Tribal print

Its been screaming hot here this summer with no chance of cool breeze or temperature drops in the evenings - weather conditions I have never experienced while I lived in Boston. Well its a no-brainer then - I have become a fan of shorts after moving to the Washington, DC area. Evidently, this summer, I added two types of shorts to my wardrobe - colored shorts which you have seen here and the tribal-print shorts in the pics below.

I am loving this print; its dark-colored and plus its an eye-catching print. I can already see it paired with neutral colored tops and of course blue tops too :) I think they are going to be a great alternative for printed skirts /capris.

This what I wore, one Saturday morning, while running errands ..my first choice to pair these shorts was a white tee and some matching jewelry. I added tribal-print cuffs to go with the theme :)

We shot these pics in an empty office building!! The lighting was unique and so was the background - J and I decided to give it a 'shot'. We were visiting the office of our town association in this building anyways..
Two birds in one stone, eh? ;)

 What I wore: Shorts - Calvin Klein@Nordstorm Rack; Top - NY&Co.; Jewelry - Sears; Flats - American Eagle; Bag - Coach; Aviators - Tory Burch; Cuffs - F21; Watch - Anne Klein

Linking this post to The Pleated Poppy - What I wore Wednesday, Whatever Whenever Wednesday at Rolled Up Pretty and #YOLOMondays at Mollys and What I wore Wednesday at the Transatlantic Blonde

Do visit other blogs at these link ups and drop in a comment or two!

Maxi Miami

What I am wearing - maxi dress: Old Navy; bag: Calypso for Target; flats: Montego Bay for Payless; Beaded necklace: Colaba Causeway, Mumbai, India; Earrings: Shoppers Stop, India; Ring: F21; Sunnies: Tory Burch; Watch: Swatch;

Cuff: Vegas street shopping

I never really dared to buy a maxi dress for me. I wore maxi skirts, but maxi dresses somehow put me off, blame it on the body-hugging jersey material  or dresses that fit wrongly. My fear of wearing maxi dresses couldn’t simply be overcome up until this spring – inspiration overload from fashion blogs and pretty spring collection in ‘Old Navy’.  Add to the fact that I had 60-hr work week, I as living all by myself so weekends were mostly spent at the mall...and I gave into buying this colorful n comfy maxi dress.

I love that it’s comes in a great material, dark color, empire waist fit, ruffles, and lovely floral print at the bottom and plus great price too. Sometimes Old Navy just does that to me; it gives me a trendy outfit at a great prices. I saved this one of its kind dress for our trip to Miami.

Miami is a happy place to earth; you forget your worries, indulge in the cool beachy breeze, people frolicking around, window shopping, more beaches and water, watersports, sunny (always!) and the lively atmosphere in the night. Nothing could bring me down here!

We spent a 3 days in Miami (long weekend) and it is just the perfect get away from your daily humdrum. Tickets to fly into Miami are expensive though and so is the hotel stay. We actually flew into a near airport – Fort Lauderdale – and booked a hotel near the Miami airport

Travel Tip – booking hotels near any airport is cheaper than in the downtown or other city areas, plus you get to stay at a good n upscale hotel with great amenities, get to watch flights landing/taking off (I am a sucker for that!), and save dollars! We were gonna rent a car anyways, so the distance from the main attractions in Miami didn’t matter.

If you are in Miami a stroll in the Deco district, a day at South Beach and a trip to Key West or any of the closer Keys is highly recommended (Key Largo is pretty close to Miami).

And of course a visit to the famous and the best, best bar cum club cum restaurant in town – Mango Tropical Bar!! The live performances are just top-notch, the lighting, décor, drinks…I am in a happy place! Food n drinks r lil expensive, but hey you are on a vacay, u deserve it! I just didn’t want to leave this bar..

well, so much for one post of my travel to the party capital of USA...more in my next outfit-cum-travel post.

Linking up the post at #YOLOmondays at Molly's and What I Wore Wednesday at The Pleated Poppy 

SoCal - Day two

Happy Sunday, everybody!
I gotta admit, I am not able to keep up with the Filmy Friday posts. The days have been busy lately and, a ardent movie fan that I am, I am not able to keep with the happenings of the Film-dom. So please, please excuse me if I skip over from the reel-life to the real-life.

Actually, I would like to know from you all, one movie that you have watched lately, and that has caught your whim and you cant stop thinking about it. It could be the story line, the handsome actors, teary drama, or gripping action, name one such movie for me, will ya?

Moving on, let me issue a warning: this post is photo-heavy! so brace yourself fellas :)

Second day of the trip we travelled to La Jolla caves, San Diego. Scenic serene beaches, oh so beautiful! 

It was unusually cold and cloudy though :( Murphys law!

Prints n colored shorts go hand-in-hand. 

What I wore: Printed top - GAP, Shorts - Banana Republic, Summer Cardigan - GAP outlet, Sandals - Catwalk, India, Bag - Coach, Fedora Hat - Francescas, Watch - Michael Kors Women's Chronograph (Gift from Parents), Necklace - Colaba causeway, India

J and A enjoying the cool breeze at La Jolla. 

In the evening we visited the Old Town San Diego- Mexican culture at its best. 

@Old Town San Juan, by evening I needed a nice jacket to keep me warm

Glimpses of Old Town San Diego - colorful pots,a drunk bee and embroidered dresses. I just felt like grabbing one :)

Scenic La Jolla 

Lovely time spent with friends!

One last thing before I sign-off, I am so pleased to let y'all know that, I was the featured Reader on the ever-inspiring Tanvi's blog. She is a gem of a blogger, founder of InFB and always bursting with original ideas. 

Taking notes from one of her brilliant ideas to don a 'skirt' as a 'dress', I decided to give it a try. Do check out my spin on this trend.

Have a great week ahead!

P.S. Linking at YOLO Mondays at Mollys

SoCal - Day One

Hey readers, hope you are doing good! How am I doing, you ask? Fantabulous, Superb, On cloud number 9!!
If you have been following my tweets it would be quite evident that I passed my road test!! yes! yes! yes! I earned my 'Drivers Licence' finally and it arrived last Saturday!! I was sorta nervous during my road test, but all went well by God's grace and now I am a certified driver :) It feels exhilarating, and I feel this surge of confidence running all through me :D J and I are holding on to the celebratory dinner; once the meat and alcohol ban is up, I am gonna head out to the 'Hoggersland' :D

well, back to blogging, I have decided to start out a series of posts to cover my trip last month to SoCal (Southern California). Its been ages I covered anything on the Travel aspect and so this series will be more of travel and of course some of Fashion too!

It was my long time dream/travel goal to visit the southern California - Los Angeles and San Diego, two of the most gorgeous cities, full of life and sunny beaches. J and I spent 5 days in all - 2 in San Diego and 3 in Los Angeles. Starting off with LA, at the heart of Hollywood with glitz and glam to the max, the first day was well spent visiting the Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater (renamed now to Dolby Theater), hunted down open parking lots to get a perfect view of the Hollywood sign (oh yeah! that was super important for me) and in general spent some time doing my fav activity of people-watching. You get to see all types of people in Hollywood. I gotta admit though, after some time, I was done with the crowd; I just wanted to put my feet up, sip wine and relax (well, blame it on the 6 hour flight from US east coast to the west).

Well, that's exactly what we did - we had reservations to one of the (highly recommended!) fine dining spots - Cleo. The decor is fab, the crowd is typical Hollywood glam and the food is mind-blowing. Everything is tapas style (works best for dining out as a couple) and so innovative. We had chicken kebabs, grilled and stuffed Shishito peppers, red pepper hummus, roasted cauliflower and then one more round of the succulent chicken kebabs.
Word of caution - never plan any high energy activities on the first day you arrive especially if you are reaching your destination mid day or after that.

I wore this summer dress that I bought last year (!!) and never got to wear it (does that happen with you too?) So finally out it came for the much -awaited LA trip. What better place to show off your best outfits that Hollywood, right? Also, dresses are easy to pack, just one piece and you are done.
I bought the leather boat shoes specially for this trip 'cause I was sorta wary of all the walking in this trip. And well, they are the best walking shoes ever! and oh so cute. Love the tan color, goes well with any/every outfit.

aah, did I crib about the traffic in LA!! if you visit LA, let me warn you, you will be spending more time in your car on a six lane highway than any touristy places. So stock up on music, food, drinks and interesting topics to chat, 'cause you are gonna need them dearly, oh so dearly!

Summer Dress - Jones New York via DressBarn
Summer cardigan - GAP Outlet
Beads jewelry - street shopping in Puerto Rico
Aviators - Tory Burch
Tan boat shoes - Aldo
Cuff - Kate Spade New York (Budday gift from J)
Watch - Michael Kors Womens Chronograph (Gift from parents)
Bag - Coach

@ The Hollywood Walk of Fame 

Mickey!!!

Inside the Kodak aka Dolby Theatre

J an I enjoying a drink at Cleo

Left - Posing with the Hollywood Sign, Right - Chinese Theatre

Linking for 'WIWW' (What I wore Wednesday) at Transatlantic blonde and The Pleated Poppy

Filmy Friday - The ‘Bobby’ look

Well, we all know for a fact that fashion trends keep repeating periodically. But there are some trends/styles that are classic n versatile and my look is about one of them - Polka dots!

Effortless, ever-green n chic! Pair it with skirts, shorts, pants, denims if you will or dress up for a formal wear or dress down for a casual chic, you will always look great!

Staying true to the Filmy theme for Fridays, my inspiration photo is from a movie but way back from the 70s (1973 to be specific, I was not even born then ;)) It’s a look from a very renowned and blockbuster movie ‘Bobby’ from the Indian Film Industry (also called as ‘Bollywood’). This particular outfit has since been an iconic look in India and so when I scored these navy blue shorts, I couldn’t wait to try it out! What really inspired me is that even though it’s a simple polka dot blouse and navy blue skirt, it looked so stylish and comfy (and bold too). 

When I dressed up for a strawberry picking and sunny afternoon at a farm with my family (this time - last year), I paired my polka dot blouse with pair of comfortable navy blue shorts. I added a bit of zing (gotta have some zing people!!) with the red cross body bag, chunky metal necklace and my tribal ankle strap flats.

‘Polka dots’ are super versatile and exceptionally useful when mixing prints or mixing trends (colored denims, neons, tribal print). So, tell me..has any ‘retro’ look inspired you lately and have you tried dressing up in that look?

Inspiration photo: movies.rediff.com

Shorts and top: H&M ($20 each)

Red cross body bag: NEU look (from my trip to Ireland)

Metal chunky necklace, earrings and ankle strap flats: Target

Sunglasses: Guess

Watch: Anne Klein

Some pics from our family outing - Fun times! esp swinging with mom :) 
what are some of the fun things you have done with your parents?

(Left n Top) Husband and pappa hunting for strawberries
(Right bottom) all three being bacchas (kids) and playing a water fountain game

Top - Swinging with mom and dad and J
Bottom - savoring our (hard-earned) snacks and a family picnic by the lake

Linking up at Life rearranged and Rolled Up Pretty and Transatlantic Blonde-What I wore Wednesday. Do check out the link up parties and visit other blogs. 

The Best Things Ashy Ever Ate - I

We are foodies. Me and my husband. Epicurious, voracious foodies. We just love to eat, hog and indulge in gluttony. With our travels in and around the US, I have tasted the most decadent, creative and one-of-its kind dishes. We hunt/yelp restaurants, food trucks, food-joint, diners to succeed in our quest in finding the top-notch restaurants and their best dishes ever.

I decided to spin this quest of ours in a post; for me food blogging is about sharing 'the best thing I made in my kitchen' as also 'the best thing I ever ate'! After all, in today's era restaurant food too plays an important role in a foodie's life, right? While blogging about the outside-eating experience, I have taken a page or two out of the ultimate foodie channel in US - Food Network and decided to present to you *drumroll please* The Best Things Ashy ever ate!!

What: Barbeque (BBQ) sauce over chicken skewers with Mufungo –

Where: The Parrot Club, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

Mufungo is traditional Caribbean dish and  essentially is made of mashed plantains. It’s usually stuffed with veggies or meat and our favorite was with Chicken. Mashed plantains taste more like mashed potatoes. The BBQ sauce was luscious and full of flavor; chicken was cooked perfectly in spices. Mufungo is a must-have if you are in Carribean. The restaurant itself was funky and true to its name, the decor was totally inspired from Parrots! If you are strolling around in Old San Juan, this place is a must-visit. 

What: Pineapple Fried Rice with Shrimp

Where: Island Hopper, Boston

Hmm, the aroma of pineapple fried rice makes my mouth melt. Add to it the presentation - innovative and picture-perfect. The shrimp cooked delicately with the spicy thai rice – delish and filling. Sumptuous lunch perfectly done! This restaurant is a favorite of one of my friends and she frequented this place for some Thai-time. I am sure she will be happy reading that I featured this place in my post :)

What: Potato Croquettes

Where: Cuchi Cuchi, Boston

Small bites of gooey mixture of potato and cheese deep fried. Slurp! And can you get more exquisite with the presentation? Husband found this gem for my birthday dinner and boy oh boy! was it a fantastic place or what. I had a memorable dinner there. Not just the great food, but the whole ambiance and the experience is unique, ashy's guarantee! The decor is complete retro and so are the servers - they are dressed up as Flappers  (the bold and beautiful women of the 20's) and are a sight to see!

What: Mexican Deep-fried Tomato

Where: Cuchi Cuchi, Boston

Yes, I had two deep fried dishes, one after another, so sue me! The deep fried tomato was placed in a pool of tomato salsa; every bite was yumm-o! The restaurant specializes in International cuisine, one dish from every part of the world. If in Boston, highly recommended!

What: Nutella-Strawberry-Banana Crepes

Where: Paris Creperie, Boston

Ending on a sweet note. Do I need to describe this decadence? No, right?
Just one thing, don’t drool please :P

Hope you enjoyed this foodie journey dedicated to my passion in finding 'Excellence in Decadence'.
Do drop your comments on how you liked this new segment?

P.S.: Over the weekend, I went for a salon treatment with my BFF and now I have a complete new look.
A sneak-peek is coming up!!

P.P.S.: Today's my Moms budday, I call her aai - thats mom in Marathi language. So I have already wished on call, on FB and now on my blog! Shes my inspiration for style (of course!), she loves to read and travelling is her passion (mom-dad are back from a trip to Europe). Happy Budday to you aai! May all your dreams come true and you travel to more exotic places and get me goodies! love you loads!