When fruit doesn’t taste good…
It happens all the time… looks can deceive… you never know whether it’s sour or not until you eat it . Since lately, I’ve found this to be true about grapes, peaches, cantaloupes… almost every fruit we buy.
Sometimes we just eat it, but there are times that cannot be done… imagine fruits bought for a party…
What we do on such occasions is adding yogurt, cream or ice cream to pieces of fruit. This work with 0 sugar – 0 fat products as well. Quite the healthy and tasty choice than eating sour fruit just because they cannot be thrown away.
Try it! I do… all the time…
Nice and Different Saree Blouses
It is really refreshing to see people trying to do different things with saree blouses. Here are some favourites of mine.
1. Jacqueline Fernandes at IIFA 2010 – I don’t like the pallu or the fall of the saree but love the concept of the saree blouse.
2. Deepika – love the blouse… but not the tied cord at top!
3. Another blouse that’s not symmetrical
4. Sangeetha (South India) – I like the short sleeves of the blouse and also the saree..
5. Bipasha Basu – like the blouse but not the drape…
Dear Diary…
A very good friend I had since I was 7… but a habit I had to drop since it got harder to keep them hidden. Especially since I have a kid brother… I’ve hid the diaries in high cupboards when he was small, then started writing in a different language when he was taller, then locked all of them (I have a big pile, one for each year) in a cupboard and locked it… they are still there, my diaries.
Well, I have come across online diaries recently… It’s not the same as writing your heart out on fresh leaves… and doesn’t exactly feel like a friend — I used to address my diaries Anne… starting each page with a “Dear Anne…”
A blog can be turned into a diary too… blogs were actually called online journals at the beginning. But only if you are ok with anyone reading your thoughts… and the privace policy of the blog service is ok for you…
Here are some good links to online diaries… most let you keep a private one… but some of them have additional features too!
Penzu
Dear Diary
Open Diary
JEM Diary
The Trendy Bride
It’s the day that every girl dreams about… and in her heart there’s a dream figure of herself in the perfect bridal dress. But not all the dreams become reality. Often the bride-to-be must choose something entirely different based on her budget.
But this doesn’t have to happen in Sri Lanka… or in any country where decent seamstresses live… with a passion for creating art with their hands.
There are many options for finding your bridal dress…
1. Buy it online
The easiest and sometimes the most expensive way. But there are thousands of websites to choose from and the possibilities are endless. But it might need alteration and after receiving and wearing it, there’s the chance that bride may feel it’s not “the dress”.
2. Designer Wedding Dresses
As expensive as buying online (even designer dresses can be bought online!) but the bride gets to have expert advice to guide her on what suits her most as well as what she likes most.
3. Off the shelf
There’s plenty of shops where ladies can shop for their dresses. The prices, quality and services vary from one place to the other. Still, one can actually try the dress on…. and the shop might have an expert to advise their clients. But the dress would probably need alteration and the design desired may not be available in the right size!
This option is totally great if a saree is being bought. A saree can be draped in so many various ways and the blouse can be made in any design to suit the bride. However it can be expensive. The best place in Sri Lanka that I can recommend for buying sarees is Aslam Market (Aslam Market, Keyzer Street, Colombo 11, Sri Lanka)
4. Renting
This is a good option, just not the best option. Many people will tell you that the dress “is just for one day”. And a really beautiful (and expensive!) dress can be yours within a small budget. For sarees the only problem will be the blouse (which has to be made specially for the lady). Alterations may not be possible and the dress should be carefully checked for any damages.
5. Traditional Dress
Some girls are determined to wear their mother’s wedding dress. This should never be forced upon a bride, but it adds a sentimental value to the whole function. Perfect choice for a wedding with a past generation theme… and doesn’t cost anything at all…. provided mother and daughter are same size at the age of marriage. It has to be kept in mind that some fashions are too outdated and some old fashions are making appearances at present moment.
But still there’s another category of ladies that has a different set of requirements when looking for their dress. It must be the one in their mind, must be of good quality, must be neat and beautiful…. and also within the budget. I belonged to this category 🙂
First and most important thing would be finding a good seamstress who is creative and charges a reasonable fee. For this you should start looking some time before the wedding. After selecting a few get them to make a normal dress for you. depending on how it turns out try giving them a formal dress. Get feedback from your friends and relatives about the dresses. Choose the very best person to create your wedding dress. I like to call her an artist.
Here the fun starts… search the websites of good designers. Especially ones where they provide photos of several views of dresses… allows their clients to upload their real wedding pictures with comments on their purchase… and who offers good ideas on what will be trendy in the next season.
Also consult the magazines and Wedding blogs and sites featuring current and recent styles in weddings. Talk with your artist… give drawings… and choose the final design. In the end it’s the perfect dress you always dreamed of!
Just keep in mind it’s not the easiest method. It takes several fit-on sessions… a lot of time… for me the last fit on was 10 hours before the wedding. But the dress was perfect… and very precious because I was involved in it’s creation from the very beginning.
Here are some good places to look. The first one is where I found the design which became my own dress in the end, for about 1/4th of the price! The following is the design I based my dress upon 🙂
Maggie Sottero a lot of new and unique designs you don’t see everywhere. It also provides another gallery with dresses for other occasions as well… perfect for a going-away dress or for home coming.
Vera Wang another vast collection of gorgeous dresses!
Kleinfeld Collection comes with a guide to help you narrow down your search.
La Couture dei Preziosi has their website in English as well as Italian. The designs are presented in a lovely way and a lot of unique designs are to be found.
OneWed provides a collection categorized by designer and by the dress type. Good if you have a basic idea in your mind.
Complicated Origami… made easy….
Ever seen beautiful 3D origami models that you wish you can also make? Yes, there are so many like that… Here’s one I like a lot…
The Last Waltz by Neal Elias…. one of the most graceful origami models I’ve ever seen. This will be my next Origami project.
Very clear and detailed instructions are given by the folder, Sara Adams. THere’s a number of wonderful Origami models in the gallery sections that you shouldn’t miss. Here’s a picture from her site which leads to instructions on how to fold it.
Hidden Alcove has found a new hiding place…
Yes… the alcove is now located on the other side of the world. Now the alcove is a place with warm blankets and hot coffee but still provides the best place to think about the motherland and the new big home.
There’s a lot to blog about, and it has been great to come back and see all the visitors who came during my absence. It seems the alcove has become a portal to different areas… and that is way better than the original intent of the blog.
So… my dear readers there will be a lot of new posts coming very soon 🙂
It’s June :)
Finally June arrived…. with it my new year resolution went away with the wind. But I promise to make up for it with new posts as soon as I settle down. I have a big function to organize and the new posts will be based on my own experiences.
Hope my regular readers will be around till I come back. Wish you all a Happy June 🙂
Wedding Cake Box
It’s the custom in Sri Lanka to greet the guest at the wedding with nicely wrapped wedding cakes. For this there are decorative papers and also cake containers that can be customized with monograms or any other decorative feature.
Here’s a inexpensive solution with origami, where the only cost is for the papers used. Even some boxes sold at shops are made using origami.
Origami Boxes from Origami Resource Centre has a variety of boxes with clear instructions that are printable.
Robin’s Origami Page has good instructions for unusual shapes such as the heart and star shaped boxes.
Simple and easy to follow guide can be found at the Origami Club. The sections Valentine and Useful shows origami instructions for boxes, cases and baskets with diagrams or animations. Check other sections also because they also have instructions for boxes.
Disasters at the Hotel
Played Hotel City recently? Did any of your rooms catch fire?
or suddenly become haunted?
rose to a high temperature?
or freezing?
Maybe a new way to get the players spend more time in Hotel City rather than coming to just start the new shift…. at level 31, taking care of these disasters give me 260 coins at first then 65 coins when repeated.
A Catholic Wedding
These modern days where we get to interact with others belonging to many beliefs and cultures, it won’t be a surprise to find most of the invitees to a Catholic wedding are non-Catholic.
That’s why now it’s important more than ever to have a good Wedding Program provided for the guests. It helps to avoid confusion, explains new or old traditions, says thank you in a nice way and most of the time becomes a souvenir.
So many things can be added to a Wedding Program. The Essential Parts of a Wedding Program outlines most of these points. This is not just for a Catholic wedding but a good article to guide you in composing any wedding program.
The wedding program itself can be of various designs. Made of just a single sheet folded twice, then the fan design, the booklet or even with an elaborate paper folding design. Depending on what you include in it and the budget, the appropriate style can be chosen.
For instance, if it just provides the hymns to be sung, a single sheet is more than enough. If you want your guests to take it home as a souvenir, it’s a good idea to make it a pretty booklet with detailed descriptions of your wedding Ceremony, and also small enough to carry in a purse or pocket.
For the souvenir kind programs, it’s nice to add little quotes – religious or otherwise, that express ideas close to the couple getting married. Good examples for a Catholic wedding ceremony can be found in following locations.
Catholic Wedding Program shows a sample program without the hymns.
Plan Your Wedding Ceremony offers a selection of Catholic Readings and Vows that can be added in the program.
Wedding Vows Q & A also has a well categorized collection of vows to suit any sort of ceremony.
And finally some links to the lyrics of popular Wedding Hymns. It’s always best to speak with the officiating priest and the choir about your selection of hymns. In some places it’s not allowed to include popular songs like “You by my side” among the hymns. Then some hymns are not allowed in Catholic churches if they’re not Catholic Hymns. Find several versions of them on You tube and decide on your selections.
Wedding Songs : Catholic Wedding Songs
Catholic Wedding Hymns doesn’t give lyrics but offers a guide on where hymns are necessary in the ceremony
Hidden Alcove 