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First Romantic Getaway

Again a promise to myself that I should keep updating my blog. Promise Promise Promise :). Let me see how far I will keep up the promise. Actually this makes me think I never promise anyone about anything. May be I am scared that I will not keep up the promise.

See writing a blog entry some times makes you analyse your own self and gives an opportunity to think about your own analysis. Ok back to a romantic getaway :)

Shhhh, it is a secret pre-wedding romantic getaway. Me and fiance wanted to do this for many reasons - Wedding date fixed, escape from stressful, mechanical work and most importantly I want to explore how it is to getaway with 1 person to some random place.

There were couple of questions running on my mind when we started the trip: wont I be bored 3 days, what should I eat, and how should I control sleep when fiance is driving.

Well, thankfully none of the above things happened.It was fun fun fun... Love u then fiance now hubby :)

Day 1: Newport (Casual fun)

We had fun roaming in the cute little downtown in Newport. The place is crowded, lil bit chilly and windy. Our planned mansions trip was not executed as we were late. Well being Indians I don't think that is a surprise :) Is it??? So not knowing what to do, wandered around downtown, dragged him into window shopping, made him buy cute bracelet, took some DSLR pics. (Did I mention I love posing for pics especially in fiance's camera?) and then had yummy fatty dinner. And drove back to hotel. The hotel we booked had a jacuzzi inside room YES a HUGE Jacuzzi beside bed. That was cute, however we were too tired to use it and slept like babies after an eventful day. Thats a cute pic from Day1 isn't it.

Day 2: Marthas Vineyard (Strenuous fun)

This is a cute little summer colony as can be accessible only by boat/air. We had 1 hr boat ride to get there. The minute we reached there we got bike rentals with an aim to cover whole area on bikes. Well we did cover whole area but we paid a price. Not a rental price lol, our lower backs ached for two weeks. Beach was beautiful there is not much window shopping to do though. We both had a pizza in a crappy place, saw those rich people houses and got jealous. Who says money doesn't buy happiness? To some extent it would to me. I could have bought a house there and ran to beach every morning. Beaches here are calm and neat unlike Chennai beaches. Though I loved Chennai beaches too for different reasons - roasted peanuts, karam mangoes and sweet corn. But definitely you can't afford to get cozy with fiance/even hubby there. All eyes will be on you. Vineyard place is awesome in that aspect. We had a calm short nap listening to sea waves and then got back to bikes to have a long ride back to boat stop. I forgot to mention even at this secluded place we bumped into 2 known faces. World is definitely small :)

And after successful ride back hotel we did end up using hot Jacuzzi not for romance though but to have a hot shower to reduce back pain from biking whole day :).

Day 3: The return

After having a free continental breakfast at hotel and some tv watching, we started a drive back home with yummy food in Connecticut. And this ended our first and of course the best romantic getaway. And definitely was looking forward for official honeymoon Maldives.

Things learnt:

Being with 1 person is not boring :) And I realized I do love him more than ever

Never think you are super sporty and push yourself beyond limits. Paid severely with 2 weeks back ache after 18 mile bike ride.

Enjoy every little break together

Compromise

Ok now there are few things in my life I never thought I would compromise...

• Travelling in publication transportation.. me Never. ;) ok ok I know it is good.. go green and all crap. But i don't care damn about all these. Now I do every day, actually not on weekends and work from home days. Still 3 days a week in NJ transit is more than a compromise for me
• Never commit to a guy who comes home after 6.30 pm. Lost again. Thanks to NYC traffic, Bloomberg exploitation and my taste of this guy
• Owning my own puppy. This is impossible in near future with my travelling job and Pavan's timings. Poor puppy it will get bored. At least in this case I saved one puppy's mental health
• Ice creams/ sweets. For being healthy
• A walk in closet. May be this is not a compromise this is just heights of laziness to go to shopping and find a right fit.

After I wrote this out I realized how many of my compromises can be erased if I just get out of this busy city NYC. Still there is some thing in this place which holds me back. Things I love here buildings, crowd, dirt, my office, times square, Models, cool friends, beaches, snow, fall colors,Max Brenner and food food food.

It resembles India.

Just wondering how U.S. changed me

Wow... if I think about it there are so many changes when I compare my self to pre-Aug 2008 Ashwini

First and the proudest change is Yayyy I now know to wash, cut and cook veggies. I know for many people it is not a big thing. But thanks to my amma for making me such a spoilt brat and thanks to Indian cheap labor where I could afford a cook when I am not staying at home.

I can cook only veggies.The reason is I am going to marry a vegetarian and I never kept any efforts to learn meat cooking :). Thanks to Pavan, Now I need not see uncooked meat which I hated seeing since childhood. Isn't it weird I love chicken biryani but I can never eat it if I see the uncooked meat. My mother, she always made sure she had finished cooking it before I wake up in the morning.

I became more stingy or may be in a polished way learnt value of money ;). I really don't know why. Pre-2008 I can spend thousand of rupees on footwear. Now I think 1000 times before buying one pair. I really don't know why i changed. I still love having 20 pairs of shoes. I guess this change should be related to PIG(Poor Indian Graduate) where I earned just enough money for house rent+books+utilities+cold stone ice creams... Now this ice cream make me remember my 3rd change

Gained Weight- I will blame my frenz who always take me to ice cream parlor and I take some responsibility for having more than 3 ice creams a week. I am making complete efforts to erase this change. working out with TV's trainer Jillian Michaels, trying to eat healthy. Here, Sowmya is my greatest inspiration and she introduced me to Jillian. We both are trying to inspire each others.

And I forgot to mention the best culture change I had... I am having a live-in relation ship. ok now pinch your self thats true a reserved girl and even Pavan such a reserved guy to the power of infinity ... still U.S. changed us. I love it I have my best roommate now with whom I can fight, giggle, cuddle up and plan future.

Books I Love

Well first in the list is Ayn Rand Books. What a great author she is. "The Fountain Head" an amzing story of an architect Howard Roark. The one who will never compromise on his life though there are many social and economic factors. He loves his profession and is very determined. The must read.

Then Comes Harry Potter... by J.K. Rowling. I love the imagination and creativity in her books. The way all 7 parts are linked is amazing. I am sad that there is no more Harry Potter.

Paulo Coelho... what an amazing author. His books Alchemist, Zahir, Veronica Decides to die... every book can be linked to our lives while reading. He captures every detail of life.