You are feeling sleeeepy.

On Wednesday, after my GRE exam finally ended, Jonathan and I headed to the university to attend the hypnotist show. A hypnotist was performing on stage for all the college kids!

He called several kids on stage, got them to sit down and slowly lulled them into a trance -like state of mind. And they actually did all the crazy things he asked them to do! It was hilarious and we had so much fun watching. When they were in their hypnotic state or whatever it's called they'd appear to be asleep, slumped on their chairs. When he snapped his fingers they'd wake up and start doing whatever he had asked them to do while they were 'asleep'.

Hey, I wanna be hyptonized too!

Salon Ya-Ya and butterchicken

I did some research on where to get my haircut and settled on 'Salon Ya Ya' near Green Hills Mall, Nashville. It was FANTASTIC. I love my new hair and the girl who did it was so friendly. I definitely recommend this salon :) .

We also hunted around for apartments since Jonathan has to move there in November. There are such beautiful new apartments in Nashville and we loved them. Nashville is a special city because it is green and beautiful yet modern. I know I'm going to enjoy living there! We also met some nice people while apartment hunting and who knows, they may be our neighbors very soon :) .

Dinner was at 'Bombay Palace Restaurant' because I was craving good Indian food. And by good Indian food I (obviously) mean butter chicken, paneer and buttery garlic naan. The amount I ate was possibly 10 times my body weight and, like a stuffed python, slowly curled up on our car seat all ready for the trip back to Murray.

But I will say this - noone makes butterchicken like the 'motherland' does. Indian food is Indian food only in India. And like most Tamilians do when they see each other, the waiter looked at Jonathan with a HUGE smile and said, "Madras aaaa?" . And to his absolute astonishment Jonathan replied, "Murray, Kentucky". Haha, that answer NEVER fails to shock people. Brown people in Kentucky?! What!? 

We comforted Mr. Waiter by telling him that I, on the other hand, was indeed from Madras :) .

The Perseids Meteor Shower '13

Space geeks will be aware that the Perseids Meteor Shower peaked on the nights of August 11th and 12th. I could NOT miss it so on monday night we drove to a deserted road, away from city lights, put our lawn chairs out and star-gazed.  We saw quite a few meteors which was very exciting!! They whiz by extremely fast and peripheral vision is your best friend when you're meteor watching. We were initially afraid we would not be able to see a thing because it had been raining and cloudy just a few hours earlier. Luckily, the sky cleared up just in time!

Apparently a bashful meteor :-P

You can also watch this AMAZING time-lapse video of the meteor shower taken by some talented people. You will not only be able to see the meteors but also a faint Aurora Borealis, some lightening and some clouds. 

For those of you who missed it, don't worry! The next meteor shower happens on October 21st. You can check the meteor schedule here. 

"Look! Another meteor!"

Some tips on meteor-watching: 

1. Make sure the sky isn't cloudy.

2. Take bug spray! Our feet got bitten pretty badly.

3. Drive away from the city lights. Less light = greater visibility

3. Take lawn chairs to sit on outside your car or if you have a truck go ahead and lie down in the back. Whatever it is, be outside! 

4. Avoid checking Facebook notifications :-P . I checked it once and I missed a meteor! They go by really fast!

5. Constantly scan a wide portion of the sky. Just because the meteor shower was supposed to happen in the north-east sky does not mean it was limited to just that part! We even saw one towards the south. So keep your eyes wide open and depend on your peripheral vision.

Biryani attempt #1

So today I finally challenged myself and made Biryani (a delectable Indian dish that is generally eaten on special occasions) by following the video below

It's in Tamil by the way so if you don't understand Tamil you may need to search for another vid!

It turned out surprisingly well and we enjoyed eating it! I also made some cucumber pachadi by following this recipe. I think I added a little too much turmeric though (hence the slightly extra yellow-ness) but taste-wise it was great. I definitely recommend that recipe :) ! 

And, for the umpteenth time, I cut my finger- this time on my food chopper's blade while making fresh ginger-garlic paste. It was a pretty bad cut which bled for a while but I managed to finally stop the bleeding. I put some anti septic on it and frantically hunted for the band aids. And as Murphy's law would have it I was unable to find them even though they keep turning up when I don't need them!!! I told Jonathan I couldn't find them so he immediately left work, bought more band aids and came home. 

He spoils me I tell you ^.^ . I'm not complaining though :) .

First you zip, then you sip!

Many interesting things happened this weekend.

1) I fell asleep before Jonathan and when he finally lay down I (apparently) said in perfect Tamil "Come, get under the sheets". I don't recall this at all. But that's not the weird part. The weird part is now that I'm awake I honestly don't know how to say that in Tamil (and I'm thinking really hard!!!!). Jonathan kind of understood it though and was wondering what had gotten into me. So strange!

2) We went Zip Lining to the Shawnee National Forest!

I got called Meghan (story of my life) so I changed the name on my helmet to Meg. 

 

Our gear

 

Getting strapped in!

 

All of us

We zip lined through the canopy, the longest zip line being 1000+ feet. It was exhilarating! Our guides Tyler and Dalton were fantastic and fun.We also had to walk across 3 suspension bridges which was scary but it just added to the entire amazing experience! Tyler of course started bouncing up and down on it to make the entire bridge violently shake which made me cling on to the bridges' ropes extra tight even though falling was impossible since we were all still attached to the zip line cable. I was of course a source of great entertainment as I gingerly made my way across the bridge looking nervous. Someone spotted a snake curled up on a branch which was quite unnerving but interesting nevertheless! We had such a wonderful, exciting time and I highly recommend the Shawnee Bluff Canopy Tour. 

3) After zip lining we made our way to a nearby vineyard called Blue Sky to do some wine tasting and eat since we were starving. I have never been a fan of wine but I was game. The vineyard was extremely pretty and I was intrigued by the rows and rows of vines with huge bunches of grapes hanging off them.

 There was also a small lake  by which we sat drinking our wine and chatting. It was a beautiful evening - not too sunny - and we were enjoying the light breeze and the view. 

I tasted 3 wines - Chambourcin Blush (a sweet wine), Misterioso (a semi-sweet wine that is supposed to be really really good) and Cream Sherry (a dessert wine). I, of course, picked Sherry since it was nice and sweet. 

My sherry 

There was a wedding being held at a small area adjacent to where we were sitting and believe it or not, I witnessed my first American wedding (in person) right here at Blue Sky Winery! 

 

The 'altar' for the wedding

You know the popular belief that wine/champagne is supposedly OK to drink versus other alcohol? Well, whether Jesus drank it or not, wine can get to your head equally, if not faster, than any other alcohol and at most parties I've been to, the craziest people were sipping on glasses of wine. This held true even at the vineyard. Well-dressed folks slurring over their bottles of wine, clapping and talking loudly as the poor bride walked down the aisle to Train's famous song 'Marry me'. The setting was indeed beautiful but I honestly don't think that the bride thought it through when she chose this to be her venue. 

^ Everyone watching the wedding, clapping and loudly talking about one groomsman who had a rather ... odd beard. 

 

Bet the poor guy had no idea his beard was the topic of discussion for the longest time

 

The vows

 

Mr & Mrs

I have no idea who those people are but I (and the other 50 odd people at the winery) have pictures of their wedding :-P . 

All in all, it was a fantastic day :-) !!

Bumping into your nurse at the mall

I just woke up and am dismally looking around my apartment at the huge mess that seems to have built up since my return. I wish I could blame Jonathan but when I walked in after my NYC trip it was spic and span :-P . So I shall grudgingly admit that it's all my fault. My suitcase is perched precariously on top of the chaise and I honestly don't know why. I console myself with this picture :

And I so do love museums :-P.

Yesterday mom and I headed to Clarksville so I could do a TB Gold test to complete my immigration medical requirements. The nurse was all smiley and nice. She also managed to pronounce my name correctly so I was really starting to like her! I officially declared myself (in my head) her biggest fan ever when she managed to draw three vials of blood without accusing me of possessing 'skinny veins' (this is the Murray hospital's reason for poking my arm a zillion times before they find a 'fat' vein :( Fat-ish vein in my case ). I knew for a fact she and I were meant to be when we bumped into her at the mall some 100 hours after we left the clinic because that's how long we were shopping haha ^.^ .

Jonathan is now referring to mom's van as 'the sleigh' because apparently we looked like this on our way back to Murray, with all our shopping loot :

Does that mean I'm Stanley the spare reindeer?!?!

(Speaking of Stanley, is it just me or does anyone else think he looks a little ... well, not all there?!)

But what's wrong with a little Christmas every now and then?! :-D