A New Award - One Lovely Blog

Hello friends! Hope your weekend went well and you enjoyed it to the fullest. We had a wedding reception to attend on Saturday evening, it was a special one as the same intercultural Indo-Russian family as ours was born. We are so happy for newly wed and I feel we can all become really good friends now :)

Yesterday me and D went out in the evening to have some South Indian food. As soon as we reached the parking and went a few meters inside it, a sudden storm was up and started whirling dust and plastic packets around, the trees were also disturbed a lot, it was really scary to be so close to them in the car, and when the hurricane subsided we hurried to the cafe. 

The unusually strong storm brought devastation in the city, leaving broken trees, crashed cars, injured people, and even dead after itself. I am thankful we were safe, and we got off only with 2 hours without electricity at home. I saw many fallen trees on the way to the office today, some say that one of the shops in sector 17 where I work, had glasses broken and furniture misplaced. I hope that such weather will not repeat.

Now to good news in my blogging life - I got a One Lovely blog award by a beautiful Greekwitch from Dreaming of Rosemary blog. Thank you so much Georgina,  it was an honor :)

The award rules say I have to tell 7 things I've never told about myself before, and nominate 7 other blogs (which is my favorite part).

7 things:

1. I am the only child. Yea.

2. I studied at the university for free, at the same time getting monthly stipend.

3. I don't really like my current job.

4. I don't want to have children  yet.

5. My favorite drink is wine.

6. If I sleep less than 8 hours I start having a headache.

7. I am a coffee addict (this I could have said somewhere already, but okay :))

Nominated blogs:

1. Diaper Mum - Rajeshwari always has some beautiful, colorful crochet projects and new designing ideas.

2.Linda's Crafty Corner - I am always delighted to see another crocheted kids wear by Linda, she always posts links to the patterns and her own patterns in her blog.

3. Nata's Nest - Nata has a cute blog, where she tells about her adventures in designing crochet, knitted, and other crafty things.

4. Sunny Simple Life - a blog I found through search of same Sunny Days title as mine. Have a look at bright homely ideas at Elaine's Sunny Simple Life.

5. Rhissanna - the author shares her journey in doll making and believe me there is always something beautiful to see in her creations, I love the doll clothing she makes.

6. Tahoma Beadworks & Photography - Jojo is one inspiring lady who is never afraid of experimenting with crafts, and herself creates beautiful projects made of beads, glass, glitter and with loads of love.

7. Incipient Wings - a truly magical, creative and fun filled blog where you will find something of your own.

That's all for now, dear friends. Hope you will have a look at nominated blogs, and enjoy the content. 

Have a lovely week ahead!

Apple Pie, Cutie Pie and Holidays

Sometimes you have to follow your instant wishes. Like I did yesterday. I came from office with a big big urge to make something tasty, homely. It's easy when you have all the ingredients, lying on the shelves and waiting for you to pick them up and start preparing... an apple pie for example :)

This pie is my Mum's favorite recipe, and this is the first bakery I learned from her. Why I give such importance to it is because it was my fourth attempt of making cakes in the electric oven here in India. All the three cakes made before were tasty, ok, but I couldn't make them fluffy and the process used to take me up to an hour and a half! Yesterday was different, and manipulating with the oven temperature, I finally got it right! You know, it was an achievement for me and was the most happy person in the house, after my  husband, who was also happy to have this dessert with evening tea.

Today is 25th of January, Tatyana's Day (Tatyanin den') which is a Christian holiday named after St. Tatyana. She is considered to be a patron of all students. The Moscow State University, my Alma Mater, has a chapel dedicated to this saint, so the tradition has been created that this day is also called a day of our MSU.

Among other small news is that I was awarded...*blushing*, with the Premio Cutie Pie (there was some prophecy in baking yesterday) award this time by Ljubinka from Made By Ljubinka blog :) Thank you so much! It's an interesting award, as it is given to those using nice colors. Actually, all of us use colors, so may better to call this award a Colorful Blog award or something like this. Now I have to nominate 5 more blogs for the same, and this cute child will be on your blog's page :) It's difficult to choose, as everyone has loads of beauty and color in their blogs. But, I nominated these:

Jojo from Tahoma Beadworks and Photography 

Ali from Random Wooliness

The Sage Butterfly

Unn from TinsRose

Jenn from Color'n Cream

Such a cutie pie! :)

The post appeared to be quite informative, isn't it? I had one more thing to share but will tell about it next time.  Tomorrow's is the Day of The Republic of India, and most probably I'll be going with my D to celebrate it at his workplace.

Have a lovely weekend, dear friends, and thank you for your praising comments about my small projects!:) It means a lot to me.

New Beginnings In Crafting and Blogging

How much happy can you be when receiving a parcel? I was immensely happy and excited. This was lying on my bed when I came back home two days ago - a parcel from Pony Craft Store! Well, I knew it had to come as once again I was making an order together with my D, but still, it was like another gift for me, a Christmas gift:)

Not to stretch more the waiting, here is what was in the parcel - all colorful and useful. Seeing one of the latest Sangeetha's posts, where she expressed her wish to learn Tunisian crochet, I knew that it was exactly what I also wanted to learn! So now I'm a proud owner of a 3.5 mm Tunisian crochet hook (the top most of the picture). I also ordered a  4.5 mm  aluminium hook with plastic handle (top left of the picture).

 Speaking of other special items in the parcel, these are the row counters. I still slightly doubt whether they are used for crochet or not, but they were too cute and too cheap not to purchase them.

And these are beautiful crystal head pins!

 The split ring markers were bought with an aim of marking amigurumi stitches. Let's see if it works.

 Oh yes, this is a very very special tool for me - a tatting shuttle. I hope to learn tatting  some day too, it will be easy when having the necessary supplies.

I have even more happiness and love to share. I got my  third (!) Liebster award! This time from Nata who has a nice blog Nata's Nest, picturing her passion for crochet and other homely things. Thank you so much for choosing me, Nata! :). Moreover I'm very glad to get more and more blogger friends each day, as it makes me feel connected to the world.

Movie you could see again and again: Harry Potter
Country or city: City
Sea or mountains: Sea
Newest book: The Romanov Bride by Robert Alexander (now very new, but new to me)
High heels or flat shoes: High Heels
Cat or dog: Cat
Halloween or Carnival: Halloween
Summer or winter: Summer
Sweet or salty: Sweet
I'm glad to pass this award to 5 more blogs. They all are crafty and beautiful.
Bead and Needle
Crochet Lounge
Enhancing Crafts
Made to Treasure
Blog Funny Stitches
All you have to do now is to choose from the same pairs above, nominate 5 other blogs in return and put an award's image in your blog.
What else concerns blogging  is that  I'm participating in the Grow Your Blog event by Vicki from 2 Bags Full. If interested, you can also leave an entry message here.

***Have a rewarding day ahead and a great weekend!***

Blog Award - Liebster (second one!) :)

I am lucky enough to receive the second Liebster Blog award from Nikki who has a cozy blog The Little Nordic Cabin and inspires everyone to explore and get fascinated by the Nordic culture, nature and life! Thanks a lot, Nikki! It was a nice surprise for me:) As you might know there are several rules you need to follow when getting this award, here they are:

1. Answer 11 questions

2. Give 11 facts about yourself

3. Nominate 11 other lovely bloggers

4. Post 11 new questions for your new nominees

Nikki's questions for me are:

1. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? Good question... I wanted to be a teacher, an astronaut, and ... may be a dancer:)

2. What did you actually grow up to become/what are you actually becoming? I am a philologist, teacher of Russian language and literature... Sadly I am doing a job which is not related to my degree at all.

3. Why do you blog? Because I was feeling depressed and low at that time and also bored, so I saw many beautiful blogs and said to myself that I could try it out too.

4. If you could have any super power, what would it  be? Fly!

5. Which moment in your life so far are you most proud of? Just yesterday - when I saw my husband dancing on the stage!:)

6. Is there a book you think everybody should read? Certainly "Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov - my love forever!

7. Do you remember what you were doing on this day last year? Hmm... must have been in the office.

8. 1 year from now, where would you like to be? Right where I am now.

9. What is your favourite country you've ever visited? Germany! Want to visit it again.

10. Do you have any sweet family traditions? In my parents' house we always have dinner at the table in a cozy kitchen.. I miss  it now.

11. What is your favourite song at the moment? Many of them, one is the Indian one "Je Lee Zaraa" from the movie "Talaash" ("Search"). 

I will go to nominations now straight away:

A Mermaid In The Attic - well, the name speaks for itself! An enchanting blog of one Mermaid:)

Amateur Crafts - a cute blog about Evu's crafty things. 

El Arte De Rosia - Marianne's dolls, Christmas decorations are simply beautiful! She takes great photos of her works.

Aishwarya's World - "Every moment counts. Hence live for the moment to be happy and light" states Aishwarya. So come and have a look in her world.

Diaper Mum - Rejeshwari lives in Hong Kong. She finds time for creating wonderful home decor things!

Elina Ellis - Elina is an artist who creates lovely illustrations full of warmness, cuteness and love. 

Elizy Art - Elisabeth is another crafty girl, a fresh blogger. She makes beautiful crochet shawls, ornaments and other accessories.

A Magical Whimsy - a blog of a dolls' creator and a dreamer...You'll love it!

Midory's Life - a blog of a Russian crafter. Midory does cross stitching, knitting, likes reading.

The Rainbow of Handiwork (Радуга рукоделия) - a versatile crafter from Ukraine.You will find cross stitched, knitted, crocheted, origami and many other works in her blog.

Owl Drive (Совиный Драйв) - a cute collective blog where all the craft projects dedicated to the Owls!

Wichtelzwerg -a German blog's author tells about her love for wee folks. She creates cute elves, dwarfs, angels from felt.

So here are my 11 questions for 11 nominees:

1. If you were offered unexpectedly to go somewhere for a trip, which destination would it be?

2. What is your favorite book?

3. Are you a dreamer?

4. What was the best food you ever tried?

5. Do you have many friends (in real)?

6. Would you like to go to the Moon (and back)?

7. How does your ideal day look like?

8. Would you like to learn any new language?

9. Are you (and your house) ready for Christmas/New year celebrations yet?

10. What is your best memory so far?

11. Any new skill/craft you would to learn?

Thanks to all who find time to blog, post pictures and actually tell about so interesting things. I really enjoy following your ventures in life and craft.There are many other blogs who deserve to be awarded, however I could pick only 11.

Have a nice day, my friends, and I'll be back with some new crochet stuff soon!

P.S. not giving facts about myself, as I have given already in another post, and answering the questions was more than sufficient for the same purpose.

Liebster Blog Award

 This morning started with a pleasant message that my blog was awarded Liebster award! It is a first one and the last I guess:) Thanks a lot to my friend-blogger from WeaverBirdie! I appreciate it. So these are few things an awarded blog writer has to do.

Visit at least 3 blogs which were also awarded.

Follower a blog of the award giver.

Tell 11 things about yourself:

My husband is Indian.

I moved to India 2 years and 10 months ago.

I like Indian food, especially, dosa and sambar.

I am a graduate of the Moscow State University.

I try to cook Russian dishes from Indian products.

I started this blog and renewed my hobbies in India in order to avoid boredom.

I miss my cat who died at the age of 17.

I like things related to fairy tales, fantasy, horror.

I LOVE reading.

My favourite hot drink  is coffee.

I dream of a big cozy house to live in with my family.

Answer 11 questions:

How do you define yourself? Outgoing, a little anxious, caring, curious.

What is your favorite dish? Something fried or grilled.

Would you rather cook or you cook? I don't like cooking much.

What's your favourite dessert? Chocolate cake with chocolate icing!

If you had to stay with an ingredient, what would it be? Coffee I guess.

What is the best trip you've done? Trip to India.

What is the best restaurant you've eaten in? The one in McLeod Ganj, it was an open terrace with a view on the mountains!

Do you prefer meat of fish? Both.

Black or milk chocolate? Black.

What is the worst dish you tried? Honestly, can't remember.

11 blogs I choose to give the Liebster award are:

http://bigpufanascreations.blogspot.in/

http://bonitabonbons.blogspot.in/

http://crochetattic.blogspot.in/

http://mygurumi.blogspot.in/

http://thelazyhobbyhopper.blogspot.in/

http://singindi.blogspot.in/

http://hippywitchcrafts.blogspot.in/

http://tsdailytreasures.blogspot.in

http://garden-of-decoupage.blogspot.in/

http://inspirenordic.blogspot.in/

http://missabigailshopechest.blogspot.in

I love all the blogs I follow anyway :) Will notify those who got awards.