MJ's first publication !

I met Manoj on sindhi matrimony website. And he posted our success story on their website after we got engaged. Original link can be found here - http://www.sindhimatrimony.com/success/success-story-inner-template.php/?ssId=88619. I dont trust when will this website bring this post down so for keepsake memories I am attaching the screenshot of the page.

After getting engaged, I was super excited about our wedding planning and I had started browsing through various websites among which I got addicted to WeddingSutra.com. I used to browse recently married couples blog and their pictures to get ideas. As - the more you browse, better ideas you get. 

In the process, I landed on the "recently engaged page" of weddingsutra.com on Facebook where newly engaged couples were being featured. I also asked the editor to feature our story on their FB page. 

Here is the link:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151651428923941&set=t.100000143589623&type=3&theater

Also copy pasting the content from the above link.

WeddingSutra

Jaya Wadhwani and Manoj Harpalani

Jaya and Manoj are getting married on 26th December in Lonavla. She works with Symantec in California and Manoj works as a Software Manager at Amazon in Seattle.

Says Jaya: “Here is our long story short. It all started with a typical arranged marriage situation where our families set up our meeting. Both of us were not comfortable with the concept of arranged marriage. But both agreed to the project (yes! it was a project for the two software engineers) of trying to get to know each other. In the first meeting he felt he was being interviewed (technically). The phone calls and conversations continued as we always had a lot to talk about. We shared many common friends and slowly our friendship grew. After meeting a couple of times, we were 66% sure of getting married. The remaining 34% was based on our parent’s approval. And then began a twist in the tale. My family was not very sure if we should pursue the alliance. It took us one year to get around the twist. In the one year, there were times when we were not sure and stopped talking. But in this phase, our common friends played a very important role to keep us connected, and when we reconnected, we were 100% sure we wanted to be life partners. So we often say that ours is an arranged marriage with a twist of love.”

 — with Dhriti Manoj Harpalani and Manoj Harpalani.

Manoj and Jaya Simply Love Wedding Film

I got married recently (its already been 5 months now but it still feels like too recent - 26th dec, 2013) and here is the video of my dream wedding at Fariyas resort Lonavla.

The arrangements were primarily done by my mother-in-law and heena (who was our event manager, also manoj's cousin). We used to coordinate with them every night and we used to discuss about the progress that has been made. I enjoyed each and every moment of wedding prep. Although it meant sleepless night but I was totally up for it :) We used to talk to/about makeup artists, decorators, hotel accommodations, menu, drinks, photographers etc. Wow! That was so much fun. And am glad the event was executed so graciously with minimum disruptions. (I guess none! Touchwood.)

Here is a video from our wedding events in fariyas resort, Lonavla.  

Manoj and Jaya Wedding Invitation

We did our pre-wedding photoshoot in Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivalli in Mumbai.

We were in the middle of shopping during early december of 2013 and running all over the streets of mumbai and finding the best clothes for our wedding. [Do the best clothes for the wedding ever exists?] We kept hopping from one showroom to another and I was always holding off to buy anything because I had an impression that I might get something better than I am currently seeing.

In the middle of our shopping spree, we figured out that our photographers would not be available on any day except 4th of december for the photoshoot. Oh man! I wasnt even ready for the pre-wedding photoshoot except the black and white dress that I had got from US which was supposedly the ultimate backup plan. I didnt buy any clothes which would be apt for a pre-wed photoshoot. And moreover both of us were dead tired running around right after the day we landed. We tried to re-schedule it by giving them various options but it seemed like they were not available for any date but 4th december. So, we decided to go for it.

I think we did a pretty good job in posing for the photo shoot which started at noon and ended by evening at 5:30 pm. [The were supposed to reach as early as 9:30am and made me get ready as early as that :(] It was not a very long day but even these 5-6 hours made us super tired. Although our photographers Komal, Vivek, Anish did a great job at keeping us excited. The only thing that I didnt like about them is that they didnt come up with a plan of photoshoot, which means we were the ones giving them ideas for the photoshoot. (I think we are too much into being on the other side of camera ;)) Infact, I was under the impression that they would define poses and location for us and we have to just do what they say. But, they were doing their first shoot at Sanjay Gandhi national park so they were not sure what the place will bring to them.

But, anyways we had a great time exploring various places in the park and posing whenever and wherever we could.

Here is the video!

MJ Story 1.0h

This is my first try on Qwiki and I decided to create a video starring manoj and me. I am so happy to capture the best moments of our courtship in this video. This video will always take me back to the best times that I have spent with him. Not that I am not having best times now (of course! I am having the best-est time!), but remembering my courtship period always gives me goosebumps no matter what. Loved each and every moment of it. I am feeling lucky today ;)

MIL's first visit to California

My mother-in-law visited us recently for the first time after we got married.(yayy!) It was a great time with her and Anaya (Manoj's niece who is 2.5 years.) She is such a beautiful and adorable kid. She has a very special place in my heart. The day she was born (Dec 10, 2011) I met manoj for the very first time. On her first birthday, (Dec 10, 2012) both of us (Manoj and me) agreed to get married and be life partners. Both of us consider her as our lucky charm. We love you Anaya :-*

I made this video to capture the moments that I spent with mummy and Anaya together. It was a great experience to stay with my MIL. I have heard girls whining about how difficult it is to cope up (or meet her expectations to be more specific ;)) with your MIL but in my case I guess I am too lucky to get her. She is super cool and she is super active. The only thing I didnt get to experience is cook for her and feed her (thats what I had been taught by my friends around :D) because she used to cook for all of us while I was at work and also make the arrangements for lunch/dinner for weekend on weekdays itself.

I created this quick qwiki video while I was travelling to Maui from SJC for our second honeymoon :)

Fun Times with Mom!

Love for nail art ...

Recently I have started (re)collecting memories from the past which include pictures of my nail art, food, trips etc and wish to document all of them to cherish in the future. Although there are too many things I can think of to collect but what would be better than starting with the nail art that I have done in the past. I could only find a few pictures for now but will update with more if and when I find other pictures in my hard disk. So far it has been like a tough job to start writing but its never too late to start. And when you are surrounded by great blogger friends (like Aditi - http://www.sosaree.in/) it becomes relatively very easy :) She and a few other bloggers whom I have been following since a few weeks now are primarily the real source of inspiration for this post.

Here are a few nail art pictures that I did in the past. The hawaiian theme one is the most recent one that I did just before we visited Maui during the memorial day weekend this year. (2014)

Hawaiian Toe Nails

Hawaiian mood

Newspaper style

Newspaper style take 2

Birds in the sky

Bug love

Love struck!

Vote for Namo! 

Zebra paint!

Random

Polka dots

Welcome summer

Polka dots take 2

Love Manoj! #Ache din aa gaye hai

Brown Zebra paint

Red Zebra paint

Taste bhi health bhi! Dhodho (Sindhi delicacy)

When I was in India, my mom used to make dhodho quite often for the breakfast. Dhodho is ideally a paratha made of Jowar or Bajra flour. It can be plain or spiced. It can be eaten with butter on the top or with curd topped with black pepper or cumin powder.

Here is the recipe of making dhodho on my own :)

http://sindhirasoi.com/2008/09/11/juar-jo-dodo/

Before!

After!