The Eternal Optimist

Inspired by this post I decided to make a list of my own. Digression - Did I tell you I have a 10 day holiday coming up between Christmas and New Year's? End of Digression. Yes. Are you jealous? Don't be. I will tell you in a minute why you shouldn't be jealous. M does not get those days off, so we can't really go anywhere. I was trying to plan a trip with a friend, who does get those days off, but we never ended up planning anything. So, basically I have a 10 day holiday with nowhere to go. I refuse to add "and with nothing to do", to the statement. What does that leave me with - things to do. Yes. Things, that I have been putting off for months, must get done. Here we go -

1. Sew the button on M's jacket, fix the zipper on it too.
2. Find and install a "devghar"
3. Buy a new mattress
4. Finally donate the stack of books set aside to be donated a few months ago
5. Finish painting letter 'S' and hang it somewhere
6. Figure out a way to DIY frames for inspirational cards I've been collecting, and find a place to hang them
7. Vaccum the entire house (yes, it's been a couple of weeks since I did that :( )
8. Craiglist some extra furniture lying around the house
9. Sleep a lot
10. Go to the library and borrow some books and finish reading them
11. Hang a clock in every room
12. Watch episodes of "The Dewarists"

This may seem less, but trust me, after I sleep in late and nap in the afternoons, read in the mornings between the sleep schedule, watch episodes of "The Office" on Netflix, cook meals, blog and hang out with my got-the-10-day-break friends, there will be little time left to finish everything. But someone wisely said - Aim high. And so I will. (Also why this post is called - the eternal optimist)

Wish me luck!

Mushy-feely

Have you seen the movie "Up"? Who hasn't, right?

Two clips of the movie that make me feel all mushy, and "awwww" -

Movie's DVD on my wish list for Christmas, New Year's and/or Anniversary (It's Jan 1st). I am working on posts for the wedding, and the trip to Hawaii (the 'moon)...All of it is coming soon ;) (see how I rhymed that?)

Till then, see these videos to know what M & I look like in my head (M does have the exact same nose, and obviously I am hundred times better looking than the real life me). Sometimes it's fun to think in cartoons! Try it!

No words

I will let these pictures do the talking. To sum it up - busy and bad days at work.

Sh*t has hit the fan - 

Source

And then I'm all -

Source

And then all -

Source

And how it's like these days -

Source

What might make me feel better - 

Source

Source

But what I think I will have to settle for -

Source

Honestly though, I was (am?) pretty depressed. Which is ridiculous, if you think about it, cos it's just work. But also, it's WORK. And, then whatever-you-do-do-your-best-ness kicking in, along with the guilt of screwing something up, is a recipe for disaster. Either way, it's going to be Friday soon!

Anyone have any thoughts on how to deal with such things?

Happy Holidays!

I love the holiday cheer, the lights and the beautiful Christmas decorations going up around the city during Christmas! This year I decided to join the spirit and decorate a Christmas Tree. I bought a small fake tree from Target (for 10 bucks), and decorated it. In retrospect I should have gone for the slightly larger tree with lights, but it was slightly more expensive! Since I didn't know how committed I felt towards celebrating Christmas, I decided to start small.

I wanted a smashing tree topper, that I searched for everywhere, but couldn't find one I liked. So I made my own....

Take a look

All I did was cut out some thick foam from an old watch box, in the shape of a star. I found some "Happy Birthdays" lying around, and I cut out the "Happy's" from it, and pasted it on the foam star and voila!

It makes me really "happy" (ha ha)!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Obsessed

M & I are obsessed-in-the-listen-to-it-constantly-on-repeat way with this song since the weekend. Folks in India - do you guys watch the show? Is it as good as it sounds? I am going to start watching the episodes on youtube soon as I find some time. 

Minds without fear

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

- Rabindranath Tagore

Home Sweet Home

I have decided to open up my home to you guys! Don't ask why. Did you question why you own that fabulous dress, or why you saw a beautiful sunset, or why you've been traveling to exotic places (if you are btw, would love to know about it!) or why you won that lottery? Good things just happen. For no reason.

Here's a secret - there is no way in hell that my entire home is ready to be photographed and posted on the WORLD WIDE WEB at any given point in the time space continuum. There are only special co-ordinates of space and time when some room in my home may be close to decent. The chink in the armor (of mess). Such moments are rare and priceless and they rock my world.

The point of it all being - today it's just the kitchen. Here it is. Voila.

The pictures quality isn't the greatest. I know. But. I could not let you guys look at a clear picture and figure out where all the mess is hiding. But I am not done with the kitchen yet, you see. I have yet to point out to you all the awesome, creative sh*t going on in there (that I want to, but cannot take full credit for. Ideas came from everywhere, when I started complaining about the size of the kitchen, because one - lets face it, it leans towards what experts call - cozy spaces and two - It's really SMALL).

Tip #1 - Maximum use of Wall spaces.

Tip #2 - Maximum use of IKEA

Tip #3 - Container Store has awesome stuff for kitchen

To sum it all up. I have this narrow kitchen with just one wall of cabinets. No pantry. To top it off, that cabinet towards the end is blocked by the Refrigerator. Which means, I cannot be keeping everyday stuff in there. I was stumped for some time with the kitchen. But then, I started browsing IKEA. It has been my goto for all the the stuff in my home. I LOVE it. 

That's how I came up with the idea of this wall rack to keep my everyday cooking utensils. Yes, they are larger than usual. What can I say, Small kitchen, Big utensils. That's how life goes! I think the best surprise was I was able to use if for lids. I never know where to put those.

I also used the space right above the stove, to keep oil, salt and pepper, so that I have easy and quick access to those while cooking. This was a friend's idea. Brilliant. (Also a torch, for emergencies).

More use of wall space to keep bounty and cleaning stuff over the sink -

I found these amazing things in the Container store. They basically double up my shelf height. And yes, I do use steel utensils. It wasn't tasting like real Indian food until, I ate it on these. Shoot me.

So there you have it. My kitchen. And part of the story behind it. The other part is, it took me weeks (not kidding) to figure all these solutions out and then some more weeks to actually install them. Basically, the building I live in has WEIRD walls. Some spots the nail will bend, but not go in. And some spots, it will go right in and slide right out. In US, you cannot just have someone come and do it for ya and you pay them something minimal like 10 bucks. No sir. Everything is DIY (Do it Yourself). I suppose you can still get people to do this, but their rates might by sky-high, which I could not afford. These are the times, when I miss India so much. (There are other, more meaningful times too, like when I miss my India for family reasons. But there are these times too. A lot of them. You gotta take what you get).

So, that's how it went down in my kitchen. I will come back with more stories for the rest of the home too. Soon. As soon as I can get to clearing that mess. It's like it has a life of it's own. I clear out one room and it appears in the other. It's like energy, it cannot be destroyed, only transformed. 

See how I was saying married life isn't easy. And you all thought I was talking about M.

PS: All this home stuff - all part of the nesting syndrome ya'll!

Testing

Trying to post from my phone.
And the sunrise from my window.

Breathe and re-boot

Sometimes life tends to be at a standstill. At such times, I try to keep it moving. And sometimes, it moves so fast, there's only enough time to breathe and run with it. What was I up to for so long? Just trying to breathe and run as fast as I could. And then I realized, I may never stop running long enough to write a post, or two. So here I am, running and writing and breathing and attempting to re-boot my blog.

Now that I have the philo-crapo-sophy out of my system, let's talk about what I have been up to? Lets see? Bullet points?

• Started a new job more than a year ago, roughly around the time I took a break from writing. Blinked and realized, more than a year has gone by.
• Got married. 
• Almost closing in the first year of my marriage. (Side note - It's not as easy as people make it seem)
• Took a trip to Hawaii (Highlight of my year, definitely. It really is heaven on earth. Post on that, soon)
• Took my parents to NYC, Washington DC, Niagara Falls. (Me = Proud)
• Took my parents-in-law to San Fran. (Love that city)
• I grew up. No really. I did. How you ask? (Ok nobody really did, but I will tell you anyway) - I manage a household by myself now (with help from M). And no, it's not always smooth sailing. I "decorate" and do "nesting" stuff, like clean, re-arrange furniture, hang wall art etc. I have started to learn to try to manage my money. 

Of course, there are so many details that I am leaving out, so as to not bore any of my fans out there. I know you guys have been holding thy breath everyday! You can relax now, this blog will probably survive. I hope. (Who am I kidding? IS ANYONE STILL HERE?? *holds her breath, and waits for a comment*)

And here's a picture from Hawaii. To make this post interesting.

As it turns out

I am not yet ready to let it go. Comments from you all (all 4 of you! :)) also made me think about it. And I came to the conclusion that, maybe I just need some change like changing the background color, or moving to wordpress or something like that! We'll see.

Thank you so much for your support guys.
@Rani - Special thanks to you, since I know it's not easy for you to comment on blogger.

Also it would be really unfair if I deleted my blog without acknowledging the award that it has got me. (yes, it's true!). But all that after I come back from my long cherry-blossom-ing weekend in Washington D.C.

See ya'll on the other side!

I am not sure what to do?

I am constantly getting thoughts about deleting my blog. Have no things that I feel like sharing anymore. I am not sure if this is temporary or permanent? What should I do?

No good comes out of ignoring your Prime Minister!

When I first started to writing about women's issues, I could NOT decide one issue that is the most important. There are just so many of them! But I know many great bloggers (mostly women) all around the world are writing about all these issues, making their readers aware. This post is for them. And to the Prime Ministers of our homes - the prominent women in our lives. Mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, daughter-in-laws, who run the household, work, maintain public relations, take care of everyone, find time for all the people in their lives and yet manage to look wonderful all the time! What else must these superwomen be called if not Prime Minister? It takes more skills to do all this alone than it takes to run a country!

And this thought made me back up a little bit. What exactly is a Prime Minister? Someone who is responsible for everything. The buck stops at him. Or in this case her. And then it's really easy to make the correlation. Unfortunately, that is where the comparison ends. There's all the responsibility, but none of the perks. A bulk load of money and resources are spent for the well-being of one, but none for the other. It pains me to see that we go about our lives taking so many things for granted, including the health of these great women.

How many of us go for regular complete check-ups? For all we know Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, Breast or Ovarian Cancer and many other life-threatening diseases could be right around the corner. We live precariously on the edge! I have seen many women lose their lives for ignoring symptoms and going to the doctor at the last stage, when nothing can be done. When something could have been done, only if they had been more careful! If you have ever air-traveled, you would know this - Anybody is supposed to put on their own oxygen masks first before helping others. Then how can we go about our lives taking care of loved ones, without ever thinking to take care of ourselves? How many of us remember to regularly check for lumps in our breasts? How many of us even know when it is supposed to be done? How many of devote time for regular exercise? How many of eat stale food so that the rest of the family eats fresh? Why? Why do we do this to ourselves?

And I also know that there are many more issues that are far more grave than this one, and yet we forget the lessons of childhood. Start with the simplest problem. Take the first step to solve this problem that should not even exist in the first place! And then, when that is in place go out and change the world! Make it a better place for all women.

And so, this is my appeal to each and every woman out there - Please take care of yourself. Take time this women's day and appreciate the best one you know - yourself! Let this be the day when all of us make efforts to keep ourselves healthy and fit, so that we can help out many others out there who don't have the resources to do so. Take time this women's day to go for that annual check-up, join that yoga class or just remind yourself of how much you and your life is worth, not just to yourself but to an entire household that you run, which will break down if it wasn't for you. Appreciate the "me"!

Cheers!

This is my entry for the IndusLadies International Women's Day Blog Contest. I chose to write for Hygiene & Healthcare. I am very interested in knowing a man's point of view in women's issues, so I am also going tag one along with the women. I apologize if you guys might not find time to participate, but I am still really interested in knowing what you think!

So I tag - Amortya, Avanti and Chica. Take it away guys! You can find the contest here.

Profound thought for the day!

And you bettah hear me cuz it don't hit me everyday sistah!

Ok so now that that's out of my system. Phew. Anyway, it hit me in the shower, just like all great ideas do...based on my day today - You cannot keep waiting for the right moment to take the plunge. Like you cannot keep saying I am going to do it(whatever it is that you want to do) when I have a new house, enough money, more friends etc.You just have to go ahead and do it. Take the plunge. Dive into it. Immerse yourself. You know, get the picture? And no I'm not talking about swimming here. (Gotcha!)

And yes, I know what you're thinking (I can read minds). This? I already know this? What's new in that? Well I'll tell you what's new. Nothing really. I just wanted to remind everyone who reads this today/tonight.
Go. For. It. No matter how big or small .

(Although I would suggest start with small. Also this blog and it's author are in  no way responsible for the ill consequences of this advice, even though we are open to receiving gratitude. In cash.)

Seriously. Do it. Also, here are some steps on how to "go for it" -
Step 1: Figure out what it is that you want to go for.
Step 2: Think of consequences that might affect this blog or it's author.
Step 3: If there's anything that you thought of in step 2, goto Step 1.Else goto Step 4.
Step 4: Go for it.

If you want more redundant algorithms on how to go for it, please contact the author. (It will cost you.)

Later!

PS: Seriously, Go for it! :)

Getting older, dreams, wedding...Life!

I had a funny lil dream last night. I was at my engineering college reunion. There were boys there too somehow, even though my college is all-girls. But that's not the point. The point is, all girls were crying cos one of my friends (who is now married for 2 years) wrote a speech about how difficult life is after marriage. And of course I missed the speech, since I reached there late (I reach late most of the places, it's a disease, I'm a victim!), but got this gist when I reached. In my dream.

I woke up laughing. But obviously I had to dissect it under a microscope. Why did I get this dream? Why? Is it because I am scared of getting married? Maybe. See I am not even sure where I am going with this information here. But I guess I just wanted to put it out there. In case someone knows a cure. And while you're at it, I would also like to know how to get it up for my own wedding stuff like - mehendi, make-up, jewellery, saris.

On an aside, these days I keep thinking about how old I am getting(25!). And how it's changing me. Just the other day I was looking into the mirror and getting the famous "I'm so ugly" syndrome. But soon enough I checked myself. I reminded myself that i am 25 and not 16 anymore. I need to be more confident and comfortable with myself. Obviously this pep-talk didn't help for long. But something else did. I saw news, and saw how terrible a situation it is in Haiti. And then I couldn't help but feel lucky and surprisingly got over my syndrome in a minute. If I was 16, this wouldn't have happened. So yea, maybe being 25 gives you flabby mid-rif (or is it - sitting and doing nothing), but it also gives you wisdom. For which I am so thankful! Life's good!

Long overdue story

A few thousand years back, I had promised to come up with the story of "Meet the parents", and why it's such a bad idea for me to go through with it. Now, after several thousand years, here it is -

Yes. I met his parents (obviously, since we are getting married now!!See the more I say it, the more I accept it). And before I go into anymore details of how it went, we will travel through time a bit (No, not just because. There's a reason I promise.).

So let's rewind to some months back in time. In my defense I did not even have any business being there. I was only tagging along. There I am sitting in the living room of a friend's brother, who's just had a baby. Let's call him "Bhaiya". (duuu-uh). And his wife(newborn baby's mother) - "Bhabhi". (super duuu-uh). Anyway. I could not find out for sure, but she definitely looked not more than 26. Alright? so now use your imagination. There I am visiting them for the first time. And there we all are - my friend, couple of other friends, me, Bhabhi, baby; all laughing, cooing at the sweet kid. And suddenly, out of nowhere, God alone knows why in the world, Bhabhi goes - "Aap log kuch lenge, kuch chai yea cold drink?". I mean why? Why would she do that to me?

You want to know why it is so terrible? Ok, I'll tell you why. Because I replied this - "Nahi nahi Aunty, don't worry, kuch takleef mat kijiye!!!" Duuuuude, I called that girl barely an year older than me AUNTY!!!! Imagine my embarrassment! OMG. And reading many mommy blogs did not help, as I knew, right around this time - she would have been also dealing with post partum depression, relatively low self-esteem, and such like! Now I was feeling super embarrassed AND super-duper guilty. Eventually I did go and apologize and to her utter amusement, explained my stunted social skills and awkward behavioral syndrome as the reasons for the "unfortunate accident". Thank God I did not drop her baby after all this.

This was exhibit 1.

Now lets forward to two weeks ahead (we had traveled back, remember? we are still in the past of now, for all who think we are looking into the future). I am invited by this friend over dinner, since his parents were visiting and are leaving in a couple of days. I am meeting them for the first time. He(my friend) has of course invited like 15 more people, and there I am sitting in living room - full of people who I am seeing for the first time! Just for fun imagine you are a deer and it's night time. You are going along happily on your way without a care in life, and suddenly out of nowhere you are blinded! There's more light than even in daylight, and of course you freeze. Did you imagine the deer's face? Good. Now put that face on mine, when his dad asks me a loud question across the room - "Where do you live beta?".

Disclaimer: Not only am I very awkward in social situations, I go mute when people talk to me across the room because then everybody can hear what I say. Ok back to the question. Simple enough right? Wrong. (Background: He's visiting US for the first time has no clue about any area in Boston) And so I stuttered my way to utter embarrassment - "I live at 42 Symphony Rd, Apt 5". And the moment I said that I realized how dumb must I sound, so instead of clarifying I just shut up! Fortunately - M came to my rescue and saved me by saying that's near our school. (Maybe that's why you need someone by your side. See another good reason to get married).

And there are many many other similar stories, but all this time travel has made me time-travel-sick so I'll summarize by saying these were reason enough for me to freak out of my wits. Cos I was not just meeting his parents, I was meeting his uncles, aunts, their children, and then their children. You get the picture. Long story short - it went well. I might or might not have had a Cosmo before meeting them. Although I was quiet for the most part, I mostly did not talk crap when I was asked questions. Maybe God was finally cutting me some slack (at the right time too!) after all the crap He released into the universe through me. Or maybe, just maybe I am not socio-phobic (is that a word? I'm too lazy to google) anymore. Yea right?!

Later folks!

It's official

All the time that you & I have known each other - if there is one thing that you should know about me by now, it's this - I am a bundle of controversial joys (to put it nicely). Like how I hate fuss and creating scene, but myself am a drama queen? So when you read the previous post - yes you thought right. It was about M and me. It was about us fighting. (Gasp! How can she admit it so openly?!) (And it was also a little about drama).

Tangent - I am trying to let my other voice speak too. See I have these two voices in my head like everyone. (If I'm wrong about this don't bother to tell me otherwise). One is the serious me who takes everything that life throws at me in its appropriate seriousness and deals with it like normal people. The other voice though is a little whimsical. It laughs at everything that is serious. And deals with everything else that is normal with sarcasm or something like that. The brackets are this voice.

Anyhoo. (You can ignore me all you want, but I'm not going anywhere). Yes we got into fights. Plural. Ugly ones. Fights that lasted days and nights. Like war. But unlike any other war story this has a happy ending. Somewhat. We both decided not to fight. (Yeah, that worked! Sure!)

Reason. Motive. Why? (Wait for it.........) We are getting married! (Pin-drop silence followed by laughter?) And since I have to be stubborn and difficult every time something changes, I sure as hell did not leave out this opportunity. And you know how I tell you all the stories of how understanding and how co-operative M is? Well he chose this opportunity to be not so. So basically it took long days and nights of discussion, fighting, yelling, to reach a common focus about the wedding. Yes, the reason for the fight was difference of opinion, prejudices and lack of common vision. About the WEDDING! (How much more lame can this get. A wedding? People have bigger problems. Grow up.) And then I remembered what Saif Ali Khan seems to be saying in all the movies that he does - We were perfectly happy till we decided to get married. Makes you think. Made me think for sure.

So why? Why do people get married? I obviously did not want to get married before knowing why I am getting into it. So I thought - why not? I obviously love him enough to want to be around him. I know I enjoy his company. And obviously it gets a little lonely after a while, so why not have someone who is obligated to accompany you! (Ha! You are so evil!). And so kind ladies and gentlemen, we decided to plunge into it with all we have! I will be obviously including you in stories of what happens after. Till then stories about how I am trying to enjoy the fuss that weddings are and how all the fuss is.Driving. Me. Crazy. (Did I tell you I HATE wedding fuss, but that story some other time since we ARE talking about peaceful beginnings called marriages! Ha!).

We are now accepting your best wishes (in CASH ONLY). I will come back with a concrete plan of wedding as soon as it's good enough to be dissected by public eye.

Over and out. (Later b*****s!)

She didn't know what, but something changed...

Why did he turn away?
Why didn't he pull her close?
Why did she see no emotion in his eyes when she was crying hers out?

How could he leave her alone to fight with her worries? All she has is questions that are unanswered and tears that are ignored. She feels alone. Like a crushed soldier in the battle field whose mate has left his side. The point was not what he said. Or did. It is all the words that he didn't say, it's all that he didn't do.

I have news!

Our family has the newest addition - my lovely niece was born yesterday!!! I love her. I loved her from the moment I knew of her existence inside my sis-in-law's tummy, and she couldn't have come out fast enough! I don't even know what she looks like but to me she's the most beautiful thing on the planet. She doesn't even have a formal name yet (kachori & chinti don't quite work as formal) but like my bro said yesterday - this nameless wonder has four fully-grown adults totally captivated and right under her thumb! God bless you sweetheart...I will always love you so so so sooooo much! And I am sorry (and you cannot begin to imagine how sad) that I am not there to welcome you, but I do hope that someday you love me a lot.

When I got the news, I called up Sai (Hi Sai!) who did not wait to inform me that I will soon be obsessed and call home at least a hundred times each day. I laughed it off. I even thought to myself, she's nuts - just because she did it when her nephew was born doesn't mean I'll do it too - I'm not her. And it's true. I did not obsess a lot. Just a little bit. Like when I woke up at 2am last night to drink water, I decided to call home so that I can hear her crying (that's all she does, when she's not crying she sleeps!), but she was sleeping(big surprise huh?). So then I just told my mom to describe in detail every little thing that she had done during the day. After a good half hour, I hung up and went to sleep really regretting the day I decided to come to US. And then when I woke up in the morning, I called up home again to try my luck again and ended up talking to my bro this time asking him to tell me every little thing that she does.

I feel so sad to be all the way over here. I just wish, so wish that I could go home for some time before my job starts to spend some time with this little wonder. Dear Santa - I did not ask anything for Christmas, can I get this wish, pretty please? And no I am crying right now, just a little choked up.

And now I think I'll call up home again. For the fiftieth time! (Just kidding, it's only third in this day).

Later!

I don't usually do this!

What you ask? Well, you know - reminiscing and recounting the past year, making resolutions etc etc. All the "New Year" customary things that people do. I get too lazy around this time to do anything at all. But I do have this one superstition belief - Whatever happens on the first day of the year, whatever you are feeling that day, and however you deal with things - is what will happen the rest of the year. And sure enough, on the 365th day(like today for 2009) I don't remember a damn thing to actually confirm this. So I just move onto the next year without thinking much about the past and without really looking into the future, and just live in today. This year it won't be like this. I may not remember what Jan 1, 2009 was like but I do remember bits and pieces of this year and I want to document them. I am 25 and I already don't remember so many things that have happened in my life. I think it will be good to have notes about it!

This may seem like a deviation, but I promise it is related (remotely). So day before yesterday, I saw "Up in the air". George Clooney is like the messiah of anti-relations, anti-commitment, anti-family, and anti-love. Eventually he realises it doesn't work that way, and is talking to his bro-in-law-to-be (who's got cold feet), trying to convince him that love and marriage are the right thing to do. He asks him this - Remember the most important moments of your life? Were you alone? I won't tell you what really happens after this as that is not the point of this post. The point is - most important moments of life. So today I give you just that. Most important and memorable moments of my life (in 2009) -

• Second year of my Masters had just started and my grades were on the lowest level of the deepest pit on the least-distance-above-sea-level plain on the.....you get the point. I had to do something. I spent my entire time, resources and energy in working towards my grades. And I got straight A's. 
• I got an internship even before people had started applying.
• Befriended my friends (Sai & Sneha) again and started reconnecting with them.
• M got a job in the worst of economies.
• Lived through an entire summer of not-so-perfect internship. I learned to deal with difficult people and tried not to let them get to me. Also had some really interesting experiences - here, here and here.
  
• Also spent a great summer traveling and hanging out with friends and having fun!
  
• Went to India and saw my father as a retired person and realised it is so great to have him home. This could be the first time I spent so much time with him, and I loved it. Bonded with my mom, dad and told them how I met and fell in love with M.
• Met M's parents and his entire family, and loved them. I couldn't have asked for better in-laws-to-be.
  
• In the second semester of my Masters I started applying for jobs, with the economy still bleak. I spent hours, days and months just applying and mailing people. Let's just say - I am more than happy and satisfied with the outcome and I got more than I could ever imagine!
  
• Also did I tell you, straight A's in this semester too? (ok, so I took super-easy courses)
• Lost my only grandparent - my Aaji
  
• And lastly, but most importantly - grew up. I realized my responsibilities towards family, friends and boyfriend. I became comfortable with the way I look and accepted all my flaws. I became comfortable with who I am and tried to correct what could be.
  
• And finally, came to terms with life's realities like marriage and responsibilities and realized that if you have the right partner by your side, it is all not too big a deal. I am taking things one at a time and by this time next year I might be committed. (Can you believe it? I can't!!). We'll see.

It was a great year for me, I learned a lot about life, love and myself. I hope to be a better daughter, girlfriend and friend, but above all a better me. And that is my resolution.

Have a great year ahead all of you! Hope you find happiness and success in everything you seek!

"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action"

Said W.J. Cameron.

So here I go.

I am thankful for M for bringing joy in my life. I am thankful for M's wonderful parents who also support and encourage me in everything. And I am thankful for all the opportunities I have got and for getting what I did. I am thankful for my wonderful family and friends.

And lastly, but most most most importantly I am thankful for my parents who always have and continue to support me through all the decisions in my life, who have sacrificed so many things and continue to do so, so that I could be where I want and who have always stood by me and continue to do so as I face tough times.

I don't know how they do it, but they are my strength. They give me courage and always always are ready to support me through anything! I feel lucky!Thanks Aai Baba. Love you guys.