Friday Post

Finally...its FRIDAY!!!

I wish the weather was a little better though. It is going to be rainy all day long. But still, at least its Friday. Plus, my boss is not here today. He is moving into his new house. This guy moves fast. Last month he got married. This month he is moving into his new house. I wouldn't be surprised if next month he says he is gonna have a baby. The shocker is that he is younger than me by 3 years!

Anyway, Friday means we go out to eat in the evening. Usually, we go to Taco Bell, but not tonight. We made burritos couple days ago and don't feel like having mexican again tonight. I have been craving Olive Garden. I see their commercials on tv and my mouth waters. Never ending Pasts bowl, Eggplant Parm, Soups.....those breadsticks and their salads...yummy. I haven't been there in so long. Can't wait to go. We are planning to go tonight to the one in Framingham. Anyone want to join? Hopefully it isn't too crowed and we get a seat in decent time.

So tomorrow is yet again another garba. Anyone know what time we need to be there by? I know some losers won't be there, that's fine we will have all the fun without you. They are getting food from a new mandir. So that will be good too.

Bad drivers

I need to vent a little about my drive to work this morning. I got so frustrated. It is bad enough that I have an hour commute to work, but then there are freakin' idiots on the road that make it even worse.

Here is what happened...
I had just gotten out of the driveway and hadn't even reached the main street when I see 2 cars stopped in the middle of the road. They were facing each other and the drivers were talking. I pulled up behind the car and waited a few seconds. Then I tapped my horn. The car across moved and drove past us. But, of course, the car right in front of me is still just standing there. AAAaaaahhh! So now I am getting really mad. I expect traffic on main roads, but early in the morning I don't need this crap on my own street! The driver in front of me was an old guy. God! If you are too old to drive...DON'T DRIVE! He doesn't show his blinkers or pull to the right. So now I let out a couple of honks. Still the car doesn't move. I can see in the car and the old 'bapo' is just looking around. What the hell is this guy's problem!! Finally, he motions for me to go ahead. I go around him and think of what a bad way to start my drive.

But it wasn't over. To get to work I get off 128 and off the ramp is a huge intersection. I have to get from the left lane to the right most lane and go through 2 traffic lights. I was almost there and had just about pulled into the right most lane when a car from no where just flies by. If I had driven a second faster we would have crashed. What an absolute idiot this guy was. I got a glimpse of his face...He is a guy that works at my company that I reeeeeally don't like. He cares only about himself and never thinks about others. Well, his driving shows it too. He has almost crashed into me in our company parking lot too.

Well, at least I reached in 1 piece.

Garba!

I can't wait for tomorrow!! Garba season is here! It seems like it came so fast this year. I actually like our samaj garba the best. We don't have too many people. We have familiar songs. We know everyone there and we can pretty much do any style we want. This weekend we have garba on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday is like a bonus.

One thing I don't get is why most guys don't like garba. I mean, Premal hates it. He is actually trying to bribe me into not going on Sunday. He is not the only one. I know many other guys that don't like it either. They like to do other types of dance, but not garba. I feel like it is so effortless. I just do the steps and listen to the good music and just zone out. It is fun, you get to wear nice clothes and it is good exercise. Plus, there is a whole religous aspect. So, why not just do it.

I think we should do bhangra tomorrow. I love that. I will try to remember to bring my cd of bangra songs.

Mulholland Drive

If you like mystery and scary movies then watch this movie. It is called Mulholland Drive. Premal had heard some great things about this movie so we watched. Let me tell you...it is one strange movie. I still have no idea what the story of the movie was. We were trying to discuss it, but didn't come up with anything reasonable. I have to warn you that it is a rated R movie and there are a couple of scenes which you probably don't want to watch with the whole family. But if you like mysteries that you have to let your imagination solve then watch this movie and please let me know what the movie is all about.

Breakfast Date

This morning I did something totally out of routine. I had a 'breakfast date' with hubby. Usually, on weekday mornings we both have some cereal or bread or something small and we both leave the house at same time. We do our goodbyes then Premal takes a right turn out of driveway and I take a left turn.

But, today was different. We heard Dunkin Donuts was doing some special. We decided to check it out. So instead of having our usual breakfast at home we went to Dunkin. It was funny because we both took our cars and we met up at Dunkin. We got our food, did our goodbyes then went off in our own direction. It was a nice little change. Reminded me of old times.

If anyone is interested Dunkin is doing a promotion 'til the 24th where you get bagel and cream cheese for 99c. It is a nice idea for a breakfast date ;-)

Cool magic trick!

Check out this link...its pretty cool!

http://www.youtube.com/v/RB-wUgnyGv0

Anyone have any idea how they could do that?! I wish I could change my clothes that fast.

After a long time...

I know, I know...I am the worst blogger ever. I give them a bad name. I have not made any updates in over a month!! In my defense I have to say that I was out of the country for 2 weeks of that month. The rest...well...life has just gotten busy. Anyway, let's catch up.

So, Deesh's wedding was a blast. I am so glad I got the chance to attend. I met Vipul couple of days after we reached India. His family had come over for a visit. He is a really nice guy. I told him about how Deesh's new initials will be 'DVD'. He cracked up laughing. That was a good sign in my book.

Wedding ceremonies went well. Deesh looked absolutely amazing!! I am not just saying that because she is my sister. I really thought she looked great. She is beautiful anyway and those days she just shined even more. Vipul was totally swept of his feet ;-)

After wedding I got to spend some time with the family. It was nice and lot of fun. Only bad thing was RAIN! There was so much rain all the days we were there. Fortunately, it didn't rain during the wedding.

Life has now gone back to normal. Back at home and back at work. At work I have so many project getting in their final stage. At home I've been a little social butterfly. I have invited guests over for dinner/lunch for last 3 weekends. I think I am finally done now.

Looking forward to the coming holidays....navrathri and diwali!!!

We went on the Mohwak trail last weekend. This was taken on a flower bridge. This flower really was the size of my face.

We're off!

It is almost time!! Our flight leaves tomorrow at 8:05pm EST from Logan. We should be in Rajkot by Sunday 8am IST. Masa will be dropping us off at the airport. We are flying Virgin Atlantic to UK, then Jet to Bombay and Jet again to Rajkot.
I can't believe the wedding is in one week only!!



Latest news from the wedding preperations are:
-Reception will be Aug11 in Rajkot.
-Disha has finished her major shopping. Now accessories(fake jewelry, shoes, bangles, bindis...etc) are left.
-Disha and Vipul are going to Cochin after wedding.
-Disha has extended her stay in India by 1 week. She will return on Aug 23rd.

Ok folks, this will be my last post until I return. I'm sure I'll have lots to post when I get back. Wish me a happy journey and a great time.

Later!

Disha's wedding preparations

Three days 'till departure for India!! I'm getting very excited. I talked to Deesh, yesterday (actually I have been talking to her almost everyday). She is busy with shopping now. She went shopping with her future mom-in-law. She picked out her 'ghar chodu' and all other saris from their side. She has also picked out gold from other side. Next on list, which might be completed by now, was 'chaniya choli' and 'panethar' and saris from our side. The shopping list is never-ending. I can't wait to go there and do a little of my own shopping ;-)

Meanwhile, the groom, Vipul has been harassing Disha to get a cell phone so he can call her ;-) (We all know about these phone calls.) He is also busy trying to book tickets for their honeymoon. This whole thing is so cutie, cutie.

Below is the wedding schedule:
Aug 8th: Lagan Lakhe
Aug 9th: Mandavo (morning)
Aug 9th: Saanji (evening)
Aug 10th: Wedding
*not sure about reception details

Mom and dad are going to Adilabad to visit mota-ba. She will not be coming to the wedding since she cannot make the journey to Rajkot. Rajubhai and Diptibhahi will also not be coming since Tirth is too small. They will definitely be missed. Mom, dad will be back in Rajkot on 6th and guess what!!...that is when we will also be reaching.

Aug 9th is Raksha Bandhan and I will actually be with my brothers in India for this day. It has been so many years since this happened last. I'm really looking forward to that!

Ok, that's it for now. More updates later.

Meri Pyari Beheniya Banegi Dulhuniya...

Just wanted to make a quick post about some exciting news. My sister is getting married!!! The engagement was yesterday and the wedding is on August 10th 2006. Her fiance's name is Vipul Dedhania...my sister will be Disha Vipul Dedhania...DVD! He is doing a fellowship and doing medical research. He has a younger brother who got married two months back. That means Disha is a 'Jetani' right of the bat.

Premal and I plan in attending the wedding. We will be leaving in next few days and will stay for 2 weeks. I welcome all of you to come and join us for the joyous occasion.

Before and After

Here are some updates on our plants!

Our veggie garden before and after...



Strawberry plant before and after...

few of photos from the wedding...

Past few weeks...

Past few weeks have been a bit busy. On Saturday, July 15th my cousin Nisha (my mama's daughter) got married. The wedding took place in US, but at many times it had the India feel to it.

One week before:
The guests started to arrive about a week in advance. Couple of days before the big day all guests and family had lunch and dinner at the bride's home in Billerica. Each meal had a different menu. On Thursday evening after dinner, all ladies were in the mendhi mode. Although 'mendhi rasam' was scheduled for Friday night we were all busy putting mendhi on each other.

Friday:
On Friday morning we all compared each others hands to see who had the best color. Of course this is when we started to joke about the darker the color the more love your husband had for you. Friday afternoon was the mandavo ceremony. It was held inside the house in the living room. The ladies sang wedding songs. The evening was supposed to be mendhi rasam as I said before, but it turned out to be a fun dance night. The guys mounted the speakers on the windows and we all danced in the driveway. It was fun.

Satruday:
Saturday morning we had a big responsiblity...we were in charge of bringing the groom and his mother to the mandap. Everyone was all dressed up in their saris. Nisha was looking beautiful. The ceremony was held outside and the temperature was climbing to 90 degrees. The heat was getting too much at times. But ceremony was not too long and soon it was photo session. Saturday evening was the big finale...the reception. Again everyone was dressed to impress. There was garba, slow dancing, and club dancing. All was fun and the food was great too. Soon the guests started to leave and party was over.

One week later:
One would think that things should get back to normal after that. Well... not quite. The out-of-town guests were still here and the personal lunch and dinner arrangements were made. Finally, after a week all the guests had left.

So now things should definately get back to normal, right? Wrong! My mom and sister head out to India. Then a week later we drop off dad to airport so he can catch his flight to India.

Today:
It seems like things are actually slowing down. Dad has reached India. All went well and everyone is doing fine there. They are waiting for us to join them, but that probably won't happen.

Funny Polls (2)...

It is so much fun to create a poll. Thanks to Tools I am stealing his idea. Feel free to pass on this URL to your better haves for everyone's viewing pleasure.

Who will have baby after Julie / Mehul?
	Aarti / Dhanesh
	Avani / Tulan
	Deepa / Premal
	Dolly / Mukesh
	Indu / Vijay
	Julie / Mehul
	Meghana / Raju
	Pintu / Rakesh
	Sital / Sanjay
	Swaroopa / Sukesh
	Zinkle / Sam

Funny Polls (1)...

Who will be married next?
	Ashish
	Disha
	Ekta
	Janki
	Jay
	Mamta
	Nirav

Mumbai Help...

Yesterday was a very sad day for India. Seven bomb blasts in Mumbai in 15 mins time killing 185 people. For what reason? For what purpose? Thay say terrorists planned this. The whole things gets me so angry. These terrorists obviously have no heart and no soul.

Anyway, I saw a link to help people find their loved ones in Mumbai. Not sure how helpful this is but it is worth a post. Link is Mumbai Help.

Around the house...

Seems like after 2 years of owning our home we are slowly growing a 'green thumb'. Last year we planted a few random things. But this year we have gone all out. We have new bushes, tulips, random flowers and other plants for the front of the house. In the backyard we are growing a full-fledge vegetable garden! It includes tomatoes, green chilies, bell peppers, zucchini, cabbage, and eggplant. We also have a mint plant and a strawberry plant. Thanks to my in-laws and all the rain we got this year the plants are doing great. You can see the pics below.

For the longest time I thought growing all these plants was probably a desi thing. But I was wrong. Yesterday, the hubby and I went for a walk around our neighborhood and to our surprise we saw another house with a vegetable garden. The owners were not desi. Their garden was actually bigger and better than ours. They even had some of the same veggies as us. So, I guess it's not a desi thing after all.

If you are really interested and want to see the whole album of the plant photos, click here.

Update...

Ok, so vacation ended a long time back. Sorry for not updating earlier. We had a blast. We went to Grand Canyon, Sedona, Lake Powell, Zion National Park, and of course Vegas. We also had a nice surprise at our stop over in Salt Lake City. It's hard to pick a favorite out of these places. Grand Canyon was wonderful, definitely wish we had more time to do some hiking there. Sedona was gorgeous....the architecture was beautiful. We went to a chapel which was so clamming and peaceful. Lake Powell was nice too. Went to a damn and Horseshoe Canyon....both worth seeing. Vegas was nice, but not really my scene as I don't like gambling and I don't like cards. But it was worth going at least once. The hotels were amazing, the lights, the decor, the attractions were all great. We had a 4 hour stop over in Salt Lake City so we took a tour of the city. To our surprise it turned out to be a very beautiful place. Weather was mostly in our favor so everything turned out great. See our snaps: Grand Canyon, Sedona, Lake Powell, Zion, Vegas, Salt Lake City.

So what's going on now?...well seems like a lot of things. First is that the in-laws are going back to India in a week. I can't believe it has been more than 2 months already. Seems like just yesterday Premal and I were making the house ready for them. And now it won't be the same without them. Its sad to see them go, but I won't miss the frequent trips to the grocery store or the shopping malls.

Second, work has been a little crazy. I have many projects going on right now. Some are more interesting than others. I'm going on my first training...pretty excited about that.

That's all for now.

Vacation Time

Sorry for not writing an entry for awhile. Life has been very busy recently. In-laws are in town and work has been crazy. But the good news is that this Saturday I am going on vacation! Whole family is going together to visit Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. I have never seen either so I am looking forward to it. I'm not sure which one will be better. Grand Canyon has the nature aspect and Vegas is totally opposite where everything is man-made. Grand Canyon will also be a bit cooler where Vegas will be in the 80s. I'll give all the wonderful details when I get back.

While I will be on vacation a major move is happening in our office building. Our whole group will be moving from 2nd floor to the 1st floor. I will get a window office again! But before I go not only do I have to wrap up my work I also have to wrap up my office. Coming back is gonna be killer. I will be tired and running on few hours of sleep, on top of that I will be getting back to a packed office. It's sad that I am already worried about getting back even before I go.

Spring or summer?

Spring is here! And I don't mean the one on the calendar, I'm talking about the real spring. At least it feels like it today.

I went out for lunch, got in my car and it was hot and stuffy. I can't remember the last time I felt that. In mid-summer I hate that feeling, but today it was welcomed. I had to roll down the windows and it felt absolutely great! People were running, going for walks, and sitting outside.

Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer than today. It will be nearly 70 degrees! But wait...maybe that's too hot too fast. Spring temperatures are around 60s and we are talking about 70s here. Is spring only today? If so, it looks like I'm gonna miss it. (And I was so looking forward to seeing the tulips come up this year.)

My in-laws are coming from India for a visit in the 2nd week of April. I told them a week back that it is very cold here. But, if the temperatures keep up then by the time they get here it will be summer weather and they will think I my definition of cold is crazy.

Well, what can you expect...it's New England weather....if its hot and humid today, don't be surprised if its snowing tomorrow.