Valentine's Day Special (Strictly For Singles!!!)

                                                                      

Ok Ladies! So the day which you have been dreading for weeks has finally arrived. All of your BFFs are gushing over their valentine’s date and you are sulking behind the close doors of your room. Right? Well if the answer is yes than stop that sulking right NOW!  

I know I know, it’s wonderful to have someone to shower you with gifts, flowers, romantic dinner. I personally know a lot of girls who make it their mission to find the date solely for the Valentine’s Eve and after the date they don’t even bother to call him. These girls don’t have loose morals, neither they are conniving bitches, they are just girls who don’t want to be alone on the day when literally everyone is strolling down the street, hand-in-hand, they just want to be the part of that happy-couple crowed, they don’t want to be left out. I am no one to judge if they are right or wrong in doing so. But I can speak for myself. I would never, ever want to be involved with someone, solely for the sake of a Valentine’s date. That is stooping too low for me but that’s only my point of view and you have every right to disagree with me.

I am a kind of girl who just can’t pretend that 14 Feb is just another Friday but I am also a girl who can’t spent a day with relatively stranger and the next day would feel “What heck I was thinking?”. So I have worked out the third way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. It’s a day of love and I want to feel loved. At the moment I am blissfully single and still I can think of thousand ways to make myself feel loved without even having a date. So if you are single too, then take clues from here and have a fabulous Valentine’s Day!!

Stay away from FB, Twitter: It’s the best way to stay away from all the mushy couples who are all set to post every move of their day on FB and Twitter with a sole purpose of flaunting their fabulous gifts and date on your face. Who needs to know if he has gifted you a g-string? You are definitely not going to post your picture wearing it later so what’s the point of twitting about it now? Puke!

Join a fun and fabulous fitness class for a day: To free yourself from any negativity, blues or sadness, hit the gym today! You can go to any good gym of your area and pay the daily charge. Attend a hip-hop, zumba or bollywood-hollywood dance class. Take my words, you will feel uh-mazing at the end of it.

Spend some money: Spend your money on yourself. Go to shopping and buy that really expensive perfume which you have been coveting for so long.

Trip to spa/beauty salon: Go for some luxurious massage at your nearby spa or if you are not a fan of it then gift yourself a professional mani-pedi. Beautifully painted nails can make anything better.

Rent a good movie or box-set: Rent a good movie or box-set of your favourite sitcom. This is sure to make your day much more bearable.

Have single girls night-in: Invite all of your single girlfriends at your place. Pop the bottle of bubbly, order take-away, wear your PJs, watch that movie or box-set you rented and raise toast to your singleness.

                                           OR

Alternative: If you don’t have any single friend then take a long bath, light some scented candles, put on a really good lip balm, order take away, put on the DVD and jump on the sofa. You are in for a treat!

All the single ladies out there make yourself feel loved and worthy and have a really fabulous Valentine’s Day!

Swati xxx

How you spend your Sunday?

Hello Ladies, with only 5 days to the V-day I hope all of you are supper busy in digging out that one perfect dress from your closet for that one perfect dinner with that one Mr. Perfect and if you have failed to dig out a decent outfit for Valentine’s date than you should better run for shopping. Considering it’s Sunday today, it should not be difficult for you to spare an hour for yourself. So while you are busy in preparing for your special date I am safely tucked in my warm duvet with a cup of coffee and looking forward to spending my Sunday in doing the stuff which gives me immense pleasure, the sense of bliss and serenity.

My Sunday is usually about changing my bed linens, putting on a good face mask, reading “Wedding & Celebration” section of New York Time on my tab, devouring the four beautiful pages of Times Life, painting my nails, writing, lazying around with a book and eating Yummylicious snacks.

Just out of curiosity: How you spend your Sunday? (Of course! other than this particular Sunday!)

Swati xxx

Brighten Up Your Dull Day

Hey lovelies, How are you doing girls? Well today I am having one those dull days when you feel like staying under the duvet all day long and even the smallest things like a loose strand of hair against your cheeks can irritate you like hell. The reason of me having a dull day? Ah! Well I am suffering from the sudden outburst of hives which has restricted my activity to my bed in loose fitting cloths because apparently hives can get worse when you workout, take hot baths or stress about any stuff. This has stopped me going to my fitness dance classes this week and it had made me depressed beyond the words. I mean dancing brings me joy, freedom and of course fitness, which god know I need more than anything else. Lol!

So to brighten up my dull day I have planned to do these small but amazing things and if you too are having a dull or a gloomy day then join me in the party.

To brighten  up your dull day, all the ingredients you need are:

A cup or preferably a pot of coffee
Really good book preferably chick-lit
Couple of magazines like Vogue, Harper's Bazaar or Glamour and if you can than buy Tatler
Few scented candles on your night stand. Try Bath and Body Works
And a pink nail polish. Maybelline New York's Colour Show range have some good ones. My favourite is coral one with the shade no. 211.

P.S: Don't forget to play some good music in the background while you get on with your brightening-up-the-day process. I love to listen 'Label or Love', 'Watch Me Shine' and  'I'm Woman' on such days!

Good Luck!

P.P.S: FYI if I feel better after all of it then I might forget about my hives and could go to my Zumba class in the evening and will thought about it consequences later. God knows I need this!

Swati xxx

Dilemma of An Aspiring Writer: #Help

Have you ever been in that phase of your life when you so desperately wanted to do something and no matter how hard you tried nothing worked out in your favour for whatever reason and when you shrunk back into your cocoon, something out of the blue happens which gives you a chance to achieve that one thing you had fought so hard for and you dance, dance and dance like a lunatic in your bedroom, on the terrace, under the shower and just when you were all set to go for the kill, something even more wonderful happens, a better chance, a better opportunity comes your way and now you are in a position where you are stuck between an opportunity which can make your life wonderful and an opportunity which could make your life even more beautiful, better and totally fantabulous but which also comes with T&C. What will you do then? Eh?

Well something sort of happens to me just like the above described situation. Exactly a year back I had written a chick-lit novel (yes! I did) and sent it to almost every publication in the country (yes! I did) and then I waited for the rejection letters to arrive. They did arrive, one after another. Few of them were summed up in one line while some of them came along with positive feedbacks and one actually come along with “Rejection Letter” written in the subject box. Though I did nearly secure the literary agent but at the end of the day nothing worked out. So I did what most of you would have done, shoved the manuscript deep down in the drawer of my night stand and forgot about it. Completely.

10 months later, I received an email from this very small but fairly good publication house where I sent my manuscript but totally forgot about. They liked it. They want to see more and by the tone of their emails they are pretty excited about it. This email completely jerked me out of the trance I had been living in for months. Once again I was happy, excited and very positive about my novel. I dig it out of the drawer and star to polish it off. And just when I was all set to mail it, all of it to this fairly good publication house, I received one more email, nope it wasn’t from them. It was from someone else and it was regarding this competition by Harlequin India. Harlequin has invited the publishing proposals not only in romance genre but for the very first time in chick-lit genre as well. AND here this big dilemma has born. What now? Should I send my entry to the competition and wait for the result or should I send it to the publication who would probably publish it by the time Harlequin will announce the winner. Though I am not very lucky with competitions, never had been but what if, just for once, once the fate decides to be in my favour and if I get the publishing opportunity with them? Wouldn’t it be awesome? Or On the bases of my past experiences with competitions I should just believe that I am never going to win it so why not give up and go for this fairly good but small publication. Should I take one last shot with big traditional publication house or should go for this independent one?

What if I lose the competition and by the time I get in touch with this independent publication house, it’s too late and they are no longer interested? In that case I would lose on both ends. It would be nothing but a lose-lose situation for me. I am really confused, sleep deprived and drinking dangerous amount of caffeine at the moment. I have to make the decision and I don’t have much time.

Would you like to help me?

Harlequin Passions - Aspiring Authors Auditions 2013

Hey! It’s Friday night and I guess all of you out there are ready to spend your weekend either lazing around in your beds or partying with your friends. Sounds tempting, right? But I have another option for you. Why don’t you start writing that one book which you have always wanted to write but “never got enough time ” to start with it because of hectic office schedule, family commitments or school runs. Well now is the time to put end to all of your excuses and set your eyes on that one publishing opportunity which could actually change your life forever.

Harlequin India is back with the yet another amazing opportunity for aspiring writers. Harlequin announces annual Passions - Aspiring Authors Auditions 2013 for romance and general fiction aspiring authors. This year the renowned publishing house has opened the doors for general fiction writers too. This year’s judges are renowned authors themselves – noted author and columnist, Shobhaa De and Mills & Boon global author from India, Shoma Narayanan.

Budding writers can submit a 100 word synopsis and first few chapters of their original story in no more than 5,000 words on or before February 7, 2014 on www.hqnindia.com. Writers in the general fiction category should also submit a detailed plot outline of 500 words. The winners will be rewarded with an assured editorial mentorship that will help them turn their ideas into best-selling fiction books and the possibility of a publishing contract. 

Past editions of the Passions contest, have led to the discovery of several new voices for the Mills & Boon imprint. These authors, such as Milan Vora, Shoma Narayanan, Aastha Atray, Ruchi Vasudeva, Adite Banerjie, have published Mills & Boon novels set in India.

To submit your entries go to this link: http://www.hqnindia.com/passions/enter_now.php

Hey Hey!!

Hello sweethearts. Finally, Finally....finally I am back after all the misadventures I had had last year. Though the year 2013 had started amazingly well for me, in which I also launched my fashion designing career but the end was not so happening for me. From October onwards I had done nothing, no reviews, no writing, not much of exhibitions.... basically nada mainly because of terrible flu, excruciating gum pains and broken ankle. All in all my Christmas or new year weren't as exciting as I wanted them to be. Phew!

Anyway let bygones be bygones, It's a new year and I am hoping to do some new exciting stuff (without  attracting anymore medical troubles thank you so much!). There are  going to be a lot of new reviews, beauty tutorials, fashion advises and I am also going to introduce the brand new section "52 Movies Challenge". Yes, I am going to watch one movie every week for the rest of the year.  Preferably rom-com, chick-flick and fashion documentaries. I will be watching old releases as well as new releases. I am just so excited to start with this section. (yayyyyy ) So stay tuned for all the brands new, sparkling and exciting stuff.  

 

Stay gorgeous, Stay sane and always stay stylish! *Kiss Kiss*

P.S: Did you notice the brand new banner of Fabulous Adda? Do you like it? Leave your comments below or mail me at fabulousadda@gmail.com . 

Fashion Tips from Recessionista

Dollar is soaring, rupee is falling, pay checks are coming but some figures are missing = My life at this exact moment. Recession has hit hard, rather harder than I predicted, expected or hoped. Nonetheless there are things in our regular lives which can’t be compromised and likewise there are things in our lives which can do with some adjustments. Trust me, adjustments are smaller but they can make big differences, economically.

Couple of months back I was regular to beauty parlours for manicure-pedicure, hair spa, body massage, face clean-up and many more things. But since I have spotted ONE missing figure from my pay check, I had to convince myself to spend wisely and save nicely. Last month I had decided to give a miss to professional beauty treatments and gave myself head-toe beauty treatment at home at minimal prices and to be honest I saved an amount of money which seemed quite a lot and which I was spending without much consideration before this recession phase.

Let’s have a glance at my before and after beauty expenditure.

Before Recession My Spending On Grooming Treatments:

- Hair Spa (Twice a month)- INR 2000 ($32)

 

- Manicure (Twice a month)- INR 1000 ($16)

 

- Pedicure (Twice a month)- INR 1000 ($16)


- Body Massage (Twice a month)- INR 3000 (Approx. $49)

- Face Clean Up (Twice a month) INR 1500 (Approx. $25)

Total spending= INR 8500 ( $138)

Current Spending On Grooming Treatments:

- Instead of going to hair spa, I have decided to use homemade egg white head mask twice a month and hair massage with Luke warm almond oil which followed by covering the hair with hot towel and leaving it for 5 minutes (repeat the same 3 more times) for twice a month.

Cost= Total of 6 egg whites = INR 42 (Less than a dollar)

          Bottle of Almond Oil = INR 500 ($8)

Total cost= INR 542 (Less than $9)

- Instead of going to the Parlour for Manicure-Pedicure, I bought a mani-pedi kit, a bottle of shampoo, packet of Epsom salt, pumice stone and a scrubber. Fill the bucket with bearably hot water mix a dollop of shampoo and half a spoon of Epsom salt and stir it well. Remove any previously applied nail-polish, dip your feet in the water for 10 minutes and then work on one feet at a time. First use pumice stone and then scrubber to get rid of all the dead skin. Clipped and shape your nails, apply some cream (any cream) on your cuticles and push them backward. Clean your feet and apply any nail-polish of your choice. For manicure, fill a deep dish or small tub (something like popcorn tub) with a bearably hot water, mix a dollop of shampoo and half a spoon of Epsom salt and repeat the same procedure as you had previously done on your feet.

Cost: Mani-pedi kit = INR 500 ($8)

           Pumice Stone = INR 25 (50 cents)

           Scrubber = INR 200 ( $3)

           Shampoo =INR 165 ($2, 50 cents)

            Epsom Salt INR 350 (Approx $6)

Total Cost= INR 1240 ($21) 

- Nothing can beat a professional body massage but still you can attain a certain level of relaxation and satisfaction with an alternative. I bought a bottle of body scrub and used the Epsom salt from the packet which I used for mani-pedi. Take a generous amount of body scrub on your palm and scrub yourself lavishly and then take a bath with lukewarm water and mix a spoon of Epsom salt in the water. You will feel positively relaxed.

Cost= Body Scrub= INR 600 (Approx $10)

           Epsom Salt = Used from the same packet.

- For face clean-up I bought a pot of face scrub and a pot of face pack. First wash your face and pat it dry. Take some face scrub on your palm, mix few drops of water and apply on your face. Massage your face in circular motions. Clean your face and fill the steamer with water (if you don’t have steamer than boil water in a pan) and take the steam for 3-4 minutes. Then use the black head remover tool on your nose, forehead and chin area. Then take an Ice cube from your freezer and rub it on your face. Pat your face dry and apply the face pack and wash your face after 20 minutes. Later apply some moisturiser.

Cost= Face Scrub= INR 300 (Approx. $5)

           Face Pack= INR 350 (Approx $6)    

Total Cost= INR 650 (Approx $11)

 

Grand Total = INR 3032 ( Approx $50)

All in all I saved= INR 5468 ($85)

If you are like me, struggling to maintain your life and style in this ever falling economy than I would strongly advice, spend wisely, save nicely.