Free At Last! Thank God Almighty, I'm Free At Last!

I've been planning each and every weekend for the last 18 years of my life (hats off to the parents for planning the early years around my brother and I.)

First I had weekends off from school to do stuff I couldn't do on school nights. Then came weekends off from work and getting in all of that stuff I couldn't do because I worked too late. Then came weekend wedding planning that was chock full of errand running, gas-burning, food-testing, cake building, makeup trying, stage selecting, invitation writing, dress designing goodness! As if all that wasn't enough, then there were the last month-full of weekends spent commuting back and forth to North Jersey, buying furniture, organizing the new place, kitchen stacking, box crushing, clothes organizing, curtain hanging, computer wiring, cable connecting, IKEA shelf-building MADNESS! It was always something that we couldn't finish before nightfall and we'd just throw our hands up and say "ugh..I'm so hungry! Let's finish it tomorrow!"

But yesterday, something odd happend. At about 2:00 PM Eastern, my husband and I sat on our new couches and he looked at me and said "So what do you want to do today babe?" Flashbacks of a thousand weekends went through my mind and as I opened my mouth to list off a bunch of errands...I went blank. Mouth agape...I had nothing to say. Nothing to clean, nothing to buy, nothing to drop off, and nothing to remember to grab from the grocery store. Just...nothing.

Was I having a senior moment? Did I just forget? There has to be SOMETHING I needed to do right? Right!?!? No! I suddenly realized that all of my life I've crammed my weekends with things I've been working toward building, doing or being and today - I was free. Free to do anything in the world that I wanted. But what would I do? I've spent so long doing what I HAD to, that I now I don't know what I WANT to do. I can paint, go for a walk, download music, go help the needy...anything! I don't think I'll have very many more of these "free days" once I land a new job (inshAllah soon), but until that day comes...I'm going to live like a kid again and do something crazy with my free Saturdays. So if you see someone zooming by on rollerblades or a random desi painting in the park...look again because it just might be me!

My first night out in NYC

So...technically it wasn't my VERY first night out...but it felt like a first "proper" night out. Dinner reservations at someplace fun, a broadway play, lattes in the cold weather, the works.
"Catch Me If You Can" is my first Broadway play in NYC (I've seen Wicked at the Victoria Theatre which was aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawesome. We had a great dinner of seafood paella and shredded beef then moved on to the show! It was fun of singing, dancing, fun effects and good dialogue but I would give 3 stars out of 5. Now keep in mind that I'm not a licensed theater critic so take my opinion with a grain of salt. No, it wasn't because the lead wasn't Leo - that would be too shallow of an opinion. The lead of "Frank Abignail", played by Tom Wopat held our attentions as he is a superb actor. Singing for 2 hours straight, Tom is charismatic, funny and charming. He'll definitely be around for a while and I'm sure we'll see him again.
I saw the movie on the big screen and with a plot that centers around a teenager who changes MICR numbers on checks, glues airline plane stickers onto badges and doesa million other DETAILED things to forge who he is...a play just didn't capture those details that are really important to the true story. The lead role of "Brenda", played by Kerry Butler was quite bland. Yes she had a good voice, but she just didn't capture my attention...sorry but she was pretty boring.
The next play I'd like to see is "How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" with Daniel Radcliff playing the lead.
And now...for something a little more important (joking)...off to the Garden State Mall. =)

Newborn Wife Life

Hello Friends!! I've missed you all very much. Sorry I haven't written very much but I'm starting a new chapter in my life and have been quite busy. I wanted to start blogging fresh with my experiences as a new wife and continue to tell you all of the non-private things I'd like to share. I debated writing because you all know how superstitious I am and how I'm deathly afraid of nazar. But I juuuuuust can't hold it in! There's so much to tell!
Well to be honest - being married is (Mashallah se, Allah ka shukar, nazar na lage) pretty damn good. Now don't get me wrong...we've had our battles over shoe space (I got a whole closet for them), dishwashing (we share), room temperature (I'm always freezing and he usually sweats) but there's some pretty awesome stuff too. For example, I never have to get a chair to reach the tallest cabinet anymore - wha-hoo!
There's help to hang curtains, he crushes all the big boxes and saves my shoes from damage and the other day....I waited a whole 2 hours to open the cabinet because I saw a bug inside and I sure wasn't gonna kill it.
Now there's also so much to tell about setting up a place. First of all...boy is it expensive! I have to urge to become like those uber-coupon savers and only buy 20 boxes of maccaroni for 20 cents on Wednesdays for dinner! There's alot of organizing and cleaning going on lately so I'll tell you about my favorite products and some I'm not impressed with. While job-hunting, I've been cooking so the hubster has something to eat and in a small apartment...desi cuisine sure is smelly! In comes Febreze and Lysol air sanitizer to the rescue!! These 2 have become my saviors.
And then there's the hardwood floor cleaning supplies. I waited 2 weeks to buy a swiffer wet and you know what? I'm not impressed at all. Its really not a good "grabber" and I've already had to change the pad 3 times in 2 weeks...could our floors really be that filthy?
I also really like the Renuzit air freshmer and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers as well as the square plates from Ikea...I've had them for a few years now and I still think there super chic and pocket-friendly. Ok...I'm getting a little sleepy-eyed for now...talk more soon. Missed you guys!