Spring is in the air

Some pics taken on our weekend walk through the English countryside.

The bluebell patch is Dockey Woods near Ashridge Estate, about an hour north of London. It was just so beautiful, I can assure you the pics havent done justice.

This is the Daffodil patch right outside my apartment...William Wordsworth wasnt joking when he said '..ten thousand saw I at a glance..'

Mushy post alert!!!

So..I love my husband. period. Does it sound strange coming from my mouth? Especially since Ive been brashing him on both my blogs?? Well the truth is, I think he's simply the best...I don't think I would have lasted if it was for any other guy..except maybe Christian Bale or something...in which case I would have just shut up and lived with him no matter what (as long as I am allowed to just sit there and drool at him and maybe once in a while be hugged or kissed).

Ok not getting carried away here (although I'm highly temped.. I could divulge the Mr Bale and me dreams)

I have been sitting back and wondering how lucky I actually am, incredibly lucky that is! Of course every wife considers their husband like god..except for me maybe..not God for sure. Although at times when I exclaim "oh god"..Ro would actually reply saying "did you call me." So vain..yeah I know! But I do regard him quite highly, if that's what you want to know. He's the sane one in the relationship, the one who's got a good head on his shoulders, the one who makes decision-making so much more easier (in spite of me arguing like a mad woman about everything). He never complains about anything especially the chores that need to be done around the house. How can anyone be so pro active in life. I mean he would come back from work, tired and all but would still be happy to do the dishes. Or at least pretends to not be hassled by it. While I groan and complain and bitch about having to make one..just one meal a day.

And the one day Ro says something about food being laid on the table a little late, I throw such a tantrum and fight with him and say all sorts of mean things. The one good thing I've learned over the years is to forgive and forget fast. Something I was never good at.. I could brood for weeks because Ro said something mean to me (friends who know me well will vouch for that). But now we fight and argue for some 15 minutes and then storm out of the room (mostly me) and after about an hour or so pretend like nothing ever happened. 

I used to complain about him not being romantic (what is it with us girls and romance???), and he actually asks me to piss off. But the small things he does sometimes at the spur of the moment makes me love him to bits. Like the time I was bugging him to dance with me at a party and he completely ignored saying he was too old for this shit. And i just stayed away. But after a while a slow song was playing and he grabbed me by the arms and dragged me on to floor saying, 'now this is a song id like to dance to.' or the time I was bawling my eyes out about something silly and he tried to make me feel alright by trying to play my favourite song on the guitar...and I had no clue he knew that was my favourite song. Or at night while we are in bed and he sings to me...And the rare (very, very, very) days where he picks up a bunch of flowers for me..Id be so damn thrilled and Ro would be all embarrassed. Or when he comes back home from work and swoops me down for a kiss. Things like that mean so much to me, but I don't know if I've ever told him that or he knows that at all???

I am glad that even after 5 years of being married, we still have that spark in us...at least I do. I agree its not all smooth sailing and such, but most of the time, its that way for us now and when its not its mostly me at fault (I wouldn't agree on that if he asked me directly though). We have certainly come a long long way.

So the other day when we were on our way back from a friends place I suddenly blurted out to Ro that he was the bestest husband in the whole wide world and he was like 'yeah baby...I know!' (gloating??? yeah I thought so too). But I'm gonna let him get away with that. I am gonna make this year the 'I love my husband to bits year' and try and make him feel that marrying me was the best decision he ever made in his life.

Ex girl friends...eat this!

PS: Don't jinx me (or I think I've already done that to myself) cos my tomorrows post might be about how I'm stuck in a loveless marriage and is considering a one night stand with a Christian Bale lookalike ;) (drool)

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 2

My second set of entries for Scavenger Hunt Sunday and I'm kicked about it..again! Just follow these rules and you are good to go!

1. Anyone can participate

2. You're encouraged to take five new photos this week for the challenge

3. If you get stumped, you may use one photo from your archive (although not too strict about it- I do my best to take fresh shots)

Link up here on Sunday (or Monday at the latest)- you can use the new button

5. Have fun!

Do hop on to Ashley's space to see what the others have done..they are all fab.

Now here are my interpretations:

1. PINK

This is a flower from my tiny garden and I thought the patterns formed on the petals were interesting...oh and the pink is absolutely gorgeous against that yellow, don't you think?

2. BOOK(S)

I don't have that many cook books and I tend to not use them even if I borrow it from the library (thanks to the world of food blogs out there). But I won a signed cop of the Masterchef cook book on a blog give away, a few weeks back and was adamant I would try at least a few recipes from those. Finally got down to it last week and this is what I tried :)

3. FALL COLOURS

I live in London and that too pretty much central London and so don't really see much of the fall colours like in Connecticut (which is mind blowing gorgeous) unless you head out to the country side, and then its absolutely beautiful. This is one from the archives, but an absolute favourite of mine. We headed down to the quaint lil village of Salisbury last year this time and the fall colours were jest beginning to set in. It could also pass off for orange but I had something better for that. This is a self pic :)

4. LEAF

I was out on my balcony on a cold, windy morning with a cuppa coffee and thinking out loud when they would all start shedding, when this leaf flew on to my garden table. I thought the contrasting colours look pretty. So here is one for the leaf.

5. ORANGE

Aren't these the cutest lil carrots ever??? All ready to go into a roasting pan along with chicken.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

...is the brain child of photographer Ashley Sisk and is basically a photography challenge wherein she gives you themes every week and you need to photograph them as per your creativity or interpretation. Sound fun? Yup it is. All you have to do is follow a few simple rules, and you are good to go!

I first stumbled upon the event on Kamalika's blog and she herself has done a pretty good job. Do hop over to both the spaces to see how incredibly creative people can be.

Since I am trying to improve my photography skills, I thought I'd give this a shot. Its my first week on the hunt and im pretty excited at what I've come up with.

Hopping on to this weeks themes:

1. GOLDEN

This is my wedding ring, something which signifies 5 years of togetherness for me.

2. SMELL

Baking one cake fills my house with the awesome smell..imagine two!!! Need I say more?

3. FRUIT

Left over oranges after baking an Orange cake. Yes, I bake a lot of cakes:)

4. SIMPLE

An orange gerbera daisy in a used cider bottle now adorns my side table in the living room..simple yet gorgeous!

5. SPORTS

I'm wondering if I should start playing Badminton again.

Self proclaimed Hypochondriac and a few insignificant things

Ok I'm definitely a hypochondriac or there is something seriously wrong with me. My latest worry is my diagnosis of various ailments (well nothing less than cancer, if I may add) and Ro has had it with me and has threatened to cut internet connection if i didn't stop googling every little thing. Easy for him to say, he's not hypochrondiac (I just found out this term btw).

Last months PMS caused a whole lotta dilemma...i bawled my eyes out one night saying I was going to die and Ro didn't make it any easier, saying out loud he wouldn't make the same mistake again and will marry someone with a bit more brains the next time. Then I bawled at that for a while which confirmed it was PMS.

The thing is I see these symptoms online and then force myself to believe i have it, because the very next day I seem to somehow have that very symptom i read about. Oh my god, that sounds even more retarded out loud. Sigh! I also think its because I suddenly have a wee bit of time on my hands after a very hectic summer..which brings me to my apology..sorry about not being a regular here. A whole lot of you have asked me to continue writing here and I would be lying if i said i didn't miss this page.

The thing is, I started this space to vent out my anger and frustration and i have done it quite a bit. I guess I'm a much happier person now (touch wood) and have come to love London even more than Chennai. I just don't miss India any more. Should i be happy about that??? Still wondering.

Anyhoo, summer went by in a whiz and now signs of Autumn are here. I almost cried out loud when I saw a yellow leaf on the road recently exclaiming fall was here...and it is!

Leaving you with a few pics we took during summer.

First day of summer...Pub lunch at the Fullers Inn

Picnic at Regents Park followed by a game of Frisbee

Pretty Bonsai collection at the BBC Good Food Show, Birmingham (I won tickets to this show yaaay)

A bright and sunny day at Hampton Court Foodies Festival

White Cliffs of Dover

Durdle Door, Jurassic Coast in Dorset

Mayfield Lavender Field, Surrey

Autumn Showers

Heaved a high sigh!

I am such a sucker for romance...really. Last night i saw this old chick flick Maid in Manhattan and it made me so badly want romance in my life...and that movie is not even that great a romantic movie. But as i sat there sipping a glass of wine, watching hunky Ralph Fiennes hold JLo...with 'Come away with me,' by Norah Jones playing in the background...i was all queasy and wondered for the hundredth time why romance just dies in a marriage...why we don't bother to keep it alive even after the honeymoon period, why we just take things for granted and why i so badly want it. I mean i know life is not like how it is in the movies, but it just cant 'not be there' right? Or am i just naive and refuse to accept reality?

'Spring' into action

I get so excited when i see the trees and plants in full bloom. I guess, when you have bad weather for the majority of days, and when you see the sun out once in a while, its definitely a day to celebrate. Yesterday was one of those days..after 4 days of terrible weather during Easter break...and so I went out and clicked a few pics. We live by the Thames river side and it is quite beautiful in summer. We also have a pub nearby that serves Sunday roasts and is a frequent stop for us. I did mention that it was Daffodil season and boy are they a pretty sight. Here are some pics:

Pilot Inn..the pub

The white variety

The bright yellow ones

Daisies

I think its a dandelion, or maybe just a weed...I'm not sure

Bluebells