Bye Bye Bay Area!

TODAY IS MOVING DAY! Our bags are packed and the movers should be here shortly and then all that's left between us and Los Angeles is 5 hours on the 5 freeway.  I'll admit that I'm pretty excited - we'll be closer to family AND Neel is starting school AND I am starting a new job and all of those things make me look forward to this next adventure for us.  Of course, leaving doesn't come without a bit of sadness and there are a few things that I am very sad to leave behind.

First off, I'm sad to being saying farewell to our fantastic friends.  We've met some really great people while we've been up here that have made the Bay Area feel like home.  We've enjoyed numerous dinner parties, farmers market meet ups, and San Francisco adventures with great people!  

 Breakfast with Colin and Nadia at Tartine!

Dave, Selin, Neel and I enjoying some Powell's ice cream after our day in Sonoma!

Beach day in Carmel with Erin!

The boys enjoying the sunset and a brewsky in Pebble Beach!

Secondly, yesterday I had my last day in my current job at Intuit.  I have had a really great time working with the same team for the last 2 years and will miss the day-to-day fun that we always had.  They set a very high bar for what to expect from teams to come.

Gary, Marvin, Eric and I at the South Carolina Get Online Event! 

Out at happy hour with the team in India!  

Pedicures with the girl gang on a Friday afternoon!

The whole Product Management and Marketing team at our going away lunch!

Lastly, I've found that I'm super sentimental about leaving this place because this is the first place that Neel and I called home as a married couple.  It is the first apartment that we lived in together and it sure did treat us well.  I'll miss our apartment and area that we called home, including the really great Safeway across the street because all of the checkers learned how to pronounce our last name :) This place will always hold a special spot in my heart.

Thanks to everyone who came into our life and made the last 4ish years in the Bay Area really fantastic! We will miss you all and hope we will keep in touch.  Come visit us in La La Land :) 

Sunday = Baking Day

So here in the Bhattacharyya household we LOVE baked goods. You see, I love baking and Neel loves eating what I bake (and I typically indulge as well).

Today was a particularly wonderful baking day because the baking started at breakfast and lasted all the way to dinner! I baked 2 items today:

1) Chocolate chips muffins - I haven't made muffins in a LONG time and boy was it a good idea. I must credit Neel for the inspiration to make muffins since he just straight up asked for them on Friday. They were SOOOO wonderfully delicious. No secret to the recipe - just took a muffin mix and added some chocolate chips instead of the can of blueberries. What was even better than the delicious taste was the amazing aroma that permeated our apartment all day.

The muffins were definitely a treat compared to our normal cereal and FiberOne bar for breakfast and I encourage you to fill your house with this glorious baked good one of these days. Here's a pic of how they turned out:

Yummy! (and yes I instagram'd the crap out of this picture!)

2) Lemon Sour Cream Poundcake - I have a recipe for this poundcake courtesy of the "Newlywed Kitchen" cookbook and have made this baked good a few times over the past 2 years. It's fun because I make it rarely enough that I can't just make it from memory so it feels like I am baking something that I haven't yet made, however I know that it is going to taste good because I have made it before. I also enjoy this recipe because it makes two loaves so we get to share with our co-workers.

Here's how our poundcake turned out:

Displayed on the adorable plate that my Mom gave me for Christmas!

(and this one was instagram'd as well)

That's it for our Sunday baking day - until next weekend when we probably bake again!

2012: Year of the Resurrection (of my blog)

Hello all - I've decided to make 2012 the Year of the Resurrection (of this blog that is) and am getting a one day start! I'm sure this is going to make my biggest follower's (aka Kristen Disbro) day and hopefully a few other will be happy with the fact that I WILL write more in this upcoming year.

Before we move onto 2012, however, we need to talk about 2011. If 2010 can be classified a year of change for us (we got married, moved, started new jobs, etc), then 2011 can be classified as a year of consistency (which I am equally grateful for). In 2011, we were still married (and very happy to be married), still had our great jobs with even greater responsibilities, and still lived in the same lovely apartment complex that we've continued to make into our home. I'm grateful for this year of consistency - it's been nice to have more of the same after a year of much change.

There were definitely some highlights to 2011:

First, my oldest brother (Sean) and sister-in-law (Nicole) gave us the cutest nephew on God's green earth. We ADORE him and the almost daily pictures of him are always the highlights of our day:

Liam loved his little wagon for Christmas!

Second, in addition to our wonderful nephew, we also were able to officially welcome a new member into the family (well not officially, but soon enough). Ryan and Lolly got engaged this Christmas and we couldn't be happier to welcome her to the family! The Nearhoff trifecta is finally complete!

In Boston with Ryan and Lolly!

Third, 2011 was a year of touring the United States. Thanks to work, weddings and just plain old fun, I got to visit Texas, Vermont, Oregon, Minnesota, Colorado, Seattle, and Massachusetts (and most of those places, Neel was with me). We really enjoyed seeing what the United States had to offer!

At the Public Market in Seattle!

There were of course many other fantastic happenings in 2011 and I am grateful for each of them. I'm looking forward to what comes in 2012 and sharing some of these happenings with you all!

Have a fantastically wonderful New Year's - reflect on the joy of 2011 and look forward to the possibility of 2012. Lastly, since I feel that champagne is always appropriate, keep the celebrations going the whole year through!

I love the internet!

As part of my normal morning ritual, I peruse my favorite sites, typically in this order: 1) Gmail, 2)Facebook, 3) Twitter, 4) JustJared and 5) Google news.

Today my normal morning ritual had an added dose of awesome thrown in to it, which prompted me to say out loud, "I love the internet". As I scrolled through #5 on the above list, I saw a thumbnail size image that peaked my interest so much that I didn't even read the headline before clicking on it. Without further ado, I present to you the image:

Yes, my friends! That is indeed a cat dressed as Edward Cullen from Twilight. This cat is affectionately referred to as Robert "Cat"tinson. Amazing. Simply amazing. The great news is that this story gets even better. This cat was dressed up as the brooding vampire for a 15th birthday party for another cat! Apparently, it is a tradition for this other cat to have a costume party every year, featuring more kitties dressed in more ridiculous outfits.

The final amazingness of this story came from the article itself... All of these outfits that these cats parade around in for their other cat friend's birthday are supplied by a store called Meow Wear, a company that is "introducing a brand new line of apparel and accessories for those fabulous felines in your life". Here is the website in case you are as curious as I was and want to go check it out: http://mymeow-wear.com/store/. I highly encourage that you are curious.

Anyways, I just had to share this story because it was such a lovely reminder of why the internet is a truly beautiful thing, exposing us to the many wonders of the world. Now for one final look at Robert "Cat"tinson...

Until next time... Meow! (It's like "Ciao" but for a cat.)

Wife Lessons: Cooking for two!

Before I get into the actual blog post, I have to make a quick apology about my lack of blogposts in the past month and a half. I had great dreams and desires of blogging more often than my dear hubby, however I have not yet been able to reach that. (And of course, he recently stepped it up in the blogging atmosphere making me look even worse!). Anyways, while I can't promise that this won't happen again, I definitely want to blog more frequently - just have to switch my after work priorities from watching DVRed episodes of Law & Order to blogging and THEN watching DVRed episode of Law & Order.

Now for the actual post:

Neel and I are now 2 months in to wedded bliss and I am learning daily about being a wife! A recent focus for me is cooking. I LOVE trying out new recipes and sometimes even wow-ing my dear hubby.

Back story on this: Coming into our marriage, I was not a bad cook, but I was also not ready to audition for the next season of Top Chef. I always had my go-to meals: chicken with (instant) mashed potatoes, eggs and toast (i love breakfast for dinner!), and, for those nights that I was feeling particularly lazy, healthy frozen dinners or a nice bowl of cereal. While some of you may be thinking "Neel could eat these things", you are absolutely correct, and we sometimes do. But with the opportunity to now cook for two, I have taken it as a challenge to discover my culinary abilities.

Things I am learning to be important in cooking:

Lesson 1) Any meal that can be made on Sunday and last for several days after is a major SUCCESS. After a long day at work, the last thing either of us want to do is slave over a hot meal. A few things I have cooked thus far that fit this criteria: turkey meatloaf, turkey tacos, and marinated chicken and mashed potatoes (actual ones this time). My latest experiment was chicken enchiladas and it was indeed a MAJOR SUCCESS! They tasted good on Sunday and still tasted good for 3 days after that. That's right folks, we were still eating the enchiladas on Wednesday! Take a look below at last week's cooking win:

Lesson 2) Pursue an equal amount of baking experiments as meal experiments. In my opinion, there is much less pressure when baking then when cooking. Desserts are not a staple of our diet - just an added treat. If it turns out, woohoo! If not, no big deal. Eat what's good, and throw out the rest.

Attempt #1: FAIL

The cake batter ended up outside of the bowl instead of in it. (Luckily, the hubby volunteered to walk to the grocery store to get another cake mix while I cleaned up the mess - 10 points for Neel.)

Attempt #2: Success!

Now this treat was several days in, but it was a delicious strawberry and vanilla ice cream cake.

Lesson 3) Don't live too far away from take out. That way if dinner doesn't turn out, it won't take too long to get a replacement.

Those are all my cooking lessons for now. I look forward to sharing with you any of my latest culinary wins, and, probably more amusingly and likely, my culinary fails.

Cheers!

Fabulous Fridays!!

So last Friday I was traveling to L.A. for a few special celebrations, and therefore did not have time to put a fabulous Friday post together. So today, I will blog about those things that I wanted to highlight as fabulous last week AND those things that I think are fabulous this week. Get it? Got it? Good.

Last Week's Fabulousity:

1) My bro-in-law David graduated from UCLA business school last Friday (hence the traveling to LA). It was a super wonderful event (minus the not-so-wonderful speaker who referenced Ithaca about 45 times).

Items I contemplated bringing to the event:

• A beachball (for the crowd)
• An air horn (to use at the exact moment his name was announced)
• An outrageously colorful sign

Items I actually brought:

• A dress
• A camera

(Champagne celebration after the ceremony)

2) My best friend Cokie turned 25 last weekend. Although I didn't make it out to celebrate with her, I am glad she was surrounded by a few of the things she loves: friends, dancing and country music. Hope this year is filled with much more of those things!

This week's Fabulousity:
1) I am a celebrity gossip lover and I found an amazing article while perusing my daily gossip sites. Essentially, a 27 year old woman was almost arrested for drinking because people thought she was 16 year old pop sensation Justin Bieber. Reasons this is fabulous:

• The fact that a 27 year old WOMAN was mistaken for a 16 year old BOY. And says it happens all the time.
• The bar she was at was called "Mug and Mallet".
• The story is related to Justin Bieber. Enough said.

Check out TMZ for the original article with a picture of both the Biebs himself as well as Katie (aka almost Biebs).

That's all for now! Have a fabulous Friday!

Romance

As a new wife, I am constantly looking for fun ways to romance my hubby. Thanks to Kasey, from The Bachelorette, I don't have to look any further than 8pm on Mondays. Things Kasey taught me last night:

1) Sing the way you feel. There is no better way to express love than singing your feelings straight from the heart. (Jump to minute 1:18 for the really good stuff)

2) Prove your love in ink. What says "I will guard and protect your heart" better than a tattoo of a shield guarding a heart AND a famous bachelorette rose?

3) Channel your inner rom-com script writer. When all else fails, Kasey knows the best move is to rack your brain for your favorite rom-com line. The stand outs of the evening:

• "It's just my heart. Jump in. Stay awhile".


• (in regards to his improptu singing) "It just kind of came to me. I guess that's what you do, you inspire me".

So let's do this together folks. Use Kasey's tricks to romance away your loved ones! He got a rose last night so it MUST work!