Sigh

It's not exactly "tomorrow," is it? Oh well, I find that even though I am not working full time, a lot of things seem to eat up my hours. For example, the hour and a half I spent at the Post Office last Thursday, mailing things I had put off for at least six months, if not longer.

Also, living with other people means that you want to spend time with them and do things together. Raja often plays badminton after work, so when he gets home at 8:30 or 9 p.m., we usually just eat and go to bed. On the weekends, we shop or play with the kids or hang out. Last night he took me out to dinner. It was very nice. We had seafood and then a brownie sundae for dessert. We always share dessert because then we don't feel guilty for eating the whole thing. That's one of the sad things about being an adult. Children rarely feel guilty about dessert.

Yesterday afternoon I watched some episodes of "House" on DVD and then fell asleep. When I woke up, I realized I had forgotten some soup on the stove. The reason I remembered was that my whole apartment smelled like burning metal, which really, really stinks! I opened all the windows and the patio door, and burned a lot of incense. After keeping the windows open all night (we closed the door, though) the apartment doesn't smell quite so bad. I'm thinking more incense and a batch of brownies should do the trick.

I did find a cricket and a ladybug in the apartment, though. Ladybugs, at least, are good luck.

This week Raja is in California for work. He'll be back for the weekend, then he'll be heading to Canada and Spokane, Washington. Oh no! I just remembered that I was going to send Flat Stanley with him. Darn it. Well, I'll still be able to send him to Canada, if I remember. This week I plan to finish decorating the apartment, clean up some more, work some more, do some arts and crafts, hang out with my mom, and maybe see some of my friends. I haven't really seen any of them since I moved here, and it's been over a month. A friend of mine is a dancer, and she's dancing Wednesday night. I think I just might go see her.

Anyway, I received my new camera cord in the mail today, so you know what that means...
MASSIVE PHOTO POST IS ON ITS WAY!

I'll get it up soon.

until then,

be good!

Is it Thursday, yet?

Today I saw a bumper sticker on a truck that said "Is it Thursday, yet?" and it was. Technically it's Friday now, but it's still "today" to me because I haven't slept yet.

I woke up late, blogged, puttered, and didn't leave home until almost 3. I was at the Post Office for an hour and a half, mailing stuff. Then I went to my mom's. We had a nice visit, and I got to see Nyx. When I came home I made turkey burgers for dinner. They were really good. Raja and I watched TV, and he went to sleep. It was a nice day.

I'll write more tomorrow.

Be good!

New Journeys

Hello, there!

It has been way too long since I last wrote (what's new?) but here I am again typing away. To tell you the truth, it has taken me this long to have the time or the space to write.

For New Year's, since we didn't get to go to New York (darned blizzard!) we stayed in a beautiful hotel in downtown Portland instead. During the days we slept in, traipsed around town, ate at food stands, went shopping, and had a great time. We walked all over downtown, past St. Mary's Academy, my old high school, and up to Powell's, the most awesome bookstore in the world. (I am biased, but any bookstore so large you need a map...plus it sells both new and used books!) One morning we walked down to Voodoo Donuts. It's a really popular place, which has many strange kinds of yummy donuts. I would not let Raja buy the two pound donut. As it was, we bought more than a half dozen. Even over two days, we couldn't eat them all.

On New Year's Eve, we had an awesome time. We went to a very nice dinner at the hotel, and then we took a cab across the river to a club called "The Woods." There we enjoyed some fantastic Bhangra and Bollywood music mixed up by the husband and wife DJ  team Anjali and the Incredible Kid. I had a great time dancing, while Raja and our friend Regina sat and enjoyed the view. The place was very small, but by the stroke of midnight, there were over 500 people there. It was very crowded. There were a lot of interesting people there. First thing when I arrived, I noticed an old Uncle (in India, you call older  people "Uncle" or "Aunty" as a sign of affection and respect) dancing on the floor. He was wearing a suit. He was in his 60's, it looked like, but he was happily dancing wih all the younger women. There was also "Sinuous Snake Woman." She was dressed all in black and purple, with gold jewelry and gold shoes with high heels. She also wore a gold belt with a snake on it. She had a slithery dance, slow and side to side, and she didn't really vary her tempo much. No matter what was playing, she just continued to dance the same way. I think she danced to her own, internal DJ.  I noticed a bunch of cute young guys who spent a lot of time filming the crowd on their cellphones. I was laughing because it seemed like such a geeky thing to do, get all dressed up, come to a dance, then just film others dancing. However, as Gloria Estefan says, "the rhythm is gonna get you." ( A prize to anyone who can tell me from what movie I stole that last sentence.) They guys eventually gave up filming and started dancing.  At some point, I had to go to the restroom. There was only one, and there was a pretty long line. There I became best friends forever with a girl named Amy. She was pretty funny, but then the energy was flowing wild that night  and  a lot of people were acting a little funny. I even got Raja to dance with me a time or two. He says he won't even dance with me at our wedding. Maybe I should have asked DJ Anjali to spin some tracks at the reception! In the end, I just danced with this other fun girl (not Amy.) I could tell she was a belly dancer by her moves. I danced with her and her friends, and had a great time! At midnight I gave Raja a big hug and kiss. Afterwards, we left and went back to the hotel. The next day we checked out, and went back to our home and our crazy lives.

Since then, I have been extremely busy unpacking and putting things in their place in my new home. If  a thing doesn't have a place, it doesn't belong here. I have been pretty ruthless. The donation pick-up van has already been here twice,  and I already have more stuff ready for pickup next month. I am going to be going through my storage, too, because I already know I have too much stuff in there!

I have been working on developing routines, as my schedule is very different here. Usually I get up between 7 and 8 a.m., get some breakfast ready for Raja, get him off to work, make the bed, load the washing machine and empty the dishwasher, take a shower, get dressed, pray or meditate for a while, plan my day, check the calendar, make a to-do list, make tea or coffee, eat breakfast, check my e-mail, clean a little bit, do some chores or errands, putter around, do some stuff, eat lunch, check Facebook, go to work, check the mail, make dinner, fold and put away the laundry, putter around, eat dinner, load the dishwasher, make Raja's lunch, watch TV with Raja or read or write.  On Thursdays I visit my mom and Nyx (my bunny, who lives with her right now) and clean his cage.

Despite all my  unpacking and putting away efforts, I still can't find my camera cord, so I ordered a new one. However, I also bought a new camera. It's so fancy that I think I need to take lessons to learn how to use it! My former students sent me a "Flat Stanley" to photograph on my travels, so I'd better practice. ("Flat Stanley" is a character from a book. He's squished flat, the upside of which is that he can easily be folded flat and mailed around the world. ) I'll take some photos of him and post them here. (I know, I already owe you!)

Raja and I get married in 23 days. I can't believe it! I can't wait to be Mrs. Raja. I have a lot to share about the preparations for the wedding, but that will have to be another post. It's already 9 a.m. and I have to get up and do some housework now.  I'll write more soon, but until then...

Be good!