Goa Vacations Part 1 - Just Arrived

I cannot tell you (and you must be knowing yourself) that it is such a special feeling when your dreams come true. After living in North India for 4 years, I finally reached another part of it - West India, state Goa with a capital Panjim or Panaji, washed by the waters of the Arabian Sea. Remember, in one of my posts I displayed a mug with "Goa" written on it as a projection of my dream? :) Now here it is materialized, and I am so happy to share my latest trip impressions with all  of you. 

There is something I haven't yet told you about, my friends, yet, and this something also played role in taking up that decision. A little more than 3 months ago we got to know that we would become parents! Unexpected, unplanned, somehow shocking, surprising were first feelings we had. Then we took it as a nature's gift, its blessing, and since then all our thoughts and deeds are towards this big for our lives event. 

So, we made this trip because we thought we deserved it and it would be good to have some break from routine and give rest to your bodies and minds before we get too busy :) ( And I am too big to fly far, lol).

Meanwhile... we arrived at Dabolim Airport, Goa, last to last Sunday. It was afternoon, around 4 pm and the first thing we had to do is to remove our jackets and change shoes to slippers! Vacations began! We went to Goa with our friends - a couple who are also expecting their first child almost same time as we.

We headed to the South Goa first, planning to spend half of our vacations, living on the Palolem beach there. On the way from the airport we witnessed various views, nature scenes altering with the urban. The first feature of Goa you notice is loads of palm trees everywhere!

Second - no busy roads and very simple surroundings.

Third - many churches, chapels, built during Portuguese influence times. Also many houses, big and small, fazenda type, built by same Portuguese, you don't feel you are in India at all as architecture overall is not Indian.

The crosses were towering above all the churches and stands just right on the side of the road - very strong Christian spirit.

And beautiful government buildings. This one is the South Goa District Headquarters.

My D captured some scenery  of local life - a woman selling utensils beside the road. Her daily deal and means of living. 

Loved our way - I will remember these views forever!

By the time the sun was setting and when we arrived to our beach huts, it was already twilight. 

However we dropped the baggage in the room and hurried to see the Arabian Sea for the first time in our life! Pictures are blurred but it is exactly how we saw Palolem beach in the twilight - people walking, some swimming, first evening lights and promise of a great time ahead! We could breath in the air of relaxation, love and joy.

The hut we stayed in (exterior pictures in next post) had a mosquito net. I always wanted to sleep under such.

Later, when we changed our clothes to more appropriate and beach-like, we made our way along the seashore, which had endless row of various cafes and restaurants to suit any taste.

The night market at Palolem which we visited few times afterwards.

We finally chose one restaurant called "Cafe Del Mar" and had delicious seafood dinner with a sea view in front of our table. 

That's all for now and soon I hope to find time to proceed and show what else we found in Goa last week :) Today I am still under impression of this beautiful state which has so much to offer. Today we went to office first time after we came back and I must say it was a tough day! We both were loaded with work straight away, but now we have that corner in our hearts where we will be coming back to again and again and recollecting those precious days we spent together, almost 24*7 :)
Hope you liked these selection of pictures and I will prepare more next time. Thanks for staying with me, dear friends! Have a wonderful day ahead wherever you are!

Winter Holidays - 4 Years in India

Hello, friends! I am here, I am always here :) I found time (and ok, let's be honest, wish) to blog! I got caught up with my new job and other events in life so much that blogging, unfortunately, went on the background.
First, I hope you all had happy and enjoyable winter holidays. I had rather good, with gifts and New year tree, and lights. There is a Santa under the tree which I bought in India, when celebrating my second new year here. Very cute, and I haven't seen such since.

 This year we bought some more tree ornaments, but I didn't make any new myself. Also I wanted to have lights on my tree for a long time, and this year we got it too! I LOVE these lights! Now as the holidays passed by, I put the same lights in our room, my D loves it too :)
This little Santa I bought in Moscow, 4 years ago. I also bought 4-5 more of them in different colors, one travelled with me to India.

 This Santa was purchased in my city, just before I went to India (4 years ago too). So basically I have 3 Santas with me every year, more to come? :)

Sorry, it is just a quick post, I gotta go somewhere, it is Saturday! Yey!

Love you all and wish you a splendid weekend!!!

Merry Christmas 2013!

Have a Merry, Happy, Jolly Christmas and winter holidays! 

I have off from office today, so enjoying my day! I hope to be back to blogging soon as I have things to share with you, my dears!

Christmas and Cats

Well, as you know I live in the of the North India which doesn't have that real change of the seasons. These days we have +25 in day time and around +8+9 in the evening. The house feels more cold than outside. We never get snow here, and hence I cannot FEEL winter. So as I have been doing for the past 3 years, I IMAGINE winter.. :) I imagine the frosty morning air, and looking at the evening sky I expect it'd snow... I also try to create that winter holidays mood around me, preparing little gifts.

This time I couldn't wait more and tried my hands at cross stitching. I used to admire all the beautiful needle work people do: absolutely amazing pictures, made with love and warmth of their hearts. I wanted to start learning this craft. My D took me to the local shop called "Chhotu Motu" in Hindi, means "Big and Small", miscellaneous. There I purchased 10 skeins of Anchor thread and 50 cm of fabric + 2 tapestry needles. All cost me 130 Rs. or 2.09 USD. I think it is damn cheap! 

Here is my first cross stitch picture - a Christmas cat :) I know the stitches are uneven, and as I used 3 strands of thread, the crosses came out too thin. But I am happy with this first try and enjoyed the process a lot! This cross stitch was washed and intended to be made into a card. The pattern is here.  I have started another small picture, and I am using 4 strands of thread, which looks way better.

 One more very quick Christmas themed project was a mini stocking made with this pattern. I didn't make any more stockings so far. It's a good project to engage with as you can use scraps of yarn to hook it up.

Meet Mellow, a toy cat. Mellow - Meow + Yellow and it is soft :) Hehe. It was such a spontaneous thing to make, originally it is a crochet applique. I made two such appliques and stitched them together.  Pattern is here, it is a Russian forum/website. 

 I didn't really like the idea of making so many cat appliques for a blanket, it is too boring, and now a toy makes me smile and meow every day :) I am definitely a cat girl!

Tomorrow I am joining new office, and I am very excited about a new job and a new place to work in. Details later and wish me luck! Thanks for wonderful comments about my blanket, you made my day and days to come!

Have a wonderful second half of the week, my dears! Take care! Meow!

All Together - Blanket, Birthday and Tangerines

Life definitely decided to take over in the past few weeks. I was caught up in its events, unexpected turns and many new beginnings. Besides I did it -- I finished my BIG Summer Blanket. Well, it was completed on the 21st of November, but I could post about it only now. I am not making it a huge Ta-dah, and somehow other things now seemed more important than this afghan. But yes, I can't believe I actually have it now and I am so thrilled to be able to make this myself.

As you see it is sunny in India still, especially around 10 in the morning, it is such a pleasant time to be outside. Here my D helping to present the blanket he liked a lot too, and already cuddled up inside it few evenings ago. 

This was taken on the chairs at the back yard. I love the colors!

Seems endless in this picture. It took me nearly 10 month for complete finishing of it, I might not attempt something like this soon.

And not so spread on our bed. I think it is okay as it was not intended to be used as a bed cover. It is enough for both of us to comfortable be under it.

It was my birthday on the 26th, and this is a small rose my D gifted me after the clock stroke 00.00. The rose is still so fresh and has become even more beautiful as petals unfolded. He also gifted me a pack of 6 handmade neem soaps. Oh, what else can be better than a fragrance filled shower? :) Though he says he doesn't know how to choose gifts, he knows my choice well now. Come on, it's been more than 3 years!

May be you remember me mentioning our citrus tree. So here are its fruits we collected yesterday morning. Fragrant, fresh, juicy tangerines as I call them. Mmm... :) 

That's all in this post of mine, but more is coming. I have started small cross stitch projects, and another crochet afghan, a smaller one this time. I am in a winter holidays mood that much that I even saw a snowfall at our back yard in my dream, and could breathe in fresh slightly frosty air... in my dream. What can I do? I am a winter type of a girl. 

I am missing all of you a lot, my friends, but I tried to visit some of your posts and comment. Hope everything is fine in your corner of the world. Take care and have an awesome week ahead! Happy December!