An unusually Extraordinary year

2012's definitely been a turning point in my life like no other year ever. It’s brought about an inner strength to the fore, a self-awareness & with it, a penchant for life.

   

Reminiscing the past year of 2012 for me starts from December 2011.

Dec 2011 – M&M’s

Mom, my kiddo & myself @ Malaysia, Melbourne; My sister, my brother in law-Manoj; Melbourne Cricket Ground - M.S. Dhoni & mates - awesome dream come true; My reunion with Baileys; My new love- Frangelico; My hangover from an awesome New year impromptu party.

Jan 2012 – A Giant leap into New Activities

Australian Tennis Open – Roger Federer-his twins & Rafael Nadal-his wedgies-Never in a million years possible dream come true!!; Sydney - Disney musical show, the Harry Porter Exhibition, getting stranded @ Sydney for a night; Sangrias; reunited with water at the Malaysian rest rooms; Back Home; My baby Astronaut – enacting Neil Armstrong – 2^nd place.

February 2012 – Pink is my Obsession
My Birthday, therefore my month of Madness – cut my hair really short, coloured my hair...Fluorescent Pink.

March 2012 – Tears & Grit

Adwaith's annual Day!! 

Bid farewell to once in a life time great set of colleagues/friends; throw ball practice in full flow – awesome new coach, Throw ball match day – Pink hair – Pink Uniform, No 14 Jersey!! Won Third place & NO injuries L !!

April 2012 – Stage Fright

Part time co-hosted a Quiz show – where I myself got the 1^st Online quiz prize, which duly went unnoticed J Was cutely dressed too.

May 2012 – A Burger full of Goodies

Homemade Fancy dress competition – startin with a pea pod idea – ended up creatin a Hamburger costume & got 100% support from my (a self surprised) mother. All thanx to blogs after blogs for makin it worth the 3^rd prize he got!!

June 2012 – Teerth Yatra

India – Trivandrum – NO Baileys at the airport!! Me & my cousin brother, Mom & her brother, Adwaith & his cousin sister – big time bonding; Nagercoil – Anju, Kavitha, Kahlua & Mathews cake – wacky combination!! Chennai – Bigger time bondin with Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle & of course the Boys. Reunited with Baileys!!

July 2012 – Words, Prayers & Broken bones

Words spoken best swept & left under the blanket; an Angelic stranger who took the smallest nuances of everyday life & snow balled it into something more meaningful with even simpler equivalents; Learnt the value & meanin of self-confidence!! Adwaith’s very 1^st movie in theater – Madagascar 3; Mom slipped, twisted & broke her unbreakable Tibia bone and was in cast for 3 full months;

August 2012 – Knots & Walks
Rakhis were tied & promptly removed!! Onasadhya was delicious!! Adwaith made footprints to welcome Lord Krishna!! School reopened!!

September 2012 – Off key notes & Banana leaves
Adwaith literally rapped Queen's We Will Rock you full speed for his singing competition!!

October 2012 – My life - Under the Sea & in the Ruins
Li'l sharky boy turned 5!! More creative ideas flowed - mom outdid herself on the delicacies & myself on the cake design!! Anju's awesomely sketched 5!!

 Greece trip with famly friends - aunts & uncles - Bloody mary-apetizers, wines as starters & Baileys - rest ofcourse :) Didnt try Ouzo & didnt take snaps of food!! have to go back!!

Left leg - knee cap started hurtin in weird way!!

November 2012 – Earth shattering Ultimatum & fireworks

Felt earthquake for the very 1st time!! Peace reigned with a delivered ultimatum!! Mad shoppin!! Dashed hopes of learnin French!

December 2012 – Fever, Fire, Frustration & Finale
Fulfilled my resolution to see most of the world before 12-12-12 & survived the scare too!!

     Dubai, Egypt (Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Corfu & Edfu), Frankfurt, Malaysia, Melbourne, Sydney, Greece – Done!!

             Hanging up my travellin boots & shoppin shoes for a while!!

But.... Ye Dil Mange more!!

Travelling is more fun than Arriving!!

I have always been a semi superstitious person. So, it’s a given that I would have believed the myth of the world ending on 9-9-99. I remember being so freaked out about it that Kavitha’s mom invited me over, thinkin that company might help appease my fears.

Anyway, 13 years later, with 12-12-12 looming around, I am none the less wiser!!

But this time, instead of just panicking & awaiting the day, I thought I’d go down with some awesome adventures to my name. (I had once packed all my stuff into a drawer in 1998 incase of war & it wasnt much). & thus begins my explorations.

Which was what my last sane post was about – planning a Nile cruise around Egypt.

First trip was Dubai in Oct’2009.

Then, I did go to Egypt in February 2010, where I met my burkha clad best friend.

In April 2010, an official trip took us to Frankfurt with 3 female colleagues + 10 male colleagues.

In February 2011, my son accompanied me on my 30^th birthday madness to Dubai.

December 2011-Jan’12, we went to Melbourne via Malaysia. Got stranded in Sydney for a day.

& now, I have just returned from a Greece trip during the last week of October 2012.

So, if I were to die – I’d say Wohooo….

Around the same time that I was initially panicking about the 12-12-12 myth, my company big shots were thinkin along those lines, only they replaced the world with the company. So we got a new boss – whose arrival put a full stop to my blogging with a pile load of work, but along with a bucketful of fun.

Every time Kavitha would tell me to post something on the blog, I’d go online & change the template…then feel sad, cz I used to know how to customize it so well. Anyway, this template isn’t me, but it won’t give anybody a headache either.

Easter Bunny greetins!!

  

International Pillow fight day!!

International Pillow Fight Day- April 3rd 2010

Came across this while surfin the net for the "He Said She Said" on the current weddin couple topic!!

Wikipedia info :

Pillows are sometimes hidden and at the exact pre-arranged time or the sound of a whistle, the pillow fighters pull out their pillows and commence pillow fighting. The pillow fights can last from a few minutes to several hours.

pEaceful Goodbye

When in dubai, meet anita, when in ngl/chennai - meet anju, kavitha, when in egypt meet naureen!! when not travel, bug them wit emails/text msgs/calls
thats my motto on how to keep in touch wit pals!!

So, Anita was to reach dubai on 27th nov & spend 3 days wit us - but she postpones & reaches on 2nd Dec at 12am & i am to leave at 6am, so being a true friend who knew the consequences of crossin me - she came straight to the hotel from the airport to meet me at 1am.

I felt like a teenager sneakin out (my hubby was sleepin like a log), carryin my sleepin baby, goin to meet her family. but those 10 minutes wit her was worth every second, gettin to meet her hubby for the 1st time & baby shreya.

Back home, there was this another event which took place a day after my weddin anniversary - yeah 7 yrs really - wow !! now, i feel like doin somethin about the 7 yr itch!! oh yeah - the event - my drivin license test - my 4th test. This was like my last ditch attempt after which, well... who knows, who cares - am just happy that I got it!!

Then came christmas!! We were informed that a Santa Clause would visit a store & distribute self bought gifts!! so i wait from 4-7pm only for him not to come!! was weird not seein even one santa that year, not even the thin puny types like in india!!

Here's to a spicy 2010!!

New resolutions!! Step 1 - Recklessness

Ohoh the best part of october was that one evenin - when all were dead tired & slept off by 7pm, me & my kiddy saw Horton's hears a who & he simply loved it!! hence the cake for his bday!!

Ok here comes November – cold weather’s been predicted – really cold!! & voila there are 4days holidays comin along, courtesy eid!! I’ve been nicked named Jet Airways – cause of my 5 trips to India so far. So, there I am –sitting and planning a trip to Egypt for the past full month, when I finally convince myself that its not goin to work out.

With 12.12.2012 loomin on the horizon, I have decided to live a little recklessly by travellin to new places.

I was bookin 2 tickets for my colleagues to Dubai on this low fare flight to dubai & to Bahrain for another – next thing I kno – am ringin up my hubby & tellin him that I have booked tickets & v are flyin to dubai from Nov 27th till Dec2nd.

After a month of planning, maps, hotel brochures scattered around me, We finally board the flight havin forgotten to print out the ticket & my hair frizzin about like I’ve just been electrocuted!!

Dubai – awesome climate!! the hotel apartment everythin – my kiddy’s awesome sleepin pattern - 8pm – 8am thro out the 5 days we were there!!

After breakfast, we would set out by 11am, visit the different places & b back by 7pm and then Dubai One channel, Swiss choco liq & me used to party!! Ofcourse my hubby was there too!!

We visted all the places on our itenary - the dubai mall - the aquariums, the atlantis -the aquarium there.

I found this lady's outfit hilarious - micro shorts with a shawl !!

Touchin the dolphins was really something else!! Basically the 1st creature I volunteeringly touched.


PS: the tube worms pix is from my mobile!!

OOoohh Oouch OctOber!!

Oct brings back a lot of memory of Oct'2007!! of how my due date kept oscillatin from 15th to 17th to 19th Oct & in my mind, my dates went from 01/10/07, 10/10/07 & then as nothin happened with any of those dates, my fears of it finally happenin on 22/10/07 - I really really dont like the no 22!!

With all the family down to welcome my kiddy - my grans, in laws & my sis, along with my parents and hubby, it was obvious my kiddy wanted to make an entrance - so he dilly dallied & messed with all my dates!!

Finally, my father-in-law sat down on the 8th day of the stay(2weeks stay) & took the malu calendar & then they started haggling over the stars & finally all settled on a good date - 25th oct!!

So, naturally they were all shocked when I decided to check into the hospital on 24th mornin!!

Oh, I forgot to mention - durin this month of oct, my house is an open-mad house as there's this Onam function for Keralite Engineers Forum, for which my mom choreographs about a 5-6 dance performances for kids!!

So, along with my relatives, these 1000 odd people were awaitin my baby's entrance & prayin it would b either before or after 26th oct - even they had a date!!

26 - 1/2 hrs later, on 25th evenin, he arrives amidst my breathin mask, epidural, minus my specs(am sure my lens would've popped out) & in front of 5 students, 3 docs & 4 nurses! With all of them present, I was the one who suggested that they use the vaccum pump!!

& what followed was a mind numbilngly shockin 41 days of horror, with the exception of the baby!!

Well- thats wat oct reminds me of!
This oct however started on the same note - my home being an open - mad house. One day, on the way to pick up my mom from out, this guy hit our rear wheel while v were turnin - the axle promptly broke, swervin the car from the left to right like a pendulum - only we were on the highway. We hit a half lorry twice or thrice & then swerved at 180 degrees to the safe side of the road!! We had hit the lorry at its fuel tank, but luckily nothin happened... anyway - car got damaged, but all were safe & v got it sorted out over the night.

The next big thing was my kiddy's 2nd bday party - this time at Pizza hut - needless to say - he loved the cake, although he did try escapin unnoticed to the playground below!!V had 3 cakes that day - a weddin annversry cake & a bday cake for my brother who was hospitalised on his bday on 13th Oct.

thus starts the reign of the TERRIBLE TWOs !!