It's time I let out how pathetic I am at being an adult. All my life's accomplishments and glories are marred by my total, utter, absolute failure in accomplishing the longest standing life goal: respond to alarm by waking up!

Every night, for the past, howmanyever years, without fail this is what I tell myself: Suchana, tomorrow you must get out of bed when the alarm rings. Not roll over, not snooze...GET UP!

The scene next morning is pretty exact to this video. Minus the gun.



I don't think I will ever feel like an adult until I nail this herculean task. But I shan't give up. Over the years there are a few, ahem,  radical practices I have employed to get out of bed. I won't judge you, if you are judging me.

TV IS THE BEST ALARM
Caution: this might make you hate your TV a lot! But this is the best alarm clock I have ever had. Set the TV on VH1 or CNBC and put it on sleep timer. It's highly impossible to go back to sleep once you wake up to the loud, chaotic world of news or pumping music
HIDE AND SEEK IN THE AM
By far the most theatrical approach...Set alarm on a clock (not phone) and keep it far far away. Make sure its shrill and annoying as f*^#. If you have an attached bath, keep the lovely clock right next to the toothbrush stand. If not, the kitchen is a good place. I have done both and I can attest that it works to piss you off so much that you won't go back for a snooze.

SOCIAL MEDIA TO MY RESCUE
It happened one morning by accident and I got hooked! One morning, after hitting the snooze button, I happened to check the Instagram alerts I had received over night and next thing I knew I was wide awake. So now, when the alarm goes off, instead of snooze, I hit Pinterest or Bloglovin for some inspiration to get the brain humming. Don't Facebook though. It'll put you right back to sleep.

A lot of articles talk about staying away from technology in the AM for a Zen like day.
All I wanna say to is...


No offense, but some people have a problem with mornings, period. And a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do, right? To me, Zen mornings are an urban myth.

GET HELP
You know what's more annoying than blasting TV? A ringing doorbell. OMFG! Over the years I have requested my newspaper man to ring the bell HARD every morning, I have schedule the housekeeper's visit precisely at 7AM, I schedule grocery delivery first thing in the morning, and I once employed a trainer to show up sharp at 6.30...anything that gets me out of bed and keeps me out

DANGLE A CARROT
I vividly remember jumping out of bed one dark rainy morning because I had bought tri-coloured peppers and I wanted to make an omelette for breakfast. I swear! So if there is anything you like almost as much as sleep, it might work to motivate you out of bed.

Now, as it happens, I chose to work from home this Monday AM, sou can guess which of the above methods I adopted.

Happy Monday!

In life, if there is one thing that never fails to cheer me up, that's food.

I love eating.
I love talking about it (say Sushi and see me swoon, I kid you not)
& I love cooking.

But more than that, I love cooking for my lovelies.

Few weeks ago, a dear friend was in town and in between incessant girly gabbing, very competitive games of Monopoly Deal and chugging beer and garlic wafers, I whipped up a batch of these super easy & super delish (not bragging; the girls said so I promise!) soba noodles with sesame and peanut butter.

When I say easy, I mean you can cook it in a state of moderate inebriation (wink wink :D ).

Honestly, the only cooking this recipe needs is the noodle. And it takes no more that 7-9 minutes.
Does it get any easier?


So attack already! Serve yourself a good portion, sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds on top. Be generous. And there you have it.

So here is one weird tick I observed recently...



To put it correctly: I am a notebook hoarder and I like to keep them brand new.

How's that for weird?

Its not a hobby. Like coin or stamp collection. It isn't even a conscious activity. I just made this stark discovery over the weekend while cleaning my bookshelf when I found one, then two...then 11 brand new notebooks! Not even a pencil mark in one.

The more I thought about it, I realised that the idea of writing in these books is very painful. I'd rather marvel at their blank pages than pen a thought. Oddly, I don't remember ever buying a notebook thinking, "maybe I'll just preserve it." On the contrary, I am an avid lister (yeah, its a thing) and I am always looking for something to scribble in.

Anyway the collection is very interesting. There are some beautifully arty ones and then some really cool graphic ones.

Like the #whorunthewold one that I gushed about here.


There is also the good girl, bad habits diary, a dear friend gifted me. This diary is almost like a personal slambook of sorts. Very pop-arty with cool girl power quotes.


How can I write and ruin these beauties?!

I wonder if this is too weird...

• How to make Cinnamon Sugar > Add cinnamon powder to jar of raw sugar  > close lid > shake
• How to make Cinnamon Powder for 1/10th the price of store-bought>  Buy a pack of cinnamon sticks from any general store and blitz it in  the small jar of your mixer grinder. 

Its DIY level 0, this scrub.  All I did was...
                                             



I'd be shocked if I actually manage to make a routine of this, but a girl can dream, can't she?

Mondays are just never, ever good news for me (is it for anybody?)  Especially when I have had the most fun, lazy, TV Marathon and good food kind of weekend, which I wish didn't end. And to then wake up to a morning that looks like dusk and finding I am out of coffee is just ominous. I basically just dragged my ass to office yesterday against my free will, all in the name of adulthood.


On such a Monday, the only possibility of being cheered was the arrival of my Nibble Box trial pack!

I have followed this New York blog for years, and I distinctly remember feeling envious every time Joanna gushess about the awesome snack service she subscribes to and loves. I mean 4PM hunger pang is not really an urban myth but a super legit and hard to cater to demand.

I am terrible at pre-planning for any sort of mid-meal hunger terror and on most days I go hungry till the next meal. This then leads to over eating and then meal times go for a toss.

So when I saw the Facebook ad of Nibble Box, my heart flipped twice over and I bought the trial box almost immediately. I am thrilled that my beloved city is catching up to international concepts and it is about time someone designed a snack delivery system.

Without further ado, here's presenting my first, Nibble Box >


I received my box at 11 am, just as I poured my first cup of coffee. 1 breakfast cookie was demolished before I could even think blog :D




There are 4 items in individual packaging and each pack contained:

1 Pumpkin Spice Latte Granola Bar
3 Pumpkin Pie Spice Breakfast Cookies (mini)
Half a handful of Cayenne Kippie Bag
Half a handful 1 pack Figgy Fugitive


Ordered on: 23rd July, Thursday
Received on: 27th July, Monday

Not bad.



The MRP on each unit is 100 bucks. Which means I am getting 400 bucks worth snacks at 250 which is not bad, but I would have liked the box to include 5 snacks instead of four to cover the work days.


I have pecked into all 4 items and I liked all. The quality is really really good! The soft, chewy, coco-nutty breakfast cookie is delicately sweet and my clear favorite. I expected the Cayenne Kippie Bag to be spicy and much to my delight it infact was not at all spicy, very tasty and unlike most store bought salted nuts, these are very lightly salted.


There are almost 100 options to choose from, though there are more sweet options than savoury. The way I see it, there are two sections.

One, a good selection of breakfast options that can be stored and eaten at the desk.

BREAKFAST COOKIE: Very clever concept. The 11AM cookie- coffee combo was quiet nice and I am excited to try the chocochip ones.




GRANOLA: I am not a fan of granola; Muesli is a much healthier option because granola is usually baked with some kind of oil or fat. Another reason for the dislike are the dried fruits (prunes, raisins, apricots etc.) that turn soggy and eeky in contact with milk or yoghurt.

I have kept the only two raisin-less options to TRY > Choco-Hazelnut and Seedy Soulmate.



GRANOLA BARS: Great for when you are running out of the door with toast in hand. I usually kept away from these because of the high sugar content but I am looking forward to try a few from this section.


And then there is a section of midday/ afternoon nibbles.

RAW BARS: An alternate to granola bars perhaps. I have TRASHED both these because I am not a fan of dates and frankly, these look like mithai




SPICED TRAIL MIXES: The only savory section. I wish there were some lesser decadent / spicy options. But the range is MASSIVE!


NFS COMBO: I like nuts and seeds; hate dried fruits. I have very limited option here. But for the less fussy, this is a handful of health.




In peroration, Nibble Box is a blessing for career girls (or boys) who intend on eating right at every meal but are left at the mercy of office canteens. I plan to distribute the monthly kitty between my work desk, gym bag, bedside table and hope to make better snack decisions while watching GoT at 1AM!


Upon making the payment, go to the Our Food section. The system automatically keeps all items on your TRY list. So whichever you don't want, TRASH them. After trying, you can rate the item under LIKE or LOVE which basically ensures you get them again I presume.

Delievered via FedEx.

While I am not thinking grey, I have my eye on the circular wall-hanging thing. My gallery wall has a spot open and I want something other than framed art. DIY project?

I cannot wait to put the finishing touches to the space before showing it off. 

Sneak peek...my favourite side of the wall :D