LOL: Life Of Leo

Image Source I've always been someone who is persnickety about dressing well. I've had my share of wearing bawdy clothes and colors, thanks to the hand-me-downs that were a primary part of my wardrobe growing up. For me clothes go beyond dressing up, beyond fashion trends and it brings out the personality of the person and honestly, I can tell a lot about a person by the way they dress. I didn't have a choice in clothes as a child. Coming from a lower middle-class family, we liked what we could afford and were fascinated by the clothes handed down to us by our affluent cousins even though they felt the need to yell out "Hey, that's my old skirt" during family occasions. I guess taunts like these are what imprinted a sense of being well dressed in me, in the clothes I choose to wear and own. Looks like the shroud of the toxic family had a skein of silver after all.

Image Source PAIN - A four letter word. Something that makes or breaks you. ABUSE - A five letter word. Though often associated with physical and sexual, emotional abuse is equally dangerous if not more. TRAUMA - A six letter word. Nothing to do with any injury or accident. Any or many distressing or disturbing experiences. TRIGGER - A seven letter word. A simple word, dialog, situation or person can make you go through the above three at any point of time. FAMILY - A six letter word. Usually meant to protect you from all of the above. A safe haven, a happy place. A place where you are understood, a place that doesn't judge you, a place that accepts you for what you are. Family, a group of people who live together or come together on occasions and care for each other. They shield you from the pain, abuse, trauma and the triggers associated with it. If you are extremely unlucky, the very family becomes the cause for all of the above. Welcome to my life.

Image Source Everyone by now knows that I'm an outspoken person who calls a spade a spade. I always speak my mind and never sugarcoat stuff. I have always been straightforward even when I was child. While I am pretty diplomatic at work, because I need to be, I still remain outspoken and express my thoughts freely and as often as I can. I have been often told that I have a dominant personality and that I'm someone who likes to lead. While I do agree on the latter, the former is highly debatable. I've lost count of the number of times people have called me "Bold" (Gosh! I hate that word!), just because I choose to voice my opinion. While most people just nod along or prefer to stay quiet and go through it, I choose not to. It is not that I am trying to be a rebel without a cause here. I just believe in doing things the right way. If something seems off or wrong, I talk about it. I am called bold because of this. I am called dominant because of this. Well, if t...

Image Source Soon, I complete 10 years of Corporate life. I have loved every bit of it, but it was not my first job. Growing up in a middle class family, I had to give up on a lot of wants and sometimes needs too. Way too early in life, I started doing promotional jobs to make money for myself. I remember the first promotional job that I took up. It was an event for a mall inauguration in the heart of the city and since I was in between semesters, I took it up happily. The event was for 15 days and I got paid 250 bucks for a day. A bunch of us had to wear T-Shirts with the mall's name on it and promote it around the area and share pamphlets. It was a fun job. This was only the beginning of my journey of financial independence. During school, I used to work in mom's boutique and make money on the side. Watching her work and helping her in small ways back then, enables me to create clothes for myself today. I saw a dearth of money while growing up and how my parents were st...

Image Source 2017 is finally done and I couldn't be happier. I know that I have complaining a lot about the year gone by, but as I sit down to write about it, I realize that it was not all that bad. It taught me a lot of lessons, helped me let go of many things and made me a better person. When I look at it this way, 2017 has been a very important year for me. Before we roundup the year, let's see how December fared. December was a peaceful and happy month for me. Since I had taken a break from reading after having completed my reading challenge for the year, I had a lot of free time on my hands once I was done with work. I was able to prioritize work better and use the time I had way more effectively. As I was not reading, I devoted my time to baking, designing or watching Netflix. I loved the book ' Big Little Lies ' so I caught up on the series and loved it as well. The ending in the series could have been better, but it was good nonetheless. December taught ...

Image Source I was tagged by Shantala to take up the ' Anything But Books ' tag. The tag is to answer the below questions and none of the answers have to involve books. Initially, I thought this would be impossible for me, since I have become a voracious reader these days (mostly in a desperate attempt to finish the fifth Harry Potter book and move on to other books, I'm done with 600 pages: 200 more to go), but I do enjoy a challenge no matter how hard it is. Also, it has been a long time since I did a personal post on the blog so maybe this can double up as that too. So, if you didn't know me already, get ready to learn some of my quirks. Here we go!

Image Source I have the habit of checking my phone as soon as I wake up. I'm not proud of it, but old habits die hard. The first thing that I saw on Facebook this morning was that someone on my timeline had added 169 photos to a album titled ' Trip with frndzzz '. I doubt if I have a total of 169 photos in all my albums put together. My first thought, who on earth has the time to upload so many pictures. And next, would people do the same if Facebook would charge them for uploading pictures? As much as I love social media and think it is a wonderful invention, it is turning out to be a bane these days. There are days when I look at my timeline and wonder if I actually know these people. There are people putting up all their photos that they can lay their hands on, online. Others are giving minute by minute detail of their holiday and many many others are screaming out opinions about issues that once mattered but no longer. I think that all of us on Facebook should onl...

Image Source This post was originally supposed to be out on Women's Day, but lack of time did not let that happen. Next, it was blog anniversary and I got busy with setting up the blog. So here it is today. Better late than never, right? I'm a fiercely independent woman, but I would not be what I am without the love and support of two men. They are the most important men in my life and I love them very much. First is my father. When you belong to middle class family, the birth of the second daughter is expected to create a stir of agony. But my dad was very happy when his second child turned out to be a girl. We were loved immensely and me being the younger one was pampered to the core. Not once did my parents cry about the fact that they did not have a son. We were given all the luxuries that they could afford back then. Right from the best of the education to all other amenities. My dad used to be ridiculed about being poor and having two daughters. But he never showe...

Image Source Ah what a month this one has been. A month of severe action and non-action. A month of happiness and pain. A month of complacency and adventure. A month of being treated like a queen and yet feeling worthless. If you think that I have gone crazy, then you are not entirely wrong. My birthday month brought with it a lot of unexpected adventures. Some good and some nightmarish. But then you can't just sit back and watch life take a dig at you. You need to fight. Every day and every second. Forever. And so I did. It gave me the strength to bear a lot of things. Pain, emotional outbursts, annoying people and the urge to stay connected all the time. It also taught me a lot of lessons. Something that I'm going to follow forever. I've never been the person who discusses every detail of my life with others. Honestly, I don't even do that with my best friends. As much as an extrovert I am, some things are better left unsaid. The quote above had held good for me...

Image Source I have a new obsession oflate. I post atleast one quote on Instagram everyday. It somehow makes me feel good. Quotes are something that rule my life. Just like love. I am totally obsessed with quotes and I tend to annoy people by quoting some during serious discussions. But isn't that why quotes exist? Although most of the quotes I like are the sarcastic ones, my favorites remain the ones that I have read from some books. And the one book that has given me more than half of the quotes of my personal collection is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult . There are way too many to choose from, but this one is my favorite. Parul has nominated me for the 3-Day Quote Challenge and this is my first favorite. Nineteen Minutes is such a wonderful book that I shall re-read it as many times as I can. It talks about human emotions and psychology in a way that was never explored before. The journey of Peter Houghton and the bullying that he faces is something that I can never ...

While the online market is swiftly growing and offers us a world of mass produced goods, there is hardly any scope to personalise these products, which could really make them unique and offbeat. Imagine a website that allows you to customise products and add a special touch, the way you want. This is the next wave of e-commerce. Say Hello to “icustommadeit”! In August 2013 an online marketplace called ' icustommadeit.com ' was launched, which connects buyers who wish for one-of-a-kind creations with passionate and professional creators of those goods, from around the country. icustommadeit was established on the belief that customization is the core of any merchandise today. The buyers connect with specialized creators by submitting a description or photo of what they want to customize for themselves. Creators, who are interested get in touch with ideas and send out their proposals to start the project. icustommadeit is a wonderful platform were buyers get to virtua...