Europe Day 5

Day 5 I spent walking a lot in the city !! Almost 6 hours were spent walking & pushing Vedika in the stroller !! I started the walk near Duomo and walked towards Mercato centrale crossing San Lorenzo's market & Basilica & church. Also seeing Medici's Chapel. From there i walked towards Palazzo Strozzi..crossing the bridge..to the other side. Towards San Spirito church. I ate a really nice panini at Gustopanino just outside the church. It was great for just 3euros !!

Europe trip Day 4/ Father's Day idea

Day 4 was spent in the room. Took a breather from the intense heat outside & spent inside working on an early Father's Day gift for Anish. I ordered a book from my local Barnes and Noble store. I saw this idea on one of Heide Swapp's online webstream where she gives quite a few ideas for Father's Day albums, most of them using House of 3 products. But this one was just using a real cool quotation book or a compendium book & just by sticking pictures of Vedika and Anish together it turned into a real neat scrapbook/inspiration book !! I loved working on it and with just a few handful stickers & fabric strips this book came together pretty quickly.

In the night we went for dinner at Il Pizzaiuolo...we ordered a pasta dish..which was highly OK...but both the pizzas we ordered, Vegetariana and Margherita with Buffalo mozzarella were really yummmyyyy. Would recommend this place to anyone who visits Florence !! Also the place seems to be really popular by locals as well as tourists...we had to wait almost for an hour to get the table !! So next time definitely we will be making reservations in advance or do a takeout !! :)

Europe Day 3

Day 3 saw me & Vedika alone as Anish left for work. We ate some quick breakfast, came up got all ready to leave for the city. After getting our bus tickets from the hotel receptionist we headed to the bus stop just opposite to our hotel. Bus no 22 took us right outside Duomo. From there we walked around, trying to find something for lunch. We decided to sit at one of the cafes on Piazza della Republica. Ordered Tagliatelle with Funghi, which again was highly O.K. totally not worth 10 euros I paid for it ! Then Vedika wanted to sit in the Carousel for a ride on the pony. I decided to treat her to it as Florence is not a city for her age kids & there's not much entertainment for her. She did really enjoy it. Then i headed towards Uffizi & from there I took a l-o-n-g walk alongside the River Arno while vedika napped in her stroller. I did some sketching after 7-8 years and though the sketch hardly turned out to what i wanted it to be, it was ok for me as i just wanted to start somewhere !! From there i walked back towards Santa Croce which i had not seen before. & i loved it from outside. I'm gonna try to visit it from inside in the next few days. After that i saw Dante's home & then walked back towards Piazza della Republica & from there towards the bus stop. We reached at the hotel a little exhausted as it was very hot outside ! We got refreshed just in time for Anish to pick us up for dinner at an Indian restaurant called Haveli. Really awesome yummy indian food I've eaten outside of India has been in Florence !! We picked up a few groceries at Coop on the way back to the hotel ! Just a perfect end to the perfect day !! :)

Europe Day 2

Day 2 saw us waking up late, catching up on sleep...being refreshed & then heading to the city for a light lunch. We love Florence, narrow,long,winding streets. Just a place where you can totally lose track of time & be lost in the medieval aged sculptures & architecture around us ! We ate lunch at Il Fratellini on Via dei Cimatori, it was very well recommended by many travel blogs & sites, so we decided to check it out ! We bought one Caprese Panini & one vegetarian mix panini. Both were quite O.K. I guess it was more value for money but less in taste ! Then with a gelato in hand we walked around the city for sometime. We got back at the hotel just in time for dinner, so I made some Maggi for all of us ! :)

Europe trip Day 1

We landed in Zurich with our first views of the Swiss Alps from the plane ! Very beautiful & breathtaking! After collecting our bags we headed towards Hertz to collect our rental car. Our plan was to drive to Engelberg which is the village at the base of Mt.Titlis. Its 1.5 hr drive from Zurich & the drive was very scenic. At the base of Mt. Titlis we were greeted by an Indian food cart, so we decided to pack up some food for lunch to eat at the top of the mountain. We had got Half Fare Cards from the airport, so our Mt.Titlis passes ended up being for 82CHF for both of us & Vedika was considered free. From there the ride upto top of the mountain took us around 45 mins with changing 3 gondolas(cable cars). the 1st one was from Engelberg- Trubsee where we could sit in the gondola. The peak season had still not started so we got our private gondola, otherwise it sits around 6 people & I guess during peak season they would be going full !
From Trubsee we changed into another gondola..in which we had to stand.This cable car can hold upto 80 people & it was full on our ride back down ! The 3rd gondola is the famous Rotair which is the first revolving gondola of the world ! It gives a round view panoroma to the top ! Vedika enjoyed riding on this one. She was excited when it started revolving.
Once on the top, the 1st thing we saw was a huge poster of Kajol & Shahrukh Khan from their movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge ! & then Vedika & I had to pose to in front of it for pictures ! We headed to play in the snow for sometime :).It was exciting to see soooo much snow...make snowmen & snowangels. Vedika had fun sliding in the snow !! We headed to the snow park on Ice Flyer for some more playing. Riding on the Ice flyer was exciting & a little bit scary too...but totally breathtaking views of the Alps !!We did snowtubing & snow-sledging. Our first time doing both ! Was exciting & fun fun fun ! After playing soo much..we were tired..so we headed back to the main station. We enjoyed eating our Indian lunch of samosa & vada paav 10,000 ft above ground ! On full stomachs we headed down to the base again. A 7-8hr journey to Florence, Italy was awaiting us. With a cup of hot chai we started our drive. Our jetlag & playing soo much in the snow was catching up on us...the drive felt very looooonnnggg...as we were tired & had to take frequent stops to refresh ourselves ! But couldnt wait to get to Florence, our most beloved city :)

Scrap World Cup Class

My favorite scrapbooker Celine Navarro is having her first online class and I think I'll miss it as I'm travelling at that time ! But she is having a blog hop and I thought of participating in it. So here is all the info on signing up for her class !

Come join me for my first 4 week class : you will learn many techniques (my favorites!), you'll be inspired by trendy color combos, you'll be in love with new sketches, and you'll participate in the most fun, colorful, technique workshop you've ever taken!

For 25€, you'll have access to :

·      a private blog with workshops posted every Tuesday and Friday with exclusive and brand new layouts made by Céline

·      new color combos twice a week

·      new sketches posted twice a week

·      TWO new techniques posted twice a week

·       inspirationnal posts posted every week

·      my "soccer" and "non-soccer" thoughts and feelings (always in a funny way)

·      what's going on during the World Cup with a different look to it : get to know the countries that participate int he World Cup

·      VIDEO tips and techniques!

·      access to a FLICKR gallery for you to post your beauties

·      TWO live chats where you'll be able to ask your questions

·      full supply lists of products used on my projects

and all this for a WHOLE MONTH!!!

And, the icing on the cake, for the BIG FINAL game, your last class will be a FULL mini album class because, hey! It's the WORLD CUP! :)
And you'll be able to order the kit if you want to.

Don't feel like you HAVE to watch the Soccer games, get READY TO SCRAP!

Happy Teacher's Day

I made something quick for my daughter's teachers at her preschool :) A small scrapbook with the year's photos for her class teacher and 2 quick cards for her other teachers.

Belong- Scrapping the Music

After abandoning my blog for more than a year..I just felt like posting again..just some of the things i do & make. So this one is for Scrapping the music challenge blog. I loved this song by Hanson- Change in my life..and just felt like playing along the challenge !

She turns 3 !!

She has brought warmth, sunshine, joy, fun, mischief, lots of jumping on beds & sofas & lots & lots of giggles in our life !! She turns 3 today !!

Happy Birthday to her !!

Vedika you complete US !!

Mini Book

This is the mini book i'm working on with summer theme. I made it out of a beer carton. The flaps of the carton were around 4x6 so i just cut up the whole carton roughly around that size. Fun thing to recycle !! I painted with some fun acrylic paints on the unprinted side. Also just to keep the eye in the album i painted rough black borders throghout the album. I'm planning on putting some pictures of what we did this summer...hopefully it'll be done soon !!



Have a great day !!

Scrap chic Contest

My local scrapbook store Scrapchic boutique is running a contest where i had to use the word "friends", use 2 patterned papers & 2 techniques. So i made this layout & as i did not have a scallop border punch i hand drew it & cut it. I did some hand doodling on the page and some inking as 2 techniques. Journaling is "Because of you i've never missed my best girlfriends back in India. Thank you & i love you ". Ohh and i used Valerie Salmon's sketch #65. Now i need to pass on some coupons to my friends to get them to visit the store & vote for my layout !! :d

Moong Dal Soup ( Green lentils soup)

This is a heart healthy soup. Great in taste, low in fat, high in nutrition.....Very Filling

• A cup of Moong dal (split or whole) & pressure cook them for around 15 mins.
• Once they are boiled just crush them with a hand mixie.
• Heat 1 teaspoon of ghee/oil, add some cumin seeds, when they start to splutter add 1/4 tspn hing (asafoetida),1/4tspn haldi(turmeric) & quickly add some curry leaves and 1 green chilly sliced in half.
• Garnish with some coriander. As variation you can jazz it up with garlic, onions....

ENJOY!!!!!!

Wooohooo !!!

Debbie Hodge had a giveaway on her blog, i just had to leave a comment on her blogpost and guess what... i won !!! How exciting can this be !! I enter such giveaways pretty much everyday & have never won..but i won this time around..just feels great !!! cant wait to get the goodies !! :)

July update

We had a good 4th of july weekend, had a few bbq parties, and a memorable trip to Greenville, SC. & in between all of this, i attended a scrapbook expo in gwinett center, took some classes at the expo and finished 3 pages for the europe scrapbook and started a mini album. Will post pics soon of everything once i finish them..though i'm thinking of posting some sneak peaks. Till then some family pics.:)

Laurel Park

This playground is nice but more friendly towards kids ages 3 and above just because of the height of some of the slides. Though there is a small play equipment nearby too for toddlers but its not challenging enough. There are quite a few swings & the slides are quite swirly. They are fun even for parents !! ( i've tried one of them!!). There's a small pond near the park & a small walking trail. The pond has lots of ducks & there are picnic tables around it. You can call them if you want to reserve some spot for birthday parties. We enjoyed the ducks & just sitting near the pond & relaxing. It was good.

Amenities:

• 13 Lighted Tennis Courts
• 1 Mile Track
• 2 Ponds
• Sand Volleyball Court
• Outdoor Basketball Court
• 2 Pavilions
• Picnic Tables and Grills
• Open Play Field
• Playground

More info - http://www.mariettaga.gov/departments/parks_rec/parks/laurelpark.aspx

Hammond Park - Sandy Springs Playground

This playground has the basic slides and everything..umm its highly OK. There's not much challenging for the kids and the thing that i did not like was the fact they did not keep the average height of toddlers in mind & the walking spaces were not at appropriate height. The other thing is that the walking space just before you slide down has small leaf shape like grooves..which a toddler could grab onto to support itself while walking are quite sharp and could hurt their soft fingers. Behind the infant-toddler park is a playground for big kids. There is a small sandpit in between the two playgrounds. There is also dogwalking trail which i felt was the only plus of the playground. The big kid playground is quite similar to the campbell high school park but the only difference was that this one felt much dirtier !! Even the picnic shelters near by were quite dirty & somehow there was just a rotten smell near the big kid playground. Did not seem hygenic at all !!

HAMMOND PARK
705 Hammond Drive
Atlanta, Georgia 30328
(404) 303-6176

Located at the corner of Hammond Drive and Glenridge Drive in Sandy Springs

Facilities:

• 2 Recreation Centers
• Gymnasium with Gymnastics Hall and Game Room
• Soccer/Flag Football Field (Lighted)
• 4 Tennis Courts (Lighted)
• 2 Outdoor Basketball Courts (Lighted)
• 2 Multi-purpose Courts
• 3 Picnic Shelters
• 2 Playgrounds (1 Handicapped Accessible)
• Picnic Tables
• Walking Trail
• Restroom/Storage Building

Blog readability test

I came across this while i was surfing on the net & its reallly funny !!


hmm...need to work on my blog more to upgrade its level !!

Happy Father's Day !!

Hey everyone !! Today for Father's Day I presented Anish with a small mini album which i made from a kit at my local scrapbook store called Scrap Chic Boutique. The ladies from the store had put together this mini kit & they helped me make this for Anish. My first ever mini scrap album :d !! I was soooo excited while i made it & presented it to Anish !! :)). You can check the album photos from my slides. The other thing I did was a photo cube for my dad who just got back from his vacation in Alaska. It was cool, simple, quick & very easy to make !! I've put a template for you to follow & it also has directions of how to stick it !! Now to end this post...i found this cool poem from the internet...

Fathers are Wonderful People
Fathers are wonderful people
Too little understood,
And we do not sing their praises
As often as we should...

For, somehow, Father seems to be
The man who pays the bills,
While Mother binds up little hurts
And nurses all our ills...

And Father struggles daily
To live up to "HIS IMAGE"
As protector and provider
And "hero or the scrimmage"...

And perhaps that is the reason
We sometimes get the notion,
That Fathers are not subject
To the thing we call emotion,

But if you look inside Dad's heart,
Where no one else can see
You'll find he's sentimental
And as "soft" as he can be...

But he's so busy every day
In the grueling race of life,
He leaves the sentimental stuff
To his partner and his wife...

But Fathers are just WONDERFUL
In a million different ways,
And they merit loving compliments
And accolade of praise,

For the only reason Dad aspires
To fortune and success
Is to make the family proud of him
And to bring them happiness...

He's a guardian and a guide,
Someone that we can count on
To be ALWAYS ON OUR SIDE.
- By Helen Steiner Rice

Europe Scrapbook

Kidscape Village - Campbell High School Playground

This playground is really appropriate for toddlers from 18 months to pre - teen kids. This is quite a big park compared to the other playgrounds I've been yet & its an amazing park for growing kids. They have all sorts of bars, swings, slides & ways to challenge your kid physically !! I would say to take your infants young ones to smaller parks where they are more comfortable and then shift them to this park. Usually the big kids are running around in this park & how much ever careful they are or you are you dont want your kid bumping into big kids games !! This playground also has that pyramid kinda structure which is generally scarry to climb !! But the kids are more comfortable climbing them !! Ohh they have some convenient restrooms too & there's a softball field right next to the playground ! I've heard that you can call the county people & reserve it for some time if you want to play some game.
Fun thing about this park is that there's always an ice cream truck lurking around tempting young ones..if you are the liberal type parent who treats their kid sometimes then this park is for you & if you are the "NO SWEET" type parent then just be warned !!

Map