Life is busy, will be back soon...

I hate this feeling, a feeling of being helpless, a feeling prompting to manage everything somehow and still not managing, a feeling where you feel afraid of sleeping as that will mean losing some hours from day.

Office is busy at it's pick, month closing, quarter closing, so many meetings, audits, reports deadlines...!

Also at personal front I have a lots of things on my mind, i need to finish that long pending half-done painting so that it can be placed where it is suppose it be. Need to start back with furnishing home after winter break, need to get garden in good shape as it's already spring, need to get window shades, need to plan vacations for April and summer, need to try that new recipe, need to revamp my wardrobe with spring and summer colours, need to buy some frames for my paintings, need to arrange store room....

ohh god, let me stop as I already feel tired thinking about this to be done list !

I am desperately looking forward to Easter break.

Good thing is weather is getting better, the road which lead to our home from office looks so beautiful with white and purple flower scheme.

I hope you all are enjoying spring. Have fun.

I will be back to regular blogging update soon.

Story of New life - Chapter 2 "From Bye to Hi"

Okay to be honest, I didn't expect me writing this post, but to honour those so many queries on what happened next after I posted Story of my new life, I had no other option!

Last days have been very busy enabling me not to write much, and as soon as I could I am grabbing these few moments moving "Story of my new life" a step further.

........***........

Chapter 2: From Bye to Hi

And with that "Bye" his back disappeared, drifting away somewhere in the crowd.

I was back to my own world of sadness, never realizing what that moment hold for me in the future.

Next day at college that movie evening of previous day was in discussion. (We love to dissect everything, don't we? )

Our common friend A was standing in the corner of class with some other girls and they were discussing something about him, which I didn't notice until a question came my way...

Lopa was there ask her...

Hmmm what?

You met Ashu yesterday, how did you find him?

Arrr hmmm ummm don’t know... we didn't even interact, how do I know....

Still.... your first impression?

Arrr ummm hmmm he had a nice smile...

**** giggling****

And now all turned to me, Apparently they had got a prey for the day...

Ohh so you liked his smile huh?

What? You asked me, in stead forced me to say something about him...

But you noticed his smile, huh? ****giggle****

Hey, you probed me, and i didn't even notice him more than that, what else was i suppose to say...

ya ya we know....

And they realized my irritation... ( good for them ) so A interrupted the scene...

Ya I was just telling them he is a nice guy.

I don't know A, My days are not going good, I have many things to worry about right now.

What happened?

First cell and now apartment! Our contract is ending next month, they are not going to renew it and we have to find a new place.

Ohhhh

If you come across something let me know.

Ya sure. will do.

Thanks.

Guess what? Ashu can help.

Arrrr how?

See we all are hostellites, we don't know many people here, he is a locallite, he knows many people here, and he surely can help.

Hmmm, ya nothing wrong in trying, can you please ask him.

Sure.

Next day passed with : A calling him, then he calling her to update and she passing on message to me - sometimes message, sometimes contacts of brokers, sometimes queries on what, where.

After two days, A and I were walking home after college, and he called. He said something, she asked me, she replied back, he replied, she passed on, I replied, she replied.... and I realised the weirdness !

Why don't i talk with him directly !

I asked A if is it okay I talk with him directly?

She seemed more than happy passed on phone to me.

We talked directly for the first time, which ended with exchanging the phone numbers.

That's how the new era started, Era of text messaging 24*7 !

And that was just a start !

Sneak Preview "Movie Love"

We are ardent movie lovers. That says all.

Back home weekend meant movie time.

In India movie releases normally on Fridays, beginning our movie marathon weekend that evening itself. We would check which movies released that day, will go out for dinner directly from office and then movie ( or directly to movie and then dinner outside ); sometimes we would have to make many stops at many multiplex theatres to get the tickets. ( I told ya, we were never good planners )

We had open air drive-in theatre as the last resort. Lately that too used to get too crowded, often resulting in a long car queue, long enough to create traffic jams on main road !

It used to be hot-spot dating place those times, hahaha we actually visited it quite often, nop never for date, always when we couldn't get tickets in any other theater, when it was nearly month end and we couldn't afford multiplexes, when more than movie we were interested in picnic with friends and when we wanted to have drive-in pizza !

We could never made upto other drive-in lovers though(By Drive-in lovers i mean people who love drive-in theatre and not lovers who used to go to drive-in ) who could bring all the picnic stuffs with them, including picnic baskets, snacks, chairs, table, pillows, picnic blankets and sometimes even mattresses for more comfort. But we did manage to level up from solely car bonnets to accompanying pillows... :o)

Aahh did i mention that we were working 6 days a week that time ? But it didn't matter, nothing could ever dampen our movie watching spirits... Friday, Saturday and Sundays.

After moving to Netherlands, we didn't know much how it worked here, and we couldn't afford to spend that much every week on movies. ( 50-60 € per weekend on movies, resulting in 200-300 € per month )

So we diverted our marathon to on-line movie watching, initially on laptop while lying in the bed. Soon we realised we have to upgrade, it's not that comfortable.

And that resulted in our first major shopping in NL. No it wasn't car as one might think, it was our 42"sony bravia. We could watch our movies on comparatively bigger screen then and also could utilise our time in playing games on bigger screen (That can be a post in itself ! )

Again some time passed, we came to know about Pathe unlimited scheme, first we didn't believe, ma be some misunderstanding and scrapped the idea. After a while again we heard about it, now we checked ourselves, okay double check, can that be true? 18 € per month and watch as many movies as you want, yes it indeed was true.

Calculations made, all we needed was to watch 2 movies ( okay 3 if you consider discounted early shows) per month and we are at break even, and we sure do watch more than that.

As soon as we confirmed that it was true we drove to Pathe to subscribe, ironically Ashu did and i couldn't as i was not carrying my ID with me ! And we had no time as we have to go there to register before 6:00 pm in the evening. So next day our movie love made us deviate from our routine, waking a bit early and going office a bit early than our always last state so that we can leave early and go and register myself. Ok done.

Since then our weekends means watching movies, sometimes just one, most of the times two and at times even three if we have quite a backlog... hehe

It will be almost one year now. One thing we didn't try was "sneak-previews", again because when we came to know about it, we were already nearing winter with short days and cold !

Also because it's on Tuesdays and it never worked out for us. Sometimes we were afraid what if movie is in Dutch hehehe otherwise sceptical about what if it's a movie we wont watch normally, and then we have office Wednesdays !

Now as day is getting longer and we see more of the sun, we were motivated to try our hands or eyes or whatever at "Sneak Preview".

So we finished dinner early and drove to Pathe Spuimarkt.

As we bought tickets we reviewed the display guessing which movie might be on preview. We saw some movie poster on display which we definitely wouldn't watch.

Wondering we just walked and surprisingly theatre was full, amazing how people like surprise element in everything.

We wishes silently that movie is something watchable and promised ourselves that if not, we are not going to suffer, we are going to leave this time...hehehe

Gratefully it was watchable.

I think now we are going to be hooked with this as well, It's like thriller, going for something you don't know, excitement, element of surprise, mystery with guesses in the air... not only you but all around you there adding to that.

I guess most of us loves a bit of surprise element in their lives, yes only pleasant please!

Image Courtesy : Internet

I don't intend to breach copy right law, all images are from internet and is you find any of images in violation of copyright let me know, i will remove them and i would be more than happy to give deserved credit.

Ooops i did it again...

It started with HE saying something like...

Do you know these phone you can buy cheaper in Belgium.

Ya but mine is with subscription.

2 years contract is too much, it should be 1 year.

hehehe

Blah blah blah

Blah blah blah

Blah Blah Blah continues...

Then i hit it in my genuine attempts of making a conversation.

So where are you basically from?

Me? From *****.

ohh wow and how long have you been here?

## years ( He mentioned a double figure number here)

Ohh wow that's quite some time, so how did you move here?

*** stare ***

( thinking he didn't understand me)

so you moved here with your work?

***stare*** (now accompanied by uneasy smile)

I realise may be i shouldn't be asking too much... so i try to close it with light passing comment and to move on from that topic....

( What? I thought they like those questions, they bombard me with those all the times !)

Or might be girl friend, huh ?? hehehe

*** very uncomfortable stare and unrecognisable expressions***

Did you hear about *********

huh?

I stay here with my boy friend.

Full Stop.

Ooops i did it again !

Following what i say?

This Monday we had Painting class in water colors.

I wasn't much enthusiastic for it, as i have been using water colors since i was may be 7 - 8 years, almost two decades.

This class turned out a pleasant surprise to me as i had great fun experimenting, I didn't know about so many possibilities combining it with other mediums, like salt, soap, wax or even water spray !

Amazing, I am glad i didn't decide to skip it.

Instructor for this class was new to me and so when i introduced myself, i did it in English to make sure she knows i might not be understanding everything she speaks. ( have come with this trick after some experiences hehe)

Then as usual class started in Dutch, after while taking presence call when my name came she asked me :

" Lopa, begrijp je dat veel Nederlanders naar de klas te volgen? "

( translation : "Lopa, do you understand Dutch to follow the class?" )

My immediate reaction before she completed the sentence was :

"Nee"

( translation: "No")

And whole class broke up laughing !

Yes, including me !

'OMG-I'm tagged'

I was tagged a few days back by AmitL, finally doing the tag.

And i am using his caption and pic for that as well. I hope that's okay with you Amit :o) hehehe

'OMG-I'm tagged'.

Here I go - hope I can do as good a job of it as he did:

1. What is your current obsession?
Blogging, Painting, Wii :)

2. What are you wearing today?
My usual blue jeans :) and of course t-shirts in layers, I am dying for summer to come!

3. What’s for dinner?
Ahhh nice question, that's exactly what was on my mind before I started with this tag :oP

4. What’s the last thing you bought?
A Dutch language course, if that counts as that's my last transaction, otherwise a Jacket on weekend.

5. What are you listening to right now?
Tch tch tch.... my laptop keyboard keys....

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
Good - Observer, Easy going with good sense of humour.

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Somewhere facing the blue sea, may be South of France, or may be on one of Greece islands.

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?
Shades.

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Canary Islands or Maldives.

10. Which language do you want to learn?
Dutch, French and German.

11. What’s your favourite quote?
1. Live and Let Live
2. Don't follow your Dreams; Chase them!
3. Giving up doesn't always mean you are weak. Sometimes, it just means you are strong enough to let go.

12. Who do you want to meet right now?
Mom- Dad & Viv. (Not for right now, any time)

13. What is your favourite colour?
Ohhh can't name one... white, blue, red, lavender

14. Give us 3 styling tips that work for you.
Smile, smile and smile, I guess it can help hiding other style disasters, if any ;)

15. What is your dream job?
To be an Artist, to have my own Gallery and have exhibitions on my name that people will actually want to visit!

16. What’s your favourite magazine?
I am not much of a magazine person.

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Dining out.

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
Yellow trouser and Parrot green sweat shirt. (It’s not my imagination; I actually have had first-hand experience witnessing it)

19. Who according to you is the most over-rated style icon?
SRK, Aish (Don’t bother if you are not familiar with Indian cinema- Bollywood)

20. What kind of haircut do you prefer?
Easy to manage!

21. What are you going to do after this?
Back to thinking, what for dinner!

22. What are your favourite movies?
Pursuit of Happiness, Serendipity, A beautiful mind, 300, 50 first dates, Euro Trip, Sweet home Alabama, Pretty Woman, Chak de, DCH, DDLJ, Lamhe, Taare Zamin par, Shaurya, Jab we met, Wake up Sid

23. What inspires you?
Reading stories of people who made it big from scratch.

24. What do your friends call you most commonly?
Lopa, Lops, Lopi

25. Would you prefer coffee or tea?
No preference, But a cup of black tea or a cup of Cappuccino will do.

26. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
Read or Paint

27. What makes you go wild?
Seeing people lie or pretend.

28. Which other blogs do you love visiting?
Ahhh, too many to name them.

29. Favourite Dessert/Sweet?
Chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla topped with warm chocolate sauce and a strawberry
Otherwise melted kulfi ;o)

30. How many tabs are turned on in ur browser right now?
Six :oP

31. Favourite Season?
I never dreamt I will say this but summer. (Not Indian summer, European summer pls. hehe)

32. If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?
Batata Poha? Is that okay?

33. What is the right way to avoid people who purposefully hurt you?
Ignore.

34. What are you afraid of the most?
Losing loved ones.

35. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
Aaaah need to work out more...haha

36. What brings a smile on your face instantly?
A good read a good chat with old friend.

37. A word that you say a lot?
Okay.

38. When was the last time you did something nice?
I brought my colleague her favourite Chocó shock without her asking me for one.

39. What would you do if you were made President of India for one day?
Explore Rashtrapati Bhavan. There isn't more than possible to accomplish in one day of president ship.

40. Do you know who Master SHIFU is?
Nop :o( Okay I need to Google it now !

Whom Do I tag now?
Whoever is bored enough not to come up with a topic to post, here is something for you to write and post ;o) hehehe

Happy - Sappy !

I am (was, still am...ok whatever ) in a good mood today.

First thing first, month of February has been good with so many things i wanted to do in Blogosphere.

- It gave me my First oil painting. (such a wonderful feeling, to have been done which i wanted to for so long !)

- I could update my Painting Blog which was long due, with some of the old works which wasn't there and some of the very recent work.

- My Food Blog is out, It was born at the same time as my other blogs but was in Draft till now, finally it sees day light.

Okay, now main thing about why today is different and special ! yes, it being our second marriage anniversary ! (So you can drop a line to wish us, hehe )

We both have taken half day off from work today.

I had some special surprise plans for today, just confirmed and it is not taking place today due to last week's bad weather !

Arrgghh European weather !

Now i have to re-schedule it, for belated surprise celebrations !

For today, no plans yet, last minute planning in progress :o)

Have a nice day all of you :o)

Oooops, and wishing very Happy Anniversary to us :o)