I have just 9 more months!!!

I have just 9 more months!!!.

Feels like the New Year just began and, we've already said goodbye to 2 full months.

Everyone makes resolutions, some keep them and some don't. I'm in between both. 

What have I ticked off from the resolution list?

I have had a few resolutions that I wanted to keep up and be the kind of person who is content and satisfied with my beautiful life. Of course, God has blessed me with a wonderful family, good job and all the mundane things of life. But, being the 1st of the year and the beginning of a fresh clean slate I wanted keep up with some firm decisions.

Firstly, I wanted to lose weight like every normal person who loves food. I left out the 1st 2 months and thankfully I joined the gym this month. (happy face)

Next, I wanted to be more frequent on the blog and write more. Which never happened.

I wanted to travel more which is still in progress.

I wanted to upgrade myself in everything especially education and technology.

I wanted to cook and bake more new recipes.

Well, there's more but, lets just stop with the basics.

On a more positive note, I have  9 more months to achieve all this and I hope and guess I will.

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

Until next time.

What a day it was!! When WE met.

It must've been just another day for many people but, for me and the boy it was a day to remember. Too cheesy? Yeah, this post is going to be a cheesy one actually.

August 7th, 2013 - The boy and myself were already acquainted with each other a bit (say a week since we started talking and getting to know each other). We decided to meet on this day as we felt it would be apt. I took a day's off from work and so did he. The morning was a bit relaxed with me waking up late and lazying around the house choosing this or that to wear.

By mid morning I started getting ready and left to the coffee shop we had planned. I was there on time while he was late by 5 minutes. We got talking and eating, and talking and eating. We knew then that We were soulmates. He even shook my hands to confirm I'm the one he's going to be with for the rest of his life.
We left the place and went to a friend's place to pick up some things my brother sent me, I introduced the boy as my fiancé already without confirming with our parents and relatives yet.

We later went to a walkers park, walked around a bit, talked random stuff and left from there to another favorite restaurant and we had the boy's favorite dish from there.
The day was going by so fast and we had so much in our head to do. Both of us were excited we met each other and decided to share our lives together.

WE DID! Four months later we married each other and lived happily ever after.

We still recall that day and enjoy the feeling we had for each other, now that the feelings have increased through the years.

Thanks BlogAdda for the prompt and making me relive the day.
Indeed "What a Day it was...".

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

Super Heroes in Disguise!

A good start to the week I would call it.

Here's my Super Hero in Disguise.

There was a fine Sunday when I woke up lazily, had some amazing breakfast (I can't recall) and got ready to go to Church with my mom.

It was a big day for me as the boy's parents were coming home to meet me and my family (pre marital prep).

Everything went on well and we were returning back home on my bike. All of a sudden, my bike started wobbling and I was forced to stop to check what was wrong.
To my dismay, the front wheel of my bike was punctured. And to add to the misery, my stomach felt grumpy and made some noises (In the process of getting upset).

It was a Sunday and almost all the shops in and around the place were shut I was helpless.
As I was trying to look for a mechanic's number on my phone. Out of nowhere a stranger walked up to us(my mom and me) and suggested we call a mechanic around the same area and request him to check the bike. I was surprised as the road was almost empty and I was not expecting any help.

I took the number and spoke to the mechanic and he agreed to come. Just as I was about to thank the stranger he disappeared and I felt bad. The mechanic arrived, worked on the wheel and it all happened in a time frame of 30 minutes.
I was surprised and happy as I didn't want to be late when I met his parents.

Recalling that day 3 years back today the memories are still fresh and beautiful. I'm sure there are a lot of SuperHeroes in Disguise like this and we all have to be one too to make this place a better one.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Thanks to BlogAdda for this wonderful prompt. I enjoyed writing this as it brought back some good memories.

Random act of Kindness - Chennai Flood (Our Story)

Linking this post with #FridayReflections on Write Tribe for the Random Act of Kindness I've experienced and it was so good remembering and recollecting memories. 

This happened about 5 months back though the memory is still fresh.
Everyone know about the Chennai Floods as, it was one of the worst disasters Chennai has faced. Lots of people suffered and many were left homeless.

By God's grace and his protection the area we resided in was not much affected except for the power cut. But, the boy's family were stranded in their house as their area was surrounded by water and they had no way of moving out from there.
So, we (the boy and myself) decided to travel all the way to their place and almost rescue his mom who was not at her best health.

Finding a cab at 10:30 pm on a weekday is not a tedious task but, on a rainy day where all the sub - urbs are flooded - it definitely is. Again by luck and grace, we found one and the cabbie was really an angel sent from above.
We explained the situation to him and he was ready to help though his car was not ready as he was running out of fuel and all the gas stations were closed due to the flooding.

We left to the place keeping our fingers crossed and the ride was scary. The cabbie was ready to drive into places, roads and streets the vehicle might have gotten submerged in but, he was ready to take the leap.
We almost rescued my mom-in-law and came back home still keeping our fingers crossed as we still couldn't find a gas station and the tank was running dry. We thanked the cabbie who volunteered to help when no one would, at that point of time due to the fear that their car might not function or water entering into the car.
We do have some good souls left and we met one such person in our life.

Thanks to him and to OLA for their help during the floods. 

Here's a picture of the area we went to, I couldn't take pictures as it was dark and my mind didn't function at its best.

Image Source- Google

This post was written 

Breaking the Stereotype.

Women are mostly judged based on their appearances. I'm a Woman and people very often judge me, they have judged me and still do but, I prove them wrong most of the time and I'm glad I do.

If she has SHORT HAIR - A Tomboy

If she prefers jeans - she has no regard for tradition,

and so on.

I am a straight forward person and I like to voice my opinion when I feel the need. I used to work for a Corporate and I hated my Team Lead there.

In short, he was a moron but, I had no other choice than to report to him. He thought I spoke a lot and I was too straight forward. In his terms being a girl means to keep quiet when every other man spoke and I broke that stereotype quite a number of times.
During one of the one to one meetings, he mentioned that if I was this way I would never get married and my husband would have a tough time with me. I changed his opinion by getting married and found not my better half but, my BEST half. P.S - He was not invited for the wedding. **evil grin**

Story continues - After I quit the corporate I started working as a Teacher. One of my friends during a chat mentioned that to him(yeah the same moron) and he said I was not fit for the profession and that I needed patience which I don't have blah blah. I proved him wrong again by continuing to work as a  teacher(P.S - A kindergarten teacher) for 2 years now and I love my job and kids. P.S - Well he was terminated for integrity issues. **evil grin** again.

Well, by now you get the idea. We women are strong and we break any stereotype. So, don't judge a book by its cover.

I was shocked at the statistics. Take a look at some of the startling figures that the Nihar Naturals #IAmCapable survey conducted by Nielsen India reveals.

a. 69% of men agree that their judgement of women is based on their looks.

b. 64% of women agree that the judgments passed on them have affected their ability to reach their true potential.

c. 70% of women agree that majority of judgments on women are from family members or friends rather than strangers.

d. 72% of women agree that working women face more judgments on their looks or their clothes than housewives.

I'm breaking and will continue breaking the stereotypes based on appearance by sharing my experience for the #IAmCapable activity at Blogadda in association with Nihar Naturals.

I hope you enjoyed reading and do check this video by Nihar Naturals.

This post is written for the #IAmCapable by Nihar Naturals focussing on Women breaking the Stereotype based on appearance.

Until Next time.

Prawn Calzone - Recipe!

My experiments with yeast are not that great. That's changed now. The other day we went shopping and I picked up Instant yeast at a supermarket. It's not easy finding instant yeast near by my place.

I was searching for recipes that included yeast and I was not too convinced that I could make it. But, I saw a recipe for Calzone on raks kitchen and I instantly decided to make it.

Gathered all the ingredients and in no time it was out of the oven and into our stomachs. It was that good. I tweaked the recipe a bit and added prawns for the filling.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
• 1 tsp Instant yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/4 cup water
• Italian seasoning
• Pasta sauce or ketchup - as per requirement
• Mozarella cheese 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup - shredded
• Prawn masala filling

Method:

• Add flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a wide mouthed bowl, mix.
• Warm up water and milk, it should be luke warm or the yeast will die if its too hot.
• Add the water and milk into the flour by making a dent in the pile of flour.
• Add oil and knead well. I kneaded it for about 5 mins.
• Use cling film to close the mouth of the bowl and keep in a warm place.
• I kept mine in the oven.
• After an hour, the dough would have doubled in size. Punch down the air and knead again.
• Make 3 to 4 small balls and flatten using your fingers.
• Place the stuffing in and pinch around to make a purse like form.
• Pinch on all sides and make sure there is no opening.
• Before you close the dough around the stuffing don't forget to place the cheese.
• Place in a baking tray and bake in a pre heated oven for 20 to 25 mins.
• Each oven is different, mine took around 20 mins to cook and extra 5 mins to brown on top.
• Allow to cool a bit on a rack and serve with sauce or any salads.

Here are the pictures.

Living it Stress-free.

The other day I was tired, sick, fed up and stressed. I try not to get stressed often, due to the fact that it affects my physical being and that in turn affects my whole self.

However, once in a while we all get stressed. And, I came up with some of the things that makes it stress free for most of us if we try following some of these examples.

These steps are mostly my personal stress busters and works for me most of the time. I'm no expert or pro in this but, I'm sure it might help someone.

Here we go.

Do the thing you love. For me, its baking.

1. Baking:
My stress is relieved when I bake. The feeling of creaming the butter and sugar, cracking open the eggs, the splash of vanilla itself is enough. Finally when all of it is mixed and ready to be tipped in the oven. I'm no longer stressed and I'm a happy me. The finished product gives me immense joy and happiness that nothing can give me till date.

2. DIY and Crafts:
Off late, I've been obsessed over DIY and the things you can do to make your house or room look better. I've created a few DIY decors and accessories and I love it. It distracts me from the stress I am into.

3. Going for a walk or exercising:
You must have heard this a zillion times or read about it. Yes, it does work. I tend to breathe well and by the end of the walk or exercise I'm more than alive.

4. Children:
As a part of my full time job as a Kindergarten teacher I interract with children on a daily basis and the thought of not being with them for a while actually stresses me hence, I expose myself a lot around babies and children. The activities and the tantrums they pose helps us de - stress.

5. Reading:
This slows my speedy mind and brings it to a halt as I immerse myself into whatever I'm reading. Be it a book or an article or blog.

The other mentions are

• Praying - You feel better when you pray or talk to God about it and hand over everything to him.
• Talking to a friend or close one.
• Sleep on it.
• Writing about it in a journal or a blog.

DONT'S

• Don't be on social media or the internet. It messes with your brain.
• Don't listen to music that might disturb you more.
• Don't do retail therapy. You might regret later.

Hope you enjoyed reading. Do let me know what are your stress busters in the comments below.

Until next time.