Orange Hues and Pumpkin Pie: Quintessentially Fall

I wake up in the mornings to mostly gloomy skies these days but for one little bright spot..
Yes, it's fall and we'll see less and less of the sun now, but that one burst of red-orange-gold, however temporary, cheers my heart. It's what i have been opening my eyes to each morning this past fortnight: the tree right outside my bedroom window is aflame with the colors of fall.
Fall wreaths are starting to appear on doors, Starbucks has brought back it's Pumpkin Spice Latte, walking between buildings across the company campus during the day is like taking shelter under a canopy of orange and deep pinks, and with gorgeous gold underfoot.
Watching the season turn..It's a little bit like magic. Here today, gone tomorrow-and yet these breathtaking colors lift me up. They remind me that there is something to be joyful for, grateful for each day-if we look hard enough, if we care to notice. Yes, there is the cold, long winter ahead-but there will also be fireplaces aglow, warm, snuggly sweaters to pull on, the cheer of the holidays to indulge in and share..
My first brush with Thanksgiving in this country (rather, my first Thanksgiving ever) was 4 years ago, we were visting family down in San Francisco a week before. I remember the one highlight of our trip: a huge Pumpkin Pie from Whole Foods as dessert on our last night in town, no holds barred (translated as: topped with lots and lots of whipped cream).
Since then, i've kept up that bit of the tradition each year. The turkey-stuffing and mashed potato routine hasn't really caught up with us, but pumpkin pie is here to stay in my heart. Now and for later.
Maybe this year, i'll swap the store-bought with a home-made version!

Exhaling and the Happy Headache

Dear Life: Thank you for the frenzied phases you sometimes love to shower upon us! While you are busy adding layer after layer of priorities and activities and things to check off, we are running around in our crazy human way- juggling, catching this and dropping that, fixing something here and then jumping off there. In all this happy (and something not) energy wave, there are times when we (figuratively speaking) forget to breathe! it's as though we are holding our breath constantly-waiting for that final climax scene in a movie.
So Dear Life-when we are finally done with all those layers, we allow ourselves, for one sweet moment, to EXHALE. at least till the next time the breathless, running-as-fast-as-i-can feeling comes back again.
A friend recently apologized for not keeping her promise to call me three weekends ago because she's 'losing her mind' with relatives and kids swarming in her house the last few weeks. I hope she gets to exhale soon!
Another friend recently moved to a new city, took a new job and is trying to ramp up on both at break neck speed. and yet another friend did all of that, plus bought a new house, a new puppy and her spouse is currently living in another country.
As for me: Ihave been on the verge of a big change and actively working towards it for a while now in parallel to everything else that i have on my plate, so now that all the actions that i needed to take are done, i can sit back and exhale, treat myself to quiet time till it all starts up again.

I cannot explain how good it feels to exhale. However transient this moment, it's magical: this sudden rush of relief, mixed with some satisfaction of having got through 'something'. however small or big it may be. I spent my evening having what i call a 'happy headache': all that energy suddenly whittling down to a moment of quiet is so drastic that it may leave you with a veritable headache, but its a happy one!

I have been reading this wonderful book called The Happiness Project, and the author talks about being happy in the context of " thinking about what feels good, what feels bad, what feels right, in an atmosphere of growth". How true! What would we be without the excitement in life that allows us to grow.

Dear Life- i know the next drama (a.k.a growth opportunity) isnt far away but till then-i am busy exhaling. And just being!

The silly things...

A phrase i hadnt read, said or used in a long long time suddenly popped in my head today. Scatter-brained. (why do people not use this phrase anymore!)The context: two funny stories i heard from friends in the last couple of days about their absent-minded moments.
One of them was in such a rush to get ready for an evening out on the town one Friday night that while taking a shower, she forgot all about the conditioner she had put in her hair. Scrambling to get dressed and blow-dry her hair, she couldnt understand why it was taking all that time for the hair at the back of her head to dry, and then it dawned on her.
Another friend mentioned to me today the concept of 'pregnancy brain' or momnesia-apparently bouts of forgetfulness are really common when you are pregnant. She mentioned desperately searching for her cellphone in her purse while she was talking on that same phone. Another time, she found herself using the car keys to open the door to the house.
These stories made me think about all my scatter-brained moments in life-times when i have done or said silly things just because for a moment my brain was well-scattered. There was a time i tried to walk up an escalator that was coming down, i was in this tearing hurry to get to a store in the mall and couldnt figure out why i couldnt just get on. I cannot count the number of times i have shampooed my hair twice because i couldnt remember if i already did that once. I dont need to have the excuse of momnesia to justify how often i have looked for something all over while it's been sitting under my nose the whole time. And let's not even get me started on the times i cant remember if i already salted a dish while cooking.

It's so important to be able to laugh at yourself some days! just revel in that moment of silliness because you said or did something funny and completely bizarre, and use that to give yourself a mental break -if only for a brief second ,all the tasks ahead in that day can wait till your brain re-groups.
I am glad we human beings are scatter-brained creatures every now and then. Who can ever complain about the nuances of life that make you laugh, right?

Whoosh!

It's been a while. i had a little bit of trouble finding my blog URL easily-i guess i hadn't visited it in a long time, so it wasnt showing in IE 9's new 'most visited sites' list. it's sad that i have been away from this lovely space i almost consider 'an escape from all other things real and mundane'-here was something that i loved doing, it wasnt a chore, and it didnt usually leave me annoyed or tired or indifferent(cant say the same about dishes or laundry or the relentless email in my life).
A year since i took a moment to breathe, gather my thoughts and sort them out into a string of words that i'd read again later and rediscover a part of me from the past. oh well, at least i am here again. And i promise to stop by often, if only to remind myself that there are things i love that deserve time and attention-and they go beyond the shopping sprees, the cooking whims and the travel bugs. Writing is one of them, de-cluttering my life is another-and i dont seem to do enough of both these days!
two things have been the highlight of my week and they deserve a mention in the context of this new resolve:
one: i turned a corner last week, coming off a phase of recklessness, exploration and eventually some attempts at self-discovery. what a fun ride! it can only get better from here, i hope:))
second: i realised this week that there are some human connections which are so simple, perhaps deep (time will tell) and perhaps not and yet they make for pleasant moments that you cannot help but feel good about.A little laughter and some soul-talk over a glass of wine between girls is one such experience that has got to be a universal mood-uplifter!