Trick or Treat...Something Sweet!

This was the second part of the present I did for one of our friends that just had a baby.....You can see the first part here. This was for their mommy, a mini brag book that she can carry in her purse. I had to cut out the faces because I am not sure about posting their pictures.

And here is the CUTE bag I found in the Target $1 bin to put it in....Funny I liked this better then and of the regular gift bags the had!

Hope you guys have a great Halloween :) After our dinner guests leave I will be making 3 batches of brownies (one with a Symphony layer, one with frosting and sprinkles, and one triple chunk) and three trays of mini cheesecakes in preparation for tomorrow! I hope everything goes well and will have updates on Monday!

Good Morning? Not so Much....

I am NOT a morning person, most mornings I have to DRAG myself out of bed after having hit my snooze button a million times. I don't even have to get up that early 7:00 AM is a piece of cake compared to some but I just can't seem to do it, especially now when it's SO cold out and my bed is so nice and warm! Jay is not so appreciative of the fact that my alarm clock goes off every 8 minutes for half an hour because he is a morning person.

I guess hearing my cell phone go off that many times in the morning is a little obnoxious so I thought I'd check out some different alarm clocks. I don't know if these would help or if I'd just get frustrated and unplug or just let it ring!

The FLYING Alarm clock: In order to get this baby to shut off you have to get up and find where the propeller landed with the key needed to turn off the alarm clock. This sounds like an interesting concept except I am not so smart in the morning and would probably knock myself into 10 things trying to find it. Plus according to one of the reviews when the guy placed it on his nightstand the propeller would always fly off and hit his wife in the face! Somehow I think an alarm going off 5 times is a lot better then getting hit in the face with a propeller!

The Clocky Mobile Alarm Clock (in Aqua because it's pretty): This looks a little less harmful but I still think I would probably end up with a few bruises trying to chase after it in the morning. Like I said before I am not the brightest crayon in the box in the morning! Case in point instead of saying good bye this morning when I left I said good night!
The Purple Iwake Clock Radio for your Ipod: It's PURPLE how can I resist? But I much prefer waking up to an annoying beeping then loud Hindi music so maybe I'll have to download some classical to help ease the pain :)
The Moonbeam: Love the old school 1950's look and that it starts of with a blinking light first so the person next to you doesn't wake up. If you don't respond to the blinking light well then of course the alarm goes off!

The Monkey Wacky Wakers: Yes it actually plays a monkey sound to wake you up in the morning! If you don't believe me click on the link and check it out!

Do you guys have any tips for getting yourself put of bed in the mornings??

Resolutions

So I had a few ideas for a post today but none of them seemed to pan out....

a) The create your own Diwali coloring books for the kids coming to our dinner party on Saturday. My husband keeps forgetting to bring home the hole puncher so I haven't finished them yet!

b) Getting packages in the mail. This makes me SO HAPPY I even took pictures but didn't get to upload them since last night was a late night.

c) The super cute bookmarks that the lady from my mom's work made out of our RSVP cards. Oops haven't had a chance to take pictures of them yet!

d) Scarves they are my addiction and I love them so, I bought gorgeous scarves/wraps for my mom, sister in laws, and mother in law for Diwali but I can't find them anywhere on the Target website! I couldn't believe I got such pretty ones from Target!

e) Just how cold it is today....It was snowing/raining all day yesterday and let me tell you cute Indian tops at work and Sari's in the evening aren't very warm! But I am always cold nothing new!

f) How annoying it is that my cute Yellow sweater from H&M is shedding all over my black pants and t-shirt ruining the look! How do you prevent that besides walking around with a lint roller?

So since it is new years for us let me say Sal Mubarak (Happy New Year in Gujarati) to all of you!
I don't normally make resolutions but here we go!

1) Finish the album from our engagement party that took place LAST YEAR! I plan on keeping an album for each year and love these from We-R-Memory Keepers. How classic would they look on a shelf labeled by year for easy reference.

2) Be more proactive about household stuff, I like the idea of having different tasks broken down by day so that it doesn't seem so overwhelming.

3) Stop being so addicted to these:

I just can't seem to get enough of them!


4) Have fun! With a the economic crisis and a mortgage things can get a little stressful but overall life is good and I am a lucky girl for all I have so I am going to ENJOY it!

5) Be better about going to the gym it gets hard when it is SO COLD outside but in the long run it's worth it!

Happy Diwali!

When I was young and people asked me what Diwali was I explained it as the Indian Christmas, sometimes I still do although the concepts are very different. Diwali also known as "Deepavali" literally translated means a row of lamps. It is our Festival of Light celebrating the return of Lord Ram after he defeats Ravan and brings back his wife Sita after 14 years of exile.

It's celebrated with a great amount of fanfare, spending time with family, exchanging sweets, rangoli designs, and LOTS of fireworks. Because today it is pouring some of this won't happen but I am definitely looking forward to dressing up and spending my evening with family!

I'll leave you with a few pictures I found online...We have google safe search on at work so I'll try to update later from home with others...

From our family to your Happy Diwali and Sal Mubarak!!! (Happy New Year)

It's Monday! YAY! REALLY YAY!! and cows...

I am trying to shake off the weekend in me and accept that is Monday....unfortunately it is a little hard since I forgot work survival essential number 1 at home! Since all my work is either over the phone, on e-mail, or just on the computer I can't get through the day without this to help keep me focused. Today is going to be a loooooooong day without my ipod and it's even worse because it's Monday! Do you guys have something you just can't get through the work day without?

In other news pictures were printed and the frames were hung on our sitting room wall this weekend. All except for one! I am on the hunt for a 5X5 frame before Saturday, so hopefully I can find one and make it complete. Once it's done i'll take pictures and post them....

If this post could get any more random I saw this image over at Mangonette's blog today

It totally triggered the memory of this one that I took in India two years ago:

Cow's in your doorway are a daily occurence there, in fact there are cows everywhere just wondering around. Case in point this is a highway:I wouldn't reccomend touching these cows but I couldn't resist feeding the one that came to the door....Problem was then he wouldn't go away!

Anyhow Happy Monday to all of you....I am going to try and get some work done!

Vogue India

These pictures of Victoria Beckham from Vogue India are STUNNING! Growing up I always pictured having a white-dress wedding but as I got older I fell absolutely in love with sari's. I absolutely adore wearing saris and I think that there is no wrong body type for a sari. Short, tall, plump, or skinny every woman looks gorgeous in a sari! I will admit they are a little difficult to figure out and I myself haven't mastered the art just yet but I can do a much better job now then I could before!

Unlike these pictures of Victoria I thought these others that were printed in the August issue were very distasteful.


Don't get me wrong I normally love images like this because this is the heart of India. It is a heartbreaking reality to face when you see a gorgeous mall in Bombay and right across the street people living in slums and using card board to construct their homes. But if you look a little closer that baby is wearing a Fendi bib and the man is carrying a Burberry umbrella. There are days when these people may not even have money for food let alone EVER afford a Fendi bib. During Monsoon the best roof that they may have would be a plastic garbage bag so forget an umbrella. The middle class is not so large in India and most are either wealthy or incredibly poor and resort to sending their children out amidst traffic to beg in the streets. So while I do believe the images of the people truly are beautiful posing them with something that costs more then they will ever have makes my stomach turn.

Get Organized

What's yours is mine right?? Especially when it comes to space it can be a little hard to make adjustments when going from one to two! These super cute makeup bags are great for keeping your stuff organized so you can find, but out of his way! They come in three different sizes and four fun metallic colors...I just bought these and although they don't look it they are purple my favorite color :)

The little one is perfect for keeping a few makeup essentials in your purse "just in case". Also if anyone is interested I have an in-store coupon with a purchase of $12.50 for a free wallflower. So you can get these cute bags or these lip glosses and a yummy wallflower to keep your house smelling fresh! Leave your e-mail and I'll send you the coupon if you are interested.....

Really?

These pants in my shopittome.com e-mail today are kind of disturbing....What guy would wear these? Unless maybe he was Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl

Don't get me wrong purple is my absolute favorite color but I can't picture my husband in these!

In other news I am still miserably sick and at work....Tomorrow is Trick or Suite so tonight will be spent transforming clay pots into gum drops for the gum drop path.....Our theme is Candy Land and I am supposed to look like this:

If you were wondering

Today I look like this:

I feel like this:
and I'm taking shots of this:

YUM! In case you are wondering about my project this weekend well the house got a good cleaning and I found most of the frames I wanted they are all sitting stacked up in the living room since I passed out last night...Here's hoping I feel better and can get it all done! I hope nobody else is sniffling today due to the change of seasons! If you are you get sympathy and a virtual mug of hot chocolate from me :)
P.S. The hubby suggested I call out today....my response "I can't I took all my time off to marry you!" lol

The Greatest Invention for all of time

Ok maybe not...but if you asked me one appliance that I can't live without it's my Solia Flat Iron....For a girl with wavy frizzy hair when I learned about flat irons I was in heaven! I always wanted my mom's super silky super straight tresses but I inherited my grandmothers frizzy waves/can be curls with enough product! I started off with a Helen of Troy similar to this Hot Tools but I had to replace it twice within 2 and a half years....I finally upgraded to the Solia my Junior year of college and I LOVE it! I seriously don't know what I would do without it! But lately the super sleek look has started to get a little boring. My hair dresser from the wedding taught me how to use it for curls and waves, it took some practice but I have finally gotten it right and love have the bouncy volume:

Mind you this after a LOT of dancing on Friday and anyone with frizzy hair know that dancing your butt off never bodes well for your hair! This morning I flipped it out for fun and am loving how it looks! What are your favorite hair products/styles?? Are you secretly a curly girl in disguise of a straight haired one?? For some reason since I let my hair be curly for the year before the wedding to let it grow I just can't do it anymore! While Jay loves the curls it makes me feel not put together :(

Mish Mosh

So over the last few days I've been seeing a few posts on different blogs inspired by cardigans....As everyone who knows me is aware I am ALWAYS dressed in layers simply because I am always cold....And I'm talking a tank top, a long sleeved tee, a sweater, and then my jacket kind of layers....In fact I taught all my college roommates "I am thundi" (thundi means cold in our language) which later morphed into "It's Mad thundi son!" Anyhow I decided to check out forever 21.com and immediately fell in like with this sweater.....

I am always on the look out for pieces that I can pull off at a family get together that are a little different but still have that Indian look to them....especially in the winter when you don't want to wear the thin chiffon tops over jeans or even worse the light cotton outfits where you are freezing from head to toe! I think this would be super cute over a pair of jeans with some traditional earrings and knee length boots! It also comes in black if you are interested :) I didn't post more because there are cute cardigans all over the blog world at Mango Girl, Cupcakes and Cashmere, and Newlywedisms by Bryn.

Speaking of get togethers all the couples in Jay's friend group always do a get together to celebrate Diwali (our version of Christmas). This year everyone will be getting together at our house so I am excited to add some homey touches to our other wise empty walls. So after a trip to Ikea I will be taking on this DIY project posted over at Bryn's Newlywedisms for our sitting room wall. I want to fill it with shots from the wedding so that everyone can enjoy them, do you guys feel wedding pictures are too personal to put on the walls of your sitting room? I think it's a nice way to make people feel at home with pictures of the family on display. What are your thoughts?

It's an addiction!

So I have blogged about this before but it really is the best thing ever and I am hopelessly addicted to these C.O. Bigelow lip glosses! I currently have 4 in my bag (2 are on their last leg) and I still got suckered into buying 3 more! They are buy 2 get 1 free over at Bath and Body works and I can't stress what a great product it is especially in the winter months! If you ladies need a new lip gloss I suggest you try these out.....

If you want some color there are these:

If you just prefer clear this one is awesome and so REFRESHING! It's literally like chewing a piece of gum or brushing your teeth and leaves your lips with a tingly feeling!

While I haven't worn glittery lip glosses in years and I don't really like ginger I just got this one for the holidays....The flavor isn't too strong and the sparkles are super subtle!

So if you are near a Bath & Body works definitely stop in and try these out...Let me know what you think :)

I can't take credit for the photos they are from the pioneer woman.

Sweet Tooth

The scale at the gym this week has not been my friend....It seems as though those post wedding lbs are starting to show their ugly faces as I have put on 2.4! It doesn't seem like a big deal but I always seem to feel the extra weight on me and I don't enjoy that feeling! So it's time to buckle down and stop eating so many sweets! LOVELY especially when all week long I have been in the mood for funfetti cupcakes! These cupcake recipes featured on MSN didn't help either...don't those red velvet cupcakes look delicious??? Here's the link for some home made cupcake goodness for those of you that can indulge yourselves! If you can't indulge well then you can look at these picture a long with me and try not to drool on your keyboard!

Jay's birthday cupcakes from last year.....this year we had birthday brownies!

Our AMAZING wedding cake, when I thought up this concept my mm thought I was a little nuts...Thankfully the cake decorator got it and she did an AWESOME job! It came out exactly how I pictured it! Plus we got to have Red Velvet, Vanilla, and Chocolate Cupcakes!

What is your favorite cupcake?

Shop It to Me

I am well aware that this blog has been lacking in the creative department as of late....not because I haven't been working on things but because I haven't uploaded the pictures off my camera!

I will try to be better about that but in the mean time here is an awesome website! Being a newlywed, new home owner, and dealing with the hard times requires cutting back on spending. This website allows you to pick the brands that you love and the your sizes and it will send you daily e-mails on what's on sale! This may or may not help your shopping addiction but hey at least you are getting stuff on sale right?? Some of my favorites from today:


This Lace Trim Henley Tee from Ann Taylor LOFT down to 19.99 from 29.50

This Silk-Dot Print Scarf from Banana Republic down to 29.99 from 49.00
This Multi-Stone Cluster Bracelet from Banana Republic down to 19.99 from 44.00 (It is now out of stock)This Kenneth Cole NY "Handle It" Medium Hobo Bag down to $114.00 from $228.00 from Macy'sand for the husband:


These Calvin Klein Simple Care Flat Front Pants down to 41.99 from 58.00


These Calvin Klein Long Sleeve Raglan Mock Neck Quarter Zip Sweaters down to 59.99 from 80.00
This Thermal Henley from GAP down to 12.99 from 29.50

Unfortunately no shopping for me but nothing is stopping all of you....sign up now and ENJOY!