New Year's Eve & Happy 2013!!

Well, today is the 31st of December, and we tend to think back on the year we are leaving and reflect on the good and bad things. And we start with resolutions and wishes for the next year.

I'm fairly hopeful for 2013, and I'm fairly thankful for all the good things that 2012 had in stock for me. Not saying it didn't have bad things, cause it did, and things are not looking particularly rosy for the economy of my country or the people in it, but call it what you may, I still choose to look at the good things first and the bad ones... I just shoulder them and move on. 

That's gonna be probably my only resolution for the new year, to keep thinking positive, taking things the best I can and focusing to look on the bright side of things. Also, 2013 sounds like a good year for a big bloody change for me once and for all, so I hope I'll have scary but happy news for you guys this year!

I'm now gonna leave you with a few photos from this past year that reflect on the good part of it!

Gaurav and his friend Bhuvie, going Gangnam style underwater in Thailand

My first time attending a really big fat Indian wedding and wearing a saree! 

 My first trip to Ireland!

Guinness does taste better in Dublin! 

Wonders of the Ancient World: Newgrange! 

The good things of my job: awesome co-workers and patients that make it! 

And few things are better than the wedding of one of your best friends, and you being the photographer!

With these photos and happy memories, I wave goodbye to 2012 and will welcome tonight 2013 with my family and the 12 grapes to wish for strength and happiness for the next year! 

Happy New Year 2013!! ¡¡Feliz Año 2013!!

Friday Feature: Trencadis, amazing mosaic art from Spain!

Hello everyone! Friday is here and with it finally a new edition of Friday Feature!


And today it's a very special one, cause the focus of today's Friday Feature is Trencadis, the shop of  a super talended crafter from Alicante, Spain!


You can't image how proud I am to share this wonderful shop with you all! Finding it cause an absolute strike of luck in an already fairly lucky day! I had found an unique photo album to turn into my friend's Wedding Guest Book on the first shop I looked, and as I was printing photos for it I remembered my mum had asked for some photos to be printed of the Indian Wedding batch, so I got a brainwave for her belated b-day present! I printed two photos she had loved when seeing them all, and then went on an Etsy search for some cute handmade frames...


And low and behold I stumbled into these really really gorgeous mosaic frames that I just fell in love with, so I went to check how much the shipping would be, thinking they'd be from a shop from the US, as usual, and what was my surprise when I saw they were shipped from Spain! Even more thinking that they'd be here in time to give them to my mum the following Monday!


Angeles, the crafter/owner of Trencadis was super nice and was pleasantly surprised to get a fellow Spaniard as a customer! Unfortunately the handmade culture is really not big in Spain, so it's hard for crafters to find customers, and for handmade lovers like myself, it's hard to find shops that are into handmade and not Made In China!


I left on Friday for Valencia and the beach to have a weekend of stress, merriment and fun at my bff's wedding, and Angeles shipped my frames priority that very same day, so come Monday the postman delivered these two beauties, super well packed and protected! So much, that I had to spend a good pair of minutes trying to figure out the best way to unpack them!

I cut the photos further to make sure they fit nicely and re-wrapped them for my mum. I gave them to my mum that evening after work and she absolutely loved them! Both frames are amazing, and the tile work & combination of colours is brilliant! My mum loved them so much she's already looked for a place for them in her bureau for now, until she can decide where to put them to show them off better!

The orange & gold one is my mum's fave, but I'm not sure if that's the frame's merit only, or the fact that she loves that photo of me has something to do with it...

And I have to say, the navy and green frame is my fave of these two, and I can say is not just for the photo, I love how the combo of colours work for this frame!

I'm absolutely in love with this shop, and I'm thinking of getting some frames for myself too! But there are more than just frames there, you can also find some gorgeous candle holders, belt buckles and even vases!


I highly highly recommend this shop, and I'm doubly happy to do so, supporting not just handmade, but also a Spanish crafter, so my dears, do check Trencadis Etsy shop!

Traveling Thursday: Scotland part 2: Rosslyn Chapel

Hiya there!

How's everyone doing? I've been a bit sick as of late, getting slightly better today, though I still have a bit of a cough and sniffles... my nose is a bit raw already, G called me Rudolphina today!

For today's Traveling Thursday is part 2 of my trip to Scotland! I'm sharing some photos of my trip to Rosslyn Chapel. If you've read the Da Vinci Code or seen the movie you will have heard about this place. It is really a remarkable building, worth of any and all praises, and of all the new visitors that the book and movie are bringing there. Full of carvings, and when I say full, I really mean full! From the ceiling to the floor all the walls are covered with carvings! I'm really thankful to Dan Brown for helping discover such an amazing place! You can think whatever of his books, but they do make you want to visit places, and some are less well known than others, and well worth the visit!

Rosslyn Chapel, proper name being Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew, is located at the village of Roslin, and nearby the ruins of Roslin Castle. It was a day trip for me and Patri, by bus, not too long a journey, and a totally worth one! The weather wasn't too bad, but cloudy and threatening some rain, which I guess it's not that rare for Scotland.

When we arrived, the chapel was undergoing some maintenance and rehabilitation work, so a giant structure was all over it, which meant no proper photos of the outside for me, but I took many many photos in the inside, and also a few ones of the corners that were free of the metal structure. And when I say many, I do really mean MANY! I'm so thankful for digital cameras!

Thanks to the rehab work you could go up and see the ruins of Roslin Castle

Pale is one thing, a ghost is more accurately describe me here!

The Apprentice column

The Master column

There are some unusual stained glass windows in the newest part of the chapel

Rosslyn Chapel is a wonderful place to visit, and I'd love to go back there, and also take some time to visit the ruins of Roslin Castle that we couldn't visit cause we were running out of time to catch the bus back to Edinburgh!

Traveling Thursday: Paris Part 2!!

Hello everyone! I'm back a bit later than usual this week, but my Google Chrome was having issues with blogger, I had to delete a blog I was following that had some "suspicious activity" to be able to use blogger again normally.

So, today I'm back with a new edition of Traveling Thursday, with a second edition of photos from Paris! This time from my second trip to Paris in Jan '06.

All bundled up posing at the Pont Alexandre III

The door for Rodin's museum was quite something!

The entry of the Museum d'Orsay

View from the second floor, the museum used to be a train station!

My beloved Notre Dame de Paris, back view and freezing, damn it was cold!

Friday Feature: Bethtastic!

After a few weeks of sharing music on Saturdays, this week I'm back to sharing some of my handmade finds with you on Friday.


This week on our Friday Feature I wanna share Bethtastic with you all. Her Etsy shop is full of wonderful images of pin hole photography turned into great pieces of resin jewellry like bangles and pendants.




She's a full time teacher and does the resin casting on her spare time, so her bangles take a while to ship (according to her latest update, now it's two months), but they're absolutely gorgeous! If you have a photographer in your friends or family, I can assure you that any of her "Through The Viewfinder" bangles or pendants would be very well received!





I was lucky the turn around time for my bangle was shorter when I purchased it, just a month, and then shipping was pretty fast. It's a big bangle, and I have a small wrist, so I have to wear it slide up, but still looks great as a summer accessory!







I am completely in love with the photographs that compose this bangle, since they all have that old style pin hole with the distinct colours and the vignette.




All in all, if you're not in a hurry, and want a lovely piece of handmade jewellry, you should check her shop!

Traveling Thursday!

Hey there everyone!


After a tough beginning of the week, working three nights on a row, and with some odd computer issues (does anybody know why a computer can get frozen just by trying to check your e-mail but not going to other sites?) still unresolved, I totally missed Wearing Handmade Wednesday, but I thought I could share some photos with you guys of some of my trips, so Traveling Thursday has just been born!


Today, I'll just share a few photos of my first trip to the US, with some of my co-workers, where I visited Phoenix, a very snowed in Grand Canyon, Las Vegas & San Francisco! As a big Charmed fan I wanted to visit San Francisco, and fell in love with the city, I really want to go back with the bf eventually!

We arrived just in time for Thanksgiving!

It's not Arizona without a cactus

A bit of a snowy Grand Canyon

Makes for cool photos but no helicopter trip...

Vegas has its own Venice...

...And its own Paris

San Francisco can be a bit of a climb


Walking about the Pier


The Pacific Ocean and my favourite bridge in the world!


Did I mention I really like the Golden Gate bridge?

Friday Photos while on holiday!

Happy Friday everyone!


I'm gonna do a small blog entry showing off a few photos of the trip so far, some from Darjeeling, some from Delhi. Hope you enjoy! Have a great weekend!

Black Ruby tea & White tea, best of Darjeeling!

Kachenjunga Mountain range, part of the Himalayas