All good things...

Happy Eid everyone.

We had a glorious break - 5 days off! It gave everyone much needed friend and family time.

Dude and I spent time with Pats & family, doing nothing in particular - talked a lot, drove all the way to Umm Al Quwain for a booze run and had a blast - I heart road trips, for whatever purpose they may be.

Had charades night with pizza - Round Table's,the last honest pizza in Dubai, proudly proclaims the menu. It was great as was the company.

And oh my the charades!! It was a battle of the sexes and the chicas trounced the gents (as if you didn't already KNOW that). I mean, let's take 'JAWS' for example. I ask you, is it easier to mime water, fish, a galloping sea-horse (Well that's what it looked like) all with one hand, such was our expert mime...or is it easier to just 'point' to your own, God-given jaw line?!

It was a lot of fun...and I know the guys probably have a lot of fun to poke at us too, but hey, I blog, you don't, life's unfair like that.

Dora and Boots stayed over one night. We all slept in the hall, in front of the telly and watched Disney's 'Beauty & the Beast'. Well, Dude and Dora dozed off. Boots and I cuddled and enjoyed Lumiere sing about Belle's dinner. We had Nutella on bread for breakfast and played football in our little hall. A smiley will just not do justice to the memory of it all.

On another night, Dude had a cricket game. I always enjoy watching him play, whatever sport it may be. My dad is mighty proud of his sports loving son-in-law and always asks about the score, average and outcome of his games. His team didn't win, but he was great. (Ok, so I'm partial.) Then went out with a few friends, for a mouth-watering dinner at Jimmy's Killer Prawns. It was a seafood fest, fried hammour, grilled jumbo prawns, calamari, prawns in hummous - the Goan in me loved it it all, but I'll still say that nothing beats fish curry, white rice and a few fried prawns. Bliss.

Our last day we spent at home, catching up on the activities that the married must catch up on. And I refer to cleaning, laundry, sorting etc - lest you wonder. *grin*

All in all, hols well spent. Can't wait for the next lot.

Greed becomes me!

Till later!

Too many goodbyes

We had the boys back from Oz for a while. It made for a busy, fun, chaotic month of noise, laughter, painting, eating out and the Xbox.

Then they left. First Billo, about 2 weeks ago and then Tatt Boy yesterday.

Meh.

No more late nights, talking about..well, nothing in particular, but everything in general.

No more painting peacock feathers. Or Lamps. Or Walls. (we're highly creative you see)

No more intense discussions about relationships, over filafils and lentil soup. (if you're in the UAE, check out this place called Commodore in Sharjah, behind Al Wahda - it's open 24 hours, serving the best Arabic food)

No more Gears of War for dude. Double players at least. He played today, died one or twice and missed Tatt Boy. It was sad and cute, all at the same time.

I've promised to learn so that I can team up with him...but the gore and guts all over!!

Come back Tatt Boy :(

No more listening to Honey Singh. (*grins* be careful if you're going to check him out on Youtube)

No more Pats and me getting home hungry and feasting on already made tuna wraps.

No more Iftar dinners and plant hunting and Pictionary playing.

No more this and no more that. I hate goodbyes. I know, I know, we'll meet again and all that...but I just can't seem to get used to them. I hate saying goodbye to my folks - come to think of it, I don't, coz my eyes are usually full and I'm too choked up to say a word.

Don't get me wrong, life is still fun and we'll all get back to normal in a few days....but right now, since you've BOTH gone and left....

we miss you.

See you soon. We love you.

A quick one

'You can learn a lot of things from the flowers,

for especially in the month of June.

There's a wealth of happiness and romance,

all in a golden afternoon.

The golden afternoon , Alice in Wonderland,

Lewis Carroll Jan 1832 - Jan 1898

I know it's not June, but this song was playing in my head :)
Hope you're having a lovely day as well - wherever you are!

Till later,
Rose

A Scrap of Honesty

My friendly neighbourhood cha lover, gifted me a badge.

Ketchup Girl is super cool and her blog has become a favorite of mine in the last month or so. Which is basically since I've started reading it, so treat that as an indication of her total coolness. *grin*

10 honest bits about me.

Brace yourselves people.

1. I have an insane fear of falling off the bed in my sleep. Due to this, I never sleep on the edge and if left with no choice on a single bed, I'd rather sleep on the floor.

It happened 2 months ago, I kid you not.

2. I've been paranoid about my weight forever. Even when I'm thin, I'm fat.

3. I pray for my friends. All of them. Whenever I suddenly remember one of them in need/trouble/a bad mood, I shout out to the Big Guy upstairs.

4. I hate, hate, HATE when I'm at the cinema and I can hear the guy 2 rows down, chomping on his popcorn for all his set of 32 are worth and then slurping his drink. I throw daggers at him from my make believe cloud, as I hover above his fat head.

5. In college I fell in love with Winnie the Pooh. And I had one birthday when all my friends, (who fuelled my obsession) gifted me Pooh towels, Pooh photo albums, a Pooh dustbin, a Pooh toothbrush, a Pooh straw, a Pooh photo frame, Pooh tee-shirts, Pooh cards, Pooh magnets, Pooh this, Pooh that and Pooh the next thing.

SUCH a great birthday :)

6. I'm a Harry Potter freak. Thanks to Wikipedia, I know the magical history of everything and everyone mentioned in those glorious books. Helga Hufflepuff just didn't get her due.

7. I think I know all Govindas songs. I memorised them, laughed at them and know them to this day. Do not judge me. The man was ridiculously blessed with the most amusingly fabulous songs.

Chand ka dola, laya hoon dulhan, aanan paanan, aanan paanan.

8. My mom is my best friend.

9. I sing in the shower. Loud and harmonious.

10. As a baby, I slept on my tummy with my bottom high in the air. It's hard to describe what it looked like exactly, but I'm told that most kids sleep that way. Yet no one talks about it, so I'm inclined to be doubtful. (Let me know what you think though, I'm hugely interested)

I'm going to tag a few blogs, which I think are quite honest too. Consider yourself gifted!

Pranksy at 'Devil's Workshop'

Sushi at 'tao-of-me'

Gin at 'Life as I know it'

Rutu at 'The Adventures of the Wishing Chair'

Sampoorna at 'Sampoorna-The Mantra'

Anand at 'Hell Lotta Tips'

Piper

So there you go.

Thanks KG, t'was an honour!

The E-mail

My Godfather Pascual is a man who has a special bean bag in my corner.

He was my favorite uncle as a child and someone I can still listen to for hours. He manages to keep me spellbound with stories of an old Goa only he and my mum remember, he taught himself to play the guitar and totally ROCKS 'House of the rising sun'. He loves soup and good food and the old days.

He shifted continents quite a few years ago, but we still keep in touch thanks to awesomeness of e-mail.

He sent me a lovely mail this morning, that I'm sharing with you now. It's long, but totally worth the read - hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

The 45 lessons life taught me.
Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.

Don't save it for a special occasion.
Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26.. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

5 things I miss most about being a kid...

Spending time with Dora and Boots this weekend. It took me back to when I was the one scared of the dark, I was the one searching for chocolate in the fridge, I was the one spending afternoons doing homework at top speed, just to watch cartoons immediately after.

Got me to thinking about what I missed most...and some really good memories.

1. Scrapbooking.

Being an only child, mum and dad came up with a lot of little things to keep me busy. Scrapbooking was a huge favorite with me. We spent hours pouring over magazines and old greeting cards. My pages were full of places I'd visit, things I loved and pictures mum and I just...thought were really cute. : )

2. Weekends at Ajman Marina.

Ajman Marina was a club, located an emirate away from Sharjah, where we lived. Special Fridays were spent at the Marina, all day in the pool, out just for a gorgeous barbeque lunch and then back in the water. The kids in the family spent all our time trying to tumble in the water, go between each others legs, jump, dive and throw each other into the water - those Fridays meant enough excitement to last us the whole month!

3. Cartoons.

Weekdays at 4PM was cartoon time. By that time, I (and probably all the kids I knew back then) were done with our homework, tea, baths and were comfortably in front of the TV to watch Transformers, Scooby Doo, Looney Toons - the works. Good times.

4. Bath time.

This particular joy is still close to my heart. As a kid, bath time meant a lot of playing in the tub and mum and me indulging in some mother-daughter mischief. She would let me jump on the bed, tickle me and I'd be laughing till I got the hiccups. As I grew older, I'd have bath on my own, but the bathroom door would be open and mum and I would be talking and laughing about the day gone by.

When I last went back home, I realised mum and I caught ourselves doing the same thing. In Goa, with rain beating on the tiles above, the familiarity of the moment was so much more special - only because I hadn't realised how much I missed it.

5. So I started this post thinking I'd be able to zone in on 5 things. Now, at 5, I realise I can't. Long walks with Dad as he dropped me to Arabic tuitions, standing on a stool in the kitchen and washing glasses as mum cooked, meeting friends every morning in the school bus, little accomplishments in school that I now realise, were a big deal, making friendships that are lasting me a lifetime, learning to make the yummiest chocolate potato cake (will find the recipe and post it, I promise!) and so much more.

Being a kid was fun. But now's great too.

What do you miss most?