Adventures in time management - It's 10 am already?

With work picking up, getting deeper into married life and (the latest update) my brother living with us, it doesn't seem to get much busier than this. I find myself waking up at 5:30 am working all day until about 6 -7 pm and heading home to get ready to start it all again. On good days, I will force myself to quit around 6 and go to the gym. The good part of all this is that I'm losing weight because I don't have time to eat AND I am forcing myself to workout. Go figure!

I've always known that I work much better under pressure, but the whole time management thing comes up again in my life. A friend and I have recently hired an Assistant Account Executive, which immediately lessened some of the smaller tasks at work, however, I struggle with not giving her 'assistant'-type tasks just to cross off things on my to-do list.

Slowly but surely I am learning how to reorganize my time and making sure that I am taking time for myself. I stay away from the computer as much as possible on the weekends, that doesn't actually seem too hard for me.

After all is said and done, I have to remember that I am a human and can't work like a machine....or can I?????? What do you do to take time out for yourself and enjoy life a little?

The Cusp of Insanity...4 days before the 'big' one.

What enormous stress and pressure a wedding is. The more sane your family is the less you have to deal with. However, the more crazy your family is....an event like this creates a colossal tornado of stress and emotion. I don't know who in my family hasn't cried during the past month.

Last Friday, I came at the cusp of the madness and broke completely down. My fantastic fiance realized it was time to sober me up (no, I wasn't drunk) and snap me back into normalcy. After a lot of yelling and more crying, I am finally in a place where I'm focused on getting tasks accomplished and just letting go mentally.

I think this has been one of the hardest obstacles in my life so far, it just contains so many aspects and hidden emotional issues. I can imagine why so many brides go crazy. It's hard to plan a day that you expect to be perfect and then let go and be a guest, especially the guest of honor.

I'm okay now and am trying to stay as serene as possible until the big day approaches (a nice massage will help with that). Being around my family tightens me up immediately, not knowing what to expect, what they will say or even what will happen. At this point there is nothing you can do, I wish I could have realized this earlier, but I think it was just inevitable.

At one point, I even wondered if it was all worth it, but I know when we hit the dance floor on New Year's Eve and we see the smiling faces of all of our closest loved ones, it will be a memory that we will NEVER EVER forget.

Cheers to everyone and Happy New Year!

I am 30.

So, this is now my reality. I am 30. I have hit the third decade of my life. Everyone insists that this one is the best one that I'll have. I have an inkling that its true.

This birthday, I was pretty overwhelmed with emotion, stress and even relief. I remember when I was 25, thinking of what I would accomplish in the next five years and my plans have not gone the way I thought. I had plans for my career, my personal life, my recreation, my self. Things did not turn out that way.

In the overall scheme of things, it all turned out much better. Maybe because it's reality. At the same time, there are so many things that have happened that I didn't expect and didn't want. The truth is, 30 makes me nervous. With this new business and my pending nuptials, the real responsibility and adulthood begins. I am nervous and excited. In a way this feels like the beginning of my life. I'm hoping for the best, but who knows what's gonna happen. Here's to the next three decades. Cheers!

#YouKnowYou'reAnIndianChildWhen

A friend of mine on Twitter started a hashtag today. It was basically just her an I, but I thought it was so funny. There are specific things that you experience when you're a kid who has parents that immigrated from India.

Since I'm sure they differ slightly for different types of Indians, I will only generalize from California Bengali's, so you all can understand us just a little bit better.

You Know You're a Southern Californian Bengali Child If:

• Your dad is an engineer, doctor or works for Microsoft.
• Your weekends are booked with 'family get-togethers'.
• You are studying for the S.A.T.'s at the age of 10.
• Your dad smells of tobacco and scotch.
• You have never been to a summer sleep away camp.
• Your mother doesn't or shouldn't be driving on the freeway.
• Everyone is your dada, didi, auntie or uncle.
• Your in math class instead of enjoying summer.
• You are 14 in community college calculus.
• Your school teachers don't even try to pronounce your last name...and you don't need them to.
• You live with your parents to 'save money' at the age of 25.
• Rice is on the menu (every night) with Fish or Chicken curry.
• Your parent's drive a Honda, Toyota or Mercedes.
• You start applying to UCLA, UCSD and UCI as soon as you enter high school.
• You are a computer science, engineering major or pre-med.
• Your parents tell you repeatedly about how Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel prize for literature.
• You don't play outside or swim until 4 pm because your mother is worried you're getting too dark from the sun...
• Your parents use adjectives as nouns, ex: "Don't be a stupid".
• The cashiers at 7-11 look at you intently before asking "Are you Indian?" with absolutely no follow-up.
• Kids at school ask where your red dot is (that's all Indians).
• You either check 'other' or 'Asian' on all official documents.
• You know that Salt Lake refers to a neighborhood in Calcutta and not Utah.
• People don't believe you when you say you're Asian.
• 6 hour flights seem like a picnic compared to the 16 hours it takes to get to India.
• Kids at school mistake you for Mexican.

There's tons that I think of in 'the moment', but these are just a few. Ah, life :)

A November to Remember- birthdays, engagements, thanksgiving and more...

As the end of the month approaches I realize a few things:

1) I did not write enough on the blog this month (even though I intended to several times)

2) Time goes by, whether you want it to or not

3) Regimen is key

4) Anyone can surprise you

5) Getting older does not have to be a bad thing...totally!

A lot of things happened to me this month. Early this month, I had a birthday, which I was completely not ready for. As the day approached I was left feeling listless and unfulfilled. Just one of those moods I guess. It comes and goes with the rain sometimes. The closer my birthday got, however, the happier I got.

I had dinner with my closest friends in Long Beach and participated in a mean game of Scrabble afterwards. Having everyone over, just reinforced the fact that I desperately want to move to a new place, preferably a small bungalow house in Long Beach. Our lease isn't up until the end of January, but I haven't been able to stop myself from preemptively paroozing on Craigslist for available listings. It looks promising. All in all, my birthday turned out to be great and I don't feel any older.

Another thing happened on my birthday, my love decided that he was ready to propose. It's a cute story, perhaps I'll save that for my next blog. Regardless, after spending my birthday working, checking in with the doctor and going on a lovely hike. Beno proposed to me in a garden up in Santa Monica. I could tell he was nervous, but I couldn't stop smiling. The ring is one that I had spotted out when we were in Turkey this past summer, very untraditional and very unique. It was an experience that was greater than I expected it to be.

Now, Thanksgiving is upon us. One of my favorite holidays, as I love anything pumpkin flavored. We're going to be spending Thanksgiving with Beno's family, while my parents are living it up in Vegas (I think it's a tradition now :).

I have decided to take the GMAT in February 2011, which will be a tricky one, because work will become very busy with our recent lineup and plans for next year. Beno has decided to take his NASM certification at the same time, so at least I will have a study partner.

What's next? The most important month of the year (at least as far as I'm concerned), stressful Xmas preparation, figuring out New Year's Eve and of course....planning my wedding. At least I know that next New Year's will be taken care of....Wedding date? 12/31/2011

I'm so excited for all that is to come and hoping the fiance is excited to. Although, I don't think any of this has phased him much. Oh...and the puppy! Chaka is great and is now a well-integrated member of the family, always keeping us on our toes, causing mischief and most of all looking adorable.

Happy Holidays everyone! Let the festivities begin.

One day....

I'll write a book about the mind melting pot that is my life, so that others don't have to go through the same thing.