Happy Birthday to Emily, Liz and Meagan!

Ana got married on my birthday and Emily's birthday and Liz's birthday. So, our college friends got together at Emily's house for a pre-wedding birthday celebration. It was SOOO great to see everyone. I miss my old friends so much. I hadn't seen Emily for a really long time...she hadn't been able to come to my wedding because she was having a baby at that time...so I was excited to see her but also her new son Will. He was so cute!


Emily with the birthday cake


Emily's husband Kyle with baby Will

I also got to see Ann and Jason...they were at my wedding and Ann was a bridesmaid, but it was so hectic I didn't get to talk to them much. I really miss having my old friends around...I live so far away and I feel like I keep making new friends and then leaving. There is nothing like old friends...it is so comfortable and easy.


Emily, Ann and Meagan


Matt, Jess and Matthew Winkle



Ang and Matt

Happy Birthday, Malini!

Today is my beautiful sister Malini's birthday. I am so sad I am missing it! I am sure the living room is decorated elaborately and Mom has been making a special meal. I am not sure what Malini's birthday meal would consist of...I pretty much know the other girls' favorites, but not Malini. I do know that she likes her eggs without the yolk and she only like ice cream, non frozen yogurt. There are more important things than food though, so on to the important stuff:

Malini is one of the most loyal people I know. That is such a great quality to have and I think it is pretty rare to meet a truly loyal person. Another loyal person that I can think of is my old friend Ann Verenkoff. She is also very loyal. So, Ann and Malini exemplify loyalty to me.

Malini has this funny habit of shivering through her whole body when she is excited. It is pretty cute! I wonder how long it will last...for instance, it wouldn't be so cute if she were my age. But then, I still clap my hands when I am excited and that is probably not age-appropriate at all.

Malini has an amazing fashion sense. She puts together the most creative outfits, and she always looks cute. She definitely knows how to accessorize! I have some great pictures of her in her ensembles but I can't seem to find any of them!

Malini loves sparkley thing...Icing and Claire's are her favorite stores...I guess that is where she learned to do all of the accessorizing! This is something that we definitely have in common, cause I love sparkley things too.

Malini is really lucky. She used to love to go to Nickel City (an arcade where you can earn tickets to get prizes) and she would always get a ton of tickets by playing those Vegas-style games where the quarters are pushing against each other and if they fall you get tickets. Anyway, I think she has a piece of Grandma Yeckel in her cause Grandma is lucky too.

Malini is also a great swimmer. I really miss having Malini around...writing all of this makes me miss my sisters and wish that I lived closer to home!

Happy birthday, Malini! I Love You!

Makayla Turns 5!

Today was a special day...my littlest sister turned 5! I can't believe it, all of them just keep getting older and older. The problem for me is that they are doing it too fast and are foiling my plan to have my babies while they are still young so that they would be like sisters to my kids. I guess I will have to hurry up and have kids!

As usual in the Mahajan household during a birthday, the dining room was decorated beautifully. As per Makayla's request, we had mom's delicious home made pizza and then a princess ice cream cake for dessert. Makayla got lots of good presents, mostly involving Littlest Pet Shop and dogs.

One of my favorite things about Makayla is how she is so extremely optimistic and loving. Last summer, Matt and I came back from China and Makayla told us that she loved everything, she loved the whole world. She just volunteered this information out of no where...that is the kind of love we can all aspire to!

Another funny story about Makayla and love: this week I helped her find a web site she likes on the computer and she said, "Now I really love you!" I said, "Didn't you love me before?" She said, "Oh, I did but sometimes I just say it to be nice." Haha, very honest!

The video I posted is of Makayla blowing out the birthday candles. I can't figure out to rotate the video so you'll have to rotate your head.

Today was also special because of Eric and Carol's wedding, which was beautiful. I don't have time to post about it now, but I am uploading the pictures onto Flickr (just click the Flickr box in the side bar) so anyone can download them. I will post about it when I get back to Boston.

Birthday Surprises and the Taj Mahal

Can you tell I was really overworked and exhausted by this point in the trip?

On the actual day of birthday, I had 2 amazing birthday surprises. The first was from my Mom, Rohit and sisters...they sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers! I was completely surprised because I never expected to receive flowers all the way in Rajasthan. Also, Mary and Brenda surprised me with a carved fruit bowl that they carved themselves! They took half of a papaya and carved it into a bowl and then put chopped fruit inside. So nice! They knew me too well...I think a carved fruit bowl is my ideal birthday breakfast. They also bought me a bar of good quality chocolate, which was a luxury. Good chocolate is available in Jaipur but not that common.

Brenda, Mary and I in front of the Taj Mahal

After breakfast, we went to the Taj Mahal. I had been to the Taj twice before, but I figured that they had to see it while they were in India and it would be fun to do something touristy with them. It was a much needed break from all of the work we had been doing.

Brenda, Mary and I on a ledge at the Taj Mahal.

Another nice thing that Mary and Brenda did for my birthday was buy AppyFizz (in lieu of champagne) for us to drink on the roof of our hotel. In Rajasthan, people seem to spend a lot of time on their roofs, especially in the hot summer months. Our hotel's roof was really cool and comfortable and had a great view of the city.

As a side note, I want to say that Matt is the greatest boyfriend in the world. While I was in India he sent me a giant care package filled with books, magazines, peanut butter, and peanut m&ms and some clothes. He is so nice! The best part was that is was not for my birthday, it was just because he missed me. I was so happy!

Surprise Birthday at Pizza Hut

After data collection was finished, we hosted a dinner for the data collectors at Pizza Hut. They completely surprised me by arranging a birthday cake for me and having the waiters do embarrassing birthday things with me. They made me eat a bowl of ice cream with my hands tied behind my back in front of the whole restaurant and do a dance in front of the restaurant. The video below is of me getting ready to eat the ice cream. I also have a video of me dancing but I definitely won't be posting that one!

Matt's 29th Birthday

Matt's 29th birthday was definitely less exciting than it has been in the last few years...but it is so much easier to have big, fun parties in Hong Kong than it is in the US! Plus, Matt has been crazy busy at work lately, and he didn't even get home from work until late. So, we went over to this neighborhood restaurant that is amazing. It is called Chez Henri, and they have the best Cuban sandwiched and yummy, not-too-sweet mojitoes to wash it down with. It is a really romantic place with delicious food...even Oprah agrees, it was listed as "Best Neighborhood Restaurant" in her magazine, and I think she is right.
I made Matt a home made German Chocolate birthday cake. We both agreed that it is the best cake that I ever made (although not much to look at)! It was so rich that my second slice made me feel sick...but every bite on the way to the sick feeling was delicious! I credit this cake to Grandma yeckel, who told me that the best recipes are on the back of food containers because they want you to keep buying their products so the recipes are really good. Any way, I got the recipe for this off the back of the shredded coconut container. I will definitely make this again, but only if there are more people to share it...it was so good that Matt and I ate way too much of it!