My 15 in 2015 {Part 1}

Not entirely sure when this happened, but it did – I had come up with a tagline/theme for 2015, neither did I write it down nor did I speak about it aloud, but it sure must have been deep-seated in some corner of my mind.. Because, now that I ponder over the year that was 2015, I realize how far I have come, and am simply astonished at what feeling strongly (or passionately, or whatever else you want to call it) about something can really do! It’s true… I speak from experience – deep-rooted strong desires seem to work wonders!

There’s a dialogue in one of my favorite movies, if you follow Bollywood (or SRK) you are already all too familiar with it…

” Itni shiddat se maine tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai,

ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai..

kehte hai agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho,
toh poori kainaat tumhein usse tumse milane ki koshish mein
lag jaati hai…”

In short, all it means is –

When you truly desire something, the entire universe conspires to make it happen.

So knowingly or unknowingly, with or without conscious effort, directly or indirectly, even at times when things did not work out the way I wanted them to, the universe sure seems to have conspired to make last year what I had originally intended it to be – a year of firsts! And hence my tagline for 2015.

So without further rambling, here are my 15 firsts in 2015 –

Celebrated our wedding anniversary in NYC for the very first time! We knew relocating from NYC was not too far away and this was (probably) our ONLY chance to celebrate it in New York style before we (sadly) bid adieu to our favorite city!
I got my PMP (Project Management Professional) certification. I woke up one fine day and decided I just had to get my PMP certification over with, so I gathered all the necessary documents for the application (believe me, that was a painfully long process), registered for the exam, crammed for it day and night, and aced it, all in a span of 5 days, (phew! If only I was that determined at all times #chuckles).

Hubby dear graduated with his MBA, and so did I, as an MBA wife (self awarded :p). I only wish they awarded a medal to the spouses, you know, for all that we go through. Though it was just a year, it felt like the longest (and the hardest) one year, but boy, was it worth it! And I hope to god that we don’t ever have to go through the (long-distance) craziness that is Cornell MBA.
Both sets of parents came to the US for hubby’s graduation, and the entire family (parents, in-laws, brother and us) spent plenty of quality time in a teeny-tiny one-bedroom apartment before the big move! Sure, we were in each other’s face all the time, but hey, when the heart is big the space isn’t a big deal right? The seven of us have never all been at the same place at the same time since our wedding in 2011, so this was huge for us.
I made the boldest decision of my life to quit a well-paying corporate job to relocate to Seattle. For someone that had worked in big banks on Wall Street since graduation, this sure was a nerve-racking decision to make. Not sure yet if it was the wisest decision, but I sure am living the dream, chasing my million fancies!

The day of the first BIG move was upon us, as hard as it was to pack up and move from a city we had called home for a long time, the thought of change and living in a new city was just as thrilling and brought with it its own kind of excitement. We finally flew from NYC to Seattle, and thus began a new chapter in our lives.