Holiday shopping goes online

If you are regular on this space you must be aware of my love for shopping. Festivals and holiday seasons give us another reason to do some more shopping for our self’s and our love ones. I enjoy the deals and sales we get at this time of the year, it makes shopping even more exciting. I love giving gifts to my friends and family during festivals and I treat myself too by buying something nice for myself (something which was there on my wish list for long). Holiday gifts are a way to show love and care for our dear ones, be it a greeting card, flowers, chocolates or something they are fond of. These gifts always show that you think and care for them. I remember, as a kid I used to hand paint New Year cards for my friends and used to buy some tinny little presents for my siblings from the modest pocket money I used to get back then.

Years later, today also my fondness for giving and receiving gifts has not reduced a bit. I see the fancy sale ad or tempting offers in the news paper every day, but lack of time limits my visits to malls for shopping. I am sure most of you are also in same condition like I am in, we want to go out shopping but there is no time. However with the increasing popularity of online shopping my problem has reduced to a big extent. Now I can shop any time I want, from the comfort of my own home and my favourite thing is just few clicks away from me. Online shopping gives the freedom to shop on odd hours, like late night or early in the morning. I don’t need to commute to the store which saves me lots of time, energy and money. Also, online shopping gives me the freedom to compare product’s feature or price without hopping from one shop to another. It also saves my courier fee when sending gift to other city, as I can directly get it delivered there and no need for me to take care of packing and shipping the gift.

However online shopping can be little tricky at times, attractive deals offered by different sites can make you shop more then you actually want to. But I have a solution for this as well.  I always look for discount coupons online before shopping from any site. There are many sites which give discount coupons, and I have tried most of them, out of them all my favorite is CUPONATION. They have discount coupons for almost all the online shopping sites, you name it and it is there. Be it makeup, apparel, shoes, household stuff, gadgets, flight & hotel booking, baby product, restaurants or anything else, you will get wonderful deals for them here. And the most important thing about this site is that all their coupons do work. They do not keep expired coupons on their site, like some other sites do. This means no frustration for you and a happy shopping experience.

Now I always look for deals and discount coupons on cuponation.in before making any purchase online. It saves time and good amount of money with their wonderful deals. I must say, online shopping has changed the way we shop and sites like cuponation.in is making online shopping even more fun by helping us save big bucks. So what are you waiting for go checkout the amazing deals on cuponation.in and buy happiness for you and your dear ones. Happy holidays and Happy shopping to you all. :D

PS: just in case you don’t know what discount coupon code is, it’s a code which enable you get additional discounts on top of the deals already running on the site.

 Image source: google image.

Enough is enough

I consider myself very strong person and even the people around me think the same for me. However in reality, I am very emotional and sensitive at heart. Things around me which are not directly related also make me restless at times. And after reading about the recent Delhi rape case, I was really restless. I felt angry, annoyed, upset; I felt like I have to go out and do something, I have to stop all this. I know a lot of bloggers are writing about it and asking for strong law against such crime. I want that too, I want the rapists to get such harsh punishment, which becomes a lesson for everyone who ever had or will ever think of doing something close to harassing a women. I feel just putting them in prison is not enough, they should be punished publicly.

In a country where Aadi sakti is idolized as the symbol of power, where we worship small girls as Devi Durga there only girls are unsafe even in the day light, they are harassed in public places and their parents live under fear until their daughter comes back home safe and sound. If this is our reality then what is the use of portraying lady as a goddess and worshipping her for power, wealth & wisdom. I thought a lot about why all this is happening. Answer to this question varies from person to person. Some feel it is because of lack of education, then what about those highly educated people who raped or assaulted women. Some feel it is because of “improper dressing” of girls, then what about the rape cases in villages. Those ladies were wearing saree or other ethnic Indian cloths. I feel it has nothing to do with his education or her cloths it’s all about mentality. It’s about not considering women a thing for pleasure; it is about considering her equally human as you are.

I thought a lot about it, what we can do as women to stop such molestation. If not much then at least we can cultivate good values in our kids, we can teach our son, brothers and friends to respect women. And we can act more attentive, strong and defensive to keep ourselves protected.

Below are some of the tips and tricks I found at various places which women can use for self-defense.

1.      Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do it.

2.      Learned this from a tourist guide to New Orleans : if a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you…. chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3.       If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car: Kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won’t see you but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

4.      Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping,eating,working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON’T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side,put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU CLOSE the DOORS , LEAVE.

5.      A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:
a.         Be aware: look around your car as someone may be hiding at the passenger side ,    peek into your car, inside the passenger side floor, and in the back seat. ( DO THIS TOO BEFORE RIDING A TAXI CAB) .

b.         If you! u are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.

c.         Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.) 

6.      ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot).

7.       If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN!

8.       As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP IT! It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked “for help” into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

It is always good to be safe than sorry. I wish and pray that government does take some strong action against accused and make some strong law to prevent such incidents in future. This should not became one such case again, about which everyone talked in past and forgot now. I request our leaders to handle this case with highest priority and punish the rapist as soon as possible, don’t let them walkout freely. If an Indian woman is not safe in her own country then it is a big shame for all of us. In Mahatma Gandhi’s words “India will attain full freedom on the day women can walk safely at night.” I request to each and every Indian, please work on taking our nation towards full freedom.

PS: Please pray for the brave girl who is fighting for her life.

My festive look with Shoppers Stop

Like every girl I too love dressing up and festivals give us the best chance to do that. To create a nice look it takes a lot of time and creativity,one need to search for perfect dress that suits the occasion and pieces of accessories that goes well with the dress. Hence I always love to go to such places where I can get everything to complete my look under one roof that’s why Shoppers Stop is my favorite place for shopping. There I get everything, be it apparel, accessories, makeup or skin care everything is available there from all top brands.

And with e-commerce the world has shrunk so much that now we can get all our favorite cloths and accessories with just few clicks of button in the comfort of our own home. All this made me  fall in love with online shopping and like real shopping for online shopping also I love shopping at shoppersstop.com.

 So when I saw the contest on indiblogger from shoppers stop where we need to create our favorite festive look with apparels and accessories from shoppersstop.com I was very excited to take part in it.

I have created two looks here, one traditional Indian and one western for the festive parties like new-year eve or Christmas parties with friends.

Here is my first look for the festive season which is my new year eve party look.
 

I have selected an Allen Solly Satin tulip Dress. I love the thin black belt it has on the waist to give definition to the thinnest part of my body.  Dresses look best with high heels, I am pairing it up with a black Peep Toes with bow and side cut from Inc.5. No look can be complete without jewellery. I don’t believe in wearing very heavy jewellery but for festivals there has to be little addition of bling in the look. I have added Infinity Clear Crystal studded Earrings and studded pendent in this look. I am also so used to wear watches that I cannot leave home without it. To go with this look I added a Fossil - Women’s Watch with white dial and stainless steel strap which has little crystals on dial and strap to make it look dressy. The big round dial brings a little trendy factor in this look and saves it from being very girly. And how can go out without taking my clutch to keep all my essentials in it. I followed the classic rule of matching bag with shoes and used this black clutch from French Connection. In whole this is a very wearable, trendy and modern look which will go very well for festive get together.

Next, I created a traditional Indian look for festivals.

Indian festivals means long Pujas and get together with family and friends, which means lots of running around and still looking fantastic. Keeping this in mind I kept this look very minimalistic, wearable, comfortable at the same time classy. This look can be worn in day and night both. I have selected this long anarkali suit from Kashish, in coral color which will suit most skin tones and will be nice for day as well as night look. I love the embroidery it has on its neck and back, the black net dupatta puts everything together beautifully. With this beautiful embroidery I decided to ditch necklace and added only long blingy earrings from Infinity. Again to keep track of time I need a watch, and the golden titan raga watch goes wonderfully with this look. This elegant watch serves the purpose of accessorizing my hands brilliantly. I stick to the golden theme and used a golden clutch  from Haute Curry. For shoes I followed the bag and shoes matching rule again and selected golden sandals from Lemon. I love this simple traditional look, which is super comfy and easy to create.

I had so much fun creating these two looks with apparel and accessories from shoppersstop.com. Log on there today and create your own favorite look, I am sure you will find everything there that you need to create a prefect look. Also enjoy the 300Rs off they are giving with new accounts created on their site. So enjoy the festivals and the festive shopping :)

Beware you backstabber!!

Today morning someone’s attitude moved me badly, I felt that I have been backstabbed. I didn’t knew whom I should share this with, as I don’t want to prolong this topic. However I thought of dealing with the situation maturely. And matured ways always emphasize on communication, I too believe that communication is the key in any relationship be it marriage, parenting or friendship. There is no issue in this world that cannot be resolved if discussed by both parties with open heart and mind. However if any of this is missing then this communication will turn into an argument and situation can go worse.

From last 6 years I am living away from my family, and friends are only my second family here. I am not very quick in making friends, but when I make I try to keep them for lifetime. With friends we feel comfortable, we consider them as our siblings and we feel that we can share things with them which we cannot with our family. Sometimes it can be a secret or sometimes it can be general talk, but every time I am pouring my heart out in front of them. I don’t think I need to specify it to them every time that Please don’t share this with others, a friend should be able to understand the intensity of the matter and decided on their own about sharing what I shared about me with them.

 I have this habit of not sharing one friend’s secrets with another, whether he/she specified it to be a secret or not. I don’t like to be a communication channel between two people, all my friends are grown enough to face each other and talk on their own. If you feel sharing what friend A talked to you with friend B is not making you a backstabber then I think you are wrong. By dictionary backstabbing means “The action or practice of criticizing someone in a treacherous manner while feigning friendship”. I shared my feeling with you or my plans with you and you went and told the same to someone else because I did not mention that “please don’t tell anyone” in the beginning of the conversation. May be I did not wanted that person to know this or I wanted to tell them later on my own, in any case you have been unfaithful to me while being my friend, so you backstabbed me.

I know, most you may feel that friends can talk and sortout such small things. I agree to it 100%, but only till it happens for the first time. When it happens several times then I feel there is no use to talk to such people and I prefer maintaining distance from them.

Someone may say “Oh that happened by mistake. He/she is very good at heart but little absent minded or he/she has childish nature” then I am not interested in being friends with absent minded or childish people. I would prefer saying goodbye than being a source of juicy topics for them.

And you the Backstabber stop this attitude of yours. Because I am leaving you without saying a word, but may be someone else will bring life out of you for doing the same with them.

What should I write about?

I am sure every blogger/writer must have faced writer’s block at least once if not many times. I am also going through the same phase, my blog is not updated from last 2 months and I have 3-4half written posts with me because I am not able to think of a proper finish for them. It is not just the lack of inspiration which is stopping me to write but there is lack of quality time too. 

Life is going on in its full pace, work, personal life and some extra work here and there keeps me busy all day long. There are so many things I want to do, which I mentally plan when I go to bed, but fail to execute my plan when I am awake. I know I know, I have also ready many self-help book which say that a real dream is one which keeps you awake. Or one should sleep one hour less to make time for things he/she loves to do. But when you are worked physically and mentally throughout the day, then giving up that 1 hour of sleep becomes quite difficult. Do I sound complaining, actually I have no complains. I love my life the way it is going now. I do what I am supposed to do, I shop what I like, I eat what I want and everything else is going fine. But I feel guilty for not working on my blog, not spending time on this space. 

At last I decided to do something about it and thought of writing one post every day, but I am not ready to commit something which I am not sure of doing. So I have resolute that I will update my blog at least once every week. If not a story every week then at least I will update here about the happenings in my life and things around me. I hope this will help me get out of this “no update” mode.

For now I am attaching two of my recent paintings in this post. I tried my hands on oil painting after good 10 years, I was very hesitant in the beginning but when I picked up the brush it felt amazing. Art is like riding a bicycle,when you don’t ride it for long time you are scared to ride but once you start it again you feel you have never stopped it :)

 

Lord Ganesha

 

 English roses

Letter to my Daughter

Dear Daughter,

I don’t know when you will read this; actually I don’t even know when you will come to this world. But whenever you will come in our life, I want you to know what I think and dream for you. Every parent wants their kids to be obedient, do well in life and love their parents back. I will be no different, but with this I would also like you to be what you want to be.

The atmosphere you will grow up in will be way different than the one I grew up in, but I would like to keep the same friendly relation with you as I have with my mom. I have a stay at home mom, who was always there to open the doors when I came back home from school. I always took her for granted for doing my laundry, cooking my favorite meal and telling me stories when I was eating. But you will have a working mom, who will be overworked at times. May be I will not be able to give you as much time as I got from my mom, but I will try to spend quality time with you, so that we understand each other well.

I hope you will love to play with soft toys and give them funny names, just like I do. I would like you to find joy in small things in life, you need to understand that happiness is not materialistic, it comes from within. I would like you to be a strong person who can understand her responsibilities and rights, at the same time someone who can respect the rights of others too. I know you will have your set of friends and you will have good time with them. But the numbers of years I spent on earth will make me more helpful to you then your friends at times. So my little princess whenever you are in doubt or any kind of trouble, talk to me. I can’t guaranty that I will solve your entire problem like a super mom, but I will do whatever I can to make things easy for you.

I would like to introduce you to art, music, books and sports but what you take up will be fairly your choice. Whatever you do my dear, do it with passion and commitment, besides I will be there to support you on every step. Yes! Do not throw tantrums in front of me, because I don’t find them cute at all. Be naughty but not nasty. Be strong headed but not rebellious. Love others but first love yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others, you are unique and special the way you are. However this does not stop you from learning from others, always be willing to learn, take all the goods and leave the bad.

I will be lying if I say that I won’t search for myself in you, but then I know you will be different yet so much like me. One important thing my love, please don’t pick the moody genes from me, I hate my mood swings and I don’t want you to have that. You know, handling two moody women will make your dad’s life really difficult J   (I seriously hope that I improve with time, and you don’t get to see the moody side of me)

Oh… I have so much to tell you my baby, but let me keep something to share with you later.

 Until we meet, take care of yourself.

With lots of love,

Mom.