Week 21: Chihuly Art and Fluttering Butterflies

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

As we move on to a new place next weekend, we were busy over the long weekend in packing and house hunting. We will still be in Florida but move a little towards the north, leaving the happening South Florida behind. Sigh! But amidst all these chores, we did visit the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden on one of the holidays.

We thought of starting early morning at 6.30 am for this garden as summer is here in Florida and the days are too hot to be out. It was an hour drive. I love early morning nature expeditions!

The garden is a huge mass of an array of trees, flowers and Chihuly Art displayed in most parts. Chihuly Art are structures in blown glass in different wild colours which is an art pioneered by the artist Dale Chihuly. The garden has Chihuly nights on Thursday and Sunday, where these Chihuly Art structures show their true colours in manipulated lights in the darkness. We missed the Chihuly night but we were not at all disappointed with what we saw in the day!

Some wild colors amidst greenery

Chihuly Art Balls in the lake

Look at that huge structure!

We saw some exotic plants and flowers too. The garden has a lot of small museums/closed displays which have some interesting flora and fauna. The walk in the garden was so soothing even with the blazing sun coming up. The pathways reminded me of the wallpapers you have on the internet with rustic paths between trees.

Bougainvillea in full bloom. Reminds me of Pune :)

Orchids in varied colors all over the park

Chihuly art with fish

A plant native to Thailand

Another red bloom

The best part of the park was their closed butterfly garden. The volunteer over here gave us some instructions before going inside - "Please be careful as you tread inside. Watch your step as butterflies might be on the floor too. Please do not touch any plants or butterflies. Touch the Chihuly art only if you have lots of money to pay the damages."

The Chihuly art one cracked all of us up. 

The entrance to the butterfly garden was a 3 door entrance. The volunteer guided us through each door, making sure no butterflies come out from the last door. 

This was the best part of the park. I was awestruck looking at the number of butterflies fluttering inside. Oh my God! So many beauties in countless colors and sizes. It was a treat for the eyes. My husband captured some very good shots. This was a place which made me very happy :)

We were so thrilled with all the fluttering beauties that we sat on a bench in this garden for 10 minutes till we exited the butterfly garden.

We took a tram tour which gave us information of many trees in the garden, some of which are 77 years old! A short 30 minute tour - crisp and precise. We came to know a lot of incredible facts about our mother nature.

With all the information and vigor, we thought it was time to head back to the life of 'packing and house hunting'. If you love being in nature, this garden is highly recommended. 

Week 20: A Different Birthday!

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

It was my birthday last week and did I have fun? Oh yes, I did. But a different kind of fun. I did not blow out candles or cut a cake or go out for a candle-light dinner with my husband. Instead I visited a holy place and saw God himself in action! My husband's football friends will understand what I am talking about here!

When a girl marries a football fanatic guy she just goes out on the field to cheer him at his final match in a tournament, even if it is her birthday! I precisely did that and it was the best birthday celebration ever!

I have had my struggles with loving football the way my husband loves it! My story about my conversion from 'hate football' to 'love football' is here. It was not an easy journey, but I am glad I made it and evolved as a person :)

So back to my birthday celebrations - Sujoy had his final match at the Broward Public School Soccer League. The match was a tight one, both teams gave a tough fight but 'we' (I love saying we when I address to Sujoy's team) were the winners! The game started with we leading 1-0. But soon enough it was 1-1. The tension was mounting and we had to score as we did not want to go to penalties. We did have a lot of shots but somehow they never converted into a goal. At one point, the opponent team was dominating and I was standing at the side yelling everyone to buck up! The match had become tense and so was I! And then it happened - we scored another goal! That let off huge tension from our team and we started playing a better game. The match ended 2-1, we were the League Champions!

The Winning Team!

What is commendable about this team is that they have won all matches (no ties, no losses) in this league with a goal difference of more than 2 (except the final)! Isn't that brilliant?

I got my birthday gift! The plaque and the medal which my husband who was not ready to flaunt but his wife made him wear all the glories and stand for a picture! 

My humble husband!

Watching Sujoy play on the field is a treat! He is a little shy and silent person in real life but when he gets on the field - he is a completely transformed football junky! He is a true player and gives his heart and soul to the game. He runs everywhere, gets the ball from the opponent and passes it to the forward which eventually gets converted to a goal. The audience always remembers the forward who shoots the goal, but tends to forget the hard work done by the rest of the team in getting that ball to the forward. Sujoy had some awesome passes and tackles. The way he runs on the field reminds me of 'Flash'. Ok I might be exaggerating a bit here, but yes Sujoy is a hero on the football field!

Why I am proud of my husband is - he is a self learned footballer. He did not receive any formal coaching in football, the way folks in the US do. And yet, he was not lesser than anyone on the field that day. I wonder where Sujoy would have been if he had received a formal training! 

The way he connects to the ball!

Jersey No. 8 is my 'Flash'

So yes, a birthday well spent looking at my loved one doing what he loves the most! :)

And if you are amusing why didn't I cut a cake. It is just that I was on a vegetarian diet that day and we could not get an eggless cake! But yes, we did celebrate with some nice Indian food and dessert cooked by me :)

Week 19: How short can Bob get?

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

This week I had a haircut, which is so not like my earlier ones and it took a lot of courage on my part to try something so bizarre. 

My haircuts are a BIG  affair at my place unlike my husband, who decides in the morning that he needs a haircut and then in the evening goes and gets it done. When I decide I need a haircut, I spend one month on browsing the internet looking at various haircuts, stalking people on roads whose haircuts seem interesting and coaxing my husband to do the same while nagging him and asking, "Will that haircut look good on me?" The answer is always affirmative. To test my husband's taste in haircuts, once I showed him a lady who had purple hair and a very revolutionary Natalie Dormer haircut and asked him the same question. His answer was still yes! That is when I decided, that my husband should no longer be the member of my prestigious 'survey group' anymore. 

He said 'yes' to this!!! Natalie carries it off with style,
I will never be able to do it!

http://static2.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/natalie-dormer-mockingjay-hair-cut.jpg

You ask me, "What is this prestigious survey group?" Oh! You did not know. The survey group is a bunch of folks to whom I send various haircut photos and ask, "Will this haircut suit me?". It is a group of dedicated individuals who give me their true opinion. Right now it consists of my sister, my sister in law, my mother in law and a bunch of very close friends (minus my husband, thanks to his outrageous affirmations!).

Every time I send pictures to this group, get their opinion, decide on a hairdo, go to the saloon, have cold feet and ask the styler to just keep my hair shoulder length with the same hair style. And then when I come back home, even my neighbor who has a keen eye is not able to distinguish that I have had a haircut. Oh yes, it is so typical!

This time there were 2 haircuts which were doing their rounds on whatsapp and email within my survey group. The first one was Winona Ryder's pixie cut. I have been wanting to do this haircut since my last haircut but I have not been able to muster the courage to do something so drastic. Moreover when I sent this picture to my survey group, the results were not very encouraging. So I gave this haircut a pass.

One kick ass haircut. Doesn't she look beautiful?

http://i2.listal.com/image/2716028/600full-winona-ryder.jpg

So with this haircut off the radar, my search started again. The new winner was Keira Knightley's bob cut. I got unanimous positive feedback when her photo was circulated in my survey group. So, I had a winner - Bob Cut like Keira Knightley. I was excited with this decision and went to my stylist. This time I was determined to absolutely have this hair cut!

http://trendseve.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/keira-knightley-bob-haircut.jpg

http://cdn.sheknows.com/articles/2010/10/keira-knightley-hair.jpg

Guess what? This time no cold feet, and my hair is shorter now. Way way shorter. I look like a teenager, a shift from 20 something looking to a teenager. But I am happy! Atleast this time my neighbor realised that I have had a haircut ;)

Oh, you say you want to look at my new haircut! Hold your breath, here it comes  - 

I have no clue why am I giving that expression,
nor why did I choose to have a b/w photo. Please don't ask!!

Close enough to Keira, right?

My neck feels so free. It is unbearably hot in Florida and I think I have had my bob at the right time. Feels so good :)

How short can my bob get after all? A little bit shorter maybe the next time????

Week 18: Reading Marathon

For those who are not aware, I am on a 52 weeks adventure this year where in I decide my own adventures! For more details, check out here!

The last week I was sick half the week and then too weak to do anything the rest of the week. I was not sure if I will do something new. But yes, I did. In between sleeping and eating, I read. I read so much that I completed 3 books and re read one of my other favourite book. So in a week, I read 4 entire books! Yes, beat that.

I have always been an avid reader but lately fiction is what interests me more. There was a time when I was a classic fanatic, I still am but now I try and read other genres too. After coming to the US with free access to the library, my reading has increased manifold. I just get immersed in the fictional world many times forgetting my grievances and worries. It is good to be in an imaginary world sometimes. 

This week I read young adult fiction 'Eleanor and Park', a biography 'Wild: From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail', another biography 'Dongri to Dubai' and this did not satiate my thirst that I re read another YA fiction 'The fault in our stars'.

The books were helped me forget my sickness for a while. I will share some of my favorite quotes from each of these books which are etched in my memory.

Eleanor and Park: This is a high school romance intertwined with family abuse and issues one faces with separated parents. It is about a girl and a boy, who are so very different in all aspects and yet bond with each other and eventually fall in love. 

One of my favorite quote is, "Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something."
Such profound words on art and beauty. Loved it :)

Wild: This book starts with a heart wrenching episode of the author's near one's demise and that picture stays with you till the end. The story unravels a bit slower than I would have anticipated, making it a little boring in patches. But, the trail Cheryl Strayed took and completed motivates you to do something similar. And if you are wondering on how can someone have such strange surname, you need to read the book.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is, "I'd finally come to understand what it had been: a yearning for a way out, when actually what I wanted was a way in."
You need to read the book to understand the deepness of this simple sentence.

Dongri to Dubai: This is a biography of the infamous Indian mafia and how Mumbai had different mafia leaders across the history. The book is interesting and it scares you at some instances while on other instances you are just awed at the strategic minds some of these mafias possessed. 

The Fault in Our Stars: I had read this book long before the movie was released. This is a story of cancer kids intertwined with a heart warming love story. The end is unexpected and you just cannot read this book without tissues. It is one of my favorite books. There are so many quotes which will stick with me forever from this book.
"My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations".
"Grief does not change you Hazel. It reveals you".
"I am a grenade and at some point I am going to blow up and I would like to minimize my casualties, okay?".
"You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful".

Okay, I can go on and on about this book. So, will stop here.

Yes, a week of sickness and reading was my adventure for the week!