For Shuchi and her better half...

Wish you a Very Happy First Month Anniversary!!!

This is time when everything looks pink and perfect... 

There is a feeling of "love is in the air"...

The time when 24 hours ain't enough when together... 

And one minute seems a lifetime when apart..

Every little thing is cherished and celebrated and given more love...

The glow in the face and sparkle in the eyes...

More swing in the stride... More smile on the lips...

The feeling that every romantic song in the world was written just for the two!

The feeling that with you by my side I can win the world!

The feeling of oneness even in silence...  

The feeling that is more than love!

May you two live like this... always and forever!

Needless to say.. This post is dedicated to the two loving souls!

Knotty Tidbits: 10

Title: Moonlight Trail

A walk through the wild... In the moonlight... Hand in hand... 

These photos do not do any justice to what we experienced! It was such a wonderful feeling. 

The trail was lined on both sides with little serial lights. It was as though the little lights at our feet were leading us into another world...

At various spots on the trail, there were people with guitars, singing and playing their instruments. We were lost in the land of peace and calm.

There was light drizzle but the sky cleared up soon.

As an added bonus, we had a nice ride in the school bus from the parking lot to the moonlight trail. This happened at the Erna Nixon Park.

Where have I been?

It has been more than a month since I blogged! How time flies!

So what happened in the past one month? So many things! The long awaited return to California, our wedding anniversary, vacation, Black Friday shopping... Phew!

V got a bicycle for me! We bought it at Walmart on Black Friday. The bicycle was the only thing we did not buy online during the Black Friday! It was a struggle to get the bicycle into our trunk. And finally when we reached home, I rode the cycle in our packing lot. It still had all the pricetags, user manual and all hanging from it. :)

The last time I rode a bicycle was when I was twelve. Long time! I wasn't very good at cycling. I surprised myself; realized I could balance myself well enough! I was super excited! :)

I took it out next day too. We still did not have a helmet; so I was driving in the parking lot only. V was showing me how to apply brakes and I mimicked him...

... and fell down. Oh my God! As V said: "She fell off the bike in slow motion." I do not know if it was slow motion or not, but I hurt myself. I bruised my knee! Every time I bend my knee, the skin stretches and it hurts! It is not that bad now. It's healing!

By the way, in India, the back wheel brake is on the left handle bar. It is the opposite in the US! Little things... But they may have a greater impact while riding!

Landing a Plane

At the Astronaut Hall Of Fame, I tried a hand at landing a plane. Well! Not a real one! It was just a video game ;-)

In the very first try, I landed the plane smoothly, with no crash, nothing!!!

I felt so excited as a kid! Couldn't help taking a photo of it... and now... I am bragging about it in my blog! :-)

Miss you!

Wish we could catch up one last time before you both left for India... 
Missed you both... Miss you even more now!


Needless to say, this post is dedicated to Kash and Sravani!

Indian flag?

This was one of the first pictures that we took during our visit to Miami. We were overjoyed to see an "Indian" flag.

Later on we found the same flag on top of the Miami City Hall. 

Upon closer investigation, we realized that the centre of the flag was entirely different. And of course! It was flag of City of Miami and not our Indian flag. But it was nice to see something that reminded us of home! :)

"Pounding Flowers"

This was the title of the book that we came across in the Hobbies section of our library. The only tool required for pursuing this hobby is: a hammer!!!

What is the hobby about? It is to place a flower on a card or fabric, cover it up with a tissue  and hit on it with a hammer. The flower gets crushed and the dye sticks onto the card/fabric, making designs on the card/fabric. How strange!

So, if I understood the book correctly, to get a bouquet onto a card, I need a bouquet of flowers to stamp on! That seems crazy!

Quote...

... from Sidney Sheldon's autobiography..


When your English has an accent, it means you know one more language!

Private Screening?

We did not even know where the cinema theatre was! With GPS for our guidance, we ended up at a AAA office. Google does not show it right! 

Then we decided to get back onto the main road and proceed further. It helped! There stood the theatre all alone with very few cars in the parking lot. We were half an hour early for our show. We wandered around the theatre for sometime... then we went in and spent some more time looking at the posters and chatting about this and that! The time seemed to stand still.. or was our watch not working?! We bought popcorn and waited right in front of the screen that read: "The Rise of The Planet of Apes"

I never wanted to watch the movie and Vikram wanted to watch it on a 3-D screen. That evening we were thinking of watching Smurfs on 3-D. However the shows for the day were over and our next choice was "The Rise of The Planet of Apes". Luckily for me, the show was not a 3-D one! I am scared of watching movie without animation on 3-D screen. They seem so real.. and so much more scary!

Well, now here we were inside the theatre, just two of us. A couple of minutes later, four more people joined. But none of them were in our row, not even in the row in front of us or behind us! 

And I was the only girl who watched that show at that theatre!!!

V and I felt that it was more like watching the movie at home. We could talk with each other (discuss the scene) while we watched and there was no chance of anyone getting disturbed!

We loved the movie! And that was not it.. We got a free refill of popcorn too! ;-)

I would love to watch more movies at this theatre! It makes me feel... I am the Queen of the world! :-)

Vinayaka Chaturthi

Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi! :)


For the festival, I decided to make a Patchwork of Lord Vinayaka. It is still not complete with it borders, yet we used it for our puja this morning.


May Lord Vinayaka bless us with peace and happiness!

Egypt - Beer

Here is another post related to Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. Egypt's people got their drinking water from the river Nile. Nile carried a lot of waterborne diseases. To prevent them, the people drank beer instead of water! 

In some shops/bars, the beers were served in a cylindrical goblet made of clay. This goblet had a pointed bottom. This was to ensure that the customer could not put the goblet down and hence had to gulp down the entire beer.  And once the beer got over, he would want more! Nice business trick eh? :)

GPS! Oh Poor GPS!

Every time the GPS says: "Calculating" or "Re-calculating", we get impatient. During our previous long trip, it just wouldn't show the route. Finally, we realized the "Avoid Motorways" option was ENABLED! Hmm... And this time... the GPS was saying that the drive from Washington DC to New York would take 12hours. Why? Simple reason! "Avoid Toll" was ENABLED! We were cursing it so much. But a machine's mind is as intelligent as the human's who's operating it!!! :)

P.S: Finally when we disabled the "Avoid Toll" option, it seemed to show a route that had so many toll gates in between. We were wondering if the GPS was taking revenge on us! :)

Shoes Holder

We walk barefoot at home and I do not like loads of shoes right at the main door of our house. As it is a narrow corridor, there is no way I can keep a shoe rack. I had to think of some other option. Or may be my hands were itching to touch the sewing machine again! :)

Whatever be the reason, I can now proudly say that I sewed a shoes holder/organizer all by myself. Have a look at the tutorial here

P.S: I used to write the posts in Google docs and then publish them directly onto my blog. All of a sudden I do not see that button anymore. I verified in Google docs help. It says I can publish it as HTML page and give its link in my blogger. Alas! I can't directly publish from Google docs anymore! Hope the link works!

Sahityamlo Hasyam

Every day when I open the youtube home page, the first thing that I search for is "Sahityamlo Hasyam" This is a Telugu program by Dr. Garikipati Narasimha Rao. It is about Telugu language and literature with a twist of humour. He recites a number of funny Telugu/Sanskrit poems and explains the meaning of those. It is very funny to watch. I love it. We are supposed to have one episode per week. However for the past one month, no new episodes have been uploaded to youtube by the Teluguone channel.

I replay most of the episodes. I know some of the poems by heart. I love watching them. I laugh at the same funny poems again and again. It does not bore me at all.

I am very happy that Aditya told us about Dr. Garikipati Narasimha Rao and this program. If we hadn't known, we would have missed all those evenings of fun. V and I sit and watch this program together. It feels nice to share similar interests. Lucky me! :)

Oh TeluguOne! When will you upload new episodes of Sahityamlo Hasyam???

Muscle Joke: Spiderman

We were wondering what would happen to Spiderman's powers in a desert or at the sea. He will not have any building or structure to stick his web to. And so he will not be powerful!!! What do you say?? :-)

Almond Roca!

I can never stop with one piece of Almond Roca! It's just too tempting! Thanks to Cheenu Mama who got the first box of Almond Roca when I was in college. He had got dried prunes too! I was not a great fan of that! ;-)

Mmm.. Back to another piece of Almond Roca!! Got to stop this; actually got it for V, but I am the one having piece after piece! Thank God! We bought a bigger bag! :)

Maggi...

"Bus Do Minute..." is the way the Ad goes. But I never think we can make Maggi noodles in two minutes. It takes two minutes just for the water to start boiling! 

I have never been good at making noodles. I like them when my sisters make them for me. Sometimes they add groundnuts and onions and capsicum to noodles. When I had to stay in Chicago for a couple of months, I made noodles every other day. It was quicker and easier to make; and also fulfilling!

Now I am back to those days... Sitting at home all by myself... I feel lazy to make a proper meal for lunch! Maggi is a nice option. I think it's been more than half a year since I has Maggi! :)

Back to reading...

Yes, I am back to my long time hobby of reading... Over the period of time, I realize that I tend to read more of woman-oriented novels. Either the authors are women or the main protagonist in the story is a girl/woman. The previous two novels that I read (click here) were novels for young-adults. 

"The Summer Spies Moved In" (by Mary Locke) was about a Russian girl who comes to the US and is mistaken for a spy by a neighborhood girl. It portrays the differences between both the cultures. Ultimately the two girls become friends and they work together trying to uncover the actual spy!

The other one "The girl with the phony name" was a novel about a girl who was brought up in an orphanage and trying to come up in life. She does not know who her parents are and she goes in search of them. Meanwhile a person, who claims to be his father, tries to kill her. The one thing that made me feel sad: She is unable to apply for passport, as she does not have a birth certificate. Poor thing! This may be the plight of every orphan!

The latest book I read was "Triumph of Katie Byrne" by Barbara Taylor Bradford. I started this book while traveling from East coast back home during the long weekend. It is very different from the earlier books that I read of the same author. This may be her first detective novel and it did not have (m)any romantic scenes (you know what I mean! ;)) It is the story of Katie who aspires to become a theater-actor. She has two other childhood friends who share her same ambition. On a tragic night, her friends are brutally hit; one is murdered and the other lies in coma. Katie does not know if she can continue towards her goal of become an actor. It is her story, her triumph! 

I finished the three hundred odd pages in 2 days flat! Made V feel jealous that he is unable to give as much time to reading. He is reading a John Grisham novel ("The Rainmaker"). More on that novel later! ;-)

Sunglasses

I always thought that wearing sunglasses was not my thing. To me, some one wearing them looked like a blind person. I used to wonder what made people wear them. Now I know why!

After coming to California, I realize how harsh the sun can be to our eyes. With the roads in the east-west directions, the sunsets are tough times for driving. Don't we face similar situations in India? May be the horizon isn't this vast ... May be trees or buildings keep blocking the sun when it is closer to the horizon... Or may be... The roads are never in east-west directions... Hee Hee.. I never faced this problem in India. 

But being in California is a different story altogether. I remember the time when V almost skipped a red light because the sun was shining right into the eyes! Since then, we have been planning to purchase sunglasses.

It is so tough to select the perfect pair of glasses for our face. Some make our face look so large and others make us look like a don or dada... And then there are others that make us look like a guddi moham. Finally V and I zeroed-in on a pair that suited the structure of our face. We can say we are a proud owner of a pair of sunglasses. This might seem very silly to some of us, but I think it is a huge change in my perspective, that made me buy one for myself.

It was so relaxing to wear them while on a drive.

I also noticed this... After wearing the glasses for a long time, when we remove them, the world seems more brighter and clearer. Ever felt this way? :-)

I am now into sewing a perfect pouch for my sunglasses!

Knock! Knock!

A knock at the door... at the wrong time. 

Who is it? 

A man with a scribbling pad. 

What does he need? 

Some information for a survey. 

The Q & A begins:

"Are you from India?"

"Yes."

"Which part?"

"Hyderabad."

After asking N number of questions about where we are from, what we were doing, our interests in sports and exercises, he asks me if  I am interested in Acupressure and Massage. I say, "No" He asks me if my husband is at home. I shake my head yet again. He asks me if I would like to try a 5-minute demo of their Acupressure massage. I politely decline. Then he starts a lecture on how it can help my neck and back. I try to cut in and say I am not interested. Then he says he wants to get into the house to give a massage to me. A five minute one!

What nerve? He is also an Indian. In which case he should very well know that the Indian women do not prefer strange male hands on their necks... And trying to get into the house when husband is not around? Oh my God! I wish I had chain lock at the door!!!

Good Old Days - Parichay

Last night we saw Parichay - the old Hindi movie where Jeetendra is a teacher to 4 naughty children. The story line is similar to that of "The Sound of Music". My favorite song in it is Sa Re Ke Sa Re, Ga Ma Ko Lekar, Gaate Chale... Papa Nahin Ek Thaani Si Didi... Didi Ke Saath Hai Saarey!!


This song triggered a lot of childhood memories... The days when we all would go out for drive in our Jeep.. And all of us singing old Hindi melodies.. Appa would whistle along... 


Abhi Na Jao Chod Kar..., Tere Mere Sapney Ab Ek Rang Hai..., Jaaneman Jaaneman Tere Do Nayan..., Suhaana Safar Aur Ye Mausam Haseen...


If Paati joined us, we would sing devotional songs too!


We would stop at a dhaba for dinner... Sitting on a charpoy under the sky and having garam garam rotis.... Mmmm... Yummyyyyy!


Carefree lives... full of innocence and childlike fun! Miss those days!

Early Flights!

He is up and ready to catch his flight...
I want to get up and be with him as much as I can...
It will be weeks before I see him...
Yet sleep overpowers everything.. 

Good byes and sweet nothings...

Nothing gets registered...

That's why they book on flights that leave at wee hours of the morning...

Everyone is half-sleep and probably in the middle of some dream..

There are neither teary good-byes nor longing faces...

If one accompanies to the airport, 

They just want to get back home as soon as they can...

Under the warmth of the covers... get lost in the land of dreams...

If not to the airport, 

Then there is a rush to shut the door and get back to sleep...

Sleepy eyes and groggy mind...
No one feels anything...
Everything feels numb...
Sleep is an escape from reality...


By the time I get up, I feel he's left for office as every other day..
And will be back soon...


But as night falls, realization dawns...
There is a long night ahead..
And many more long nights before I see this man...
... who's become my world now!

Bun Certified Bava Programmer!

Only jokers from Mastimakerz can come up with a tag line like this!

We came across an old video of us taken during our trip to Nagarjuna Sagar. The video had Karthik looking at the camera and talking like a newsreader. He was teasing Spoo like this:

"She joined IMIS thinking it is IIMS. She is planning to do MBA from SBI. She knows a lot of programming languages like Bava 1.4, B, B++, B sharp, SQL, para SQL, MS home, FROG, RASCAL, Doors98. She has recently joined Macro Swift. She is Bun Certified Bava Professional!"

We could not help replaying the video several times and each time we laughed so hard that our tummies ached! Wish we could reverse the time and re-live those days again!

Even though the running commentary was Karthik's, this post has been dedicated to Spoo  because she is the one who always gives so many many chances for everyone to come up with new ways of pulling her leg!!! :-)

Birthdays with Mastimakerz!

The birthday celebrations with Mastimakerz were full of new methods... 

I can not forget the time when everyone snapped their fingers instead of clapping while I blew away the candles and they mouthed the happy birthday song silently while I cut the cake. What creativity!

There was also a time when someone stabbed the cake instead of cutting it. So weird!

Of course, there was a lot of running around for smearing cake on each others' faces... Nice facepack! And sometimes even on the dress or hair...

Gifts were never so easy to be got! The birthday baby had to snatch the gifts while the rest of us would keep throwing it around out of his/her reach. It was so much fun!

Threshold Hanging

This one is an example of how I love to reuse/recycle unwanted stuff.

With the packaging material that was a part of a postal parcel, I made a threshold hanging. It has been hanging across the entrance of our kitchen for the past couple of months. V does not like it and says it looks very childish. May be he is right; but till now, I was not able make up my mind to take it down.

I made garlands out of the U-shaped foam peanuts... each with varying lengths...

... And attached them to a horizontal strip of colorful fabric...

I made roses out of pink satin ribbon...

 ... And attached them to the fabric strip...

But it has to be taken down... And soon, a more beautiful ornament will decorate the threshold... V must be really happy with this decision! :)

Earth Day Special

Here is my contribution to the Earth Day: A doormat made out of jute bags.

The rice we buy comes in 10LB jute bags. I cut open a couple of those jute bags to use them a layers for the doormat. I used a yard of jute fabric as a topper for the mat.

I joined smaller pieces of the jute-bag fabric by hand. Then joined all the layers together. At regular widths of 4-inches, I made stitches along the length of the fabric. This is to make the doormat more sturdy.

Using a colorful shiny fabric, I made ruffles and attached it to the doormat at the centre.

I cut the same shiny fabric into thin long strips and attached them as borders to four edges of the mat.

The doormat is reversible too! Like it? :)

Trip Around The World

As Donna said, this project is indeed a success! I finally completed the Trip Around the World quilt and it fits the top of our dining table too! :)

As mentioned in my earlier post, this quilt was for my dining table and it was short by a couple of inches and I was worried that it would end up as a decoration on the wall. 


But no! With Donna's help, I was able to get it into a better shape. I added 4-inch strips on either ends of the quilt to make it fit the length of the table.

I took help from Donna's site and also from this site. Without the links I would have been joining square after square and would have taken months to complete! 


I am on cloud nine today!!! :-)

Lamp Decoration

This post has been long pending; but I thought better late than never! :-)

Around the time of our first anniversary, V and I painted with our bedside lamp with our palm prints. Ain't it beautiful?

You should have seen the look on his face when he pressed his hand on the paint. It was as though he was trying to swallow some bitter medicine. He never likes any mess!

But I had lot of fun doing it. It added a personal touch to our bedroom. Here is a before shot of the lamp - just for comparison!

If you are wondering about the lamp shade, click here for the post.

Project failed?

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I have been working on a "Trip Around the World" quilt for the past couple of weeks/months. I always wanted this one to be perfect and I did not mind the slow-but-steady progress.

This quilt was intended for my dining table.

Yesterday, I joined the three layers (front, batting, backing) and trimmed the edges. Before finishing off the edges with borders, I placed it on top of the table. 

What do I see? 

The size is short by a couple of inches on each side of the table. All my months of putting up with straining eyes, aching neck, long hours at the sewing machine etc. etc. has all been a waste. I feel so bad. 

Of course, I can still use the quilt as a wall hanging but each time I look at it, I know it did not serve its purpose. I do need a nice table cloth for my dining table. And that will remain pending on my to-do list.

I feel so low. I had to start with another sewing project but I feel I have lost interest in sewing. What if the next one also comes up wrong? Hmm... Got to let go off this feeling soon!

Two books in a row...

The habit of reading is strange. There are long periods in time when no book excites me. Even if I start reading a book and keep it by my bedside; it may not interest me to take it up and continue from where I stopped. But there are other times when I pick up a book and can't put it down. I read all the time; all through the day...  and more during night until wee hours of morning... Most of the nights, my tired eyes shut and the book slips off my hand when I drift off to sleep. 

When I finish reading the book, if I find it exhausting/tiring, then I may not take up another book for days. But occasionally, completion of one book fills me with so much energy that I take up another book for reading immediately.

This week was one of those times when I read a lot. I completed two novels in a row and that too in just two days! More about the novels in my next post! :)

Cutting mat

I did not know that a cutting mat could make my sewing life so easy! 

I have been working on a "trip around the world" quilt. Half way through cutting the strips using scissors or rotary cutter on my vegetable cutting board, I ended up with painful fingers and an aching neck. That was when I decided to buy a self-healing cutting mat. 

Now my life is so much easier. Something that took me a whole afternoon to cut, takes me less than 2 hours with my new mat.

Three cheers to my new mat! :)

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Amma and Appa! 


I admire the way you both are perfect match for each other... with the same kind of thoughts and tastes.. ever present for each other... through all the ups and downs..
I remember the time during Raji's wedding... When you were on the mandapam and Amma entered into the wedding hall wearing the voilet pattu sari... The way your eyes lit up at the sight of her... the expression of love on both of your faces... and the way Amma blushed when we all teased you both with the song:


Bholi si surat aankhon mein masti dur khadi sharmaaye..
Ek jhalak dhikhlaaye kabhi kabhi aanchal mein chupjaaye...
Meri nazar se tum dekho tho yaar nazar woh aaye...


I can never ever forget that!


All songs of Guide remind me of you both... The song in the background.. with Amma singing along and you whistling the tunes...


Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hai..
Jahan bhi le jaaye raahein hum sang hai..


I am so lucky to be a part of our family! :)

Rainbow...

Showers of rain...
And warm sunshine...
While the rain bows to the sun outside,
Happy and sad emotions stir up in me 
warming my heart and making me rain!

A year since...

A year since we both signed our names next to each other at the registrar office... Exactly a year!

A decision that has changed our lives forever! 

Walking music...

yaanai varum pinney... Mani osai varum munney...

Loosely translated into English, it means: 

Elephant comes behind... The sound of the bells, presumably around his neck, comes ahead... 

These days, this Tamil saying seems to suit me the best! V knows wherever I am, by the tinkling of the little bells on my anklets! :)

Many many thanks to Mrs. Kash for getting me this nice gift!!!