Gratitude List

#Gratitude – August Rush

August is the eighth month of the year and flew by in a blink of an eye for me. It’s once again time to pen down the gratitude post for the month gone by; though I am a little late in posting this.

“Dont wait for everything to be perfect before you decide to enjoy your life.”

This quote leapt out to me as I started to look back on August and the glad tidings it brought about for me. Dont get me wrong – it wasnt a perfect month but it had its moments. Let me sum up the good, bad and the ugly – not necessarily in that order πŸ˜‰

gratitude august rush field of wild flowers in the mountains with a ladybird

Blog Banter

♥ So I began August with the headache of finding a new web host for my blog as the existing one had upped the subscription rates. I was in serious turmoil, to the extent of shutting down the blog for good. Ofcourse I vented out on social media which led to a bunch of web hosting companies messaging me.

Even as I started technical chats with them, a huge host of peeps (read online friends) sent me such sweet messages on this issue. I was so humbled by the love that came my way courtesy of some genuine blogging folks; each told me how much they loved my writing and are sad to see me go. Some shared details of their web hosting companies, complete with contacts and plan costs.

Gosh! I was truly blown away by it all and am going to thank each and every one of you here (you know who you are). I did explore your suggestions and am happy to say that I have settled on one for the time being. They have a 45 days “no questions asked” policy and so I am trying it out.

Yay! my blog is back up!!!Β ♥

Holiday Haven

♥ I had left for a holiday in the hills at A‘s invitation on the last day of July and had done so with a lot of misgivings. I wasnt sure it was the right time to take this holiday as I had the blog woes clogging up my mind. But I am so glad I did and grateful to A for hosting me so lovingly. (A travel post on that is due and shall be duly posted this month.)

The holiday was blissful to say the least; I had forgotten the sky is so blue. The smell of fresh pine, clouds rolling in at whim and the utter silence all around was too much for my city stress laden mind at first. I was startled by the sound of bird wings flapping and kept thinking its some huge bird that makes so much noise while flying.

Gradually I realised sounds were greatly enhanced in the peacefulness and started soaking in the buzzing of insects and patter of raindrops on leaves.

I was pampered to high heavens by A and her hubby who is a whiz at baking sourdough goodies. I will just give a glimpse of the goodies here as the details I will share in my full on post πŸ˜‰Β ♥

august rush gratitude food pizza foccacia baking pasta herbs garden

Rakhi 2018

♥Β This year for Rakhi, I decided to not send physical packets which eventually end up in the landfills. I have been trying to practice a Zero waste lifestyle and in that zeal have begun to cut out as many practices as I can that lead to garbage generation. I am sure I upset a few peeps there, but hopefully someday they will understand.

One of my dearest brothers sent me a delightful gift from a Tea company – I can’t even begin to tell you how gorgeous the teas are or how awesome it is to sip tea from the exquisite glass mug. Grateful to have so much love and thoughtfulness in my life.Β ♥

gratitude august rush mug of tea sachets of tea bottles of tea

TBR Progress

♥ Well this is THE highlight of August for me as I managed to read ten books! Yup you heard me read it right. Ten!!! I guess it was the holiday time or the peace and quiet or just my reading mojo was up. Whatever it was, I managed to enjoy reading 10 books in all. (A post on this will be up soon on my blog)Β  Astonishing part is that I didn’t manage to read even one on my to and fro train journeys – each of 5-6 hours.♥

Health & Fitness

♥ I am happy to report that my health has been doing good and I was a little lazy in my fitness routine. Some of those walks in the mountains might have made a dent in my weight or so I would like to think. I have joined back my yoga classes with a vengeance and hopefully I will get my weighing scales to show a downward trend soon.♥

Social Front

♥ About three weeks were spent in the hills, where I was as social or unsocial as I could be. Coming back, I did spend some time with my friends who had been missing me. Ended up meeting peeps for lunch and dinner on a whim and boy did it feel special to be missed so much.♥

I have come back to some glorious weather here as the monsoon rain spell continued for a few more days. I celebrated the rainy joys with loads of cups of hot brews and plateful of pakoras πŸ˜‰


Well thats all from me folks; catch you next month with a fresh post. If you have posted your gratitude post of August, do let me know in the comment section. I will hop across to give it a read.

Linking with Vidya for the #gratitudecircle

Cherry-blossoms-Gratitude-reflections-journey-life-thankfulness-april-2017

You could catch my last month’s gratitude post here

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12 thoughts on “#Gratitude – August Rush

  1. Your August sounds “mast!” Glad you found a blog host. Closing your blog is not an option, so erase that thought. <3
    I saw your vacay photos on Instagram and they were lovely! Nothing like a break to balance life. The food and tea photos are delicious! Is that a tray-size pizza? Good to hear that you are doing well, health-wise!

    Thank you for your lovely comment on my post, and for being part of the Gratitude Circle, Shalini. Hugs.

  2. Ha ha ha – yes Vidya the holiday break was very rejuvenating. And yes thats a tray sized pizza, fresh sourdough batter made for it. I am going to start experimenting on my own with sourdough soonest.

    I love being part of the Gratitude circle Vidya – this is one post that I simply have to write in!

  3. A mixed of a month Shalini. Blog hosting has become a big business these days, and you would find a whole host of offers at various costs. Its better to always go for the most reliable one, cause its finally your hardwork. And did you say 10 books?? Thats an awesome number girl!! And am so jealous of your holidaying in the hills.. I need that break now. Alone cut off from social median and the rest of the world.

    1. oh tell me about it girl – I spent many an agonising moments over this. Even now I am mulling through it as I am not wholly convinced with this blog host.

      Yup 10 – though now I am reading none in september. Feeling burnt out I guess πŸ˜‰

      You should be not jealous of anyone’s holiday, seeing that you live in utter blissful scenic surrounds! Been crushing on all of your pics πŸ™‚

  4. Good to see there was much to be grateful for in August! 10 books in a month! Whoa! That is impressive. The holiday sounded like a much needed one. Also, I had to laugh at your view of glorious weather – mine has nothing to do with rains and everything to do with clear blue skies and warmth! πŸ˜€ Hope September is a wonderful month!

    1. Thanks so much Gorgeous girl! I am zapped at my reading mojo too; guess it got too much as I havent read anything in Septmeber so far πŸ˜‰

      You betcha this holiday is the stuff dreams are made of and I loved every moment of it!

    1. Hey thanks so much Shinjini – I think i binged on this one author a lot as I ended up reading 6-7 books of hers. I will be doing my book report of the month soon and will be posting the highlights there πŸ™‚

  5. Shalini, I have been seeing your tweets about the new hosting and the loved the gorgeous pics you shared from your holidays. This site definitely looks very sleek. Wishing you a great September that creates memories more beautiful than August

    1. Thanks so much Sonia – I really appreciate the time you took out to let me know about the comment trouble, I had no idea of this. I will be mentioning it to the blog host and hopefully it will be resolved soonest. I just request you to take a screenshot next time it happens to you please.

      Yes the holiday was a haven to my body, mind and soul πŸ™‚

      Thank you for liking the blog look – that sure makes my day!

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