Category: Life

Life

Extraordinary Machine

nainadg

While I wait for J to upload our smoky mountain photos onto picasaweb, I thought, I’d do a fun post about the top 10 most played song on zen player. My friend RSG sent me an invite to Lastfm.com, but I have slacked off and haven’t actually downloaded the little widget onto itunes, so this is my closest attempt at recreating Lastfm.com’s lists. Anyway, I love my little zen player, I’m so glad I didn’t go with an ipod.

1. Extraordinary Machine- Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine

2. Rehab- Amy Winehouse, Back to Black

3. Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes – Paul Simon, Graceland

4. Have Mercy on Me – Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose

5. Now that I’ve found you- Allison Krauss , Now that I’ve Found you : A collection

6. Sleeping In – The Postal Service, Give up

7. The District sleeps alone tonight – The Postal Service, Give up

8.Crazy Love Vol. II – Paul Simon, Graceland

9. Shut your Mouth- Garbage, beautifulgarbage

10. Lady Midnight- Leonard Cohen, Song from a room.

Life

Top 10 Things I love about camping

nainadg

As I mentioned before I am going camping to the Smoky Mountains on friday with my friend JE and her family and I’m super excited. Last night, she and I were planning what supplies to take and it got me thinking about all the reasons why camping is one of my favorite things. My friend HotHotJJ who just got back from an awesome trip is also doing this entry tomorrow, so you can check out her answers at her blog

 1. The smell of a campfire smoke.

2. Eating Bratwursts and Baked beans. This has become one of our standard camping meals

3. Getting into a sleeping bag at night. I especially love it when the sleeping bag is all warm from having been in the sun all day.

4. Gathering wood, and putting in a group effort to make a campfire. THere’s always hilarious comments and when everyone has an opinion , it can sometimes take forever

5. Sitting and chatting around a campfire and making communal meals

6. Planning, prepping, packing the car before the trip, its always filled with so much anticipation

7. Walking around with flashlights in the dark.

8. Going hiking, exploring around the campground

9. Having an excuse not to shower!

10. Looking at the stars at night.

Life, Stuff

Longing for summer

nainadg



Originally uploaded by annadasg

I took this photo in the Bahamas a few years back and it made me long to go to the beach this summer. I wish it would hurry up and get here and rescue me from this gloomy winter!

But to make my wait easier and to cheer myself out of this funk, I decided to go to this website called Upumpitup, this is a community based website where there are various challenges that women can join and monitor their progress. It breaks the challenge down to 4 categories of Connect, Explore, Express and Inspire and each has small challenges like writing every day in a journal or planning a big solo vacation. Anyway , I signed up for five challenges to do through out the year

Here they are

1) No Muss, No Fuss- Working towards a clutter free home and life

2) Get into your Groove- Learning a new dance

3) Wardrobe Remixed- Playing with my clothes

4) Downward Facing What? – Commiting to yoga

5) All in the Family- Planning a family reunion.

I’m excited to see how I end up on doing my challenges and meeting my milestones. You can sign up for a challenge or create your own at http://www.upumpitup.com .

Life

Remorse

nainadg

This weekend it hit me that sometimes I really do just need to shut up! I feel like I might have betrayed so many intimate moments throughout my life just because of my need to vent. I don’t think I’ve divulged specific secrets or things that were explicitly private but maybe small moments that are in that gray area. I don’t if thats a betrayal to vent about things bothering you but I feel like I can no longer call myself a loyal person, at least for a little while. I havent’ done anything terrible, but I think I just need to shut up sometimes.

 When J and I were younger we would have discussions about how every human being has one virtue. J’s was patience, mine was loyalty. Am I still loyal? As I get older and the relationships with my friends which once seemed like a lifeline erode into weekly phone calls and facebook pages, and  husbands and familial ties become more prominent, I don’t know where my loyalties must lie

Does love mean a barrier of secrets? How many people’s secrets am I supposed to keep and what if they are also your secrets? I am just sorry that I have never asked these questions earlier? Not that I know the answers, but perhaps I will be more mindful.

Seems rather shallow to feel remorseful over something so trivial, when I probably should be remorseful for so many of my unconcious actions but that is too overwhelming to even ponder.

Blah…I don’t understand the point of this post. Needless to say, I’m feeling rather blue today.

Life, Stuff

Flu Flu Flu

nainadg

How I hate you!

I have been rather sick lately and its been absolutely no fun. I’ve missed two days of school, so I’m super behind in my classes and I just feel so out of it general. Even the blog isn’t motivating to  think or surf about anything remotely interesting. All I want to do is curl up on the couch and complain.

It’s also not helping that V-Day is around the corner and J and I still haven’t made concrete plans about what to do. I’m really not feeling it this year, which is too bad because this is our first married Valentine’s day. I think we’ll just go to dinner and call it good. We haven’t been to an Italian restaurant in years, so maybe that will be fun.

While I was sick, I did check out the new show on NBC called Lipstick Jungle. My friend JE reccomened it to me because we both loved Sex and the City. This series is also based on a book by Candance Bushnell and the pilot episode was really good. These women seem more fleshed out, mature, and slightly less girly versions of the women on Sex and the City.

Here is a clip:

Funny, Life

My Idea of a Low Cal Lunch

nainadg

Like most people, February is still too early for New Year’s resolutions to fade away,so I’ve been slogging away at eating healthy and consuming less calories. I try to read other people’s inspirational weight loss stories in Fitness Magazine or Self, or Shape, you know, the ones who do Cardio for 45mins-60mins a day 5 days a week, plus hike 3 times a week, and do yoga or pilates 3 times a week and get motivated and it does zero, zilch to get me off my butt! You know why? I’m just lazy, I’d rather sit at my desk at work and update my blog than do those handy exercieses that Fitness Magazine suggests you do at your desk!

Eat this    +     = 345 cals

Eat all this    +    + 1/2   +   = 340 cals

However, I have been trying to watch what I eat and keep a food journal in my head and tally up what I eat! I especially read Glamour magazine’s little column called “Eat this or all of this ” where Glamour shows you a humungous plate of something unhealthy like a plate of fettuci0ne alfredo and then suggests that you can eat three healthy, delicious thing or the same or fewer calories, like steak, baked potato and a veggie. Anyway, this was my rather…um…false interpretation of this at lunch. The plan was to

Eat This:

One can of Slim Fast Chocolate shake – 175 Cals and One serving of Planters Trail Mix-170 Cals for a total of 345 Calories

or Eat all this….which I did happily

1 small bag lays potato chips – 150 calories

1/2 can slim fast- 85 calories

1 milky way mini- 40 calories

1 teaspoon mixed nuts (extra salty…mmm) 65 calories

for a grand total of …ding ding ding…340 Calories

So really, I did a lot better than the healthy option!!!

I’m sure this is the way to Weight loss…not! Oh well, its friday and I deserve chips!!!

Life

Cleaning out my Closet

nainadg

photo: google images and www.designmom.com 

My blog closet! Hey what do you know a non India themed blog post!!! Don’t get too used to this though.

 Anyway, I was looking at my bookmarks for blogs and the blogs I have on my Google reader and it was well over 35. I have decided, that I simply cannot keep track of that many so I ‘m cleaning out my blogroll, deleting some old links and adding some new ones. Also here are a few blogs I’m actively following! So here’s to sharing the blog love!

Rita’s Kitchen: She hasn’t updated in a long time so after this week, when I’m done gobbling down Dinner party ideas, I will be deleting this once fave blog.

Chachi’s Kitchen: A new find! Awesome recipes , mostly Indian, Thai , with muslim and east African’ influences. I love the fact that the recipes are photographed throughout the entire cooking process.

Hostess with the Mostess: If you like bright pretty pictures of cool STUFF!!! Some interesting tips and ideas too.

Mill Musings: I stumbled upon this blog quite randomly, as this doesn’t fall in my normal range of interests but I was really curious once I read her post about buying groceries for a family of 2 on  $20 a week. I am not very religious at all but I am fascinated with the frugal living that they do. They have awesome money saving ideas! Hard for me to follow at the moment, but very easy to aspire.

She’s A Betty: Lovely Vintage and Indie fashion goodness

The Sugar Sites: I am absolutely addicted to FabSugar, YumSugar, PopSugar and the rest.

Happy Browsing. I hope I get some good links in return!

Life

What I did in 2007

nainadg

 

photo: google images

I stole this idea from a blog that I ocassionally read. Its a list of things I did in 2007 that are important for me to remember, so here goes-

In 2007 I….

got married

once at the court house

once in a cabin in the mountains, in a snow storm

once in a traditional ceremony in Kolkata

planned a wedding

managed to actually pull it off..mostly glitch free

travelled to India

started scrapbooking

gave a speech in front of 250 people

hiked the “grand canyon of the east”

walked on Stilts

got a promotion

gained 10lbs

lost 3

lied for a friend

cooked meals for people other than J or my parents aka entertained

hosted a “depressing music” party

went to a bridal shower for the first time-my own

went to the Outer Banks

had a bloody mary on the beach

saw a water snake

tasted Ceviche

tasted failure

learned to love Football

adopted the cowboys

splashed down a giant funnel in a water park

rode on 10 or more roller coasters in a day

got my first real updo

kissed my new husband in a snow storm

saw the blue man group

took a girls only, crazy, wild road trip to vegas

bought a new TV

ate a funnel cake

spent a whole day snowed in with my favorite people

became a proud owner of a mp3 player

fell in love with Kolkata

reconnected with my cousins and my family

Celebrated new years eve with my family after nearly 5 years

felt the first pangs of a ticking biological clock

geared up for 08

Life

A New Year

nainadg

I heaved a sigh of relief today as I realized I posted a few of my wedding photos finally. I’m still not done, I want to make a slideshow with the pro pics and I want to post more pics from Kolkata and our trip to the beach but atleast its partly done.

In other news, I’ve slipped into the new year and the new semester and it seems ridiculous that Jan is already over. Right now life is stressfull and busy but also seems to be zooming by super fast. J and I did some fun things this January, I went to CA for the long weekend and visited with my parents, we went to a concert to see Badfish( A tribute band for Sublime) and followed it up with a fun night out on town.

J and i also had a divinely lazy weekend where all we did was make up new cocktails, drank some Absinthe that I bought in CA , watched movies, read for ridiculous amounts of time, and ate out a lot. In other words- A perfect weekend. I’ll post more on it later. For now, I’m off to class.

India, Life, Travel, Wedding

A Late Start to 08

nainadg
india-278.jpg
photo by BD

Wow, who knew 3 weeks could fly by so quickly? It only seemed like it was a few days ago that I left for India and now I’m back in town and starting the first day of school.

There is so much to write and so many photos to post that I almost feel overwhelmed with where to start! J and I had a fantastic 3 weeks in Kolkata, India with our family and friends and we also had a wonderful traditional bengali wedding ceremony.

We arrived in Kolkata on the 17th and spent the next day and a half shopping and getting ready for the festivities ahead. On the 18th, we had a henna party at the grandparents flat, where all the women in the family had henna done on their hands. On the 19th, my family threw a cocktail/sangeet party and on the 21st we actually had our ceremony.  The 22nd afternoon we had a luncheon for Bou Bhaat and on the 23rd J and I threw a party  for our close family and friends as a gesture of thanks. Finally, all our wedding festivities were over!

The next week J and I spent a lot of time exploring Kolkata with KD and our friend BD and we also attended one of my cousin’s wedding.  We also took a day trip to the Kali temple at Dakhineshwar where J and I did a puja in our name and we also visited Belur Math on the banks of the river Ganga. After spending new years with my family J and I took a big group trip to Mandarmoni, a little beach town in West Bengal. It was a fantastic trip , although we were there for a very short time and after that it was only a matter of days before we were heading back home.

I have tried to bread the trip down into segments with photos. Its going to take me a few days to get everything sorted and posted but here’s a start!