Not In India...

I'm a bit late in posting this, but I think it just took me awhile to finally accept that I really will not be going to India this year...
For the last four years in a row, Hubby and I have broken up our winter by spending a few weeks in January or February visiting family and traveling around in India. This year he was just too busy at work to get away, though!
So instead of posting about what a great vacation I had, I'll share a few highlights from our past trips. I'm going to break it up into a two-part post so as not to overwhelm!
First our 2005 trip to Bombay, Dehli and Rajasthan.
Enjoy!
"Get out out of the road, crazy white lady!" Bombay, 2005

Getting mehendi applied for our engagement party. I was so honored, and SO uncomfortable!

If you're going to India and it might be your only time there, you have to go see the Taj Mahal. No, really, you MUST go see it- it's one of the LEAST over-hyped things I've ever been lucky enough to get to.

Shepherd in Rajasthan.

Souvenir shop, Amber Fort, Rajasthan

Gathering Water, Amber Fort garden, Rajasthan

Floating Lake Palace (featured in "Octopussy"), during a drought, Udaipur.

Entrance garden to King's Palace Hotel, Udaipur. It really is the King's palace- part of it has been converted to a hotel- the King's family live in the next compound over! It's BEAUTIFUL!!

And now, 2006 flying into Bangalore and driving across the south to Mangalore:

Bus safari, Banargatta Wild Animal Park, near Bangalore. (2006)

Tiger, Banargatta.


Learning the family trade near Banargatta.

Mysore Palace


Selling snacks, Mysore.

Bangle shopping, Mysore.

Early morning jeep safari, Bandipur National Park (Thanks Mommy!)

And then the jeep broke it's front axle!! It was about a two hour hike back to the house! Lovely, really, except for the constant and sudden desire to NOT see any wild animals!

Enjoying the Sunrise at Muthodi Forest house.

Either Halebid or Belur Temple, near Mangalore.

View out the front gate of the Temple.

Check back for Kerala, and two weeks in Bombay!!

Everyday Glamour: Flowers in the Bathroom

Yup, you read that right!

And at $4.00 a bunch, why the heck not?
I love the way they reflect off the tile- it's like getting a two for one deal!


Did you notice that they just happened to have ones that perfectly match the walls?

I think that they're more noticeable because they're in such an unexpected place. About once a day Hubby comments on how lovely they are!

Metamorphosis Monday

Okay, I'm sort of cheating here, but I so wanted to participate in my first Metamorphosis Monday with Susan (and everyone else!) over at Between Naps on the Porch!
I hope you all will forgive my simply referring you to the post I put up a couple of days ago about my living room! (It's here!) I promise in future to try to time my reveals a little more accurately!

Living Room Re-Reveal!

I understand that there were some questions when I painted my living room the first time around. It started out full-on neutral:

Which looked great with the previous owner's faux-leather furniture and large wood cabinet, but didn't really go with my colorful furniture.

I also found that as the days got shorter and the sun less bright that the room was looking more army-green than safari-tan.

And gosh-darn-it, this was MY first house! I wanted to paint crazy colors on the wall! Because no on could tell me I can't!

So I did. I painted the living room peacock blue:


Which was a lot of fun. And a great color... for a MUCH smaller space! But it did keep the room feeling very cozy all winter.

But as the winter came to a close, I realized that it was time to lighten up the color a bit. So I gathered together light colored paint chips of all tones and shades and began the process all over again. And you know where I ended up?
Really, can you guess? If you've seen my other rooms you may have an idea...

PINK!

But a very different pink than I've used before.
I should have waited to take pics until I got a sunny day, but these will at least give you an idea!

I decided to temper the pink a bit with a grey family gallery wall by the stairs. Though this grey looks a bit mauve, so that'll be repainted.

I think the mirror end table and silver lamp I picked up on sale at HomeGoods just looks so perfect with the new scheme! (Pay no attention to Dress My Nest on the TV there!)



You may not be able to see him there on the mirrored table, so here is a close up of a little porcelain bird I'm completely in love with:

I picked him up at Christmas Tree Shop, marked $3.99, but he rang up at $1.99!
I should have walked back in right then and picked up a couple more (they had two designs) but Hubby was with me, and you know how hubbies get with tchotchke shopping!
Since then he's been flying all over my living room, from the window sill to the side table and the video case... finally he seems happy to stay where he is and admire himself all day!

I added a little sparkle to the other side of the room by propping a mirror over the bookcase and putting the gold branches in front of it.

And with the TV in front of the stairwell I decided to splurge a bit on this fancy switchplate from Anthropologie for the switch just above:

The family will recognize that first picture on the gallery wall!
And those of you that read what I was up to last weekend will recognize the banister I spray-painted silver. I also sprayed the supporting hardware the same gold I used on the branches in front of the mirror.

I'm still working on some details, so I'll get more pictures up as I go. In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed the living room as much as I am!

The Kitchen Harware Saga

Finally has come to an end!!

After trying many, many options, I've finally found knobs for the kitchen cabinets that I adore, and Hubby can stand to look at!

And why a fleur-de-lis didn't occur to me sooner, what with the swirly french-y trivet and chandelier I've put in there:

I don't know. But I think they're a good solution because up close they're glamorous and a little fancy:

But from a distance they don't catch your eye in any particular way.

So, PHEW! THAT, at least, is finally sorted out!
I even found pulls, on sale, that matched the knobs quite well.

Ok, I have a confession.
It's not actually completely sorted out. Because, well, apparently I can't count to 3.
Three is the number of drawers I have.
And TWO is the number of pulls I purchased... (what can I say, it was a very small drawer between the oven and the fridge, so easy to overlook!)

BUT after one quick trip to Lowes (which is where I purchased these knobs), the kitchen hardware will be done!!

Ducks!

One of the things I've enjoyed most since moving out into the semi-wilderness is seeing the different kinds of wildlife that live in or migrate through our yard. A couple weeks ago we found deer in our front yard! I'll try to get some picture of those at some point...
And last summer a turtle lived in the backyard. It was always a bit of a race who would find the ripe raspberries first! I also didn't take a picture of him...

In the meantime, here are some ducks!

There have been lots of them coming through, always in pairs. They hang out in our stream for a day or two and then move on to their next spot north.

Clever Compost

Now that we finally have a house of our own and have the recycling under control, Hubby and I decided it was time to start composting!

Actually, we did have a nice pile going a couple of apartments ago- the place we were living when we got married we intended to stay for a few years because the landlady was absolutely lovely. Unfortunately she passed away a little more than a year after we moved in and we had to move yet again. We still chuckle remembering how she used to lower notes to us in a basket from her kitchen window to ours! So sweet...

Anyway, while we have about half an acre of land around our house, there's no convenient out-of-the-way spot easily accessible from the kitchen, so an open pile didn't seem like a good idea.
So we headed over to Home Depot to see what they had in the way of bins, and the only one they had was this:

It's an old wine barrel! They drilled some holes around the side for aeration.

And put a hinged door in the top where you load everything in. Instead of using a pitchfork to turn the pile, you just roll the barrel around once a week or so.

I love that you can still read the label on the barrel!

I thought "How clever!" and "What a wonderful way to recycle!" and "I'll have an old wine barrel outside my kitchen, that's so cool!" and "This is going to make it so easy to compost!"

What I didn't think was "This barrel is way too heavy for me to pick up by myself!" Which it is. So, I guess compost turning will be a weekend activity when Hubby is home to help flip the barrel back upright!

Speaking of Flowers

Hubby brought home a bouquet of beautiful yellow flowers for me at the beginning of the week:

They are Ranunculus. I've never known about Ranunculus, but they might just be my new favorite flower!

When the bud first opens they look a little like a poppy. When they are fully in bloom they look like a rose, but they last FOREVER! I've had this bunch for a week, and they look as fresh as they day I put them in the vase!

I did a little research and it turns out that they will grow up here in New England. So when I saw a bag of bulbs at the Christmas Tree Shop for $3.99, I bought it! Just a couple more weeks and the ground should be soft enough to start digging the beds!

Trader Joe's had some beautiful Peach Blossoms that I couldn't resist:

And I don't think I'll be growing peach trees in my yard anytime soon, but they do look pretty in the living room!

And I finally have something to put in that vase I picked up at Home Goods last month!

Another great find in the clearance aisle!

First Flowers of the Season!

First that are actually in my garden, anyway...


Yay yay yay!!

Hopefully there will be lots more to come!