Crazy good date-night

This is what I wore on a date night, dinner and a movie! It was one of those rare days when everything goes as planned – house work, cleaning, relaxed afternoon, picture-perfect photo shoot and then a dinner n movie. check, check and check!

Date night started with a cozy dinner at - Karaikudi (in chantilly, VA) - a restaurant that serves authentic Chettinad cuisine. We started off with Rasam (perfect for a chilly night)and then moved to idli-wada sambar (my absolute favorite!) and finally finished off Chicken Chettinad with Chapatis/Rotis & Rice. 
The food itself was finger-licking good but super spicy & HOT! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy spicy food; but this was beyond my expectations (and in a real bad way!). The Rasam itself was tasty but again too way peppery for me (I left it half way while husband finished it off). The idli-wada were delish; sambar was served in meager quantities :( I mean charge me more but at least serve a cupful of that delish sambar! The Chicken Chettinad was as authentic as it could get - had a very home-madey taste to it! Awesome! Rotis were a let down (should have just stuck to parathas).
Though most of the patrons are from India, I am pretty sure that not everyone is aware of the fiery Chettinad cuisine. I wish the servers would have mentioned to me the level of spiciness and heat in the food. Well, having said all that, I think I won't mind going back there for the 'original' south-indian taste every dish had and probably will stick to idli-wada sambar/dosa. 

Well, though the dinner experience was a little setback for me (husband loves super-spicy food, so he had no complaints :)), the movie turned out to be SUPERB! We watched Argo that night. If you haven’t watched Argo yet, then go WATCH IT NOW!! Ben Affleck – the director and lead actor – is freaking 'brilliante'! 
I was spellbound after the movie; Argo is definitely one of the best movies in recent times. I don't want to reveal too much of the plot, but I loved watching the 1970's setting and was pretty excited when they showed Washington-Dulles airport in one of the shots. (I live quite close to the airport, you see ;))

It was quite chilly that day (which is how the weather is usually here now) so I picked my quirky skirt and paired it with a black turtle neck. Turtle necks I am not a big fan of! They make me a little bit uncomfortable around the neck area. But the fact that they are so warm and cozy, I do wear them on chilly days. Boots and leggings and a Crazy good necklace completed the look. So you see, I 'winterized' my 'summer' look here. 
I got this necklace from Tanvi’s very own boutique– Crazy & Co. Thanks to my stars, I won a giveaway for a gift card to Crazy & Co. on Vidhya's blog here. I was in love with this tribal-inspired design since I had seen the House of Harlow necklace. The best part is that it's black, which makes it totally versatile.

So on date-nights, do you try new restaurants or prefer the tried-and-tested ones? Do tell. 

What I am wearing: Skirt - Anthropologie (seen here); Turtle-neck sweater - Ann Taylor Factory Outlet; Boots - Born @ The Tannery, Boston; Statement necklace - Crazy & Co.; Earrings - Local boutique in Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA; Ring - Aldo; Belt - NY & Company; Purse - Linking Road, Mumbai, India; Glasses - Burberry; Jacket - H&M

The delicious Chettinad cuisine!

Idli-wada sambar on left and Chicken Chettinad on right.

I wore the statement necklace again on Monday with formal wear and 
it paired great, don't you think? :)

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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. 

My First Blogger Award!

Partayyy time ladies and gentlemen, ‘cause yours truly has won her first blogger award! Woohooooooooo!! Dhan-te-nannnnnn *expressing excitement in Hindi*

The gracious Emily Brewer from My Inspired Life with Fibromyalgia presented me with the Sunshine blogger award yesterday and I am grinning like a Cheshire cat since then :D

This is my first ever blogger award and my heartfelt thanks to Emily and to all my readers and well-wishers out there. You guys have kept the blog going, inspiring me to do my best and give my best to the blog.

And very special thanks to the photographer behind 'The Zing of My Life' - Mr. J! He motivates me, pushes me to do by best and also does give me a reality check (which I def need) from time to time.

Thank you thank you thank you soo much everybody! and thank you so much Emily!

Over to the award formalities now, 

The Sunshine Blogger Award Rules

1. Include award logo in a post or on your blog page.

2. Answer 10 questions about yourself.

3. Nominate 10 other fabulous bloggers.

4. Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blog, letting them know about the award.

5. Share the love and link the person who nominated you.

1.     If you could live anywhere, where would you live? 

Ashy: that would be my home town Mumbai, there’s something magnetic about the city that keeps pulling me back there. And oh did I mention, my family lives there who I miss every single day, so it’s gonna be my obvious choice :)

2.   If you could vacation anywhere, where would you go?

Ashy: Being a traveler, I have been to really amazing places and its so difficult to decide this one but I would tie it between Miami (Official party Capital of US) and Puerto Rico (gorgeous weather, beaches and food, now what more do you need in a vacay spot)?

3.   What's your favorite part of blogging?

Ashy: fueling my creativity and getting to know so many fab and like-minded people

4.   Coffee or hot chocolate?

Ashy: not much of a sweet tooth there, so I am going with Coffee

5.    What kind of coffee do you drink?  What do you put in it?

Ashy: Coffee with milk and sugar. Love the cinnamon dolce lattes and pumpkin lattes in winters.

6.   What do you do to relax? 

Ashy: eating comfort food relaxes me like nothing else, and if you have 'Sex and the City' running on the television, I am in heaven!

7.    How do you keep calm in a very stressful situation?

Ashy: These are some of the tip I tried when working in the corporate world - take deep breathes, switch off and take a 5 min break, try to think coolly and get a better perspective of the issue at hand - now get back to work!

8.   Beautiful clouds or clear sky with stars?

Ashy: beautiful clouds

9.   Dogs, cats, or fish?

Ashy: I don’t have pets but if I had one, dogs are my fav!

10. Be honest, which last name do you like more, maiden or married?

Ashy: Maiden name - The only reason being my maiden name is very unique (I was the only one that came up in Google search results!) and that’s what I love about it.

So now here's the most difficult parts of accepting the honor - choosing only 10 blogs to present the Sunshine blogger award. All the blogs I follow have Sunshine in abundance - there are food blogs, fashion blogs, lifestyle, home décor, travel blogs and I have learnt a lot and continue to be inspired from each one of them.anyways, here are my nominees:

1) Mehak @ The Double M Life

2) Kavita @ Chic-ilicious 

3) Renu @ Renew It

4) Style-meeh

5) Catherine @ Not Dressed as Lamb

6) Pranati@ A Healthylicious food for a Hungry Soul

7) Juneli @ Fashionably yours

8) Jess @ Js style

9) R Punitha @ South Indian Food Recipes

10) Heather@ Pearls & Paws

Congrats to all of you and here is my list of questions for you:

1) If you could vacation anywhere, where would you go?

2) whats your memorable moment/fav memory since you became a blogger?

3) what do you do to relax after a hectic day?

4) when are you most alert morning or night?

5) would you rather be by yourself or with lots of people?

6) your favorite fashion magazine and blog?

7) are you active or quiet/silent person?

8) how many hours do you spend on blogging in a week?

9) Pink or black?

10) whats your favorite place to shop in this world and why?

Now go spread some cheer and blog love, wont you? :)

Well, its Friday and staying true to the Filmy Friday theme, there is only one movie to talk about. 

The Dark Knight Rises – Go Watch it!

Awesome! Thrilling! Mesmerizing! tad long but all worth for the oozing charisma of the Dark Knight and his action scenes!

Bee-tee-W, this was my first Batman movie and now I can’t wait to go back and watch the others.

I have one of my college friends coming down from Rochester to meet me this weekend:) so excited! we have known each other for literally ages - 14 years that is! so its going to be all girly girl weekend - loads of gossip, yapping and just plain fun! 

Well, the better half is going to have his me-time aka soccer-time after ages. See, girly-girl weekend works both ways :)

Have a great weekend y'all!

P.S.: I have got a big time crush on Christian Bale, did you too?

Filmy Friday - 4

I would say it was another disastrous week for me, managed to catch a couple of Indian flicks and they were just average!
I watched the recent releases - Cocktail and Teri Meri kahaani

First up, Cocktail – And it was a very impulse decision to go watch it in the theatres (boring-weekend bug had bit us, I guess) The trailer looked promising here...a story of youthful n vibrant trio and their 21^st century story. 

But alas! nothing‘s 21^st century when it comes to Bollywood story lines – they just like to go back to their cocoon of known and gheesa-peeta (dunno a better English word for this) themes and endings.

The film started out ok (abrupt scenes, no real character development or background). I am not even sure how Diana’s character decides to go home with a stranger (Deepika) just after their first meeting in a restroom of a random diner. I wish they would just have spent more time on Diana’s character a bit. When you showcase the background/history, why only show the main hero's. I mean Deepika makes references to her family but they don’t even turn up when she’s battling for life n death in the hospital! Strange is life and so are our films!

The start was rather wishy-washy of some random scenes, but it went ok till the interval. Boman as Saif’s mama (maternal uncle) was a great character – I mean thank God! He wasn’t cast again as the hero’s father. I felt Dimple Kapadia, as Saif’s mother, had some reminiscence from Abhishek’s mom’s character from Dostana (played by Kiron Kher). But then Dimple’s version was much toned down and classy ;))

Saif was ok in some parts and ridiculous and childish in other. He was shown trotting around with some really cool jackets. So guess I had something to focus on while getting bored!

Deepika’s makeup was top notch, acting was ok, guess I was more attracted to her clothes, eye makeup and gait. Kudos to her stylist and makeup artist!

Diana Penty is a revelation, the gal acts well, looks good n is tall – wat more do we want in an actress! Well let’s hope it wasn’t the first film charm.

Overall cocktail was plain A-ok. I some how compared it to Zindagi na milegi dobara. It was a very chic movie, good actors, great locales, based in modern mindset – but somehow the character development was complete. I never felt like I had to ponder over unanswered questions or loose threads. 
I suggest watch cocktail when it’s official DVD print is available or when it comes on TV.

I am not doing such an elaborate review for Teri Meri Kahaani – ‘cause it was quite average and boring to watch online so I pity the people who went to watch it in the theatres.

Teri meri kahaani had a good theme – couples are meant to be together in every janam (birth). And guess I truly believe it too for some reason. The movie started from a 1960’s couple in Bombay then moved to 2012 couple in London n then again went back to 1910’s couple in Lahore before partition.
All the couples were played by Shahid-Priyanka.
Acting wise there was nothing to complain. Shahid n Priyanka are top notch actors, n they know what they are doing. I loved to see the 1960s Bombay, that part of the story was my fav! The 2012 couple story was boring for some reason and the 1910 one just dragged on for eternity. 

Can u believe each era in the movie had 2 songs!! I mean really! Why lose focus of the story and have random naach-gaana? Why waste time and the audience attention on such frivolous things, just make clean concise and a smart movie and showcase your point?

The climax was a mish-mash of the three love stories – tad confusing sometimes.


I am drained reviewing these average movies, so I will just leave you with a good trailer:)
Son of Sardaar - excited to see Juhi Chawla!

I liked this video on 'Breast Cancer Awareness in India' and thought of sharing with you. The video is done very sensitively and is directed by Zoya Akhtar. It features Shahid, Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar and Ranbir Kapoor talking about the women in their life. 
I do feel there needs to be more awareness in India about Breast Cancer and I support this cause!

Anyhow, back to reality - its Friday again ! So let ‘relax, unwind and chill’ be the mantra of the hour ;))
Have a great weekend y'all!

P.S. Next up – outfit post (it’s been long since I did an outfit post here, and I am missing it already. Did you miss it too? ;))

Filmy Friday - 3 (the 13th!!)

This week was a little dull in the filmy-land – I watched a couple of movies and all of them turned out to be dull, bleh, boring .. (guess it was the jinx of Friday the 13th!)

First up – Maximum – I forced my husband to watch it with me – boasted of a good story line (Mumbai Police!!) great actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Mohan Agashe and Vinay Pathak (I think Sonu Sood is also good at times) but the actual movie was just a letdown. It started with a good pace but slowed down almost slowed down half way through. There were too many characters and after some time it became tedious for us to remember every name and the story became more complicated – too many cooks spoil the broth. I didn’t get why so many good actors were wasted – why Naseeruddin Shah of all– I mean anybody could have done his role!! Neha Dhupia was wasted in the movie, but I don’t feel bad for that ;)). The story telling concept and picturization I thought was unique – but after some time that kinda bored me too.

Overall, I would ask you to skip this movie.

Ishaqzaade – first up thumbs up to Parineeti Chopra– wat expressive eyes and mischievous smile – wallah wallah! Arjun kapoor is not bad too – but he faltered at dialogue delivery in some scenes. Story is just the plain like old times – set in Bihar and Omkara-esque neighborhood. Boy and girl from Hindu-Muslim religions and power-packed families fall in love and elope - oh people of the Bollywood, can we have enough of such locales and story lines?? I mean how many movies have been made milking the same story line and background!!

I found the supporting actors better than the leads sometimes. Parineeti’s character starts out feisty but loses steam almost 30 mins into the movie – she becomes this rosy-eyed girl madly in love. I didn’t quite get her character – she never seems to stand up for herself!

Anyways, this movie was a let down again, so skip it if you can

I guess I found some sparks in Bollywood from trailers this week.

'Cocktail’s' trailer looks fresh – I like Diana Penty some how and Deepika looks bearable good. Saif is not bad himself.

You can watch the trailer here. The movie’s releasing this week, I am not sure if I want to spend 10$ and watch this movie in theatres or wait for it to come online.

The next trailer is quite different – Boman Irani and Farah Khan(!!) paired as a Parsi couple..hmm, that definitely is interesting. ‘Shirin Farhad ki toh nikal padi’ looks promising (fingers crossed). Farah Khan, must say looks cute. I don’t want to jinx it – I really hope this movie is something I can watch again and again. 

You can watch the trailer here.

Well, that’s it from me this week. Can’t believe it’s already Friday (the 13^th that too!!). 

Well for me, I have 2 bananas getting darker by the day and smelly too! and waiting for me to mix them with the walnut – chocolate chip batter to make my delicious banana-walnut-chocolate chip bread. I have been ignoring the ‘Kele ki Jodi’ aka 2 bananas for some time now, but I guess they are now ready to give up there smelly exterior and become a part of the decadence...so that will be my task this weekend. 

And just in case you didn't know how the transformation will take place, the recipe is here.

What are your plans for the weekend? Watching any movies, shopping or travel?

Have a great weekend y’all :))))

Filmy Friday - Filmy Fashion -1

Heylo peeps, how you been? It’s very hot here today, literally H.O.T. ..like a burning oven/ tandoor. So I am not even going to try to step out during the day hours. And yeah, also that I have to pack for our 5-day trip to CALIFORNIA!!!..oohhh yeah baby, do I love that place or what!

This will be my second visit to the Sunshine land, and this time J and I are visiting the heart of Hollywood – LA and the land of beaches n Mexican food – San Diego. Hell, I am excited as a kid who is visiting Disneyland for the first time ;)))

Anyhow, back to the theme for Fridays – Filmi Fridays..i gotta be honest with you here..I was not able to catch up on any movies this week; mainly ‘cause I was not keeping so well and secondly J was busy with work. But hey, don’t ya worry – if I say Filmy Fridays then, Filmy it will be ;)

I have been watching out for Indian actresses lately and there designer wear looks. Some of them are really working hard to look presentable and I should say smashing in the western brands/outfits. And one of these damsels I have been stalking (online of course!!!) is PC aka Piggy Chops or Priyanka Chopra if you will.

She has got the perfect bod for any type of clothing – Indian Lehengas, Sarees (how can we forget her ‘Desi Girl’ bikini blouse n sari), skirts, dresses, minis, smashing evening gowns; the list goes on and on. There are really minimal of her outfits that have ever put me off, ‘because most of the times she really looks elegant in all of them with make-up and hair-dos spot on.

Now that I am a fashion blogger, where dressing up and posing for pictures is part of the deal, I gotta hand it to PC for looking elegant every ‘freaking’ time – its effort, a lot n lot of effort to look that good (good is an understatement here) every time – be it tired from work or jetlagged or even not feeling ‘it’. No such excuses on her face..Damn!!! (I want her makeup artist and stylist ;)

It’s a lot of hard work to have the perfect frame day in day out – when travelling, between work schedules and film promotions (hell, it’s difficult for me here in my normal routine to stay fit, I would say she’s doing a herculean task there). Let’s just say – some people are god-gifted ;)

So I take a break from my ramblings now and let you enjoy a collection of some of PC’s best looks.

Love the high-low hemline of this Lanvin dress and the belt is just fabulous!

Perfect summery look in ZARA, PC knows how to look cool ;)

Looking suave in Versace, I am digging those bangs and ponytail!! I want those bangs like right now!!

I am with PeeCee – shes rocking the D&G evening gown

It’s such a cute look, I love those coral pumps, they are just the right amount of color to the neutral outfit. Completely loving the braided look on PC.

Desi/Indian looks - she is looking elegant in Manish Malhotra!

Airport looks – she looks effortlessly chic, how does she do it after hours n hours of air travel, cabin pressure, dehydration?

Love PC in VB, fits her like a glove!

Hmm, probably one look of hers I am not a fan of, she needs to cut short the minis from her closet!!

 (* All pictures from www.pinkvilla.com*)

so, who’s your idol/favorite (movie star pls) when it comes to Fashion? What is the one best quality you like about that person?

have a great weekend!

Ashwini

P.S.: I couldn’t help but slip is some bolly-masala into my post…so here’s the new trailer for Salman-Katrina starrer ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ Their pair looks ravishing (‘cause I think Salman looks younger somehow) looking forward to this one ‘cause hopefully it makes some sense (unlike Dabanng and others) …so you see peoples – you can take out the filmy from my post but you cannot take out the filmy in me ;)

Filmy Friday - 2

I took a brk last week from ‘Filmy Friday’ (busy packing for our weekend trip to West Viriginia) and now I am back with a bang!

This Friday is gonna be busy for me (again!!), friends coming over and I have planned a chaaat spread of crunchy but not-so-filling sev-batata-puri and then hot feisty paav-bhaaaji..with dollops of butter and crisp buttery paav, and of course some accompaniments with salad, cukes and fresh slices of lemons..n then finish off the meal with yummy goodness of fried dough soaked in rosy sugary syrup…yes friends, GULAB JAMUNS  indeed!! The best part is that GJs are already done and soaking in their hot bath of syrup..so I shud say the difficult part is over!!

I just need to prep for main course n apps so I gotta hurry up and finish this post and get back to my cooking and mixing masalas n cutting veggies ..haha

Well, I caught up with ‘Snow white and the Huntsman’ with my girlfriends last week – 

My review - it’s a interesting spin on the classic story we all know from our childhood but for me it was a so-so movie..Charlize Theron really really lights up the screen with her strong presence..i gotta admit I was actually smitten by the witch queen than snow white herself..I am not a fan of Kristen Stewart and I don’t think there were any major dhaasu (kick-ass) dialogues to her credit..she was lets say ..blehh!!

Though the movie was a let down I enjoyed being out with my girlfriends for a movie night, n popcorns..and wat better that it was a weekday (need some breath of fun in the humdrum) and, and ..it was a 6$ movie night at the theatre..I would say score!!!!

Over on the Bollywood side, I watched ‘Aarakshan’ at home (ofcourse!!). 

Movie review – it was too long, but I didn’t mind it ‘cause I was surfing net for inspirations, working on my blog and also online window shopping..when you have so many things going on, I didn’t mind Aarakshan going on in the background ..haha! It was actually perfect :)

Deepika acted very well in certain parts only! AB was good as ever, Saif was okish..n worst was Prateik Babbar ..i was disappointed there, he has done really well in Dhobhi Ghat and this movie was a total shocker and a blotch on his career..story wise it did start off with its tag line – reservation system based on castes but lost the steam I think almost half way down the road..at the end I didn’t even think it was a fight about reservation or caste system, just a fight between a good vs evil (as usual)

Which new movies did you watch? Im looking fwd to ‘Ferrari ki sawari’ and ‘Madagascar 3’..Hope I can catch up with them, will keep u posted, until then have a fun-tastic weekend!

Filmy Friday! -1

Yep, Fridays I am gonna ramble on about the fav of my fav topics – Films, movies, cinema..the place where dreams are made larger than life!!

Ok so first to the movies that I caught up on at home – watched this year’s Oscar nominations! Ya ya, it’s like 4 months late now, but what the heck! I at least have the time to watch them this year (thanks to my break from 9-6 workdays) 

I was on a movie marathon – watched the George Clooney starrer ‘the Descendants’, Martin Scorsese‘s - ‘Hugo’ and Steven Spielberg’s -The Adventures of Tintin’.

I must admit with such high names riding on the movies, they were definitely a great watch and that to at home, rolled up on the couch on a sleepy summer afternoon...aaaah!

‘The Descendants’ was a tad emotional and Clooney in a never-seen-before role; there was drama, tears and some fun moments too. It reminded me of the time I spent with my dad as a kid, so beautiful, innocent and made my heart all fuzzy n nostalgic..*wiping of a tear* - so if ur looking for a fun tp movie, this will not be ur pick ..this is a movie when you are by urself and ready for some brooding

Hugo – was magical ..wat beautiful cinematography , each frame of the movie is top class and what mind-blowing acting by the young actors. It’s a story based in Paris (one of my fav places) about an orphan and his will and dream to continue the work of his father on the automaton (it looked like a diff name for robot)..i would highly recommend watching this movie.

And lastly, the Adventures of Tintin…I didn’t know what or who tintin was ..never ever read his comics ever – of which J was very surprised ( he is an avid reader of tintin since childhood). The movie was tooo coool..words are short for the animation ..what camera angles!! Superb! I don’t want to say anything more but that it’s a definitely a must watch guys!! And one dialogue has stuck with me…

TinTin: how’s your thirst for adventure, Captain?

Captain: Unquenchable TinTin!!

So this is what I watched last week..well, what I am looking forward to is bolly flick – Shanghai. It has good star cast and is a Dibakar Banerjee (khosla ka ghosla, love sex aur dhokha and oye luck luck oye fame) direction. So very high hopes from this one.

On the amrikan side, I watched dictator and the battleship in the theatres ..i enjoyed both of 

these. Dictator was fun, humor filled but crass in some parts. Sacha baren cohen is too good!! Battleship (it’s a Rihanna starrer) was engaging – not top class, but entertaining.

'Ufff,Bahut filmy ho gaya' (too much of ‘Film talk’)..what movies are you waiting to catch up with? Any good movies you watched recently? And are you filmy like me ;))

Have a great weekend,

Ashwini