Heading South for the Summer (by 'the' Summer, I mean 'last year's' Summer!): Mexico

Chichen Itza

My mother was here in the summer of last year for a short three week vacation.

Sidenote: My parents often visit separately because we have a little dalmation at home in India, Polka, who is family to us and none of us can bear the thought of leaving her alone for too long. In 2011, I remember my parents really wanted to travel to Turkey so Rohit and I planned our entire vacation around their holiday- that way, I could dogsit :) I was likely the most expensive dog sitter ever!  And yes, we are 'those' dog people - but I wouldn't have it any other way!

This post has a point and I am about to get to it - so my mother was here and we decided to visit Mexico (I can't believe we had been here 6 years and still havent visited). It was also the year the world may or may not have come to an end per the Mayan calendar so it seemed fitting!  

We went over a weekend and stayed at the Westin in Cancun. Apart from lazing around on the beach and stuffing ourselves with guacamole (pretty much all day) we also visited Chichen Itza.
 

Berkeley and Monterey Bay

Karin and Rohit

I am averaging about a post every 6 months which is ridiculous and I still have not come up with a credible excuse as to why that is the case!

Last summer, Rohit and I visited Karin in Berkeley and drove down to Monterey Bay as well. Can I just say the West coast is stunning. Its beautiful, the weather is perfect and the people are so happy. I love living in NY but if I had to move to another city in the States - hands down SFO would be it!

Below are some pics from our short 3 day vacation, if you'd like to see.
 

Maine: Sunrises, Beaches and Lighthouses

In April of this year, we visited Bar Harbor, Maine with a couple of friends of ours -N and P. My sister started her undergrad in Colby, Maine almost a decade ago and I never got the chance to visit her; so I do not exaggerate when I say I have been wanting to visit the State forever! :)

A Year in Photographs: Day 15 and 16

January 15, 2011

The Columbus circle fountain outside Central Park on a cold winter morning. 

We spent a lazy Saturday at home and attended a dinner at a friend's housewarming party, with great food, friends and a game of charades. 

January 16, 2011

This morning, Rohit and I drove down to Pennsylvania with some very close friends of ours (N&A) and I took this picture in Lancaster County in the Amish Country. 

We had a lovely day touring the Amish Village, the Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross's house and Elfreth Alley. We rounded off the day with dinner at Amada which I would recommend to anyone and everyone visiting Philly. 

Yaaay for long weekends!

A Year in Photographs: Days 7 through 9

I have been stuck at home with the flu this weekend, so while we haven't had the chance to revel in some of the decent weather (relatively so!) NYC has been having, I did get extremely pampered by Rohit; we enjoyed a couple of good thrillers on Netflix and caught up on our reading at home.

January 7th, 2011

This is a bookshelf or more accurately one of the shelves of the bookshelf in the living room of our home. The photograph is taken from the point of a view of little wooden cat that sits on this shelf in constant preparedness to pounce. 

January 8th, 2011

The top of a green oddly shaped jar.

January 9th, 2011

Chaccas, a Rhythm instrument Karin bought back for us from Brazil. 

Our Weekend Was ...

The King's Speech (via Google Images)

Dinner at Lime Jungle (via Google Images)

Waltz with Bashir (via Google Images)

And a lot of Winter Cleaning, Donating Old Coats and Sweaters and Reorganizing the home (Ack!).

p.s. The King's Speech was extremely good, my money is on Colin Firth for the Oscar.

Our Weekend: Festival of Lights (and laughter and a ludicrous drinking game!)

It was Diwali, my favorite festival, this past weekend and Rohit and I celebrated our first Diwali together at home with a small sweet ceremony before spending an unbelievably fun evening with friends. Here are a few pics from the night.

Hope you had a lovely weekend as well.

Our Weekend: A Bicycle built for one

With Rohit out on a friend's bachelor weekend in Miami (yes, its the groom of the bachelorette I spent last weekend in Miami with!) I thought I would be lonely but I had a surprisingly full weekend. Jackson Heights on Friday night to stock up on supplies for Diwali, Dinner with friends at Brazil Brazil on Saturday and Cycling with N in Central Park on Sunday Afternoon :) Its something we've been talking about since the summer and we finally got around to doing it - It was so much fun and the colors so beautiful that we were kicking ourselves for not having gone more often!

:o)

See you later alligator!

I spent last weekend in Miami with a wonderful bunch of girls at a bachelorette weekend. I had never been to Miami before this and I fell in love with the city and its people. On the last day N and I went on the Everglades Safari and the experience was amazing. One of the highlights of my year would have to be holding a baby alligator - he was beyond adorable and surprisingly so very soft. Here are a few pictures from the weekend -

The Beach at The Fontainebleau, Miami 

The Everglades Safari

I think the Alligator is smiling as well!

On the Nature Trail

:)

Our Weekend: Friends, Facebook and Freakonomics

We had a packed weekend which included a dinner at home for 18 (!) of our friends, the Facebook Movie and a lovely relaxed Sunday night with take out, close friends and watching Freakonomics curled up on the couch.

So Friday night, we went for The Social Network - I'm going to write a more detailed opinion later but I thought it was really good and kept me engrossed through the entire two hours.
Saturday night we hosted a party and it was so much fun just talking about everything and anything from the Commonwealth Games, the upcoming elections, a recent proposal, two weddings and the upcoming bachelor and bachelorette parties!

Sunday night we saw Freakonomics, the movie based on the best selling book. I liked the movie mostly and thought it was in parts smart, funny and sensitive but at times it fell a little flat. However, I watched it in great company so the conversation that followed made up for any parts that left me a little disappointed.

We had such a lovely couple of days, I was actually a little sad when Sunday ended. Hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!

Our Weekend: Falling for Fall!

We spent a lovely weekend in Berkshire, Mass. with our friends. The weather was perfect, our cottage comfortable, the colors beautiful and the company couldn't be beat!

Our Weekend: NYC in the Fall

Its my absolute favorite season and its definitely and finally here :)
We had a lovely weekend, with a birthday, brunch and long walks in Union Square and Central Park.

Surprising N on her birthday

Weekend Brunches!

Union Square in the morning 

I love Fall - Jackets, Sweaters, Boots and the changing colors :)

Our Weekend: Spotting a Tiger

We spent a long Saturday on the Ridgewood Country Club Golf Course, watching The Barclays with Tiger Woods playing his worst round of the tournament (!). Fortunately he recovered on Sunday. I had never seen a live golf match and it was pretty interesting following the players around and cheering them on.

PGA - The Barclays

With the both of us having come down with a slight cold after an exhausting Saturday, we wanted to take it easy on Sunday. We caught the Emmy's in the evening and had a light dinner with some wine to fortify ourselves for the week ahead!

Our Weekend: A roof with a view

With Karin here for a couple of days, we spent a little of Friday and most of Saturday just walking around the city, enjoying its sights and sounds, shopping, window shopping, eating Thai food, and ordering in Pizza (!). 

Obligatory jumping shot!

Central Park

We also had a lovely dinner this weekend, on a friend's rooftop which had the most gorgeous views of the city. 

A roof with a view

It was a lovely night with the lights almost making it seem like the skyline was on fire (in a good way!) and its always so nice just to spend time with friends talking about everything and nothing! 

On Sunday, we lazed around and cheered Atwal on as he won the Wyndham Championship!


Hope you had a great weekend too.

Our Weekend

We caught the movie Peepli Live this weekend. Its an Indian film and the first of its country to participate in the Sundance Film festival. I thought it was witty, funny, thought provoking and satirical and I loved it. I highly recommend it.
We stayed in the city for the weekend, enjoying the weather, a live comedy show in Central park and the company of friends. Hope you had a lovely weekend too!

Weekend in Washington

Rohit and I made an impromptu trip to DC over the weekend, to visit our relatives including their adorable 18 month old (grand)son, Kavi. We had a lovely time, filled with long conversations, late nights, delicious food and even managed to squeeze in a nice afternoon in the city.

DC

The National Portrait Gallery - Edison's tin foil phonograph

The National Portrait Gallery - License Plate Preamble

This is my nephew Kavi. The minute I looked at those eyes and that five-toothed smile, I melted and he had me wrapped around his finger for the remainder of the weekend! He's so sweet, very good natured, generous, wildly funny and extremely intelligent. I love him.

Kavi

Our Weekend: The Kids are more than all right

We had a lovely, packed  weekend.

Friday night, we spent with a couple of friends of ours at dinner and a movie (now that I think about it, we tend to do that a lot!).
We saw the film, 'The kids are all right'. I thought it was a good movie - bittersweet, heartwarming and funny with remarkable performances from the entire cast. I really liked both Annette Benning and Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo is pretty stellar in the movie as well.

Apart from a few plays in school and college, I haven't really acted, but I often feel its hardest to "act" normal, to play real people ... and that's probably why I really enjoyed watching this one. I think the cast uniformly played flawed, vulnerable, real people so well.

The kids are alright

Saturday we played a little golf at the Pitch and Putt in Flushing, Queens. I wish I was better at the game I really love it, I guess it comes with practice (like nearly everything else!). In  the evening we met up with some friends for dinner at this lovely Mediterranean restaurant on the Upper West Side. We had Sangrias and I had a Turkish pizza. I love thin crust pizzas and this vegetarian fellow had me at hello!

Sangria! :)

Turkish Pizza

Sunday, we lazed around mostly, walked through a street market on Broadway and then headed to Riverside Park in the evening. We ended up having an early dinner at Sura, a Thai place - the decor was charming and modern, service friendly and the food was good, reasonably priced and served quickly!

Spices at the Street Market

I loved the colors on this pendant

The Hudson River - Riverside Park

Riverside Park

Sura Thai Urban Kitchen