Happy Ganesh Chathurthi to all

Wishing a great year of health, peace and prosperity.

I am sure most of us would have welcomed the elephant head god home...I make it a point to make my own eco-friendly idol at home, but this year I am unable to :)...Sharing pictures of the ones I made in the last three years and wishing everyone a wonderful season of festivities :)

2009 - whole wheat ganesha

2010 - Raagi, whole wheat, corn meal, oats and rice pillayaar (Ganesha)

2011 - Orange as the thoppai (tummy) and whole wheat and corn meal Ganesha

I hope to get back to making my idol next year...May Vinayaka (ganesha) - Removes all the obstacles and brings in happiness, good health, peace and prosperity to all...:)

Have a great week

Wishing every one a happy week.

I am unable to post more often ...I promise I ll be back with a lovely home tour soon..until then take care 

Guest Post ~ Anu's Diwali Decor Ideas and Inspirations

Anu of My Dream Canvas needs no introduction. Her blog and her flickr stream have been a major source of inspiration for me. Anu is a versatile blogger, an amazing photographer and a very genuine and down to earth person. She is a busy mom of two tiny tots, an entrepreneur and a busy blogger. 


When I requested her to write for The Design Enthusiast, and she promptly sent in her ideas and inspirations for TDE readers.  Herez her post about Diwali at her place....


----------

Sudha of The Design Enthusiast has been a friend ever since I began blogging. I admire Sudha as a person and she has always encouraged and supported me since I began My Dream Canvas. Today, I am delighted to be writing a post on Diwali here at The Design Enthusiast :-)

It was a wonderful week preparing for Diwali and finally the big day arrived :-) The key ingredients for my Diwali are family, friends, flowers and diyas! Diwali evening begins with a Puja at home followed by the lighting of the diyas. When I moved to the US eleven years ago, I have to admit that the first few Diwali's were  filled with nostalgia. I would miss India terribly and it would be an effort to partake in the celebrations and rituals. Over the years that has changed. Today, Diwali is about tradition and enlightening my two children about our culture and the symbolism of Diwali. My kids love this season beginning with Diwali, followed by Halloween, Thanksgiving and then culminating with Christmas :-)

Diwali decor for me is nothing fancy.....flowers and the glow of the diyas, tealights and candles seem to set the mood for me! I tend to reuse a lot of things that are already in my home. I could go on talking about Diwali decor tips but I think you all know this.....be yourself and create your own style. The best decor accesory for Diwali is to have your home filled with happiness and laughter. When you have that your home will look naturally beautiful and it shall be a Diwali to remember!

Images: Anuradha Varma@ My Dream Canvas.

- 

 Thank you Anu for this wonderful post. The admiration is mutual, may be more from my side. :-). Glad to have you at the design enthusiast. Looking forward to another post from you...

Hope you all had a great diwali

Golu 2011

Hope you had a great Dassera this year. Mine was great!!

I wrote about previous year's golu>>Here. I used to miss home every festival and feel really lonely...This year was fun!! A friend decided to put up Golu and it was fun. I am glad I had such wonderful company. It took my mind off my doctor visits, xrays and pains. Here is a peek into Sindhu's golu :)

Lovely isnt it!! It was a delight to see friends pitch in and the celebrations ended with a sumptuous Prasadam dinner yesterday

Pictures: Sindhu

Joining The Key Bunch - A bit of India in Every home - celebrations

Festivity ~~ Navarathri

Wishing everyone wonderful Navarathri festivities and oodles of happiness

While on Vacation ~ Celebrations time!

I am in my hometown, Hyderabad, India, and celebrating festivals and participating in rituals. Had the varalakshmi poojai on friday

and the last year's arrangements in atlanta looked something like this

I liked being with family this year...:)..before I say bye for now, wishing everyone a very happy independence day.

(saluting the Indian flag!!)

Linking up to Weekly stories at Patty's

Happy Festivities

I hope all of you had a wonderful diwali. Thank you for all your wishes and a special thank you for being a part of my blogging journey. I have vowed to be more frequent with my posts and do my best in terms of researching about vintage, old and new in the world of home and design. 

Here is to a wonderful year and for the best of what ever is remaining of 2010 :-)

I take this opportunity to thank each one of you who stops by the design enthusiast and shares their idea via comments and suggestions. Lots of love!! 

Happy Ganesh Chathurthi

Wishing a very happy Pullayaar chathurthi.

I came across a Friday Show and tell event at My Romantic Home and decided to participate in it. I thought I would talk about my 2009 Ganesh Chathurthi celebration at home.

It is a tradition in our family to make a clay idol for the celebrations and then immerse the idol in a well or a lake nearby after Three days of festivities. The tradition of immersing it in a local lake or a well makes it is very important to avoid synthetic colours and plaster of paris, etc to sculpt the idol. Keeping my green design ideology in mind, I made a whole wheat (atta) ganesha (the pic above) and used water colours to decorate it.

 2010 - This year's ganesha is a Work  in Progress.:). And now, I am off to post my entry @ the Show and Tell event!

Janmaashtami Vaazhthukkal

Wishing everyone a joyous celebration and lots of happy moments.

This Thanjavur /Tanjore painting has been done by my Sister in law. I had written about her in a previous post >> Artist Showcase: Sunayana. She is in the process of setting up a blog to go online with her work.

India Celebrates its 64th Independence day

Celebrating our 64th Independence day and 63 years of democracy, I take this opportunity to share a few articles on the design enthusiast. First, about the Flag itself. source: wiki

Pic: amazingindia(dot)net

It was quite saddening to watch a program on TV where the anchor was interviewing people and many of them could not answer a few basic question about the flag, and the country in general. None of them knew that the flag was designed by - Pingali Venkayya. (ok, ok...I know we cannot generalize) Is it too much to expect from Indian citizens that they know more about their nation? I know of instances where people mentioned "Vande Mataram " to be our national anthem (leave alone knowing anything about the national animal, flower or the bird.) We can do a lot better than this. 

Jai hind!

Ugaadi Subaakaankshalu

source: tagdv.com

Wishing a very happy ugaadi and ushering in a prosperous new year with all five flavours associated with the Ugaadi pacchadi

Pongal Nalvaazhthukkal

Pongal Nal Vaazhthukkal

Image source: wiki