Jan 3 ~ Describe your day in ten words

watched over sage like a hawk, severe skin infection, possibly preictal

Jan 2 ~ Three Goals for the month

1. Travel ~ we planned a huge trip, long pending one and kind of like a bucket list thing. We leave hyderabad on 7th morning. Cannot wait.

2. Skin care ~ day and night routine. I have buggered my skin so badly, have battled adult acne for the last year and now have finally given up and am trying to have a more hygienic (wash face before bedtime) and moisturise routine.

3. Daily activity ~ Even tho I am going to be on holiday I need to keep up the walking and exercise routine. 

Clean slate

What are you most looking forward to?

I'm starting a 30 day journaling project. I hope to write based on the prompts of the day. This is the only way I think I'll get back to putting words out. And seeing and reflecting upon them once done.

I've always loved that about looking back. Which is one of the reasons I began to keep a Diary at age 11. I still have some of those that I wrote in my late teens and early twenties.

This month we are taking a long awaited vacation. Me, k and sage. We will drive along one of the coasts of India and stop at a few places for a few days each. I'm looking forward the most to this. Our last vacation was in oct 2015. For a couple that travelled at least 3 times a year, they're becoming rarer and fewer and after a lot of should we should we not, a few false starts and a few plans being abandoned, we're finally less than a week away.

This is also the first long trip with our new car and I'm excited for the comfort it's going to give us.

For the year ahead I have no extra thoughts and definitely no resolutions. I have stated taking care of my skin. I won't say better, because I buggered it over the past year and didn't wait for the dawn of a new year to begin better care. I definitely want to go back to our eating schedule once vacation is over. Own fewer things, purge physical and mental stuff and do a deep clean of the house once a month.

Work wise I want to do more classes, introduce an after school program for kids and grow my Instagram for the studio. Contemplating some other stuff but it's just fluff for now.

2017 was one of the nicest years for me personally. I want to write about it soon, once I'm able to gather my thoughts.

I'm excited for 2018.

I'm ready.

Bombay and all the things that it brings

My brother and family moved to Bombay at the end of the summer. After 5 years in Chennai, an opportunity brought him at a cross road and I'm surprised he chose to move to Bombay. Don't get me wrong, k's entire family on both sides are bombayites, I've not heard one sentence spoken about that city without fond nostalgia from them, K was born and spent his early childhood there. But I can't get myself to imagine life in that city.

It's unliveable. Crowded beyond imagination, lacking in basic Civic amenities but what it makes up for is the spirit of it's people and the availability of almost anything.

My brother has taken to the city like a fish to water. His family, the kids especially found Chennai stifling because of the constant chatter that happened around not being Tamil. My ten year old niece in particular had the most trying time making friends. She was glad to leave.

The crowds just unnerve me. It's like no one can find a quiet moment in Bombay. The conveniences tho will stun you. Everything is available at arms length, each area is pretty self sufficient and people are nicer because everyone there is like you a migrant.

I visited bombay atleast 10 times in the past and again in September for Amma's Birthday and saw first hand how much happier this city made my family. It was humbling. For a pucca Hyderabadi used to a slower pace of life and being very laid back, I'm shocked at how my brother has adapted to the new city. It's one thing to meld when you're young, ambitious and energetic. It's another thing to move when you're 40 and with two kids in tow.

I told him I'm very happy to come visit, to see the sights and sounds and eat and shop, but I can't get myself to live there. Sorry but that's just how it is and not that anyone's going to miss me!

Breakfast Stories

We were on holiday recently and travelled for the first time with two other couples k works with. We have in the past enjoyed travelling with friends multiple times, but this was the first with these folks.

These are people I know. Folks I meet and have eaten with, multiple times, over the last 6 years. We have visited each other's homes and socialized to celebrate occasions and sometimes just like that. Yet I didn't know what to expect from the trip. It's one thing to meet people for a few hours every few months. It's a completely different thing to stay with them and be with them over the course of a few days.

While I mostly enjoyed their company, the majestic palace hotel we stayed at and the general chatter, I loathed meal times. Suddenly the dining table became a no holds barred advice giving forum. Advice on what to eat and how and why and when by the two ladies who are extremely health and diet conscious (read stick thin). Each time someone reached for a waffle or ordered Puri bhaji, there was a five minute discourse about how unfit the rest were and what wrong food choices we were making.

I'm a fairly rational person. I understand when people  dish out well meaning advice  But there is a limit to the mumbo-jumbo I could listen to from ill informed people bent on making my long pending three day holiday into a 'correct your eating habits' workshop.

So I did the next best thing, thanks to early rising with Sage that's become a habit, I quickly began going very early and ahead of everyone to have my coffee and breakfast in peace. We are talking waking around 5:45, walking an hour and heading to breakfast by 7 a.m when only the staff is around and they're still setting up for service. I can manage every other meal in chaos and tune out the noise, but I need my coffee and breakfast in absolute peace, preferably eaten in silence.

                                                       

This arrangement worked to prep me for the rest of the day shared with other adults and a few kids and gave me enough time in the company I enjoy the most - mine.