One year later :)

Its been almost a year since i wrote something here. Hoping to get back on this. 

Its been a lovely, busy year for me. There was a lot of travel, partying, meeting people and just having fun. All this happened 'cos I was dating this really nice guy who knows how to enjoy life. He knew what's important unlike me who until recently thought working, earning and saving was the goal. I did enjoy a bit but there was always a thought back in my mind that something will go wrong, someone will hurt me, i will fall and get hurt. Letting go wasn't my strong point. 

Lot of things changed when my first marriage ended. It wasn't a brutal end, but it hurt. I had no intention of meeting anyone, start dating or whatsoever. Just like what we've heard, things happen when you least expect it. So on my birthday, this guy who studied in the same college as me, sent birthday wishes on Facebook, i promptly replied with "Thanks". Not once did i think it would lead to something serious. We started talking about our lives. We spoke about my divorce, his break up, heartbreaks, broken dreams, moving on, his interest in Football, my lack of interest in it and so on. Few days of phone calls, ice cream meetings and breakfast dates, we were serious about dating and building a relationship. Obviously we were both scared 'cos of our past relationships. We did have some fights and arguments over opinions. Well, this is common isn't it? :) 

We traveled a lot. This was the best part of our relationship. It wasn't about the destination, was always about the drive, friends, food, music, new places, people and most importantly being with him. This brought us close. Made us understand each other's life more and what kinda life we would like to lead. This is where I explored some aspects of my own life. I had never spent time in the nature. I had never trekked, stayed in a tent, watched the stars lying on uneven land of a beautiful forest. He made me do these, knew how to make me experience these. He did not force me to or did any marketing tricks :) I realized that good company s all that matters. Met his wonderful friends who are now my friends too :) I used to be a bit of a snob, wanting luxuries and not stepping out of my comfort zone. But these people are helping me get out of this. I like to believe that there's been a lot of change in me. Long way to go too. 

I got married to this beautiful soul on 11th of February 2018. His name's Regin and he is a Football Coach. My heart melts when i see him with kids. He loves kids and I love him more for this. He's a natural with kids. We had a very simple wedding, but it turned out to be exactly what we wanted. We sang, danced, ate good food and were thanking our stars to have found each other. All that we've both gone through in our past, break ups, crying sessions is totally worth it. If this was where we were supposed to reach, then the entire journey so far has been a good learning.

Our big day :) Yay!!!

Busy Busy Busy.

I can't believe how long I've been away from my blog. Been extremely busy with work that gives me close to no time to do anything else. I have somehow managed to eat when hungry and sleep when sleepy. This is totally a new phase as I was never this busy at my previous workplace. This is challenging and obviously tough. Nothing good comes easy right?

I was so lagging behind on my reading that one day I just woke up from sleep and decided this is too much and I must make time to read. So started reading for 20 minutes before sleep. All these years, I couldn't manage to sleep without reading. But physical tiredness beats everything. Since the day of new job, my energy was drained every single day. All i did was have dinner and drop to bed. I did not like this. No. So decided little time has to be given to books no matter what. 

Same time as I took this oath, there was a book sale. This was a sign obviously.. :) So ran to this sale and picked up as much as i could. Someone like me can never have enough books. Its pure happiness to find them all waiting to be held and read by me. 

I started with two beautiful books (pictures below). One was a simple story written with so much love that i was completely immersed in it. I'm talking about "Recipes for a perfect marriage". I just couldn't put this one down. Beautifully written and loved it. Really gives us a great recipe to a great marriage. This one's going to be one of my fav and will be read over and over again by me coming years.  

Last week I read "Plan B" by Emily Barr. Goodness. This one scared me. Its about a man who cheats. Big time. Wife and girlfriend together kinda story. This freaked me so much. Wonder how these situations are handled by those who go through it. I still feel so angry when i think about this one. Had tears flowing while reading. At some point in book, it felt so strong that couldn't continue reading. I had to put it away, take some time and then come back. 

I need to start reading full time and also watch movies. Waiting for GOT.. :) 

2017..!!!!!! :)

Its 23rd of January and I'm still wondering how did we get here so fast??:) 

What a wonderful year 2016 was and I can only say so far 2017 has been AWESOME..!!!! :) 

So i started the year camping. Still can't believe this. I'm so not the type to go Camping.. But this time I really wanted to just forget about everything else and go ahead with it. All these years, managed to push this. Not anymore. Few of my friends are into hiking, fishing, camping n stuff that I've never shown any interest towards obviously. :) But this time I just thought "forget it, what could possibly go wrong" and went on. 

So around 25 of us camped at this beautiful place in Hassan. Quite close to Sakleshpur. It was my first time staying in a tent. I have to say, wasn't all that bad. I had over thought about it these years. I haven't ever been someone who had right words to appreciate Nature, this camping trip had me speechless. I couldn't even utter a single word. All this is only 'cos of the stars at night. Goodness.. It was spectacular. We could clearly see the falling stars. It had me wishing all the time. :) Some of us even wondered what have we smoked or drank that's making us experience this raw beauty of nature. I have missed this for so many years. Regret big time. 

We spent three days at this place, had this whole stage set for few of  our friends to play their music, yummy food to fill us up, tents to just give our body few hours of rest, great company and the best part was Milo, friend's pet dog who i think had more fun than us. I have danced so much these three days that had to spend a week to be all fine once we were back to Bangalore. At one point at night, it was freezing cold and all of us sitting around the fire to warm ourselves, looked up the sky and we all went quite. The view was so meditating that none of us wanted to come out of that state. Wish I had pictures to post them here. Will keep them for the next post. 

December 2016 was a month which saw me leaving Oracle. It was time for me to move on and the perfect opportunity came along. I made a decision to join my brother-in-law's firm as their HR. This was a huge change for me and I am still settling down in the new job. I miss my Oracle friends a lot though. Not one day goes without me thinking of them. I still haven't made friends at the new job and its going to be fine here in few days I'm sure. But those days of me running to SPAR to do some quick shopping, taking a cab to Jayanagar just to have ice cream and mango juice in Cool Joint, unplanned outings and much much more. I miss all of that. Maria Joyce and I quit Oracle same day and joined our new firms. She has joined MCC as their placement officer where she seems to be quite settled in. So happy for her. :) 

Wow. this was a long post. I'm writing after a long break anyways. :) 

Hope everyone's having a great 2017..!!!!

Back to reading..!!!!!

Feels so good to be back to reading after a really long time. I haven't read much this year and hate myself for that. 2017 is not going to be the same. I will not let that happen. Not been busy or anything. All i do is work 9 hours a day, get back home, have dinner and sleep. This is so not what I want. Always loved getting back after work, read for an hour after dinner and then sleep. Now its just work n sleep. :(

Anyways... I read below mentioned books recently and absolutely loved "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins. When the movie was released, knew it in a second that I need to read it first and then watch. So my lovely niece gave me this last evening and started reading right away. Couldn't put it down at all. Didn't even want to sleep. But had to. :) 

Was watching Koffee with Karan new season, the one where Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna were the guests. I loved this woman. She s so lively and not fake at all. First time I saw only her although Akshay was present. I am a big Akshay Kumar fan. Have always loved his comic timing. But Twinkle Khanna was superb on the show and this episode made me buy her two books. Have ordered on Amazon and waiting for Friday to unpack it and start reading.:) 

Here are the books I managed to read past few days. Looking forward to get back to my one book a month pattern. :) 

Borrowed this one from a friend. She spoke a lot about it and now i understand why. Kinda scary but in a way that makes you think A LOT.

Quite a good read.. Kinda liked it.

Loved it..!!!!

Sakleshpur - Chikmagalur

There are so many wonderful places in South India that we might need whole year just to travel across. Having a long weekend this month, drove to Sakleshpur with few friends and spent a day there. Just the drive was so soothing. We were all quite, listening to good music, enjoying the drive. We reached the place within 4 hours as we had only stopped for breakfast.

First thing we did reaching the hotel was to sleep. Goodness.. That sleep was so so perfect. :) Woke up late evening and walked around the local market. Next morning we drove to Chikmagalur. I was a first timer and absolutely loved it. Why hadn't i visited this place? We climbed Mullayanagiri which is the highest peak in Karnataka. How did i manage to climb??? God knows. I was too proud of myself only when we started walking back to our car. :) 

Lovely place and would love to go there again and again. Just for the view and the weather. 

Onam..!!!!

Its that time of the year when i love dressing up.. Yes..!!! Its Onam.. :)

I joined Oracle and it began. Have celebrated for five years now and really hope to continue. Something tells me this particular festival is going to be a big part of my life. :) The Saree, flowers, food and people are all so lovely. Have always looked forward to wearing the saree with different colored blouse and enjoy the specially made food. 

2012 Onam

2015..!!

2016..!!!

Jaipur & Agra

I've not written here for long time now. Not been busy or anything.. You know how it is. Sometimes you don't feel like reading or writing also. This was so not my plan for this year. :( Wanted to read as many books as possible and write more often here. We are in August already and I've not read much past four months. Weekends are just flying (god knows how) and I've not even spent enough time with my family. I miss being with Vagmi n Ruthva. Must do something about this soon.

I had a team outing to Jaipur and Agra last week and been waiting to post few pictures here. Had a great time in Jaipur and would like to visit again in few years to explore more. But a big NO to Agra. Goodness.. This place is so badly maintained and the roads are horribly dirty. Even the place around Taj Mahal is not pleasing enough to even consider walking. I could not manage to walk inside Taj Mahal for more than an hour 'cos of the crowd and weather. Its so crowded that you can't even stand in a corner to appreciate the marvelous architecture. What really irritated me was hundreds of people pushing you just so they can take a selfie. I'm not saying I don't take selfies. But never have i pushed someone out of my way to get a good picture of myself. I saw a couple who let their kid go away from them just to click a selfie. Poor kid could have been lost in that crowd. Anything can happen there. We all want pictures and its absolutely fine. But lets just make sure someone else isn't pushed and pulled for this. :)