Patricia : Five of my favorite things to do on a vacation

Patricia just dropped me a message about Five of her favorite things to do on a vacation.

She says, "Every day of my life… I plan my next vacation. That statement on its own will tell you how much I love travelling.... I absolutely love browsing through holiday packages, checking airfares, hotels, making plans, reading about the destination…. And sorting out everything to do with our holiday. So much so… that I only have to tell my hubby what time he needs to get to the airport, the rest he can be assured of… is all well taken care of!

On a holiday….. I love people watching. I can spend hours at a café on a busy street and just watch people …. Its something I don’t really get the time to do within my busy schedule… One of my favourite places was Champs Elysees in Paris. I’ve spent mornings… and evenings sipping coffee and eating crepes at Champs Elysees watching people rush to work with coffee in their hands, watching tourists getting excited over the Arc De Triumph, watching artists paint, sculpt or simply sketch…. Oh.. the list is endless.."

O...Patricia...what a lovely heartfelt post...and great pics too...how i want to go back to Europe...NOW...i agree Salzburg is the most scenic of them all...n icecreams n gelatos..yes yes must have everywhere...and the walk in Venice...and the supremely talented street artists..O hell i agree with each of your fav five ;) ( Read mine here)

To read what else she has to say, click here.

Guest Post by Parul : Five of my favorite things to do on a vacation

Here is the 2nd Guest post in the "Five of my favorite things to do a vacation" series. Read mine here.

A big hug to Parul for such a lovely post. She says...

"My darling friend Purplehomes decided that she wanted me to describe the things I love doing on vacations. Here goes.

I love travelling almost as much as I love hot aloo ka paranthas with butter melting on top, which if you know me is saying that I love it a lot. The esteemed M has true wanderlust and is the sort of person who has the right nakshatra arrangement in his birth-chart to ensure travels far and wide. That and his innate love of planning mean that I am able to sit back, point at the globe and say, there, that is where I want to go for my next holiday. He pretty much takes care of the rest, scheduling the trip, booking the tickets, figuring out hotels (I help here because I absolutely love browsing through TripAdvisor) and then carting the family to the airport. Well, his supremely efficient secretary helps, of course but even so, it is rather convenient to be married to a planning/control freak. Most of the times, that is. I saunter in every now and then and proclaim - Ah, but there is a wonderful cafe on that street that we must try out, one of my blog friends said so. He normally ignores me when I have such pretensions of being the dreamy, creative sort."

Hop over to Parul's blog for her Five favorite things to do on a vacation

Guest Post by Oshean : Five of my favorite things to do on a vacation

I open my mailbox and i get this lovely surprise! I see this awesome post from Oshean who i don't know and who doesn't know me as well. But came across my blog and felt like sharing these wonderful pictures in response to the Five of my favorite things to do on a vacation. I guess thats how blogging helps you meet new people and make new friends.Thank you so much Oshean for a heartfelt post. We'd love to hear from you again. Here's what Oshean's has to say...

"I have recently returned from a holiday so I thought of sharing some of my holiday pictures here. I am not a planner and at times it is only after I’ve sat in my car is when I decide the destination. So, for me each holiday is an adventure. The five favourite things I like on a vacation are all to do with the journey because it is the journey that becomes important in my case and not the destination."

It’s the road to unknown that drives me

The fact that I can be so close to nature and the nature so close to me is what gets me excited

Awesome food makes me greedy

Sitting by a waterbed gets me thinking and smiling

Running after butterflies make me sing

Five of my favorite things to do on a vacation

Sometime back Coco+Kelly carried out a series of posts called “On vacation with”. This post has been inspired by that. I know vacations don’t have anything to do with home décor directly but if you dig deeper that is the time we get to relax and our creative juices flow best, be it relaxing with a book, painting a pot or traveling and getting inspired or simply day dreaming. All of this has often helped me come up with creative stuff upon getting back to home or back to work.

I’d like to share what I LOVE doing on vacations through five pictures and would also like to invite some of my favorite ladies to do the same. I adore their blogs and follow them ardently. Here is my bit on the same.

I love vacations. Who doesn’t! And I also love everything associated with a vacation. Deciding on the place to visit, reading up my favorite “lonely planet” to know more about the place, working out the perfect itinerary, packing, watching a movie or reading a book in the plane, the emotion I experience just after getting out of the aircraft, checking into a hotel and yes finally visiting the place of my dreams. Absorbing it and enjoying it. But it doesn’t end there for me. Coming back home with little goodies for everyone and carrying back metro tickets stubs, pebbles, fallen flowers, boarding passes, road maps et al and putting them together on my vacation board.

Here are five of my favorite things to do on a vacation.

Getting lost in the “oh so scenic” countryside

Walking down quaint islands

Going down to see the homes of my favorite artists and musicians and imagining them creating masterpieces while sitting there

Spending hours and days at museums, art galleries et al

Losing track of all the calories, eating gorgeously divine handcrafted chocolates

I’d like to invite Archana, Aditi, Bhavna, Kanika, Patricia, Parul, Rajee, Rekha and Sharon. Ladies I would R-E-A-L-L-Y love it if you take this up.If and when you do, please drop me a comment so that I can mention it on my blog as well. Thanks and waiting to hear from you!

(Images : All the pictures are from my personal collection)

A treat for your eyes

With the weekend almost here, I can’t help but think of vacations ;) For those of you who must be wondering about this picture that I have on the extreme right - uppermost corner of my page. It’s from this picturesque island of Burano where we had gone for a vacation sometime back. It’s an island very close to Venice and just like Venice; Burano too is a cluster of islands connected by lots & lots of bridges. Now Burano is famous for its lace making but that is not what interested me most. What it’s also famous for is the bright colored houses of the fishermen staying there. The legend is that they were painted by the fishermen to recognize them from a distance whenever they were away for a very long time. Today, any new house that needs to be painted needs permission from the government and they notify them of the color that can be used to maintain the character of the island!!

Some Pictures that we clicked there

Just look at the feast of colors!! Pastel Red, Green, Blue, Yellow! They leave you completely intoxicated. The color scheme makes you think that yes, so many different colors can be put together and can still maintain complete harmony. A lovely painting on a white wall perhaps!!

There are times when we see a picture or a something very scenic thats a treat for our eyes and we badly want to bring in the same essence inside our home, but are not sure of the colors to be used. That’s where I think this amazing tool that I discovered is of great help.

The Color Palette Generator: Just upload your favorite snap and click "create", the tool will produce the color palette for the same.

Links:

• http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/colors.php
• www.degraeve.com/color-palette/
• http://jrm.cc/color-palette-generator/

Try this once and you will not be disappointed. It makes all your home décor and art projects so uncomplicated.Have a great and vibrant weekend!!

P.S. Some quick facts for people who feel like going there after seeing these gorgeous pictures:
Burano is situated 7 kilometers from Venice, a short 40 minute trip by Venetian boats, "vaporetti” will take you there.

Things to see:

• Galluppi Square
• Church of St.Martino Bishop
• Museum of Lace
• Statue of Baldassarre Galuppi

Things to do:

• Look at the houses and salivate ;)
• Pick up a gelato or some amazing fish at one of the “Trattoria Buranella”
• And of course, pick up some lovely Burano Lace souvenirs, here’s mine ;)