Lessons from Dad

Few years ago, I wrote about the things my mom taught me, so that got me thinking to the things my dad taught me. It only took me four years to finish this post and if I were to summarize the five most important things I learnt through the endless lectures he has given me, here they are:

1) Smile: He always has a smile on his face and has always taught me to smile. His lecture would start with the essence of a smile, which would further carry on to how important it is to be happy inside and out. So along with the gesture of smiling, the importance of inner happiness was learnt which also further went on to how it also results in self-confidence. So there, a very long lecture... with a smile!

2) Posture: Growing up, I used to slouch and started developing a hunched back. I cannot believe how many times he had corrected it, sometimes every 10 min, he would remind me to stand/ sit straight. It was definitely extremely irritating to have a tape-recorder dad who would say 'straight' indefinitely till I corrected my posture, but I am definitely thankful now. I probably still slouch sometimes, and his voice is automatically placed in my head.

3) History: While mom taught math and science, dad always taught history, civilizations, empires, wars. And he taught it with so much passion, often his passion of history/ story-telling would put me to sleep, but he did make it quite interesting! And he was really multi-tasking while teaching history in multiple ways.
a) He helped build my essay writing and presentation skills - cause he used to read the history lesson and then narrate it like an interesting story for me and also in the end was a summarized bullet presentation of the history lesson.
b) It was daily father-daughter bonding time
c) It was story telling time
d) It would also put me to sleep - so bed time routine included.
e) And somewhere in between I learnt a bit about Harappa and Mohenjo-daro civilizations

4) Music: Mom's way of teaching math was very strict, and her way to teaching science was more interesting and experiment based. Dad's way of teaching science was boring, but he did make math more more fun as he used to encourage me to listen to music to concentrate better. Still remember when one Diwali, we went and bought a huge stereo system and bought dozen of cassettes to listen to. He introduced me to Usha Uthup, old hindi melodies and also some random french music with a good beat.

5) Having Goals: One important life lesson he always emphasized on is having goals in life. Always working towards a goal to keep life interesting. And once the goal is achieved, make a new one and work towards the new goal.

I think I can go on writing about all the things he teaches me and my brother daily with his lectures and also real- life examples like staying motivated, career advice, financial advice, cooking lessons, continued education, balanced diet, exercise, lessons on happiness, etc etc etc. I think to sum it, I learn something new from him everyday. :-)

Talking about dads, I also have a very supportive father-in-law and through him I have learnt the life of simplicity and contentment, the power of Now, the art of small talk and short and precise communication skills. He also sends us periodic emails that cheer up our day. Sometimes the emails are filled with words of wisdom, thoughts for the day, Harvard Business Review articles, a reminder of the beautiful world we live in with pictures, and sometimes just really funny jokes!

Happy Father's day to both dads and thank you for teaching me so many important things in life! :)

Animal Themed Toddler Birthday Party

Animal toys, salt n' pepper shakers, planters, xmas ornaments, animal decor around the house.... everyone came together so happily trooping to celebrate A's wild imagination and 2nd birthday.

Creating animal party hats was fun and easy - got some craft paper, cut it and glued it like a cone, and added some pom-poms for a pop of color. After making one hat, and getting a hang of making them, it was so easy make them - glad that I did not end of buying the online, as there were quite a few shops on etsy selling the party animal hats. 

The rest of the wall decor was just simple, colorful and playful.

Since we setup the party as a play date, there were toys kept on the TV console that could be easily reached by the kids and in lieu of any other planned activities, the toys kept the kids entertained and busy.

And of course, there had to be plants and flowers included from G-mom's garden. The paper whites and the red dragon flowers were specially plucked from mom's garden as A had helped mom water these plants regularly and she regularly monitored their progress and growth - all to make sure that they bloom for her birthday!

A is currently obsessed with singing Happy Birthday (pronounced as "Happy tu-too" as she cant say Birthday) and cutting the cake. So... for the cake, we opted for a plain Chocolate Eruption cake with white icing. Since we couldn't get a bigger cake in the round shape, we got 2 cakes and layered them ourselves right before the party. To hide the slight gap between the layered cakes, we filled it with colorful sprinkles. And then the party animals from the B'day invite climbed the cake. A was quite delighted by the big cake, and also by everyone singing Happy Birthday to her.

Since it was an afternoon party, we just served snacks to everyone - samosas, Idlis with chutney, Cheese board, Berries and Grapes, Veggie sticks and graham crackers for kids.

So glad that it all came together so well and it lived up to a toddler's hype of all animals marching to the party. A has been talking about the animals coming to her party for days with excitement in her eyes - it also helped that we went to the zoo before the party to personally invite all the animals and also went to the zoo after the B'day to thank them for their attendance! ;-)

Floral Love!

Buying flowers and arranging them (and then clicking of course!) is one of my favorite things to do.

Happy Holiday! :)

Round-up of the nine months!

I was lucky to have an easy pregnancy! The nine months breezed through with no morning sickness or nausea, just a little tiredness, and no absurd food cravings or body aches. There were a lot of little happy moments along the journey, but here are the few of the major and favorite moments:

1) News - The first is of course just knowing that you are pregnant. I know everyone has a huge pregnancy announcement plan, but in our case we were just so overwhelmed with happiness that there was no major announcement to the family or even to T. It was just a simple message delivered with a wide smile!

2) Gender Reveal - We did plan to have a gender reveal lunch over the weekend with close family coming dressed in blue or pink based on their guess. But, T and I got the sealed envelope from the doctor mid-week and we both pulled the envelope from each other's hand as soon as we got out of the doctor's office and in the process the envelope got torn. So that was the gender reveal right there. Then of course, there was no way of keeping it hidden from mom and dad and then mom-in-law and father-in-law. After that, how can we leave out our dear siblings. And so the beans were spilled. We did have a lunch that weekend but everyone was dressed in pink and it was so much fun to go to the restaurant as the pink group!

3) Travel - As soon as we hit the 2nd trimester and it was safe for me to travel, we itched for a vacation and went to Banff and Jasper National Parks (termed by the recent trend as baby moon travel). And oh, the place is so lovely!!! I still can't believe that we hiked all the way up to six glaciers tea house from lake Louise one day and it was the best day of the whole trip. Another memorable experience was carrying the little VT shoes everywhere to get the perfect shot of the shoes and the mountains or the hiking path to send as an announcement pic to all the friends. The smiles and the best wishes we got from strangers was beautiful.

The other travel we did was go to DC to meet my aunt. A long overdue trip filled with lots of love, fun, laughter and food! The three days weren't enough and hopefully I will be back there soon.

T also made a solo trip (I think the first since we got married) to India to meet our little niece and to fall in love with her at first sight!

4) Baby kicks - This was the highlight of the pregnancy and the happiest of the moments! Anticipating her kicks to treats of chocolates, ice cream, sambhar, chicken tikka masala, music and loud excitement of the football games was the favorite game. And then there were the non-stop midnight kicks to show excitement for no reason - and those were my favorite kind of kicks. :)

5) Baby Showers - I had two baby showers and a mini-one at work and they were all special! My only other female team-mate at work baked yummy chocolate cupcakes and the rest of the team (all guys) gathered around to share parenting tips and nightmares that they experienced. The one that my friends threw for me with a surprise VT theme was out of the world. The amount of planning, the decor, the menu, the games - everything was just picture perfect, including the hosts - Rits and Megs! And Megs flew in all the way from Zurich to make this all happen and even more special.

My sister-in-law and mom had another baby shower for family and few of mom's friends! A&K flew in from Chicago, my aunt and uncle flew in from DC to make it all special.  It was filled with so so so much love, extremely cute decor with effort from everyone, food that was so well decorated and yummy and healthy and fun games and then the highlight was cutest cake ever!

And so the nine months passed by and then T had to make a call to my mom at 3am to get ready for the hospital and all he said in the calmest of the voice was - "Mom, it is time".

2017 Summarized

2017 has been an eventful and wonderful, and so much to be grateful for.

Settled into the new job. Made the trip to Joshua National Park (and Palm Springs and LA), which had been on my bucket for a long time. Got the best news that we will be having a niece in September!

In May, we got the news that we will be expecting a girl in January! 

Family visited from India in June and we had wonderful time doing the touristy stuff around the city. We visited Banff National Park and Jasper National Park in July. I set up my indoor garden corner this summer, which was a long dream. I made my first Etsy (a website I have been been eyeing for years too) purchase - swiss cheese plant. In August, Harvey hit Houston and though we were fortunate to not have any major damage, it caused wide spread suffering and damage to others. We will be talking about Harvey for a long time.

T and I became proud mama and mama and welcomed our niece in September. We have been smitten since.

We visited family in Virginia in October and made a last trip together before we settled into getting ready for parenthood. T visited his niece in November - it was love at first sight and I enjoyed watching all the videos and pics from across the continents.  While T was away, I had staycations- a weekend with Oj and kids, where I was pampered by her cooking and a week with mom that gave us just enough time to visit the garden stores and antique malls in leisure. Had a mini baby shower at work and our friends threw the prettiest Hokie themed baby shower with Pinterest worthy decorations. Megs visited and we got to catchup.

 We had a snowfall in Houston in December and enjoyed one dreamy morning that put everyone in high spirits. December was also busy getting ready for the baby. First purchase/splurge was made on Minted (another site I had been eyeing for a long long time) for baby's room. Family visited us, mom and K threw another grand baby shower with lots of flowers, decor and the penguin cake (which was the highlight) and family love.

Other big events for the year also involved a lot of immediate family moving around. A&L moved from Delhi to Pune - miss that they are not in Delhi anymore, but also so happy that they are closer to Mumbai now. A&K finally moved in together and are settled in Chicago for now. Mom and dad moved in closer to us so the fresh food delivery has become easier. 

Adios 2017 and thank you for the wonderful memories. Looking forward to all the new experiences, joys, challenges and memories that 2018 will bring. This will be a busy year for sure!

Urban Garden

The garden is always a changing landscape.
From spring florals to fall foliage, its always fun to keep updating it. I am going to update it once again this month to a all bare minimal succulents and low-maintenance plants. But before that, here are a few shots of how it looked the last 18 months...

The urban garden is really limited to a 6x12 area with a tall fence. So vertical option is really the only way to add plants and decor. The yard sale finds that were collected over the last 3 years added life to the bare fence!

Then string lights were added for warmth, specially in fall evenings.

Fall is when the fairies and their Godmothers came out to play in the crisp air and to keep a check on the little halloween monsters!

Winters were really restricted to a few hardy plants like Euphorbias.

And Spring is when the garden was in full bloom!

 Looking forward to many more seasons and changes! :)

Budapest Trip - 2016

The 'Budapest'  song by George Ezra played again and again on the big bus tour in Budapest... and added a lovely association to the trip - every time we hear the song, it takes us back to the Budapest trip! From Vienna, we took a train to Budapest and then a cab to our airbnb apartment. Right when we stepped outside the railway station, we could feel how different this place is from Vienna. The buildings are old, colorful, tattered and half shattered, and have a lot of finer details and character. It seems as if they have been through a lot and each building has a long story if you had time to stop and listen. To Megs and T, it reminded them of the old South Bombay - whenever Mumbaites meet, I notice that they try to associate each city to Bombay - shows their true love and obsession for the city!

Our airbnb apartment was in a tiny alley, we were a little skeptical about the place at first, but once we entered it, it looked so beautiful and airy! Tall ceilings, big windows, and white interiors (my three basic favorites). Our host was very friendly too and gave us a lot of tips on things to do, local food, drinks, pubs - it was a good start. We had 2.5 days in Budapest so it gave us some more time to relax and explore a little more of the city compared to the time we had in Vienna and Prague.

The first day (or the remaining 1/2 day after the journey) we took the big bus tour and visited the Heroes' Square (Hősök tere). The square has statues of seven leaders that led the Magyar tribes of the Hungarians. In the center is a tall column and on top of it is the statue of Archangel Gabriel, who holds the Hungarian Crown and the apostolic double cross in his hands. These statues are massive, and so tall. It is such a marvel and I wonder how they built them.

T researched and found this tiny hole in the wall place with amazing reviews called 'Zeller Bistro'. We weren't sure if we would be able to get into the place without any reservations, but after pleading with the restaurant manager, he did decide to give us a table after an hour of wait time. While we were waiting, Megs and I browsed through some items placed in the window of an antique store that was opposite the restaurant and Megs spotted an amazing antique vase that looked beautiful. Unfortunately, the store was closed so we left it at that and enjoyed a delicious meal. T tried the famous hungarian drink Palinka - it tasted really bad, I think it is an acquired Hungarian taste! The rest of the food and the wine pairings were delicious, would have loved to go back if we had time.

At night, T and I went for a walk around the Budapest city and walked with our tripod all the way to the Budapest parliament to get some night shots. The rain made the walk a little cold and unpleasant, but we stopped by for a vending machine coffee at a train station on the way, and I think that was one of the best hot coffees I had in the trip!

The next day, we grabbed breakfast at a tiny coffee shop right outside our apartment and then T and I continued the Big bus tour (Unfortunately, Megs wasn't well the next day and was stuck with a cold, so she stayed-in). Our first stop was at the Citadel to enjoy panoramic views of the city, the parliament and the Danube river separating Buda and Pest cities. After enjoying the lovely views, we stopped at a small outdoor cafe on top of the hill to have some water/wine/Palinka break. T wanted to acquire the Palinka taste before he left Budapest ;)

Next stop, we got off at the Market Hall and walked till the Chain Bridge (one of the two famous bridges at Budapest). My memory is a little blurred on what we did in between, but I do remember having lunch in a market square and then having some gelato to cool off the heat.

Next stop we went to Clark Adam Square for the Funicular ride. The Funicular ride was first opened in 1870 and at the time it was only the second railway of that type in Europe. It was completely destroyed in WWII, but was reopened in 1986. It was fun to take this 3 minute ride and enjoy the panoramic views of the city. This city is so photogenic from all the angels!

Next stop was the Fisherman's Bastion. This place is an architectural wonder (like every other building in Budapest). The towers, the terraces, the views, the countless steps and walkways.... everything was so spectacular. I was so tired of clicking in every direction, and one can only capture so much in the camera, plus I had to keep the camera aside and enjoy the moment as well! Sigh.

The parliament building is definitely the most prominent of all the buildings and can be seen and admired from every tourist spot. The Hungarian Parliament is one of Europe's oldest legislative building and has 691 rooms. Unfortunately due to the time constraints, we did not have time to take a tour of the building interiors.

Later in the evening, Megs joined us and we walked around St. Stephens Basilica and the Parliament building again. We had dinner at a random (a place not researched by T for best reviews) Italian place and T tried Unicum, the other famous Hungarian drink. Unicom is supposed to be a healthy drink - it is basically herbal liquor. However, I don't think T was very pleased with its taste and would probably never have it again, but it was an experience. When in Hungary, drink like a Hungarian!

The day wasn't done until we visited the Parliament building again. We did the night cruise on Danube river and were awed by the closer view of the magnificant structure.

And that was the end of a long, long, long day.

The next day, we checked out of the Airbnb apartment but we left our luggage there as our next journey wasn't until the evening. We walked up till Market hall and I did some souvenir shopping. This place had so many cute knick knacks that I had to absolutely buy. Wooden spoons, pencils with Hungarian Dolls carved, embroidered tea cup coasters, wooden tops, candle holders, Danube river shoe shaped pot, ceramic vases - all the essentials were bought!

Also since we had time to kill, and I could not take my mind off the the vase that Megs spotted the first day, T and Megs walked with me all the way back to that shop just so that I can pick up the vases (actually really old Palinka case). I thought that was a big score, and it was so amazing of T and Megs to come with me with so much patience!!!

After lunch at a local stir-fry chain, we had to bid farewell to Megs as her flight was a few hours earlier than our overnight train ride. They say, if you remain friends for 10+ years in life, you will be friends forever. So hope to see her soon again! :-)

Since we still had some time to kill till before our train departure, our airbnb host recommended that we spend some time visiting the ruin pubs of Budapest. I think that was the best recommendation and it was such a fun way to end the Budapest trip. These pubs are located in the buildings that were abandoned after WWII, they have very retro 70s decor, lots of plants, good music and very chilled out people! It was the perfect way to cherish the memories made on the trip and bid farewell to the city.

And finally, it was time to catch our over-night train ride to Munich! Coming up in the next travel blog post....