It is almost two months since we have officially started living in Ann Arbor. I have to say that we are very lucky to be living here. Ann Arbor, as we all know is known for the University of Michigan's main campus. UMICH is an inseparable and very important part of the city's economy and culture. With Medical school and hospital, UMICH definitely rules the roost. But other than the university, the city offers many wonderful things. While Michigan is definitely a rural state, Washtenaw county that harbors A2, is an urban county. With population of around 322,000 the county is fifth largest in the state. However, it is also a very diverse county. And A2 of course takes the cake when it comes to diversity and culture.

What I love about A2 is whenever you walk in downtown, you will hear people speaking in many international languages. People of all over the world can be easily spotted in this "cool" city. Of course, since UMICH is a big player it is not surprising to have an amalgamation of cultures in the city. There is always something to do here. There are car shows, farmers markets, holiday markets, Oktoberfest and so on and so forth. Since, the city is most definitely a liberal city, things such as environmentally friendly technology show is not uncommon. Then there is Sunday Artisan market, where local artists sell their art. And also, book shows and book tours in Borders are tons of literary events in the Ann Arbor District Library make sure that all the book-nuts are happy.

The university has an arboretum which we haven't paid a visit is known for beautiful Fall colors. Another fun part, which I had never experienced is the proximity of wild life. It's not uncommon to spot dears on the roads. The other day we were driving on one of the busy roads and I looked out and spotted few dears hanging out happily on the North campus. I was so excited that I almost hit the car next to me :-) Our landlady has mentioned that the dears do come in our backyard. Now, you can imagine how excited I am to see them.

The city has many many cuisines to offer and for someone who enjoys eating as well as cooking, local the grocery stores. There are many specialty stores that cater to specialty cooking needs such as Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern. I haven't visited all of them, but since I have been dabbling in cooking I will be visiting them some day or the other. There are tons of places that are open to till 2 in the night where you can definitely grab a bite to eat and some good wine to enjoy. Mind you, we moved from Phoenix where we had to decide if we wanted to eat out at 6 pm if we wanted to make it before closing which was in many cases was 9 pm. So given that, having places open so late is a boon for us.

There are many bars and dance clubs for entertainment. Got to be, after all it is a school town. I told someone describing this wonderful city as a "small" city but also a "big" city. Small in the sense that it's a college town. Not too much crowded. Still manages to keep the Midwest charm. But at the same time it is big as it has many things to offer when it comes to jobs, entertainment and diversity. I have to say we are very lucky to move here. I like to see the birds and the squirrels on the tree when I am drinking my morning tea. I enjoy just being here. Many times after work I would just walk around in downtown doing nothing. The weather is perfect now, though a little cold for me. But still I love sitting in a coffee shop and reading and watching students running with their laptops and solving homework. God, I love it here. If some one visits us here, I would tell them let's just sit down and relax and may be walk in the park and then eat in that fantastic neighborhood restaurant. That's Ann Arbor. Alive and beautiful, charming and peaceful, cold and warm, small and big, modern yet simple just what it is , Ann Arbor!

ASU College of Public Programs had this great idea to photograph student with their ideas about changing the world. I loved all of them and one particular that said "by changing the (wo)man in the mirror!". Now, that perhaps is the best way to begin. Like my favorite songs from MJ, I try to change the woman in the mirror, one day at a time.

Man in the Mirror

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change)
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah)

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
(Washed-Out Dream)
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me
(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Ooh!)
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change His
Ways
(Change His Ways-Ooh!)
And No Message Could've
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .)
Change!

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror,
(Man In The Mirror-Oh
Yeah!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make The Change)
(You Gotta Get It Right, While
You Got The Time)
('Cause When You Close Your
Heart)
You Can't Close Your . . .Your
Mind!
(Then You Close Your . . .
Mind!)
That Man, That Man, That
Man, That Man
With That Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)
That Man, That Man, That Man
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
You Know . . .That Man
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Oh Yeah!)
Gonna Feel Real Good Now!
Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah!
Yeah Yeah!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Ooooh . . .)
Oh No, No No . . .
I'm Gonna Make A Change
It's Gonna Feel Real Good!
Come On!
(Change . . .)
Just Lift Yourself
You Know
You've Got To Stop It.
Yourself!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
I've Got To Make That Change,
Today!
Hoo!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Got To
You Got To Not Let Yourself . . .
Brother . . .
Hoo!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
You Know-I've Got To Get
That Man, That Man . . .
(Man In The Mirror)
You've Got To
You've Got To Move! Come
On! Come On!
You Got To . . .
Stand Up! Stand Up!
Stand Up!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Stand Up And Lift
Yourself, Now!
(Man In The Mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Gonna Make That Change . . .
Come On!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know . . .
(Change . . .)
Make That Change.

Finally, we have moved to Ann Arbor. It happened about three weeks ago and boy, was it a pain in the rear end. Thankfully, most of our stuff was in the storage and the guys from the storage delivered the stuff immediately after we moved in. Of course, we still had few suitcases and kitchen stuff that we carried with us. The move was definitely tiring but quite uneventful. Except, for the fact that on for the first night was had nothing to sleep on. But our landlady was kind enough to lend us a blanket. It felt like camping and made sense as the new home surrounded by lot of trees and a creek in the back yard. It took us almost a week to put everything in right place and clean and settle down. Since, I was home it did not become a horrible exerting job. I would put things I could and in the evening when V would return home, we would together move heavy stuff. After the big move in, we had friends over and started the "living" in new home.

The house is beautiful and has a lot of character. It is built in 1960s so it does have some of the old furniture and look that no longer exists. Wooden floors, gas for cooking (woo hoo!!), finished basement with another bedroom, lot of closets and storage, an amazing backyard with creek and tall trees. It was almost like a dream come true. Since, we had lived in apartments before we really wanted to live in a house, eventually buy one.

Things are now getting to routine. Hopefully this new home will bring lot of happiness and good luck to us. I welcome us to Home :-)

When you are born and brought in India, you would mostly probably end up speaking at least three languages. First and foremost is your native language (which is Marathi for me), second Hindi (the national language) and third English. Now, of course some people would just speak tow of the three and some know many more. In my case , I have been very fortunate to learn and enjoy Sanskrit.

I of course love languages and for me leaning more than one language has been a great source of enjoying the classic literary and contemporary works from those language. One of the best things we got from being a British colony is the language of Brits. Who knew that English would be such a powerful language that would end up being the business language of the world. Actually, I started learning English quite young but not until High school I explored the wonderful world of English literature. Thanks o a friend of mine! Since, I already was a reader plunging into English literature was not a difficult task for me. It initially took a while to go through a book but eventually it became much more fun. Now, I can proudly say that I can finish a book within a day!

I was talking to a friend of mine who is an avid reader, about how fortunate we are to be proficient in more than one language. Not only it comes handy for higher education and work but it also opens a gateway of knowledge and never ending fun. I am a huge supporter of being a polyglot. More the merrier. A language is a tool of understanding the culture it belongs to. It goes beyond communication or business. Language connects us to the people. So it is important to understand and read and enjoy your own native language first and then definitely as many as you wish. With the current trend of not exactly be able to understand one's native language, I wonder how much one can enjoy the other language. So the idea is enjoy reading and having fun with all the languages but don't miss your native language. Because, if you don't know who you are , you would never know who others are!

Finally found a place called Home

Since we moved to Michigan about three months ago, finding a permanent residence was on our agenda. We are currently living in the apartment provided by the company and it is provided only up to three months. So before August we have to move to another place. We have been looking around houses and apartments equally, to rent. But both of us had this notion of living in a house than in an apartment now. I guess we are just done with student residence. So we decided that we will only look for houses and townhouses and see if we find something to our taste. Now, taste is a little challenging issue. V wanted a backyard and front yard possibly and I wanted to have a big kitchen with gas (now they don't come that easily), and of course 2 bathrooms. So we had to agree upon a common list of must haves in rental home. Another big issue was the location. V works in Ann Arbor and we currently live about 20 miles from AA. Initially, we thought we want to live outside of AA to get the feel of small community and countryside. But soon we realized that, almost every day after V comes back from work we end up going to AA. In this area, the most vibrant and fun city is AA. There is always something to do. And of course, budgeting for fuel cost was another important consideration that kind of pushed us towards AA.

Still, we did look for houses in other cities. It was exhausting. I would be in AA for the whole day as we still have one working car. Then , during lunch or after work both of us would visit the prospective house. Then, again I would endlessly look up on craigslist for new listings. The location and the price eventually became so specific that I thought we would have to give up on the idea of renting a house.

But last week, V found this really cute house in AA. The house is built in 60s and has two sections for two different renters. It has gas (check), a small back yard (check), three bed rooms, two full bathrooms (check), lot of storage and a kitchen pantry (yahoo additional). So everything we wanted and more. The house has character and it just feels like home. We would be moving there soon. Let's hope the new home will bring many good memories and lot of fun for us and everyone who visits!

Exercising my way to glory!

These days I have fallen back to my routine of working out every day and it feels great. I have always been a sports person, since my school days. But after being in US for six years, my exercise routine has gone hay-wards. Sometimes, I would follow rigorous routine the other times it just falls apart. But now, since we moved to Michigan I have decided to take the opportunity of free time at hand get back right on track, where I belong (pun intended!)

These days, I get up way early than I used to. I have morning tea, send V to work and then read news for some time. Then, I do some warm up at home and then I go to gym which is conveniently located in the current apartment complex. In Tempe, my good friends P showed me basic routines one can follow in a gym. Another good friend of mine who had lost about 20 pounds gave me some more tips to help increase stamina, such as running aerobic routines on trade mill. Following, their advice I work out for about one and half hour everyday. It included running, cycling, light weights and of course 20 minutes of yoga. While machines and weights help to build muscle yoga helps to keep my body light. I have lost flexibility over time which I am on my way to regain in coming months. My stamina seems to be getting better. When I come back from exercise I feel rejuvenated and happy. I am not behind any kind of weight reduction or fat burning per se. What I want to is to be fit and be energetic throughout the day. The exercise routine has also helped me to improve my sleeping habits. No more 1 o' clock in the night moves or eating at midnight. I sleep early and rise early and feel relaxed and fresh all the time.

I also read lot of health magazines and try to incorporate some of the exercises they suggest and some of the food routines. Of course, there is lot to improve. But one thing for sure, this routine makes me less susceptible to frustrations and crazy thoughts. I think about how I can improve my health and V's through better cooking and diet. Surely, I feel good about myself. I hope this will continue as I plan to take zumba classes once we are settled in our new place.

Until the zumba, gym is a great way to keep my mind and body sound.

My New Shoes

Like any other girl, I have "a thing" for shoes. When in India, I used to think about buying many shoes but never had that many. But in last few years, since I had become the master of my own finances I have completely given to my vice of shoe-shopping. I would spend time online looking up gorgeous shoes and thinking about how would they look on my feet. I would recommend 6pm for finding great deals on shoes. I did buy some of my pairs from this website. I have found that it's cheaper to buy shoes online than in store. One can find similar brands or styles much cheaper online. 6pm has some of the fantastic deals on both men's and women's shoes. If you know your shoe size, then I would suggest you should visit this website and find some killer deals. All the shoes I bought from 6pm fit like a glove.

I have recently ordered a great new pair and can't wait to put them on. This particular pair is very similar to one of the fantastic pairs that Carrie had on during the episode "A Woman's right to shoes". Of course, Carrie's was Manolo Blahniks and I can hardly afford them any time soon. But the pair I bought is equally sleek and beautiful and way cheaper than Manolos. It will be my first pair with pointy heels that are about 3 inches high. As V said, I will be so high up that he would ask me about the weather :P

So the shoes will be home tomorrow and I can put them on and may be go for fancy dinner over the week end. Just can't wait to put them on and just be a little narcissist about beautiful feet in the beautiful shoes :-)