Things I Want Before I Die

This post's title's byline should read - I Don't Know Why I Am Posting This.

I love to shop, yet I didn't shop for anything other than tylenol in NY because I didn't have the time! I already have a things to do before I die list (Out of which I have completed one more thing, so its down to 31! Baby steps people! Baby steps!). So I'm posting a "Things I want before I die" list. Also, I will sell-out for atleast 5 of these things, but I'm not telling which. Actually, considering that no one seems to read this blog anymore, I keep asking myself, what is the huge secret, still...

1. Fine china tableware (a full service dinner set and a tea set with a teapot and the works) - wedgwood or royal doulton. Beautiful table ware makes me go eeeee....
2. A huge kitchen and when I say huge, I mean HUGE - 1000 sq ft Huge - all my ex-apartments and my very own current darling apartment have tiny kitchens where I can barely store my stuff or move around (however, I have pulled off a 4 course, cooked from scratch - I didn't mill the flour or anything, but I don't use any mixes ever - dinner and lunches for over 8 people, so I know if one really wants to cook, one can) and in my dream house I want a HUGE kitchen and a HUGE pantry.
3. A black and a neutral trench coat that I can wear all my life and that make me look slim.
4. A vineyard and an orchard where I want to grow figs, loqats and peaches.
5. A picasso, a chagall, a subodh gupta, a raza, a warhol, a britto, a hussain and a kingshuk sarkar.
6. A voter's identity card.
7. My grandmother's (either - both were very spirited, independent and strong-willed) or father's determination and resolve.
8. My mother's recipes for making gujiyas and mathris - she grudgingly gave them to me, but I know she's left out something because mine just don't taste the same, when I asked her, she said - the ingredients are not the same quality!
9. A Bergama and a Milas carpet each - oh the beauty!
10. Lots and lots of shoes - only italian please, I tried out a million manolos and choos but I know I can't walk in them, on the other hand my coccinelle shoes are darlings. I spent 6.5 hours in them on my feet about 10 days back - 2.5 inch heels - and neither did my feet swell, nor did I get any corns, I was just tired and if thats not a good shoe, I don't know what is.

These are things I really, really want. I don't think I can afford any of the above right now, but planning now sure seems a good idea.

Bad-tempered Reflections of a Foul-Mouthed, Rude Hussy

Is there anything more irritating than a small-town Indian who has emigrated to the USA? He has realised his wet dream, which only proceeds to bore the living daylights out of yours truly. Can there be anything more boring than middle class american suburbia with its uniform picket fences and backyards? One thing I grant to India, it is never boring. Dirty, dusty, crowded, nosy, annoying, yes - but not boring. What can I say? I'm from a small town originally myself, but at heart, I'm a big town girl.
Also, why does each and every of my friend in California think that doing the napa valley thing is the height of sophistication and they aren't even wine drinkers! Sideways! Die you. And just why would I do the napa valley thing with a bunch of people who (a) do not drink wine (b) proceed to put me off with their bubba acts (c) take zillions of pics and proceed to bore each and every family member and friend for years to come - "look! here is hubby posing with the wine crusher!"
I know, I know, I'm bad-tempered and horrible, but its not my fault, its the fault of the people who've become boring.