RIP MJ

Oh my god ! Oh my god ! Michael Jackson really died... nooooo.... I am still not able to come with terms to this.

Sometimes you don't realize how a person touches your life until after they are gone. I am really surprised by how sad I am by his death. I mean I didn't even think once about buying tickets for his concert, so why am I so sad now ?

But if I think hard about it, it makes sense. He was the first pop-star or rock-star that made an impression on me as a kid. I used to dance on his songs and in fact I think his songs were the only English songs that I ever knew as a kid. I even remember that for one of my cousins birthday party (I must be around 12-13 years old) they had a quiz game.. and it was about music and movies from the US. Out of some 25 questions I knew the answer to just one question... who sang "I am bad". I remember staying up late at night when Michael Jackson married that Lisa female and they were interviewed... I was not interested in the marriage.. I was just mesmerized by him.

Then when he came to India for his tour in the 90's I followed him over the news and magazines and just admired him from far. When I came to US and had access to internet at home... I remember searching for his music videos ( as till then I had mostly just heard his music and seen him on TV), and this is when I was 21 years old and I still loved most of his songs.

So in many ways he had been a part of my life for more than a decade.. so if I am sad it makes sense. I will miss him in a way.

Rest in peace Michael Jackson.

Man push cart

I am a movie lover.. which means I am not afraid to experiment, even when sometimes I feel like hitting my head against a wall.. at that time i resolve not to ever watch a random movie again but like new year resolutions I break this resolution every time.

It's partly Paul's (my husband's) fault. I let him get these movies that he thinks are good as at some film festival they were raved about. One such movie we watched today is called "Man Push Cart". Does anyone remember those really slow boring artsy movies that used to have actors like Shabana Azmi and Nassurudin Shah ? Yeah this one beats those.

This is a movie about a Pakistani guy who used to be this rockstar in Pakistan and left all his dreams for the love of his life.. came to US and started out as a bagel stand in NYC... They never explain this drastic transition... I mean he could have either got the love of his life to live with him in Pakistan or he could have used his talent in US.. or atleast tried.. Now the story starts with how his wife is now dead and he is still selling bagels trying to save money so that his kid can live with him... It never brings tears to my eyes... it was downright boring... even when the kitten died.

Had some good acting... but not worth it for 2 hours of pulling my hair out. Time to watch some good old "Friends" to make my mood better.

Yard Work - Part 1

We bought our first house, also the one we are living in right now, about 2 years ago. In fact we marked our 2 year anniversary a couple of weeks ago. Ever since we got the house we have been doing something or the other starting with painting the rooms first year, then fixing the kitchen, renovating the bathroom, staining the deck and now finally this year doing some landscaping.

For once I can take almost all the credit for the work I have done so far. Dear husband helped on occasions where real manpower was needed. I started out with the tiny garden on the side of the house. Every year in spring it blooms tulips, daffodils and then we have roses and strawberries. The garden also housed a LOT of weeds. One would be tempted to use a weed killer solution like Round-up but beware, it can easily kill your daffodils and tulips. So I had to do some hard work - pull out all the weeds one by one by hand. An hour and a few rose thorn scrapes, the garden was almost weed free. Now to keep it weed free.. I decided to mulch. You can do a lot more than just mulching, like covering the area with some kind of special perforated sheet that doesn't allow weed growth.. but that was too much effort for me. So I decided to settle with just mulching.

These days they have rubber mulch - made out of recycled rubber. Looks just like regular mulch but apparently lasts 10 times longer and doesn't lose color. So I got this dark brown colored mulch, which I think goes well with the house, and mulched the tiny garden. It looked beautiful, but just a week or two later I noticed that the mulch is getting dirty and so doesn't look dark brown anymore and the weeds are starting to come back. I went online and realized my mistake. When you mulch make sure you have atleast an inch thick layer of mulch. Just a thin spread is not enough - duh! So I did that and vola - it looks great and has not shown rigorous weed growth since.
Pic 1, 2: In spring right after finishing mulching
Pic 3: In June

Finally and Legally

I am finally married... (legally finally).
And now people call me Mrs. Ardis... still getting used to it.
People call out Mrs. Ardis and I never realise its for me. Like the other day the drycleaning people called me and said.. "Mrs Ardis ?" and I was wondering for atleast half a minute that why are they calling for Paul's mom on my phone before I realised its for me !!
Oh well.. here are some pics for you guys :)

Pirates... Oh Well !!

Pirates ... Dead Man's chest.. was kind of a let down.. I think I expected much more from it.
It was quite funny... but I guess there were too many things going on at the same time...
And they potrayed Jack as more of a bad guy.. :(...
I love Johnny Depp... I just love him.. he is just aweesomee !!

I liked how "Askaninja" said that they are all females except Keira Knightley.. this was hillarious..

Oh well ! I wish the next one is better and Jack turns out to be the hero..

Life After Marriage

Ideal life :
Eat, sleep and watch movies while husband does all the work.

My life after marriage :
Same as above :D

Back from India

Came back from India a few days back... after unpacking 8 (yes you read it right 8 ) suitcases and eating the bizzillion sweets mom packed, I feel quite settled now.
Yesterday I had the tea party and showed everyone the pics and the videos.. it was quite some fun..

This trip to India has been so exhausting for all of us.. and oh boy I am married... :). Though Paul fell sick on the last day after the visit to the temple. Poor baby :( i felt bad.. but he is alright now .

I think the pictures came out alright, not spectacular !! Oh well I think the ones by the proffesional photographer must be good though I wont get to see them for quite sometime.

Oh and on mom's visa ... I guess everything will turn out fine..
Its 9 in the night and Paul says its late.. before marriage he used to say its early lets do something .. :)

Rush Rush Rush

Less than a month is left for the wedding !!!
And less than 2 weeks before I am off for India.. yeeeiii

These few weeks are the most hectic.. preparation for US wedding.. shopping for India.. working with advisor during the summer.. looking for jobs. I mean everyyyything.. every single thing is happening right now..
And once I come back there will be the rush about mom's visa !

Soon I wont be anymore single... I am happy but also a tiny bit scared.. u know the scariness just before the wedding. But I am getting better... I think once I go to India I will be so busy with shopping and then so busy in the ceremonies that I might just forget who I am !!

Oh well.. It should be fun ! I hope Paul has fun too.. he seems really happy these days I hope he is as happy or even more after the wedding :)

Anyways gotta get working on getting the right hairstylist.. see ya later.. bbyee....

Its been raining

Its been raining foreverrr... ok ok not forever. For like 3-4 days.. but I don't like rain and so you can imagine my plight..

Today the sun came out but hardly for an hour, but I made good use of that hour, I went for a walk :).

The PAS results are due today. THese are the results that will decide whether I can continue my PhD or not.. *bitting finger nails*.

Well on the plus side the wedding is approaching and I will get busy with all that. Less than 2 months.. woooow ~

A good long day

Wooha... I had made a resolution of writing atleast every month.. well here stands the credibility of my resolutions :(

Neways... Yesterday was a greaaaaaaaaaattt day.. one of the best days in a long long time. A beautiful morning starting with a little frustation over a meeting that dint happen.. yes even then it was perfect day cos as Paul came and I started ranting how frustated I am he gave me this little white sunflowerish flower.. awwwww !!
I forgot all my frustation in a sec...
He then took me to this hot dog stand for lunch and it was awesome !! Reminds me of the chat thelas in India.. (that used to be some fun .)

After lunch we ran some errands and went shoe shopping. (How can a girls day be perfect without shopping). I bought these really nice footwear, one for party and one for daily wear. After which we went out for dinner to this nice Italian restaraunt called "Brio's". My dish wasnt as good but i got free dessert :D.

After which we went for a hillarious movie. "Thankyou for smoking"... I almost had a stomach ache laughing :)

We came back chit chatted till late in nite and went to bed..

What more would you call perfect ?

I got tagged a few days back. And was it not for this good friend, I wouldnt have really bothered about it :). So i guess this post is kinda dedicated to him !

So if you are tagged by me, you better dedicate ur tagged post to me :P

Seven Things I Want To Do in my Life:
1) Sky Diving
2) Europe Tour for a month or more
3) Own a Mansion :D (not when I am too old though!)
4) Eat as much as I can and not go fat :D
5) Watch atleast a million movies before I die
6) Learn to fly a plane and own one !
7) Be Happy !

Seven Things I can do

1) Multi-tasking :D
2) Sleep
3) Dance :) !!
4) Chat endlessly
5) Watch 4 movies in a row
6) Can always have some more fun
7) Play cricket

Seven Things I say the most

1) Anyways
2) chalo fir
3) I swear
4) oh shit!
5) haan kya ?
6) mommmyyyyyyyyyyyy !! ( hehe )
7) uh-haan !

Seven Things I can't do

1) Sleep anywhere at anytime :(
2) Read for an hour at a stretch
3) skating
4) skying
5) stop being a kid
6) stop smiling
7) stop loving a few people in this world

Seven Things that attract me to the opposite sex

1) Good sense of Humour
2) Intelligence
3) Sensitive
4) Good looking (:P)
5) Dimples
6) A smiling face
7) Romantic

Seven Celebrity Crushes

1) Hrithik Roshan
2) Johny Depp
3) Brad Pitt
4) Tom Cruise
5) Abhishek Bacchan
6) Zayed Khan
7) Anil Kapoor

Seven people I Tag

1) Putty
2) Pandu
3) Siddu
4) Jesse
5) Mad
6) Pp
7) Mukta

I was tagged by Abhishek, the bugger :).

A new beggining

This is my first post, and I was looking for a good occasion to start blogging. Well here it is.
I have left my past behind and starting a fresh. Be it work or personal stuff. In the past one week I realised that I have been not myself for quite sometime now. I had been twisting and turning the way I think to suite other people and not myself. But thats not right, cos right now is the time for me as I am.
So screw the world, I will live life on my terms and have fun :)