Hello, hello! I hope you all are well.
Well, folks - I've been trying to do this for the past year but haven't been able to let it go just yet. However, I think the time has finally come to say goodbye to the Maliyacular.
I started this blog four years ago to be a creative outlet where I can develop my writing skills and storytelling through words and pictures. I'm happy to be living in an age where blogs even exist and I've been able to "practice" my writing in this kind of medium.
However, I think it's time to say farewell! Honestly, there is no one instance or reason why I've decided to bid adieu to my blog. I think I'm just ready for a change in the way I approach and continue to develop my writing. Having said that, I have to admit that ending my blog is one of the more difficult things I've done recently - I mean, it's been four years!! I've loved documenting various aspects of my life with words and pictures to share with a broader audience. And I love going back to past posts to see "what I was doing this time last year, two years ago, etc.".
I plan to continue to write (I mean, come on - it's in my blood!) and who knows? Maybe I'll start up another blog at some point... in which case, you better believe I'll be advertising it here!
For those of you who are reading this for the first time, thank you. For those who have been reading sporadically, whenever the content of a post catches your eye here and there, thank you. And finally, for those who have been reading continuously throughout the years... thank you... ten times over.
It's truly been nothing short of a delight.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
From South Dakota to Croatia to Bosnia-Herzegovinia to San Francisco - My Completely Non-Random Summer (in a Nutshell)
Hello! It's been SO LONG! I hope you all are well!
Summer and Fall have been just FLYING along their merry ways, haven't they? I had the opportunity of taking a few random vacations here and there, which is likely what has made it feel like this year has been a'FLYING!
Over the past few months, I've been doing a fair amount of traveling - in part for work, in part for fun. As such, I've taken the liberty of cumulating my holiday posts into one handy-dandy summary post for your reading pleasure. You are very welcome.
From South Dakota to Croatia to Bosnia-Herzegovinia to San Francisco... you could say that my summer/early Fall have been quite the... medley, if you will... of travels.
There is PLENTY of reading to be done within each of the posts sooo... without further ado, I present to you...
A Choose Your Own Adventure (remember THAT awesome book series?!), if you will... by all means, ENJOY!! :)
Summer and Fall have been just FLYING along their merry ways, haven't they? I had the opportunity of taking a few random vacations here and there, which is likely what has made it feel like this year has been a'FLYING!
Over the past few months, I've been doing a fair amount of traveling - in part for work, in part for fun. As such, I've taken the liberty of cumulating my holiday posts into one handy-dandy summary post for your reading pleasure. You are very welcome.
From South Dakota to Croatia to Bosnia-Herzegovinia to San Francisco... you could say that my summer/early Fall have been quite the... medley, if you will... of travels.
There is PLENTY of reading to be done within each of the posts sooo... without further ado, I present to you...
Summer (and Early Fall!), in a Nutshell
A Choose Your Own Adventure (remember THAT awesome book series?!), if you will... by all means, ENJOY!! :)
San Francisco - a Weekend of Narcissism
My final trip for the summer (okay, I'm so far behind with my blogging... this was more of an early Fall vacation) involved a visit to San Francisco. I hadn't been to SF in ages, so when one of my old friends from Ohio State (who lives in Chicago) mentioned that it would be fun to go out there to visit another one of our old friends from Ohio State, I was IMMEDIATELY on board!
That's how, come the first weekend of October, Arpana and I found ourselves on a flight to SF to visit the one, the only RUPAM!!! I knew the weekend was going to be a ball (there's something to be said about college friends), but... well, I didn't realize Rupam had picked up a new hobby over recent months.
Rupam recently got a nice camera as a gift - she hadn't gotten a chance to use it ALL too much lately so, well, I guess she figured what better time than the present to start practicing her photog techniques? Oh, who am I kidding? I was all for this since... well, since I LOVE. THAT. CAMERA!!!
But I digress. The weekend started off normally enough. The weather was GORGEOUS all weekend long (sunny and actually, quite warm, for SF) so we took advantage of the Friday afternoon sun to go on a walk through Rupam's neighborhood.
Rupam also had the brilliant idea of taking us on some like impromptu hike in her neighborhood. I don't think either Arpana and I were fully prepared for this (I mean, we live in Chicago - the land of flat, flat, FLAT terrain!) but we braced ourselves and made a concerted effort. To be fair, the views from the top were just lovely.
After navigating back down the hill(s), we wandered over to Dolores Park for a bit before heading to dinner.
The next morning, we arose at a relatively decent hour. Rupam fed us healthy (very Northern Californian) treats that she'd stocked up on for our arrival.
After our healthy and very satisfying breakfast, we headed down to the Ferry Building to check out the ever-famed farmers market. It was SUCH A GORGEOUS DAY FOR THE FARMERS MARKET!
After getting our fill of all kinds of free samples (did I tell you how much of a FREAK I am about free samples?!?!), we ended up wandering to North Beach, where we stopped and grabbed a late breakfast / early lunch.
It was at this point that Rupam had whipped out her camera in full force and... well, what's a girl (who LOVES THAT CAMERA!!) to do? That's right - POSE.
And pose some more...
I got a little carried away with all the camera clicking and really went to town. Isn't this picture SO FUNNY (with the Asian dude in the background)?? Hahah! Gets me every time.
Ah, there comes a point where a girl has had enough.
Oh please - who am I kidding here? I was ready to just keep on going! But by this point, people were starting to look at WHAT was causing us to giggle uncontrollably. So we decided to... well, take the show on the ROAD! Naturally.
After heading out of La Boulange (where we had been eating and modeling), we just started wandering the city streets.
Poor Arpana... caught in the crossfire of it all. NAH! She loved it just as much as we did (well... that may be a slight exaggeration but WHATEVER.)
We continued wandering down the city streets as we headed to the North Beach Public Library (of course, this was my request - I mean, doesn't EVERYONE want to hit up the public library during their holidays? ;)) No better time to... practice our "strolling" and "casual stopping" poses...
Until we spotted something we could pose with! Jackpot!
We did try to get creative, in our defense.
Honestly. Here we are in San Francisco and THAT was the best we could find to pose with? Seriously.
Anyway, after all that, we finally made it to the library! Hurray - my vacation was officially complete now :)
After that, we continued wandering - stumbling upon a truffle shop (!)
AAAAAND!!!! laksdjflskd!!!!
We were pretty beat by this point (all that picture taking sure takes a lot outta you!) so we headed back on the bus to Rupam's place.
There, we relaxed for a bit...
Yes, that's Rupam on her bed with a coffee table and a pizza crust. Just... keepin' it classy, I guess. Hahah! (I love this picture.)
After napping for a bit, we decided to head out to the one Ohio State bar in SF to catch the end of the Ohio State game that was playing that night. Who am I kidding? Rupam and I couldn't have cared less, but Arpana's SUPER into football so we decided to follow her lead.
It actually turned out to be really fun! I actually ended up getting into the game for a bit... and we ended up winning!!
Afterwards, we headed back to Rupam's hood to change and head over to Blackbird - a bar that was pretty close to Rupam's place.
This place actually had the tastiest of beverages and the best people watching ever. Such a fun night.
The next morning was our last morning in San Francisco - it was all very sad. We headed around the corner to Kitchen Story to grab some brunch and meet Rupam's one and only Sam (we'd heard so much about him and were SO excited to accost him with our... well, rambunctious ways. Hahah!).
While we were waiting for Sam to meet us, well, what do you THINK we were going to do to occupy our time? Photography session, re-VISITED!!!
I have no idea what I am doing here... but, well, I'm glad I'm entertaining Arpana at least.
Not tired of us yet, Rupam? Here we go some more!
I was all ready to keep on going, but... well, I think Arpana had had enough.
Hahahah!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE THAT PICTURE!!!
Anyway, Sam arrived shortly thereafter so after one final shot...
We ended up finally getting seated inside... and the photography session turned tables!
Once our food came, we put the cameras away and dug right on in.
After a lovely brunch, it was nearing time for Arpana and I to head to the airport. But we had plenty of time to stop for some sweet treats...
And of course, we couldn't leave without a stop at the local market for some of the most amazing pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I (quickly) grew addicted to during my time in SF!
And that, my friends, pretty much sums up the weekend in SF for ya. Hey, don't say the title of this post didn't sufficiently forewarn you...
That's how, come the first weekend of October, Arpana and I found ourselves on a flight to SF to visit the one, the only RUPAM!!! I knew the weekend was going to be a ball (there's something to be said about college friends), but... well, I didn't realize Rupam had picked up a new hobby over recent months.
Rupam recently got a nice camera as a gift - she hadn't gotten a chance to use it ALL too much lately so, well, I guess she figured what better time than the present to start practicing her photog techniques? Oh, who am I kidding? I was all for this since... well, since I LOVE. THAT. CAMERA!!!
But I digress. The weekend started off normally enough. The weather was GORGEOUS all weekend long (sunny and actually, quite warm, for SF) so we took advantage of the Friday afternoon sun to go on a walk through Rupam's neighborhood.
Rupam also had the brilliant idea of taking us on some like impromptu hike in her neighborhood. I don't think either Arpana and I were fully prepared for this (I mean, we live in Chicago - the land of flat, flat, FLAT terrain!) but we braced ourselves and made a concerted effort. To be fair, the views from the top were just lovely.
After navigating back down the hill(s), we wandered over to Dolores Park for a bit before heading to dinner.
The next morning, we arose at a relatively decent hour. Rupam fed us healthy (very Northern Californian) treats that she'd stocked up on for our arrival.
After getting our fill of all kinds of free samples (did I tell you how much of a FREAK I am about free samples?!?!), we ended up wandering to North Beach, where we stopped and grabbed a late breakfast / early lunch.
It was at this point that Rupam had whipped out her camera in full force and... well, what's a girl (who LOVES THAT CAMERA!!) to do? That's right - POSE.
And pose some more...
I got a little carried away with all the camera clicking and really went to town. Isn't this picture SO FUNNY (with the Asian dude in the background)?? Hahah! Gets me every time.
Ah, there comes a point where a girl has had enough.
Oh please - who am I kidding here? I was ready to just keep on going! But by this point, people were starting to look at WHAT was causing us to giggle uncontrollably. So we decided to... well, take the show on the ROAD! Naturally.
After heading out of La Boulange (where we had been eating and modeling), we just started wandering the city streets.
Poor Arpana... caught in the crossfire of it all. NAH! She loved it just as much as we did (well... that may be a slight exaggeration but WHATEVER.)
We continued wandering down the city streets as we headed to the North Beach Public Library (of course, this was my request - I mean, doesn't EVERYONE want to hit up the public library during their holidays? ;)) No better time to... practice our "strolling" and "casual stopping" poses...
Until we spotted something we could pose with! Jackpot!
We did try to get creative, in our defense.
Honestly. Here we are in San Francisco and THAT was the best we could find to pose with? Seriously.
Anyway, after all that, we finally made it to the library! Hurray - my vacation was officially complete now :)
After that, we continued wandering - stumbling upon a truffle shop (!)
AAAAAND!!!! laksdjflskd!!!!
We were pretty beat by this point (all that picture taking sure takes a lot outta you!) so we headed back on the bus to Rupam's place.
There, we relaxed for a bit...
Yes, that's Rupam on her bed with a coffee table and a pizza crust. Just... keepin' it classy, I guess. Hahah! (I love this picture.)
After napping for a bit, we decided to head out to the one Ohio State bar in SF to catch the end of the Ohio State game that was playing that night. Who am I kidding? Rupam and I couldn't have cared less, but Arpana's SUPER into football so we decided to follow her lead.
It actually turned out to be really fun! I actually ended up getting into the game for a bit... and we ended up winning!!
Afterwards, we headed back to Rupam's hood to change and head over to Blackbird - a bar that was pretty close to Rupam's place.
This place actually had the tastiest of beverages and the best people watching ever. Such a fun night.
The next morning was our last morning in San Francisco - it was all very sad. We headed around the corner to Kitchen Story to grab some brunch and meet Rupam's one and only Sam (we'd heard so much about him and were SO excited to accost him with our... well, rambunctious ways. Hahah!).
While we were waiting for Sam to meet us, well, what do you THINK we were going to do to occupy our time? Photography session, re-VISITED!!!
I have no idea what I am doing here... but, well, I'm glad I'm entertaining Arpana at least.
Not tired of us yet, Rupam? Here we go some more!
I was all ready to keep on going, but... well, I think Arpana had had enough.
Hahahah!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE THAT PICTURE!!!
Anyway, Sam arrived shortly thereafter so after one final shot...
We ended up finally getting seated inside... and the photography session turned tables!
Once our food came, we put the cameras away and dug right on in.
After a lovely brunch, it was nearing time for Arpana and I to head to the airport. But we had plenty of time to stop for some sweet treats...
And of course, we couldn't leave without a stop at the local market for some of the most amazing pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I (quickly) grew addicted to during my time in SF!
And that, my friends, pretty much sums up the weekend in SF for ya. Hey, don't say the title of this post didn't sufficiently forewarn you...
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