Hello Monday!

Read a lovely story of fortitude and survival (and of making happiness out of whatever you can eke out) here.

 Credit: New York Times

And don't forget to click on the slideshow to see the gorgeous home, painstakingly restored....It's a heartwarming story and the icing on the cake had to be this quote: 

"Happiness is not a big house. It's being in each other's way. That's what brings memories."

Definitely the attitude to start this week with! Howz Monday at your end?




Linked via.

Hey there, Monday!

Hello there! How IS monday treating you? Wishing you some warm winter sunshine to melt away your cares(or spring sunshine, if you're in the southern hemisphere, LOL!). I can't stop staring at this gorgeous bedroom today....yes, it's very dark, but that bedspread! Sigh!

Via Canadian House and Home.

Looking at it, I'm reminded of the soft mulmul (muslin) rajasthani quilts back in India. Light & soft as a hug......so today, as we step into another wintry day, I'm wishing you some warmth and coziness, wherever you may need it! Have a great week ahead!

PS: There's a giveaway happening here at P&P central---don't forget to enter!

Back to the daily grind!

Though we are still basking in the afterglow* of diwali, life is slowly falling back into it's daily rhythms.  The mithai, which was supposed to last weeks, has vanished, leaving behind a trail of til (sesame seeds). The diyas which danced with life have been emptied of the tealight shells and lie arranged in neat stacks, ready to go back into hibernation till next diwali. All is not shorn however, our home still bears a distinctively festive look. The string lights are up and will remain so till spring thaw (pointless to take them down now only to put them up again for Christmas + hubs and I suffer from epic laziness. You know what they say about the serenity of acceptance.  ;) ).

I didn't capture many pictures in the moment, because we were too busy living it, but here are a few pictures from our weekend.........

These pretty flowers now adorn our coffee table. I'm trying to root cuttings of pothos and coleus in this brass planter/vase (a very lucky thrift find!) and I decided to pop a few blooms from the diwali centerpiece in here for color. I hope they won't interfere with the rooting process. As you can see there's a little lot of sparkle going on to keep the festive mood going till thanksgiving a (and beyond). Those are spray painted shells in the foreground. I {heart} spray paint. Who says shells are only for beach-y themes. I don't like being pigeonholed into anything, especially not into styling tenets.

My little buddha corner got a little glittery makeover as well.....

Before.

After. (Not necessarily a before=yucky/after=great kind of makeover. Just different. And sparklier. I may or may not revert to the original setting once I get tired of looking at the sparklies). The flower is me flexing my (newly found) stylist muscles. Hyuk hyuk.

No weekend adventure is complete without the food. I present to you, the mithai bowl before the carnage.......

Pedas and til ke laddoo. The "after" pictures are kind of sad. :D

We I slept in on Sunday, and woke up to whopper mug of tea (my kind of morning!)and decided to make matar parathas for brunch............I started with this.....

made a big batch of these......

served it up with this........

....and tried to sneak in an afternoon nap. Yeah! :)

That wraps up my weekend!!! Joining in the fun at Patty's blog!

*This definition, not the other one**.........

............**get yo' mind out the gutter!



Breaking News: Coming up later this week: another fabulous home tour. And another giveaway! Stay tuned...........

XO,
G

Good Morning, Monday!

Hello! and how are you? How was the weekend? Ours was satisfyingly busy, with a dinner party on Saturday and some much needed R&R on Sunday. Many foods were cooked and consumed, the chef received several compliments (!!) and all the samosas vanished twenty minutes into the party. :D There were flowers and children and animated conversation. All was well and a heavy food-induced coma lulled us into sweet sleep.....

Some of the graceful tulips that brightened our weekend!

These were the colors of my weekend. Also pictured is a native American warbling bird whistle - fill it with water and it produces the sweetest trilling bird song. Such a simple concept and yet, so precious! It's made of clay and it kinda, sorta, reminds me of the little mitti-birds (clay) and animals that are available during the festive season in India---my mom would pick up some brightly colored beauties each dusshera for me to play with when I was a child. Isn't it funny/cool that almost all ancient civilizations have these underlying threads and connections? Almost as if it were ingrained into our very core, into our human-ness. Perceptions of beauty, the lilt of a lullaby, language, math and science, our understanding of the earth and the universe beyond...there are more similarities than not. I wish we could all remember these before we let superficial differences color our judgement.

The new week beckons as do several projects I have committed to (some mostly to myself--but I hate to disappoint anyone, most of all myself)....so, hopefully as the week progresses some will take shape and I would be able to share pictures with you. I'm also waiting for a sunny day so I can take some pictures around home and share them....we've been dealing with overcast skies for the past few days; I hear Monday is to be bright and sunny (it is Sunday night as I write this), and I'm SO ready for the sun.

How was your weekend? Wishing you a bright, sun-shiny week ahead.....I'm linking up to Patty's weekend round-up.

Dear Monday.......

...where did you slip away? daydreaming...........

Fall acorns. Buy the print here.

See you tomorrow for the giveaway?

Monday morning flowers! and the week ahead ......

Via.

via.

via.

How was your weekend, my darlings? We had a quiet weekend and enjoyed some simple fall moments....soaking in some sunlight and shuffling around in crunchy leaves. There was a quiet (but very special) birthday (hubby's)--which meant cake and presents. I'll be posting pictures and recipes shortly. What did you have planned for the week ahead? I was hoping to drop in and say hi to a couple of my blogger friends...we can step back and admire their gorgeous entryways and maybe take home an idea or two? I'm also hoping to squeeze in a tour of an artist's studio, along with an artist profile. It's shaping up to be a packed week here on P&P central, won't you stop by later?

Hello Monday!

Hello Monday! and Hello Fall! What are your plans this week? I thought we'd visit Mumbai this week, and maybe take in a home tour and visit with an artist/designer in the making? What do you say? are you up to it? Good, I kinda thought you'd say that....... :)

Here are a few gorgeous pictures, to get you in a New York Mumbai state of mind........

The Gateway of India.

Hotel InterContinental.

Crawford Market.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.

Bungalow 8.

 Phillips antiques shop.

So, I'm a Delhi-ite at heart (I haven't visited Bombay/Mumbai since I was a kid), but Mumbai is the city of dreams if ever there was one! The subject of countless books, poetry, movies and other expressions of art and passion, Bombay appears to incite the same emotions in the native mumbaikar that New York does for New Yorkers. I sadly, am ill-equipped to wax eloquent on this subject matter as my heart belongs elsewhere; however, you, gentle reader and die-hard mumbaikar--do you have anything to say? We'd all love to hear from you!!!

Stay tuned this week, 'coz we'll be visiting a couple of our blogger friends for a home tour and an artist profile!!!

All Images: Elle Decor.

Monday with flowers!

I love my greens, both on the plate and in my home!! I've always loved having life blooming and budding and sprouting all over my home--you've probably seen plenty of pictures of my favorite plants by now, this week I thought I'd introduce you to some of the more transient guests we've hosted over the past few months!!

This here is our "just add ice" orchid, who bloomed all the way from February into May. He's currently taking a breather and I'm trying to coax some buds out of him....... :)

My gorgeous sunflowers! I HAVE to make another trip to the farmers' market and soon!!

Roses in the bedroom--these were part of a huge bunch of "grocer roses". I pulled out these vibrant orange ones to lend their sweet fragrance to our bedroom.

Flowers and plants in my front yard/entry. The marigolds and red salvia have proven to be the most enduring of the flowering plants I put in this year....they're still going strong after the petunias and snap-dragons died out on me!!! (Salvia will continue to bloom as long as you pinch off the spent floral shoot!)-- they will definitely be making a comeback next year!! I'm waiting for the season to turn completely and will be bringing in some fall color with mums and pumpkins later this month!! I had planted a huge container of all varieties of coleus, which I will be bringing in this winter--this is the first time I've tried this and I hope they survive...they are the most radiant plants I have!!

I'm a beginner when it comes to gardening, especially here in the U.S.-- all the gardening I picked up was through watching my mom tending to her garden, in a wholly different environment! Here, we've moved so often that I've never really had time tried to apply the lessons I learn in one zone*..... but I'm trying, and I'll get there......

*The U.S. is divided into eleven gardening zones; (we've moved from a zone 2, to 4, and now to 6--{we're gradually inching our way south!!})

How is Monday treating you? Here in the U.S. we have a long weekend, which means Monday is off!! To P&P readers elsewhere in the world, have a great beginning to the work week! I'll be linking this post up to the Keybunch's "say it with flowers" party! Also, don't forget to check back tomorrow for another fabulous home-tour!!

Merry, Manic, Monday!!

A big hellooooooooooo to all you lovely readers!! How was your weekend? We had days of glorious sunshine, a bubble truck meet, a birthday celebration in the park....there was cake and ice cream and water sprayer fun, there were balloons and much ripping of gift wrap, several kids hit the dreaded sugar high (but it was okay since they got to expend all that energy running around!!) It was tiring, exhilarating, fun, chaotic and organized  at the same time!!

In other news, I wanted to share with you one picture from last week.......

I'll feed you the details later!!  ;)

So what are your plans for the coming week? This week is brim-full of to-dos for me...I have stuff spilling over from last week that needs to be completed asap, else I'm going to go batty! There are some very interesting posts scheduled for this week, starting with an artist's profile later today......get ready to swoon ladies!! Later this week, we'll be visiting a lady with a lot of attitude (the right kind, and oodles of it too!!) for a tour of her fabulous home in Texas!! I'm also planning to revisit the "what's on your entryway" post and turn it into a series with some glimpses into real-life honest-to-goodness blogger homes..loads of yumminess to be ogled at.....

What do you think? Are you up to it? Good, its a date then!

Happy Monday and colorful beginnings.........

 .....to a brand new week!! this week I'm really loving photographer Debi Treloar's work. Here are some pretty pictures to start your week off right...

Ummm....... tumblers and roses. {love}

Love that tea-flask vase!! what a neat idea.

DIY idea: every anniversary, my sweetheart gives me a bunch of delicious roses. I let them dry on the stems and save the dried blooms in a glass vase, so I can enjoy their beauty throughout the year (my crop this year got mouldy and had to be discarded, so be sure to dry them out very well).

Lovely, gauzy colors of summer. Reminds me of India!!!

I've mentioned rambling rose earlier haven't I? This is sooo my idea of bliss!!! :)

So what are your plans for the week ahead my lovelies??? I have a new friend---she's a fabulous, creative DIY-er and we get to visit her home!!! squeeeeeeeeee. Are you up to it? Great! I thought so!!! stay tuned...we'll be dropping in for chai and biscoot (biscuits) later this week. And there's tons more design inspiration brewing at P&P central, so don't forget to check in!!

All images: Debi Treloar Photography.

Color my world....

and a happy Monday to you my friends..... I'm loving these colorful collections today...

via.

via.

via.

via.

Flickr image via.

For sale here.

For sale here.

Country living.

via.

southern style.

Do you have a colorful glass display? Send in some pictures...I'd love to see how you've grouped them! here's a collection of greens from my dining room........

Photograph taken by yours truly.

(It's a windowless room, so please excuse the lighting...trust me when I say it looks wayyyyyyyyyy better in person. Please also note the strategic placement of a single twig...all the better to disguise the shoddy photography by moi!!! :) )

PS: Check back tomorrow...we're off to Europe to visit an incredibly charming home................

Stairway to heaven!!

How was your weekend? Mine went pretty much as envisioned! :)...laughter+talking late into the night+spray park fun for the kids.....there's this wonderful tiredness that you don't mind because you're relaxed on the inside...the kind where you don't mind washing the umpteenth dish or the little messes that life lived makes...

So I'm back and its a monday. and a new week stretches ahead....  

Dear Monday. I wonder what promises you hold for us this week ahead.

As we cross off another week lived.

May you be savored..... 

How creative is this?!!  Staircase design by los angeles interior designer Laurel Murals. via Houzz.






 

Some pretty pictures...

...and a punch of style for your week ahead!! ............as I work on prettying my nest, I'm constantly on the lookout for the next piece of inspiration to reach out and grab me...here are some random images from this week's forays into the design world.

Hello. Monday.

Love this. Very do-able...covered settees/colorful cushions/plants/lamp/mirrors=all elements usually found within our own homes. I would love to recreate this space in my own home...even the wall art seems possible (if I were allowed to paint-we rent, you see). But there's loads of options opening up...eg. wall decals, mounted fabric (and some more, which I would like to introduce you to in my future posts...)

A little OTT in my opinion....but those gorgeous pieces of furniture were just calling my name...they remind me of Kashmiri walnut wood carving...sigh!

Apartment Therapy.

Framed fabric=genius.

Blue pottery+shades of brown... what a pretty combination.

All images unless mentioned otherwise: Elle Decor.

This weekend was the usual: chores and errands + firefly watching + cooking up a few treats. I cleaned and scrubbed like a woman possessed...I'm happy to report that we are now several U-haul boxes lighter (luckily for us, our neighbors are moving and I gladly passed them on--anything to prevent them from landing up in a landfill...I don't understand why some states don't recycle!!). In other news, can't get this song out of my head.

This week, as promised, we will be travelling to Asia for a really heavy dose of inspiration....so hold on to your hats coz' this ride's about to begin.....!!! Check back tonight for the first installment.....(*giggle* I love acting like the suspense-wala announcer...seriously, what a ham, huh?)