My Date(shadow) with 'Big Boy'

Just Completed my Shadow with my Mentor and another Volunteer at the Animal shelter. Today was fun as the coach ran us through all the procedures and guided us through the facility. We also got to take out a Green Dog,( a color code for easy to handle dogs). Our training dog was poor old' Big Boy'...well quite contrary to his name, he is a small dog, a black brown Shih Tzu. 'Big Boy' was a good start as he is 15 years old and doesn't like to walk fast....this old guy is a slow walker, very timid and calm...all he did in the park was to explore every corner of the playground...was not very keen on playing and running, may be coz of his age....he just wants someone for company.After 20 minutes of strolling around the playground...we put him back in his kennel and called it a day. I am happy we got to take this guy out as I know that not many people would want to take a dog that is not so active out, but given his age, we need to slow down for him. Who knows, this old guy might be my new boyfriend;).

Shadow

Tomorrow is my Shadow at the Animal Shelter. The mentor will guide me and one other person on what to do and what not to. TLC primarily involves walking the dogs, playing with the dogs, getting them to exercise. These dogs are mostly locked up in their kennels and like humans need some outside time and the TLC Volunteers work on spending some quality time with these dogs. I cant wait to start. Will write more about it after the Shadow session.

I gotta feeling

I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas. Seems like their latest hit after Boom Boom Pow. Thanks to the Local Radio Station I keep listening to this track every time I drive, more so in the last 2 days. I have liked their songs in the past, but just to listen or dance to them could not really connect with them. This one, I don't know, it has a strong message in a fun song. I would not have bothered listening to it's lyrics if I had seen it on TV. I was on a long drive on the freeway when the song started playing on the Radio, the lyrics made so much sense to me, I rolled down my window, let my hair down and let the wind hit my face,would have closed my eyes too if I wasn't driving...ha ha.. it felt good. I connected with the song immediately. In fact I am listening to it as I am typing this post.Do not take it word by word, but enjoy the optimism in the song in totality..once in While it's good to let go.. This is how the lyrics goes....Enjoy!..

I gotta Feeling that Tonight's gonna be a good night
That Tonight's gonna be good good night

Tonight's the night, let's live it up
I got my money, let's spend it up
Go out and smash it, like oh my God
Jump off that sofa, Let's get, get off....

for the rest...http://www.metrolyrics.com/i-gotta-feeling-lyrics-black-eyed-peas.html

Nature made curb appeal

This place was not far from where I shot my previous picture( previous post), probably a couple of miles away again on Highway 1. I would love to have a house like this and wake up to
fresh air and blue water every morning ,Of course breakfast in bed would be good too(hubby;)...

Divine Design

This was shot on the way from Carmel to Hearst Castle on Scenic Highway 1 ( A Scenic drive in California along the Pacific Coast). This was one of the hundreds of Vista Points that we stopped at to take pictures . I just think that the amount of colours in one frame is amazing, though I wish there were some red flowers too.The yellow flowers set against the different variations in the blue from the sky to the ocean and the streak of white is what made me want to capture this shot. This photo is as is and has not been modified. I am considering playing around with the contrasts later. what is slightly upsetting is the mountains could have been greener as they appeared to the naked eye but due to the sunlight there was too much light and I have not yet started playing around with the different manual settings in the Camera though I have a faint idea of what I need to do to get the desired effect.

Making Waves!

This was shot during sunset at Carmel by Sea. This is something I have been attempting to shoot for a while but never found the right moment. I love the way this picture turned out. I wanted to capture the water rising and hitting the shore and I think I did a decent job, though I wish the waves were even higher. Actually this shot was taken at ground level, as I could not keep it on the sand, I had had to make a rough estimate and keep the camera down and shoot. I also love the contrasting colours in the image.

Heads Up!

This picture was shot by me at Ostrich land near Solvang. I wanted to feed the Ostriches and emus, so my husband took me there. The bird feed was given to us in a pan with a long handle. I must admit I was a little terrified as I started to feed them...they are huge, 8-9 feet tall and try hard to grab the pan from your hand. Looking into their eyes can be pretty intimidating. I held on to the pan with both my hands as they kept flighting to pull it away from me. It was fun though. The store at the entrance was also selling Ostrich Eggs and meat, for which we did not have any use. This picture was shot when the ostriches were waiting for the food....and so they were looking right into the Camera. I must admit that my husband actually got a better shot ( his is more like a desktop wallpaper)...but then again...this was my best effort at it.

Yoga- how it went from Blahh to Ahh!

I remember having this early morning Yoga sessions in my School and Later during my Masters. We hated it so much as kids, it was more like- 'who is going to get up this early to do a dumb set of exercises', the Yoga teacher poor thing being a constant target of harassment . Not one of us was really interested in it, we would crib, complain, fuss about it, do everything in our capacity to put an end to it. I even remember having these discussions during my MBA days, 'why does a Management grad with a schedule that is so packed with 2-3 presentations a day, tests, case studies followed by discussions and no time to even sigh need yoga to make matters worse. Oh my it was like precious time lost...could have worked on that one last slide for my presentation you know, and who knows I would have just got a B+ instead of a measly B. Well that was our thought process back then....he he.

Now I can only look back and laugh at those times. I was always amazed at the number of tourists that would roam around in a cycle near Ballal Circle( Mysore), eating and relishing all the local specialities like Churmuri( spiced puffed rice) , Idli Vada Sambhar, Cane Juice and stuff. They must have been there for a while to adapt to the lifestyle this well, but what were they doing here?....and then I got the answer to my question which came as a surprise, Mysore houses one of the most popular Yoga Guru in India who supposedly has taught yoga to the likes of Madonna, Gwenyth Paltrow and so on. and these guys were all his students... also heard , getting an admission at these places is even harder than getting an admission at a top notch university. Wow!...all this for Yoga...hmmm...now I know I have been a fool not to have understood it's importance.

People here in America pay thousands of Dollars to practise Yoga at even the most normal / basic studios and heard so is the case with other western countries. Yoga is now somewhat like a luxury product that is flaunted by the elite. Yoga is IN. Its the latest norm in the fashion world/film world/corporate world....he he..and I was getting to do Yoga everyday with a well trained instructor and never wanted it then...sheesh.

What changed my approach towards Yoga though is not all of the above but what it has done to my Dad. The doc said he has a very weak heart and has to change his lifestyle and then Appa took to Yoga and Pranayama. He dedicates about 20-30 minutes in the morning to yoga, nothing intensive, just very light and easy to do exercises. The next test results indicated that there had been a good improvement in the functioning and efficiency of his heart. I don't know whether this is purely because of Yoga, but I would like to believe that it has done him a world of good.

I have been trying to do Yoga for a few days now , but was finding it hard to make time for it as I am not an early riser, which is ideally the best time to do it. So now I keep an hour in the afternoon , evenly spaced between my meals. I am currently following Shilpa Shetty's Yoga(no specific reason other than this the only one I have). The exercises are very simple and I find them very easy to follow. In a total time of about 45 mins-1 hour, 5 mins goes to OM Chanting, 5 mins to Pranayama( Breathing exercises) and the rest split in 5 parts

• . Exercises laying on the back
• . Exercises laying on the stomach
• . Sitting Exercises
• . Standing Exercises
• . Neck Exercises

I just started and am already feeling good, my body is not used to this kind of stretching and so it hurts a little, but that is natural. I am glad I finally decided to do it, but the bigger challenge is to keep doing it, which is what I am bad at. I must admit this is one thing I want to be addicted to. My approach towards Yoga has definitely changed in the last few years and I am glad it has...It's never too late to start a better/healthy lifestyle. It's a simple choice, but one that no one else but we, have to make for ourselves.

Shruthi Haasan- I am impressed!...So far

Since there has been a lot of talk on Luck and one of it's songs Jee le on Facebook, I decided to see it for myself. I have no clues of which Hindi movie is releasing when and where, but thanks to the discussions that my friends have on Facebook, I am a little updated now. So I went on YouTube to check out this song. So the movie is Luck, releasing on July 24th, starring Imran Khan( Aamir Khan's Nephew), Shruthi Haasan ( Daughter of Kamal Haasan and Sarika), Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty and more.I have no clues what the movie is about, other than the obvious( it's title ofcourse) .I have been waiting to see Shruthi Haasan in a movie for long time now, If she even has a little bit of both her parents in her, she will be a hit, her dad's acting skills and her mom's beauty, a perfect recipe for success in the film industry. So coming back to the song from this movie...Jee Le, I am already humming and dancing to it...which is a good sign I think. Shruthi Haasan looks fab ( on the looks department you can't miss the obvious resemblance to her mom) with her very up to date hair do, an amazing personality( she looks quite slim and tall), very chic. Her acting skills will be put to test when the movie releases this week. By the way she is also a singer and I love her voice. All the best to her.Then again I have been wrong with a lot of star kids, not all of them make it big. Well, what can I say, it is a perfect combination of three factors, Acting, Looks and a whole lot of LUCK I guess ;)

Can't wait to get started

This weekend was a little upsetting due to a death in my husband's family that hasn't quite sunk in yet.We just let it pass and stayed at home not wanting to do anything, but, my coming week should be a little better as I have my second orientation for Dogs TLC( Tender.Love.Care) on this Thursday the 23rd of July. I have been waiting to start my volunteering for a very very long time now, so hopefully once I am done with this Orientation I should be able to start my Volunteering work at the shelter immediately.I will also have to buy my T-shirt at the PHS Office this week( they prefer you wear them to identify their volunteers). As of now I am looking at 2-3 days a week, have to figure out which days work best for me. In the meantime I have to work out the transportation arrangements with my husband. YIPPEE!...I am so damn excited....more posts on this in the future...until then Woof Woof!

My Hubby's Anniversary Surprises!

Well, We just celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary (Translation-Kudos to us for bearing each others tantrums for this long...he he)...jokes apart...it was truly one of my most memorable anniversaries. My plan for the anniversary was very simple, since I am officially sick and tired of eating out, told my hubby I would cook something special at home and we would have a nice candle light dinner in the patio. My hubby out did me this time though...he had not one or two but three surprises planned for me.

First he tells me to check my mail and see if I received a weird mail from Flickr (well I did suspect something fishy as it was a day before our Anniversary). So I go ahead and check my mail and soon realise that it is a beautifully made album with my pictures from the last five years, with thoughtfully written comments for every picture, He said he spent three days making the album and I believe him, It is truly beautiful making me guilty for not coming up with an idea so original. The album made me cry and laugh all at the same time, when I looked at my pictures in a different light and what my husband had to say about me...he he.

So the second one was a bouquet of roses which he had ordered to arrive on the morning of the anniversary, but since it had not arrived on time , he got worried and told me about it and made a pronto call to the 1-800 number to track it, just when he was talking the bouquet arrived. It is a beautiful bouquet of red roses with a red bow around its vase. I remembered something I had told Sandesh a long time ago, sometime after our engagement when he sent me a bouquet of flowers and chocolates...that I was a very different kind of a girl, I never was impressed with flowers, chocolates, teddy bears, rings or any such cute materialistic stuff that I know many other women die to get from their men ...no matter how hard a guy tried with these presents it would never work...Sandesh had a hard time figuring this out for a while, but ultimately he knew he had to win me with his strength of character and nothing else mattered.

The third one was a totally crazy unplanned road trip to Santa Barbara...I packed on the morning of the trip, no hotel bookings, no idea where we would stay for the the three nights. We decided to drive along the coast on 1 which usually takes longer and stop along the way at every interesting town/city. We did stop not only at every city, but every vista point for some wonderful shots.
I cannot describe how beautiful the California Coast is, it has to be experienced first hand, with it's breathtaking views of the ocean, birds, bluffs,cliffs, greens, it was nothing short of french riviera. There is so much more you see when you do a road trip like this, v/s driving to a specific designation.On our way we had Greek Lunch at Santa Cruz and then took a stroll on the Santa Cruz boardwalk and the beach. Later stopped at Monterey and took some shots at the wharf, then around sunset time we were at Carmel watching some dolphins swim and play about 20 feet from the shore with the sun setting in the background, we decided to stay at comfort inn at Monterey that night.

The next day we did the Hearst castle tour near Big Sur, very elegant castle which draws inspiration from Greek, Italian and Spanish architecture, later drove to Solvang, a small dutch town in California, which has a couple of windmills, danish bakeries, wineries and glass work shops. The town is a beautiful replica of Denmark. That night we stayed at another motel in Lompoc which is a few miles from Solvang. The next morning we spent some time in Solvang, buying cookies, souveneirs, riding the fun wheel around the town and feeding Ostrichs and Emus and later started driving to Santa Barbara, where we spent the evening visiting the Mission, Stearn wharf, the beach and ending the day with some hot comfort food at a Thai Restaurant in Downtown Santa Barbara.
We started the last day with some lovely American Country Style breakfast at Alisons Country Cafe at ventura, then went into the city once again to see the court house which has a lot of architectural significance and then started driving back home. Don't know why we never did such trips in the last five years, but definetly want to do more such trips in the near future. amazing experience, took a lot of pictures which I will publish in my next post...until then I will go back to unpacking and settling back from this journey. Thank you Hubby.

Pomponio State Beach

This Sunday, a couple of us decided to spend an evening at a beach. This was one of those unplanned,random, last minute ideas and believe me they work the best. So based on a friend's recommendation we decided to visit the Pomponio State Beach 12 miles south of Half moon Bay.
The beach was crowded, well all of them were, the good weather this weekend made people want to stay out.Its a nice family beach with a couple of BBQ grills, white sand in some areas, beautiful scenery with bluffs on either sides. We decided to explore the area a little bit and took a walk along the beach to the other end, where we found this cave like enclave. We decided to get all adventerous and climb it to take a few pics.As we were standing there, the water came gushing from behind and hit the rock behind us, drenching us completely...he he...we were so stunned for a while, we were like, "what just happened"...one minute we were all dry and the next this"SPLASH"....but must say that was the highlight of the trip...
I love going to the beach, coz I am a total water person, but I wish I could take a swim in the ocean someday, around this area the water is a little rough and not condusive for swimming. We ended the day with some good Thai food at Half Moon Bay....It was a wonderful experience and looking forward to many such trips to the beach with friends...may be a BBQ too next time......