Day 306 : Celebrating 15 Years of Love, 10 Years of Marriage!

Five years ago, when the husband and I celebrated our 10th year of being together (as of Jan 17th) and 5th wedding anniversary (as of Feb 12th), our friends celebrated it with us on a yacht party. So now that 5 years have passed and the numbers have gone up to 15 years of togetherness and 10th wedding anniversary, we decided to repeat the yacht party.

So with much excitement, all of us (including Madam, my mom as well as our helper) boarded the Le Tara and had the most amazing time, even in spite of the rain that refused to let go for the first couple of hours. Several photos were taken, much food was eaten and drinks were drunk, many jokes were cracked, many songs were sung and many dances were danced.

I especially enjoyed sitting out there on the deck, with Madam on my lap dancing away! She had initially refused to get out of the lounge on to the deck because the movement scared her, but I managed to convince her and once she was out on the deck, I could see her taking it all in with much delight! The dark sky, the magnificent view of the Singapore skyline on one side and far off islands' lights on the other, with the wind in her face and waves spalshing below, with the fireworks over Sentosa and the strong, cold breeze, she seemed to be on top of the world, just like I was. And that seemed so perfect.

Post the yachting, we got to blow a candle on a cake baked by one of the friends and were gifted a polaroid camera to capture many more memories for many more years.

I don't think I can do justice to the awesomeness of it all in words, but enough to say that after the yacht party wrapped up, we dropped mom, helper and Madam at home and then again went back to a friend's place for an after party, because we wanted all the fun to last longer. Which was basically spent by asking and answering questions about everyone's relationships with their respective spouses, which easily contributed to many more laughs.

There were hugs, smiles and happiness all around and I felt so great - for this husband, for this bunch of friends, for this privilege of being able to celebrate on a yacht, for pretty much everything.

My man of 15 years!

I LOVE this bunch! :)

Cake cutting!

After-party!

194 more to go.  

Days 246 - 251 : Gratitude!

Am doing another compilation vs. individual posts because it is the night before the start of Madam's radiation treatment, and let's just say I am not in the most blog-writing mood ever.

But it has been an amazing few days and gratitude is due. No matter how the next five weeks would go, I would still be counting my blessings. Not just for what's in this blog, but for everything that built up to it.

So here goes. 6 great things over the last 6 days.

1) & 2) We got into two more festivals, the Guwahati Film Festival as well as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Film Festival in Pune! I am so, so, so happy that the film is doing so well... exceeding any expectations I have had for it! That's 17 festivals so far, and it is unbelievable!

3) I got a picture of the brochure for the Female Film Fest of Kerala, and it was heartening to see the poster of Pularum Iniyum Naalekal, right next to that of Choker Bali featuring Aishwarya Rai and directed by Rituparno Ghosh. How awesome!

4) I had a great year end performance review at work. It's my last review with the current manager, the same person who hired me to Abbott, since he is moving to a new role from December. I think one part of why I had been able to perform so well at Abbott is also because of how incredible a manager he is - it takes special talent to get the maximum out of your reportees while keeping them inspired, and I see him quite successful at that with all his direct reports. Am very thankful to him for his coaching and support through the last 1.5 years at Abbott and am also happy that in spite of all that had happened over the last year, I have managed to keep up the performance at work. Huge thanks to the universe for that!

5) We spent today in the company of our best friends here in Singapore. Not only did I have a great time, but it is just so heartening to know that there is this bunch who has always been and always will be with us through everything. I love them and am so thankful for them.

6) Lastly in an unplanned celebratory mood, I watched a Malayalam movie in the theatre, (after maybe years!) - the first Malayalam movie to hit the 100 crore club in India - Pulimurugan! It was my mom who inspired me to go watch the film in the theatre - she even shared with me a link to a cinema in Singapore that was playing it, because she felt that I must watch the movie on the big screen to enjoy the full effect! So I went and watched it - all alone for most part of it since the husband joined 2 hours post the beginning of the 2 hour 40 minute movie! And my mom was right too. While the story and screenplay leaves much to be desired, the cinematography, the stunts and the sound were all incredible and yes, the theatre is highly recommended to enjoy the technical aspects. It also gave me great pleasure to watch it because the sound editor for Pulimurugan is the sound designer for Pularum Iniyum Naalakel. So I felt so proud! The husband and I also celebrated the film festival streak of my own movie with some amazing wine and dinner over a long conversation. And am always thankful for movies, wine, conversations and my time with the husband.

So yes, much has happened. Much is about to happen. But for today, for now, I know that am in the best possible place I can be and am very thankful for that.

249 more to go. 

Day 215 : Birthday Celebration #1!

It was Madam's Birthday Celebration #1. Her actual birthday is on 30th, but I decided to split the celebration into two - one for my gang of friends from NUS and another one for my gang of "film" friends. It was just easier that way to manage the crowds, suit people's availability and of course, Madam gets two birthday parties, so there were no complaints there.

The whole day went in shopping and decorating and prepping and of course, the party itself. Madam had a ball with her besties while the adults had a ball with the "loom band bracelet" activity I had gotten them to do. The winner of the activity was judged my Madam herself and it was all pretty fun! But, I shall simply let the pictures do the talking on this one!

With the indispensable Lakshmi aunty!

The custom made Paw Patrol cake, following every word of Madam's brief!

Me explaining the rules of the game. 

Time to unwrap all those gifts!

Choosing the winner of the loom band bracelet activity!

The proud winners!

The proud winners with their winning prize - a whole set of bands with loom to make more bracelets! :D
 

Thus Birthday Celebration #1 came to an end. A super, duper fun day! 

285 more to go. 

Day 168 : It's All About the Friends!

The whole day was spent with the "gang".

First, it was the baby shower of one of them, and that effectively meant we got to enjoy a LOT of great home made food. There would have been at least 18 dishes made and I made it a point to go through all of them, thereby successfully looking pregnant myself.

Then all of us got together in another friend's house, where we enjoyed coffee, cakes, wine and got the kids together (there are two in the gang, including my own Madam). I talked a lot, laughed a lot and basically had the most amazing time.

Here you go, that's me with the two cheeky monkeys and as you can see, all of us are thrilled to be falling on top of each other.

Today is all about the friends.

332 more to go.

Day 167 : That Thing Called A Club!

I have never been a clubbing person. The loud music, the smoke, the close proximity of people and the freestyle dancing - none of that is my cup of tea. So I try my best to avoid any such occasion where I might have to enter one.

However, today my friends managed to drag me to a club. We had met for a celebratory dinner for my entreprenuer husband's successful investment round for his company. And as part of the celebrations some of the folks, including the husband, were keen to go to a club.

So I tagged along - but only after making it pretty clear that I would not be dancing.

So there I was - in an Indian club, with Bollywood "item" songs blaring, sitting in a corner and watching the proceedings.

And I actually had fun! The songs were catchy enough (the DJ even played the dhol, and I am always a dhol fan), the people were amusing enough, and my friends who kept checking in on me to see if I were "OK" sitting in that corner on my own, well they were cute enough.

Nett, I had an unexpectedly decent time in a club!

334 more to go.  

Day 146 : Birthday Celebrations!

The husband and I have our shared birthday in two day's time. But as luck would have it, I will be travelling to China tomorrow and will be back only well post the birthday.

So we thought we will have our celebration in advance.

First we had a celebratory dinner with our usual gang at Canopy in Bishan Park (that was actually a couple of days ago) and it was immense fun!

Today we went to the temple, together with Madam, because every celebration needs to start with a note of thanks to whoever it is that has designed all this.

Then we took Madam for her favourite activity - the animal rides at United Square - followed by nuggets and juice from McDonalds. That's "celebration" for her, irrespective of occasion.

And then, late at night after tucking Madam into bed, the husband and I went out for a glass of wine, some cheese and a lot of conversation, to one of the nice restaurants in Club Street. That was our celebration.

Thus wrapped up pretty much all the celebration for the 2016 birthday. Small and sweet!

354 more to go. 

Day 145 : Catch Ups & Movie Talks!

Today after work, I caught up with my "film gang" minus the actress - i.e. I met up with the two folks of my three-member gang - which basically meant the two actors of Aravindum Aarumugham. It was a general catch up but whenever we get together we take off right away on the topic of movies. We discussed everything from the best and worst of Malayalam and Tamil cinema recently to who should be cast in my I-will-make-it-someday commercial Tamil film.

And like every other time we do this, I enjoyed this immensely! Most of my works start post inspired conversations like these!

355 more to go.  

Day 106 : Birthdays!

I put up a surprise party for a friend on her 30th birthday. OK, fine. It wasn't much of a surprise because her husband couldn't keep the secret.

But a party is a party and more than the friend, Madam was super excited. She wanted the house decorated with streamers and balloons so that it successfully looked like a 3 year old's party vs. a 30 year old's.

She also took the lead in blowing out the candles and singing the Happy Birthday song, stuffed herself silly with the chocolate cake (she actually picked up every single alphabet on the cake and consumed it) and had a real gala time.

Yup, a fun party that was!

394 more to go. 

Day 71 - 72 : Maxing it Out!

It was the weekend after the "D-Day" and I was feeling on top of the world from the good news we received yesterday - We can go back to a normal life, at least for six months! That was awesome!


So I did what I usually do best. I decided to max it out.


I went to the temple to say big round of thank you.


I booked two holidays - one to Phuket in July and one to Bali in August.


I spent some good time catching up with friends, in laws and of course, the husband.


I took Madam on many outings - to the temple, to United Square for her favourite ride followed by Japanese food at Ichiban Boshi, to get her favourite Thai food from E-Sarn (the only place where she heartily gulps down vegetables!), to play with her best friend K at the Singapore Cricket Club.


I ate a lot - Japanese, Thai, Indian and an overload of home cooked food.  


I read a lot - current it is Anita Nair's "Mistress" (once again, such beautiful language but terrible plot!)


I did a lot of yoga - so much so that I realized I can now do Heron pose (Krounchasana) and Compass pose (Parivritta Surya Yantrasana)!


Yes, I maxed it out and man, did it feel good!


428 more to go.

Day 64 : The People. The Book. The Rain.

It felt like the calm after the storm. The first Saturday, after a long while, when I actually had nothing specific to do - no travelling, no work, no film production, nothing really.

In celebration, I spent the whole morning lounging away at home - with a bit of yoga, a bit of reading, a lot of playing and chatting with Madam.

In the afternoon, we met two friends with their little son at Robertson Quay. The kids enjoyed each other's company - they ran about, played hide and seek, and hugged whenever they felt a surge of love for each other, which was pretty often. I myself hadn't caught up with these friends for a while, so we had our long overdue catch up as well.

After the family outing, the husband and I ventured out, for our own little "date night". I couldn't recollect when was the last time just the two of us went out and spent some time on our own. And that, obviously, was no good. So we went to Chimes and spent an hour or so over a glass of wine for him and a cup of tea for me. And we talked and talked. Or rather, I talked and he listened. It felt good.

By the time we got back home, it was pouring cats and dogs. Rest of the house went off to sleep and I snuggled up by the window with my book "Alphabet Soup for Lovers' by Anita Nair and read it cover to cover in one go. I simply adore her writing! I wish her plots were better - but she makes even a wafer thin plot, like the one in this book, so beautiful with her style!

Sitting there, well past midnight, in the company of the lashing rain that I let stray through the open windows, the accompanying thunder and lightning, breathing in the lovely fragrance of  the soaked earth, with a dreamy book to go along - it felt so perfect and I wished it would last forever.

436 more to go. 

Day 37: The Gang

With all the travel that's been going on, I had hardly been meeting up with my friends - or The Gang, as I call them.

One of them invited all of us over for a housewarming party, so I could finally meet up with everyone, including couple of the moms (who are easily two of the most lovely ladies I know!) who were around as well.

We spent a few awesome hours over great conversation, many laughs and good food. Madam too was in her best behaviour throughout much to everyone's, including our, amusement.

As we left, I once again felt so very grateful for this bunch who has been with us through thick and thin. I couldn't wish for a better group of besties!

On our way back home, I told Madam that she did a wonderful job with her behaviour and that all the aunties thought she was such a good girl, to which she promptly asked, "How about all the uncles?".

463 more to go.