Transition

The transition is small and subtle. There was a time when I used to smile remembering something that my husband did or said, I have even laughed out aloud just remembering snippets of my life. Then it changed to my baby. Things she said or did that brings a smile to my face in my mundane life. My husband still made me smile but my baby took over mind. Today, on my way driving to work I thought of a performance she was trying to do for us at home, it was funny, hilarious and cute but it made her laugh so hard which made it even more funny for the rest of us, she was being funny and silly and artistic at the same time. I started laughing aloud and it made me happy. I had somehow sometime ago transitioned from the love struck wife to a mother in love...

My baby precious!

And the Year is Winding Down!

Wow! Where did the time go? Where did 2015 go? The year brought in a lot of mixed emotions. It was not a great year like 2014 was but not a totally bad year too. If I have to give it marks, this would be a 2.5 out of 5, or a color, this would be light yellow, in food this would be the french fry. Things happened, life moved on but nothing earth shattering in my life. Work life saw one of the craziest four months ever. I still cannot believe that I endured it.

Babs is a year older and smart Alec-er. G and I are tugging along hoping to get health as an important factor in 2016. We gave up on 2015 long ago, G did try but every time he succeeded something pulled him back. I did not even try.

Well, a recap to keep myself sane...

January - Got Licensed in the state of Texas and Maryland. I was afraid of the exams and postponed it as much as I could. I am glad that it is over and that I got my time back. Which of course I did not put to any good use.

February - Celebrated Valentine's with Babs classmates at school, chaperoned Babs to her field trip and spent a couple of days cooped up in the house due to the famous Dallas ice/snow storm. We also had a lot of friends visit us at our house and started an impromptu jam session. Babs made me happy by singing "Main Tenu Samjhavaan..." with her Wawa.

March - I turned a year older. It was one of my best birthday party ever. My girl friends and I went to a restaurant for a slight snack and drink and then went dancing till they closed the club. We have so many great memories from that day. My BFF also visited me and took me out to get our nails done, in all a very relaxing day. We also played holi with friends in the park on a super cold day, spent another day at home due to the weather...and Babs said bye bye to her ice skating classes as her favorite teacher left the city.

April - Girish's cousin and family visited us. We took them around Texas, cooked a lot, ate a lot and got our Cowboy on! I also accompanied Babs on her field trip again and it was awesome hanging out with the girls in the zoo.

May - Babs and her best friend spent a day in Dallas downtown celebrating diversity at Klyde Warren Park and art at the Nasher Sculpture Garden. I spent a couple of days in Atlanta for the AIA convention and we got our travel visas for the big trip next month.

June - We left for our yearly international trip. This time it was France (Paris, Mont St. Michel, Balleroy, Normandy, etc), Greece (Athens and Santorini), Germany (Koln and Alsbach). Hanging out with family, eating and drinking, and being together with friends made the trip really memorable.

July - Started working on a back breaking project that put all activity in life to a zero. I did manage to squeeze in a trip with friends to stay in a ranch in West Texas. It was three days of lazing around, cooking, eating, singing, drinking and general fun times with friends. We also enjoyed fine dining with friends at Nobu,

August - Spent a lot of time with friends whenever we could get out. My parents came!!! It was awesome. They took care of Sanjana and me while I worked crazy hours.

September - More work craziness and parents helped keep my sanity. Babs and I went to the aquarium, which has now become a yearly tradition for us. We go there every time Girish goes to spend time with friends at US Open. Mom came to Nasher with us and Babs started her dance lessons. She was excited beyond limits.

October - Went to Arijit Singh concert, partied with friends, Spent a night at work, came home to celebrate Babs birthday, got a total of 2 hours of sleep in 48 hours. I crashed hard! We had a fun Halloween with Babs and our friends.

November - One more staycation with friends at a house by a lake this time. It was super fun, we once again relaxed as best as we could and came back to finish up the year. Had an awesome Diwali with friends. Babs wrote Hindi for the first time. We hung up the Christmas Decorations the day after Thanksgiving with Babs BFF Nicole had her mom. We also got to dog sit two dogs (Buddy and Jules) and it was an awesome experience.

December - Babs did her first Tae Kwan Do Competition and won bronze. She was very nervous and she did well. She also did her first ever Tennis tournament and finished as runner's up in the consolation round. Of course, none of us are ecstatic but a good start. Babs won a school award for a photo she submitted and a district level award for another photo of hers. She was super happy and so were we, Lot of backyard construction work, family came in, all 11 of them and the house was tested to its full capacity. We enjoyed long nights and discussions and arguments. I am sure I will miss it till the next big family get together. We did get Babs a karaoke set and now we (adults) seem to use it more than her. It is so much fun holding the mike.!!!

Looking forward to much more fun year ahead...

From ours to yours...Wishes for a very bright and prosperous 2016!

Love
ART

I have done it...

I find it very arrogant or obnoxious and sometimes both when people claim that they understand the forces of nature.

Last night we had the tornado siren go off in our community at 3.55am. We were up scrambling to put our munchkin out of harms way. I even convinced G to sit with me in our under stair safe spot. He was cramped and after three minutes he wanted to take nature head on. The siren also turned off in a few minutes and we tried to sleep as much as we could to start the following day.

When I mentioned this to a couple of people, they both phoophooed my worries away and it made me angry. I wonder how they feel so confident to have figured out tornado just because they lived in the tornado alley. By their logic:

1. Can the residents of SFO claim that they understand all earthquakes?
2. Do people next to the volcanoes say that they have control over the mountains?
3. What about the people who lived by the beach that lost their lives in the Tsunami? A lot of them lived by the ocean their entire life and still did not understand what was happening when the water receded.
4. Or what about the residents of Mumbai who are used to their regular downpour but could not handle 37+ inches of rain when it came down on 26 July 2005?

If we are so cool to heed to the weather information then why check the weather before stepping out? Would you not know on an average with your experience of just "living" what the weather is expected to be on the 6th day of May? These arrogant people and their attitude about others fears annoys me.

I am not from tornado valley, I am more of a cyclone person, never seen one but been through many depressions and I still don't get it. Heck, even the meteorologists don't know what is going on when they declare a holiday for schools and see bright sunshine when they had predicted 4" of rainfall and crazy winds. So people with the "I am from Tornado Alley attitude and I will determine if it is a tornado or not" STFU.

Phew! Once again ranting here feels good!!!

Cheers

ARTornado!

Another Year Slowly Crept By

I had no idea how fast time is moving. I was so busy with work, family, work, friends, work that I completely lost track of life. My life, my family life. I feel like 2015 was me running around asking everyone to adjust with me and my craziness. The worst hit were ofcourse G and Babs and my parents and of course me!

I invited my parents to spend a couple of months with us and I left them alone at home most of the time because I was working crazy hours. I spent very little time in the two months they were here. I could feel their soothing presence around me at all times. I chatted with them before bed and briefly in the morning. They were there but never once made me feel like I was ignoring them. I really had a good time with them though only in small spurts that when they left I was left crying for them. I missed them when I walked into the house in the evening. I missed them when I drove out in the morning to work and see dad taking a walk, or mom going on her evening walk when I was riding back home from work. I missed mom on Thursdays when I would rush home to take her to the temple...I simply and plainly miss them!

In between all the work madness there was Babs birthday. She turned 8 and she handled an absentee mom with patience. She allowed me to be a part of her simple plan for her birthday party that she put together all by herself. She chose 3 girl friends to spend the day of her birthday and have a sleepover with. It was all set, easy plan. I, on the other hand had only slept for 2 hours that day, I was in a high crank mode. I ran around trying to get the whole birthday set up last minute. The friends came and we cut cake, went bowling, ate dinner, then the sleepover. I was exhausted with just 2 hours of sleep under my belt and the kids were reluctant to sleep till it was 2am. I finally sat outside like a guard dog until they crashed. I felt horrible doing that but I needed sleep at some point. Sorry kiddos!!!

The next day the kids put up the most amazing show for us, with tickets, autograph signing and photos, and all that. It was amazing to see them grow up. Babs enjoyed it every bit while she also had to do some growing up and learn to share her friends. It was all good. We finished up and I still had some energy left on Sunday. I was glad that she had a long birthday celebration and I still kept my sanity. My friend's daughter told her mom that I was just like her, "strict." My friend told her daughter, "and that is why I send you to her house, and only her house." Made me feel so nice in spite of being called strict. One day these little ones will learn that it is called, "Being a Mother."

And through all this my parents patiently stayed in the background, helped out when needed and stayed away when they knew I was getting overloaded. While the kids were busy playing I spent an hour lying down next to my mother when she mentioned that this was the first time I had laid down with her in her entire stay. I felt so sad to get up and go from there...

Slowly but steadily another year has crept by, another Halloween with my Goddess Athena, and a couple of months with my parents. I am getting older too and I feel it in my bones and as much as I complain, I like the work and working. It is crazy but I like it! Oh Well! Eating the cake and having it too...never happens!

Love
Motherly ART

오랜만이다 (orenmanida)!!! (Long Time!)

Yup, feels like forever since I wrote some words here. This space is my relief, my very own where I write very censored stuff. Glad that I stop myself from writing what I really feel. Imagine all those thoughts running amuck in my blog.

Since the last time, I have finished another of my yearly EU trips, went to Paris (the default), Normandy, Mont St. Michel, Athens, Santorini, Koln, Alsbach, So many beautiful places where I could just sit and do nothing but had to hustle because we were on a tourism trip. First time to these places means that you have to see things, second time is when you sit down to enjoy the coffee :) Which is precisely what we did in Paris. The husband and I took long walks had leisure coffee while watching the French hustle past us. Santorini was the most beautiful place I have seen thus far, the color of the sky reflecting the color of the Mediterranean with the stark white buildings. I could stare outside forever. I loved Mont St. Michel, it reminded me of walking into a fairytale castle. I felt like a princess as I climbed up the cobblestone steps to go to the church. The ocean on one side and the land on the other, I did not want to leave.

And then Babs started school, she is growing me up and pushing me to do things I never thought I would. Thankfully she has a wonderful teacher in school and her everyday is easy. Work front has gotten crazy busy and tons of hours are being poured into work and away from home. Some part of it is actually fun and some part is not. Life is like that I guess, you cannot get the fun without the not-so-fun.

During all the work and school craziness parents came in. Them just being at home is so relaxing. Not much needs to be said or done but they know to say and do the right things without being prompted. Weekends are running by, and Djoko won US Open and Rafa is not in the radar. I feel bad for Rafa and for Fed. This is precisely how thoughts are running in my head now. One thing after another with no correlation to what was just said a few minutes ago.

I am trying to learn the art of keeping things in my head and not say it through my mouth but I need to control a bit more. I still say things that I really should say but for the sake of diplomacy should have shut up. But sometimes, things just need to be said.

Oh well. I wish I could blog more and write about Bahubali that I saw. Or just say about the fun things I did on my trip but mind is clouded with work associated stuff that I am unable to see past the fog. When things clear up, I will try to get some photos up here.

Till then,

안녕히 계세요 (annyeonghi kyeseyo) (Good bye)

Cheerful Art.

PS: Watching Goddess of Marriage - my current Korean addition!