Bollywood Hen Nights

Today I have been given a new exciting project to work on. I am a qualified dance/fitness instructor and run Zumba classes during the week. Today I was asked to run two Bollywood Hen Nights, one in February and one in April.

I'm already excited and getting ideas together for fun, easy to follow choreography for the girls, and I am fairly sure I know what song I will use for the first one (possibly both)...

Desi Girl from the movie Dostana. It's by far my favourite song, good beats and you can't help but dance when you hear it.

I will try and think of ways to make the 90 minutes as exciting as I can - I am considering doing a little mash up of songs as Desi Girl is quite long, so can do half of that and maybe something else like Deewangi.

A bonus of this job, is being paid to do something I love - you can't really beat the joy of dance and it's rewarding seeing people enjoy what you do too!

This is fantastic...

It was a challenge NOT to cry!

Saving Begins...

Money Saving Ideas… Suggestions Welcome!

So saving for a holiday and a wedding at one time is a lot tougher than I’d originally anticipated. I’m a good saver – when it’s something I really want. This however, can lead to long periods of boredom. These are the solutions I’ve come up with so far which I think will help save us the most money in the time we have (whatever that may be…)

1. Cut down on booze… we love partying, but this so far has led to empty bank accounts, sore heads, and entire days wasted due to tiredness… is it really necessary? I’m on day 6 of my no booze diet and I already feel better.
2. The joy of cooking… since moving in with Akshay, I’ve had to learn to cook more than pasta bake and tikka masala using a jar of sauce from the supermarket. We now enjoy going into the kitchen together and making something – I’m the chopper, he’s the one that deals with the splashing oil in the pan! Doing this stops us spending on takeaways, dining out and makes us healthier than eating awful microwave meals… not too healthy though, we enjoy tasty food.
3. Speaking of food… we do however enjoy eating out once in a while, our “date nights” as we call them. My brother suggested we buy a Taste Card. Basically this is valid in certain restaurants allowing you to get buy one get one free offers or 50% off. We got the card for £30 and it’s valid for a year, so really we will only need to eat out a couple of times to get value for money, but a few nights out in a month will be nice.
4. Moving Pictures… we both have Cineworld Unlimited Cards. Basically we pay £15 a month and can see as many movies as we like. There are normally at least one or two Bollywood movies out each month, a couple of action, some comedy and of course chick flicks. We have basically decided even if it looks rubbish, we’re going!! A single ticket can cost over £8 so again, 2 movies and we’ve made our money back but on average we will see around 6 or 7 movies a month. Gets us out of the flat and something new to chat about. Movies I’ve seen with Akshay that I would recommend are The Impossible, Barfi, Jack Reacher and English Vinglish.
5. Keeping Fit… Yup, can be dull but we have gym memberships for Virgin Active. I prefer classes as I’m more pushed to work out but it’s nice going round the equipment together… I confess this is near the bottom of our pile in terms of “fun things to do” but we always feel good after it AND the gym has a pool, Jacuzzi, steam room and sauna so there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.
6. Spending time with Friends… in our flat. Rather than going out, paying for taxis, spending £3-£4 a drink, and a McDonalds at 3am we think a good way to save will be inviting friends round to our flat. Bring your own booze if you want to drink, we can cook or get a take away and just have a laugh. Obviously it’s nice to escape to someone else’s flat or go into town once in a while but hey, no one ever got the dream wedding by gallivanting here there and everywhere!

This is all I have so far - not a bad start though

Making it Happen

2013 and what (I hope) It will bring…

1 – I am praying Akshay gets his Visa and quick…we both need to escape Scotland for a few weeks!

2 – A good break in Mumbai spending time with family and friends.

3 – A wedding date; we are hoping for a Mumbai wedding in January or February 2014. Who knows, maybe a very cheesy Valentines wedding!

4 – Good health… major alcohol cut downs and less takeaway’s on top of the list. Must also make sure we make the most of our gym memberships as thus far they have been a waste!

5 – Amazing memories… my Christmas gift was the new Samsung Galaxy camera which basically puts all my previous digital cameras to shame. My aim is to document all the nice things that happen and share them on here, Facebook and keep prints of any real keepers.

6 – Long hair and good skin… vanity section!... I want to look my finest before meeting everyone in India and even more so I want to be a GOOD looking bride!

7 – And finally and most importantly, I hope that all my wonderful family and friends get everything they are hoping for, whether it be a job, a house, a partner, a holiday, a car, or better health…I want everyone to be happy and fulfilled with no regrets.

And hey, while I’m on the subject, I guess winning the lotto wouldn’t be the worst thing on the planet – note to self…

Buy a ticket!!

I saw a cool/corny resolution online somewhere, where someone decided to write down something good that happened to them each day for a year and put it into a jar… I might try this one myself as I think it can be very easy to be negative and only focus on the bad which of late I have been pretty guilty of…

Just a thought.

2013 - The Year of the V-I-S-A!

I wanted to start this blog to document the new start to my life. I'm 22 years old, I've lived in Edinburgh all my life, and am now engaged to the best man I can imagine. Akshay. I won't go into details of last year, 2012, the year that we met. Instead I will begin recording my transformation from Single Scot to Domestic Desi Wife in 2013!

It is January 7th, and the saving has officially begun for our big fat INDIAN wedding... excited as we are, we can't yet set a date until Akshay receives his new Visa to stay in the UK... assuming he receives his new Visa to stay in the UK...

This is a nightmare to say the least.

During the wait, we will satisfy our cravings for India by making yummy prawn, lamb and chicken curry whilst watching as many Bollywood movies as possible in vain hope that I will one day be able to form a good conversation with my mother in law in Hindi after making her a delicious meal that even she would be proud of.