Happy Thanksgiving

I've been seeing them all over Facebook and the internet...reasons to be thankful. Made me start thinking as well. It's time to make another wonderful fantastic list! I am thankful for: (in no particular order)

• My parents and brother, who have supported me, give me freedom to be myself (this is the most important...I can't stress how crucial it is to be yourself at all costs!), and lots of laughter, even if we don't agree most of the time.
• My friends, who give me courage to stay strong, vent my feelings, and express myself.
• My husband, for his love, affection, support, and patience.
• My baby, because not everyone can have children and not everyone has the joy that comes with seeing your baby change and grow.
• For acquaintances, for quietly helping me enrich my life and give me moral support at random times in life.
• Ex - friends / boyfriends, for teaching me lessons and letting me make mistakes to help me get a better understanding of myself and what is important in life.
• The health of my loved ones, my pets, and myself.
• Always having something to eat, that tastes GOOD, place to sleep, bed to sleep, blankets, and enought money to pay most of my bills.
• Laptop, cell phone, internet, TV, electricity, heat, good soap/toiletries, car, clothes (you get the idea)
• My education
• BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS...libraries.
• privilege to vote, apply for any job.
• SLEEP.

The End. :-)

P.S...in the above picture, isn't a little creepy that Snoopy is serving turkey (a bird) while his friend Woodstock, who is ALSO a bird, hovers above him? WEIRD.

Thanks George!

For making this silly pic of me at Big Bazaar in Delhi back in November!

Long week over

So since June 1st I've been working on setting up our new house almost daily. UGH. We don't even have that much stuff, but somehow being preggo slows the whole process down.

This past week we had our baby blessing party and two of my undergraduate college friends visited me here in Washington. It was great to see them, and to have them see me preggo. :-) On Wednesday, Ida, my friend since freshman year college who lived down the hall from me in the dorm, arrived in the evening. The drive home from the airport was long due to traffic but we got a chance to catch up in the car. We came home and we planned a bit for the baby blessing party (games etc.). Then we watched Monsoon Wedding since she hadn't seen it.

Thursday morning Ida and I went shopping at Baby's R Us and had fun picking out stuff to use in the party (and of course use later when baby arrives). This was the first time I actually ventured into that store....7 months into the pregnancy. :-) Then we stopped for coffee and talked our ears off. We picked up Shilpa from the airport after that (I met her sophomore year of college in the biology labs) and went to a Thai place for lunch. We went to Pikes Place in Seattle and walked around for a long time. We went back home and Shilpa and Ida watched our reception DVD from our wedding. After dinner we watched another movie and passed out.

Friday we woke up a bit late and leisurely got ready. We went to Snoqualamie Falls park which was really close to our house (relatively speaking). Ida was a bit afraid of heights. We had lunch at a really gross Chinese place and then went to see the Sex and the City movie. I thought that Big was going to die in the movie so I was surprised with the ending. After that we went shopping at Linens and Things and then returned to Baby s R Us where both Ida and Shilpa pitched in and got our baby a cute swing that can be turned into a rocker once he is a toddler. We stuck around Bellevue for a while and picked up G, then went to a south indian place for dinner while we waited for my brother to arrive at the bus transit center (the traffic was too crazy to risk going to the airport to pick him up). My brother had checked in his little carry - on, claiming that my Mom had packed bricks in it....which was nuts because that just delayed him another 30 minutes. Later when I checked my Mom had just packed a few indian sweets (ladoos) and the carryon was not heavy at all. Sigh...little brothers.

We got home and my bro was pretty hyper on God knows what, so I had to call Mom up and have her talk to him to settle him down a bit (yes at age 28 and 25 we still have brawls that involve tattling to our parents to pacify things). We watched Monsoon Wedding again because both my bro and Shilpa hadn't seen it. Ida went to bed early.

The next morning I got up earlier than everyone and started putting things together for the baby blessing. It was actually pretty easy, the main thing was making sure everyone got breakfast and woke up in time to take showers. G went shopping for a few last minute items and the rest of us finished decorating the living room. I had fun putting on my sari that was tailored during my wedding days. The blouse BARELY fit over my chest, but I willed it into fitting because I really had no other choice to wear for the party (besides western clothes). The sari was gorgeous and one of my favorites.

The party was a good time, we had lots of games and food. I recieved lots of new and used items for the baby. Shilpa had to leave during the party since she had to get back to California to start packing for her big move to Detroit. My brother took an hour smoke break during the party and then took a 3 hour nap...so he basically only participated for 1 hour of the party. Sigh...what can a big sister do? The rest of the day we chilled at home and then drove Ida for her red-eye flight back to Minnesota.

Sunday we took my brother to Levenworth, a little touristy German town in Washington. We walked around and took silly pictures. Monday G had to go to work so I took my brother shopping for new shoes to wear to work. After hitting 5 stores in Bellevue Square he finally decided on a pair. Then I drove him through Seattle to show him the Space needle etc. He wasn't too interested in actually stopping and seeing anything so we just drove through and went back home. We were going to see a movie but none of the timings were right. Tuesday morning he left for Minnesota. He of course didn't tell Mom and Dad when he was returning so I got a panicked phone call from Dad wondering what time his flight was landing. My parents do not use cell phones and do not frequent the internet, so my bro was calling the landline at home when he arrived while both of my parents were at work. Eventually confusion resulted because Mom left work early to pick him up but he ended up taking a taxi home. Such is the organization and planning of my immature brother.

Week in Review

So this past week before Memorial weekend I've been at my parents house in Minnesota chilling while G was in China for a work related trip. It was hectic, because we moved out of our apartment and into a rental home 2 days before we each left for our flights.

I would definetly recommend hiring movers. We hired ours off of Craigslist and they were relatively decent priced for what they were willing to do (pick up basically anything I point to, including trash bags full of clothes that ripped open). Somehow, despite me not carrying a thing and even having lunch that day at a neighbor's house, I was EXHAUSTED. My legs and back ached from standing too much and not changing positions frequently. At night we went back to the apartment and cleaned out as much as we could. We figured they would charge us a cleaning fee anyhow so why go nuts. The next day I spent unpacking the monstrous amount of kitchen items we own, and also managed to set up one of the bathrooms. Then we had friends over for an easy dinner, and the next morning G and I packed for our trips.

Reaching Minnesota after a grueling week was nice...I chatted with my family way into the night and slept snuggled next to my adorable puppy. The next day we watched all of our wedding DVDs from G's side. Staying at home overall was okay, but after some time you remember WHY you didn't live with them during college and WHY you are happy to set up your own home with your own rules. Dad still watches evening TV at full blast, dinner is still eaten really late..etc. Now add to the mix a brother that's home after college and jobless, who is maturing at a really slow rate (compared to me...at his age I had a job offer, was graduating law school, had purchased a car, and had met the man I was going to marry). I'm terribly critical of his habits. I think I'm even worse now with pregnancy due to hormones. I can't stand irresponsibility. I forget things all the time, I'm a total space cadet, but once I realize something needs to be done I'm all over it. Bro hasn't really grasped such a concept yet. Mom says he will mature at age 30...let's see. Anyway so there was some nice brother-sister clashes that left me yoga breathing for baby's sake.

I also managed to hang out with my friend George a few times. We went baby clothes shopping at the Mall of America (poor George!) and the sales ladies believed we were a couple because I had forgotten my wallet and he had to whip his out like he's the Dad. :-) Then we went to the Minneapolis Museum of Art, which I thought was a really relaxing, cost - free way of spending time with a friend. After all that walking we met up with my old roomate Liz for dinner at the University of Minnesota's Dinky Town. It's funny hanging out with single friends who love to ask "So how's married life like?" and "So we've heard the good, now what's BAD about married life?" The same thing goes with pregnancy, asking "So does it hurt?" etc...I think it's their way of feeling comfortable in their single-dom. :-) I was pretty honest though, yeah marriage has it's good and bad, but I think the good outweighs any bad. I really don't miss the struggles and drama of being single and looking. Most of my single girl friends either have serious drama in their current relationships or are extremely lonely and frustrated with not finding anyone.

Liz asked me (after complaining about her current BF) "So how did you KNOW that G wouldn't be like the other boyfriends and would be a good husband?" Hmm...I really couldn't answer that. For one thing there were no hard examples of bad behavior on his part to make me hesitate...sure he could do certain things better but then so can I...sure I had doubts with him as well that were gradually relieved during our dating period. But he pretty much met all of my non-negotiables (per Dr. Phil). There are some things you just CAN'T compromise, and too many single women are blinded by love/lust into thinking things will change so it's okay to compromise for now.

Anyway back to the week...Saw Harold and Kumar Escape to Guatanomo Bay with Bro...of course thought the first one was better, although we had a few laughs with this one. Harold is much better in this sequel...the first one we liked Kumar better.

Went to my old work place to talk to my manager about the remote work I'm doing for him and also to just catch up on things...I really do miss working in an office sometimes!

Saw an ear, nose and throat specialist for the never-ending saga with my nose. He was really thorough and it was relieving to finally have someone take my complaints seriously and look inside all my head cavities with funky machines. His diagnosis was severe rhinitus caused by pregnancy. There is no infection (makes sense since no one has caught what I have), there is no sinus swelling (there goes the Neti-Pot!) and nothing except for steriod sprays will really work. Of course I'm going to avoid steroid use until after baby is born, until then I have to just keep using my addictive Afrin Nasal Spray that the doctor said is not great but at least it's giving me some form of relief so I can sleep/eat.

My parents hosted a brunch for the friends who traveled to India for our wedding back in November. Ida showed up in one of the saris she purchased while on the trip, and Dad got to feed George more green chillies. Bri learned how to make chai from Mom.

Nice Neighbors

Our neighbors are so nice in this apartment complex (apart from the crazy people above who enjoy rearranging furniture at 3am and have very heated arguments that make me want to stick a post -it note with the domestic abuse hotline number on their door). But I'm talking about the ones across the hall. Whenever they celebrate a Hindu holiday or are cooking something special, they knock on our door to let us know and often times share their dinner. Today they stopped by and asked me how many dosas (a south indian lentil crepe dish) we wanted. So cute! :-)