My Three Favorite Marriage Blogs AND a Call For Guest Posts

Hiya Everyone, 

Today, I am going to list some of my favourite marriage blogs. These are the blogs that I regularly read and learn from. Here they are:

1. Happy Wives Club - I am such a big fan of Fawn Weaver and of how and what she writes on her blog. She has this never ending positivity exuding from her blog that immediately takes you to believe that 'it's happy to be wife'. 

Source: Happy Wives Club

2. Simple Marriage - Corey, the owner and the author of this awesome blog, is a certified marriage therapist. I didn't even need to tell you this as the moment you are on the blog you know it is a blog run by a professional. Corey gives the most practical advice out there and helps you grow in your marriage. 

3. Engaged Marriage - Another lovely blog run by Dustin. My articles have been published here several times. You can read them here, here and here. Dustin has a very informal way of talking and that really makes the reader feel as if it's a marriage next door. 

Call for Guest Posts

I am now actively looking for guest posts on a variety of topics. Please feel free to send me your writing samples on the following:

Your True Stories - You can send me your true stories related to your love story, your journey to find your true love or how you lost your love. It can be a story of your extra-ordinary mum-daughter relationship or how everyone in your family says you are a daddy's princess.You can also write about your best friend if you think your best friend is the best in the world. Basically, send me a story about an extra ordinary relationship. 

Extraordinary women - Do you know a woman who has done something extraordinary or just done ordinary things in a different way? She can be your mum, sister, neighbour, a stranger you met on the train or your friend or colleague. Let's celebrate the spirit of women on Womanatics. 

Love tip - Any love, relationship or marriage tip is most welcome. If you have any tip that has worked for you in your love life, marriage or relationship, then pass it on to us. Let's share the goodness. 

I am looking forward to your guest posts. I am not in a position to compensate you at the moment but I hope I am able to give you something in return other than a small traffic exposure. If you are a blogger, you can include a 2-3 line bylink to your blog. 

For any queries, please feel free to contact me at surabhi at womanatics dot com or use the contact form. 

Tweet

Reading List For The Weekend!

Hi Friends,

Here are some of the good reads for this weekend.

Family Vacation Packing Travel Trips - Who doesn't think if vacation in the months of summer? I found this article very helpful in planning a vacation with the kids. It gives some very good tips.

All Women Stalk

How to be stylish on a budget - A very lovely article for all the budding fashionistas.. :)

10 Life Lessons from Calvin Hobbes - This is one of my favourites from the lot. The life lessons are worth a lifetime.

A couple who dressed alike for 35 years - A couple has worn the same clothes for over 35 years! I find it very interesting. You gotta read this one to truly understand the depth of their relationship. Probably this may teach you some lessons as well.

10 Lessons from Atlas Shrugged's Dagny - I have not read Atlast Shrugged but I have heard a LOT about it. This article makes me want to read AS right now! I think Dagny is the smartest woman ever!

Not Just a Girl - A lovely, beautiful and such a sweet piece of photography and writing. A photographer had to photograph his daughter and he chose real role models over fancy, fairies. Look, how pretty her baby looks. 

Tweet

And We Have Completed Four Years of Marriage!

Hi All, 

I am so happy to be at my blog again after a hiatus of more than 15 days. This blog is like my second baby. Every comment that I receive on my posts, the emails that my readers send to me, every like or share on Facebook and the messages that I get on FB and Twitter, all add to the little milestones that the  blog has managed to achieve. You must have noticed that I reply to every comment I get and the email I receive. This is only because on the professional front, nothing gives me the happiness as much as hearing from my readers do. 

A message for you guys!

The blog still has a very long way to go and I need your love, support and feedback to move it forward. 

A BIG thankyou to all of you and to those who are courteous to read all the posts and comment upon them. I have their names in my mind right now :) 

Okay, so to give you a little background about my sabbatical. As many of you would know that I am pursuing MA in Psychology from IGNOU. I am already and MBA and an Engineer but after I moved to Andamans in 2011 with six months old Pahal, I did not get an opportunity to work. That is when Womanatics was born. 

Initially I thought my blog would be my career but slowly I realized that to keep the blog running, I would have to read a lot of stuff and widen my knowledge base. I was always interested in studying Psychology but never got a chance to as my father wanted me to study science and not social science. Sanjay gave me the liberty to fulfill whatever dreams I had and thus I enrolled in Master in Psychology. IGNOU is the only university that has its centre in Andamans, so I had no choice. 

This fortnight break was to write my exams. I went to Port Blair and finished my first year exams. I am now keeping my fingers crossed to get a good percentage. 

I had my last exam on 13th and 12th June was our fourth wedding anniversary. :) 

Honestly, the day started on a very bad note. Yeah, we guys fight too like cats and dogs. And I can be a very evil and demonish person. Sanjay, as expected, was silent and calm but I was too hyper. I was mad at him for a very small thing. Can you guess what it was? It was something extremely trivial. 

Okay, let me spill the beans. :) This is just to let you learn a lesson from my mistake! 

Sanjay went to Delhi for a two day trip and there he met my family and his family. My mum had come to Delhi to meet him and brought two boxes full of home made sweets. These sweets are the ones that Sanjay loves. And I have a sweet tooth. 

But my dear husband refused to carry the sweets as he feared it would exceed his baggage limit of 15 kg. This was it! He left the sweets there and I lost my senses here. 

There were couple of few other small things here and there that made me madder over him. He came back to Andamans because he wanted to celebrate the anniversary with me, but I just wouldn't talk nicely to him. I was so mad! 

One thing that added to my anger was that I scanned the luggage that he brought back and I didn't find anything for me. Phew! I thought he came empty handed and did not bring any gift for me. Imagine, how upsetting it is to see your husband coming without a gift from a trip to mainland? 

Even though receiving gifts is not my love language, I love receiving surprises. I cried a lot for two days mourning the loss of the homemade, mum-made sweets and did not prepare a word for my exam of Statistics on 13th. Then sometime in the noon of 12th, Sanjay tried to pacify me by explaining me a few concepts of Statistics. I had cooled down a bit. I prepared just about 3 topics out of the 25 that I had to read. 

Evening approached and he asked me if I wanted to go out for dinner. Ofcourse, I refused. He persuaded me and I also did not want the day to pass by without anything nice. So, I agreed. 

I reached the venue and saw this. 

Candle light dinner table

This was probably the second best surprise I had ever received. The first one was when he had planned my birthday party. 

He gifted me a bouquet of flowers along with a well well written greeting card and a set of earrings made from 'real, pure' pearls. 

Surprisingly, he had also ordered my favorite food and the restaurant people had prepared a special Fish Roll recipe for me! 

I was almost in tears. Not because of what he gave but because of what I did not give to him. The moments of previous two days flashed in front of me when I did not even give him a happy smile or a when I did not talk to him properly when he tried to talk to me. More than the happiness, it was a moment of guilt for me. But then we talked while having food and I explained him that I was upset because he could not understand my feelings and bring a small set of sweets if the big was heavier. 

Well, they say alls well that ends well. My day was also well because it had ended well. I also remembered that 'if it is not okay, it is not the end'. 

The day taught me some great lessons and I resolved to not make such mistakes ever again in the future. 

Issues like these - not bringing a gift or not carrying what your mum gave or not planning a surprise etc are just too trivial. They do not even deserve a mention, let alone an argument. 

I am generally mindful about spending time with my family but I am also a human being and I am prone to mistakes. Good thing is I atleast realized my mistake and apologised and even promised to take care of it in the future. I hope I do not repeat such stupid acts again. 

Here are some pictures from our small yet special celebration. 

We cut a small cake! 

My Fish Sizzler

The gifts!

And how can I forget my wonderful readers who make my day with their lovely words. Here is a small piece of cake for you all. I really wish I get to meet you very soon. Once I move to Delhi, I am surely going to meet all of you. 

A small cupcake for you!

Tweet

From a Father to His Son: A very poignant message

Hey All,

Please excuse me for being so lazy in updating the blog and also for delaying the announcement of the winner. As most of know, I am busy with writing my Master in Psychology exams and that is the what is keeping me tied up and away from here. 

I just read this on Facebook and by the time I finished reading it, I had a tear in my eye. When our loved ones leave us, it is only the memories like these that keep them alive. I know even after 2 yrs of demise of my grand mother, I feel her near me all the time. Just that I wish I could touch her, feel her wrinkled yet smiling face and could lay my head in her lap. 

My brother's friend died in an accident last year. The message below is written by his father. Read on. 

Exactly a year ago, on 9th June of last year, you had spoken to me at 1.30 pm; that was to be the last 
talk we were to have. By evening you had left us for your heavenly abode; you were just 25years of age then.

Your untimely passing has been the most devastating loss to all of us. Loss of a young talented son has caused my heart to sink so low that I am unable to express. People say that numbness begins to wear off with time – ‘time heals all wounds’; but in my case the reality of what has happened overwhelms even more with each passing day and becomes even more difficult to bear. My heart bleeds as I remember the wonderful 25 years that I spent with you. Our life has changed forever. We have not been able to come out of our grief and ‘normalcy’ seems like an illusion.

We are so proud of every act of your helping nature, bravery, intellect and extraordinary will power. We miss you at every moment and things are not the same without you.

I remember that when you were just 1.5 years old, you on your own walked up to Dr Harveer Singh’s apartment in ONGC Colony, Dehra Dun, a distance of about a kilometer from our home with many turns on the way; such a sharp intellect you had, and a desire to explore the world.

In June 1989, at the age of just 2 years, you walked for more than 2 km from our ancestral residence in the village to our farmland, refusing throughout to take my help in that hot summer heat; I realized then your potential and will power.

I still remember the day when I asked the Principal at the time of your interview for admission to class I at St Josephs Academy, about the possibility of admission; he straightway replied how we can reject such a brilliant child.

Mrs & Mr M.S Negi still remember you for your balancing prowess and flexibility when during their visit to our home one day they were astounded seeing you standing and dancing on my shoulders without any support.

When you were in class V, one night you had gone to the railway station to see off your friend who was migrating to Australia with his family. When I had realized that you were missing from home, I became very worried and searched for you all over, till you came back with an innocent excuse saying that you could not control yourself from seeing off your friend one last time.

I cannot forget your creativity with brush and colors as you could spend whole night painting, but unfortunately I did not encourage you in pursuing your talent and instead pressurized you to concentrate on your academic career.

You loved the outdoors and always wanted to participate in every outdoor activity. Once when you were returning from a winter camp organized by your school from 21st January to 26th January in 2003 at Auli, your bus met with a serious accident. At that time by using your extraordinary courage and presence of mind you not only managed to extradite yourself but also helped other students by helping them get out of bus safely. Your courageous efforts were appreciated by the school as well as local news papers.

We are all proud of you. I have not met even a single person who has met you and has not praised you.

For me personally you were my lucky omen, the year you were born, I got my first promotion and the best assignment of my entire service career, purchased our first car, purchased the land where we built the house where you grew up and we still live.

I have seen from your childhood, you were always busy to help others and spread happiness all around.

You were always clear hearted and had never hidden any aspect of your life from me; there was nothing that I came to know about you from others that I already didn’t know of. Whenever you observed that I was angry with you, you always came up to me and asked ‘Papa, what are your expectations from me’ and then you always tried to fulfill them. In 2011, I had told you that it was odd that you were the only non post graduate in the family. You immediately promised me to fulfill my expectations soon.

Now that you are gone, in retrospect as I have been reminiscing your last year’s behaviour, it seems that destiny was giving indications to us of what was to come, but only we could not gather any clues. In Aug 2011 when you had visited home, you asked me permission for extending your stay during your official USA tour, so that you can travel and explore the country on my own. I advised you not to take leave, telling you that you have your whole life ahead of you and you may go many times in future, but you insisted on extending your trip and after persuading me, enjoyed your extended visit.

From Dec onwards you tried to meet all your friends, relatives and family members. During this period you visited Banglore, Mumbai, Chennai and other places to meet your friends and brother. Finally on 3rd Feb 2012 you came back north and attended marriages of your cousin sister and your friend Aman Jain where you met all your college friends, and visited your Buaji’s house. On 13th Feb, which was your 25th birthday, you were in Dehra Dun and very tired but insisted on visiting your maternal grandfather along with your mother. I advised you to take rest but after persuading me you along with your brother and mother went to Patiala where both the families of your mausies also joined you and you got to meet and enjoy with the whole family.

You came back to Dehra Dun on the night of 18th Feb where you could not meet me as I had gone to Delhi for some work. Early morning the next day you left for Delhi to catch your flight for Hyderabad in the evening. That was the last day - 19th Feb 2012 - that you met me and Gaurav at Anand Vihar Bus Terminal.

Just a week after arriving back in Hyderabad, you had started asking me whether I should come back to see you people - you had always felt homesick, and it was only my consideration for your professional advancement that caused me to insist to you to stay focused towards your career.

You were the axle of the entire family and every activity of the family revolved around you. The day you left us shattered us all and time will never be the same again. Till you were with us I had never realized that I am so weak, but now I am the weakest person who is not able to control his tears even in front of others.

I love you my son and hope you find peace and happiness wherever you are.

Tweet

Adorable Rain: A Love Poem

This poem has been composed by Maya whose short stories Our First Meeting and The Gap you all loved. Shower your love on her poem as well. Hope to hear from you all very soon. 

I am missing you. 

It's been long I have been longing to be touched by you, to be caressed by the fragrant breeze that you bring along as your bosom friend. 

This Sun, you know chars me to the very bones; I am fed up dear! 

I don't know what does it think of itself; always throwing embers and smothering us in the four walls of the house! 

You did send a letter or two announcing your advent soon through dusky skies and pleasant winds but then you didn't come.

I kept waiting for long with my lids unfurled to feel you... 

Once you touch the thirsty earth, the sceneries will be mesmerizing for sure; that's when my heart would dance and frisk about with peacocks gone mad with pleasure; 

That is when my odhni will match with the earth's...yeah! the glossy green!

You have to come now..

I can't wait any more...

-- By Maya Khandelwal

Tweet