Wordless Wednesday

Both Abhay and I love this picture

(Vineet, Abhay, Me, and Gunjan on our Mhendi night--July 2007)

--MMR

Avatar

Last night Abhay and I FINALLY saw Avatar. A whole month after it was released. As you can guess, if you didn't already know, Abhay and I are big time movie buffs and go to the theater to watch movies as often as we possibly can. We've been so busy between going to India and then getting "back on our feet" here at home we didn't have time to see it until now. Plus, we weren't really all that interested in seeing it. We went more because we were curious to see what the hype was all about. All I can say is that we were both very pleasantly surprised...

We drove 45 miles to Indianapolis and saw it in 3D at an IMAX Theater. Sure, it cost 30 dollars for both of us to see it, but it was well worth it. I have never seen anything so beautiful on screen. It was truly a visual feast. I have never seen such creativity in a film before. I'm still amazed. It was truly an experience. Many people warned me that the story line lacked some character, but truth be told both Abhay and I thought the story line was good. Wonderful film!

So I urge you, if you have yet to see it...check it out!!!! This is a movie that all age groups will enjoy. Although I must say I think it's a bit "scary/dark" for children...

--MMR

new car! :)

After many test drives, and lots of car browsing (both at dealerships and online) we purchased a car! We bought a 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring. This is out first BRAND new car. :) So needless to say, we are both pretty excited. When we first drove it Saturday morning it had 17, yes 17, miles on it. Craziness. We got a great deal on it...and it comes FULLY loaded. It has all the bells and whistles everyone would ever need, or not need. I'm a huge fan of all the controls on the steering wheel, XM radio, and custom iPod jack. :)

--MMR

Bye Sonata!

Sunday night, total spur of the moment, we decided to list my 2005 Hyundai Sonata on Craigslist. We have been thinking about upgrading to something newer and with less miles for quite awhile. Within minutes of listing it we had phone calls and emails from interested people.

A gentleman drove it Monday night after work, and committed to buying it right then and there. The FIRST person to drive it, bought it! We never ever expected to seel it quite so quickly. We dropped it off with him on Wednesday, and I'm sure he's enjoying it now. I had such mixed emotions on letting that car go. I know it sounds so silly, it's just a car. But that was my first "nice" car. My first big purchase after college. Something I worked really hard for.

But now, onto the fun task of car shopping. :) Abhay and I have lots of ideas what we should buy. We'll be testing driving lots of cars this weekend...

--MMR

MLK

Since today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day, I thought it fitting to post some profound quotes made by him...

--The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

--Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.

--Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

--Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

Fog

Well, we made it through the week. Just barely. Ha!

I have been having a HORRID time getting over this nasty jet lag. Abhay, on the other hand, has been doing ok. I spent Mon-Thurs mornings at work in a total fog...for some weird reason the fog in my head lifts around 2pm. I had my normal Friday off from work, and spent the majority of it sleeping. Abhay and I slept 12 hours Friday night--first time I've done that in years! and a long nap Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening we attempted a normal routine...movie (Up in The Air--which was really quite good) and dinner out. :) Again we slept 9+ hours Saturday night. I took a long nap today. I plan to sleep late tomorrow (another day off for me--a day to honor one of my personal heroes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr) and take another good nap. Hopefully by Tuesday I'll be back to normal.

I am happy to report our suitcase was found!!! :) It arrived on our doorstep Tuesday--and the contents were all fine. Abhay ended up having to get a little nasty with United. It's sad it takes getting stern to get something done. But in return we got $550.00 in travel vouchers! :)

That's all for now...

--MMR

All Around the World

We had quite an eventful and frustrating trip home. It started early Thursday morning (India time) with a cancelled flight, then again early Friday morning with a another cancelled flight, and finally late, late Friday night we were able to fly out. We spent many hours standing in line and arguing with British Airway employees. But on the bright side, we got to spend an extra day and half in India.

Our trip home took us from Hyderabad to Bangkok, from Bangkok to Tokyo, from Tokyo to Chicago, and from Chicago to Indianapolis. We walked into our house Saturday night (or should I say Sunday morning) at around 12:30am. Only 50 hours later than we were supposed to be home. We got lucky and got business class seats (which were amazing) from Bangkok to Tokyo and 1st class seats from Chicago to Indy...all thanks to British Airways! In just a little over 2 weeks we circled the entire world. :)

To top off our crazy trip home, one of our bags didn't make it to Indianapolis from Chicago. Of course, it's the one with all of our gifts. Booo! We have high hopes that it will be delivered to us sometime this week. Cross your fingers for us. Looking at the upside of this, Delta airlines is awarding us some travel vouchers for the inconvenience--looks like I will get a flight home to Minnesota during my spring break in March!!! :)

Now, it's back to work/reality tomorrow. I'm suffering with jet lag and lack of sleep BIG TIME!! Abhay is doing alright. I'll take it one day at a time...

--MMR

Random shots

Random shots around Hyderabad--

(selling nuts and fruit to bus riders)

(Coconut stand)

(Auto rickshaw--these things are everywhere!)

(Sweet lime juice stand)

(yes, cows and other animals roam around the streets freely)

--MMR

The rest

It's hard to start up from when I left off... But let's just say, the remainder of our trip was wonderful. We had such a great time. We spent lots of time with family and friends. Abhay was able to watch a bunch of cricket (even I watched it for a bit--i'm starting to get the hang of it). I got to do lots and lots of shopping. :) The weather was awesome during our stay. Each day was in the high 70's-low 80's. It was nice to get a bit of a tan.

We took a New Years weekend trip to Bangalore to visit Abhay's sister and brother-in-law. We ate our way across Bangalore. :) Yummy, yummy food. We also took a day trip to a city called Mysore while in Bangalore. Mysore has a working palace that we were able to visit. It was gorgeous!! We also visited a beautiful catholic church and had lunch at a mini-palace that was converted into a hotel. It was nice to spend time with Gunjan and Vineet in "their" city.

Here are some more pictures:

(Church in Mysore)

(Us at the Mysore Palace)

(Us at the Palace again)

Yummy Dosa!

--MMR

Wordless Wedneday (well, almost wordless)

(Abhay and I on New Years Eve )

More India trip info to come soon... I promise.

--MMR