MEINE CORNER IN THE BLOG WORLD!

This post is a long time coming... I don't need to give any excuses though, I am a new mommy after all! After all that baking, my munchkin arrived on 20th September 2013...yes very much on time baby! The first 5 days were extremely stressful as my precious one was under monitoring in NICU, which meant I didn't have the luck of holding him close to me in the first few hours and also a lot of separation due to us being in different rooms...it was certainly difficult. But as far as I recall I didn't cry at all since he was doing great and was perfectly healthy. He confused the doctors with his heart pattern in the first 2 hours of his life and then came back to normal on his own. I strongly believe he didn't take labor process well and certainly not the pushing part... poor little baby. After we got clearance from all his tests (God is great!) ; we were allowed to take him home. It was a feeling beyond words, a realization of how lucky we all were as a family and with...

Past few months were very tight -  trips to India and pressure to finish up with examinations by 2011 along with work! Result was a big sacrifice of social life, long days, bigger dark circles, swollen feet, mosquito bites; but ended up having a great time with family, my sister in law's wedding was the biggest ocassion & got to finally meet my niece and celebrate her 1st birthday! can't believe she's completed a year - i think it was just the other day that my sister had delievered her! As we step into a new decade, I am trying to form my goals and objectives for the year....I have to say I'm pretty impressed with accomplishing 2010 goals! - Attempted and passed all CPA exams! - Back to yoga classes ! - Visited sister and parents - stayed a few days with them! - Did my annual med check-ups - drinking more water each day as well The only thing I did not get to was taking some Spanish language classes. let's hope I get to that some day. In 2011, I defi...

After what felt like ages, we took a break from Bay area and made a trip  to Arizona this past long weekend. The most attractive feature was the heat! The winter never seemed to end in North CA and it just kept raining even in the last week of May. So Arizona's hot and sunny days were just perfect. My first thought of the highways in AZ was that it looked like Dubai (UAE) in the 1990s. The desert, how the buildings are spread out, the simple yet some decoration of the highways, quite a few roundabouts and the overall excellent roads/bridges. Most of the  highways, you would find cacti, specially the giant seguaro. This landscape changed as we headed to Sedona on day1. Sedona is this land of  tri-colored rocky mountains with a cute uptown that offers the rich an exotic place to own a home and for tourists the delight of experiencing Mother Nature's wonders. The rocks here have layers of red, yellow and ash. the red is a result of iron oxide effect, the yellow is lim...

So while this blog is also partially my journal, I am going to add this list and probably keep updating this one. For quite some time, I have been learning Bollywood dances and after about a year's break, I am back to it again. So here's the list of songs that I have danced to so far :- a) Deewangi (Om Shanti Om) - In Class b) Ke Ab na Pooch (Cash )  Summer performance c) Sajnaji Vari Vari (Honeymoon Travels) - also Summer Performance d)Move your body now (Kismat Konnection) Winter Performance e) Lucky Boy (Race) -also Winter Performance f) Hadippa remix (Dil Bole Hadippa) - In Class g) Chor bazaari remix (Love Aaj Kal) - In class Hopefully more to add on to this list!

Unlike most of the population, I cannot really can't consider Thanksgiving holiday to be a long weekend, cos we work the day after Thanksgiving for obvious reasons. So hope you had fun shopping on Black Friday while I was at work, where it was busier and a longer day! Anyways, I did enjoy my day off. Sometimes, you don't need plans, especially when you are not in a travel/explore mood, you can ofcourse do a 100+ things at home to entertain yourself. To begin with, waking up late and looking forward to doing "nothing" was great. The day just passed by with goofing around with dh at home. We cooked together, watched The Illusionist . Both of us enjoyed the mystery filled, tricky movie. After a nap, we had masala chai and snacks to pamper ourselves. Also chatted with folks back home and shopped online as we found some good deals! Mainly got clothes, sweater and ,per dh,yet another handbag (LOL). Now I can't for those shipments to arrive! To sum it up, we had ...

Its been such a long time since I've made it up to here and truly missed typing away all the thoughts and recaps of events! May It was a busy month with shopping and prep to a much awaited trip home ! I also got invited to a Bachelorette bash (my first ever) and it was loaded with craziness and fun! made new friends and what an experience ! LOL! ;-) June Probably will be the best month of the year! I visited family after 2 long years and being at home and those familiar places are just so refreshing and welcome ! Finally got to see the Chennai beaches, was lucky to re-visit family temples and got to take dh to DXB! We made it to the desert safari, Qds, new malls & resort and the took some patel shots during the trip ! Dad's 60th birthday function and celebrations went well and it was painful to come back here. It was also our 2nd wedding anniversary the same day! (I know, 2 years just flew by). Also, we got bumped upto first class on our flight from SFO and that just add...

did it again, I got an opportunity to perform on stage and it was fun ! Made couple of new friends and had a good time inspite of the painful practice sessions.. this time around, it was enjoyable and somehow more enthusiastic, i guess its just the group that makes the difference. plus more dedication ofcourse! The professional group rocked, they are just so flawless ! i am quite encouraged and already thinking of re-joining a higher level in the new quarter ! :-)

In a recent trip to Wisconsin to meet cousins, we made a day's trip to Chicago as well , this city was beautiful. I loved the architecture, lake front, the fresh young feeling of the downtown. We went to the Hancock observatory, Navy Pier,a ride on the Ferris wheel, visited the memorial park that has the Cloud, the Buckingham memorial fountain, lunch at Taste of Chicago,took the architectural boat tour on the chicago river and visited the Devon street. The Devon street had representation of most Asian countries, the Indian grocery there was the closest to the ones back home. they had home made pickles which was the best part! We watched the fireworks by the Navy Pier before leaving that night. Ask anything different and new in architecture, I am guessing you will find them in Chicago - not just tall, there's most shapes out there! Overall Chicago was impressive - fun, modern and vibrant!! Alternative title : Chic Chicago!

Its been a year since we are married .Time flew, I can't believe we already marked our 1st anniversary! We went to Napa Valley to celebrate, it was a nice break being surrounded by pretty wineyards and valleys, a town that offers lots of activities too! We took the hot airballoon ride.Also visited the old and faithful geyser at Calistoga besides doing a production tour n wine tasting- overall good trip! within an year, we have grown and become so comfortable with each other. the experiments in kitchen, slowing setting up the house, making common friends, trying lots of cuisines, visiting near and far places, getting foto crazy, making continual promises of diet changes, dealing with arguments, lazing together, sharing frustrations, taking walks at night and hoping to keep up with it, cinema visits, long drives, blending music interests, surprising each other- its all been so great, touch wood! even though lots have happened in the past year, it doesn't seem like year! Btw, tod...

Thanks Athena for pushing me to resume blogging! :) Luckily time flew better in the month of May and even early June...Tied up with pursuing a certificate, I was caught up writing assignment, exams and the best part was soon after. I joined hubby to Dallas...The Big D is really impressive in terms of infrastructure , really huge town. I lived in the downtown and hence felt even more tinier amongst the hotel towers, the view from our room was great though! Soon after his conference was done we drove to Stillwater and visited his University. I infact loved the countryside as a getaway and walking around the large campus was good fun! Then a little part of me wished Icould have done school in a similar manner too...Anyways, Stillwater was enjoyable and hubby was all nostalgic. Boomer Lake was a great place to walk around as well. On our last day we headed to Hurricane Harbor water park. We tried almost all rides and I got freaked at the end of the kamikazee ride as I dipped myself and kn...

I got home from a "Boot camp" class last week. I am not sure how many of you have ever been to one, but the experience is refreshing! Firstly we were outdoors in a nice open space near the pool with curious ducks that watched us more than any others! :)The warm ups were to run from one end to another, touch a tree and return! Then we were made into groups of 3. A set does abs, while the others do biceps, yet another group does lunges. All this for a minute and then we rotate! In the end we were asked to go in pairs, do the jumping jack and get back to place at the other end. After stretches, we are all set to head back home.(phew!) The beginning was hard but then you want to keep up with it and while in groups its always more encouraging. It was fun, I felt like a child running in the open ground and was reminded me of Physical training classes at school. I always liked teams, groups and this one specially where it doesn’t matter who you are. You meet a random group, one minu...

So besides the calendar year, is the birth anniversary....hence as I add on to my age tomorrow, here's an attempt to recollect how the past year has gone. -Loads of shopping -Fun with Bangalore and Dubai friends -The WEDDING itself : laughs and tears -Landed in USA -Boredom overwhelms on weekdays -San Francisco visit -17 mile drive -Joined aerobics -Lake Tahoe visit : first ever parasailing,jet skiing -Trip to Las Vegas -Visited Santa Barbara and Solvang -Finally completed my case study -Joined ICC as a volunteer -A California Driver License earned -Trip to Los Angeles and San Diego -New year party at a club ,first ever -Yet another assignment completed -Joined dance classes -Hubby's business trip -A small time course taken up -A new dance class And in the meanwhile -Home sickness -Earned some good friends -Painful paper problems -Potluck dinners -Mixed thoughts about this place -Learnt some decent cooking -Few physical issues -Grasping the local laws -Relocation : its thrill a...

It is a story of how the harsh world crushes the heart of little ones - little ones who have the ability to think bigger than their school books, little ones who stop to stare at nature, little ones slower than their peers because they enjoy the tiniest things- little ones that are misunderstood! So how many of us can really think out of the box? How many of us can use our mind to create? how many of us bother to build our own worlds of imagination from the most boring letters n numbers? World encourages stereotype people- so if you top in school or college you are held is high regard but if you can't get to think out of norms, rules that is okay....you read and read what others have written seldom thinking of writing something new. Here we have the protagonist , a 9 year old boy,Ishaan - filled with joy - joy collected from nature! Ishaan is extremely intelligent I would say more than even his elders at times, cos his imagination is extraordinary. While his brother just works ha...

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 ...

To begin with, animated movies have mostly been impressive,specially the Pixar ones are out of this world.The new addition to such creativity is Ratatouille!I guess I am late in viewing this movie, but nevertheless, here's what i want to review this flick as.... The protagonist is Remy ,a young rat, who desires more than a rat's life.He doesn't believe in "stealing" food from garbage, he desires sensible food like the humans...Remy apparently likes humans, learns to read,wants to walk on just 2 legs and manages to watch some TV....it is thru a cookery show where Remy learns about cook Gusteau and earns his inspiration to become a cook! Circumstances take Remy to Paris and to his delight to "Gusteau's Bistro". Remy can't resist to apply his cooking skills on a soup and the credit falls on Linguini, the garbage boy.It soon turns out that they become best of friends, Linguini is promoted to cook and while Linguini is hopeless at cooking, Remy instru...

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...

1st Sunday of November, the clocks moved 1 hour backward and the feeling is just great...like you are granted an extra hour and tested as to how you use it! this is the first time i am experiencing a time change and having slept till 10.30 i was guessing this sunday should be as lazy and eventless as usual...but i couldnt contain my excitement when i checked the time and it showed just 9.30, to add to it was the bright sun lighting up the mood , a long due hike was to be put into action ! :-) Mission peak was the nearest one and challenging enough for a first-timer like me. I was impressed by the crowd that hikes, specially kids who were at ease...i found the first half of the climb more challenging, getting used to the slopes- there are just about 4 resting spots in the entire climb and they are great to enjoy the view! Once at the peak, it gives you the "I am on top of the world" feeling...the salt marshlands can clearly be seen in white from that height and a lovely view o...

However sad this might sound, I had to put this thought down my blog....Halloween is today but we got "BOOO-ed" last night itself...it was a mutual feeling among most in San Francisco bay area! Mother Nature was the originator and she brought us an earth quake,a comparitively mild one of 5.6 according to Richter scale ! A little after 8pm, I was still tryin to finish my cooking and suddenly I felt a shake initially thought it was something to do with the above floor and then when it continued, I realised it was a quake ,atleast a tremor....that moment I was panicking, I didnt know if it was right to be inside, run out or look for the keys or take my mobile with me....it was my first ever experience! I must say inspite of the shake I saw , hardly anything was damaged and most of the things were still in place...anyways I managed to step out n speak to my neighbours and since I was alone, they could see the fear in me! one of them started speaking about a similar experience a f...

Set between the Redwood Forests of Santa Cruz, lies a mystery spot, where scientific theories of gravity and laws of physics fail to explain, where a permanently tilted home manages to stay on for years together cos of an unknown reason. As you climb up the hill you feel more than gravity pulling you away from the hill, as you enter the home, the force is even more stronger to fight against...its really strange out there! There is a pendulum set inside the house and instead of moving equal directions, you find it swinging more away from the house.You stand straight against the house, but you are tiled - now that can be optical illusion, since you are on a hill and a tilted house...there are points where I appear taller than I am and sometimes shorted than I am. Though we may call it magnetic force of some kind, the guides claim the magnetic compass does not work up there. Mobile phones are dead up there, what seems to be level to the eye, is not really level when you are experimenting....

The movie was a last minute plan for me last Saturday. Featuring George Clooney, the movie boasts classic acting, good dialogues and lives up to the drama cum thriller theme.... I was initially lost about the plot, cos all I could make out was the protagonist "a fixer" is a success as far as his company is concerned, but his personal traits that lets him down as to what he has become, sometimes reminded by his intelligent son. Broke and unhappy about himself, the man is completely committed to his employer. Once we understand the protagonist, we begin to sympathize with him due to unpleasant situations he goes through, day in and day out. He finally has to deal with one of the best lawyer colleague stuck in a mental trauma,Arthur Edens. This time instead of "fixing" the case,Clayton solves it, thus unwrapping the genuine plead of the unstable but brilliant lawyer. The movie grips your attention as it progresses, this flick is slow but watchable.