10 day challenge - Day 2

To be a more active blogger and to relive my memories, I have taken up this 10 day challenge. Day 1 was about 10 secrets and you can find it here. Day 2 seems relatively easy as you  need to talk about 9 loves .. But I think this is one of the hardest challenges ... May be coz I love more than 9 things and now I need to choose 9 things out of this gigantic list ... Well, I shall give it my best shot :D  

1. Beginning with a pretty straight forward love - FOOD ! Strange at it may seem, I love eating... But to be more specific (as is the point of this blog) I love certain dishes from certain places and here is the list pav bhaji ( this specific hyd joint, ask me for more details), Tiramisu (Buca di Beppo), Veggie Gumbo (Qdoba), Irupuli Kozhambu (amma's kitchen), Spicy Peanut Soup (Austin Java), Mini Ghee Idly (Saravana Bhavan, NYC). And there are other foods which I love can eat anytime - Gulab Jamun, Rasam, Biryani, Murukku... Alright, I agree, it is time to move on with the rest of 8 loves.

2, My next love is TV shows - I got addicted to TV when I started working for the full time. What began as 'time-pass' to keep myself occupied in the evenings and weekends turned into a life long love affair. I have major crushes on some of the characters, I obsesses about some others, and there are those which I dnt really care much about (but I still watch those shows). One thing I dnt really follow much is reality TV shows (except for may be Project Runway). When fall arrives, the war for remote begins in our house...and you can guess, who would usually win ;).

3. I love funky earrings!

4. I love to travel and visit as many places I can. During trips,  is the one time when I can get up as early as needed and go to bed as late as possible. I think this was one of main things that attracted M to me and vice versa. The list of places I want to go is super long; the top 5 choices being Paris, London, Egypt, Turkey and Peru.  And yeah, I would love to backpack and get free tickets from my friends living in different cities to come visit them!

5. I love sleeping in late and then getting up to be served breakfast in bed :)

6. As much I love eating food, I love making them even more (both cooking and baking)... the best part is that I love cooking for family and friends....I believe, more the ppl, the merrier it is when you are having a meal.

7. I love kids! I love their energy, their enthusiasm and their innocence. And It doesn't harm that they love me too and get fabulously along with me.

8. I love exploring the city I live in. I read and follow (well online) every happening event in the city and try to attend too! I love to find things to do, foods to eat  and places to visit in the city I live. I love being the tour guide to the friends/family who visit us !!!

9. For my last one, the pic below say it all :)

In the pic - black bag, white tshirt, travel mug, picture frame, keychain and earrings)
Missing from the pic - coffee mug (stuck in the dishwasher), dvd of 'new york, I love you' movie.

See you tomorrow again :)

10 day challenge - Day 1

Recently, I have been looking for something new to write on my blog. ... something which will actually make me explore things about myself and also about things around me. I came across this 10-day challenge which I found very interesting. I thot, y not give it a try .. so here comes an overload of known and unknown info about me for the next 10 days :D  

The first day, I have to write about 10 secrets (as u have already seen from the pic). Now this is a hard task for me as I think I have more secrets of others than my own ... I wnt say I am a complete "open" book (think that is sooooo over rated) but I am always myself and the same to everyone, as much as I can. So moving on to my task for the day, here are 10 secrets, some known and other unknown, about me.......

1. I was a kathak dancer once upon a time....I learnt kathak for about 3 yrs when I was 5 yrs old... successfully completed various levels of exams ... had to give up when I moved cities.... I remember being good at it .. and I often get teased (in a good way) by my family about this one particular song for which I danced. The song goes some thing like "tarkari lelo, gajar ka darwaaj hain " with descriptions of various veggies ... my family esp my aunt and uncle still remember the steps and show it to me so I can remember but alas. But yeah, I have a pic to remind me of my 'golden dancing' days.

2. On similar 'creative art' front, I learnt this form of painting with engravings on wood, roller paint and paper during my middle school. About 20 of us participated in this 2-3 day workshop where our art teacher taught us everything abt this project. It was for a competition and one's drawing was to represent one's country (India, in my case). It was fun project where we didnt really worry about competition and were happy that we got to bunk classes. Fast forwarding the story, I had shifted schools and forgotten all about it  when one day my mom called and told me that I had gotten this certificate, all in Polish, telling me that my painting was selected (and I was one of the 2 ppl from our school or city, not really sure who had gotten this).  Now it is a framed piece of art at my home in India and every time I look at it, even though I d'nt understand a word of it, I feel very proud.

3. You might already know how lazy  I can get when I am asked to go to gym or play some active sport (My husband sure knows it). But I wasn't always like that. In my school days,  I loved participating in sports or team games. I think my most loved sport was running team relays. I would spend my summers playing badminton on the 'gully' road right in front of my house. I was a state level hockey player during school. I think my college days spoiled me. Now the only I sport I take active participation is "dancing in a club/party" :D Hoping things change soon.

4. For a vegetarian, I am one of the most picky vegetable eaters. The list of vegetables I don't eat is longer than those I eat. I did finally start liking Bittergourd (karela or pavakkai)..  and thus increased the competition for my dear hubby.

5. I tell white lies!

6. Electronics, including watches don't last long in my hands (for some weirdest reason). So if you are planning to gift me these, you might wanna reconsider ;).

7.  I was addicted to handheld video games growing up. Remember the one video game where you could play tetris, car racing and snake and had this weird game music/sound. The highest score you get in it was 99999 (I think) I loved playing that. I remember walking into my dad's work meeting tell him that I had made the high score. Everyone was looking at me and my dad didnt know what to say. Lucky for him, his boss congratulated me and I left happily. I also owned tv video games and broke a good number of joysticks playing them.

8. I own a LOT of clothes ......and shoes .......and jewelery ........and bags......and, Ok,  the list is long and you get the point  :D

9. My pet names include sweetchoco, sharan, sharu, sheri, sheru, bubbles, chengamallam, sugar high (I might hav missed some). So how do u you call me?

10. I fell down 33 feet on a concrete floor and a plastic bucket saved me. and yeah, I am not crazy!!

Reviews update 3 - Summer Movies 2011

Where I live, summer is not even close to coming to an end but my list of summer movies to watch is done (well almost) ...I did watch a couple of movies which were not on the list I had made but then again, wen u get a chance to watch a movie in theater, y say no! 

Larry Crowne (***) - Liked both Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in this movie .. once again, they prove their acting skills .... gave me a glimpse of community college and the variety in their students... shows grit on how u can learn and go to school at any age .. the movie is jus like any-day situation which could be happen to anybody. a simple no-frills movie!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (*** 1/2) - the most awaited potter movie with a loads of expectations, which i am not sure it fully lived upto ... This is one of the movies which u hav to watch no matter how good or bad it is .. You need to watch it bcoz u r a potter fan and bcoz u need a closure to the series...It had these funny one liners (from the book) which lightened up the mood.. it covered the basic theme of the book very well except for the epilogue (i thot i wud tear up but it was jus more funny to look at the aging harry and others.) ... HP 7.2 is not def the best of the lot but it is def one of the better ones. Oh yeah, def watch it in 3D.. heard it was better than regular 2D version!


Check out the other reviews here:  the list, part 1 and part 2. 

Reviews update 2 - Summer Movies 2011

Continuing from my previous two posts: Summer movies, Review pt. 1. 

Bridesmaids (***) - A perfect chick flick, entertaining, some brilliant acting, funny yet not very gross... a lot of the jokes are subtle but good. .. u have the comedy, the sentiments, the drama, the romance all mixed together in a perfect balance to keep u entertained the entire time ... a good watch if u r looking for something to do with ur girlfriends !

Cars 2(**** 1/2) - If u loved Cars 1, then this movie is even better .. A good sequel to the previous one, in terms of the characters but then again this movie can be a standalone  ...I felt very 'animated' and excited to watch this movie ... The details that went into the creation of this movie are very good. ... I would say this is a wholesome entertainer for both adults and kids (animation fan or not).... the plot is well written and so are the dialogues .. u wud thoroughly enjoy it.. a MUST watch!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (***) - I am very big fan of this series and this was a definite watch for me...I liked this part for various reasons such as more graphics, more visual effects, more transformers, more cool cars, funny punch lines ... But on the other hand, I think it was a lil too long, the new female who looked hotten than Megan Fox didn't add any value, not much great acting by any character, a lot of continuous dialogue (which wasnt clear, may b due to theatre sound). This is one of those movie I need to watch a couple of times with subtitles to understand the dialogues and comedy. It is OK as an sequel, needs to be watched atleast once in the theaters for its visual effects.

Bundle of joy !!

If you ever wond1ered how the above phrase was coined, I have the perfect answer for you ...

One late night in Aug'10 was a night of excitement, tiredness, long wait (and totally worth it), pain (for some), fear ( for all of us) - big mixed bag of emotions which I cannot comprehend fully... A friend of mine from work gave birth to a beautiful baby boy... The first time I laid my eyes on him, he was completely wrapped up in this white with blue border stripes cloth (for lack of better word) with only his face being visible.. .It was such a joy to see him that trying to wriggle, fluttering his open and close, sticking his tongue in and out... and the phrase 'bundle of joy' came into my mind.

I watched him being taken right from the delivery room to the baby room ...His mother made me promise that I would stay and watch  (and not take my eyes of him) while he undergoes his first check up . I watched him for couple of hours as he was poked and checked by the nurse to make sure his vitals are doing fine.. to make sure he looks and feels fine ... After that he was laid in his crib, close to the window so I could watch him ... He kept doing these actions, so oblivious to the entire world, so innocent that it made me cry (tears of happiness, of course) ... Finally the parents were united wit the baby and it was a very happy ending :)

It was my first experience with a newly born . .and it was AMAZING!

Reviews update 1 - Summer Movies 2011

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (***) – good one and a definite watch for the series fans .. some good one liners and comic timings ( a trade mark of Captain Jack Sparrow) – cud hav bn a lil shorter .. Johnny Depp rocks again!  P.S. – wait until after the end credits!

Kung-fu Panda 2 (*** 1/2) This was a good sequel to the first one.. smart thing to take a small idea of 'how did a tiny goose become the father of a giant Panda' and turn it into a movie ... when i saw the first part, this thing did cross my mind but then I figured anything can happen in kid's stories... so coming back to the movie,  again good action scenes.. a lot more emotional sentiments shown in this movie .. a lot of details went into the character building...u will get a good amount of laughs too! overall a wholesome entertainer .. !

Hangover 2 (**) - So finally watched the Hangover 1(*** 1/2) before I ventured to watch the 2nd part .. .I did like the first part and found it to be funny but I consider that movie as a guy flick (u knw wat i mean here) ...and do understand if many girls don't get it .. Moving onto part 2, it is part 1 shot in Thailand with changes in the order of scenes... a lot of more gross than the first part and may b disrespectful at times (ref: monk in pics)... most of it felt like a repeat to me (and may b coz i watch part 1 2 days before) ...Can watch it once and then u wud try ur best to forget the things u saw!



P.S. the list of the movies that I look forward to this summer  can be found here.

Bring out the popcorns!

Every summer it is same old drama but with new storylines, i.e. summer comes, and thus sequels of movies come.. Since 2007 summer, I have tried to make up a list of movies I have to watch  and try my best to follow the list... Last year,  I posted a list of movies and my personal critic on each  (well most of them)... Trying to do the same this year.. Hope you get to watch all these movies and have a perfect summer

1. Fast Five (*****) The second best (the first one being the best for me) in this series...Vin Diesel, Paul Walker (love his crooked smile), Sung Kang (the cute Korean mentor from Tokyo drift) and the Rock! There is the muscle and beauty right there and add to the mix - fast cars, good one-liners, and crazy action and you have the perfect movie to watch. Eventhough there are some unrealistic scenes, it is still totally worth a watch!

2. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - (5/20) - fourth in the series ! - Johhny Depp as the cool pirate with his kohl-lined eyes.. will miss Keira Knightley but then Penelope is hot too!

3. Kung-fu Panda 2 (5/26) - "I'm not a big fat panda. I'm THE big fat panda." love the fat yet cute panda with no skills in kung-fu and lots of luck! 

4. The Hangover II - (5/26) - havn't watched the first one yet but may b will catch up both of them .. am thinking perfecr for laughs with a group of buddies!

5. Cars 2 - (6/24) - Ka-chow! McQueen and Mater are back..the first part was the right amount of drama, romance and action ... of course the animation was grt too!  

6. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (7/1) - cars turning into machines; cool graphics - loved the first 2 parts (alas, not everyone seems to share these sentiments) and have watched it numerous times and never gotten bored.. so excitedly looking forward to this part! will not really miss Megan Fox but not really keen on the new Rosie Huntington-Whitely either. 

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (7/15)  - Def need to watch this one! 7 book and 6.5 movies later, this is going to be the perfect final ending to Potter mania! HP7.1 was very good with dialogues from the book and containing all the important scenes...Hoping HP7.2 is even better! 

Couple of other movies (not a sequel) to check out - 

• Green Lantern (6/17)
• Captain America: The First Avenger (7/22)

 I might have missed out some movies which might you might think is a good watch. Feel free to let me know! A closing thought on this "A perfect summer is when there is a sequel releasing every fri and you watching it!"