Me getting married???!!!

I had this realization today that I will be getting married in 6 months and I am in a state of shock.
Let me explain a little bit; as a little girl I never dreamt of getting married. Yes, i played with those Indian wedding dolls (the bride and groom) with my cousins;we would have pretend weddings for the dolls with Indian sweets (that we ended up eating) and inviting our uncles & aunts but I never truly thought of what my wedding would look like.
There was time, about 4 years ago, when my mom asked if I wanted to get married. After all, they would easily find me some nice Indian (doctor) boy and I could live happily ever after but it wasn't for me. I was 24 and was starting business school, the thought of getting married scared the hell out of me.
It wasn't until I graduated business school, when I met my finace and after 6 months of dating him; I thought yes, this is someone I can be married to, maybe it was the right age, right time and/or right man. Who knows?
I spent most of my twenties dating and being single and it was a (refreshing) change to have this other person by you at all times and sharing everything. Most of the chick flicks would make it seem that only men have to change when they are in a relationship but I don't think that holds true. Women have to get used to being in a relationship too; it is a big change to cater to the other person's wants/needs; after all everyone is an individual.
So here I am getting married in 6 months and I have no idea what kind of wedding I want but I do have an excel sheet with a list of to-do items that hopefully, will help me figure it all out.

The Guilty Pleasures Edition #T5T

The truth is I am not ashamed of my list (maybe just a little ashamed). I am willing to scream and shout from the rooftops and high mountains of how much I enjoy listening/watching the following list and I would if I wasn’t so afraid of heights. Judgment may follow but I will never give up on this shameful list:

1.     Boy Bands: Do you know that Beatles could be considered one of the original boy bands? Right? Ok, maybe not. I admit it, I loved New Kids on the Block growing up, I can still sing along to Step By Step. There was also a brief love affair with Take That (when Robbie Williams was a part of them) and by the time I was in high school I was in full boy band mode.  I sang and danced to Backstreet Boys and N’Sync. In fact, I had ex-boyfriend who described our love through this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1KdkQv0FfI (I love the wet un-buttoned shirts); we didn’t last very long. But what I is think is most shameful (or maybe you think is shameful) that one of my favorite songs will forever be “I want it that way”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fndeDfaWCg (BSB are my fire); it reminds me of senior year in high school and good times.

2.     Akki is King of my guilty pleasure list; well to be specific Akki and Katrina are king and queen. Like I said I can watch most Bolly movies, the only movie that I ever wanted to walk out of (in the theater that is) was Chandni Chowk to China but that can be considered Bolly’s lowest point. I guess it is embarrassing enough that I went to see Chandni Chowk to China in a movie theater. But the real truth is this: I love Akki-Katrina movies, especially Namaste London and Singh Is King; I these movies and have seen them plenty of times. Why? I don’t know; they are just so entertaining. Katrina is gorgeous and Akki is perfect for the funny simpleton

3.     Luscious Lovable Cool J aka my sugar daddy, ahem no, LL Cool J the rapper. I think LL is sexy. I have the biggest crush on him, I love how he licks his lips and sings Mamma says knock you out. Yes, I do and there is just no denying it. LL Cool J is a sexy beast

4.     David Dhawan’s #1 movies: Starting from Shola Aur Shabnam, Aankhen to Raja Babu, Hero No 1, Biwi No 1 and Haseena Mann Jayegi; no other director’s movies have made me laugh so much. If it wasn’t the amazing Govinda and Karisma jodi, it was Sallu and his shirt-less-ness or it was Govinda and Sanju baba or it was the insane outfits and the best part the absolutely insane music, with insane lyrics

Some of my favorites are:

Sona Kitna Sona Hai from Hero No. 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mn8lG3F5PY

What is your mobile number? from Haseena Maan Jayegi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhHrV5UsQ_Q

Bole Bole Dil Mera from Shola Aur Shabnam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noxQsb2H-M4

5.     Growing Pains to Teenage Angst: Being an adult is tough, paying your bills, worrying about your job; sometimes I wish I could just be a child. I re-live My “Wonder Years” by watching ABC Family. I have watched all of Boy Meets World and probably seen movies like Parent Trap and Freaky Friday numerous times. I also get my daily dose of teenage angst by watching the new 90210 (yes, I did), Gossip Girl (not ashamed) and America’s Next Top Model (I am so fierce) on CW. For a while I was attempting to watch the new Melrose Place but even couldn’t manage to sit through the show.

There you have it. Let the mockery begin.

Karthik Calling Karthik

I <3 Bollywood. I enjoy watching the song and dance sequences, the gorgeous outfits, the silly romances and the family drama. This is what makes Bolly so damn good and so much fun. In fact, I will watch anything Bolly and I do have some really shameful guilty pleasures but we will save that for this week's T5T.


But also appreciate when new Bolly directors attempt to make something different and hatke; case in point: Dev D, 3 Idiots, Dil Chata Hai, Oye lucky lucky hoye.

Karthik Calling Karthik (KCK) is a hatke movie but fails to deliver. However, I must give kudos to the director on his attempt to create a thriller. Karthik played by Farhan Akhtar is an introvert and a loser who lacks self-confidence. He is haunted by memories of his childhood especially oh his older brother Kumar who bullied and teased him relentlessly only to fall and die in a well. Karthik feels responsible for his brother's death and has carried the gulit all his life. Karthik is humiliated by his landlord, his boss and basically everyone in his life. He is in love with his co-worker Shonali, played by Deepika Padukone, who doesn't know even he is alive. Basically, his life really really sucks. After a failed attempt to stand-up for himself, he is humiliated even more and decides to kill himself. Right when is about to overdose on some pills, he receives a phone call from Karthik and his life changes.

What I really liked about the movie was the cinematography, the colors were really muted, even Deepika's outfits; I also like the use of the rubix cube and how the cube is jumbled up when his life is chaotic and when his life is perfect the cube is all sorted out.

I also really enjoyed Farhan's acting; I was really surprised how well he played the loser and how believable he was. Deepika was also decent in her role and had a lot more expression on her face. What I really dislike about Farhan and Deepika is their diction, I just don't feel they project their voices well or enunciate.

The really enjoyed the music especially "Hey Ya" and "Uff Teri Ada".

Spoilers ahead

The Victorian Weekend Part 2

Our fabulous weekend continued when we went to view our new house. See how happy I look:

Ok fine, we are not buying this house YET. As you know that this is the beautiful Biltmore the largest privately owned home in the US. It is owned by the Vanderbilt family. Can you believe people actually lived in this and babies were born here? My legs hurt just going through the whole house. The unfortunate part of the visit is that you are not allowed to take pictures inside the house but I managed to take some pictures.
The inside of the house

A view of one of the dining rooms. It was humongous and had flowers hanging as chandeliers; sadly, couldn't take pictures.

  The view from the balcony was gorgeous and full of gargoyles.

The gorgeous ceiling in the library which had an ivory chess set which I couldn't take a picture of.

A miniature version of the Biltmore

Bowling Alley in the house

A swimming pool in the house with the original lighting (so I was told)

After the tour, we went to the garden where they were having the Festival of Flowers except some of the flowers had already died. :(

Our very filmy pose

We also saw a lizard

Don't you want to just sing, "Dekha ek khawab toh yeh Silsile hue"

Some really beautiful flowers:

Some wine tasting was done except I definitely do not like Biltmore wine. Yes all of this wine, not a big fan except I did buy three bottles of the white wine which was not too bad!

The day ended with some dinner at an organic, vegan restaurant called "The Laughing Seed" where they had an Indian Thali YUMMY

They also had a drink called the Sweet Basil Martini which was interesting look but absolutely awful. It tasted like vodka with pesto or something. GROSS

We also had some hookah. Jafar and I have hookah everywhere we go and this hookah was so smooth and so cheap.

Overall, an exciting trip. I highly recommend Ashville as a small town tourist trip especially the Biltmore which is definitely like an American castle.

The Victorian Weekend Part One

 I love road trips; they are always stress free, plane free and turbulence free (unless the fiancé is driving, which he was).  The trip started with perfect 80s weather and some scenic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

Too bad the soundtrack of the drive was filled with songs such as:

Which he loves and dances to:

UGHH. Thankfully he is cute enough and didn't get killed during the drive. We arrived safely to the lovely Bed & Breakfast called “The Bed of Roses” (sadly no relation to the Bon Jovi song)

The B&B was beautiful and surprisingly not cheesy. It had a Victorian feel with an old wardrobe, a bathroom with a jar and bowl, a fireplace with books that i love, flowers and CHAMPAGNE! Also, a huge room with a Jacuzzi tub.

Downstairs, the kitchen had a tea stand with little tea cups and delicious goodies such as lemon bars which I obviously had to have!

The living room also had this beautiful piano which I am sure someone knows how to play.

After taking 10,000 pictures of the B&B we visited downtown Ashville full of organic stores, cute boutiques and other cute stores such as the Spice and Tea store where I bought vanilla bean tea, Mexican mole spice and vanilla sugar, DELICIOUS! 

Ashville is full of small eateries with delicious and reasonably priced food. We chose a Mediterranean restaurant where we sat on a floor in what looked like a tent used in Indian weddings. The food was great and so was the belly dancer. :)

After a long day of eating, driving, walking and taking pictures the day ended with some time in a wonderful Jacuzzi. A great first day! 

Why the blog title?

I thought about writing a blog because I wanted to talk about my journey to my wedding and thought about all kinds of wedding blog titles. However, I realized that I just couldn't have a blog that only talked about my wedding and it would not completely represent who I really am.
So when deciding to name the blog I took inspiration from my favorite artist Frida Kahlo (no, I haven't seen the movie, I am afraid that it will ruin Frida for me). My favorite painting by her is "Las Dos Fridas" and hence, the blog title.
Look here for more details on Frida and the painting.
:)