We’re back from a wonderful trip to Istanbul and rather than boring you all with a travelogue of everything that we did, I thought I’d post some pictures of our trip instead and let the images do the talking. There were just so many things to see and do and 8 days just wasn’t enough for this wonderfully diverse city.  Spanning across both Europe and Asia, Istanbul really was a place full of cultural variety.  The food was quite impressive as well. More photos to come in the next few days!  Enjoy!

Dear friends! Harabu House is a week or so away from scouring the globe for more unique finds! As a result, all orders placed between Friday February 17 through Friday February 24 will be shipped out on Monday February 27. We can’t wait to unveil what we’ve found!

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Gnaana.com who had asked if I would like to be a guest blogger during their Home Decor Week series! I was thrilled to be a part of it alongside a lovely group of super talented women.  You can read my contribution here, and check out the rest of the contributors this week on Gnaana’s blog over here.

Chinese New Year is one of my favorite celebrations, especially for those yummy treats only available during this time. I’m expecting a shipment of wonderful Chinese New Year eats from Singapore, which will include pineapple tarts, orange jujubes and peanut cakes, to name a few. My son is particularly excited to get his “hong bao” this year too, now that he’s finally getting the concept of money! Happy Chinese New Year to all!

GONG XI FA CAI!

So it’s five days until Christmas, and I didn’t think I’d actually get these done on time this year, but I guess miracles DO happen!

You see…it’s like this. I didn’t grow up with a christmas tree, being Hindu and all, but realized that my son, (who was born in the States and who just turned 5), would probably start asking about a tree as he got older. Well, it happened. He asked, about 6 weeks ago. Which you’d think would give me ample time to figure it all out…get a tree, decorate it, actually enjoy the tree, all by Christmas. Seemed easy enough to do.

Well, as of last week, it was looking dangerously close to not making it. But after some frantic runs to the store, we had the tree (check!), we had the lights (check!) and we even had some ornaments my husband’s mom had made with my husband, when he was a kid (Yay, father-in-law for being a pack rat!). But something was missing. I realized that I needed to inject something that represented me, into that tree!

Thus, the indian-inspired ornaments. So with 5 days until Christmas, I roped my 5 year old into doing some decoupage with me! I knew he’d love it! I mean, which kid doesn’t like cutting up paper! Yup. It was a messy job, with glue and glitter everywhere. But 2 hours later, my son and I had made these really cute ornaments we will hang on our tree, for years to come.

(Kraft ornaments and Indian handmade paper from Paper-Source)

Happy Holidays!

In an effort to introduce my son to Tamil (my mother-tongue), I sought the help of my parents who traveled to Chennai, India often. They brought back books and any other learning toys and games they could get their hands on.  But I soon found that many of these were geared towards older kids, and thus weren’t as helpful (considering my son was only 2 at the time).

So the search continued, when one fine day, I happened to stumble upon Gnaana.com. (Gnaana means “knowledge” in Sanskrit and is pronounced as “Nyaana”).  This gem of a store had exactly what I had been looking for! Their educational toys were geared towards moms like me, with roots in South Asia and had well designed toys and games for kids my son’s age! I was floored! I ordered some alphabet blocks in Tamil, as well as a “Das Avatar” puzzle which introduced kids to Vishnu and his 10 “Avatars”.  I’ve been a fan of Gnaana.com every since.

Well just last week, I noticed one of their new products – their 2012 Wall Art Calendar featuring art work originally designed for the Brooklyn Museum by Nina Paley.  Apart from the striking art work, in black and white, these calendars are designed such that the art work can actually be framed individually, once the year is up! I plan on creating a wall of art in my son’s room, although these are SO gorgeous, I may just steal them for myself!

You can read more about this product here, as well as their vast array of educational products for your kids!

Have a wonderful weekend!