Babs and I napped two hours this past Saturday. We were tired and crashed. G came to wake us up and get us ready for a movie we were supposed to go. He sat on the bed and started scratching (kujli-ing) Babs back softly...
Babs: Papa, aap kya kehna hai abhi? (What do you have to say now?)
G: (Super confused) Main kuch kehna hai?! (I have to say something?)
Babs: Thank you
G: What?! Why?
B: Because main aapko kujli karne diya (Because I let you scratch my back)
G stopped scratching her and we have been bugging her about it ever since.
Love
ART
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Shopping Spree
Sometimes when you have a well planned out weekend you end up doing nothing and then the vice-versa also happens. This is the story of a weekend that I had nothing lined up for but got so busy that I barely got time to sleep enough until I crashed and took a 2 hour nap on Saturday.
Like the past three years, this year also I went midnight shopping with my friend. We walked the mall, shopped a little, and got out of there before I started sleeping on the mall benches. It was fun, and if any of my friends are interested, I will do it again next year :) I like going to the mall alone, at least once a year. Most of the time Babs is with me but this one trip I am on my own, walking in and out, not answering to questions or explaining to her that soon I will get her something and she has to be patient. It was fun.
We got to spend a lot of relaxing time with our very close friends. We did a sleep over and I also got to do Zumba. G tried and gave up in 2 mins. I took Babs with me to a nail place for the first time in my/her life. I got a pedicure while she got her nails painted. I cannot explain in words how happy that made her. She sat still, kept quite, and then she showed it around to anyone who cared to see it.
Well Babs also did something that is annoyingly cute. On Thursday night when I went shopping I did not buy much and what little I bought, I bought one pull over for Babs. So I was overcome by guilt. Saturday noon after seeing Santa do his thing in the Galleria I took Babs around to get her some tee's and a pair of boots. We tried on a few in many stores and she rejected all of them until she saw these pair of black (desi school) shoes with a little bit of raise in the back. Do not mistake it for a heel, just a raise, but she called it heels. She wore it around, it made a slight stomping noise. She loved it. She walked trying to make a stomping noise and she loved it because it made stomping noises like my shoes do. She walked around the store "stomp, stomp, stomp." "I like it," she declared and that is what we took home with us. Since then she has not parted a single moment from those shoes and wears them with any outfit. She figures out a way to make it work. She wore pink tights, pink and animal print pull over and black shoes...when I mentioned it to her that it looks un-matchy, she picked up her black purse and said, "Now it works right amma?" And it did! The rest of the evening at the party we went to, she was ready to display her nails and shoes. I have a diva, I don't know what to do! Freaking out!
I am enjoying this growing up phase of Babs. As annoying as it is to take her to the mall where she gets antsy about shopping for me. She does not like for me to wear sleeveless, unless she is also wearing the same, she is opinionated about my make up, hair style, outfit, etc...it is all cute. I enjoy her comments, her active involvement in my life. We share silly secrets that mostly consist of, "I love you and I love everyone in this world," or the random, "I love you amma," while she is almost asleep. I like the way she reaches for my ear or G's in her sleep and the way she has learnt to hold me tight with her arms and feet as she sleeps. I hold her tight on my chest and rock her to sleep sometimes because I am afraid that in a few years she might not want to do that or she might be heavy and I cannot do that. I love to run my hands through her hair or to do stuff on her hair. She likes to comb my hair (or anyone's) and do things she calls decoration. We play games, do things, I love all this. And I really don't want a thing to change.
See, this is what happens all the time. I start to say something about myself and then it becomes all about her. Even when G and I have date nights, we start out telling ourselves, only adult talk and in five minutes we are talking about Babs. She fills every part of our life leaving no gaps. We love her and are always thinking of her...which I know is the case with most parents...parenthood is awesome!
Looking forward to Christmas now!
Love
ART
Like the past three years, this year also I went midnight shopping with my friend. We walked the mall, shopped a little, and got out of there before I started sleeping on the mall benches. It was fun, and if any of my friends are interested, I will do it again next year :) I like going to the mall alone, at least once a year. Most of the time Babs is with me but this one trip I am on my own, walking in and out, not answering to questions or explaining to her that soon I will get her something and she has to be patient. It was fun.
We got to spend a lot of relaxing time with our very close friends. We did a sleep over and I also got to do Zumba. G tried and gave up in 2 mins. I took Babs with me to a nail place for the first time in my/her life. I got a pedicure while she got her nails painted. I cannot explain in words how happy that made her. She sat still, kept quite, and then she showed it around to anyone who cared to see it.
Well Babs also did something that is annoyingly cute. On Thursday night when I went shopping I did not buy much and what little I bought, I bought one pull over for Babs. So I was overcome by guilt. Saturday noon after seeing Santa do his thing in the Galleria I took Babs around to get her some tee's and a pair of boots. We tried on a few in many stores and she rejected all of them until she saw these pair of black (desi school) shoes with a little bit of raise in the back. Do not mistake it for a heel, just a raise, but she called it heels. She wore it around, it made a slight stomping noise. She loved it. She walked trying to make a stomping noise and she loved it because it made stomping noises like my shoes do. She walked around the store "stomp, stomp, stomp." "I like it," she declared and that is what we took home with us. Since then she has not parted a single moment from those shoes and wears them with any outfit. She figures out a way to make it work. She wore pink tights, pink and animal print pull over and black shoes...when I mentioned it to her that it looks un-matchy, she picked up her black purse and said, "Now it works right amma?" And it did! The rest of the evening at the party we went to, she was ready to display her nails and shoes. I have a diva, I don't know what to do! Freaking out!
I am enjoying this growing up phase of Babs. As annoying as it is to take her to the mall where she gets antsy about shopping for me. She does not like for me to wear sleeveless, unless she is also wearing the same, she is opinionated about my make up, hair style, outfit, etc...it is all cute. I enjoy her comments, her active involvement in my life. We share silly secrets that mostly consist of, "I love you and I love everyone in this world," or the random, "I love you amma," while she is almost asleep. I like the way she reaches for my ear or G's in her sleep and the way she has learnt to hold me tight with her arms and feet as she sleeps. I hold her tight on my chest and rock her to sleep sometimes because I am afraid that in a few years she might not want to do that or she might be heavy and I cannot do that. I love to run my hands through her hair or to do stuff on her hair. She likes to comb my hair (or anyone's) and do things she calls decoration. We play games, do things, I love all this. And I really don't want a thing to change.
See, this is what happens all the time. I start to say something about myself and then it becomes all about her. Even when G and I have date nights, we start out telling ourselves, only adult talk and in five minutes we are talking about Babs. She fills every part of our life leaving no gaps. We love her and are always thinking of her...which I know is the case with most parents...parenthood is awesome!
Looking forward to Christmas now!
Love
ART
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
500th Post
I really do not have much to say for a milestone post! It took me 6 years to get here. I started my first post on 11/8/2005 and here I am trying to write my 500th. I was not sure that I will ever get here. I was not sure how committed I was to writing. My interest in writing about movies, and then about some random personal stuff started off in a flurry of excitement and like all things that are new this also got old. Life took priority over my blog. I had a baby, then I had some health issues to tackle at home, I was frustrated with life and had nothing fun or interesting to share, I stopped blogging and then started off again. I just want to give myself a pat in the back for having kept up with the commitment.
I have made a few friends through the blog-world and I have made a couple of non-friends too, but whatever it was, the fun was there and I felt alive. Every time I had a cool idea or something fun happened all I thought about was, "I have to blog this." About 10% of them actually made it here because I am sometimes lazy and forget to get to things on time.
I am still a Desi movie addict, I watch all movies, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Since marrying G my Tamil movie watching has gone down considerable because he does not speak Tamil and I have to watch them on my own. I do not have very much "own" time any more. So I watch like 4-5 Tamil movies a year. Hindi movies on the other hand, I watch a lot of them. We love it. But, I do not blog about them any more. I just do not find the time. That led to the demise of my Movie blog which I have now combined with this one. I do try to write about the ones that really make a mark on me but not a review on everyone of them.
It is Thanksgiving weekend but we have very few plans made. The next four days are going to be super interesting. I cannot wait to spend a lot of quality time with my little one and G (when he is not working).
Happy Thanksgiving and have a Great Long Weekend!!!
Love
ART
I have made a few friends through the blog-world and I have made a couple of non-friends too, but whatever it was, the fun was there and I felt alive. Every time I had a cool idea or something fun happened all I thought about was, "I have to blog this." About 10% of them actually made it here because I am sometimes lazy and forget to get to things on time.
I am still a Desi movie addict, I watch all movies, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Since marrying G my Tamil movie watching has gone down considerable because he does not speak Tamil and I have to watch them on my own. I do not have very much "own" time any more. So I watch like 4-5 Tamil movies a year. Hindi movies on the other hand, I watch a lot of them. We love it. But, I do not blog about them any more. I just do not find the time. That led to the demise of my Movie blog which I have now combined with this one. I do try to write about the ones that really make a mark on me but not a review on everyone of them.
It is Thanksgiving weekend but we have very few plans made. The next four days are going to be super interesting. I cannot wait to spend a lot of quality time with my little one and G (when he is not working).
Happy Thanksgiving and have a Great Long Weekend!!!
Love
ART
Monday, November 21, 2011
I got a Troll
I used to write the blog hoping people will flock by the millions to read it. Slowly, it dawned on me that I am very non-controversial, write friendly stuff, and then slowly made this a memoir for my daughter sprinkled with some personal opinions here and there from time to time. I never thought I write anything that would make me seem pompous, stupid, pretentious. Never. Which explains why I have never been commented to rudely or been told interesting rude comments. I have rarely had an argument in the blogsphere. So anyways, here is the thought process I went through when I received the hate comment:
And here is me thanking you dear Troll, for showing me that you care.
- Obviously this is one SOB. Delete.
- Ah! well, let it be...how does this one person's opinion affect me over the two others who bothered to comment?
- Truth be told, I should be bothered...someone bothered to comment.
- Bloody Biatch, how dare he/she/it say something so mean to me, especially when I do not know you.
- Ah well, coward.
- But the coward reads my blog, all readers (of the handpicked few) still need to be mentioned.
- I cannot be a coward and not publish this person's comment. I should.
- The coward decided to comment, which means the cowards hates me. As Bree in Desperate Housewives pointed it out, hate is not the opposite of Love, indifference is, Hate means that you still care...so the coward cares enough to express dislike in the most tasteless way ever.
- Coward is a coward, if I have time, will deal with it later.
- I am famous, someone hates me!
So here I am, dealing with the coward, being true to myself and publishing the hate comment. So you, coward, hiding behind anonymous, come out, lets pull a chair, and drink some coffee discussing why you hate me so much. Who knows, might help you vent and me see your point.
"I have read many of ur posts simply because I find it interesting in a way like , wow what pretentious post has this woman written today .You are a showoff & a pretentious shallow woman who has bricks for her brain matter
I have read many posts by women who are so interesting and bright .You are not one of them in fact ur pretty irritating"And here is me thanking you dear Troll, for showing me that you care.
Love
ART
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Android-Iphone War
I have owned an iphone for 2.5 years. I love it. Granted, it has it's share of issues, mainly dropped calls, but I still love it. I have never had issues with any thing major, just your regular phone woes. I am obviously not writing this blog to praise my iphone and show my love for it.
My point is, that every time I have used my phone in front of an Android user I have heard one of the following or a combination of a few:
My point is, that every time I have used my phone in front of an Android user I have heard one of the following or a combination of a few:
- Iphone sucks
- Iphone is so overrated
- my (insert name of any Android phone) is so cool, so much cooler than your phone
- My phone is faster than Iphone
- It has all these wonderful apps
- They never drop calls
- I will do anything but buy an Iphone
- Look at a person who is yet to get a smart phone and say, "I beg you, please never buy an Iphone, or else I will have to rethink our friendship."
- Sprint/T-Mobile/Verizon has better plans than AT&T (How is this iphone's fault?)
- etc. etc. add your own.
I wonder why it is so important for Android users to advertise their phone? I have rarely stood up and fought a war for my phone even when someone is bashing my phone. It is awesome, I know it, the world knows it, I have never heard of a story where someone stood out in front of an Android store for a month to be the first to get their latest release. Never.
I do not even think Android users can keep track of their own Galaxy, HTC, HTC Evo, Universe, Spaceship phones with intergalactic names coming out every other day. In spite of all this, I never say a mean thing about your phone ever. Never!
Yet, why do the Android users deem it necessary to defame Apple? While I am in awe of your super apps and cool stuff, why can't you appreciate the same in my phone? Obviously there are somethings my phone can do better than yours and vice versa, so lets celebrate each other's phone. Let's stop this boring discussion of how your phone is better than mine. Let our phone's not represent our ego. Let us be friend's who use our phones to communicate and not to compete with. Let's live and let live.
Love
ART
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Branded - Are We?
I am not talking about you or you or you. This is about me. Strictly me and my feeling bad about not understanding the world around me. This is about what I think of brand names. I am not saying that I do not own anything that is branded, I do, but I mostly did not buy it because it was branded but more because I thought it was cute or it was something that made me happy and not others jealous.
I look at someone wearing a CC and go oooh! or someone wearing a those huge monogrammed Coach purses and I am like..."ok, brand name check." But then there are these other cooler brands, say like Kate Spade for example, unless someone comes close and hugs me and picks my purse up and reads, it is not going to matter, no one is ever going to know. Even Coach for that matter, a non-monogrammed purse might as well have been bought for $15 from Sam Moon's. Nobody will notice another black leather purse. Then why are we so brand crazy? I am pretty sure I do not have many friends who will know a purse or a shoe by season and by designer (Other than a Loub mais oui!). And for those couple of people to recognize the pain and effort you have put into acquiring that branded object...is it worth it?
I always wondered why someone should shell out a lot of money for a purse that only they will know as branded or drop around hints to show how well kept they are. Of course, having spending money is a good enough reason but other than that, why? Please explain, I know people who have spent $200 for a plain Jane Louboutin and then later complain about money issues for making car or house payments. That is something beyond my comprehension.
Oh and then the shoes, I mean, unless I make you take your shoes off or you tell me, how on earth am I going to see what you are wearing and how does it matter?
So why dear darlings? What does it matter? Would you look down at me because I am scoring deals and check slickdeals every other day? Would it make you sick that sometimes I pick up my jacket or a pull over from Sam's club? Would it make it bad that I get shoes from online websites that have a kickass deal? Oooh...and would it make you cringe if I told you the cost of something you just complimented on? If you answered yes to any one of the above questions, then, we are just not meant to be. It was nice knowing you though.
Love
ART
I look at someone wearing a CC and go oooh! or someone wearing a those huge monogrammed Coach purses and I am like..."ok, brand name check." But then there are these other cooler brands, say like Kate Spade for example, unless someone comes close and hugs me and picks my purse up and reads, it is not going to matter, no one is ever going to know. Even Coach for that matter, a non-monogrammed purse might as well have been bought for $15 from Sam Moon's. Nobody will notice another black leather purse. Then why are we so brand crazy? I am pretty sure I do not have many friends who will know a purse or a shoe by season and by designer (Other than a Loub mais oui!). And for those couple of people to recognize the pain and effort you have put into acquiring that branded object...is it worth it?
I always wondered why someone should shell out a lot of money for a purse that only they will know as branded or drop around hints to show how well kept they are. Of course, having spending money is a good enough reason but other than that, why? Please explain, I know people who have spent $200 for a plain Jane Louboutin and then later complain about money issues for making car or house payments. That is something beyond my comprehension.
Oh and then the shoes, I mean, unless I make you take your shoes off or you tell me, how on earth am I going to see what you are wearing and how does it matter?
So why dear darlings? What does it matter? Would you look down at me because I am scoring deals and check slickdeals every other day? Would it make you sick that sometimes I pick up my jacket or a pull over from Sam's club? Would it make it bad that I get shoes from online websites that have a kickass deal? Oooh...and would it make you cringe if I told you the cost of something you just complimented on? If you answered yes to any one of the above questions, then, we are just not meant to be. It was nice knowing you though.
Love
ART
Oklahoma! Ooklaahomaaa!
Randomly a couple of our friends and we decided to go on a road trip. It was decided over G's birthday night and in two days a cabin was booked, van rented and tentative plans were made. We were going to see Fall colors in Oklahoma!
The three and half hour ride had us singing songs, playing games and lots of laughs. The biggest giggle and shriek's came from us as we discovered each and every nook of the cabin we had rented. Of course we did get lost and took a lot of time to find it but it was worth the effort. The best part was that there were not many insects and all with it being Fall. I could walk around the property in the night under the stars without fear of having a cicada jump at me.
We grilled, we campfired, we hot-tubbed, we hiked a bit, we lazed a lot, cooked and ate a lot, played a lot, saw a lot of TV, and best of all, saw some of the most beautiful Fall colors. The drive through the Talamina State Park was amazing, even more amazing was observing two stick insects make out. First time I ever saw a stick insect (they are ugly!). We also tried to rescue a car that had gone off the path but then had to let the pro's do it.
We collected pine cones, dumped them in the water and saw the shrink, dried them to see them bloom again. Babs and I played silly games, we did each other's hair, cuddled a lot, Saw Aladin twice, ate on the swing watching nature sway around us. We also had our morning breakfast watching deers as they ran by and our cups of coffee while sitting on the deck contemplating life. The peacefulness of the place and the beauty of the nature was a definite battery charger for all of us.
We learned the Babs could do a sad slow walk, that she could say "booty-butt" and giggle away to glory. We made games out of "booty-butt" and of course we played rummy, and came second only to G, I hope it makes my FIL proud of me. We also sang Chappa Chappa Charka while we sat and saw the flames crackle on our bonfire.
Such vacations are good reminders as to why we need to take a break and do nothing and relax. When we got back, we were all sad but once again the drive back into Texas was amazing. I could not take my eyes off the horizon, such beautiful colors, and the paints the sky threw at us was welcoming. It was all good and then the week started back for us...
Babs, you and I constantly cuddled on this trip. I smothered you and hopefully made up for all my bad moods in the past few work-stress induced weeks. Hopefully we will get to do this and more in the coming weeks once again.
Love
Amma
The three and half hour ride had us singing songs, playing games and lots of laughs. The biggest giggle and shriek's came from us as we discovered each and every nook of the cabin we had rented. Of course we did get lost and took a lot of time to find it but it was worth the effort. The best part was that there were not many insects and all with it being Fall. I could walk around the property in the night under the stars without fear of having a cicada jump at me.
We grilled, we campfired, we hot-tubbed, we hiked a bit, we lazed a lot, cooked and ate a lot, played a lot, saw a lot of TV, and best of all, saw some of the most beautiful Fall colors. The drive through the Talamina State Park was amazing, even more amazing was observing two stick insects make out. First time I ever saw a stick insect (they are ugly!). We also tried to rescue a car that had gone off the path but then had to let the pro's do it.
We collected pine cones, dumped them in the water and saw the shrink, dried them to see them bloom again. Babs and I played silly games, we did each other's hair, cuddled a lot, Saw Aladin twice, ate on the swing watching nature sway around us. We also had our morning breakfast watching deers as they ran by and our cups of coffee while sitting on the deck contemplating life. The peacefulness of the place and the beauty of the nature was a definite battery charger for all of us.
We learned the Babs could do a sad slow walk, that she could say "booty-butt" and giggle away to glory. We made games out of "booty-butt" and of course we played rummy, and came second only to G, I hope it makes my FIL proud of me. We also sang Chappa Chappa Charka while we sat and saw the flames crackle on our bonfire.
Such vacations are good reminders as to why we need to take a break and do nothing and relax. When we got back, we were all sad but once again the drive back into Texas was amazing. I could not take my eyes off the horizon, such beautiful colors, and the paints the sky threw at us was welcoming. It was all good and then the week started back for us...
Babs, you and I constantly cuddled on this trip. I smothered you and hopefully made up for all my bad moods in the past few work-stress induced weeks. Hopefully we will get to do this and more in the coming weeks once again.
Love
Amma
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