Week 4

This marks the end of week 4 and I am pleased with my efforts so far. It is extra work daily for sure but I think at the end of the day I am glad I am doing something to make me happy. I think I needed this for my sanity. I love being a mom and being around my son, watching him learn new things everyday but I also want some me time activity and this is exactly that. 

Here are my collection of photographs for the week. Every week I think I will put in more effort and describe how each day went by and what was my reason behind the photo I posted but I don't get around to doing that and a caption has to suffice for now. 

Day 22
Steve Blunt entertained the little kids with songs and dance at our local library.

Day 23
Sick day; with me, hubby and baby all not feeling well so this is the best I could

Day 24
It kept snowing all day but then you get these amazing subject right outside in your backyard

Day 25
We were fighting a bit of cold/flu still so just went out to have dinner and found these cows grazing the snowy fields 

Day 26
Snowed in still so decided to play popping bubbles with my son and I got inspired for my day's photo

Day 27
Thats how you enjoy your evening after a blizzard with a hot cup of hot chocolate 

Day 28
Surprised hubby with this dinner made by me

Hope you have a fantastic week and I will be back next week with another update!

Week 3

I cannot believe it has been three weeks since I took up this enormous project. Its one of the signs of the end of times that time will go by very quickly and I feel it is becoming very true now. Anyway, I know some of you might think hey whats the big deal about this project? All you have to do is take a photograph once a day, right!  Well that is the case but the thing to remember is, I have to pick up my DSLR everyday and try to learn new things and then experiment with it and that requires motivation, effort, some creativity and most of all "Time". The last one is the hardest to find especially when you have a toddler running around all day and you are trying to play catch up. So some days just for the lack of time I end up using a random iPhone picture as a filler. I am trying to not use my iPhone camera a lot for this project because that would defeat the purpose really.

So up until now, I really wasn't working with any theme in mind for the week or day but I think once the initial novelty wears off, I might have to come up with something. This week I did end up taking two similar photographs because I was trying to learn the sun flare and since it happened to be sunny most of the week, I tried to play around with it a couple of times.

Here are this week's photographs:

Day 15
This boy kept staring at me while I was taking photographs of my son so I decided to take his as well

Day 16
The dessert spread at my friend's dinner party

Day 17
Guess where I came across these lanterns? Our local mall

Day 18
Some daisies brought home to brighten up the long and cold winter days

Day 19
Saw these flock of Canada Geese while driving by so I had to stop and capture them ofcourse

Day 20
I decided to stop by my favorite reservation to take in this beautiful sunny day

Day 21
Today we stayed home so I had to improvise and made this Dragon jewelry box my subject.

Hope you enjoyed these! See you next week :)

Week 2

The photography journey continues.....

I tried to stay dedicated the whole week. It was only today that I did not pick up my real camera to take a photograph but hey iPhone camera is not too bad right and it does count as photography :p

Here are this week's photographs:

Day 8
Trees and snow in our backyard

Day 9
It only snowed enough to coat a layer over everything outside 

Day 10
Shopping day ended with a new piece of jewelry

Day 11
Baby yawning because he's bored and sleepy. I decided to test my selective coloring skills here.

Day 12
This photograph reminds me of the song "raindrops keep falling on my head" which literally kept happening that day

Day 13
Went to our local ice cream shop which has this antique tractor on display

Day 14
Last day of the week, I was lacking some motivation and feeling very much like my baby here

Hope you enjoyed my week long activity. I'll be back next week with more, till then take care my friends.

Project 365 - Week 1

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions but this year in order to improve my photography I have decided to take up the 365 Project. Now some of you might not be familiar with it. Basically a 365 Project is a photography project where you take a photo each day for a year of a subject of your choosing and share it with the world. 

Taking on the project has different meaning for different people. 

• To improve your photography (like me)
• To document your everyday activities at the end of the year.
• Tell your story through your photographs

Whatever may be your motivation to start it. The idea is to improve and learn new photography techniques and learn to take better photographs. I hope I am able to finish this project. I will be posting my photographs daily on 365 Project website everyday but I will post on this blog weekly in a group. Hope you guys will enjoy them as well.

Day 1
Used my son's Duplo figurine as my subject

Day 2
Flowers brightening up my kitchen

Day 3
My favorite tea tins hanging out on the counter

Day 4
My friend Mara posing on this cool wintery day for me

Day 5
Found these bright red berries in the bare and desolate backyard. My inspiration for the day

Day 6
It proved to be a busy day so I used a photo from New Year's Eve Party

Day 7
A moment captured between my husband and son

Spring 2014

Year 2014 - Part 1 

I always thought Spring was the king of the seasons, though that was before I experienced the New England fall. Like most of the people, spring is my favorite season of the year. This year spring was extra special because it was the first one with my baby Zain.

This post will feature some glimpses of spring time flora and fauna around Boston, MA.   

Arnold Arboretum of Harvard

The above shot was taken at Arnold Arboretum. It stretches over 281 acres around Boston and Brookline area. It is a public-private partnership of Harvard University and the city of Boston. I came to know about it after living here for almost two years and I can't believe how much I was missing out on. What I love about this place is that it is equally beautiful to take a leisurely stroll in any season. There are trees, shrubs, vines and hundreds of varieties of plants. For a person like me who isn't much interested in plants, it is still an incredible place to just roam around and be fascinated by nature's beauty.

Public Garden Boston

For my love of tulips

My favorite parks in Boston are situated in the heart of the city. There are two parks located side by side; the Common and the Public Garden. They were created two centuries apart. Boston Common was the first public park in America created in 1634, while the Public Garden was the first botanical garden in America established in 1837. I obviously like the latter more because of it being more flowery and pretty.

Colorful Tulips all around the Public garden

Vibrant blooms of Spring time

The Public Garden is famous for its Swan Boats, which are essentially paddle boats carrying passengers on a tour around the lagoon in the park. There are lots of ducks roaming around but there is one pair of 'Swans' who rule this garden. Every spring they arrive at the garden with much show and pomp and make it their home till October when they return to the Franklin Park Zoo for the winters. For the past 12 years this current swan pair named very aptly, Romeo and Juliet, has been the center of attention. I love going to the garden no matter what the season is because it is always so peaceful and serene but during spring time it is always busy. You see children running around, people sitting or lying idly or reading a book. 

A wandering duck around the pond ares in the Public Garden

Romeo or Juliet swimming around the pond

I await next year's spring and look forward to making more beautiful memories with my cute little family. I'm going to end the post with a photograph of my son from our picnic on Mother's Day in the beautiful blooming Arboretum. It was the best gift ever. 

My own precious bloom

Hope you enjoyed this post. Keep reading and send me your feedback. Have a great day!

Thanksgiving Weekend- NYC stroll

Every year since I got married and moved to Boston, we have been making a trip to New Jersey to spend Thanksgiving with our family here in America. Thanksgiving is mainly an American and Canadian holiday, although it is celebrated in some other countries too.  In America, it is celebrated on the forth Thursday of November while the Canadians celebrate it on the second Monday of October. Thanksgiving has both cultural and religious connotation. However, in America, the Thanksgiving tradition dates back to the Puritans who first came over from England in the 17th century and wanted to give thanks for a good harvest.

I am first and foremost a Muslim, born in Pakistan. We have many customs and traditions that we already follow but having moved into a new country and accepting it as a new home, I thought it would help us assimilate more if we adopted some of its ways and holidays. Afterall, if we decide to live here permanently then this will be the home of our kids and I wouldn't want them to be alienated from the society they live in. The good news is, most of our extended family that lives in America has already adapted to the Thanksgiving tradition and why wouldn't they because its a holiday which basically gives an excuse to get the whole family together and have an elaborate dinner. How can you not like that? The only new thing to the menu for us is the Turkey, which I still don't like as much as chicken but once a year I don't really mind.

Last year we didn't really have a Thanksgiving because Zain was only a few weeks old and I wasn't up for it yet. So this year was basically his first and boy did he enjoy it. For the most part of the long weekend we stayed at my husband's Aunt's place but we also met a few dear friends around the area and then for just a few hours we made into New York City, which happened to be my favorite part of the trip because I got to take tons of photographs.

Here are few random clicks from our walk around the 5th Ave. I tried not to focus just on the holiday decor but it was hard not to.

St Patrick Cathedral

Atlas Statue outside Rockefeller Centre

We stopped in NYC for a couple of hours. We were a little skeptical initially because it was extremely cold that day and we had a toddler in tow. However, the freezing temperatures could not do anything to spoil our fun. We had a great time roaming around the busy streets of New York. During the Thanksgiving holidays the city is devoid of its inhabitants as everyone leaves to visit their family. So the Big Apple is just full of good ol' annoying tourists like us.

The stores on 5th Ave

Henri Bendel- Are you a Bendel Girl?

I love the city during this time of the year because it is all lit up with the festive Christmas decor. All the flagship stores which always have impressive displays are trying to out do each other with the beautiful lights and colors. It is just fun to look and walk around. A little bit of shopping doesn't hurt either if you know what I mean :)

Zain does not like to stay in his stroller for too long and he was dying to get his legs moving. After a while we decided to grab a bite. The perfect cosy setting of Trump Grill served as our lunch spot. It was just what we needed to make it a special outing. We had a wonderful meal, then some coffee and dessert. 

Ah the Christmas-y ambiance

Father/Son cosy moment

My other favorite father/son moment

After that we headed back to our car. This time Zain was not in the stroller but walking hand in hand. He couldn't wait to just let go and run around. Luckily on the way to the car there was a less busy street and we thought it was ok for him to run around a little since we had a long drive back home and my poor baby would be strapped in his carseat. 

He did not want to hold hands with his Mama

Little guy walking the big city

The shot above melts my heart and I think the decision to make this stop-over for a fun afternoon in the big city was worth it.

Hope you enjoyed this little piece. Have a nice day and come back soon!

Zain turns ONE

This first post is going to be about my darling son Zain's first birthday party. I planned it myself from the start to the end and my amazing better half obviously financed it ( like most of the other things I plan ). Zain is literally the apple of our eyes. He was born on November 5th, 2013. It is such a cliche` but the moment we saw him, we fell in love with him and our lives changed forever.  A child brings a joy in your life, like no other thing in this world can. The most fascinating thing for me was the transformation of a helpless tiny baby I held when he was born, to the little person that he is now, with a strong will, who knows what he wants and if he doesn't get it, well then we are in for a little tantrum. The amazing thing is that, this happened within a span of a year. When I look back, in some ways this year went by in a whiz but in other ways, there were so many firsts that it seems like everyday was a new adventure. 

It all started with the "Teddy Bear" theme, inspired by the teddy bear I bought Zain from the 'Build-A-Bear Workshop'. Zain really didn't like stuffed toys apart from this bear, which he learned to hug and carry around( not obsessively, Thank God). For the birthday invitation cards, we went with TinyPrints.com. I chose a card, customized it with a couple of photographs of Zain in his teddy bear night suit and a balloon backdrop inspired by Pinterest. 

Card Front ( I took out the details )

Back of the Card

Next came the task of party favors for all the kids who were coming to the birthday party. Most of my friends have babies around the same age as Zain. So party favors had to be baby friendly.

Here's what was inside the goodies bag which I crafted to look like a bear. First was a Teddy bear obviously! ordered from Oriental Trading. Second item; a bunch of crayons with a bow tied around them. The third being my favorite; a teddy bear cookie bag with a chocolate cookie inside it. The cookie bag was bought from Etsy.

Items 1 and 2 together

Item 3

I wanted to get Zain a cute outfit for the birthday party but not theme related because I felt everything else was too theme-y. So I looked online and came across this cute baby boutique on Etsy.com and got a customized T-shirt with Zain and 1 embroidered on it. It came out perfectly!

Then came the food, which was outsourced. We were not having the party at our home and had invited quite a lot of friends, so catering was the best way to go about it. For the decor of the venue, we hired a professional decorator (Red Balloon Events) as that was the plan from the beginning. Although, our actual plan involved having the birthday in Pakistan but that was not meant to be. We wanted to have a nice big celebration for our one-year-to-be, no matter where we had the party.

My decorator did a superb job of converting the image I had in my mind of the stage. I got my inspirations from a few different parties I saw on Pinterest and then incorporated them with our theme and colors. I made a sketch for the decorator and she delivered on it wonderfully.

Sketch I drew (Clearly I suck at drawing)

The stage set up made by the decorator using the sketch above

A lot of my inspiration these days comes from Pinterest. Not being very crafty by nature, I still like to try my luck in every possible way. I decided to make a few things for the party to add a personal touch. My favorite out of the lot, was the typical twelve monthly photographs that are now are norm on the first birthdays. I just personalized it with the theme, put it in a string and had it hanging over the buffet table. However, later at home we did a cupcake smash and it created the perfect backdrop for it, along with the I-am-ONE highchair tags made by yours truly.

We also set up a wishing tree booth. Friends left messages for the birthday boy. The tags were cut in the same pattern as the monthly photographs and highchair tags.

These days the entire birthday and its setup is centered around the birthday cake. Our incredible 3D cake was ordered from a lovely bakery close to us. Its called Cakes for Occasions and the cake they made was out of this world. It looked amazing and tasted heavenly. I only showed them a picture I had saved from Instagram and they did a fantastic job recreating it. This is what I am talking about:

3D Teddy Bear cake

I wanted to have a photo booth but didn't care for those typical props. So I bought a piece of cloth from Joann Fabrics to be used as a background and asked  the decorator to make a '1' out of balloons, with which we took photographs of all the guests. This is how it was set up:

Hope you enjoyed my post. I tried to give information about the things and vendors I used in case you are planning a birthday party for your little one.  If you liked it or have any questions please leave a comment and subscribe at the bottom of the page. Stay tuned for more!