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