A Prefect Weekend

I was literally in heaven the past few days. My mom, dad, grandmother, and cousin sister came for a visit and we had such a great time with them. 

I am so thankful that the weather was absolutely perfect every single day they were here! I am also thankful that my grandmother was in high spirits and healthy during her entire stay. We have a lot of stairs in our townhouse and I was very worried about her. To all of our surprise, she slowly climbed the stairs at least twice a day and had no issues at all. 

We enjoyed a beautiful walk around our neighborhood park, explored the Perot museum, and enjoyed yummy panner tacos at our favorite taco joint - Velvet Taco. On Saturday, my mom taught me an eggplant recipe, which she learned from my grandmother very early into her marriage. It was pretty cool learning something that was being passed down from my grandmother. The dish was so delicious, it was gone before we knew it! Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take pictures, but I plan on recreating it soon.

On their last day, we of course did a bit of outlet shopping and I scored the perfect cargo vest I have been on a hunt for. Since the weather was a bit cooler, I couldn't wait to wear it. 

We also visited the Hanuman Temple, enjoyed some chaat for lunch, and hung out at my sister-in-law's place playing with baby Anand on Sunday.

It was so good to have them all here this weekend. It felt like we did so much, but we also had plenty of downtime just enjoying each other's company. I know it maybe difficult for my grandmother to come back again for another visit, but I'm glad that she so strong and determined to make this trip at least once. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. 

How was your weekend?

{Rewind} September 2015

Another month down! I can feel Fall just waiting to make it's big debut as it has been cooling down a tiny bit in Dallas this week. I always tell my family and friends that October is the best time to visit us here. The temperatures drop just enough to enjoy a light breeze and still look up at sunny skies.
But before I get too excited about October and say so long to September, I wanted to take some time to reflect on what a great month it's been.

September is marked by both my grand father's birthdays. Although my Bapuji (Dad's father) is no longer with us, I think it brought my grand mother lots of joy to get phone calls from all her grandkids to remember him on his birthday. We all miss him dearly. My Nana (Mom's father) celebrated his birthday the following week. Although he is millions of miles away, I'm so grateful for the technology we have these days that allowed us to video chat with him and feel like we were a part of his birthday celebration in India. 

We also started the month of with an amazing sushi party hosted by our friends Munira and Ali. Munira, who is a self taught sushi chef, made over 28 rolls for everyone all by herself! They not only looked, but tasted absolutely delicious. She even went on to make her own veggie version of the volcano roll. I could have seriously eaten them all myself!

Speaking of delicious food, thanks to my mother-in-law, I was able to check off having a Pani-Puri Party off my Summer Bucket List! I love having pani puri parties pretty much any time of the year, but especially in the summer. The water is always so refreshing in the heat and you don't realize how stuffed you are until you're about 20-30 puris down... or is that just me? The yogurt version, called Dhai Puri, is equally delicious. Trying to choose between the two is almost impossible!

This year Ganesh Chaturthi fell on the same day as our little nephew, Ananda's 1 month birthday. So we headed to a local temple where they had a huge statue of Ganesh with tons of people singing loudly - "Ganpati Bapa Morya!" Growing up in a very small town, where the Indian community was pretty much non-existent, I rarely got a chance to celebrate religious holidays like these. I'm really grateful to now be living in a city that gives me such privileges. However, I don't take nearly as much advantage of opportunities like this as I should. Point noted.

Going back to all the yummy food we ate in September, we also tried out a brand new restaurant here in Addison, called Ida Claire, with our friends K&V. It's new concept restaurant and the menu is quiet unique. Although I was a bit disappointed in the lack of veggie options, I have to say, their side dishes were quiet de-lish!  They also have this hippy bus on their back porch that you can reserve for an intimate private party. The cheerful bus was just screaming for Kruti and I to get our picture taken in it. 

We ended the month celebrating #NationalPancakeDay on Saturday and doing a bit of home updates. I finally decided on these white curtains from JCPenny for our living room and found the grey rug we were hunting for over a year at Home Goods. Although I'm a little worried about all the grey on grey in the living room now, I think I have a plan to break it up and make it work. I hope. Chirag took some precious time away from watching the Tennessee game to set everything up this weekend. I think bribing him with the pancakes might have helped. ;)

October is going to be filled with visitors - friends and family. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, but I'm most excited to have my grandmother visit our home for the very first time! I'm decided that October is going to be less about working and more about spending time with the people who matter the most to me. 

What were some of the highlights for you this month?

{Rewind} August 2015

August was a month all about family and friends! At the beginning of the month, we had an early celebration for Chirag's 30th. birthday and took a trip to Georgia to see my entire family.  This also gave us an opportunity to celebrate Raksha Bandhan together. My mom doesn't get to see her brother  very often since he lives abroad, so it was a little extra special that she got a chance to personally tie the rakhi on my uncle's wrist this year. We also saw my grand mother, our old friends with their growing families, and visited my sister in her brand new place. The morning of our flight back, we got the call we had all been so anxiously waiting for... it was time!! And thankfully, we made it back just in time for the arrival of our cute little nephew, Anand.

Having this little guy in our lives has changed us all so much! Anand means joy or happiness in Gujarati and this little guy has definitely brought so much joy in our lives. We are always eagerly awaiting to see him smile, burp, fart, or even cry.... anything and everything he does fills our hearts with joy. My in-laws also flew into town to spend time with the little guy and so it's been a great month to see both sets of parents.

Chirag and I always try to make time for our friends and family. Living so far away from them, it's not always easy, but I'm grateful for every chance I get to see them. It's also comforting to know that we are surrounded by some incredible people here, in Texas, as well. Seeing everyone at Chirag's surprise party really made us both feel so loved. Towards the end of the month we celebrated our friend, Omar's, graduation from a medical program. Plus, enjoyed a relaxing evening with some delicious tandoori paneer pizza at our neighbor's, Sri & VJ's. I also improvised and made my fruit pizza/tart for desert, which I will share here soon.... it was Radha's favorite, I think! ;)

Such an wonderful way to end the last month of Summer! Thank you, August! :)

{Rewind} July 2015

Where did July go?! Although I wouldn't say that July was the busiest month so far this year, there were a lot of changes and events this month.

We started the month of with our Jamaican vacation and it was the perfect get away. Chirag and I got some much needed time to reconnect. I completed my first summer book, which gave me a lot to reflect upon on my pursuit of happiness. It also inspired me to continue towards my goal of reading more books.  The whole experience in Jamaica reminded me not to get so caught or upset over the little things that may not be in my control. Like Dad tells, "Learn to loosen up... and enjoy the ride."

Upon our return from Jamaica, I was thrilled to find out that all my hard work had paid off and that I was finally a Board Certified Oncology Pharmacist. It has been my goal to specialize in this field ever since I was in pharmacy school. I didn't go through the typical path of becoming a specialist and I have had a few struggles on this journey, but I'm so happy that I didn't give up. Each and every experience, job, and obstacle has thought me something important and played a major part in helping me achieve this goal. I've had a few mentors along the way that saw potential in me and kept pushing me to achieve this goal. I really feel so lucky to have such inspiring people in my life. The most important lesson this journey has taught me is that - if you really want to achieve your goal, you will find a way to make it happen! This certification opens up a lot of new doors for me and I have big plans for what I would like to accomplish in the future.

The day I find out my exam results the weather was sunny with a light breeze... there happened to be a concert in the park nearby and it was just the perfect time for a picnic! Anyone who knows me will tell you that I one thing I love is picnics! So, we picked up some Jimmy John's sandwiches, wine and headed over to the park with our neighbors and their cute daughter, Radha. Avani & Hash joined us later and brought Nothing Bundt Cakes to celebrate! If there is a location near you, I highly encourage you to try their red velvet and lemon cake. They are so delicious! :)

The weekend before starting my new job, my old co-workers and I had a little get together. It's always nice to meet up outside of work and get to know each other's families. Nolan, Cathy, and Nidah have always been such positive and motivating influences in my life! One of the reasons I'm very excited about my new job is that I'll be working with two of them (Cathy & Nidah) once again. Plus, my new manager seems great and has really been motivating me already. I'm looking forward this new role and ready for the challenge!

Speaking of challenges... running has become a new hobby of mine. After completely our first 5K in May, I've really been trying to challenge myself to get to a 10-minute mile pace. Well, this month I surpassed my goal of 10 min/mile. I completed my 5k at a pace of 9:48/mile! There were definitely times were I just thought that I'll forever be around the 11min mark, but pushing myself little by little I finally beat this challenge as well! So, far I have continued to keep this pace with my running. So, I'm thinking of new goal of a 9-minute-mile!

 

In addition to my fitness goal, I also took some time this month to make other aspects of my health a priority. Such as sleep, taking the extra 5 minutes in the morning to eat my breakfast, and taking time at night to drink my tea and unwind.  Although it hasn't been easy to stick to them, I have definitely seen these little changes help improve my overall mood and attitude.

In midst of working long hours at my new job, it was nice to take a break. We tried out a new brunch spot, The Yolk, with K&V, I had my first blogger meet up with Dixya & Sashi, and celebrated our friend, Munira's birthday with some amazing sushi at Blue Sushi. We also caught up with Chirag's old buddies from B-school for a (veggie) burger and drinks, plus a good laugh watching Trainwreck. Living so far away from our family, it's so nice to have such amazing friends to share our lives with.

The month was wrapped up with some much needed organizing of our documents - thanks to the inspiration from Marie Kondo's book. Purging and organizing is one of my favorite things to do because it helps give me control over my crazy life, plus a clutter free home makes me feel calm and relaxed. However, tackling everything at once like the book suggests was a little to overwhelming for me. The concept of "Does this spark joy?" has definitely changed the way I shop or keep things in our home. However, documents and papers are something that is a bit tricky to address with this question alone. Chirag wasn't at all excited to take on this project, but we do feel pretty accomplished and proud of ourselves knowing that we have papers in order (for now).

There is already so much to look forward to in August, but it was nice to hit the {rewind} button. July, you've surely been good to me!


What were your July highlights?