MEINE CORNER IN THE BLOG WORLD!

So I finally dragged my lazy ass to this card craft class that I have  been wanting to go, but simply making excuses. It was well worth it and a nice way to end a working day. We ended up making a gift card holder and a pretty birthday greeting card, both hand-made. Here are the pictures (will take better pics next time)... But aren't they cool!! So inspired to make more fun stuff in the upcoming classes!

I am guilty of not publishing this post earlier, I was awarded my first ever blog award in March 2012. This cute heart locked was awarded by Urmi , Thanks very much! This is certainly encouraging! To keep this chain going, I have received the following rules :- 1. If you get the award, pass it on to 7 blogs 2. Put the picture of the award in your post 3. Don't pass this award back to me 4. Answer the questions below and post it on your blog. 1. What makes you feel great about yourself? This is definitely not a question that I can make myself sound humble! hahaha... Well, let's see I think  how I surprise myself at being able to learn and adapt quickly to people, situations and places would be the answer. Also, I am glad about the fact that I am not prejudiced before I hear and talk to a person, no matter what the topic and no matter what their culture and their background. I am known for my sense of humor also, which I think is always better than just being tha...

This collection written by Jhumpa Lahiri has 9 stories, most of them based on stories of immigrants living in the USA, mostly a picture set in 1970s or even early 1980s. As reviewed by a lot of publications, I agree that the author has the ability to put you in the situation. It was very easy to empathize, picture and feel close to the protagonists in these stories. This could be so because I am an immigrant myself, except that I wasn't so naive when I landed here. I did see a dark side in more than a couple of stories, which wouldn't be my pick,because I love happy endings and I am extremely positive about life.  Nevertheless, stories of similar backgrounds or endings won't be all that interesting, would it? The way the book ends with Third and final continent is so warm. Having read Namesake earlier, I was familiar with her writing and even if you're not, I would recommend this book. For me it was a good break to read a story right after work every night. On to ...

Here's a canvas painting that I did recently. It was so much fun with so many colors involved! I truly miss the arts and the crafts life!

It's becoming very easy to lose yourself in the competitive world. At least, I feel so, with the everyday rat race and just barely making every day's chores, I find a big need to take a break just to remind myself what's really around me and what makes me me. I am lucky to work in a campus that is very green. Taking afternoon walks has developed into a habit. In the beginning, the walks were all about admiring the garden, basking in the beauty of brightly colored flowers, butterflies, pretty little sparrows, mynahs and lovely palm trees. I have grown from just observing to drawing meanings from this big green patch. The daisies and lilies that lie in a stretch where there are at least 300 of them, tell me that there is always beauty in unity.  The multicolored flowers tell me that there is beauty in blending but not without the individual beauty in each of them. The butterflies that seem to be playfully moving from one end of the park to another, remind me that even th...

Here are our newest addition to home -- a cayenne pepper plant, a lovely sun dragon pot and spicy red carnations! :-) They make our patio pretty and bring so much happiness!! 

My dad is currently enjoying "retirement", he recently tells me that he is soon having a 1969 college reunion! While just hearing that got me excited, the stories of how he found his college mates after 42 years was even more interesting. To begin with, he bumped into one of them and that kick started the whole process. They chatted about what they have been upto so far in life and if they were in touch with others. From there on, one thing led to another, he tells me. He met up with a few who never left town and stayed on for all these years. Today, they have managed to arrange a gathering of 25 classmates, all this without the involvement of Internet at all! Dad tells me that a couple of never touched a computer! That just concludes that the Internet is overrated and its sad that even if we are equipped with more tools, no one has time for another. So meeting up is pretty much a big deal in today's world. So proud of the 1969 batch!

We always say/read that memories make life and how damn true did it turns out to be, specially with a lovely, warm weekend! Now when I say warm, it's not the weather, it's the the joy and warmth of friendship. One of my good friend's husband decided to host her out of state friends to their place for her birthday. He planned a huge list of surprises and we were one of it. Most of us plunged at the invitation and it turned out magical. I didn't know many of them, but we all connected well and had so much in common. The surprise was actually pretty big for her to take and she still couldn't believe we all came. The day of birthday was spent well with a yummy brunch, stopping at a park to see an almost frozen lake, chilling at her place with conversations and an evening party that ended with karaoke. I think I never even wanted sleep with all the fun. On the day of return, we had yummy South Indian food for lunch, chatted till the last minute of getting to the...

We are at a point where smart phones are the norm in the urban world. infact, if you didn't have one, you probably balanced it off with a smart tablet. I use a smart phone as well. But after my big excitement of having a tool that would "connect" me all the time through emails, chat, texts, Social network, games and more, I am not as thrilled. So I did ponder and I realize it's mainly cos I don't use my phone for its basic use as much, I mean calls. I have also noticed that I receive much lesser calls. Lack of the real human touch is missing. So I made more personal calls in the recent past and it felt good. I felt more close to the individual than writing an email or leaving a note on a social media site. The reason is because the conversations would actually develop and makes it more complete. Unlike a "how are things" on an email or text. Many friends agreed we should talk more, no matter how "busy" we agree life has turned out to be! ...

I am a fan of both Sherlock Holmes' stories and Robert Downey Jr. I love the thrill of mystery solving and subtle mannerism of tackling dangerous situations. Yes, I enjoyed this movie, no doubt!! Jude law was even better in part 2 as Mr. Watson. Robert as Sherlock is witty, clever and obsessed. Though it is a task to match a reader's imagination of Mr. Holmes, if you like the crazy ways of robert downey, you may enjoy; if not you may find the portrayal offensive. Jade Harris as Professor Moriarty does the evil part pretty well. Overall I give it a 7.5/10! Do watch if you liked part 1!

Applebees lunch (tomato basil soup ans ceaser salad) with girls from work; Rains since 3pm; light day at work since year end close is finally done; crazy drive back home; felafel wrap for dinner and watching Australian grand slam 2012. :-) Current favorites in tennis -- Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic

Day 4 in Maui : Just 1 adventure on the agenda called Road to Hana. Hana is a town in east Maui and though Hana itself is pretty, the roads, bridges and sights that you  experience is what makes the road to Hana a must do! We did fill the tank for our car and pack some lunch and drinks with us as we were told it will be tough to find food and even gas on the way. After a good breakfast we were off to Hana highway. We made about 6 big stops, based on a guide. 1- twin falls : where the trail was adorned with tropical plantation and We walked through a river stream to watch the falls. 2- 70' waterfall: I fail to remember the name, but at one of the bridges, we enjoyed the view and were trying to take in the peace and quiet! 3-Lava Tube right before the Wai'anapanapa State park (this was quite a sight, a volcano site where the lava had erupted about 960 years ago, walking inside the cave was quite an adventure) Amazingly, no bats or other such beings, just golden a...

Day 3 in Maui: we had booked a submarine trip in the morning and a sunset dinner cruise that night! For non- divers and the less daring group, the submarine ride a blessing and a real adventure. There's nothing like being the human tank that goes to visit the sea world. It did feel wonderful to visit 3 reefs, have the more nosey fishes swim right to our windows and stare at what's going on. Also having algae on the tank is a big attraction for them. We didn't have the pleasure of seeing a shark but a huge variety of fishes and eels is very exciting. The lovely ride to and fro the submarine gave us pretty views of the west Maui mountains and the sunlight was very generous. We spent the afternoon in Lahaina district. It felt perfect to walk by the ocean, get lunch, try the maui mango gelato, a spa treatment and shop for souvenirs. After that we were all set for our cruise. The most enjoyable part of the cruise was the views, food and drink . Sadly the ride was cold and ...

Day 2 at Maui : No big plans, it felt more like a trail/ hike day.  There were a few suggestions and we picked Iao valley and Haleakala national park, both located at central Maui. The Iao valley is one of the more famous ones as it had one of the bigger thriving taro plantations. The Ioa valley is very moist in comparison to south Maui, the presence of tropical forest add to the humidity and it's easy to see how the valley would support life with a river stream and various fruits and flowers that easily grow in the fertile soil. The Iao valley has a so called needle point, a hill which is more than 300feet in height and always has a mist on top. Apparently there's always mist up top through out the year. The walk in this valley was very easy and about lunch time, we headed to Haleakala national park. The volcano national park is famous for the sunrise and sunset views from its 10,000 foot height. Also called the house of sun, the drive up isn't that easy. The c...

A dark early morning, raining and cold, off we were to the airport to our long awaited trip to Hawaii. The airport parking lots, shuttles, check in lines  et al were packed as it were thanksgiving holidays. Luckily our flights were on time inspite of the busy season and In fact we landed earlier than scheduled at the Kahului (Maui) airport. The airport was a pleasant surprise with the open ceilings that is rare to find. You walk right out to find the direct view of tropical skyline with warm temperature  and cool breeze welcoming you. It was an exciting moment and perfect time to change to flip flops! We couldn't resist the hawaii shirts at the airport shops. Once we got our rental car, off we were to Wailea, about 17 miles which is located at South Maui. At the Wailea Marriott, the resort was just so exotic with the multi flora , waterfalls and koi ponds,  sound of the ocean and chirping birds - a lovely combination to relax. We had decided to stick to the r...

To begin with I was thinking I shouldn't celebrate this birthday much and all the coming ones. I think it was age was bothering me, though I didn't feel my age at all! But what the heck, I went ahead and did things I've been wanting to do on the day of!  So we headed to Cal Academy of Science in San Francisco ( http://calacademy.org/ ). I've been dying to visit it and finally we made the trip. It was just amazing to spot so many different butterflies, birds, snakes, spiders and fishes! The moon jellies are always like wow-stuff and I had no idea that there are leafy sea dragons! The coral reefs were so pretty and the school of fishes both small and big all entertaining! Their planetarium show was pretty good and they had a global warming section. Overall, worth the trip.  We had Japanese tea at Japanese tea garden right opposite the Academy. This place isn't worth the visit price, but the cherry blossoms were just so awesome. The sight is so lovely. For dinner...

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...

At some or most points, we may be looking for inspirations or ideas to better our lives and thoughts. While I need motivation to pick up my book and study, I managed to watch these movies on DVD in the recent past. I listed the exceptionally good ones and I’m not bothered by how they did in the box office, because the content or the message was truly worth. You probably have seen all or most of them, let me know your thoughts.   Invictus : Nelson Mandela bringing South Africa together, he gives people a reason to overlook color/race through rugby. This true story is all about one man’s idea as to how to stitch a torn nation that segregate strongly by color/race. He wants to create the sense of humanity and love for his country. He strongly believes in the nation’s rugby team to win the world championship and they do so. While they portray Mandela’s intelligence, they also show his humility and respect for every single individual he works with. Extraordinary Measures: I did n...

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...

Earlier today I had a chance to read one of the articles by Chetan Bhagat on TOI. It was Mayawati's appearance in public wearing a  garland made of money that was the main focus on his article besides the outrageous spending by some of the rich.I cannot agree more with Mr.Bhagat about how disgusting such an appearance is and how it could be a wrong message for the coming generation. Then it just struck me that people flashing their wealth in public is similar to somebody making a presentation using a hot pink font (or any fluorescent color for that matter). that flashy color is bound to hurt our eyes, shock us in the beginning but can't really do much about it! And while this goes on, the presenter enjoys teasing us just becau se they occupy the podium, even if its only for a temporary period. This is my idea of pleasure that probably the flashy rich get in public - loving the attention, irrespective if they are loved or hated. Note: I say "flashy rich" and ...