Calm after the storm!!

After the storm!!

We had a snow storm the day before yesterday. It started to snow lightly around 4 PM and became heavier as the day closed to the night. There were weather alerts everywhere and people were advised to be back home as soon as possible. B, my husband, called me around 4.30 PM to let me know that is he is leaving office. I was more than happy to know that the man will be home within 40 mins and thought we both could spend this beautiful white evening together. I wanted us to have a nice hot cup of tea and sit by the balcony windows and snow-gaze the whole evening. So I waited and waited and waited for the him to be back. It became 6 PM. And I waited for some more time. It was 7.30. I could wait no more and dialed his number. It went straight to the voice mail box. Probably his battery was dead. He had left his charger safely home. So I had to wait till he came back. The evening was already turning dark and was leaving way for night to settle in. And the snowfall became intense and the parking lot had already accumulated 3 inches of snow. The clock ticked 9. And B is still not back and that dint seem good to me. I couldn't reach him and it was around 5 hours since I last heard from him. I started to panic and called Archana to know if she is back home at least. She was on the roads for the past 6 hours and not even half-way through. Looked like the whole Northern Virginia working crowd started to head back home from their workplaces at the same time, which caused a huge traffic block in every highway possible. She told me the traffic was terrible. There were cars skidding in the snow glazed roads, accidents every 2 miles, some ran out of fuels and pulled over to the shoulder lanes, and she herself almost bumped twice into the car in front of her. Its seriously crazy to drive in snow. So it seemed like B was also held up in traffic. I cursed the mobile battery so much for dying out when we needed to converse badly. And I was prepared for B to get his share for leaving the charger at home. And then I made dinner and was catching up on some tv shows. It was 11.00 PM and I heard something that sounded like a thunder. I saw a bright blue-green light for a second and boooooommmmm. There was a power cut. So then I realized that we are actually facing the storm. And I looked out of my window and the snow was still pouring down heavily. Archana was still driving and B was definitely going to take more time to get back home. So I decided to hit bed. I heard someone banging my front door. And I checked my mobile and it was 12.47 AM. And opened the door to see poor B all tired and hungry. The man had been driving for more than 8 hours, for a drive which usually takes max 40 mins. We could have actually had a drive to New York and returned back by this time, on a normal day. Whatever it is, I was happy that he returned home safely.

The Snowman we made!!

The snow storm actually left us 'power'less for the next whole day. No power, no internet, and of course no work. All the mobile batteries died off. And tell you what that was definitely a day with no disturbances or distractions whatsoever in any form. And that was good. We went down to enjoy the power outage. Had a good time throwing snow at each other, running around and falling down. Archana and I made this snowman. He is cute, ain't he?

I see these lovely white snow flakes pouring down the sky as I write this post. I just cannot keep my eyes off the window. Such a pretty scene it is. It feels so magical and it always reminds me of fairy tales when I see a snowfall. It is never too boring to see a snow fall right outside your window, even if it is after a huge snow storm which kept you waiting for your loved one to be back!!!

The Wrong Turn

Last week, thursday to be precise, I was getting ready for my Yoga class and was waiting for Archana (my friend & neighbor) to call me. We usually go together. She was a little late from work that day and it was already 7.25 PM by the time we started. Our class commences at 7.30 and it usually takes us 12 to 15 mins to reach the fitness club. I got a little worried that we were late for the class and started to drive in that mindset. And this made me miss the right turn that I had to take to the club. So I continued to drive and took the next right assuming this will join the road to the club. And Archana was already panicking as we entered that road and that got me to panic too. Let me tell you why. The road that we were driving on was in the middle of a huge graveyard. Turn anywhere and all we could see were graves and headstones. And the place was so dark and dull. Their were no streetlights and we couldn't spot a single living being on that road. Some graves had blinking LED lights on them and that was super creepy. So we took another turn from that road hoping to get off that place as quickly as possible, but in vain. We came back to the same road and that was more scary. And Archana started to blabber more in fear. She even said, 'Should we turn back and see if someone's there in the backseat?'. Guess what, I actually checked my rear view mirror, (by this time we joined back to the main road) and the lights from cars behind created an illusion as if someone just vanished off the back seat. Baahhhhh. That was one helluva ride and we were so relieved when we got rid of the spooky graves. And then we finally made it to the yoga class by 7.45. Missed our warm ups by then. But still, it was totally worth it. Archana and I badly needed this session to calm ourselves down!! :)

That was a freaky Friday.. uhhmmm.. I mean Thursday !! :)

So...Have you guys taken any wrong turns?? Scary drives?? Got lost in the middle of nowhere?? Share your story.

Image Courtesy: pressplayphotography

Happily ever after !!

Last month when I was in Tampa, I had been to the Curtis Hixon park in Downtown on a Saturday evening with some friends. It was a nice park alongside the Hillsborough river with comfortable lounge chairs, picnic tables, neat pavements and well manicured greens. And the jumping fountain adds to the beauty of the park. A good place for a nice get together. Hold on. Now this post is not about the park. While we were in the park, we saw something else happen. 

A bunch of bridesmaids beautifully dressed in maroon gowns and their men in neat suits were happily walking in the park's pavement with a champagne glass in everyone's hand. And then came the pretty bride in her special white wedding dress with her fiance in his crisp black suit. We waved at the couple and they waved happily back at us. Ahhh. They both were so perfect and the whole wedding party seemed very cool and casual, it suddenly created a festive mood there. They were heading towards the amphitheater near the park (where the actual wedding took place). And in less than 15 minutes they were heading back to where they came from. There was a nice black limo waiting for the newly wedded couple. And the couple rushed into the limo while the rest of the party waved and cheered them and then they were gone happily. This wedding that just happened before us was one of a kind for me and everything was over in less than thirty minutes. And there were only the wedding couple, the bridesmaids and their men. That is it. A total of 14 people and a photographer. Aint that cool ?? !! :) 

Saves so much time and confusion preparing the list of guests, invitation, venue, food, this, that, foo, fah!!!

Have you witnessed any such cool or 'out-of-the-ordinary' weddings ?? 
Would love to hear about it!!!

Image Courtesy: ParkImages, WeddingCouple

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 !!!

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??

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 :)

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.

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 ???