The year that past by 2017

1. Started my school life again
2. Traveled to Toronto
3. Started my flower garden
4. A summer with 3 heatwaves in Cali
5. Started my swimming classes again
6. Attended Roger Water's tour
7. Traveled to Assam
8. Saw one of the most beautiful sunrise on our early morning elephant safari in Kaziranga National Park
9. Visited Disneyland in LA
10. Entered World War II bomber planes

The year that passed -2016

Year 2016 has been good to me :) and I am thankful for all the wonderful things that happened .

1. Traveled to Alaska, Japan and India
2. Bid good bye to 9 year long tenure with Infy.
3. Moved to west coast
4. Started a veggie garden
5. Met both parents this year and had a fun time.
6. My first - visit to a cat cafe in Tokyo.
7. My first - visit to a hot spring, Chenna hot springs, Alaska.

Alaskan Adventure

This year we took a mesmerizing trip to Alaska. Later, many friends asked me to share the details of our plan and itinerary which gave me this idea for the post. We went during the last week of April, apparently that was shoulder season. Typically Alaska tourist season is from mid-May to mid- Sep, when most tours are open. Before and after the touristy time period it is called shoulder season. People would generally shy away from visiting in april because this is when the ice starts to melt around this region, also most tours would not have begun so you will have to do the planning all by yourself. If you ask me, I will say that this will be a great time to visit if you are some one who loves exploring.

Where to stay:
Booking hotels in Alaska can be a costly affair, I will suggest to go for an AirBnb. We got a really beautiful place in a hill through AirBnb.
Where to eat:
About food, when you are in city you will have no trouble finding restaurants through yelp, but when you are travelling by road stack up enough snacks and juices since there need not be places on the road where you can stop to get a snack. Yelp was not very useful to find diners when we were driving from anchorage to fairbanks, but local sign boards were helpful.
What to wear:
Function over fashion. Based on when you are planning to visit plan your wardrobe. It was still 30-40 F when we visited. If you are planning to visit in april i will suggest to dress in layers, to wear thermals, do not wear cotton, and to avoid jeans. Keep pairs of warm woolen socks. Carry your sneakers and hike boots.

We had exactly 6 days in this trip. We flew to Anchorage, drove to Fairbanks and back, and flew back from Anchorage. Below is how we planned the journey to explore each place to the most.

Day1(A), Day2(A), Day3(A/F), Day4(F), Day5(F), Day6(F/A), Day7(A), Day 8 early morning flight.

(A) - stay at Anchorage
(F) - stay at Fairbanks
(A/F) - driving from anchorage to fairbanks and stay at fairbanks
(F/A)- driving from fairbanks to anchorage and stay at anchorage


Day 1
   Our flights got delayed and hence we reached late at night, and checked in at our AirBnB.

Day 2:
  Day trip to Seward, lovely dinner near the port and back to Anchorage. We took the Seward highway where we spotted mountain goats and on our way back we saw beautiful sunset. Refer alaska site (This site is really helpful) for view points to stop in Seward highway: http://www.alaska.org/guide/seward-highway

Day 3:
 We drove to Fairbanks. The 6 hr drive was completely breathtaking, you will be kept wowed  by the views. Stop and take some wonderful pictures, don't worry no one will be there to photo bomb you. I mean it, no one was there in those vast roads, just you and mother nature. On one of the view-points we saw a mouse couple busy eating some shrubs, unfortunately by the time we took the camera they saw us and ran away.
                                       

 
 Day 4:
  We did a hike on Angel Rocks Trail, the trail was 1750 ft elevation at its highest point. In the beginning of the trail we saw ice layer of the river cracking and making a clink- clink sound, it was really beautiful. At the top of the trail we got unobstructed clear views of landscape, the views were really worth the hike. Please do carry enough water and food, and be prepared as this is a moderate to difficult hike. After our hike, our next stop was at Chenna hot springs. There is an entry fee for hot springs, also a towel cost (or you can bring your own towel).
                               

                                   

Day 5:
 We did local activities around fairbanks and relaxed at our beautiful airbnb. Visited Santa's Official address in north-pole, checked out out a miniature art museum. On this night aurora was spotted near Denali side, unfortunately we couldn't see it from fairbanks.
                               
                                   
 

Day 6:
Highlight of trip :"We saw grizzly bears". We drove back to anchorage and on the way spend time at denali national park. Though Denali national park was not fully open to drive and explore since it was off season, but we still could drive upto 30 miles. Since it was the shoulder season and ice was melting, we got to see a grizzly bear mommy with 2 babies doing some sun bathing.

Day 7:
Last day in anchorage. We visited local museums, walked around city and along the pier.


So hope you will plan your Alaskan expedition soon, waiting to hear about your experience. Till then, keep travelling.


**The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page**

How to plan a move

Year 2015 had many things in store for me; one among that was shifting base multiple times. So I have come up with a few tips/guide based on my experiences. I hope this will be helpful for all you too.

I divided the process into 3 main steps

1. Plan
2. Prepare
3. Execute

1. Plan

• Always have a notebook to note down the things you remember right away. (I am old school, for other app friendly people use , Any.do or excels etc)
• Decide on how to move ,
• Do you want to hire movers?
• This will be a better choice if you have a big furniture (Bed, Couch, cabinets etc.)
• If distance is more than 500 miles.
• For moving cars weather and distance are 2 factors. If you are doing a coast to coast move during winter it is best to have professionals move car, if it is summer you might as well enjoy a good road trip ;)
• Pack and Move yourself ?
• Have an open discussion with your partner and friends to plan how much help you can get from them. The more the better.
• You might have to do in batches.
• List what all movers will take (Or you will move) 
• Plan on cleaning days (phase it out, as most of cleaning supplies and vacuum cleaner will be packed by movers on moving day) 

     2. Prepare 

        Moving is the best time to de-clutter, so make list for each buckets based on below tag.

1. To Keep
2. To Dispose
3. To Sell
4. To Donate

       I made lists based on each room and placed them under above tag. You can start posting things to sell in craigslist, offerup etc (If you are moving to a new place where your book shelf/couch does not fit the way you want, it is better to sell them early). 

       If you are going to stay at your place even after packers pack, you might need another essentials list.

1. Bathroom essentials (Just  basic shampoo, conditioner and soap will do)
2. Kitchen Essentials (If you don't mind splurging and eating out all rest of days, go ahead skip this)
1. ziplock masalas, flour, sugar, tea, etc based on how many days you are going to overstay 
2.  Basic utensils (including your cutlery)
3. Bedding essentials (Try to borrow an airbed from friends :), worked for me)
4. Basic Lamp (You can avoid if you have enough light in your living area, or borrow this one from friends)
5. A small bluetooth speaker( Completely optional :D .To bring a little energy to an empty house)

               How to donate :

                 Search for donation boxes near your place. For food canned and dry foods check out library near your area and they might suggest on places accepting them or even they might accept them.

                How to dispose hazardous material:
                  Most places have hazardous pick up only twice or thrice a year, if so start the search earlier. If you know any local propane refill stations, they will take you half empty or empty gas tanks, they might even have options to dispose your other hazardous materials. If you don't know any, check with your local fire station they will help you.

     3. Execute:

• Try emptying food from fridge so that there will be little or none left to throw on day of move.
• If you are anticipating a move try to buy in small quantities instead of stocking up.
• Clean kitchen and bathroom regularly, this will make the moving day tasks easy(and also a happy home :))
• Read the list which your movers gave you about what they cannot move. Mostly these might include your stocked up supplies (Oil, Sauces, cleaning supplies, detergent, liquid soaps, cooking spray, room spray etc), so you might want sell them or give out to friends.
• Once the movers have boxed up, keep vacuum cleaner for  last so you can do a final cleaning before they pack it.

So hope you guys find this useful for your future move. Happy packing :)

Art Of Looking Good - yours sincierly, Food

I have found my tomcat who apparently loves food and this has given me a new perspective as a cook . I've never called myself as a good cook , may be because I am from a family where all the ladies in my house are better cook than me or for the fact that I am a critic and I can differentiate if a meal is good or great :) . One thing which I really like to do is to make good food look great .

Insta Feed at :https://www.instagram.com/keerthi_g/

The year that passed - 2015

1. Got hitched
2. Danced at my own reception
3. Got on a cycle rickshaw for first time
4. Moved 3 houses in a year
5. Moved from one end of US to other end.
6. Making some big decisions to follow heart
7. Parted with my blue bird
8. Had a very busy year ,almost had no time for my blogs and all post are still in drafts:(
9. Had my first sale of hand made jewelries

The year that passed - 2014

1. 2 India trips in 2014, and lots of travelling
2. Kavi got married , and had wonderful time in celebrations
3.Visited  Dubai.
4. Drove a 15 seater mitsubishi in South Dakota trip :)
5.Got second piercing in ear .
6. Visited Gujarat and danced at friend's marriage .
7. Found Mr Right
8. Went for Dandiya and Garba night for the first time.