My wedding anniversary was on 28th April and per usual I am here to send out a letter days later. 🙂
This year, the letter is very important because few weeks back, I would have again thought that life has been the same, so what new to write. However, as I am writing this to you today, a lot has changed or about to change in our life this year. When I write this, it sounds scary and I don’t know how to tone it down, but I know in my heart that we will sail through new things happening in our life together. I also hope that its all for good, for better and brings immense happiness in our lives.
I would work on being less scared of changes and more reassuring like you. That, by the way, is truly God’s gift. I mean, I am sure you would have scary thoughts about changes too, but you know how to face them and also enable me to be better at facing them. You bring so much joy and calmness to anything that is happening and I hope this continues. I hope our love for each other continues to increase.
On another note, I believe my FOMO about traveling may peak this year, so we will figure that out together. I definitely look forward to many more fun trips and vacations in near future. ❤
If you liked this, check out more of my latest posts:
I think I can keep doing Sunscreen round-ups all the time because I don’t have a holy grail as such and I keep trying new ones. I have actually tried some new ones since I clicked this picture of my 2022 sunscreens and I’ll just share my views on all of them.
If you have a holy grail, do let me know in the comments so that I can try that next. 😀
Just a disclaimer – I don’t do a lot of ingredient-based research for my sunscreens, although that would have helped for sure. I basically try new ones basis hear-say and my skin type. If you do ingredient-based research, then this post may not be actually for you. However, let me try to do some research now, while writing this post.
It has been such a topsy turvy month. There is so much that has ensued that I don’t have the energy left to do a proper low down of March.
But it deserves a post to go in the history of my life as an important month, so here you go.
The initial part of the month was all okay, and my regular programming. I made a note to share here that I tried a new Greek restaurant, ‘Ryba’, near my place which i liked decent enough. At the time of making that note, I didn’t know it would become a special date for me and my husband, but more on that later.
After this, I embarked on my work trip. If i hadn’t made it clear before, I hate work trips to the core and if you are a long time follower of the blog, you would know that I didn’t used to like them even when as a young, 20 something I got them as a foreign travel opportunity. This one I especially hated because it went on longer than I wanted and expected and without much of a motive. I am still there in Bombay now on my work trip, but since it’s closer to my in-laws family, I did visit them in between which was good.
apart from this, i am missing my place terribly and there are some pretty life-changing things that March brought but I’ll dedicate separate posts to them.
hope you all are doing good, would love to know more!
In the past few days, I created a goal for myself which was to post a Feb update before 28th. 😀 It has been a supremely busy month (spoiler alert: didn’t succeed in the most important task that showed itself this month). However, this month shall be remembered as a month of some good firsts.
I am taking cue from Lyssy’s post here to take stock of my month, she calls it “What’s Up Posts”, it was started by her blogger friend Shay 8 years ago it seems!! Let’s see if I manage to do it every month.
I am going to answer all the questions in the below card for the post then.
What We’re Eating?
This month presented a lot of opportunities of trying new take-outs in big groups. This also made me think about being a bit of a restaurant snob on food delivery apps. What I mean is I always look for food I want to eat when ordering in, but if I don’t have any fixed, well-loved restaurants to order from, it becomes a risky situation when a lot of people come over. It’s a hit and miss. While I used to make fun of people who had designated restaurants to order from on food delivery apps, I am now becoming one for at least big hangouts! I have discovered some gems already. If you are a person reading this from Gurgaon, you might want to order from ‘Punjabi Angithi’ for some good North Indian starters/finger food and ‘Being Chef’ for an all-encompassing good menu – they literally have everything from Thai Curry to Pizza and its all above average!
What I’m Reminiscing about?
I am in general someone who reminisces a lot, so its difficult to keep a track of this. 😀 But, exactly at this moment, nothing.
What I’m Loving?
I loved going to my first ever cricket match in a stadium. I am not into sports, so didn’t expect this. It was definitely fun and now going to watch one in Dharamshala where the stadium is surrounded by mountains is so on my list!
What we’ve been up to?
The best part of this month was the chance to reunite with some of our close friends who don’t live in the same city/country.
What I’m dreading?
Like I mentioned at the beginning, I didn’t succeed in an opportunity that presented itself. What I’m dreading is how it affecting my confidence, honestly dreading is a small word for how I am feeling about it right now.
What I’m working on?
I am going to repeat this from last month: I am trying to work on this. Trying being the keyword, haha!
What I’m Excited about?
Funnily, I am actually excited about March despite it being a loaded month at work, and I have work travel too. However, I am looking forward to the other things – my husband’s birthday (Sometimes we literally do nothing on these ‘special’ days, but I still look forward to these days), the chance of going on another small vacation. Oh, just realized I actually have one more tiny vacation coming up which I totally forgot about!
What I’m Watching/Reading?
For someone not big on watching a lot of new stuff, I did watch a couple this month!
First, I watched ‘The Romantics’ which is like a documentary on Yash Raj Films, one of the biggest movie producers in Bollywood. While it was not what I expected it to be (I thought it was about Bollywood in general and not Yash Raj specifically), it had a lot of nostalgia, which is why I suppose so many people loved it!
I am now watching ‘You’ on Netflix. Frankly, I am quite irritated with this show, because its quite a done and dusted concept of a sociopath trying to control life of his beloved (hint: as my husband says, Shahrukh from Darr :D). However, because of the cliffhangers we are going along for now.
As for reading, I think I am finally becoming that person who reads multiple books together (and takes time to complete even one of them). I am reading ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ which is my 2nd for this year. I talked about it in my January update as well. It is just about okay. More on that later. Then, I also started ‘Kashi ka Assi’ from my trip to Banaras, a book I stumbled upon in a bookstore there. It is stories from Banaras so I just bought it but its not what I expected at all! I am also reading ‘The Book Thief’ from the beginning of 2022! Its a hard copy at my parents place so I read it when I visit.
What I’m Listening to?
I have nothing here, the podcast thing I mentioned in my January Update also hasn’t caught up yet.
What I’m Wearing?
First of all, I am glad I wore some of my office clothes when I went to office once! Shouldn’t be too happy, as I do have a lot of work from office days happening in March what with my work travel.
Secondly, I am glad for the opportunity of getting to wear Indian wedding stuff at the wedding that I attended.
didn’t have a picture, so took a screenshot from a video
Thirdly, its about time for a spring clean-up and my wardrobe really needs a clean-up because for someone who doesn’t impulse buy, its a huge red flag to think ‘I can’t find anything good to wear’.
What I’m doing this weekend?
I am looking forward to it, will share later. However, I did go to the World Book Fair happening in Delhi until 5th March, and it was so good to be back at it again!
What I’m looking forward to next month?
I already covered that above.
What else is new?
I bought some new makeup, so I look forward to sharing about them soon!
There’s this Pizza chain where I live called Fat Lulus. We went to their Khan Market outlet after the cricket match and I loved everything we tried, albeit it was expensive than what I expected.
Despite Google offices having family days where people can bring in their their near & dear ones, I had been to my husband’s office only once until February and it was a very stressful visit because I really cannot be okay going anywhere on my workday. However, this month I went one day when I was on leave and it was so good to try all the amazing food in peace. I really want to go again!
Grateful for the Google layoffs being over in India, I hope there’s no second wave of this, really.
I am seriously going to dive right into it at this point. This one day I was using one of the below mentioned things and realised how much I am thankful to have discovered these things. Hence, this post.
Facial Razors: Of course, I’ve known about these since forever. However, I was scared to try them, just like i am scared to try eyelash curlers. Let me tell you – facial razors are a breeze to use, and as far as I am concerned, the perfect way to get rid of some facial hair (provided you care about them). Prior to this, I have not gotten my facial hair removed ever, except forehead, eyebrows and upper lips but I always knew that I’ll kind of enjoy doing some removal from my cheeks too. I definitely like that, now I am not going to compare it to the likes of LASER because I haven’t got that done and I don’t have a lot of facial hair to begin with.
Brown Rice: Late find but good. I like everything in a nuttier texture. So, I wasn’t surprised when I discovered that i like it’s taste. I don’t know why i took so long to try it though, i actually only tried it on a friend’s recommendation. My only concern with brown rice is that i have yet not figured how to make it separated (like biryani) and retain its structure without being undercooked.
Rolled Oats & Quinoa: One thing led to another and I tried multiple recipes for these two as well. I have had oats in the past, but they were mostly ready to eat. I really like building my own recipes of oats with loads of veggies now and I am still experimenting with Quinoa. I am fond of the taste of both of these, hence, very happy to include them in my meals. The only sad bit is that Quinoa is not a local ingredient.
Cracking Walnuts: I love all dry fruits and it’s quite common in my family to give each other dry fruits during visits. I used to get irritated when people gave me whole walnuts, as I always used to go to a door hinge to crack them up. It used to be messy and I got lazy to do it. However, I took the plunge and tried cracking them with my teeth for the first time ever. Remember those toothpaste ads where healthy gums and teeth are proven by people’s ability to crack walnuts with their teeth? 😃 I used to feel so intimidated by these ads. Finally, i can say it’s not at all difficult, it only looks intimidating from afar. Also, it makes eating walnuts 100 times easier!😃
The importance of Tupperware 😃: For those of you who don’t know India’s obsession with Tupperware, you are definitely in a bubble. It’s basically a kitchen storage boxes solution made of plastic that got widely popular in India in the early 2000s I would say. Most of us millennials never got the deal with it – it was so expensive in those days for a mere lunch box and that too made of plastic. Eventually, sustainable and stylish lunch boxes started coming back and Tupperware had started losing its sheen. But recently I got to know that if you store kneaded dough in a Tupperware box, it stays fresh for longer. I have tested this and this was quite a revelation to me. I totally sound like a middle aged woman now, but it is what it is. 😃
I signed up for Bloganuary sometime ago, not knowing how the prompts are going to be so much about questioning your existence. Haha! This is why I avoided writing a post on Bloganuary prompts until now, but here’s one that’s quite tangible while also being subjective.
Who doesn’t love watching sunsets? I am no different, but I should also mention that I am no chaser of it. Hence, I won’t say that I have a list of best sunsets, but I would like to dedicate this post to all the sunsets that I have been blessed to witness. 🙂
I would mention a few that I can think of from the top of my mind.
Starting with the National Capital Region of Delhi, where I live (well, Gurgaon), albeit its a pollution laden one I cannot help but find romance in the Delhi evenings. There are a lot of greens around and in a city with so much busyness, it still is a relatively calm time if you are not stuck in traffic, of course. If you are part of the office traffic, then f*ck your life. Sorry, but no sunset can make that day better. 😀
Focusing on different sunsets that I have witnessed, I am reminiscing about sunsets from the beaches of Goa, nothing comes close to how beautiful beach sunsets are. Funnily, I am a mountain person and I can’t recall a mountain sunset as a standout. I am not sure why that is and I feel like a fraud (like I have ditched mountains or something). Just for the record, I have also been to the Andamans, but the beach sunsets standing out for me are still from Goa. Maybe, I wasn’t at a beach during sunset in the Andamans.
I also want to mention those “sunset points” in tourist places like from the forts in Rajasthan. They might not be serene like beach sunsets, but they are picture perfect beautiful.
Typing about this made me remember that Kutch Rann sunset, I mean, can you imagine a white desert all around you and a sun setting there? Linking my post here on my visit to the white desert of Kutch.
Found a mountain sunset while searching for images, I am not a fraud after all 🙂Found another gorgeous sunset among my images, the bridge next to my home in Berlin 🙂 oh man, why did I not think of this!
A special shoutout to another “sunset point” since its from a special trip. Rahul and I started our wedding prep with a mindset that we are not going to plan a honeymoon since a) we were too involved in our wedding prep so didn’t want to take up an additional planning activity (its quite common for people in India to leave wedding prep to their families), b) we had taken multiple trips together already, a whole lot of Europe covered together already :). However, as the wedding drew closer, we decided to plan a getaway to Seychelles and right before booking the tickets, our travel agent made us notice that Rahul’s passport was expiring. 🙂 Hence, we changed that plan to a small (really tiny actually) hill station in Gujarat, Saputara. It was a very regular chill place to be, nothing out of this world, but since it was technically our honeymoon, I think the “sunset point” we hiked to deserves a mention. 🙂
What are some of the gorgeous sunsets you have seen?
Life of Srish 