Wedding Planner / Wedding Organizer List

Ever since I started planning my trip to India for my brother-in-law's wedding, I've been revisiting my own wedding albums, photos, and memories of those wonderful moments.  And how I was involved in planning my wedding with my family, the menu, the stage decor, the invitation card and message, and many other things.  Mostly for the final selection based on my preferences; the relatives did the actual hunting for shops, services, and sources.  And then, while looking through my "Nisha's Marriage" folder, I came across this file I had created so that I could keep track of everything because I am a very organized person (mostly :P).  More of a perfectionist, Alok says.  But it's not just me - we all need everything perfect for the biggest event and most special day of our life.

Poetry: i want

I write poems when I go through extreme happy moments, unusual imaginations, or intense emotional outbursts, and can't think of any other way except words to give them freedom.

This time, I wrote a poem after almost a two year hiatus.  Penned few months back, I just went through it again today and thought of sharing here.  I'm finally planning a trip to visit my family after a long time, and the emotional girl in me is appearing again.

Very strongly attached to my family, I still haven't got used to living without them; even after one year of marriage.  Technology helps to connect, but does not do justice to what we sometimes really want.  And here's how I'm expressing what I want.

Guest Post #1: FREEZE!

Welcoming my super talented, ultra gorgeous, chirpy-bubbly-lively, and a very sweet friend Rashee Pandey for the first guest write-up on Spusht.

Rashee is a Communication Arts-Advertising student in the final year of her undergrads.  Seeing her passion for media, she teamed up with a couple of friends to launch the YouTube channel rasheetweet in which they script, shoot, and edit videos on various topics in their free time.

Rashee gladly agreed to kick-start my Guest Post series.  After reading her write-up, I realized Alok & I have a similar issue and usually complain about it to each other but neither of us changed our habits. *sigh*  So people, here's a "Thought for the Day" message for you.  (And a reminder for us too!)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

How to store coriander leaves and keep cilantro fresh

How many times have you seen your herbs and vegetables wilting, turning yellow, or rotting while you were waiting for that one day to use it for that one thing?  I have done over a hundred times.  The amount of coriander leaves, curry leaves, and mint leaves I have wasted so far is unbelievable.  Not to mention other greens, fresh herbs, vegetables, and fruits.  For some damn reason I have usually not been able to consume my grocery quick enough or store them up long enough.  Fed up of my wasteful self, I had to find ways to keep the produce fresh.  Especially figure out how the heck should I store and coriander leaves fresh.

Networking Buttons / Social Media Icons: Blogging Tip # 4

I had been wanting to have some of those cute little networking buttons on my blog, but always thought it probably needed some HTML coding.  Or I thought may be if I bought a domain I could add them.

Since I had no intentions of buying a .com domain for Spusht anytime soon or ever in the future (because Alok said he cannot buy the entire Spusht Technologies businesses located in UAE & India just for my hobby :P), I dropped the idea of adding the social networking icons.

In a few months I realized how simple adding the social media icons to blog was.  How adding icons did not need any kind of advanced coding knowledge.  And how all these months I missed out on having readers easily connect with me.  One year, precisely.

It is so much better to have the small icons at the top of page instead of a long list or big boxes for social media on the side bars.  All that clutter and mess on the blog, no good.

So here it goes - how to add social media icons to your blog/website - making it as simple as I can for those of you who want to add these to your site.

Birthday Surprise for Husband | Scavenger Hunt Idea for Husband's Birthday, Father's Day, Anniversary

Alok liked the fortune cookie idea on Valentine’s earlier this year.  Something told me men like mystery.

He likes giving me (unnecessary and unasked for) solutions to problems I don’t even have.  Something told me men like solving issues.

Put those together – you get treasure hunt (scavenger hunt).  And men love it.  And that’s what I planned for his birthday.

While I was explaining to him in our room that I would give him his birthday gifts in the form of treasure hunt, suddenly the timer on oven started beeping.  I asked him to quickly go check on the cookies I had put to bake, hoping they did not burn.

He opened the oven and there were no cookies.  Because his first gift and clue to the next was inside the oven and I had intentionally set the timer.

And here, the treasure hunt begins.

Marwari Badi Teej Festival Customs

Ah.  I had mentioned in the sattu decoration post that I would make my sattu on 31st July for Badi Teej - but I had been extremely, extremely busy last month; did not get the time to make my sattu and decorate for Teej.

Instead, a friend made the below dalia ka sattu for me and even decorated it.  She added a supari in the center (last year I put a silver coin in my main sattu), topped it with chaandi ka vark (super thin edible silver foil put on Indian sweets), and decorated with chopped pistachios & almonds.  Pretty, right?

Giveaway # 3: Cake Pan, Brownie Pan, and Muffin Pan {closed}

I was super excited when I won the Scharffenberger gift hamper and the Joy of Cooking book as giveaways.  And now, it’s my turn to give back the love to the world that has been given to me and my blog.

So here’s my Giveaway # 3: Cake Pan, Brownie Pan, and Muffin Pan