tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55249485714977932612024-03-13T09:42:06.630-05:00Far from the daily grind..This is a place that I will escape to in order to be far from the daily grind. Yet it will inevitably be a place where I will end up talking about the daily grind. You are welcome to join in the conversation if you like... or you can escape to a far way place of your own.NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-71022195147390287902008-12-04T23:02:00.003-05:002008-12-10T08:09:17.587-05:00I'm Thankful for....It was a week before thanksgiving and I was attending thanksgiving lunch at Apple’s school. All the kids and their parents were sitting together around the small kiddie tables eating lunch. The tables were decorated with place mats which the kids had made. Each kid had made one place mat on which they had written what they were thankful for. When I reached there, the kids had already started eating and had placed their plates on the place mat so my observant eye failed to notice the artwork. Sometime during the middle of lunch, a mom sitting next to me picked up her son’s place mat and proudly showed it to other moms. He had written ‘I am thankful for my mom’ …how sweet! Another mom showed her son’s place mat and said with a mock sad face that she wasn’t so lucky; apparently pet turtles were higher on the appreciation list than mommy. I was about to console her when it struck me that I hadn’t seen what my little angel had written. I glanced at her place mat. Her plate was covering the writing on it. My attempts to move her plate were met with loud ‘mommy, don’t pull my plate’ type responses. So I waited patiently until she was done eating. After we picked up her plate, there it was, her own words, “I am thankful for my ROOM”! Suddenly turtles, dogs, cats were sounding better. Did I raise a materialistic brat! I told myself that may be there was a deeper meaning to this....having just returned from India where we all bunked in one small room in my parent’s 2 bedroom apartment , my daughter may have gained a greater sense of appreciation of what she has. Yeah right! Who am I kidding here? <br />Well at least she was thankful for something! I should be thankful about that.<br /><br />Now this is what happens when you take your little one shopping with you and respond with ‘but I don’t have that color’ when she asks you ‘Mommy why do you need more clothes?’. First I needed to stop and appreciate the good things in my life. I was dwelling on this thought when the mumbai attacks occurred and brought on a whole new perspective on things. So this thanksgiving, I made a note of things that I am thankful for:<br />First and foremost, I am thankful that my family and friends in Mumbai are safe.<br />Thankful for my beautiful, smart and loving daughter who brightens my days<br />… for my loving family and friends<br />… for my good health<br />… for having received a good education<br />… for my home<br />… for having a chance to see and live in different parts of the world<br />… for a good life in general<br />last but not the least: the Internet and the blogosphere. <br /><br />What are you thankful for ?NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-47022596381827883522008-11-19T13:40:00.005-05:002008-11-19T14:27:40.077-05:00Of Old Friends and NewShe was the best friend one could ever have. She could teach you engineering drawing and nurse a broken heart with equal intensity. Beautiful, smart and charming, she left a great impression on anyone who met her. She was fiercely loyal to her friends and would always stand up for them. I was fortunate enough to call her my best friend. We spend endless nights together watching silly soaps, discussing crushes, college gossip and other topics of great importance like shopping, under the pretext of studying for exams. My family adored her and hers adored me. When she got married a moved a couple of blocks away, I felt like I had lost a family member. But we met frequently. Then I got married and moved to a different country. We kept in touch for a while until she also moved to the same country and got extremely busy. Emails got a one liner response, voicemails left unanswered. The physical distance between us was reduced and replaced with a emotional one. She may be very busy or may have other reasons that prevent her from getting in touch but in my mind I still consider her a good friend. So today, like every year, I'll call her to wish her a Happy Birthday. Chances are I'll end up leaving a voicemail. <br />In case you don't hear my voicemail M, I'm sending my wishes on the blogosphere. Happy Birthday M.<br /><br /><br />She's beautiful, smart, witty and the queen of words. I wish I could borrow her writing skills for moment to aptly describe her. A loving mother and a extremely caring human being, she can easily laugh at herself and put you at ease. She took time off her busy schedule and dragged herself all the way across town to meet a virtual stranger.....a fellow blogger(more of a fan than a fellow blogger). She did not complain even though the said blogger ended up giving her wrong information about the meeting place. In fact she even apologized for being late. From the time she walked in, it was as if I already knew her, as if I was talking to my long lost friend. That's the kind of person Kiran (Of Karmickids) is. As beautiful on the inside as she's on the outside. Thanks Kiran. It was great meeting you.NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-72140003859462608162008-09-10T07:19:00.003-05:002008-09-10T08:01:34.313-05:00Who's the mommy here?You will wonder that too when you read this..<br /><br />Scene 1:<br />Apple and mommy at the mall. Mommy digging through the clearance racks while Apple hides and plays in the racks. In between bargain hunting mommy entertains Apple by finding her when she hides. The mommy suddenly discovers some great bargains and like a kid in a candy store gets excited and forgets to play with Apple for a few minutes. Apple calls out a couple of times from her hiding place. Mommy is busy digging<br />through the racks. Finally Apple comes out,gives mommy anexasperated look and says "What is wrong with you?" <br />Needless to say it provided great entertainment to our fellow shoppers. <br /><br /><br />Scene 2:<br />Apple, mommy and daddy in a queue for a ride at the Stone Mountain Park.<br />Apple keeps climbing on the metal bars that divide the queue. Repeated requests from mommy and daddy to get down are being ignored. Finally mommy says "If you don't get down right now, we'll leave you here and go". Apple looks at her straight in the eye, raises her eyebrows and says with all pretend seriousness she could muster, "What do you mean you'll leave me here?"NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-69040316533286749842008-05-28T20:52:00.003-05:002008-05-28T21:13:11.279-05:00Of classes and massesContrary to what the title suggests, this post is not about the class differences between masses. Rather, it is a story of how a mom who got swept up the mass hysteria of ‘sign up your kids for as many classes as possible’, learnt a valuable lesson.<br />Now I’m not for pushing your kids too much. Never been a competitive person myself, will not be a pushy mom either. But I’d like to introduce my daughter to different types of fun activities like sports, music etc, in order to see what interests her and then let her pursue those interests. Also, I’d like to her to learn some basic stuff like swimming and cycling. That’s it. I have no grand designs or expectations beyond that. Then how did I get caught up in the ‘pack their schedules with classes/camps’ syndrome, you ask? Well, it all began a few months ago, when Apple turned three......<br />Apple has a lot of energy and loves jumping around, so when she turned three, we enrolled her in a gymnastics class. She loves it so we plan to keep her in the class for as long as she enjoys it. They also teach ballet at the place where she goes for gymnastics. One day after class Apple saw some girls dressed in ballet outfits and asked me why they were wearing those. I tried to explain to her that they were taking a ballet class. She asked me what ballet was and I explained. The last few days she’s been pestering me to enroll her in “the ballerina class". Luckily they were offering a class this summer at her school during school hours so I signed her up for that. <br />Now, last summer Apple loved playing in the pool . The pool in our new subdivision is not yet ready and Apple keeps asking when it will be ready. So for this summer I signed her up for a swim class.<br />So here we were, juggling the schedules for these classes when one day we discovered that the tennis courts in our new subdivision had opened. Apple saw some kids trying to play tennis and told me that she wanted to play.<br />“You are too young. You don’t know how to play that yet” I told her.<br />“You teach me how to play, mommy” <br />“Mommy does not know how to play”. <br />“Why?”<br />“Because mommy never learnt how to play”<br />“I want to learn”<br />“OK . When you are a little older, you could take a class”.<br />“OK”.<br /><br />The conversation was easily forgotten especially by me who had no intention of enrolling her in any more classes at the moment. The next evening Apple was riding her bicycle when some older kids zoomed past us on their bigger bicycles. Apple noticed that they were riding their bikes without the training wheels on. She asked me why she’s not able to ride her bike without the training wheels.<br />“You are younger, you’ll learn to ride like them when you get a little older”<br />“Mommy, I want to go to that class”<br />“What class honey?”<br />“The class where they teach you to ride without training wheels!”<br /><br />I was both amused and ashamed at the same time. Ashamed that I was teaching my daughter that she cannot learn anything without a class, that her schedule needs to be filled with classes. May be I need a parenting class!NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-45108600028590667462008-05-14T22:21:00.001-05:002008-05-14T22:25:54.634-05:00The gravity of the matter..One fine evening, a dad, having picked up his 3 year old from school, happens to glance at her daily activity report. Under things they did during the day, it says “We talked about gravity”.<br />“Vow! They are teaching them about gravity!” he exclaims!<br />Mom rolls her eyes and wonders what they are going to teach them next…rocket science? <br />Excited at the quality of advanced education his little one is getting, dad asks her, <br />“So, did they teach you about gravity today?”<br />Blank stare..<br />“Apple honey, did your teacher tell you what gravity is?”<br />“No”<br />“But it says in here. Your teacher must have talked about it”<br />“OK. Yeah”<br />“So do you remember what gravity is?”<br />Yet another confused blank stare.<br />“OK let me explain it to you”<br />“OK”<br />“You know how when we drop things, they always come down they never go up…..yada yada yada..”<br />Apple listens to the entire explanation and then asks “But Daddy, birdies are in the sky, they never fall down. Why doesn’t gravity pull them down?”NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-2150366817076971572008-03-28T07:48:00.003-05:002008-03-28T08:16:50.426-05:00Am back.... well sort off!We are settled in the new house, the parties are done with, the in laws have left so I now have some time to breathe.... and blog and comment.<br /><br />For personal reasons though, I'm limiting this blog to chronicling Apple's activities only. As for all the other thoughts, may be I'll start another blog or may be not. I'm not sure yet. Will see how things shape up.<br /><br />Any way here is how Apple tugs at my heart...<br />My office is couple of miles down the road from our new house. With the trees being bare for the winter, we can almost see the buildings on our way to and from Apple's day care. Most of the days on our way to or from her school, Apple insists that she wants to see my office. So one day on our way home, I drove into the office parking lot and showed her the building.<br />A very satisfied Apple smiled.<br />Apple: When I grow up I want to work in mommy's office!<br />Me: Why honey?<br />Apple: Because mommy will be there! I can see her all the time!<br /><br />She melted my heart! Any chance she would feel like this 15 years from now? <br />Wish I could freeze time!<br />************************************<br /><br />Last weekend, I cut my finger a little while chopping vegetables.<br />After lunch, I was lying down next to Apple trying to get her to nap. All my attempts to get her to sleep were proving futile , so I just closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, while Apple played on the bed. Once in a while she would poke my eyes , pull my ears etc so I was scolding her & threatening her (No birthday parties, no park etc)off and on. Then when I had closed my eyes, she suddenly noticed my cut finger, took it in her hands, started blowing air on it and kissing it. <br /><br />Me: What are you doing honey?<br />Apple: Your finger is hurt mommy, I'm making it better!<br />Me: Thanks honey. I feel better already.<br />Apple: We need to get you a band aid. Would you like a Dora band aid?<br /><br />The finger may have still hurt but the heart never felt so warm!<br />Needless to say, she got out of having to take a nap that afternoon.NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-38799755925914181512007-12-04T22:30:00.000-05:002007-12-05T10:48:00.220-05:00On a break...The last month or so has been real crazy both at home and at work.<br />New projects, new house closing, sicknesses, guests .....etc just have been showing up one after the other or simultaneously at times. Consequently there have been blogs unread, tags undone(I haven't forgotten your tags), posts unwritten and ideas lost. <br />I'm really touched by all those who wondered if everything was ok.<br /><br />The coming month promises to be equally(if not more) crazy. The in-laws are arriving, we are moving to the new house..... holiday parties as well as guests will keep me occupied among other things. I doubt I'll be able to post anything amidst all the mayhem but I'll try to visit your blogs.<br /><br />May be the new year will see a rejuvenated, re-energized or even a new blog!<br />Happy Holidays Everyone!NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-50839210402653654582007-11-14T10:45:00.001-05:002007-11-14T10:54:30.969-05:00A great Diwali!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RzsYScVHmBI/AAAAAAAAAJc/nieTl1i362M/s1600-h/ipod-classic.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RzsYScVHmBI/AAAAAAAAAJc/nieTl1i362M/s320/ipod-classic.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132722905440294930" /></a><br />The brother gave me this for bhai dooj. In case you were wondering where I’ve been…...I’ve been busy trying to find stuff to fill up it’s 80G memory!!<br />Anyway, hope you had a great Diwali. Mine was great as usual. We did have some snags but nothing a little holiday cheer can’t fix. <br />Every year we host a Diwali party in an attempt to recreate some of the Diwali magic, that we desis abroad miss so dearly. The first year hosted the party, I made at least five traditional maharashtrian ‘faral’ items, drew rangoli, lighted small lamps, the works! On the day of the party, I cooked up a dinner feast, which included three poha items that my mom makes for Diwali. Friends came over to help with the faral items. We had a blast! The following year, I had no help so I made 3-4 faral items and replaced a coupe of dinner items with catered items. You can guess where this is going. Fast foward to this year.... the plan was to replace everything with store bought items! My friend had told me about this wonderful place in New Jersey who make and ship traditional Diwali ‘Faral’. So I ordered stuff from them three weeks in advance and I ordered dinner food from a local lady. Since I could not find rangoli anywhere I made a design with flowers outside our front door. The lights were strung up, the firecrackers were bought(Georgia now allows fireworks! ), the day of the party arrived but there was no sign of the ‘faral’. A number of frantic calls to the caterers did not yield anything, not even an apology! We ended up running from one Indian store to another to find stuff to replace the items. Everything turned out great in the end. Everyone looked lovely in their traditional finery, especially the kids! Apple just loved the fireworks, she did not want them to end.<br />Now that Diwali is over and everyone is back to their daily grind, I need to get back to my new toy. You may not see me blogging until my fascination with my toy dies but I’ll definitely visit your blogs.<br />Oh did I mention I got an ipod for Diwali? 80G baby!NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-33397667035849623782007-11-01T21:50:00.000-05:002007-11-01T22:04:35.314-05:00Rock'n and Rolli'n<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RyqS9Bjk6EI/AAAAAAAAAJU/_IyIQPeAKWY/s1600-h/rockinya0.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RyqS9Bjk6EI/AAAAAAAAAJU/_IyIQPeAKWY/s320/rockinya0.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128072702802061378" /></a><br /><br />I was granted this award by none other than <a href="http://karmickids.blogspot.com/">Kiran</a>. Yes the same Kiran who's my inspiration, says I rock! So now I'm esctatic! But I must do the needful and pass this on. Everyone I read rocks but everyone I read has already received this. So I pass this on to <a href="http://sai-speak.blogspot.com/">this</a> blogger, whose blog inspired me to start blogging. She rocks but lately she's been caught up in other things. Lets have you rocking again <a href="http://sai-speak.blogspot.com/">Sai</a> shall we?NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-48394211746969246642007-10-26T22:32:00.000-05:002007-10-26T22:44:06.837-05:00Story of a little monster, some pumpkins and some big monsters!“Mommy look! A spider! I wanna touch it!” screamed Apple. <br />She was pointing to the huge fake spiders that were part of the Halloween decorations at her school. She was bursting with excitement pointing to the spiders, spiderwebs and pumpkins.<br />“Mommy I want a spider too!”<br />“Ok.”<br />“I want a pumpkin too!”<br />“Ok”<br />“And spider web”<br />“Ok”<br />“I want three spider. OK?”<br />“We’ll see if the shop has three”<br />“I want three pumpkin”<br />Three is a hot number these days! <br />So off they went to party city where for the first time in her life, mommy bought Halloween stuff…...spider webs, spiders (Yes three! the little monster wouldn’t budge. She even reasoned that mommy, daddy and she needed to have one each).<br />Next stop, the pumpkin patch. The little monster chose three pumpkins. Since she wanted to carry the pumpkins but they were too heavy for her, mommy let her buy a couple of mini pumpkins. An excited mommy also bought a wooden sign that said ‘No Tricks’.<br />Then they spent a perfect breezy Saturday afternoon using their decorating skills (or lack there of) on the front yard. The little monster of course ‘helped’. While mommy was busy trying to untangle the tangled mess that the spiderweb was getting into, she saw the little monster run to the back yard and return with a fistful of dry grass. The little monster spread the grass on the ground and then put her mini pumpkins on top of it. <br />“What are you doing honey?”<br />“I making a pumpkin patch”<br />Mommy thinks she was trying to replicate the haystack on which the pumpkins at her school were placed.<br />All in all, the monster seemed satisfied with their little Halloween decor. Meanwhile mommy wondered what she was gonna do with all those pumpkins once Halloween was over. Little did she know that she would never get a chance to figure that out. One evening when she returned home, she saw that some real monsters had stolen the pumpkins and the wooden sign. The little monster was heartbroken. All that was left was the rain damaged spider web, three spiders and these pictures for posterity…<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RyKyGRjk6CI/AAAAAAAAAJE/AwMYkAHsHLs/s1600-h/oct+2007+030.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RyKyGRjk6CI/AAAAAAAAAJE/AwMYkAHsHLs/s320/oct+2007+030.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5125855146762627106" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RyKzFhjk6DI/AAAAAAAAAJM/tbiNZYqmmVA/s1600-h/oct+2007+054.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RyKzFhjk6DI/AAAAAAAAAJM/tbiNZYqmmVA/s320/oct+2007+054.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5125856233389353010" /></a>NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-78983345373131716152007-10-25T21:44:00.000-05:002007-10-26T06:56:04.841-05:00My Very First Award Ever<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RyFcExjk6AI/AAAAAAAAAI0/1dphatHQdWw/s1600-h/schmoozeawardou8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RyFcExjk6AI/AAAAAAAAAI0/1dphatHQdWw/s320/schmoozeawardou8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5125479088016123906" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/15567530816922483398">aa_mom</a> handed me my very first award in the blog world...alright,my very first award in any world unless you count the 'consolation' prizes in grade school!(BTW hate the term!).<br />Needless to say I'm jumping up and down in excitement. I don't care what this award means or why it was given, I'm just excited to receive it. I have waited for this moment my whole life. In fact I had even prepared an acceptance speech but can't<br />seem to find it right now. I think it contained a vote of thanks to Apple for supplying me with post fodder, to hubby for not disturbing me while I blog(I can tune out snoring), mom, dad, my neighbour, neighbour's dog(why? because I don't have one) and so on. But instead I think I'll thank aa_mom for considering me worthy of this award and you guys for keeping me addicted to blogging with your wonderful blogs. <br /><br />Now comes the hardest part... passing on this award. It is hard not because there aren't many worthy souls(in fact there are too many) but because I seem to be the last one to receive this. Pretty much every blogger I know has already received it. Does that mean I get to keep it? (Please say yes!)<br /><br />Alright, I'll be good and try to pass it along. I'm gonna pass it on to some of my favorite bloggers whose recent few posts did not mention getting a schmooze award. Here they are:<br /><a href="http://karmicmusings.blogspot.com/">Sanjay</a> <br /><a href="http://karmickids.blogspot.com/">Kiran</a> <br /><a href="http://orangeicecandy.blogspot.com/">Parul</a> <br /><a href="http://chandni.wordpress.com/">Chandni</a><br /><br />I know I'm expected to write some blurbs about these people and why I'm giving them this award. But I'm not good at this schmoozing thing(No, I'm not giving back my award!), so 'I love their blogs' pretty much sums it up.<br />Now go on and do your victory dance. Do it again for me if you've already done it!NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-56939287245026801762007-10-17T10:36:00.000-05:002007-10-17T11:02:47.122-05:00The Number 4The insightful <a href="http://chandni.wordpress.com/">Chandni</a> has tagged me to do this tag of four. This is an easy one since the number four has relevance in every aspect of my life. My birthday falls on the fourth, I've had four close friends in my life, I've had four jobs before the current one and 4.00 pm is my favorite time of the day(that's when I leave work to go pick up Apple). So here you go..<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Four Jobs I’ve had in my life</span><br /><br /> * Computer programming tutor – teaching BASIC and FOTRAN to a first year engineering student(I won’t be surprised if he got scarred for life and never touched programming again) <br /> * Market research analyst – asking a bunch of plant engineers questions about the electrical motors they used. (Lasted for 15 days)<br /> * Software Developer (writing programs that surprise you with unexpected features)<br /> * Solutions Consultant (communicating lies back and forth between software developers and customers)<br /> <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Four TV Shows I love to watch</span><br /><br /> * Everybody loves Raymond<br /> * Friends<br /> * Dancing with the stars<br /> * ….(Can’t think of a fourth one…I barely watch TV these days)<br /> <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Four movies I can watch over and over<br /></span><br /> * Jaane bhi do yaaron<br /> * Chalti ka naam gaadi<br /> * Office Space<br /> * Father of the bride<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Four places I have lived</span><br /><br /> * Nasik<br /> * Bombay<br /> * Harrisburg (Pennsylvania)<br /> * Atlanta <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Four places I have been on Holiday ( in the last couple of years)<br /></span><br /> * Venice (Italy)<br /> * Athens (Greece)<br /> * Mykonos( Greece)<br /> * Split (Croatia)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Four of my favorite dishes<br /></span><br /> * Chaat ( includes everything from Bhel puri to pani puri)<br /> * Biryani<br /> * Pav bhaaji<br /> * Khichadi<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Four Websites I visit daily</span><br /><br /> * Google ( gmail, blogs etc)<br /> * Yahoo (email)<br /> * NPR<br /> * BBC<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Four places I would rather be right now</span><br /><br /> * On a beach, lying on the sand, a book in hand.<br /> * In Bombay, amongst family.<br /> * On a wildlife safari <br /> * Relaxing in the Jacuzzi.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Four people I am tagging</span><br /><br /> * <a href="http://sunitathomas.blogspot.com/">Sunita</a><br /> * <a href="http://themadmomma.blogspot.com/">Mad Momma</a><br /> * <a href="http://tiny-tidbits.blogspot.com/">Gauri</a><br /> * <a href="http://matterofpast.blogspot.com/">Swati</a>NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-31967093615182606862007-10-10T12:40:00.000-05:002007-10-11T06:49:28.331-05:00Apple doesn't mince wordsI am convinced that my daughter can give any straight tlking lawyer (if such a thig exists) a run for his/her money. The child can argue. Poor mommy who was never good at arguing anyway has now throw in the towel.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Scene 1:</span><br />Dinner time . Mommy has made spicy chicken curry for the adults and a milder version of it for Apple.<br />Nevertheless Apple complains that it is spicy.<br />Mommy: Its not spicy honey, I made this specially for you. I din’t make this one spicy.<br />Apple: It is spicy.(pointing to the food in her mouth) It tastes spicy to me, so it is spicy!<br />Hmm...how does one argue with that?<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Scene 2:</span><br />We are at a friend's place for dinner with other friends and their families. All the adults are chatting in the kitchen and family room, older kids are playing upstairs and a some younger kids playing in a room that is full of toys belonging to my friend’s son who’s the same age as Apple. Apple wants to play there but insists that mommy sit next to her. Mommy sits there for a while and notices that Apple has started getting comfortable with the setting. Another friend’s MIL is in the same room watching her twin grandsons. She tells mommy to go ahead and join her friends and that she’ll keep an eye on Apple. Since Apple is not likely to get in trouble, mommy wonders if she can try this. <br /><br />Mommy: Apple honey, you sit here and play, mommy will go to the other room for sometime. OK?<br />Apple: No mommy stay!<br />Mommy: Come on, (pointing to my friends twins) look at N and A . Is their mommy here? But they are playing by themselves, aren't they? Are they asking for their mommy? You can also play with them.<br />Apple: But their grandma is here. That’s why they are not asking for mommy.<br />Oh ok. Dint realize that!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Scene 3:</span><br />Apple and mommy are ready to go outside so that Apple can ride her tricycle. Its still day time and as mommy approaches the door she realizes that the light outside the front door and the light in the foyer are on. Mommy wonders who left the lights on and switches them off. After a few seconds, Apple comes behind mommy, notices that the lights are off and switches them back on. Ah ! mommy found her culprit! Before mommy could say anything, Apple says ‘ Why did you switch off the lights mommy? I already(that's her new favorite word) switched them on. Now I switch them again. OK? Don’t switch them off next time. OK?<br />Yeah right!NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-79548481906524168342007-10-02T09:32:00.000-05:002007-10-03T08:12:06.156-05:00Tagged to list my quirks!I have been tagged to list my quirks by one of my favorite bloggers... the smart and humorous <a href="http://making-sense-amidst-mayhem.blogspot.com/">fuzzy</a>. Quirky? Me? Of course not. I was tempted to say I can’t do this post because I don’t have any quirks but instead I decided to take a good look at my habits and pick the ones that could qualify as quirks. I did think of asking my hubby and my brother for help, but then I was sure they would come up with a list so long that blogger would not be able to handle it. So I decided to do this on my own.....assisted of course by my blogger friends with whom I share some of these:<br /><br />1. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Covering my feet:</span> Like <a href="http://making-sense-amidst-mayhem.blogspot.com/">fuzzy</a>, I have to have my feet covered when I sleep, even if it is for a short nap in the middle of a hot summer afternoon.<br /><br />2. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Washing my hands:</span> Like <a href="http://themadmomma.blogspot.com/">Mad Momma</a>, I need to wash my hands hundreds of times a day. I use a paper towel (when available) to open the water faucet in the public rest room sinks. I hate touching anything in those restrooms.<br /><br />3. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Stocking up food:</span> Like <a href="http://themadmomma.blogspot.com/">Mad Momma</a>, I have to have my fridge/pantry stocked all the time. I always end up buying more groceries than we need for ‘emergencies’ that never occur. As a result we end up wasting some perishables. I keep promising myself that I’ll do better in this area. I really want to.<br /><br />4. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Cannot rest until all my work is done:</span> When I get home from work, I cannot sit even for a minute. I have to first start working on my chores (cooking, cleaning etc) and only after everything is done, can I put my feet up. Hubby and bro, who like to first rest and then get to their tasks, find this very weird. Initially hubby used to tell me to sit for a while but I’d get extremely restless and could not relax knowing that I had things to do. This has changed somewhat with the arrival of Apple in our lives. Now when I get home, I play with her for a couple of hours until hubby comes home (his work schedule is usually couple of hours behind mine). Then I get to my chores and he gets to play with her. But I cannot watch TV or get on the computer until all my chores are done and Apple is fast asleep.<br /><br />5. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Fickle minded shopper:</span> I am very fickle minded when it comes to shopping (especially for clothes). I buy clothes one day, return them the next, then buy same items in different color, then return them…. You get the picture. Whenever I show my hubby something that I have bought, his question is ‘when are you returning it?’.<br /><br />6. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Stocking up clothes for Apple:</span> I love stocking up clothes for Apple. Every few weeks, I organize her closet and check which of the new ones she’s ready to get into. For some reason unknown to me, her clothes feel like treasures to me. That some of these treasures go waste is another story.<br /><br />7. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Handling home finances:</span> I have to handle the bills, bank accounts etc myself. Even though hubby does not mind doing it and does pay bills sometimes, I have to at least check everything. Not that I don’t trust him, I just have a strong need to be involved in these things.<br /><br />8. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Keeping Promises:</span> If I even casually tell people that I’ll do something for them, then I can’t relax until I actually do it. On the flip side if someone casually says to me "we’ll meet at our house for coffee next time” then I seriously wait for an invitation. May be I’m naïve or just plain stupid!<br /><br />Hmm, the list turned out to be longer than I expected. Looks like I might be able to come up with more quirks if I keep at it or come up with a lot more if I ask my family and friends. But which normal(?) person wants to admit all their quirks? So this is the list I’m sticking with.<br />Since everyone is alreading floating(or swimming or sinking) in a sea of tags, I am not tagging anyone. But feel free to pick it up.NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-59363076013694512312007-09-26T22:02:00.000-05:002007-09-27T20:27:29.223-05:00Its about time!Last weekend an American friend (lets call her L) and her husband visited us for dinner. They were supposed to be at our place at 6.30 p.m. Around 6.20 the phone rang. L was on the line.<br />L: Hi Naina, guess what, we are running late!<br />Me: (Happy that it would give me a few extra minutes to get things in order) That’s not a problem at all. Take your time. (Really, I mean it) BTW where are you guys?<br />L: We just took the exit off the highway.<br />Me: (realizing that I needed to hurry up cos they weren’t that far) Oh then you should be here in 15 minutes. That’s hardly late. See ya soon.<br /><br />And soon it was! For they showed up at 6.30 sharp. <br />My brother who’s not yet completely acclimated to the ways of Americans had never seen people being so punctual in a private setting. He was amused by the fact that they called to apologize because they thought they would be 5 minutes late. I assure you this never happens with Indians (also known as desis).<br /><br />If you are a desi attending a desi gathering you don’t apologize for being late, you apologize if you show up on time. This is how it works… if you are the host and you want people (especially desis) to show up at 7.00 p.m., you tell them that the party starts at 6.00 p.m. You can rest assured that no one (and I mean NO ONE) will show up before 7.00. If you are the guest and have received an invitation for 6.00 p.m., NEVER, I repeat NEVER show up at 6.00pm. The host is not expecting anyone before 7.00 p.m. If you reach ‘early’ the host will still be in the middle of preparations and will not know what to do with you. <br /><br />My husband learnt this the hard way. He would always insist on reaching an event dot on the given time. A lot of times we would show up at someone’s place on time and they would still be putting the final touches to the food/décor and not yet be dressed for the party. One could see them struggle to hide the ‘what the heck are they doing so early?’ look on their face. They’d tell us to make ourselves comfortable while they showered or did whatever else. So we’d end up looking at our watches, watching every minute pass by and praying for someone else to show up. Please God someone…..even that loud-mouthed gossip monger will do! <br />This one time, we reached someone’s place on the given time. No one else had showed up and the hostess has just started preparing appetizers. For want of better things to do, I offered to help (what was I thinking?). The next thing I know, she dumped the entire task on me while she went upstairs and showered and got ready. By the time people arrived, she looked all clean and fresh while I was greasy from the sweat and the cooking oil. That did it! From that time onwards, I refused to go to any desi events on time. <br /><br />Now we always reach fashionably late. <br />Just a couple of weekends ago, we were on our way to a party, late as usual, when we got a frantic call from a friend who had already reached the destination.<br />Friend: Where are you guys?<br />Us: We are on our way.<br />Friend: How far are you? Can you hurry up? I’m already here and there’s no one else here! I don’t know what to do here.<br /><br />Hmm…looks like some people still haven’t learnt the workings of Indian Stretchable time. It’s about time they did.NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-73158263167787879972007-09-20T09:14:00.000-05:002007-09-20T09:26:08.611-05:00Tagged to describe my dreamsI have been tagged by <a href="http://recollectthescattered.blogspot.com/">Swati</a> to list some weird or recurring dreams I’ve had. Now I don’t remember most of them even though I know I’ve had quite a few weird ones. But here are a few weird themes (for a lack of a better word) that I see appearing quite a few times:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Exam time:</span> I’m in college and I have some examination, I either forget about it and miss the exam or I go extremely late or I reach on time but cannot remember a word. Just yesterday I dreamt that I had exams next week and that I was supposed to study for 5 subjects but I dint even have books for two of those and had no idea what those two subjects were. <span style="font-style:italic;">What can I say, exams have always been my worst nightmare irrespective of the results!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Family Trip/Fun:</span> We are enjoying as a family either at some beautiful vacation place or partying at home. Except the family only consists of my parents and siblings. Hubby is never in the picture even though we’ve been married almost 10 years now. <span style="font-style:italic;">Hubby would have called it ‘wishful thinking’ but I don’t see Apple either and he wouldn’t dare to joke about that!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Losing a loved one:</span> This is the one that terrifies me the most… loss of some family member. It’s not the same family member all the time. <span style="font-style:italic;">But then I’ve heard a superstition that if you dream about someone’s death, they end up having a long life. I’m not someone who believes in superstition but somehow I hope this one is true.</span><br /><br />I tag <a href="http://making-sense-amidst-mayhem.blogspot.com/">fuzzy</a>, <a href="http://my2centstoo.blogspot.com/">Cee Kay</a>, <a href="http://doiwrite.blogspot.com/">n~m</a> , <a href="http://justanotheronlinediary.blogspot.com/">ss</a>, <a href="http://surabhish.blogspot.com/">Sur</a> and <a href="http://karmickids.blogspot.com/">Kiran</a> to list their dreams. Please ignore if you’ve already done this tag.NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-36212014550253487482007-09-11T20:00:00.001-05:002007-09-13T10:17:24.509-05:00Lady Like Behaviour<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RudKRUoyskI/AAAAAAAAAIs/n4X0A4WtN9I/s1600-h/lady.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RudKRUoyskI/AAAAAAAAAIs/n4X0A4WtN9I/s320/lady.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5109133963733152322" /></a><br />A coworker of mine found this book on ‘Etiquette’ that belonged to her great great grandmother. She brought it in because she thought some of us would find it interesting. The book is from the 1800s (exact publishing date not known). Its called ‘True Politeness’ – Handbook of Etiquette for Ladies. Its signed ‘By and American Lady’. Apparently it was impolite for a lady to reveal her name as an author. <br />Ladies, here are some gems of wisdom (from the book) that I thought you might get a kick out of:<br /><br /><br /> <em>A lady ought not to present herself alone in a library or museum, unless she goes there to study or work as an artist.</em><br /><br /> <em>The superior in rank and station should first salute the inferior. Therefore if you meet a gentleman in the street with whom you are acquainted, recollect that it is your province to recognize him before he presumes to salute you.</em><br /><br /> <em>Double entendre is detestable in a woman, especially when perpetrated in the presence of men; no man of taste can respect a woman who is guilty of it: though it may create a laugh, it will inevitably excite also disgust in the minds of all whose good opinions are worth acquiring. Therefore not only avoid all indelicate expressions, but appear not to understand any that may be uttered in your presence.</em><br /><br /> <em>Never go early to a public ball; and do not be frequently seen at such. When you do attend, do not dance from the time you enter the room until you leave; it may leave the impression that you have few opportunities of dancing except at such balls.</em><br /><br /> <em>Ladies should not leave the table before the end of the entertainment, unless from urgent necessity. If it is a married lady, she requests someone to accompany her; if unmarried, she goes with her mother.</em><br /><br /><br /><strong>Some of the etiquette tips are relevant even today and I wish people (both ladies and gentlemen) would follow:</strong><br /><br /> <em>Endeavor always to present an article which the recipient has not. This in many cases may be difficult; but where it is possible it should always be done.</em><br /><br /> <em>Never give away a present which you received from another; or at least so arrange it that it may never be known.</em><br />(Everyone passing on season inappropriate clothes and /or age inappropriate toys to Apple, take notice!)<br /><br /> <em>As persons are necessarily introduced at a dinner party, only such persons as are known to each other, or who mutually desire to be acquainted should be invited except under certain circumstances.</em><br />(If only I had a dollar for every party that I attended where there’s always a bunch of people I don’t know , the host does not care to introduce them and they proceed to converse in a language that I don’t understand, I’d have enough money to stop recycling presents)<br /><br /><br /><strong>And last but not the least…the universal and most relevant one for all times… </strong><br /><em>The most obvious mark of good breeding and good taste is a sensitive regard for the feelings of others.</em><br /><br />Now with a sensitive regard to the feelings of irritation that you may acquire on reading some of these, I will not subject you to any more gems of wisdom. How about coming up with Etiquette for gentlemen (if such a thing exists)?NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-62825162052626365142007-09-07T09:33:00.000-05:002007-09-07T09:34:04.257-05:00Honey we broke the baby.......again!The last few weeks have been absolutely crazy on all fronts. Work wise, a colleague got laid off so the rest of us are under a lot of pressure to do more than our share. Then there was a friend’s 40th birthday party (yes some of us are old! I’m years away though) for which I was writing and directing a skit to make fun of him. That and many other things conspired to keep me away from blogland. But the most worrisome event was when Apple complained about stomachache.<br />One (not so) fine Friday morning I got a call from her day care operator saying she was complaining of tummy ache. Hubby had just dropped her off and she seemed totally fine, so I was a little suspicious. I wondered if this was one of the days when they were short staffed and used every little excuse to send kids home. Apple dint have any other symptoms but I dint have the heart to leave her there in case she was really hurting. So I made an appointment with her doctor, left work and picked her up. The doctor checked her and did not find anything wrong, said it might have been something she has eaten and told me to give her Tylenol if she complains again. With that we returned home, mommy and Apple! With Tylenol in her tummy, Apple had forgotten all about pain and was all set to order mommy around. The day passed without incident and Apple continued to be her normal cheerful self until next evening. We were at a friend’s place when she started complaining about tummyache again. Since it was a weekend evening, we rushed her to the emergency room. After a couple of tests, X-rays and all the works, the diagnosis came in….’Constipation’!. Are you kidding me? She had had a couple of bowel movements on both the days so I was having tough time buying that diagnosis but the doctor gave us a ‘thanks for wasting my time” look. What was he so mad about ? That he had people in the next room with lung clots and heart problems and these idiots were wasting his time for a child’s constipation? Oh ok! Yes we can be stupid sometimes (ok, most of the times) but how were we supposed to know if our baby’s condition required immediate attention or not? When my happy two-year-old cries uncontrollably, it sounds serious to me. What if she had an ulcer or appendicitis?<br />Anyway we were back home and she slept peacefully because of the painkiller. <br />Next morning we started to give her foods /drinks to help her with her so called constipation. We started with prune juice. Now the last time we gave her prune juice for her constipation it had resulted in a disaster:<br />She was around one, still on formula bottle and was constipated one day. I remembered someone telling me that prune juice worked, so I filled her bottle with prune juice instead of formula. The poor thing liked the sweet taste and drank it all up. The next thing we know she has diarrhea! Oh ok…so prune juice really works …BIG TIME …so less prune juice next time! Nice trail and error parenting we got going there!<br />Coming back to this time, we were careful to give her little prune juice, that dint help, tried grape juice, dint help either! By evening she had started crying again …my impatient hubby decided to give her a laxative… an hour later she was still crying, tried pain killers etc …crying continued…finally at 11.00 PM we decided to give her rectal anema. That dint work either but tired from crying she finally slept. Around 4.00 am she woke up crying again and the next think we know….all the laxatives suddenly hit! We managed to break our poor child again! The next couple of hours she slept peacefully, having cleared up her tummy, while we ended up steam vacuuming the carpet, washing the sheets, clothes …oh the joys of parenthood!<br /><br />I am happy to report that all is well in Apple land though Apple was seen asking God to impart more common sense to her parents so that they stop these trail and error tactics on her.NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-15790546196013059092007-08-09T08:30:00.000-05:002007-08-09T11:04:49.866-05:00Apple Speak....I can’t help but marvel at the confidence my little one has. At two and a half, she’s sure she knows better than her mommy does.<br /><br />Mommy: (pointing to a picture of a triangle) What’s that shape?<br />Apple: That’s a rectangle.<br />Mommy: No honey that’s a triangle.<br />Apple: No, it’s a rectangle.<br />Mommy: No honey (pointing to a rectangle)…that is a rectangle…this is a triangle.<br />Apple: Mommy, this is a rectangle…O O O…K KK? (A huge emphasis on OK)<br />Now I need to learn my basics from my little one!<br /><br />Whenever she’s outdoors Apple wants to pick up something or the other…a stone,a stick, other junk. Sometimes to deter her from picking up junk, I’ll tell her that it has bugs on it, since she’s scared of bugs. The other day, I wanted to take her for a walk, so I took out the stroller. Now instead of siting in it she wanted to push it. I refused and said that I was gonna push it. To that she says. “Mommy don’t touch the stroller,it has bugs, bugs bite mommy!” Yeah right!<br /><br />The other day when I was putting away her toys and she dint want me to, she said, “ no touching my stuff mommy”. When I ignored it and continued cleaning up,she said, “What did I just tell you mommy? No touching my stuff!”... hmm...anything I say can be used against me (especially by my own little baby!)<br /><br />Oh and now I can store my shopping list in her head. If I mention to her that we need to buy something from the grocery store, she will remind me of that whenever we are in a store or whenever she sees a store. Of course she’s already trying to use it for her own benefit. On our way home from her daycare there’s a Walgreen’s pharmacy, sometimes when I’m out of milk or something like that and I don’t have the time to go to the grocery store, Apple and I stop there on our way home. She likes it because then she can pull things off the shelf and can try to pressure me into buying something that she wants. Sometimes, but not always she manages to get a piece of candy, a small toy etc. The other day, we were driving past the store and she started<br />pointing to it and saying, “ I want to go to the shop”.<br />“We don’t need to go to the shop”<br />“Yes we need … we need milk”<br />“We have milk at home honey”<br />“Mommy, milk finish at home, we get it from the shop”<br />Yeah, nice try!<br /><br />I’m being outsmarted by a toddler! Outsmarting me is not that difficult...any normal person can do it..... but such a little person doing that?I shudder to think of what will happen when she’s a teenager and I’m getting older, weaker and more forgetful.<br />Any smart pills out there that I can use?NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-80941142709252918892007-08-02T08:54:00.000-05:002007-08-02T22:09:39.748-05:00On blogging and half a facial!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RrH3oEyBN8I/AAAAAAAAAIk/TbA-3XkWwHg/s1600-h/200px-Facial_mask.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RrH3oEyBN8I/AAAAAAAAAIk/TbA-3XkWwHg/s320/200px-Facial_mask.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094124921383106498" /></a><br /><br />I am an introvert. I have always found it very difficult to express my thoughts and opinions to people I don’t know. Before I started blogging, I used to wonder if blogging anonymously would help me open up. After all, I wanted to communicate with all you wonderful people whose blogs I read regularly. It took me a long time to get on the blogosphere and I still can’t get myself to talk about serious issues like <a href="http://themadmomma.blogspot.com/2007/07/30-female-foetuses-found-from-garbage.html">this</a> or <a href="http://karmicmusings.blogspot.com/2007/07/is-your-outrage-meter-in-red-yet-meter.html">this</a>, though I have progressed from keeping my opinions to myself to at least expressing them mildly in comments to other people’s posts. Hopefully someday, I’ll be able to write about what matters. Until then it will be about other “important things” like this one….<br /><br />“Is this Mrs. T?” asked the lady on the other end of the phone.<br />“Yes.”<br />“Mrs. T, I am glad to inform you that you have won a free facial and a gift certificate for some free products from our company. Would you like to schedule it now?”<br />A free facial! Vow! How did I get so lucky? Now I have never won anything unless you count a single company coaster that I won in a drawing at the last division meeting. So for a minute I was excited. Then I remembered that sometime around mother’s day this company’s rep and made us fill out our names and addresses at my daughter’s day care. I knew that this was a sales gimmick but I’m a sucker for free stuff. So I scheduled an appointment and then rescheduled it and so on until the lady finally came home yesterday. I work from home once a week and I use my lunch hour that day for errands, blogging etc. Yesterday, I decided that I’d drop the errands, ignore your blogs and allow myself to be pampered instead.<br /><br />The lady showed up fifteen minutes late, then blamed it on traffic. Yeah Right! I know how crazy the traffic can get on a Wednesday afternoon in a purely residential area, especially with schools out. Anyway, she decided that we would sit at the breakfast table and pulled out a plastic tray from her bag. She took a drop (literally!) each of a cleanser, a moisturizer, a toner and a couple of other things and put them on the tray. She then told me to go ahead and apply the products to only the right side of my face. <br />“Why just one side?”<br />“Because I want to show you the difference it makes”<br />Ok. I thought. First we’ll apply it to one side and then to the other.<br />After applying all the products step by step to the right side of my face, she handed me a mirror.<br />“Do you see any difference?”<br />I was squinting my eyes hard trying to search for any difference.<br />Sensing that she may not get the answer that she was looking for, she immediately said,<br />“See I can see this side looks brighter. Don’t you agree?”<br />Being a pushover that I am (which the lady had shrewdly observed ) I nodded.<br />“Ok now, I’ll show you some hand products”<br />“What about the other side? Can I apply the remaining products (read the other half a drop of each product) on the left hand side of my face?”<br />She just smiled and said, “ May be you can apply the moisturizer”<br />Would it have killed her to let me use the remaining products on the tray, especially since she had promised a free facial and this is nowhere close to a facial? She should have just called it product sampling or half a product sampling. Needless to say she did not get any business from me. <br /><br />Anyway, if you are in the Atlanta area and if you run into a (young)woman with right side of her face looking brighter than the left side, come say hello to Naina.NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-28938944669001281022007-07-26T13:02:00.000-05:002007-07-26T13:45:08.159-05:00Some pictures from the tripHere are a few pictures from our trip as promised...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ports/group/home.do;jsessionid=0000lSUoLtzeTpx4Wqv2PmaqQEu:10ktmeta1?dest=EUROP&portCode=VCE">Venice</a> - A view from or Gondola<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjkR0yBNrI/AAAAAAAAAFg/rEziD4UB1IA/s1600-h/1-+Venice+-+view+from+our+Gondola.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjkR0yBNrI/AAAAAAAAAFg/rEziD4UB1IA/s320/1-+Venice+-+view+from+our+Gondola.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091570373619693234" /></a><br /><br /><br />Venice - Another picture of the canals and surrounding buildings taken from the Gondola<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjkhEyBNsI/AAAAAAAAAFo/kX57aAByNTY/s1600-h/2+-+Venice+-+Gondola+ride.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjkhEyBNsI/AAAAAAAAAFo/kX57aAByNTY/s320/2+-+Venice+-+Gondola+ride.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091570635612698306" /></a><br /><br /><br />Venice - The area across the canal from our hotel<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/Rqjk-kyBNtI/AAAAAAAAAFw/cQcGdjfBfQ8/s1600-h/3+-+Venice+-+Across+the+Canal+from+our+hotel.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/Rqjk-kyBNtI/AAAAAAAAAFw/cQcGdjfBfQ8/s320/3+-+Venice+-+Across+the+Canal+from+our+hotel.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091571142418839250" /></a><br /><br />Venice - Apple eyeing icecream outside the restaurent next to our hotel<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjlMUyBNuI/AAAAAAAAAF4/0xaNEjmf4v4/s1600-h/4+-+Apple+eyeing+ice+cream+in+Venice.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjlMUyBNuI/AAAAAAAAAF4/0xaNEjmf4v4/s320/4+-+Apple+eyeing+ice+cream+in+Venice.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091571378642040546" /></a><br /><br /><br />Delos Island - <a href="http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ports/group/home.do;jsessionid=0000lSUoLtzeTpx4Wqv2PmaqQEu:10ktmeta1?dest=EUROP&portCode=JMK">Mykonos</a> - Greece<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjlwkyBNwI/AAAAAAAAAGI/ztcRw2ueAks/s1600-h/6+-+Delos+Island++-+Greece.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjlwkyBNwI/AAAAAAAAAGI/ztcRw2ueAks/s320/6+-+Delos+Island++-+Greece.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091572001412298498" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ports/group/home.do;jsessionid=0000lSUoLtzeTpx4Wqv2PmaqQEu:10ktmeta1?dest=EUROP&portCode=ATH">Athens</a> - Acropolis<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/Rqjl5kyBNxI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/UFfJgbnYw3c/s1600-h/7+-+Acropolis+-+Athens.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/Rqjl5kyBNxI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/UFfJgbnYw3c/s320/7+-+Acropolis+-+Athens.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091572156031121170" /></a><br /><br />Athens - Acropolis - A view of the city from the top of the hill <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjorEyBN6I/AAAAAAAAAHY/TyKN4sxrK0c/s1600-h/Cruise+Trip+189.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjorEyBN6I/AAAAAAAAAHY/TyKN4sxrK0c/s320/Cruise+Trip+189.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091575205457901474" /></a><br /><br /><br />Athens - Acropolis - from the bottom of the hill<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjmQ0yBNzI/AAAAAAAAAGg/qeOwz2shNdo/s1600-h/9+-+Another+view+of+Acropolis.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjmQ0yBNzI/AAAAAAAAAGg/qeOwz2shNdo/s320/9+-+Another+view+of+Acropolis.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091572555463079730" /></a><br /><br />On board - Apple dancing with dad<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjmbkyBN0I/AAAAAAAAAGo/zODGQZbkJbw/s1600-h/10+-+Apple+and+Dad+Dancing.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjmbkyBN0I/AAAAAAAAAGo/zODGQZbkJbw/s320/10+-+Apple+and+Dad+Dancing.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091572740146673474" /></a><br /><br />On board - Sunset<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjmmEyBN1I/AAAAAAAAAGw/Z2dlS_z6Anc/s1600-h/11+-+Sunset+from+the+deck.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjmmEyBN1I/AAAAAAAAAGw/Z2dlS_z6Anc/s320/11+-+Sunset+from+the+deck.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091572920535299922" /></a><br /><br /><br />On board - Apple and Dad watching sunset<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjmxEyBN2I/AAAAAAAAAG4/6BbN-S696sI/s1600-h/12+-+Apple+and+Dad+watching+sunset.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjmxEyBN2I/AAAAAAAAAG4/6BbN-S696sI/s320/12+-+Apple+and+Dad+watching+sunset.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091573109513860962" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ports/group/home.do;jsessionid=0000lSUoLtzeTpx4Wqv2PmaqQEu:10ktmeta1?dest=EUROP&portCode=SPU">Split</a> - Croatia<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/Rqjm7kyBN3I/AAAAAAAAAHA/3UQqBoUI8rk/s1600-h/13+-+Split+croatia.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/Rqjm7kyBN3I/AAAAAAAAAHA/3UQqBoUI8rk/s320/13+-+Split+croatia.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091573289902487410" /></a><br /><br /><br />Lisbon - Portugal - Political campaigning on the streets of Lisbon<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjnHkyBN4I/AAAAAAAAAHI/igpDdIpbJU8/s1600-h/14+-+Political+campaigning+in+Lisbon.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjnHkyBN4I/AAAAAAAAAHI/igpDdIpbJU8/s320/14+-+Political+campaigning+in+Lisbon.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091573496060917634" /></a><br /><br /><br />Lisbon - Portugal - Tram going through the city.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjnZEyBN5I/AAAAAAAAAHQ/lt9bmUBksr0/s1600-h/15+-+Tram+in+Lisbon.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RqjnZEyBN5I/AAAAAAAAAHQ/lt9bmUBksr0/s320/15+-+Tram+in+Lisbon.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5091573796708628370" /></a>NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-30225487217989038432007-07-23T21:21:00.000-05:002007-07-25T06:41:08.102-05:00An eventful trip - Part II - Lost Luggage and Lovely Trip<span style="font-style:italic;">Continued from previous post..</span><br /><br />As the bags started coming in, we looked at each one hopefully. As time passed and we hadn’t spotted even one of our three bags, the reality started sinking in. The last bag on the conveyor killed the last ray of hope that we clung to and we found ourselves in a line for lost luggage. There were about 7-8 people ahead of us so we thought we would be assisted in a few minutes. Well fifteen minutes later the line had not moved even an inch. Yep! We were in Italy! Two hours later we are at the counter giving all the baggage information to the helpful(yeah right!) lady. She looked into her system and said ,<br />“There is no information about your bags but no problem Sir, you should get them by tomorrow”<br />“If you don’t know where the bags are how can you be sure that they will arrive tomorrow?”<br />“No Problem Sir. They usually do arrive the next day”.<br />“But we leave for a cruise tomorrow. What if we don’t get them by tomorrow?”<br />“No Problem Sir. We send it to the next port of call “.<br />She said it so confidently, that one would be inclined to believe her but by this time we knew better. We decided to wait until the next morning to panic and start buying essentials. Reaching the hotel was a task because all the hotel information was in one of the bags we lost. All we remembered was the name of the hotel and the bus stop that we had to get down at. We got down at the right bus stop . It was in the middle of a circle with roads going out in all four directions. We got out of<br />the bus and stared in all directions. We knew it was a ten minute walk to the hotel so we did not want to head in the wrong direction. Our request for directions was mostly met with shrugs. Finally a gondolier pointed us in the direction of our hotel and we managed to reach it. <br /><br />Our hotel was located on a canal right in the center of activity. We could get a glimpse of the canal from our room. It was beautiful! That evening we roamed through the streets of Venice. The weather was beautiful, the breeze was soothing, the water was calm. We walked along the canal, took a gondola ride, ate a leisurely Italian dinner. Apple had a ball just running around, chasing the pigeons, looking at the<br />boats . She would even sing “row , row, row your boat” every time she saw a new boat. She enjoyed the hustle and bustle and loved looking at the water and the boats. <br />The whole place was so lively and bursting with activity. People walking , boats passing by, hawkers selling their wares, dinners dinning by the canal side. There was a restaurant right next to our hotel. All the tables were outside by the canal, the building only contained the kitchen , storage etc. People sat there and ate leisurely dinner for hours. Every now and then a musician would stop by to entertain the diners.The activity continued late in the night. It was a sharp contrast to my neighbourhood which grows dark and quiet by 9.00 pm and Apple was quite mesmerised by it. In its own way the chaos and noise was very calming.<br />Apple and I stood at the entrance of our hotel watching all the activity while hubby<br />frantically called the airlines from our room. Apple who was still on United States time refused to go to the room and had to be dragged upstairs kicking and screaming at midnight. <br /><br />The next morning after breakfast , the location of our bags still unknown, we decided to start shopping. We only had a couple of hours before we needed to head to the port. Diapers was first on the list. After asking around we finally found a supermarket called COOP. We knew we needed a lot of diapers since we would be at sea for 6 nights so we wanted to get a huge packet. In the diaper isle we picked up the biggest packet and were trying to figure out what size the diapers were and how many<br />the packet contained since all information was written in Italian. The packet had the number 16 on it but we thought “wait a minute, that can’t be right?, how can such a huge packet contain only 16 diapers?”. So we asked a few people and they said it contained 16. It turned out that the packet we were looking at contained adult diapers!. No wonder we were getting strange looks from the people we asked earlier!<br />Fortunately someone pointed that out to us before we bought anything. So with the<br />acquisition diapers and toiletries we set out to buy clothes. We were in a tourist area not a shopping area really so there were not many clothing shops. However there were a lot of small shops selling T-shirts that said ‘Venezia” , “Italia” or “I love Venice”. Fortunately we both had two pairs of pants in order to save time( and<br />money) we just bought a bunch of these T-shirts. Apple’s clothes were another thing. We searched and searched and finally found a shop for children’s clothing where we spent 150 euros on 4 clothing sets for which Iwouldn’t even spend $50 back home. <br />The funniest and most difficult part of the whole exercise was shopping for underwear. It was hard to explain to people what we needed. We finally found the right shop and even there we hit some stumbling blocks. Hubby must have pointed to the general area of his waist while trying to communicate that he needed underwear. The next thing we know the lady brings out a belt! We finally managed to get what we needed and then rushed to the port. While everyone was boarding the ship with huge suitcases, there we were... with a bunch of shopping bags in our hands!<br /><br />The cruise was great though,we enjoyed the beautiful weather, pigged out on the food , danced to the great music and visited three beautiful ports i.e.Mykonos and Athens in Greece and Split in Croatia. (I promise to post pictures and information about<br />these places once I get a chance). We must have looked ridiculous roaming the streets of Athens wearing “I love Venice”Tshirts. Thankfully the there is no enmity between these two countries! <br /><br />Apparently the airline had cancelled our return reservation as well. After a number of phone calls we were able to sort it out. I have to mention that Royal Caribbean made our lives easy by giving us free laundry , free phone calls to the airlines and some other stuff. <br /> <br />On our return to Venice, we found two of the three bags. The third one is still missing. Overall it was a great trip. Now we just have to fight with the airlines to recover some of the money that we ended up spending because of the lost bags. By the time we are through with them, we’d be needing another vacation. This time though we won’t be flying for sure!NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-25990714534750167372007-07-19T11:41:00.000-05:002007-07-25T06:41:52.128-05:00An Eventful trip – Part I – Missed FlightWe are finally back! The trip was both fun-filled and stressful at the same time. It all started at Atlanta airport. We were waiting at the gate to board our flight when my hubby decided to walk to the airline counter to get my daughter’s skymiles account straightened. Forty five minutes later he was still at the counter for something that should have taken five minutes. Since I had a bunch of handbags (thankfully!..you’ll see why) and a toddler with me I could not just get up and go to the counter to see what was going on. So I kept throwing ‘what the heck’ glances towards him and he would ignore some and shoot ‘be patient’ glances back at me. When he finally got back , before I could open my mouth to protest, he told me that our flight to Newark was going to be delayed and as a result we were going to miss the next connection which was to take us to Lisbon. He had spent the past 45 minutes trying to convince the air line to re-route us but since the connecting flight was with a different airline that did not have an office in Atlanta , we had no choice but to go to Newark and then take our chances from there. Which meant we could be stuck in Newark for more than a day…could have missed our cruise and all that. Now we could see the flight sitting at the gate long before it was scheduled to leave so it seemed odd that it wasn’t leaving on time. We were told that the reason it was delayed was due to the fact that the weather was bad in Newark so they had issues with landings and take offs. ‘Great!’ we thought , ‘this means the next flight could also be delayed’. Sure that would have happened if we were waiting at the gate before time for the next one. But this time, it took off on dot! We even saw it on the runway as we were alighting from the first flight!<br />What ensued in the next couple of hours consisted of two squabbling airlines tossing us from one counter to the other, one floor to the other until hubby finally lost it and yelled at a airline manager. That led to the manager finally taking us to the right counter and making sure that we got re-routed. They were re-routing us on a third airline via Paris instead of Lisbon since that was the only flight available so obviously we were worried about our luggage. It contained everything from diapers to all the nice clothes that I had bought specially for the trip that would be useless back home.<br /> “Don’t worry about it, we’ll make sure that the luggage goes with you”. <br />“What about the return trip ? Would that reservation be affected?” .<br />”No. Not at all”.<br />We believed them, mainly because we wanted to. As we waited for the plane to push off, the pilot announced that we would be slightly delayed because they were waiting on a couple of last minute bags. We smiled with satisfaction!<br />On reaching Paris we had to go through yet another counter to counter and terminal to terminal run. Anyone who has traveled through CDG airport knows how big and crazy the airport is. We must have walked/run at least a couple of miles with Apple in my arms(during the entire trip she insisted on being picked up only by me) until we finally got our boarding passes for a flight to Venice. “What about our bags?” we asked the lady at the counter . “Don’t worry you’ll get them at Venice”.<br />On reaching Venice we stood in front of the conveyer belt hoping and praying that our bags have made it in. In spite of all the assurances we had received, there was a nagging feeling that we were not going to see our bags anytime soon.<br />To be continued....NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-81323314597494962812007-07-03T10:24:00.000-05:002007-07-03T10:47:28.470-05:00The daily grind..WARNING!... a rant about nothing... read only if you have nothing better to do.. <br /><br />Last few days have been extremely busy…. too many thoughts crowding my mind and then being purged without landing on the blog mainly because my time and mind has been occupied by a host of other things. So I finally decided to blog about those things. So here it is... the daily grind that I fail to escape……<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Selling the house: </span><br />Like I mentioned in an earlier <a href="http://nainaashley.blogspot.com/2007/06/home-sweet-home.html">post</a>,we are trying to sell our current house. From the time we put it on the market we have the additional task of keeping it spotless. This is particularly difficult when you have a toddler who’s favorite activity is taking things out of their arranged spaces and throwing them all over the house. So every night after Apple is in her bed we spring into action(no people, not that kind of action!) to clean up the mess. Also,when prospective buyers call, we have to drop everything we are doing and leave the house , toddler in tow. Since its hot outside we mostly find ourselves at the mall or in some sort of store and end up helping the economy!.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Building a house: </span><br />After carefully thinking about every aspect of each of houses that we saw, we rejected each one of them for some reason or the other. We finally signed up for a new construction .. ..without giving it too much thought. After all, when has thinking led to good decisions? Anyway now we are saddled with the additional tasks of trips to the site,decisions,phone calls to the agent etc. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Apple: </span><br />My sweet little baby who thinks that mommy and daddy were put on the earth to entertain her! “Stand up mommy “, “Come here mommy”, “Stay right here mommy” …...she commands her poor mother. Well, she’s quite capable of entertaining herself but that would mean broken stuff, crayon marks on the freshly painted walls, juice spilled on the newly installed carpet……you get the picture.!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Apple’s Allergy Test:</span><br />This week she had her allergy test only to discover that she’s allergic to sesame seeds(as suspected) in addition to nuts. I fear that there are other things that she might be allergic to in addition to the things we already know. That’s why I’m extremely nervous about our up coming trip.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Dieting:</span><br />“I need to loose some weight” … that is an on going lament but this time I really do… … so that I can pig out on our up coming Mediterranean cruise and still fit into pre pregnancy swimwear and cool clothes! Now you might say, dieting is easy, don’t eat! No effort required there!Wrong! Yours truly has to follow a diet plan which means looking for or cooking certain foods for myself in addition to feeding a family that<br />includes a fussy eater(no not my baby .. guess again!), a young sibling and a little monster who refuses to eat anything.<br /> <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Work:</span><br />Something I pretend to do during office hours between trying to stay awake and reading blogs! Need to tie some loose ends(or at least pretend to)before I go on the much needed vacation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Getting ready for vacation:</span><br />This has never been harder. With the destinations being a bunch of foreign countries and us travelling with a toddler with food allergies, there is a lot to shop and pack. The airline weight limit and our limited ability to carry a toddler(yes, she will insist on being carried when our hands are full with bags) and the entire luggage does not make it any easier. Never before have I been so nervous about a vacation!<br /><br />But I’m ready…. ready as can be…to bask in the sun, to relax( as much as a toddler would allow), to visit amazing places, to catch up with my reading, to stuff myself with the never ending supply of food to come back refreshed. I promise to share pictures, stories and memories with y’all. Adios for now!NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5524948571497793261.post-69913434944424231462007-06-14T22:22:00.000-05:002007-06-15T12:15:46.594-05:00The Apple of my eye!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RnIGp5tScKI/AAAAAAAAAAs/QJZzrpjObJI/s1600-h/apple+of+eye.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wgyWe_avLVA/RnIGp5tScKI/AAAAAAAAAAs/QJZzrpjObJI/s320/apple+of+eye.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5076127046935146658" /></a><br />“My name is Apple”. Sweetie pie announced the other day. <br />“Hi Apple. Do you want to play with your ball?”<br />“Apple wants to play with the ball.”<br /> I played along thinking that this was a whim of hers that she would forget the next day. Boy was I wrong! My two year old has now officially shunned the name that we carefully chose for her and has taken up the name “Apple”. For the last week or so she has been referring to herself as “Apple”.<br />“Apple wants to go outside”, “Apple is sleepy sleepy “ etc.<br /> <br />Now, I do have memories of wanting names other than mine when I was a kid. As a kid, there were times when someone else’s name sounded more appealing than my own.Of course my favorite names kept changing depending upon the either the characters of my favorite show or someone I admired at a particular point in time. But I was at least old enough to be in elementary or middle school during those times.How a two year old comes up with a name and consistently sticks to it, is beyond me. <br /><br />May be she is being secretly paid by Apple Computers. Hmm... I need to check her 'Piggy' bank account! Or May be she just picked it up from the song that she currently likes which goes: “I like to eat, eat , eat apples and bananas. I like to eat, eat , eat apples and bananas.” Now if she’d only really eat them!<br /><br />I’m not sure if she insists that everyone at day care call her “Apple” but in our household she’s currently referred to as “Apple”. So I even started thinking of having her wear this shirt on father’s day. But I din’t get around to ordering it on time. Ah well, Dad will appreciate the fact that no money was spent!<br /><br />Anyway, in accordance with my little lady’s wishes, she’ll be referred to as “Apple “ on this blog until she comes up with another name.NainaAshleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12679950195505255802noreply@blogger.com18