Awwww!

For all you diehard romantics out there, check this propoposal out - at the World Record Appreciation Soceity event in New York, Jake Bronstein set a world record by starting a whisper chain that went through 59 people before it reached his girlfriend and she heard the words "Kristina, will you marry me?"



Check out the full story from Swiss Miss here
http://www.swiss-miss.com/2009/07/most-unusual-proposal-ever.html

What was your proposal story? As my friends all know - my dear husband proposed within a week of meeting me. We ended up hooking up only a year later but as he says, "When you know, you know!"

Wishing you lots of love & appreciation in your day!

Structure - how much is enough?

As Indian parents raising American kids in suburban Seattle, there are numerous issues we grapple with. Chief among those is the issue of a schedule and structure for the kids days. Growing up in India, I do not remember a strict bedtime - my parents lugged me and my sister along to parties and gatherings. Often times, we would fall asleep at the hosts house with all the other children there - a forced sleepover. We had a great time! It was my favorite thing to do.

Here of course, things are different. When I first had kids and started to surf some parenting sites and boards, I was baffled by sleep times of 5:30 PM, 6:00 PM and so on. The kids were in bed at the middle of the day. Suffice it to say, my co-sleeping kids never went to bed at 6PM, unless it was a late nap.

7 years later, I still have angst around schedules. We have a rough one and we stick to it more closely during school days but on summer vacation, we've let things slide. Arjun loves to read and sometimes he is up at 10:30PM, still reading. I've gone in and switched off his nightlight even though I hate that being done to me. I know he needs his sleep and I know kids in his class are asleep at 8PM. Today, we stuck to the 9PM bedtime - OK, 9:15 PM but it has been a nice and quiet house with the kids in bed. I hope we can keep this up! Now I need to see if they hop out of bed by themselves tomorrow morning - that would make the schedule so worth it.
Wish me luck in keeping this up - a little structure is good for all of us. Even I can see that now - all my crazy sleeping arrangements as a kids, not withstanding.
In turn, can I ask that my friends not drive me out of the house as soon as the clock strikes 6:30PM so that the kids can get in the bath? Please??

Memoirs and various books

My biggest panic attack onset starts when I realize I have nothing to read...or let me put it this way, nothing I want to read. With a full wall of books in my study, I can always find something to read, but that's not the point. That something has to be perfect - something that matches my mood and desire at that particular moment. These days, I am on the search for a good memoir. As a few of my friends know, I am working on a memoir of my own. Progress is slow - mainly because I spend most of my time reading "for inspiration" rather than writing. Anyhow, here are a few that seem intriguing. The first one is a memoir, the second is not - but it is a book-documentary. Being a "reality-based" book, it seems close enough and I might be picking up one of these soon. Do you have suggestions for a really, good, well written book?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/17/AR2009071701096.html?wprss=rss_print/bookworld


http://www.amazon.com/Random-Family-Drugs-Trouble-Coming/dp/0684863871
Here also, is an NPR interview about the book.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1254225

Keep reading - it can change the world!

Things to teach your kids

Calling all parents - check out this list from My Super-Charged Life, print it, stick it on your fridge and return to it often to find things your kids really need to learn. No really, they will use grocery shopping tips more often than the martial arts lessons you're shuttling them to twice a week. A list after my own heart - so mnay mornings, I've scrambled to heat up the iron because I could NOT send the kids out in a wrinkled T-Shirt; never mind that half the school shows up that way.
When I worked in New York, taking the bus or train into the city was one of the favorite activities of my two year old son. I miss public transportation!
So read on - Enjoy & Apply!

http://mysuperchargedlife.com/blog/guest-posts/

All things bright & beautiful

Cute Lunch Bags, Backpacks and more - As I pack lunch for my two young 'uns, I was thinking that Arjun needs a new lunchbox. Actually, he needs a lunch bag, period, since he's left the last two we've bought at school on different occasions. With that thought in miond, I jumped for joy when I saw this post from Cool Mom Picks
http://www.coolmompicks.com/2009/07/rolling_with_dante_beatrix.php
I followed it through to the Dante Beatrix website looking for lunch bags and more. Once there, I realized though that my little one, at 7, is probably a little too old for bunny and ladybug themed lunchbags. I'm still getting one for Saanya too - we picked out the pink Bunny bag. Have a look and get the cute stuff while you still can.

Mall Architecture - Never thought the two words belong together? Well, read on. If you're a Mom in the burbs like me, trips to the Mall are probably a fixture on your shopping and social calendar. Wouldn't it be cool if our malls could look a little bit more like this one in South Korea? It's a "Theme Park & Shop" area called Dalki and its so amazingly gorgeous. Check out the full post on Design-Milk.
http://design-milk.com/dalki-theme-park-and-shop-korea-by-slade-architecture/

Ladies that rock!

Listening to the play by play of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing on my drive back from work, I was inspired as I always am by any high achieving woman. Add to that her background rising from the projects to Princeton and Yale and now these hearings, it fuels me and yes, inspires me. Besides, her repudiation of her "wise Latina" remarks, I was also struck by her deft handling of the comments of President Obama about how a judge's heart would influence cases where the law does not lead to a decision. Breaking from the statement of the man who nominated her, yet being true to herself and preserving, hopefully, that relationship of respect - I thought it was a brilliant answer. Coverage is all over but the piece below on politico also has good video clips, one of which I post below.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24909.html


After CNN's charismatic, Dr. Sanjay Gupta took himself out from the running, the latest choice for Surgeon General is Dr. Regina Benjamin. From the details mentioned in this newsday.com post, she has faced flood, famine and hurricanes as she has provided care to families in rural Alabama. Besides caring for people through these traversities, she has suffered very personal losses as she described in her speech. Perhaps not for a judge but I certainly think a doctor can benefit from empathy.
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-surgeon-general,0,3292211.story


And if you are looking for ways to shine and if business is your chosen path to fame, here is some help from one of my favorite sites - design*sponge. The site known for beautiful design and interiors has an article on writing business plans. No more excuses - here is solid advice in a beautiful package. What's not to like? Get cracking - fame and fortune await!

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/07/biz-ladies-09-advice-from-design-bloggers.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=biz-ladies-09-advice-from-design-bloggers

And finally, if you're looking to conquer the more contained but but no less important world of your own family, check out this compilation of tips and tricks from parenthacks.com

http://www.parenthacks.com/2009/07/best-of-parent-hacks-summer-tips-and-ideas.html

Sound advice

Happy Monday everyone! Summer celebrations in my little town this weekend - Saturday was HOT, in the sense of the weather, I mean. We spent the entire morning watching the town parade where the local elected officials marched along with my daughter's Montessori school, my son's Martial Arts school and the local Boys & Girls Scouts. Then the kids bounced on about 10 bouncy rides in the park - that were pay to play, of course. The day ended with a spontaneous gathering of friends at our house - we had dinner and watched a movie. Great time! So again, urging you to try the spontaneity thing if you haven't so far. It makes for a good time without the stress of planning.

I'm on a bit of a high horse here today, so here goes. I've had this discussion with so many friends. All charitable souls looking for something to do but not quite sure how. Check out his story -hope this provides some inspiration
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/opinion/12kristof.html?_r=1&em

And finally, leaving on a note of style and subtlety, check out this image on the Sartorialist. Usually, I admire the images but they are out of my style league but this one, perhaps because it is not directly applicable to me, seems very achievable and low key. This is one for the guys - check it out.
http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/2009/07/on-streetamerican-classics-paris.html

Have a great week everyone - think good thoughts and have fun!

Obama checking out rear end, GM emerges from bankruptcy

Here are the latest pictures doing the rounds, apparently President Obama was photographed checking out some ahem, views at the G8 summit in Italy. Obviously, the comments are different depending on where you look - but before you move on to the sites to read the comments, what do you think? What is he really looking at? And if it is what it looks like, ummm, so what?



In other boring updates, if you didn't already know that time flies, GM has already emerged from bankruptcy - it even has a shiny new logo to show for it. Its going to need much more than that, that's for sure. Besides all the usual blah about making cars and trucks that people want, they also plan to be more environmentally focussed (hence the green logo), launch a website called Tell Fritz for people to go online and complain about issues with management and finally a deal with eBay to test online auctioning. I'm wishing them the best - I'm all for second chances.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-07-10-gm-bankruptcy-friday_N.htm

Finally, in case you were looking for something a little fancier than your folding chair to bring to the next outdoor movie or bbq, check out this inflatable furniture from blofield.com. Pretty darn cute!
http://blofield.com/default2.aspx

Evian ad - skating toddlers

This ad by Evian is doing the rounds right now...I can't make up my mind if its cute or not. All I know is, if I had toddlers, I wouldn't be letting them go anywhere near this stuff.


Here's what some other sites are saying about the video
Entertainment Weekly - http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/07/babies-on-skates-evian-commercial-.html
NY Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/07/09/2009-07-09_creepy_or_cool_evian_babies_on_skates_commercial.html

Changes at Microsoft

Just got back from a big meeting about a big change at work. Since I dont want to speculate or post inaccurate news, here are the Bing search results for Sinofsky who is new uber-boss for anyone who works at Windows.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=3278
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoftpri0/2009433872_stevesinofskypromotedtoheadofwindowsatmicrosoft.html
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200907081622DOWJONESDJONLINE000871_FORTUNE5.htm

You can embrace it, chase it or be chased by it - the truth is - Change is right around the corner, whether you like it or not.

Happy Times - we'll see what this change means for all of us in Windows.

I tried explaining the re-org to Arjun who asked if we held elections to choose who got to be President. Interesting concept - there. Hmmm!!

Spoiled by Beauty

Warning - In this post, I might sound like one of those spoiled, over-privileged brats from NYC Prep, however, the only thing I am boasting about is the absolute natural beauty I am surrounded by here in the Pacific Northwest. Spent July 4th weekend over on the San Juan islands - Friday Harbor specifically. So gorgeous! The sights at every step - starting right after at the ferry and then al along the island - beautiful, majestic beaches, wide open shimmering waters and lush, lush landscapes - were incredible. The whole trip came together at the umpteenth minute - even as two families were driving to the ferry, we were calling the third family that ended up meeting us there. We did all the fun, touristy stuff like whale watching, renting bikes and riding around the island, watching the July 4th fireworks and came back blissed out and happy. The kids had a blast too - they ran around the yard from sunrise to sunset, watched TV after that and in general, were very sad to leave. So what's the lesson in all of this
1. Go with the flow - vacations don't really need to be planned weeks in advance - last minute stuff is fun too
2. Don't knock the touristy stuff until you've tried it
3. If you don't live in the Pacific Northwest, come on out here.
4. If you do live here, hope you appreciate the gorgeousness of it all




Cool Phones - Part of the fun was the fact that our house had no wireless capabilities whatsoever - no internet, no cell phones. The minute we were back in civilization though, the iPhone owning crowd among us were on their phones - browsing, clicking, Facebook-ing. So to those devotees who worship at the altar of their iPhone's beauty, I present this feature from WebUrbanist on the coolest phones ever. Concept phones, anyone? Now this is beauty!
http://weburbanist.com/2009/06/29/your-future-is-calling-15-creative-cool-cell-phone-concepts/

After a few days off from the blog - because I was completely wiped out from work - I couldn't help but come back and share this absolutely absurd video from Fox News. I have no words to describe the content or the people featured here


I was going o stay away from the entire Sanford saga - I mean, what's new about a politician- a right wing politician defending the sanctity of marriage and upholding moral values while "crossing lines" - sexual, international and what not, with no concern for the people they are supposed to govern and lead - but this video below is classic. I certainly didn't mean for today's post to turn into sarcastic but hilarious video edition - but hey, its the long weekend. You have time on your hands


Since I've already set the sparring tone, I'm going to finish up with venting about a pet peeve of mine. People who make a living out of digging up dubious arcane statistics, recycling crap as parenting advice and make the rest of us feel like idiots. I saw a link for "Put safety first on July 4th" This is the first year that we've actually bought fireworks for the kids. We did it for Diwali - so that on the day of the festival, the kids could have a few sparklers. So I clicked on the link and came to this article
http://www.parentdish.com/2009/07/01/avoid-the-emergency-room-put-safety-first-on-the-fourth/
Maybe there are people out there who get so caught up in the day that they forget to drink water, or apply sunscreen when they are out in the sun or who let their kids run around with dangerous fireworks. But let's face it - those people are probably not reading the "Family Manager" articles. So its the rest of us who are already panicked over the well being of our extremely well cared for and protected kids who will read this and end up being the freak parents chasing their kids on July 4th with a bottle of water and a tube of sunscreen.
I'm no parenting expert but here's my advice - relax, have a good time. Enjoy the kids and the time off - let the computer & blackberry stay at home. Nothing is burning! Happy July 4th everyone!