Himachal Pradesh

Very early on, I decided I wouldn't travel to India. There are a few reasons as to how I came to this decision. And recently I decided I might just add it to my list of must-visit places. Only two reasons (so far) that changed my mind: The Darjeeling Limited and this retreat called Vaatalya in Himachal Pradesh, a state in northern India.

breathtaking photos taken from Vaatalya's Instagram

x,

D

Just a Minute in January

Svabhu Kohli

Whoopsy-do, missed it again!
Just a few things I've been up to in January:

Watching ... The Office (US) and only just finished the last episode of the final season today. (Just in time for a new month to get hooked on a 'new' show.) Cried. So many clever stupid lines. The writers of the show : kudos. Well done, guys. At first, I'd be annoyed at all the silly (OK, plain asinine) things Michael Scott did; but after he left, I wasn't all too excited to continue watching. And I teared up to see him back for a bit for the finale. Lucky for the Jim+Pam story, I had to keep watching and then to cry at some points. I kinda felt like Jim+Pam was me+my man; almost too similar! (Married with two kids, husband with plans to start his own business related to his passion). Another favorite part of the show is whenever Jim looks at the camera. And way to go with the guest appearances! Love them all.

Reading ... still working on Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. A little tougher to go through (for me) than Norwegian Wood. I have 1Q84 untouched and waiting for me. Oh bless me. But I'm looking forward to starting Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores (thank you, Meena!)

Eating ... anything I feel like eating, and at any time of the day. Which is terrible and makes me feel like crap after. My excuse to myself is that I'm breastfeeding so I get to eat anything in the hopes of helping with good milk flow. (nope, it doesn't work that way.)

Feeling ... like a half-ass mum right now. I realize I'm not putting enough effort in spending quality time with Joel. Need to work on that a lot more. Tending to Mia keeps me away from him because he always gets too excited around her and ends up hurting himself, Mia or me, or all of us at the same time. Anticipating for the day Mia is old enough so they can play together and it'll be easier to spend time with them both.

Doing ... more work for Kismet which explains why I'm spending less time with my son. Seems to me like the only time I get to do work is after they've gone to bed for the night (between 11 and midnight) until Mia wakes up for her midnight-early AM meal. One night, I ended up sleeping at 5AM, enjoying the quiet time I had to myself and woke up around 10AM. Not the best thing to do. But it does seem like that's my only choice for now, while Mia is still an infant. Once she hits the 6 to 7-month mark, it should get easier for all of us. *fingers crossed*

Dreaming ... of our holiday plan to Tioman Island with the family. I hope it works out, though I know it's going to be crazy tiring for both of us being out of the house for more than 2 hours with 2 young kids for the first time. Also dreaming of the possibility of a "honeymoon" trip - just the 2 of us - to somewhere, anywhere. But now that I think about it, what's the rush? We're still young, it will definitely happen when it's time for it to happen. Judging from my experience so far, everything that's happened is by God's grace, so I have faith things will work out in time.

Planning ... my weight-loss journey. First with yoga, and then when it's easier to be away from the kids for a longer period of time - join a gym and get personal training lessons. Much easier if I had a yoga/gym buddy, definitely. Hope for the best.

Scouting ... the internet for artists and illustrators to convince them to collaborate with Kismet Decals. It can get quite tiring and draining.

Staying ... away from social media (FB and Instagram) as much as I can. I've just started to revisit classical music (thank God for Spotify) and it's definitely awakened my lost-for-awhile love for enchanting and beautiful melodies made with the piano. I also decided to dive into the vast ocean of knowledge that is TED Talks by downloading the app onto my phone. Besides that, I've decided to do more reading of good blogs of substantial quality. I downloaded this reader app called Feedly and it's making me so happy. It's only Day 1 and I'm already significantly more happy with life. Also helped that I got a surprising text from a lovely friend. Really, you never know the power/importance of reaching out to someone until it happens to you. Instead of scrolling endlessly on Instagram/FB, take some time out to text that one person you haven't talked to in a while, just to check in if nothing else.

Listening ... to lots of classical piano music. I was thinking of making a list of songs mentioned in The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, but after a few google searches, I discovered that it's been done before. Maybe I'll just share my favorite piece of music in every blogpost.

x,

D