Spirituality + Intentional living + Conscious Motherhood
This is my friend Arlene. She is a wonderful friend, and a great source of inspiration for me when I think about the kind of woman I would like to grow into. Before I left Canada, Arlene and I met for tea, ice cream & apricots, and some soul-nurturing girl talk.
We talked about feeling protected and safe in this world, which unfortunately is sometimes hard to do.
Continue reading “Healing Affirmations: 3 steps to letting go”
Too cool. I know.
My ride.
Michelle: Do you want to take a picture of you in the front and then one of you in the back with all the turf?
Me: I want to take one inside, outside, everywhere. I want to get all up in that tractor’s bidness.
***Note to mom: I’m not really smoking!***
I promise 🙂
Some of my readers will know that I recently got my licence, and I am slowly coming to terms with driving alone. I decided to ask my roommate Michelle for some driving alone advice. This was our conversation. It was too hilarious not to share.
Me: How long does it take for driving alone to feel normal?
Michelle: It depends on how many times you crash.
*A few minutes later*
Me: Ok, well how long did it take you?
Michelle: Well. I crashed pretty soon so….
*Few minutes later*
Me: So did you feel okay soon after the…crash?
Michelle: Well I was really really nervous at first. Then slowly, I was fine. Then crash. Then I was nervous again. Then I started to feel okay. Then the next crash. So, it took a while.
I’m experimenting with macro photography, and getting the focus juuuust right.
Michelle’s mama’s first home-grown tomato.
Michelle plays Camogie – which is an Irish sport played by women (the dude-version is called “Hurling”). She’s obsessed with the game, and even after a whole year of living with her, I had never been to one of her matches before. That is, until now. Michelle is number 5. She was so awesome!
It is a fast paced sport played with a hurl (that stick like thing) and a ball. I thought they would have to knock it around like field hockey, but I was wrong. They have to do many skilled maneuvers with the ball, like throwing it up into the air, sprinting with it with the ball balanced on the hurl, and catching the ball that is being hurtled at them (a little too fast for my liking) with just their bare hands. I wouldn’t want to be out there (but then again I’ve always been a bit of a wuss). I would not want to mess with angry girls wearing skirts and holding weapons.
I know. I’m such a noob. I’ve never been part of the “sport culture”. I have never pursued any particular sport, either as a player or a dedicated spectator, so this was a great experience for me! It was pretty neat to experience the pep talks, group huddles, game-plan discussions, cheering, and over all sense of team spirit. I can see why people can really throw themselves into their team. There is a great sense of pride, community and shared goals.
And that has been my last few days in Ireland.
Amen.
Today is a very special day. Today is April’s first ever swimming lesson! I know what you’re thinking: “She’s a lab, of course she is going to love water!” but alas – you are mistaken. She’s a silly puppy and scared of things and takes her time to assess the situation.
My family and I decided to take the Grand Canyon Airplane tour – or, also better known as Pukefest 2011. We sat in what could only be described as a small car with propellers, and there were times when I wished that we could just crash into the stupid ass canyon just to avoid this overwhelming and unbearable nausea. Everyone was so sick! There was puke on the floors, and most people had their faces buried in the puke bags. It was a great experience 😉
I tried so hard to keep my mind off my nausea. I tried to think about things that made me happy, but even that made me feel sick. I thought that if I ever wanted to torture my very worst enemy, there would be nothing worse than if I cursed them with nausea. This would be my torture-method of choice. I also thought about how it was really smart of the flight organizers to conveniently take our souvenir photograph infront of the aircraft before we took a ride in the death-plane rather than afterwards, because I don’t think anybody would stick around for a photo afterwards and want to be reminded of this unfortunate time of their life. I didn’t even want to look at the picture at the end of the trip! I kept my (empty) puke bag as my souvenir 🙂
I spent the entire 45 minutes just trying to remain calm and focused. I wasn’t frightened or panicking, but I wasn’t really in the best place either. And then this really freaky thing started to happen! I started to feel my hands start to clench together and I physically couldn’t open them. I noticed really strange spasms in the skin of my hand, which I thought was my blood pulsating or something. I (silently – gotta stay classy ladies) freaked out! I couldn’t open my hands! I couldn’t even take many pictures, and if you know anything about me, you will know it must take a LOT for me to stop taking photographs.
At the end of the flight (THANK GOD) I asked Devaki’s father what the crap was up with my hand. And he was surprised to inform me that it looked like a sign of tetany, or a tetanic spasm, which occurs when someone is losing too much carbon dioxide during hyperventilation (usually during a panic attack – which is why people breath into paper bags). It was so strange because I wasn’t hyperventelating at all, and I never really felt “panicked”, just really sick and wanted to get off the airplane as fast as I could.
For days after this TRAUMATIC GRAND CANYON EXPERIENCE, every time I saw a the “Grand canyon tours” sticker anywhere at all, I instantly felt sick!
Ok enough of my disgusting little story.
And of course, not to forget, the grand canyon itself!
Was it pretty cool? Yeah, sure. I guess. Beautiful, with texture and depth that is hard to even truly comprehend.
Was it worth the constant nausea? No.
Would I go again? Not for a long time yet. And if I did, probably if I was in a car, and in the area. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.
I think the photographs will speak for themselves. Enjoy!
The Hoover Dam.
Vegas was beautiful and alive. I want to come here again and see the shows and walk up and down the strip and stare at the bright lights. I want to lose some money and win some money. I want to stay in the hotel room all day and order room service.
I was surprised that the city had such positive energy, even though most people are here to gamble, drink, and party. It is a city built for entertainment, and entertained I was!….
Me, in the desert! I love my new adidas shorts.
Now we’re in Vegas, baby!
We stayed at the MGM Signature – a family friendly part of the MGM. The windows were gold.
I love hotel-lobby decor and design. There’s nothing like it.
Our hotel room was beautiful. There was a telephone in the toilet, and a tv in the bathroom. Holla.
Is it just me or is hetting married in Vegas is starting to look more and more appealing?
The Vegas strip! And all I could think of is how much their electricity bill is?
Nothing like a little bit of pornography while you’re walking.
With your family 🙂
Vegas: Where you have to explain cross dressers to an 8 year old girl.
First of all, I would like to say what an honor it is to be Freshly Pressed AGAIN, for the second time! I didn’t think lightning could strike twice. Hallelujah!
As an introduction – below are are a selection of photographs from my recent trip to LA/Vegas and San Diego. Not that I need much of an excuse to take photographs anyway. If you like what you see, check out these links to my photographs from Laguna Beach, San diego and the beautiful flowers there, and universal studios. Watch this space for my Vegas (I ♥ Vegas) and Grand Canyon explored series coming up soon.
Make sure you Have a look at what’s hot on my blog.
I hope you enjoy your stay here! Subscribe to my blog. I’m a photo junkie who likes to write. You can’t go wrong with that.
The mexican city – in downtown LA.
Inside the oldest house in LA!
The restaurant from Rush Hour! I loved that movie.
Hollywood starwalk.
At Grauman’s chinese theatre
The Rockwalk at Sunset Boulevard.
Eeek, so exciting! My claim to fame.
Inside LA ink. They asked me not to use my flash inside the store. I am such a rebel with my flash photography!
Venice Beach. My favourite place in LA!
Found some local bboys.
Befriended the local bboys 😛
An amazing little art store. I love this artist’s work so much, and I would love to collect a few pieces to display in my home one day.
Our in-the-car photoshoot while we waited for everyone to hurry on up! Devaki was practicing crossing her eyes.
This is my favorite photograph of Devaki. On our way to San Diego Zoo, we stopped at a friends place in Encintas, just outside of LA. This is where this photograph was taken. She was wearing the prettiest dress.
The most impressive thing was the flowers and vegetation. Wow. It was so different to what I am used to. So tropical yet “Deserty” at the same time. It reminded me a lot of India. 
And all of this was just in their backyard. It was amazing!
My little model.
TTheir cutie little puppy sleeping on the hot concrete.
I also really loved the architecture of the homes here. Very open and light, contemporary and clean.
Apparently these flowers are very easy to maintain, and grow naturally without much nurturing. They are so interesting to look at! They are little cactus flowers.
Rawwwwwwwrrrrr
San Diego Zoo was a beautiful place, but we didn’t make the most of it. We only arrived there later in the afternoon, so all the animals were sleeping (and we were even more sleepier!). Because of this – it was a bit of a disappointment, but still a nice walk. Did you know that the zoo spends more money on their vegetation and plant collection than their animal collection? So make sure you check out the greenery too 🙂
Elephant! My favourite animal in the whole wide world.
More pictures coming soon of VEGAS and the Grand Canyon!
m
xoxo
I’m back, and more inspired than ever. I realize now that if I am ever lacking blog inspiration, all I have to do is tell myself that I can’t write in it for about 1 week, and by the end of this week, my brain is just overflowing with new ideas, concepts, realizations (and photography) to share with you.
Get ready for a plethora of photography posts from the “Explored” section of my blog! I seriously took so many photos on this trip that it is incredibly difficult to pick my absolute favourite and share them with you- but I will do my best.
This is Los Angeles – Laguna Beach. Explored.
I took this photo in our hotel room in Bellingham, where we stayed the night before our flight to LAX the next morning. The kids fell asleep after the 4-5 hour drive, and they both looked so cozy and snuggle-licious in the late night lamp light.
Sleepy head wrapped up in the covies with “Rabbi” her bunny. Devaki and I had a discussion one day about languages and she said “I speak 3 languages. English, malayalam (our mothertongue) and rabbit.”
One thing I know for sure is that life gets a little bit easier when this guy is asleep, believe me 😀 His father said to me “Malu, you don’t know this yet because you don’t have children, but when you do, life gets a little bit more complicated. Just a little bit.” Amen.
Experimenting with the ambient lighting and my shiny legs 🙂
I made sure to pack the essentials. I finished both books, barely wore the sunglasses (sunglasses look ridiculous on me), and used up the highlighter pen. I like to underline and highlight interesting things I read in books so that I can revisit them later. It’s kind of dorky but it feels great.
And we are away! I really love airplane photography now – I can’t believe I never really did it before. What I would love more is to take pictures of the passengers on the airplane (sleeping, staring, reading really interesting things, on their laptop, listening to music, cuddling, holding hands, talking, arguing) but that would be too awkward.
Los Angeles
Downtown L.A. I think cityscapes and skylines are very pretty.
Landed and ready for our vacation! the LAX airport was undergoing major construction, or a “facelift” (there was a billboard that said: “This is L.A. Even the airports need facelifts.”). You always hear about LAX in the movies and the news so I was expecting some bang for my buck, but I was a little disappointed. All I got was open ceilings, wires and huge pipes.
But hey, it’s just an airport.
This was pretty neat.
It was lovely and hot hot hot in L.A – with its subtropical mediterranian climate. I watched three children playing with water hoses, and water slides and water guns at the corner of their neighbourhood.
That evening, we explored Laguna beach. It was pretty and a nice place to visit for a couple of hours (unless you’re one of those people who can spend an entire day on the beach) but I did not think it was as awesome as you expect it to be (yes, after it was on the MTV show laguna beach :P). Venice beach was much cooler! There wasn’t many people on the beach, yet there was so much traffic getting there, and trouble parking. Apart from a couple of photos of the known backdrop (as above), it was fun to just play in water and sand with everybody 🙂
Little hands in the sand.
♥
It was Ishaan’s first time in the ocean! He was nervous of the water, but gradually became braver and braver.
Hey, doesn’t this remind you of Kamloops (Aberdeen in particular)? Seems to me that Kamloops may be the upcoming slightly less glamorous L.A of Canada 😛
I just thought this was TOO cute. Devaki and my brother were playing in the water, and she was scared and my brother was brave – so she kept clinging onto him and hugging him for support – but he just felt so awkward that every time she tried to wrap her arms around him, he would just hold her at a bit of a distance. Oh, kids!
A classic beach shot. How could I not?
🙂 Happy memories!
Ocean hair.
Of course, no day at the beach is complete without gelato! Yes please.
—-
Before I leave you for now, I want to share a message with you.
No matter how difficult, challenging or heartbreaking the road is that you are on now – no body can promise you a fairytale ending, or that things will happen exactly as you expect them to unfold, but I sincerely hope you can find comfort and assurance in knowing that at the end of this road, what you will get is a chance to catch a glimpse of yourself – and that to me, will make everything worth it.
Last week started off with a sleepover with the kids. We played in the back yard with April. Devaki wore the dress I bought her. It was very pretty on her.
I have been studying my little butt off this last week, that when the weekend came along, I literally could not make myself read another text book. I physically couldn’t. I tried! I really did. But you know what is also important? Taking breaks!
And doing something that is fun. Fun for you.
I also have been feeling so trapped in my apartment these days. It seems I keep associating studying with both school and my apartment, and that is exhausting! I just want to be somewhere that I can just sit and think and be outside. I want to take really long walks.
No body is home right now because it’s study week and all the girls went home. I had the option of spending the day studying, or going for a walk. I decided to choose the walk because it was important for me. I could have done both but the timing would have been limiting.
So with my camera around my neck, I left. This is what I saw:
The first thing I loved was to be in wide open spaces.
People relaxing by the waterfront.
It’s the season to fall in love.
Lots of people were together.
And some people were alone. But they were okay with it.
(I love this photograph! And I love taking photographs of beautiful strangers)
This photograph and the following two are probably my favourites from the walk.
They make great desk top backgrounds.
This one is mine.
Go on, you’re allowed 🙂
This is proof that I existed here.
And I witnessed this mean act of this swan biting another swans butt!
I fed the swans 🙂 the oocha!
More people in love.
And many people were just watching life happening around them.
Hi. This is me at the playground by the beach.
Wooo hooo, first of all thank you universe for getting me Freshly Pressed! And thank you to all of you who have read, commented, and liked this post. It means the world to me – truly.
You may have noticed that I am a huge photo junkie, so if this is something you are interested in, subscribe to my blog for a lot more eye candy 🙂
<3
let’s have more fun.
m