Back From A Mini Break :)

Hello Monday and I am back :) I stepped away for a mini vacation close to home. It was filled with scenic beauty and family fun. Just the perfect vacation. My brother and his wife are visiting us from UK and its been a wonderful few days....

Here's a snapshot of one of my favorite spots in British Columbia. More will follow, till then, have a great week and keep on smiling :)

Shopping in Puerto Vallarta

Yes, It is yet another Puerto Vallarta post. What can I say.....I am quite smitten :-) While, the pretty doors and windows and the  beaches were spectacular, I could say the same for the shops and the shopping! As I made my way through the cobbled streets of Old town I was struck by the wide variety of  shops. I was especially drawn to the eclectic shops filled with arts and crafts and housewares.

I have to admit that I did not go crazy shopping. However, I spent time browsing the shops and having fun :-) I came back home with a few things......after all it was all so tempting!


I saw this window near one of the shops!

The beaches were magical!

 

Mexican pottery was everywhere......

Beautiful hand embroidered dresses.

 

A very interesting shop with a lot of unusual stuff......wish I had more pictures to show you!

 

Shopping at quaint shops like these is so much more fun than large impersonal malls, don't you think? You can read my other two posts about my vacation here and here.


Images: All photographs taken by me.

Exploring Puerto Vallarta

It is so easy to get swept away and spend your entire vacation on the beach when you visit a place like Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. However, despite the obvious attraction to the endless expanse of the deep blue sea......I am so glad I discovered more :-) Long before this trip materialized I had done enough research by reading guide books and searching the Internet about this charming town.

Framed by the majestic Sierra Madre mountains, the town of Puerto Vallarta has cobblestone streets, an imposing cathedral, a bustling malecon (boardwalk), and a delightful (town square)......all of it just waiting to be explored.

Mr MDC who is usually very content to lie on the beach or be in the water very graciously obliged and joined me in my exploration :-) My two little ones were the very best. They know of their mom's love affair with the camera and realized that climbing up and down steep steps around town would make me happy. So they did just that.

Of course, after a little while, I realized that they were on a little treasure hunt of their own. You see my kids adore Herbie. For those who are not aware of Herbie, let me explain this in more detail. Herbie is a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle. Herbie is a character that was featured in several Disney  pictures starting with the 1968 feature film "The Love Bug". As we trudged along the steep stairs we came face to face with the exact replica of Mr Herbie himself :-) The car vanished from our sight pretty quickly but not before we noticed Herbie's  distinguished red, white and blue racing stripes and the number "53" painted on the front trunk lid. Thereafter, the kids were determined to find the car again and nothing seemed to stop them as they literally raced up the steps. While the Herbie mania was on, I happily clicked endless pictures. Incidentally the movie Herbie Goes Bananas was shot in Puerto Vallarta......hence the Herbie hangover :-)

The town has a delightful old world charm. We came across alleys and cobbled streets filled with cafes, galleries, homes with picturesque doors, windows, red tiled roofs looking out to the sea, Bougainvilleas hanging over walls from terraces, and from window sills almost everywhere we looked.

I could easily spend a lifetime here..........the magic of Puerto Vallarta lingers on!

Stay tuned for Part 2 :-)



Images: All mine. Subject to copyright.

A Vacation Hangover

I am not suffering from Monday blues but vacation blues!! Yes, it is worse than a hangover :-) I have spent this weekend dwelling on the past week and my trip to Puerto Vallarta. I am aware of the endless chores that I need to tackle, but everything seems like way too much effort! Day dreaming is just so much simpler :-) I have tonnes of images and stories to share.  For now, here are just a few pictures. Reality hits hard and I need to get to work, so a more detailed post will have to wait :-) 

Have a wonderful week ahead! I love writing about Design however Travel and Photography is my first true love :-)


The view from our hotel.......

Where we dined everyday.....

Glorious evenings......

 

The food was good but the desserts.....now that's another story :-)

The perfect end to a lovely day........

Images: Anuradha Varma. These images are subject to copyright and cannot be reused under any condition.

Joining the Weekly Story at Colours Dekor.

Back from Puerto Vallarta

Six days in gorgeous Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and I now know what paradise feels like :-) I am on my way back from a lovely vacation. My most vivid and cherished memory is of the last evening my family and I spent on the beach.

The birds flying away into the fiery sky were such a beautiful sight that I must have taken a thousand pictures. This is one of the many :-) I hope you all will join me next week as I share my vacation and bring you Puerto Vallarta through my eyes!

I have missed you all. Have a wonderful weekend and see you back here soon!

Photograph by Anuradha Varma. This image is subject to copyright and cannot be reused under any condition.


Linking up with Show off your Shot at And Then She Snapped.

Vacation hangover!!

Seattle is dull and grey!! Why am I surprised??? Its winter after all!! However, after a glorious vacation in India and Bali, its bothering me a lot more. I came across another batch of photographs, I missed sharing with you before. The "gorgeousness" of Bali lingers in my mind. For now, I will wait for better weather with my cup of coffee, and remember those lovely days gone by.........

Sunsets and memories

There are days when everything seems to spinning out of control. Its been something like that here at home. Life has been chaotic and stressful. I have been reminiscing a lot about the past...the times gone by and those wonderful childhood memories. I guess its time to shake off the blues and look ahead!!

When I think of idyllic moments in recent times, I think of my trip to Kauai. Gorgeous sunsets and my kids playing on the beach :-) Incidentally, I took these pictures at Ke'e beach which is at the foot of the Na Pali coast trail. Hauntingly beautiful, this beach masqueraded as Australia in the mini series "Thorn Birds". Have you seen it? Thorn Birds happens to be one of my favorite books and I have read it multiple times :-)

I am heading off to bed now with my memories of Ke'e beach....

See you back here soon!

A Friday and Seascapes

Yay!!! Its Friday! I officially have a vacation hangover :-) Kauai was mesmerising and I am miss being there. I love being home too...sound confused don't I ?? Hope you have some fun plans for the weekend? Enjoy.....and don't forget to sign up for my Giveaway!

Garden Isle

Kauai is called the Garden Isle and it truly is! The lush greenery is hard to describe or capture. Imagine scenes from Jurassic park....minus the scary dinosaurs :-) Towering trees, craggy green mountains and numerous waterfalls. A large part of the movie was actually filmed there.
The flowers were unbelievable, like nothing I have ever seen before. The pictures below are not from a garden. These pretty flowers were growing by the road and in shopping malls everywhere! For the first time I was actually distracted from shopping, and stopped to photograph these gorgeous beauties:-)

Bear with me as quite a few of my posts are going to be about my fabulous vacation in Kauai.......

Hawaiian moments...

Its been hard trying to put into words the beauty of my trip to Kauai. This is my fourth holiday in Hawaii, and I continue to be mesmerised by its beauty. Simple moments take on a new meaning! Here are a few images from my vacation where I tried to capture those lovely moments....