Clarke Quay & Zumba Workouts - Day 16 & 17 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge.

I think this day late thing has stuck on to me now… miss one day and then the lag continues…

So today’s posts are going to be for both Day 16 and Day 17.  :) :)

Day 16 - Clarke Quay 

Have you been to Clarke Quay in Singapore? It’s the hub of the nightlife here. Popular place and our once-upon-a-time-adda of night outs and parties and pleasures… I have very fond memories of this place… it was my long ago hangout time, a place for having a good time… Clarke Quay is the place that got me hooked onto pubs and dancing and letting my hair loose. We have spent entire nights there having endless conversations and pulling each other’s’ legs. Such good times!!  Such memorable times! :-)

There are a couple of clubs there that used to be our favorite haunts for dancing… Cuba Libre and Pump Room being among them..  I loved the then-live band at Cuba. And on weekends you have some amazing dancing crowd there. Latino beats mainly. And Pump Room is a mix of all popular genres… great beats again!

We visited the place last night. Brought back fond memories. :D :D

Day 17 – ZUMBA fitness workout! :)

Thousands of emotions well up inside me throughout the day.

They are released when I dance.

-Abraham Lincony

I rejoined my ZUMBA Workout classes today. Such an exhilarating feel it was. I also learnt how much out of shape and stamina I am! To get through that one hour fitness routine was literally painful. Add to it the fact that I didn’t have my shoes today and I was dancing barefoot. But guess what, it’s all good. Because the feeling you get at the end of it…. Wonderful!!! It is a pleasurable pain when muscles you knew were existing and dormant in you start making their presence felt… :-) Loved the feeling… always love it!! Dancing always gives me a high… whether it is for a workout routine or for a stage show or just simple clubbing.

In that sense, these two happiness factors are combined for the posts… for me Clarke Quay is symbolic of the dancing and the fun with friends, more than the drinking and of course Zumba, goes without saying…. 

Mardi Gras baby, Mardi Gras!! - Day 15 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :) :)

So day 15 is a day late on this space… but there is a good reason for it. :D :D I was at my office Annual Dinner and Dance event.. :) :) And I came back late… so no time to post..

Anyways, the point being, it was my first ever Annual Dinner and Dance from any organization that I ever worked for…. And I was super excited and thrilled to go to one!

And such a lot of fun it was! I even won a shopping voucher in the lucky draw (yay!!) …

Lots of pictures were clicked, lots of fun was had, lots of laughter was heard, lots of letting the hair loose happened, and lots of super-duper excitement for the night… :) :)

All I had energy to do once I came back was change and pop into bed…  

Here’s the daily shot pic for you.. [The pic was posted to INSTAGRAM under my handle yesterday itself) ... So I didn’t exactly deviate from the challenge you see ;) ]

Nails. CHECK. Glittery Sandals. CHECK. Beads. CHECK. Mask. CHECK. Vivid Colors. CHECK.

MARDI GRAS THEME. CHECK.  :D :D :D :D

“That was the point of Mardi Gras, was it not?

To serve and honor all the people,

To bring into hard lives a touch of royalty and grandeur...

To put on a spectacle such as this, free of charge, was an honor.

― Dan Baum

This is just a pic clicked from the office decorations!!!

Just to let you know, my mask was silver ;) my beads were gold and silver and my dress was blue… :) :)

Dragon Slayer :-) :-) - Day 14 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :-) :-)

You know what the toughest things about doing challenges like these are! :-)

It’s very very hard to be happy every day. And by that I mean, not just being happy, but finding out what makes you happy every day. Discovering what ticks you off and then also observing what turns your mood right up!!

It was such a bad day today. Not bad in terms of work. I got quite a bit of work done. It was just hectic. So HECTIC that all I had for lunch was a packet of chips and a coffee. I had so much to do and so little time that I was exhausted by the end of it. Usually if I am busy at work, I am quite happy. I like that all-important feeling of being busy and sitting and finishing something up. But today was just bad. The energy meter was down and out running in the negatives and I was simply zoned out by evening. Add to it, it is THAT TIME of the month and you know how cranky we folks are around this time!

I was super cranky, touchy and irritable, pissed off at everything … and I didn't find someone to vent it out on. And I had this waxing appointment to keep. Yes prettification of the human body and all that!!  S yeah.. where was I? Waxing.. do you know how painful that is? Extremely! And when you are touchy and irritable like I was, make it EXTREMELY x 100 times. I was wincing and ooohhing all through the appointment and in the middle of all that, to distract myself, I started pinging this friend of mine. And venting out to him. Yes. Go ahead. Call him the scapegoat. Either-ways, I told him I was super-pissed and cranky. And somehow the conversation veered to smiling and stuff, and I asked him to give me something to be happy about. I actually challenged him!! And he got onto it. :) :)

Did I tell you this guy is an awesome artist… I didn’t? Ok! Here’s a sample…

This one’s just for me... but you can ask him to make you smile too ;-) :-)

“Fairy tales are more than true:

Not because they tell us that dragons exist,

But because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

― Neil Gaiman

Thank you so much for making me smile when I said that I was down and out... 

Thank you so much for making my day loads better when I challenged you to give me something to be happy about ... :-) :-) 

Little things like these hold so much more meaning than all the treasures in the world ... !! :-) :-) 

MINION Surprise :) :) - Day 13 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :) :)

I had a MINION Surprise today morning! :D  This friend of mine at work – Ananya – she gifted me this cute lil’ fellow and now he holds pride of place on my workspace… :D So much fun to receive surprises I tell you! They are one of the things that make me go all “awww and you shouldn’t have and all that” but deep inside I am jumping all over the place in joy because someone had me in their thoughts and that counts a lot! :-) Tell me if it doesn’t!! I bet you can’t…!!! :-) :-)

Once I got this little fellow, I wanted to find out which one he was… I am no great shakes on information about these fellas and so googled it as usual. And I found this who’s who of minions… Now my fellow has only one eye, so he could be Stuart, Phil, Kevin, Bob or Jon! I asked Ananya and she said she thought it was Stuart… So I decided to go with Stuart :D :D  This is what the blurb says about STUART ….

Stuart, a one eyed minion, is a playful and funny minion. He loves playing video games with his best friend Dave.

Ok!! I already like him a looooottt…. :D :D :D 

Look at him here… :D :D Made my today a good one because every time I looked at him and saw him grinning at me, I smiled too … 

So thank you Ananya… for making my mid-week so-so day a pretty darn good one! :-) :-)

Keep Calm and Drink Lassi ;-) - Day 12 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge :) :)

You like lassi?

I do. 

In fact, I like it quite a lot. But it’s very hard to find a well-made lassi! It’s an art... Everything has to be in just the right proportion. The yoghurt, the sugar, the essence, the garnishing, all mixed together properly into an intoxicating mix. YUM! :D Yeah, I guess you must have figured out that I prefer the sweet lassi instead of the salted / spicy one!! :-) :-) if it’s gonna be salted / spicy, it better be Chaas or Buttermilk… Curd and Sugar have always tasted finger-lickin’ good to me, any day! :-) :-)

So that’s what made me happy today!! :-) :-) :-) 

This big glass of MANGO LASSI from ChaiTime…

Have you been to this shop called ChaiTime? They have some amazing rolls and samosas… and a lot of varieties of teas… Check it outsometime... You won’t be disappointed! Guaranteed!! :-) :-)

I was there today. My lunch was from there and that’s when I noticed this enticing Mango Lassi on their menu. So instead of having my usual coffee / tea today evening, I opted for this. And may I tell you, what an impressive choice I made! It was simply amazing.

Here you go, I clicked a pic just to make you envious… :D :D  The pic may be bad, but the thing in it... D.E.L.I.S.H.

Beat the heat.. Beat the rising tempers... Keep Calm and Drink Lassi! ;-) :-) 

“Life is half delicious yogurt, half crap,

And your job is to keep the plastic spoon in the yogurt.” ;-) ;-)

Next in list – the Strawberry Lassi on their menu!! :D :D 

I haven’t tasted a Strawberry Lassi before... *rubs hands in anticipation* :-)

HOPE prevails!! :) :) - Day 11 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge :) :)

Can you believe it’s Monday already? And it’s one of the worst Monday’s over. Dreary and dull … full of the worst kind of blues…I could hardly keep my eyes open and I was ready to just take an off and go home and sleep. Yes! Seriously!! So dull… so mundane…

But I had to stay the whole day at work… and pull through… and that’s when this lil’ piece of art, caught my eye…

It was on my colleague’s desk.. Right in front of me... I keep staring at it every now and then not that I hadn't noticed it before, but this time, it rang out to me bright and cheerful… Such a heady mix and match of colors eh… I asked him where he picked it up from… Yes! You guessed it… I wanted one like that! Turns out it was done by this artist called Britto… who does commission art and portraits in and around the world including Singapore. Well… what would my life be without Google eh! And his site told me that they are revamping the online store or something like that… HUMPH!!! :-/

Oh well.. I will get my hands on them – BRITTO WORDS – one of these days… patience and HOPE my friend ;-) ;-) :P :P

And HOPE that everything every day every time turns out fine…

"As long as we have memories, yesterday remains…

As long as we have HOPE, tomorrow awaits!!!"

Enid Blyton Collection #2 Five Find-outer Series!!! - Day 10 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :-) :-)

I always love collecting books. The entire series. Or the boxed sets. It makes me feel nice to see them up on my bookshelf, neatly set in a row. :-) Something really really satisfying about that!! :-)

I have always wanted to have a great grand big library of all genres of books. I started reading at a very young age and from the time that I realized the importance of books in my life and the major part that they played, I was already an addicted reader. It’s one of my dreams, to have an entire room filled with books, in wooden shelves paneled along the walls, some paintings, a fireplace, comfortable reading nooks, lovely lamps and pretty lights and a big big window looking out into the mountains :D :D Vivid eh!! The only thing that has been started towards the completion of the dream… is collecting books! :D :D

To be honest, I started collecting entire sets only very recently. It did not make sense until before that as I had a few of those books in my collection already or maybe all of them bought haphazardly at various places. I remember the first boxed set, I got... Feb 2010, I had just passed my CAPM examination in Chennai, and I went along with my Anna to this book store in Spencer’s Plaza! Landmark I think!! Not sure about the bookshop!! I saw a boxed set of the TWILIGHT Series… this was the time that Twilight Saga was taking everyone and their dog over by storm and of course I wanted it! It was priced exorbitantly as boxed sets always are, and I was wondering what to do. Upon checking, I found that there was a minimal damage to the box and pointed it out to the sales guy. I think he took pity on me looking at how desperately I wanted that set, and gave it to me for a substantial discount. I was doubly happy that day! :-) :-) 

And then FLIPKART became a regular feature in my life! :D  Lots of books, lots of boxed sets, collections, etc etc.. A few months back, in SG, I found this shop that sold Enid Blytons. I literally grew up with Malory Towers, St.Clares, Secret Seven, Famous Five, Five Find-outers etc… But I never had the entire set… New goal in place! Buy the entire set, whenever I find the opportunity to do so! :D :D So I got Malory Towers at first… And then today, after a couple of months, I saw that he had the Five Find-outer series in stock… Picked ‘em up.. Smiling with glee.. :D :D :D Utter happiness I tell you! :D :D 

Voila!! :D :D  My goal is being reached one collection at a time…

“...there are so many books left to read.

For that reason alone it is worth going on living.

Books make me happy; they help me escape from reality.”

― Félix J. Palma

And for those who are reading this and have a generous and kind heart as well as a big pocket… My wish list is as follows: :P :P  

The Entire Harry Potter Boxed Set… The Entire Calvin And Hobbes Set…The Entire James Bond Set…

And many many more… but these are the top 3… Take your pick.. and I will be eternally grateful and loyal to you… ;-) ;-) :P 

Cupcake Love :D :D - Day 9 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge

It was a lazy boring day today. Very very low-key.

Got up at 12. Slept again at 3 after lunch till about 6. Then was sitting around not knowing what to do.

So me and this friend of mine, decided to simply go out for a stroll, maybe get a haircut… etc!

On our return from the mall, after again doing basically nothing, except wandering around the shops, we decided to get some donuts.

And next to the donut shop, we saw this cupcake shop!! :D  Twelve Cupcakes!

How do you make a lazy boring Saturday interesting??

You buy cupcakes, eat them and relish!! :D :D

Here’s the shot for you to drool at..

And trust me it was YUM YUM and YUM!! :D :D

“What can I say?

I've never met a cupcake I didn't want to get to know better. ;-) ;-)”

― Jasinda Wilder

You ask me which one is my favorite?? :D :D 

This one right here!! 

Sponge cupcake with Cream Cheese topping and Rainbow Sprinkles!!! :-) :-) 

YUM YUM and DOUBLE YUM!! :D :D 

Ganapati Bappa Morya! :) :) - Day 8 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge! :) :)

It was such a lousy day today.. So so lousy that if just one more thing had to go wrong, I would have blown my top. People were tipping me off all along right from morning, and it just got worse all through the day!! I was in such a pissed off mood when I reached home today evening. All I wanted to do was throw something, break something else and drive a fist through the wall! Yes, I was that pissed!! :-/

And then I saw this fellow. Sitting peacefully, reclining against a bolster, serene expression as though there wasn’t a care in the world! :D Instant smile on my face! Instant sense of calm!

This very precious painting was gifted to me by a very dear friend. He painted this. He had put it up on Facebook. I saw it. I loved it. I wanted it. I shamelessly told him so. And he made arrangements to send it to me through a friend who was coming all the way from the place he was to the place I am in. He told me this was in the image of his dad. I must say, it fits that to a T. Not just his dad. It reminds me of my granddad as well, grand and regal, relaxed and composed. :-) :-) All in all, a picture of serenity!! :-) :-)

There is a sense of immediate calmness that envelopes me, when I see this painting. In a lot of ways, I am indebted to this friend. He has always been a strong pillar of support and someone whom I gel with very well. And this painting, especially, is a depiction of one of my favorite Gods.

So!! Folks!! Today’s Happiness Quotient brought to you by our very own Pillayarappa… :-) :-)

Ganapati Bappa Morya! :D :D

 Mangalamurthi Morya! :D :D 

Peace to all! :D :D 

Shot of Caffeine!! - Day 7 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge :-) :-)

I come from a family of strict filter-coffee drinkers… none of that instant coffee for us!! So much so that if we miss our morning shot of caffeine, you can be sure to find a grouchy lot in us!! Doomed are those days when the milk-man fails to deliver the packets of milk!!!

But however, here in Singapore, I am an avid tea-drinker. The lack of good coffee powder (in the ratio of 70:30 or 80:20 the 30/20 being chicory) and the sad thing that gets churned out in the name of filter kaapi has turned me into a staunch tea-loyalist. If I am at home for the entire day, I end up drinking at least 3-4 cups during the day! But the story is different if I am out roaming about somewhere. In that case I prefer a good cappuccino with no sugar! Yep! I am quite choosy when it comes to beverages… I don’t like my coffee with sugar, I prefer the bitter after-taste and I only like authentic Indian chai made with milk and very less of sugar. Added advantage if its Masala Chai and even better when it is raining outside… :D :D

So then you may have figured out by now that I have ended up tasting the ‘cappuccino’ from all possible coffee chains. Some make it strong, some make it light, some have too much froth and very less coffee and the others are just plain shoddy. And then this friend introduced me to BLACK – a coffee chain in Singapore that hands down makes the best coffee ever! I loved their cappuccino. It was just PERFECT for me. I was so happy. And I even took my friends along to introduce them to the finest coffee that SG had… until the chain closed down! :-/ Imagine my consternation!! Yeah! I know you think that I am being over-dramatic and all that, but I reiterate, I am very particular when it comes to my beverages! :P :P And there’s a point to this verbose I am subjecting you to, I promise!! :D 

So where was I??  Yeah! BLACK closed down and I then found another shop close to my new office, called JAMAICA BLUE which served pretty good cappuccinos. So there, I was ok, for the time being! :P Until, on one of my evening jaunts through the CBD here, I saw this outlet of BLACK.. :D :D  Yippee!! Familiar signboard! Familiar taste! Saved I thought, and then fate steps in again and they move my office location to one of the suburbs here… :-( !!! It was almost like I wasn’t meant to have BLACK’s coffee!! :-/ :-/ I found a coffee place at the new location and was beginning to be content with it, snatching one-off cups of BLACK whenever I came to CBD area… And that’s when it happened today morning!! I was at CBD for an early morning meeting and I was simply salivating at the prospect of enjoying that delicious coffee served at BLACK’s and what do I see?? That outlet has shut down too… leaving me all sad and down! I was moping around looking for another alternative (I needed my morning shot of caffeine!!), when I came across this outlet or Oriole tucked away in the lobby of the building. With not much hope, I went in and picked up a cappuccino to go. I really needed my morning shot of caffeine as I was en route becoming a grumpy soul!!! :-s

Must say, I was pleasantly surprised. It was no BLACK, but it was darn good. In fact, it was way better than I expected it to be. Savored the flavorsome aromas!! Enjoyed every sip of it and basked in the essences of it!! Coffee bean smell is something that gives me quite a kick!! :D :D Delightful!!

Here’s a shot for you! :-) :-)

“As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?”

― Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

PS: I was so dumb that i deleted this post by mistake and had to repost this.. :( :( Stoopid Me! :-/

Evening Twilight - Day 6 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :-) :-)

Happiness quotient for day 6 is provided by the picture of evening twilight below.

That’s how the Singapore sky looks at twilight. This pic is shot from my office building, in the evening, when I was taking a short break from the report that I was preparing! :-)

Such vivid colors… I know the pic is not all that great because it was shot through glass and therefore you see a bit of a haze in there… But why am I now talking about the trivialities of this photo that I shot… I have no idea how those things work… I do want to learn someday but for now, I am content taking half-baked pictures just to capture the memory!! :D :D Ah! The good thing about having a smart phone with a good enough camera…

There’s something really mystical about this time called twilight. It represents neither night nor day. It’s neither here nor there. But the beauty of it is incomparable.

It signifies that in-between space of the ending of the day and the beginning of the night and also the ending of the night and the beginning of the day. That time between dawn and sunrise – morning twilight and the time between sunset and dusk – the evening twilight. I will stop sounding like wikipedia now!! :-)

I love twilight for a lot of reasons…

It’s almost magical. In those few minutes that it is there, before the sun sets or before it rises…the sky scape that looks like someone has just thrown a splash of colors on it – blue, red, orange and grey!! 

Bewitching… that’s what it is! :-) :-)

You can see how I am rambling here…Will stop now!! 

For the moment enjoy the pic…

If Laughter is day and Sobriety is night;

A smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both,

More bewitching than either one of those!

-Anon

Cuddle, Snuggle, Nuzzle and Huddle - Day 5 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :-) :-)

I am running late on my post for Day 5 people…

This has been such a long day and its only Tuesday…

It has been a very hectic day so far and all I really really want to do is just to go home and curl up on my bed with a good book and one of my trusted companions…

Unfortunately, you can’t take your pick from the lot below, but I can and that’s the good part… the best part is that this is only half my stash and the other half is at India, at my room… under my stern instructions and mom’s watchful care!! :-) :-)

And also, this is where you go awww…. :-D :-D

Because nothing else according to me screams Cute, Adorable, Fluffy and Cuddly all at the same time… :-) :-)

Yep! Welcome to my other world…

Happiness to me is snuggling up against one of them; burrowing my head into their squishy-squashy fur and imagining that I am back home, with the family… this is what happens when I start missing my folks too much… ;-) ;-)

And before I end up sounding all maudlin and mushy…

Meet my troopers, my security blankets, my warmth-giving companions and the receivers of my endless hugs!! :-) :-)

"In a world where everyone seems to be larger and louder than yourself,

it is very comforting to have a small, quiet companion."

-Peter Gray

Cuddly and warm, these calming creatures reassure me in the days;

When fears fly before reason and the world loom bleak instead of beautiful.

The Teddy Bear, all things to all ages... symbol that all is right with the world if one only believes.

-Anonymous

Sunrises & Sunsets - Day 4 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge

We are on Day 4 … and this time I am going to shift the emphasis to specific things… :-)

The first three things that I wrote about are something that makes me happy irrespective of the time or the day… I always have a beat running through my head, choreographing the steps to some song or the other and I am almost always thinking of what book to pick up next… Travel of course is something that I keep looking forward to all the time… 

But from now on, let me talk about specific things that make me happy…

Things that stabilize me… keep me grounded… that effect a surge of contentedness and a smile across my face, regardless of what my mood is… :-)

Sunrises and Sunsets are one of those…

Every single one of them in AWE INSPIRING. Tell me if you don’t agree! :-) :-)

I love them both with the same fervor… even though I am some days slightly partial to the sunrises ;-)

Which days you ask?? :-P The rare days when I am actually up to catch one of them, sunrises! :-) It’s been ages and indubitably I have seen very few of them and if I remember right, the last one was in 2010 at home. Disclaimer to be inserted here – I used to be a morning person… not anymore… wanting to change that though!! As like many other things!! ;-) But Sunsets are a different story altogether…. More often than not, I end up reveling in one at least once every few weeks… feelings that course through me then – peace, calm, tranquility …

The pic below are both shot by me (like all other pics so far – shameless plug in as you may have figured out!!) … :-P :-)

The first one – the SUNRISE – was shot at our farmhouse, “Kalam”, when dad and I had gone there for an early morning jaunt… Sweet memories… :-) :-)

The second pic – the SUNSET – was shot at Singapore, Bedok Reservoir, on one of those days when I was feeling off the grid and just wanted some “me-time”… Before you ask, yes I did feel better after that sight :-) :-) 

“That time of day when the sun hasn’t come up yet, but you can already feel it coming.

It’s an elusive warmth, like a subtle promise whispered in your ear

and you can go on with your day knowing you’ve been given another chance to get it right.”

- Cassia Leo

“The first stab of love is like a sunset,

a blaze of color -- oranges, pearly pinks, vibrant purples...”

- Anna Godbersen

Travel - Day 3 of the 100 Happy Days Challenge!! :-) :-)

And we are on Day 3 people…

I was having a hard time about choosing what next to put on what makes me happy… 

No No! Not for lack of things… But for the order of priority ;-)

Then I realized, might as well just put whatever strikes me first!! :-)

So for today… when I think about it... TRAVEL makes me happy…

Being on the road… Meeting new people… Visiting new places… Learning about the cultures and customs of a place… Eating the local food… Trying to pick up the local dialects… I love TRAVEL! :D :D

I remember the road trips we used to do, back when I was working in Hyderabad… Fun they used to be! Small trips, long weekend trips, overnight journeys, stopping for highway food on the ways… drinking chai from those roadside stalls… picking up local souvenirs…!! :-) :-)

Love that feeling… Miss that feeling!!

This is another one on my list of things to do in 2014… TRAVEL MORE … :-)

Such a lot of places yet to see around Singapore and even more in India…

Yes! People… the travel bug has bitten me, rather bitten me hard…  It’s time to take those backpacks, and put on the shoes… Wanderlust …. Itchy Feet… time to heal this feeling! :-) :-)

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake.

The great affair is to move."

— Robert Louis Stevenson

 See you on the road peeps! :-) :-)