A Weekend In Boston

It was raining when I arrived in Boston Thursday evening. The plane ride was smooth and I arrived on time. But when I went to pick up my luggage, I couldn’t find it in the carousel. After waiting and seeing everyone leave, I went to check in baggage claim office. Thankfully, they had my bag! After that it was time to find the shuttle to the hotel. That was yet another half hour and boy oh boy, the van driver was hilarious and ridiculous at the same time. Several switcharoos later, I made it to the hotel after two more hours. Yeah! The rest of the night went eventlessly except for the room temperature that kept dropping no matter how much I tried to keep it at 72. Then at 3 am when I couldn’t feel my cold toes and fingers or my face, I wrapped myself in the blanket and decided that I will figure out the AC if it took me all night. Huh… I had to turn heat up to 82 to maintain a 70 and I was happy once again and my AC stayed at 70 for the rest of my stay and I did not touch a single button on that AC panel after that. I have to say I have a funny relationship with hotel ACs!

Woke up Friday morning to another cloudy and rainy day but I had mixed media on my mind, so there was no shortage of colors for me. Every time I go into teaching a workshop, I pray that I do a good job and that my students walk away happy and excited to try the techniques they just learned. My goal is to be contagiously enthusiastic for the love of art and colors. I was very happy with my group of students this morning. They came fresh and ready to play with things that are new to them. They were brave and I loved seeing all the different takes of my one project – that ALWAYS inspires me!

Here are some of my lovely ladies busy at work! It’s great that we could all leave our worries behind for a few hours and just focus on colors.

This is Cheiron. She’s been following my Instagram for a little while now. It’s fun to meet people in real life that we have met on some online forum.

And I met someone who lives near me!!! Not only that she also owns Paper Anthology, a scrapbooking, crafting & mixed media store not too far from me. Since the move from Florida, I have missed Whim So Doodle so much.

And this was my second class of the day.

All the colors that happened during this class was truly out of this world!

Here’s one of the finished projects.

More colors…..

While we couldn’t get everyone from the class in this photo, we did get a look at some of the vibrant takes in this shot. I wish I thought of that for the morning class too.

And here we are set up for the make and take Saturday evening. We met some newbies who were excited to try Gelatos colors for the first time.

The night went peacefully oh except for the fire alarm that went off and we had to evacuate. There was a bride in the crowd too. But all was okay and we were allowed back in. Then around midnight when I was peacefully asleep ready to take the shuttle at 5 am to the airport, the fire alarm went off again. I didn’t wake up but when there were blasting announcements waking you up and telling you not to panic and that things are alright again… SERIOUSLY!!! Twice in one night.

It was still dark out when I started out for the airport, not for home but for a week in San Francisco at Creativebug. The flight is delayed two hours as I’m sitting at the Virgin America terminal, blogging and hoping for a sunny week in the west coast.

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GIVEAWAY Winner!!!

And the winner of the Somerset Apprentice Giveaway is

Nice! I like to add stitched elements. Thanks for the chance to win.

Mandi, Congrats! I hope you enjoy your copy. I have sent you an email too. Just email me your address and I’ll mail your prize out to you.

Thanks everyone for entering my giveaway and sharing with me what you like to make! I really do wish I have more copies to send you all!

And thanks to Stampington not only for the prize but also for the feature!

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GIVEAWAY!!!

Soooo… I have a copy of Somerset Apprentice Spring 2017 issue to give away!!!

Stampington & Company was super generous to offer me a copy to give away because I am one of their featured artists in this issue. Can I please just SQUEAL because I AM SO EXCITED!!! You have to see all the fabulous artwork in this issue. They are as you would expect from a Stampington publication.

To enter to win a copy of this issue, leave a comment to this post – tell me what kind of projects YOU love to make.

WordPress requires you to leave your name and email – name, so I know who you are and email so I can contact you if you are the winner. I will not share your email with anyone, so don’t worry!

I’ll keep the giveaway open from 4/6 -4-12. Everyone is welcome to enter, no matter where you live. One entry per person please. I’ll pick one winner and announce here on 4/13. Then I’ll ask you to email me your address so I can send you the prize.

Feel free to share the giveaway link ( https://mousaha.com/giveaway/) with your friends and GOOD LUCK to you all!

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Art on the go

I always take a few art supplies with me when I travel. Just a sketchbook, a few color pencils, a black pen, some sort of watercolor paints and a brush or two. I look for little pockets of time to draw or color something. Nothing elaborate, just a quick sketch of what’s in front of me or something I saw, snippets from magazines or a photo I took because it’s not always possible to sit down on the spot to draw. And some brush lettering. Here are a couple of quick watercolors from the cruise.

On the second night of our cruise, we sat down to figure out what shore excursions we could go on. That task usually is not easy because we have different interests. None of the kids are old enough to go on any excursion by themselves. Jia is too young for most things. If I could help it, I would just pitch an umbrella and sit with my sketchbook but that is not doable at the moment. So, we divide and rule. Ashis takes one, I take the other two. He keeps the younger two, while I take the oldest shopping and so on. Plus, Nini is getting into photography and we go on photo walks together.

Everything in Nassau was heavenly! This was my second time to the Bahamas. Nini went snorkeling with Ashis. We all went on the glass bottom boat to the reef and saw colorful fishes. We took in sights all around us on this sunny day on the island surrounded by turquoise waters. I loved this lighthouse. We shopped for jewelry. When we came back to the boat, we took quick showers, had some snacks and I settled down to paint the lighthouse before the daylight died down.

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Back from the Bahamas!

Helllllooooo!!!

We are back from our spring break cruise to the Bahamas! Here’s the story of our trip in pictures.

Leaving the cold and rainy weather behind was not hard. As we drove to Cape Liberty to our cruise terminal, I took this photo of the Harbor Pointe light house. Blurry as it was on a cloudy, rainy day, it was still beautiful!

Car parked. Luggage out. Family shot.

First view from the cabin on board of the Anthem. Bon Voyage!

Since I take all the photos, I’m never in them. So, here’s one mirror selfie!

Day 1 was sea day. Nini and I took our cameras and explored the ship. Found several pieces of amazing art all around.

The Pulse Spiral by Rafael Lozano Hemmer, is a grand chandelier with 200 light bulbs that pulses rhythmically to heart beats. We added our own heart beats to this mix by placing our hands on the metal plate.

Also loved Andrew Myers’ Topographical Facial Series 1-4 and Kerry Miller’s Flowering Plants of Great Britain.

The first few times we passed by this chair, we found an older gentleman fast asleep on it. Much to my daughter’s frustration, we came back to it one more time and took this photo.

Because of inclement weather, our itinerary got an overhaul. Day 2 was no longer to be a day in Cape Canaveral but another sea day.

We made it to Coco Cay on day 3.

EVERYONE LOVED THE SAND, SURF AND SUN!!!

Ashis floated around in a surf mat for hours.

After that the boys went back to the ship with the baby and I stayed back on the island with Nini for shopping. Some cool local handicrafts and musical instruments were bought.

Day 4, we were at Nassau. We spent the whole day in the island. Ashis took Nini for snorkeling with the shore excursions.

Around noon, I took Ayush and Jia for our glass bottom boat excursion to the coral reef. Ashis and Nini made it back from their snorkeling trip just in time to hop on the boat. When we came back, Ashis took baby Jia back to the ship while Ayush and Nini came shopping with me.

This gentleman is a young police officer and was happy to pose for a picture with Ayush!

Oh the colors of this Bahamian island!

After a while, Ayush was done walking. So we took him back to the ship. Changed. And came back out again for more photos and shopping!!! Pretty jewelries were bought for this young lady!

The kids were the most excited to reach Port Canaveral on Day 5! It was strangely emotional to go back to Florida again, but this time as a tourist.

Jia embraced the ocean with open arms! Looks like she too is a sea girl at heart.

One word: BLISS.

I came to Tampa, Florida back in December 1999, a week after I got married. I had left my home and family back in India. A new phase of my life began unfolding in the gulf coast. We built our first home from ground up. We had our three children. We got our first puppy, Brave. Then sixteen and a half years later, we had to move. To New Jersey. Ayush and Nini were beyond upset. Jia was too young to know. I steeled myself and left my neighbors and friends behind who had become family to us. I promise you, I did not cry as we drove off 10748 Plantation Bay Drive at 3.20 pm on July 17th, 2015. But as the ship sailed away from Cape Canaveral, it hit me that I had left home once again. My Jia will not go to NASA for school field trips. Or pet manatees in ocean reserves. Or have an annual pass to Disney and Sea World. Or smell like chlorine swimming in the home pool. Yes, she will do other things in New Jersey. But that’s a part of our lives she will only know from our stories.

An excess of food was consumed EVERY SINGLE DAY. Desserts were had even at breakfast. Can’t tell if we liked the taste or the look more!

A large debate was had over whether this towel beauty was a peacock or a turkey.

At 6.30 am on Sunday, 4/2/17 the Anthem of the Seas docked at Cape Liberty.

One last photo was taken on the cabin balcony.

Luggage was hauled. Customs cleared. Last photo of the Anthem was taken from the parking garage.

And then, we drove back to routine. From luxury to comfort. Exhausted. Somewhat sunburnt. Happy. Full of beautiful memories and stories to tell.

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This too shall pass…

I spent most of March either waiting at a doctor’s office or in a lab or on the phone trying to get appointments, reports, release forms.

For my oldest whose heart rate dropped remarkably out of the blue.

For my youngest.

For my middle child who slipped in the snow while playing and hit a tree.

I was dealing with the black eye, swelling, pain but when I was sent to the radiologist to get his skull film to check for fractures, I felt I have reached the end of my line.

I’m trying REALLY HARD to believe that this too shall pass.

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