Gold Rush

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It's been a really long while after my last post .. So many times were My fingers tempted to tap on the button that says " new blog post" .. But the demons named " busy weekends" , " tired mind" , "work pressure" pulled them back everytime :) . Now on an unnaturally quiet Sunday ( seems like someone has pressed a mute button on our neighborhood) arrived my magic mail --- a gold sharpie from Amazon.. ( Getting shipments from amazon can surely get a place in my how-to-be-happy list but that is some other day's discussion).

As you know ,I am a creative hoarder( I HAD to put a nice adjective to support this apaarently annoying trait of mine). I love love love refurbishing stuff rather than throwing them away..

Recently I grew so fond of gold .. A month back, I went to this cellphone store  & surprisingly I had a hard time choosing between the gold and a grey version of the phone ( more suprisingly, the gold version won to my all time favorite grey).  An array of shops displaying gold jwelry stands  on the street we go for grocery. Usually they all went unnoticed in past  but not any more. I look at them like a kid at an icecream store.. :)

Now coming to what it ended up at :) 

Here is how I  refurbished my apparently dull ikea bud vase with gold polka dots 

You need 

a gold sharpie ( mine says elmers opaque gold paint marker),

Anything to paint on . 

I had an old table lamp base which I have been using as a vase , but it was too dull for the room . So I  tried my first warli painting on it to give it some life .. Isn't it cool? Warli painting is an Indian folk painting style that I recently grew very fond of . It is easy for a dabbler like me and has a charm of its own ..

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And if you are interested in before pictures , here are they 

Coke can bud vase

These were made long back . DH used to get crates full of coke & my house almost turned into a recycle bin with coke cans scattered here & there . 

I had a few pretty flowers from ikea & some rope . 

So there you go ..

Cost : less than 2 dollars

You will need 

• coke can 
• rope 
• hot glue gun
• optional : You might want to add some embellishment like faux pearls , jewels from your old earring , felt flower to make it prettier. I have seen people color it as well .

 Isn't it one ( & only) good reason to buy coke? 

Sunday mood boost !! Rope starfish mirror

When you find Sundays depressing , you know you are not in your amazing phase of childhood any more !! Back then , Sundays used to be fun !!! Enjoying finger -licking  dishes prepared by maa, having relatives over , being allowed to watch tv ( spacially those once a week movies on Doordarshan) & what not !!!  Sighhhhhhhh !!! And back to reality !! A few hours left before a busy 

Monday begins !!  Dear husband busy with office work !!  So I decided to dive into my favorite timepass  :)

Bed bath beyond inspired rope mirror !!

Original price : 150$

DIY cost : less than 5 dollars !!!!!!! ( and it is not a typo ;) )

You will need 

• Rectangular mirror from dollar tree ------1$
•  Rope. --- amazon/lowes/home depot. ---- 3 dollars       ( I used a half inch rope , the thicker rope you use , the better it looks & the easier it is to make)
•  Starfish ( 15 for 4 dollars) from amazon ( use dollar tree seashell /driftwood or whatever shabby & beachy ornaments you find handy .. 
•  Hot glue gun
•  A little piece of cardboard to hold the structure !!

Clothespin / laundry pin mirror

This is a pinterest steal . I wanted a shabby color for it , so I chose dark grey.

Cost : Under 5 dollars .

You need : 

• clothespin from dollar treemirror  -- dollar tree
• Spray paint
• A small piece if cardboard ..

Five minute vase / pencil holder

Saturday was coming to an end & I still didn't do that one thing to 'make-me-happy'.  

So I dig up my craft drawers & found some colored ice-cream stick that I bought a few months back for another craft project . I had a few left-over tin cans as well .. So here is my five minute craft .. a pencil holder cum vase .. awwwwwww such happy colors !!!!!

you need 

tin can

ice-cream stick

glue 

Snuggling under the blanket

Today is like those days when weather paralyses me .. bunked office work , woke up at the sound of HIM calling me in the afternoon. Had lunch on my bed & returned to snuggling up under my warm blanket .. Temperature is supposed to be negative today ..I wish it snowed a little . How nice would it be to see pure white snowflakes drifting towards green grasses & dressing them up with white gowns !!  That reminds me of something .. As I promised myself , one happy thing each day --here is what I did yesterday & the day before ..

This window in my guest bed room overlooks a boring parking lot  unlike other windows in this house .. I wanted to gift it something nice .. and that hook hanging from the ceiling always temted me ( like any blank wall & any free hook does ).

So I brought these amazing glass orbs from CB2 ( this is a sister store of crate and barrel , this store has pretty cool things with amazingly low prices). Initially I thought of putting some hanging plants in it but that plan did not work . So I brought some seashells from Dollar tree & filled it up . Now I needed some bright colors to add .

A few months back I did some party decoration stuff for a friend's baby welcome party .. I had some colored pine cone from that . Yesterday I added those .. Now it is complete .. bright & beautiful & sooo dreamy !!!!

Rainbow in a bottle !!

My first blog post !! It reminds me of the essays we used to write in school. It was easier as we would just mug up a few good Tagore's lines , a few good & difficult-to-pronounce Bengali words  and  one sample essay per topic . But this has to be Hundred-percent-original !! Hmm, fairly hard task it is !!
You must  be thinking ,who has begged you to blog ? Google ? ;) ... Well, I am doing this for myself  ..No expectation of earning dollars or being a famous blogger ( I can't even imagine in my rarest dream) .
 This is why I decided to write.

Today was Friday . Unlike other Fridays (Usually I feel very energetic on Fridays about doing office work so that no work  or tension is left for the weekend , the latter  rarely happens though ), I was not in a mood to work. A few replies to utterly irritating & boring  work emails was enough stress to brain already.

I wanted to feel happy  as it is my birthday  and a little more special because  I am turning Thirty :) So I started my usual  Pinterest browsing ,watching soaps online & logging & checking my Facebook account every five minutes to see who has wished me so far .. (Narcissist me!! ) !!

Facebook then reminded me of this great blog I found the other day. Reading her's was a delight !! I used to be a voracious reader in past but unfortunately I lost that habit in last few years . Reading more than  ten pages of a book (however interesting it might be)  was  difficult for me . But today was different. Rather ,her blog was. She defined happiness , in such lucid words !! Happiness --- what I have been craving for !! what I have been trying to find in my almost perfect but apparently sad life !! This was it..
I read each of her posts, laughed with her,cried with her !!! I realized, happiness is all around me ,like plenty of sad thoughts I have. I just need to pick them up & feel good !!

So I decided to do something everyday(however trivial it is ) that makes me feel good !! & I decided to start writing !! writing about all little good things that happen around me, everyday!! I might not be good at it but I am sure I will never fall short of emotions to express !!
Happy Birthday & Happy blogging to me !! :) CHEERS !!

P.S. I did not find any good heading for it . So it ended up being a "to do " for an (in)definitely long period (like my code snippets at work ;)).
and P.S.2. : The UI looks ugly & I do not have enough designer expertise to pretty it up. But I will keep trying..

PS3 I want to pa myself on the back for the blog address . Initially I wanted it to be lifebeginsatthirty@blogspot.com but that was taken. (so one pat on his/her back too) ..This one is wayyyyy cooler !! isn't it?
PS4. I am tired of correcting all the typos. Please ignore if you found one . It was unintentional ( read :I got pretty good score in grammars & spelling)