..So 2008 has been in diary from a lot long ago...Wish you all have a happy and eventful new year 2008 !

My little snow man

2007-12-03T09:44:00.000+05:30

What did I do this long weekend?

2007-11-28T11:33:00.000+05:30

Went on a long trip? - > Did not do much, Jus did a beach drive.
Went on a shopping spree? -> No Not at all
Had nice food? -> Yes, a hell lot of dishes from Saravana bhavan, muniyandi vilas, american restaurants, home made food, sea food
Had fun? -> A lot with friends visiting us and we played a lot of playing cards
Threw a party? -> Yes, had a big fun with Param and his friends.
Took photos? -> Shot a bunch of pics at SFO & beach drive and some sneak shots of P & his friends as well ;-)

So Its 95/100 and No complaints :-)..Another best weekend :-)

Priceless Sunday evening

2007-10-22T08:35:00.000+05:30

Doing puri and omapodi - 2 hrs
Nagging P to get pori and dates- 2 hrs
Preparing Date chutney -0.5 hr
Searching for Easy-recipe cake- 1 hr
Getting the sponge cake ready -1 hr
Preparing Bhel Puri 0.5 hr
Enjoying the snack and Coffee On Sunday evening, with absolutely everything turning out to be tasty- Priceless

And by the way, Guess what is this?

Still blogging....

2007-10-05T09:41:00.000+05:30

I know you have been checking for my post which I have been procrastinating for so long....

Yes, I have finally settled down ! Last 1 month was quite hectic with vacating apt., cleaning and celebrating our anniversary on an empty home, then dragging my days at hotel, searching for a new apt. for 2 full days, having infinite discussion about the localities and amenities, finally decided to rent this nice apt that felt like a home (though bit expensive for us), searching for job, getting irritated when there was no job offers/ calls from any company ... and finally getting an that unexpected call from another consultant leading to my new job where I am yet to join. Am just sitting at home right now - spending time browsing,reading, cool and meeting my old friends on weekends (I was very much anxious or should say crazy to meet them after 4 years), still finding the old stories interesting...and that's how my life has been for past 1 month.

One thing I am really excited about the new place is that there are lot of activities going on in the neighborhood :-)

Most important, My loving friend Baru has started blogging..Please visit hers too
http://barukarthi.blogspot.com/

Moving Again

2007-09-02T07:33:00.000+05:30

I have always had good friends and well wishers and really happy to have them at every stage of life.

When it was my last day at my previous job, my friend completely surprised me by decorating my work place like this and throwing a nice party.

And this time, Param had a change of location and we are moving to California and hence I resigned my job again. Thats one of the reasons that kept me busy and away from blogging. But again my last day was really unforgettable with my colleagues presenting me a "Mini Cooper" replica ( I tested this car at work and was part of the "Mini" team). I was all happy to get it as a memorabilia.

And then we went out for team lunch where my team completely surprised me with a scrap book ful of pics from last year. Very thoughtful of them. One of the photos from scrap book had all the phones I was testing with our car.

I am so happy I had been part of such a very nice team. My memories from here will always be in my heart and I will take them with me to India.

Now that we are moving to California wish me luck to get a nice job soon :-)

Century அடிச்சாச்சு :-)

2007-08-01T06:48:00.000+05:30

I and Param always wanted to do something together. So we started running/jogging together a few months back . Just like two perfect Geminis, we now changed our interest to do something else -We started to play tennis this week. Param kept this idea of playing tennis just as an idea for a long time until i insisted last weekend to get the racquets. Yesterday we went to the school tennis court near our home to play. As always, Param had lots of inertia to start the game but once started he was in it with full enthusiasm, whereas I had great enthusiasm to start the game but got tired really quick. Well, at least we complemented each other on our enthusiasm levels and played for an hour with Param playing big shots and me running all around picking the ball I missed ;-) Anyway, not a bad idea to start the week with.

BTW this is my 100th post and I am happy that I chose to continue blogging. I started it as a time pass and now it is more than that. I sometimes feel compelled to create a post and Param thinks I am obsessed with it :-)

Our long weekend

2007-07-11T06:37:00.000+05:30

For independence day weekend we went on a Orlando vacation !
Day-0
-------
On Tuesday afternoon I finished my work as soon as possible and headed home.With full enthusiasm , we packed our bags with food items (for 4days) in one bag and dresses in others. We even packed our dinner (dosai) ;-). At airport after check-in and security check, we were soon at the gate. We got seats in different rows and had to squeeze in middle seats. After a 2 hr flight, we were at Orlando. Orlando international airport was quite big. We took Hertz shuttle to Hertz rental centre and I should say I feel the roads at florida are wider than those in NJ. We got a Mazda with GPS (was quite happy that it made my navigator job easy)
and we set out to our hotel.

This time Param surprised us all by taking us to nice 4.5 star hotel and we were in all awe seeing the hotel. Our room even got refrigerator and microwave. I have never stayed in such star hotel before and started enjoying my stay. We had our nice dosai dinner and crashed into our bed ...:)

Day-1:
---------
We started to Sea world. I am not going to bore you with all the details..but all I would say is - It was the best I have ever seen. If you are watching the Shamu show, Watch the first show, I feel it better than any other timing...It was awesome to see how they believed that they could train killer whales to do such shows.The sea world was worth a full day visit...

And evening DIL (me) and MIL bought souvenir . The day was memorable also for the puliyotharai (this time I enjoyed my vacation because I had south indian food unlike french fries only)

Day-2:-
------
We visited Universal studios.

It was thrilling and exciting, as we started enjoying all types of animation shows, simulation shows just like small kids...starting from Shrek to twister to earthquake to mummy to jaws to spiderman to sindbad stunt show...We were tired at the end of the day but full of nice memories..Forgot to mention, everyday during our stay at Orlando, there were thunderstorms ! But its fine if few things like weather were not so perfect on an otherwise perfect day.

Day-3:
---------
This day , it was the trip to land where all dreams come true, yes the Disney Magic Kingdom. But I was rather disappointed as eventhough its beautiful to see all imaginary characters on dream place, I could not enjoy much. Maybe If I go with my kids in future I would enjoy it more.The Disney parade and Cinderalla palace was just like in fairy tale and salvaged the day.

Day-4 :
---------
With lots of expectations, we got 2-day tickets to Disney the previous day, So we thought we'll try our luck at Disney Animal kingdom this day.

It turned out to be a better decision as we enjoyed the "its tough to be a bug" 3-D show to start our day. We felt cockroaches crawling under the seats( thats a spoiler without warning if you are planning to visit) and nice safari in African jungle(one of my wishes is to travel across Africa- Param are you hearing this? ). We ended our day with a Lion king show. Near our hotel there was a theatre which was upside down ;-) and my FIL wanted to check it out and we took some Patel shots..

Ooops I forgot to mention, In the hotel where we stayed, they had this wierd tradition- at 5 in the evening every day, they played parade music while the ducks in the fountain were made to march towards their nest and there was a big crowd to watch it :-) We were full of laughter to see the fuss about the whole thing.

Day-5
So after visiting all these places, its time to get back home and We all started back again to NJ and my story ends here

Not to forget
the Memories of India hotel

Service-> Poor
Food-> Above average

Woodlands cuisine

Service->Excellent
Food->Good

(this is just a tip for anybody travelling to Orlando)

Brands Or Bargains?

2007-06-14T07:51:00.000+05:30

From childhood, good bargains always fascinated me compared to quality or brands. But when I started working I always heard lots of discussion about designer wear, unique shops and products. I was always a silent spectator during these discussions.When I went shopping with friends its the same story.While they discussed with no end about the items, I never got involved.

For the same cost price, I would choose many-good-looking-no brand watches rather than going for a single-branded watch.The same with slippers and dresses...But when it comes to bargained products, they usually do not last long and many a times fail you at the wrong time.(its almost 50% true for me)

Now I am wondering "Should I chose brands rather than bargains ?"

My latest time pass

2007-05-30T07:12:00.000+05:30

When Life is routine, I need to do something interesting. Since it is spring time and I see flowers everywhere, Why not bring home fresh flowers every week?

And To top it up, Last week I got a plant, Now I am waiting for it to bloom more flowers

Birthday time again

2007-05-24T06:34:00.001+05:30

Here comes the baking time of the year again. Last year I tried to create the cake from scratch. But this time, I did not want to trouble Param again on his birthday with my trials . So I was looking for ideas on internet for a couple of weeks. BettyCrocker's cake recipes seem to be quite popular. So I went for that cake mix and decided to do a 2-layer cake with frosting in between.

And tada this was my cake to my dear husband and he seem to enjoy it

Many more happy returns of the day dear!

What's happening with me

2007-05-04T06:37:00.000+05:30

Last 1 month has been very busy with param's parents at home.So every week, we have been touring around new york and new jersey.
Got a car for myself and started driving alone...Getting prepared for defensive driving test at my office.
Ran for 4- mile race twice in 10 days.
And We have completed 1 year in this home. I have come a long way from not liking this place at first sight to feeling at home in this last 1 year.
And this time, I wished my dearest friend on her birthday, while another dear friend gave birth to baby boy on the same day, so I have one more reason to celebrate the May day.

Spring has come and I see flowers everywhere, beautiful tulips in Central park...

A pleasant surprise trek

2007-04-16T04:47:00.000+05:30

One of memorable incidents during India trip was climbing Tirupati with two important persons in my life- My father and my husband. When I planned to go to tirupati with our families, My father told that he planned to walk up the hills. I did not want him to do that alone and So I told him that I would accompany him and Immediately my husband who doesn't want me to go alone either offered to come And So we started early morning around 6:30 and we know we had to climb 4000 steps to reach up.

So with full enthusiasm we started

Inital1000 steps were a breeze. We climbed it in 30 minutes. So We thought we could do it easily.

Next 1000 steps were the toughest ones. They were very steep and It was like climbing the mountain directly.And these were really hard for all 3 of us, but still Param was encouraging us to walk. We finished it in next 30 minutes.The view from 2000 steps were really beautiful

We thought we would finish next 2000 steps in another 1 hour, but next 1000 steps were wide.So it was like walking few 100 meters per step and It was not how we calculated, we took more than a hour to reach the step 3000.

In the last 1000 steps, we almost took breaks for every 100 steps we climbed. We chatted all our way up thereby managing to do it with much less tiredness.

We were at Tirumala 3.5 hrs after we started from the foot of the hill.
So the whole walk was an unplanned yet memorable.

And Family picture after dharsan

I am back online

2007-04-12T07:51:00.000+05:30

Having jasmine flower all days for a month -> Done

Visiting Old friends and get to know what others are doing-> Done

Shopping till I dropped -> Done

Roaming around Pondy bazaar-> Done

Gossiping with my mother about all stories -> Done

Going on a morning walk in marina beach-> Done

Visiting all possible temples -> Done

Pestering Param to get all gifts which he promised me to get -> Done

Watching a movie in one of the finest theaters in Chennai-> Done

Having a cone ice cream on hot summer afternoon -> Done

Travelling in and around Chennai in Auto-> Done

So thats the reason for my sudden absconding for a month, Yes, I have been to India on a vacation

Meanwhile one more April fool's day has crossed .

மொழி

2007-03-05T03:32:00.000+05:30

Went to this movie this weekend. The movie exceeded well over my expectations .The dialogs were neat and entertaining.Hats off to the dialog writer!. Songs are also good in the movie. I especially liked the first song and the unique voice of the singer is simply superb. Last but not the least My favorite Jo's performance is beautiful. As this is her last movie, I will miss her performance

One more added to my collection

2007-02-28T07:57:00.000+05:30

What's in a name?

2007-02-23T08:24:00.000+05:30

This story reminded me of an interesting event in my life..thought I should write it here

When I first heard my husband's name from my father as a prospective bridegroom , I told my father that I don't like the name. I also told him that I cannot even think about creating a nick name out of it.My father promptly discarded my silly comment stating that "பையன் தான் பார்க்க முடியும் பெயரெல்லாம் ஒரு விஷயம் கிடையாது." Now I feel how silly It would have been If I took the name seriously

Have a look at this

2007-02-13T07:43:00.000+05:30

Usually I don't like giving Links as Posts, but this one is worth mentioning.
My team lead's cousin and his friend are crossing the Atlantic ocean by rowing.
Every one thinks its both crazy and dangerous to just row across the ocean. They are half way through, They actually started on January 7th

So I thought I would post their website link here as a tribute and let my world know about them :-)
http://www.haute-mer.org/

The Bad Worse and Ugly

2007-02-13T07:29:00.000+05:30

Bad
I ran another 4 mile without practice this time and it felt like a punishment...Cursed myself for doing that without practice

Worse
I tried to do pizza and it was a disaster, totally taste less, Ordering pizza is better :-)

Ugly
I have written about my hate towards drawing, but still after seeing a painted tea pot at one of my friend's home I wanted to try it out...So I pestered Param, and bought few colors from Michaels arts and crafts stores and tried my hand..Looks like the handy work of my niece :-)