More Scrapping

Never have I scrapped so quickly. I mean I finished 2 Layouts in 1.5 hours. They just came together by themselves. This is so not a norm with me. I usually can spend anywhere from 2 to 4 hours on one LO. But these were quick.

My sister (finally) scanned and emailed me some old photos yesterday. She's sent two of our childhood photos (one I already had), one of my mom's as a baby, one of our kitty when she was a baby. We had taken her to the photo studio to get her photographed LOL I adore that photo. We lost the kitty a couple of days after I moved to the US. There are whole bunch of other photos too.

I love this one of the three of us. It was taken in Haridwar when we visited back in 1999. I am on the left, my little sister in the center (she looks so tiny), and elder one at the right. I have shared LOs of my elder sister and my neice here before. This is the first one of my younger sis! I didn't have any of her pics before. Now, my brother will feel left out LOL I'll have one of his too. Also, there is one photo that will surprise one of my readers. Stay tuned :)

Sisters

Credits:
Everything here is by Diamante Designs Envy kit available at The Digi Shoppe.

Little Boys Are Made In Heaven

My sweet little boy 2 Days Old.

Credits:
Everything is from Diamante Designs.
All papers, paint stroke, fabric tag, wood plate, bow, stitching, and staples from her Secret Garden kit.
Handle with Care tag is from her Handle With Care lables.
The flower (recolored) from her Envy Elements.

All available here at The Digi Shoppe.

Nice, Relaxing, Short Weekend

Nothing major to report. I stitched a lot on the Angel of Love. There is a lot of beading in this one, but I just love how pretty it looks. Beading takes longer than just plain stitching. I remember when I started this angel, I was beading with the long beading needle. It was going painfully slow. I had asked on my stitching board, and got a suggetion to use small quilting needles. They work so much better. But the needles are tiny so I have to be very careful with them around Mehul.

Didn't get any scrapping done due to the lack of reliable internet. I had to download new goodies as I've scrapped with pretty much all the kits that called to me :) I have some more now. I love this part about being on a CT, all the new kits that the designer puts out are free! I can even ask for an old kit, if I want to scrap with it. The only requirement is that I have to use the kits I download and show off my LOs in the required # of galleries. Who doesn't love to do that? LOL

Oh, I wanted to give you an update on Lori's secret. Diamante Designs is having an opening sale at The Digi Shoppe. That's right. She has moved her shop from 3 Scrapateers to TDS. All her gorgeous new kits are 30% off till tonight. The discount will be applied when you add the kits to your shopping cart. Hurry! I am on her CT, so I am sorta affiliated :) She had to drop out of the ScrapArtist Challenge, though. She had reached the 4th round! I wish she was able to continue, but I'm sure she knows what's best for her career!

Mehul is a Pumpkin today :) There is Halloween Parade at the daycare today and he dressed up as a Pumpkin. Sooo cute. All the kids in his class looked so cute. I wasn't able to make it to see the parade. It was 10 - 11AM :( I bet they had a blast. I have pictures from this morning. We'll hopefully take him trick or treating tomorrow.

Weekend Plans

*Edited to add Credits. Thanks, Erin!*
I plan to put some hours in the 'Angel of Love' and do a couple of Digi LO's. I did two LOs last night. I'm trying to come up with a plan to carry on both stitching and digi-scrapping more or less regularly. I think stitching 3 nights a week, and scrapbooking the rest of the time is going to be enough. I already stitched 2 nights this week, and scrapbooked only 1 night. Wish I had more hours in the day to dedicate to this stuff. Ofcourse, the nights I cook and clean, I can't do much else.

Weekends should usually be free if we keep the house relatively clean throughout the week, which is the plan. I make the beds in the morning after getting up, wipe down the bathroom counters after using, same with the kitchen counter and stovetop. I'm trying to get back into the habit of keeping everything back in it's place again. When we had our Townhouse for sale this summer, we practiced this and the house was always neat and clean, ready to show off to anyone who might call 10 minutes ahead. No major cleaning on the weekends. That is the plan. We'll see how far we go. If I can't handle it all by myself, I'll get the cleaning maids to come in once a month. After Mehul was born, I kept the maid service to come in bi-weekly since I couldn't do much, and Girish was already taking care of a lot of things. Worked perfectly :)

My last night's LOs

Mehul in the New Kitchen

Credits:
Everything from Diamante Designs. Envy Paper Pack and Envy Elements On sale today.

Childhood

Credits:
Everything from Diamante Designs. Watercolor Doodles and The Necessities Collection - Note It.

I got it!

Well, I decided to check this coat out yesterday while going back home. I picked Mehul up from the daycare and went to Kohl's. Yes, this is from Kohl's. I don't normally shop there, but I had to look at this coat. I figured, it's worth a look.

I'm wearing it today LOL It's really beautiful. The photo doesn't show the back, which has more embroidery and a built-in belt. It's really cute. I had to go one size up on this. It doesn't have any give. When I tried it on, a lady who was passing by complimented how beautiful the coat was. And then, Mehul said "Nice, Mama". His first compliment to his mama :)

I also got some stuff for Mehul. I can't find the track suit pants online, but they are OshKosh. The Jacket is also OshKosh and has a removable vest. These Big Chill overpants will be so useful in snow. Most of their winterwear is on sale. I think I'll be going back there again :)

Nothing Exciting going on

It has gotten rather cold this week here. I have to drop our overcoats at the drycleaner's. I also need to wash our other jackets. Every year, I buy atleast one new coat/jacket. This year, I'm thinking of getting one with some sort of embroidery. I saw some on a site when a stitching friend mentioned it. It would be great to wear over my Salwar Kameez or Sari. I normally avoid wearing these dresses in winter, but if I had a pretty jacket, sure. Something like this would work. I could even wear this over jeans or other pants.



Stitching. Yes, I have started stitching again. Yay for me. I picked up the 'Angel of Love' to renew my love of stitching. Here is a WIP Picture from ages ago. Not much done after this. I have to also update my webshots album. I have started a bunch of new projects, and completed some.

Scrapping. I'm still scrapping. In fact, I am downloading some new goodies by Diamante Designs (Lori) today. Speaking of that, Lori has a secret! She'll announce it soon :) The new stuff is To Die For. Trust me.

I never gave an update on Mehul's Transition. He is doing great. He took the new class like a champ. No tears from him or me. Yay. The new class is also a lot more fun, because they get to rotate the classrooms. Computer room, Library, Gym, Coconut Theatre. Oh my. He has a lot of fun there. No more Buggy rides, though. They are only for Toddlers. I'm sure he misses them!

This morning, I was supposed to drop Mehul off at the daycare. DH has been taking him for a few days, but I'm generally the one to do that. DH and Mehul got out of the house, and I came out a little later. Mehul said Bye Bye and started to go toward DH's car. I said, "No, Mehul, you're coming with me." He made such a bad face. Started wailing and saying "Nooooo. Nemo" and went with DH. Sigh. Yes, I know I only have a small car and no DVD player. Guys know their cars LOL

Tired

The party went very, very well :) Couldn't have been better. Everyone LOVED the food. They said it was like 'Wedding Food' which is the best compliment anyone could get! Everything was done on time, and I even had some time to relax before the guests started arriving. But, somehow we had postponed wrapping up the party favor gifts long enough that there wasn't enough time to do that in the end. That's okay, the kids care less about the packing, and more about the stuff ;) BTW, we decided to get the age appropriate puzzle cards for the kids.

I have never received so many compliments on my cooking {blush} I was ecstatic. About 25 people attended, but there was way too much food. My friend M stayed back and helped me clean up afterwards, which was great. We were so busy enjoying the party, we forgot to take pictures! Our regular camera backup friend, N, had to leave early and we didn't think of giving someone else the camera LOL We did get pictures of the cake cutting.

Okay, now that you're sick of hearing about the party, no more party talk until the next month ;) Today I stayed home to rest. I'm exhausted. There is enough food in the freezer for a week, which is great since I can't stand any more cooking LOL

I might do a LO today, or pick up stitching. Or, I might organize my stitching stash.

Happy Diwali!

Today is Diwali. I usually make a Rangoli and put up the lights outside, but this year I can't. I'm busy preparing for the party tomorrow. Plus, I don't know where the lights are. We'll put them up on Christmas :)

We're Online

We got the phoneline. Finally! My home is no longer an Internet, Phone Free Retreat! LOL.

Party

Party prep is in progress. I have done some dishes and will do a couple more more today. Rest will be done tomorrow. The items that are prepared, or bought_and_need_no _prep are in silver.

Starters
Small Samosa/Chutney
Sausage
BelPuri
Nachos/Salsa
Jaljira
Dry Fruits Tray
Paneer w/ Chalmasala

Kids Menu
Chowmein

Main Course
Shahi Paneer
Chicken Makhani (Take out)
Bhartha
Chole
Raita w/ Bhalle
Tricolor Rice
Roti
Crunchy Salad
Papad

Dessert
Nemo Cake!
Kheer
Icecream

Drinks
Sprite
Diet Coke
Whiskey
White Wine
Red Wine
Beer
Tea