Day 118 Watched Oscars 2014

Today after many years I actually watched the Oscars. Of course part of the reason was because Ellen DeGeneres was the host and she is one of my favorite talk show hosts. I thought she was extremely hilarious on some occasions but I am not sure if she made some people uncomfortable with her jokes. Nevertheless I loved watching her. It was good to see '12 years a slave' win many awards including best picture, best supporting actress etc. Though I have no clue about Mathew McConaughey's performance in Dallas Buyers Club as I have not even seen the movie trailer, I am guessing he must have been great as he won the best actor and hence I am considering watching the movie. It is officially on my to-do-list now. 

By the way, I watched Ellen's opening speech at least 4 times and I could watch it again. You are the funniest person ever Ellen! :)

Day 117 Celebrated Earth Hour

Day 116 watched the movie Blue Jasmine

I was inspired to watch this movie particularly because Cate Blanchatte won the best actress award for her performance in this movie at the Oscars 2014. The movie and the storyline did not really meet expectations but Cate's performance was certainly spectacular. She portrays with 

Day 115 A few hours of T20 cricket again

I must say I was pretty sad with the outcome if this match, particularly because the SL team put up a spectacular performance and got a very formidable looking score on board. Unfortunately it wasn't good enough as England won! Who ever thought that the silly English team could beat us! They,in fact got off to a pretty bad start with some extremely clumsy fielding which included many dropped catches. However, Hales and Morgan batted with a lot of confidence, playing their shots with exquisite timing. And as a result, the English team (whom I thought never win matches, at least not anything important) ended up with a victory. :(

But watching the match was worth it at least because of Mahela's delectable batting innings. 

Day 114 Watched the movie- 12 years a slave

Day 113 Filled out the tax declaration forms for the year

25th March 2014

Day 112 Got a new case for the Phone

24 March 2014.                                              

  I created my first eBay account a few days ago and purchased a case for my iPhone. The case was delivered today and I am happy with the quality of the product, speed of delivery and the reasonable price! 

Day 111 Watched the intelligence squared debate on BBC

The intelligence squared debate is nothing new but I think this is the first time I watched it. The motion was 'Hands that rock the cradle can rock the boardroom'. There were some interesting points raised about how women can actually "have it all" and that it is all down to outsourcing insignificant tasks. Apparently women want to get everything perfect for their family, such as cook the perfect meal every time instead of resorting to take-away food whenever needed. 

 A participant pointed out how sometimes women who are mothers, don't give enough credit to themselves for all the good work they do and instead feel guilty for either not spending enough time with the kids or not doing something right for the family.

 It was interesting to find out that even women in western countries can't seem to stop beating themselves up for not being "the  perfect mom".

All this left me with that sinking feeling of realization that kids are not just " bundles of joy" but "bundles of massive responsibility".  Well, I suppose nothing in life is easy! 

Anyway, the intelligence squared debate is a really good program that I would recommend anyone to watch. 

Day 110 Watched the T20 World Cup- first match

Today was the T20 World Cup 2014 opening and the first match was between Sri Lanka and South Africa. I was, once upon a time, a big big fan of the Sri Lankan cricket team but for a very long time I have not seen any matches. It was refreshing to watch Sri Lanka playing so well and walking away with a great win in an extremely tight match where the victory was sealed only in the final over. In fact, the odds were actually stacked against Sri Lanka. 

There are so many new faces in the SL team and not surprisingly I didn't even know who the captain was until I watched the game! My favorites are still Sangakkara, Mahela and Malinga. I think I am in love with cricket again and hope the team would continue the perfect winning streak that they have been maintaining during the recent past!

Pools

• Group 1
 
• Group 2

Rank	Team	M	W	L	Pts	RR
1	Sri Lanka	2	2	0	4	+3.225
2	New Zealand	2	1	1	2	+0.276
3	South Africa	2	1	1	2	-0.075
4	England	1	0	0	0	-0.250
5	Netherlands	1	0	1	0	-1.688

Day 109 Organized my files containing important documents

21st March 2014

Today I spent some time making my life a tad more organized. There were various important and not so important documents lying around on tables, inside wardrobes, drawers etc and I have been putting off the filing for sometime. So today I just got down to doing just that. I realized that I have over 12 files when I actually don't even need half of it. Anyway, things are all in one place now and I am feeling very organized! 

Day 108 Went to McDonalds at Racecourse

This was my first visit to the renovated racecourse building. On many occasions I have thought the building looks very magnificent and nice at night and have wanted to pay a visit. So finally off I went with rads to McDonald's at Racecourse. Since we sat inside the restaurant there was nothing new to observe and we both had the happy meal. It was, however, a special lunch since it was just before Rads birthday! As always we had a great time catching up on the gossip but as it was more rushed than our usual luncheons we hardly had the time to talk about the blog. That is for next time.

Day 107 Ate Lindt Dark Chocolates with Cherry and Almond

I have declared eating chocolates as a first only a few days ago but this one has cherry and almond and it is dark chocolate. Hence I thought I could just about qualify this as a first for today. Eating chocolates in moderate quantities is supposedly good for you and it also elevates my mood noticeably. There goes my justification for over-mentioning chocolate as a first! 

Day 106 watched Barney

Day 105 Zumba Songs

Day 104 Made Potato Wedges

This is a super easy snack to make and perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
 I started off with the good intentions of making a dip as well to go along with the Potato wedges but ended up not making the dip and instead had it with Philadelphia cream cheese which turned out to be an acceptable substitute- at least for me it did! ;-)

Recipe from BBC Good Food

1. Preheat the oven to fan 180C/ conventional 200C/gas 6. Cut each potato into eight wedges, then cook in boiling salted water for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix the butter and spice with a little seasoning. Drain the potatoes, then add to the bowl and shake. Transfer to two baking sheets and bake for 20-25 minutes, turning occasionally, until crisp and browned. Serve hot, with the dip.

Day 103 First visit to sky lounge-Kingsbury

This has been on my to-do list for sometime now and I am glad I finally got a chance to check out the place. It is quite a nice place with the only noticeable drawback being the fact it is way too crowded and you feel it more since the place is not that big but there are lots of tables and hence the congested look and feel. The staff was friendly and helpful and the location is great. I would certainly like to visit again as I couldn't quite grasp the view and the surroundings as I was bit blown away with so many people around, so much so that I could not even capture an appropriate picture for the blog.

Day 102 Hand picked a Mango

When I walked into the balcony I accidentally noticed this mango which seemed barely ripe. So I picked it and sliced it to discover that it was nicely ripe, orange and yummy! Certainly a first as I don't pick my own mangoes generally! 

Day 101 Checked out a few songs by 1D.

After listening to some songs by the group ‘One Direction’ I decided I like the songs ‘What makes you beautiful’ and ‘One Thing’.   I have heard these songs many times before but strangely I never knew about this music band.  Apparently their other songs like ‘Midnight Memories’ , ‘Story of my Life’  etc are also quite popular but however I did not quite fancy those. 

Day 100 completed 100 days of blogging

Today marks a very special day. 

I feel like I have graduated again but this time I have a BA (Hons) Blogging :) . 

And my real degree seems pale in comparison to this! 

A little over 3 months ago when I started on this journey of 365 days of new things, I honestly didn't have high expectations for it to last for this long. Though the idea was very stimulating from inception, it didn't seem like an easy task to do something new daily and write about it too. On one side there are time constraints and on the other side there is the difficulty of finding new activities for each day. But I seem to have managed quite comfortably to shrug off these challenges and continue blogging for 100 days. Initially it was no easy task but with practice it became a quite enjoyable activity. 

Perhaps the most valuable outcome has been that I live more consciously rather than mindlessly wondering through the journey of life. I have noticed that through blogging you develop an ability to see the best in yourself and give credit for all the small, yet worthy achievements instead of mourning about all the big targets that are long way off.. It's never about the big stuff but it's about the simple steps that you take along the way...It's all about gratitude... It's all about appreciation... Then life is indeed beautiful. 

Cheers to blogging and may I find it in me the will to continue till the end of the year! 

Day 99 Created an Instagram Account and uploaded a couple of pictures

Though I checked the Instagram application online sometime ago I was not able to create an account as my phone's operating system upgrade was not complete. I have a general phobia for software upgrades and upgrading the OS is evermore daunting than a software upgrade. Therefore by default I choose the option 'remind me later' whenever I receive a notification for upgrades. However, I completed this during the weekend and as a result my phone is now instagram compatible. So I went ahead and created a new account today and what's more, I even uploaded 3 pictures that I took during my recent overseas trip. I must say I like this app and would probably keep this account to store pictures of various interesting places I visit.

Day 98 Used the Drawing feature in the LG phone

Today I played with the features of the LG G2 phone, which is one of the latest additions to the smartphone market. It has a great outlook and high end capabilities for the technology lover. But since I am non techie the only thing that caught my attention was the superb image quality. The picture clarity and the colors are awesome. The phone of course is brimming with an endless array of cool features. Nonetheless all I did was draw a tree and how can I not share it here? 

Day 97 Ate M&Ms after a long time.

Day 96 Tried out my new Headphones

I tried out my brand new headphones today and also read a couple of online reviews and information on product features. The model is MDR-XB900. 

[since when do I check model names? ;)]

The product review states that these headphones combine heart-pumping extra bass with soul-shaking clarity! To add to the glamour, they come with a 'smart' multiple fold design, and has a tangle-free serrated cord. Excited yet? They also have elasticized leather covered ear-pads for superior sound isolation. I can certainly vouch for that since the first time I tried it I felt like I was in an underground dungeon with extremely loud sounds coming from above! Admittedly it is great quality but I shall donate it to someone else who can actually appreciate it.

 

Day 95 listened to songs by Kylie Minogue

Breaking away from the familiar territory of 1980s music, today I listened to a few songs by Kylie Minogue. Even though I listen to music while driving and have heard most new tracks I generally have no clue about the artists. So it was good to get to know a famous person from much more recent times. 

Day 94 First time at a Business Class Lounge

I am not sure what this strange connection between Abu Dhabi and unexpected delays is but the delay on my way back gave me a new 'first' to blog about. As I always travel economy class I have not been to the business class waiting lounge but today as a result of a flight delay in Abu Dhabi (which in turn made me miss my connecting flight) I got a heavy dose of business class lounge with a waiting time that lasted for 6 hours!. The ambience in the lounge was quiet and pleasant and there was a buffet style arrangement of sandwiches, patisseries, sweets and plenty of beverages available all through out. It was good to find some quiet place in the extremely rushed Doha Airport and what's more I even found some time for blogging. What more can a wannabe traveller and writer ask for;). 

Day 93 Visited Emirates Palace

Wednesday 5 March

The visit to the Emirates palace was awe inspiring. 

Day 92 Visit to Marina Mall and Corniche Beach

Day 91 Visit to Dubai by Coach from Abu Dhabi

This was my first visit to the city of endless buildings and skyscrapers. The city showcases wealth and prosperity just like Abu Dhabi. But if you are anything like me and love trees and mountains and waterfalls then this is hardly an oasis for you! However it is a vibrant place full of temptations for shopping enthusiasts and brand lovers. I saw the famous Dubai fountain, spent a few hours in the glamorous Dubai mall which has an artificial waterfall and a lovely aquarium along with many other attractions. I am glad I finally visited this much talked about city even though I had only but a glimpse of it! 

The Burj Khalifa - world's tallest building is a whopping 830m in height. 

Day 90 A Day of Shopping at Mushrif Mall and Al Whada Mall

I spent the whole day on shopping today and bought a couple of jeans, some body butter, make up from Bobbie Brown, shoes, tops etc. As expected shopping is quite expensive in Abu Duabi and I still haven't come across any good deals but hoping for the best! 

Inside Al Whada Mall

Day 89 First day of holiday in Abu Dhabi

Checked in to hotel only around 7 in the night as there were some unexpected delays. The hotel is great and the rooms are super clean and very comfortable. I particularly liked the roof top terrace and the pool side bar. Tomorrow I will get a chance to explore the city a bit.