Letter from Sendai, Japan

I came across this letter through another blogger and felt so pleased after reading it. It was such a big coincidence that before reading this letter I was reading another blog that had outlined qualities of the Japanese, exhibited in this massive natural calamity. Both the posts had the same sentiments – there was no chaos, people were helping each other, people were sharing what they had – there was no drama. Both left me in awe of the Japanese! I bow to them, in all honesty!

When Katrina happened, we saw videos and photos of how the gas stations and stores were looted. It shocked me. In this country where we had so many systems working based on “honor”, how could people do that. This is the country I realized that honesty could be common to common people. So the looting videos led to me believe that in the face of disaster, every human behaves the same way. He can only think of one’s survival.

Until I read the above two posts.

They totally changed my view.

Not only are the Japanese technologically most advanced, they’re so behaviorally too. We must all, this whole world minus Japan, study them to learn how they got be so.

So sweet!

You must see this video, it’s so cute! It’s about how a baby got scared by his mommy’s nose.

My lovely sunshine

One weekend I was able to take photo of sunrise from our window. The view was so captivating with the golden rays of sun peeking out from behind the mountains. It was simply beautiful! And that too from our window – I didn’t have to hike, trek or camp out! I don’t think my photo does much justice to the stunning view – given my limited photography skills

It’s been a long time since I posted anything here. Not that there wasn’t anything on my mind. In fact I think it’s the other way round. There are too many things and I don’t know where to start. There’s that book which I devoured. The recipe that I wanted to post and which was eaten away before it could be photographed (again!). The spiritual notes that are lingering in my mind. This and that. So now you know what to expect in the coming weeks

Tweet-a-pot

Make coffee through your tweets! Isn’t that cool?!?!?!

My first craft fair

I haven’t been posting much as I’m busy preparing for my craft fair. You can read more about it here. My first craft fair is on Nov 6th and here’s the info:

Woodinville Holiday Craft Fair

Woodmore Elementary School

12225 NE 160th St Bothell WA 98011

Nov 6, 2010 9AM-4PM

Great minds speak!

No it’s not me this time :).

Sometime back I saw one of the best interviews that I’ve seen till now – that of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates at Columbia. I especially liked the answers given by Buffet, they were crisp and so insightful! That is not say any less about Bill Gates but Gates answers were more appealing on a technical side. It’s a very inspiring interview and I’ve recommended it to one and all. So I decided to post it here. Here’s the video:

There are statements by Warren Buffet which impart important teachings of life. Some of them which have stuck to the inner lining of my brain are:

• “I will guarantee, you will do well at whatever turns you on.”
• “It’s enormously important who you marry. It will make more difference in your life. It will change your aspirations, all kinds of things”.
• “If possible, go for an institution/organization that you admire.” Buffet took up his first job under Ben Graham as he admired him the most and didn’t even know his salary till he got his first paycheck!
• “Don’t pass up something that is attractive today because you think you will find something way more attractive tomorrow.” This may not be blindly applicable to all aspects of life but is a statement worthy of some deliberation. Buffet said this in context of picking the right stocks at the right time.
• “If the reason for doing something is everybody else is doing it, its not good enough. Forget it.”
• “Well, that’s 50 years of preparation and 5 minutes of decision making” – when asked about how he makes some rapid decisions sometimes in less than 5 minutes.

Hope you too enjoy this interview!

De-clutter

I love the feeling of de-cluttering! Of course, if you have NO clutter in your house you would be bereft of the lovely feeling of de-cluttering :). Ah how unlucky you must be!

I think the number of things in your house as a correlation with the complexity of your mind. The less the number of things in your house, the simpler your mind is.

There are countless advantages of de-cluttering and especially if you do it the right way: by sending things to the right place you’re making sure that things are where they need to be – that reduces waste, saves somebody money, frees up your space and time!

I came across this wonderful article by Martha Stewart – “100 Reasons to Get Rid Of It” - which tells you where all you can donate your things when you de-clutter.

Now once you de-clutter, how do you make sure that it doesn’t re-enter your house? You need to follow a simple rule - “For every item that enters your house, you should give away an item”. Never make an impulse purchase! There’s no deal that’s not going to come again. That item is not the last of its kind on this earth.

Try however much you may, clutter does find its way into your house over some period of time. Then, its time to de-clutter again!

A shop and a cause

The shop: The Paper Shop.
The cause: an orphanage/old-age home in India.
How are they connected:
Sometime back I'd setup a shop at Etsy (a place to sell handmade stuff), The Paper Shop. Recently I visited an orphanage/old-age home in India, Nethaji Mercy Home, and since then I wanted to do something for them. So I decided that I would use my etsy shop for raising funds for this home. Below is a picture (borrowed from their website) of the children from the home:
On the extreme left and right is the couple behind this home. It was so amazing to meet these beautiful people; they treat all the children as their very own and have devoted their life to the care of these children and the old-age people. On seeing such selfless service, I felt there could be something that I could do and came up with this idea: a dollar ($1) for each item sold at my Etsy shop, The Paper Shop, will be donated to this home.

How you can help?

1. Of course by shopping at The Paper Shop.
   
2. Spread the word: Word of mouth publicity - tell your friends about it, it would be great if you could publish a post on your blog (if you have one) linking to my shop or this post.

There's a link to my Etsy shop on the right of my blog.

My garden

I'd promised my friend M that I would take photos of my container garden but unfortunately by the time I got to taking the photos: the cucumber plants caught a disease, the zinnias got eaten away by some merciless animal and the container garden is only-half container! Well, so what...I still took the photos of my tomatoes and carrots! I was falling short on containers and my plants were spreading wings as if sky was the limit so I was left with no option but to sneak them into the land around my apartment. Then I was gone for 2 weeks during which my DH took care of them and I must say that he took VERY good care of them because when I came back I couldn't even recognize them!! They'd grown so tall and healthy! So...I thought this presented a beautiful opportunity to do a before-after comparison. The photo on the left is the "before" and on the right, the "after".

The little ones are carrots in the above photos.

 

 

The "after" photos for the pots in the left photo above is:

The key to such healthy plants - sun, sun and more sun. At least for tomatoes that's true. Initially we'd them in our patio which gets around 2-3 hours of sunlight and I thought that was sufficient but apparently it wasn't! The tomato plants have started flowering so we should be getting tomatoes soon!!! Ah the joy of getting fruits of your labor - literally!

More vegetable carving...

Found this cool link on Vegetable Carving; it's by the ever famous Saxton Freymann.

Build a robot cupcake

Look at these fab robot cupcakes!

And the break continues...

Everyday I think that today might be the day when I could squeeze some time out to write the numerous things that I want to but looks like that's not going to happen for a few more days :(. So hang in there!

Sarcastic one liners...

I came across this hilarious site which offers sarcastic one liners, funny one liners and what not. Thought I would share it here: tensionnot.com

A new look!

So how do you find the new look of my blog? I would love to hear your views so how you leave a comment here or vote on the pool on the left?!?!

Hmm...what can you do with a single sheet of paper??

Apparently a lot! To see for yourself, check out Random Acts of Pondering. These artists have really let their creative juices flow!

Happy New Year

Wish you all a very happy new year! I was looking for something nice to post for new year and came across this link which has such nice words to say for new year. I got the following from it; it brings out the essential elements of life and tells you why they're a part and parcel of life.

Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,

But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;

Not by making your path easy,

But by making you sturdy to travel any path;

Not by taking hardships from you,

But by taking fear from your heart;

Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,

But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;

Not by making your life always pleasant,

But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,and by making you anxious to be there to help.

God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead!

Tropicana non-vegetarian juice!!!!

This is my most harrowing discovery: Tropicana orange juice with omega-3 fatty acids has fish oil and other fish products! Who would've ever thought that a fruit juice could contain animal products and that too a juice advertised as "freshly squeezed orange juice"!! Then I did a search and found this link that lists all the Tropicana, Minute Maid and Florida Naturals juices that contain animal products. On reading the discussion on that post I found that OJ with Vit D from Tropicana are vegetarian but not vegan and from Florida Naturals are NOT vegetarian. Whoa! That was a saving grace.

This just adds the number of items where we need to check the ingredients list!

Gifts for Kids Drive

It's the holiday season; a season for giving and sharing, a season for spreading joy. Every child would like to recieve a gift on Christmas morning but not everybody is so fortunate. I'm volunteering for the Eugene Bowman Economic Empowerment Inc. and helping them provide christmas gifts to children. Most of these children come from single-mom household and live at or below poverty. Had it not been for EBEE they wouldn't have had anything to look forward to for Christmas but thanks to EBEE they will have a christmas lunch and a gift. If you're in San Diego, then you can help too by donating a gift. It could be a gift card, a toy, clothing or anything else. If you're not in San Diego but would like to help, then also do let me know.

San Diego wildfire

The north eastern part of San Diego county is engulfed in flames due to a wildfire that started in Ramona. Most of the schools, universities and offices are either closed or have advised their employees to work from home. Thousands have been evacuated and heaven only knows how much damage has been done. The air quality is very poor and we know that not because we read it in the news but by personal experience: there were ashes falling on us yesterday when we were outside. One always feels sad to read about people affected by natural calamities but for the first time I can really understand what such people face because this time it's people whom I talk with everyday that have been evacuated from their homes. Some of them had houses 2 blocks away burning down to ashes. Just imagining how would one feel leaving their homes and knowing that potentially their home might be burned down, sent shivers down my spine. I always talk about that one should learn to be thankful to God for what one has and I always do; now I do even more.

My sincere prayers are with these people and all those who're suffering in this catastrophe. May God give everybody the strength to endure this. I request everybody who reads this to also pray for these people and the firefighters.

Read more about this fire here.

Another blog

I've started a new blog for my crafts "Ribbons, etc.".