10 Things I've Learned After Being Engaged For Exactly A Month

1. Companies see me as a walking dollar sign and will try to sell me all kinds of bridal-related crap.
2. The Knot has some great advice but is biased towards traditional Christian weddings.
3. More people need to save themselves drama/money and elope.
4. I don’t even like cake!
5. Remember those Amar Chita Kata stories where kings would meet the daughters of sages in the forest and they’d fall in love with each other and secretly get married by just exchanging garlands? Yeah, throw a couple witnesses and that’s the kind of wedding for me. ;)
6. There are couples who only have their parents meet each other after the engagement is announced, and I call these people UTTERLY MAD.
7. Surefire way to destroy my sanity: wedding inspiration on Pinterest.
8. I need to spend more time at Offbeat Bride and not Pinterest/The Knot.
9. I need to start my own wedding blog for the penny-pinching, feminist, first-generation Indian, interfaith wedding crowd.
10. Weddings are a boondoggle, what matters is the marriage and partnership that comes after!

YouTube Delivers Again!

I have a lovely little EDM discovery for everyone today. I was on YouTube one day and decided to trawl the Ministry of Sound channel for new dance tunes. I saw a recommendation from an artist named Porter Robinson, who I already knew of via a collaboration he did with Matt Zo (also an amazing song/video). Clicked on the video and oh my god. Sweet song of course, but the video is so touching and moving I maaaaay have shed a tear or two in the process.

Watch for yourself and be the judge!


My interpretation: this woman is running away from her problems (symbolized by the otherwolves) and finds refuge in an alternate reality, full of beautiful landscapes and a silent but supportive companion. She enjoys the sights, recuperates, stops running for a while and recharges. But she cannot escape her problems forever. Eventually they find her and push her silent friend off a cliff, but in its last moments the creature sends her back in time to the moment before she leapt away from her problems. Fully restored by peace and respite, she now has the strength to tackle her problems head on, and chases the otherwolves away, saving the creature and her own destiny at the same time.

Let me float back to the place you found me
I’ll be okay

Ring It In

I like taking stock of the year as it comes to a close and I have to say that I’m in a much better place now than I was a year ago. At the end of 2012, things were just plain old good. On the other hand I’ve been dealt a very fine hand for the end of 2013. First off I negotiated myself a bigger raise for 2014, secondly I got news that my condo’s maintenance fees are not going up for the next year, and finally my partner surprised me with an engagement ring just before Christmas! Needless to say 2014 is looking up, but no doubt it will have its own set of challenges like:

• Getting started with wedding planning. No date has been set and we haven’t finalized a budget, but within days of the announcement I was bombarded with information and requests and calls for compromise. For a woman who never really thought much about weddings, it’s all a bit overwhelming.
• Related: saving up for the wedding. I already have a ton of money saved up and I don’t want to spend a ton on it either. But it would be nice to not have to dip into my savings and just use some money gathered in the upcoming year instead. Just call me the Budget-Conscious Indian Bride!
• Unfortunate side effect of wedding planning: worrying about your appearance. I’d like to shrink my gut down a couple inches if possible, but more than anything just get back in shape and be more physically active for my own health’s sake. Also, thanks to coffee and tea every day for the past 3 years I think I need to get those teeth whitening strips. :P
• Before fiancé popped the question, my big plan for 2014 was to get my professional certification, which involves a lengthy application process, in-person interview, and a difficult examination. Not sure how I’m going to fit this into my plans now, but it needs to be done! My manager and the company CEO are eager for me to have that certification under my belt. Maybe I can actually use it as an excuse to put off wedding planning? ;)