A very very long post alert! Summarizing my year 2015 is going to be a daunting task and it is by default going to be a long post. I did a recap of 2014 too, which was month wise. But for this year I thought, I will just jot down the major twists of my life. So bring a hot drink or even wine, sit back and get ready for a detailed report of my 2015.
Travel and Adventures
Year 2015 was characterized with some travel and some adventures. We started the year with a trip to Key West in early January this year. What was special about this trip was that I did parasailing! Those who know me, know how big a deal this was for me! It was a struggle with the mind and finally I did it!
In March, we went to Texas to meet some old friends, my cousin and her super cute twins. It was supposed to be a family gathering and hence we did not do much sightseeing but just sat back and relaxed with friends and family. It was the first time I experienced snow in the US! It was a memorable trip!
In June, we went to the Fairchild Botanical Garden in Miami. We were just on the verge of moving towards a little north of Florida and thought this was the best time to cover all the South Florida spots on our wish list. The garden was beautiful and the best part I loved about this garden was their Butterfly Park.
In September, we traveled to Orlando to witness the live magic of soulful Arijit Singh songs. The concert was breathtaking and with each song he sang, my heart melted. It was a 3 hour drive one way and we did not mind that at all.
In October, we went to Smoky Mountains. And I think, this is my second best trip in US so far...first being the Niagara Falls. We traversed through 4-5 states and were overwhelmed with the beauty of the fall colors. It was my first time of witnessing the fall colors and I was in love with all the vibrant colors. However, what marked this trip as extra adventurous was my tryst with ziplining! It was kind of a revelation moment for me!
That was the travel part this year. I believe in creating happiness via experiences and travel indeed allows me to make a bundle of memories to sustain happiness over the longer journey.
New Beginnings, New Friends
The biggest move of this year has to be our shift from Plantation to Palm Beach Gardens in June. I loved the new place since the day we shifted to our new home. It is a fountain facing apartment and I just cannot stop talking about the view I wake up to every single morning.
I also made some new friends here and I love being here :) Neha and Gauri have been great friends till now and we are sure that our friendship will go past the hurdles of long distances, which tends to be the root of every friendship distancing. I have spent some memorable times in the second half of this year with these two buddies which will be there with me forever. I am trying to learn how to put make up and yet carry it the classy way from Gauri and I cannot even try listing all the things we learnt from Neha in this year. We have our imperfections and yet we gel in very well! New friendships which I will cherish forever!
Celebrations
I celebrated my birthday this year by coming out and cheering Sujoy at his football finals in one of the tourneys. It was a different way to celebrate the birthday. But if you know my husband, I think you will understand how much it would have meant to him that I came out and celebrated my birthday this way! Not to mention, his team won the finals and brought a trophy back home :)
We celebrated Diwali with a bang this year. I did all that my mother does during Diwali. It was a lovely festive time and I loved each bit of the Diwali fun. We also had our friends visiting us from Denver and it was a homely Diwali in true sense.
Our Anniversary, we had a candle light dinner at one of the restaurants by the beach side (perks of staying in Florida). And while coming back home we saw some holiday lights in the vicinity. It has been 4 years since our marriage and 10 years since we know each other, and yet it feels we met just yesterday :)
His birthday, I baked a cake first time ever. I cooked his favorite food - macaroni for breakfast, bengali mutton curry and jeera rice for lunch! Dinner was outside. We spent some good times reminiscing all the years which are behind us.
Efforts for Personal Growth
This year I joined Toastmasters and my journey so far has been very rewarding. After 8 months, 10 speeches, 6 best speaker awards, 4 table topics awards, 1 win at the humorous speech contest and a lot of learning later I finally achieved the first level of competency in Toastmasters i.e. Competent Communicator. It was my personal goal to attain this level this year itself and with the help of my Club President I was able to do so.
My writing has grown in leaps and bounds this year. Apart from my blogs, I wrote a couple of guest posts at different bloggers' site and I continue to write for Women's Web. I also started as a Creative Writer at Stylewhack early this year. Over the months, today I am the Executive Editor and I am donning a lot of other hats at this start up. It keeps me pumped and helps me balance my career aspirations. Recently I was told that I have written 50 posts already on Stylewhack and it is a milestone for me :)
I have learnt quite a few new skills and did a lot of art and craft work this year, thanks to my girl's gang at the new place :) The best skill has to be undoubtedly 'crochet'. There was a time when I was hooked to it and completed a beanie, a scarf and I am still struggling with my jacket as yet. I cannot thank Neha enough for this! Apart from this; we did quilling, wind chimes, diwali lanterns and of course crochet.
I also tried my hands on swimming this year. Well technically I have not 'learnt' swimming as yet but my fear of water has at least reduced. It was a 4 sessions class and in those sessions I got rid of my water fear. I also did some swimming in the Community with a few of my new friends, but ya I am still swimming with a board! :P
The Drastic Steps
This has to be my uber short bob cut I did in May this year. It was a BIG step as I have always maintained a certain length of my hair. But I wanted to take some risk and I went and did it! Though I have been told not to go for such a short cut again! The next on list would be a pixie cut ;)
The next has to be my tattoo. I have been wanting to have this since a year now and finally in December I did it. It is drastic as I am the first and till now the only one to have got a tattoo in my as well as Sujoy's family. But hey, I always have been a pioneer ;)
The Worries
If you thought my year has been just about happy moments and fun, then you are wrong. The biggest worry which has troubled me the most is my mother in law's health. My MIL is a very energetic and always on the run kind of a woman. But this year, her health deteriorated and it has been troubling me ever since. She is doing better now, but she has lost her sheen :(
The second part is of course we not being able to go home due to unending visa procedures and hang ups. It has been quite a long while now that we haven't been home and it haunts us every single day. We are praying that next year at least we should be able to visit home and be with our loved ones.
So yes 2015 has been a tremendously fulfilling year, I did one new thing each week this year and I can't wait to start 2016. My word for this year was 'Gratitude' and I have lived every bit inculcating Gratitude. I am searching for a new word for next year and stay tuned to know more about it.
I hope you guys also had an eventful year and wish that 2016 is adventurous too! Happy New Year :)
Travel and Adventures
Year 2015 was characterized with some travel and some adventures. We started the year with a trip to Key West in early January this year. What was special about this trip was that I did parasailing! Those who know me, know how big a deal this was for me! It was a struggle with the mind and finally I did it!
 |
| Scary! |
In March, we went to Texas to meet some old friends, my cousin and her super cute twins. It was supposed to be a family gathering and hence we did not do much sightseeing but just sat back and relaxed with friends and family. It was the first time I experienced snow in the US! It was a memorable trip!
 |
| That is my darling niece with our snowman |
In June, we went to the Fairchild Botanical Garden in Miami. We were just on the verge of moving towards a little north of Florida and thought this was the best time to cover all the South Florida spots on our wish list. The garden was beautiful and the best part I loved about this garden was their Butterfly Park.
 |
| Gorgeous Colors and Butterflies |
In September, we traveled to Orlando to witness the live magic of soulful Arijit Singh songs. The concert was breathtaking and with each song he sang, my heart melted. It was a 3 hour drive one way and we did not mind that at all.
 |
| That soulful voice! |
In October, we went to Smoky Mountains. And I think, this is my second best trip in US so far...first being the Niagara Falls. We traversed through 4-5 states and were overwhelmed with the beauty of the fall colors. It was my first time of witnessing the fall colors and I was in love with all the vibrant colors. However, what marked this trip as extra adventurous was my tryst with ziplining! It was kind of a revelation moment for me!
 |
| Don't ask all the drama I created! |
New Beginnings, New Friends
The biggest move of this year has to be our shift from Plantation to Palm Beach Gardens in June. I loved the new place since the day we shifted to our new home. It is a fountain facing apartment and I just cannot stop talking about the view I wake up to every single morning.
 |
| Isn't it breathtaking? |
 |
| Ya ya, friends forever :) |
Celebrations
I celebrated my birthday this year by coming out and cheering Sujoy at his football finals in one of the tourneys. It was a different way to celebrate the birthday. But if you know my husband, I think you will understand how much it would have meant to him that I came out and celebrated my birthday this way! Not to mention, his team won the finals and brought a trophy back home :)
 |
| That's my hero :) |
We celebrated Diwali with a bang this year. I did all that my mother does during Diwali. It was a lovely festive time and I loved each bit of the Diwali fun. We also had our friends visiting us from Denver and it was a homely Diwali in true sense.
 |
| I even wore a saree! |
Our Anniversary, we had a candle light dinner at one of the restaurants by the beach side (perks of staying in Florida). And while coming back home we saw some holiday lights in the vicinity. It has been 4 years since our marriage and 10 years since we know each other, and yet it feels we met just yesterday :)
 |
| Blessed to have him by my side! |
 |
| That's the birthday celebrations! |
Efforts for Personal Growth
This year I joined Toastmasters and my journey so far has been very rewarding. After 8 months, 10 speeches, 6 best speaker awards, 4 table topics awards, 1 win at the humorous speech contest and a lot of learning later I finally achieved the first level of competency in Toastmasters i.e. Competent Communicator. It was my personal goal to attain this level this year itself and with the help of my Club President I was able to do so.
 |
| Yayy, yayy! That is the way it is done :) |
My writing has grown in leaps and bounds this year. Apart from my blogs, I wrote a couple of guest posts at different bloggers' site and I continue to write for Women's Web. I also started as a Creative Writer at Stylewhack early this year. Over the months, today I am the Executive Editor and I am donning a lot of other hats at this start up. It keeps me pumped and helps me balance my career aspirations. Recently I was told that I have written 50 posts already on Stylewhack and it is a milestone for me :)
I have learnt quite a few new skills and did a lot of art and craft work this year, thanks to my girl's gang at the new place :) The best skill has to be undoubtedly 'crochet'. There was a time when I was hooked to it and completed a beanie, a scarf and I am still struggling with my jacket as yet. I cannot thank Neha enough for this! Apart from this; we did quilling, wind chimes, diwali lanterns and of course crochet.
 |
| That beanie and scarf has been crocheted by me :) |
I also tried my hands on swimming this year. Well technically I have not 'learnt' swimming as yet but my fear of water has at least reduced. It was a 4 sessions class and in those sessions I got rid of my water fear. I also did some swimming in the Community with a few of my new friends, but ya I am still swimming with a board! :P
 |
| I am in the waters at least ;) |
The Drastic Steps
This has to be my uber short bob cut I did in May this year. It was a BIG step as I have always maintained a certain length of my hair. But I wanted to take some risk and I went and did it! Though I have been told not to go for such a short cut again! The next on list would be a pixie cut ;)
 |
| That is the short bob cut. Not that bad, right? |
 |
| Inked in Gratitude! |
If you thought my year has been just about happy moments and fun, then you are wrong. The biggest worry which has troubled me the most is my mother in law's health. My MIL is a very energetic and always on the run kind of a woman. But this year, her health deteriorated and it has been troubling me ever since. She is doing better now, but she has lost her sheen :(
The second part is of course we not being able to go home due to unending visa procedures and hang ups. It has been quite a long while now that we haven't been home and it haunts us every single day. We are praying that next year at least we should be able to visit home and be with our loved ones.
So yes 2015 has been a tremendously fulfilling year, I did one new thing each week this year and I can't wait to start 2016. My word for this year was 'Gratitude' and I have lived every bit inculcating Gratitude. I am searching for a new word for next year and stay tuned to know more about it.
I hope you guys also had an eventful year and wish that 2016 is adventurous too! Happy New Year :)
