After a very long time (3 weeks?) R and me spent a lovely weekend together. I took him to my new boss's bday party at Tangerine in Old City. R loves that place, we even celebrated his bday there once. Its a pity I can hardly eat anything there. I'm a vegeterian and let's just say he appreciates food. any kind of good food. My boss and her friends LOVED him. Why does it make me so happy when people tell me how great he is? I feel so smug. Its like, the whole world could praise him and admire him and want him as much as they do - but he's still only mine.

Lord and Taylor's is going out of business and they have a massive sale. We went shopping there on Saturday but I could hardly find anything. I tried on a couple dresses, but either I couldn't afford them or they didn't fit me right. Sunday was such a beautiful day though. A little windy, but a powder blue dulcet sky, the kinds that make you want to go on a hot-air balloon trip and mingle with the clouds. We ate lunch at this quaint little French restaurant. I had a delicious tomoto, feta cheese and basil crepe. R ordered a weird kinda juice that the server said it was made of the hibiscus flower. It was called the sorell juice. I asked if I could have the recipie, and the server said it was the owners secret recipie! Anyways, after lunch we drove to R's uncle's place to meet his 3 yr old nephew who was visiting from Cleaveland. I did have fun -- but oh god, I can never do suburbs! I'd die if I ever lived in the suburbs. So standard? I was talking to R about this - the thing is, every city no matter what part of USA it is in, has a distinct identity...an essence. but the suburbs? they are bloody same all over! You wouldn't know if you were in Bellingham, MA or Doylestown, PA if you didn't pay attention to the signs.
A local Eckards, a Shoprite or Pathmark or one of those grocery stores, a local mall, a taco bell where high school kids hang out and a movie theater where everybody goes on dates. UGH.

I could NEVER live in the suburbs. I am a city-girl, heart and soul.

And then we got back and went to the local neighbourhood bar for good ol' burgers and beer. (Beer for the boys) They have a poker night every Tuesdays and a quiz night every Sunday. We made it to round two. Btw, our team name was Desis' on the Rocks. :) ;)

heh

What a wonderful week it has been! My parents are visiting and I love being with them. I've been in Philly the entire week. I'm still not over this city :( As much as I love ny and what it has done for my career, I miss Philly terribly. Maybe because remnants of my life are still here -- my friends, my sister and my R. I go back to NY next week for the next couple of weeks of hard core work.

I quit my work at the major fashion magazine I was at - and I quit it on the day of the beauty sale :( Probably my last-est beauty sale ever. Fashion magazines like the ones I used to work for, have these events a couple times a year and they sell all kinds of cosmetics and beauty products imaginable and un-imaginable for $1 each. But I had to quit. Sigh. The thing is, when you know how ridiculously worthless all this frivolity is, you simply cannot justify paying $10 for a tube of cream or $50 for a bottle of fragrance! It is going to be painful the next time I buy perfume or nail polish. I haven't paid for any self-beautifying products in 2 years. Oh well.

And the good news still is, I *may* be writing for America's number one beauty magazine. It's national, its super glossy and its super rich and its a conde nast mag. I'm very happy with my new job, but I do want to have an external life out of my job that involves writing and building my identity apart from that of my new job's.

But anyways, it is SOOO wonderful to have my parents here. I will not make any bones about the fact that I am different than my most friends. I LOVE it when my parents visit, I love staying with them. And now that I have some financial freedom, I'm enjoying taking them out to the best restaurants in Philly. Yesterday I took my Mom shopping and no matter how much I insisted, she would not shop at anywhere expensive. She still wanted to buy shoes from Payless and clothes from Burlington Clothes Factory. :) I love her.

So last night, after shopping I took them to Pad Thai and R joined us. It was sooo wonderful... they were talking about Kerala, trying to to understand his hertiage and just.. general talk. R is making such an effort and I think he had spoken to the waitress before coz she bought the bill straight to him and when I offered to pay.. when my dad offered to pay...the waitress wouldn't let us!

My parents were impressed with his gesture. As was I. :)

I think my mom is almost okay too... I hope so atleast! I'm coming to India this december and almost al my friends are. Three of my friends are gettng married and R won't be able to make it coz of his H1 visa status :( I will miss him so much.
Maybe next year......

I accepted the offer :D

It is surreal how much money I'll be making and please my readers don't think I am arrogant. Infact, I am in shock. It is quite something to suddenly go from being a church mouse to making a whole lot more money that you expected. But I am probably very good at what I've been hired to do- why else would a company invest so much in me? I don't even havea business degree!

Out of disbelief and ecstasy, I told my friends and close family about it and while I do have my share of friends who are extremely happy for me, I was surprised to see a few friends pissed off and jealous. It sucks that I even have to say it.. but that's lesson number one I learn.

Yes, so I will be making more money than some of my friends who have MBA's and are older than me by a couple years, but I deserve it. I am not guilty about my new job, my new position, my perks or the salary. Infact, the salary was the last thing that lured me on to this job. I understand however, how such news may upset someone. I have myself been upset and a wee bit jealous when my friends started getting jobs and making money and when I was still a poor broke jobless graduate. But I wasn't jealous about the money they were making, I was jealous that they had a job and I was still struggling. And ofcourse I was jealous that their wardrobes were overlflowing with clothes and my wardrobe was meagre. But every bitch has her day and now's mine.

I was even surprised by some of *family*'s reaction. Particularly a certain cousin. I don't know. whatever. Eff it all. I have learnt my lesson : choose very carefully who you want to share your happiness with. VERY carefully. It's easier to find people to share your sorrows and pain than it is to find someone to share your happiness with.

My parents are here for a few months now. YAYAYAYAYA. My mom cooked such amazing food. I had pani puri and sev puri the other day .. and all my friends came over and we just had a very good time. It was soo much fun!! R is also being soo nice to my parents... he even offered to drive them up to NJ coz they wanted to spend soem time with my niece before she left for India.

The best part about having my parents over is that I dont have to worry about not showng them a good time. It used to piss me and my sister off that we never could afford to take our parents out to the nice little restaurants in philly. or to a broadway show or to a jagjit singh show... but now, that won't be a problem. the best thing about earning money, is spending it on people you care for the most. and spending it on my parents, esp, is so gratifying, considering all that they've doen for me. I can't tell you how happy they are., how ridiculously happy. they aren't worried about my sister's education anymore either...


oh oh oh.. and did i tell you, i get to go to switzerland and finland and god knows where else bcoz of my new job :DD:D:DDD:

this has been a long time in the coming. and i totally deserve this. i don't care who's jealous, who's pissed off and who'ss hoping i get fired. this one's a keeper.

on another note, I've been a bitch to R. I've not been able to give him enough time and even though I do have tons of work, I really shouldn't be using my job as an excuse. I need to focus more on my relationship. One of my fav. cousins called me from India-- she knows about me and R and I told her that Dad was asking all sorts of questions about him (abt his family , his future plans... etc) and that I was both scared and happy.

scard coz this is finally becoming more real that it was and happy coz it is finally becoming more real that it was.

do i make sense?

the thing is.. it's always scary to realize that you will be spending your entire life with this one person that you have chosen. sometimes that thought repels me and sometimes it fills me with giddy happiness. but one step at a time so i don freak myself out.

the weather's getting better too... spring an sunshine is finally here!