of things that have gone by without a mention

First off
After months of obsessing over her, her blog, her food (and other) photography, I randomly sent VC the flipkart link to her book. I must admit, I had no vested interest. I was just surprised to find it available on flipkart, and was sharing my surprise. 21 days later, one night past 10pm, when I was busy serving us some sitaphal ice cream, VC was busy unwrapping his latest courier delivery (which he slyly had delivered to the office). When I walked back into the living room, something bright and yellow lying in the magazine nook under the table, caught my eye. I thought I was seeing things. But I wasn’t. He bought me the book: The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Flipping through it now, I realize that not all of it is entirely doable sitting here in Panjim. It will take some effort to find sources for most ingredients, or even suitable substitutes, but I was over the moon with happiness. So I have a bit of the PW charm in my home now. And I cant wait to bring that charm into the kitchen. Thank you VC, this is why I love you :) Erm, and by "this", I mean your thoughtfulness!

Secondly
The sister who came down to Goa last week, did so completely unannounced. I love surprises and shamelessly drop hints all over the place. I don’t need reason to be surprised. I love being surprised out the blue, for no particular reason at all. And Niyu is probably the only person in my life who picks up on my shameless hints and acts on them. In the years gone by she has surprised me with very thoughtful gifts, birthday parties, cook outs, and last week once again she pulled it off by showing up at my doorstep. The build up is what made the surprise even better. For weeks she moped about how she is sick and tired of the rut that college has become and how she would love to come to Goa, even if just for the weekend. I told her she was always welcome of course, but in true Niyu style she waited till the very last minute to act on her need to come. Of course she didn’t get tickets, and called me dejected and disappointed, like this was the last opportunity EVER! What she didn’t tell me though, was that a few hours after disappointing herself and me, her travel agent had managed to get her tickets to leave that very night. And the sly thing that she is, got on a bus, brought herself to Panjim, all the while cribbing to me over sms about how unlucky she is. And pretty soon when the doorbell rang and I opened the door, there she was. Best thing that happened this month :)

Oh, and also
Iv had an intense craving to resume photography again. But jinxed I am. And that’s not just an excuse. First I stupidly decided to leave my camera behind, without realizing that we’d both be left without one. Then when we saved up enough to buy ourselves one, my smart smart husband decided to forego the kit lens to buy a wide angle lens in a few months. What he forgot to think through was compatibility issues. To cut a long story short, the lens we thought we’d be able to afford is not compatible with the D5000. So either we wait longer and save up more to buy ourselves a compatible lens, or we make do with a cheap one that wont auto focus. In the meantime Im trying to make do with the 50mm prime. Which isn’t such a bad deal. It’s a fantastic lens for food, faces and close ups. Brilliant bokeh, lovely soft hues with sharp focus. Except, the sharp focus bit depends on your ability to manually focus it. And if youre like me, half blind in one eye, its pretty much a hit or miss situation. But I persisted. Then I transferred my raw files on to my laptop. Turns out I cant install the plug in to edit them because I use pirated Photoshop. Jinxed, no??

And did I mention
I feel like Im calmer these days. More gathered. More myself. More alive. And the best part is I feel a sense of peace like I haven’t in a while. Like Im comfortable with myself, where I am and the way things have panned out. And it’s a really nice feeling. I mention this not because it was a fleeting feeling that came and went in a flash. I have felt this change increasingly starkly in the past few weeks, and I think at a deeper level, Iv changed somewhere.

There, now I feel like iv said everything I needed to.