Hello good lookin!

Dont you just love my blog's new look? I mean its puurr-feect!
I love the new look... the pic just brightens it up soooo much!! Il let it stay this way....till I find somethin else to play around with.. :-)
Until then, stay warm!

The Big "24"!

SIGH!! I cannot believe that its almost here... tomorrow at this time, I would have turned 24!! WOW! I came here when I was 21 and to think that this is the third year in a row that I have spent here.... As usual, I am expecting my entire family to call me...Here's some stuff that happens each year..
Appa/Amma will call me tonight.. Appa will also follow up with an email in the likes of.. "Aishu, Sorry we are not there with you but our thoughts/wishes/blessings are with you only.. ".. Awww.. that will touch my heart! Wait, thats not the worst... . Then my grand parents will call me and say things like "Aishu, not a single day passes by when we dont think of you/wish you were here with us... "... AWWWWW!!

Just shows that even when am not with my family, they have this knack of making me feel super duper special and pamper me in the most "awesomest" way! :-)

Wonder what this year has in store for me... Being 24 is nothing special.. like turning 13/21/25..
Here's hoping that the year ahead has a lot of good surprises in store for me.... here's my wish list for now... (to be updated frequently)..

1. Get a cool JOB - meaning, get a job that pays!! ha ha... I have a lot of plans once I get a job.. and I hope this month is nice to me...
2. Go home for Christmas break... I feel like I haven't been home in forever.. actually its gonna be two years soon!! :-( I hope to visit this year end and see Appa/Amma/Thata/Thati/Amma/Thata, all my Chitappas/Chittis/cousins/Anju/Chachu/Devi/ my lo-www-iingg friends and so many others who can mean sooo much to me...
3. Volunteering with some orgn locally.. ok..so I keep hearing my friend talk about her experience working with an orgn that houses adolescent boys and how their life is sooooo hellish sometimes.. I'd love to actually be a part of it and witness it myself and see how I handle situations like that.. hmmm.. lets see if it happens..
4. TRAVEL!! YES!! Apart from going home, I'd like to visit some place nice within the US.. I really really wanna visit LA.. heard a lot about it and would love to go there sometime this year...
5. SHOP till I drop! Yes.. these months have been sooo hard with me not being able to buy anything that I crave for... this is my first birthday where I haven't bought an outfit for myself.. pretty S-A-D!

Tonight, Keith and Becky are taking me out to dinner... Not sure where we are going but I am pretty kicked about it.. Planning to wear a knee length green/black skirt with a light green top, some pretty earrings and some light make up.. Dressing up basically!!

Soooo anyway, here's to turning 24... Dressing up, Cake, Candies, Flowers, Gifts, nonstop phone calls starting at 12 AM, food, drinks n Feelin SPECIAL!! :-)

Mantra fo '09!!

I got an email from a good friend of mine titled "Handbook 2009"

Normally, I just breeze through/ignore/sometimes when I'm in a real foul mood, just SHIFT+DEL these without even opening them!!! However, with yours truly having nothing much to do, I continued reading it.. The content of the email was really simple... no flowery language, no cheesy pictures around or not even a mention of "forward this to 20million ppl in an hour".. and all that blah..

There were five categories and each one had a list of do's/dont's to be happy :)
Here it is:

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes’ walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't overdo. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.


Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

I especially liked #11 and #12- maybe coz its relevant to what I was thinking prior to receiving this list... I had a marathon phone conversation with a good friend of mine, who is "happily settled"... I envied her for having a "to-die-for" job(Yes, complete with H1B sponsorship!), living in a beautiful city(Ok Ok.. I know Springfield is a city too!), a nice car(hmmmm.. I think I own the better one though ;), a steady boyfriend(No Comments on that one!!... the guy is too serious for my liking), and overall a great life that others can be envious of!! SIGH! Grow up Aishu.... :-(

I guess I just need to remind myself of
#17 - Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need (Really?!?!?!)

I've decided to tape this up in my room.. read it once every morning coz these days I seem to find the need to remind myself of my existence!!
Cheers to Viju Etta for sending this to me!

HOLA

Cómo estás? No prizes for guessing who's learning Spanish!! ME! ME! ME!!
Felt like learning a new language.. thought Spanish might be a good option especially since I know French so well...

Soooo....... wish me luck in this new venture of mine.. Will keep u posted on my progress(or lack of it!)

Till then, Buenas Tardes! :)

Thanksgiving!

We are into the month of April now - suppossedly Spring time in the US. Tonight, the weather was miserable. :( I mean it was freezing temperature, with sleet and snow showers!! How wicked!

As I stepped outside to take the dogs for their nightly "pee-time", a chillingly cold gust of wind hit my face! I couldn't breathe for that one second!! It was as cold as winter gets!

I quickly take the dogs back into the house... Ahhh... that first second of "warmth" that you get from the heater feels sooo heavenly... That one second outside in the cold, made me a little pensive.. I thought of people who are out there without a roof under their heads..without warm clothes or even socks on... YES! There are tons of homeless people in the US.. ! How horrible to be out there stranded in the streets without any warmth? Grrr.... I shudder to even think about it!!

I am thankful... extremely thankful to GOD who is out there protecting me... I mean, not having a job seems like such a small, teeny weeny problem compared to not having basic necessities.. :(
I have wonderful people surrounding my life.. my awesome family who keep me going, my wonderful friends, without whom I'd be dead by now and just random people who have come into my life and made such a difference!

Imagine.. this family I live with, know me for about two years and they have been so kind to let me live here.. God bless the Haseltines!

Thanks God for being there and for looking out for me... I do feel blessed tonight!! :)

Funny!

This was a funny incident that happened not so long ago.. It was a regular evening and I was cooking dinner at the Haseltine house.. Olive and Gunner were being their usual cute selves(they are the Haseltine dogs, btw!) The son-in-law had come and we were all chatting him up when he suddenly noticed Olive shivering underneath the table... I mean she was SHAKING in fright!! Becky and I freaked out! More so, because she had been sick the previous week and we had to take to the vet and he had given her medications.. And here she was shivering profusely..

We bent down to her and tried to hold her.. her body was vibrating wildly and we did not know what to do!! I panicked.. Suddenly, the son in law smiled...

"Oh, its the pressure cooker that is scaring the crap outta her"....!!! :)
Indeed it was!! She kept looking at it so fearfully and gave me these scared looks that told me.. " Oh watch out, its a monster that's coming to get me"!!

PRICELESS! I bent down to her and put her away in another room while I turned off the heat in the cooker and put it away before I brought her out...
Poor lil Olive.. thought I should write this down! Funny incident, indeed!!