Cant Live Without Them...Cant Legally Shoot Them! :)

Hehehheheh...that's me giggling at my own posts title :) and be warned this is a teeny tiny post just because I felt like writing :)

So basically my husbands been gone for 2 days now! He's in Chennai on work...and I cant believe I'm actually missing him!I mean considering he is an absolute slob around the house,and fights me for the remote every night(damn these cricket leagues),and yaps non stop throughout my programs with comments like "You don't even enter the kitchen and yet isn't it funny that you watch Master Chef" and then laughs at his own NOT so funny joke!You get why I want to shoot him don't you.

But still I miss him!I miss cuddling up to watch that one show that we both watch!(Thank god for Criminal Minds!) I miss yelling out to him from the kitchen asking him what all has to be heated up for dinner,I miss fighting for that last bit of dessert or chocolate,that's part of out after dinner snack,and most of all I miss his huge 84 kilos almost piled on top of me,because that just the way he sleep!One arm and one leg over me and I'm pinned to the bed and can hardly move!BUT I miss it :)

Anyhow he just called while I was writing this saying that he's getting back early...and even though I grinned to myself I didn't let that show :) After all a week with him and I'd go back to wishing I could shoot him all over again :)

A slice of just everything! :) But just a slice! :)

No question about it!I have been neglecting my blog for quite a while now and the reasons I have highlighted below(well not in that particular order)

1.I've been ill..
2.It was my daughters birthday...(She turned 2 yipppy :) )
3.I had skipped town for a small holiday :)
4.I had a mountain of work at office!!
5.Found a couple of interesting books and just HAD to read them during any spare time I got!

So starting with the fact that I fell ill!!Uggggghhh!!I hate falling ill as it is and to fall ill when your family is visiting you to celebrate your daughters 2nd birthday is just HORRID!
One of the longest illnesses I have had,started off with a cold,moved onto a sore throat,then a fever and finally a blocked stuffy nose and chest!
Add to this 3-4 nights of waking up sweating thanks to the tabs and promptly feeling chilly again!Attending meetings at work the next day and trying to get the house clean!
Trying to eat right but not getting anywhere because the cook makes the most unappetizing fare and all you want is ammumas rasam :((and have no way to get it!),sleeping in fits, only to wake up to a scratchy,horse throat!

Anyway now that I have the bad stuff out of the way....lets move onto the good stuff :) :)

My little princess turned 2 last month :) and my has she become a big girl now :)She is all chatty,has her likes and dislikes defined and loves dancing(am so glad she gets something from me!).
We did up the house predominantly in pink and white and got her the most beautiful castle cake (that I had to go to the other end of town for,but was completely worth it!).
She had the most beautiful gown/dress pink with roses and little hearts stitched on it and looked every bit the princess that she actually is :)She pranced around like she was a pro at hosting parties,smiled for the shutterbugs :) :) and basically did everything a Page 3 personality would do!(Boy am I in trouble when she gets older!)
Also a really dear friend (who writes amazing blogs by the way) wrote the cutest lil piece for my daughter on her birthday!Very special that was and I am so lucky to have friends like her :)
I could go on an on about my baby and her birthday but somehow I just guard my moments with her quite jealously and I dont know if I am ready to share everything I feel for her on this blog as yet.

Moving on I had a little holiday recently :)Well actually it was a bit of a selfish gift to the husband,because instead of gifting him something that only he would enjoy I gifted him a holiday we both could have fun with :)

We went to this place called "The Serai" its a resort in Chikmaglur a 6 hour drive from Bangalore and it was gorgeous!27 little villas with your own private pool,jacuzzi the works.each villa is mostly made of glass and overlooks coffee plantations and because you are at a height you have privacy as well.The bathrooms are huge,and again made completely of glass,they do have some blinds that you can pull down if you are on the conservative side :)

The foods not too great though but they make up for it with their service,chocolates on your pillow,complimentary fruits and cookies,addressing you by name,rooms being cleaned even if you dont put up the sign,letting you check in early since you got there early etc.

According to me these little things do make a difference.

I have been asked by quite a few people as to how "The Serai" compares to "Orange County" and I'd say "The Serai" is "The poor man's" Orange County (If 17900 INR per night can be considered poor!)
The reason behind saying this is that when I stayed at Orange County almost a year back they charged the same,but now when Serai costs 17K Orange County costs 23K per night!
I'm sure you understand my view now :)

No doubt Orange County is spread over a lot more ground,the villas are bigger and the staff of a slightly higher caliber,there is just an overall aura there of class and somehow everything happened on a higher scale and in a smoother way :)

If I had the money I would definitely prefer to get pampered at Orange County,but no complaints, for now The Serai will do just fine :)

And now work!

Actually happy that I am now a fully contributing team member,I have my set of duties and goals,I know exactly what I have to do and I get to make intelligent contributions in meetings as I now know the process inside out.I am being piled with a lot of work,some of which I request for myself,because according to me its always good to gain as much experience as possible and from anywhere that you can get it.

And finally a couple of books that I really enjoyed after a looong time :)

1.The girl with a Dragon Tattoo-An excellent book and since its part of a trilogy I cant wait to get my hands on the other parts.It was also the last 3 books the author wrote and he died before they were published.The series have also been made into a movie but I would suggest reading the book any day!gripping,riveting and an end that leaves you shocked and wanting for more!Author: Steig Larsson

2.The Language of Flowers-I wouldnt call this chick-lit but my,what a beautiful book.Its just pretty and emotional and I just loved going through the entire book.Made me much more observant to flowers and scents and in touch with my emotions!LOVED IT!Author:Vanessa Diffenbaugh

3.Only Time will Tell-Good old Jeffery Archer!Never fails to disappoint!The very "real" traumas/drams faced by the protagonist!The life choices he makes,the fight against all odds,the villain out to get his mother,illegitimate children this book will keep you burning the midnight oil!Beacuse you cant wait to see what will happen to Harry Cliffton next!Especially since the book spans his entire life...literally!With an end that made me scrape at the back cover hoping against hope that that wasn't the end and there would be something happening next!
The classic Archer twist and I fell for it Hook Line and Sinker! :)

Overall as you can see I have managed to keep myself quite busy and the month ahead promises to be quite hectic as well!

Here's till next time :)

P.S I just re read my post and seriously its a mess!A whole lot of things stuffed into a blog and I don't think I have done anything justice!But hey its my blog and the idea is to put things down so I can head back to this page in a couple of years and see what I was upto at that time :...which is a mess....hhuummmmnnnn ??? :)

The Foodie one :)

So my weekend started a little early this time :) I was home Friday thanks to a bad case of the sniffles! After a tab and approximately 13 hrs of non stop sleep I managed to feel a little better by Friday afternoon and was downright bored by Friday evening!(Guess that shows I was fit and fine by then!) :)

Some friends of mine from my old office were headed to this place nearby for dinner so I joined them and had quite an enjoyable evening :)We went to this place near my house called Grigliato".Funny name I know and a quick Google refused to divulge the exact meaning, so this can be your take home from this blog...ohhh and if you do find out let me know :) :) I think it vaguely means "Grilled" :)

Grigliato: A cute lil Euro-Chinese restobar and by bar I mean it only serves beer and shandy.The food is really nice, being a continental place in HSR Layout I had some  reservations about the freshness of the food,what with spicy Andhra joints at every corner, not to mention the CCD's and the French Loaf's and the what not!

Anyway in a bid to get some sort of structure into my rather haphazard blog :) I'll review each restaurant I’ve been to over the weekend on a set of parameters :)

1. Ambiance/location
Grigliato is located(as I mentioned earlier) in one of the lanes of HSR Layout, a tad bit of a muddy road, as its a service road to the main Outer Ring road. The good part is that its never extremely crowded and you can always find parking there. Which trust me is a boon in Bangalore! The restaurant itself does not look like much from the outside but is quite pretty and nice of the inside. It has bamboo woodwork, with comfy cushions as seating, dim but bright enough lights and a separate smoking section. They play some good music(not the fancy DJ kind) but some of the latest tunes on shuffle mode :)

2. Food and drinks
Siiggghh now this is where I could go on and on and on! They have LOVELY food! My favorites being the chilly mushroom (spicy!!!with lots of onions, spring onions and slit green chilli’s!).
Their selection of grilled chicken with veggies in different sauces is also really nice. Another favorite of mine are their baked dishes(the basked corn and spinach, the baked spinach and mushroom) served with garlic bread.Yummmm!!
I haven't tried them myself but I hear their sandwiches are to die for as well! Not the usual dry bread sandwiches that made me averse to sandwiches as a whole! But nicely moist with coleslaw and grilled to perfection :)

They serve only beer though and go up to the extent of shandy but that's it! Which in a way if perfect for a Friday evening :)

3. Price
Totally affordable, a pitcher of beer costs like 390 bucks and serves 5-6.Each dish is anywhere between 150-250 bucks which is completely affordable and absolutely large group friendly.

Verdict: Nice place to chill and hangout with the gang on a Friday after work.

So the next place I went to was The Banana Beach Bar! On Saturday evening J

1. Ambiance/Location
Located in the busy Koramangla area, this lounge bar is quite a fun place! As funky as the name the decor is done up like a beach side shack, with boats and little thatched bars and giant swings complete with a sheet of water falling all around and making that beautiful tinkling sound only water can make. The place is again large group friendly and very popular with the yuppie crowd. The DJ is very good and the music is loud, so its not a chill and yap place, its more of a chill and party place. The Saturday I went the Dj was playing rock and accepting requests so that was quite fun :)

2. Food/Drinks
This place concentrates on the alcohol and starters and not that much on the food. The starters were extremely tasty and in fact we ordered one of our starters twice (Ram fell in love with it!).We had the devil chicken and the thread chicken, both of which were awesome. I looked over the dinner section but the seating is so pub like with low tables and dance floor and boats and stuff that eating dinner there would have been quite out of place :)
Ram had a Caribbean Bomber (Was ok and he claims he could hardly taste the alcohol in it! That’s what happens when you are used to drinking single malts! :) ) and a Peroni beer. I had a Virgin Pink Panther (Ram said it tasted exactly like his Bomber!) and a Minty cooler (Had a tad too much of mint for my liking, but tasted nice with the spicy devil chicken).

3. Price
Priced like these places usually are.Rs.350 ish for the cocktails and Rs.200ish for the mocktails.The starters are anywhere between Rs.250 to Rs.400.

Verdict:Nice place to chill and a fun place to go if you have a rambunctious crowd who can start dancing on the spot and stuff :)  It’s a nice place in Koramangla area that is famous for its food joints and not its pubs, so a theme pub is bound to do well here :)

Oh and I must mention when we left it was pouring! We didn't valet park the car so we ran in the pouring rain and got home drenched :) :) Well it was fun in any case, it’s bound to rain at the beach sometime rite?? :) :)


So anyway come Sunday I decided to treat Ram to a nice dinner and drove him all the way to Vittal Malaya road(where UB city is :))

We went to this restaurant called Sunny's :)

1. Ambiance/location
Smartly located on the posh’est’ road in Bangalore Sunny's is like its name :) Bright, cheery and a combination of Al Fresco and indoor dining.

It’s not like the seating is extraordinary, its not like the tables are rose/teakwood, but still the place has a little charm about it. Especially in the evenings under the trees and the lights. They play decent music inside but we chose to sit outside and were serenaded(??) by the music from the numerous pubs and other watering holes ,cafes and discs in that area :)Oh and it started to rain (again!!) in the middle of our meal and we had to run for cover under the canopy covered seating area :) I think the rains are just following me around :) :)

2. Food/Drinks
Continental food, but not the usual conti stuff like pasta and lasagna, the kind of stuff that you see on Top Chef (Yipppy :) )
Horseradish, gazpacho, pizzas with artichokes and to top it off a lovely wine and Belgian/Italian beer list.
Well eating wise I didn't experiment too much(Force of habit :),I like watching stuff but I don’t know how much of it I would actually eat :)) I stuck to a Creasers Salad, Thai Grilled chicken and Grilled chicken country bbq style.
The Thai grilled chicken (an appetizer) was really nice and the dipping sauce was a mix of a little honey and vinegar with lots of red chili’s chopped into it! I truly understand what Nigella was talking about now :) balancing the sweet with the spicy :)
Ram had the Stir fried calamari with garlic, basil and white wine and a Chicken breast sautéed with ginger and orange. He raved about them both but it may have been the Belgian beer talking :)

3. Price
Slightly expensive but perfect for a romantic evening :) and yes that's priceless in any case :)
Verdict: Yumm food, nice ambiance and a good if not great location :)

Soooo that’s me suddenly realizing my blog is all about Food and Fashion!!

Heh :) That's the life eh? :) :)Let me know your favorite :)

Shop ,Shop and Shop away!

Did I tell you I love shopping!I mean I just totally love it!!
Window shopping,"Hardcore" shopping,Helping others shop!You name it,I'm game for it!

Which brings me to now,where I have found a soul mate for my shopping expeditions :) She works at the same place I do and trust me has the same passion to deliver money to the shop keepers hand like I do!

So Dpty and me have been shopping like crazy since I joined the company!We go shopping together and I find things she would like and she picks them up,she finds things that I would like and I pick them! :)

I am going to dedicate this blog to my favorite shopping destinations in Bangalore  because there have been some people who have asked me where I shop from and where I get all my stuff from :) Hopefully I can put up images of stuff I have pickedup provided I get the appropriate images :)

1.The malls-Bangalore Central(any of them,and there are so many!) You get a whole lot of brands and if you are really a smart shopper you will manage to pick up things at reasonable prices and stuff that is not displayed all over.This ensures that you don't bump into a million people wearing the same thing.

One of my finds here was a knit purple dress(something like the one in the picture and I team it with a broader black belt.It was a steal!Trust me! :)

2.Much more-A little shop that Dpty introduced me to very close to office again which makes it oh so convenient to shop around!And celebrate when you get your paycheck :)They have stuff that's sourced from abroad.The Bangkok,Thailand variety and are extremely reasonable!Cute little halters,nice prints,some of those vertical/horizontal stripes that I'm a big fan of as of now :) They also had some cute harem pants and tank tops that Dpty had a ball picking up :)

3.Chemistry-I have seen their stuff on and off but never really bothered to shop there until of coz Dpty dragged me there! :) The prices are a bit on the steeper side but the stuff was lovely!They had cute tops and some nice sheath dresses.They have a spattering of bags here and there but I fell in love with one!Its a boho chic kind of bag,brown knit/jute kind of material,with the tassels that usually go with the Boho Chic look and is overall gorgeous!

They also had a sale on the first floor,a one day only sale and the things there were 70% off! :)I bought this pantsuit in a deep violet color,the kind that makes your legs go on forever!A lil bit retro but totally suited my body structure and I loved it :)

Few differences Mines a deep violet,with spaghetti straps and I team it with my erstwhile black belt and my boho bag :)

4.Splash-Its a Dubai based clothing brand and they have some smart stuff and good accessories!You really have to hunt though,and it helps if you go there when they have sales,like a buy one get one free sale that's going on rite now! :)(I really should be there instead of blogging!!!!!!).They have a good mix between edgy stuff and classic stuff.
The pic is a dress I picked up from there

5.Mint - This little shop at Garuda mall,but good only for dresses and maybe some party wear tops.They have the most lovely one shouldered silk dresses,bandage dresses and a few sexy tops :) Almost all their dresses are very fitting and short!The kinds that you first get into and its then stitched on you so if you like the loose flowing kind of casual dresses you wont find them here.

P.S I own different variants but you get the drift! :) :)

6.Fashion and You- A site that I found on this other blog I follow www.highheelconfidential.com,I saw the ad on the side and registered when the concept had not taken over completely.I did find some interesting things there because the sell you Manish Arora,Vertigo,Hugo Boss and other such good brands at a slightly discounted price.I say slightly discounted because an Ed Hardy T-shirt even at a 20% discount is still very steep!Still there are some really nice things that you can pick up there.Provided of coz you know your size,like I know I am ALWAYS an extra small so I don't go for anything else.So UK size,US size I choose the smallest either way!But if you have issues(you arent sure if yo are a small or a medium) with sizes I suggest you stick to the physical stores,coz returning it and then shopping for something else is quite a big pain!And I'm not too clear on their return policy!

I picked up this hot pant jumpsuit from there long before it reached the markets so that was a good thing.
The image below isn't exactly what I bought but the pattern is similar.Mine is a dark charcoal denim and no shading around it whatsoever (I hate that shaded effect on denims!!)

I guess that's about it from me :) You can trust me to shop around and find you more such places :)
I m of now :) Where???To shop of coz!!Haven't you been reading my blog!! :D

Eloor lending library Cochin :)

I remember the first time I went to the dentist to get my braces on a sunny morning sometime in 1997,I had to get 4 teeth pulled out at once and needless to say I was scared/nervous/sad/angry everything!I remember crying the entire night before anticipating the pain and asking mom why I wasn't born with pearly white in a row perfec teeth like her :(

Anyhow the next morning did come and I did go to the dentist and he did pull out the 4 teeth as promised.
It was while I was sitting in the waiting room that my mom had the bright idea of a little treat for me when I m done with the entire thing.
The prize....membership at Eloor Lending Library :) Now I was a voracious reader(I don't read as much as I would like to now) and "Paico" in cochin was one of my favorite haunts when I was a kid.
So after the ordeal we trooped to the library(me with my mouth numb and stuffed full of cotton) and got my membership :)

I still remember it was  500 bucks for a lifetime membership and you could take upto 5 books at a time and return it within 2 weeks.(Awesome of what!!)


Now this library is a little non-descript lil thing,in a non-discript lil building,in a non-descript lil lane with non-descript lil staff and to top it off its a non-descript lil room...but....filled with rows and rows and rows of books!I m telling you they have everything!I challenge you to ask them for a book that they havent heard of or better still do not have!

The staff is surprisingly knowledgelble about the books they have and will guide you to a lil corner that you might not have known the library had in the first place and get you the book you want.
Also when they came to know that I would be a regular there the rule of 5 books at a time was quickly forgotten and I was allowed to take as many books as I liked(I remember picking up 20 at a time during the summer hols :) )

This library has seen me through my Enid blyton days,the Archie comics days',my Goosebumps days,to my MBA prep days,to my Daniel Steel days,to my Ayan Rand Days and then I went off to college and could not frequent the library but you will not believe I still remember my number there!(This from a person who is yet to memorize her current phone number!).

I have gone to the librbry on and off after that but then I got married and moved to Bangalore and then there was absolutely no chance I could visit them.I hadnt used my librbry number in ages!3 years to be precise!

So when I was in Cochin recently for 4 days(a  luxury in between work and life!) ,I figured I would drop by and check out what is up at good ol Eloor! :)

And you wont belive the staff remembered me,the account still worked and I went WILD!
I couldn't decide what to pick up,how many to pick up and if I ever wanted to go back to Blore at all!! :) :) (Alright I m being a lil too extreme here :) ) But still you get the picture :) :)

I had the most lovely time and it resulted in joining the Just Read library at blore,but sigh... nice books but an electronic card that swipes what you issue and what you return,a system that tells you what books are available and a system that lets you request for a book that you want :( No human interaction,no coziness, nothing like Eloor basically :(

But I guess this will have to do :(...... for now :) :)until I maybe start a library of my own :) Its  a thought isnt it :)

Near miss :)

So I was home for one awesome weekend last week :) The weekend didn’t start off awesome but pretty much ended up being that way!

:)

So bags packed me and Ram head to a restaurant close by called Kumarakom and the husband exasperatingly wants to try everything on the menu with me begging him to hurry in the background! We settled for the chicken biryani and 2 Kerala porotas with egg curry,and just when the dish reaches the table he spots that the guy at the live counter is making fresh appams and now he wants to try that as well!!(Do you see what I mean by exasperating?!) 

Anyway done with the meal we rush to the bus station and I go give the ticket printout to the guy to get my boarding pass and this lil doubt suddenly crosses my mind, so I ask him this is a ladies seat isn’t it and he says no it isn’t, in fact it’s the last seat, which isn’t even the 2 seater thing but a 4 seater and it’s all guys!

Now I am confident and can pretty much handle myself if anyone acts smart with me but hey here I am with a freshly popped avomin pill ready to pass out cold :( I freaked out to say the least!

I then got Ram to run up and down Madivala the bus station area and ask every travel operator there if there was any last minute cancellation, he came back with no luck, so then I checked for flight tickets but there were no flights suiting my schedule, they all left Bangalore too late and reached back too early!

So there I was praying to all my gods that they somehow manage to get me one lil seat somewhere,the bus reaches and I jump in only to see its quite full and it’s only that one formidable seat at the back that’s empty,my heart sank and I got out of the bus bags and all :( and we were just discussing what we could do about this situation when suddenly the travels guy sticks his head out and says he has managed to move some people around and that I have that “Ladies seat”!!! :)

 

Yippppppppppyyyyyyyyy and away I went on my way to having the most fab weekend at home with Cookie :)

 

25 Random things you should know about me :)

So I'v been having a ball with my blog today :) changed a bunch of themes :) blogged a lil and I must say I am getting more and more comfy with this blogging business but I can succumb to an easy way out occasionally rite :)
Here are 25 facts about me:) how many did you know :) :)

1.I love long baths.
2.I hate washing my hair with cold water.
3.Give me a book and food and I could live on a dessert island.
4.I would place shopping over eating.
5.I love watching old english classic movies.
6.I am the hugest FRIENDS fan alive....I swear I know all the dialogues by heart!
7.I love parties and dancing,I m sure I ll be pub hopping even when I m old and probably not hip enuff to get into the clubs I want to go to....shudderrrr....!!
8.My folks(mom in particular) have pampered me rotten...they know it and I know...wonder if the world knows it... :P
9.I want to go on a backpacking trip across the entire world.....I want to see EVERYTHING!!
10.My fav passtime is googling things out...I hear somebody mention a place they have been to,a food they have eaten and I insistantly google it to figure more out about it!!(Does this sound jobless....?? its good fun tho..and u learn a lot ;))
11.I have climed the middle himalayas upto the height of 14000 feet,if ooty s highest peak is approx 6000 to 7000 imaging trekking up this!!
12.I have done rock climbing and rappeling and white water rafting and river crossing and have loved every bit of it....!!
13.I want to go bungee jumping in Australia.....hopefully soon!!
14.I think an MBA is the best course in the world...it has a little something for everybody and really teaches you to survive in the world!
15.I was a wallflower till the 10th standard and then came into my element in the 11th...(or well the best of my element :))...lol
16.I love public speaking even though I still shiver whenever I get on stage.
17.I am at a lovely place in my career...touchwood :)
18.I m a good cook(self proclaimed I know)...But really I am...and I didnt know it!!I always thot I d burn water.... :)
19.I cant believe its been 40 minutes and I v only reached point number 19!
20.I dont particularly like gtalk or msn or chatting online for that matter....gimme a phone anytime ;)
21.I love animals and my doggy in particular was treated like part of the family!!
I tried feeding a dog at a bus stop once by standing in q at the nescafe vending machine and buying it chocolate milk coz i m sure ppl only throw stray dogs a couple of biscuits or 2 and the mutt sniffed and it and walked away with its tail in the air!!
22.I like things organized.
23.I am extremely house proud and take great pride in matching curtains with carpets and choosing the china and crystal... :)
24.I am desperately trying to put on weight and so far thats a lost cause :(
25.Am extremely happy with life right now...and I hope it stays that way :)

Buddies :)

So everyday I head to work I switch on my system and the first thing I do is to send out a beeeeg helllo to all my regular chat buddies :)

I would be happy to use their real names here coz I m pretty new to this blogging thing and I m told that's not the right thing to do so instead I m going to pick up the names that my buddy Pooh uses for these friends(and yes we have pretty much the same circle of friends :) )

So lets start with Pooh as she was my inspiration to start blogging(and I v kinda stolen everyone's names from her :) )  Its just so great to see her online everyday and to KNOW for sure you'll have someone like minded to yap with today :)I think even though she is far away(not too far,its just Singapore :) :) ) but still she probably knows every lil thing that I v done,am doing or am going to do :) and of coz its vice versa :)My day is most certainly not complete without pinging you Pooh :) and it would reach the level where if by any chance I dint see you online I d probably drop in a message to you Singapore number demanding to know where the hell you are :) :)
P.S Before I forget shez the one whoz christened me Fashionista and I love it!!! :)


Then there is Dee,SH and Hazel people who have been my friends for ages now!!And not all of them have access to chats at work and so we have this mail chain going from our official ID's.I just wonder what the administrators would think if they did snoop through our official mails one day :)We discuss everything from our weekend plans to current meetings to reminiscing old days,to pulling each others legs :) to sending pics of things we think the other would like and it goes on and on :) The mail chain ends when we pack up to go home and I can honestly say my heart sinks a lil when I think I ll only be in touch with them tomorrow now :( Love you guys and I must say 5 years is nothing looking forward to 50 years ahead :) :)

Then there is good old JK a long lost friend who suddenly came into contact :)  he was my tuition teachers nephew and a lil kid when I knew him not that I was any bigger then but still :)but now he is all grown up and working and I find it so much fun to chat with him :)We discuss everything from dating to girls/boys to "why the hell are men/women so irritating/amazing" (as the mood may be :)) He is surprising wise for his age (well I considered myself wise at 23 too :) ) and manages to give me quite a bit of good advice at times when I needed it :) Its fun hearing about his escapades and shocking him with some of mine :)(considering I m quite the aunty now :) ) But again a good chat buddy and the kind where our conversation picks off exactly where we left it no matter how long its been :)(never is too long tho :) )

All in all I must say I am absolutely blessed to have this cozy lil group to fall back on?no thats not right!I have them no matter what :) beginning of the day :) end of the day and anytime in between when I need them :)

They complete my day and there is no other way of putting it :) :) love u guys :)

Fanning the *Spark*

So I have been having a ball at new job,have found a good group of friends there that love to party as much as me.
Its been 7 conseccutive days of partying and house parties and having fun!And anybody who knows me knows that I am the kind who loves to partay!

This brings me to my husband,who in absolute contrast he is the stay -at- home,sip on his scotch and relax kinda guy,hates crowds and hates having to make conversation with people.But I must admit he has come along with me for mannnnny parties and guess what! 2 beers down and he has ended up dancing as well :).

So now for the past few days my late nites and the fact that I have found a crowd to hang out with has reduced the quality time both of us spend with each other and I don't know why but I feel guilty about that :(

He is the silent strong type and no he has never complained,even when he called me at 2:30 a.m the other nite and I told him we were on our way to The Leela Palace for coffee!!

Anyhow to cut a long story short I planned out a romantic nite for him yesterday and even though he didnt say it I could just see how happy he was to see me home (I was supposed to be out for a movie) :) :)
I absolutely needed to see that in his eyes because after 3 years you do tend to take each other for granted!

So herez to keeping that spark alive and striving to making it work!Nobody said it was going to be easy :)

Tagged by Pooh :)

So my first tag on my blog :) and it makes perfect sense that my dear friend would tag me :) so here goes :)

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be? Hummmnn....cant say that's ever happened to me,I m quite the catch :) lol but seriously I should kick myself for getting involved with someone like that in the first place!


2. If you can have a dream to come true, what would it be? To take a years vacation and travel the world..(did I forget in "First class".


3. What is the one thing most hated by you? Male Chauvinist Pigs!


4. What would you do with a billion dollars? Invest it carefully for Saarika :)


5. Could you fall in love with your best friend? Well I made the guy I fell in love with double up as my best friend...dunno which came first like the chicken and egg story :) :)


6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone? How can you even choose!!Both give you such a different high :) :)


7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you really love? Doesn't really matter now does it ;)


8. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do? Its like the Fast track ad...MOVE ON! (And yes Poorni we do think the same :) :) :) )


9. If you'd like to act (movies, stage) with someone, who would it be? Bradley Cooper....act,love,live...anything with him!


10. What do you expect of your loved one? I don't believe in expecting anything of them if I love them :)


11. How would you see yourself in ten years time? A good mom and a hot wife with a great career going :)


12. What’s your fear? The thought that the people I love are not going to be around forever.


13. Would you rather be single and rich or married, but poor? Well I am married and not exactly poor so I guess I managed to get the best of both :) :) :) 


14. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? Oh I don't wake up,am woken up by Ram when he says goodbye(before leaving for work),and I promptly go back to sleep again :) until my alarm rings that is :)


15. Do you ever hold back in a relationship? I am quite a private person so I guess to some extent I do hold back :)


16. If you fell in love with two people simultaneously, how would you pick? Again that would not happen to me,coz if I love someone I wudnt be able to make time for anyone else :) at least not enough time to fall in love with them!


17. Would you forgive and forget no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done? I try not to forget but I end up forgetting :(


18. What are your three most important expectations in love? Unconditional loving,100% Commitment and Honesty

The pleasure of being home alone :)

So whats prompted this blog of mine?(Seems to me I never write for the love of writing itself,all my blogs are prompted!huummm....lets discuss that another time :) )

So Ram's out of town this weekend on work,and will be getting back only Monday morning,which gives me the house to myself for the WHOLE weekend :) and I love it!

I have always been like that, I love/adore my own space,the pleasure of walking into an empty house kicking off your shoes,raiding the fridge and then settling back to watch tv(with no one to fight you for the remote) is heaven! :)

I remember when I was in school in, a time before cell phones and multiple TV's in one house, I used to roll up a bedspread and head to the terrace sometime late in the evening and just lie back and watch the stars :) it was again my space, my time and just me :)

That being said I am not devoid of human emotion :) I love being around friends and family and would hate to be alone EVERY weekend,but every once in a while getting to do my own thing is pretty awesome :)

Like last weekend when I was home alone I woke up late put together a lil brunch for myself and then drove myself to a mall for some retail therapy,caught up with a good friend and her adorable son(my gps system led me right to her doorstep :) :) it really is a most useful thing),picked up dinner,headed home watched an episode of desperate housewives and crashed out :) :)

Felt good to be out doing my own thing because of late I had begun to notice that I was dependent on Ram for waaaay too many things,it had reached a point where I felt awkward if I had to do things alone!(even grocery shopping!...I know I had it bad!).

And I realized with a jolt that just not the kind of person I am :) but I guess marriage does that to you and I m not complaining ,just amused :)

So anyway I make a conscious effort now to get my me time and most importantly make an effort to do things on my own like paying the phone bills or meandering through narrow lanes of an unknown area to send a parcel rather than hand it over to Ram and beg him to go do the dirty work :),or sorting out my Airtel bill mix up without running to him :)

Because like Ram rightly pointed out ( when I said I love being home alone),there is no point being home alone just to have fun and relax you need to manage the things that go along with it :)

So herez to my effort of.. well....not being a lazy bum and enjoying my time at home along with its responsibility :)

Getting back to work!

So to start off I m pretty new to this blogging thing and the reason I thought of starting is because I went for this interview and the guy asked me in quite the matter of fact tone "So you have a blog rite?" and I had to go "ummn No,not because I cant write but because I didn't get the time"...lol...needless to say it didnt look like he believed me!(Still waiting to hear back on that interview btw!)
Anyway I am starting to think that blogging is pretty much the new facebook...I mean if you didnt get enough space to write what you are upto in the "Whats on your mind column" then you go ahead and blog your heart out :) Hahahhaha just kidding :) Coz some of my friends write lovely blogs and ones that are such a pleasure to read :)

Lets hope my endeavor turns out the same way :)

My life in a nutshell:

Completed my MBA from the Amrita School of Business,got placed in a  reputed MNC,did a little thing like getting married in between and so quit the job and moved to a new city Bangalore! and started job hunting there,landed a job within a week that I loved and stayed at for 2.5 years :),did a little thing like have a baby in between :) the most gorgeous lil baby girl,Saarika :)

So anyway for the first time since I finished my studies I quit my job and decided I wanted to be a stay at home mom :) so the month of  Saarika's birthday i.e September 2010 I quit and Saarika moved bag and baggage  to Bangalore (She was staying with my mom in Cochin before that).

What ensued then was the 3 a.m feedings,life revolving around the maid and the cook and diapers and milk powder.Of coz the other side was having a warm little bundle next to me and even though she slept in her crib that was joined to the side of our bed she invariably sought out my pillow and by morning there we were, both  heads on the same pillow,under the same quilt :)

Before I knew it 6 months were gone and lil Saarika had grown!I must say she is the most accommodating baby,no tantrums,no crankiness and if you take her out to a mall she becomes the happiest baby ever! :)

Anyway after 6 months of staying at home I realized the stay at home mom bit is not me,I love Saarika and I want to be with her but I need some intellectual conversation through the day,I need my own money to feel independent and most importantly I din't want her growing up thinking moms stay at home and thats whats expected of her!

I want her to be an extremely independent girl(yes so I am a bit of a feminist,sue me :)!) who does not have to sacrifice her job to raise her family and why?...coz I plan to be a mom exactly like my mom,who will sacrifice anything to give me the best of both worlds :)

She looks after Saarika better than I could ever look after her,pampers her more than I ever could and has let her husband go off to Africa all alone and fend for himself just so she can stay back and look after my baby :)

I only hope I can do this for Saarika some day so that when she grows up and has to make a difficult decision I can be there for her, no matter what choice she makes,to make sure she can have her cake and eat it too :) :) :) with the cherry thrown in for good measure :)