Beginning Of The End Or The End Of The Beginning

It's already 2012 somewhere on the earth. It's still 2011 where I am. I hated New Year's Eve as a kid. Hated it with the utmost passion. You don't have to know the reason :). New Year's Eve always ended with me thinking (as always), "When I grow up and make a lot of money, I am going to have the best, happiest New Year's Eve". That was the time, I associated money with happiness. It took me a while to figure out, I can make the money, I can bring happiness, but I might still hate New Year's Eve. Don't get me wrong, I love celebrations. I love parties. But a dull and dud New Year's Eve, I hate.

So this year, to make it exciting, my client is going live on January 1st :). Yup, in another 3 hours we go live and I will be in a meeting at 12:01 AM :). Woohoo. Nope. Not being sarcastic at all. I bought a dress. I am going to get ready and sit at my laptop working away. You know why? Because there will be bunch of us and we will be talking, joking, working getting nervous and getting excited. That sort of day I like. A boring day is not me. I can not have it and I will not have it. This year will be the beginning of the end of the New Year's Eve hate and the end of the search for new beginning.

Merry Christmas - Take That Political Correctness

Merry Christmas. Yes, you heard me right. I said it. No happy holidays. Just plain Merry Christmas. What the heck holidays are people talking about? My client is going live on New Year's eve and it's official that I will be holding champagne in one hand and will be on the phone with my team on the other on New Year's Eve. I am also retracting my vacation and will be working part of next week. So spare me the 'Happy Holidays' and just wish me Merry Christmas. I have been "celebrating" Christmas since last year. Why the change? Well, I am glad you asked ;).

You see, V came home last year from pre-school ad decided it's time we have a Christmas tree because, well where else can Santa keep his presents. This year he is in Kindergarten and the same deal. You would think people will leave the 'political correctness' bullshit aside and actually teach the kids about what Christmas, Hanukkah and other festivals are all about. Nope. Christmas = Santa + Gifts + be good so Santa gets you gifts + did I say presents? Hanukkah = Recipe about Latkes. Here's what is ticking me off. Look, you want to teach my kid about Jesus, Christianity, Jews, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and whatever other things there are - go for it.  But don't just teach the non-sense and not the real thing in the name of being politically correct. So the kid has no clue why Christmas is celebrated, what Hanukkah is all about but all he knows is Christmas = presents from Santa.Yes, I am the mother and I do let him know the real deal. But you know as well as I do that when lessons come from school, it makes a huge impact than the parents. Especially at his age where these kids think whatever they learn in school is the Gospel. If you are going to teach them, teach them from A to Z, not just some PC crap. Thank you very much.

He brought home a wish list he wrote for Santa and a worksheet of recipe on how to make Latkes. That's the extent of his knowledge on Christmas and Hanukkah. I need to go torture my friend C to give me a first hand account of Hanukkah as celebrated in her family than looking up Wikipedia about it. Then I need to explain him what Christmas is all about. I will be the first one to admit, anything that has gifts/presents tagged to it, I am all for it. Hell, I want some presents from Santa myself (Santa, if you are reading this, get me some love, diamonds and Loubutins). But I know the real deal too.

On that lovely ranting note, here's wishing every one a Merry Christmas :).

Five Years - Dr.Seuss Themed Birthday

V is into Dr. Seuss's books and I ran with it as a theme. I did not bake, I did not cook. All I did was enjoy it as much as he did.  This birthday felt extra special to me because Vodina was here to celebrate and I must say she made it perfect. I had the idea but she brought it all together with these little touches that made it extra special and extra beautiful :)

I will talk less and let the pictures speak for themselves. Most of the ideas were picked up from searching google,pinterest and other sites. The t-shirts were from Etsy. Party hats, cloth banner are from Target. Happy Birthday banner - Prabu put it together (Yes he is awesome and no you can't have him;)).

Birthday Boy

All the 'Things'

 Gold Fish crackers :)

The hats are from Target

Banner is from Target. Goody bags contained A Dr. Seuss Book, Pencil and an Eraser

Coloring Packs we made for kids as an activity

This cucumbers and carrots inc ups was an idea I saw on pinterest

Instead of regular cake, we ordered cup cakes (Mini and Regular).

Vodina and I made the toppers with toothpicks and Dr.Seuss Foam Stickers :)

I love the way Vodins decorated this :)

The 1-4-3's (Loves) of my life ;)

V in his class on his birthday :)

Halloween 2011

This year V was Optimus Prime from Transformers. He has never seen the movie. One of his friends in school brought a transformer toy from show and tell and from then on he is into transformers.

Pity Party For One Please

Well, that's what you do when you are alone in a hotel room with your laptop and no one in sight to talk. You throw yourself a pity party. You can also say to hell with it and go have a real party but then there won't be much to talk about ;).

I'm in Chicago for the week on a work trip. It was very last minute but one that was very much needed. The family was great and supportive and had no problem. Then why the hell am I having a pity party. For one, I am dreading going back home. When I got home after the last work trip, the little brat was waiting for me at the airport with flowers and a big hug and it was super sweet. But then I got, "We didn't miss you much. It didn't matter if you were here or not. V was fine and we did great with out you" from my mom. Ouch. I love you too mom, want me to get out of your way now? I don't think I want to hear anything remotely close to that again , so yes, kind of dreading going back home.

The more I think about it, I wonder if it's 'female brain' thing or if I am having mixed emotions because it's actually the first time I am staying alone without the family around. Funny thing is, I have never heard mom say it when Chaitu or Prabu were travelling (Oh yes, I am comparing and I will:)). It also doesn't help that I get zero calls from home when I am away. It's usually me calling and trying to talk and it's never the right time for a decent 10 minute conversation. Now that my bitch-fest is over, here's the deal. Finally I am at a place where I can honestly say, I love my job. Mother can give me hints but that's when I have to remember that she was born in 1954 and I wasn't.  It's hard to explain to her about the adrenaline rush you get when you accomplish something, so it's easy to bitch about it, shake it off and then go on with the work :). And to quote one of my favorite author, "The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."

Why I Do What I Do?

I used to sing
Sing to forget the pain
because singing made me happy
One day I stopped
Singing was annoying people

I used to cook
Cook to forget sorrow
because cooking eliminated the bad flavors in my life
One day I stopped
Cooking was not paying my bills

I began to work
I work hard, I work long hours
It gave me recognition
It gave me friends
It gave me money
It gave me happiness

I do not have any guilt
I played the cards I was dealt
I will not take the money to my grave
To say no now is not brave
I will buy that house
I will pay for those diamonds
Stop me if you can
For I am about to rise
Karma will take it all away
And I will be back
Singing, Cooking and Making Money

"I Am A School Ager"

That's what V's been saying for past few weeks. He was so excited about starting kindergarten today. He couldn't sleep last night because, well god forbid sun doesn't rise and he misses first day of school :). It was way too cute to watch him so happy and excited about school. I hope it lasts another few weeks :). Today we had to drive him and we got to meet his teacher and see his classroom. It was only for an hour. Tomorrow my boy will be riding the school bus. It will be from 9 - 1 tomorrow and Monday. From Tuesday onwards it's full time which is 9 - 3 :).

Here's him getting ready for his first day of school today.