Its a Deal!!!

So what do you do when you have a vacation hangover?? Simple, plan your next one which is precisely what I have been doing over the weekend!!!The desirable destination this time is Hawaii and I'm already dreaming of sitting under a lanai. For this dream to not fizzle out like many others (sigh..), we need to clinch THE vacation deal which will leave us beaming in a very "desi" way and leave our friends "wowing" away.
Not surprisingly,I have been spending a lot of my internet time on travel sites and I'm really amazed at how a slight change in flight hours or shifting dates by a day can make a world of a difference to the figures which define a vacation package!!! Hmm, need to speak to a friend who works with Travelport and figure out how these things work.
Till then..the Lanai and Luaus beckon......

Lake Tahoe

So finally we did spend the weekend in Lake Tahoe. Every time, I land between the snow and the lake, my first thought is about the itinerary (yes, even vacations have a schedule!!) and second about the food. Predictably a whole lot of time was spent about deciding on restaurants and locating them. The big surprise of this trip however was the beautiful log cabin we rented and even bigger was the cute deal we stole on it.
The weekend is over and I am exhausted but the image that stays on in my mind is not the natural beauty of lake Tahoe but my son throwing pebbles in the lake and squealing with laughter every time my foot got stuck in the snow.
Some moments in life are indeed priceless!!!

To Tahoe or not ....

So the big discussion in our lives this week has been if we are taking a weekend off for leisure in the scenic Lake Tahoe. Hubby wants to ski and I don't want to be left alone with our son babysitting as always!! The next best solution is to rope in friends for the trip. The idea of skiing for hubby and staying in a nice cottage for me are the big motivators. We should/we will make it to Tahoe but one of us has to take the INITIATIVE to make the bookings, rent a car etc.
Will it be me or him? The debate continues.....

It happens only in the bay area...

We celebrated the Indian festival of colors, "Holi" last weekend. Smearing friends and family with bright colors is an integral part of holi festivities other than munching on mouth watering sweets and delicacies. My husband mildly suggested that we play with dry colors but just the prospect of having to launder colorful clothes,scrub the walls and floors gave me a "mental" backache. I gave flimsy excuses about the skin reacting and so forth and ventured to a neighboring park with the family for a post lunch siesta.
It was a bright day and not surprisingly the park was pretty crowded. It would have been a day like any other in spring if not for two separate groups of my fellow countrymen smearing each other with bright greens, yellows and reds!!!! It was "holi" being celebrated far away from India right in my neighborhood. I felt a little self conscious just then but all I had to do was look around at the diversity of the bay area right before me and marvel at the freedom that the acceptance of different cultures offers...... Reminds me of the song "It happens only in India" just that for me the lyrics could be, "It happens only in bay area"

TGIF catching up with an old friend

TGIF!! and what a start to a bright friday morning. Instead of fussing over hubby's "departure to office" routine or reminding my son the nth time to shift his gaze from the TV to his bowl of cereals, I was on the phone dialing across seven seas to reach out to a high school friend, Priyanka.
Since I moved out of India six years ago, Priyanka and me just lost touch. Finally thanks to social networking, we have reconnected. An hour from my morning routine and an hour worth of her night's sleep spent on our phone conversation is not enough to make up for six years of life gone by, but somehow I feel younger and full of zest just by reliving our times together!!
Priorities change with time but the bond and element of trust we develop with childhood friends just strengthens into a comfort zone where you can always be,"forever young"

Movies child care swap and a long weekend

Tonight is the last evening of the long V day weekend and what a weekend it has been!! By gifting hubby a watch I ensured a much better (read expensive) gift in return for myself. My long term child care swap arrangement(basically we plan movies over weekends and leave our kids with each other, so if I go for the 3 pm show the other family watches my kid and vice verse) with two other families allowed me to catch up on the latest flicks and stuff myself with more than a 1000 calories worth of popcorn!!!
The rest of the week with its predictable routine lies ahead but right now, it is the dazzling beauty of the ice skaters for the Winter Olympics which casts a spell over me...

T for technology

Five years in the bay area popularly known as the silicon valley of the world and my technical skills are limited to MS office, surfing the net and social networking. NO MORE!!, I have silently sworn and so here I am with a book aptly titled "HTML for dummies"!! This is my year to erase my technology illiteracy and contribute more than just smiles and nods in technical discussions.
It is a week since I begun my trod into this virgin territory. It has not been as easy as memorizing Julius Caesar or critically analyzing Byron. Even preparing a publicity plan for my clients was easier but I guess this is the reason why technology rules and I must look upwards and not give up the trod....