A wedding and a holiday

After over 2 years, we finally went on an international trip to attend my niece's wedding in London

If weddings in India are full of fun, music and dance then this wedding was that and all class

where we all had reserved seats and printed menus

We all planned to stay a few more days to do some site seeing. I had visited London officially in 2011 and was able to recreate some memories 

Open bus tour - then and now

Outside Windsor castle - then and now. Last time I did not have time to go inside the castle, this time we took time to visit the castle. The doll house was my favorite part of the castle. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside 

Our visit coincided with the platinum jubilee and the whole city was decked up with flags

Hand knit ornaments outside Windsor gift shop to commemorate the platinum jubilee

My next favorite of the visit was the borough food market - so many stalls selling just cheese, olive oils, extracts...

This was a stall selling home made sauces and syrups. Look at all the yummy little bottles there. I was left spoilt for choice there

Fell in love with the variety of blooms. This was outside an apartment. Reminded me of the rhyme where it says 'chubby cheeks.. dimple chin..'

Now for some stitchy update

A fair amount of progress on mystery project

And orts - year to date

More from our trip and more in my next post. Till then.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Souk - Dubai 3, Sweet Summer

Last and Final part of our Dubai vacation!! A trip to Dubai cannot be complete without a visit to the Market aka Souk, as it's called. The spice and gold souks are located in old Dubai alongside the creek

When you are here, we feel as though we are at home. The are gives out a very Indian feeling, unlike the city, which is only high rise buildings and fancy cars. We get to see the original city here in old Dubai here

We took the metro to reach here. The metro station where we have to get off is also decorated in such a way as to reflect the traditional look of Dubai.. what were the original professions, trade etc are all reflected in the metro station here. Unfortunately I missed to take a picture of the station

We then walked to the gold souk first. I had no intention of buying any jewelry, yet wanted to see what it is like. As we were there during the DSF (Dubai Shopping Festival), the whole place was decorated and there were heavy discounts everywhere. A bright flash of yellow hit us as we entered the street

We got to see the world's largest ring here, as awarded by the Guinness records

I cannot dream of wearing any of these!!

From here we walked on to the spice souk, which is my calling!!

Nobody could miss the street, the smell itself would lead us there!! It was so divine for those who love spices

We got to see so many spices, many that we have not even heard of!!

Also there were these amazing cut glass work lanterns and other gift articles. I could only stare, take a picture and sigh over these as I was too scared of accumulating baggage and also because I was scared of breaking it in transit

From here we took a short boat ride on an old fashioned open boat

This model boat was outside the Dubai museum to indicate their traditional trade

That brings us to the end of our Dubai vacation dear friends.

On the stitchy front, I started on my next project - Sweet Summer by Lizzie Kate

That's about it from me today friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Craft about.. Au Revoir

Top of the World - Dubai 2

Hello dear friends. Continuing from my previous post 

Our next stop was, but of course, The majestic Burj Khalifa!! We had got a late night slot (the 10pm one) and wow we totally enjoyed it. Entrance to the Burj is through the Dubai Mall, which is also the largest mall in the world from the area perspective. As it was late night, there was no crowd in the mall and was quite peaceful. We enjoyed 'window shopping' through the closed stores, without having to meet the eyes of the sales people (wink wink)

This brief introduction of the Burj welcomed us. 

True to its words, wherever we go, this massive gigantic beauty catches our attention and makes us look at it in awe. We just cannot take our eyes away till it fades away from our view

This miniature caught our attention before taking the elevator

There are 2 decks - the top one is a closed one and the lower one an open deck. We loved the open deck with the cool night breeze and lovely sounds of the night

This picture was taken from the open deck with my daughter and cousin

It was midnight when we finally, halfheartedly, came back down to go home. See how quiet the dubai mall was 

These simple white paper snowflakes caught my eye. They were so beautifully done yet so simple

Last day of our trip was devoted to the most looked forward shopping!! My favorite destination is always the supermarket. I simply love walking down each and every aisle, looking at the various products. But when I reach the baking supplies, spices or frozen section my heart starts racing 

One such section is the Cheese Aisle!!

Just look at the different types of cheese available

Unfortunately, cheese is not something that we can carry back home :( I missed taking a picture of the spices section here. The whole area smelt heavenly with all the spices. I brought back some of the most common spices like Zatar, Sumac and Baharat

I just realized that I did not cover my trip to the Gold and spice souk. My next post will be dedicated to that

That's about it today from me friends. Till next time with more stories about Dubai.. take care.. be happy.. keep crafting about.. Au Revoir!!

A Trip and Summer Lessons

We got back from a wonderful vacation about 10 days back. This year we picked Singapore, a place very close to my heart for many reasons. My first trip to a foreign country was to Singapore in 1999, my husband and I began our journey here and V was born here as well. So, very close to my heart. We went back there after 10 years.. to see our old haunts and visit people and new attractions. What a lovely vacation this was.. my most memorable one

This summer, V and I discussed how to keep her occupied and decided that we would do something different and not the regular summer camp. So we rounded on daily life skills - baking, basic sewing etc.

First was a cake that V baked from scratch. She has been my little elf all along.. mixing the batter, stringing beads etc. This was her first ever cake baked from scratch - an orange chocochip cake

It turned out very moist and soft.

I have not been stitching on seashells the last 2 months, but I have reached the half-point. The first page of the chart is complete and I have begun the second page, yayyy!!

Holiday and TUSAL

Am back after an absolutely wonderful, week long holiday to Kerala. I should say this was more of a spiritual trip and a refresher.

The place we visited is called Vallikkaavu, a very small island village surrounded by the Arabian sea. In the middle is situated the beautiful ashram of our beloved Amma, Mata Amritanandamayi.

There were pooja sessions, meditations, bhajans, question and answer sessions with Amma Herself. We had a meditation on the shores of the beach one evening.

Meditating with Amma during the sunset was absolute bliss. V's bday fell during the week and we celebrated it in Amma's presence.

We got a cake baked at the ashram canteen and was cut by Amma!!! An unforgettable experience for all of us.

And now we are totally re-charged and refreshed. A trip to the ashram always makes this to us.

Hehe, Meari I thought magnetic nail polish was the in thing!! Am yet to apply it as we went off on our trip almost as soon as we got the gift. Will definitely post a picture once I do :)

With so much said, it is quite obvious that I did absolutely no stitching. And yes, am late for the August Tusal.

All the progress is from sea shells this time. And now to start with June cottage

That, my dear friends, is all I have today.. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir