NOLA Part 2 of 2

Picking up, where I left off - Rohit and I managed to visit two plantations while we were in New Orleans.

One was a creole plantation (Laura Plantation) and the other was Oak Alley Plantation. I was a little apprehensive going out there but I am glad we made the trip. 

Laura Plantation

I thought the Laura plantation was beautiful and the guide (the present owner) was very knowledgeable, straightforward and educated us on both the history of the plantation and touched upon the aspects of slavery with honesty and humility. The tour is based on The Memoirs of Laura, which recount a detailed account of 200 years of life on the farm written by the planters daughter Laura Locoul Gore. What interested me most was that the sugar plantation was run by four generations of Creole women until 1891, when Laura sold it to Aubert Waguespack.

NOLA Part 1 of 2

This post is long overdue and I apologize. 

For our second anniversary (why yes, it was in November of last year!), Rohit and I wanted to stay within the continental US for a variety of reasons and there had been one place that we had been hoping to visit since forever - New Orleans. It was everything I thought it would be and more. The food, the beignets (yes they are a whole separate attraction!), the music, the people - everything was exactly the way I had imagined it to be!   

Ummmm - Hi?

I know I haven't written here for a while - nothing of great consequence happened other than life in general!
Happy New Year - I hope 2012 is everything you want it to be (Its not too late to wish people - is it?).

I have loads to update this space on and will hopefully get to it soon!
In the meantime, here is something that made me laugh!

via Wit and Delight and Tastefully Offensive

Lara

2002-2011
You are missed constantly.

07/07

We celebrated Rohit's birthday on Thursday evening.
I got him the ipad, it's something Rohit has been wanting for a while now and I thought his birthday was the perfect excuse to splurge! Its been two days and we are addicted.

We also went out for dinner in the evening at Scalini Fedeli at Tribeca. We fell in love with the charming, romantic little place. The food was so delicious and the service was exceptionally warm. They were friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and never overbearing (Sidenote: R and I have been to dinner a couple of times to these places where they often almost force you to over order and then we end up wasting food - which is just terrible, but this place was not at all like that - which I loved!)

We also celebrated the next day at Rosa Mexicano which is a fun place near Lincoln Center. You have to try their guacamole and frozen sangria! 

A pre birthday dinner - loved the galvanized tins in which they served bread

Short and Sweet

Dear Interweb,
Thank you for this.
Love,
Shreya
p.s. I know you created it especially for me, but you're secret is safe with me and we'll just pretend its for everyone and anyone!

Sidenote: Pinterest is amazing, its like your own personal online inspiration folder. Here's the link to mine. I could not love it more. 

My mother

Happy birthday to my beautiful mother; I constantly strive to be half the woman she is. 

True Grit, Tiramisu and Secret Santas

There are few things I like better than long weekends, and a long weekend, with your sister in town, snow, dinner with close friends, hot chocolate, Italian desserts and a Christmas Party - I'm at a loss as to what could top that!

Thursday evening we met up with some close friends of ours S&A, and despite not being able to meet too often, we always pick up exactly where we left off ...effortlessly so. Karin was here as well and she has the ability to make everything fun - it was just a lovely winter evening with conversation, good food and the spirit that only the holidays can bring. 

Dinner with S&A and K taking the pic

Friday we spent walking around the city and met up with another set of newly married and not so newly married friends for an Italian dinner topped with Tiramisu and Limoncello at Fiorellis. At midnight, we opened up our presents and clearly I must have done something good this year!

The next evening, we caught True Grit with our friends. I absolutely loved the movie. I thought Jeff Bridges was so charming and his lines were so funny that they often had me laughing out loud, Hailee Steinfeld was excellent as the sprightly, courageous girl and really set the tone for the whole film. It wasn't the usual Coen Brothers fare, a little less quirky and a little more sentimental, but I really enjoyed it and wont be surprised if it gets a few academy nods.

Sunday, we celebrated Christmas with a pot luck dinner, secret Santa revelations and more gifts! I got an adorable kipling bag, that  just puts a smile on my face every time I see it. We had a $25 budget limit just to force everyone to get creative with the presents and it was fun to see what people came up with :)

The Blue Checked Box was the bag I received!

Hope you had a lovely weekend too! 

2011 is the new 2010

Wishing everyone a lovely 2011 filled with love laughter and hope.

City Walks: New York

NY City Walks (via Google images)

Rohit just picked up this delightful pack of 50 city walks in and around New York City for us. Spring cannot come soon enough for me to try them each weekend if possible!

An Anniversary marked by Paper (Part II)

I should have rethought my blog posting strategy and written about my gifts first, because now they pale in comparison to the holiday Rohit organized for us!

Anyway :) for our first anniversary, I wrote a tiny poem encapsulating our first year together. I thought it would be interesting to look back at the year gone by and I plan to do it every year but with Rohit's help next year on. The idea came partly from my dad's 60th birthday where my sister, mom and I wrote a poem for each of his six decades and made a scrapbook for him. This wasn't his only gift (just in case you are wondering!) but I think this one was the most meaningful.

Back to the point, often in our relationship, I keep writing silly rhymes to Rohit (sometimes he will humor me and return the favor!); in fact, in order to respond to Rohit's proposal, I couldn't just give him a simple yes, instead I made him sweat a little just so that I could create this crazy treasure hunt with each of the clues in poetry leading to the "treasure" which was a 'Yes' :D Why yes, I am fully aware, cheesy is my middle name.

So here's the poem for our 1st Anniversary -

A proposal on the stairs; a wedding in the sun;
Our honeymoon in Italy, could not be outdone.
Chicago, Pittsburgh and Washington, our first home in the big apple;
A job gained, a promotion earned; year one was a lot to grapple!

An election was won in London and another lost in DC;
Our hearts went out to Lech, Chile, Indonesia and Haiti.
Spain wins the cup, Curling at the Olympics, Commonwealth in Delhi;
33 are rescued; Hurray and good cheer, Suu Kyi 's Free!

An anniversary in Puerto Rico, marked by paper
Away from the noise and bustle of the city of scraper(s)
As a new year begins, what will be will be;
We'll be fine, of this I am certain, as long as you do the laundry!

I also did the completely obvious thing and got us a copy of the New York Times front page from our wedding day, I thought it would be nice to look back at the headlines that were.
 

The NYT from 27th Nov 2009

Lastly, to round up the "Paper" anniversary, I got us an original etching by an artist in Puerto Rico of a garita.

Etching of a Garita at El Morro 

:)

p.s. I apologize for the terrible pics, will replace them later - I misplaced my camera's battery charger.

An Anniversary marked by Paper (Part I)

Finally (!) there's an interesting reason I've been absent from this blog (aside from the work-has-been-killing-me) - It was our First Anniversary last week! (*drum roll!)
Side Note: I cannot believe its been a whole year, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours ... you get my point! It truly feels like we just got married.

Traditionally, the gift for a First Anniversary is Paper.
Rohit's gift to me us were tickets to Puerto Rico! I know, I know I am a lucky girl.

We stayed at the El Convento in Old San Juan; the city is unbelievably charming with some of the loveliest people I've ever met. Most of the "must-see" places were within walking distance of our hotel (Tangent: Rohit and I love to walk, we feel that we can explore and really experience a city so much better that way) and the weather was perfect.

Our Hotel 

Our charming room

We did our own little walking tour around the city and my favorite place has to be the Fort San Felipe del Morro. I know I say this often, but it was so majestic that it really took my breath away. On the last day, Rohit and I spent a couple of hours just walking around the fort, its lawns and sitting on the ramparts enjoying the beautiful view and soft breeze.

EL Morro

 

San Cristobal

We took a trip to the El Yunque Rain forest and trekked to the la Mina waterfall. While we unfortunately did not see any animals (save for the odd lizard and snail) it was just amazing to be walking through it.

We also managed a trip to the Camuy Limestone Caves and I am so glad we did. I am at a complete loss for words to describe the experience which was almost magical.

The island reminded me a lot of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in India which has a similar cocktail of lush greenery with those deep blue seas, old structures and lovely people.
We had an amazing celebration for our first year and I'm looking forward to our second (and third and fourth and fiftieth!)

Loss.

LC Jain

I lost someone yesterday and while I feel a tremendous amount of sadness, I am grateful and honored that our paths crossed for an all too brief moment in time.

Green & Gorgeous

How beautiful (and Earth Friendly) are these Plantable Tags and Magnets made from recycled material!

via Green Post

via Green Post

via Green Post

via Green Post

 I adore the lavender butterflies and the star shaped magnets.

On another note, tomorrow is Diwali, undoubtedly my favorite festival - I miss home the most right now, my mother's rangoli, homemade sweets, family, friends, new clothes and firecrackers.

See you later alligator!

I spent last weekend in Miami with a wonderful bunch of girls at a bachelorette weekend. I had never been to Miami before this and I fell in love with the city and its people. On the last day N and I went on the Everglades Safari and the experience was amazing. One of the highlights of my year would have to be holding a baby alligator - he was beyond adorable and surprisingly so very soft. Here are a few pictures from the weekend -

The Beach at The Fontainebleau, Miami 

The Everglades Safari

I think the Alligator is smiling as well!

On the Nature Trail

:)

Five minutes more?

via XKCD

With the craziness that has been the past few weeks, this is how I have been feeling.

Happy Birthday Anna

Happy birthday to my dearest father.

The Windy City

I was in Chicago all last week on work and while I spent the day and some of the evenings in the office (which has the most lovely view of Lake Michigan) I also managed to free up a few evenings to take a walk by the lake, visit the Art Institute and catch the sunset from the sky deck of the Willis Tower.

Here are some of my favorite pics. -

Cloud Gate at Millennium Park

Lake Michigan

From the Sky Deck (Willis Tower formerly Sears Tower)

Hopper's Nighthawks (I loved so many of the paintings at the Chicago Art Institute but for some reason this one just had me captivated)

Seurat's 'A Sunday on La Grande Jatte'

The Art Institute of Chicago

A little late to the game...

...but I wanted to post a wordle of my blog (something doesn't sound right about the grammar there!) so far. I'd like to see how it changes after a few months (or dare I say years!)

Art wall inspiration

Having moved around nearly all my life (I don't think I've ever called a place home for more than two years!) and after over 8 months in the same space, I am aching to change things around at home!

On my hit list is the wall behind the couch. Its nice, but I want something a little less symmetrical and even. I still haven't decided, if it will look too heavy, or be too much of a forced separation of space and I'm just not sure, but in the meantime, I'm just going to stare continuously (at the risk of losing my eyesight!) at pictures that I've collected as inspiration. Here are some of them, I am loving the salon style layouts.

via Roseland Greene

via Domino Magazine

via Isabella & Max Rooms

via ill seen, ill said

via House Beautiful

Swoon!