The next phase !!

Hey guys. How are you all doing? Is anyone even visiting this page? Someone listening? I know I've been so mean to my blogspace and its almost four whole months since I posted something. In fact, I came inbetween and tried to write a few words, but just couldnt get anything complete. No, its not work this time that took all my time from blogging. Something else. Something nice actually. Something that really changed everything in my life altogether. Something to look forward to. Something that makes me move to the next phase of my life. So did u guys guess already? Yes? No? Read on !!

So we found out sometime in Feb.. We were happy and excited to see what we found... but I was not able to believe it for quiet some days until I really saw it happening. And that was when we went to my first trimester nuchal screening and saw that there is a tiny little being within me :) After all seeing is believing right? And that was the moment everything came sinking into me. What we were seeing was for real. What the doctor was telling me was indeed true. Oh yah!!! Im going to be a mommy!! How cool is that? It was such a joy to see my lil one floating up and down, moving its tiny arms and limbs. And the best part was to see and hear the baby's heartbeat. That was such a precious and priceless moment. You should have seen my hubby's reaction. He couldn't believe what he was seeing either. He was totally speechless. Words aren't enough to say how immensely happy we both were. And ever since, its been one roller coaster ride. Joy and excitement about the baby's arrival, fear and anxiety about becoming a parent soon along with all the mood swings the pregnancy hormones are causing, the food cravings, the nightmares and yah, the baby's rock and roll inside me :) Its definitely fun planning and preparing for the baby's arrival. And I've almost crossed three fourth of my pregnancy. So I just have to hang on for few more months before I could hold our lil bundle of joy. 


And it gives me immense pleasure in sharing this big news with all you guys.  
Couldn't just wait for the baby's arrival and to experience the mommyhood and all the madness that brings !! :)


Picture Courtesy: Internet

Food, Family and more !!

Sundays were and are pretty special to me. The one day I tend to spend my time mostly at home with my family. Everyone seem to be busy in their own world the rest of the week. But Sunday is our day, family day!! My sis and I usually woke up late on Sunday mornings. By the time we brush our teeth, mom would have prepared hot coffee for my sis and Masala tea for me. Mom's tea and the Hindu's Sunday Magazine. The perfect combination to start my Sunday with. And then there would be Mahabarath playing in DD and Arattai Arangam in Sun TV and a list of other TV programs following. My sis and I would be glued to the TV. By this time dad would have finished his morning walk(a couple of hours before, though) and read the Hindu from the frontpage to the sports column word by word. And mom would be ready with breakfast. Mostly it will be steaming hot Ven pongal, Vada and Sambar or poori masal. These two were the favorite Sunday breakfasts at my home. And the aroma of food would fill the house. And dad would rush to have a quick shower. And he would come back and try to make us have a shower too before we all had our breakfast. But his super lazy daughters wouldnt budge. He will finally give up shouting at us too. And then it was breakfast time. I love Sunday breakfasts. The only day when the whole family has breakfast (and the rest of the meals mostly) together. We'll all have some stories to share and it usually ends up in some fun filled conversations.

Last weekend I suddenly missed being home. Especially the Sundays. Mom's tea, the Sunday magazine, the TV shows, family breakfast, and definitely the conversations!!  But I thought I could still make it work, try to relive those moments again. So I rushed to the kitchen and prepared Ven pongal and Sambar for breakfast. (Which will otherwise be pancake, toast or some sandwich) And sat down with hubby dear, my now family, and enjoyed the Sunday breakfast that I missed while telling him the whole story behind the breakfast that he was having. And then he in turn shared his memories about his Sundays with family and friends. And that was a perfect breakfast with some lovely conversations. 

So I finally had my Sunday memories back and I'm sure to create some more!!
After all, life is what you create. 

Do you guys miss such things?

What was the best family time of your childhood?

Share your stories. I'm listening :)

Image Courtesy: Internet

Back after a short break!! :)

Hey guys, How have you all been?? I can hear some of you saying "Oh, so you are still alive!! ??". Yes, Yes!! I, very much, am. Been stuck with too much work last month. Pardon me for disappearing without any notice. Too much work pa!!! I was working on weekdays and weekends through. I was up and working even on some sundays till 11.30 PM. Seriously.. I cant believe I did that... But yeah, things are normal now and I am back too :) 

Gosh, I missed this space so much!!! I even sat down and tried to write a post, only to get distracted by the thoughts of the pending task and Action items at work. Glad that phase is over and last weekend was good. I dint have to work and it felt so good!!! Got to watch some movies, did some real cooking, called some friends back in India and spoke to them for hours together and skyped with my parents and in-laws and watched the missed episodes of Grey's Anatomy S7. So that really felt like a real weekend!!! Climate is becoming good too. Winter is almost over here and the sun has started to shine some more!! Kids started playing outdoors, Moms started taking their babies for a walk in the parks, long over coats and scarfs are seen no more, while skirts and caprice take control. Yay!! Spring is here (okay, almost)!!! 

These are some updates from me. So what is happening in the blogland?? What did u guys do last weekend?? Update me!! :)

And yeah, Happy Women's day folks :) 

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

ufffohhhh!!!!

Have you ever wondered how time flies these days?? It seemed like the week just started and look the weekend is here so quick. Why is that?? We are so packed the whole week that we don't realize the days moving by. There are also those days where we wish we just skip the new few days and fast forward to move on. This happens when we encounter things which we don't want to handle. There are some other days when we are just stuck with something without a solution. We are already stuck with the situation and now we cant escape without a solution but we wont know how to respond to things. This they call 'STRESS'. I have encountered this 'n' number of times in my life. For instance, when it is just few hours to enter the exam hall and I have one whole unit to study, a very strict deadline at work and stuff like this. Sometime when I am stressed out I mess up things in a relationship (be it with parents or friends or spouse). Not that I'm stressed out now. It was just a random thought that came up with and I wanted to discuss it with you guys. Different people handle stress differently. In there own ways. 

Stress doesn't get better by itself. We'll have to find a way to get out of it. I generally take a time out when it is related to work. And playing 'bejeweled' always relaxes me and calms me down. And then I come back fresh to solve my issues. Sometimes some music i love to hear anytime will do the trick. Sometimes I just dont think of the time line in front of me and take my time to think of a solution and it works like a charm. When I come out of it, I try not to get myself stuck at the situation again, by planning things better and ahead of time. Not that I'm perfect at it the next time, but it does really help. 

So I wanted to know how do you guys handle stress, if at all you are stressed out. 

So talk to me. What works best for you ??

Image Courtesy : Internet