MEINE CORNER IN THE BLOG WORLD!

From the dull, dark evening to bright, fun evening - this is my biggest reason to love Daylight savings. Even if its 6pm, it feels like there's a lot more that could be achieved before dinner time. Dogs playing catch with their owners, kids running around , some getting their bicycle lessons and mothers strolling with their babies in the pram. Ofcourse some couples making use of the pretty day. I must admit, after walking down the park that was deserted for months together, today was such a treat for the eyes!! Not sure if the cold, wet days are over, but I am eager to welcome the sunny days ahead with longer day time, more energy and pack the jackets/sweaters back in the cases! Welcome Spring!!

Reversing the car, giggling away, girls all set to start a fun evening! Oh! don't you just love it when its just the girls! So as my spirit has just been recharged, I speed off. I notice a vehicle following us, the next few moments are spent on who that must be , comments are -- "crazy guy", "look at him stare" , "what's his problem" and so on. His car comes parallel, glares exchanged, he pulls down his window to stick out his head and shouts something! our reaction --"OMG! the guy has lost it". However, I pull down my window and then we hear him say-- "Turn on the lights!" and I go "Oops, Thanks for that" with a smile and his reply "there you go, enjoy your evening!" Group final reaction -- Silence and then bursts of laughter! :D

Being the last day of the year I couldn't resisiting putting up the last post for 2007. The beginning of reviw for this year would be the biggest event of my life - My wedding to cutie. Prior to wedding I had lots of fun with S&V, I had a shopping trip, there was a lot of excitement, I winded up from work in May, completed assignments before travel....June was the big month, July was relocation month and new beginning....we had lots of fun trips - Tahoe, Reno, Vegas, Santa Barbara and also the last one was LA n San Diego. I have made new friends, getting used to the life here, the driving I somehow managed to pass the test, wrote a TOEFL, read many novels,went for a dandia first time ever,got the chance to invite guests home and took up a volunteer job too. In short, quite an eventful year, but the new year would be challenging in terms of getting a job and better grip completely the life here.. Wishing all a Happy 2008 - hope it brings success, joy and peace! :-) Keep smiling ...

Big Sur ,Santa Barbara and Solvang were our choices for a 2-day break during Thanksgiving holidays....Beautiful beyond words, you drive along the rocky coastline, the lovely Pacific , roads through mountains- very green adventure this time... We stopped at Carmel and Pfieffer beaches,the popular Rocky and Bixby bridges, many vista points in Big Sur - Freeway1 was just too good! We reached Santa Barbara by evening and by the time we pulled up some energy , it was time for dinner and decided to take a walk by the Stearns Wharf.they have a Flag project there, a sand sculpture had been done, the breeze is very chilly ,but the board walk is great in the day time.State Street is the highlight of the downtown, lit up for Thanksgiving and Christmas, its a pretty sight in the evenings! The following day we visited the Historic museum which is a decent overview of their barbaric forefathers, marine,mammal,plant life besides an astronomy center.We drove to Solvang , known as the Danish capita...

I am more awake today, I slept so much in the weekend, like i had lost the privilege to sleep! (which is ofcourse nonsense).I have nothing particular to do. I got so mad last week when I wanted to blog about Las Vegas,almost at the end of my post, i lost the whole content! it was so discouraging....anyway coming back to the highlight - yea, we went on a trip to Vegas ,also popularly termed "Sin city" and "Lost wages", i particularly like the latter title.Mornings can be a lot os sight seeing with recreations of populars symbols from all over the world , photographers would probably love it.Some people take it slow in the pool ! It turns into quite a tease in the evening with the long queues at the night clubs and variety of shows.Famous pop artists Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera were in town besides a range of artists in comedy,magic shows strip shows and musicals.This ad i caught on their famous DUECE bus, said even Men love this show! I guess there's a...

Santa Cruz, south to where we live, was our last weekend trip. Famous for "Mystery Spot","17 mile drive" & "Pebble Beach". Santa Cruz is about scenic beauty or maybe I am just finding every place scenic! LOL! Trust me, from where I come from, this place amazes me with the plant life- so called flora, so splendid! As planned we stopped at Mystery spot located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz and if I am not wrong, Redwoods is the name of the forest, where you will find this tourist attraction. The location itself is quite beautiful and the unexpected part was the huge crowd last Saturday, we weren't prepared for that at all. By the time we found a parking spot and checked at the ticket counter, the waiting time was 1hr 45 minutes! it was impossible to really imagine waiting that long and hence we dropped the plan, maybe some other time! I would say book you tickets and choose your timing online to save from the delay. We decided to drive to the Pe...

SanFrancisco was the escapade for last weekend - old, industrial, congested,beautiful and massive construction are features of this city.I was very amused by the roads inside the city,build over hills - steep going up and down , like you are going on roller-coaster ride!! The crooked street on Lombard just kept winding down quite steep surrounded by house s and well-done gardens, its a beauty! And everytime you are around these up n down streets , its a very good excercise! LOL! ;-) Besides driving around the downtown we went to the bay, checked out the bay bridge,walked down to the Aquarium there- quite a good break with the extraordinary colors under the Bay-fishes,sharks,batrays, star fishes, jelly fishes all moving or around and over you was especially fun for the children.There is also "Touch the bay" for those who wud dare to touch the baby sharks,bat rays and even the starfishes! We drove up also to the world famous "GoldenGate bridge", it was very cold thou...

South Lake Tahoe (Nevada) was our adventure trip this Saturday, about a 4 hr drive from where we live. we started early and until halfway i put my driving skills to test! the tuf time was for my hubby, not me...i was just glad at the opportunity!! :-)So i survived till Sacremento( i didnt know it was capital of CA). 2nd half of the drive was mainly on winding roads around the mountains while elevating yourself upto 7000ft! it was amazing as you get a scenic view of mountains n the lake below! awesome!! Once we entered the resort we first got a booking for para sail...I must admit from a distance it did look a bit too wild and so-not-like-me venture...but then the whole idea was to explore and try out new things...so went for it - from the 3 different heights of 400/800/1200ft we chose 800ft! i cudnt believe it myself, but i was in for it. so we walked around the beach area n enquired abt jet skiing while waiting for the parasail call.they made a group of 3 (a mother-daughter, a coupl...

Friday night we went for dinner to a Malaysian joint called "Banana leaf". It was the first time I was going to eat Malaysian, so you can imagine my excitement, especially since we are talking food! This place is very popular and the crowd waiting for a table proved it, ambience - dim lit with good art work on the walls can be unnoticable since its nosiy in there! Prathas as starters and Pad thai noodles were too good! Chocolate mousse was amazing as ever , though i did try the fried banana with icecream which was pretty cool. Saturday morning I equipped myself with a driving permit after giving in a written test.So all I now need is good confidence on the roads here before i take an appointment for driving test.Anyways, that evening after a lot of cleaning, laundry and sleep, we decided to go for dinner n watch a movie.So this time dinner is Italian at DiCicco's- romantic place that believed in Retro music and native italian dishes. We had Bruschetta to start with and ba...

....I now own a laptop ! it was always desktops for me through out- in all the offices I have worked and at home. I always think of laptops are more personal and slightly sophisticated! Coming back to my new laptop - its not a normal purchase, its a gift from my hubby that makes it more special it gets utmost care! :-) Its so much fun while learning to get used to the keyboard and the various functions. i love the webcam and mic built in idea.I think I am going to sound like an ignorant person, but thats fine..this is me - technology and me keep a space and i am not among the early buyers in this category! this is my new "toy" ( Mom's statement) and I am absolutely loving this one! :-) All thanks to hubby!!

Now that I am preparing myself to be equipped with a local licence, u can imagine me concentrating on the differnces in the road, compared to UAE.So here goes some interesting things i find on the roads here:- a) You may make right turns on red light on most roads here, after you check traffic for urself! b)The names of the street are parallel to the road, so look right or left not straight for directions! c) there are Sensors just behind the stop line at traffic lights, that allows the system to run accordingly--so cool! d) i didnt find a single cab or bus near my place! i think its cos my area is not city! :-( e)i like the center lane idea, that allows u to stay on it and wait until u take a left turn safely!

So after all that excitement and anxiety here I am blogging from my husband's laptop on a Friday afternoon exactly 2 weeks after our wedding! Yes, I am married....sometimes its important for me to keep saying this cos I dont feel it sometimes....maybe everything has happened very quick or maybe i have been preparing for this for a while! I live now far far away from home.It would take me a good 18 hrs to get home if i opt for good direct connections, so that's the most positive calculation. the wedding went off well with God's grace and we were lucky to visit respective family temples.We didn't have a honeymoon. Just yday Athena was telling me there is no honeymoon for couples settling to US after wedding- which is so true. so my "honeymoon" was at Heathrow airport on 7th. Not very romantic spot but thats the first place both of us were alone for a day and didnt have much work besides hoping to get seats in the first available flight to SFO. It was a tiring st...

Can you believe its the wedding month?? Wow! now, I dont know what to say- if its come too slow or fast! LOL! I am leaving UAE in just a little over a week, getting relocated after a few weeks...there's like so much to change in coming weeks ! its unbelievable...You are seeing the excited side of me! :-) Life certainly is filled with twists and turns and each change is exciting and tensing and this event no doubt will be THE most exciting ever in my entire life !!! P.S: Do I have anyone who agrees with me???

I dont know if I am too boring, but for past 3-4 birthdays I haven't felt like celebrating...and it was not very different this time. There's someone special , but still my day wasn't special...I could ofcourse make an attempt to make others feel special!! This birthday was also not anything special- considering the activities. We were rushing up with last minute stuff on our trip(I had been to India for the wedding preparations). Though I didnt want to celebrate, I got chocolates, birthday wishes and lot of gifts this birthday! To top the list, - little studs for my new ear piercing!( from parents) - Ipod nano ( the gift that will spoil me, from cutie) - stylish black Swatch frm sis n jija! Yep, i am spoilt!!

My beautiful sister and cool jija are coming to town....so its party time ! ;-)This will be their first ever visit together after wedding! so its very exciting here, though their stay is very short. we hope to have great evenings and soon even i am travelling. we have a desert safari and dinner planned up! We will be flying together to Mumbai on 21st and then back on 3rd...This is the wedding prep trip- which means a lot of lists, choice of wedding card, wedding trousseau, accessories, function arrangements. the shopping shud be quite enjoyable and i get all the attention this time ! LOL! Final part of the trip is the temple visits n those i am really looking forward too! So this birthday is in India and that's not very exciting for me... Let me not go into details of stuff to do when i get back! I will scare myself again !!!!

-Continual Rain -Long hours with latest assignment -Lots of chatting :) -1 day of succesful fasting -another day full of food! -cozy long hours of sleep -no driving -cold, cold tiles forcing me to wear slip-ons -more chatting on the phone -walk in the rain -making list of stuff for upcoming travel Phew! seems like I achieved quite a bit!Last 4 weeks of 2006, but there's so much more to do before 2006 ends!

Rains always excite me, its the most rare thing in the desert...I know I explained this over and over but the love for rain seems to be as big as that for sleep or food! I never get tired of these... Ya so, my point is we just had a small rain here this afternoon! At around 1400hrs when you expect the peak of heat, it was getting cooler and dim like the evening had begun! soon we had drizzle n small rain! As ever, the entire place looks amazing, the view outside my window right now is like picture perfect or close! Sigh! i am stuck in office!

There's no better stage in life than childhood, I refused to believe that as a child. Now, I know what they meant....miss being a child ! anyways, i think some part of us is still a child and I hope that remains with us always..!! Happy Childrens' Day!

Not been blogging, just find nothing very interesting to share about! Either life's a drag or I am too occupied to think too deep!! I would like to think its the latter...:-) I watched "The LakeHouse" about couple of weeks back, it was a bad choice to watch on big screen, total timepass movie and really not worth making a trip to watch it! My Strategic Management lectures are on...they are pretty enjoyable since the lecturer is interested to go into details, give you varied examples and makes sure you are with him on the topic! Due to Ramdan timings I am having no traffic trouble, though the afternoons are still a pain, but I get some nap time before classes and Iftar timing is good to drive to Dubai! 2-day weekends are making a lot of difference as there is more time to spend with family and we leisure with getting lunch/dinner from out, so that's been fun! Some shopping is on , now need to complete packing.I am off to India for a lill less than 3 weeks -Diwali, gran...

Its one thing to have a deadline and another to meet it! While the former is a pain, the latter gives sooooooooo much relief.... I mean I submitted my assignment last night! I am going YAY! about it from this morning!!! [ I had no energy last night]:-) Frankly, ISM(Info System Mgmt) was evil,wicked, painful ....a subjectI couldn't bring myself to do any extra readings on! Dry,boring....while troubling Sam to get information was one side of it, getting down to write about it and analyse took me time! Thanks a lot for the help Sam, am sure you wouldn't wanna get involved in any more assignments of mine! Anyways, I am glad its gone for submission and a month later, I can worry about the results!eeks.... There is a next one is Finance,but thats gonna take time since lectures are still on plus I know and ,more importantly, like the subject! So I expect it to be more interesting !!! Its a Thursday and I dont want to work!I am waiting for 2pm to get home and have some yummy lunch! Oh!...