And here comes another New Year!

Cant believe that 2009 just zoomed by!

It was a tough year, with the economy tanking and with daily news of massive layoffs. I am grateful we survived relatively unscathed. Makes you realize how easy it is to drop from "Well to do" to "Barely surviving".

Its been a relatively difficult year personally as well - have had to deal with some minor medical issues - underactive thyroid and ,as its side effect ( I hope), mild alopecia. While these are minor when compared to some of the bigger scarier stuff out there, its tough nonetheless.

Who would have thought that a small butterfly shaped gland would have an impact on pretty much every aspect of my life - from metabolism to cholesterol. My energy hit rock bottom, I could barely keep my eyes open through the afternoon, weight started piling on , I was depressed (both as a side effect and as a result of the other side effects). Well, I am now on thyroid medication and its starting to feel a little better - Not sure how long it will last however since it takes quite a while to figure out the right dosage.

Dwelling about the year that was made me think about what I really wanted for myself in 2010. Logically speaking, Jan 1 , 2010 will not be any different from any other day. But human beings are enamored with the concept of a fresh start, a new beginning. A new year feels very much like a clean slate - All past mistakes forgiven and erased with an opportunity to reinvent oneself.

With that, here are my hopes for the new year and beyond:

I want to live life very very consciously.
This is very applicable to me because at any given moment, I am thinking of the 10 things I need to get done. my mind is always racing and as a result of that, I sometimes forget to take time to truly savor everyday joys and blessings

I want to enjoy the company of people who mean the world to me.
I want to believe in my dreams and hopes for myself.
I want to dust off that deferred dream and work to make it a reality.
I want to truly, and very simply, make myself a priority
Want to tune into my body's signals and make sure my needs are met.
Whether its getting more sleep or spending quality time with my beautiful baby.
This one is always the toughest to do as a woman, and especially as a parent.

and last but not the least,
I want to honor old friends while making new friends.

I wish everyone a very Happy and meaningful year ahead.

Life Changes, Sure, but who knew by this much!

"Your Life will change". This was an oft-repeated sentence we heard whenever we mentioned the baby. Well, we had left the party away phase some time ago and were more in the "grocery shopping - Errands-Friends over for lunch" phase. So how much could it truly change?. Turns out a lot.To the extent that taking a shower or even going to the rest room, seemed like a luxury and "me-time".

Giving birth to my baby has been one of the most enriching experiences in my life - One that I proudly count as one of my biggest achievements.However, don't get me wrong, life has changed a LOT. You just do not have control over your time anymore. AT ALL. But, I have also found out that I now have the capacity to completely disconnect from a bad day at work. Sparkling eyes and grubby little hands will do that to you. The pure joy that I get from watching my baby laugh or do something for the very first time, is nothing like I ever knew before. I am delighted at my own capacity to give - Never thought of myself as a loving human being before!

Rohan - whom we lovingly call Rohuli - is absolutely at the top of the power rung when it comes to our house. No one eats, sleeps, showers or goes out without his blessing. That explains the name of this blog - dedicated to my super active bundle of joy. He has the whole household, grandparents included, spinning around him.

A very good friend of mine recently shared the good news about the stork visiting her and her hubby. And mentioned her plans to search for a new job while on maternity leave. And to attend evening school right after. I asked her to take it easy ,since life, as she knew it, was about to change. She earnestly replied that she knew what she was getting into. I smiled and thought "Do you , really ?!!! ".

Good Luck N!

"Perfection is the Opposite of Done"

I have been thinking about kicking off my blog for quite some time now. But being the perfectionist-in-remission that I am, I did not want to get started until I had thought through the perfect design, focus and content for the blog. "Not until I had the perfect recipe for the grand opening :-) . Surely not until I built a light box for taking pictures of these perfect dishes or objects!"

Well, I gave all that up, as you can see. An elderly gentleman that I used to work with once mentioned these words " Perfection is the opposite of done". And it resonated with me.
Life is full of imperfections , and so am I. It would be a pity to put life, or anything else for that matter, on hold waiting for the perfect something. With that thought, I got off to write my first post.

My hope for this blog is that it will be a reflection of me, my interests and priorities at that time.
Since Cooking and Photography are areas I am deeply interested in, I expect a bulk of my posts to lean that way. At the same time, I am a working woman and a mother of an adorable 8 month old - I am preoccupied, as many of us are, with issues as diverse as trying to achieve the evasive work-life balance to ensuring the baby gets in some veggies without spitting up.
Hence, in conclusion, I don't intend to have a strong focus area for this blog - I think it will swing between areas depending on the time of the day.

My only hope here is that I will get an opportunity to interact with people from different walks of life, share thoughts, make a few fantastic friends and learn a LOT!

And Someday down the line, I'll work on the nearly perfect design. Just not Today.