Power Jeans

Skirt - Macys

Shoes - Dillards

Cardigan - Calvin Kline

Gray Top - Costco (yes, I do shop everywhere)

Not just Fridays, I can wear jeans all through the year, in the facility I work in. Jeans has come a long way from what they were a few years ago. Now you could look sophisticated and professional in a dark-shade dressy jean. No doubt I love a good pair of well fitted jeans and it sure helps with laundry. But is there such a thing as 'Power Jeans'? Any New York banker would tell you the answer is no and a west coast techie might tell you other wise. For the rest of us in between, its a conscious decision to weigh in.

For me, I am getting closer to the end of my 'Jeans Era' for now.... and back to my first love, pencil skirts and pumps ...

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Kites

Flying kites brings back nostalgic memories of my childhood. One kite flying season, my brothers and I came up with the recipe for strengthening the dor (thread/string to fly kite). We were determined to get the kites from the street urchins who took ours away. We meticulously prepared the concoction by thickening starch and added some colored powders to it. The next step was to spread the dor all over our terrace and dry it.

Flying kites were yet another challenge as it was never windy enough in Chennai. I am sure the kite makers did not buy 'Made in China' aerodynamic kites. The tricky part was attaching the dor to the kite. It was one proud moment to get it to fly.

This weekend it was just the right weather to fly kites. It took Ri seconds to get the dragon kite soar up in the air. Ro waited until the dragon hit the ground to attack/fight it. Well, that was Ro's game until Ri convinced him that dragons were good/harmless creatures. Then he morphed into a Sun Warrior who job was to protect the dragons.

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Ro's Favorite Book

Ro is fascinated with animals. Zoo is his favorite place to visit. We read a lot of non-fiction animal books to him. On our weekly library visits, he heads straight to the animal section.

On one such trips, he found ‘Owen and Mzee’, a touching real life story about un-explainable friendship between a baby hippo and a 130 year old tortoise. The baby hippo, a lone survivor of the 2004 Tsunami is rescued and moved to a reserve where he rushed to the safety of a 130 year old tortoise, Mzee. The tortoise is initially reluctant to bond but eventually reciprocates back to the baby hippo. The book takes you through the journey of this unusual relationship via words and pictures.

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A question here and a question there

  

Ro thinks the dinosaur book he is reading is ‘sooooo …crazy’. He questions pointing to the small dino, Amma, why is this dinosaur following the other one?” I did not get it, I ask him why not. He explains, “They are not in the same family, Amma. This big one is a herbivore and the small one is a carnivore.” He was right; they were not even the same kind of dinosaurs.

Yesterday, when I took him to the temple for Rama Navami, he asked me “Why are we celebrating the birthday of somebody who killed somebody?” He’s moved on but I still ponder over it...

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Recipe Collection

Not all recipes get into our hall of fame. Ri and Ro have the final authority on that one. This started when Ri was 4 years old and said, “Amma, can you give me the recipe for this one, I want to make it for my kids.” The very first recipe that started our tradition of recipe collection was the Venn Pongal and eggplant Gothsu.

Fresh green pea pods are out in the Indian stores and it’s been on our menus lately.

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Up, The Movie

Ri and Ro watched the movie "Up". I heard so much laughter that we decided to watch the movie as a family one more time. In the movie there is an imaginative girl and a boy. They become good friends. Right before the next scene, Ri goes, "This is where they get married". I tell Ri not to tell us what is going to happen and she agrees. The couple grows old. The wife dies.

Now the lonely old man is bored and decides to fly his house with a million balloons. A small boy is added for company and humor. They land in S. America and spot a unique bird. There are talking birds looking for the same bird. Now Ri is a good listener and is determined not to make the same mistake. She says "Amma, I will not tell you who the dog's boss is? ... Now Ro pitches in and burst out to help his mommy. "Amma, I will tell you amma. It is the old man who comes in the first scene".

Last night we saw Alice in Wonderland.

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Spring is in the air

In our first house, we landscaped the yard all by ourselves. I handpicked and planted every flowering bush and tree (except for the far and few the builder gives you). Sure it was a lot of work to move 27 cubic feet of earth, but it was sheer pleasure to see the garden mature and get beautiful over the years.

I got some tulips, roses, dahlias bulbs and gladiolus. I can't wait to get my own supplies of flowers this spring and summer.

Today, the kids sowed the seeds for the vegetable garden.

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Spring Break Road Trip 2010

I am sure my parents waited decades or generations before they could narrate 'then and now' stories. Today is a different story. I had to explain Ri that when five years ago, road trips were different. Dad would drive and mom was the navigator. If there were traffic jams, mom would read maps and look for detours. She would also estimate the distance and ETA by eyeing the scale of the map, speed and other road signs. Today, the GPS does it all.

The kids did fairly well on the trip. Heard Texas-history stories, lots of Hindi/Tamil songs, all that a pokemon can and cannot do, and my absolute favorite are the songs the kids make when they are bored.

One new game I came up on this trip was, if I badly wanted to listen to a song (like the old 90's tamil song or older Hindi ones) and the kids do not, they have to guess the meaning of the song. Ri's answer to "Vaan uyardha solailey ... nee nadandha ..." was "Somebody wants to be with somebody". I had to give it to her. Very soon she found the formula for the songs. Male solo - he loves her, female solo - she loves him, happy duet - they love each other, sad duet - they miss each other.

It was time to move on to another game.

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Bastrop State Park, TX

Is my life getting predictable or am I setting up a tradition here? Spring break means a visit to state park and is usually a week after Holi. This year we missed Holi due to rains and visited the Bastrop State Park located close to Austin TX.

The Cabin we stayed was built during the Great Depression of 1930s, in an attempt to boost the spirits of the depressed youth. They were paid $30 a month and were expected to send $25 home.

I make it a point to visit the local farmers market or grocery stores to get a feel for the place. I picked up Mexican Chillies sauce this time.

Ri and Ro chose a 1.5 mile hiking trail that leads up to a viewing center on a small hillock. Ri was navigator #1 and Ro, navigator #2. Each chose a stick and their job was to lead the rest of us by following the trail marks on the trees depending on the hiking route they chose. Ro was disappointed that he did not get a chance to fight and clear cob webs on the trail, I guess it was a well frequented trail. The view at the end of the hike was a dense pine forest. It was picturesque.

The kids used butterfly nets to catch tiny fishes and later released them all back into the water. They had a blast exploring, playing with bubbles and collecting firewood and pine cones. Later in the day, the kids and M lit up a camp fire. M and I stayed up until midnight and enjoyed the warmth of the fire.

Right after we came home, Ri googled up our next hiking trip.

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San Antonio Trip

Not that I celebrate St.Partick's day but we were at River Walk, San Antonio during the celebrations last week. The river(not a river by any means, it is a canal system that is 3ft deep) was colored green by dumping eco-friendly coloring dye into the water. The restaurants were packed and the wait time was anywhere from 1 to 2.5 hours for dinner.

It was relaxing the following day when we leisurely lunched by the waters and bought a hand painted Mexican turtle made out of clay from one of the local vendors.

The Japanese Tea Garden transports you miles across the globe.

Ri is a true Texan by any means. She knows her Texas history and could not wait to see the Alamo. She told and retold the history and importance of Alamo numerous times that Ro can now pass the 4th grade social test.

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Me Time

Yoga is the purest form of my-time. I am not sitting there and focusing on what to cook for dinner or how to pick the kids on time with a last minute meeting scheduled at 5:30 or about that deliverable due in the next hour. When I am in the mountain pose, I am rooted to the ground and when in the warrior pose, I am focused on the orientation. Gradually, I have learned to let go of my rambling thoughts and instill a deep appreciation for the rhythmic breathing that weaves the body and soul together in every yogic pose.

In short this post should read, I went back to yoga after a while and loved every bit of it.

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Women's Day

 

Well, whether I believe in the need for a special day for women or not, this Women's day I salute my mom's  spirit of adventure and her zest for life.

I hope she has a speedy recovery and swings right back into action.

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Big Day at School

Today is Ri's Writing TAKS (or Standardized Testing) at school. She hit the bed early last night. She woke up at 6 today and was well rested. I made her favorite breakfast - Pongal/eggplant gost and packed Idlis/Onion chutney for lunch along with milk and a snack. Of course I did some prep work the previous night to make this 9 course meals early in the morning.

I like the fact that schools provide grading criteria for grading essays. We ate breakfast together and went over a few writing rules -

• Choose the points you want to write and then sequence it
• Be descriptive and provide your perspective to the essay.
• Focus on a catchy intro and a decisive conclusion.
• Finally edit it like someone else wrote it.

As usual she prayed and left for school this morning. Called up from work and found that the prompt she received was "Write about something you found". She wrote about how she found a lost library book and titled her essay "The Modern Sherlock Holmes"

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Winter Olympics, Marathon Runners and more ...

It was a pleasure to have a marathon runner as my ex-neighbor at work.  He was such a motivation to look up to. He not only runs marathons but meticulously packs/preps balanced-lunches every Sunday for the whole week, plans his workout schedule in advance, does not skip workout for the sake of meetings or other commitments at work. Just talking to him about his weekend/after work activities would drive me to the gym.

This past week, we watched the Winter Olympics almost every evening. It looked so real on our 120 inch TV screen that it felt guilty being a mere spectator.

My workout partner and I bumped our workout one notch up.

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