First Wedding Anniversary..

It's our first wedding anniversary today..

How can I forget the wonderful summer evening we first met...

When I first met you, I didn't know that you are the one I am going to choose to spend the rest of my life with.. And the rest is History.

Throughout these years, we have been through different relationship status .. From ‘Strangers’ to ‘Hi.. How you doing kind-of collegemates’ to ‘Friends’ to ‘Love-birds’ to HERE WE ARE... ‘As Husband and Wife’...

Let me take this moment to thank everyone who helped us find each other..

Here is to Thank you, Sel, for being who you are… For making me feel so special in every nano-way you could..

Be as strong, as honest, as lovely, as helping, as wonderful, as caring, as simple, as you were when I met you for the first time – as you are today..

May God bless us with all the happiness, healthy life and fun-filled infinity more years to come..

Warm Weekend...

Last weekend was amazing.. JUST AMAZING!!!! It was wonderful to catch-up with friends here and there about random topics.. It just gave us enough energy to start the week!! ~Thinking about all good times with friends over the weekend & sighs~

Saturday, we had invited Mr & Mrs. JB. We had a very nice lunch (of course I cooked it!!) and spoke a lot about whats up.. what’s happening with you!! kinda stories!!. They are going to move to another continent soon.. Will surely miss the once-in-a-while catch-up sessions which is always accompanied by loads of laughter.. Here’s wishing them all the very best in all they wanted to do..

Then, watched Harry Potter – Chamber of Secrets!! Though we had asked for Harry Potter - Sorcerer’s stone, Netflix didn't really care to send us what we wanted!! But that doesn’t stop us, right!! So we watched the movie anyways.. It was wonderful.. Do they still say that these types of movies are for kids!!! I doubt.. It’s so enthralling and mesmerizing that even elders would want to be a part of Harry Potter’s gang… Isn’t it true??

After coming out of Harry Potter’s world, we decided to go to a mall.. AND, I got so many things!!! ~grins~ Sel didn’t even bother to say NO…. How sweet!!… Aahhhh…. Love you Sel.. Thank you for all the it’s-time-to-renew-the-closet gifts.. ~hugs~

Then, On Sunday we went to Sel’s friends home.. Mr & Mrs. DP.. They had a smart kid who loves cars & Ice-age movie stuff.. He was one of the best entertainers we had!!!.. We really enjoyed his company and Sel enjoyed his good-old-talks..

After a nice stomach-warming lunch (Thanks to Mr & Mrs. DP for the special lunch), Sel & I came home. Decided to catch-up with Ganesh & SR.. SR & I had so much fun talking about everything from how I drowned in 3 ft water to how happy she is to move to her hubby’s place to our extraordinary intake of sugar.. AND MORE and more.. just over a cup of coffee and some nice hot potato bajjis.. She is going to move too.. I am, for sure, going to miss all our giggly talks!!! ~sighs again~

I HATE GOOD-BYES..!!! ~feels irritated about having to say good-bye to dear friends~

Then Ganesh & SR left.. Sel and I were ready, like never before, to watch our favorite TV series LOST’s finale show!!! In my opinion, the series ended well!!! Not that they answered all the mysteries we all had, but it was good!!!

To people who are non-LOSTians, it's a TV series that revolves around few selected passengers, from a flight, who crash into a Mysterious Island.. Island - Where no one comes to rescue them because it’s nowhere in the map & has the ability to disappear with the touch of very few buttons or a wheel spin!!.. Island - where they see a strange killer (in a form of black smoke).. Where they fight for survival.. and WHERE everything is a mystery.. Few try hard to get out of the island to get back to their routine life.. Few try hard to stay in the Island because they realize that it has strange powers!! Irrespective of their thoughts, they are trapped in the island and eventually find out that the flight crash is not an accident and it was all planned!!!

Then amidst all this, they had few episodes with time-travel, yin-yang type of good guy-bad guy story, electromagnetism, tragedy, romance, comedy, jealousy, ego issues, soul travel, spiritual!!! You name it.. they had it in there!!

We will miss you LOST series!!! This is for you - A picture from our Hawaii trip...

Now, if you ask me, Do you enjoy watching such series!! I would say ABSOLUTELY, TRULY YES!!!

If you ask me, Is it really worth it!!! - I'm just gonna ignore your question..

I guess it doesn't hurt to have a few time-travel, parallel universe & physics sessions as part of your entertainment kit!!! No?? What say!!!

Dude's Wedding..

From Anna Garlin Spencer:
"The friendship between a man and a woman which does not lead to marriage or desire for marriage may be a lifelong experience of the greatest value to themselves and to all their circle of acquaintance and of activity; but for this type of friendship both a rare man and a rare woman are needed".

Isn’t it a beautiful statement!!

It's very true because friendship needs commitment. No false promises in there!!! Today I remembered that commitment and comfort from a crazy friend of mine. Is it because it's his wedding!! Maybe... ~smiles~
Let me introduce you to ~Drum rolls please~ “Dude”.
He is getting married to a beautiful bride, Nands. I haven't had a chance to talk to the bride, but we have shared a couple of emails and from all I know, she is a great person. At times, they share different opinions and it's cool to watch them express their thoughts. All I got to tell is that she completes him. And God bless the beautiful couple..

Now, rolling back the time machine to how it all started!!

That was the time I joined Weber. Dude was in other department. I was looking to buy cars at that time. So, I was asking people about cars they have & questions to be posed while buying cars. That’s it. This dude spoke not just for 5 - 10 minutes. For almost 30 minutes!!! 30 minutes of just his experience!! His everyday fight with the broken car he is driving!! How mean and cunning his seller was!!! What was his feeling when his car almost broke down on a highway!!! How bad he wanted to hurt the seller!! I mean. COMMON!!!! Give me a Break!!! (Felt like throwing something on him just to shush him. REALLY!!)
Decided never to go to his cubicle again or to talk to him!!! And Yet... Here we are.. After almost 3 years... As Friends.. As Dear Friends..

Kumz, my other friend, was very close to Dude. So our friendship developed and it blossomed into a wonderful thing when the team grew bigger. It was just fun, fun and more fun. We were uncontrollable! All of us (except Dude) had one common thing - to pull Dude's leg and believe me, we never felt bad about that!!!

And this is how we are. Against each other.. Most of the times!!!
This friendship is not just about all our merry-go-round events. I have seen him go through a very tough phase, during which we all promised to stay together and support each other, like no one could ever imagine!!!! That was the time when we all actually became close. And that was the time when each one of us realized how important the other person is in our life!!! But, I got to tell you that after all that happened; I really admire this dude - For his courage and confidence were just above the bar!!! ~God bless you~

He is NOT-A-VERY-BEST-ENTERTAINER but still keeps the ambience very lively. I admire his frankness (to be true he is too frank for others to accept him).Yeah. He speaks a lot about burping and his stomach malfunctions than anything else.!!! But who cares!!!

He is THE best yapper and the worst rapper I have ever seen in my life. But still who cares!!! He is just a wonderful person. He is a friend in need!!!! Even now, he calls me almost every now and then to make sure that everything is ok by my side and that I have all the updates from his side.

Unforgettable are:
* Those days when he used to take us out for a walk or to starbucks just for a 15 minutes break!! ~what a break it was from work~
* our Saturday breakfast in Panera!! ~Nostalgic~ * our little meaningless fights and screams!!! ~YOUUUUU!!! Idiot~
* his cooking turns and the world famous, Bisibelabath!! ~Bless~
* those evenings when he called us, while on the way to home, to prepare a special masala tea for him!!! ~You lazy bug~
* those moments when he talked bad about a person famously known as "B"!! ~Can he even use that word?? I guess not!!!!~
* those special days when he talked about his workout sessions during his 10th grade and all about his biceps and triceps and 6-pack!! ~did you even listen to what you were saying!!!~
* those mornings when he used to throw his advice (even though we made it clear to him, almost zillion times, that no one is listening!!!) about the office and work!!!
* His emails with a sign AWK meaning Alex Wachowski as a result of his bizarre attachment to Matrix movie series ~Gawd… dude!!~
* The expressions when he talked about how he lost almost 3000 bucks to an auto driver and his family (ofcourse, they threatened him!!!) in Chennai ~Can anyone be this dumb!!! Maybe!! Chuckles~
Or, How can I ever forget his flying visit to our place with his parents and all the fun we had or a special 4 lbs sweet box all the way from TX!!!

Even a quick thought of all these moments brings a smile. Those Wonderful, beautiful, crazy, don’t-really-care-about-what-others-think, emotional moments are countless. Dude!! I have saved them carefully so it can be cherished forever and ever!!

I'm not saying he is my sweet buddy all the time. There are days when I feel like throwing him from top of the Eiffel Tower - But let’s just leave it at that!!!! I'm sure you got the point!!! ~thinks of all such moments and smiles~

But putting all those aside, I am glad that I share a special gift of friendship with this wonderful (and crazy) dude!! I miss being there on this special day, Dude!!

On this day, I wish my wonderful friend, Dude and Nands a very happy, fun-filled, lovely and wonderful, married life. May God be with you during all those "differing opinion" moments to save you!! *smiles*
~ Bless you both.. Hugs ~

Tuesday night special!!!

Eating good food is a great sign of healthy living (of course it's not true if you eat french fries and cheese sticks!!! I'm talking about healthy food, OK??)..

And this comes from me as I had a wonderful lunch today.. Felt so happy the moment I opened the lunch box.. Filled my gullet with my lunch for the next 10 minutes and then there it was.. An empty lunch box!!! ~God bless me~

OK.. This is what happened.. I went home early yesterday as I started early from office.. I decided to cook something special for Sel.. ~hugs~

For the past 8 months, I have been dotty about "cooking".. Not that I disliked cooking before, but I never knew I liked it so much either.. If I decide to shop for groceries, then lets just put it this way, God save my wallet!!!

Dinner used to be ready by the time Sel comes home from office and we always had very early dinners... I know he has been missing that for the past 1 week.. So, decided to prepare some nice ragi idly and tomato chutney for him.. As soon as I reached home, started working on the batter.. As it was my own recipe, didn't have any difficulty in putting things together.. I got to say that I did an awesome job of Peas Ragi idly!!! Also, the chutney was at it's best.. It was a bit spicy but tolerable!!! And, the best part was that the food was ready by the time Sel came home.. ~feeling happy about that~

We had a nice and healthy dinner... ~thinking how fun it is to cook~

Today, came home at the usual time today.. Sel was watching Avatar movie in Blu-ray ~doesn't really understand why he is so crazy about such movies~

He also prepared a nice strong coffee for me.. ~Ahh.. My love~

Thought of cooking something for snacks.. But didn't have anything except the leftover idlies from yesterday.. Made upma out of that.. ~I know.. I'm on a roll.. ha ha~ I'm also glad that Sel liked it...

Then boiled eggs for egg kurma.. Egg kurma was originally planned for dinner tonight and also for lunch tomorrow.. But Sel interrupted the plan to prepare a nice, hot fish curry... NOW, I'm not complaining about that at all.. It just overrode all my dishes!!!! ~grins~ As we ate it so fast, I wasn't able to take pictures... ~scratches her head with a thought that Sel should cook very often from now on... ha ha ha~

See, I removed all yolks from eggs... Because they are high in cholesterol!!!! Yeah... NOW, That's what I meant by Good Food in the beginning...
~walks in to kitchen to pack the kurma for next day's lunch~

Flashback..

Sundays are just awesome..

Got up a bit early (by early, I mean - compared to my all previous Sundays!!).. Sel and I were planning to go to Tennis court today.. But right now, he is talking to his colleagues about some office issue while here I'm just enjoying the sunny day with a cup of coffee and listening to Daniel Bedingfield's Gotta get thru this .. *thinking how lucky are few people to REALLY enjoy their Sundays.. Awww.. Poor Sel!! *

Had a wonderful week last week.. Enjoyed my office work (OK.. it's just not the first week's smitten feeling, but I really enjoyed learning new things).. Can't wait to start my Monday with all new assignments..
*looking through the window glancing at the shining sun*

We spent our Saturday with our wonderful friends Mr & Mrs. S, their two kids and Mr.S's mom.. They came all the way from Maryland to see us and to go to a temple in NY (OK.. that's not entirely true!!! Sel and Mr. S love the special Indian foods at the temple's canteen, that's the main reason!!)

I was asked NOT to prepare anything as they didn't want to eat anything before their big feast.. But yet, I prepared some Veggie cutlets.. Sel loved it as the entire food had only 1 tsp oil (and we all know how health freak he is!!).. Prepared some heart-shaped cutlets to for Sweetie (Mr & Mrs. S's daughter).. We all had a bite and to please your eyes, here you go!!!

And more..

Then we all prayed real good in the Temple and went to canteen (Remember!! that's the main purpose!!).. When I saw the food I just remembered our Friday dinner (in an Indian restaurant where I overstuffed myself with a new curry dish and felt uncomfortable for a long time after that *i was just like a python after a heavy meal and felt so irritated about the feeling. grrrrrr*) and promised myself to STOP when I really want to stop... I even packed 1/4th of my food as I stopped eating the moment I felt full.. *pats on my shoulder for the beautiful self-control thing*

Though the distance to our home from the temple is just 30 miles, it took us almost 2 hours to come home because of the traffic.. We all spoke about everything from our recent West coast trip to their well planned and about to take-off Disney trip to the crime rate in LA to the visitors who were taking pics of we really didn't know in streets of NY and to the Hanuman Chalisa..

Isn't it a wonderful thing to talk to kids about their favorite Dora or Sponge bob and to elders about their Devotional interests just to see the shooting spike in their interest rate!! Sel and I really loved it as Mr & Mrs. S are our favorite couple.. *hugs*

Now, we just have to wait for our next Baltimore trip.. *Sighs*

Have a smooth Sunday and a wonderful week ahead!!!
*goes to kitchen to eat left-over cutlets... hmmm ... What a bliss!!!*