Giggle, Laugh, Play, Eat, Dance, Enjoy, Celebrate

A whole bunch of verbs...and a whole lot of fun. I think the title of this blog entry sums up my entire weekend. Although the flight to Philly was very long and the airline misplaced one of our baggages, both Kart and I were delighted to see my sister Nupur after five months. On Friday we were busy settling down, exchanging funny stories, and enjoying some lovely home cooked food my mom sent with her. We crashed around 2 pm as Nupur and I had to head out to New York for Mary's Bridal Shower & our girls' night out and Kart had to go to DC for his friend's wedding early next morning.

Morning came and we were late for our bus to China Town. It was quite an experience to get on a bus from there as the bus we were scheduled to take was no where in sight and no one would help us to find it. We finally just paid for another ticket and got onto the bus for NYC. The ride was fun as both Gugs and I were catching up, making phone calls and just talking about what all we would do in the city. Once we got there, the people in China Town were trying to get us back on the bus! We finally made our way through the crowd and tried to locate Jessi and Sanam. Google maps on my iPhone came to our rescue here and were finally able to meet with our friends after a detour.

When we were heading to Chrystie and Canal St intersection to meet Jessi, we missed her until she yelled at us...we looked back and there she was...It was so great to just be together again! Sanam joined us soon after...poor fellow was given wrong directions and also had to take a detour. After many hugs, we decided to head to John's Pizzeria. Now this is no ordinary New York style pizza...I would say its the best pizza ever! The four of us finished 2 pies in less than an hour! After the yummy food, we headed to Sanam's apartment...we were really had to rush coz the Bridal shower was going to start soon, and we still did not have our stuff ready for it. The whole afternoon we were preparing for that evening and finally made our way to Mary and Tom's shinding.

We were late...but not horribly. We got a very warm welcome from Mary, it was so great to see the bride-to-be...The evening had just started. We were introduced by Mary to everyone and were enjoying our food. Following that everyone went around and introduced themselves and had to tell one thing they had common with Mary. Jessi said the funniest thing: how both Mary and Jessi had to "educate" me about the American lingo and culture. There are some funny stories, but there will be another time and place for those.

After introductions, we started doing various fun activities planned by Mary's Maid of Honor, Jean. To start with we had to bring in a recipe and put it in an album for Mary. Following that we were supposed to make scrapbook pages with pictures of us with Mary/Tom. We did not know that it was a competition!! I am sure Mary will love this, coz all the pages came out really well. Jean actually made a Mary-Tom taboo game. The taboo cards had words related to Mary on one side and related Tom on the other. It was a really fun and interactive game which engrossed everyone and was very enjoyable.

The highlight of the evening was a game in which Jean really went all out. She made a video of Tom answering questions about their relationship. Mary was asked a question at the shower and following that we were shown Tom's videotaped answer. It was hilarious and at the same time it was great to see what a great rapport Mary and Tom have. Tom changed his pose with the question and that was just really funny. We were anticipating which pose he will be in for the subsequent question.

Following the games, Mary opened her presents and as the tradition goes we finally put together a hat for her with all the gift wrappings. The toasts followed soon after. We got done around 10 that evening and were now ready for our girls' night out. So once everyone left, Mary, Jessi, Nupur and I were ready to celebrate my wedding last year, Mary and Jessi's upcoming weddings and Nupur's admission to Wharton Business School.

Jessi and I had been planning this for the past week and a half. We arranged for veils, tiaras, sashes, shirts with custom messages, beads, rings, buttons and glow sticks. All of us helped each other get ready and headed to the Sapphire Lounge in the city. Everyone at the club congratulated us and we had a great time dancing. The played some great hip hop music from the recent times and 90s.

After dancing, we headed to Kati Roll Company on MacDougal and Bleecker in the Village and enjoyed some yummy Aloo and Paneer Kati Rolls. I think by now we were all tired and ready to go home! The next morning we woke up early for the fear of missing our bus. Fortunately we were able to catch it and make it to Philly by noon.

The rest of the day was a lazy one where we ate and slept a lot! In the evening Kart got back from DC and both of us watched "Dan in real life". After that we went to hang out with Nupur and her Wharton friends. By the time night came around we were exhausted and ready to pass out so that we could get some rest before our early morning flight.

Reflecting back on the weekend, I realize how much I miss my girls when I am away from them and how much fun we have together. This has been a memorable weekend and I can't wait to celebrate with everyone in August!