Coffee with Sue

Loneliness

2012-01-04T21:50:00.002-05:00

The Memo Cube

2012-01-03T21:51:00.001-05:00

Decadent Desserts

2012-01-02T21:53:00.000-05:00

Enjoying Mom's homemade cake with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and delicious chocolate syrup

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

Its almost a year

2011-10-13T20:51:00.003-04:00

Proposal on a first date. Accepting the proposal. Whirlwind wedding planning. Losing weight. Crazy, fun cousins. Crazier, funnier fiance. My best friend's wedding. My dream wedding. New relatives. Hubby. Honeymoon. Gaining weight. Birthdays. Weddings. Friends having babies. More birthdays. Cooking. Gaining more weight. Working out. Desserts. Making new friends. More new relatives. Keeping confidences. Chocolate. Chicago, the city... not the musical. Music. More birthdays. Teaching. Sleepless nights. Losing weight. Books. Friends.

That sums up life from October 29, 2010 till now. Not that I couldn't write all of this down in a long epistle format but I'm absolutely uninspired and tired. The words don't flow from my heart anymore. I seem to be dealing with a mental block these days, and although my head is brimming with things to share, I simply can't let it all out. Hopefully, once the dust settles on current events, my mind will clear up.

A cup of memories

2011-08-04T13:41:00.002-04:00

As a child, I was fascinated by coffee. It was the "grown up drink" (years later, I would find out what actual grown up drinks are). It was also the ads: Nescafe's "the taste that gets you started out" jingle was a tough one to throw out of your head! I don't remember when I had my first whiff of coffee. But I remember primary school, when my parents had coffee while I was being force fed an ultra-sweet, unpalatable concoction of Boost and Horlicks.

When I went to college, I suffered the terrible injustice of hostel coffee. Oh, the horror! It was enough to put me off coffee. I was in utter despair, till I discovered the bliss that was Bru. We made our instant kaapi in a tiny ever-silver tumbler. Such joy! And that ended when I came to grad school, where chicory in coffee was sacrilege.

Over the years, I have come to understand, embrace, and love the divinity that is coffee: to appreciate the subtle flavors of various roasts, the bitterness, and the acidity. I have also sampled everything that the nearby Starbucks has to offer, and I do like some of them, especially the milkier, sweeter, lattes and cappuccinos.

I always thought that I wanted coffee, because, as a kid I was eager to grow up.. and as an adult, I couldn't live without it because otherwise, I would simply be asleep. But today, after 13 odd years of gulping it down by the steel tumblers, mugs, styrofoam cups, and thermos flasks, I realized one thing. The romance is not with the caffeine, but with the memories associated with the drink.

On many occasions, I've had other drinks: countless types of teas, juices, and even the rainy-day-book-reading-by-the-window hot cocoa. But when I sit down to unwind, you can be sure I'll have a mug of rich, frothy, steaming coffee by my side.

A shout out to Mom

2011-07-22T20:23:00.000-04:00

There's a wonderful lady in my life who taught me everything I need to know. Every important thing. She taught me that I need to respect not only people who are older than me, but also those that are younger. She told me how important it is to fully surrender to the will of God, and from her life I learnt how to do it. She also showed me how to be an excellent friend by simply being a good listener. Her obedience and love taught me quite a few lessons on how to be a good wife. The pains she took and the sacrifices she had to make showed me there was more to motherhood than I thought. The love and care she showed her mother made me realize what a good daughter she had been.

This amazing lady taught me to enjoy the beauty of the simpler things in life. She taught me that everyone is beautiful despite the color of their skin, because they are all created by God. She taught me to take life spontaneously instead of planning for perfection. She taught me that it is alright to make mistakes, and encouraged me to keep trying and not to give up. She taught me that love is meant to be expressed, not hidden in the depths of the heart. And most importantly, she has shown me that I still have a long way to go before I can finally graduate from this school...

And although I show her my appreciation every day in some small way, I just want to give her a shout out today...

Happy Birthday, Mamma! Love you!

I know I haven't always been the best daughter. I have made you unhappy on many occasions. But I thank God each and every day for giving you in my life. And despite all that I do to turn your head gray, I know you love me unconditionally and I am grateful for that...