A new life ahead!

Its been a long long while since I visited my blog - actually I almost forgot about it!
Life has definitely moved on since I last wrote; almost a year and a half back. I graduated, got my driving license, worked in an investment firm for 10 months and am now 37 weeks pregnant with our first baby! That's sure been one eventful year!
Besides these very evident changes (specially my forever growing belly!), there have been more subtle changes in me. I have started loving quieter and sunnier Sunnyvale, love the convenience of having great Indian food all around (specially to satisfy my pregnancy cravings) and the beauty all around me. We have been to Carmel and Napa numerous times and it never gets old - the natural beauty is stunning! Let this picture speak for itself!
For the past 9 or so months, this baby-in-progress has taken over my life. Once she is here, I guess she is going to completely rule us. I can't wait to hold her, to see her and see her grow up everyday. I never thought that I could fall so madly in love with someone I have never seen! But I guess, I always wanted to be a mother; more than anything else in the world. Sometimes I feel guilty about wanting to stay at home, not "using" my education enough, not contributing to the home finances, not doing something "constructive" or "intellectual" enough. But then, isn't the baby the most precious thing I will ever own? Doesn't it make sense to guard her with my life; to be there for her, to help shape her future.

Fall Colours in Evanston

Moving On...

The last 4 years have been a lot of boxes and a lot of moves - from Calcutta (where I lived most of my life) to Bombay to freezing Chicago and finally to sunny California. If I leave aside the packing and unpacking part of it, moving actually has been a lot of fun, living in new places and making loads of new friends. My husband started working in Bombay and then decided to come all the way to Chicago for his MBA. That was one big change..from hot and humid Calcutta/ Bombay temperatures - straight to brutal Chicago winters. Spent 2 winters in Chicago, before moving to California last month. Don't think anyone with Bengali blood like mine can ever get used to the minus 20C midwest winters.
I had a busy busy life back in India, with long working hours, hectic deadlines and loads of family and friends. It was definitely very unsettling to suddenly find myself with all these hours and not knowing what to do with myself. Suddenly the days seemed so much longer, as if they had way too many hours in them. And to think that in India, I always felt that 24 hours was too less for one day. Thanks to the love of books that my mother instilled in me, and to the free libraries in the US, I survived :) Well almost survived - winters were tough! I now realise what a pain I must have been to my husband - dealing with studying and then me. God bless him and his patience! Anyways, post winter, I started to fall in love with picturesque Evanston. This small town near Chicago was very busy, very "studenty"(just made that word up!) and very very pretty.
It was so easy to just walk down to the Starbucks or the Barnes and Noble or just by the Lake Michigan. Made some really good friends, had some really fun times. Went back to school again for my Masters. Days seemed full again and life was good :)
And before I know it, the husband's MBA was over and he decided to move all the way across the country to California. So here I am, sitting in a much quieter Sunnyvale, trying to again find things to do and fill up my days. Never thought that I would also miss Evanston - but miss the graduate housing, which was more like a dorm with people dropping in at all hours, miss the convenience of the town with everything withing a mile, miss being able to get to downtown Chicago in just 20 mins on the Metra. But I guess I can't complain much - I definitely don't miss the winters :)
More on my move to CA later...