Happy New Year 2011

Wishing all my friends and family a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Year 2010 - Flashback in Months

Jan 2010: 1st Jan, baby Ritvik's first major outing to Hindu Temple, car broke had to borrow another car..Mom,Me,G,Ritz and Paarth went in the cold winter..though baby slept almost entire journey. 2nd Jan -- had a New Year party in the eve at Parkway..was tensed baby will create havoc but peacefully slept entire time. breast feeding going on normally now and baby playing more.

Feb 2010: Started going to ofc, sis came for 10 days..took Paarth with her when she left..was again tensed how baby will sleep with mom but turned out he adjusted well. naps for mom & baby from 2-5, then playing with baby. Grandpa now spending more and more time with baby tellign stories.

March 2010: Baby turned on back..1st major milestone achieved..parents left last week of march. 1 week stayed at home to take care of baby..did everything for baby ..njoyed very much...last week in-laws came.

Apr 2010: Went to Chicago for 3 day trip. 7hrs drive one way, baby did pretty well, now can tke for longer trips :) Did baby's Anna Prasaana in Hindu temple..

May 2010: 6 months completed for baby..going out for walks with grandparents in the evening and then interacting with others, started solid foods.

June 2010: baby started crawling, now can move about everywhere, have to be careful with everything.

July 2010: Went to LA-LV-san Diego with baby and in-laws. In-laws left for India, started puttign baby to Day care. got 1st cold. 2nd week of day care not going well, baby crying a lot

Aug 2010: Baby not ready for daycare, staying at home with baby..went to India for 1 month, attended 2 weddings.

Sept 2010: Back to EP, baby still not gettign adjusted at day care. weather changed , Went back to India to leave baby at in-laws

Oct 2010: Missing baby, started gym, work going on fine.

Nov 2010: Same routine..Started TT, Won $150 at Mystic Lake on Thanksgiving. Started Salsa class with hubby.

Dec 2010: Missing baby but happy he is njoying. Celebrated X'mas with new group of frnds, was absolute fu..now waiting for 1 more day for new year..

Once more an Aunt

Once more an aunty to 2 beautiful twin baby girls.

25th Dec 2010 - Merry X'mas ..How the celebrations changed over time

I still remember as a young kid ..how excited I got on X'mas day. At this time we stayed in Khadki, Pune. Morning after breakfast we would go to Jaihind bakery in Kirkee market and get a nice yummy x'mas cake with Santa on top. This we would take to my parents family friends house(Samuel Uncle) and after a delicious lunch of chicken, rice and other delicacies..we would return home in the evening with the Santa toy which we collected as part of our collection.
Few years down the line we moved to Dehuroad and our neighbors were Christians, so for another 10 years or so both families celebrated it as a joyous occasion with lots of good food, drinks and festive cheer.
Then we moved to our own home at Pimple Gurav..still for X'mas we always got a cake and some wine, we did have some friends come over for good cheer.
But nowadays there is really not much celebration left. It is just a phone call from parents to their friends, just a small cake bought at home and some good cheer with the family.

MILLIE'S MOTHER'S RED DRESS

MILLIE'S MOTHER'S RED DRESS


It hung there in the closet

While she was dying, Mother's red dress,

Like a gash in the row

Of dark, old clothes

She had worn away her life in.



They had called me home

And I knew when I saw her

She wasn't going to last.



When I saw the dress, I said

"Why, Mother - - how beautiful!

I've never seen it on you."

"I've never worn it," she slowly said.

"Sit down, Millie - - I'd like to undo

A lesson or two before I go, if I can."



I sat by her bed

And she sighed a bigger breath

Then I thought she could hold.

"Now that I'll soon be gone,

I see some things.



Oh, I taught you good - - but I taught you wrong."

"What do you mean Mother?"

"Well - - I always thought

That a good woman never takes her turn,

That she's just for doing for somebody else.

Do here, do there, always keep

Everybody else's wants tended and make sure

Yours are at the bottom of the heap."

"Maybe someday you'll get to them.

But of course you never do.

My life was like that - - doing for your dad,

Doing for the boys, for your sisters, for you."

"You did - - everything a mother could."

"Oh, Millie, Millie, it was not good - -

For you - - for him. Don't you see?

I did you the worst of wrongs.

I asked for nothing - - for me!"



"Your father in the other room,

All stirred up and staring at the walls - -

When the doctor told him, he took

It bad - - came to my bed and all but shook

The life right out of me. 'You can't die,

Do you hear? What'll become of me?'

' What'll become of me?'

It'll be hard, all right when I go.

He can't even find the frying pan, you know."

"And you children - -

I was a free ride for everybody, everywhere.

I was the first one up and the last one down

Seven days out of the week.

I always took the toast that got burned,

And the very smallest piece of pie."

"I look at how some of your brothers

Treat their wives now

And it makes me sick, 'cause it was me

That taught it to them. And they learned,

They learned that a woman doesn't

Even exist except to give.

Why, every single penny that I could save

Went for your clothes, or your books,

Even when it wasn't necessary.



Can't even remember once when I took

Myself downtown to buy something beautiful - -

For me."

"Except last year when I got that red dress.

I found I had twenty dollars

That wasn't especially spoke for.

I was on my way to pay extra on the washer.

But somehow - - I came home with this big box.

Your father really gave it to me then.

'Where you going to wear a thing like that to - -

Some opera or something?'

And he was right, I guess.

I've never, except in the store,

Put on that dress."



"Oh Millie - - I always thought if you take

Nothing for yourself in this world

You'd have it all in the next - - somehow

I don't believe that anymore.

I think the Lord wants us to have something - -

Here - - and now."

"And I'm telling you , Millie, if some miracle

Could get me off this bed, you could look

For a different mother, 'cause I would be one.

Oh, I passed up my turn so long

I would hardly know how to take it.

But I'd learn, Millie.

I would learn!"



It hung there in the closet

While she was dying, Mother's red dress,

Like a gash in the row

Of dark, old clothes

She had worn away her life in.

Her last words to me were these:

"Do me the honor, Millie,

Of not following in my footsteps.

Promise me that."

I promised.



She caught her breath

Then Mother took her turn

In death.

~Carol Lynn Pearson~

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

"What's in a name" the all famous phrase from Shakespeare that we all know about. This is about how Indian women have to change to their husbands name after wedding. In earlier days it was a necessity but nowadays women are more liberal and tend to add their husbands name to their surname.
For me I never gave it much of a thought as I did not think I would change my name bcoz that was the identity I grew up with but due to some govt formalities I had to go for a name change after wedding and I decided to change it to my husbands name.
Now if you ask me about it I really don't care one way or the other. I love both my dad and my husband a lot and keeping ones name and dropping the others does not really change any equation..so as i said initially - What's in a name"? you are still the same person you used to be :)

Luck Riding High!

Nov 27th 2010 - 4 days of thanksgiving holidays, what do you do if there are no trips planned for this one, well laze, laze and then laze some more :) I had a pretty consistent schedule all 4 days, wake up by 10:30, prepare break-fast, lunch, then read my books, nap from 4-6, gym, bath, cook dinner, watch a movie, goodnite.
Well Saturday hubby was really bored and decided to go to the Casino to play Cosmic Bingo. We went a lot the first year we were here, last year I had my precious little baby to tend to....so I skipped the casino entirely.
Cosmic Bingo was to start at 11:00 pm. We reached by 10..so decided to try some blackjack, well luck was definitley my side as I hit 3 Blackjacks(dont recall the last time I got a profit :)), after getting a profit of $15 we left for Bingo.
Cosmic Bingo is always fun with the lights & music. On the 4th card I was waiting for 1 number to complete my horizontal line and then she called - G-49. Bingo I screamed, my ticket no was read and I won $100. Then I was called on stage to spin a board and I won another $50 and a %20 bingo voucher. Well!Well, someone's luck was really riding high.

10 pros & Cons of leaving my baby in India

Top 10 Pro's
1) He is in India :)
2) He gets to spend time with his grand-parents
3) He can breathe fresh air daily, not stay indoors in the winter here
4) He can lead a diaperless life :)(this is my personal favorite)
5) He can mingle with relatives and lots & lots of other people
6) He can eat well cooked home food everyday
7) He gets to attend all the festivals
8) He escapes the cold winter
9) I get to laze as much as I want
10) Me & Hubby get time to spend with each other

Top 10 Cons
1) I miss my baby
2) Miss Hugging him
3) Miss kissing him
4) Miss his smiles
5) Miss his bites
6) Miss his laugh
7) Miss his cries
8) Miss carrying him
9) Miss putting him to sleep
10) Miss! Miss! Miss him

Diwali - 2010

This year Diwali we decided to have a Diwali get-together at Eden prairie, not many people around, the total group consisted of about 25 people. Officially Diwali was on 5th Nov but due to high booking of party hall we got it the following week-end on 14th Nov.

Girls were requested to do a dance and so were the boys. Girls dutifully started their practise 2 weeks in advance. I was in the games team, I decided to organize Bingo/tam bola.. we also decided on Treasure hunt, had to decide on the the hiding places, the clues, organizing is quite an effort.

Finally on the d-day the program which was scheduled to start at 5 was an hour late as all the pretty ladies had to get ready in their Saree's. All looked lovely for the delay :) next was the Diwali pooja, followed by treasure hunt, it was fun to see all adults running around the whole apartment complex as kids.
After starters was the next game- pass a polo using toothpics, then was the much awaited perform aces by girls and Boys, followed by dinner and then Bingo.
After this it was dance by all which was a blast. Cleaning the hall and went back to our homes ended the great day.

Happy Birthday Son

12-Nov-2010: You are loved a lot and may God bless you on this Special Day!

Happy Diwali

5th Nov 2010: Diwali day and I am in office. Nothing much to do , called home, wished family and relatives. Will go home at noon and cook some sweet dish :)
Today a year back was when my parents with my nephew visited us in US.
I still remember me and G going to the airport in the afternoon and waiting for them at the terminal.
As passengers poured out of the exit my eyes were scanning for them all the time. Finally I saw my dad, Mom and my baby nephew walk out. Joy knew no bounds to see them after almost an entire year.

Why do we miss people?

Why is it that we miss someone in life. I for one person tend not to miss much in life, normally I am content and happy with whereever I am, if not I try to make my surrondings happy :). Ofcourse there are days that I miss being at home and likes but soon I get out of it.
But now I miss someone, someone very very precious to me and that is my first born baby.
I know he is happy at his grandparents, absoutley sure he has no reminisince of me but I miss him so bad, at times I have tears in my eyes when I think I am not with my baby.
Well, what's stopping me from leaving everythign and going to him, you may ask?
Here is where the practicality sets in, we will be together after 3-4 months, till then I'll have to live with his memories :)

Love you my baby.

Importance of being Parents

I think that one never really understands the true value of parents till you become one yourselves. Right now I want to protect my baby boy from all the troubles in the world, I know I would worry like hell if he would get sick, I want to protect him so that he does not fall down while trying to stand because one tear from him will break my heart. And this is when I think about the n number of times I have fallen down while playing...I never cared about falling down but now I think how much my parents must have worried. Growing up my I went to school and played with kids in the colony, mom cooked, washed our clothes, helped us in our studies, woke us in the mornings but no big deal I thought --that is what all moms did and dad went to office to work, I hardly saw him when I was a kid..but again that is what all dads did..No big deal......Teenage life I was most of the time out with friends..though as a family we did have vacations all over India...There was a time when I though my parents did not even like me much..nothing that they said or did but just my thoughts...In my First year of college I had to undergo a minor surgery and 1 week later we had to go for the check-up...Once the doctor removed the stitches I don't know if it was seeing him do it or the medicine smell as soon as I came out I fainted. Unfortunately for me, my finger got jammed in the door and my first and only fainting of life till day lasted not more than a minute or two. The doctor came out and said everything was fine. But it was later I came to know that within that 2 minutes my mom fainted and my dad had tears in his eyes. That is when I realized and I knew for sure that my parents would be heart-broken if anything happened to me, they loved me so much, they would be shattered.

After this I realized that so many times we take what moms do like cooking, waking early and making break-fast, as granted but it in fact is a tremendous chore to do. I don't fuss over food, never did even as a kid..nor at my place nor anyone else coz I understand the pains a mom has gone to get that done.
Dads--working in office from day to nite just so that we can be happy..staying by our side when we are sick..just so that we can sleep well.
Luv u both M&D

To my Darling Baby

7th Oct 2010
My dearest baby boy,
I never knew I could feel such unconditional love the way I feel for you. I never knew I could love someone so selflessly the way I love you. I never knew that I could give up my beauty sleep for you. This and many many other things which I though I never could or would do I would do only for you.
On Nov 12th 2009 when the nurse first game you in my arms, it was love at first sight ........then started the sleepless nights of feeding you/changing you, making sure you are fine.At night even if you stirred a little I would wake up, spend as many hours holding you while you were sleeping and not putting you in the bed to make sure you had a good sleep ans you would wake up when you were put on the bed. After 3 months when I started working I had already got in the habit of the morning and nightly routines and was no longer tired waking up 4-5 times at night to feed you.
Slowly you started smiling, we all were thrilled to see you smile for the first time, we enjoyed playing with you, you tried to turn on your tummy and we encouraged your every little move. Soon you started crawling around and then there was no stopping where you would reach.
Your food intake included solids now, so I had to start cooking and feeding you food, it was a joy to see you eat.
At 9 months we had to leave you at the day care......for a week you were fine..and then whenever we left you there you would cry.It broke our hearts to see you cry.I literally stopped going to work to take care of you. 1 month down we travelled to India,I was worried whether you would adjust in a new country . You were so excited, happy being there.
On returning back the climate in US had changed, summer was over and winter started..we could no longer take you out, you would cling to daddy's leg in the evenings..neither were you happy being at the day care. Finally with a lot of pain we decided to leave you in India for 5 months during the winter.
A very very difficult decision to live without you but all the time we were thinking about yours and only your happiness.
1 week after we had returned from India I travelled back to drop you at India. My heart broke when I left you there, the only consolation i had was your happiness.
Today it's exactly a week since I left you but there is not a single moment that i don't think about you.
Let me tell you this my baby- we both love you a lot and miss you a lot!!
Hope you enjoy your stay in India and cant wait to get you back in my arms-my motapi

Baby Food- Tried till now

Little upma and pureed carrot
Steamed Apple
Steamed Prunes and Apricot
Steamed Apple
Steamed Spinach
Steamed Beetroot

Food for my baby

Now that in-laws have left and I am solely incharge of my son, I intend to do away with store bough baby food and cook them on my own.
Well I did right that but wait a minute - he just does not eat them.
Whoa! this is not what I had in mind, so now I have to try various tips and tricks to get him eating.
Will be jotting them down.

Steam apple pieces, offer as finger foods- refuses to open mouth after first bite.....
Feel sorry for myself, try to put it in his mouth by doing various antics but no luck- have to throw it.

Steamed apple again , this time pureed it in mixie- baby gobbles it up.
Sat: July 24th : Baby is down with cold, cannot give him his favorite banana ..
Morn: gave him a readymade pear/strawberry/granola fruit which was the last of the store bought.

Lunch- Boiled spinach in shallow water and pureed. Added some rice cereal to this. Baby loved it.

Eve: Bread piece.

Night: Cauliflower pureed with mango--he seemed to like this too

Tagged by Reflections

Today I have been tagged by (author of Reflections). Looks quite an interesting tag- ‘My Sins against Gender-Stereotypes’. We are supposed to list at least ten things you have ever wanted or done which your gender is not supposed to do .And you must tag twelve blogging friends or else you will be cursed to wear blue clothes pants if you are a woman and pink shirts if you are a man – for next twelve years.

I had been tagged quite some days back but saw the comment only today hence the delay....

1) To get topless @home or outside --would just love to do this.

2) Hate putting make-up, getting dressed up or for that matter even combing my hair.

3) As a kid I was with guys all the time, my neighbors were 2 guys and the only kids around at that time climbing trees , scaling walls, trying stunts on cycle...:)

4) Never helped my mom in cooking/cleaning/ironing......namely any household stuff, it was all done my my sister.
5) Love gambling and expert on any card games

6) Hate hate taking girly walks and gossiping, instead would spend time playing some games.

7) Hate reading Mills@Boons novels, tis too girly for me :)

8) Love love love blue color.

9) Hate shopping, I get easily bored after 15-20 minutes.

10) Lazy like hell, love to do nothing and sleep on the couch

Here Nancy..I have done my tag and thanks for tagging me :)

I tag Scorpio, pink dogwood and sulo badri

A Love Poem

I dont know when it started
But I know it's true
All my thoughts now enclose You!

Whenever we are out
I always take a peek
And its your eyes that I seek

Even though I may not say it often
Looking at your moods I soften
Keeping to myself my wishes my frustration

Do you realize the essence
In the increase of my patience
I hope you realize I love to be wanted
And not always taken for granted

July 4th 2010 Trip

July 4th 2010: This year we had in-laws here and so decided to go to Las Vegas / Los Angeles. Now you can find my earlier trip details to Vegas here.

This time I had an option to stay at home with my bay for 4 days but hubby dear told very sweetly that we should come (that is what I recollect) though after the trip-- when I mentioned it was the worst trip till date(you will soon know why), he asked me why did I come? which would contradict my earlier statement.

All travel arrangemetns were done by hubby to which I had no clue off, all I knew was that we were flying to LV on a 4:00 pm flight (Fri- 2nd July). I shopped for 3 consecutive days prior to our departure. We were in all 11 of us going.5 from our family. My in-laws, hubby, baby and myself. Another family and 3 bachelors.
July2nd (Fri) we reached the airport got our boarding passes, passed through the Security check and boarded the flight. it was my baby's first air-travel and he seemed to be njoying it. We reached LV by 5:15 pm (local time PST which is 2 hours behind our time.)Baby pooped and had to clean him, the restroom was crowded, baby clung to me whole time was really difficult to clean him and get him out of there, anyway once that was done,we took a shuttle to the rental office. Two cars were booked to take us to the hotel. The other friend who was supposed to drive forgot his license. As I was the only other driver available I had to drive the other vehicle. So my family sat with hubby (who was one of the driver) and I was officially the chauffeur for the others.

We reached the hotel(Stratosphere) by 8 pm, got ready , went to a nearby Indian restaurant for yummy dinner and then went to Bellagio to see th dancing fountain. All co-ordintation witht he other party happened over the phone.we did not meet them and as it was already 12 pm we decided to head back to the hotel.
Once we all reached back we went up the tower to take a look at the breath-taking view and from there back to our comfy beds.

3rd July 2010(Saturday) - We decided to leave the hotel by 10 am , do a quick tour of the Strip and then head to the airport to fly to LA. But the others in the team decided to again head to the towers, we(me ,hubby and my sleeping baby) waited in the room for them..no camera to take pics :( as that was with my FIL.
When they returned there was no time except for lunch at the Indian restaurant and then back to the rental to return the car and then to the airport. Again we checked in for our 1 hr flight to LA. It was a tough task to carry all the luggage plus the baby (in shifts ofcourse)
We reached LA by 4:00 pm, again took the car and drove to Venice Beach which is supposedto be the oldest beach in California. Played for some time in the water and then it was a 2 hr drive to San Diego. We started to drive back by 9pm. I wanted to be with my baby but could not as I was chauffering..:(. Finally we reached the hotel at San Diego at 1 am which is 3 am for us officially. My back ached and hands and legs hurt..infact I ha dslight fever and was totally not up to go anywhere the next day.

4th July 2010(Sunday): My baby woke up at 6:30 am, my head hurt hard..I did not want to open my eyes. In-laws and hubby were ready , I did not want to move but had to, finally got dressed took some medicine and drove to San Diego. Weather was chilly - I had packed light clothes..was cold and miserable.
At Sea world we sawthe different shows like Pets Rule, Blue Horizon, Sea Lion and Otter Show, Shamu's Show. All were fun. we did not wait for the spectacular July 4th fire-works as we had a 2 hr drive back to LA.
We reached LA hotel at 12:00 pm and after a dinner of Pizza we slept off.

5th July 2010 (Monday): Today's destination was Universal. Me and Hubby decided to stay back with the baby but again since we were the drivers we had to take the rest off te gang to th Studios, after leaving them there , had to come back to the hotel, check-out and then we went to the Kodak Theatre. Fromt here we went to Griffith Park and then finally to City Walk where we met rest of the team and drove back in our respective cars to the rental and then to LA. We had a late night flight and we reached home early in the morning. No sleep inthe plane of course.

To summarize I could not spend time with my family, my baby and all the fatigue added to it.
Worst trip till date.
Epilogue- No more driving for us on our next vacation. it is too tiresome
Photos will be coming soon.

Blog 23 - Last blog of the marathon

Today is the last day to post officially, to keep a commitment to myself to write for the month of June.
Thanks to Preeti by whose blog I was motivated to take this challenge.

Another thanks to Scorpio who visited my blog daily after a certain point of time and left her comments.

I am happy that I have re-started blogging and hope to do so............

Blog 22 - My Proverb

I believe in this particular saying "Whatever happens, happens for the BEST."
I am a strong believer of this, and this is what makes me going in LIFE.

However hurt you maybe at a particular incident or at that time you may feel why me-- always believing that God intended it for a reason helps.

It makes you calm faster. It has always worked for me.

Whenever in life I have been through bad times, things that I think should not have happened to me.......something always happens later which makes me realize that what happened in the past happened for good.

That's my proverb...........what's yours??

Blog 21- Been Tagged finally :)

I went reading Preeti's blog for today and guess what - I was tagged before I reached the end..
Yup yup I decided to take the tag...so here it is.

1. What curse word do you use the most?
Oh Fish........

2. Do you own an iPod?
I gifted my husband one...but that is his to use..so technically I don't own one.


3. What person do you talk to on the phone the most?
Mommy

4. Do you still remember the first person you kissed?
Yup--very much

5. Do you remember where you were on 11/9/01?
Very clearly..Dehuroad, Pune

6. What was the last movie you watched?
Karthik calling Karthik

7. Has anyone ever called you lazy?
Me myself..yeah am big critic of myself

8. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep?
Not required till now.

9. Has anyone told you a secret this week?
Sadly No, I miss my friend who would tell things with the first dialogue being.."But dont tell this to anyone, ok" :)

10. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Just a connection that I might feel with them...

11. What are you looking forward to?
Shopping for ongoing trip to LA/LV

12. Do you own any band t-shirts?
None...........

13. What will you be doing in one hour?
Still @work..........documenting work done.

14. Is anyone in love with you?
Yeah....my hubby and baby and parents

15. Last time you cried?
Thu afternoon..lots and lots bcoz I did something really silly, does not look so silly to others

16. Are you on a desktop computer or a laptop?
Desktop Computer--the slowest in the ofc I think :(

17. Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos?
Not for me

18. Would you ever date anyone covered in tattoos?
Nope

19. What were you doing before this?
Having lunch

20. When is the last time you slept on the floor?
Sept 2008, EP..when we jsut moved to US and had no beds.

21. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
Min 8 , Max: infinity :)

22. Do you eat breakfast daily?
Oh Yeah..MY MIL prepares yummy food which just cannot be resisted..really heavy ones too.

Anyone reading this is tagged..especially you Scorpio...waiting to read what you have to say.
I got the tag details at preeti's blog here

Blog 20 - Nursery Rhymes for my baby

Nursery Rhymes are very important for babies to listen too and so is music .(read it somewhere)

so while I am too lazy to open the laptop and out on music I make my own songs for my little baby to put him to sleep.

I knew I should have noted most of them ....

Here is one of them.

My baby boy, I so shy

He does not cry

He wears no tie

He tells no lie

So time to say

Bye- bye

Another one is...

All you people, listen to me

I'll give you a big kick

Bcoz my name is Ritvik

One more

Oh Sleep Fairy come and give my sweetu baby some sleep today

All this I sing with made up music.

Blog 19 - Graduation Party

Today for the first time in US I attended a Graduation party. In India, graduation means whne you are done with your studies, unless you plan to do Post- Graduation.....mostly engg, 3 yr degree college or something like that.but here it is so common, even a kid going from pre-school to school graduates to it and I am not sure if parents have a party for that as well...

Since June first week is when typically school ends here the month of June and July will be full of graduation parties. If you happen to stay at a housing area, you will see lots of garages hosting them.

So since this was the first time I really did not know what to expect, but it was a good experience.

The party was arranged in the front yard and very informal. Lots of food was laid out with lots of sweet dishes too but we really could not eat all that.

All in all a fun event.

Blog 18 - Holiday Inn

Today I went to Holiday Inn, there was a company meeting hosted there. The sole purpose for me to go there was to check out the hotel, I had no interest whatsoever in the company meeting and in office there was not much work...

I have already been to Westin and Sheraton, so time to check out a new place.

It was not like the Holiday Inn in India and outside it looked like any Motel 8, with just 2 floors of accommodation I believe....

On entering in one has to cross the indoor pool to reach the hall that we were seated in. Quite a nice thing they had done with the pool with sculptures around it and tables arranged by the side for lunch.

The session had the usual breakfast with bagels, muffins, coffee.................

Lunch was a really good affair with Pasta, Salad, Chicken breast and soup..All the items tasted delicious...I should have put it in their feed back form but left a little early so as to not hit peak traffic.

So in all it turned out a good event, well the session was not 2 bad either :)

Blog 17- What do you do when you realize you are the "guilty"

All the while when he was not talking, you thought it is his problem. You analyzed and reanalyzed the past days and knew you had done no wrong.

You were wondering why he was behaving so childish.

Wasn't he mature enough to realize he should keep his feelings to himself?

Why trouble you and others?

And then out of the blue it comes, the reason for all his behavior is YOU.

When he pours it out, the realization hits you like lightening.

It is you who caused him all this trouble.

It was you whom he was trying to protect all this time

You were the sole reason for all the pain.....and what do you do when you know it hurts so bad , even saying SORRY a thousand times will not erase the pain.

Blog 16 - My current read

Today I chanced upon Chetan Bhagat's new novel - 2 State. The Story of my Marriage.

Started to read and I am already hooked, quite hilarious too, tickles the funny bone.

I have read his past books- Five Point Someone, One Night at a Call Center, 3 Mistakes of my Life...........................

Lets see how this ends for me?

Blog 15 - Why are we affected by other's moods?

Strange as it may seem - as humans we are very much affected by not only our mood, but also the mood of our loved ones.

Even though we know it is entirely up to them how they want to behave and no fault of ours we still our depressed when people we love the most our depressed.

Why cant people just keep their grumpy moods to themselves and show only their best side...

Why don't they realize that their being in a bad mood will only spoil others mood too.

Why don't they understand that the are hurting people who care for them, where as those who don't care are really not bothered.

Am sure anyone reading this will also be depressed.

Be happy as life is too precious too waste over silly things.

Blog 14 - Cornbread@Redstone

Today I tried some cornbread & maple Syrup from Redstone which a colleague had left at office and it was simply delicious.
Initially I did not want to try it but after taking one bite-- it was 2 delicious to resist.
They have the recipe on the website but I cannot bake & eat my own..prefer to get it ready-made.
Wish I had my camera to take the pic

Blog 13- Sunday shopping dissapointment

Sunday I decided to get out and do some long awaiting shopping, gathered some friends and decided to go to a outlet mall. GPS could not give correct address , so after hunting for an hour, decided to ditch that plan and go to another mall nearby.....Went to 3- different shops but did not find anything that fit me :(...I have to seriously decrease some weight.

Came back with nothing-- will have to do some shopping over the week-days

Blog 12 - boring Saturday

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz me & Ritz slept from 11 - 2pm, that actually sums my Saturday.

Blog 11- Hurray - tis Friday

Long time now today we have a good summer weather for Friday and expectations are that weather is good for the week-end tow. In fact today evening there were no kids outside, everyone must have gone out..sad bcoz we were the only ones outside with 2-3 little ones.Played some throw ball & spent time with Ritvik as usual :) baby kutti needs mamma's attention big time now.

Luv u my sweetu pie......

Blog 10 - Lunch & a celebration

Today we had lunch outside sort of a celebration for a project we just completed...We went to Big Bowl on France Avenue-- that seems to be the place we go for celebrations.

I had the usual from the Stir Fry bar-- wanted to eat shrimps from a long time so ordered shrimps as the protein, but disappointed as very few pieces of shrimp was present.

Normally after eating this I am so full I cant touch another morsel but somehow this time I managed a full filling desert as well.. chocolate brownie with coconut ice-cream...so much calories at once.....and also checked my weight today..was 148 lbs... need to decrease....

Blog 9 - Vision Exam & a hectic day

For the past 1 week I have been having a bad eye pain- head pain...not sure if my number has changed or is it just the weather...but don't feel like doing anything with this nagging pain...
So anyways yesterday I decided to go for a eye-checkup-- so here in US you have to first make you go to someone who is covered under your Insurance Plan..so having taken an appointment I called my Insurance twice to confirm my plan and also whether the doctor was covered. They said the doc was In-network and also I was covered 100% after the co-pay.
Evening 5 pm I went for my appt and when they called my insurance to verify, they said they could not pull my records. Phew!!
The doctor called them and spoke and after dilly-dallying for 30 minutes they could not find anything. I had to return without my eye-check up done.
Now I think it might be just a dry eye and will put some drops in my eyes and go to bed.
So much for being in US and having insurance.

Blog 8 - Day to day activities

Thinking again on a writing prompt for today --let me put out my day to day activities as is today.

6:30 am - Ritvik kept tossing this way and that, had to keep one eyes open to see he was awake, eventually he slept of, but I woke up-- got some work done till 7:30 am.

Baby boy got up at 7:30 am...played till 8..fed him, changed him and then went to get ready for ofc.

9-had breakfast--fed Ritvik again and left at 9:45 to office.

till 5 @ofc..

back @5:30 - play with Ritvik.

@6- Ritvik goes out with grand-parents, me go to play volleyball or throwball.

@7 Ritvik is back - need to feed him his fruits

15 mins of play again outside--if the weather is good- take Ritz also,

@8 back to home--play with Ritz, @9 give him his bath, feed him and he sleeps by 9:45 - 10 pm

@laptop for some time and sleep by 11:30 pm

Goodnite--satisfied day...

Blog 7 - What are the five best bands you've seen play live?

Today's writing prompt at NaBlopomo was

What are the five best bands you've seen play live?

Well - this was a easy one-- I have never seen any band live--there ends my blog ..:)

Actually having a bad headache today- I think my eyes needs a check-up and had to write for the blog--so decided to pick whatever writing prompt was there on the website and jot down..luckily for me --today's wa sa easy one.

Let's see what tomorrow has in store?

Blog 6 - Minnesota Zoo

Today's blog is today's outing that we had to Minnesota Zoo... Weather had rain predictions but still we decided to go out to the Minnesota Zoo as we had already got 2 free passes from our local library. At 11:30 after lunch we left and reached the zoo at 12:00.

Immediately on entering one can notice the large area of land that has been utilized for building the zoo.almost like a mini-forest... Ritvik was asleep in the car, on entering the zoo we woke him up as we wanted him to see the various animals. We followed the Grizzly bear trail where we saw various different animals like leopard, Cheetah, Deer, Snow Monkeys, Leopard, Otter, Wild Boar, Caribou...most of them were just lazing around........................ Then we went on the Northern Trail where we saw Camel, Wild Horse, Bison, Moose, Tiger,Prairie Dog, Takin

After this we went to the Tropical Zone which had may tropical birds, Coral Reef and reptiles zone.

At 3:00 there was a Kayate Bird Show which was pretty impressive, they spoke about conservation and how we can help....

Returned home by 4 pm....

Blog 5 - What is Ritvik doing today?

June 12th 2010:- Today my baby completed 7 months and is starting his 8th month. He can crawl on all 4 around the house, he can blabber non-stop...he has started eating solid foods.... when he is tired or sleepy he will cryyyyyy--amma.....amma...........

He giggles non-stop when he sees his Dad, he will play and laugh at ppl he recognizes but mind you in a set of strangers, not one word from him...

When mommy is at home he needs mommy's attention non-stop...

Come a long way from the tiny baby we bought home from the hospital...

Blog 4 - June11th:Thinking of topic for today

Yesterday onwards for a week we have a 1 week training on BIDS-Business Intelligence Development Studio, this is the new BI tool (new for me) from Microsoft.

So many tools and so less time- Already 2 days into the training I learnt Analytical Services and Dashboard Designer--pretty impressive huh!!, if nothing else, I can mouth these huge words :)

Teaches you only one thing--Can never leave education behind.

Blog 3 - June10th:Always be grounded

Today was hectic mentally not physically--just because there was a major issue @ work.....I goofed up just beacuse of my carelessness...makes you realize not to be over-confident in anything and keeps your gounded.

Was a well learnt lesson.............

Everything at work was going gr8 and was too proud of myself..needed this jolt :)

Believe int he saying--Al's well that ends well.

Blog 2 - Boooooooks -June9th 2010

June9th 2010- Blog 2
Again inspired by preeti's post I have t note down my obsession with books. Right from childhood I love books.....Fortunately we had a good library near to where we stayed and I always made it a point to take books from there..so initially I started reading Noddy books...whenever we went to kerala on vacations we always brought books at Pune stand which would include Amar chitra katha, jakata tales, panchantantra and twinkle magazines.....we also happened to subscribe to fortnightly Reader's Digest magazines.
In middle school I got interested in Archie comics, nancy drew, hardy boys and oh of course EnidBlyton books, I can go on reading it forever.
Famous Five, Malory Towers, St Clares..also at school when we got 1st rank we were awarded in annual functions and they always gave books as prizes...so that added to my treasure.
In high school or rather during my 10th std board exams study leave was when i read my first Sidney Sheldon- BloodLine--felt so much in love with it that after that I read the entire Sidney collection.. Reading Jeffrey Archer's The Prodigal daughter was an experience in itself, that lead me going through all of his books...then I read Micheal Crichton novels and many many others........
I started writing this because I also have to go to the library to get baby books for my son .....I hope he gets to be a good book reader as mommy.

Blog 1 - Week-end Outing

Well, it's been quite some time now that I have been neglecting my blogging skills- in fact I don't even realize that I have a blog account.

Well here I am actually inspired by Preeti (author of Just a mother of two) who has started this blog marathon for the month of July and I thought to myself, if she can do it at least I can try to do it 2 :)

So anyway - though I am starting a week late- will try to pen something for the whole month.

So today I am going to write about the Weekend outing that we had........to Minnehaha park and Crystal Caves.

Sunday morning or noon rather we all left in 2 separate cars. 1 car with 5 of us- in-laws , my sweetu and me and hubby and another one with Dev,Renu,Neha & Subash.. reached Minnehaha park by 1:00 pm. Luckily for us it had rained the previous nite and so we could get to see the falls.

After taking a lot of pics we decided to head back to the vehicle where as the others took a stroll by the park and joined us a few minutes back. Now my baby is quite well behaved in the car these days...he sleeps as soon as we drive..... :)

From here we headed for Crystal Caves which is at WI..mid-way we stopped at Subway for some lunch and reached the caves at 3:30 pm. The next tour of the caves was not until 4:10pm , so after buying tickets we pretty much lazed around and clicked away some pics......

Finally the tour started at 4:10..We had a tour guide who pretty much told us the story behind the caves formation and also all the different minerals you could find there. Ritvik got restless after sometime, I showed him the camera to distract him, but he took it and while taking it back from him, it fell down..so my camera which I had got when my baby was born is damaged and hence no more pictures till hubby decides to get another camera for me ......


The caves were not as I expected and bit of a disappointment. We reached home by 7 pm, a good game of volleyball followed with dinner at friends place to end the week-end.

Ritvik's Anna Prasannam

18th April 2010:
Today was my baby's Anna Prasannam, the first time he would be eating solid foods. The function was done at Maple Grove Hindu Temple at 1:00 pm. First there was a pooja for 30 mins and then we fed him the Anna Payasam, my babies first introduction to something other than milk :)
After that we had all our friends come home for lunch.
5 months into motherhood and it feels like a part of life which I would never want to miss.
To go back home after work and see my baby smile at me makes it all the more wonderful.
Gone are the days when sleep was one of the top priority. Nowadays my baby is my clock- i wake when he wakes and sleeps after he sleeps.
He is the one who directs my day-to-day need and I enjoy every moment of it.
At 5 months my baby is trying to crawl, he picks his butt and manages to go a little in the front but not completely, it will be pretty soon am sure :)
and then will start my endless runs behind him.