Happy Holidays!

May your Christmas be blessed with peace and joy. With the year end 2014, sending you the gift of lots of love, luck and happiness. Winding up with the last post on the blog along with these wishes. It has been a pleasant journey of my past couple of weeks of Pinkz Passion with lots of enthusiasm and eagerness. I want to thank each and every one who supported my passion showing their faith on me or encouraging me and making me feel "best is yet to come".  

Thank you again for being with me at every step.  With the new year beginning, hoping for another eventful and exciting year with you all. Hold my hand and walk along as you have until now for the journey of my passion and let this grow in the New Year.

Gathering up a long string of thoughts for the new year to share. Stay tuned and enjoy the rest of the festive season with family and friends. Have a Merry Christmas and welcome New Year with a bash! Until we meet again, toodles! 

Images: All images are mine and please do not copy without prior permission.

Jovial Tablescape (Christmas)

Christmas in this part of the world is mainly shopping, cooking and socializing with favourite friends or family members. Looking forward to holidays and taking some time off to relax and socialize with friends during this Christmas season. The Christmas mood has started in my home. After many years, we will be home for Christmas. Hope you are through with your shopping, wrapping and hiding the gift part.

Many happy memories will be created and laughs will be shared at gatherings of course with plenty of food.

When it comes to variety of food or menu we always pen down the recipe, follow many recipes on you tube and even steal one from friend's dinner night. We spend enough time creating a recipe, but forget to make that mealtime presentable. You don't have to be a professional but with a desire to create and with frugal budget, there are countless way to create that great tablescape for any occasion. Trust me, in couple of minutes things can go from mundane to magical.

Sharing few ideas of my tablescape of the season. It allows me to express my creativity with adding  my own personal touch. I used up things around the house to add interest to the table.

I kept it simple with similar or repetitive items to pull everything together.

Baubles borrowed from my Christmas tree and some clear glasses with candles created the festive look on my table.

Couple of candlelit will create a visual appeal!

This stylized table full of festive colors and favors will impress any guest who happens to drop by.

 

A large lantern with some baubles as a center piece 

I had bought quarter of Ikea lanterns couple of years back and I use them frequently for my décor purpose. Adding personal festive touches will heighten their beauty.  

Few Ikea lanterns were dazzled

 Few medley of Christmas colours will add some excitement on the table. You can also tuck in a Christmas ornament or personalized letters on the napkin rings. That is on my to-do list for next tablescape arrangement.

Red, Green & Gold colour scheme!

The ideas are so broad and possibilities are endless to decorate the table. Hope you spoil your family and guests by treating them on fancy festive tablescape. WOW them with your inner creativity and quick and clever ways! Best of all, have fun! Until we meet again, toodles!

 

 

 

All Images are from my home, clicked by me, please do not share or use without prior permission.

For the Christmas Spirit

Is it Christmas yet? The sparkling lights, fancy décors on city streets and humming the Christmas melodies on the go or playing in pretty much all shopping places prompt you to get ready for Christmas!

Sending you some scenes of festive celebration in my home. Also stocking full of wonderful ideas for you all to inspire and beautify your home to create memories.

A beautiful Christmas tree is for sure but there are other extra touches that make the holidays memorable. There are plenty of simple and time saving ways on internet to get ready for the season.
You need not be an expert crafter or decorator. Little time, little imagination and litter efforts will make you all ready.

 I enjoyed decorating every bit of it. Whether it was crafting or switching stuff from here to there for that proper look.
 

Paper cupcake holders were all ready with some folding and gluing as a fire place mental décor. 

 

 

A holiday display in my shadow box

My Chalkboard has been a very good asset of my family, it doesn't limit for a day to day quotes only, I ensure to use it for all festivities and special occasions.

My chalk board all decked up for the season!

Make the atmosphere alive by displaying unexpected ways like some Christmas lights or ornaments in a glass jar or a candle holder to add colours.



A quarter of candles make a pretty table top or mantel decoration
 

 

Our most of the ornaments are over 15+ years old. We used to have a very tiny tree when we initially started our life in this part of the world. I use the same ornaments every year and cherish the memories attached with my children's childhood. Few of them are the ones they made in their kindergarten classes.  I have kept them as their childhood keepsakes and display without fail every year on my tree. Thanks to my photographs printing hobby, today I am able to share you the first tree picture which I happen to find in one of my album collection. This pictures is of our 1999 Christmas.

Our very first tree
 



It looks like it grew older with us ;)

And at last some night shots with Christmas lights in my home. Putting out lots of candles can enhance any décor. Along with Christmas lights, it just adds shimmering effect in the atmosphere.

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the holiday touches in my home. Wishing you all the best for your festive journey. Enjoy decorating and more importantly have fun! Singing out and awaiting to hear your home stories of decorating. Enjoy the holidays and spend some family time and create memories.

 Until we meet again, toodles!

Images: All are my home images, clicked by me, please do not share or use without prior permission!

Down the memory lane

Have you ever took a stroll down the memory lane? Try, take some time out from your busy routine or on a weekend and take a trip with the past treasured pictures you have with your loved ones.

I am definitely one of those tech savvy person, who loves to play around with gadgets, but when it comes to photographs, I prefer to gaze at a tangible picture rather than looking on a screen. The pictures we take these days end up only online or on our computers.

I believe a hard copy has it's own presence and authenticity.  Probably printing photographs have gone down but not with me, I still have our four- shelf mini closet full of photo albums of each and every trip or our kids' irreplaceable memories.  Every time, page after page of an album reveals more stories of the event. The scenarios come out live and you actually feel being in that moment. It wins out over our TV time in those winter days when I take them out often to rejuvenate their childhood.  These photo albums are one of the few attraction that gets appreciated by our guests also. 

Enjoy some shots of my lazy afternoon.

I happened to spend a lazy afternoon walking down the lane with one of my favorite album.

 It is like a tradition for me to take out those albums momentarily and refresh my memories at least once in a year.

Our wedding album to celebrate our 18 years of togetherness.

Pictures are snippets of our life, keeping our memories alive. Do consider giving photographs out as a gift. May be a serving photo tray, a couple frame for a get together on a new year's party gift  or an album to keep those snapshots handy. Shower your family and friends with gifts they can appreciate rest of their life. Until we meet again, toodles!

Bandhani Craze

Happy December - Let's welcome the last month of the year. I am excited and looking forward for the holidays and much needed break of being MOMMY. For now, let's hang on to those few days before holidays. Though I have a few posts of holidays décor unveiling soon for the season, so ensure to have yourself connected on facebook page for more updates. At a moment, let's get going with another décor post.

Not sure about how many of you will be in the same mind as me for the love of Bandhani or tie dye which doesn't leave without fascinating me every time I come across one. Tiny square dots,  vibrant intense color, how could you not fall in love with it? The word originated from Sanskrit - meaning  "bandh". It's a tie-dye process of traditional art originated from the state of Gujarat and Rajasthan. It is a very skilled process which involves dyeing, wrinkling, and tying of a fabric with a thread at various points to create variety of different looks on a piece of cloth. If it is your favourite too, have a peek in to the making of it here. I have tried my hands on it in my childhood, I would rather not write about the out come. Though I am a proud owner of the bandhani Sarees in almost all colours.

It was like a must element for a girlhood when we grew up. Bandhani has its charm at any occasion or time of the year but specially in Navratri and wedding seasons the need is highly demanding. Depending on the festivities - more decorative work with mirror and pom-poms are done to give a richer look on the bandhani.

Be it in a form of a saree, a dupatta or a shawl, bandhani has its charm all over me. In today's fast paced global world, the vision for bandhani is not limited for just dressing ourselves, it is also used as one of the strong décor feature.

I use it to give traditional touch in my décor frequently.  Sharing some snap shots of my home with the colours of bandhani.



My shawl as my throw in my family room.



The house warming ceremony




The center piece with bandhani sarees

The recent backdrop for the photo booth




Some traditional hangings and collectibles.

I hope you enjoy the post and will think out of the box when it comes to play around with your bandhani by adding it in your décor. Until we meet again, toodles!





Girls Night In!

Being total filmy, I couldn't stop myself humming this beautiful melody of movie "DIL CHAHTA HAI" entire day when I started thinking of sharing another post all about my friends.

Dil Chahta Hai
Kabhi Na Beete Chamkile Din
Dil Chahta Hai
Hum Na Rahe Kabhi Yaaron Ke Bin

Thought of sharing some glimpses of "Girls Night In" hosted by me few months back. What can be more entertaining than to spend some good time with your besties. Who needs a reason to celebrate, when we are the reason of celebration. These are the girls I laughed, cried and grew up with past 10+ years.

Some fancy DIY projects and fresh hand made food and I was all ready to rock and roll with the girls. Girls were surprised to the set up and also menu. Laughs, good times and memories we created and of course more bonding in this "we time". No kids , no hubbies or no extended family to take care, just time for ourselves. 

We were too busy laughing and giggling about the night that we forgot to take the cameras out for snaps, so leaving you with memories from our mobiles.

Had fun planning personalized Bollywood themed frames for each one!

My Welcome Board.

Some yummilicious food and Bloody Mary drink for the night

Personalized water bottles.

They all get to keep theirs as the memory of the night!

Not much fancy but pleasing to eye table set up for my girlies.



How can I forget my frame ;)

The pictures reveald all the storie of the night. We had good time with gossiping, lots of chit chats and well spent time together. 

If your "Girls Night In" is long over due, settle in these ideas and soon plan your own to catch up with your girlfriends and update your memories. Till we meet again, toodles. 

JOURNEY TO CANADA - 2

"Gar firdaus, ruhe zamin ast, hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin ast." -  These are the words for beautiful Kashmir in India - meaning if there is a heaven on the earth, it is here, it is here, it is here. Kashmir is and will be truly a paradise. But today I want to resemble the same words for my part of the world.

Sit back, relax, read and catch up some eye candy pictures of beautiful villages Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise in Alberta with me.

No words, no pictures, no reviews will ever describe the beauty in these places. This is mere an attempt for you to visualise and visit the place in near future for once in a life time.

Snow covered mountains and sparkly water lakes have immense natural beauty, own unique appeal that you can't capture enough in the clicks of your camera.


In addition to our journey, we took Via Rail to reach Jasper from Vancouver.

It was an over night journey but we enjoyed every bit of it.The vegetarian food, the small yet efficient sleeping cabins and above all the breath taking views of passing by lush green trees, rain forests, cloud covered peaks and crystal clear view of the water.  I could not agree enough that it was the best way to glance rockies without the strain of driving.

The view from our Panoramic dome.
  We witnessed one of the most beautiful sun rise through this glass dome. 

On a two weeks summer vacation we covered all 4 provinces.

If you have a mind set for a relaxed and unhurried journey, be the guest of Via Rail, you will be happy with the Canadian hospitality on the tracks.

We ended our epic rail journey at another beautiful destination - Jasper.

Unfortunately for us, Jasper wasn't a happy stay due to their special visitors  "mosquitos". Probably our stay in woods made it more intense. We heard that they are pretty vicious in few summer months in Jasper.

Well, we had a good company of old friends so, we kept our day busy in Jasper viewing the hot spring lakes and beautiful Maligne lake.

This area is a habitat of animals, so you have chance to see them frequently on roads. We bumped into moose, deer and bears couple of times

 

Wherever you go,  mountains reveal their beauty at every angle and you will be only left with "ooohs" and "aaahs".

One of the most photographed location in Jasper thorough my lens -  Maligne Lake

The best ride was from Jasper to Banff. The impressive scenery will force you by all means to stop by and pose for them. It was like a portrait drawn by god.

If you are behind the wheels you can explore easily, take detours and dawdle yourself for as long as you like.

The dramatic scenic drive lead us to Columbia Ice Field. A must do adventure for thrills. The gigantic vehicle drove us to Athabasca Glacier.

  

The drive on top of the glacier was the most fascinating experience. The bus took us all the way driving on glacier with its big giant rubber wheels. It was a terrifying but amazing ride to crystal clear rivers and mountains.

A special 6 rubber wheel drive bus. 

Our bumpy ice ride to the glacier.

Yep, we did taste the rivulet water from the ice field. This is the purest water you can drink.

The glacier colour was a real turquoise blue

 Our next destination was "Banff" - an enchanting town! Probably Mr. Yash Chopra wasn't aware about this city otherwise he would have ended making few lovely duet songs here for sure. Cloudy hills, fog forests and mild cool breeze wanting me to stay back in the town forever. 

One day stay was good enough for me to fall in love with the place.

Moving forward to the most incredible point of our travel.- Lake Louise. The only word you will come up with is - WOW! I think I have used all the super, magnificent, amazing, spectacular words for this post. But Lake Louise was above all these and more. I am short of all adjectives to describe the beauty.  It truly is a piece of heaven on earth. I was totally hypnotized by the beauty.

Lake Louise is named after the Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria

Fairmont Lake Louise will be the best bet to stay near the lake. A beautiful venue for a wedding also. They were dressing up a part of the property for an evening reception for a wedding.

The highlight of the journey: the most fascinating and beautiful Lake Louise. 

All the cities we visited were in summer months, but if you are a winter player, you may visit these places as they all offer plenty of winter sports and I bet the Canadian Rockies will be more gorgeously beautiful in winter times.

For now, I am just drooling over the wonderful vacation memories. Signing off and leaving you to plan an adventure and excitement for yourself in Canada’s Rocky Mountains. I guarantee you’ll find one of the most beautiful, unspoiled vacation place with spectacular scenery that will take your breath away.  Till we meet again, toodles!