The Chronicles of Udaipur - Part 2

So after an action packed day 1 of our trip, it was time to pull up our socks for the day 2. The day started with an early morning trip to the karni mata temple, which is on top this mountain that gives a full view of the entire city. There is a rope way that takes you to the top and brings you back. It was the perfect start to a perfect day. The view from the top was breathtaking. The location proved to be perfect for our little photo shoot.

View of the jagmandir island from the top.

I wore this tunic from Global Desi and a pair of comfy jeans.

These lost and found vintage -y looking aviators completed the look.

This is what my baby sis wore......

Peach pants - Nuon
Blue Jersey Tshirt - Lifestyle
Chappals - Westside
Jewelry - Random online store































After the hill top, our next stop was Gulabh bagh. Its a nice park / animal zoo. Since the weather was so pleasant and cool, we had a really great time here, walking through the gardens and watching all those exotic animals. I was just taking some random shits and ended up getting some really nice clicks, including this one... the ostrich giving me this one bloody eye look :P

The peacock dancing in all its glory...

Followed by the Gulabh bagh, we went for a boat ride in the fateh sagar lake and then to the "Saheliyon ki bari', which is again a beautiful fountain garden.... the main attraction of the garden was this beautiful elephant fountain .... which is covered entirely with fresh water lillies.

After the long day of sight seeing across the whole city, I had just enough energy left for my most awaited part of the trip..... yes u guessed it right ...SHOPPING (big smile).
We shopped for a lot of local handicrafts and other stuff. I also got a special "maharani" face pack, that claims to give you a queen like glow :P .... planning to try it out soon.

Dont forget to drop in your comments..... keep visiting for more fun :) :) !!!

The Chronicles of Udaipur - Part 1

So This weekend we had an awesome family trip to Udaipur ....... Even though this was my second trip to this magnificent city...... the magnitude of royalty, the spectacular colors, the scenic landscape, the rich culture and art, the mouth watering food and the inherent beauty of the city has left me awestruck.

I have always been fascinated by palaces, museums and all things artsy.. so I really enjoy visiting historical places and getting to the know the story of the place, so when we had to decide on a location for our small weekend trip, Udaipur was undoubtedly my first choice.

I made sure that we stay at a heritage hotel, so we booked this place which used to be an 18th century Haveli and is now converted to a hotel. The interior of the hotel was so eclectic with Moroccan style colored glass windows and lamps, had mosaic glass ceilings and rajasthani tapestry and wall paintings... it was an absolute treat to my eyes and I couldn't help but capture some pictures.

So our trip started with the visit to the famous city palace, we hired a guide to take us around the palace and museum. As he was telling us about the story of the palace and the lifestyle of the kings and Queens of those times.. I was completely transported to the era and I could totally imagine all that happening right in front of my eyes. It was magical.

After the museum tour, we went for a boat ride in the Pichola lake that took us around the lake palace and on to the jagmandir, which is an island temple. The boat ride gives a good view of the entire city and made me understand why they call this place the "Venice of the east"

The Jagmandir island had a cute lil' restaurant where we had our lunch.

We spared a moment to click a quickfie (quick selfie :p .... i made this word) .

In the evening, we went to catch a traditional Rajasthani dance performance at "Bagore ki Haweli". We relished in the music and dance, watching the costumes and colors was a delight to the eyes. We were blown away by the skills of the performers. It also had a puppet show, which was a total entertainer.


 The day ended with some shopping around the small street shops all around our hotel at gangaur ghat. These shops are filled with tourists and have some amazing stuff like old postcards with miniature handmade paintings, silver jewelry and other handmade artifacts. Bargaining is a must do at these places though.

Since the area is filled with tourists from all over, the food joints offer a variety of cuisines here. You will find small french cafes and German bakery s in small nooks and corners and since there is a shortage of space, there is an array of roof top restaurants to choose from and most of these offer decent quality food and a nice lake view.

For the day, My lil' sister Nainy wore a pretty white dress. I made her wear this hat and pose for me, so I could put it on the blog :p .....

Since the post is getting too long .... i ll save the rest for the continued post..  please stay tuned and leave your comments, i love listening to you :).

How to survive a bad haircut

Well today's blog is about every girl's nightmare... a bad haircut ...urghhhh. I know all of you must have gone through this pain at least once in your life and therefore I am sure you'd be able to totally empathize with the story I am about to tell you.

So, flashback to 4th of may... just one month to go for my wedding..... all my wedding beauty prep is on its peak... beauty sleep, face packs, hair oiling, conditioning and the list goes on, and suddenly I feel the need to get a hair cut. Those of you who have seen my old pictures know that i had really long hair before and i've had them that way for as long a I can remember... the last time they were short was in Xth standard i guess.
Since, I get them trimmed regularly, it did not seem like a big deal. but still there was some part of my brain that kept me a little apprehensive..... So i asked my mom and she readily said that I do need to get the tips removed as it will add a little bounce to the hair and at the same time she warned me not to get it too short.

# TIP No. 1 Never cut your hair right before your wedding or any big event, always have some time on your hand for corrections and for allowing them to grow. (I had a month)

So, being the impulsive person that I am,  instead of going to my regular guy, I set off to find the hair salon with the best haircut in town. I asked a few of my friends and my sister's friends and one name came up a lot more than the others, people said that this is the new hep place...they give really cool haircuts and one of the girls also gave me the name of the guy there who's the best there. So I decided to go there...

# TIP No. 2  Never try to experiment with your hair especially near big days, these are the most accident prone days... (but that's just my theory :p...applies to all rash decision makers)

Next day, I went to this place and turns out that the guy I wanted was unavailable and is only available on appointment... so I being the impatient person that I am decided to get it done from the so called next best guy available (big mistake) and what the hell did i know  :'( ... He asked me what i wanted... I told him that I just wanted to trim my hair and add some bounce on the top. He looked really confident and told me to relax and put my neck down and began his work. After about 20 mins, he asked me if i would like some bangs... i said yes....after all I am going to be the bride... a different look would be perfect, I was thinking in my head and BAMMMMM!!!.... he took the scissors and cut of a big chunk of hair off my face.

# TIP No. 3 Always be really specific on what you want with your hair and do not agree with what they suggest, especially if its your first time with them.

So I come home with this stupid haircut, cursing that guy and killing him in my head. I felt like crying after seeing in the mirror (all length gone, uneven steps and super short bangs)

...  Nothing cheered me up... even my mother in law was upset after looking at my picture.. I was helpless. After two days of being that way I realized that I have to live with it so this is what i did.

# Accept your new haircut and try to make it work.
# Tie it up, pin it up, straighten it, curl it, put on a clutch-er.... there is a good chance it will look alright in at least one of the ways.
# Oil, condition, brush... regular hair care to make it grow faster.. I grew almost an inch in one month.
# For the big day, choose your hairstyle keeping in mind your haircut and what suits your face.
#Stop obsessing about it and be happy .... that is the only thing that will make it go away.... if you are happy and smiling nobody will care about your hair and as they say happy girls are always the prettiest.

How I personalized my wedding with D.I.Y

Since I was a kid, I have been a big time fan of all things D.I.Y (do it yourself), long before I knew what it meant. As a small girl, I liked to make my own toys and dolls, make their houses, their clothes, cover my books by myself when schools started, braid my hair by myself and the list goes on and on..... So when it came to getting married, I wanted to make it as much D.I.Y as possible. I feel it makes everything so special and gives a personalized touch to the whole wedding.

Right from planning the whole wedding, to the selection of all the vendors, venue, photographer, makeup artist, dresses for me and my whole family, designing my looks for all the functions, I was as involved as I could and tried to make everything seem personalized for us.

Throughout the whole wedding, there were a lot of small things that i made myself, although it didn't take a lot of time and effort, but ended up giving the wedding a special  "this is so ME" feel, if you know what I mean ;).

This is our engagement ring tray, it photographed so beautifully and made for some pretty candid pictures.

These are the saree gift packs that were given to all the ladies from my inlaws side. I wanted to do something unusual and eye catchy.

 This is the special gift box, I made for my groom :), looks much prettier in real.

There is this tradition in Maharashtrian weddings, where after the rituals are done with, the boy's family is seated for lunch and their plates are decorated with rangoli, so I'd made this peacock wooden rangoli, which
unfortunately could not be used at that time due to some eleventh hour goof ups :( .

Then there is this nariyal (coconut), that is given to the groom at the time of Baraat, before he sits on the ghori. So we got this handmade Ganesha made out of a nariyal from Bangalore. Although its not made by me, I find it magnificent.

Now the last one and my favorite D.I.Y part was this e-wedding invite, as I invited most of my friends over facebook, whatsapp and email, this card was so easy to post. My friends absolutely loved the idea and on top of that, its so easy to make... i made it on my phone :P

There's so much more I wanted to add to this post, maybe i'll write a second part to it. Right now I am in the middle of designing my wedding album, also FYI I did my own makeup for the reception.... more on these in coming posts..... keep following and do leave your comments!!!!