"Every Friday just about midnight, All my problems seem to disappear"

I am so skeezed out right now.  By definition, to be "skeezed" is to be grossed out, weirded out, or disgusted...according to the Priya Dictionary.  There was a comment left that was definitely skeezy...and I have no idea who it was.  I almost wonder if blogs are really that safe.  I'll have to keep an eye out. Hopefully it doesn't happen again.

In other news, tomorrow is Friday! So this is what it feels like to appreciate the weekend!  It wasn't too eventful of a week at work but having some fun socially.  Yesterday Kalen, Seth and I went to an Indian restaurant.  It was their first time eating at one...that's always kinda exciting.  Besides, I know they're some of the only people who I can unleash my full silliness around.  Taking it easy today then going out with Cheech, my friend from UF, tomorrow.  Satruday night Ojas gets here and he'll be here till Tuesday morning! Yay :)

I did take it upon myself to mess with my company's website.  Here is what it is now:
www.southeasternconst.com

and here's what I did today:
www.wix.com/secm1972/test

If anyone could give me any input...comments/suggestions...I would totally appreciate it.  I'm loving this place!  Next week I'm going to visit the jobsite...the jobsite being Disney! So freakin excited!!

My posts will go back to having pictures soon.  My stuff is just all over the place...maybe I'll take some pics this weekend when the Juice (that's my nerdy boy) and I go running at the lake.

"Tell me everything that happened, tell me everything you saw..."

Once again, I abandoned my blog...but I had good reason because I was in the middle of moving to and working in Lakeland.

Let me tell you, it is not an easy thing to go from living with roommates at school to living back at home in the comfort of big clean house (with mom's cooking) to living with random people in an unfamiliar somewhat messy house.  I am back to my freshman year ways (without the unhealthy eating...no freshman 15 this time!).  I even have a shower caddy that I take with me into the bathroom that I share with a 34 year old man.  BUT it's only for a month...or actually 3 weeks now...while I'm training in Lakeland.  Once I'm in Orlando I am definitely getting my own place.  My roommates are cool and everything and we're never in eachothers way but I think I deserve a few months to myself, eh?

Unfamiliar territory aside, the new job is going great.  Sure I'm the only woman and sure I'm the only non-white...and sure I'm the only one below the age of 30....and the only one without a Southern accent....

Really though, everyone's been really nice and helpful and they tell me I'm doing a great job.  I'm hoping it'll be a stable position.  Reason #1 for the last statement: Priya like it the monies.  Reason #2: It really is nice to feel useful again.  And Reason #3....ohhhh reason #3.  Turns out my boss didn't tell me EVERYTHING about the company during my interview.  I found out on my first day that a lot of our work is Disney stuff.  And the Orlando office is predominantly Disney work.  In fact, they don't even call it the Orlando office...they call it the Disney office! How did this happen?! Man I got lucky.

All in all, things are going well.  Found this beautiful lake that I (try to) go running around (almost) everyday.  I miss Naples, my family and friends but I've always said that I would like to thrown into an uncomfortable situation by myself....ya know, to know that I can fend for myself.  And I'm doing it...and it feels pretty dang good.

I feel like this is a good summary for now.  I'll leave you with a song from Stars...who were AWESOME in concert in Atlanta last weekend!! Seriously, so good.

"It's good...isn't it great...isn't it swell..."

I know what you're probably thinking.  Alright here comes another Priya post and she's about to let loose on all this stupid job stuff that's been happening to her.  Well I've been dwelling too much on that the last few days so instead I am just going to talk about my trip to Chicago.

I went to Chicago for 3 days with my mom, Anumasi (my mom's sister) and Auntie (my aunt on my dad's side).  We went to shop for clothes and jewelry for the wedding.  There is a street right outside of the downtown area that is seriously like little India.  All along it were Pakistani, Israeli, and Indian stores, restaurants and beauty parlors.  We spent two days just on this Devon Ave.  It was...an experience.

I loved the clothes and I loved hanging with my family (especially Auntie who I haven't spent time with in a while).  But...it was tiring and the bargaining...ohhhh the bargaining.  I just don't like it.

Either way, we had some good laughs.  We must've stuck out like a sore thumb because we would come into stores and the employee would say "oh I see you walking up and down for the last 2 days.  You look like you're all rush rush."

Here are some pictures from my very Indian Chicago weekend:

Freezer section at Patel Brothers, the Indian grocery store

Chutney Bar

The result of our shopping trip

On the last day we made it to the city.  This was my first time to Chicago.  I really wish we had more time to do stuff around there but we were all so tired by that point anyways.  We got to walk around the river area.  Chicago is beautiful! I definitely need to go back!

It was so overcast that we weren't able to go up to the Willis Tower.

It was a little chilly.  These are my family members in their neutral colored sweaters.

Hehe...I love this picture.

We ended the trip with some Chicago deep dish pizza....soooo good.  Awesome ending before flying back home.

"In my room...in your room"

Some of you may remember the Great Shower Leak of 2010 that occurred a few months ago. If not, it was...well, a shower leak...that messed up the carpet of my room and the family room. It also cause the vanity in my bathroom to somewhat fall apart from the dampness.

Since then, we have been working to renovate these areas. We got wood put into the family room. We also got new carpet in my room and replaced the mirror and vanity in my bathroom.

While our insurance gave us enough money to replace my pepto bismo pink 80s furniture, we decided to keep it and save the money for the future house that Ojas and I will have someday. Working with what we had, we painted both the room and the bathroom.

I've had this idea to have a giant tree on my wall and got excited when I saw there are companies that make vinyl wall stickers of what I wanted. Unfortunately, these stickers were like 70 bucks. I took the much cheaper route and decided to paint it myself.

Tree Wall

Finally hung up the lamp I made in undergrad.

The bathroom

LOVE LOVE LOVE my little corner of the house.  Perfect for reading Harry Potter and taking naps :)

"And so...Priya waits, Priya waits, Priya waits...."

It's been over two months since my last post...whoopsies.

I stopped for a long time because I never wanted this blog to become an obligation. I didn't wanna have to feel like I HAD to post on it every once in a while. But I think I'm ready to come back to it because I need some kind of venting ground. Besides, there is only so much you can share with people through facebook statuses.

So what has happened in the last two months...hmmm...
Well Ojas is here and situated. He's now the pharmacy manager of the CVS that most of my family goes to. He's liking it here. We're still unsure of where we will end up after we get married but for now Naples it is.

The job searching is getting extremely frustrating. More than anything the thing that discourages me is that no one seems to want to follow up after an interview. I call several times and email but I keep feeling like people are blowing me off. I know I'm doing my part but how much more can I do? Even a "no" would suffice but in every case (there have been maybe 8 opportunities at this point) I have been forced to play the waiting game. Grr.

Unlike job hunting, wedding planning is going well. Pretty much have all the major things covered. Next up is food...which is the part Ojas is really excited about :) I feel like I'm productive when I plan for this wedding. Generally I think of myself as a really lazy person but then I have these moments when I love to be organized and love having to stay on top of things. It's those times that make me realize that I need some purpose. More than money, I need a job to feel useful again.

I have been using downtime to work out. Since school ended last year, I've lost about 17 pounds. Crazy...doesn't even feel like that much. I guess it has been really gradual. I've been spinning and going to these weight lifting classes but once it gets a little cooler I want to start running again. I actually really like running. It's just making it off my couch and outside that's the hard part hah.

Alright well that's that for now. I will do another post tomorrow...and I promise not to complain so much.

Heeeeeey

What is up with this summer?  All year I have had to try to plan things to do...and now!  I don't have a single free weekend!

And once again I've fallen behind on blogging.  I still need to post pics of my Kansas-Florida drive along with other events that have happened.

I'm going to Atlanta and South Carolina tomorrow for about a week.  But mark my words...when I come back I will get back to blogging.

For now I'll leave you with a song of the day.   I've recently fallen in love with Vampire Weekend.  I love their song "Giving Up the Gun".  And just when you think it couldn't get better...who should appear in the video but Joe Jonas and....Jake Gyllenhall (sigh).

Cooler Scooter

The other night we went out and I happened to run into a spinning instructor from my gym.  This was the first time I had seen her outside of the gym so we chatted for a bit and then she showed me something I have never seen in my life-- a cooler scooter.

It's a cooler...on wheels.  Motorized wheels.

I just stared in awe and just then she said "You have to take a ride before you go in [to the bar]". My face said "Oh umm...alright" but my insides were screaming "OMG CAN I CAN I?!?!"

It was a pretty smooth ride.  Thanks to Erika and her trusty iPhone, we were able to document this joyous occasion.

Action shot!

Kansas to Florida: St.Louis

Our first pit stop after leaving Kansas City was in St. Louis.  I have always wanted to go the arch, especially when I learned that you could ride up to the top of it.

What excited me even more is that the vehicles we rode up in were these tiny little pods that were designed in the 60s.  One little space fit five people for a 5 minute ride up to the top of the arch.

We was squished.

We got to know our fellow pod riders in those 5 minutes.  The two people sitting across from us were a couple from outside of Orlando.  They just happened to be in town visiting family.  The other guy was a guy in his 60s and when we asked him what he does he said "I'm a full time RVer".  All he does is ride around the country in his RV.  Imagine that life.

Anyways...knowing my luck I started getting a cough and cold right when we left Kansas.  When we got the to the top, I started getting shaky.  My cold combined with the height was making me feel super light headed.  So we walked around a bit and headed back down after a few minutes.  But not without getting some shots of downtown St. Louis first.  So glad we made this stop!

Since St.Louis was only about 3 hours away from Kansas City, we decided to head on. We passed through Illinois (got some therapeutic hot chocolate) and stopped for the night in Kentucky. Poor Ojas did all the driving. What a sport.

Kansas to Florida: Kansas

It's official.  My Kansas boy is now a Florida boy.  We've been home for a few days now.  I have to say, it is going to take some adjustment to get used to him living here.  Not in a bad way...just in a different way.  Two weeks ago, we had been in our usual situation of leading our own lives and seeing eachother every 6 weeks or so.  Big change...but I am so happy we finally made it happen.

My mom and I went to Kansas on the 12th.  My mom finally got the chance to meet Ojas's parents. Ojas's brother, Udi, surprised us by flying in from Pennsylvania so she got a chance to meet him too.

My mom also had the chance to see some parts of Kansas...parts that I had seen when I went there last year.  We went to downtown Lawrence and had a beer at Ojas's favorite brewery, Freestate.  He was pretty sad about leaving this place.

.

We showed my mom around the Plaza and had our first Sampat-Patel family dinner at a Mexican restaurant there.

 I took this picture when we were leaving the restaurant and I thought it was just so cute!

While we had the families together, we thought it'd be nice to have a little mini engagement. So we got dressed up and took some pictures at the Sampat house.

Ojas's family gave me a few gifts for our engagement.  I could see that Ojas definitely had a hand in it because all the clothes and such were teal.  What a good guy for remembering my favorite color!

We only stayed in Kansas for a day a half.  On the 14th, we started our road trip back to Florida with some awesome stops along the way.  To be continued!

Song of the Day

Kings of Leon is starting to become a favorite band of mine. Apart from being pretty to look at, the singer has a really cool voice. I wasn't crazy about this band at first because their songs are very different from the singles they've released (especially "Use Somebody"). But now I LOVE THEM! I even got my mom into them (them and Snow Patrol being her favorite bands right now). Common interest in music usually leads to us listening to YouTube videos...and me breaking out in random dance parties in the living room. Whatevs.

Annnnyyywaaaaaays. This is "Closer".

"I find a map and draw a straight line, over rivers, farms and statelines..."

In just two weeks my mom and I will be flying to Kansas City. The parents are finally gonna meet! It gets me a little nervous but I'm sure everything will go great.

Ojas is going to show my mom and I around the places where he's hung out for the last 6 years. Then my mom will fly back home. And Ojas and I will start our driving trek down to Florida. I can't believe it's time for him to move here. I'm definitely ready for it but it still hasn't hit me yet. He will be going from living 1000 miles away from me to 3 miles!

As you can see from the map above, we will be hitting a few cities on our way down. With any roadtrip, it's nice to stop along the way and have a little fun. We still have to work out the details of the trip but as of now we're planning on going to the arch in St. Louis, seeing the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, doing some miscellaneous fun stuff in Chattanooga, and going to the Coke Factory in Atlanta. Depending on our timing, we may make a pit stop in Tampa before we get all the way back to Naples.

Oh how nice it'll be to just be able to hang out and not have to worry about who is going to fly where!

Song of the Day

When my mom and I were driving to Estero to meet up with my uncle, I decided that a good way to start off the night was to listen to a really good CD on the highest volume that we could tolerate it.  There's something so awesome about driving on the highway and singing to a really good song.  I mean...I'm sure the two glasses of wine I had consumed before the trip contributed to the good mood I was in.  But nevertheless...this is a great song.



(Jessica Szempruch, if you read this blog...this song ALWAYS reminds me of you)

"I'll wait by the backstage door"

My mom, Anumasi, and Maya must be sick of seeing themselves on this blog.  Well, tough cookies for them.

India Fest was on the day before my birthday this year.  This is a festival that our Indian Association puts together every year.  They sell food, clothes, and jewelry.  They also have performances on stage.

As with the Diwali show, I was kinda weirded out with the fact that my mom was the one in the show while I was the one in the audience.  This wasn't the case until about 2 years ago.  I really miss dancing.  Sigh...how I long for the garba years.  Anyways, I digress.

Since everyone was taking so many pictures of the performances, I thought it would be cool to take some pictures of where most of the action happens -- backstage.  It was fun helping my family get ready.  Maya was in a dance and her "costume" was actually my masi's wedding sari.  Crazy crazy.

"Please take it easy, it can't all be my fault"

I've done it again. I've neglected my blog. But I swear I've had my reasons.

Excuse #1:

I have actually been working lately. Gasp!  I have been employed to do some Sketch Up work for some people in Orlando.  While this house has taken several hours of my time...it's actually pretty fun for me.  Here's a little sample:

 Oh if only I could put a little teal on those walls.  I don't think they would like it though.

Excuse #2:

After completing said work one day, I decided that I would relax for a little while.  So before claiming my space on the couch, I walked into my room to grab a book.  That's when I discovered this:

Disregard the pink 80's furniture and you'll see that my carpet is sopping wet! What...not just the carpet in my room??

Oh cool...the hallway between my room and bathroom too.  After a little ("little" meaning "mega") meltdown, my mom and I call a plumber and the insurance company.  The tile of my bathroom isn't wet at all but there's a tricking noise in the wall.  The whole problem was because of this little sucker:

 

So flashforward past some drywall cutting, carpet ripping, and 4 days of giant fans...and now my room looks like this:

Come on, home insurance! Mama wants some new furniture!

Excuse #3:

I've been gallivanting with family.  I saw two live performances with my mom and other members of the Patel clan. One was a one man jazz show with my uncle (Nana).  While the music could've been better, the night was great and people were definitely enjoying themselves:

The other was the Beauty and the Beast Broadway Musical!! AHHH!! EXCITEMENT OVERLOAD! But seriously.  It was so good!  And so colorful!  And I'm really glad I liked the actors because that movie gives them a lot to live up to :)  

We went with my aunt (Anumasi) and my cousin Maya.  As you'll see below, Maya is 15 (count it...that's 10 years younger than me) and yet the two of us were equally excited about this show.

I already have my next post lined up! See ya tomorrow :)

Song of the Day

I cannot stop listening to this song! I love it! I think I'm sorta falling in love with this band.  Here's The Script's "Breakeven".




I feel like Terence Eglitis would concur?

"25 and yearning for a ticket out"

My birthday was on Sunday, March 28th! Can you believe I'm 25? Personally, I'm a little flabbergasted. 

For the last 11 months I've been sulking and whining about how I don't have many friends anymore.  But on Saturday night, I realized that I've had good friends here all along.  A group of us went out to Bar Louie and maaaan oh man I had fun.  Let's just say that it's a blessing that I drank as much water as I did.

Here are some highlights of our night out:

We start the night off with a nice picture of the girls (and Ryan...he somehow made his way into almost all of the pictures)

Later in the night and we cut to the dancing. Oh the dancing.  We all have to thank Victoria for starting this :)

And flash forward to our friend-walk to Pita Pit.  We walked like this for the whole way there...mostly to make sure that Ryan made it there okay.

At the end of the night, I decided that my feet were hot.  Notice the look of satisfaction on my face.

After Saturday's shenanigans, I needed Sunday to do absolutely nothing!  I woke up at 12 with my mom freakin out at something hovering in front of our door.  She thought it was a person when really it was a balloon from Ojas.  The balloon was attached to a box and when I opened it, the balloon got loose and now is sitting at the ceiling on top of our living room.

And this is what I found in the box (along with a really cute note).  Thanks, Ojas! :)

Again, I'm really lucky to have such good people around me.  This birthday was so much fun!