Quick & Easy DIY Diwali Gift Wrapping

Posted on November 7, 2018 by Bhanu Misra Marya

Today is Diwali (the Festival of Lights celebrated by Indians!)

I figured today would be a good day to post about this QUICK & EASY DIY gift wrapping idea that I planned for my parents. It’s honestly something you can whip together before any evening festivities you may have today. Or prep in advance for a weekend celebration.

Exchanging mitahi (boxes of very rich flavoured Indian sweets) is customary at Diwali. My family is pretty liberal in our sweets exchange as most of my family doesn’t really eat the typical Indian sweets all that much. The siblings usually give each other chocolates and to the parents we’ll give a mix of dry fruits and nuts.

I loved this wrapping for Diwali but of course this could be used at Christmas or for a hostess gift!

Here’s a quick tutorial on how to recreate this wrapping for your family and friends:

What you’ll need:

Assorted nuts (I went with cashews and almonds, both dry roasted and unsalted because they are the best!)

Wide mouth mason jars with caps

Tissue wrapping in festive colours (2)

Ribbon

Tape

Scissors

Optional: dry fruit, indivially wrapped chocolate, diyas, name tag

What you’ll need to do:

First fill the jar with the goodies you have and close the lid.

On a flat surface, place the tissue papers (different colours) one on top of each other. Start by folding the layered issue paper 1-inch on to itself, continue folding over in the same direction by 1-inch, until you get to the end of the paper.

You can then fold the other end of the layered tissue paper and tape that folded end to make a clean end.

Take the folded tissue paper and cut a diagonal line approximately 3 inches from the top (if you do a curved line it will make the top look like plant leaves). Open the tissue paper and lay flat again.

Take your mason jar and roll the paper around the jar. You should keep about 2 inches near the end closest to the bottom of the jar (cut of excess paper if need be) and the leaves of tissue paper should be near the mouth of the jar. Make sure to tape the paper to the jar before you start rolling and the folded over end of tissue paper back to the paper on the jar.

Wrap the ends of paper to the bottom of the jar and feel free to make deep cuts on the “leaves” to open them up more.

Use the ribbon to tie a bow around the paper that is covering the lid of the jar. Plump up the tissue paper leaves, tape a diya to the lid or add a name tag. And voila!

Why I still celebrate Karva Chauth after all these years?

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Bhanu Misra Marya

Another year of fasting for Karva Chauth is over.

I always have to psych myself up for this day. All the traditions to remember, what goes where in my thali, trying to remember to not use a knife/scissors/nail clippers/sewing needle all day and then trying to recall the Hindi/Sanskrit poems I should know by now, it all makes me nervous because I feel like I’ll fail miserably.

On top of all that, the idea of not eating food for the entire day makes me very anxious because 1) I usually eat quite often in the day and 2) I hate being hungry.

The truth is I usually forget something in my thali, I always touch a knife or scissors (multiples before I make a conscious effort to not), I can’t even pronounce some of the words (thanks to my thick Canadian accent 😂) – but you know what? That’s ok! And even the fasting part – it’s more mind over matter. And when it’s all over and done with – it’s like “huh – that wasn’t so bad!”.

Although this year, I actually felt something different. It almost felt like resentfulness towards the idea of participating in Karva Chauth or questioning the whole thing…

Why am I still doing this?

I really wondered if the occasion was getting to be too conservative for me. If I was doing it more for the elders than for myself/the mister. Was it really a good use of my time? Was I diverging with my own personal opinions on the unfair treatment of women against the patriarchy. Was I showing my girls that I believed in archaic ideas and historic gender norms?

Aside from all of these thoughts, I continued on with my fast. But honestly, going through these questions in my mind gave me a refreshed my reasoning on participating in the fast.

I remembered why I started fasting on this day. It was because for years and years I watch my mom get up before the sunrise to do her small puja and eat the sargi she prepared for herself. When I was younger I knew I wanted to do the same.

I believe in being married and I am grateful for the relationship the Mister and I share (granted it’s not always sunshine and rainbows, but I am thankful to be on this journey with him). So it gives him and I a scheduled day (yes – I said scheduled) to show our appreciation to each other.

I also realized that, having the girls see me participate in this particular cultural event is more so to teach them about who they are and the culture they are descendants. How beautiful is it to think that as a second generation Indian Canadian they may grow up to continue this tradition because they found inspiration from me! They also get to see how I make these traditions my own, how I take what works for me and keep things light and fun – so as to not get bogged down with conservative details but to smile and be thankful for what I cherish.

Most importantly, it gives me an opportunity to pay attention to my body, the time of day, how much activity I’m partaking in. A moment to pause, reflect and be mindful during the course of the day.

Lastly and definitely not least… who doesn’t log getting decked out in their most ornate clothes, complete with accessories galore and letting your husband and in laws paper you – definitely a perk!

My Weekend in Seattle

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Bhanu Misra Marya

A few Thursdays ago I left my babies for the FIRST time ever and flew to Seattle to visit my best friend from University. We became best friends during our undergrad and roommates during our undergrad. And after we graduated, we both grew up in separate ways (I stayed course with my career in the GTA and she pursued med school and competitive speciality in her field in the US).

Considering our lives took two separate directions we worked really hard in maintaining our friendship. Now that doesn’t mean we talk everyday or even regularly on the phone. But it does mean putting in the effort to communicate and meet up when we can.

I flew in late into Seattle and arrived just after 10pm but our plane was stranded on the tarmac as there were no available gates. They finally got a mobile ramp and bus out to us so we could get into the airport. I was exhausted by the time I got to my friends house and we went to bed as soon as we could. Because I was still on Toronto time we were up by 6am (9am Seattle time). We did a ton of sight seeing, eating, drinking cocktails, walking and of course chatting. I was back on the 7am flight out of Seattle so I could be back in toronto at a reasonable time to see the girls but also get ready for the work week.

Honestly speaking, I was worried I wouldn’t have the energy to go and really be present (like could I rally after so many years!) but I guess anything is possible (like a late night fiesta) after a mid day siesta :) and an understanding friend.

We started the weekend off by getting the best view of the city skyline at Kerry Park. After we got tons of photos we followed that up with brunch and extra large mimosas at Toulouse Petit. I had the truffle and asparagus omelette – sooo good!

We then went out to Freeway park, a secret concrete waterfall hidden among the highway systems that go through the downtown core. I loved all the lines and geometry of the structures.

We then checked out another hidden waterfall closer to the downtown core. After a quick game of connect 4 in Pioneer Square, we walked to a General Porpoise, a popular donut and cafe shop in Capitol Hill. After a quick pitstop at Target (man it still hurts that they left Canada) we went to the biggest tourist attraction of all Pike Place Market. We tried blowing the perfect bubble gum bubble (way harder than it looks), rode the Miner’s Landing indoor merry-go-round took pictures a pretty pink wall, went up to this gorgeous root top bar only to leave within 15 minutes because they didn’t have a decent enough food menu, so instead (and thankfully!) ended up at this popular perogies stand at Pike Place. We then grabbed an uber home and I literally slept for 2.5 hours! Only waking up to get dressed and head out to dinner at List which had the MOST amazing fresh mozz salad. We followed that up with some strong drinks at Navy Strength, a tiki bar in the same area. AND then we went back to Toulouse Petit, for a night cap :)

The next day we had every intention to work out, but after the tiki bar/night cap situation, I figured it would be better if I took it easy and eat a few grilled cheeses. We watched a too many episodes of FRIENDS and chatted about life before heading out to do some shopping. I picked up stuff for the girls and A, some workout gear and a little something at Nordstrom Rack before we went to grab a late lunch at Bario, had a double scoop of ice cream at Molly Moons, a stroll through the rainbow crosswalks and tried a speciality roast affagato at the Starbucks Reserve & Tasting Room. We arrived for dinner around 6 at Cafe Flora, a very busy vegetarian/vegan restaurant.

A trip to AppleWoods farm

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Bhanu Misra Marya

It’s Canadian Thanksgiving, the leaves have officially started changing colour and I’ve started my first slow cooker soup of the season – it’s really feeling like Autumn so I thought it would be a good time to share our trip to the farm.

We actually went a few weekends ago. It was one of those beautiful Fall days, where you welcomed the crispness in the morning air, the last bright rays of the summer sun was shining in all her glory and you could just smell Autumn in the air.

I knew the weather would be perfect for a trip to the farm. So the morning of, we packed up tons of snacks, dressed up in all the layers, grabbed my camera (and lenses) and headed North-East to AppleWoods Farm.

We did all the fun farm things, took a wagon ride, picked a pumpkin and butternut squash (included in the price of admission to the farm), saw some sheeps in a barn, ran through a corn maze, picked apples in an orchard and of course ate those apples right off the tree!

Fall 2018 Bucket List

Posted on September 18, 2018 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I was putting together a list of things I wanted us to do this Fall and figured I’d share it up here as well. There are some old favourites (visit the farm, jump into a pile of leaves) and some new ones two (I just realized there is a such a thing as a fall sangria!). I love making these little mini bucket lists because it gets me excited for the seasonal activities and allows me to find focus in making memories :)

Our Trip to Mexico

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Bhanu Misra Marya

It’s been 3 months since I last published a post.

I had may reasons for not blogging and for making all my posts private. But none of them are worth typing up here. What I can say is that I MISSED blogging and that I really LIKE blogging more than social media.

Call me old school but something about getting your thoughts out without having to worry about character limits, engaging on every single platform or building metrics. Oh man it’s exhausting. I mean I understand why it’s needed but my blog isn’t about that. It’s more for me, about building personal and professional skills and documenting my life so I can look back and smile!

With that said I figure I should make my foray back into posting on my blog by reminiscing about our trip to Mexico! At the end of May, we travelled to Puerto Vallarta for my husband’s nieces wedding.Can I just say that we had SUCH a blast……!

Maybe it’s the age of our daughters, or that we were able to chill with our cousins (who are also parents to young kids) or that we got to attend a destination wedding or that we hadn’t been to a carribean resort in over 3.5 years. Well, it was most likely a combination of all of those things – and if I haven’t said it, I’ll say it again…it was such a great vacation.

Thinking back on the planning and preparation for the trip, I had zero expectations for a good time. I mean we were travelling and staying with family the ENTIRE time. We had never been to a destination wedding (and Indian weddings are a lot of work when you are part of the family). And lastly, being on a plane with 2 little ones is always daunting to me. But, I will be the first to say, I was pleasantly surprised. With some boundaries and keeping the kids top priority during the non wedding time we were able to really enjoy and relax.

Figured I’d share some pictures and some of the memories!