...An eventful 4th of July week ~Anu

...For the folks in the US, last week following the 4th of July long weekend is usually a holiday week with most people either travelling or just relaxing in their homes and spending time with their families & friends. On my end, it was a hectic but relaxing and quiet weekend, followed by an extremely eventful week with loads of stress, energies at an all time high and full of delightful surprises - some happy and some very mushy, and finally ended with a system global launch of a custom application that we have been working for the last 1.5 yrs... A quiet 4th of july weekend at home meant 3 days at home with some time for work and essentially de-stress, de-clutter and work on an art project and my garden. No visiting and No entertaining...just relax and replenish my energies as we had a lot of the work ahead of us.The art project involved weaving my grandmother's and my mom's wedding sari into a tapestry - a tapestry of some beautiful memories, love and values passed on...a perfect opportunity for my mom and aunt to share some happy memories of their marraige and my aunt's first dekho of my uncearing a bengal silk saree and ...much loved stories...

And then admist all the work that goes into globally launching a system. I received a long awaited package from Dubai! Harshi of 'Harshi Creates' in Dubai is a close friend of mine and wanted to surprise her sister Charita (another close friend) with this gorgeous saree that she had meantioned 6 yearsago! for her 15th wedding anniversary. So the saree arrived in Dubai with a gorgeous card from their parents and younger sister and then handed over to Geeta Subbu of Paisely (Geeta's husband R is my collegue - what a small world, right!!) to R and finaly to K. We had K, another collegue bring the parcel to Atlanta. The very next day, I met Charita to give her the surprise...Yes Cheri as we call her was in a happy state of shock, went dewy eyed...when she saw the lovely card her parents had created for S and herself and the gorgeous saree. Yes and as you see in the pictures, she opened the saree on the sidewalk and draped it on herself..:-). There is something special about sisters and family and friends...when they remmeber all your likes, what you had said long time ago.. and send you these little things that express how much they love and care for you. Small gestures, a note, a hug, a phone call that speaks volumes...like my friend made me some dinner on thursday, as she thought I was too tired to cook...stuff that you will cherish forever... And look at the loot that Harshi sent me from Dubai...:-) Stuff that I had asked Harshi to get me...As my friend Shruti said...when I saw the Pahadi beauties...my face glowed...all tiredness wiped off...and dont miss the darling earrings and the lovely turquoise bird...:-) It is so special, to have someone who understands your likes... Sunday was special...as we went LIVE and I also had my aunt, cousin and friends visit...And since my aunt visited me straight from a gem show...I had to treat them with some Maharastrian Pohe, some Sabudana vadas and kesar shrikand and yes some masala Chai...Next time it will be Falooda as I want to use those tall Falooda spoons that my aunt got me...:-) Finally last nite, when I went to collect the mail at 11:30 PM, I found this brown packet in the mail box...Jaya, another friend had dropped this lovely note and a Ganesha...for good tidings and lots of luck...

Hasn't it been an eventful week?...Adios until next time...getting back to work