Little Delights In 2017

 

We are already 11 days into 2018. It hasn’t been a great start for this year so far. But I am hoping things will improve in the coming days. Since I was feeling a bit low, I decided to revisit some memories from last year to perk me up. I am calling these little delights. So, here they are –

 

1. My very first 100 followers on WordPress

 

I achieved my first 100 followers on the last day of 2017. When I got this notification on phone, I remember telling my husband and smiling stupidly. Thank you to everyone who follows me, likes my posts, and comments. A very big thanks. It means a lot to me.

I know I am not a good writer. My posts are to the point if I am right. I think that’s because I am like this in person too. I talk less and generally in few words. I am trying to improve myself, to talk more, to open more. So thank you, once again for reading my posts. 

 

 

2. Achieving a 500 Day Streak in Duolingo

 

I have been learning Spanish using duolingo. On November 21, 2017, I achieved a 500 Day Streak in Duolingo. That means 500 days of learning Spanish without fail. I do one or two exercises daily from the app. Initially, I intended to achieve 365 days streak. After which it became a habit and right now I am on the 551-day streak. On my way to achieving a 2 year ie 735 days streak.  For those of you who don’t know what duolingo is: Duolingo is a free language learning application. And my favorite one. It has learning tracks for a lot of languages.

Well, according to duolingo, I am 55% fluent in Spanish. About halfway there! Right now, I am able to read and understand little spoken Spanish. If someone speaks Spanish quickly or fluently, I can capture bits and pieces from their conversations like picking out words I do understand. For example, I hear amigo in a sentence, “amigo”, means friend, yes I know that word! Haha. But it’s fun learning through Duolingo.

 

 

3. 30 Days of Meditation

 

My very first 30 days of Meditation from October 21 to November 19, 2017. I use Headspace app for meditation. It has 10-minute meditation sessions. I have been Meditating on and off for a long time. I still am. After those 30 days, I did for seven more days and then I stopped. I again started in December. And stopped when we went on a trip. I have started again. Let’s see where it goes this time.

It’s not the streak which gives me happiness. It’s the fact that meditation is something I have successfully incorporated into my life. Even if I stop for some days, eventually I come back to it.

 

 

4. Completing Goodreads Reading Challange 2017

 

At the start of 2017, I picked a goal of reading 20 books that year. And I completed it. It feels good when you set a target and are able to achieve it.

 

 

5. Starting my “Experiments in Kitchen” series

 

All the post titled “Experiment in Kitchen” share my experience of cooking a recipe. Whether it was a success or a failure. What improvements I can make for the next time. What additions/changes I made to the original recipe. So far, I have written about 6 of these experiments. I started this series with “Baked Poha with a twist“, one of my innovations over a previous recipe. The latest is “Potato Crusted Quiche“.

 

 

6. Staying with my grandmother

 

It was the best time of last year. I met my mother and grandmother and stayed with them for more than a week. I got the chance to show off my newly acquired cooking skills to my grandmother. I mean I was meeting her after three years and three years ago I didn’t know how to cook anything. I cooked both the Indian and Western dishes for her like Homebaked Pizza, Pancakes, Paneer Makhani, Okra Yogurt Curry, Baked Poha, etc. I am so happy she enjoyed every one of them. 

 

7. Brother-In-Law’s Wedding

 

It was both hectic and beautiful. I enjoyed everything from shopping, dancing, meeting relatives, great food, engagement party, and the wedding. 

 

 

8. Making Banana Bread Successfully

 

Yes, I made it finally. Yes! Yes! Yes! I made Chocolate Chip Banana Bread on December 23, 2017. The banana bread came out too delicious. That day I was so happy that I was dancing, “I made it! I made it! I didn’t burn it! It’s so soft and perfect! Yay! Yay!” It is going to be my next “Experiments in Kitchen” post where I will share more details. It’s silly, but I get excited, happy and too psyched when I make something that has been on my mind for a long time. 

 

 

9. Holding Crow pose for 10 breaths

 

I think around July or August, I started doing yoga religiously. I started with Yoga with Adrienne’s 30 Days of Yoga. I took around 60 days to finish this 30 days sequence. Then I did another of her 30 days series, Yoga Camp, and completed this one in 40 days. Followed by next 30 days series on her channel, Yoga Revolution, which I completed in record 30 days. Then I repeated the Yoga Revolution series more than once. Right now I am doing this year 30 days series, True. Tomorrow is Day 9 for me. 

If you do yoga, you would know that crow pose is one of the toughest postures in Yoga. From the beginning, I have never been able to hold it for more than 2 or 3 breaths. I always fall down. But there was this one time in October, where I was able to hold the crow pose for 10 breaths. It never happened again. I am back to falling down after two or three breaths. But that one time counts as a happy memory for me. 

 

I can’t think of any more delights from 2017. Writing these has significantly improved my mood now. Feeling more positive. 

 

Share your happy memories from last year in the comments with me. 

Thanks for stopping by!