September wedding- #Picky 2014

After months of planning, two weeks in 45 degree heat, and endless late nights, the Big day finally arrived on Sunday.

The whole of the week before was the lead up to the wedding, we had the Chura ceremony, the Maiyaan, and then finally the wedding. Not to mention all the late nights preparing and making food for the various functions that were held during the week! The wedding was absolutely great, it was an amazing day, and very emotional, but I won't go too much into that.

There was a lot of drama in getting the dresses for the reception delivered to the UK on time, at one point the tailors actually asked us if we could postpone the days of the pre wedding and reception- not being aware that everything has to be booked months in advance here!

We did finally receive the dresses like a week before, and so everything did turn out well in the end! 

We received a lot of compliments on the dresses, and we probably wouldn't wear these again as they are, so we also asked the tailors to make us a pyjami and chunni too (dupatta), so that after the dresses won't go to waste and can be worn as an anarkali. 

Our plan is to get my mum to alter the length of the dress, to make it a little shorter, so it will look more like an anarkali!

This whole outfit is from various parts of Punjab: Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar. 

Over the top ootn

It was my cousins pre wedding party last night. And about a week ago, we finally received our outfits that were posted from india. When I first saw the dress, I wasn't that keen on it, I actually wasn't even that sold on it when we were getting them made in india- it was sparkly and pink, which is the exact opposite of me. But we were really short on time, and a decision had to be made quick, so I panicked and said I would get it made in pink. My sister got it made in purple. Me my sister and two nieces are the bridesmaids, I guess? So me and the younger niece got pink ( because we're both the youngest) and my sister and other niece got purple (because they're the oldest- I hope that makes sense!)

Anyway, the outfit did look a lot better on, specially because the venue was kind of dark! Due to the venue being dark, and also me trying to socialise with all the aunties etc, I didn't really take any good pictures. So I took one this morning, so you can get an idea of the outfit. 

The whole outfit was pretty much from India, except the earrings,which I bought from the sales in New Look, beginning of this year, and the hair grip, I think it's called, which is my sisters. 

We received a lot of compliments last night, which was nice as we weren't that happy with the dresses, the outfits for the wedding day on the other hand, are actually amazing. And I can't wait to wear it next week!

We also got our make up done from Mac last night, in our local shopping centre. I have previously gotten my make up done from Mac once before, years ago for my prom! Mac charge £30 to get your make up done in an hour. I think it's a really great service, as the make up artists use mac products, and at the end of it, you basically get to buy £30 worth of products that they have used on you, so for the £30 not only do you get your make up done, but you also get to take some new Mac products home!

I'm completely useless with make up, I can only put eye liner on thats it, but my eye liner skills are pretty amazing. On the other hand, thanks to Pinterest and the endless youtube videos, I am pretty good with my hair, so I did my hair myself. I found a Pinterest tutorial, and just did that. It was actually as simple as it looks, and I even back combed my hair for the first time, which was pretty interesting! 

Back to the interesting stuff, with my Mac make up, I chose to get some lip primer, and lip stick. I am very big on lipsticks right now, and chose a matt lipstick. 

I don't have the lipstick to hand right now, so I don't know what it's called- sorry!

Late night ladoo operation

As I have mentioned before, my cousin is getting married this year, in September to be exact. which is the end of this month!

Things have been getting pretty busy lately with wedding preparations etc. As the wedding is coming up fast, a few weeks ago all the women at home, plus a few of my mum and massis friends decided to take the day to make some ladoos to give out with the wedding cards.

I've always wondered how you make ladoos, and it is actually pretty simple, its basically just a gram flour paste, and sugar. Oh and some food colouring to get the colour.

I say all the women in the house were busy making them, but in all honesty, I was just there to eat them. That warm laddo mixture, right before you make the ladoo shape is the best.

This was just one table of ladoos, the whole kitchen was filled with them, as well as the coffee table, and since this picture was taken, we've made more batches on 2 seperate occassions. So it's safe to say I am getting a little sick of them!

DIY macbook sleeve

I've been looking for a cute laptop sleeve for a while now. I bought one from eBay to tide me over until I found a better one, but I couldn't really find anything that was cute and affordable. 

So I decided to make my own one. I originally wanted to make a back one, but I couldn't find any black material that would be suitable, so that has been put on hold until I can get the material. But it's basically going to be all black with pompoms, I'm so excited to make it, but I guess thats for another blog post.

My mum has a bag full of clothes that she was giving away today, so I came across one of her floral salwar kameez suits, and I decided to take it as I like to save fabrics for sewing projects etc. 

I decided to make a laptop sleev out of the floral material, as I already had a cream fleece material for the inside, and so this worked out a lot cheaper, all I had to pay for was the zipper. As the zipper was longer, it went around the sleeve, and as I am just a beginner, I had to get some help. 

I do still need to work on my measurements, as the sleeve was a little too snug, and I would have liked it to be a little roomier. However, I am planning on making more for my etsy store, so I'm sure I will get better!

Diy necklace hanger

I have a ton of necklaces. I love accessorising, but my wrists are too small for bangles and bracelets, and my poor fingers are too chubby for rings so statement necklaces are the only way I can really accessorise. 

I love statement necklaces, but feel that a lot of the ones on the high street, are not only mass produced, but also very expensive. I’m a brown girl, so I'm a cheap bargain hunting haggler at heart, so no way am I spending £15+ on a statement necklace!

Due to this reason, and also my love of statement necklaces, I started selling statement necklaces online. I try to sell necklaces that I would wear, for prices that I would buy.

I usually only buy about 3 in total of each design, and keep one for myself and sell the others!

As a result my collection of necklaces is ever growing, and I don’t really have any place to store them as they are so big and chunky.

I used to just hang them from my door knob, but that looked kind of messy.

I had an old door hanger, that was more pretty than it was practical, so I decided to hang it on my wall and hang my necklaces from there instead!

I still feel that there could be a better way to store my necklaces, but the door hanger come necklace hanger is a nice short term fix until I think of something better.

Summer vacay- India

We decided to go India this year in July for my cousins wedding shopping. We went for 2 weeks and got back on Saturday. 

July is one of the hottest months in India, since we arrived there, it had been a minimum of 40 degrees. We last came here back in December for a wedding. When we went back in December it was very cold, and I remember complaining about the cold weather. This time around was the complete opposite though. This time I was complaining about the hot weather! 

We luckily spent most of our days in stores shopping for outfits, and so there was air con, and as there was also air con in the car, we didn't really feel the heat as much. It was only on the few days that we stayed at home that we realised how hot and unbearable it actually was.

We live in a pind (village) where power cuts are very common. Up until this trip to India, I actually thought the power cuts were just because, well because it was India, but it turns out that the people who distribute the electricity actually turn off the power at different intervals during the day to cope with the demand of power which is very annoying when you're in 40 + degree heat. As we were staying at my Mums maternal home, there wasn't any air con there, as no one really stays there anymore as most have moved out to different countries. 

As the power kept going out, it meant that the fans and coolers we had would switch off. We had what they call in India, a generator, something that stores electricity, but this relies on electricity to charge, so there were moments when the generator too would cut off.

Because of the heat, the water would also be very warm sometimes, and so there was no chance of a shower to cool down until the evening when it was somewhat cooler (maybe 35 degrees if we were lucky)

Despite the 2/3 cold showers we would take a day, it was actually a nice trip. It had been nice spending time with everyone, and seeing family back home ( mainly my massi who had an amazing house with AC where we stayed for a few days). It was also fun to help out with and be a part of the wedding preparations. 

Much to everyones surprise, we had finished the majority of the shopping in one day. We were recommended a store in Ludhiana where they did all types of indian clothes, from unstiched to ready made anarkalis, so we managed to get all of the wedding shopping done in one day. Well, we did spend 7 hours in that store). 

My cousin chose a red anarkali, and they then took her measurements and their tailor had it made for her within around 10 days. Before we went out there, we took some pictures with us for inspiration, to make it all easier. So when we got to the store, the sales man who was serving us told us that his tailor could make anything we showed them, so we gave them the picture of the dresses we wanted, and we chose the materials and colours. 

I was a little worried at first, but after seeing the amazing job they did with my cousins wedding outfit, I am kind of excited to get the dresses. (They're going to courier them over in around a months time)

As we ended up doing the shopping in a few days, ( we ended up going to Jalandhar and Amritsar for the accessories) we had time to do other things too. Since before my mum and massi moved over here, our local Baba Shaheed Gurdwara has hosted a Mela every year (I actually found out when we went that it was actually our BabaJi (Grandfather) who came up with the idea and organised the very first one in our pind). My mum and Massi had always wanted to go, and this year they got to go, although understandably, they go for the religious reasons rather than the Mela. Even though my mum and massi have been gone for a long time, everyone still remembers them,  and everyone is always so warm and welcoming to us all, so it is always nice to go and see the familiar faces. 

We also went to the Haveli restaurant this year, which is a popular punjabi restaurant, everyone talks it up a lot, but to be honest it isn't all that. The restaurant and sculptures are nice and everything, but to be honest, we live in a pind,  and have been going to Pujab for years, so it is nothing new. 

On a side note, it was mango season when we went, so everyday we had mangos, and they worked out around 40p per llb, which was even better!

I've been meaning to create a blog for a while now. I've started before but have never lasted long. But I figure as I have some exciting times to come in the next few months, its a good place to start.

My main hobbies consist of buying things, and making things, so that's pretty much what you'll find here!