Madeleine!

I have been dying to share this news with all of you. Yesterday, we brought home our little furry bundle of energy and joy! 

Her name is Madeleine (named after those shell shaped French cakes!). 

Maddie's Story! 

So about six months ago, we put in an application with a wonderful rescue group called Motley Zoo. There is nothing wrong with going the way of a very reputed, cruelty free breeder but we wanted to go the extra mile and "adopt" a puppy. After some meet and greets and several rejections, we finally got approved to adopt this little angel. I feel like we hit the adoption jackpot with her. She is pretty small (about 15 lbs) and has been with the rescue since her birth, so there are no behavioral issues. They sent her first picture at about 4 weeks. And we got to take her home yesterday at 8 weeks. 

Excuse this post if it sounds garbled. I am both deliriously happy and sleep-deprived. Our first night at home was not at all bad. She was a good girl although she did cry a bit, missing her mommy and her three brothers. She is so affectionate, loves to chew buttons and does not like rain (a girl after my own heart). We look forward to spending many very happy years with this beauty!

With her blue blankie!

Our first glimpse of her!

The best part of this has been watching my hubby fall in love with her. She is already his little princess and has him wrapped around her finger. He willingly stayed up all night (while nursing a bad cold) and cleans up after her while I was hesitating.

We are so happy and blessed to have this little one in our lives! I hope you dont mind if I share an occasional update about her on the blog. I will upload some videos of her. As you can imagine, she provides constant entertainment :)

Hope you had a weekend as wonderful as ours. Thanks for reading!

Vegetable Noodle Soup!

Yesterday was a momentous day. It was the first time my hubby and I were sick at the same time since we got together. And we celebrated it with some amazing vegetarian noodle soup! 

Recipe -

Onion - 1

Carrots - 2

Celery - 2 stalks

Garlic - 2 pods.

Vegetable stock - 4 cups

Sweet and sour sauce - 2 tablespoons

Noodles - 1 Package

Olive oil - 2 tablespoons

Salt

Pepper

Optional - 

Green Onion

Mushrooms

Beans

Method - 

1. Saute onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil.

2. Add the carrots, celery and optional vegetables and continue sautéing.

3. Add the noodles and sweet and sour sauce and mix them.

4. Add the vegetable stock and salt and pepper to taste. 

5. You could add any other fresh herbs that you love.

6. Let the mixture cook for abt 10 minutes. 

7. Add more water if the soup thickens up. 

I served it with some toasted sour dough bread. It was a completely filling meal and heavenly for our scratchy throats and inflamed sinuses. Perfect winter food and sick day food! Let me know if you try it. 

Thanks for reading!! 

Home Updates: DIY Ikea Hack

This project is just an example of how much I obsess over the small details. We got this Ikea table when we moved in to his house. I need to keep a hundred things on my bedside table so I needed something that was big and had wheels. Who doesn't love wheels on furniture? We got the brown-black standard issue on and though it was perfectly fine , it just sat there nagging me at the back of my head. It just did not match the bed.
My first idea was to sell it and of course my husband gave me a good lecture. My second idea was to cover it in wooden planks so it looks a bit more rustic but that would increase the table's height and who am I kidding about the extent of that DIY?
So I finally settled on this idea.. Can you even guess what it is? Its wood grain printed contact paper. I got it for $4 at Fred Meyers. It was so easy to apply. We cut it into strips to resemble planks (didn't work) but went ahead and stuck them to the table neatly. I also covered the sides so it looks like a block of wood on a black base.

Flowers, box to hold lip balm and night cream and my friendly turtle who shows me the stars!

I absolutely love the effect and might do the same to the coffee table as well. Yes, its also from Ikea and it has wheels! This couldn't be a simpler project and once you open your eyes to the world of contact paper, there are innumerable options to play with. Printed, patterned, plain - leather effect, marble effect, wood effect. The possibilities are endless. I'm going to stop talking now as I sound like a contact paper commercial but hope you enjoyed this little DIY.

Crave/Save - Gold Studded Top

I saw this gorgeous Michael by Michael Kors top at Macy's. The gold studs on the cream top is so versatile. I could pair it with coloured denim or a pencil skirt and it would not look out of place. The price is marked at $49 down from the original $89.50. You can buy this shirt here.

If you love the look but not the price, you could try this tee from Forever 21. The studs are rounder while the MK one is flat but it still looks pretty close to the original. Buy it here for $15.80. Also available in mint!