Nice weekend

It was quite an eventful weekend. Mini highlights are driving to places I have not been before - this is a big milestone for me. I hate driving - but this felt good when I reached the destination.

It was a milestone for B also. The cookbook project he has been part of as a photographer from the church came to a completion. The first copy of the book was released in a very nice simple function where people spoke their hearts our in complete sincerity. We all felt glad to be part of it.

Also, I took the courage to wear saree by myself to take part in the function. That is a milestone for me, since I dread 'wearing the saree' a lot.

Sunday evening, we set on 'drive to a random location' exercise. B looked up Hoopes Reservoir in google maps and we drove there. When we reached the place, the bridge was closed so we could not go further. But we stopped by a lake and took some pictures of the lake.

While driving back we realised that the date was June 13. That means, it was exactly 10 years since we landed the US of A. This called for a celebration and we went to TGI Fridays for dinner. Thoughts of coming work week peek in my mind and threaten me - it is Sunday blues for me. But I tell myself - enjoy this evening! Thus endeth the weekend!

Update

Every time, I get behind the wheel and enter the Turn Pike in the evening, I draft so many versions of things to write as a post. I edit them, rephrase them - but all in my mind. It never saw the light, so here I am typing up finally. I will update the latest in bullets.

• Finally the weather is good. What a relief! I hope 'THIS IS IT' for the snow storms.
• I was in training for 3 days. Reminded me of the training days in my old work. The past 3 days were full of classes and the coffee breaks. Head Ache. Trying to concentrate. Times when I asked questions to the instructor. Times when I shouted out the correct answer. Times when my mind wandered off to the 'To Do List' in life. The sense of humor of the instructor was too good - we all laughed a lot and so were awake for the most part.
• Heritage Night - this Tuesday, was the night dedicated to different cultures in Nikhil's school. It happens every year. Nikhil participated in a group dance with other kids from our development. This time, it felt like we have seen it happen a lot before. It almost ends up being a Desi night due to the population of Desis in our area. It is great for our kids to have so many of them around, so they won't feel they are singled out. Since we are seeing it for past 3 years, we got used to it and this time, I let B stay home with Nithin and take a relaxing break.
• I am totally HOOKED - to the Asianet reality show called 'Idea Star Singer'. Watching it over and over, I am now familiar with most of the singers. So much so that, Nithin asks -'Amma, is Danny your friend?'. Danny is one of the singers.He watches carefully the marks being awarded to them. I learnt that there is one episode every week day. I am always trying to catch an episode I have not seen. I enjoy the songs and also the judges' comments. Nikhil says 'Amma, you are watching too much of Idea Star Singer. It is not good for you!'

Have a great weekend, friends!

Eventful past weekend

We went to New Jersey to give a surprise baby shower for our friends. Four families with the help of the father-to-be as the organizer, it was fun to get there, pick up the food, decorate the home and wait for the mom-to-be. As she entered the home, we all screamed 'SURPRISE'! This was followed by baby shower games and finally the opening of gifts by the mom-to-be. It was all fun until every one left one by one and we were the last. Nithin has warmed up so much to these folks that he started saying : "Can we stay here today?" and started crying. We thought of waiting for 5 minutes until he calmed down. After 5 minutes, we got dressed for the winter night drive and got into the van - only to find that the van would not start. B tried repeatedly, but no luck. We walked back into the friend's home and spent the night there.

Sunday was probably the most eventful day in the recent past. Our friends had to go to the Lamaze class, so B went to drop them so we will have their car during the day. I called AAA and the guy came within half an hour. While I stood with him, kids inside the apartment, B on his way to us, I was shivering literally. It was freezing. I asked him "Can I go inside, please call me when you have finished checking the batteries". He said "yes" and as I walked back, it slipped - the pavements were icy. I managed not to fall and walked back in. He called and said "it is not the batteries, your vehicle has to be towed." I waited now for the towing truck and thank God, B was here before they came! I clicked some pictures of the van being loaded into the towing truck. We were told that automobile shops do not work on Sunday, so we had no option of getting it fixed the same day.

We decided to rent a car and go back home. Home which was 2 hours away seemed like the destination we were dying to reach. We were comfortable at the friend's place, can't imagine getting stranded in the middle of a highway. But still we were forced to be away from home for a reason not within our control. So we all longed to be home!

The major part of the day went off in driving to the rental place, getting a car, me driving our friend's car to the place where he was attending Lamaze class. If you know me, you can imagine how frantic I get about driving in rain/icy roads - not to mention unfamiliar roads. I managed to survive and dropped the car to the very hands of its owner and it was a sigh of relief!

The kids were hungry by this time and they wanted to go to McDonald's. We searched for one near where we were and drive towards it. Alas, the GPS said that there is no McDonalds in the location when we reached there and asked us to turn around. My sharp eyes caught the name board of 'Dosa Gril'' on the way to the non-existent M. Within minutes, we were all inside Dosa Grill. Quite satisfied by the yummy dosa and coffee which is no match to any chicken nugget in my dictionary, I was thanking my lucky stars. Kids were also happy with the dosa.

Rest of the drive as B drove and I relaxed which is how I would desire it to be always. We wondered at the interesting experiences life throws at us and worried whether the problem with our van will be easy/hard to fix. We were back home FINALLY - one day late, yet safe, but waiting to go back to get the fixed van.

P.S. It ended to be a battery issue and needed replacement. B went on a weekday and got it back.

Bye-Bye Pittsburgh!

My previous post was so right in context. Our close friend/classmate S and family are moving from Pittsburgh to West Coast for good. Closing of his office here led him to look for a new job and he got a pretty good offer in the West Coast. He was the only classmate B and I have in the whole of Pennsylvania! So far, we three belonged to the same state even though S is 5 hours away.

So, last weekend, our family visited them before they move away. It brought back memories of driving in Turn Pike for hours like this before. We have driven there 5 or 6 times in the past years - with common friends and with my parents. This was the first time we were going with B's parents.

We had fun visiting the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. The kids can easily spend a whole day there. There were activities for painting/coloring/pressing paint into paper. There was Workshop garage for kids. There were couple of slides and some water play area with rain coats/water shoes on-site. It was real fun to watch our kids enjoy. Parents were taken on a separate guided tour by S. So they got to see the downtown and Station Square and Mount Washington.

Overall, the trip was short and sweet. We saw the 3 year olds (my son and their daughter) talking and communicating with each other. I did learn a tip or two on how to groom a home for sale and how to keep it well decorated and clean for showing! We were back home Sunday afternoon and rested well to get ready for the upcoming week. Good luck with the new phase of life, my friends!

From our point too, it is bye-bye time to Pittsburgh - now there is not enough reason to drive all the way!

Deadlines and bunk bed

For the past week, every night B has been working on assembling the new bunk bed we got for the kids. I slept off within Nithin who was battling a fever from Sunday. Thanks to the Virus which decided to leave him after the predicted 3 days.

So yesterday evening, with our neighbor's help, we got one bed on top of another and it was quite a sight to see the expression of the boy's faces. They were happy and excited about the bunk bed. But I could see the sorrow of sleeping alone creeping up slowly in the faces. I myself could not tolerate the thought of sleeping without them. Anyway, it may not happen in one shot, but at least we are making a start.

I got into some deadlines - not exactly work related and it was challenging to keep up with them.
At work, we have an activities committee for which I was co-chairing an event. Myself and a coworker had to cut foam core boards into slices of specific size and distribute one each to every employee. Then we drafted an email inviting them to decorate these boards with their details from HIGH SCHOOL. 2 weeks from now, we will collect these boards which will include everyone's high school picture, their favorite stars from their high school times etc, and hang them in the hallway. They are not to include their names in the boards for the fun of guessing. It was an experience trying to cut the boards neatly and working on the email. Anything with cutting and craft, I believe I suck. So I was super conscious not to mess up. Hope the event has a good turn out.

Weekend seems to be pretty busy with a postponed New year party being at our place.
Happy Weekend, everyone!

Weekend Update

The winter arrived with some sick times for our family. With 3 out of 4 of us on antibiotics now, we are on the road to recovery.

Last weekend, was Nikhil's first ever dance performance - the group of kids trained by V from our community danced and sang. Here is the YouTube link my friend S sent out, if anyone is bored enough to look for my son in the 2nd row (boy with spects). The kids were excited, so were their parents. The event was the holiday party of our community - around 30 Indian families, I would guess. The evening was filled with fun, food and games. Santa arrived as a surprise and kids were super excited to sit on his lap and take pictures and receive their gifts. Very good job on the part of the organizers to arrange this all. It was 1 o clock by the time we came back home and went to bed.

Yesterday, we went to church after a long time and happened to join the Christmas carols in some homes. That was fun too. As much as it is about singing together and visiting homes, B and I also wondered if this is equally about food! Each home arranges some food/snack - one would be too full, but it too difficult to pass the Parippu Vadas, so we ended up eating more than they ever thought they could! I remembered what my uncle K says about all Hindu festivities - we make different kinds of foods/sweets and offer them to God and eat them ourselves. So any festival always has its own list of food items/snacks/savories associated with them.

It is so so COLD and FREEZING. I can't wait for the winter to wave bye! Long time to go!

Jab We (Bloggers) Met!

Have you seen Kaathal Kottai? The movie in which Ajith and Devyani communicate through letters for a while and don't seen each other till the last scene. I could exactly imagine the 'dhak-dhak' that Devyani must have gone through when she set out to meet Ajith. Well, not exactly, in that sense, but somewhat close.

Laksh, UL and myself decided to meet each other with our families at my place on Sunday. We have been keeping in touch with each other through our blogs for the past year.
I have met Laksh before and I knew how the conversation will go. Laksh and UL are close friends from before. But I was meeting UL for the first time. And we three were meeting together for the first time. My thoughts revolved around which launguage will I be speaking - since it will be a mix of Tamil and Malayalam in the group when we meet. I have a mental picture of UL from her blog and her comments to my post. Will her real self match my mental picture? Can I be just myself or should I start with being polite, nice and cute (can I manage that?)

Here the door bell rings. UL and family arrives. We start in Malayalam. We talk of Mallu friends we have, trying to find common folks we know. Laksh and family arrives. I chat with her in Tamil. Before I knew, we were all comfortably chatting, cracking jokes and the husbands were laughing aloud.

When they left, I could feel how Devyani must have felt at the end - peaceful, happy and GLAD that we MET. GLAD THAT WE MET ONLINE!

P.S. Suman and Shy, we missed you!

Weekend update

At work, the past few months were enjoyable because I got to do what I know pretty well by now. So I enjoyed being in the comfort zone and checked off item after item in my TO DO List everyday.Even when I had to work late, I enjoyed doing it because I know I am able to deliver! I worked hard - I enjoy it and I do it and at the same time, I try to dismiss the thoughts like 'is it being appreciated, is it being noticed' as useless! I am happy and that is all matters, because I have no control over such matters.

Very soon, we will enter a lull period where I have to do things I am not used to. I will be looking for work to fill up my time sheets. And after that, arriving will be, a whole new era of learning a new product and trying to live with that.It is told to be better than the old product I am using. But I am apprehensive about all the changes and learning curve. Soon I will go to back to my 'should I quit my job' thoughts when I am out of my comfort zone.

Today morning, I dropped my cell phone for the nth time by accident. The battery and body broke into separate pieces which I gathered and put together. Keeping my fingers crossed, I switched it on again. Thank God, it came to life again. If not, I would be in deep trouble as this acts the on-call support number. I could not live without it.

A day with live support issues without much luck! That what this Friday is like for me!
Also my whole office is empty with most of my colleagues on travel. It is going to be so till next Thursday. I am OK with the loneliness, as long as it is quiet and calm on the work front.

Here's wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Weekend is here, again!

I managed to complete the movie Aaja Nachle over 3 nights with kids dancing and eating around me.

Aaja Nachle Review is at : http://anamikareviews.blogspot.com/2008/09/aaja-nachle.html

Then what else? Life is going on.
One more week buzzed by.

Busy times now.
B going to classes on some evenings.
Nikhil's homework and evening activities.
Nithin's naughty moments as well as occasional tantrums.
Work pressure slowly building up.

Looking forward to a nice weekend with our cousin's family from Virginia.
Happy weekend, everyone!

Looking forward to the break

Slowly recovering from the mood swings of last week and crawling up from the pit of depression day by day, I took life one day at a time. It is going on smooth for now. And I am all set to take a long weekend break. We are heading off tonight to our classmate's home in Pittsburgh and we plan to go on an outing from there. Sometimes, staying away from home gives you a different perspective. A change is good for now. Time with friends we have known for more than 12 years is always fun. I am also hoping to catch up with another friend's family - have not met her since 5 years!
Have a nice long weekend, all of you, in advance! See you soon!

Cold, laziness and Judging Music

Cannot remember how long ago was it, when both B and me fell sick at the same time. The cold I caught on Thursday reached its peak on Saturday. B's allergies reached the peak the same time. So here we were - coughing and sneezing and consuming Kleenex tissues every minute. Thank God, Nithin was Ok.

Leave alone, doing anything fancy for the weekend, we lazed around and did absolutely nothing.
In fact, I don't remember sleeping two afternoons consecutively in so many years. It looked like how much ever we rested and slept, it just did not seem too much.

Sunday morning, I was getting ready to be the judge of music competition for sunday school kids in our church. When I was asked if I can be the judge, several comical notions came to my mind. I sing and I have had a good relation with music in my life that would help me perform the duty. But I could not help chuckle at the thought of being the 'judge'. I was reminded me of Somayajulu in Shankarabharanam. I pictured myself criticizing the singers on shruti, laya and taala and what not. Also I visualized Nedumudi Venu saying' kutteee nirthi nirthi padoo' in Sargam, a Malayalam musical.

During my school days, I have been on the stage singing or making speeches, awaiting the verdict of the judges. It was ironical that now I am on the other side.

I enjoyed listening to the kids sing. We marked their scores in tabulation sheets and handed them over to the people who added the scores. During the whole exercise, the thought that kept coming to me was that

a) real talent will show itself. When someone is able to sing well, there is no need to debate over it and I am sure the talent wins the prize automatically. Same holds good for 'not so good' singers.

b) Participation is KEY. This is what I have believed very much all through my childhood. If you show the will and desire to take part, you deserve a reward. My point is - never refrain from taking part thinking of the success/failure. Do your job. Many times, you will see that the reward comes after you. Sometimes, you will be the only one to take part in some category and you win the prize! Heheh!

That was the weekend that was. How was yours?

Feels goooood

The pressure for the work season is finally over. It feels good to know the items I have to work on, but that I can take mytime to respond back on those. And there wont be blinking voice mails on my work phone for two totally unrelated projects at the same time requesting something right away.

We got up early this AM and Nithin did not give too much trouble in getting ready. His hobby is to pick some reason and cry, making us feel bad. Today we both were ready by 7.30 AM and dad had already gone to work.

He is into this pajama phase now. Never wants to take the spiderman pajama off his body. I put a shirt on top of it - and told Miss B to remove it and wash it. She is superb! And when she says, he would just remove the pajama and give it to her. She washes it and keeps it ready for us! Nikhil never had any such obsession as far as I can remember.

We have not fully recovered from all the exhaustion and tiredness from driving to NY on Sunday, packing for Nikhil and working late two nights earlier. Yesterday, I was sleepy all through, unable to enjoy the bright sunny day. Today is an even more bright day - much warmer! Hope to take Nithin out to cycling today. And to library! With just one kid to take care of, I am thinking of doing this and that with him.

When I have some free time, all the things in my mind's unwritten TO DO LIST flash one after one, tempting me to pick everything up and mark them all with a check mark and be DONE with them. I become so overwhelmed with this thought process that I collapse and get nothing done!

Happy Weekend, Guys!

Road trip and Mother's Day

The busy schedule continues this week too. I do catch a couple of posts of Laksh and UL occasionally. I have not spoken to my Appa in a week day lately. I have been wanting to write about the wonderful weekend we had at our friend's place in NJ. It was the break I was dreaming for and the road trip B and I were waiting for.

On Friday night, we started late to NJ. We were all set to chill out with the set of family/church friends. It seemed to take forever to reach D's place with the rain and the dark. We got there at 9.30 and thanks to our ladies who made chapatis and curries for all of us. After all the singing and talking, we slept at 2.30PM! That is a world record. In a way, inside an apartment, there is more closeness and we ended up spending time together instead of splitting in batches.

The next morning, after the chaya (by lady B) and breakfast prepared by my dear hubby B, everyone took their own time to take bath and get ready to go for lunch. The host took us to Anjappar restuarant. I was wondering what kind of name it is, but when I saw the name board said 'Chettinad' and 'South Indian', I was OK with whatever they call it and it already looked promising to me. The veg thali was homely. I was thrilled to see Nikhil finish up a dosa - like mom, like son! Nithin sat in the high chair and did well for his standards.

From there, we set out to 'Sandy Hook' beach. With two cars, it was hard to coordinate and find the desitnation. Finally, we all met at the beach. I was surprised by Nithin's reaction as he saw the sea. He said 'Amma, ocean?'. Never knew this word was in his vocabulary. Last year, when we went to the beach, he would not get down. He hated his foot touching the sand. This time, I was amazed how quickly he started playing with the sand. He was all excited. Of course, Nikhil and his friend were super thrilled too.

Back home, B promised to take me to Nan King restaurant which people told us is great for Indo Chinese food. We have been thinking of going there since a long time.Gobi Manchurian and Veg Hakka noodles were good. Came back to D's apartment and relaxed and slept well. Part of the gang had left before then. It was just us - we woke up in the AM and headed back home to PA.

Sunday evening was made colorful again by B's offer to take me to Hot Breads for a Mother's day snack in the evening.

A relaxing and eventful weekend. Ate out a lot. And not too well-prepared for the coming week. But we will cross the bridge when it comes!