How do I blog about one of the most special days of my life?

stylewillsaveus

So the title literally is the dilemma. I've had an awesome 25th and have been waiting and wanting to post it up on my blog, with pictures and all apt, appropriate words and leaving nothing out. But it's just so difficult! I very rightly agree with Sylvia Plath on writing personal experiences: "Some things are hard to write about. After something happens to you, you go write it down and, either you overdramatize it or underplay it, exaggerate the wrong parts or ignore the important ones. At any rate, you never write it quite the way you want to." That's how it is with me writing about almost anything and especially this birthday repertoire. It's like, where do I start, how do I start and what do I include and more importantly, what do I exclude? My loving friends have made it real tough for me!

And then of course is the task of attaching pictures, without which my story is just like half-told! Besides, Blogger sometimes gives me a hard time when it comes to photo blogging. Anyway, going by Plath, I might never be able to justify the quintessence of the event, and so in that case, I might just as well log the strings of happenings, in as much as I can....soonish... :)

This loveless glass of wine to drink... There's a mystery in truth, I think...

Though I'm a teetotaler, I've always been enchanted by wine. There's something about the drink--the presentation, the association! I find it very classy and why not; fine dine and wine go together! I have read articles and articles about wine on Wikipedia and elsewhere on the web and in magazines. Like I mentioned, it's the presentation of wine and the associations with it that I get attracted to the most. The idea of using wine bottles as decorative items sprung from there.

Since it's not easy to obtain Early English Onions or Chestnut flasks, I'd just have to stick with Dutch bottles and that's perfectly fine. I love those too. My idea was to remove the label off the bottle and use it as a flower vase or fill it up with decorative beads or dried flowers/petals. Having lots of bottles and placing them at various spots inside the rooms.

I googled to find more stuff on decoration using used/empty wine bottles and found some more interesting DIYs like using the wine bottles as hanging or wall mounted lamps or filling them with lights. I particularly liked the ideas and designs featured on Design Sponge. Erik anderson of gerardot & co. shared his fabulous DIY idea of wall-mounted wine-bottle torch, which I liked because it doesn't look cheap decor in spite of being inexpensive.

And then I just fell in love with the way Lindsay and Taylor from Purr design accented their dining space with the wall-mounted wine-bottle vases! Just sooo elegant! Simplicity at it's best.

I also just loved Manvi's idea of spray-painting the wine bottles before re-using them as vases, etc.

On her fabulous blog Mochatini, Manvi also showcases glassware made from recycled wine bottles and Donna Telley's tips on re-using the wine bottles and other glass bottles.

Find the Mochatini ideas here.

FYI, Mochatini is one of my favourite blogs as well and I can't wait to write a blurb about it!

I don't really know when I shall be able to find the time to do these crafts for my home/hobby but an idea leads to another and the empty wine bottles and glasses led me to abstract thinking and I penned a few lines down which received a sweet response on Facebook:

Have you ever drunk from empty wine bottles?
Ever felt the intoxication of nothing?
Ever wanted the glow to last and last and last,
Forever in a moment?
Have you ever drunk from those empty wine bottles,
To tell the story of passion?
Ever crafted the truth to better fit your dreams?
Ever wondered how tastes the elixir of the loveless wine glass?
Have you ever drunk from the empty wine bottles,
Wherein Minerva and Nemesis tell jokes?
Ever entranced in the highs of virtual pieces of time?
Ever been elated by that empty bottle of wine, have you?
Have you?
Oh what good life brings…
When it’s full…
And empty…
All we need…
Is to see…
To just see…

In fact, I think it's a great idea for ekphrasis and that's what I suggested him since he's good at sketching.

There's a lot more on use of wine bottles as decor, like cutting the bottle and using it as decorative candle holder, etc but for now, I'm pretty sure I won't be getting into laborious tasks like cutting glass. For now, it's just me drinking from the empty wine bottles then...

(All photographs from Design Sponge and Mochatini)

Site of the day!

After a moderately busy schedule, I've finally gathered time enough for major browsing of websites that interest me, which are mainly shopping sites, interior designing blogs, fashion blogs, etc. Whenever in the past have I browsed such sites, I've always come across lots of innovative and novel AND applicable ideas and designs that people could incorporate in their own lives. The unfortunate part is that I never really got time enough to write about them all or even bookmark them, at times! However, I do have shared links on Facebook with friends but sometimes just sharing the link is not enough; so I've decided to try and write at least a few lines about each interesting, cutesy website that I come across, that I feel like sharing.

Having said that, I want to share this site with you, if you don't already know about it: Apartment Therapy. It's one of the best blogs on interior designing. They have a sexy smörgåsbord of artsy designs and picks and I'm sure there's something for everyone in there. I had gone through their website long time ago but like I said, hadn't written anything active. Therefore, to start with is to start with an old favourite.

Of course I haven't been able to read all their posts but at the same time, I've skimmed almost more than 50%. Of their most recent entries, I liked the ones titled "House Tour: Maggie's Delightful Digs", "An Alternative Headboard Made of Pillows", "Color Combo: Gold and Gray", although there are many more I liked as well.

Maggie's Delightful Digs showcases a prettily done-up rented apartment, which is about the same size as the one that I'm living in currently. Till the time in my life that I'm not married, I'd prefer living in a small sized apartment about 600-800 sq.ft., rather than in a big spacious one, partly so that whenever I go back to India, I wouldn't feel monotonous in large rooms then. Besides, a small apartment is much much much less fuss, trust me. Maintaining large ones is just whew! So then while living a life of struggle and self-dependence/independence, when in the beginning you want to be frugal yet elegant, such houses and tips from such designs and designers are a must. That's why I like Maggie's place. It's elegant and affordable. It's chic in it's own way. I had never imagined incorporating fuchsia could be doable but she changed my mind.

Apartment Therapy features a lot of ways of designing alternative headboards for completing the look of your beauty bed and while I like some other ideas as well, the idea of using pillow cushions for headboards looks charming to me. The way you can modify the design based on your mood or 'theme of the month' is apt for design and creativity buffs. My big concern though is whether or not these cushions would easily stay in place or just fall apart. I'm sure there is an answer to that.

I've always liked whites and pastels for walls. Grey however was never on my mind till I saw how classy it can look if done with gold. I mean, we all know the striking grey and silver combination but this post truly made me love this new combo of grey with gold. It adds a lot of elements to the room: class, vintage appeal and softness. Besides, it goes as well with any minimalistic design as with an organized-clutter look, whichever you like.

I shall continue promenading on this sweet boardwalk and would love for you to let me know what you think and of such lovable sites that would be great to share. One post definitely is not enough for a site that's one of my favourites but till my next blogging venture, therapy your apartments!

All photographs from Apartment Therapy.

Can it get anymore Monday-er?

How would you describe a typical Monday in one word, in as reasonable as it can get? For today, for me, it's 'long'.

I'm blogging 'just like that' once again. It may sound nerdy and strange but I have to admit: I do NOT hate Mondays. I believe that if your Mondays are lazy, the rest of the week will be the same. Or in other words, if you have a busy Monday, the rest of the week will pass by in a snap! By now, I wonder how many of you must be banging your desks in discord! Anyhow, this urge of just writing something got the better of me so I thought it'd be fun to share my Monday with you all and to know how your Mondays were or usually are like! I can say this is inspired a bit by my friend's blog (which by the way, is awesome).

Extremely truncated highlights of my Monday today: Started off pretty good for me, with my new improved wake-up time. That was followed by reading an article for the seminar with a mug of hot ginger tea after which I left for Bellmont for some intense discussion.Come noonish and I felt as if I was going to pass out, right there in Madam Mam's. My hands started to shiver, I felt light-headed and cold. Trust me, that additional order of A6 was only to make up for the glucose. Back in Bellmont, the stimulator (gosh why do we have devices that are called stimulators and vibrators in neuromuscular physiology lab for studying motor units??!!) decided to throw a tantrum. And then I graded and graded and graded and graded and....respite came in form of hunger-pangs and dinner-time (that too, new improved!). The time after that was devoted to the presentation that I am up for tomorrow. (I'm still trying to cut down on the number of slides :|)

The best things about the day: Brunch and dinner with my favourite person. My successful attempt at making the drab grey look chic. The sense of acquisition after brushing my teeth at night.

It's pretty late and I need to get some good sleep to wake up earlier tomorrow. This tab is open for you all to input your Monday stuff!

And in the end, a couple Monday cartoons for the majority! xo

savage chickens is a fun site I came across meanwhile!

(The Garfield photo comes from here.)

Turn off the lights!

My fascination with candles is increasing day by day as I learn how many countless scents are out there that I haven't had a chance to get a whiff of! I used to love candles for their decorative value, ever since I was a child. I was brought up in a Christian atmosphere most of the times and then went to convent school, so practically and literally, I was a half Christian. I say that because that reminds me of how I have been always associated with candles one way or the other! Churches, school functions, Christmas, chapel ceremonies…and of course power failures in India! I am one of those who can proudly claim to have studied under candlelight! :P so then, this fascination of candles was always there, passive those days and very active these days.

Only last summer, I secretly decided (Alas! No more!) to do a collection of candles of mine. Just for the 'pretty' quotient. It started out with just getting whatever looked good and smelled good, and although it still boils down to pretty much that when buying candles, I'm becoming more and more picky and choosy about which candles to buy. And why not? There are so many classifications!

Why: The answer to why I'd want to have candles is no more limited to just pretty quotient anymore, although that still tops the list. It's a sense of personal satisfaction of having something fresh and sensual around me all the time. I feel like it adds a lot of positivity. Besides, I believe lighting is a major component of any room and it can so transform a room from drab to lively or vice versa and the ambience of any place is major-ly decided by the kind of lights it has and in that context, having a lit candle in your room can add a dash of that missing ambience and sensuality to the room. The oozing perfume is another aspect I love candles for.

Which shape/size: My favorites are sort of extremes. I like big, fat and massy looking and tall ones, in form of votives, jar and tumbler candles, on one hand and little tealights on the other. Floats are pretty too but for some reason I dislike the cliché associated with them and also the kind of typical aura that they produce. Currently, I have a few tumbler candles and tall and short votives. Short votives look just like solid shots of coloured wines!

Which fragrance?: Here's the most difficult part! Its amazing how there are hundreds of fragrances out there, each unique! Every single one of them. Fragrances of flowers and trees, fruits, food and spices, leaves and other objects of nature, etc. These scents! You can never feel more like on a holiday while you are right there in your loveseat! Smell of sweet pea, vanilla cupcake, fresh bed linen, figs, cherry blossom, patchouli, etc, etc.

What's more intriguing is the way the candle companies (bless them) kind of bring in more than one fragrance together and blend them all in so subtly that you get a whole new unique one! If you ever have a look at the ingredients, you will be surprised to see what all they have thrown in to create that one unique scent! It fascinates me. And their names, so apt! Midsummer's night, Autumn wreath, Fire side, Jack frost, Beach walk, etc, etc, etc!

I won’t conclude about my favorites here because that would be unjust! However, currently at home, I've got Sweet pea, P.S. I love you, Sensual amber and Fresh bed linen fragrances. P. S. I love you is a beautiful fragrance and not just the candle, even the mists and eau de toilette. I've received 'you smell good' comments every time that I've used P.S. I love you!

Where to get them?: I do my quota of candle shopping from Bath and Body Works. It’s the friendliest, liveliest, most lovable and pleasant store in town, alongside the fact that it has absolutely breathtaking merchandize out there. Every time I walk into them, I end up spending hours trying to zero in on my final merchandize! It’s a rule. Every time, I walk out with a new candle flavour. Too much choice spoils you and that’s exactly what happens when I walk in there, just every time!

Besides Bath and Body Works signature collections, I use Slatkin and co. Yankee candle company have some good ones too.

What next?: Next on my list for home is SSlatkin and co's Autumn apple and Bath and Body Works' signature collection's twilight woods. The Swirl by Yankee are something that I'd like to try. Not only are these a combination of two distinct scents in one jar, but they also add face value with their swirly design colours. Since I've gotten myself into the candle world, might as well try some aromatherapy ones to see how they are different, if actually at all.

While you are just beginning to pamper yourself with thoughts of these awesome lights, Bath and Body Works have decided to make it more decadent. They've come up with flavour of my favorite chocolates as well!! Their new Godiva candle collection literally looks delish! There couldn't be a better way to add Godiva to your style books! Now you can cut down on the chocolate and still be Godiva all the way!

Toppings: If you like candles, and get them, you want to make sure they show up in your room, right? Well, as far as my current room goes, they show up pretty well because of the spots where I've placed them and because of the otherwise minimalistic nature of my room! On a different note then, I'm super-interested in getting candlesticks and candelabrums. Or just simple candle holders. But that can wait. (In case you forgot I'm still a grad student!).

They want your love!: Yes sir, candles are maintenance. What did you think? They're not just about unwrapping and pronto lighting them! I learnt that in order to increase the candle life and for its effects to be the best, the candle wicks have to be trimmed regularly, especially the first time (a couple millimeters and with a special candle wick trimmer or your regular nail-cutter). Also, it's always good to have a candle snuffer than just abruptly blowing them out! I don't have one yet but I did get a candle lighter from Zippo, which is ideal for lighting up long votives inside tall glasses, because the wax melts and evaporates as the candle ages and then it gets difficult to reach to the wick using small lighters.

My candles:

All those of you who are candle connoisseurs like me, if you've got any recommendations or ideas for me, they're most most welcome! Till then, indulge!

Disclaimer: Once again, none of these images are clicked by me. I've gathered them from Google images from various resources, the list of which can be made available by emailing me.

Bust that stress! The way I do it

Looks like this dungeon (office in Bellmont) is quite a place for blogging! Nothing new however, this time, just re-posting a note of mine from Facebook. Just for the heck of it!

Today this thought occurred to me: What is my stressbuster? Everyone has one, don't they? Quite a few of them drink. Others..? I don't know but I'm pretty sure everyone has their ways of busting their stresses, let's say via music, some form of art, dance, travel, talk..of course. Talk. A whole lot of people do nothing but talk and iron those skin folds out. I'm sure lots of people must be having ways of getting de-stressed even without realizing they do! I mean, knowingly or unknowingly, people de-stress. Today in a moment of sudden unexpected stress, I just thought what if I had some sort of anti-stress pill or some instant relief remedy that would restore me back to my unstressed level! (Okay of course there are such pills, I know, but there's a problem with me, which I'll come to later). So then as that question popped in my head, it really amazed me how I hadn't actually consciously thought of a stressbuster per se, for myself. Hmm. Interesting for a superthinker, psychologically emotionally advanced (just sounds fancy; it's no good, I tell you) being like me, to not have come up with anything of that sort. Obviously the next thing was that I began pondering over "My instant-relief, superfast acting (magical, too good to be real) stressbuster". Here's the problem. I wouldn't have to think so much and write so much (well, I don't really mind the writing part :P), just if I were a drinker. Sort of a 'free' (refer to footnote for what free means here) drinker. Just guzzle down a few shots and what the hell is stress? I don't know how it actually-actually feels after getting sloshed but I guess from what I see (which maybe totally incorrect) that it does make one feel better, if not good; and pseudo-happy at least, if not happy, no matter how long it lasts and in spite of the hangovers. But, wait a minute, what the hell, I don't drink. That makes me no saint or angel (both saints and angels are alcoholic though) and I don't want to please people (because the only ones who maybe pleased must be Poonam Aunty, Sudha Aunty and Ramesh uncle :-/). Anyhow, whatever be the reasons, point is I don't drink. As much as I want to get drunk to de-stress at times (and truly, that's the only reason why I'd want to get drunk, if at all), I don't want to get inebriated.

"I’ve got a midnight bottle gonna drink it down...

If only for tonight I’ve got a midnight bottle gonna ease my pain
From all these feelings driving me insane" (Colbie Calliat's Midnight Bottle)

Oh, well...

What then? Smoking, if at all it busts stress for anyone, is out of question in my case. same goes with psychoactives. Caffeine sure is a stressbuster in it's own way, but those are micro-stresses, which won't cause major emo trauma if untreated. So basically, nothing edible or potable would work for me.

It all boils down to my kinds of stressbusters, which don't guarantee effects as miraculous as those by the aforementioned ones, but can sort of help de-stress, if used with some brain. I decided I'd pen them down just for the heck of it!

* Writing. Bingo. What else can I do instantly anway? Can't sing/dance and stuff. I also take walks when I'm stressed out but that doesn't stop the thought process and doesn't let me vent anything. Hence, the best instant stressbuster for me is writing. Scribbling my mind in words, precious words of my life. Don't ask where, because it makes the process a little techy in a way! Alright, I have a folder labelled 'Personal' in Google docs! :P Really. One, I do use Google docs and two, I do use it to write stuff that's on my mind. Personal stuff with expletives and all. It helps me vent it all out. Along with purposeful brain navigation. Okay laugh if you want to. :x :P That's an ounce of how scientific I can get!

* Like I said, I take walks. Go for long walks with hands in my pockets and drawings in my head. With sentences no one has spoken and consolations no one has given. With or wihtout caffeine. With my ID card, credit/debit card and my cell phone (okay, not always); and keys and sometimes music. Music is preferred because it blocks it all out. I take lonely walks in crowded places so that my mind keeps getting distracted rather than focussing on my predicament alone. My hyper brain notices every-single-one and every-single-thing at such times and fabricates stories.

* Talk. Chat. I call some random friend and talk about random things to them. Make them feel I was genuinely missing them and as if I called them for their sake, when in every way, I call them for myself. I even chat (online) with guys, who I otherwise avoid because all they want from me is me. This is weird because it makes me feel normal. Yeah it's a different story how I have to re-avoid them. It's even hilarious at times when they end up all puzzled thinking, "How come she is behaving a total stranger now, when the other day she was deja-vu?!!" And of course, after some time, they figure something out and just forget me! It's a vicious cycle however. I talk with my girls. With other friends (Tush, Meethoo, Rohu (it feels really silly to jot nicks but just for this one alright), Dingi, Ron,Tulsi, Div, I love you). Sometimes I tell them the cause of the stress but of course, there are most things you keep to yourself. Applies to all.

* I spend. Say, stores like 'Wish' on Guadalupe. Have you been there? It's just such a vibrant, vivid place loaded with glamour and glitters. It's a good divergence. I go there even in my unstressed periods to grab a whiff of them. Some high fashion gives to women! The best thing about them is you never feel like you're in a financial crunch even though you are, because those ear-rings cost only $3.50 and sometimes you can spot really good ones, unlike Manju's who sells them for $11! Can I please please pretty please tell you that I just purchased red hoops from Manju's to replace the ones I trashed downtown and yellow dangling ones from Wish at a neat $2.85!! **drooling** ...err..where is this heading? Now you must be pretty convinced about this stressbuster.

* Force, push myself to watching Grey's Anatomy. It also makes me feel I'm paying some sort of homage, I'm not sure how, to the textbook!

* Random browsing on the internet, mankind's greatest gift to mankind.

That looks good. Looks like I have quite a few good stressbusters at my diposal.

It's 1:15 AM and I have no fancies about insomnia; besides, I have two papers to discuss in class tomorrow (two? umm..) and a lab meeting to 'go through'. So enough of Google-documenting my unlimited supply of words (writers alone would empathize). Back to my mug of tea, two research articles (which are exciting as hell, for a change) and designing tomorrow. God, please don't dispose okay. Funny You are.

Okay God just is disposing. Or maybe I'm changing my proposing, because at this wee hour, we might be driving down to HEB because someone wants a wine-glass here.

Free: Limitless
October 23rd, 2009

When task-listing looks beautiful!

So while the electrodes are getting autoclaved, I thought I'll write. See, that's filling out the nooks and crannies of 'free time' with things you like. That's how you find time and utilize it for your hobbies. Unless, of course your hobby is playing a violin.

I can't remember when it was that I started using to-do lists. Task-lists. I'm pretty sure I have been using them since school, just that, in those days, these lists were pretty small and cute and I was never consciously aware of that list and the tasks and all. That changed however, as I entered college (undergraduate school). I started making these lists on the last pages of my notebooks. Those were handy then because well, I was a paramedical student in India (read: without a laptop in school and with a bunch of thick books daily); so that whenever I had to recall what was to be done, I could open that book (after flipping through a couple other books to find out which one actually had the list) and go through that list and check/strike or un-touch. Of course as a girl, I got into fancy little pocket-notebooks later on, which had a wide variety of design and colour (Do you notice how my English is all messed with both British and American in it? Well....) options to choose from. That wasn't really meaningful because like I said, when I always carried loads of books with me, what was the point of adding a small book to the party? Maybe there could have been, but I never really utilized it that way. Nevertheless, I have always been a big big fan of stationery, classy to girly, and so like it or not, use it or not, pocket-notebooks, little diaries and such cutesy stuff always stayed with me!

Somewhere down the road then, a very important change happened in my life. Sticky-notes. Surprisingly, it was my brother who introduced me to them. He got a stack of them one day and showed them to me: "See Tammu, on these, you can write whatever you want and stick them wherever you want!!! Anywhere you know. Isn't that awesome? And you get them in so-and-so colour as well!". And I examined the post-its with a curiosity of a lab technician examining a biopsy! I wrote on them and stuck them randomly, just for fun! Then it occurred to me that I could stick them inside my books! Discovery huh! And I could actually, like my bro rightly said, stick them any-darn-where! Besides, they come in so many sizes and colors! There's one for every place, every object! Neat. I started using stickies.

By this time, people were already increasingly using daily-planners, which for me, then, were just diaries. So turns out, I never really figured, back then, the difference between diaries and planners and so never used them. (Although I had a lot of them! I loved having them anyway. They look so good! I used to start using them and stop abruptly without even realizing! That's how capricious I am in these matters).

As people started using more technology and started depending on it, technology (man) came up with ideas to make lives easier (??). Internet became life. Or at least, a way of life. I was never still as much into internet, except for Yahoo mail and messenger. After a whole lot of friends wheedled me, I registered with Orkut. Then Gmail happened. Very slowly, Gtalk happened to me and I always refrained from Facebook no matter how much people raved about it. I strongly fought against registering with Facebook. Somehow I discovered a blog. Blogspot. Made one and felt so damn proud as if it were some personal website of mine and publicized it like hell and got all my friends to comment on my posts initially and everything crazy like that. Because it was like, come on, I have an effing 'website' alright! My stuff is getting published online and whole world is going to read it! Really. I was like that. And then one day, I somehow caved in and registered with Facebook. After those things, it never stopped. It has never stopped. Internet became my way of life as well. Only when I started applying for admissions to grad school and digging up about them and when GRE and TOEFL and likes happened, I realized how much more Internet actually is for the world, than just 'timepass' and Facebook and blogs! (I didn't add anything about googling and search engines although that was another use of Internet that I knew!).

So anyhow, the point is, as life got more techy, there were ways to make life easier, online, for free!!

The one application that I use a lot is Google calendar. It's now that almost all my office/paper/clerical work is done on a laptop. Communication is online. So much is online that task-lists and everything needs to be online too, just because now, it's much much more convenient that way and of course, there's no danger of losing data! So I've become an avid user of Google calendar, just like a couple other Google applications like, Google documents. That's a different story.

When it come to task-lists however, while Google calendar has a task-list, it's still not super-handy for me because I don't have an iPhone. I do have an iPod touch but that highly depends on wifi for connectivity which it doesn't always get because it's not a phone! So then if I had to remember what was on my task-list, I would have to open Google calendar every time. Not convenient. I still use stickies extensively but I've also gotten into this new habit of using note-cards as task-lists. I just love them! I love the entire concept of note-cards and flash-cards. It's easy, convenient, cute and super-handy! I carry these in my wallet or in my bag or in the pocket of my denim or jacket or whatever. They are so just the right size and since they are card and not paper, they don't get creased and folded easily. It might all be super-silly, but that is my stationery fetish right now! You will find them on my desks at home and in office. Inside my bags and satchels. I make a numbered list of tasks on these cards and check the task if it's done, put an X if it's not done (pending) and strike it out if it's cancelled. Once I've used both sides of the card, and it can't be used any longer for writing purpoes, I use them as bookmarks. For some reason at present, they are my best task-lists and stationery in general.

The only thing I'm sure of being unsure about is "For how long am I going to use them?"! Given my caprice towards such fancy stuff (and life, in general?), I wouldn't be surprised if I found some new really cool thing that replaces these cards! ;) See an example of my note-card here!

Disclaimer: These pictures are randomly chosen via Google images. Neither have I created them nor do I own them.