MERRY CHRISTMAS****

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND BLOGGERS AROUND THE WORLD!!!!!!

SMILE****

“SMILE”….. is there anything more beautiful than a smile, you can give a smile to anyone and instantly feel and make the other person feel good.

SMILE is the most beautiful expression on a persons face; it lightens up the whole face and emits a certain positive energy and glow around you….

It is said that it takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown so decide for yourself what is easier?????? 

Hummmm….

So be sure to give a little bit of this precious quality, which all of us possess in abundance.

These are little tabs or batches which i purchased to  give as gifts to my son's friends and spread a message of a smile to them.... 

SMILE is an instrument to win over someone

It’s a small curve that can set anything or everything right….

Smile at a stranger who you feel really needs it and it might make his day….

Smile at people who we take for granted, like the people who are there to help us out in the shops, railway counters, bus stations , and other civic workers whose work often goes unnoticed…

Here is a quote which I got while browsing around and I feel it tells us about a smile aptly  

A smile costs nothing but gives much.  It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.  It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.  None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it.  Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.  Some people are too tired to give you a smile.  Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.  ~Author Unknown

CHOCOLATE CANDIES****

I clicked these pictures because I loved the look of these sweets in their wrapper so bright and cheerful...

 

I even had a great looking tissue paper below the bowl of sweets
Did I tell you I have found this sudden fascination for tissue papers or paper towels . 
My father and my sis have been supporting me in this endeavor and have already gifted me some great looking tissue papers and I love them for that...  
I will be sharing this new love with all of you in my future posts...

WEEKEND PICTURES****

Last weekend was spent at my hubby's cousins farmhouse at Dhapoli, a small village in Maharashtra which is about 6 hours drive from our home...

I love to spend time in a country home because living there is so different from living in a city where we do , its much more calmer and peaceful, the air is pure and refreshing and so is the food...

You sleep well and so think well too... Let me share with you some of the photos I clicked on my way to Dhapoli and also while I was there...

I could not click as many as I wanted to because there were about 50 relatives all around and much time was spent chatting , gossiping and generally relaxing..

We left in the early hours of morning when the air was fresh and crisp... We left this early so as to avoid the traffic in the city and to be away from the crowd as early as possible.

We stopped on the way to have a hot cup or should I say glass of tea ( It feels so warm and homely to drink in a glass although we never ever drink tea in a glass) but the tea tastes so much better when you drink it in this fashion and also when the view around you is amazing . Here are some of the pictures I clicked while having my glass of tea ....

Don't you agree when I say that nothing compares to this hot glass of tea which is had with this view opening out in front of you...

 A rustic Indian village home which I clicked when we were asking for directions to reach our destination....

VIEW FROM OUR RELATIVES HOME

HANDSOME HUMMM...

PAINTING COMPLETE****

WHAT A RELIEF.....

Painting completed YeY!!!!.

The workers have just left, leaving behind wonderfully clean and sparkling walls but, but there is such a mess around the house with all the things scrattered around that the house does not seem to be freshly painted and clean , to get that feeling of being in a freshly painted house it is going to take about 3-4 more busy days....

My kitchen was the last to be taken for the painting work,and that was three days back.

I have a very small kitchen but I have things that would fit any big palatial kitchen Hehe... that is my love for kitchen ware.

I love touching and handling things in the kitchen , I love white,colorful,small , simple , or big in short I love everything that

can be used in the kitchen and using the same things day in day out is not idea of being happy with what I am doing...

I have so many spoons and ladels but still when I see a new design or a new material I will go and buy it...

That does not end with spoons I have dozens of plates and bowls too, every new color or shape fascinates me.....

And so kitchen was one place in the whole house that I was dreading getting painted... If you look at my kitchen today it does not look like its been painted it is in such a super mess , I just don't feel like entering it right now and hence  I am sitting here as sitting and reading on the computer relaxes me..

I have a pile of work to be done but computer is my tablet for rejuvenation and that's what I am doing before starting on my days or day ends work , its 7.15 in the evening....

PAINTING THE HOUSE****

I am getting my house painted after a very long time and hence lots of mess all around , every morning I have to shift things around before the workers come in and have to put them in place once they leave...

I get stuck in one room while work is being done in the other rooms  , I go in and out of the kitchen only when required and when they allow me to pass through their mess....

While in the room , I read a lot of magazines ,what can be more inspirational than a interior  magazines with steaming hot cup of coffee in your favorite mug and spoon..

Ohhh!!!!I love my orange mug and the green spoon in it... I normally like the contrast combination's.

Having coffee is a bright spot in the otherwise dusty and messy day.. 

Talking of inspiration , while reading this issue of HOME AND GARDENS  I felt inspired enough to make a decoupage YAY!!!!.

Would you like to see what I made and I think this was the page that inspired me to do it so first the inspiration and then the outcome.. 

And here is what I created....

Small cute coasters for my mid morning cup of coffee of tea...

I have clicked a few pictures of the lunch boxes made in the last week will try to post them tomorrow.. Its 7.00 in the evening and the workers have just left so time for me to get up and complete or do my part of cleaning and clearing the whole thing and cooking dinner so see you tomorrow...

MAGAZINE DEAL......

On the weekend I was in Pune , I went to a big mall which had a fabulous book store and what I see when I go there YAY!!!!! There was a 50% sale going on , I visited this book stall for a very first time and to see that sale sign made my mood go on a real high swing...

This deal on foreign magazines was something that was too too good to miss... They were selling some British publication magazine which are normally exorbitantly priced at a very low Rs 50/- because they were all past copies i.e year 2008 and 2009 copies which were not sold out and so in best condition (I think its the price that stops us in India from buying it).

 Whenever I buy magazine they will be either cooking magazines or something concerned with home and interiors ..
I found a stash of HOMES AND GARDENS  which were absolutely new and clean ( I don't like to read magazines which are tempered and are not clean when you touch or handle them, it just takes out the satisfaction of reading a good magazine..) 
Hence the pleasure of receiving a new magazine in your hand through your courier guy and the smell of the fresh pages of unopened magazine hummm... heaven....
But , but these where as good as new only the fresh smell was missing but they were crisp and untouched.. WOW WHAT A DEAL!!! I got 8 of these for myself.. and have opened and reading only 1 , so that I can savor , devour them one by one at my own leisure when I have the time to myself .

I have a corner in my home where i sit (on the floor ... yes on the floor next to the cupboard where i have these magazines piled up... and read them a little at a time... ) These place is my space where I sit only for going through my big big and really big stash of magazines and enjoy them to my hearts content its a real relaxation mantra for me...
I read my magazines at a very leisurely pace, Now I have 8 but i will take my own sweet time I dont rush into them , I want them to last for ever and ever and then I read them again and again over the years ..
As I read I dream I actually go into the place where the shot or photo is taken and imagine it in my mind's eye.. and I can feel how it must be feeling to the owners... wheww.... 


 This issue had this great article on blue and white decoration I just loved the photos and want to share them with you....

look at that lovely blue bedspread or quilt in the first picture above . Its got an Indian touch and print and so good with white...

These blue tiles look wonderful In the kitchen right?

How do you like the white and blue scheme ? does anyone out there have this colour scheme in your home please put in a line and we all can have a look...

 

LITTLE MORE OF PUNE FOR YOU....

I LITTLE MORE OF PUNE PHOTOS WHICH I CLICKED FOR YOUR PERUSAL.......

We clicked some snaps here outside this above shop which is very famous in Pune for its BHAKARWADI , AND AMBEWADI one being a savory item and other being a sweet thing.. Both the items are very famous will upload the pictures tomorrow , you could see people queuing up here for the sweet modak and pedhas too...

There were many vendors selling fruits and vegetables here , 

  

 

 
I found this person selling guavas to be very interesting with the way he has arranged his fruit on the basket on his bicycle....

SOME GREAT LOOKING HOUSES AROUND THE PLACE , SOMETHING THAT WE DO NOT GET THE PRIVILEGE TO SEE IN OUR MUMBAI....

I LOVE THE ABOVE GREEN HOUSE......

OUR LITTLE TRIP TO PUNE.....

We were in Pune over the weekend , Its a city which is just 3 hours drive from Mumbai the place I live. 

 
I went there on the occasion of GANESH CHATURTI a festival of lord GANESHA, Pune is a place where this utsav or festival was first started and people still celebrate it with the same fervor and gaiety .

for more details on this festival read this site here .

Its so wonderful to get the feel of a place especially when the festivities are on , you see people walking on the road with things required at home for the celebration, you could see stalls selling Lord Ganesha murti's or Idols..

I loved this above Ganapati Idol... There was so much rush around the place that I could not click more pictures than what I have, It was also getting very dark and so clicking pictures was getting all the more difficult.

 I somehow managed to park my car in such a way that it would not disturb the devotees who had all eyes and senses for the lord.
I stood at a distance to click this photos , I had to zoom the pictures in order to click them so please excuse the quality.

NEW CUTE CUTE MUGS

I admit I have a weakness for mugs , How much ever I might try not to buy them I almost always buy them when I see something bright and cute, It just invites me to buy it...

I was at my brothers house this Sunday and I had about an hour after lunch and before leaving for  my home.

My hubby loves his afternoon nap and wont trade it for anything in the world , I knew that he would have his lunch and go for his much-loved afternoon nap. Now I had about an hour before he gets up and is ready to leave (He does not like waiting....)

There is this great shop next to my brothers house which has some good stuff and as the festival season has started upcoming shops always stock up on some nice festive looking stuff.

So taking this opportunity (after peeping in and making sure that my hubby is sleeping.... Hey he does not like it that i waste my time on mind less shopping.. Its ok with him if I go for some reason and then spend some extra time there , but going just for the fun of it without having anything on the agenda is a big NO NO for him....)

I spent about 30 Min's there (most of my time is spent in the kitchen ware section ) as i love buying things connected to the kitchen.

I found this great looking mugs which I had been waiting very long for i.e polka dot mugs which have to look attractive..

They caught my attention and I just could not leave the shop without buying them.. There were 4 different types but  I bought only 3.

Aren't they cute... I just cant take my eyes of the red one with white polka dots and smile every-time I see that mug on my kitchen counter . I feel good that I did buy it as I gave a lot of thought before buying these mugs as space is a real constraint and where to keep them is a big problem ( I will make space and place for these beauties in my little home).

I never had mugs with a red and white combination and I thing they are lovely...