A couple of things in this post. First, here are some pictures that were clicked recently.

Dress - F21, Shoes - Miss Sixty, Bracelets - India

Next, sweet Vertu of Vivaciuosblog17 passed the " Kreativ Blogger Award" to me in which I have to disclose 7 interesting things about me.

Here we go:

- I am strong willed, impulsive, adaptive, very selective, impatient, sensitive and hyper active. If some of these clash, don't worry - I am Gemini :)

- I am in finance field by profession.

- I firmly believe that A is A and I love Ayn Rand.

- I don't have any OCD's (not even shopping. I can exercise reasonable self restraint).

- I can not eat hot and spicy food (even a little bit spicy). Not surprisingly, lot of my classmates therefore think I am pseudo Indian.

- You don't want to sit next to me while watching horror movies or on a dangerous ride; I shout my guts out.

- I have a name which doesn't have ANY meaning. Now, being an Indian and having lived 25 years in India, you can imagine how unusual this is and how amusing it can be for people to keep asking and/or guessing the meaning of my name. And, how difficult it was for me to explain to them that my name is just a name..please don't find any meaning in it :)).

P.S: I will pass on the award to some of my favorite bloggers next time. In a bit of rush right now.First, a few photos that were clicked recently.

Lastly, have an awesome weekend, everyone!

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do”.



"You cannot connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in to your future”.

"Sometimes life is going to hit in your head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.

“You got to find what you love and it is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Work is going to fill a large part of your life and only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work”.

“If you live each day as it is your last someday you will certainly be right”.

"Almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart".

Tradition of wearing anklets goes back many many years ago. In India, traditionally they were worn by married women. But, nowadays it is a popular fashion statement and women/girls of any age can be seen wearing them. Anklets can be of gold or silver or even leather, plastic etc. When investing in them, try to pick the ones that are long lasting and designs that can be worn with both Indian and Western wear.

Just one tip for this: Make sure you have got your pedicure done beforehand :)

Velvet, a luxurious fabric that dates back thousands of years, is widely used in Indian dresses. Velvet has kind of rich and sensual appeal to it, and it perfect to glam your night parties or attend a wedding / function. Since the fabric is heavy (in weight) and soft (in texture) it immediately gives a dressed-up feeling.

You can either go full velvet (as in 1,2,3 above) on your attire or use it as in some places in your outfit, just as a highlighter. A velvet blouse (4) , dupatta, or as border for your saree or suit (5). The idea is not to overdo and kill the look of it. You would want to carry the fabric with grace and not drowning in it.

Another good this about velvet is, like silk, it can support very heavy embroideries and the hand work that are on most of the Indian dresses. Deep blues, greens and reds are my favorite colors in velvet; black not so much. I am not sure whether velvet is used very heavilt in western dresses as well. I have not seen much of it and don’t own any western piece in this fabric.

Anyone has any western outfit in velvet?

First of all, a big thank you to all who weighed in your thoughts on my question here. There are some common themes to all the replies and I thought I would share it with all those who are trying to juggle multiple things in life with blogging:

1) Have drafts for posts or rough outline ready and fill in the details as when you get time or when creativity strikes.

2) Blog during the day or night, in a coffee shop or on the bus, basically whenever you get time OR have some time set aside for your blog every day or every alternate day. Depending on what your work style is, either approach would be fine.

3) Prioritize Prioritize Prioritize...

4) Have two or three key topics/themes to let your creativity and ideas flow and have a mix of shorter and longer posts.

In the end, if you really LOVE blogging, find it exciting and it gets your adrenaline pumping, you WILL find time for it, no matter what :))

Less to say, more to see today!
Whether you are planning a beach or a summer wedding, blue can be a very romantic theme. You can either vary the basic blue towards sky blue, auqa or royal blue colors or mix and match different colors with blue. Here are some ideas to help you along the way.

And, once you have planned the decorations and chosen your colors, here are some outfit ideas for this theme.

One my readers Aksar asked me this:

“i liked the idea very much even i was wondering how to manage a heavy dupatta..but as i m short height will it look good on me m having height of 5...my marriage is on dec please help”

Hi Aksar:

There are different ways in which you can experiment with your dupatta. I would assume that if the dupatta is heavy, you would like to make it the center of attraction. For that, you can go with either of the first three styles – cross over the dupatta as in Ist pic below and add a lighter dupatta to cover the head, have the dupatta cover the part of your neck and waist as in IInd pic or just have it on the side as in IIIrd pic below.

I think it would be true for anyone, but especially since you mentioned that you are short in height, I would pay very careful attention to both lehenga and dupatta. If the dupatta is too heavy, you don’t want lehenga to be too heavy and vice versa. Also, try broad neck blouses with not very heavy neck pieces and pulled back hair. That usually adds some illusion of height. You can go heavy on earrings and bangles.

The second set of pictures below are more for the style of lehenga than dupatta. Sleek cuts, like fish cuts or A line would suit you more than a heavy kali lehenga. If you have a lighter dupatta, one trick is to just have it on the side and roll up on your hand from behind as in the pictures below.

Hope this helps and all the best for your marriage ☺