Morocco Je T'aime

 We sat together as a group wondering where we want to go as a group on a vacation and considered South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. We really wanted to go to Japan but they were still under strict covid practices so ditched that real fast and moved over to Turkey or Morocco. We narrowed in on Morocco as it was gateway to Sahara that all of us wanted to visit. We booked our travel - into Marrakech and out of Tangier and then let it lie for a bit. We then started micro planning it and it looked something like this. I am sharing it here in case you want to copy our itinerary. My only recommendation would be start in Tangier and end in Marrakech :) Marrakech has great shopping for cheaper than Tangier that you can shop and carry out rather than lugging it around the entire trip. Tangier was slightly on the pricier side for shopping.

Days	Dates	Time	Night Stay	Visit / Hotel
Day 1	Nov 19	6:45pm Arrival	Marrakesh	Riad Sidi Baba
Day2	Nov 20	Full	Marrakesh
Day 3	Nov 21	8:30 AM	Safari
Day 4	Nov 22	Full	Safari
Day 5	Nov 23	Full	Safari
Day 6	Nov 24	6:00pm Arrival	Fes	Riad Farah
Day 7	Nov 25	Full	Fes	Moulay-Idris and /Volublis
Day 8	Nov 26	8.00pm Arrival	Chefchaouen	Hotel Al Khalifa
Day 9	Nov 27	Full	Chefchaouen
Day 10	Nov 28	7.00pm Arrival	Tangier	Akchour Falls and Tetouan en route
Day 11	Nov 29	Full	Tangier	Royal Tulip
Day 12	Nov 30	1:25 PM Departure	Flight back

Things that were surprising / shocking:

• Moroccans genuinely love Bollywood and Indians. They will stop to sing a song for you or tell you that they love Shahrukh Khan or Salman Khan. They will be ready to drop a beat and chat with you about their favorite movie or song.
• The most welcoming people I have met in all my travel. They are ready to invite to you their house for tea or share their number so that you can call them if you need any help.
• In contrary to what is on youtube about Morocco - the hawkers do not touch you, or force you to buy anything. They tell you - if you are happy to buy, I am happy to sell, if you do not like anything, do not be afraid to say no, I will still be a friend. 
• No lady randomly drew henna on my hand.
• Bargaining was fine, they did not force you if you were unreasonable but if you were close, they were ready to make a deal.
• Did not feel intimidated in any of the Medina's or the food squares that we were in. We in fact played along and enjoyed the pseudo celebrity status quite a bit.
• The Riad's were amazingly beautiful and the hosts were gracious and generous with their love.
• The Desert Safari that we booked through Desert Majesty was a leap of faith and faith was restored as we enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
• The food is not at all spicy, I think we ate gallons of harissa to make up for it. 
• Bread is served at every meal and each city or restaurant has it's own flavor of bread.
• They have paratha like bread that is just amazing but mostly served only at breakfast. Also, try out their onion paratha - yummy.
• Surprisingly, we got dates served only at two hotels and at none of the Riad's.
• Public bathrooms are available everywhere but for some you need to pay at 1 or 2 MADs to use. They are not generally equipped with toilet paper or soap. It is advisable to carry some wipes or sanitizer to make up for it.
• The hikes are spectacular.
• We were surprised by the variety of landscape that you come by as you drive through the countryside. Every half hour, there is something new to see.
• Kids and people alike look happy, content.
• Watching football in the square at Chefchouen was beautiful with dance, music and chanting!

For more - read through my city by city diary :)

A Moroccan ART

Night 1 of Me and Myself!

Edit to add - this post is two years old...It was lying uncared for in the Drafts and I had fun reading it. So, decided to post it.

I dropped off my wards...G and S and came back home talking on the phone...I opened the front door and as I turned around to shut it, I noticed some overhead action...it was buzzing! There was a live wasp nest. Crap! I shut the door fast and took a few minutes to think WWGD (What would G do?). I went to the laundry room and looked, it was not there...then rushed to the garage, it was sitting there...the wasp nest killer spray. I grabbed it and walked inside the house. Read instructions and got armed. A quick call with G confirmed that I should wait for twilight. I walked out through the backdoor, watered the plants and then got out through the side yard gate and went to gym. I got back home and it was still bright as crazy. I did not want to wait till dark as I would have to use the side yard gate again. So I stood by the door, a few feet away and sprayed. The bees/wasp chased me...I ran to the car and hid behind it. Then I ran back and sprayed once more at the nest that was not very busy now and my can was empty. I went and parked in the garage and got inside the house to cook myself a meal. I was so tempted to go check at the door but good sense prevailed over my curiosity.

Yummy, red hot potatoes were cooked and puliyogare rice was made with left over rice. I ate it all up watching the first 10 minutes of Rangasthalam. I cleaned the house, moved things out of the way, worked for a bit and then moved to the bedroom. Showered, lied down and caught up on my K-Drama. Finished My Princess for a second time and started a new one. Then saw a few more minutes of Rangasthalam and decided to call it a night. I kept night lights throughout the lower floor so that I could step out and not be freaked out by darkness. Not sure it worked because I slept most of the night. I was awoken twice but did not stay up long enough.

Survived Night #1. Was a wasp/bee nest killer. Confirmed that the nest was indeed killed and headed to work! Overall so far it has been decent.

Lonely ART

2018 - Recap

I always enjoy writing a re-cap of the year that was. It takes me through the travails of the days gone and helps set realistic goals for what I want to do this year. But I slacked. I took a really long break from writing. Not that I did not have much to write or the time but lacked energy or the enthusiasm to do so. I know this is more of a whiteboard for me and my thoughts and memories that hopefully my daughter will find entertaining enough to read about in the future. So keeping with the tradition, though a month late, here is a quick recap :)

January: December 2017 ended with G and taking a look at ourselves. We did not look healthy or fit. We did not like our reflection, this is not what we wanted to become, old and unfit. Growing old is not a choice but being fit is. I hope I come back to this statement in the future if I get back to being unfit again. So, we took it upon ourselves to start living a healthier life. We had to make some adjustments, not a lot of dieting though. We still ate the same but added a workout routine. We started to bike.

Biking - Start of the Year

February: I got one of those calls that you dread about - mom is sick - please come. I rushed to NC the very next morning (thanks to my friend RR who got me a seat on a flight) and spent a few days.  Mom seemed to be recovering, so I got home.

March: A night in a camp that we had evacuate because of rain. Celebrated Holi with friends. A hike in the hills of south Dallas. Another trip to meet family in NC again, this time mom was doing much better.

It was also the month I turned 40. My daughter, niece and nephew were the first ones to welcome my 40's. They surprised me with cake, decorations and lots of fun. Then of course, G threw a huge party for me along with my friends and it was a super fun night!

Turning 40 is not so bad...nothing really changes drastically overnight. The only difference is that I have slowed down. I like to go to bed by 10 on Friday nights. My wild nights now end by 11 and if they last past that, I am extremely tired. I am enjoying it though, I feel well rested and energetic that I can run 5 miles and bike 10 miles all in one day.

Happy Birthday to Me!

April: There was more biking. The distances were growing and the time spent on trails were longer and we were thoroughly enjoying it. It was a relatively quite month in terms of activity. We were winding down towards end of school year.

More Biking...weather getting better - shorter sleeves

May: S had her annual Dance recital show. It was exciting for us also, the dress rehearsals and the practices. School ended and S was the happiest. She had the whole summer planned out. Another trip to NC for mother. She was sick again and this time we had to make some really tough decisions. I had to rush to NC from my fun work trip in Nashville. I was so sad to have been having a great time.

June: G and S left on their EU trip. They spent a couple of days in London before heading to Paris. S spent the whole of June and part of July on her own with her uncle's family. I spent a couple of fun weekends with friends. I went with R to Legacy West and had a great evening and then had a girls night out with M and A - an evening to remember. I also went to Sallu show with friends and relaxed and chilled the rest of my alone time.

July: G was back and we had 2 weeks to ourselves. What did we do? We biked. We did 30 miles...in our crappy cheap bikes. It felt like we could run faster on some days.

Then I left to Paris to pick S up. We went up to Italy for P's wedding and spent three days with my brother and his family walking around Pompeii and Rome. It was so relaxing.

G joined us in Iceland where we spent 5 days hiking up all the waterfalls in the south of the island. One beautiful trip with great stories and memories. The photos show how much coffee I drank and bits and pieces from all our trips

I got so sick after this ride. It was 115 deg's on this day and we did 25 miles

Coffee in a Cafe in Paris

Coffee in Italy

Coffee in Paris

Crepe in a Creperie in Paris

Kid like joy enjoying nature in Iceland

G and S trying to fill water from a waterfall - Iceland

August: We were back in the States and ready for new school year. It was still hot in Texas so we biked some more. S tied Rakhi to A again this year...that is 3 years in a row. They are growing up together so well now that it is cute.

More Biking - different trails, different days

September: A trip to Houston - lots of gluttony, boating, walking, playing tennis. More biking and relaxing as the cold starts to come in.

Getting colder - it rained right after we took this pic - fun experience

October: It was S's 11th. We had a great time celebrating her but unfortunately I had to rush to my family once again and could not celebrate G turning a year older. It was a stressful week for me. I did get to meet with S in NY when I went there for work. His twins were the best thing that happened to me in a while. We had a great time. I actually got to eat in a real Korean restaurant in NYC. It was amazing. I enjoyed the company and the food and it was exactly like I had imagined it would be....Daebak!

Samwon in NYC - the best Korean Bap! They even had the right kind of silver!

November: BIL came down with his family. S went back with him to Houston and we got to spend Thanksgiving with them. It was pretty much relaxing and cold. Visited a brewery and had a full pint of beer for the first time. I took three hours to down it but it is still not my favorite. Though I see the advantage of drinking beer over other things...not looking forward to a beer belly so beer is still unpopular with me. And of course the most memorable Diwali party that we will remember for a life time! Oh! and the cold trip to Iowa for work.

December: Was a travel month. Visited Chicago, KC, NC, and Santo Domingo. Each of them memorable in their own way.

Chicago: I missed my family as I was in downtown without them. I enjoyed my walk to Millennium Park. I enjoyed hanging out with work friends and it was a fun trip.

KC: A day trip. Tiring but still got a lot accomplished.

NC: Family trip. S went to Savannah with my brother's family and I got 4 full days alone with my parents. It was the best part of the entire year. I was a little kid but the roles were reversed where I was taking care of them.

SD: The best freaking trip. We had the best AirBnb house - the house itself was basic but we hired a cook - Maribel. She was godsent. She cooked the best food, hooked us up with rental car, sent us to private beaches and was just an awesome human being. The trip itself was great, made some great memories, learnt a lot of new things, ate some real authentic DR food and spent a lot of time relaxing.

Seeing myself in the reflection - a lonely walk

Santo Domingo - Very fun history walk

December 31st night: We were driving from Houston to Dallas and made it home just a few minutes past mid-night. I hope this year is filled with a lot more travel. There is a whole lot of world left to see.

Countries Visited this year:

France

Italy

Iceland

Santo Domingo

Cities visited this year:

Kansas City, MO

Des Moines, IA

Greenville, NC

New York, NY

Chicago, IL

Austin, TX

Houston, TX

Nashville, TN

Biked more than 1000 miles, walked more than that. It was a great year where collectively G and I lost a whole another mini human in terms of weight. We hope to keep it down and never go back to where we were before.

I hope I will get to blog more this year if not, I will at the very least keep the yearly recap going. 

Traveling ART

Competitive

Competitive...The latest trend amongst people my age is to claim their virtues and be proud of it. I have literally heard people loudly and proudly say, "I am so competitive," or "I am type A personality," or "I hate to loose." Sure, I am always looking forward to my next loss!

I have an acquaintance who is proud of simple thing as cleaning the counter, well, because he is Type A personality and has self acclaimed to posses OCD. This is just insulting those who have been diagnosed with the disorder while all he does is clean the counters well.

Then there is this lady who walks around claiming that she is competitive in three out of five conversation I had with her. It was an immediate turn off. I understand that you are competitive but you do not have to competitively tell everyone about it. I feel that everyone is competitive about things they want and care about. I, for example, won't compete in a drinking game because I know I would loose on the second drink but that does not mean I am not competitive, just that I have better things to fight for.

When I thought this was an oddity I realized that this is more common than not. A few weeks ago two women quickly claimed that they were both aggressive about winning. One could hardly hold herself back while the other was claiming it that she rushed to chime, "me too." I saw them both and across their room and they turned into little kids fighting for the one last ice cream. I laughed so hard inside that I could barely contain it when I was talking to them later. Their stature became so small and cute that they were not imposing any more.

I hope that my daughter does not turn up to be them. That she can relax and compete in things that matter to her because that is what life is all about, fight for what you not and not what others want you to fight for. Do what you enjoy and you would never have to claim personality traits to fit in. Just because your strength turns out to be an achiever in one of those useless test does not mean that you will achieve everything in life or vice versa. It is ok, we all have one life to live, while live it being a "me too?"

A Zen ART

Mental Wanderer!

The last few months have been a roller coaster - of emotions, of lives, of my world as I know it. I was forced to look inside and see that I was not what I thought I always was. I almost entertained a thought that I never thought I would in my life. I was chastised for something that should not have been and I my many apologies seemed to fall in deaf ears. I looked around and saw smiling faces and I felt guilt every time I wanted to laugh. I went on a party wagon but could not let loose to enjoy the ride. Every meal I ate made me feel bad, every word I said made me look inside. I looked at others and felt a pang of jealousy wondering how nice it would be to live life without being me. Yet through all these times I was grateful. I was grateful because I had things that others did not, like love and support, and things to love. I wonder if everyone go through life like this or similar in their life. Yet, I see that as we move on, get stronger, we do not stop to hold others' hands. Instead, we chug along racing towards the never-finding goal ignoring the one's whose lives are down in the dump like mine was a few days ago.

I hope to come out of these funky months very soon and when I do, I want to be stronger, look in the eyes of the perpetrators and tell them that "the shit they threw at me did pass but when it happens to them and if I am around I will extend my hands instead of shitting over them."

Mental wanderer is the state of my mind the last few days. I smile on the outside but the brain is looking around for something that is not touchable. I am hoping that the sun will rise and will shine on me and others going through similar things, it cannot be dark forever, it should not be dark forever. Keep reminding yourself that it is always "mind over matter."

Mental Wandering ART!

Savage and Wrecked!

When I was a little girl the words savage and wrecked meant something different. Er, they actually meant what they were supposed to mean. Today, there is a totally new meaning. Kid talks or rather teen talks. S is not close to being a teen but has a lot of teen influences - friends and cousins. So this is a typical conversation between me and her:

Her: I was standing in line and this guy tried to cut the line.
Me: *Disinterestest* hmm...
Her: Mom, so imagine (she brings in her hands to show how she was in line and the dude was trying to cut in).
Me: Hmm...Get to the point...
Her: I told him, dude you are cutting the line. And he asked me, "where is the line?"
Me: Hmm...
Her: This is the best part, Behind me coz that's where you are always going to be. Moves her hand like a whip...Boom. *Super Excited* He wanted to say something but my response was both savage and it wrecked him. Ha!
Me: Savage? Wrecked?
Her: School talk mom, you won't get it. Goodnight.

Another one with my kid nieces and nephew:

Niece: That is so Lit Bro.
Me: Sooo Lit.
Nephew: That is not the right usage.
Me: But she just said it.
Nephew: That was correct...but your was not.
Me: Why?
Daughter, Nieces and Nephew Together: Because....(They really wanted to shut me up).

Yet another learning experience (Courtesy Niece):

Niece: That is sooo Salty.
Me: Salty? Should it be sugary?
Niece: No atha (aunt), it's salty...as in burn with a little bit of sassy.
Me: Savage? Salty? Burn? Sassy...that I get.
Niece: Atha, you are so cute...
I used to tell that to her a couple of years ago...Role Reversal I am not ready for!

What I understand is that I should step aside and let the young 'uns take over my old world. All my salty burns and savaged wrecks were mostly in Tamil, a few in English and I am sure I thought that my family were old school too...but it is just so cute to annoy them by using these things wrong. They get so worked up and I find that super adorable and cute.

A Misty ART

Coffee Mug in Hand!

It was my first paid job. The day at work started at 10 and ended anytime after 5. Some days I spent more time and others I would leave early. Especially if it was Friday. I had to meet my brother B and friend S every day. I was living in a new city as a paying guest and they were one of the few who kept me from getting home sick - not to mention that every other week trip back home...

Pandu bought us coffee or tea at our desk. You have to let him know your preference as soon as you got to work or your default choice would be delivered. It always came in a stainless steel dabara set. The bowl at the bottom and the inverted cut with the tea/coffee. This was how coffee was served in offices prior to multi-nationals coming into the country.This was how my dad enjoyed his tea at work and so did I. We waited for the coffee boy who would come everyday like clockwork at 11 in mid-morning and 3 in the afternoon. Tea time meant people could relax. We would spend ten minutes talking, joking before going back to work.

In the evenings I would walk to S's Wipro office on MG Road in Bangalore. While I waited in the lobby I would notice all the techies walking up and down the hallway with coffee mugs in their hands. Coffee mugs were a new concept. We either drank coffee in a dabara set or in cup and saucer. I would look at them in awe and wonder what the magic drink was, if it tasted better because it was in this humongous mug.

From Wipro S and I would either ride in his Kinetic Honda or walk to my brother B's office at Citi. Walk or ride depended on our energy levels and time we had at hand. The same scene would unfold there also, men and women with coffee mugs walking with busy stride up and down. This made my dabara set tea look very miniscule. I wanted to also do the same but never owned a mug or knew where to get one.

Fast forward twenty years...I now spend at least 3-4 times a day walking with coffee mug in hand. I own enough to fill up an entire cabinet. Whenever I visit India I find the dabara set and cup and saucer teas very less for me. I shamelessly ask for a second or sometimes a third round. I wish I could go back to being that innocent young lady who found awe in simple things. Who spent evening walking from one place to another nary a care. I would have easily raked up more than 10K steps in one day without having to plan an event to do so like I have to now. The young girl who ate two dinners every night because I could do so and not pile on pounds. I miss those days in my life, they are precious, they defined me, I am glad I got to live them!

A coffee mug in hand ART

And the Bitch is back!

There is always that one person in your life who will do everything possible to make you feel inferior. A lot of times when it is true, you accept it and make changes or move on but sometimes it is fit for laughs and laughs only. Especially when you know that there is nothing you can do to prove your worth...

Recently, I met up with an acquaintance. I want to call her my friend but every time I try to reach out to her or do friendly stuff she either shuts me out or does not accept my friendship. I let it be and now I have come to accept that we will never be friends even after knowing each other for a long time now. Most of my conversation with her are always about others, others I do not know or will never meet. It goes like this on most days:

Her: Do you know so-and-so (sas)?
Me: Nope.
Her: Very smart lady. Has a PhD in microfundamentalpoliticalphysicalshitthatyouwillneverknow
Me: Really? Sounds very impressive.
Her: She is nothing her husband is even better...double PhD in the same thing and very amazing person.
Me: Wow!
Her: Well their kids, are so amazing, one is in Stanford, one in Harvard and the other is studying in the first university in Mars.
Me: Amazing!
Her: Yup. Have you heard of this other person?
Me: Nope...
Her: blah blah blah
Me: Monosyllable excitement.

I always leave wondering how any of our conversation made me feel? Am I supposed to feel awed that she knows all these great people? Am I to feel bad that I only have a Master's? Am I to feel worried if my daughter will go to the best school in the country?

I am normally not known for in depth conversation with everyone. I save that for a few inner circle friends but at least I do not try to patronize people on most days. These meetings are at best boring and I wonder why I have to deal with this and then I remember, it is always nice to have a variety of people around you. My life is definitely not monotonous. People like her make me appreciate some people more than the other .


Return of the Bitchy Art!

Turning!

As we leaf through book of our own life, each page is filled with a new memory, a new friendship or relationship, a new story, a new memory of an old story, laughter, sadness, tears from joy and angst, smiles, successes and failures, etc. We age as we go through the book, old memories becomes experience, new memories are our identity and we mature, just like a bottle of old wine waiting to be enjoyed. That is me, now I can officially start checking a different box for age group. I have ranked up. Matured, older and (but none the) wiser. Unfortunately for me, I am still a little girl inside of a physically mature me. I am still afraid to be alone, sometimes lazy, very quirky, have not updated bad habits to good habits yet, can break into a dance in a second or cry over nothing. I am still me, the same me that was there a decade ago or 3 decades ago. Nevertheless, I am happy to step into a new decade, with hopes and excitement as anyone else and also not looking forward to biological slow down. I cannot imagine me not dancing for 3 straight hours of Indian music. I cannot imagine not being able to run 3 miles if I feel like it. I do not want to imagine me slowing down my pace in my walk, talk or anything but I know I have to look forward to that.

Age is nothing but a number...ahem! Easier said than done. I will tackle each battle as I get there and will share it with everyone to read. And while it lasts, I will try to have a blast in my new decade!

Happy Birthday to Me!
Birthdayed-out-ART

Running As Fast As I Can!!!

Have you ever felt that your life is nothing but running from pole to pole? Deadline to deadline? Friend to friend? From home to work and back? From classes to cooking to cleaning to taking care of chores to catching up on TV and catching up on life. Sometimes even watching TV gets overwhelming. I am scheduling TV time in my day just to make sure that I do not miss out on some fun.

There are so many things to remember to do, so many things to take care of, so many places to be and sometimes all at one time. Just writing this down makes me go breathless. I sometimes feel that I live in the constant fear on forgetting something. Did I pack ear muffs for daughter's tennis class? How about a snack? Her gloves? My dabba for lunch? My ID? My purse (yes, I have forgotten this sometime)? My phone😭? My this and that and knickknacks. Golly, I have several lists, I track things at several locations and still fall short.

I keep reminding myself on friend's to text to, say, wish them for a birthday, or ask about their parent or child who is sick, or inquire about an upcoming plan, or their health. I still miss out on something important. I am sure I have at least 2 or 3 people who are upset with me because I did not wish them or ask them about something that was extremely important to them. I promise, it is not because you are not important or I have better things to do. That text message is sitting with the snack I forgot and the dance class fee I forgot to pay two weeks in a row among other things. Yes, even sending a simple text message can cause hyperventilation. I reminded myself three times before I sent out a friend "get well soon" text. I was glad I did that today when it was still in the correct window of wishing. I dread the day a friend will remind me of how thoughtless I am without feeling thoughtless for telling me such a thing.

Now, I understand that these wishes, texts, chores, give us identity, friendships, families, things to look forward to. I only hope that they are not the ones that also give me a heart attach. I have to keep this short so I can go and forget something else or not respond to a text or skip running to a class.

A Running ART!

This is idyllic. Kids running ahead and dad's making sure they are fine while mom's go for a relaxing walk. Wish everyday was like this one!

Nothingness...leads to a lot of BS

I had this window open for a while. Each topic I think of writing feels combative. This is not the only reason for the existence of the blog - to complain about people or their habits. I want it to be more of a place where my daughter can come back and read about her mom, her life, things I have not had a chance to share with her yet. But some days I feel like this is more of a rant space. A space where I can bitch about people with a veil. A vent space that all of us sometimes need. I am glad I have this venue, a place where I can secretly complain and hope that the person I am complaining about reads and gets the hint. It some how misses the mark almost all of the time though 😋

The weather outside is pretty cold and rainy, has been raining for two days straight, feels like I live in Seattle. The thing about rainy weather is that it is cozy, it should be enjoyed from within the sheets of your bedroom, with a hot cuppa chai and some hot pakoda that was cooked by someone other than you. A snuggle, some TV, a sippa chai would be perfect. But if you look at it from the window of your office, it is lonely, gloomy, and very depressing. If you have not seen the sun three days in a row, it can get boring too. And this is Texas weather we are talking about, a lot of rain almost always equals with hail, tornadoes, or just high speed winds, so we are on the constant look out.

S and us have started to do fun stuff on the weekends. Things that she enjoys with us. One weekend the two of us played badminton for almost an hour and had the best time doing so. One weekend G brought her biking to visit me at the gym while I was trying to fake work out. It was such a pleasant surprise to see them both all happy and smiles. She biked 4 miles that day. She also ran with me, or rather ahead of me 3 miles once. We are trying to do random physical activity with her to keep her fit while she is going through so many down days at tennis due to the weather outside. She loves her tennis, she loves it enough to want to play it for fun. She is not much into competition, she tells me that she just does not feel it in her to compete in sports. She enjoys hitting with us and her coach but that is it. I am happy that she has a good knack at raquet sports. She picked up badminton in 3 minutes of trying to figure out what to hit and where.

Oh well! I had nothing to write and then a lot of something to say. There is a lot more stuff where this came from and hopefully I will be able to pull them out one at a time!

Pensive ART

The Truth!

We never hear the truth from people. Period!

Not unless they trust you completely and you are the one person in the world to whom they will confess. So true in the world of Facebook and other social media. Everyone is having a gala time, at least that is what you think. Successful work life, great marriages, amazing family and the Best of all the Best things in the world. This is also so true in real life. You meet people, old friends and new alike, everyone presents their best self to you. You never know what the truth is, real happiness, faking a great work-life balance? Who knows.

I once had a chat with a mom and the discussion traversed into the sensitive talk about "working." I am always wary because I often times find myself defending the fact that I work post maternity. I find mother's who do not work defensive about their choice too. I feel that there is no need to defend. It is what it is, we choose what works best for us. To each his own. Yet this mom told me, "I have always wanted to go back to work but with two kids I barely have time. And my husband, he is so nice, he tells me not to go back to work, there is no need for it. I also do not know if I will get the right job as I have not worked in 8 years."

A week or so later I meet the husband sans wife. We start talking about work and exchange qualifications before he says, "I wish my wife worked. I have been asking her to go back now that both kids are in school and she refuses to give it a try. I am a strong believer that everyone should put their qualification to good use."

My jaw dropped. Oh well! I think it might help family to share notes before they step out 😋

A Grinning ART

Round Up!

Of course it is a wrap! 2017 is closing down and 2018 is gearing up for a start.

I stopped believing that things really change in the new year. I do not believe that an entire year sucked or rocked because of one incident. What is a year but a marker to keep life feeling immeasurable...and yet, I do these posts every year.

2017 seems to be the year I blogged the least. I guess I was busy at home and at work to spend a few minutes on my blog. I will try to fix that in 2018. I am getting older and wiser.

Things we did this year:

•   S ran her first 5K with me. We joined a running group and she ran-walked the whole thing. It was super fun.

• Enjoyed Holi with friends at the temple with friends! It was crazy!

• We threw a fun Harry Potter Themed Baby Shower for our dear friend A.

• We camped in OK by one of the most windiest lakes ever. Our tent almost flew with us in it. It was an adventure and we loved it!

• S had her second Bharatanatyam recital. She did amazing and so did her entire class. Parents visited and spent two months with us. It was amazing!

• Summer was filled with pool fun. Friends and family alike...S enjoyed.

   

• Z visited us alone! She is a big girl now and we had a great week with her.
• G's family visited us in summer! We went to Destin with them!

        

• The Solar Eclipse of 2017! Where we rocked the solar glasses! 

• And then, off we went to Niagara!

• S got her bangs hairstyle that she wanted for the longest time. She was super excited!
• Dandiya with friends - twice! It was super fun! I am looking forward to it again this year!
• S and G had multiple birthday celebrations! Lots of cake, lots of friends, I wish we could do this all over again ever year! Love the friend-family.

     

• Started biking this year with G. We have had some fun and adventurous rides exploring our neighborhood! See the turtle we hung out with at Interlaken in Plano.

• S turned double digit! so we had a fun birthday planned! A slime party and sleepover with a handful of girls! 

       

• S did her first Bollywood dance with a new friend that she enjoyed hanging out with!

• And then we left for our world tour! 
• Germany
• Visited Schloss Alsbach
• Dinner at Heidelberg - double date sans kids
• Drive to Neushwanstein - met with M & B there!
• Eat - the yummiest veggie paella in the world!

      

• India
• Taj Mahal
• Wedding fun @ Kurukshetra
• Eating @ Delhi
• Pune - Enjoying with J and family - Karla Caves
• Mumbai - Spending time with M, A and R. It was a treat! 
• Visited the India office of my company.
• Mangalore - Reception fun.
• Beach trip
• Village visit
• Bangalore - 
• Bino, Thameem
• SP's family
• Hareesh, Seenu
• Eating and dancing - S's first dance floor experience.
• Spending time getting pampered with friends and family and Lakme alike!

      

            

• France:
• Paris
• St. Gervais Les Bains
• S and G's first ski experience. They loved it! 
• We had to trek down from our chalet to buy oil, wine and bread! The trek was in 4' of freshly fallen slow. We had no roads or trails that we could see. I fell a few times before we reached St. Gervais! It was an experience. Spectacular views...Alps!

         

• Started the trip in Alps and ended it there! How fun!
• Came back feeling empty and luckily had friends to cheer us during the X-Mas break!

      

Now we look ahead to the next year and hopefully it is not rocky and is smooth sailing!

Happy New Year to everyone! Cheers and have a great one! From ours to yours...

A New Year ART