Christmas recap

I realize it's been a whole week since I last updated this blog. I thought I'd have TONS of time to do this while on vacation...I was wrong!

We had a very nice Christmas eve and Christmas. They were both filled with family, friends, and lots of good food. That's what Christmas is all about, right? I swear we have both eaten for 5 days straight. We didn't do a whole lot of gifts this year...it's so not necessary. Abhay's favorite gift was a Green Bay Packers blanket I had made for him, and mine was the Brewstation Coffee maker he gave me before we flew home for the holidays.

We've also gotten the chance to check out 3 new movies while on vacation. Seven Pounds, Marely and Me, and Slumdog Millionaire. While they were all very good and entertaining in their own respects Slumdog Millionare is by far the best movie we have seen in YEARS!!! (Click on the title to read more about it) It it doesn't win any Oscars, I will be sadly disappointed. RUN, don't walk, to see it now. (and I'm not being biased just because I love India. )

Last Friday night we were able to meet up with some of my friends from high school. It was so good to see my very dearest friend Beth, my friend Jessica and her husband Ryan who were home from London, and our friends Mike and Leslie. We plan to go and see our Bemidji friends at the end of this week.

We still have one more week left of our vacation. We plan to spend lots of time with family and friends, sleep, watch movies/hockey, and enjoy the cold and snow!!

My Nephews Cade (5) Carter (2) and I making dessert for Christmas

Abhay and his new blanket

It's the most wonderful time...

We made it Minnesota safe and sound on Saturday despite all the yucky weather We squeaked by with no delays. Seriously, we got really lucky. We are so happy our flights were early in the morning. When our connection flight from Minneapolis to Grand Forks took off at 9:15am there was only ONE runway open. We were greeted in Grand Forks by my dad and my brother Brad (driving his truck)...and also -30 degree weather and a full raging blizzard. We're not used to this junk anymore. When we left Indianapolis it was almost 60 degrees!! YUCK!

Yesterday was spent baking cookies and candies all day long. Abhay and I had a very good time. He was a HUGE help and did all the almond bark items. My mom hung out with us, and of course supervised all we did. :) We ended up making 11 different kinds of cookies, bars, and treats. I got really tired and didn't get everything made that I wanted to. Tomorrow I plan to do a bit more.

My parents are right at the end of a remodeling project of their house. They have redone their kitchen, redone their upstairs bathroom, ripped a wall out of the living room, and have put new flooring throughout the house. It looks gorgeous and we're so happy for them. Abhay "got" to help rip out the 20 year old living room carpet last night. What a job!! My mom and I "supervised" the work. haha

Today Abhay had the chance to go and visit his old co-workers at Arctic Cat while I was getting the full beauty treatment at my favorite salon. He had a great time seeing and talking with old friends. Afterwards we met my mom at her office, helped her out for a bit, and then headed to Grand Forks to do some last minute shopping. We truly are enjoying every minute spent with my family. We don't realize how much we really do miss our families until we are around them.

Us making cookies at my mom and dad's

Vacation!!!

It's official, my Christmas vacation had BEGUN!

I was supposed to sub today in my favorite classroom, but school was canceled today due to yucky weather. There was a bit of an ice storm last night. To me, it didn't seem like a reason to cancel school. You cancel school when there is a blizzard or it's -50 degrees with wind-chill--not ice. I will forever be a Minnesotan, I guess.

Tomorrow I "GET" to go to another lovely dentist appt. This one shouldn't be as bad as the last one. *knock on wood* I just need to be fitted for a crown and have a temp. one put. I also need to run around town and pick up the last few little items needed for Christmas.

Abhay begins his vacation on Friday. (and he couldn't be more excited about it...maybe only if we were going to India) We're both taking that day to celebrate Christmas together--just the two of us, pack, and get ready to fly back up to Minnesota early Saturday morning!!! We're excited to have two weeks to spend up there. This time, we're excited to be able to see dear friends we miss so very much. We're trying something different, we're going to get a 1-day, 1-way rental car to get to the airport in Indianapolis, and one to get back. We found a good deal--19 bucks each way. We figure it's MUCH cheaper than leaving one of our cars at the aiport for two week (plus they will be able to be home in our nice warm garage) or inconveniencing one of our friends to get up in the middle of the night to take us to the airport. We'll see how it works out...

--Mandy

Bah Humbug!

I have been having a whole lot of trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year. Normally, Once December hits I love listening to Christmas music, doing Christmas shopping, watching Christmas specials, etc... But this year I just haven't been able to get into those things.

Last night I finally figured out why. For the very first time in my life I'm living in a state without snow and warmer temperatures (30-50 degrees most days). Funny how I equate the holidays with snow and cold weather. It's what I've known my whole life. Now that I've realized my reason why, I hope I can overcome it and enjoy the next 12 days to the fullest.

--Mandy

You'll shoot your eye out!

Abhay and I LOVE the movie "A Christmas Story." These 12 facts about the movie were on Yahoo! today. We know many people love this movie as much as we do, so we thought we'd share this super fun article

12 Things You Might Not Know About A Christmas Story (even though you’ve seen it 90 times)

1. Jack Nicholson was very interested in playing Ralphie’s dad. But casting (and paying) Jack would have meant doubling the budget, so he was removed from consideration. Director Bob Clark – who didn’t know Nicholson was interested at the time – says Darrin McGavin was the perfect choice, and I’d have to agree. I think Jack would have been too much of a scene-stealer.

2. What does Porky’s, the raunchy ’80s teen sex movie, have to do with a wholesome film like A Christmas Story? Bob Clark directed both – Porky’s in 1982 and A Christmas Story in 1983. If Porky’s hadn’t given him the professional and financial success he needed, he wouldn’t have been able to bring A Christmas Story to the big screen.

3. For anyone keeping count, Ralphie says he wants the Red Ryder BB Gun 28 times throughout the course of the movie. That’s approximately once every three minutes and 20 seconds.

4. Peter Billingsley, AKA Ralphie, has been good friends with Vince Vaughn since they both appeared in the CBS Schoolbreak Special (their version of the after-school special) in the early ’90s. He doesn’t do much acting these days, but he did make a surprise appearance on the “Vince Vaughn Wild West Comedy Show” in Memphis, Tenn., in 2005. Peter’s doing quite well for himself, though. He was the executive producer of Iron Man and had a brief bit as William Ginter Riva – I’ve seen Iron Man twice, but I can’t place his character. I’ll have to go back and look. Peter also executive produced Vince’s latest movie, Four Christmases (which he also had a cameo in), as well as 2006’s The Break-Up.

5. Mythbusters tested whether it was possible to get your tongue truly stuck on a piece of cold metal. Guess what? It is. So don’t triple dog dare your best friend to try it.

6. Scott Schwartz, who played Flick (who stuck his tongue to the frozen flagpole), was submerged in the adult film industry for a number of years. He got out in 2000 to try to become a mainstream actor again, but I can’t say he’s done much of note: Community College (“A love story between four dudes and their ability to get free drinks”) and Skinwalker, which starred ex-MTV veejay Jesse Camp, if that tells you anything. Joey Buttafuoco is in it, too, and gets billing over our poor Flick. Sad.

7. Next time you’re in Cleveland, you can visit the original house from the movie for only $7.50. It was sold on eBay in 2004 for $150,000. Collector Brian Jones bought the house and restored it to its movie glory and stocked it up with some of the original props from the film, including Randy’s snowsuit.

8. Director Bob Clark got the idea for the movie when he was driving in the car with a date. He heard Jean Shepherd on the radio doing a reading of his short story collection, “In God We Trust… All Others Pay Cash,” which included some bits that eventually ended up in A Christmas Story. Clark said he drove around the block for an hour until the program ended, which his date was not too happy about.

9. The Wonder Years was inspired by A Christmas Story. In fact, in one of the last few episodes, Peter Billingsley appeared as one of Kevin Arnold’s roommates.

10. The real Red Ryder BB Gun was first made in 1938 and was named after a comic strip cowboy. You can still buy it today for the low, low price of $44.99. But the original wasn’t quite the same as the one in the movie – it lacked the compass and sundial that both the Jean Shepard story and the movie call for. Special versions had to be made just for A Christmas Story.

11. While we’re talking shopping – you know you want the leg lamp. Put it in your window! Be the envy of your neighbors! It’s a Major Award! You can buy it here, but if you’re not feeling quite so flamboyant you can get a replica that serves as a nightlight for $14.99. The people who own the house also run a gift shop, and they sell pretty much everything you could possibly want from the movie – the decoder pin ($7.99), Lifebuoy soap ($3.99), the leg lamp variants mentioned above, and even pieces of the original house.

12. There’s a sequel of sorts, My Summer Story, which came out in 1994. Kieran Culkin plays Ralphie, Mary Steenburgen is his mom, and Charles Grodin is his dad. I’m not sure if it’s because of this movie or A Christmas Story, but whenever our dogs are running around together in a pack, my husband always yells, “It’s the Bumpus Hounds!”

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Don’t shoot your eye out (kid).

Dec 7, 2008

Thursday it was time for me to FINALLY go to the dentist. I've been dealing with a painful, and cracked abscess tooth since last February. I really, really, really dislike going to the dentist so I kept putting it off. A few weeks ago my tooth cracked to the point that I had a whole in my mouth when I smiled, so I knew it was time. I sat through a very uncomfortable, although not painful, root canal. The dentist then did an impression for a crown on that tooth. While taking the impression what was left of my tooth fell out. So he had to "start over again" and insert a rod into my gums...and three hours after I walked in I left the office with a "fake tooth" I'll go back next week to get properly fitted for a crown... YUCK!

Yesterday Abhay had a job to do. We finally purchased a pair of wire cutters and Abhay took down the "duck fence" under the workbench in the garage. It's so nice to have that open. We can fit SO many more items under it. He also straighted up the garage and made room for the new chest freezer we purchased today (thanks dad!!). Yesterday evening we went downtown Columbus and checked out an Electric Lights Christmas parade. It was very neat!! When the parade started the weather was awesome, but by the middle of it the wind picked up and it got quite chilly (nothing compared to Minnesota though). But, we made it through. Afterwards we met up with our friends Shiva/Sheetal, Ajit, Sangram, and others for a late dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and went to a movie. It was good to catch up with friends. We're so thankful to have friends here in Columbus that feel like family.

--Mandy

Photos

I promised a few weeks ago to post a few of pictures from our photo shoot, so here they are. These are my three favorites.

Thanksgiving

We had a fantastic time in Minnesota with my family for Thanksgiving. We ate a TON, got rested up, watched movies, drank lots of coffee with my mom and dad, and did a whole lot of Christmas shopping. It was a great 4 days, but went by so very fast. It made us both realize yet again that we really miss being near family. But we'll be headed back there Dec 20-Jan 4.

Travel home was horrid. Our plane from left 2 hours late from Fargo and then we were stuck in Chicago for 7.5 hours. But everyone was in the same boat, weather this side of the Mississippi was bad everywhere. We were scheduled to make it home at 4pm...but got home at 3am instead. Abhay was able to go into work late, and I took the day off. :)

--Mandy

Thank you

A very dear friend of mine, well ours, had my worst fear happen to her on Sunday--she lost her dad. I feel so very sad for her and her family. After hearing of this awful news I put in my mind to be extra thankful for the people I have in my life.

I'm so grateful for all the people that I have "on my side."--I have so many. These people are scattered all over the US and world. I'm so thankful for the people that love me unconditionally. I'm grateful for people that support me, even in some of my not-so-smart decisions. I have so many "cheerleaders" out there--for that I can never say thank you enough. I'm thankful for people that know the right words to say (that may be over the phone, in a text, in an email, facebook, etc...) when I truly need to hear them. I'm thankful for people that can be honest with me--even if it's done in tough love. I'm thankful for the people in my life that can make me smile or laugh. I'm also beyond grateful for those people that I have in my life that will listen to me cry, whine, and complain.

I consider myself to be beyond lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life. Thank you all for what you have added to my life. I consider myself to be a "rich woman" because of you.

Lights

Yesterday we put up all our outdoor Christmas decorations. I know, I know. A bit early. But we don't have them lit, and won't until Sunday night when we get back from MINNESOTA!!! We wanted to do it this weekend...otherwise it would have to wait until the first weekend in Dec. We picked a chilly day to do it. But nothing compared to MN. We had issues with our snowman. Our first one didn't work after taking 1/2 hour to put it together. We hauled it back to Target, still put together, and picked up a different one. Thank goodness our second one worked.

The house lit up...

Abhay mid-decorating.

Last night we also went to the movie theater and saw the movie Twilight. I LOVED it. Something totally different. Abhay thought it was "just ok". haha!! Now I'm itchin' to read the book series.

As I mentioned before, we're headed to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. We'll be flying out of Indianapolis EARLY Thursday morning, and returning Sunday night. I'm so very excited to go back to Minnesota for the first time after moving. I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and seeing some friends.

I know the heart of life is good...

I was subbing in an art classroom today. Which means I had 5 different groups of students for an hour each. My very first class of the day was a group of 5th grade students. There was a boy in the class with some special needs, I could tell that right off the bat. I went through the activity and set them to work on a project. As they were working I noticed how wonderful another "macho" 5th grade boy was to this student with special needs. He was so sensitive, so sweet, so patient. As I was "watching" and over hearing what they were talking about a lump started to form in my throat. It was so wonderful to watch generosity and kindness acted out in front of my eyes. As I was taking a shower this evening the song "I know the heart of life is good" by John Mayer shuffled through on my iPod. It was the perfect song to hear after what I experienced today. Here's a bit of it:

...pain throws your heart to the ground
love turns the whole thing around
fear is a friend who's misunderstood
but i know the heart of life is good.

Another neat experience happened in the afternoon with a 3rd grade class. There was a little Indian boy in the class that I could CLEARLY tell had not lived in the US very long. I went up to him towards the end of the hour and asked. "How long have you been in the US?" He replied with, "3 weeks!" I then asked him "where did you live in India?" He replied with "Pune." I looked at him and said, "COOOOOL, that's where my husband went to college at!" (which Abhay did, that's where he got his undergrad degree at) I have never, ever, ever in my whole life seen a child smile so huge. He was so clearly THRILLED that I knew about Pune. Next I told him. "I've been to India. I been to Hyderabad. Do you know about Hyderabad? " He looked at me again with that huge grin and said, "Snow World is in Hyderabad!! I've been there."
I think I made his day, and he sorta made mine...

First snowfall...

It happened. We knew it was going to happen sooner or later...

It snowed yesterday!

We were sitting in the living room chillin' out late last evening after having our friend Suresh over for dinner. I kept hearing this sound. A weird sound that was creeping me out. It sounded like some animal was in our trash can. Abhay investigated all over the kitchen and found nothing. Then it occurred to us, like a light bulb turning on, "the snow is hitting the glass door!" We opened up the door and it was a beautiful sight. I always LOVE the first snowfall.




Of course, people here already have their winter gear out...hats, gloves, heavy coats. Abhay and I went to Wal-Mart, Menard's, and Target today wearing hooded sweatshirts. And felt quite comfortable. :)

Pacers Friday!

A few weeks ago Abhay and I were talking about professional sports. I didn't know this before, but he had NEVER been to a pro game. After hearing that I set out on the Internet to look for Indiana Pacers tickets for us. Two days later we were holding tickets in our hands...

We left after work and went straight to downtown Indianapolis. Like we always do, we parked in the Circle Center Mall. If you've been to Indy, you probably know about it. If not, it's this VERY cool, very hip, very nice mall smack in the middle of downtown Indianapolis. (I always feel under-dressed in this mall) You'd never know it's a mall from the outside...it just looks like a Nordstoms. It's a huge, whole block, 4 story mall. We went up to the 3rd floor and found something to eat and then walked 1.5 blocks to the Concesco Field House--home of the Pacers.

Our seats were pretty high up, certainly not the worst seats, but by no means the best. It didn't matter to us. We had a great time. I never expected we would have so much fun. The Pacers lost to the 76rs 94-92....but played a good game. The whole atmosphere of pro games is so much fun. The jumbo-tron, the lights, the cheering, the treats/vendors, the music. All that in itself makes the ticket price worth it. I'm pretty sure we will be checking out a few more games this season.

Go Pacers!

Tis' the season...

For influenza that is.

Yes folks, i'm one of the lucky ones that received the wonderful gift of influenza. Not the flu, influenza.

It started with the shakes and fever Sunday evening. I kept those symptoms and then added extreme nausea to it. Kept all those and then added dizziness.

Yesterday morning Abhay URGED to me to go and see a doctor. I was actually feeling miserable enough so I agreed. I called and made an appointment to the free Emcon Health Center. That's right...free. That's one of the many benefits of Abhay's new job. It's not your normal "free clinic" they give great, state-of-the-art care. After checking me all out and hearing of my symptoms the doctor was convinced that I have the wonderful viral illness of influenza. As you probably already know there is no medicine to get rid of it. Just stuff to help with the symptoms. The doctor loaded me up with Phenergran (to help with nausea) and Meclizine (to help with the vertigo). While both prescriptions have helped the symptoms subside, they leave me feeling like I've had 2 too many beers and that I have not slept in a month. With that I have been sleeping a whole ton...16 hours a day. I think everything has helped. Today I'm feeling like I just might live. :)

I'm sad that I had to cancel 2 teaching jobs this week due to this crap. Of course, they were both with a teacher that had requested me to sub for her. Sick or not, it affects my reputation. But what is a person to do.

My hope at this point is that Abhay doesn't get it...

November 10, 2008

I cannot believe we're already 10 days into November?! Where has time gone. Seriously?!

We had a good busy weekend. Friday night Abhay and I did our normal Friday night date. This week is was dinner and a movie. We saw Role Models. We both enjoyed it, got a few good laughs, but will probably never watch it again. We both REALLY love the fact that I get done with work earlier and can beat the Friday night 6:15pm dinner rush.

Saturday we had a little house warming party at our house. We had a few friends come over. We had a potluck dinner of yummy food, played some games, and had some good chats/laughs. It was so fun to finally show off our house. Saturday night was the first time anyone has seen the house finished. It was fun to see peoples reactions. I think we did a pretty good job!

Sunday morning we met my dear friend Amber at a park downtown for a photo shoot...and we were the subjects. (Amber and I worked together at CCDC...she was my sanity there). She is an amazing, artsy photographer. I will make sure to post a couple of pics when she's done editing them. We already saw a preview of some of them, and I love them. It was actually pretty fun. I think we felt comfortable because it was someone we knew. But of course, we picked the coldest day of the season to do it. The past week the temps have been in the low 70's. Yesterday it was about 40. Oh well, I'm not meaning to complain...we could be in snow right now. The rest of Sunday was spent doing Sunday things--groceries, laundry, football for Abhay, reading and napping for me. :)

I ended up falling ill yesterday evening and have spent pretty much all day in bed. Out of 24 hours I slept 16. :) I'm on the mend now and looking forward to subbing in one of my favorite classrooms tomorrow afternoon.

--Mandy

Jobs

Thought I'd update you all on our jobs...

Abhay is loving his job and the people he works with. He has been non-stop busy at work...and has testing lined up for weeks on various cars. It's so awesome that he's so busy in the midst of how the US economy is these days. It's so nice to see him have job satisfaction.

I'm really enjoying substitute teaching. It was very slow going the first couple of weeks, but I'm happy to say I've worked everyday this week, and will work tomorrow. I miss not having personal connections with children I'm teaching, but all in all, it's been great. In the classroom is where I belong. I've made it to 8 of the 11 elementary schools in Columbus so far (and have gotten lost a time or two trying to find them). It's been a BIG adjustment for me to get up at 6am once again...but I'm loving arriving at home at 3:30pm!

Proud

Just thought I'd say...

I am EXTREMELY proud to be an American this morning.

--Mandy

Halloween

My Halloween day started out by waiting in line for 2, yes 2, hours at the Bartholomew County courthouse to early vote. It's so nice Indiana has that option. I already know Tuesday is gonna be a crazy day for me, so I decided to go and vote early and avoid lines at the poles. I cannot imagine what they are going to be like Tuesday. I was/am very proud to vote. I'm not going to get into who I voted for. I take voting very seriously, more so this year than ever. I feel like I am the voice for Abhay, who cannot vote, as well as many of our friends that are not citizens. I'm eager to see how this political race is going to turn out.

Halloween evening trick or treaters began showing up at our door at 5pm. And they came in DROVES! At 6:45 we were already out of candy and had to shut off our lights, lock the doors, and leave the house. We thought we were prepared enough with 2 HUGE Sam's Club bags of candy as well as 3 other "normal" size bags of fun size candies. We were proven wrong. We figure we gave out candy to 300 kids...at least. We knew our housing development has a lot of kids in it (which is a reason why we bought this house in the first place), but we never imagined we'd have THAT many kids come. We had a lot of fun passing out candy. We saw some VERY creative costumes. Our top three were:
1. A garbage can--the rolling kind cities provide
2. A whoppie cushion
3. Indiana Jones--complete with the fedora and a whip

Halloween brings back so many great memories for me as a child. Costumes in northern Minnesota always had to be creative...leaving room for snowsuits, hats, gloves, boots, etc. My parents didn't have a lot of money so going to the store and buying outfits was out of the question. But we always had cool costumes and had a blast.

I hit the Target clearance racks this morning and found loads of cool Halloween stuff for 50%. I know if I waited a couple more days it would be less, but selection wouldn't be as great as it was today. I can't wait to use it all next year.

We're enjoying a bit of a Indian summer here in Indiana right now. The past couple of days it's been in the low 70's. Right now Abhay is outside in the driveway washing the inside and outside of his Kia. Hopefully he'll move onto my car... Just another reason why we LOVE having our own house.

Diwali

Thought I'd post a link for more information about Diwali, India's largest festival that is going on right now.

Chick here to learn more about Diwali

Pretty neat stuff!!

The last couple of days

Many of you know, Friday was my 29th birthday. I had a very good day. Abhay sent me a gorgeous bunch of white/yellow daises, and a birthday balloon. (my "real" present from him took place about 2 weeks ago in the form of a dress clothes shopping spree) My dear, dear friends Matt, Heather, and Carrie sent me a beautiful peace Lilly. It was such a nice surprise! For dinner Abhay and I headed to Indianapolis and went to a restaurant called Cheeseburger in Paradise.
We had some awesome food and the restaurant had a great atmosphere! Afterwards we stopped off and did some shopping and then headed home and I made chocolate molten cakes for us to enjoy. They turned out fantastic, if I do say so myself. All in all, it was a really good day. Thanks for all the love you showed me that day. I'm very grateful to have such wonderful friends and family.

Saturday we finally got the apartment cleaned. YAY!! We are now officially all finished with that place. It feels great to be rid of it. We put a few more touches on our house....we purchased new curtains for almost every room in the house. It makes things look more "put together." I am happy to say we are done with everything....for now. Ask me in another week or two and I'm sure there will be some project we're working on.

We both are really wishing we were in India right now. Festival season is going on (the largest one, Diwali happens Tuesday), and we wish we were there with our family and friends celebrating. We promise to come during festival season sometime within the next few years! I want to experience it first hand!

Have a great week all!
--Mandy

Here's the flowers and lilly! :)

Far, far away

Kindergarten student: Mrs Rawal, your necklace is pretty. Where did you get it?
Me: I got it in a country called India.
Kindergarten student: Is that a long ways away?
Me: It's a very long ways away.
Kindergarten student: Like Wal-Mart?
Me: No, no....much further. You have to ride on an airplane for a whole day.
Kindergarten student: Yeah, like Wal-Mart!!!!!

I find it so amusing how some children have no concept of time, or space. This convo made my day!

Fall breezes

I am so happy that we are finally feeling fall weather here in Indiana. Up until just a couple of days ago it's gotten up to the 80's everyday. I love waking up in the morning and feeling the house chilly. I love the aroma outdoors. I love the feel of the cool wind on my face. I love fall clothing...it's my favorite season to dress. I even like the fact that I cannot wear flip/flops anymore and have moved onto shoes. I also really enjoying the fact knowing that after fall comes winter. I'm excited to experience a not so harsh winter for once in my lifetime. I have a feeling I'll be saying "What, this temp?? This is nothing....this is WARM."

--Mandy

Anyone out there?

I'm just doin' a little check to see who reads this (besides Michelle....love ya girl) blog. I'm just curious to see who stops by and checks it out. Leave me a comment and let me know if you do.

Thanks!

ps. I put in my first day of subbing today. It went super well. :)

Smells

Smells have played a big part of our life lately, in good ways and bad ways.

Many of you know the previous owners of our house had pets. A DUCK and a cat. The cat ran amuck throughout the house, and left fur everywhere it went. Abhay and I seriously doubt they ever cleaned up cat hair in the 2 years that they lived in the house. Abhay is SERIOUSLY allergic to cat and dog fur...so it created a little issue for us. The carpets were the biggest chore for us. After vacuuming 4 or 5 times, shampooing 2 x, febreezing everything, and oil scented plug ins, we have it under control. Oh, and cleaning enough fur from baseboards, vents, etc... to make a cat hair blanket. Poor guy, can finally live in here without running a temp. and sneezing his head off.

While opening boxes and bags, we ran across smells from many places in our lives. My wedding dress smelled like TRF, our traditional Indian clothes smelled like India, school boxes smelled like Red Lake, some garage items smelled like Bemidji, bedding smelled like our apt. It's amazing how a smell can bring you back to a time and place in your life. Almost like how a song can bring you to a certain time and place in your life. I always love those experiences.

Abhay and I walked in the house from running errands yesterday and Abhay exclaimed "This smells like OUR house!!" He's so right, it finally does. It feels so good to say OUR HOUSE.

Changes are happening!

I quit my job at Cummins Child Development Center. YES, I finally quit...after months and months of being unhappy. My last day will be Oct 15th.

Last Thursday I FINALLY received my Indiana teaching license. (yes, I had a few hang ups) Monday I went straight to the Bartholomew County School Corp. office and got info on subbing...and got singed up for subbing the next day. I'll start that Oct 20. I know subbing can be a bit scary. There are really no guarantees on hours/days with subbing. But I've been told by many people that most subs in this district can work everyday (there are 10 elementary schools within the disrtict). It's a chance I'm going to have to take in order to get my own classroom again one day, which is something I want so desperately . Since nobody knows me, my name, or my work subbing will get my foot in the door.

So here's to new beginnings!!!! A new house, and a new job!!

Busy, busy!!

We had a very nice relaxing weekend, well knowing that would be the last one in a very long time!

Sunday afternoon came, and we received the keys to the house from the previous owners. We were so very excited. We got the keys, stepped in the door, and this rush of emotion hit both of us. It was pure exhilaration...and overwhelming. It's times like this that we both wish our families lived closer. Just for that moral support...even though we know they are supporting us from afar. And via phone. I swear, I call my parents multiple times a day to ask questions about things.

Monday I went into work, and was sent home 30 minutes later due to low child numbers. I was more than pleased to leave!!! I came home changed clothes and headed straight to the house. Although the previous owners did an OK job cleaning, it wasn't how I wanted it. So I went straight to work cleaning. It took me 2 1/2, YES 2 1/2 hours, to clean the fridge. I swear it hadn't been cleaned since they purchased the fridge. After scrubbing with soap and water the fridge still smelled horrible. I knew about the whole baking powder thing, but i knew this fridge needed something more. I got home, scoured the web, and found many sites suggesting coffee grounds. I did that, and it worked fantastically! I don't recommend it for people that don't like the smell of coffee though. Monday I also scrubbed all 3 bathrooms...which took 4.5 hours!!!!!

Tuesday we both worked, met at the house after work, and did a few things. Nothing too big.

I had today off of work again. Today was spent cleaning out the nasty oven/stove, clean and wipe down all the cupboards. I also got one of the rooms prepped for painting. When Abhay got done with work, we set to taking down the wallpaper in the 1/2 bathroom. Man alive, what a pain!!! Wallpaper is awful stuff. I will NEVER put it up...in any form. It took us 3 hours to get about 85% of it down. We're both totally exhausted and sore. We used muscles we're not use to using. But it feels good that it's ALMOST all down. We'll finish the rest tomorrow after work.

This weekend we will be painting. I'm excited to get that done. We will have our dear friends over helping us. We're only painting 1 bedroom and the 1/2 bathroom. BUT every room needs some sort of touch up. Let's just say the people that painted it were not very experienced.

It's a lot of work, but will be so worth it in the end!! :)

--Mandy

It's official...

We're HOMEOWNERS!

We were finally able to close this evening after work. We're so relieved everything worked out in the end.

We will get the keys Sunday and then the fun will begin!!!!!

Oooopise!

I've been bad and haven't updated as I promised I would. Ooopsie. Well, here I am now.

We have yet to close on our house. It's sort of been a heartbreaking week in that regard. We were suppose to close Monday Sept 15, but to make a long story short we still have not closed. It has nothing to do with us, all with the sellers. Let's just say they are not informed sellers...and we are pretty informed home buyers. It's been very frustrating to hear everyday "We'll know something tomorrow..." Sounds like everything is figured out now and we will close sometime this week. But neither Abhay nor I will believe until we are in the office signing those papers. We're looking forward to our life moving on...

Work stuff has been good for both of us. Abhay has been extremely busy at work. They keep him hoping. He loves it though. He comes home and tells me , "oh I got to drive this, I got to drive that." It's straight up his alley (no pun intended). I'm still only working part-time (2-3 days per week). I hoping numbers jump up at the center soon so I can be a bit busier in that regard.

As far as free time goes... a couple weekends ago we headed to Indianapolis to spend the day downtown, which is something we had never done before. We mostly stuck to the suburbs before. It's was a great day. I can't remember when Abhay and I had so much day. Downtown Indy is great. Lots of fun stores and restaurants. That day we also caught the Ringling Bros/Barum and Bailey's circus that was coming through the area. GREAT show. It was Abhay's first American circus and he really liked it. Well worth the money.

Yesterday, Saturday, we spent the afternoon and evening with friends at Lake Monroe (which is close to Bloomington, IN...where Indiana U is) and had a great time. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We had a potluck and then rented a double decker pontoon for 3 hours. It was the most perfect early fall day. The landscape and lake made me think of Minnesota so very much.

That is all for now. I promise to update and write a blog as soon as we close on the house...

Enjoy your Sunday!!
--Mandy

Something new

I'm going to start something new and try to blog at least once a week, recapping happenings of the week. I did this on my myspace blog when I was using that and it seemed to work out well. So, here goes....

Friday-
We both work our normal days and then met after work for pizza. Many of you may know, I'm a pizza connoisseur. I love pizza. We tried out a local place called Zwanzigz. It's located in a residential part of town and has a very cool ambiance. The pizza was fantastic. Probably 3rd on my list. (1. is OUR pizza. 2. Dave's Pizza in Bemidji, MN) But the air temp inside the restaurant was warmer than it was outside...and it was a good 80 degrees at that time. Hopefully next time the air will be fixed.

Saturday-
We slept in super late, and then took a nap for 2.5 hours only 2 hours after getting up. We really needed the sleep, Abhay especially. :) We finally went out of the house around 6 to go see a movie...Mamma Mia. I've been wanting to see it since it came out, and my lovely husband finally caved in and went with me (only because there really wasn't anything else decent showing). I enjoyed it...he lived through it. Afterwards we stopped at Target at bought the 80's classic Ferris Bullers Day Off and watched that. Abhay had never seen it and loved it. "Buller, Buller, Buller..."

Sunday-
We slept in, yet again. We then spent the late morning and early afternoon cleaning. We cleaned up a storm! Early in the afternoon our friends Brad and Michelle Morgan (and Kayleigh and Kevin) called to say they'd be passing through Indianapolis early in the evening and were wondering if we wanted to meet for dinner. And of course we did. We enjoyed a nice meal and good visit at Pizza Uno. It was so good to see them...we really miss our Minnesota friends. We were able to squeeze in a visit to Pier One and buy a couple of things for the new house too! :)

Monday-
Today was filled with getting things ready for the rest of the week (laundry, groceries, etc...) I'm trying something new. I'm starting to make a few items for the week on Sunday (or Monday in this case) and freezing them for dinners during week. Abhay gets home about 2 hours before I do so he can take them out and pop them in the oven...we'll see how it works. We were able to meet up with our friends Shiva and Sheetal for coffee at Starbucks today too. It was good to visit with them and take them by our new house.

Empty Apartment

Our house is now quiet, and we are without parents here for the first time in over 3 months. It feels weird to walk in the door and not see lots of shoes, and the extra room empty. We will deeply miss having our families around but are excited to be "Mandy and Abhay" again.

Here is a picture from last weekend when both sets of parents were here in Indiana...

Is it almost over?

It's hard to believe it's already late August and summer is almost over. Where on earth did it go?

Things are moving along slowly, and perfectly with our house. We have been a bit guarded throughout the whole process, mostly because of the house we lost in Minnesota before closing. We're starting to purchase things slowly for it. This weekend we bought a lawn mower and ladder. We have also picked out paint colors and, of course, I have all kinds of decorating ideas. It's exciting, and SO much fun.

Abhay's parents leave to go back to India one week from day. We can barely believe they have been here 3 months?! My parents are flying in from Minnesota on Thursday and will stay for a week. (I am so, so, SO excited to see them). So, our parents will be meeting for the very first time. :) They will also ALL get to see the house Thursday night.

We have spent the past two weekends at home. Only one other weekend this summer was spent at home. It's been nice to get caught up on sleep, movies, and all of our DVR'd shows!

--Mandy

I have, we have, been awful, horrible, and very bad at updating this. So very sorry. It's my new goal to write entries more often. Here is our latest and greatest news...

Abhay and I placed an offer on a house, after looking at 16 houses in the past few weeks. Just today, our offer was accepted. We are oh, so very excited. (And today was Abhay's birthday, so it was an extra happy birthday for him. )If everything goes well with inspections (our fingers are crossed), we will close on Sept 15 and it will be in our possession October 1!!!!

Here it is!!!

Long overdue update

Wow, it's been awhile since an update from us. Here goes...

1. Abhay parents did arrive safe and sound here with us almost 2 weeks ago. We are really enjoying spending time with them. We are introducing them to all things American....slowly. Abhay and I are enjoying eating home-cooked Indian food for at least one meal almost everyday! We're both happy they are here spending the summer with us.

2. The flooding this past weekend. Many of you probably heard about it and were wondering. We are/were ok. We were not close to any water but were stranded here at home due to almost all roads being closed due to the flooding. We had power the whole time too, which many did not. We were thankful for that. The waters have receded but now it's time to clean up the city. It's a sad, awful mess. My place of employment is totally trashed. We drove by last night and saw them hauling everything out into big trucks. I'm out of work this week and possibly next week too. It brings back so many memories of when Grand Forks flooded so badly. Makes my heart hurt for so many people.

3. Greencard. Yesterday we barely made it to Indianapolis for our scheduled greencard interview. It was scary, intimidating, and nerve wracking...but Abhay was granted his greencard. YAY! This is a big deal for he and I. Life will be much easier with this. Needless to say, we're thrilled. Afterwards, we celebrated by going with his parents to the Indianapolis zoo. We had a great time...it's a gorgeous zoo. Not too big, not too small. We all liked the very well done dolphin show best.

Hope this finds you all well. I promise we will update more often!

--Mandy

The worst pain ever

Today I felt the worst pain I've ever felt in my life. I got my eyebrows threaded. Yes, threaded.

During eyebrow threading Practitioners use a pure cotton thread. They generally twist the hair and threading pulls out a whole row of hair, as opposed to tweezing where only one single hair is pulled out. It is a practice that originated in India and is very popular there and in the middle/far east. Since it's popular in India, I had heard about it but did not experience it until today.

In the mall here in Columbus there is a little salon that does facial threading/henna tattoos. I had walked by it a few times thinking, "I should try that eyebrow threading thing" but never had the guts. Today Abhay urged me to get it done while we were in the mall saying, "My mom does it to herself, so it can't hurt to bad." Boy was he wrong.

It hurt like nothing has ever hurt. And as many of you know I have a SUPER high pain tolerance.The whole way through the procedure I was "crying". I stood up after the lady was done with my threading and almost passed out because the pain was still so intense. But I must say, my eyebrows look the best they ever have. I'm thinking perhaps the pain was worth it. Apparently it is not supposed to hurt so bad the next time I have it done. We'll see...

--Mandy :)

Perfect day

We had such a gorgeous, lovely day here today. Man! It's the nicest it's been outside so far.

Another thing that is fantastic is that there are NO mosquitoes. We are able to enjoy our meals outside without those pesky things.

--Mandy :)

IKEA, Indian food and Indiana Jones

Yesterday was the first day of the long weekend. We decided to go to Cincinnati, OH (it is about 1.5 hrs away). Our plan was to spend the entire day there, some shopping at IKEA and a visit to the Zoo.

Cincinnati is the closest town that has an IKEA, for those who don't know what IKEA is check out www.ikea.com. It is one of the coolest store and you can find stuff pretty cheap. After about $100 and about 2 hours we had pretty much everything we needed for the spare bedroom and bathroom. In the middle of shopping at IKEA we got a call from our friends, they wanted to get together in the evening, have supper at a new Indian restaurant (we now have one in Columbus) and go watch the new Indiana Jones movie. We decided that we might spend less time at the Zoo and head home for a night out with our friends. But going to the Zoo turned out to be a really bad decision. It took us about 1 hour to just get to the parking lot, a mile walk to the zoo once we parked, and it would have taken at least an hour to get a ticket to get in to the Zoo. We decided to cut short our trip and skipped the Zoo and headed home.

For supper we met up with our friends at the new Indian restaurant called Passage to India. It is pretty decent food . After stuffing ourselves with Indian food we headed to watch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It is a typical Indy movie, lots of stuff that will never happen, but it is totally worth watching once.

-Abhay

Another weekend has come and gone. Why do they go so fast?! We enjoyed a nice one. We went out to dinner and caught a movie Friday night. Yesterday Abhay had a cricket game in the morning. He had a blast playing in it. During that I got a pedicure (at an awesome nail salon that had massage chairs, iPod docking stations, free drinks, etc...) and then headed to the outlet mall to do some shopping. The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and getting ready for the week. Oh, and we now only have TWO boxes left to unpack now. YAY!!

Abhay is LOVING his job. He's enjoying what he's doing and the atmosphere. So far he's done tests on a Hummer, Ford Edge, and a Dodge Caliber (all 2010 models). He tests stuff that will be on this vehicles in the future. It's quite a step up from Arctic Cat. I'm thrilled for him..

We're looking forward to Abhay's parents arriving here in the US in just a little over a week!! We're also looking forward to the long weekend next weekend. We have some fun things planned.

Have a great, great week.

--Mandy

Rain, rain...

So far it's rained here EVERY day (yesterday being the only exception) in May. I am not complaining too loudly because it could be snow, like they've had back in Minnesota. With that rain the temps have been nice, in my book. Usually between 60-70 each day. Rain day after day after day gets just a little depressing. I could never live in Seattle.

With all this rain I've gotten used to something I've never used before, an umbrella. In fact, I have never owned an umbrella until a couple of weeks ago when a friend gave me one. Ok, ok truth be told...I owned an umbrella when I was 4. It was a snoopy one. The handle was the shape of snoopy. It matched perfect with my snoopy fishing rod/tackle box, snoopy snow cone maker, and snoopy bedding. As you can see, I LOVED snoopy.

I don't know why I never used a umbrella before.I think because in Minnesota when it rains, it's chilly so one would just throw on a jacket. An umbrella is a wonderful thing. :) I now need to buy a couple more so I'm not hauling mine around where I go.

--Mandy

Licenses, greencard, and games!

We are now officially residents of Indiana. This morning we went to the BMV and got our drivers licenses AND plates for our cars. (yes the motor vehicle office is open Saturday. I thought that was so cool) We went in thinking Indiana license stuff was gonna be cheaper than Minnesota. Boy were we were proven wrong $420.00 later. And here in Indiana we only get one license plate...the back plate. It made me a bit sad to take my Minnesota plates off my car an put on my new blue Indiana one (it and the color of my car match :)). It was one of those reminders that yes, we're here to stay.

Onto exciting news...Abhay received his green card appointment letter in the mail this week. This is something we've been waiting and waiting for. This appointment is an interview the government has set up for us to go in and "plead our case" for Abhay to receive his green card. (which last for 10 year as opposed to an H1B visa which lasts 3) Our interview will be in Indianapolis on June 9. We spoke with our lawyer for almost an hour on Thursday night about what will go on during this interview. I think it made us both more nervous...but it's good to be prepared. It will be fantastic for us if he receives it. We will mostly likely find out on that day if it is approved or not. Send good thoughts and wishes our way that day...

Tonight we invited a bunch of friends over for homemade pizza/game/wii night. This is a tradition that we had with our friends back in Minnesota and wanted to start that here. A good time was had by all...

Wishing you a relaxing Sunday.

--Mandy

Our view...

I was playing with my new camera today, and I took a picture of the view from our balcony. I thought I'd share it with you all.

As you can see, we have the CHOICE apartment in the whole 12 building complex. The view makes us both think of Minnesota. Our balcony is quite large. We love having dinner/coffee/chai out on it.

The little pond plays home to a whole array of animals. Canadian Geese, Mallard Ducks, turtles, and Abhay even saw a muskrat yesterday. People fish out of it too. I might give it a whirl sometime soon.

--Mandy

Cricket after 3 years

It has been almost 3 years since I graduated from MTU and about the same amount of time since I have played cricket. I was really excited after moving to Columbus since they have a cricket league here with about 9 teams in the league. Today was my first day of practice with my 'New Team' (has some of my old friends from Tech). It actually did not go that well I was really rusty and I pretty much figured that I need a lot of practice to get better at it again. But still have some more time before the actual games start.

Another thing we are both excited about is that my Dad finally got his visa and my parents are planning to visit us this summer. My sister hopefully will also be able to come to Columbus over the 4th of July weekend. Also, Mandy's parents will be visiting us sometime this summer. So should be a fun and busy summer.

-Abhay

Unpacking, more leaks, and Bocce!

It's been another busy weekend...

Saturday we spent the grand majority of the day unpacking (again!) But we're almost done, only the spare room left to go. Our apartment is finally starting to feel more like home. We also took some time to relax...slept in, went out for lunch at an Indian restaurant, took a nap, and watched a movie.

We had another leak issue in our apartment. This time it was our hot water heater leaking into the apartment below us. The clueless maintenance guys didn't figure out it was the hot water heater until they ripped out walls, and part of the floor today. It was a bit of a frustrating morning and early afternoon. But we're happy it got figured out and it wasn't leaking into OUR apartment. But on the plus side, this week we get a new hot water heater and a dishwasher.

This afternoon we met up with some friends for an afternoon at Brown County State Park. Abhay went to Michigan Tech with these guys. It's nice to have some built-in friends. It was a beautiful afternoon, and a gorgeous park. It reminded Abhay and I so much of Itasca State Park back home. We had lots of good snacks, great conversation, and an awesome game of Bocce Ball. (which Abhay and I introduced to everyone. ) It was the best time we've had since moving here!

--Mandy

At Brown County State Park
Preeti, Param, Uncle, Auntie (Suresh's Parents), Suresh, Shailesh, Sangram, Abhay, ME :)

We're in the South....

Before moving to Indiana I don't think either of us realized we'd be living in the south. When I say south I mean southern living styles and customs. We both knew full well where Columbus was located, 90 miles from Louisville, Kentucky...but it just never connected to me. I assumed it would be like Ohio, or Michigan here. Not so much.

Everyone here speaks in southern drawls. Ones that have lived here their whole lives have even bigger accents. Everyone says yes hun, thanks hun. Every radio station, besides two, are country stations (one classic rock...and one top-40 80's mix...guess which one I listen to). The serve biscuits and sweet tea where you go. There are many bbq restaurants in this town of 40,000 people. Men open up doors for women. People shake hand with one another. There are "hick guys" with "hick trucks." I could go on and on...

The clincher happened last night while Abhay and I were out for dinner. All of a sudden, in the middle of a very busy Friday evening, the restaurant staff stopped what they were doing and started line dancing to a Terri Clark song. Right in the middle of the restaurant. And it was organized.

By saying all these things, I'm not saying they are all bad. Just different. Very different from what both of us are used to.

--Mandy

American Idol--Top 5

The American Idol top 5 finalist have been decided. Who are you rootin' for?

Since the very beginning I've been a huge fan of David Archuleta. That boy can s-i-n-g! And he's only 17, still a baby. Amazing voice.

David Cook has been creeping up to the top of my list too. I was taken when he did the cover of Lionel Richie's Hello. The guy can turn anything into a rock song... and make it sound like that the way the song was composed.

So basically, I will be thrilled if either David wins. :)

How about you??

(sorry to our readers in India and those not interested in AI)

--Mandy

Day after the disasters

As most of you know, we moved into our new apartment on Friday and after we had a disaster with our washer. We were delivered a new washer on Saturday morning and this time there were no leaks in the tub and the washer runs fine and has been running continuously today, so we can catch up with all the laundry that we have to do.

On Saturday we were also invited to one of my friends first wedding anniversary in Chicago. Since the had not had a wedding reception in the US (his wife's family is from Chicago). They decided to have a combined first anniversary and reception. Mandy got to meet some of my Michigan Tech friends for the first time. Here are some pictures from the party. It was a full blown Punjabi party and had all kinds of good food, dancing, music....basically all around fun.

Venga & Me

Shetal, Shiva, Ajit, Venga, Me and Mandy

Two Natural Disasters in ONE day

Number 1: An Earthquake

It happened at about 5:30am this morning. But as per usual Abhay and I were both dead to the world sleeping and totally missed it. Bummer!! It was only a 5. something....so nothing TOO bad. But it was the "talk of the town" all day today. Apparently there was an aftershock as well at around 11am. I didn't feel that either. But then again, I was in a room with 8 infants. Hard to hear or feel anything other than them!

Number 2: A Flood

Abhay and I just purchased a new washer and dryer and it was delivered and hooked up today. We got home after having dinner and running a few errands, and I threw in a load of clothes. Much to my shock I looked down and there was water everywhere...and it kept on leaking for about a half hour. We are assuming there is a leak in the tub. DANDY. So tomorrow, at 8:30 am Menards will be delivering us a new washer.

(Here's Abhay with the mess)

A few of you may remember the huge flood we had when we moved into our townhouse in TRF. I guess wherever we go, we have problems with water leaking everywhere. Uffff!

We're headed to Chicago tomorrow afternoon for a anniversary party. Let's hope there's no major disasters...:)

Finally!

Today we signed a 6 month lease for our new apartment!

It's a nice place. Very nice. It's 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom. It's almost 1000 square feet. The best part about it is the gorgeous view we have from our patio. It overlooks a pond with a fountain in the middle. It's peaceful and serene.

All of our stuff will be delivered tomorrow (as will our first "new house" purchase a washer and dryer. woooooo!!!). We are both SO looking forward to having all of our stuff again. It will be interesting to see if it all fits in the apartment. EEEKK! Abhay has taken the day off to "officiate" everything. :)

This living situation is only short term. We are keeping our eyes and ears open for that perfect house to purchase. We wanted to get to know the area before jumping the gun and buying a place. We both think it's a smart move to hold off a bit. We've already met with a realtor to help us along... We'll see what happens.

--Mandy

Deadliest Catch

Tomorrow night is the night we've been waiting months for.

The new season of DEADLIEST CATCH starts tomorrow night on the Discovery channel.

Anyone as obsessed with it like we are? Don't ask me why, but it's so darn addicting. Who would have thought guys on big boats catching things in pots and nets would be so interesting??

Can't wait!!!

Weekend

This weekend we decided to go do some shopping. We drove to this huge outlet mall at Edinburgh, IN. Even though it is a different town it is only a 10 minute drive on the interstate for us. The outlet mall has about 80 different stores. Nike, Adidas, Bose, Coach (which Mandy drooled over), Nautica, Tommy Hillfiger, Gap, etc.., just to name a few. I think we spent the most time in a kitchen store called The Gourmet Chef. Probably one of the coolest kitchen store we have been to.

Saturday night we went to the movies to watch 21. It is a really cool movie and it is based on a true story. It is about these MIT kids who "CHEAT (Count Cards)" in Blackjack and win loads of money at various Vegas casinos. Check it out.

Sunday was spent relaxing at home and getting ready for the next week. We are both excited to get all of our stuff back and setup our new apartment next weekend.

--Abhay

A peek at Columbus

Here are a few pictures from Columbus....

North Christian Church (gorgeous inside and out)

Daffodils and Magnolia Trees in full bloom


The bridge into downtown

County Courthouse

Subscribe to us

Oh, and I forgot to mention something in my previous post...

I've added a little thing that allows you to subscribe to our blog. (Thanks for the idea Brad and Michelle) You will be emailed when we post a new blog. Subscribe if you'd like! Make sure you respond to the email that will be sent to you to confirm your subscription.

Toodles.

Our trip to the Asian store...

We made a little trip to the Asian store tonight so Abhay could check out what types of Indian things they carry. It may sound odd to some of you, but most Asian stores carry products from India as well. We're used to a store in Grand Forks, with 2 dinky aisles of Indian stuff.

We were both very surprised to see that the Asian store here in Columbus carries mostly Indian stuff. (And a lot of it at that) Well, not a HUGE surprise because there is a quite large Indian population here. Abhay was in heaven, he got tuns of stuff. I found all the yummy treats that I like from India (chocolate biscuits, all sorts of cookies, kulfi, and Thumbs Up cola) . We also bought some Chinese coffee wafers, that are totally delish!

The coolest thing is that the lady that owns this store has a large collection of Hindi and Bollywood movies that she lends out to customers for free. FRRRREEEE!!You don't find that kind of trust and kindness very often. We were both shocked and appreciative. We, of course, selected a movie to watch over the weekend.

It just goes to show, kindness of strangers is so nice to experience. And finding yummy Indian food is good too. :)

--Mandy

Minnesoooooota.

It cracks me up when people here say to me, "Oh I can tell you are from Minnesota from your accent" in their southern drawl. I don't have an accent, Indiana people do!! Geez Louise.

--Mandy

First day at work

So, as most of you know that both I and Mandy started our new jobs today. For me it wasn't that eventful. Met a lot of people in the morning (forgot most of the names but it takes time). My boss also took me around and we do have some really cool stuff. The afternoon was like a typical first day and didn't have much. At least I know what my first project will be and it starts on Thursday. Another surprise was people here know about Arctic Cat and I met three who own Arctic Cat ATV's

For Mandy it was the same thing she had a lot of reading to do, movies to watch etc... Typical first day. But she gets to be with the kids from tomorrow.



Ohhh!! before I forget. For all those people who got snow. I and Mandy went for a walk today around the apartment complex and it was a wonderful 70F.


-Abhay

Why Indiana?

Some of you may be asking, Why Indiana?? Well, here's why!

Abhay and I moved to Columbus, Indiana this past week. We moved for a great new job opportunity for Abhay. He will be starting his new position as Project Engineer at Emcon Technologies tomorrow. He will be doing NVH work like he was at Arctic Cat, just this time around he will be working on cars, vans, trucks, SUV. This new job is a GREAT opportunity for him. I'm so thrilled for him. He's mighty excited too

Last Wednesday, the day after we arrived here in Columbus ,I interviewed for a teaching position at Cummin's Child Development Center. (The head-quarters for Cummin's Diesel is located here in Columbus)I was offered a job on the spot. :) I will be starting my position as an infant teacher tomorrow. I am so very excited to be working with little ones again.

We are enjoying Columbus so far. It's a very city, with lots of things to do. Columbus is 50 south of Indianapolis...and is within 90 miles of Louisville, Ky and Cincinnati, OH. Columbus is a city of about 40,000 people. It has very decent shopping and lots of restaurants. The thing we fell in love with about this city is the architecture. I've never seen such beautiful buildings. This city is ranked 6th in the US for architecture. Cool, huh?

We are currently living in a temporary apartment provided by Emcon. We love the area and apartment so much, we are staying! We signed a lease for 6 months. That will give us plenty of time to look around and find the perfect house to buy.

The weather is gorgeous here. Sunny and 70. Nothing like it is in Minnesota right now! Sorry guys. ;)

Happy trails to you.

--Mandy :)

So it begins...

Many of you may remember that a few years ago, I had a blogspot blog. But then the trendy world of myspace came around, and I dropped it for that. Now, I'm back. Actually I should say...we're back. Abhay and I will both be writing entries on this blog (I have a sneaking feeling that most entries will be done by me though. Sorry to disappoint). By using this blogsopt blog everyone that wants to, can read it and they won't need a myspace account to do so. We will be sharing about our new adventure together in Indiana, and in life.

Check back for updates. :) We plan to update often!!!!!

--Mandy