And the result of prev. Travel Photos contest post is announced !

It was so nice to feel that adrenaline rush after years... to wait for the result.... to check that result page again and again if the results are announced !

Butterflies in the stomach and finally.... i refreshed the page and this time it lead me to the different page than previous... to a result page.

I won it, i won it, i won it.

I called Ashu the moment i saw my name and then went to twitter, buzzed/ pinged some close friends and finally here blogging about it to share with you all :)

Thank you everyone for your wishes.

Here is a link to result page. - "Travel Photos Contest winners announced"

seems what they liked was how i explained my thoughts while taking those pictures.... so more than pictures its my thought that counts, you see...hehe

How did you start Blogging?

Normally I don't do all the tags I am tagged for, but sometimes some tags are interesting, they come along interesting questions providing an opportunity to share and also award ! Can't resist them !

Like this award Alice from Alice in the wonderland bestowed me with.

Actually she gave the option to pick any award from the two, but I am shamelessly picking up both... hehe

1. Say why you made your blog and if you expected it to be popular at all.

Main reason I started blogging was an urge to share. I was missing my friends and family and time difference didn't allow talking with them whenever I had an urge to, so I started blogging.

Second reason, not having many friends or any family in a new country makes life boring, and to fight that feeling and for some good time pass I felt blogging was a nice way and then I can always go back and read them, it's kind of documenting life as it goes on :o)

Also because i had some wrong prenotions like i can write or i can be funny, which were obviously base-less and good that i started blogging, now know exactly where i stand !

I am so happy that I started blogging; it has helped me to get in touch with so many nice people. It is always nice when you get to meet people with similar wavelength and all of these are so talented; there is always some or other thing to learn from them. It's a great medium for fun plus knowledge sharing!

I didn't expect it to be popular and it is not popular.... hahaha but yes I would have loved and I will love if it is popular as that means only that I have a bigger circle of friends !

2. State the exact date you started your blog

hmmm... I don't remember ... as first few posts I wrote, deleted then imported-exported... and what not. But if I take this blog as it is right now and look at the date of first post available here... it is 14th May 2009.

Ooops it’s one year of this blog already, what a nice way to celebrate this realization with an award....awwww Thanks Alice :o)

3. Nominate 5 loyal followers !

Now this is really very difficult to pick 5 from 59, and there are obviously more than 5 about whom I don’t know how they started blogging and would like to know how they started blogging!

So I am converting this in a meme, and you who is reading this, I would like to know how it all started in your life, will you please share that with me? Amit, Krunal, Anita, Sagarika, Arwa, Isabella,Path Untaken, EFRUTIK , Sandra, Tiffany, Angela... any of you would like to take it up, tell me how?

Ok rules…

1. Say why you made your blog and if you expected it to be popular at all.

2. State the exact date you started your blog.

3. Nominate 5 loyal followers!

Ohh yes and if you are doing this meme, You can select one award as it was originally meant to or you also can be like me, picking up both of them... :o)

Beautiful perks with this Expat life !

I wanted to complete this tag post during the weekend, but surprisingly I don't get much time for writing in the weekends as much as in week days! So here I am ! :)

When I was checking comments on my post here . One particular one from Isabella from A Touch of Dutch made me happy and then boooooom... same day other comment here... by Tiffany Jarman Jansen from Clogs and Tulips: An American in Holland.

It was about ...

A Beautiful Blog Award!

Thank a lot Isabella and Tiffany. You made my day, it really means a lot to me!

Ok so here are the rules of this tag :

1) Thank the person who gave you the award.

2) Paste the award on your blog.

3) Link the person who nominated you for the award.

4) Share 7 things you find to be beautiful around you.

5) Nominate 7 bloggers or less (i will do more)

Most of the blogs I read who have done this tag have decided to blog about 7 Beautiful things about country of their residence, so here "Netherlands". Now whatever I write about it, most of it is going to be a repetition.

So I am going to write about myself, to be precise random 7 things I find beautiful about moving here !

1. I feel "Zen".

Not literally. But I do feel enlightened. There are so many things that I have learnt moving here.

I have learnt more about differences all cultures offer and yet how beautiful all of them are in their own .

I have learnt to accept everything as it is without having a struggle of what is better.

I have learnt why we should never laugh at someone for their funny accents or funny pronunciation, but to appreciate the effort and the fact that it makes him knowing one more language than us!

And so ON, list goes on... living a life of expat is itself a big and enriching learning experience !

2. I love it being "compact".

Netherlands is a very small country and I love the fact that how whole country is easily accessible. When I look back at my own country "India", I am really not happy with the fact that I haven't seen all of my own country!

I love this fact that one can travel from north to south in 2-3 hours ( *Traffic Conditions apply ), and still there is a lot of different experiences this beautiful country has to offer from North to South and from East to West !

3. Let's go for backpack.

Ok, this is related to my earlier point, but still.

I love how easy it is to travel across the Europe. We have had those moment, in the evening we think about going somewhere and zoooom, we are on the road.

I remember December 2008; we were planning to do a road trip to Black Forest, Germany.

We did all the required shopping for a road trip and then were checking weather forecast for the coming week. It was going to be cold and we decided on the spot, NO, we want to go somewhere warmer. Let's leave black forest for summer and next day we were on the way to Spain!

An extended weekend trip to Luxembourg was wonderful. I have come to realize that we often enjoy more what we don't plan too much than very well-planned trips; we are more of those impulsive kinds than planners!

We have touched France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, and Czech Republic! It's not that long a list but what is amazing is that we did it all in just 1 and half years that we are here!

4. Like it? Do it!

I love the fact how I can spare time for my hobbies. I loved writing, reading, painting since I was a kid. And I always tried stealing some time for them, ya until college was over.

As soon as I started with my first job, I hardly had anytime. I remember 3 years in between; I hardly did any of what I loved.

Then we moved here, and I feel rejuvenated.

I could start this blog, to write whatever I like and whatever is on my mind. As a kid I used to keep my personal diary, but now I have a blog to share with the world!

Now life is more balanced than it ever was and I have more time for myself, for my hobbies, reading and painting. I could even start with Painting lessons to fulfill my long time wish of learning oil painting!

5. Yeyy, spring is here!

One of the most beautiful things is experiencing spring!

Back home, we never noticed that big difference when spring or autumn approches, we never waited for summer and we loved winters! Not even my dreams I thought that someday I would long for summer ! :)

But I do now, it is so beautiful to see spring approaching, how beautiful whole country looks and the fact that there will be summer then soon when we all can dress up in most comfortable cloths that we all love. Every time we open our wardrobe, they peep from behind and we want summer more than ever!

I love to wait for spring and i love the fact that soon it will be there. ( A few weeks guys !)

6. Hey, Nice to meet you!

This new medium of blogging has brought me closer to so many wonderful people ! Some new and some whom i knew from years.... It provides a platform to connect, to know more about different cultures, different people sharing our unique and not-so-unique experiences !

I am happy that i met you all. You all have touched my life in some or other way. And I am happy that you did.

7. Home, Sweet home!

Last but not the least Our Home.

Never knew how much it takes to make a house call HOME! And it is indeed one of the most beautiful feelings to own something, to have everything as you want and to call it OUR HOME!

Never knew this far away country will offer us something which will become so much of a Home making us not to feel "at home" anywhere else!

That's my list of 7 things guys, and now it is really difficult to pick other 7 people to tag as most of the people around have already done it.

So I tag everyone who haven’t done this tag and specially those who have been away from blogging for some time now!

Path Untaken , Lizzy Goes Dutch , My Envision / Mind Writer , AmitL,

Proud to be Ghanchakar , Rangeen Panne , Anubav , Silent Eloquence , Fertile Folds ,Nameera , Swatantra Independence, Bhumika

Guys get back to writing :)