Copied over from my blog "considerthecoffee"! Thought I would share here as well.

In Old Navy, about a week and a half ago, I couldn't resist buying a memory game that was for sale near the children's section. It was (and still is if there are any left) on sale for $4.49. YES, only $4.49!!

It's Charley Harper art in form of a memory game for kids. If I heard the name Charley Harper, I wouldn't really know who that is. But his art looks familiar to me.

Anyway, the memory game, to me, looked like an awesome opportunity to get some really cool artwork for $4.49!!! There are 36 pairs of square cards, which means each awesome piece of art is there twice!! This is the cover of the box, and what drew me to buy it, how cute! I love birds in artwork, and in everything, pretty much!


Inside is filled with so many neat works of art. I was thinking that if I wanted to, I could make this into some wall decor. If I never do it, I will let my little boy(who is 14 months old about) play with it one day, CAREFULLY. :P But for now, I am just admiring this great little game as lots of little pieces of awesome artwork. If the other items go on clearance as low as this was, I'll snatch them up too.
Of course, I am not the first to think of using this game as something else. While googling about the game, I found a couple cool ideas of what people have been doing with these (via creative blogs I found):

Charley Harper notepads
Gift tags

I have been using some of the art as backgrounds for pictures of necklaces I have made recently. Examples:




There are more shown at my esty shop, coffeeandcream.etsy.com.

In case, like me, you weren't too familiar with Charley Harper, check out this Wikipedia entry about him. Click here!

Too long since posting!

So the same day as my last entry, I got really sick! Me and Kavi got "rotavirus", an intestinal thing...(not rhinovirus). Kavi had bathroom issues for days but seemed to have way more energy than me. I had no energy for days, most of the time spent it in bed. Then last week, new tile was put into a large area of our house which made everything very chaotic in the house.

So finally I am writing something here!!

We seemed to have adjusted quickly back to local time here. I think being sick helped in that area since we were in bed so often, sleeping day AND night. I miss eating Indian food all the time. I maybe don't want only Indian food for every meal forever, but we've hardly had it since being home and that's like going cold turkey!! I made some last night which we enjoyed, but it seems to have bothered my stomach. I think my stomach is not 100% normal yet.

My sister, good friend, and mom came into town last weekend. My sis and friend had to leave yesterday but my mom will be here until this weekend so we are having a nice time together.

Back from India!! Info about our trip.

We got home Monday afternoon from our amazing trip to India!! The traveling was very exhausting and chaotic at times, being on planes for such a long time. Kavi did pretty good considering everything. But it was very hard to travel that far with a one year old. I am sure it's extra hard with a toddler aged child and younger. But it was worth going through all of that to meet everyone and visit India.

I met a lot of my husband's family members and it went so well. I was nervous of course, not knowing how everything would go. But it went even better than I hoped for. Everyone loved Kavi of course!!

We stayed with my in laws, and 2 of my sister in laws live there also as well as one of our nieces. While there, another sister in law and her husband came to visit to meet us too. I think we all had a very nice time together. My husband's sisters are all sweethearts and beautiful too. I really felt like part of the family by the end of the trip. My brother in law was also a very sweet person, and funny.

I was happy to be coming back to the US, but it was still sad to say bye and most of us shed some tears. I know it actually is harder for them right now because they had Kavi in their house, being cute and bringing so much fun with his babbling and dancing. And now he's gone, and they miss him so much. It's also so hard knowing it will be around a year probably before we see them again. I think that's why it makes everyone more upset. So much happens in a small child's life in one year.

We stayed in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. (follow link to find out more if you'd like)
To the right is also a link to a blog Sujeet had made last year after visiting Kharghar with info and pictures about the area.

We stayed mostly in Kharghar, which I found to be much more spacious, cleaner, and quieter than expected. It's a newly developing area, well planned and not fully populated yet. Lots of constructions here and there, and still half vacant tall buildings. I imagine over the next five years it will grow and get a little more crowded.

We took a trip into Mumbai, to a specific area called Bandra, on Thursday of last week, to check out the market on Linking Road. Follow the link for more info. It was mostly women's clothing and accessories, so men won't find too much there. :P Very close by is a McDonalds and a very Starbucks-ish coffee shop called Barista. So if, like me, anyone else is paranoid about the lack of public bathrooms while out and about in India, Barista had a very nice and clean western style bathroom available. Their iced lattes were very good too. I am sure McDonald's must have a bathroom too, but Barista is right next to the market and just a short walk away.

It took about an hour and a half to get to Bandra, Mumbai from Kharghar. You have to pass through Vashi, and cross the Vashi bridge, to get back into Mumbai from Kharghar. Kharghar and Vashi are maybe 20-25 minutes apart depending on which area of Vashi you are going to. Vashi is also a newer area compared to Mumbai, but not quite as spacious as Kharghar since it's older than Kharghar. But it still seems to be a good option for living if you don't want to live in the much more crowded Mumbai island area.

I will write more about the trip soon! And will post some pictures!
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Tomorrow is the day!!

Leaving for India!!

A good friend, Nancy, is going to drive us to the airport tomorrow. We are leaving here around 11am, and it's about an hour ride to the airport. Our flight leaves Tampa at 2:30pm. We transfer in Newark, NJ and leave NJ at 8:20pm, nonstop to Mumbai, India!! We won't arrive in India until 9:30pm Friday night India time. That will be around 11 am EST on Friday, here in the US (10.5 hours ahead in India). So we lose time on the way there. The flight from NJ to Mumbai is estimated at 14 hours. Then it'll be about an hour drive to Sujeet's family's place.

We'll be back March 9th in Tampa around 1:30pm.

Leaving for India in about 7 days! (week from tomorrow!)

Wow, not too much longer. We have purchased some items to bring to family and that we need for the trip, but we still need to buy more necessities to take along for Kavi.

I am a bit stressed thinking about the long plane ride with Kavi and having him on our laps. We will go from Tampa to Newark, NJ, about 2 1/2 hours flight. And then from Newark straight to Mumbai International Airport, India! That plane ride is going to be around 14 hours. I am praying Kavi will sleep a lot, but when he is excited he won't sleep very easily. He will surely be wondering what is going on, what are we sitting in, and who is everyone sitting around us in the plane. haha. I just hope after a couple hours, the excitement will wear off and he will sleep. Our flight leaves Newark at night so it will be our overnight hours while going to India.

We should probably start packing this weekend, to see how much room the things we are bringing with us take up. We have two large suitcases to use, and carry on bags. Even though we are both allowed to take two suitcases, I think it's better if we limit our luggage. When we arrive in India, it will be a lot to drag around with Kavi in a stroller too. We are planning on taking a small umbrella stroller so we don't have to carry Kavi through all the different security, immigration, and customs lines we will have to go through. This is so exciting!! And also nerve wracking! :)

Updates

Today Kavi had a follow up appointment about his hypospadia surgery last September. The doctor said everything looks great and normal!! :) We just have to go back one more time, I think in 6 or so months. I could tell it was normal but it's good to hear the doctor say it!

In three weeks from today we will be on our way to India!!!!! I can hardly believe it. I have a lot of emotions going on about it from excitement to nervousness and everything in between.

I thought I would post a few pics of Kavi from his first birthday party and other pictures we took! He wasn't too into his "smash cake" and hardly ate any of it!

Kavi is ONE YEAR OLD!

Wow, he is now a year old! Plus one day! Last year at this time we were still at the hospital. The past year has been such a whirlwind.

We had a wonderful 1st birthday party for Kavi on Sunday with family and friends. I will write more soon and will post pictures!!

Just can't believe we have a one year old!!!