Category: Life

Life, Wedding

Quiet

nainadg

Its been a quiet couple of days in this part of the world, not much has been going on, hence the lack of blogging. This weekend was a nice mellow weekend, where J and I had some traditional summer fun.

Friday, I took a 1/2 day vacation and we spent the afternoon at the pool. It was the perfect temperature, a little cool in the water, but really hot out of it. Saturday, we slept in and then decided to cash in our change jar and we got $40 out of it. We spent the money on dinner and by buying this new game at Barnes and Noble at Blokus. So sat night we spent playing our new game and Scrabble. J beat me at the first two rounds of Blokus but I slaughtered him in the last round. And in Scrabble , I beat our all time record and got a 344. Yipeee. I love Scrabble.

I did my favorite thing in the world on Sunday- Curl up on the love sac and read. We also went and saw Oceans 13. I thought it was a pretty good movie, not as good as the first one, but definitely better than Ocean’s 12. I think I heart Casey Affleck. I want to see him in more movies. Sunday night,J and I also started looking at invitations together and I think we have our favorites picked out. Finally!

In other non noteworthy news, I have got J into Law and Order,so last night we ordered a pizza and watched two episodes of Law and Order on USA and two episodes of the Sopranos (J got me into that) on A&E. What can I say, we are crime loving family.

Food and Drinks, Friends, Life

Backyard Shenanigans

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For the 4th, J and I went to our friend F’s house for a BBQ. There was some amazing food, BBQ Chicken, Hot dogs, Coleslaw, Orzo salad , Brownies, Guacamole and this spicy potato salad. I am determined to get that recipe, even though F says  its a family recipe. I didn’t really take too many pics as J had the camera the whole night and I let him be photographer.

Here are a few I like:

Mmmm…Delicious and Spicy Bloody Mary

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Is it Durham or Singapore? What is DS’s crime?  most importantly why is he enjoying it?

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Some public S&M? hmm….what does this pic say about my upcoming marriage?

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Lighting a roman candle? or pointing out UFO’s?

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*Photos byJ and Y*

Life

Nerd Chic

nainadg

I got new glasses last week and they are a huge improvement over my old dorky ones. I actually look forward to wearing them and I have even been switching it up just for fun lately. Here are some pics

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Life

Pirates

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It has been rather stressful in these parts lately. J and I have been entertaining a lot and it has worn us down. Thu night we had a going away party for my friend JE and her family and sat night we just had some people over for a game of scrabble and drinking.  Sunday , J and I went to see Pirates of the Carribean and I have to say that for a 3 hour movie , it is still surprisingly well paced. I didn’t find myself bored , or distracted even once and thats a huge feat. Even movies , I love often can’t hold my interest in the middle. My one complaint is that they didnt’ have enough Jack Sparrow, but of course thats my Johnny Depp crush speaking.  Also loved some of Keira Knightley’s vintage “oriental” outfits, very colorful and cute. I want the green /red hat she wears in one scene, but i have no idea where I would wear it.

 I am excited for the 4th of July this year, I am going to a bbq at a friend’s house and it doesn’t get anymore all american than that.

Friends, Life

A True Blue Friend

nainadg

Last Saturday J and I went out to Franklin street with my friend JE and her boyfriend. It was a bittersweet night, because we had a really fun time and stayed up and about till almost 5 in the morning but it was sad because this is one of the last times we’ll be able to hang out like this. JE and her family is moving to Nashville in 2 weeks and it really hit me hard that night. Throughout my time in NC, JE has been one of my closest girlfriends. We call each other when we ar mad at our significant others and we have a Thursday Night= Girls Night rule . After she is gone, I wont’ be able to do those things. I know, we’ll still be close and I’ll call her and we’ll stay in touch, but it won’t be the same. We definitely bring out the silly, girly, side of each other.

A story that illustrates is what happened saturday night. We went to one of JE and my favorite bars- The Blue Horn Lounge on Franklin Street. The reason we love this bar is because it is tiny and has a very old school feel to it and most importantly it has a spectacular bathroom. First of all the bathroom is nearly half the size of the bar and it is bathed in blue light. It is also decorated really nicely with mosaic tiles and cool iron fixtures. This saturday, when we were obviously drunk JE and I went to the infamous bathroom, while our boys waited at the bar and had a 20 minute photo shoot. People and our boys were banging on the door and we were giggling like crazy and by the time we came out everyone was giving us really strange looks. But we didnt’ care, out bathroom photoshoot was really fun, with the both of us pretending we were on ANTM and trying to figure out our best angles and poses. Unfortunately the blue light didn’t come through in the photos. When we came out our Boys had left the bar to stand outside cuz they are just dumb boys and rolled their eyes at us. Silly boys!

Anyway, all good things must come to an end and it seems like our silly days are over at least until I see her in october for the wedding. I guess my brief stint as a bathroom model is over:(

Food and Drinks, Life, Recipes

Rainy day…Moping around

nainadg

This morning, what was starting out as a nice relaxing morning quickly ended drastically on my way to school. I noticed my car was driving funny and I pulled over, only to find that I had a flat tire. I know, I know flat tires can happen to anyone  anywhere, but I was especially upset because they were brand new tires. I had just replaced my tires last month and here I was in the pouring rain, on my way to school with a flat tire. I called J and he drove out to help me fix it but for some reason he couldn’t get the tire off to put the spare tire on. So we had to drive to Target, buy a fix a flat and by now it was raining quite hard. When we got to the car, it turned out the fix a flat had a defect and most of the goo ended up on J and we only had a little bit to fix the tire. We finally manged to  get it to the mechanic and they assured us that they could fix the tire and I wouldn’t need new ones. Of course luck wasn’t on our side and they had to end up replacing the tire and it of course took a lot longer than they said it would. Ultimately, I am now poorer and had to come late to work and now I have to stay late too. Boo Hoo.

In other news, since I had a few hours at home this morning because of the car, I was able to make a yummy lunch and i decided to experiment with potato salad. J has been asking for poato salad lately and I’m really picky about potato salad. I absolutely love Jason’s Deli potato salad , where its all mashed and mustardy so I tried to make my own. I used

 Horseradish mashed Potato Salad

smashed potaoes,

horseradish mustard

a little chilli powder

  celery salt

black pepper

onion powder

Mayo

Bacon

 I mixed them all up together until it was smooth and lump free and it was delicious. Next time I am going to add hard boiled eggs, for more flavor explosion. We were in such a hurry to eat lunch that I didn’t take a picture, it looked so creamy and delicious though. 😦

Here’s a generic pic thats close, only mine was creamier

i am so lame, i just blogged about potato salad. oh well

Life

Wild Weekend

nainadg

Last weekend , I went to a Jungle Theme party at on of my friend’s houses.  Everyone was required to dress up as something or someone that was related to the Jungle. I was convinced my costume was going to be really lame because I just used stuff from my closet but it actually turned out to be one of the better ones there.  I tied a old sarong as a dress and wore big pieces of jewelry. Since the sarong has a wild print, it worked. Here’s a pic :

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Life, Scrapbooking

Life Art

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Since I mentioned Cathy Zielske a couple of days back, I thought I’d mention another of my favorite designers- Ali Edwards. Ali, however likes to think of herself as a “life artist” rather than a designer and she also encourages most people who are inspired by her work to think of themselves as life artists as well. Ali’s designs are clean and simple, but always personal. I have been most inspired by her appreciation of the little things in life.  Her blog is a great reflection of the things going on in her life. She is an active artist, campaigner for autism research and of course a mom. Her stories and layouts are so humorous and insightful that it forces me to learn more about myself.

Her stuff can be seen here and on her blog(listed under blogroll).

Life, Love

Lucky

nainadg

I have been reflecting the past few days and I have decided I am a very lucky girl. This has been a rather calming thought in the times I get anxious about my upcoming wedding or life in general.

 When I think of the different elements that are coming together for my wedding , I am so grateful for all this grace in my life. 

I have very supportive parents. Yeah they drive me crazy sometimes, but I always know that I can count on them

Reasons why my wedding shows I’m lucky:

My super awesome fiance J. He is the sweetest and funniest guy I know and it doesn’t hurt that he is HOT! Sometimes, I can’t believet that he actually loves me. We have had our share of problems and we both know that we’ll probably have more, but I know that we’ll always find a way to work through them. I am so happy that I’m the lucky girl who gets to marry him

 My friends. My best friend KD is my rock! Because of our busy schedules we don’t really get to talk much these days but I know I can turn to her whenever I need a good vent or need some advice or opinion.She is my biggest cheerleader and now she is going to be the officiant at my wedding.

My good friend JJ is an inspiration to me. She is a such a great photographer and a has such a great imagination. I love reading her blog and looking at her great pics. I am so grateful that she is helping me plan this wedding. She has been invaluable to me by giving me advice, scouting out a location, giving me neat ideas for dresses, etc.

My friend JE is actually flying across the country to come to the wedding. I know thats hard for her, because she is a student and a single mom and its hard for her to get away. The fact that she is willing to make so much time for me makes me feel really special.

My cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. My extended family are a crazy bunch, but they sure know how to have a good time. Same goes for all our family friends as well.

There are so many more people and so many serendipitious things that I am grateful for as these plans start to fall into place. I have said before that one of my core values is that of a community and I couldn’t ask for a better one than the one I’ve got. 

 I am humbled by the grace in my life.