Julie and Julia!

I finished reading Julie and Julia. I have already seen the movie, twice and had to keep the hold on the book for almost 2 months before I got it. It took me 3 days to read the book page to page, literally! I loved, loved, loved it. The book is not only about how Julie Powell followed the recipes from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child, but also is about a thirty year old girl's attempt to change her life and find a meaning to her existence.

I particularly liked that aspect of "finding meaning". When you are approaching thirty and suddenly you find you are still struggling to get to the point where you feel "worth of something", it can be very hard. However, Julie took her frustrations and failures at everything new she tried and changed it into a new meaning of learning French cooking. She had to go through many many days and nights of exertion to complete her mission. Too many failures before she could complete her project to go through Julia's book. But with each failure she got back on the track to finish the goal and in the mean time she found herself back, with the help from Julia :)

I had no idea who Julia Child was until I saw the movie. Movie made me read the book and now I am borrowing Julia Child's biography right away. Julia too learned her life's mission at the age of 37. How wonderful the thought is. One doesn't have to be successful at the age of 25. In this crazy world, when everyone want you be rich and successful before 30, Julie and Julia show how one can find success at a later stage and it is OK to be successful at a later stage of your life.

Of course, I have decided to learn French cooking as soon as I can afford the classes. Being the enthusiastic cook I am, the book made me curious about the French cooking and perhaps about the cooking in general. Thanks Julie and Julia, you gave me a great comfort when I need it the most.

Welcome the Holiday Season

When you live in Phoenix, snow or even temperatures below freezing is hardly a common experience. In fact in the city where 360 days are sunny, sometimes having a day with temperature in 40s is the most awaited day. And that days reminds me that it is indeed the holiday season. But this year with recession and job loss and hard times I was not in great spirits to look forward to holiday season.

But this Saturday, we just decided to accompany few friends who had already left for Sedona and take a drive to northern Arizona and forget about the routine issues. The drive through Sedona is always beautiful and I enjoy just being there. However, even thought we wanted to stop at Sedona, we missed the exit and ended up going further north towards Flagstaff and suddenly where the directions said Flagstaff 6 miles, we realized that we had drove a little too far than what we wanted. But we were in for a wonderful surprise. When we decided to turn around and drive south, suddenly out of nowhere it started snowing! Snowflakes falling from the sky. I have seen snow after it snowed on roads but I don't think I actually saw snowflakes in last four years (first time in Galtinburg). The sudden snow made me so happy that we ended up bringing out friends from Sedona to Flagstaff.

I stood near a gas station just enjoying snow on my face. It was beautiful. There were Christmas lights in the gas station and Christmas songs on the stereo. Suddenly, the economy and the recession and all those negative thoughts flew out of window and I realized "It is indeed the holiday season". Sometimes in the midst of all the problems, I received an unexpected gift of snow. My holiday season started then and there. I don't need any gifts when I have the SNOW just 3 hours away :)

Movie Marathon

For some holiday season means lot of shopping and meeting family. For me it means end of school work, relaxing time to watch as many movies as I can. So taking advantage of this holiday season I am making most of it by watching new and old movies and having a really good time. So here are few ones I enjoyed recently.
New Moon - Unfortunately, the movie was not as good as I thought it would be. Interestingly, I liked Twilight better than the book. The New Moon movie followed the book but somehow it was too slow and at times boring. First of all, the book has lot of emotions that are not easy to portray on screen. The whole relationship between Jacob and Bella is amazingly written but movie doesn't do justice to that part. Secondly, Robert Pattison sucks as Edward. I thought the same way when I saw Twilight but in New Moon he sucks even more. Especially after all the "hot" werewolves, he looks pale and as if he would die if the wolf even looks at him. Somehow he doesn't look Edward. He doesn't have the charm, maturity and classiness the character calls for. The surprise item in the package is not Taylor Lautner but it's Dakota Fanning. Man, that girl can act. She is there for few minutes but it's hard not to notice her cold Jane. Especially her smile sends chills through your spines. I really liked the whole Volturi sequence. The mysterious Volturi make justice to the notion of the Highest Authority in the Vampire clan. Lastly, Jacon. Taylor Lautner does a great job and looks extremely amazing. He looks the Wolf he is supposed to look. Young but mature, sometimes childlike and sometimes possessive. Bravo, boy! Overall the movie failed to impress me. I am not sure if I would recommend the movie not worth the money you spend on it. But if you get it online, it might be "not too horrible" watch.
Harry Potter Series - It's my love, period. I enjoyed reading the books and watching movies over and over. I still have to watch the Half Blood Prince. So I decided to rerun all five before arriving at six. Believe me it is worth the time and efforts.
Journey to the Center of the Earth - This is the new one. If you are a Jules Verne fan, you will enjoy this one. I have seen the movie by the same name made for television. It was much longer than the 2008 flick. But 2008 with Brandon Fraser is definitely entertaining. However, the movie also was made for 3-D and I am sure it must one hell of an experience to watch in 3-D. Unfortunately I watched it on DVD. But nonetheless, movie is fast paced and entertaining. I would highly recommend it everyone who loves Jules Verne and enjoys the crazy ideas like parallel world in the earth's center.

These are just few ones. Of course there are vampire movies and other fantasy fictions. I am definitely enjoying the holidays.

Dressed to...

These days I am interning with a very famous policy organization in the valley. Given the day to day need to be in the public eye, I need to dress professionally. Of course nothing too conservative as hardly any one can afford to wear a suit in Phoenix when it's still 100F out there. But nonetheless I need to wear formal attire which is best described as business casual. I am not exactly a suit girl but I do enjoy wearing those nice skirts and jackets at times. Apparently, I do have decent sense of dressing as these day I get complements from colleagues. Among all these complements I remember an incident in DC.

When I was interning in DC, my supervisor was flexible and did not require a very conservative attire at work. In DC, every one is well dressed. Many in suits, many in uniforms. Even while travelling in Metro, it' easy to see well dressed people. I was not exactly among them. I used to wear dress pants and a shirt but no pointy shoes as they would kill my feet. No make up or anything. Just get up, dress and then take metro was a normal routine.

But one day I decided to dress up a little. Instead of a ponytail, I kept my hair down, wore earrings, light make up and nice shoes. That day when I got off the train walked towards the office building, couple of people actually wished me "Good Morning" and a gentleman held the door for me(he was carrying coffee and yet he did)and smiled. I was surprised as it was my yet another day to work and this experience was definitely out of ordinary for me. Guess, it was the little make over. Well, what you wear has something to say about you. Of course, it did not happen every day as I immediately stopped wearing make up. Sleep was so much more enticing. But it was an interesting episode.

I think that's why they say "Dress for the position you want". I hope I am sending the right signals :)

Obama urges students to work hard, stay in school

This was the speech that some idiots thought will turn into Socialists or whatever that means. But I think it was one of the best speeches to inspire students to take charge of their lives and be what they want to be. It does not matter who tells you to study and work hard. It is important to work hard to be someone who brings change. President did bring a change in this country by working hard. Let's all just work hard and achieve want to achieve. Yes We Can and We Will!

Go Mercury!

Last Saturday was my friend B's birthday and for the birthday celebration we went for WNBA game Phoenix, Mercury Vs. Indiana, Fever. I have been following basketball for more than two years now but it was my first WNBA game. And it was just fantastic. The game itself was fast paced and very professional. But what I loved about the game was being in the stadium with all those cheering female fans. From 5 to 75, all age groups were present and equally vocal about the game. They were die hard fans of Mercury and perhaps much better than SUNS fans. They were cheering and shouting and dancing and enjoying themselves like anything.

I though the Mercury Hip Hop Squad was way much better than SUNS dancers. The overall experience was much more friendly and warm and informal than the one at SUNS game. Of course I love SUNS but the people who come for the games are big, rich guys who don't really like the camaraderie with the school kids like me. But at the Mercury this thing was completely opposite. There was long time Mercury supporters who were equally welcoming to the neophytes like me.

I loved the game though we lost. But the spirit was alive throghout. Any time I see women in sports I feel powerful myself :) Girl thing, I guess. I told V that from next year we are going to support Mercury as hard as we support SUNS. Go Mercury!

Twilight

I just finished up reading Twilight. I was very curious about it as it has become a big book sensation. I am very proud of myself to finish it up in two days while working full time :)So here are some thoughts. The book is not bad but of course it's more directed towards teenagers. I did not like it that much. First of all I knew it was about a vampire and a human who fall in love. So that surprise was taken away. Secondly, it was too mushy mushy for a vampire story. I like my Vampires bloody and scary. I love Vampire stories and even own some of the classic vampire movies. I am huge fan of Bram Stroker's Dracula. I have read the book, listened to the audio book and have seen the movie couple of times. It's a legendary story with serious tone.
But Twilight is not bad at all. May be I will finish reading all the four books of the saga. May be they will get scary and bloody, the way I love my Vampires :P
But as of now, I think its worth trying. I am ready to watch movie. So I will get back with the movie review soon.