Bicoastalism: the story of my life

New Blog

2006-08-02T17:42:00.000-05:00

Started a new blog - email me at sonisherni at hotmail.com for the link. I'll leave this post up for about a week.

See you on the flip side =)

#1 Baby!

2006-07-25T06:19:00.001-05:00

Who's #1? I'M #1!!!

I am officially #1 on Google for the search term "Indian Wedding." You do not even realize how amazing this is!

I've always placed well for more specific searches (indian wedding mandap nj, indian wedding dress, etc.). But placing well for Indian Wedding was the ultimate goal. I have seriously kicked off so many competitors and officially landed the #1 spot. I've been #5 or #6 on page 1 for the past couple weeks but didn't want to jinx it by getting excited. But now I've moved to #1 as of yesterday and I can't help but be excited! (Some people see it as #2 ... google is strange).

Now, for all I know, by the time anyone checks I'll be at #10 haha. But I saved the page so it will also serve as a memory of what I have achieved =) This is so exciting.

My guess is that Google adjusted their algorithm to focus more on how regularly sites are updated because many of my competitors were old, outdated sites and they are no longer appearing in the top results. Works for me!

yo

2006-07-24T12:31:00.000-05:00

I reached my goal weight! I lost a total of 10 pounds. I fit into many of my old pants - thought I still don't have that flat stomach. But now the strange part is that I want to gain weight! Lol. I need muscle. It's so funny how in the beginning all I wanted to do was lose pounds. And now I've learned SO much about healthy eating and exercise that I could give a damn about my weight - I just want to feel good and be healthy.

I found a yoga class very close to our house that was M and W sessions that hubby can make after work. So I'm thinking 2 days of yoga and 3 days of working out a week. Hubby loves yoga so I'll put up with it to give him company. Maybe I'll learn to like it too =)

On a side note, why are grocery stores so damn cold? I feel like I can't go shopping without a friggin sweater and coat on. How do parents take their kids inside wearing shorts and dresses! Craziness.

Confusion

2006-07-21T13:43:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to balance quite a few things lately. IWS used to take up a lot of time but the past few months it's been much slower since I basically just have to maintain and update it - no new issues or developments happening. My dad's business is doing well and the work comes in waves. Some days it's all I do but then I'll go a couple weeks without spending more than a few hours on it. I thought getting a part time job would be the way to go because then I could balance everything effectively but still make some steady money.

But now I'm sending out resumes for a full time job. Everything part time is useless - nothing that will teach me anything new or that really appeals to me. And on top of that, I have to remind myself that I live in the real world and I need to make real money. My new business idea could potentially make a pretty penny .. but there are equal chances that it won't. Unfortunately, I'm really lacking when it comes to sales. I wish I was better at it but I'm just not. And when you're running your own business, sales skills are SO essential.

I started sending out resumes yesterday and just got a call for a phone interview. That means I'll be spending the weekend studying my resume and trying to remember what I did at my last job. Oh joy.

Every day I start out working on one project but then jump to another and then to another. All the jumping makes me feel like I haven't accomplished anything by the end of the day. I made a list - a big 'ol spreadsheet - hoping it would help but I don't think it is. There's too much to do and not enough focus. Maybe it's because I'm sitting at home.

So now here I go on my search for a full time job in the city - which means a 1.5 hour commute every morning and every evening (along with my hubby). Then I'll fit in updates on IndianWeddingSite.com, work on my new project, work on Dad's business, and also find time to build muscle at the gym.

Maybe it's because since I quit my job I've had my own schedule and now I'm just freaked out about how I'm going to fit everything into one day and still keep focused. When I started working on IWS while at my last job, it was exciting. I enjoyed coming home in the evening and putting in a few hours on my side project. Don't know if I'll have that same joy after I get a job now.

Anyways, sorry for the rant - I guess I had to get it all out of my system. Last night I burst into tears in bed thinking I was a failure. And I'm not even PMS'ing! Hopefully I'll loosen up because tonight is date night with the hubby =)

survey

2006-07-20T12:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, I was tagged by OIJ to do this one -

BEST:
1. Male friend: my hubby
2. Female friend: Shikha
3. Vacation: French Polynesia

WORST:
1. Time of day: The minute I have to wake up!
2. Day of the week: Monday because the weekend is over
3. Color crayon: haven't colored in a while!

LAST:
1. Person you talked to that goes to your school: this just shows you this survey is meant for teenagers =)
2. Talked to on the phone: My hubby to make sure he got to work ok
3. Text: got some stupid text message in the middle of the night that said OTA OK
4. Person who Instant Messaged: probably my sister last night .. its 9:30am and no one seems to be awake!

TODAY:
1. What are you doing now: Watching Regis & Kelly and taking a break from work
2. Wearing: My official work uniform - pajamas

TOMORROW:
1. Is: SATURDAY!! Whoohoo!
2. Got any plans: There's a free event in Central Park that I'd like to go to if it doesn't rain.
3. Goal: To buy new towels
4. Dislikes about tomorrow: Dude, it's saturday - what's there to dislike? Oh, the pile of mail I need to sort through ..

FAVORITE
1. Number: 26
2. Song: Right now, I love Agony by Sumeet and Promiscuous by Nelly Furtado
3. Color: Green!!

CURRENTLY:
1. Missing Someone: My familia, who I will be seeing soon.
2. Mood: Tired .. should have taken a nap after dropping hubby off
3. Wanting: Breakfast!

TRUE/FALSE:
I am a cuddler: Hell yes.
I am a morning person: I don't like mornings but its the only time when I'm really productive.
I am a perfectionist: To some extent, yes. I'm also a control freak at times.
I am an only child: Nope.
I am currently in my pajamas: Yup =)
I am currently pregnant: Oh I sure hope not.
I am currently suffering from a broken heart: I'm married .. no more broken hearts =)
I am left handed: Nope.
I am addicted to Blogging: Addicted - no.
I am online 24/7: Yup, it's pretty sad. The internet is my life.
I am very shy around the opposite gender: I used to be!
I can be paranoid at times: Not really .. I'm more likely to be yelling at people for being paranoid.
I currently have a crush on someone: Yes - a girl crush on Aishwarya Rai.
I currently regret something that I have done: Yes - I'm not one of those "I have no regrets" people.
I enjoy country music: No - except for this one amazing song I heard in high school which I now can't remember.
I enjoy smoothies: Love them! Perfect pick me up around 3pm.
I enjoy talking on the phone: I actually hate it. I would much rather IM someone.
I have a hard time paying attention at school/work: Short attention span.
I have a hidden talent: Not really..
I have a lot to learn: Definitely.
I have a secret that I am ashamed to reveal: Nope.

ANGER
1. Are you currently mad at someone? Yes, a few people, but nothing that consumes me.
2. Which of your friends has the worst temper? I can't announce that publicly =)
3. Have you ever thrown something at anyone? Yes, I've pulled a Naomi Campbell.
4. Ever had something thrown at you? Yes, by my babies.
5. When you are mad do you prefer to stare angrily or yell and scream? I'm one of those silent treatment people.

EXCITEMENT
1. Has anyone ever thrown you a surprise party for you? My parents used to do it every year for my bday - not much of a surprise after the 3rd one =)
2. Are you easily excited? I try not to be .. I used to be that way and my mom would get mad and say that I'll jinx whatever it is .. and that's happened far too many times now so I try to control myself.
3. What you are most excited about? At this point - I'm more confused than excited!
4. If you won a million dollars what would be your first thought? Put down a few down payments for houses for me and family members
5. If you could have anything right now what would it be? I would have a vacation with my hubby!

SELF-DISCOVERY
1. Name: Sonia
2. Where were you born? Cali
3. What is your main goal in life? To feel fulfilled and have a happy family
4. How do you want to die? I don't want to die! Or get old! Ahhh!

OPINIONS
1. Sex before marriage? If you're really in love.
2. Gay Marriage? Go for it.
3. Lower the Drinking age? Raise it!
4. Recycling? Probably should be more serious about this.

DREAMS
1. What was your latest dream? Can't remember ..
2. Have any of your dreams come true? I can't remember them so I don't know =)
3. What was the weirdest dream you've ever had? I used to have recurring dreams of being chased by someone with a knife trying to kill me. I hate those.
1. Straight, Gay, Bi? Straight.
2. Do you have a bf/gf? Married .. but I'd like Aishwarya to be my girlfriend!
3. Do you have a crush? We've already been over this.

Q: How many beds did you lay in yesterday?
A: 1
Q: What color shirt are you wearing?
A: Blue t-shirt
Q: Name one thing that you do everyday?
A: Um - wake up?
Q: What color are your walls?
A: Boring white. I wish they had more color - oh well, for now my orange curtains will have to do.
Q: How much cash do you have on you right now?
A: $50 - I hate cash.
Q: I can't wait till?
A: My next vacation!
Q: When was the last time you saw your dad?
A: In May .. but I will be seeing him later this month!
Q: What did you have for dinner last night?
A: Jerk chicken, salad and baked beans
Q: What's the last piece of clothing you borrowed from someone?
A: I don't really know anyone my size
Q: What website(s) do you visit the most during the day?
A: IndianWeddingSite.com
Q: Does anything hurt on your body right now?
A: My back - I need yoga.

HAVE YOU EVER.
1. Have you ever failed a class? Nope
2. Have you ever sung in front of a crowd? Yes, I used to do Kirtan at the Gurdwara.
3. Have you ever not taken a shower for 3 days? Yup, when I had chicken pox.
4. Have you ever slept with a night light? Yes, I was always scared of the dark. But hubby made me get rid of that habit!
5. Have you ever danced in the rain? Yup!
6. Have you ever lied? Yes .. I'm human.
7. Have you ever had contacts? Yup - I'm blind.
8. Have you ever tripped over something stupid? Uh, all the time! It's amazing my body isn't covered with bruises.

Damn, that took forever! I tag you if you have free time =)

IWS July Updates

2006-07-20T09:24:00.000-05:00

The latest articles up on IndianWeddingSite.com -

*Modern Catering Trends from the caterer of theMittal Wedding

*Honeymoon in the romantic city of Jaipur

*Read Anna's Hindu and Jewish Bridal Diary

*Chat with other brides planning Indian weddings

Rain and Food

2006-07-19T10:19:00.000-05:00

So finally got to have a Restaurant Week dinner - we chose Victor's Cafe and went with a group. You can read my review here on Yelp if you're interested. I wasn't super-happy, but the chocolate lava cake at the end made me happy - which is why it's a requirement for me at any expensive dinner.

The rain last night was insane!! We left the restaurant in search of a cab and got completely drenched. And I'm not talking oh-my-shirt-is-wet drenched - I'm talking my-pants-are-completely-see-through drenched. Oh, it was my most horrible rain experience. I swear this is the second time I wore my cute jeweled white flip flops to the city and both times it rained. I am never wearing those out of CT again.

Got to the train station and seriously stood underneath the hand dryer, drying my pants. I must have looked like such an idiot - especially while trying to dry my butt. One person sympathized with me, I think the others just looked at me weird. Haha. I swear I felt like I was in some stupid comedy movie.

The drive home with the psychotic lightning and thunder didn't help. Lightning is absolutely gorgeous but should be enjoyed from the comfort of your home. The fear of being struck by it did not make for a fun drive - the fallen tree branches didn't help either.

Back to work I go!

Holy SH*T!!

2006-07-18T07:43:00.000-05:00

Ok, before you read this post, you have to read my previous post.

Ok, now that you've read it let me just tell you -

SONIAJOTI.COM IS AVAILABLE!!!

I swear, this blog must be magical or something!! The other day I checked it and it went to one of those ugly search pages that appear when someone is sitting on a domain. So after I posted my previous entry I thought, hmm, I wonder if anyone will actually type it in and see what's there. So I did that myself and got an error page instead of the page I got last time. Looked it up and it was available! No clue how this happened - maybe the guy took pity on me after reading my email and released it.

Anyways, I just bought that sucker for 5 years. Now I just have to wait until we start a family to do something with it hehe.

P.S. TO THE MAGICAL BLOG FAIRY - I WANT A MILLION DOLLARS, I WANT A MILLION DOLLARS, I WANT A MILLION DOLLARS!

SoniaJoti.com

2006-07-18T06:25:00.000-05:00

I'm bummed. Before we got married, I bought the domain SoniaJoti.com and built a wedding website. I kid you not, this website was great - well, for someone who was doing it for kicks and had no professional experience. It had our proposal story, a video montage of our engagement party, out of town guest info, etc etc. I was a trendsetter - no one in my circle or hubby's circle of friends had done something like that. Anyways, it was the only thing I heard for like 2 years - my best friend even worked it into the skit she organized at our reception. My dad to this day will sometimes randomly call and say, "So what's going on, SoniaJoti.com."So, you get the point, this website was like our middle name.

Last year I let it expire - warning emails went to my old account. I could have bought it back but I was lazy. Or maybe I just wanted to move on from that phase of life. Maybe I was struggling to build IndianWeddingSite.com and didn't want to deal with another website. I just wasn't excited about renewing it. So then recently we start talking about a family website because, knowing my geekiness, I will need an outlet to bombard people with updates on my kids and their many pictures and videos. We decided to get SoniaJoti.com back since we have no idea what our kids names will be and our names aren't changing =)

So I go to get it and find that someone else has bought it! Some stupid company that just buys up mass expired domains and sits on them. I e-mailed them but still haven't received a response. If I have to pay big money to get MY domain name back, I will be so pissed. I'm kicking myself in the ass for letting it expire.

All I want is my website back!!

restaurant week dilemmas

2006-07-17T15:10:00.000-05:00

So I mistakenly took on the task of arranging a group dinner for over 8 people for Restaurant week. Hmm .. for some reason I doubt we're going to get anything. Going back and forth trying to figure out a head count isn't helping. Ugh, why do I do this?

Came up with an amazing new business idea on Sunday morning - I've been waiting for an idea like this for months but haven't come across anything. Randomly while searching for hip hop classes in my area, it came to me =) I've started the process and am doing tons of research. It's exciting but also scary. I had butterflies in my stomach all day yesterday. Some of them are still flying around. Sorry to be so vague .. I will spill more as this idea matures.

I'm Fashionable!

2006-07-14T11:26:00.000-05:00

So how weird is this. I'm sitting here reading US Magazine (my gossip addiction and birthday gift from hubby last year). I'm in the Hot Summer Bargains section and I see a dress that hubby made me buy from Forever 21, and that I just wore at our anniversary dinner. Wow, you don't even understand how fashionable I feel right now. This coming from someone whose little sister cannot understand that she doesn't have 15 different makeup brushes and 3 closets full of clothes =)

So HA little sister of mine - I am a little fashionable too =) Oh wait, hubby picked it out. Shit. Ok, well my husband is fashionable, so HA!

My face looks funky, but you get the idea. The F21 dress I found online isn't exactly the same, but pretty much. It's so friggin comfortable!

Green RAZR

2006-07-13T09:22:00.000-05:00

So we're going to switch to Cingular soon and I'm looking at phones. I've decided on the RAZR but my inner green-obsessed self keeps hoping they'll come out with a green RAZR (they already have pink, blue and silver). So I figured it couldn't be long until they released green, a la the many ipod colors.

And look what hubby found!

No idea if it'll ever appear in the U.S., or if Cingular will carry it, but now I'm going to wait and find out =)

Restaurant Week

2006-07-10T17:07:00.000-05:00

For those in the NY area - don't forget about Restaurant Week! This week and next week lunches at select restaurants are $24.07 and dinners are $35 (weekdays only). I just love restaurant week - hubby and I are big foodies and good food on a budget sounds good to us!

Some restaurants are even extending the offer through Labor Day! I've never heard of that one - that means we'll be spending even more money on food =)

Some restaurants on my list:

-Asia de Cuba
-Mesa Grill
-Dos Caminos
-Gramercy Tavern
-One if by Land, Two if by Sea
-Rain
-Remi Restaurant
-Spice Market
-Tavern on the Green
-The River Cafe
-Vong

Yes, I know it's a long list and it will probably take me years to get through it =)

Book Club

2006-07-10T13:23:00.001-05:00

So I just read a book called The Mermaid Chair for my book club. We met on Friday and I had a blast - we had a great discussion, everyone found something they hated about the book, good company and good food =)

Anyone read any good books lately?

Bora Bora Jealousy

2006-07-10T07:18:00.000-05:00

I'm so jealous! Two celebrity couples have recently been photographer frolicking around Bora Bora. I can't believe it's only been (exactly) 3 years since I was there. Feels like so long ago. I need (ok, I just really really want) to go back! Luckily, bro-in-law paid for our honeymoon so we had the experience - just gotta find another way to get an all-expense paid trip again =)

Maybe I'll bribe my moms by saying that if they send us to Bora Bora, I'll deliver a grandkid. Hey, it just might work!

Nicole Kidman/Keith Urban and Eva Longoria/Tony Parker happened to be there at the same time - at the same resort!

Getting better!

2006-07-06T20:18:00.000-05:00

So hubby is finally getting better! He had a high fever from June 11th until earlier this week. That would be about 3 weeks. And in those 3 weeks the only places I've been are doctor's offices and pharmacies! Sure hubby was the sick one .. but I was the bored one! I can only speak about this so lightly now that I know he's getting better and the stupid specialist is no longer scaring me with long-named diseases.

Seriously makes you re-think life when you face a situation like that. Thankfully everything is fine though.

Yesterday we went out to dinner in New Haven for our anniversary - will post some pics soon.

Tomorrow H&M is opening at our local mall. First 100 people get a free t-shirt and 20% off their purchases. Mall opens at 10am - store opens at noon. I'm still debating whether I should wait outside the store for 2 hours with all the teenaged girls tomorrow. Hmmm - still no decision.

Watched Devil Wears Prada and loved it - awesome, light movie.

Ok back to hubby I go.

3 years

2006-07-05T08:13:00.000-05:00

HAPPY 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO US!!

Hubby has been sick for over 3 weeks now .. going to the doctor now to get results of the many
many tests they're doing. We're hoping for the best!! Will update when we get back =)

Cool Auntie

2006-06-28T09:44:00.000-05:00

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

I'm here!

2006-06-26T13:43:00.000-05:00

Wow, I haven't blogged in a while. Hubby's been home sick for nearly 2 weeks and finally went back to work today. I don't feel like blogging when my sick hubby is laying next to me =)

*I haven't been to the gym in so long because I just can't go alone (unless I'm going to a class). I was sick for a while = no gym. Now hubby was sick = no gym. This sucks. I really need to get back. I've already gained 1.5 pounds back.

*On the plus side, I'm fitting into all the clothes I was wearing as a newlywed =) Now if only I could get to the pre-marriage clothes =)

*I'm trying to do a new development with IWS but I'm nervous about whether it will work or not. And kicking it off will be a huge time commitment.

*Next week is our 3 year wedding anniversary. I've had a gift idea for a while but I didn't act on it because I figured the anniversary was so far away. Well yesterday I realized it's next week!! Don't think I'll be able to get it done in time.

*I haven't been out of the house in a while. It seems the only places I've been are the doctor's office, the hospital and the CVS pharmacy (with a trip to Trader Joe's and the Dry Cleaner's thrown in). I need to get out! Hubby's fever still isn't down so I'm hoping that gets solved this week because it's been way too long.

*Apparently because next week is 3 years, we have to have kids ASAP. If we do not, we will always regret it and realize we made a mistake. And to everyone who keeps calling to tell us this - SHUT UP!

Ok back to work I go - I feel like I took a 2 week break from life and now everything's catching up to me.

IWS June Update

2006-06-20T11:18:00.000-05:00

Here's the latest on IndianWeddingSite.com:

*Shalini Vadhera - Celebrity Makeup Artist - Presents Global Goddess Beauty
*Naiya and Chirag's Proposal Story
*Naiya and Chirag's Wedding Story
*Rashi's Mehndi Art added to Mehndi Gallery
*Sulaiman and Ninad's Proposal Story

Randomness Again

2006-06-07T11:36:00.000-05:00

More randomness because that's what's going on in my head:

*I have tons of work to do for my dad's business. I have tons to do for my dad's new business. I have tons to do for my OWN business. And oh yeah, I'm supposed to be applying for a full time job. Yippeee.

*It's raining. It's June. WTF ?!?! Again, I miss California.

*A friend of mine is pregnant!!! My first real friend who is pregnant. This is so strange. One of my husband's closest friends is going to be a dad. Surreal. It's exciting hearing about it .. but I can't imagine that by the end of the year whenever we visit them they'll have a little tiny baby =)

*Mexico was the plan for the girls' trip but that got shelved. Need to find something in the U.S. and need to do it fast.

*My legs hurt. My arms hurt. Damn husband/wannabe trainer of mine. He killed me at the gym yesterday and it didn't help that I hadn't gone in over 3 weeks. Every time I complained, he repeated "Do you want that flat stomach for summer, or WINTER." Bastard. (I love you)

*Today is my nephew's 7 month birthday. 7 months on the 7th. Whoohoo! Too bad he's feeling sick. I spent the night there the other night and I got to sleep with him in the early morning. Wow, I now know that feeling moms get when waking up next to their babies. He looked so adorable sleeping all covered up. Well, except for the loud snoring because the poor thing couldn't breathe =)

*Driving to Maryland on Friday for a wedding and then back on Saturday - reception is in NY on Sunday. Joy. More clothes to find. Sigh. I swear I have so many damn suits but none are reception-worthy. I don't care for my lehngas and I hate wearing saris. Blah.

Ok I need to stop and go back to work.

My Theories

2006-06-05T15:51:00.000-05:00

When I was in middle school I developed this "theory" that girls who had older brothers were independent. Not to say that girls w/o older brothers weren't. I tested it out through high school with people I met and totally believe it.

Anyways, I now have these two new theories that I recently formed that I am going to begin testing out. I don't know how much sense they make yet but I'll find out I'm sure =)

1) I do not like couples who went to Hawaii for their honeymoon.

Reasoning: Hawaii is such a boring honeymoon destination!! I'm sure the islands are gorgeous, but these days college kids go there for spring break. It doesn't hold the same romantic charm that it did years ago when kids still went to Disneyland for break. I think it would be a great place for a couple to vacation, but choosing it for your honeymoon just seems like you picked the first thing that came to mind. If you can afford Hawaii, there are tons of other more exciting places or once-in-a-lifetime trips that you could choose.

2) I do not like Sikh couples who name their daughters Simran or Jasmine.

Reasoning: BORING! Simran is such a generic name - I have met over 10 Simrans who are in my age group. My poor niece names every doll/fish/new friend Simran because she has met more than 5 little girls named Simran. Come on people - get creative! I don't care if it was Kajol's name in DDLJ or if it's a convenient Sikh name, use your imagination!! And Jasmine? It's such a copout name. I want it to sound Indian, but also be American. So now there's an onslaught of little girls named Jasmine. Granted, my name is Sonia but hey, I didn't name myself =) I just don't understand why you would want to name your daughter something that everyone else and their mothers are naming their daughters.

I guess I just feel that the above two things are really important - what with choosing Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora for my honeymoon and having an Excel spreadsheet ready with potential kids' names years before I'm ready to have them.

Let's see how these theories hold up. I already found out one couple I can't stand honeymooned in Hawaii =) Of course, tomorrow I may find out that a couple I love are naming their daughter Simran, haha.

Oh, by the way, I'm starting to feel much better now ... thanks for your comments =)

Ugh

2006-06-01T10:17:00.000-05:00

Ugh - I'm sick - as a dog.

Initially I thought I was controlling it by overdosing on orange juice and what not but it didn't go away and now it's worse. I'm taking Tylenol Sinus in hopes that I don't have to give in and go to the doctor. I thought I'd get a bit better today but I'm worse instead. And I have SO many emails to reply to and things to cross off on my to-do list. This sucks.

Times like this I wish hubby could just stay at home and take care of me - but then we'd have no money to buy me medicine so I guess it's better that he go to work =)

Did anyone else who ordered that kurti dress from La Redoute get a notice in the mail saying that it was on backorder? That made me mad .. I really wanted to wear it soon! Bastards.

Ok back to work and OJ.

Bday Weekend

2006-05-30T13:26:00.000-05:00

My three-day birthday weekend is over =( But I had fun and that is obvious because I am now on the path to getting sick. It started with the throat and seems to be getting worse. The insane heat isn't helping!

So Friday hubby took me on a shopping spree which was fun =) I had tried on some pants that I bought last summer and all of them are too big now since my butt and hips have disappeared (I miss them). But, alas, the stomach is still there so I got some new wardrobe additions =) Stores that took my money: Express, Forever 21, Delia's.

At night we went out to dinner with the family at my favorite mexican restaurant - Cancun Charlie's. I was serenaded by their mariachi band (sooooniaa oh soooniaa) - haha that was great. It was also great to see their mouths open when hubby said I was 25. Whoohoo!

Saturday we were supposed to go to a wedding and reception but made it in time for the cocktail hour. The place was gorgeous - oh how I love rich people getting married! The centerpieces were absolutely gorgeous and the lighting was delicious. I wish mood lighting had been more popular around my wedding. It makes such a huge difference. I cried at the reception when the bride's father spoke and then choked up (his eldest daughter of 3 was the bride). Reminded me of my daddy.

Sunday we made our way to nyc and got there in time to see Wicked. It was good - the sets and costumes were amazing and we had great seats - seeing the facial expressions of the actors so clearly is great. I didn't like the story itself as much as I loved Mamma Mia but it was worth seeing for the sets and presentation.

After Wicked, we went over to the Sepia Mutiny meetup at La Lanterna which was great. It's fun meeting new people who know little to nothing about you =) I got to see Anna again which is always a joy and got to put a face to the mysterious Ennis =)

We went to dinner at Andavi which was very yummy. The bruschetta was probably the best I've ever had and bruschetta is my favorite food! Unfortunately, they lost points because they didn't have a souffle chocolate cake for dessert which is a must at every italian restaurant. We stayed at the Sheraton in midtown and were pleasantly upgraded to a nicer room - probably due to the fact that we checked in late at night and were probably the only non-tourists there.

Sunday we wanted to have brunch at Danal but when we showed up it was closed. Bastards. Hubby found another place in the West Village that was yummy though so all is good and Danal will be saved for another occasion.

Then we headed over to Hoboken, NJ for a picnic/BBQ with a bunch of other Sikh folks. It was thrown in honor of the may birthday girls. I got to cut a second cake =) We were there for the rest of the day and left around 9pm. Good food, good people, good view. Didn't get home until 10:30 and then wound up just crashing.

Overall a busy weekend that flew by way too quickly. We need more of these 3 day thingamajiggers =)

2006-05-26T10:15:00.000-05:00

Back on the East Coast as of last night. I miss California more than usual this time - even the thought of seeing hubby again didn't make the missing california feelings go away. Sigh.

Today is my quarter of a century birthday =) Don't know how I feel about turning 25 yet but I definitely don't feel excited about my bday! But my babies are coming over in a little while and it was so cute hearing my niece wish me a happy birthday on the phone.

We're doing a family dinner tonight (after hubby takes me shopping hehe). Then tomorrow we have a wedding and then we're spending Sunday and Monday in the city. There's a BBQ on Monday in NJ - we wanted to stay in the city but it's for the may birthday girls of which I am one so I'd feel weird not going. We'll see. The Sepia Mutiny meetup is also on Sunday.

Ok going to start off my birthday by doing some laundry =)

2006-05-23T14:47:00.000-05:00

So I was supposed to fly back to the east coast this morning but last night my parents convinced me to stay longer .. haha. It cost more money than I would have paid but luckily I'm not the one paying for this =) There's still work to be done here, and I dont have to be back until Friday so now I'm flying out Thursday morning. Yippee!

Also, I'm in love with this dress but I need to go out and get those clothing measuring tape things so I can measure myself because I don't know what my size is with them. But the $5 shipping ends today so I must order! Isn't it hot? Gotta pick a color. Here's the link.

That's Wicked

2006-05-22T21:57:00.000-05:00

Wicked it is!

We looked at a few shows - some had bad seats, some had no seats. Anyways, we were down to Wicked, Producers or Cirque du Soleil. Wicked had no seats, Cirque had bad seats, Producers had bad times. But hubby found tickets on Ebay for Wicked so we just got those.

Whoohoo!

Broadway Show

2006-05-22T13:14:00.000-05:00

I need to decide on a broadway show to see for my bday. I've seen Rent and Mamma Mia. Any you would recommend or really want to see?

List of shows

Some I'm considering:
Les Miserables
The Phantom of the Opera
The Producers
Cirque Du Soleil - 'Corteo'

Girls Trip

2006-05-19T16:58:00.000-05:00

My best buddy and I are thinking of taking a trip for a few days in June ... any suggestions? I'd rather do something low key that doesn't involve lots of running around/sightseeing. But at the same time a little more excitement than just sitting on a beach.

Oh, and somewhere warm near the water =)

Any ideas?

Bollywood Barbie

2006-05-19T15:54:00.000-05:00

Haha, look at skinny Nicole Richie in a pink, cotton suit with a tabla =)

Where's the vaja ?!?! Why ya cheatin with a keyboard?

I'm Vain

2006-05-19T12:51:00.000-05:00

Another tidbit for OIJ's blog =) I don't think I'm that vain though! I'm so low maintenance with my looks - but I do look at myself always if I pass a mirror.

You Are 67% Vain

You're a little vain, but you also work hard for your good looks.
Just remember, everyone knows you are a total hottie. You don't have to remind them.

How Vain Are You?

My best buddy

2006-05-18T17:29:00.000-05:00

I spent part of the day with my best friend yesterday - she's one of the people I miss most being out in CT. We met freshman year of college, had some issues, but we've been best friends for a few years now. I couldn't have planned my wedding without her =)

We did our usual - Frappucinos at Starbucks, a walk to the lounge chairs at Santana Row, lots of deep talk mixed with gossip, and then a bathroom break at Borders. Lol. Of course, then we had to rush home to watch Lost because no Wednesday is complete without that.

I love the things I figure out while talking to S. She's the perfect person to bounce ideas off of and get honest opinions from.

I've been working all day but later will be off to Valley Fair to get my rings cleaned at Tiffany's and then do some shopping and have dinner with S.

Back to work!

20 things

2006-05-16T23:16:00.000-05:00

20 things you don't know about me - got the idea from OIJ's blog.

1. My favorite color is green and for much of my life I was completely obsessed with all things green. This may stem from my selfish love for my green eyes.

2. I got married a month after I turned 22.

3. I'm only 5 feet tall.

4. I still have my maiden name and have been meaning to change it to Kaur.

5. I love pajamas and live in them. I never wear pajamas with matching tops - always pajama bottoms with an old t-shirt.

6. Hubby and I were officially married in Las Vegas.

7. I went to a private, all-girls Catholic high school.

8. I've been quoted in quite a few newspapers.

9. I played the harmonium for many years and have been meaning to teach myself again.

10. I am terrified of public speaking.

11. I've competed in many bhangra competitions and have only won once. I blame this on the fact that our tiny school forced us to take anyone who would dance vs. the bigger UC's who got to have tryouts.

12. I was Vice President of Intandesh, our South Asian Club at SCU for 2 years.

13. I have watched Bend it Like Beckham over 10 times. The first time I saw it I loved it so much that I started it over and watched it again.

14. I get emotional and tear up very easily, especially when hearing songs about father/daughter relationships or watching baby diaper commercials.

15. If I have two boys, I want to adopt a girl from Punjab.

16. My very first car, a red Toyota Tercel, was named Rudolfo (after Rudolph Valentino)

17. My favorite car was my gold Nissan Pathfinder. I cried for 3 days when my dad traded it in for a new Lexus for my mom. I didn't even get to kiss it goodbye.

18. I kinda miss getting hit on at parties.

19. I don't like pets. I figured if you're going to put that much effort into taking care of something, you should just have a kid.

20. I have an Excel spreadsheet with potential names for my children.

2006-05-16T19:32:00.000-05:00

Hola mis amigos - so I am now in the sunny land of California =) Everything here is so much lighter, warmer and less stressful. The flight was amazing and the steward dude was hilarious -- he told a bunch of jokes while we were waiting to take off. At the end when most of them do the normal schpeel on baggage shifting so be careful when you open the compartment, he said "Listen up folks, this is important, shift happens." Haha, we were all cracking up. Ok, you had to be there.

Anyways, some food and a nap later, I think I'm adjusted. Must start my california job tomorrow morning but until then I'm wasting time and catching up with the familia.

My mom says I'm too skinny and when I told her how much I weigh she freaked out. Then she told me how beautiful I looked last year during our anniversary trip. This was at my highest weight when my oval face turned into a circle with chubby cheeks. And it only took 5 pounds for me to look like that! Anyways, she says I look like a girl again instead of a woman. Of course, in her mind, married Indian women should be fat. Haha. My dad said don't get too skinny and my sister wants the details on how I did it. This is fun =)

Ok now to go take care of this massive jetlagged headache.

2006-05-13T08:46:00.000-05:00

Ok I just wanted to clarify that I lost those 5 pounds since I started working out late last year .. not since I last posted about the Abs diet like a week ago. I don't want you all to think I'm some superwoman and then call me a biatch behind my back (behind my computer screen?) Haha =)

Ok today we're going to a communion and then to a wedding reception - jampacked. Must get ready.

And I'd just like to thank Ani for introducing me to my new favorite word - Patheticut (as in Connecticut). This is going to drive my husband crazy =)

2006-05-12T12:17:00.000-05:00

So hubby and I went to a ballroom dancing class last night at the Y and it was pretty fun. The class was split in half - old people and young people =) The old people were so beyond cute, I wanted to hug all of them. Anyway, we learned the fox trot and the merengue which was fun. It sucks that we'll miss next week, but then we have 2 more classes after that.

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday which means dinner out. I guess this will count as our cheat meal =) But yay, I get to see my babies!

My cousin from England got married last year (well, she's from India and married her high school sweetheart who moved to England a few years ago so now she's my cousin from England). Anyways, she just sent her honeymoon pictures and she looks so cute! I swear she is the most beautiful girl. Lucky biatch.

I'm losing weight! I don't care much for the actual number, as long as I look better. But I've lost 5 pounds from my highest which makes me extremely happy =) Haha, I remember the days in college when an old friend and I would sit around talking about how we would throw a party if we ever got to 100 pounds. Oh, how I want to slap my former self now =)

I got the hookup

2006-05-11T11:55:00.000-05:00

So I contacted the PR people for this makeup artist - Shalini Vadhera. She does a lot of celebrity makeup and recenty released a book and beauty line at Sephora. Anyways, I just wanted to know if I could put up a description of her book on IWS. Her PR people instead told me they'd send me a package of material. So I figured I'd write up an article on her for next month's newsletter. Well, I just got the package and can I just say that I am finally experiencing the perks of this damn business ?!?!

The package includes:

Press releases and docs on her beauty line
A $45 Coconut Revitalizing Hair Treatment with Amla
Her new book, Passport to Beauty

I feel like such a pimp. A pimp who's going to have some sexy hair.

Funky Searches

2006-05-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

So in a month on IWS, there are at least 2,500 different search words/phrases that bring people to the website. I check through them once or twice a month and always get a good laugh. Here's some funky ones so far - I'm sure there's plenty more to come, it's only the 11th.

free e-cards marriage invitation south indian
uh, dude, wedding e-cards are kinda tacky

marathi webs site on camera lenses
wow, so the marathis have special camera lenses?

luxury wedding night lingerie
ooh la la, try victoria's secret

wallpapers indian wedding mandap
now, are you trying to decorate your new home or computer in wallpaper with a mandap design, or are you trying to create a mandap out of wallpaper?

planning a sikh wedding in goa
ooh, invite me please!

animated asian bridal dresses
were you looking for a cartoon?

in england prize indian lehnga
is this like the prize winning pig contest?

magi designer for wedding
as in maggi noodles?

indian wedding wish
oh, keep wishing

chatwal wedding card
well gee, if i got the card and was invited, i would probably be too rich to be sitting here! meanwhile, take a look at their wedding pictures.

where to buy neeta bhargava
hmm, she might sell you some of her designer clothes but I doubt she'll let you buy her.

It's Wednesday!

2006-05-10T13:20:00.000-05:00

*So I've been sitting here all day sending out the IWS newsletter for the month - I need to pay someone and just get this automated .. it takes up too much of my time sending a newsletter to over 3,000 people, 20 each minute.

*Today is a new episode of Lost! Whoohoo! Oh how I love this show.

*I have to go to a communion this saturday for hubby's friend's son - I've never been to one. But a buddy told me it's just like the mandatory masses we had to go to at our Catholic high school. Then we have a wedding reception at night. Ugh, that means finding another outfit. I hate that. I would hate it less if I could fit into some of them though =)

*Britney Spears is pregnant again! How crazy is that! That woman is insane, though not as insane as her trashy husband. Soon we'll get to see pictures of her endangering both of her children at the same time. How fun!

Randomness

2006-05-09T11:17:00.000-05:00

A bunch of things I've been meaning to blog about but haven't had the chance to:

-My sister-in-law's anniversary is today, her birthday is friday, and mothers day is sunday. how much does that suck!! All these gift-related events in one week.

-My nephew is 6 months old =) He's so adorable .. I love how easy it is to make him laugh now - reminds me more and more of his sister when she was a baby. Hubby and I have been dancing with Sukhmani (niece) for years now ... she knows that when we come over, it's time to press play on her barbie stereo and get dancing. And now Kabir gets to join in on the dancing =) He even moves his shoulders when he hears music so we know we won't have any trouble passing on the bhangra to him =) I will post pictures of them soon.

-The NY Culinary Festival is coming up and it looks awesome. Unfortunately, I won't be here but I'm hoping my foodie husband will go. It looks very cool - check it out.

-Hubby and I signed up for ballroom dancing classes. It's a 4 class mini-session at our gym and starts this thursday. We took a few dance classes before our wedding but not since then so hopefully this will be fun =)

-I saw Mission Impossible over the weekend - good movie, but not as good as the others. But it still had me on the edge of my seat at a few points. Oh, and Bahar Soomekh had a small role in it which surprised me. That woman is hot.

-I can't decide on a birthday gift for myself. I saw this diamond necklace I really like but now I keep seeing it on TV and in all the catalogues and I don't want it as much. I also wanted the pink Razr phone but it's being advertised as a mother's day gift everywhere and that makes me want it less. Any cool new gadgets out there that I'm missing? I'm so not a girly girl - I would much rather have something electronic than something with bling. Ooh, but electronic bling could be cool.

Ok, back to work I go.

The Abs Diet

2006-05-08T08:27:00.000-05:00

So I'm going to start the Abs Diet.

It's a 6 week program that involves regulating what you eat and has specific exercises to do. Supposedly I will see my abs by the end of this. Hubby and I are both going to do it and got the book this weekend. The website looks very commercial-y but the book is a very good read. The author makes some great points that really make you re-evaluate what you've been eating and how you've been exercising.

There are certain foods that you can eat - and not much is limited. You can have bread, just whole weat. He focuses a lot on smoothies. I have to go buy some ingredients, like whey powder and flaxseed. There's also a lot of emphasis on berries and nuts. And we practiced some of the exercises at the gym and wow do you feel them. He's not big on reps so you're not in pain afterwards, either. You're supposed to eat 6 meals a day instead of 3 and there's one cheat meal per week. I think the program makes a lot of sense and hopefully it'll work!

I'm going to CA for a week so I won't officially start until I get back but I'm going to start getting into it before then.

If I can get my abs to look like the women in these pictures by summer, I am going to start dressing like a hooch. I have already warned my husband. Haha.

MASH

2006-05-07T00:14:00.000-05:00

I just randomly decided to play a game of MASH online (remember that game from the sleepovers?). This is what I got:

You will live in Apartment.
You will drive a blue mazaratti.
You will marry j and have 1 kids.
You will be a online marketing in tahiti.

Hubby has alerted me to the fact that I spelled Maserati wrong. But hell, if I'm rich enough to be driving one it doesn't matter how I spell!

So I figure Tahiti will put up a huge, luxury apartment complex and I will do online marketing for it and they'll love me enough to buy me a fancy car and then I'll have a baby with my hubby (who we will ship off to the U.S. so he/she can go to Harvard).

Oh, the things I do at 1am when I should be sleeping.

Books Books Books

2006-05-03T10:42:00.000-05:00

I'm really bad at coming up with clever titles for my blog posts. Maybe it's because I write the title before the post and that doesn't make sense since I often go off on random tangents. I've been known as the picture caption queen, but I think I need to give up that title as my camera never really sees daylight these days. Must take more pictures!

So I've been reading a couple books - Freakonomics and Playing House: A Starter Guide to Being a Grown Up.

Freakonomics is exciting ... I'm reading it for a book club. I love the theories these guys come up with - can't wait to discuss it. Unfortunately, I have no memory so I have to take notes after reading each chapter. But oh how modern my world has become - I used to take notes on paper and now I take them on a blog (not this one, my other book review blog).

Playing House is fun - I'm absolutely not a grown up even though I will have a mid-20-life crisis later this month. I really don't cook or clean well or host parties or any of that other grownup stuff. So this book has been helpful - I learned the difference between nonstick and regular pans and more importantly, when to use each one. And now that I think about it I can't even remember when to use either. Maybe I should take notes while reading that one too. Geez .. I need those memory pills/vitamins.

Busy Weekend

2006-05-01T10:09:00.000-05:00

I had a fun, yet very tiring weekend. Friday night we ate lots of pasta! We've been on a chicken/fish and salad dinner every night routine for about 3 weeks now. So weekends we let ourselves deviate and Friday night seemed like the perfect time for pasta =) Then we went to eat ice cream in New Haven at this yummy little place called Ashley's. I think it's fun hanging out with Yale students and pretending I'm one of them haha.

Saturday morning we set out for the Sikh Day Parade in NYC. Now I went one year and vowed to never go again, but it was our nephew's first parade and we wanted to see him and our niece all dressed up. Oh, first, we stopped by hubby's new office to drop off some books and research. Wow is all I can say! He's on the 41st floor and his office has a view of Midtown, Central Park, some bridge, some cliff, some more water etc etc. Yea, I'm not good with names of places =) Anyways, it's absolutely gorgeous and a few steps up from the office at his last job that had no window. He's a spoiled man now.

Ok, so the parade was crazy and crowded as expected. I just love getting pushed by aunties. We attempted to take our niece to the playground area which was horrid. I don't understand how parents let their kids free in a place like that. There were over 100 kids on one small play set .. complete with 15 year olds pushing 5 year olds to get to the slide. My husband yelled at so many kids =) Oh, and I saw Waris again. That would be my third Waris sighting.

Then we stopped by a cousin's place in the city and got ready for a wedding reception that night in Jersey. We skipped the wedding for the parade =) The reception was a blast .. good music (for the most part), great place, good people .. what more do you need? Ok you need a lot more - food was good, centerpieces were amazing, bride and groom matched and looked very happy in love, etc. Their first dance song was the same as ours!!! I finalized our song only a week or two before the wedding (I'm a music fanatic). Anyways, it was this very unique punjabi love song that no one had ever heard and I figured no one would ever hear again. And they did the same song!!! Bastards. Haha, ok, my anger cooled down once I started doing bhangra. My entrance song at our engagement party was also extremely unique and then I started hearing it elsewhere. I am convinced that people have taken my choices (Dj's to be exact) and copied them elsewhere. Seriously, I hate it. But oh well, what are you gunna do. Lots of things have been copied from my wedding - including my sangeet books, without my permission.

Sunday we hung out with the niece and newphew and shopped at Target. What was supposed to take 15 minutes took over an hour and a half and $150 later we were out of there. Why does this always happen at Target! Damn that store.

Ok, back to work I go.

Waris the man

2006-04-27T11:50:00.000-05:00

Waris Ahluwalia is awesome. Not only did he play a great role in Inside Man, but he continues to prove that Sikhs can make a mark in America's film industry. This guy just doesn't let the man stop him! For a Sikh man to walk on set and only do roles that allow him to speak English without a fobby accent is pretty rare. Props to Waris.

He's also in Wes Andersons' new commercial for American Express - you can watch it here. He's a great role model for younger Sikhs (and I'm basing this on his career, not personal life, of which I know nothing about). He even has his own line of blinged out stuff called House of Waris, which I can't afford. What a pimp. I want a House of Sonia! Ok, that doesn't sound as cool.

I think I saw him the other night in the city (which would be sighting #2). Should have gone up and said congrats =)

Updated: So my husband went to Sikh camp with Waris. And he also went to camp with Vikram Chatwal. Oh, you better believe my 5 year olds will learn all about networking and plaxo!

More Updates

2006-04-25T15:46:00.000-05:00

So I wrote up this long post with updates on my life but somehow managed to delete it before I could save it. So here's my second, possibly shorter, attempt.

Hubby left his job mid-last week and we didn't have time to plan a real vacation so we took a mini-vacation and stayed in the city. There's a lot of places I haven't really spent time in, even though I've lived out here for almost 3 years. So exploring is what we did.

*Thursday we went to eat burgers at Shake Shack - this place only opens in the spring/summer and we waited over half an hour in line. But the burgers were delish and really hit the spot - it was also really nice to be able to eat outside. Then we went to Central Park to take a boat ride on the lake. Hubby rowed us out to the spot where he had proposed to me (the day before our engagement party haha). That day he told me we were walking to Tiffany's to pick up my ring but instead we walked to this little area overlooking the lake. That was fun =) At night we ate at Candela which is supposed to be one of the most romantic restaurants in nyc but was disappointing - oh well, the food was good.

*Friday I wanted to walk around the neighborhoods that we rarely go to. We had falafels at Taim which were amazing - really wanted to try this place and I wasn't disappointed. We were hanging out in the West Village and saw that the store Details was going out of business - 50% off. We stocked up and then hauled our butts over to the larger Chelsea store and stocked up there as well. Sucks that it's closing but it worked out for us =) That night we met up with some friends and went to see Desipina's 7-11. It was really funny and great to see South Asian actors doing so well. We had dinner at a tapas place called Sala - food was good, not great, but atmosphere was fun. At one point they were playing "It's the time to disco" from Kal Ho Na Ho. That was hilarious. Anyways, no evil stares from the waiters even though we were there until 1am.

*Saturday it rained and it was a sucky day so we cut our trip short because we had to be in Long Island for dinner that night.

Overall, a very fun trip and I learned a lot about subways =)

It's free ice cream day

2006-04-25T12:30:00.000-05:00

It's free ice cream day at Ben & Jerry's - go get some yummy stuff for dessert =)

Tagged

2006-04-18T14:20:00.000-05:00

I got this from OpinionatedinJerzee's Blog and I'm bored so here you go =)

( ) Smoked a cigarette (No smoking for me - I want to live a long life)
( ) Drank so much you threw up (I don't drink dawg!)
( ) Crashed a friend's car (Yikes, no way)
( ) Stolen a car
(X) Been in love (I love my jaanu)
(X ) Shoplifted (Ok, do you guys remember pogs? One of those things that was huge and then disappeared. Well, I once stole a couple from a cart in the mall when I was young. I know, I'm horrible. Sorry pog cart man!)
(X) Quit your job (Yup, to start my current project)
( ) Filed for divorce
(X) Been in a fist fight (With my sister - does that count?)
( ) Broken a bone
( ) Saved someone's life
( ) Been arrested
( ) Gone on a blind date (I'd be way too shy)
(X) Lied to a friend (Yes, I'm sure I have - but with good intentions)
(X) Skipped school (I've skipped a class or two, but I don't think I've ditched for a whole day)
( ) Seen someone die
(X) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
(X) Been on a plane (Many, many times)
(X) Been lost (Yes, but not like on the show)
(X) Been on the opposite side of the country (Uh, hello, I was born there!)
( ) Swam in the ocean (I can't swim. No, really, it's the truth. I knew how to swim when I was young and took lessons. Now I can't swim. And no, it's not something you never forget because I have forgotten!)
(X) Felt like dying (Long distance relationship fights can do that to you)
(X) Been stung by a bee (I think back in 2nd or 3rd grade)
( ) Played cops and robbers (No, but my cousins and I used to play "Air Hostess")
( ) Recently colored your hair (Highlighted my hair in India and it needs some major highlighting now)
(X) Done somethin' you told yourself you wouldn't (Life would be boring if you didn't X this one!)
(X) Made prank phone calls (Haha, I had a family friend call a bunch of girls in my 8th grade class and say that he was a guy from class and he liked 'em. Oh, the days before caller ID).
( ) Lost over 20 pounds (If I lost 20 pounds I would look like Nicole Richie)
( ) Caught a snowflake on your tongue (I've opened my mouth while it's snowing but I don't think I've ever caught one)
(X) Danced in the rain (Of course! I encourage my niece to do it with me!)
( ) Written a letter to Santa Claus (Hmm, yea, I don't think so)
( ) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Had your opinion printed in the newspaper (I've been interviewed a few times for different papers)
(X) Taken a bubble bath with someone (Stay on the Concierge Level at the Venetian and buy the Romance bubble bath package - HEAVEN!)
(X) Made a bonfire on the beach
( ) Crashed a party
(X) Gone roller-skatin'
( ) Ice-skatin' (On my husband's list of things he will make me do)

David Blaine!

2006-04-18T12:58:00.000-05:00

I have been in love with David Blaine for years .. ok, my love has wavered recently but there was a time when I would drool over him. For those of you who don't know, he's this magician guy who also performs these crazy stunts. You may remember hearing about him suspending himself inside a box over the Thames River in London and fasting for 44 days.

Anyways, now he's pulling a crazy stunt in New York. He's going to live underwater for 7 days.

"The "human aquarium" in which Blaine will float is a specially built
8-foot acrylic sphere. He will receive liquid nutrition through a tube and the
water will be kept at a balanced temperature to help keep his core temperature
close to 98.6 degrees F." (Link)

This guy is crazy. I love it!! I'm going to go see him - he starts living underwater on May 1st.

Other men who used to be extremely hot include Enrique Iglesias (when we used to sing his songs in Spanish class, before he became the big star) and Craig David (not sure if he's still as hot anymore).

Rich Weddings

2006-04-13T09:40:00.000-05:00

I love attending weddings thrown by rich people. Seriously, that sounds mean, I know. But come on - weddings are amazing and if you have a higher budget, you can do more amazing things. I was able to pull together a bunch of unique touches at my wedding that I'm sure lower budgets would not have been able to do. However, with more money, I could have done amazing things. Ok, I'm just trying to justify my first line.

So hubby was a frat boy back in his college days (an Indian frat - IND). He was one of the founders and very close with his boys. I've been to a lot of their weddings and they've been great experiences. Now there's one coming up that I'm dying to go to because they seem to be pretty loaded. Unfortunately, it's Memorial Day Weekend, which is the weekend of my birthday. We were hoping to get away for a couple days.

But I weighed it out and have decided that I must attend this wedding =) Then I took a look at the hotel where the wedding is and it's absolutely gorgeous. So I think we'll stay at the hotel for 2 nights and turn it into a mini-getaway, as well as attend the wedding. It's the Hilton Pearl River in New York.

Ooh, and the Hiltons really seem to like me, so maybe I'll get us another free upgrade to the concerige/club level =) Free snacks baby!

Lakme Fashion Week

2006-04-12T09:02:00.000-05:00

One of my dreams is to be able to attend Lakme Fashion Week. New York Fashion week would be great and all, but I'm a sucker for mixing east and west when it comes to clothing. These Indian designers really are amazing. I would love the chance to see some of these shows - and to attend the parties that follow =)

I remember telling my dad about this last year while watching a recap of the show on tv, and he was actually sad that I wanted to go so bad and didn't. This is the same man who, while sitting in California, miraculously arranged for me to meet Salman, with whom I was enamored at the age of 15, in Bombay. I hate Salman now, but that was definitely one of the highlights of my life.

Seriously, every time this show happens and I read the articles about it, I get sad that I missed yet another chance to go. Not that I could go - I think you have to be invited. Not sure if they'll let IndianWeddingSite.com press come see the show and do a write-up =) But hey, it's worth a shot. Hmm, I should look into this.

I love Manish Malhotra, as does everyone in Bollywood. He even designed the lounge, Earth, in new york city. The place is gorgeous. Ashish Soni is also great.

What sucks is that even if I wanted to buy their clothes, I wouldn't be able to. I wish these Indian designers were still doing things at Indian prices =) Unfortunately they think they're the next Versace so completely out of my budget.

They even had their own Janet Jackson-ish wardrobe malfunctions at the event. To the left you'll see a falling halter top, and I believe there was one other top incident. Then, of course, there was a skirt that completely split from the back, exposing a model booty.

Oh how I hope to be at the next show! (Ok, not because of the model booty, though I see how it could sound that way)

Vacation Plans =(

2006-04-11T11:51:00.000-05:00

Ok .. so an update on my vacation plans.

We were thinking Belize .. but upon further research decided that it's not the best spot we could go. So then we kinda put it on the back burner. Then hubby got a job offer and yesterday we realized that he can leave his current job a couple days early, giving us a wednesday to sunday time frame to go somewhere. So I went back to the AA reduce mileage awards list. I explored a bunch of them and then fell in love with St. Kitts/Nevis in the Caribbean. There's great beach, it's a tropical island, there's safaris and hiking - reminded us of our honeymoon in French Polynesia. So I spent yesterday researching my butt off and figuring everything out. I had checked for flights online and everything seemed fine.

BUT .. then last night I call AA at 10pm to book it and they tell me that I can't look at the normal AA flights - they only designate a certain number of seats for their promotions. So, of course, there is nothing to this area in the times we need. Then I check every other damn destination on the list and there are no flights coming back on Sunday - only on Mon or Tue, which obviously doesn't work.

So long story short, no fancy schmancy vacation for us. Regular flights to St. Kitts are around $800 each so that's not happening. None of the last minute packages available are appealing, or work in the time we need to go.

Sigh.

This sucks.

I'm currently brainstorming other ideas. Let's see what happens.

Weekend recap

2006-04-10T10:14:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone - how's it going? I'm off my blah slump that I was in while writing my last post ... for now =)

Friday night hubby and I went to watch Failure to Launch - yea we knew it wasn't worth it but we wanted to see something and there was nothing else interesting. It was a cute movie, obviously not worth a trip to the theatre =)

Saturday we took my niece to Chuck E Cheese - wow, that place was horrible. I have so many great memories of that place from my childhood. It was nothing like that! This one was tiny and cramped and the kids were all over each other. We didn't last more than 40 minutes in there. But she had fun and got a couple useless trinkets that I'm sure she'll never look at again =)

Saturday night a friend of mine from CA was in NY with some of her friends so we met up with them. Went to a Thai place called Klong. Strange name, I know. We also did a stopover at a place called Chickpea which reminded me of Chickpea. Klong was good but not amazing (not like Spice which I still thing is the best thai food in the city). We got home around 3am which means it was a good night.

Sunday we had to go to jersey for a family friend's birthday. Now normally, all the 30 and unders would have sat around bored, probably playing scattergories. But hubby woke up with the idea of taking our volleyball set to their house. This was a godsend. We had the best time playing and didn't even realize where the time went. Most of us sucked, but that's ok. What a perfect way to make a trip to Jersey fun =)

Summer is coming and I'm so excited!!!!

------------
Ok, on another note - what website/service do you use to keep track of blogs? I'm still doing it the old way - randomly checking all the blogs I like that I have bookmarked. I tried bloglines.com but I didn't really like it. What do you guys use?

Goodbye California?

2006-04-07T09:03:00.000-05:00

I feel like I'll never make it back to California. Like I'll be stuck in Connecticut for the rest of my life.

When I first got married and moved out here, a part of me was excited - excited about leaving some drama behind (even though it meant leaving my good friends and of course, my family). I was excited about starting a new life as a married woman. That excitement soon turned into a slight depression. The fact that I couldn't find a job and was at home didn't help me feel any better. Helping raise my niece did help though, and brought me out of my misery, as did finding a job.

Back to when I first got married - I knew my husband wanted to move to California so I figured it was only a short matter of time before we made the move back to the land I love. A year passed, two years passed, and this summer will be 3 years, and we're not going anywhere. It's funny how I had it all planned out and nothing worked out that way. It seems that as each year passes, we move further away from being in a situation where we'll move to CA.

I know I can suck it up and make the most of my life here ... but I don't want to. I want to raise my kids in a place where they can play outside 9+ months out of the year. Not one where it takes 15 minutes to strap on a sweater, gloves, a jacket, boots, a hat, etc before going out. Even the summers here are ridiculously humid.

I feel that as we move further from moving to CA, I move further from wanting to have children. I figure if we can't make the move now, how are we going to do it with a baby? With a toddler? With a child in school?

My husband is in a new situation now where I'm happy for him, beyond belief, for getting what he wanted. But I also know that this will only keep me away from California that much longer.

I know he still wants to move, but wanting is never enough ... is it?

Let the Parties Begin!

2006-04-05T15:25:00.000-05:00

It has officially started. PARTY SEASON.

Now the all caps may seem like I'm excited, but I think I'm more stressed than excited. Everyone knows I love a good wedding (uh, hello), but I wasn't expecting this onslaught of them. I now have 3 on schedule between now and the end of May. But let's not forget the Sweet 16's and all the other reasons people celebrate. On one Saturday in May I have a communion and the reception for the communion in Long Island, a wedding reception in Poughkeepsie, and a Sweet 16 in New Jersey. I suddenly understand how this one friend of ours who is always juggling 2-3 events on a Saturday night feels. And I thought he was lucky!

I feel cheated out of weekends. Let me rephrase that - weekends with warm weather! I want to go out and play tennis and have picnics. Instead I'll be getting primped and pinned for parties. Why do you people take away my summers! Have your parties in November dammit!

Ok, who am I to complain. I had my wedding on a long weekend in July and ruined anyone's chance of a 3-day summer getaway =)

Hey, I'm sorry, it was a bicoastal wedding!

Working out Letdown

2006-04-04T08:03:00.000-05:00

I've been working out pretty consistently. Last year I think I was good about it for a few months - going to the gym, taking a step aerobics class. Then I took a month and a half break in which I don't think I went to the gym once. And now we're on a roll - going 4-5 days a week for an hour.

So this is supposed to do something for me, right? Well it's not WORKING! I've never had to work out to stay in shape before so it's really disheartening knowing that I'm busting my butt at the gym and I look the same. Especially those damn step aerobics classes where I want to just lay down and die halfway through while the other chirpy women have a blast.

Granted, I do not lead a very active lifestyle, and granted, I like to splurge on dessert once in a whlie - but come on now! I've even become a label-reader and I never thought that would happen. Grocery shopping for 6 things on Sunday took hubby and I an hour because of all the labels and low fats and low sodiums.

I'm trying to eat fruit instead of chocolate, but that doesn't seem to matter either. One issue I have is eating dinner late at night. We can't get to the gym before 730 which means we get home at around 8:45 and then we eat dinner. Eating before the gym isn't really a possibility for us unless hubby wants to eat a cold sandwich on the train everyday.

Ok, I'm just ranting here, but goddamnit I'd like to see some changes if I'm going to put myself through this! Hell, summer is coming up and I can't afford a new wardrobe! I'm not very patient and up until now I've always had bhangra teams that I competed on to keep me in shape. Sigh.

One day this will work ... right?

Right??

Of course.

And then I'll get pregnant and fat and have to start ALL over again.

I need some chocolate.

Glasses

2006-04-03T10:25:00.000-05:00

I hate glasses. Reading glasses, sunglasses, you name it. I don't understand how people can wear them all day. Glasses hurt my nose, even the itty bitty light ones. And you can only see directly ahead of you! What if I want to point my eyes to the sky without moving my head? Tough luck. I won't be able to see a thing. Thank God for contacts.

And sunglasses? I guess they serve a purpose but it's so refreshing to take them off and actually be able to see clearly.

My husband, on the other hand, loves his glasses. He also likes girls who wear glasses. He tried to convert me into a glasses wearer. When we were in India on a family vacation we found a store and the entire family got multipe pairs of glasses. Even I jumped in and got a funky pair. And then later I cried because I couldn't see shit because I'm so used to the flexibility of contacts. So, yes, he failed to convert me.

To all the glasses wearers, I don't know how you do it. Contacts are so much better!

Sepia Mutiny

2006-03-31T22:43:00.000-05:00

Sigh, couldn't the SM'ers have just told us they wanted a day off? I'm sure we would have obliged. But a whole day of no Sepia Mutiny is just wrong! We can't even comment on the same post 50 times because there's no new posts! It's like having your instant messenger not working.

I was expecting an April Fools day joke, a la last year's prank. But I wish this one was more exciting and had me rethinking myself. But, alas, it was obvious in about 1.3 seconds. Some of the funny parts:

*The Happy Hippie font is the same as used for SM
*There is a link to a temporary SM blog on the home page of this "hacked" site =)
*Way too many mango and exoticism references
*The tiny little smiley face at the bottom left of the wordpress SM blog
*The whois database clearly says that this domain was registered in August 2004 and expires in August 2006 - hence not possible for Manish to have forggoten to renew.

Oh, why am I wasting my time analyzing this? I guess I'm bored =)

Anyways, Bring SM Back you pranking mutineers =)

Sausalito Pics

2006-03-30T11:59:00.000-05:00

A couple pictures from my trip to Cali - specifically from Sausalito, one of my favorite chill places.

My sister, my mom and me

My future house overlooking the water

No glue required!

I'm a dork, I know

Crash

2006-03-30T10:19:00.000-05:00

So I saw Crash last weekend - the Oscar winning movie. Definitely not my normal type of movie. Usually when I want to devote 2+ hours of my night to a flick, I want it to be funny and lighthearted. I stay away from movies that are too serious unless I'm really in the mood. I had horrible dreams after watching Crash - but this is coming from someone who hasn't seen a scary movie since Sixth Sense (I saw dead people in my room for a month).

Anyways, I really thought the movie was done well. Normally when there's so many characters and plot lines in a movie, it really doesn't work and you don't remember who's who.

The ending was depressing, as expected. But the irony of the movie is what made it so enjoyable. It kept you on the edge of your seat throughout, because you had no idea what would happen or which character would run into another, and how. I don't think I've ever heard my husband say the word "Fuck" so many times. The movie just gets your emotions so riled up. I can't talk about it too much without ruining it for someone, so go watch it.

I'm really glad this movie won the Oscar instead of Brokeback Mountain (Disclaimer: I haven't seen BM yet). It's a good feeling knowing that a movie based on racism climbed to the #1 spot and so many people saw it. I hope it opens the eyes of some people. I guess I'm more passionate about this because I've seen firsthand what the result of ignorance is when the Sikh community becomes the victim. Anyways, I hope at least a few people will think twice before they act out of prejudice.

And, to end this on a lighter note - Bahar Soomekh is hot - or at least she was at the Oscars.

Inside Man

2006-03-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

So hubby and I had date night last Friday. There's this Italian restaurant I always see so we decided to try it. It's our new favorite local restaurant! The place is gorgeous, live piano player/singer, great bread, great food, great service. We were very happy campers.

We also went to the new theatre at our local mall - they're completely renovating and the theatre is brand new. It was gorgeous! Tons of food in the theatre, and not only did they have the typical arcade, they had a section with leather chairs and magazines for old fogies like us. They also have two Director's Halls with extra-wide leather seats and food service (for $3 more per ticket). We're definitely going to check that out the next movie we see.

Anyways, we saw Inside Man (the new Spike Lee movie). Hubby really wanted to see it and I heard Waris Ahluwalia was in it so I wanted to see it even more. It's so refreshing to see a sardar in a real American movie. I think the dialogue he got was great and he acted it out perfectly. They got the message across without it sounding like a lecture. When he first came out and the NYPD called him an Arab and knocked off his turban, half the theatre was laughing and I heard "Yeah, get him!" It really made me realize I live in CT now, not California. That's why I was relieved he had a second scene where he actually got to talk. But it was definitely disturbing to hear the audience reaction.

So now what really gets to me is that American movies can find real sardars to play the role of a sardar. Seems simple, right? Yet Indian movies, in a country that has the largest Sikh population, cannot find a real sardar to play a sardar. It disgusts me to see sloppy turbans on guys with their cut hair sticking out - or worse the goofy bandanas over what appears to be an onion atop a guy's head. And I know there's Sikhs out there who want to, and can, act so it's not a matter of finding them. Indian movies just don't give a shit about represeting this minority group properly, even though Americans can find this tiny little group and represent it accurately.

obsessed i am

2006-03-24T18:21:00.000-05:00

ok, i think this one picture sums up my obsession with aishwarya rai.

what's up

2006-03-24T15:59:00.000-05:00

Sigh, back in CT I am. Blah. I had a blast in California, and, as usual it was too short of a trip. Usually I'm out there working during the day, hanging out in the evening and not horribly sad about leaving because I miss my hubby. But this time hubby joined me for the second half of the trip and that just made it HORRIBLE to leave. It was like reliving our dating days .. cruising around and exploring different places. Sigh. But i got to see my niece and nephew and that always makes me smile. But I still miss cali =(

Vacation Plans! I'm choosing between Belize, Venezuela and Chile. American Airlines has a reduced miles award program thing - and it's too good to pass up and these are our choices. I still need to start researching but let me know if you've heard anything.

Meanwhile I need to get back to work because I'm swamped and need to go deal with more people who don't realize anything (ok, sorry, trying to vent my frustration without going into details).

IWS March

2006-03-23T11:48:00.000-05:00

Hey guys

Some new articles on IndianWeddingSite.com you might want to check out.

*Vikram Chatwal and Priya Sachdev - Wedding of the Year

*Out of Town Guests at Indian Weddings

*Fashion Advice

2006-03-16T19:53:00.000-05:00

I've had dinner with some of my favorite girls this week and it's such a great feeling! Living in the boonies of CT has really made me appreciate this time I have with them. Socializing was so easy in college - I went to class, hung out with friends, ate with friends, went to class, did some more hanging out etc etc. We had Thursday night Friends nights that could never be missed. And, oh the bhangra practices. My life wouldn't have been the same without bhangra in college.

Anyways, it was so easy back then and I'm sure I took it for granted ... rushed into married life thinking that would stabilize the drama college life brings. Sure, there's no drama but there's a whole lot less fun along with it!

I guess going out every month or two and reminiscing about college is a good thing - but then inevitably we have to discuss how we don't know what's going to happen in life and how important it is to have things squared away and planned.

Why can't college be a recurring thing? Go to college, graduate, enter the real world, then go back to college and repeat =) That would be a great balance!

Updates etc

2006-03-14T16:57:00.000-05:00

So my mom and sister were over on the east this weekend. The weather was great ... as compared to current California weather =) Haha, how many chances will I ever have to make that statement? Well, my husband has made it about 300 times now which should be no surprise. It actually snowed in San Jose! Dad said it came down and disappeared within 10 minutes though. That's insane.

We went to Canal Street and they got some fake Coach and Burberry purses. I love the little earrings and hair trinkets too so I got some of those. And of course, my mom had to buy at least 10 shawls because she can't go on a trip without doing that.

We also saw Rang De Basanti .. mom didn't care for it and I was bored. I mean, the message was great and all but I just thought the movie dragged on way too long. And far too much blood .. not my kind of movie. Give me a message but I can do without the melodramatic bloody scenes and mothers in comas. I can handle bloody gore in american movies, but not indian. My poor mom had no idea that's what the movie was about and went in thinking it would be fun and games and riding on horses while singing haha. I guess I should have let her know =)

I'm in California right now with a packed schedule so I'm not going to get to see very many people =( Having dinner with my best buddy tonight and dinner with the girls tomorrow night. Friday hubby is flying in and we're going straight to In n Out =) Then we fly back together on Tuesday. Yay for Cali!

Let's just hope the weather is good this weekend so I don't have to hear about the great east coast weather from my husband again =)

Sunset in Bora Bora

2006-03-10T12:45:00.000-05:00

I took these pictures of the sunset on Matira Beach in front of our hotel in Bora Bora on our honeymoon. I've always wanted to print them out. Now I'm thinking of finally ordering some large prints and framing them as decoration in our basement family room. But I'm just scared about the quality of ordering large prints from KodakGallery. Maybe I should find the original, high resolution images and take those somewhere to get printed.

Oh, and I just thought this blog needed to be broken up with some images =)

I also love these shots, though not for framing:

Change of Plans

2006-03-09T23:32:00.000-05:00

Sigh. No more Thailand plans for spring. It seems like spring is a horrible time to go weather-wise so hubby is against it. He wants to go in November when the weather is supposed to be better. That's so far away! So I made him promise me a vacation before then.

I also made him sign a contract (scribbled on the last page of my planner which I don't use) saying that he'll take me to Thailand and a Europeanish destination this year, apart from any other mini trips because he loves me. HA! He signed it. And now I have double proof with this blog in case that page disappears =)

I spent the evening cleaning for my mom and sister - then realized that I lived with them long enough that they know I'm not a neat freak =) Lol. I'll do some more last minute cleaning tomorrow but then I'm done.

I took my niece to painting class today. That was .. interesting. I was happy to see that there was a kid there brattier than her =) But I was sad to see her bullying around some little boy - actually it was kinda funny - but I still got mad at her and set her straight =) I love my munchkin.

It's funny how much she desires to be just like me. She has a keyboard to type on when I'm on my laptop. She sits and walks like me. She folds her hands/arms like me. She loves matching her clothes and accesories to mine. This girl is only 3! It's cute that she admires me but sometimes it's hard being her favorite friend =)

Right now she calls me and hubby by our first names .. I'm trying to get her to attach "mami" to my name and she's slowly picking up on it. When she was little she couldn't say Sonia so she calls me "So-ee" and I love how unique it is so I made sure she kept calling me that. Hubby wants her to keep using his first name and does not understand how that's going to be awkward when we have kids. Oh well.

Ok almost midnight, I should sleep. Adios.

Thailand?

2006-03-08T23:12:00.000-05:00

Ok thanks for your advice on my previous vacation post =)

Hubby and I were thinking about it and we really want to do a vacation that you wouldn't easily be able to do with family - I think NZ and Australia would both be good family trips and aren't too extreme. So we're thinking Thailand. The beaches are supposed to be beautiful, Bangkok has lots of cheap shopping, my husband was born there, we love thai food, it's my dad's favorite getaway - why not!

I'm doing research though and it seems that April is very hot in Bangkok. So that may pose a problem. But looking at these pictures is crazy. And prices in Phuket (beach area) for hotels are great - looking up that Leonardo movie right now that was filmed on a beach in Thailand (I believe). Ok off to do more research - let me know if you've heard anything!

New Colors

2006-03-08T11:49:00.000-05:00

I got sick of my old blog template - way too gray and nothing like me. Green has always been my favorite color so I thought I'd bring that in =) A little more cheerful around here I think.

I need to decide on a vacation destination. I want to do a sightseeing/exploring trip since our last one was a sit-on-the-beach trip. There's Australia - where hubby wants to go. There's Greece - which hubby doesn't think will be too interesting. There's Morocco - but I don't know what we'd eat there because I'm assuming the meat will be halal. There's New Zealand - but I haven't done enough research on it. Hmm. I'm lost and not in the mood to do so much research but I need to decide soon.

Oh wait, I need to book flights to CA next week first. I'm such a procrastinator.

My mom and sister are coming to visit this weekend!! Yay!

Google Ads

2006-03-07T10:50:00.000-05:00

You know what I really hate sometimes ... Google Ads.

I hate going to a website that is solely created for Google. The home page stretches down like 10 feet and is full of keywords with no real message coming across. The left, right, top and bottom of the page is covered in Google Ads. The footer on every page is full of keywords and links.

I mean, come on people. Do you really want to ruin the look and feel of your entire website so Google will like you. Hell, I'd love for Google to love me, but I'm not going to to turn IWS into a Google machine. I wonder if soon every site will be the same and all you'll really see are keywords and Google ads.

How am I supposed to compete with these idiots without selling out?!?

Welcome Back!

2006-03-03T16:40:00.000-05:00

Yay, everyone's back from India! My best friend is back and now I have my regular person to talk to everyday. Wow, I forgot how much I missed complaining about life =) And my in-laws are back and I have 9 new suits and a bunch of accessories (including cute shoes!). I'm a happy camper. Now if only I had room to house all of this stuff.

Bill Rancic

2006-02-28T10:26:00.000-05:00

Amzu's blog reminded me of my meeting with the old Apprentice winner, Bill =) So I thought I'd share a picture.

I met him in Atlantic City and later I realized Troy was behind him and I totally ignored him. That was mean of me. Oh well. I saw a bunch of the others too but didn't go up to them.

He was so cute in person and has the most gorgeous eyes!

Exercise DVD's

2006-02-28T10:15:00.000-05:00

Ok so I bought a couple of workout dvd's from ebay a few weeks ago. The first one I love - it's some cardio dance dvd. They have a warm-up, salsa dancing and "funk" dancing. The chick in the video is fun and perky and makes you want to work-out. And the hubby doesn't mind it because he thinks she's hot. Ok so great dvd.

Then I got some "Slim Fitness" dvd and I just tried it. Wow, can we say boring? First of all, the instructions are just in the background and the actual chick is in her own world. So there's absolutely no motivation because she's not pushing you to do anything. On top of that, the voice has an English accent. Gee, that's going to push me to work-out. And get this, the chick has this little pouch and she's ugly and middle aged. Uhh, if I want to see a pouch I'll look at my own stomach thank you very much. Ok, it's not horrible but it's definitely not workout dvd worthy. Ew. So that was a waste of money. Unless I can stomach watching the whole thing and just finding some moves I like and doing them without the dvd.

Ok end workout rant =)

Nothing

2006-02-27T18:35:00.000-05:00

I don't really have anything to write about but I felt like posting. So I'll do one of my random bullet point posts. Let's see ..

-My in-laws are coming back from India this week after a month. They're definitely ready to be back home.

-The house is finally clean! I can see my dresser!

-I was sick for a week and now I have some funky nasal inhaler thing. It's funny looking and I don't like snorting it. Sigh. Anything besides the sickly feeling is good though.

-There have been no good shows on tv this week because of the damn olympics. Everytime I remember to watch a show, the olympics are on instead. Sorry, just not into them very much.

-Gotta go into the city tomorrow and it's so friggin cold. I hate walking around in the cold. But, alas, I have H&M calling out my name and I can't say no.

-My mom just called to tell me that everyone keeps asking her if i'm pregnant yet. The other day I even considered it and shared that with the hubby. The next day day I took it back and he said, oh i was going to say we should do a big vacation to Greece or Australia if you're serious - which made me change my mind back, but it was too late. Sigh. And now mother in law is coming back to add on to it. Let's see how long I last..

-I love Friends - haha this is the best show ever.

-Search engine optimization is a biatch. Why are search engines so difficult. Specifically Google. Damn you google. (Just kidding Google Gods, I love you)

-I got thrown up on twice today. But I didn't get peed on! Whoohoo! My nephew is a bugger.

Ok I'm done for now. Time to pick up the hubby and fix the basement wall so I can paint and get these damn bookcases up!!

Raghav and Juggy D

2006-02-25T10:44:00.000-05:00

Yay, finally a concert I want to go to!

Raghav, Juggy D, Veronica .. yay!

I missed the last one and I was so disappointed. The downside? It's $35. That's a lot for cheapos like us to dance with sweaty indians. Oh well, I'll find a way to convince the hubby. I think the last concert we went to was Shinda and the place was tiny and he didn't come on til 1am but we still had a blast.

Raghav - played out. Loved him when he came out but he's old now. But that's ok .. he seems like he might have some stage personality.

Juggy D - i love his album. Sure it's not really "bhangra" but at least it's not all hip hop washed punjabi music. I think he's amazing for someone so young from the UK. And he gets me singing and dancing while driving =)

Veronica - ok she has a couple decent tracks - namely the ones where Juggy D does most of the singing haha. But that's ok =)

Parental Control

2006-02-24T12:42:00.000-05:00

So I've been watching this new show on MTV called Parental Control. Basically they show a family in which the parents don't like the person their child is dating. The parents then interview a group of potential dates and pick one each for their kid to go out with. They go out on a date while the parents and current boy/girlfriend watch them from the house. At the end the kid chooses one of the new people or stays with their current squeeze. It's actually pretty fun and it's a relief from the trashiness of "next", "room raiders" and some of the other mtv shows (though I'll admit I watch those sometimes too).

So i've noticed that the guys who are set up on dates are MUCH more likely to choose a new person but the girls rarely do so. They tend to always pick their current boyfriends. Makes so much sense but it's so sad!

Even though I'm always rooting for them to choose a new person, I still wish these teenage boys weren't such hornballs!

Gorgeous

2006-02-23T22:26:00.000-05:00

Aishwarya Rai

Damn, she's gorgeous!

Moneymaking Gurus

2006-02-23T14:13:00.000-05:00

A little piece of news I came across here.

"Guru Singh Khalsa" lives in Beverly Hills and supposedly helped Madonna regain her singing voice after giving birth and is now helping Brit.

And to think my turbaned husband is wasting his time in the corporate world .. we could be living in posh beverly hills making money off celebrities! Who knew turbans could take you so far.

I love you Target

2006-02-21T09:22:00.000-05:00

I got my shelving units!!

I'm so excited!! FINALLY!

9:30 Saturday night I called my final 3 targets. one had the display model, another had the display model, and the third had TWO PACKAGED units. Packaged! So we drove all the way to Queens at 8 in the morning and loaded them up =) Then we happened to find a gorgeous furniture set for my SIL and wound up going to 3 targets to get the whole set. It took the entire friggin day - we didn't get a break until dinner. But we got everything at 50% off =)

We set aside the day yesterday to putting the shelves up which required fixing up the wall behind it a bit. Yea, well, when we took out the old bookshelf we found a crappy surprise and now this project is going to take MUCH longer. On top of that, we actually have to agree on an accent paint color. Sigh.

But I got them! even if they are sitting in boxes in the basement =)

Target Woes

2006-02-18T13:29:00.000-05:00

Target is driving me up the wall but I'm so damn addicted!!

Remember the shelving unit I mentioned earlier (here)? Well it was $300. I went to Target yesterday and saw that it was on clearance at 30% off (exactly as my wise husband had predicted). Anyways, we asked them to get two and they said there was only one left - the display model. We NEED TWO! So I'm talking to the lady about it and she says that it's not public information, but that on Sunday everything left in the Global Bazaar is going to be 50% off. 50 friggin percent off! That would mean I could get both for $300. What more could a girl ask for??

But now by waiting I'm risking the chance that someone else will come and snatch it - there's no way to put it on hold and you can't get the price adjusted because it's on clearance. Last night I called over 20 Targets (really not an easy task) and found a total of 4 of these shelves. Now I am praying to God that nobody buys them today. I'll call the final 3 Targets tonight to see which ones still have them and then 8am one of us is going to one Target while the other goes to the other one. I'm getting my sister-in-law's big SUV and we'll be all set.

Say a little Target prayer for me .. I really want these =)

Weather Freakout

2006-02-16T15:35:00.000-05:00

So the weather on the East Coast is in the low 50's and everyone is going psycho with joy over the warmth. At the same time, the Bay Area is in the low 50's and everyone there is freaking out about how cold it is. This is hilarious =)

I can't wait to move back to Cali so that I can go through winter like a tough guy because of this experience.

Ok, now I'm going to enjoy the 50's before we hit the below freezing weather this weekend.

Anyone have plans for the long weekend?

Vday

2006-02-15T09:24:00.000-05:00

So i got the chance to spend the day with my hubby yesterday .. I had him all to myself! No laptops involved! Ok, well after noon that was the case. We went up to Mohegan Sun because it was the only day trip we could think of and the city was pretty slushy and didn't seem fun to walk around in. I lost money =( Maybe I only make money when my mom is with me? Hmm. But it's ok, we didn't splurge on dinner =)

Got a chance to brainstorm and talk over a bunch of new potential business ideas and ways to expand current ones. Hopefully I can work hard on that and get something productive done.

Do you realize how many retarded desis are sitting on domain names that I want? Seriously I must have typed in 50 of them and they were all taken, yet there was nothing on them. Idiots. And some are trying to sell them for $3,000+. HA! Good luck to them.

Ok off to be productive. Adios!

P.S. Valentine's candy is 50% off today - go stock up =)

Godiva Love

2006-02-14T09:39:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Ok I don't really care about vday but hubby has the day off so I like it now =)

I got some very yummy Godiva chocolate covered strawberries of which almost half have already been eaten. What? I shared, okay?

Ok off to make plans for the day.

Random February Musings

2006-02-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

-I'm over Kanye West. He was cool when he was new and making good music. Now he's full of himself and an exposing chest, sunglasses wearing kinda guy. I love Golddigger but I think Jamie Foxx made the song. Almost anyone could have replaced Kanye's voice in the song. Anyways Kanye, after the Grammy's you've officially been crossed off my list of cool people.

-It's going to snow this weekend. I'm not very happy about that. I'm grateful that winter has been so easy so far but I'm really not happy when hearing any news about snow.

-I want to go to Miami .. to hang out in the sun, eat at News Cafe and to go to South Beach Bhangra. But alas, we're on a budget and tickets on a 3 day weekend aren't exactly affordable. We could attempt driving but the weather is so unpredictable.

-I'm craving waffles with chocolate and fresh strawberries from Tryst. Anna, I will always remember you when I think of Tryst =)

-Valentine's Day is so commercial - no, this is not a new discovery, just a reiteration. No Valentine's day gifts for us - we have a deal to buy them after v-day when they're half off =) Well except for my chocolate covered strawberries from Red Envelope - I have to have those.

-Last night my niece and I were listening to some DJ Sanj remix that featured Snoop. I taught her how to sing it and how to dance all gangsterly. So the rest of the night she walked around the house singing "Drop it like it's hot" and dancing like a gangster =) But, don't worry, we followed it up with half an hour of an intense bhangra lesson since the little dork forgot everything I taught her since her mom got Zee TV, etc.

That's all for now =)

STT/Lawyers

2006-02-10T08:37:00.000-05:00

I have a new blog find ... Slave to Target. How friggin appropriate for my life =) Today they are featuring this very classy shirt from Target.

Me and lawyers usually don't work out. When I was younger my dad said I could marry anyone but if I married a lawyer, he would disown me. I'm sure there was some joke factor in there but for the most part it was true =) Our favorite joke was that 98% of lawyers gave the other 2% a bad rep.

In college a good friend of mine was in law school. I was honestly surprised that I could get along with him so well. But that friendship ended due to drama-filled reasons. I had another very good friend who was a lawyer but she ditched me - reference my answer to "I Hurt" below. Another family friend is a lawyer and I can't talk to her for more than 15 minutes alone. I guess I'm stereotyping but for the most part lawyers just have to be right in any argument and I can't stand that. It defeats the purpose of a conversation if we're going to turn it into a legal battle where your only aim is to defend your case. But again, I am completely stereotyping here and my previous very close lawyer relationships prove that I still give lawyers a chance =)

Alritey, now that I have inadvertently offended all law students/lawyers .. I shall continue with my day. Haha.

Survey Time

2006-02-07T13:11:00.000-05:00

I Live: in Milford, CT
I Work: not as much as I should =)
I Talk: too much
I Wish: for all my dreams to come true
I Enjoy: Acting like a 3 year old with my niece, Sukhmani
I Look: younger than my age, which will eventually benefit me I'm sure
I Find: lots of junk in this house that i love throwing away
I Smell: like my body wash - not much of a perfume girl
I Listen: to music on my ipod
I Hide: my diary and all my expensive jewelry =)
I Pray: to Waheguru
I Walk: nowhere because I'm a Californian and we don't walk
I Write: articles on IWS
I See: very poorly - I'm almost blind
I Sing: anything by Babbu Mann
I Laugh: pretty damn often when I'm around those I love
I Can: finally cook!
I Watch: Lost!
I Learn: how to raise children by being around my niece and nephew
I Dream: strange dreams in the early morning
I Want: a massage
I Cry: when I'm homesick and generally unsatisfied with life on the wrong coast
I Burn: food when I try to cook
I Read: US magazine because I'm addicted to celebrity gossip
I Love: my husband
I Sometimes: watch pre-teen shows on the Disney channel
I Touch: nothing on my dresser which leads to chaos
I Hurt: when a friend deserts me for a reason that is not apparent to me
I Fear: loneliness
I Hope: my children do not have to worry about terrorism
I Break: hearts (lol, ok, not anymore)
I Eat: chocolate covered strawberries on Valentine's Day
I Quit: my job managing a portfolio of tradeshow websites so I could start my baby
I Bathe: once in a blue moon - I'm a shower person
I Drink: virgin strawberry daquiris
I Save: hotel room key cards ... I have over 100
I Hug: everyone!
I Meditate: never - despite the lectures from Dad
I Play: Poker online sometimes
I Miss: California (that was a no brainer)
I Hold: grudges
I Forgive: rarely
I Drive: a '97 lexus that was a wedding gift from my parents
I Have: a scar on my eyebrow from stitches
I Don't: have cool knee-length boots because none fit right on my legs
I Made: profit =)
I Kiss: my babies and my husband
I Believe: i can touch the sky
I Owe: no debt
I Feel: like a loser for not thanking God more often for all I have
I Know: almost all the words to "Can I get a &^*% You" by Jay-Z
I Wonder: what my kids will be like

What? I was bored.

2006-02-06T13:21:00.000-05:00

Some quizzes that kept me amused:

You Are 40% "Average American"

You are average because you wouldn't pay to go in space.

You are not average since you don't drink.

How "Average American" Are You?

How sad is that? I thought I was more American than that. Now I'm going to have an identity crisis.

You Are Mexican Food

Spicy yet dependable.
You pull punches, but people still love you.

What Kind of Food Are You?

Nice! I love Mexican food and it's always hard to find the genuine yummy kind =)

You Are a Glazed Donut

Okay, you know that you're plain - and you're cool with that.
You prefer not to let anything distract from your sweetness.
Your appeal is understated yet universal. Everyone dig you.
And in a pinch, you'll probably get eaten.

What Donut Are You?

This is totally me. Plain and simple. Though occasionally I like to put on some chocolate frosting to change things up.

Target Love

2006-02-06T07:52:00.000-05:00

I must reiterate the fact that I am in love with Target. I went last night to buy one thing and wound up spending $150. And that's not unusual whatsoever. So I'm walking by my favorite section (organizational stuff) when I'm greeted by the most gorgeous setup I've seen. They expanded the Global Bazaar to four aisles and a large floor area. On the floor area they had this huge outdoor iron pavilion type thing with gorgeous furniture surrounded by different outdoor chair/table setups. I was about to cry. Seriously. It wasn't just the furniture .. it was more the thought of living somewhere where I could have this outdoor room in my large, manicured backyard ... in California of course. Decorated with indian pillows and drapes around the tent. Sigh.

Anyways, I also finally found a bookcase at Target I love but we would need two of them and that's going to be $600. Am I foolish to think I can get something that looks like this for less? I really want it =(

30% off everything in the Global Bazaar this week so if you're thinking of doing some decorating, now is the time to go.

If you have seen a shelving unit similar to this anywhere, please let me know!

Jessica Alba Shops at Target!

2006-02-03T16:26:00.000-05:00

Wow, SM mentions Jessica Alba and Aishwarya in a post and now I see that Jessica shops at my favorite store!

From PITB.

Ouch to the 10th Degree

2006-02-03T10:40:00.000-05:00

Ouch ... of all the muscles I have pulled or nerves I have pinched, I can now say that pulling an ab muscle was the worst experience of them all.

The night before yesterday I couldn't move at all. Every movement sent this shooting pain through my abs. On top of that I felt like my entire stomach was going to explode. I felt like such an old lady .. I couldn't even turn around while laying down by myself. Thankfully hubby took the day off yesterday to take care of me.

I'm loading up on some pain meds but not willing to go to a doctor yet. Right now I feel like someone punched me a few times in the stomach .. so I guess that's a step up. I've gotten advice from everyone and their mothers but it looks like it'll just have to naturally correct itself. Until then, I'm off to take some more meds.

Butter Review

2006-02-01T12:25:00.000-05:00

Butter Restaurant
415 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10003

Went there for Restaurant week so sampled the limited menu.

First Course: Cavatappi Pasta Spicy Lamb Sausage and Yellow Tomato Sauce
Wow! I wish this was my entree. The flavor was amazing.

Second Course: Braised Lamb ShankGarbanzo Beans, Slow Cooked Endive
I can't wait to tell my mom I had lamb with choley. Haha. Not a fan - the sauce was too sweet.

Dessert: Warm Chocolate Stout Cake Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Chantilly
A lovely way to end the dinner, but I was expecting a molten center which I didn't get. And did you know that chocolate "chantilly" just means chocolate mousse? Anyways, I can't complain about chocolate cake and ice cream.

Good food - nice setting - wouldn't go again anytime soon simply because there's too many other restaurants to try - and those damn skinny model waitresses annoyed me!

Monica Dean

2006-02-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

Monica Barladeanu - Wow, this woman is gorgeous! I saw her on Lost a couple weeks ago and have been meaning to look her up. Seems she's a Romanian actress - I would have easily thought she was a Miss Universe or something.

Ok upon a Google search I found some pretty scandalous images - that's ok - I'll just remember her Lost look =)

Mean New Yorkers

2006-02-01T08:07:00.000-05:00

I finally discovered the answer to that question that plagues so many Californians on the East Coast ... Why are New Yorkers so mean?

Well...

Because they HAVE to be!

If you're nice, you're not gettin' anywhere buddy. Trying to catch that train? Ain't gunna happen unless you shove yourself through a few people and step on some toes. Late for dinner? You're gunna have to cut off some taxi drivers to get there in time to find parking. Want to let an elderly person in front of you during rush time at GC? You'll be cussed out in 3.2 seconds by everyone behind you.

Sigh ... the joys of New York. Maybe if I actually lived in the city, I would get used to it. But until then, I think I'll try to enjoy it during non-rush-hour times of the day =)

Buttery Butter

2006-01-31T07:54:00.000-05:00

It's Restaurant Week! And it looks like for the first time we'll actually be taking advantage of it! Tonight I'm headed to the city to dine at Butter. The only reason I want to go here? Because this restaurant has shown up a few times in US magazine so it must be cool. Yes, I often do judge the level of coolness by the number of mentions in a celebrity magazine.

Ok off to my step aerobics class .. here's hoping I don't fall over halfway through.

Oh Rani

2006-01-30T13:41:00.000-05:00

Haha, I just came across this article on America Idol from the NY Times which features a picture of a brown chick all glammed up =)

WTF ?!?!

Magical 4's

2006-01-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

Ok I got tagged to do this by Oodles ... though I have no interesting answers to this one! That's what happens when you're a 24 year old married chick living in Connecticut .. lol.

Four jobs I have had:

1) Librarian (Ok, I just volunteered at the library but I think the title is cool :) )
2) Receptionist at Numerical Technologies (Good Afternoon, Numerical Technologies - yea that taught me how to talk)
3) HR Assistant at Fujitsu
4) Internet stuff at Reed Exhibitions (managing a portfolio of tradeshow websites, SEO, etc)

Four movies I could watch over and over:

1) Bend it Like Beckham (a movie about Punjabis that doesn't suck!)
2) Honey (Jessica Alba + great dancing = great movie!)
3) Father of the Bride (my favorite! and always makes me cry)
4) Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (classic ... can't resist it)

Four places I've lived:

1) Fremont, CA
2) San Jose, CA
3) Milford, CT
4) Wow, yea, I haven't lived in many places

Four TV shows I love to watch:

1) Lost
2) King of Queens
3) Will & Grace
4) Clean House

Four places I've been on vacation:

1) French Polynesia - Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora - the ultimate honeymoon that has ruined any vacation I have taken since then and will ever take in the future!
2) Nassau, Bahamas - just visited the monster Atlantis resort
3) London
4) Puerto Rico

Four of my favorite foods:

1) Pad Thai (that's what happens when you marry a guy who was born in Thailand!)
2) The Molten from Chili's
3) My mom's aloo mircha sabji
4) Chaat and Aloo Tiki from Vic's Chaat House in Berkeley

Four places I'd rather be right now:

1) Feeding fish from an open coffee table in an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora
2) Laying in the warm sand in South Beach after a breakfast at News Cafe
3) Exploring a new country
4) Back home in Cali

Four sites I visit daily:

1) IndianWeddingSite.com
2) Gmail
3) Sepia Mutiny
4) Aishwarya Forever

Four bloggers I am tagging:

I think everyone has done this by now =)

Old Buddies

2006-01-26T16:58:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I reconnected with an old friend - but last night I got the chance over a Pizookie at BJ's (something I've heard about way too often and just now got a chance to try).

I used to hang out with T in college and we would roam around singing the latest Nelly song in her car. She taught me lyrics I never would have understood on my own (Let me in-a, let me in-a, Bill Gates, Donald Trump let me in-a) - even if it involved looking them up online =) We understood each other's commuting challenges and, worse, parking challenges.

I didn't see her senior year since she had graduated and we probably only met briefly once or twice since '02.

She lives less than 5 minutes away from my parents' house yet we just met now after so many years.

Well, it was good to catch up and see that she's still gorgeous .. and now on the prowl =)

It's funny how so many years can go by and yet you feel like you just hung out last week. Sure, we've both gone through big life changes, but I feel like I could still get in a car with her and engage in a round of "andale, andale, mami, E.I. E.I Uh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

.. at least i hope so .. we'll try it out next time I see her =)

Hi Tech Mom!

2006-01-23T13:30:00.000-05:00

My mom has e-mail! How cute is that =)

She learned how to use a computer last year ... she would go to IWS every day to look at her picture here. Anyways, she's on a hundred and one committees at the local Gurdwara. One of the committees got all high tech and created a yahoogroup which my mom is on (under my dad's email address). So the other day we sat down to make her a yahoo account.

Well her last name was taken, her first name was taken, firstnamelastname was taken .. so we wound up with an initial, a last name and her birth year so everyone can know how old, er, young she is =) She now checks her email everyday. Well, in the 2 days since she's had it!

woot.com

2006-01-18T20:21:00.000-05:00

I love this website - woot.com - good stuff! They sell one product per day. I have yet to buy anything but I check it everyday. And being in California right now makes it easier because I get to see stuff before it's sold out (which is what happens by the time I wake up in CT). I'm such a geek. I love that one product can get 100 comments in 5 minutes. I need to teach myself about rss feeds - I know nothing about them and I call myself a tech geek. That's one of my short-term goals.

I miss my hubby =( I love you jaanu!