Tuesday, January 27, 2015

E-gaud dhana! (H + S)

December & January are my two favorite months of the year! Not because of winter, snow, or we get to go to India or anything like that but because it is a season of weddings and surprises! Recently one of our friends' found his soulmate and we attended his gaud-dhana ceremony at his place (on January 17). It was such a beautiful e-ceremony that I have ever attended in my life so far :) It was being performed over the skype where the bride-to-be and groom-to-be's parents were located in Baroda and the couple was here in bay area. I was amazed by how well the network connection was in Baroda :) Gaud-dhana is a gujarati ceremony where both sides of the family sign a contract (yes, thats what they call it ;)) and promise to abide by it. Once they write the contract, they read it out to each other and make sure both the sides of the family agree to be in the marriage bond. After the agreement, they distribute a small amount of jaggery mixed with coriander seeds. Once this was done, we had cake cutting ceremony and the couple exchanged rings :) 

Here are a few pictures from the ceremony :)

Happily Ever After!

On the skype!

Herat on his knees ;)


Symantec group is now complete :)

Skype! See the clarity :D

How do we kill time until the couple arrives - Click 1

Click 2

Click 3

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Napa Valley!

Yes, we started our new year by visiting Napa Valley as our first trip in 2015 :) Primarily, we went there for the most awaited day of one of my best friend's life. His Proposal :) The proposal was planned between 2:30pm to 4pm but we decided to get there early and make the best of whatever extra time we had. So we left early in the morning. While on the way, I looked up a bunch of wineries and decided to go to the Rutherford ranch located in St Helena. I called them and reserved a spot for chocolate and wine pair tasting. Both of us are not too much into wines but we were excited to get introduced to it :)

Once we got there, we were welcomed warmly and were seated on royal chairs :) We tried four different types of wines with their chocolate partners. I am not sure about how I liked the wines but the chocolates were yummilicious! While I was enjoying the chocolates, Manoj was having fun sipping different varieties of wines. We got to know a lot about wines that day. Here are few insights provided by our wine tasting rep. 
1. Wine tastes best when served between 45 to 65 degree F.
2. It is recommended not to hold the glass of wine with the bulb but with the stem of the glass because your body temperature can rise the temp of wine and it may not taste as good. 
3. We got introduced to the 5 S's of wine tasting which are: See, Swirl, Smell, Sip, Savor!
4. We got to know how to relish the wine the most.

After taking a couple of pictures in the vineyard, we headed out to Viader. Viader was another winery where the my friend was going to propose his girl and we were among the executors :) Viader is such a beautiful place to be (proposed;))! And thankfully, the proposal was executed as per the plan. It was such a great hit! I am so happy for him :) Here are a few pictures of the proposal..  


Yes, she said yes!

Inside Viader!

She said yes!

Here are some of our pictures from Rutherford ranch and Viader vineyard :)



Crazy Indians! Who eats desi while travelling? 

Panoramic J

Panoramic M




Makar Sakranthi 2015

It seems it has been so long since I have written anything on my blog. Everytime when I need inspiration, I visit Aditi's blog and I feel so motivated. Thank you Aditi for being my sole inspiration. Today, I thought I will write something after reading her blog and that something has to be about our first Uttarayan celebration in the US. Moreover, I was celebrating Uttrayan after like five long years. We went to the Milpitas High School to fly kites and it was great fun-filled day with our friends Ankit, Anuja, Manan and Vinky :) Here are a few pictures.

All set to fly kites :)

Everything seemed so colorful :)

Pehle pet pooja ho jaye :)

Ankit and Anuja have their kites already up and flying!

Posers :D

Time pass :D

Finally our kite is up and flying too :)

Fun!