Headband Headaches

Headband Headaches

Is it just me or do others have the same issue?

Sans makeup - My mommy avatar

I don't wear headbands because they give me major headaches, especially behind the ears, I avoid them like the plague. But during my trip to Moab, Utah, I picked up a couple of pretty cotton fabric headbands, than can open up to look like a bandana. Moab is quite the hippie town and it inspired me to go a little boho. I tried them on in the shop for about 10 seconds and everything seemed perfectly fine, of course, that's plenty of time to know whether this style would be headache free right?



I found one of them on the bathroom floor as I was about to rush out to pick up the kids from day care (all my cool stuff belongs on the floor these days, it's my very own personalized lottery system that my children have devised for me, I never know which of my belongings will have the pleasure of being scattered across the house for the day). Anyway, I decided to put it on. I kid you not, within 5 minutes, I noticed my head throbbing, "I'm gonna fight this" I told myself, "I shall conquer the headband".  

Well, by the time I got home 15 minutes later, all that pressure was a little too much for me, it gave me a headache, triggered my sinuses and now I need a nice head massage. So much for boho chic...but they're so pretty...maybe I should loosen them a little....does this happen to anyone else? 

Labor Day Weekend - Day 1

Labor Day Weekend 2012

The Girls Getaway to the Beautiful Arches National Park, Utah 

It all started in July when a good friend mentioned that she was planning a vacation with a couple of her friends, and asked if I would be willing to join her, leaving the kids and husband at home for a few days. Did I need a moment to think about it or discuss with my husband?  No way, I jumped at the invite, I had no clue who the other women were but I knew this was my one chance to "be free", well for 3 days really.

So after a lot of emails and deliberation, myself and three lovely ladies chose Moab, Utah as our vacation destination. This trip was a real eye opener in terms of realizing just how much life has changed in such a short span of time.

I was flying out early Saturday morning, and I began packing my bags on Wednesday, I completely over estimated the amount of time it would take for me to pack for a 3 day vacation. When we visit friends in the bay, it typically takes 2 days to pack with an intense scramble at the end before we are set to load the kids and their paraphernalia into the van. All that effort for for just a one night stay. It's such an ordeal with the family, packing lunches and snacks, a cooler, wash the bottles, warm water, clothes for the warm weather, clothes in case it gets cold at night, estimate the number of diapers I need and the list goes on (and on and on...). I was pleasantly surprised when I was done packing within a few hours. Huh, fancy that!

Day 1: We spent the day literally unwinding from our hectic lives, it was like unfurling our bodies and minds from our work, familial duties and the unavoidable stresses of life. Was I nervous about leaving the kids and hubby back home? Sure, but what was worrying about it going to solve. 

This day was all about breaking the ice and getting to know one another (except for one girl, none of us knew each other). We ate  lunch at the Red Iguana, a Mexican restaurant in Salt Lake City. It seemed to be a popular joint, judging by the line of people waiting to be seated. It's tag line was "Killer Mexican Food", well, the tacos were typically what you would expect, the Mole, being an acquired taste wasn't such a hit for us, but the chimichangas were definitely "killer" if you like a lot of cheese. 

After that, we headed out to the Church of Latter Day Saints, two Sisters guided us around the temple, it was an interesting place to visit, the architecture was phenomenal and the discussion around history and religion was a nice way to spend the afternoon. 

My favorite part of the day was when we stopped at a Carl's Junior for coffee and sweet potato fries. What was supposed to be a quick stop on the way to Moab ended up being a 45 minute pow pow with the girls. It felt so nice to be able to sit at a table and not have to argue with a 3 year old on why he can't drink soda or have to deal with a one year old screaming her lungs out because she want's to climb on the table and knock off all the cups and plates. It was good old fashioned conversation without the trimmings of parenthood. 

Mind you, it's not like my family back home had decided to do with out me, oh no, thanks to whatsapp and its free texting services my phone was continuously pinging the whole weekend with messages from my husband, providing a complete running commentary on their lives back home without me, along with photos. Truth be told, I wouldn't have it any other way, it was nice to know that I was being missed by my husband!

Our dinner in Moab was at the Peace Tree Juice Cafe, they had a great vegetarian lasagna and other italian items too. This was such a great find and definitely deserved a second visit.

Tired from the early morning flight, and long drive, we headed back to the hotel room for a good night's sleep. It would be the first time in about 2 years without waking up to a foot hitting my face while having to sleep on my shoulder in a sliver of space on the left side of my bed, while a toddler sprawls himself in the middle.

Watch out for Day 2!  

Bangle Bracelets

Bangle Bracelets 

Beautiful Fabric Wrapped Bangles and Metallic Bangles

My latest obsession!! I love to stack a whole bunch on one arm, mix and match different colors and add some of my old favorites with the new ones.

Bangles Galore from www.bindisbazaar.com 

From Day to Night

Labor Day Weekend 2012

What style will you be sporting for this official last weekend of Summer?

With the warm days but cooler evenings, a light cardigan and sheer scarf are helpful accessories to keep handy.

Summer, Ethnic Print Dress from Day to Night by bindi's bazaar featuring fabric and metal bangles

H M sheer scarve
$13 - hm.com

Bindi's Bazaar
bindisbazaar.com

Bindi's Bazaar
bindisbazaar.com

Bindi's Bazaar
bindisbazaar.com

Bindi's Bazaar
bindisbazaar.com

5 Sure Signs That I'm Getting Older

5 Sure Signs That I'm Getting Older (Possibly wiser too?!!)

1. Once a wannabe dance extraordinaire, I zoned out during Zumba class last week (it was a 20 second day dream before I realized I wasn't salsa'ing), but I actually enjoyed the smoother, slower movements of yoga and pilates. This is rather strange considering I once walked out of a pilates class a couple of years ago because I found it boring. 

I have no clue what this sudden mind shift is all about, anyone care to explain?! By the way, not a good idea to forget to move in Zumba or else you may get cha cha cha'd by the person next to you, not to mention the glares...ooops!

2. I dreamt I was 20 years old, and was being pursued by a hot guy. When he proposed I didn't willingly oblige and melt in his arms, not only did I decline the offer, but proceeded to lecture him on the importance of completing college, finding a stable job, saving money and then consider these romantic frivolries.  WHHAATT!!?!!


3. I would boast that I could sleep anywhere, anytime, just lend me a comfortable pillow. Thanks to the grueling training by my two kids, if I am woken up in the middle of the night, there is absolutely no way I am able to fall asleep. it takes at least 3 hours to fall back into a restful slumber, sometimes it's not even worth the effort so I am up at all odd hours of the morning these days.

4. Twitter? Flickr? Tumblr? I can't keep up, technology is moving way too fast for me to keep up to date. I give up, i'm turning into my parents. The way I see it is, as long as the iphone is cool, so am I, heaven forbid the day some other company takes over the universe and my iphone becomes a thing of the past, so too shall my coolness quotient take a beating.
(BTW, you can like me on Facebook here:

hint hint!)

5. Glee, the most amazing show on the planet, i've been hooked since the pilot almost 4 years ago. Like I mentioned earlier, my secret goal was to be a performer and this show provided a way to live vicariously through the characters and witness their amazing talent. Now, I watch the show through a slightly different lens. I watch it as a kind of case study dealing with the realities of being a teenager in America. It's a way to educate myself on how to deal with my kids when they turn to me (hopefully) with their teenage issues. Yes, I know, a little bit over prepared, just slightly, but what can I do, i'm a mom now!!

Bindi's Bazaar is Back in Town

I'm Back!

A Summary of What I've Been Up To plus 3 Huge Changes.

It's been a long while since I wrote my last blog entry, a lot of reshuffling and reorganizing has been taking place, both with the shop and at home. It sort of started out with planning my daughter's first birthday, that took on the scale of nothing less than a wedding reception. I tend to take on several projects all at the same time without realizing how much effort it takes to get through them all, all the while juggling two kids. Well, baby number 2 had a great party, we were so happy to have all our close friends and family from all over town and Bay Area celebrate with us. The day went well including the cupcakes surviving the 90 degree weather. I had so much help from my neighbors, friends and loved ones that in the end we managed to pull the butterfly/princess theme all together! 

After the birthday weekend I felt as though I had been hit by a bus, I don't recall ever feeling so tired in my life. It took 2 weeks and a strong reflexology foot massage to get over the fatigue. 

During that 2 week recovery period, I had no energy left to do anything other than think, a lot! I began to think about the direction in which I wanted to take this blog and the store. I realised that it was time to make a few basic changes, it's just that those basic changes took over 2 months to set straight and there is still a whole lot more to be done! 

So here are the major changes:

1. Name change: I'm no longer using KurtiTown as my business name. For one if you're not Indian, it's way too hard to pronounce correctly. Second of all, the name kind of limits my scope, I don't want people to think that all I house are tunics. Where did the name Bindi's Bazaar come from? That was courtesy of the fine ladies of Corporate Rejects, but why did I choose that one out of a whole myriad of possibilities? Well I will save that for another blog entry.

2. New website: I now have my own website which gives me the flexibility to design my little portal on the internet, I like being able to create a layout that I choose, and to be able to add multiple pages. This is where I have to admit most of my time in the last couple of months has been spent. Check it out at www.bindisbazaar.com

3. Merged my blogs: I started out my KurtiTown blog and the Mommy and My Time Blog at the same time, only the latter wasn't supposed to be linked in anyway back to KurtiTown. It was meant just for me, a space where I could be my true, sometimes sarcastic self. A blog where I could pour out my heart and soul without having to worry about being judged since no one would know who wrote it. Hah! I hadn't realised that this blog showed up on my blogger "complete profile" and a few of my close friends had read my entries. The feedback I got was surprisingly positive and when I mentioned that I may not continue it, there was a resounding "no"! Apparently I had articulated exactly how my friends felt and what they dealt with on a regular basis while raising their own young families. So rather than hide this from the world I decided to take ownership of what I had begun and incorporate it into my regular blog.  

I have learnt so much over the last 6 months through my children and business, met some awesome people, and strengthened old friendships, which have helped nudge me onto the correct path. I am so excited about the future and its possibilities and am looking forward to your company!

Loaded Veggies & Cream of Wheat Upma

This winter season has been pretty rough, since the week before Christmas we've gone through 3 ear infections and 2 colds, so when I heard the first dreaded cough last night, I knew I had to go all out to drive this infection away. I decided to make upma, which is a hot vegetable pudding usually made from semolina but a good friend once suggested I use cream of wheat instead as it has lots of good stuff like iron, calcium and its not too bad in protein content either.

Upma is very simple to make, you can use almost any vegetable you already have in your refrigerator, and with ingredients like ginger, tomatoes and turmeric its a great boost to the immune system.

Ingredients to make 4 hearty servings:

1. 1 small onion, diced
2. 1 tomato, diced
3. 1 tbsp freshly shredded ginger
4. 1/2 cup of each: corn, peas, carrots, zucchini, bell pepper ** (all larger veggies should be diced)
5. 1 tbsp turmeric
6. 1/2 tbsp salt
7. Cream of wheat

Ingredients for tempering/seasoning:

1. 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
2. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3. 1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (also called "hing". Don't get turned off by its odd smell, I promise it smells a lot more pleasing after it hits the heat! Hing is great for digestion and is said to help fight the flu)
4. curry leaves (not necessary but if they are lying around in your fridge then you may as well use them as they provide a nice aroma to the dish)
5. 3 tbsp of ghee or cooking oil

(If you don't have any/some of the seasoning ingredients it's ok, you can still carry on with the recipe.)

Method:

1. Heat the ghee/oil in a pot on a high flame
2. Add the mustard seeds and let them sit until you hear the first "pop"
3. Add the cumin seeds and drop the flame to medium
4. Add the asafoetida and mix well
5. Mix in the onions, curry leaves and ginger and let the onions cook until they are golden brown. Make sure you have enough ghee/oil to coat the onions, adding a little more if necessary.

Seasoned onions, ginger and curry leaves

    6.  Add the tomatoes, cover the pot and let them cook until they are nice and soft
    7.  Add the remaining diced vegetables and enough water (2 cups) required to prepare the cream of wheat.

8.  Mix in the turmeric and salt, cover the pot and let it cook on a medium/low flame until all the vegetables cook and the flavors come together (which is about 10 minutes).
9. Bring the pot to a boil, now is a good time to check the salt content and to adjust the taste if needed. 

10. Mix in the cream of wheat as per the instructions on the box, or if you're like me, just keep adding the cream of wheat until you get the consistency you desire. 

And there you have it, your loaded cream of wheat, soothing comfort food and the veggies are soft enough that even the fussiest of toddlers wont realise what they're putting in their mouths!

** Here is a list of vegetables that can be used in upma, its really up to you what you use and what is available: corn, peas, carrots, zucchini, bell pepper, broccoli, asparagus, spinach, squash, potato.
To make this a more adult flavor, you can add green chilli's and red chilli powder to the recipe at the time when you add in the water to the veggies.

Enjoy!