Of Travels, Festivals and Stitching

Hola dear friends, I have been MIA for 2 months now thanks to more travels and crazier work! So, here are some of the key things that I think are worth mentioning here 

During my last travel to Bangalore (the 2nd one), I visited the Indian Music Experience museum, which was a very different experience. It gave us a picture of the evolution of Indian music, various types of Indian music, types of instruments and so much more

 

A picture at the entrance of the museum

A video of the various kinds of musical instruments 

Then we went to Amritapuri to be with our beloved Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi) for Vijayadasami

Had to take a picture with this life size cutout of Amma

Then last week, I went to Kolkata for a very short 2 days trip

 

I was blessed to visit Kali Ghaat and get Maa Kaali's darshan, which was totally unplanned

This is a picture of a beautiful skyline that I took in Kolkata while driving down in the cab

I managed to put in a few stitches on project Amma

Here's where I am at now..

..and this is all ORTS YTD. I have only one more page to finish Her!! Am hoping to finish it by end of the year

Amidst all the travels, Navarathri and Deepavali came and went. Both were pretty low key this time as I did not have enough time to setup a big golu for Navarathri and no time to make sweets for Deepavali. We managed with store bought sweets this time, but we enjoyed both festivals a lot in a simple way

So, friends that's all that has happened on my end. Until next time.. Be Happy.. Keep Stitching.. Au Revoir!! 

More Travels..

Hey friends, how are you all doing? I have missed last months post, but I have been travelling on work for the last 3 weeks and back today. It has been a very busy but absolutely satisfactory 3 weeks. 

Our office campus in Bengalurur is one of the best and has a lot of greenery. It is certified the most sustainable branch of ours in India. No plastics are allowed here and even mineral water bottles are glass. Here are some pictures 

This is a 100 year old banyan tree! It's just huge and every time I see it, it brings a lot of happiness

This is a metal sculpture, another one that I totally loved

This is a mural and sculpture that welcomed me at the Bengaluru airport

It's been 5 years since Ikea came to India, we have been wanting to visit and it finally happened!! We just love this store 

Amidst all this, some stitching did happen :)

..and here's where we are now. Just about 3 more pages to go!! Boy am I excited to see this one finish

 That's my story this time friends. Until next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!!

Of Travels and Weddings

Hola dear friends, it's been 2 months since my last post! Sooo much has happened since my last post

April has been a month of weddings and travels. There were 2 weddings and 3 trips. I am going to walk you through the last 2 months in pictures as, otherwise this post would probably be my longest one ever 😀

We started the month by a trip to Amritapuri with my aunt. This time I decided to work from Amritapuri and not take leaves. After more than 5 years, we also took the train while going instead of flying. We were pleasantly surprised that there have been a lot of changes in the railway stations. I realised how much I missed an overnight train travel. This was fun and should definitely do this more often

Now here are some pictures

A snap of the backwaters from over the AmritaSetu bridge

Despite the heat, the breeze actually made it very pleasant to enjoy the view from atop the bridge

Next trip was to Kancheepuram, which is about 3 hours from Chennai. It was a day trip, we left early morning and were back by 10pm . The day was quite tiring but was quite a fulfilling day. Last time I went there was before COVID!

This is a picture of the mandapam in Kamakshi temple

Had to recreate this memory 

A view of all the gopurams together

Then we had our LokSabha elections too this month and I am glad that I fulfilled my responsibility as a citizen

Next trip was one to Bangalore to attend my boss's son's wedding. My boss now, is one of my first managers. He was my first project manager since 1998 till 2001. After I moved to a few other teams and rejoined this team, he's now my boss again since 2014!  Here are a few pictures from the wedding and the trip

Taken at the reception 

In front of the bull temple in Bangalore

Look at the beautiful fresh colourful flowers at the market 

Amazing how many dosas he could carry at a time!!

That sums up my April dear friends. Amidst all this, I stitched just a little bit and making some progress on Amma

Here's where She is now! Doesn't she look awesome!

Here's a view of the ORTS from last 2 month's stitching

So, dear friends that's allll that has been happening at my end of the universe. Till next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!! 

Only TUSAL

 Hola dear friends

Dropping by to say hello and to share my monthly new moon progress on Project Amma. Not much has happened at my end since my last post other than work work and more work. People are normally most productive in the first half of the year, after returning from their holidays 😄

Looks like I was mistaken on the progress on Amma. I am 75% done and have only 25%!! Ain't that great :). I have only the last 8 pages left now as against the last 16 pages 

This is the 'moving the QSnap' picture. I have goosebumps every time I see Her 

A closer picture of where I am currently and ORTs from the month's stitching

So, till next time.. take care..be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!! 

Immersive Experience

 Hola friends! Hope you are doing well and have settled into 2024. I felt Jan was ok, was neither too fast nor too slow.

To update you on some of the interesting happenings from my end, here we go..

I am an art admirer, but only know a handful of artistes, definitely none of the contemporary artistes. When I visited my cousin in New York in 2001, he took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which I loved. I was attracted to a certain kind of art and he pointed out that they were all by Van Gogh. That's when I started reading about Van Gogh. Since Last year, the Real Van Gogh immersive experience has been travelling around India and I have been waiting for them to come to Chennai. Guess what, they finally are in Chennai!!

V and I had to go the first week itself for sure. I am totally camouflaged in this picture 😄

This was the view from our corner. We were there for an hour, and did not feel like coming away. It was an absolutely magical experience. We hope to go atleast once more

Baking

I finally got down to baking the 'Christmas' fruit cake! I never ever have baked it in time for Christmas, though I soak the fruits well ahead. This is an eggless, non-alcoholic version and here is the recipe I always use

Stitchy Update

Relatively lesser stitching in Jan due to life happening. I need to plan things better to be able to stitch some more. 

That's it from my end today dear friends. Till next time.. take care.. be happy. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!!!

Books and some stitching

Hola dear friends! I guess everyone is getting over the holiday hangover and getting into routine. Pace at work is slowly picking up momentum. We have one more festival, Pongal, before we get back into work mode 100%

Every year we have the annual book fair in Chennai during this time of the year and V and I make it a point to visit. It is not necessarily to buy new books, but more to find out what books are trending now, who are the new authors etc. This year too we went last weekend.. 

..and they had some good photo spots for people like me who love to get clicked and drive V mad 😀.

I was looking to buy translations of Tamil classics like Paarthiban Kanavu or Sivagaamiyin Sabadam. I did find both books but did not buy them. Paarthiba Kanavu was a hard bound and too huge and I did not want to hurt my wrist. I felt Sivagaamiyin Sabadam was an abridged translation.

So, here is what we bought this year:

- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I had this as a text book in 10th grade and I have been wanting to read it, without the thought of exam and syllabus

- Ram and Sita by Amish. These are the 1st two volumes of a series. Our library has vol 3&4, so bought the first 2

- V bought a book by Murakami. I have never heard of Murakami and am planning to read it once she finishes 

Now for the stitchy update. I have been able to make a decent progress on project Amma thanks to the holidays

That's a pic of the progress and ORTs from all of last month's stitching. I am almost finished with this page

So, dear friends that's the update today from my end. Till next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!! 

2023 - A ReCap

Is it already time to bid goodbye to 2023??!!  This year has been a mixed bag - slow sometimes and fast sometimes. Overall it has been an average year in all aspects

So, let's see the highlights from 2023

First and foremost, I completed 15 years of blogging!! That's right, isn't that amazing. When I started the blog, I had no clue that I will keep this going for so long. I have made many friends through the blog and learnt so much from this platform. So, here's to more blogging and more crafting

Travels:

We were blessed with 3 trips to Amritapuri this year! 

We had our annual get2gether with the cousins at Pollachi this year. It was a great one, though only for 2 days, as cousins from all over the world were able to come. Some of us were meeting after almost 5 years

Hobbies:

Beading

Some of the necklaces I mad this year. Hope to bead some more jewellery this upcoming year

Bakes

Snapshot of some of the bakes this year. Our favourite are the poornam muffin and the baklava cheesecake

Reading

..aaannd these are the books I read. My favourite was the entire Ponniyin Selvan series, absolutely brilliant

Cross Stitch

This is where I was in the beginning of 2023. I was 5 pages down

..this is where I am now currently. I have completed 11 pages and moving onto the 12th page now. I have about 40% more left. Hoping to finish this the upcoming year

So friends, that is the roundup of 2023 from my end. How has your year been? 

Wishing you and your family a very happy, very joyous and a brilliant year ahead. Wishing that the year brings the best of everything for all of us

Here's signing off for the year.. till next time.. Have a great rest of your holidays.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!!!