The MBR Project

Before we moved our furniture in the room (September). I forgot to take a photo with the furniture! This is the Bedroom view from the Sitting Room.


Sitting Room Before


BR and Sitting Room After


With Flash


This one's Without Flash


Nightstand. You can't see the phone clearly, but it's really pretty. I got it last year when I did the Library in the other house. But, it goes with this furniture more so it'll stay here.


The Bedding


I still need some things, like, curtains (on my next trip to India), The Perfect Paintings (as I find them), a Full Length Mirror (already selected it at Bed Bath and Beyond, just have to get it). Also, my Angel of Love will go in this room. So, majority of work in this room is done. I will keep decorating it little by little :) Oh, almost forgot! I will replace that ugly chair (or, DH's favorite rocker) in the Sitting room with a beautiful Chaise once I find it. No need to hurry, though :)

And now, to think of the next project. It will be a smaller room (i.e. not Family Room or Living or Dining). Hmmm.

Merry Christmas (Belated)

So, did you have a good Christmas Weekend? Mine was really nice. As I mentioned in my last post, we had a Parent Teacher Conference on Friday. Got some not so good news along with the good news. I will post it separately, but it involves Mehul's teacher mentioning that he might have to work with a Speech Therapist in a couple of months.

We spent Friday evening finishing up the paint (or so we thought!) Had to do a third coat on 2 of the walls as some streaks were visible. This project has been stretched longer that it should have. We underestimated the amount of supplies needed, having never painted a room this size (technically, it's 2 rooms) ! It took 4 gallons of paint, 3 rolls of tape, and a lot of hours! The result is absolutely beautiful! Pictures coming in the next post.

We decided to go out for the Christmas Party! LOL. I guess everyone needs a break. It worked out for the best. We all hung out around our house from afternoon. Had tea and snacks. Later in the evening, we had Champagne. My very first glass of Champagne! And, I liked it. But it gave me a slight headache by the end of evening. Thank goodness it wasn't too bad. No, I wasn't drunk or anything! LOL. Went to a new to us Thai restaurant.

Sunday and Monday - Took it easy. Mehul opened his gifts Monday Morning. He got to add more trains to the existing collection, and a Play Dough center. Girish and I don't exchange gifts on Christmas. We weren't as busy as I had predicted, mainly because we didn't host, and we also decided not to go to the Sunday party. Figure, we'll call them home rather than sit at a party where we don't know anyone else!

I have managed to do a total of 23, yes, that's Twenty Three(!) Layouts for the Birthday Album. Now, I don't want to post each and every one here on the blog or it might crash some unsuspecting person's browser. I'll think of a way. BTW, there are a total of 50 photos. I was originally thinking of just doing 30 LOs because the scrapbooks generally come with 15 pages (double side). But they might not be enough, so I don't have a set number in mind. I'll see how many more are needed. I have to scan the rest of the photos. I've scrapped all but 1 that was already scanned.

Oh, I almost forgot about the dessert incident on Saturday. I had ordered a Lemon Sorbet for dessert. What I got was an lemon colored very frozen thingy resembling a lemon, with some whipped cream on the side. I tried to slice it with the spoon, didn't work. Girish tried the fork. Nope. We started joking that it is just a frozen lemon. N said that you're only supposed to have the whipped cream and call it a day. OMG. Girish and N just kept cracking jokes as I tried to break it somehow. There was some sorbet on it too, in a ring around the neck. N's wife was a little tipsy and kept laughing throughout. She asked her 5 yr old to bite into it. She did, and then whispered in her mom's ear - Mom, I don't think we're supposed to eat it. LOL! Mystery was solved when we asked the waitress how to eat this, she removed the sorbet from the neck and popped the lemon open. Gosh. Why do they need to hide it like treasure?? LOL.

Birthday Layouts so far..

Here they are, somewhat in order.
DH, Me, MIL, FIL, and Mehul around the cake table. Notice the cake is missing! It arrived after us. Phew!

Here it is! *My* favorite Tweetie :)
Birthday Boy
With Us

With my parents - his Nanu and Nani
With my elder Sister Anshu and BIL Rishi
With my SIL Shalu and BIL Anurag
With my little sister Cheena

That's all I have done so far. I will add more LOs to this post and keep a link in my sidebar for easy access (because I would be looking at these again and again LOL). And now, you're up to speed with most of my side of the family, and DH's family. My brother is missing from these, and so is my niece Arushi -- Anshu's daughter. They are coming soon. As you can tell, Mehul was passed around a lot! LOL. Everyone wanted a picture with him. Thank goodness he cooperated pretty well! Many of the extended family members were seeing him for the very first time.

Consolidated Credits:
Following are by ztampf:
Artia Papers, Floral Dance Kit (Papers and Elements), Syrin Seamstress Kit (stitching, buttons), Silky Blooms Accessory Pack, and BeLaced Accent Pack.

Also used:
Michelle Coleman's Brushstrokes Brushes
Nancie Rowe Jaintz ATC Frames

Overbooking our weekends

That's what we do a lot. And we shouldn't. Take this weekend, for example. Saturday night, we are either going to the Christmas Party at a friends place, or hosting it. We'll finalize that with them soon. If we do host it, there goes my relaxation plan for Friday. I have taken Friday off after a long time. There is a parent-teacher Conference at the daycare on Friday, too. Yes, they do this. And I want to formally talk about his progress, not just 5 minutes here or there while picking him up. So far, Friday morning and Saturday night are busy. If we host, all the time inbetween goes in cooking and cleaning.

Sunday, DH's colleague is having a Birthday party for his son. Do we really have to go? We have been thinking of calling them to our place as Girish and the guy have become good friends. G thinks we should go. I dunno. If we go, there goes Sunday afternoon. Morning and evening we'll be placing calls back home, which I don't mind at all! But I have to spend 4 hours on the phone (4 families). Thank goodness for speaker phones.

Now comes Monday, which happens to be off because it's Christmas. So far, I haven't had my 'Relaxation' time. See. There is laundry to do (Sidebar: I have to remember to take my gym bag home today), dishes (including china from the party), cleaning, etc. I also need to cook for the week ahead. Ah, did we do groceries yet? Nope. So, go out Monday afternoon for that, and then cook.

4 days off and no time to relax. Monday night I will be wondering where did all the time go! This is us, with none of the extracurricular activities started yet for Mehul. Wonder what will happen when we have to fit those in.

I know this time of year is busy for everyone, and we do want to do something for Christmas. I like making plans with friends, and the cooking, but not the cleanup so much. Wish I had a maid like my sister does.

Somewhere in between, I'll be squeezing in Stitching, 1st birthday scrapbook LOs, and CT LOs. Also, a trip to the Mall is in order because I'm out of my shampoo, and it's only sold at the saloon.

We still haven't finished the paint in the MBR. Other things keep getting in the way. I really wish to finish it tonight. So we can cleanup and decorate tomorrow night. Then, it will be Picture Time.

Birthday Scrapbook

Some of you might know that we celebrated Mehul's First Birthday back in India. It was done in a semi-big way. That's the way 1st birthdays are done there, generally. All cousins, etc. were invited, and there was a DJ (Dance Jockey) with a dance floor. It was fun! We also had a photographer and videographer to tape the function. It's much cheaper than here, so most people are able to do this. Plus, we generally do a get-together to meet everyone anyway, because we go back every 2 years.

I kept looking at the photos and thinking of cool ways to scrap them. Hadn't come up with a plan.

Until Monday night. I started with one photo of my sister and BIL with Mehul. Her Sari color inspired me to look in my Ztampf folder. Lots of common colors there, and the rich papers are going to be perfect for this scrapbook. I've done 5(!) Layouts since then. Unfortunately, I don't have them with me rightnow.

Last night, we went to Kohl's to pick up a train set for Mehul. And came back with that, new comforter set for our MBR, decorative pillows, yummy embroidered sheets, some pants for Mehul, and 2 hand towels for the Powder room. LOL! Don't ask!

Weekend Layouts

Sunshine and Flowers

Credits:
Diamante Designs kit 'Let Yourself Shine' available at TDS here
Diamante Designs Paper Petals available at TDS.
Jason Gaylor brushes
Gina Miller's Fun with Fibers pack

Mehul Boy

Credits:
Brown Paper from Perfect Time of Day by Meredith Fenwick
Aqua paper, Note paper, Glittery Florish from Holiday Punch by Meredith Fenwick
String Knot from her Strung Out Pack
M alpha from Firelight by Meredith Fenwick
Tape Arrow from Shakespeare's Canvas kit by Marcie Reckinger at ACOT

I made the BOY alpha. So proud. I used one of Meredith Fenwick's paper, typed in using Stencil font, cut it out, and applied Bevel setting. Looks cool.

Quick post

I have a meeting in 5 minutes. Just a few quick things -

The party at work went well. Mehul was really cooperative (except when he was caught mid-picking_his_nose while I was introducing him to someone. LOL.)

Painting is well underway. My arms are very sore. Still need to do the last coat in MBR.

Erin, I got your gift!! How very sweet. The Elmo book was a hit!

Did 2 Layouts and the December ATC's this weekend. Will share the LOs a little later!