Adieu 2008, Bonjour 2009

O, now you wouldn't think I would end the year without the last post eh? Beep...Wrong!

Well, it's been a great year and looking forward to another one with great zeal....

So, for the eve (since I don't do the resolutions thingy...ever) I thought of doing a classic Mastercard kind of commercial, my style(it ain't always 'bout the dough ya know!)....

- Party decorations and invitations for 10 people - $$$

- Food and drinks - $$$

- Dessert, games and dance - $$$

- Wishing everyone a Happy New Year irrespective of their religion/social status etc. - PRICELESS

On that note, WISH YOU ALL A VERY VERY HAPPY AND GLAMOROUS NEW YEAR!!!! 

Let peace, prosperity and health prevail to all!

Alvida! See y'all in '09 and love always!

Track Santa

Now, you can track Santa Claus' journey here.

Merry Christmas.

Chocolatology

LOL.....as if I need a reason to eat chocolate!!!! Anyways.....here goes....

http://healthyliving.msn.com/default.aspx?section=archive&contentType=article&contentId=Chocolatology&GT1=25037

Tag

Alright, this one I lifted off of BR's blog and I loved doing it. The rules follow....

Do an image search for every answer and choose any image from the first page....

My answers are in italics

1. The age you will be on your next birthday: What's in a number?

2. Your favorite place: Where the heart is.

3. A place you'd like to travel to: North Pole

4. Your favorite food/drink is: Pasta

Drink: Water/wine

5. Your favorite pet: Iphone

6. Your favorite color combination: Orange and Black

7. Your favorite piece of clothing: Summer Dresses

8. Your all time favorite song: Too many!

9. Your favorite TV show: Anything on Food Network and Desperate Housewives

10. Full name of your significant other:   

11. The town in which you live: Where the Sun always shines!

12. Your screen name/nickname: Annie

13. Your first job : TA

14. Your dream job: Travel journo/Food critic

15. Bad habit you have: Need I say more!

16. Your worst fear: Dying abandoned!

17. The one thing you'd like to do before you die: Secure the world for the next gen

18. The first thing you will buy if you get $1,000,000: A hilltop house and a plane ticket for my mom.

So....that's from me.....you can tag yourself if u want to!

Finally we got.....

......our car back from the repair center and boy was it jannat! I think we get used to our stuff after a while, that's why we find it hard to adapt to something new and unknown! We set our comfort level and we get uncomfortable when we step out of it.

Well, we had a pretty good weekend, caught up on Rab Ne... and Yuvvraaj! phew! We visited Chuck E Cheese's with our master and he had a gala good time there....but alas, he was down with fever Sunday. I am hoping he is better now, although I am a bit worried as to why is he going down with fever so oft!  Makes me wonder, if I should go back to being a fulltime mom, I mean it's hard with just the 2 of us taking care of him and working full time and thanks to this crazy weather, kids get sick every so often! I wish it stayed warm all through or cold....but this inconsistency in the weather has us rearranging our schedule most of the times and honestly, it does get a bit embarassing! No wonder, we go through more bouts of stress than our parents did and no wonder our tolerance levels are so low!

The verdict.....

is regular Bhatt style music. Well, that's how the music for Raaz is, nothing out of the ordinary and all the songs are like you'd expect from the Bhatt house. Although, Maahi is really good, one that stands out and one that you would want to listen over and over again. Bandaa Re is also good, Kaisa Yeh Raaz and O Jaan are just as KK songs, Soniye also failed to impress, though sung by Sonu Nigam, I liked the same song by Krishna better, got a nice classical touch to it. These are the kind of songs that you feel, you've heard them before. I really am watching out for the lyricist, Sayeed Quadri, he pens simple and sweet songs that get the message across. Atleast, the words make sense. So maybe I would give it 3 1/2 stars. 

P.S. Toshi has also sung in  Summer 2007 and Horn Ok Pleasss, prior to Raaz 2.

Breaking News...

Toshi has outdone himself in Raaz...The Mystery Continues! I just love this guy's voice! I can picture myself driving in my car with this song....Mahi, and humming along! That reminds me, I wonder when will I get my car back! I do hope they fix everything that got damaged due to the accident.

I will give a detailed review on Raaz music in my next post.

I am so happy....

that finally Raaz music is out, I've been dying to listen to it....especially the one sung by Toshi.....well atleast from the snippets we get to see on TV, he rocks.....beautiful rendition in 'Maahi'. And O yeah.....Emraan Hashmi movies always have ossum music, I like his movies too...always hatke!

And waiting to watch Rab Ne......, if you are wondering why I haven't seen a SRK movie yet....well keep wondering, but this week it has to be done!

I wont be reviewing or declaring Rab Ne as it doesn't need to be....it's going to be awesome. That's it. Final verdict.

I wonder how SCOUT GIRL cartoon/drawing/art(or whatever u want to call in the previous post) would look?  

You know me......it's always about the girl....girl power!

Ramblings...

My car is now at the repair shop, thus leaving me with the rental that they provided....and it's such a drab. Gosh, am missing my 4 wheeler!

I feel like doing a tag.....maybe sometime I will, just need to think of the right q's and find the time to do that too!

Last night, went back home and made some rotis with egg curry, and I tell you it was awesome, we got tired of eating the Indian restaurant food for so long now, saada ghar ka khaana is always welcome....innit?

Well, this weekend I hope to make some biriyani, still thinking whether mutton or chicken.....any suggestions? I am so excited for this weekend, coz Mr. and I will be home together after soooooo long, I can't even remember, and we plan to do some family activities, maybe take our master to the aquarium or animal museum or the beach or some place where he can have fun.  Waiting patiently for this week to pass by quickly.........tick tock tick tock....

Btw, this image is not that of anything even remotely scary, this is formed by using the letters from "SCOUT BOY", let's see if you can figure it out. We kids used to draw this so oft during our childhood, Y and P do y'all remember? Got reminded of it y'day.

I am so glad...

....I've finally rid myself of the tan. Hoping to get my complexion back and feeling like myself again. Seeing my reflection in the mirror is not a tense moment anymore. Thanks to the lady at the spa. I will take care not to goto anymore football games in the middle of a hot summer day and also not to plan any outdoor events at the same time on the same day. No amount of sunblock helps in this heat. Now, if only my arms would also follow suit!

What a day!

The past few weeks have been so stressful for us, it was a bedlam. But, it all ended(well, just hoping) with the birthday celebrations for our master who turned 2 over the weekend and it was such a joy. I can't believe he is already 2 years old, life goes so fast. I still remember his first birthday, what a celebration it was! But this was no less either, we had a party with lots of fun. The stress of it all was gone while I was watching my master enjoying and having fun with all the kids as if they were all his long lost friends! He had a ball, and so did we.

My cousin, P and my aunt flew down to be with us, just for the day, we were so glad they could make it, always good to have family around and the joy of having parents over and watching them interact with the kids is a sight that would remain etched in my memory forever. The bond that granparents share with kids is special. We missed you Y, wish you could make it too!

Thanks SB, for helping me out all through, right from the shopping to taking care of the games and keeping the party going. I always am so confident when you are around babes, I know I can always rely on you.

I tried my best to set up a beautiful table, I hope I lived upto my standards. P, your idea of filling those little servers was simply awesome. I finally finished up the fruit platter today.

Somewhere, I was a bit worried that this party would turn out to be more about everyone else(i.e. us adults) rather than being about our master, but I am glad it didn't turn out that way. Our master was the centro de atencion all through and he had a gala time. He was up until almost 2 a.m. playing and having fun. Even after all the kids left, he was up singing rhymes and talking to my aunt and telling her some stories I guess. So cute!

Well, do you think my post would be complete without me mentioning my darling hubby? No way! What do I say about him? He is just the best, helping me all through and helping me stay sane and yes we do make a terrific team. I just hope we made enough memories, so that when we look back on our life, it should bring us a smile....and I hope our master will also cherish them, this is how childhood memories are constructed, to reminisce about for a lifetime!

All in all, for that special day, we put aside all our issues, health worries, and anything else and yes all the effort was so worth it, just because our master's joy knew no bounds. I sure wished we had our parents and the family around, it would've been so much better, but I guess this is the price we pay for what we choose.

Thank you all for the lovely gifts. They are all so perfect!

Yes, I will upload the pics as soon as I can, I can't wait to see them either. I have a project ahead with the birthday pics as well. So, don't you guys worry, you will get the photos soon. And now, I can't wait to go on a small vacation and chill out.

This is the bookshelf....

.....that I would like to add to my r & r room. This image is from the Roderick Vos collection and I fell in love with it, so very perfect for what I need.

My idea.....

....of a room where I can relax and chill out and be myself would be a room that is minimalist and opens to the outdoors through a perfect glass wall with a great view of the woods or maybe a lake. The greenery of the outside world, I would match with the black and white of the indoors. I don't want any color on the inside, coz I would love the outdoorsy colors to blend in with the indoors. The glass wall would be pristine clear and the rest of walls would be a light shade of gray. I would then accessorize with square black and white paintings and the seating will be black while the floor would be white. The lights I would keep a soft glow with lotsa candles and some white light bulbs in the roof. No heavy furniture, just simple and cozy and o yeah how can I forget my books, lots of books of all genres in a neatly stacked book shelf and then for the centerpiece, a huge glass vase with pretty light pink roses. That's it.....white, black, green and pink. My idea of a beautiful yet cozy room.

There now I have it weblogged, so I don't forget. Someday I hope to build this. Hubby, I hope you are reading this! (*Gleam*)

My opinion.

Here is Barkha Dutt's response to the criticism she received during her live coverage of the Mumbai Terrorism Act. Well, I sure did raise my concerns on her journalism too, but now I've changed my opinion coz I was only watching from one side...i.e. my side, now I know both the sides. I really applaud her and also the other journalists, Rajdeep, Arnab and the rest of the team from Times Now, I am not taking sides but I am rather sad at the state of affairs with our National Channel, Doordarshan. All they did was to show the funeral of a few policemen and not even their names were displayed I believe.

Before we start protesting and creating a hungama over the terrorists invading India, I guess it's high time something be done about those within. So, signing petitions, wearing black or white, conducting candle marches, protesting, holding up statement banners, well what is the use of that all, it'll just fall on a deaf and blind administration. We need to think and strategize a stronger plan. if you are wondering then, Orissa might be a good place to start. 

Religion is only a state of mind, to guide us in our life. Eventually, all religions have a common destination, just the path differs and no religion teaches violence or harm to anyone. So, really religion is a hugely bad excuse for all the wrongdoings of a few individuals/groups. Sometimes, I wish the entire world followed just one religion, that of humanity.

Love all and Let Live!

Letters and Numbers by Big B

I read on AB's blog that the alphabets A,B,C,D do not appear on the numbers 1 through 99....cool innit?

Thousand is where A makes it's first appearance, B is in Billion first, C is in Crore(well, in Indian), and D appears first in Hundred. 

Now, that is some real good finding.

Well, the reason for it according to AB is "Everyone must wait for his turn and his share of success"

Taken directly from the Amitabh Bachchan blog on Big Adda.

The Army and their message!

A while ago, post the attack on Mumbai, I had read somewhere the message posted by the Indian Army. The motto has just 2 sentences and it spells fortitude but it didn't lack in sending the message loud and clear. Later, that day I've searched all the websites I've visited, but couldn't find it anywhere, finally I read it again this morning elsewhere and I so wanted to put it up on my blog. I am sure you will be left motivated by it too! And salute to all the soldiers from all the departments who brought down that act of terrorism and also to all those soldiers who are out there every day securing our borders and who often go unnoticed by our goverment and the very people who they protect. We salute you, we thank you and we are glad you are keeping us safe. I am also proud that one of my cousins is joining the Navy despite protests from his parents.

I didn't want to talk anymore on the attacks a rather ubiquitous matter I would say, but this one I had to.....and I'm gonna leave the topic with this...

"Forgiving a terrorist is left to GOD. But, fixing their appointment with GOD is our responsibility." -- INDIAN ARMY.

My car... a magnet!

O yes, that's what it was for a day on the Friday.

Well, I was at work, and feeling rather sad and not so good about anything as such and yada yada yada, then I was driving back home and got held up in the traffic which was mind you, bumper to bumper, you know, the rush hour kinda deal. I was just 1/2  a mile away from the exit I take on the Interstate and well, I was on a complete stop and guess what I see in the rear view mirror which made me mouth off all the swear words? Another car rushing towards me. At that moment, I thought I was done and then *BAM* it hit me at 50 or 55 mph. My car jolted a bit, and thankfully I didn't hit the vehicle in front of me. Well, the bumper has been the recipient of a few scratches and the spare tire fell off and my vaahan was making a few weird noises at first. In my head, when I saw the approaching vehicle showing no signs of slowing down, my thought was to shift to the next lane, but the one to the right was the exit lane for joining the interstate and vehicles just pop into that lane without much notice, so that woulda been more dangerous, and the left lane was well held up as well, so I had no choice as such but to stay put. Later, when I chatted up with the driver of the colliding car, I got to know that her car hydroplaned, coz it was raining that day and so as a result the brakes were locked. Well, no one was at fault really, but well, it was the first time, I've been the victim of an accident and I was a bit shaken, went back home gave my Mr. and master a tight hug and only then was I comforted that everything's ok. Although, I thanked my lucky stars that my master was home that day and the vehicle that hit me wasn't a huge truck or something similar. I had a few errands to run that day which I conveniently managed to talk myself out of, coz all I really wanted to do was be home with me Mr. and master, now I wish I had finished it off. That reminds me of the famous saying "Kal kare so aaj, aaj kare so abhi". Nevertheless, also reminds me, "Better late than never". I dont know what relevance does this have, it just popped in my mind.

We still have to drop off the car at the dealer, to get it fixed, in the meanwhile I am driving the same, so you know we are ok.

Anyways, other than that, had a pretty rough weekend, dealing with some allergies and flu and work around the house. I am so looking forward to a nice break! Also, been planning and shopping for the upcoming birthday party for my master. I'm so excited for this, gosh, they grow up so fast, I still remember his birthday last year as if it was just yesterday. I still remember the first time the nurse gave him to me and we got introduced to each other. Tch Tch! Life is on a fast pace.