Weekend round up !! :)

Hi folks,

Hope you all had a great time this Christmas. I surely did. We had been to North Carolina, visiting some friends and had a really great time. I thought there was something missing this Christmas. But no, I was wrong. It was there on time. You guessed it right. I'm talking about SNOW. Last year it was snowing heavily right before Christmas and this year there were no signs of snow until last week. But it was snowing exactly on Christmas eve. Its always lovely to wake up one fine morning and see that the whole place is turned white. Such a pretty and priceless sight it is. I generally don't like to hang out much when there is snow outside. But love to sit at home, warm and cozy, and watch the snowfall.

Snow, friends, movies and lotsa good food :) It was a perfect weekend. I really wanted this break badly, December was such a crazy month for me at work!!! Now I'm all geared up for the project launch  we are having tonight. Fingers crossed !!! Wish me luck guys :)

Hello There !!!

Folks,

Am back again... Yeah, I know that I do this often... Suddenly go missing and one fine day come back with an "I am back" post. But yeah I love coming back. Been busy with a lot of things again which kept me off from blogging. New job, new city, new room mates (Yeah, I had to leave my hubby and relocate for this job. But will move back soon :) ) I missed this space so much. And I missed following up on my fellow bloggers' posts. Im trying to read up all the missed ones. So yah. Back to me and my updates. Im now in the 'lightening capital of North America'. Yup. Tampa, Florida it is. The climate here reminds me so much of India. Perfect weather. Hot and humid most part of the year. I miss my husband so badly though. But that is also compensated by something else - Living on my own. Yeah. I wanted to do this for a long time. I wanted to live alone for sometime. Just to see how it feels to be independent.  Its good. Im liking it. I cook my food. Do all grocery shopping by myself. Take care of all my bills. Have girls' night out whenever we (My roomies+I) feel like. Life is fun. Life is good. Hope life moves smoothly like this forever. Touchwood !!!

So what are you guys upto these days? Hoz it going? 

Update me !!!

Aal izz Well :)

Well well well... I know I've forgotten my space for quite sometime now. Been busy with a lot of stuff and hence totally ignored my blogspace. Though I did not blog much these days, I did enjoy reading my fellow bloggers' posts. But now am back and it feels really good :) I hope everyone is doing as good as I am (or even better :)).

Its been nine whole months since I moved to the US and I cant believe how quickly and smoothly these nine months went off. Time really flies. It has always been like this since college. Those four years in college, then those couple of years at work, and these nine months of marriage. Everything seems like a dream. But I think this was not the case when I was a kid. Things were real slow and I liked it that way. May be not then, but now I really do. And it always puts a smile on my face to think of all the petty things I did as a kid. 

How I used to hate to go to my Hindi classes. After every exam, I used to say to myself, "Thats it. I'm done with this and not taking up the next level". But due to my mom's insistence I took up three levels and after that she was tired of convincing me. I never hated my dance and music classes though. In fact I'll be waiting for school to close for the day so that I can run to my dance and music classes. And the drawing competitions that we used to go, not for winning any major prize, but just to have fun. All the kids from the neighborhood will be ready with their painting kits and we'll all walk to the venue, find our halls, collect our drawing sheets, develop our own ideas based on the given theme, try to draw them as we envisioned, but it would have ended up totally different and then laugh our souls out after seeing each others outcome and wait for the results to be announced that evening hoping one of us would at least get a consolation prize. 

Ahh and I loved those occasional trips to T Nagar when I was a kid. We were staying in Adyar and we used to go to T Nagar, Anna Nagar or Mylapore for the birthday shopping, Diwali shopping, pongal shopping and jus-like-that shopping. My dad had a scooter back then which cannot accommodate the four of us. So we used to take the bus. Sometimes we had to wait for hours to get into a bus because my sister and I wouldn't get into a bus that is crowded. We sometimes will let go four or five buses and wait for the less crowded bus. Once my dad was tired of waiting and ended up taking an Auto-Rickshaw. This happened a few times and then on my sister and I would pray that every bus that passed by should be fully packed so that we can enjoy the luxury of travelling in an Auto-Rickshaw. And only on occasions like this we used to eat out and  the other days we never ever bugged our parents to take us to restaurants. We were not exposed much and hence were happy with what we had. Parents always decided the goods and the bads for us and hence we had healthy/safe/worry-less  living. Gone were those days. Given a chance I would definitely go back to my childhood days. 
I'm sure you will to, Won't you??

As we grow up, we tend to see new things, experiment new ideas, set up new goals, change them every now and then, and eventually become too busy to realize the value and presence of time. Hai ki nahi??**

So how is it going for you? Busy as usual?? Aal izz well ??!! :P

**Hai ki nahi?? - Yes or no??

Meeting V...

Its been a while since I caught up with my friends from college. So we decided to meet this weekend for lunch and then a movie. As usual it was so much fun and loads of catch-up stories to hear from everyone. It was definitely a good break for all of us from our hectic work life. And we were happy that we finally made this happen. So much for a get-together, I can hear you say. Definitely. Nobody has time to even run their own life, so its definitely a big deal to fix a common time and venue. Some of us had to even travel from other states. But it was all worth it. So after lunch we headed to Satyam Cinemas.(For my non-chennai, non-Indian readers, Satyam Cinemas is the best cinema theatre in Chennai, the city I grew up back in India).

So after spending almost a day together, we all kissed good bye to each other and parted in our own ways and I walked down the street to the nearby bus stop.

As I was walking I saw someone waving at me with a nice bright smile. And I quickly recognized the face and waved back immediately. That was V, my old school friend. Its been ages since I met her. We've been in touch through Facebook and chat. But that's it. Dint meet her even once after we finished high school. So it was nice to see her in after all these years.  She was still the same V whom I remembered from school. No big change. She was as beautiful and glowing as ever. Nobody can tell that she was married. I learnt from FB that she was back into modelling again and saw her pictures from couple of her shows. She looked like a pro. 'Hey look that's my old school friend', I used to proudly tell my husband. 

Coming back to V. Both of us were equally surprised and had a quick chat about our whereabouts and she offered to drop me back home. So we went back to her car in a parking lot nearby where her dad and sister were waiting for her. V's little sis has grown up to be a very charming young girl and it was good to see her too. V was staying in her parents' place as her husband was on a business trip, I came to know. 

And we continued our chat after getting into the car. 'V, I recently saw your fashion show pictures on FB and you looked super hot and stunning. Good that you are back modelling', I told her. Her father gave me a very suspicious look and turned to V and asked her angrily, 'Whats going on V. What is it that I am hearing?'. V's sister already had her hands on her forehead after hearing what I said and V was having this 'God save me' look. Then V's sister whispered to me that their dad still dint that she was into modelling again. And then I remembered that V initially quit modelling coz her dad dint like her doing it. But now after her marriage, with her husband's consent she started modelling again. I was totally sorry for what I just uttered and V gave me this 'I'll handle him' look. Then she told him something in her mother tongue and he calmed down. There was total silence in the car for ten more minutes and there came my house and I was more than happy to jump out of the car. V came out with me and I apologized for what I did. But V thanked me, coz she anyways wanted to tell this to her dad. I was relieved now. Then I asked her what she told to convince him. 

Before she began to reply, I heard someone opening the door.

My house door???

No.

That was my bedroom door here in the US. My husband was getting ready for work and had just flung it open to rush to the bathroom.

No post in July... Ooops.. Here it is !! :)

Yah yah... I've become all too lazy and certainly no inspiration to blog these days. But then I was just looking at my page and suddenly realized that there were no posts for the month of July. Omigosh !!! How can I let that happen. For July is my most favorite month of the year. I can hear you asking me why. It goes like this. I joined highschool (my dear VV) in the month of July.  One of the best schools I've ever attended. Perfect location for a school (in the midst of a calm and dense forest), lovely teachers, great friends and perfect school timing (7.50 AM to 2.10 PM). I've always enjoyed that 15 min bicycle ride to and from school, with a little chit chat with friends. So thats that. And then I entered college in July and there was no looking back. I have had the most wonderful time of my life there. And it so happened that I joined work, my first job, in July. Met some really lovely people there. Fell in love with technology for the first time of my life. No kidding here !!! Then, I met my guy in July :) Hoz that !! And of course I am July born. So does that tell you why I love this month so much ???!!! :)

So is there a favorite month for you ?? And why ??

It was a lovely Weekend!!!

It was the most awaited weekend I should say. A very dear friend and her husband visited and spent this weekend with us. We have been planning to meet for a long time, but either of us would be busy and hence end up postponing the trip. But finally, it was destined to meet each other this week. So they decided to work from home on friday and landed here on thursday night. So my weekend actually started then. 

We watched Raavanan on friday and came back with disappointment. It was not the typical Mani Ratnam movie. All his movies, so far, were unique and outstanding. But this one had nothing new. The director told the whole story in the second half, which left a story-less first half. There was no on screen chemistry between the hero(s) and the heroine. And I pitied Priya Mani. I mean, why does the girl always gets roles like this? She likes someone and when she almost come to the 'Happily ever after' part, there comes a twist in the story and she is teared down by raving men and the girl commits suicide. That was sad. There were some pluses to the movie too. The locations were simply beautiful and photography was good. Of Course ARR's music added a little spice to the otherwise bland movie. Overall, the movie was not up to the expectation and definitely not worth the wait. 

The highlight of the weekend was our day at Six Flags America. It is one of the best theme parks here. As expected we had loads of fun in all those thrill rides. The rides were simply nerve rattling. The rides we most enjoyed were the Batwing and the Superman rides. We were happy that we covered almost all the rides. We were so excited and thrilled and were really running around like small kids the whole day. We also did a little rock climbing there and yes, we reached the top, though after a lot of struggle finding our way. It was scary and adventurous. Jumping down the rock was really cool and I enjoyed it. At the end of the day we were all so tired and exhausted. And a fine Thai dinner completed our day!! :)


We were planning to go to DC on Sunday, but none of has had the energy to get up early the next day. So we dropped that plan and decided to relax at home and spend time talking with each other. The weekend just flew away so quickly leaving behind loads of good times to remember.


So how was the weekend for you guys??

Its Soccer time baby !!!

FIFA world championship tournament is nearing and I am super excited. The previous world cup tournament in 2006, I clearly remember, I was in Pollachi. I had just passed out of college and joined work. We were given a fast track training for 20 days in Pollachi Mahalingam Engineering College. I had made new friends and had new room mates and everything seemed so fresh and lovely. FIFA world cup was on that time and we weren't suppose to watch TV after 9.00 PM. So we all signed a letter to our hostel warden and asked her to permit us to watch atleast the finals. And she couldn't say no :) And we all gathered in that TV hall to see the finals between Italy and France. Man, that was one fantastic game I should say. I wasn't a football fanatic, really. But I became one after watching this game. The penalty shootout which declared the winning team was one nail-biting moment of that final game. So this year I have decided to follow the tournament right from the first match. And yesterday my friend sent me this amazing world cup calender and I really wanted to share with you guys. Check this out and keep track of your matches. My most favorite teams are Italy, France and Germany. 

So what are yours and whom are you supporting ?? 

Back from my hibernation !!:)

Ahhh... it feels so good to be back... Been a while since I posted something in this space... Well all of a sudden I became too busy. We had some friends visiting us last few weekends and so all that made me jump to a vacation mood and hence became too lazy to think of something to blog :P. So this is what I did all these days.

The first weekend we went went to the historic Colonial Willamsburg and Virgina beach. Colonial Williamsburg has buildings dating from the 1700s. It is an interpretation of the Colonial American era and has exhibits of both authentic and renovated colonial houses, restaurants, workshops, postal office, grocery stores, tailoring shops and more. 

They were either renovated or recreated to give us the picture of the colonial lifestyle. There were people dressed up like they did those days. So for the major part of the day we roamed around these colonial buildings. Then we headed to Virginia beach later that evening. We took a nice walk in the boardwalk, played silly shooting games in the stalls on what seemed like a city carnival. After a while we rented a bicycle each and rode our souls out :) It had been ages since i took a ride in a bicycle. Took me back to my school days!!! We roamed till we were dead tired and headed straight to a restaurant and there ends our day!! :)

One of our friends extended his weekend visit and stayed back to explore DC a bit and I joined him. As DC is known for its museums and monuments, we had a great time "Awww"ing and "oohhh"ing at the exhibts in the museums. I seriously felt Museums are a great idea to know the past and history better. Even though there are lots of information and facts piled up on the internet, seeing things and knowing them has a definite impact. We become kids all over again and try to imagine how things were back then. And that way, information stays better and longer. Don't you guys agree? 

Hmmm, so what else did I do??. Yeah, I saw this amazing book "Martha Stewart's Cookies" while I was browsing the library book shelves. The cookie picture in the cover page made be grab it immediately and I started drooling as I turned the pages. She had listed recipes for almost 175 cookies of different types. Light and delicate, soft and chewy, crumbly and sandy, chunky and nutty, cakey and tender, crisp and tender, rich and dense. Trust me, her pictures inspired me to bake them and I tried Oatmeal Raisin cookies. And it turned out awesome. It was nice and crisp, just like the ones that we get from the confectioners. And Im telling you, baking is not that difficult actually. You just need the right ingredients in the right measures and voila, you are ready to bake. I strongly recommend this book for any one to start baking cookies or to become an expert in the same. 

And the same day we made pizzas. Yeah, home made Pizzas. Doesn't that sound good :) It was my friend Terry's idea. And she had looked up so many recipes and finally found that the one listed in vahrehvah.com was the most easiest of all. We had loads of fun that day shopping the ingredients for the pizza and cookies, and preparing it together. And the joy you get out of cooking is immeasurable. I always love it when I cook with someone else. Its so much fun cooking, gossiping and giggling :) So at end of the day we played pool having pizza and cookies. That was a perfect weekend eve :) So these were the major (not so major, I know) updates that I wanted to tell you guys.

So what are you guys upto?? Whats happening out there in the blogosphere??

The House hunt !!!

Ufff... The whole week was quiet hectic for me. Ask me why. We received a mail from our apartment management reminding us that our apartment lease is ending in a couple of months and we had to decide on either extending the lease or vacating the apartment. And that if we choose to vacate we'll have to give them a 60 day notice so that they'll start advertising for the apartment and other stuff. And it looked like our rents are increased if we choose to extend. And we had only four days left before we finally decide on this. So we thought we'll look for options outside. And the house hunting job fell on me. So the first thing I do, after packing B (my hubby) to work, is to log into all the apartment rental sites and start my search. I had to keep in mind the rent, the reviews about the community, the amenities that are available, easy access to all transits, this, that, foo, faa.... And finally listed down some apartments that we thought will be comfortable for us. And I started taking apartment tours on each of them. Some days I had to check out more that three apartments, come back home note down the things like rent, available facilities, hidden charges etc., in an excel sheet and discuss it with B at the end of the day. After all this, we somehow weren't satisfied with the apartments that I checked. And the D-Day came. Today we had to tell the management about our decision. It was definitely tough to move out of an apartment that we enjoyed staying so long. We had everything we needed. It was a wonderful community. We had nothing to complain about so far. Right from library to grocery to shopping malls, everything is at walkable distance. Moreover I had developed an intimate bond with my desi neighbor. And so we finally decided to extend the lease in our same apartment, even though we had to compromise on the hiked rent. So I went down to the leasing office to tell our decision. Before that we wanted to ask if there are any other apartments that is currently vacant for us to move in. And it so happened that, there was one vacant on the same building but a few floor high above. And the best part is, it comes with more space and less rent. Hoz that :) I was like yaayyyyy !!! And yes, we obviously opted to move into that apartment. After all this house hunting we ended up moving into an apartment in the very same building. But I totally have nothing to regret. This whole house search was a new experience for me and definitely worth it. I got to know what exactly property mangers do every other day and understood the whole rent manipulation that is being done when an apartment is vacant. Baaahhhh. Whatever, we finally found a house and we definitely like it :)

Women's dignity really saved by a Burqua Ban?

I hope most of you must have known about the Burqua ban in Belgium. Belgium claims to be the first European country to enforce this ban to wear over face coverings in public places, with exceptions like motorcyclists. The main intention is to target Muslim women who wear this traditional garb. The committee says that they cannot allow someone to claim the right to see others without being seen, and that wearing Burqua doesn't seem compatible with an open, liberal, tolerant society. Similar measures are taken in France also. The French president boasts that wearing Burqua is contradicting to the dignity of Women. And he says the only answer to this is to ban it. But statistics show that there are over 5,00,000 muslim women living in Belgium. But not all of them wear Burquas. Some really choose to wear it in order to express their religious faith. A month ago when France was seriously debating on this issue, there were so many blogs and articles popping up on this concern. I found that so many comments from Muslim women. They really wear the Burqua or the Hijab, only because they choose to wear it. Nobody forces them to do so. At least here in the west, nobody does, they say. I really don't get the point of guarding the dignity of women by banning the Burqua. I don't even see security issues here. When Muslim women go for a security check they very well co-operate and reveal their identity. So where is this getting to? When women don't get to choose what they wear, where is the whole idea of freedom and liberalism? And for heaven's sake, seven days jail for wearing a burqua?? God save this world !!!


 Image Courtesy

Here I come...Zoooommmmmm!!!

Driving in the US was so easy when compared to India. No auto-rickshaws, no bicyclists and there are lanes everywhere and people stick to the rules and speed limits. So literally there is no need to panic while driving. Only thing was the 'Keep-right' rule that we had to follow here unlike India, where we keep left. But that wasn't so bad too. I took a couple of drives with my hubby and that was it. I was comfortable driving here. Today I had to take my road test to get my driving license. We planned to start early from home so that we can be in line soon and take the test soon. And we started as planned. And we went to the DMV office on time. I was so confident about the test.  They called me to verify my documents. I had everything pucca except my car's registration document. We had to carry the originals but we just had a photocopy. They said they will not accept the photocopy. We had another friend taking his road test with me. But he too dint have proper documents. Thats it. The whole thing got messed up. Then we called up another friend and he brought his car and documents and then we were ready. We took the road test and woah. It was so easy. I mean it just went really well. Yay!!! I passed the test :) Now I can take our car and go for a drive whenever I feel like. Wow. It feels so good.  Feels as if I have achieved something great!!! :P

I really don't know why I am blogging about it.. Nothing really great. But just wanted to let you guys know that I passed the test :)

Here I come America!!! Zoommmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!  :) :)

The Absent Minded Me !!!

Yeah!!! My post title says it all. Of late Im being really absent minded. Not that I used to remember things really well before. Duh. I forgot how my cups of water I had poured, seconds ago, while cooking rice yesterday. Today morning I was discussing with my hubby about the chores that I had to do and the bills that I had to pay. We ended up with four tasks. Till now I remember only three of them and still thinking of the fourth one. I know that I will remember it sooner or later, but it is really frustrating at that moment.  Sometimes I used to keep some really important document in a 'so-called' safe place. But when I need it on an emergency, I have to struggle for a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes before I actually find it. I easily get distracted when Im on a call with someone, that I sometimes forget things which I actually wanted to convey. Sometimes we tend to let things slide.

Now that I really have the time to do something about it, I did a little study on the internet about what is really causing this absent mindedness.

Dr. George Grossberg, director of geriatric psychiatry of St.Louis University school of Medicine, says that the temporary "tip of the tongue" forgetfulness is the change that usually happens as we age. But Im not even 25!!!

Sometimes people become forgetful because they are on a sensory overload. Really?? Sensory overload. Huh ??? 

Some say distraction and preoccupation is one main cause of being forgetful. Wait. Playing this 'Cafe World' application in FB counts for distraction or pre-occupation??

There were much more causes like poor friend circle and even cultural change. Whatever it is, I am going to get over this negativity by following some simple remedies.

• Make a note of everything, to do in a post-it note. However small or less important it may be, things which has to be done should be done anyways right??
• Do not procrastinate things which you can do right away.
• Exercise your body, says Dr.Grossberg, for it increases the 'feel good' endorphins and improves our mood.
• Exercise your mind. Okay so I guess I should take up some new activity to give my brain some work. How about revisiting the little German lessons that I took ?? Sounds good right :) 

Am sure absent mindedness is pretty common in most of us. Actually nothing to worry. But we can avoid the momentary frustrations if we come over this negativity. If there is a way that you follow to remember things, please do share :)

Have a great day all of You!!!.
Image-courtesy

Sometimes

Sometimes we have to experience things which we would never thought will happen. Sometimes everything that we see looks weird. Sometimes everyone will be around and still we feel lonely. Sometimes things we were longing for will be just next to us but still not reachable. Sometimes opportunities knocks us at the wrong time. Sometimes in life we end up with a situation where we have to decide certain things right there without further delay. Sometimes we are forced to take up certain decisions which we dont like to take, but have to take because of the roles and responsibilities that we hold and because we need some stability in life. Sometimes all those good buddies in life will be totally unavailable when we really need them. Sometimes things we were promised of never happened. Sometimes the world out there will be bustling with activities but we will be standing still. Sometimes we have so many things lined up to be done, but something that ruined our sleep that night will hold us from all those chores. Sometimes we are afraid of taking the next step ahead. Sometimes we feel like slapping that person right across their face for the not-so-sensible sentence that they uttered when we badly needed some words of wisdom.

There have been so many of these "Sometimes" in my life  and all I said to myself was:
"Be Calm. This too shall pass."

Digsby - collected confusion???

Already gtalk, Y!, IM, orkut, facebook, twitter have made our networking really easy but all the more complex. Now someone somewhere has come out with something new. How about all these networking sites and IM and emails together? How about all updates and pop ups in one screen? That's Digsby for you. IM + Email + Social Networks in one application.

It might be fun or might not be. 
It might be useful or might not be. 
It might save us from opening umpty number of browser tabs or it might end up making things all the more complex. 
It might be cool to use to all the networking sites from our desktop or it might get even messier.

Instead of just thinking about what and what not Digsby can do, dont you think its high time we start using it. But, we have to go through the process of getting used to a new application all over again.

Will it really save our time ? 

No Bath On Sundays

I was Facebooking this morning and I saw this link posted by my friend. It sounded funny, and so I checked the page and the website was uber cool. The whole idea behind this is to encourage people to save energy in whatever minimal way they could. So they have taken this simple example of saving water and the whole math behind saving thousands of liters of water by not having bath on one day of the week is explained.

Isn't this cool ??? I mean, not taking bath on a Sunday. 

I guess I'm already saving more than I could !!! :P

So why don't you guys take up the pledge with me. We can all save tons of water !!!

Scrabble - Rules Changed !!!

The rules of the world famous word game, SCRABBLE, has been changed for the first time in 62 years, since it was invented and trademarked in 1948. Originally the use of proper nouns was banned in the game. But now, Mattel, the company which owns the distribution rights of SCRABBLE has announced plans to make a few changes to the rules of the game.

The players will now be allowed to use names of celebrities, places and companies. The company believes that the existing players will enjoy this new twist in the game and enable young fans and families to get involved. However, the company will continue to sell the boards with original rules, for players who wish to continue with the old game.

This rule change is definitely going to be fun. I may know a place called "Eachempatti", a remote town in India, which may sound totally bizarre to my opponent. Or my opponent might try some popular Japanese celebrity's name which I would never have even heard in my life.

Whatever it is. Change is good. Always!!!

Cherry Blossom Festival 2010 !!!

The National Cherry blossom festival, here in Washington D.C, was the talk of the town for the past few days and it was finally here last week. Cherry blossom festival showcases the beauty of the 3000 cherry trees that were gifted to the United states from Japan in 1912. The trees are spread across the tidal basin and the view is breathtaking. Millions of tourists from across the country and the world come to enjoy this natural beauty of the capital every year. In spite of the crowd and the parking difficulties, we managed to spend enough time watching the blooms. It was definitely worth it. Just a little stroll across the basin watching the pretty pink and white blooms was just so relaxing and wonderful. Here are few snaps from my bloom watch.

Looking back !!!

It was April 2008. I was in Germany for a short term project assignment. I was staying in a nice cozy hotel in Friedrichsdorf. There were couple of more colleagues with me there because of whom I dint miss home much. We all worked for different projects. So we dint know each other before. Got introduced to each other there and became the best of friends in those few months. After work, we all used to gather in one of our studio type rooms, cook together, have dinner together, then sit and talk for hours together, sometimes have coffee in the middle of the night, watch movies next to next or just sit and listen to nice music. The whole hotel will be in deep slumber while we roam in the common balcony for a little walk. We will be totally jobless that we used to put on some nice skin refreshing facial mask at those odd hours. Those were the best days of my life. Those were the days I worked so much and those were the days I enjoyed thoroughly. That was my first international trip. Everything was foreign to me. But only for the initial few days. Then as days went by I started liking every bit of it. The beautiful German houses, the very comfortable Deutsch Bahn trains, the lush green mountains, the lovely old castle of Cochem, the Audi and Volkswagens, the Saturday trips to Frankfurt, their no-honking traffic system, my very first croissant, my first snow, the tulip gardens of Holland, Madam Tussuad Wax Museum in Amsterdam, my memorable trip to Paris, the very happy Disney Land of Paris, the cute dogs that always accompany their masters anywhere and everywhere they go, the neatly dressed up men and women, and the list goes on. I came back home with loads of memories to cherish. Here are few clicks from my trip !!



So why did I suddenly write about this incredible trip of mine?? 
I was reading Zuzana's post about The easter bunny, which took me back to my days in Germany. It was easter time and where ever we turned we saw easter trees and dyes eggs. So we decided to try our hand at making an easter tree. And we ended up making the one seen in the picture below. Though it was not as good as the others, we had so much fun making it. It still was the best for us :) And that was my first easter bunny chocolate, which I dint break for a long long time, since it was just too cute !!!

Flirty Fingers !!!

Nail art is the practice of painting and designing fingernails and toenails. This creative art form requires wild imagination and creativity. It has indeed become a fashion statement today. Some sources say that nail art trace back to 3000 BC. The first nail polish of this age was originated in China. Various products like gum Arabic, gelatin and bee waxes were used to create Nail polishes and nail lacquers. Now with improvement in science and technology fashion freaks have come out with variety of nail coloring and designing ideas. Nail lacquering, nail painting, nail decoration and nail piercing are some different nail art ideas, which are popular all over the world. We all need a break from the always neat and clean nails. Dont we?? 

The first time I came to know about nail painting was in Chennai Citi center some three years ago. There were so many stalls put up for celebrating women's day. And one of them was a stall for Nail painting. I was totally amazed by the artist's work and immediately offered my fingernails for her to show her creativity. It was not that difficult actually. She had different acrylic paints with her, used a tooth pick for painting her designs (she painted a beautiful pink flower on my nails that day). Allowed them to dry for few minutes and then applied a transparent nail lacquer on top of the dried nail design. Thats it. In just a few minutes, my finger nails had a totally new and beautiful look. From then on, I started trying my own designs, now and then and they have come out pretty well. Even you can try this at home. We have lot of designs available in the internet too. If you want professionals to do your nails, there are dedicated nail parlors available everywhere. They offer different types of nail painting like acrylic, 3D, glitter, crystal stone and hand painting. 

So What are you waiting for ??  Go ahead and give your fingers that pretty & flirty look :D

Image Courtesy : NailAsILove, LibertyNailDesign, NailArtGallery

A Desi Neighbor Atlast !!

The day was dull and moody, with the sun almost deeply buried under the fast moving clouds. I was just lazying around for almost the whole day. As I was wandering in the house, pile of clothes lying in the laundry bag caught my attention. I was happy that I finally found something to do. I took the bag and went to the laundry room. As I was unloading the clothes into the washer, someone entered the room. I turned to look who it was and there was standing a lady with her cute little son. She wore a bright smile on her face and introduced herself and her son. We exchanged our history and geography. She's from Kerala, one of my favorite places, and seems quiet easy to move with. I was so happy that I finally found someone to talk to. She seemed more than happy to have met me, coz she has been here for more than a year without any friends. All she knew here was her husband and her two kids with some occasional visits from her husband's office colleagues, may be. Thats Sad. Pretty Sad. But never late. Here we are for each other. Its not even one whole day since we met. We already had lunch together, went to the gym together, went to drop her kid in school, went to the library together and had a long chat over a cup of coffee. Now doesn't that seem like a wonderful bond ?? It is, at least to me. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I finally started to come out of my cocoon and mingle with people. Good going. 

Here's to me and my lovely neighbor.
Cheers !!! :)

Rendevous with Terry !!!

Now that winter is almost done with its job, I am obsessed to get out on my own and explore. As a first step, I planned to visit my college senior, Terry, who lives in Alexandria, which is like 15 mins from my place. So I called up Terry and noted down her address. Then looked up on the net for the Metro bus time schedule and headed to the bus stop, which is right in front of my apartment, and voila, there was the bus, just on time as scheduled for the stop. I was amazed at the punctuality of these city buses. Back in India, I sometimes used to wait hours together for buses. I really dont know if we even had a site to check out the bus schedules. All we could do is to go to the bus stop or bus stand and check with the information booth there. But later, I started calling JustDial and ask them for the bus depot's telephone number and check for the bus schedule. How I wish we had a well updated website to look up for any bus' schedule and how I wish they were on time at every stop. Hmm... 


Coming back to my story. My bus came exactly as mentioned in the time schedule and I hopped on happily. I spotted a little coin machine just next to the driver and asked him for the fare. He said it was 1.45 USD. So I took out a 2 dollar bill and inserted in that machine's mouth and was waiting for it to give me back my balance 55 cents. I waited for a couple of minutes and inquired the driver about it. He coolly replied it wont give me back my change and that I had to insert the exact amount. I "Aahh"ed to myself and thought I learnt something and headed to a seat as close to the stop strings as possible. So after around 10 to 12 mins my stop arrived and there was Terry waiting for me in the bus stop. 


Aahhh... It was so good to see her after such a long time. The last time I saw her was in my college hostel four years back. I remembered her as this short-thin-bespectacled senior with cropped hair who is always spotted with a couple of books. But now, look at her. Gained some weight, well grown hair, and for the first time in my life I saw her without her books. But she is still sweet :). We exchanged hugs and the usual "How are you?", "How is life?" pleasantries and started talking which went on for hours together. We had four long years of stories to be exchanged. A couple of hours are definitely not enough. So we've decided to meet again and this time in my place. Waiting to meet her soon to continue our chat. Of course we both have phones, but nothing like meeting in person. Right ??

Yet another New look !!!

Georgia guy sent me an article regarding the launch of the Blogger Template Designer on Blogger in Draft. I quickly read it up and it seemed interesting. Looks like Google doesn't want us to go in search of nice backgrounds for our blogs anymore. With this new template designer, we can customize our own templates. And I was just waiting for something like this. I've always wanted columns on either side of my page, to put my gadgets, wanted to change just the background image without changing the other layout settings. And this new template designer allowed me to do exactly that. I'm happy.. I'm happy :) 

So after exploring all the available images and layout themes I finally came up with this. 

How is my new look ??!! :)

So finally...

So its become three months since I moved to the US after marriage. I thought moving to a new country, getting used to a new culture and taking a break from work for sometime (Yes I quit my job to relocate. But this is only for sometime. Will be back in action soon :) or so, hopefully) will be a good change. Yes, it is good in its own ways, but I'm missing something somewhere. Connecting with people. Yes, I miss talking to people, interacting with them on a daily basis. Winter played a major spoil sport for me in this aspect. But this is not going to continue. The climate is getting better day by day and Mr.Winter is all set to leave way for the beautiful lady Miss.Spring. 

Yesterday, the major part of the day was sunny. I wanted to feel the warmth of the sun and so stepped out to the balcony of my fourth floor apartment. And it was a lovely sight. Mommies bringing their little ones back from school, couple of boys were skating in the parking area, an elderly lady (should be in her sixties) who had just finished her grocery shopping was unloading her things to a trolley, a lady was taking her baby for a little walk in the park, a teenage girl wearing a mini-skirt (yeah, a good sign of winter end :D) was going out with her mom somewhere. And finally I noticed the that the remaining snow on the street ends were melting down erasing all signs of winter :)

So where am I getting to. Ahh...Yes. So this means I can go to the park from now on, may be with my book, and start interacting with people who are finally showing their existence. Its always nice to meet and know new people. And I'm looking forward to connecting to the jantha in my building. Will update more on this soon.

Have a great day all of You !!!

Kim Yu-Na bags Gold !!!

I very badly wanted to see the finals of the Ladies Figure skating event in the winter Olympics 2010. There was so much hype and support for Kim Yu-Na, the 19 year old from South Korea. There were blogs, support mails, fan clubs in facebook-twitter-orkut, opinion polling and what not. So i thought i should see her performance definitely. I looked up for the channels and event schedule and had even set a reminder for the program so that i wont miss it. And then finally the event started. Kim Yu-Na was to perform third in the finals. And man...She was just awesome. So confident, so flexible, so graceful, so full of spirit and she just breezed through the arena magically. She delighted all her fans and new-fans-to-be (like me :)) with her sexy James bond medley. Finally it was all worth it, after her whole year-long practice and hard work that she had put in. She got what she wanted from Vancouver. She was the most beautiful dancer on ice I've ever seen. And this new fan of hers bows down for her fantastic performance which won her the Gold :)

Japan's Mao Asada, a long term rival of Kim Yu-na, finished second and the grieving Joannie Rochette from Canada, who performed after two days of the sudden demise of her mother, won the bronze.

For those who missed it, watch Kim Yu-Na's Golden performance from here.

Happy Women's Day !!!

We are Gorgeous,

We are Ambitious,

We are Courageous,

We are Adventurous,

We are Fastidious,

We are Mischievous,

We are Outrageous and definitely

We are Precious.

This is a day just for us.

A day to respect, appreciate and celebrate all the achievements of women. 

A day dedicated to the all wonderful women out there who have somewhere, somehow been a reason for someone's success and for shaping up someone to be person they are today. 

A day to simply celebrate the glory of a Woman.

Here's to the care of a mother, love of a wife, obedience of a daughter, warmth of a sister and support of a friend

Here's to the gurlie gossips, shopping and fun..

Here's to all the lovely ladies out there..

Happy Women's Day !!!

I am proud and happy to be a Woman :)

Cheers !!!

America, Bless God !!!

I saw this bumper sticker on a car recently. As soon as I saw this, my jaws dropped and it seemed rude. I quiet din't understand what the owner wanted to convey and dint want to jump into conclusions. So I quickly googled as usual to check what this actually meant. And I ended up here. Looks like a Christian movement and the founders of this movement believe that if we honor God, God will honor us and hence the Slogan "America, Bless God".

Did you know ???

Things that make me happy!!!

I was randomly reading the blogs that i follow and one of them had written a blog that listed the things that made them happy. And i took the lead from there. 

Here are the little things that had made me happy and will make me happy, and i have listed them in no particular order :)

1. Dark chocolates in all forms
2. Dresses in BLUE
3. Eiffel Tower
4. Disney's "Just like we dreamed" parade song and of course the parade
5. Mango pulp and Litchi juice
6. Movie with friends
7. A Walk in the college campus with room-mates after dinner
8. Ceramic miniature dolls
9. Throwball tournaments
10. Talking to mom for hours together
11. Waiting for dad to be back from work on Saturdays for the Samosas from Shree Mithai
12. To write and receive long emails
13. Pondy bazaar Shopping with sis
14. Sitting in the beach, gazing at the sea
15. Listening to my sister's exciting stories about my niece
16. A hug from my niece
17. Coffee break gossips with Suja
18. My Govind-Alex-Suja-Sukku Coffee mug
19. Sneaking out from office with Suja on her Scooty for a Pani Puri from Gangotree
20. Kleio G-A-S-S meetings
21. A call from Nivi when I'm really sick of being bored
22. Comments in my blogs
23. Long weekends and Extended Vacations
24. Surprises in all forms
25. A good comment on my cooking from my hubby
26. Long drives
27. Singing aloud when Im alone
28. A nice-hot-long shower
29. Video chat with parents and In-Laws
30. A nice hug from hubby and listening to a quick summary of his day at work
31. Working out in the gym while watching my favorite shows on TV
32. Watching a snow fall from my living room
33. Visiting Old friends
34. Making new friends
35. That cute-innocent-sweet-happy smile of a baby
36. My room/house after its all cleaned up, of course by me.
37. Peeking into others photo albums in FB/Orkut
38. Wedding news from dear ones

I just realized that the list is endless and I will stop here.

So what are the little thing that make you happy ?? 

Use the comment space :) 

Remember, comments in my blogs make me happy ??? :)

Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya !!!

The Storyline is a very realistic and happening one as we can see day-to-day examples of Karthik and Jessie in our own lives. Karthik (Simbhu), an engineering graduate who aspires to become a film-maker falls in love (at first sight) with his house owner's daughter Jessie (Trisha) who is an IT professional. Jessie, who is from an orthodox Christian family, refuses to accept Karthik's proposal. But Karthik, an ardent lover as he is, continuously makes attempts to convince her. Jessie who is unable to make a choice is confused in choosing between her family and love. Will Jessie convince her family, or will she leave her family back for her love, or will she sacrifice her love for her family? We'll get to know at the climax of the movie.

Simbhu, has definitely improved his acting skills and looks a little matured in this movie. But his dialogue delivery is not up to the mark in some scenes though. His overacting and over-reacting hinders his performance as always. But he is far better in this movie compared to his previous ones.

Trisha, gets a very chamthu-ponnu role in this movie and has done justice to her role. She was awesomely good looking throughout the movie, especially in most of the scenes that she comes in Sari.

A R Rahman's music as always is a great plus to the movie. The title song 'Hosannah' and very emotional 'Aromale' were truly striking.

Gautham Menon is known for his own style of narrating the story. At the end of the first half of the movie the director makes the audience wonder how the next half of the story would be. In the second half, when the audience sigh in relief for what seems to be the climax, he brings a twist in the tale and starts all over again to give an altogether ending. Though  it seemed to be a totally new approach of expressing how there could have been two different climax for the movie, the very lengthy and slow paced second half tests your patience way too much.

Manoj, the cinematographer of the movie has done an excellent job. He has beautifully shot every scene and has wonderfully captured the loveliness and magnificence of various spots like Kerala, New York and our very own Chennai.

In my perception,Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya is not worth the wait !!! Though the movie had its own flaws, it can be watched once in theaters for its various pluses as well :)