sneak preview: grey design

when an opportunity comes along to work on a renovation project, my excitement is unbearable. here's a sneak preview of what i put together for my client.

Tomorrow, he will be seeing textured grey slate tiles, with more grey in smooth finish glass, splurges of orange on white walls and stainless steel vanity along with a stainless steel bench, humanized with a wenghe tray.

All of this just so his guests can feel extra special. dont you just love such hosts!

weekend wanderings: spontaneity

husband and i are spontaneous beings. we feel caged by routine and run as far away from it as possible. living for the moment and making the most of it while it lasts: has been our mantra for life. no planned excursions, no planned dates, no valentines day forced confessions of love, no gifts when they are expected the most. nope, nothing of the sort.

so this sunday inspite of lack of sleep, extreme tiredness and exhaustion, somehow the happenings of our day unfolded itself quite beautifully. we had a plan. we dropped little N at his grandparents in the morning, i had a round of meetings which i managed by gulping down a sugarless, dark, grande and then we had planned to go home and sleep through the rest of the evening.

but as we got closer to home, the chaotic view of the city with its jagged skyline and meandering streets looked so very inviting that a detour seemed totally reasonable. the rest of the evening we walked around, laughed, cracked jokes, laughed some more, window shopped, discovered some interesting neighborhoods and simply spent some unplanned, spontaneous time together.

who needs sleep when their is a life to be lived!

an all night phanstasmagoria

On this sleepless night, the whole city of Toronto is buzzing with art, design and creativity. The excitement is contagious, the energy is spreading like an epidemic and Torontonians seem to be on a natural (some unnatural) high.

Some of these one night projects, installations and performances are happening right in my backyard (as i like to call it). It would have been a shame to miss that now wouldn't it be. So together with a couple of fellow art lovers , i threw myself into this all night party, complete with hot chocolates and bonfires and brought back a bunch of badly photographed phantasmagoria. Here's a quick sneak preview with more to come on flickr!

click on the image above for better view

What you see above is just a glimpse of this grand party that Scotiabank throws for the city every year. You can check the rest here and if you missed it dont fret, there will be more in 2010.

I have always loved living in the city heres another reason why!

wishing every one an artful weekend...cheers!!

Spanish holiday

the city view from the palace; generalife

Briefly blogging about my Spanish holiday the other day forced me to go through some of the photographs of our memorable vacation. I thought I will share some of the adventures with my readers and begin right from the end: Alhambra, Granada; the perfect culmination to a Spanish retreat; the epitomy of islamic architecture, romantic, surreal, spiritual and poetic. I’m also sharing some of the pictures that survived the ill-fate of our Nikon experiment, that don’t do justice to the surreal beauty of the palace.

column detail,ornamental relief, interior

I will not say much as words are not enough. I will let you bask in the reverie of the palace, let imagination take flight, let your thoughts travel back in time, walk through the cool and windy courtyards, delicate and slender columns and arches, enchanting gardens and let you reflect in the glittering pools that are embedded in my memories forever.

“We seem lifted up into a purer atmosphere; there is serenity of soul, a buoyancy of spirits, an elasticity of frame that render mere existence enjoyment..” excerpt from one of the most well written books on the Alhambra that we picked up from their bookshop, Tales of the Alhambra, W. Irving, that you can read here.

courts of lion

And i know i said i won’t say much but i couldn’t resist sharing this from the above mentioned book, “The peculiar charm of this old dreamy palace is its power if calling up vague reveries and picturing of the past, and thus clothing naked realities with illusions of the memory and the imagination. As i delight to walk in these vain shadows, I’m prone to seek those parts of the Alhambra which are most favorable to this phantasmagoria of the mind, and nine are more so that the court of Lions and its surrounding halls. Here the hands of time has fallen the lightest and the trances of Moorish elegance and splendor exist in almost their original brilliance.”

arch detail

More to come on the rest of the cities we traveled to. till then i hope you enjoyed this. a lot many times i had heard people tell me that you have lived if you have visited the Alhambra. i understood exactly why after this.