Divine Conversations

Dear God,

Here is a big thank you from me, my hubby, and all of my friends for the lovely 70 degree weather that you are bestowing on us New Englanders in March. We may be acting a bit foolish by taking this as a blessing and not really a warning about Global Warming, but it is so hard not to (especially after the lunch today on the picnic tables outside our cafetaria). We promise to be good to the earth and in return if you could just keep sending a few of these nice days every now and then, that would be lovely :)

Long day

I had one of the longest meetings ever today. It wasn't really long in time. It was long & heavy in content. Of course what made it longer was the fact that 5 minutes into the meeting, I dropped my Diet Coke on the floor, making a great mess. It didn't help that the room was packed with over 100 people and we had an external presenter talking 5 feet away from me. There was no way for me to run out and get paper towels. People sitting around me were kind enough to offer their napkins (in the middle of the pizza they were having) and I survived with that.

Rest 55 minutes of the meeting, I just sat through telling myself how clumsy I was. The irony of it was when I was dispensing the coke from the soda machine, I was tempted to not put the lid on the plastic glass (just to save a little plastic from corrupting the environment). Then I reconsidered and decided that knowing how clumsy I was, the lid might be good to have. Alas, it wasn't enough

Have you had days like these?

Blame it on the stars

I just found out that the entire period of introspection I recently came out of, was not my fault and was in fact beyond my control!
Supposedly Mercury was in retrograde for Pisces due to which "the mind turns naturally inwards and people tend to analyze more their own thoughts." I don't really believe in Astrology, but now I may have to think again :)

P.S. Observation from last two postings: Spellcheck on Blogger.com does not recognize the words blog or blogger as valid English words.

Filed in:

• MadeMeSmile

Thank you for the music...

What better way to ward off melancholy than to count your blessings and give thanks for all the good things in your life. I was inspired by J (I can't for the life of me remember how I got to her blog, but I'm glad I did). I really enjoyed her blog and would encourage you to look at it sometime. Like her, I am going to list down the big things which matter the most in my life and will attempt to continue this, with the smaller things that I am grateful for, on a weekly basis (which will hopefully be a good way to keep life in perspective and keep me from taking this wonderful life for granted).

1. I'm very thankful for my husband. He is a sensible, thoughtful, loving and handsome man. He loves me like crazy and makes me feel great about myself. He is so much more than I deserve! He loves and respects his parents like I have never seen any person do and has made them really proud. He is the youngest sibling with two elder sisters who absolutely dote on him and he loves them back many times more. We are yet to have kids, but every time I see him with his niece and nephews, I smile and just know that he will be a wonderful father too :)

2. I am thankful for my in-laws who are very kind and loving people. My father and mother-in-law absolutely adore me. From the very day they met me, they accepted me wholeheartedly in their hearts and lives. When I was having trouble finishing my thesis, they came over to help me get away from the nitty-gritty everyday chores (MIL took over cooking and FIL took care of laundry) and concentrate on writing. Does it get any better than this? My sisters-in-law and their families are also wonderful people that I am very grateful for. They are not the usual nosy and interfering sorts, but very caring and understanding. For them, the fact that my husband loves me is reason enough for them to love me and hold me in the highest regard! I love my husband's niece and nephews who bring tons of joy in our lives.

3. I am thankful for my Mom and Dad and my brother. My parents gave me a wonderful childhood, great set of values and a good education. I read this somewhere a long time ago "The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." I am lucky to have parents who loved each other and their kids very much. I am also very thankful that I got married before my dad fell ill and passed away. It would have been a heartache for life if it wouldn't have been my dad who gave me away.

4. I am thankful for my friends. I have been blessed with good friends all my life. I am the kind of person who just needs friends to survive, and by God's grace, I have never found myself without a friend whenever I have needed one.

5. I am thankful for my job and the intellectual challenges and the financial stability it brings. I am constantly aware of how lucky I am to work in the place that I do. Getting this job was a dream come true and I am very grateful for that.

And lastly, thanks to all of you for listening!!!

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• Blessings

Introspection

Just a quick post to say that I am going through a period of confused feelings, doing a lot of introspection and in general, I am too emotionally exhausted to write anything. Even writing this took more courage than I thought!

But my dear readers and fellow bloggers, I am very much here and have been still reading your blogs. I would like to say that your posts are among the few things keeping me in good spirits. Thanks!

Finally!!

Two days after my Reasons to celebrate post, I got another great reason to celebrate, one that I just have to share with you. I graduated!!!! (after a long long thesis writing period). Now, this was no Ph.D. thesis (I'll leave that to hubby - Good luck honey! ), I was only trying to complete my Master's thesis. But boy, was it hard!

This was how it went:
Nearly two years ago, when I was almost (or so I thought!) done with my thesis, I got this job offer which I just couldn't refuse. It was my dream company and I was so close to graduation that I couldn't think of not taking up the job and regret afterwards. And so I accepted the offer after convincing my advisor that I will work very very hard - evenings and weekends - and make sure I finish in a couple of months. He warned me that it will be hard and it is very easy to lose motivation when you start working. Over the next few months, I saw his words coming true. After spending most weekends and some evenings at school, and still seeing no end to the research work (let alone thesis writing), my visits to school became less and less frequent. At work, few people discouraged me by saying - it's not going to happen, we have seen this so many times.

Well, to cut a long story short...I proved them all wrong and did it :). I defended my thesis in November last year and got my degree this Friday. The commencement ceremony will be in May. I am happy :)

Filed in:

• Special
• Moments

All about me

I've been tagged - by the lovely Yankee girl Bre:). Well, to be honest, I was tagged quite some time ago. Sorry Bre...I had no clue these things were so hard. Here's my best shot:

Seven Things To Do Before I Die:
1. Roadtrip/Eurorail trip in Europe,
2. Learn to play the piano
3. Own a house (preferably with a water view!!) and decorate it to my heart's content
4. Have a baby
5. Take up painting
6. Get an MBA
7. Learn to ski

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
1. Untangle tangled wires (Ughh)
2. Watch a movie without popcorn
3. Drive behind really slow cars
4. Listen to even barely shrieking noises (e.g. a fork moved on an empty plate)
5. Watch scary movies (actually, this one I am slowly working on...saw "The Ring" a couple of weeks ago)
6. See parents hit their kids
7. See someone kill an insect

Seven Things That Attract Me to Blogging:
1. A place to store my thoughts
2. Meet interesting people
3. Share my dreams
4. Learn different perspectives
5. A place to vent!
6. Read funny stories
7. Being constantly reassured that there are plenty of crazy people like me out there :)

Seven Things I Say Most Often:
1. Smart
2. I know
3. Awe-some
4. That's interesting
5. Really!
6. Maybe
7. Exactly

Seven Books I Love:
1. The Little Prince
2. The Notebook
3. Kane and Abel
4. All the Harry Potter books
5. The Prophet
6. Pride and Prejudice
7. Heidi (As a kid, I must have read this book a million times)

Seven Movies/DVDs That I Watch Over and Over Again:
1. Forrest Gump - "Life is a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." & "Stupid is as stupid does."
2. Life is beautiful - The most touching movie ever
3. Scent of a woman - Al Pacino is brilliant
4. Pretty Woman - My all time favorite Julia Roberts movie
5. The Sound of Music - I remember the summer when I was 14 or 15, I watched this movie atleast a dozen times. It's been long since I saw it, but I can watch it again anytime :)
6. Bicentennial Man - One of the first few movies Hubby and I saw together - when we had just started dating
7. Stepmom - Some scenes in this movie bring me to tears every time I see it ("Never say never")

Seven People I Want To Join In
I think this meme has been going on for a while now; I'll let it rest now!

Reasons to celebrate

March 14: Pi Day
March 15: Holi (Festival of colours celebrated in India) - See this slideshow if you are curious
March 16: :)
March 17: St Patrick's Day

Filed in:

• DailyLife

ER

ER was one of the shows I liked when I used to watch TV ( I barely do now), perhaps that has a correlation with how many times I end up in the ER. But it's not really any fun when you are there.

Yesterday morning, after I blogged, I gave a good look on my ankle and concluded that the swelling had surely reduced from last night (I couldn't bear to look at it last night). Thus, I thought, I must try to walk.... Oh, not really... the minute I put the slightest weight on my foot, it hurt real bad. Since hubby and I were out of ideas, we called the blue cross nurse hotline and she highly recommended going to the ER...and so we did.

So, the good news is - no broken bones, which was clear since the pain wasn't horrible, unless I tried to walk. The bad news - second degree sprain in ankle (ok, I had no clue there were degrees of sprained ankles). What that means is there has been some tearing of ligament, which has caused some internal bleeding (that explains the blueness of my foot) and further that means I have to give it complete rest for 3-4 days, wear an air cast for about 3 weeks, use crutches to walk and gradually start putting weight on my foot after a couple of days.

Although I am really thankful that it's nothing major, I can't help but whine that the timing of this thing absolutely sucks. Hubby dear has his Ph.D. qualifier in less than 3 weeks and the last thing I'd like for him to worry about is a sick wife, food, dirty dishes, and eventually laundary. He is being an absolute sweetheart and is not letting me worry about anything. I really really hope my foot heals soon. Sitting on the bed/couch for extended periods of time is not as much fun as it might sound, even though I am getting to read to my heart's content (I'm almost 40% through "The Time Traveler's wife" which I essentially started yesterday).

I am hoping to work from home the next couple of days, so that should take my mind off my foot and give it time to heal as well (bless my company where it is not such a big deal to do that if the circumstances require so)

That's it for now...Will keep you guys posted.

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• DailyLife

Highlights

First of all, I owe all you readers an apology for vanishing out of sight and not writing anything at all...except maybe a few comments on your blogs.

Well, I have been around for the most part, but just have been a little busy. But I really missed blogging and now I'm back and hopefully I will be able to stick to writing atleast a couple times a week.

Here's what I have been upto while I wasn't blogging:
- Started going to the gym fairly regularly (3-5 times a week)
- Had some fun with cooking Saag paneer and some other new dishes I haven't cooked before
- Moved offices at work
- Spent the last weekend in NYC having a blast with 6 other girls. It was sort of a bachelorette weekend for two of my friends who are getting married (not with each other) in May, or as one of my Irish friends would put it - it was a "hen party". We had an absolutely fantastic time there - ate great food (ranging from gujarati indian food, spanish food to good ole american food at a NY diner), went shopping on saturday moring, went dancing on saturday night, saw "Mamma Mia" on Sunday afternoon. I know this trip deserved an entire entry of it own, but since I didn't get to blog about it right after, this will have to do for now. This trip had quite a few firsts for me - first time I had Sangria (ooh- amazing!), first time I had Champagne (not bad), first time dancing in club (super fun), and first broadway show (excellent).
Thanks girls for this memorable weekend!!!
- Last and not the least, tripped on the stairs outside my building last night and sprained my ankle (I am guessing it is just a sprain since the pain is not unbearable). Getting princess treatment by dear hubby and getting food, water, everything I need, in my hands :). Right now, I am sitting on the bed with a swollen ankle, and writing this entry! I guess I needed to slow down a little to return to blogging. :)

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• DailyLife