My first bloggoversary!!!!

I am writing this update on the eve of my first bloggoversary !!!! Wow, how a year has flown!!! Isn't it amazing. And I think the blog and all my blog friends have really inspired me this year into achieving a lot this year!!! Thank you all friends for being sooo encouraging and keeping me motivated . Words cannot express how thankful I am to each and every one of you

As a token of my appreciation and gratitude, I wish to give a small gift to my first follower Chiloe. I have not decided what yet, but I would love to make something really nice for her very soon. Thank you Chiloe for being the first one to teach me more about the blog world and also give me many more tips.

Today DD took part in an inter-school theme talk contest. The topic she was given was "Conservation of Water" And guess what, she won the 2nd prize !!!

Does she not look happy!!! So am I :)

Now, for my updates. Let me start with my experiments in the kitchen. Chennai experienced very heavy rain for about 5 days shutting us all inside the apartment . It was terrible being shut inside the house with a 5-year old unable to step out. DH somehow managed to get to work, but I could not risk dropping/picking up DD at mom's place.

So, one evening I just felt like having nice hot samosas. How could I with an incessant. The cook in me then woke up and said "Lets give it a go"!!! Here they are

Well, I finished them only around 8pm, but they did turn out real yummy. Thanks to Sanjeev Kapoor yet again. His recipes never let us down.

Another evening gave me a biiiig craving for something sweet. So, my next venture was my all time favorite Apple Pie.

And guess what it is now DD's favorite too!!! I got the recipe from http://www.joyofbaking.com/. The sides got just a bit burnt. That's mainly because I ignored (out of sheer laziness) the instruction to cover the ends with a foil for the first half an hour of baking!!!

I tried a different way of making aloo paratha too. But could not take a picture of it. Guess was too hungry .

Now, for my crafty updates. I have been doing quite a bit on the beading front of late. A few of my friends requested me to make some jewellery for them after seeing mine . So, I have been reproducing some of those. I did make a few new designs as well.

I could not take pictures of all. Here's just one of them.

This is one of my personal favourites.

And yes, I do have a stitchy update too. I have made some progress on our name board (should I be calling it a name board??? ).

Before I sign off for today, thanks a lot guys for keeping me going. I am eager to receive more feedbacks and comments. If you think I can improve somewhere, on the stitching/beading/cooking front please please please give your suggestions. I would love to improve. I love reading your blogs and comments. Keep commenting. Till my next update, take care

Updates and a reminder

Hello, here I am, as promised with a whole lot of updates and pictures .

Now as I have sooo many things to update, where shall I start ... I guess our diwali celebrations woud be a good way to start.

My parents had come over on the eve of diwali to burst a few crackers with us.

That's DD in one of her new diwali clothes.

You can see my dad right behind her, escorting her!!! This is the first year she handled some sparklers on her own. So, you can see dad being extremely concerned and is hanging around as close to her as possible .

When we were kids I remember we used to be woken up by my maternal grandmother at about 4am . We were about 5 cousins (we were a joint family then) and all my aunts and uncles. By the time all of us had the oil bath (Ganga snaanam), it would be 5.30. One by one all of us would prostrate our grandparents and take our new set of clothes from them. The previous night all our new clothes, the sweets, savouries and the fire crackers would be placed in front of God. There would be a contest (an unspoken one though) as to who bursts the first cracker in the street. My aunt would be the first usually, to our greatest delight .

So, here you see I have tried to keep up atleast some of the tradition. Though, we did not wake up at 4am, we managed to wake up by 5am and go down to start bursting crackers.

I made laddoos (the traditional ones) under mom's guidance and murukkus. Then tried my hand at kaaju barfi. Everything came out real yumm .

We had to travel on the night of diwali to Coimbatore to attend a wedding. As we have many of our relatives in and around Coimbatore, we used the wedding as an excuse to visit everybody there. The 3 days we spend in Coimbatore was extremely refreshing and energizing.

On the crafty front, let me first show you what Lynn sent.

The most beautiful pinkeep!! I love the colours and the choice of fabrics. Thanks a lot to you again Lynn .

Now on my finishes on the beading front. I managed to complete 2 new sets of necklaces and ear-rings.

This one is a choker. The actual colour of the beads is a light purple, though the picture shows it differently.

This one is slightly longer, coming upto the chest.

I found this store where they sell such beautiful oxidized beads and glass and semi-precious beads. I bought a whole lot of beads last saturday. I am sure DH is going to have a fit if I go there again!!!

Finally, the most interesting part. My stitchy update!!! Here is what I have done on the name board.

I decided to use a metallic silver. Thought it would look best against black. I am trying to put in a few stitches atleast daily.

Again, a reminder on my PIF. The last date for giving your names is the 7th of November. Please post your comments if you are interested on my post dated 27th October.

Now, that's about all my updates. Till I meet you with more updates, take care