Friends

Anyone remembers my resolution earlier this year to get in touch with my friends? Well, I think I can safely check it off as DONE and it’s only May!!!!!!!!! :-) How it happened you ask? To begin with, I finally joined Facebook. (The average age of Facebook users also jumped up I hear the day I joined!! Hehehe…) An old high school friend found me from a group I became member of. Through him, I got in touch with two other friends! Saw their kids’ pictures, exchanged emails, even talked on the phone!

Couple of weeks ago, I got an email from a friend who saw my email address from another friend’s mass email and took the time to write to me. Glad to say, we are emailing each other regularly.

Then last week, I was in Dallas for work. I knew another friend from elementary days lives in Texas, but I wasn’t sure which city. Turned out she is in Dallas and I absolutely had to see her!!! Her kids are adorable. I’ll have to figure out how to post videos on here so I can show you the little dance number one of the kids performed for me!!! From my friend, I got the phone numbers for two other friends. I was able to talk to one of them and I am planning on calling the other one soon.

Remember that little rhyme that goes:

Make new friends
Keep the old
If these are silver
Those are gold

Whoever coined that rhyme knew from experience what he/she was talking about. Old friends are the best. I met some of these friends after like 15/19 years and it felt like we never lost touch.

There is one other friend in Bangladesh that I need to get it touch with. That’s my next project.

I love Technology!!!!!!

I was surfing the web for a handheld vacuum for my car and I found this. What will they think of next?? :-D

On Pins and Needles again

Zoya’s Pediatrician called this morning. She has some new information from the health department and wants to run some tests to see if Zoya has this disorder which would explain all her past medical history. On one hand, this new one seems to fit her. On the other hand, this means taking her to the doctor’s office/hospital again and she soooooooo hates it. I don’t want to put her through any more than she already has been, but a definite answer would put to rest so many unanswered questions/self doubts. It would also mean we can help her more. I need to be strong for this.

My handsome little guy!!

Bangladesh beat South Africa on Saturday in World Cup Cricket! I can just see the ear to ear grin on all Bangladeshis!!! Here is my little Bangladesh supporter.






I had to switch the tshirt around because he got upset that he couldn't see "Bangladesh"! :-D

Future Bollywood Star??

Amazingly I speak English even though I am brown skinned!!!!!!!!

As I was getting into my car this morning, a school bus came and stopped right behind me. The driver, an older white woman, slid open the window, said “Excuse me”. As I turned towards her, she looked at me, hesitated for 5 seconds (She really did, it was quite obvious) and then asked me “Do you speak English?”!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was leaving for work. I was dressed appropriately for work. I had my laptop bag on my shoulder. There was no way I could have been mistaken as a maid or a nanny or whatever else she thinks brown skin people do.

At the time I thought it was quite hilarious! She wanted to know where the Elementary school was. I gave her directions and we were both on our way. Then I started thinking about it and got more and more upset! I should have told her, “No, I don’t speak English” and driven away. I’ve had people tell me numerous times that my English is perfect or I speak English well! You know what?! I hate that too. Just because I am brown I am supposed to talk with an accent?! Arrrgggghhh!!

I know I am just ranting! Now let me go back to my work where I should get paid more since I have this amazing ability of speaking English even though I am brown.

He LOVES me!!!

Tanveer got me the Casino Royale DVD yesterday knowing how much I lust after Daniel Craig!! ;-) How can you not love a guy who is that confidant about his own MoJo??!! :-P Funny thing is Tanveer and Daniel share the same birthday! What can I say! I like my March 2nd boys..... ;-)

Creepy Helicopters

I woke up at 5:00 this morning and couldn’t sleep anymore. So I thought I’d get to work early and maybe put a dent on my to-do list. Well, traffic was worse than usual which is saying a lot as you might or might not know that DC area has the second worst traffic in US!! Heard on the radio that there was an accident ahead of me, which explained the traffic jam. As I neared the accident scene, I saw two news channel helicopters hovering over the accident area. That just creeps me out. Does it bother anyone else!? They make me think of vultures somehow! I see those helicopters a lot during my rush hour commute since all the news channels are now into "bringing you real-time traffic news". I just can’t get used to them somehow! I think because when I see them, I know there is something bad going on, and that translates to my dislike of them. Needless to say, despite my efforts, I still got to work late and now I am dragging since I woke up so early today! I just can’t win!

Raffae

Raffae wrote his name and Zoya's name without any help or guidance the other day!!!!!! Keep in mind he is only three and a half years old!!!! Couple of weeks ago, I noticed he is trying to spell anything and everything. We got him some books and things where he could trace the letters. As you can see he has been practicing diligently!! I am sooooooo proud of him! My baby is growing up so fast!

Rebirth of ZeeNotes??

I have been thinking about ending my blog stint for a while now. The problems are multi-fold:

• I have no time to update it regularly
  
• If I want to update it, I don’t have anything to write about!
  
• If I write up a post, it’s just BLAH!
  
• No one leaves a comment on my BLAH post, so I don’t really know if anyone is out there reading my blog.
  

Vain, I know! But I don’t want to write posts for myself only! That’s what diaries are for! I thought I’d post a “The End” on my blog and let it rest in peace. Two things happened today to change my mind:

• Simika left a comment on my last post asking why I am not updating anymore?
  
• I found a link to ZeeNotes on Friends and Daily Reads list on Tasnuva’s blog. Tasnuva, you are brilliant by the way!
  

Now I can’t let down TWO avid readers of ZeeNotes, can I?! :-P Guys, I'll be back with an amazing picture and a story to go with it very soon. Till then, hang on!

Love to you two for saving ZeeNotes!

About time!!!

Tintin in the news

Daniel Craig doubles?!

Just found this on the web. There are two other people that look like Daniel Craig??!!! Oh the joy!!!!!!!! :-D Who are these people?? Where do they live?

Facing my fears one at a time

I faced one of my fears yesterday – water; more specifically, swimming pool. I registered for a swimming class and yesterday was the first class. I was really scared thinking I wasn’t going to be able to take my feet off of the floor! But I did and I had fun! Man, swimming is hard! I was sooooooo tired by the time I came back home. I have to find some time to go back to the swimming pool and practice before next week’s class.

With swimming lessons in progress, next I guess I’ll have to get myself a bike! Yes I can’t bike either!!!!!!!! I was a bookworm growing up! I could probably name the capital of all the countries of the world. Almost all of them at least. So there….

Be careful what you wish for

Tanveer has always been a generous gift giver. Every birthday, anniversary, mother’s day, I get something really nice. Over the years, I’ve received jewelry, watches, purses etc. While I appreciate them very much, it became predictable over time! I have suggested to him in the past that maybe he could get me lots of little things that would show that he actually spent time thinking about what to get me. With our tenth anniversary approaching, he decided to do just that for me!

Off he went to Barnes and Noble and got me “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter”. He went to Bath and Body Shop and got me a body lotion, a hand lotion, a bubble bath foam, a body scrub, and a nice bright red tote bag. He then decided to go to Target to get a cover for my iPod which has been getting scratched since I toss it is my purse, my laptop bag etc. He got that and also picked up Grey’s Anatomy Season 1 DVD. He was on his way down on the escalators when he heard a noise behind him. He turned to find a shopping cart scrambling down towards him on the escalator. He said he realized he had about 4/5 seconds before the cart would hit him. Realizing he won’t be able to stop the cart with his hands, he braced himself for the impact. The cart hit him on his back, right in the middle! There were things flying out of the cart that started hitting him even before the cart hit him. This stupid lady was trying to bring her shopping cart down with her on the escalator and lost control!!!!!!!! Can you believe that?!!! My poor baby was in pain for three days!!!!!! Being the gentleman he is he didn’t say a single bad thing to the woman. (I probably would have scratched her eyes out if I were there!) Thank God that he didn’t fall down from the escalator or sustain severe injury! I told him for Mother’s Day, he can go back to the Coach store and get me another purse. ;-)

Catching up on my movies

Have you seen "Little Miss Sunshine"?? If not, I'd strongly recommend watching it! I loved that little girl. She is just sooooo adorable! I want her to win the Oscar.

Also watched "In Persuit of Happiness". I want Will Smith to win the Oscar also!! :-P

What does love mean to you??

To me love is postponing all plans for our tenth anniversary without a moments hesitation because Zoya has a fever.

Love is giving Raffae Oreo cookies for lunch cause he is sick also and is not eating at all.

Love is my mom making special dishes for our anniversary.

Love is all the calls/text messages/emails we received today.

Love is knowing a guy for eighteen years, being married to him for ten years and still falling head over heels in love with him every day. :-)

Ok, maybe not every day, but today for sure :-P

My life

My social life has seen quite a drastic change in the last couple of weeks. Couple of weeks ago, I went to have lunch with two of my friends. We went to a really cozy place called "Cafe Hon"!! The food was really really good. We then ended up in an open call for a movie audition! One of my friends knew the people in charge and we watched people auditioning for parts in the movie. It was hilarious to watch people say their lines. Almost like American Idol where people really believe that they can sing, but really don't have any talents.

Then last night, Tanveer and I went to watch a Violin Concert at the Library of Congress which was really awsome. We them met up with couple of friends and went to a lounge to hang out. I had the most decadent chocolate cake there!

Tonight my brother in law and his fiance are coming over and we might go out to watch a movie. My social life has not seen these many events in a month in a long, long, long time! Could I really be getting my life back??? We are trying to make some changes to our lives and this was one of the things we wanted back desparately: to be able to go out and have some time to ourselves without the kids, enjoy adult company without feeling guilty about it! Lets hope we can keep it up.

Zoya on American Idol

If there was no age limit, I’d have taken Zoya to audition for American Idol this year. You want to know what she would have sung??

Twa, twa
How I
Up up up
Da da da
Twa twa
How I

cap, cap, cap
Job!!!!!!!

Translation:

Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are

Clap, clap, clap
Good job!!!!!!!!!!!

Simon would not have said “I couldn’t understand a word of that song!!” cause she looks absolutely adorable singing it! She does hand gestures too. :-D

Bored and brain dead at work

Katie literally read my mind when she wrote up this post. I don’t know what the reason is behind my blog anymore. I read back some of my old posts and it all reads like mindless ramblings, hence the new description on the blog! I haven’t seen much comments from readers recently either. What an attention craving blogger to do??!! Come on guys! I need some support, even if it is not 100% honest! Alright, how about if I make my blog sort of interactive? Ok here we go:

So here are the main themes of some of the things I am thinking about writing in the next couple of posts. Tanveer attacked by a shopping cart in Target. Zoya on American Idol. Making changes to our lives. Which one do you want to know about?? Leave a comment and I’ll oblige accordingly in my later posts.

Can't wait for July!!!!!!!!!!!

The fifth movie of the Harry Potter series is coming out on the 13th and the last book is coming out on the 21st!!!! Yipeeeeeeeeee!!! Speaking of Harry Potter, anyone seen the pictures of Daniel for his upcoming theatre role? The boy has grown up for sure!!!!! Anyway, going back to July, I think for Raffae's bday this year (which happens to be July 22nd), the theme HAS to be Harry Potter. Hopefully, I'll be done reading the book by then. Otherwise, I'll have to cancel it at the last moment!!!!! I'm sure guests wouldn't like their hostess to be reading during the party!