And Life Goes On...

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Namaste friends. Feels good to get back to blogging. I know it has been a while. 
Thankfully, this time my absence was due to happy reasons. 

Birdie has flown the nest:

My little birdie, has flown all the way across the seven seas. Sonny boy  joined the college of his choice in the US, in the first week of September. We are so proud and thrilled. And now we are left with our empty nest.

When people tell you that their child has gone to US/Canada/Germany/Australia for higher studies, it all seems so simple. But now I know how exhausting it can be! Uff, the running around for the transcripts, visa, bank loan, followed by the shopping. Also the feeling of being emotionally drained. Being separated  from your only child is tough! Especially because sonny is my confidante, my best friend and also partner in crime when it comes to demolishing pizzas and ice cream. Not to mention wolfing down yummy vada-pavs before Dad got home from work, to escape the lecture about junk food and obesity.  ;)

My dreams about being a free bird in my "empty nest" came to nought. While I thought that I will now be crocheting and blogging to my heart's content, that was far from the real scene. For the first few weeks I lost all interest in blogging, Etsy, internet and even crochet (!!). There was a little bit of joy in the second week of September but very little.

Celebrating the Half Century Mark:

On the tenth of September I celebrated my Fiftieth Birthday. 
Yes, the big Five Oh! 
The half century mark!
I was thrilled, excited and scared at the same time, if that's even possible :)
Thrilled that I had made it so far. An achievement in itself!
Excited about  what the future might bring.
Scared, and also a bit sad that the downhill journey had begun, and that the wear and tear on the body will now begin to show.
But then again, why worry. After all Age is only a number. And Life Begins at Fifty, right!?
(What? Life begins at Forty...never heard that one....LOL)

The fact that sonny was so far away did dampen my spirit, but hubby took me to Patang - a revolving restaurant in Ahmedabad, and that did help to lift my mood. It was a lovely experience and the food was good. We took a lot of pics, unfortunately Ahmedabad does not have any spectacular views/vistas to capture from above.  A wonderful experience, nevertheless.

I got a ton of goodies as gifts, but my camera needs servicing, so I'll be sharing them with you at a later date.

A blog post without a pic is a strict no-no. So here is a collage of the mandalas I made, once I finally got over myself and picked up my hook (Thank God!). Details about the mandala will follow later.

Usually I don't share personal photos, but I cannot resist sharing this one (this pic was supposed to accompany the big Birthday post which never got written). 
So go ahead and please take a slice of my birthday cake. Don't worry its a virtual slice, so its still fresh :)

Are you shopping for Christmas gifts, or making them yourself? Do let me know.

Birthday Goodies

Hi Friends, remember me?

Well, I wouldn't blame you if you don't remember me since I disappeared for so loooong. I was actually jolted out of my stupor after reading THIS post by Sharon, that is when I realised that I had been neglecting my blog and my lovely friends too. I know you will forgive me but you see this is what happens when overgrown kids get too many toys to play.

Confused? I am referring to the presents I got for my birthday. As Aishwarya rightly pointed out I spent my birthday, which was on 10th of September, in Mumbai. And much to my surprise I got a lot of pressies which I was not expecting at all.

Firstly I was not happy about the trip to Mumbai, because;

A) Believe it or not, after all my grumbling, three years down the line I am finally calling  Ahmedabad my Home, and I hate leaving my house to go Anywhere.

B) Hubby could not get any leave from work so it was only me and sonny to Mumbai, which also meant I would spend my B'day without him....Grrrrrrr.

But then, surprise, surprise...Hubby managed to squeeze in two days of leave and reached Mumbai just in time for my birthday.

He also threw a lovely dinner party for me, along with a few of our closest friends at my favorite restaurant, Urban Tadka (at Ghatkopar), and with desserts on the house, what more could I ask for, right?

But wait there is more, a visit to my Mom's place revealed a huge pile of crochet, knitting and craft books bought for my by my brother!! Yes, dozen's actually, plus a whole set of "Stitch by Stitch" books which I think are now a vintage item. All thanks to the eagle eyes of my brother and my sister-in-law, both of them are avid readers and spend most weekends visiting all possible book fairs. Since I couldn't carry all the books back with me as my shoulder is on the verge of popping out of its socket, I picked the most colorful book of the lot. The rest are expected to reach me by courier. So here it is:

Easy Living Crochet By Carol Alexander
(Affiliate link) 

There are a lot of lovely projects in this book and I will give you a book tour soon (ulterior motive... I want to play with our new scanner).

Then a visit to my aunt who had just returned from the U.S. brought forth this goody, something that I have been lusting after for a long, long time...

 

This CD has sixty two issues of Crochet World magazine!!! Can you imagine how many patterns that works out to?!! Even if I make only one fourths of the patterns I think I am set for life... What do you say?

Think that's all......NOOO I am saving the best for last!!!! Guess what was waiting for me in my mailbox back home at Ahmedabad. This fantastic book which I secretly longed for, sent by the lovely Gale from Boocoos Blogthingy, all the way from USA. Now isn't that very very sweet of her. It was the prize of a giveaway but as I firmly believe in the power of Positive thinking I knew the book was looking for me too. ;) Hehe.

 Crochet Saved My Life
(Affiliate link)

 Ever since I had heard and read about this book I longed for it, (especially since I believed that the lives of People around me was saved because I never put my hook down to pick up any weapon.....haha) and it was definitely on my bucket list. Who knew my wish would come true so soon. Thank you, dear Gale. Did I mention the Bonus - the book is signed by the Author Kathryn Vercillo of Crochet Concupiscence. Now that is a first for me - an author signed copy!

So now tell me, can you really blame me for getting lost, poring (read that as salivating)  over the patterns and the books and forgetting to update my blog!! I am sure you will understand. :)

Now, no visit to Mumbai is complete without a visit to my favourite yarn store - Pradhan's of course. I got a lot of yarny goodies...kilos actually but more about that in a later post.
So do come back for the book tour, my review of "Crochet Saved My Life" and to see my yarn extravaganza.

Have a great weekend. Happy crafting.

Birthday Bonanza

Hi friends. Aren't you glad that it is already Thursday? We are on the right side of the week. :)

Let me begin by welcoming our new friends;
          Ana from Tejedora de Nanduti,
          Beck from BECK to Vintage,
          Nilgun from Nilgun"den guluckler,
          Kamoni (Dear Kamoni, please let me have the link if you have a blog),
          TehSoune fromHooks and Yarn!,
and    Kevser from Kevser'in Penceresi.

It was my husband's birthday on Tuesday the 28th. The celebrations started at midnight (27th) where we kept up with our usual tradition of waking up the birthday person with the Happy Birthday song followed by cake cutting. This year my son decided to choose the gifts and the cake for Dad. So, this is the cake he bought:

We debated for a long time about the gift. It was difficult because what can you get for someone who already has most of the things. (My husband would have loved a ticket to Switzerland.... but as you imagine... way way beyond sonny's and my budget - LOL). After searching  the internet for some time we decided to get a few practical items. And these are the items we got,

A Nokia Bluetooth Headset.

And a set which included a Polo watch, a belt and a wallet;

I have my eye on that Polo tin. Would make a nifty storage for buttons and stuff. This set came with a pair of formal black shoes and a pair of Lotto sports shoes, but one disgusted look from my son prevented me from clicking photos of said item ... ha ha. (Secretly both my son and husband think I have gone bonkers, going around the house with a camera and clicking random objects, birds, books and balls of yarn!) If only they were aware of the pleasures of blogging. ;)
The day ended with a movie (not so good) and a visit to KFC (very very good.... definitely finger licking good). I was given strict instructions not to take the camera along. (He he)

And now for a Ta Da moment.....
Yesterday my brother did some techno tinkering with the blog (he is my 24x7 tech support for the blog and all other computer related stuff) and now my blog is in its own domain!! I think it is wonderful. Thanks dear Bro.

Friends, if you have not yet visited my Facebook page, please do and give me a "Like" there. I know it does not have anything much on it yet but I am working on it. Hmmm... I think I should start that right away. So see you soon.

Have a lovely day. Buh-bye.
Love xxx