When you start a blog, it usually starts as a hobby, or a way to showcase a passion. We've all started more or less that way and we gave little thought about the future.

A statement that is true for almost all of us who started blogging before blogs became a thing.

Then, one day, your blogging world gets shaken around. After weeks, months or years on the scene, you get that first email that place you in the "serious blogger" category.
You know what I am talking about if you've been there. It's the first company reaching out to you to work with you.

This is the point where you come to the epiphany that blogs aren't just silly little hobbies but could actually bring some money into your pocket.
A thing that a lot of companies out there have realised a while ago. There is real power into having bloggers talk about your products and services. This is a new, non negligible form of advertising, one that can make or break a product in the long run. 

Sadly, companies have also realised how stupidly easy and cheap it has become to get blogger to promote you. We have reached a point at which there are no shortage of bloggers that do not know what to do or even feel companies are doing them a favour contacting them.
It has lead to a whole lot of unethical practices from companies, and more often than not, they get away with it.

If you are new to blogging what follows is for you. If you are already a blogger, it could be you are still letting companies take advantage of you in a way or two, in both cases, pay attention to what I am about to say.

Don't undersell yourself...ever!

Do not settle for "do-follow" links

Exposure or freebies alone do not pay the bills

Because "Hey, they gave me a free bottle of lotion!", or "Sweet people will hear about my blog through them!" 

Remember, the company contacting you NEEDS you, not the other way round. 

Have a Media Kit

Normally, when the Summer strikes us in Mumbai, I make it a rule to not spend more than 10 minutes in front of the stove to prepare a meal.
This year, I simplified our meal plan even further by prioritising salads, sandwiches no-cook options. Plus, there was a lot of eggs on the menu (they cook quickly and are delicious).

Sure, there have been a few stir fry dishes, some pasta and a few grilled thingies, but they were far less the norm than they have been the previous Summers.

This Summer was the first season of the "Fuck you kitchen" (and no I will not excuse my French, I mean every ounce it). I flat out refuse to submit myself to a torture activity in this heat.
Not when I am already enduring a level of social interaction above my wellbeing threshold. Thanks but no thanks!

And guess what? We did fine (and we still are). Nobody is starving, or sick. I mean physically sick, as far as Summer is concerned, we are more than sick of it, but that is another story.

As much as we enjoyed a wide variety of salads and sandwiches, we really can't wait to starting sinking our teeth into warm, more elaborate food stuff again. Which is yet another reason why the monsoon really can't come quick enough.

I could not help myself but compile a list of some (absolutely non-exhaustive list) of the dishes I can't wait to cook again.

Homemade pizza

Image credit : A Beautiful Mess

ABM's Roasted red peppers and tomato soup

Pies and tarts

Chicken drumsticks in curry leaves gravy

Image credit: The Midnight Baker

Shepherd's pie

It's no secret: I'm an introvert. I have no problem with it, and contrary to the popular and super WRONG belief: Introverts does NOT equal shy.
Shy means a fear of social judgment, I am anything but shy.

Science has been on my side for a while now. Introverts are individuals who are wired differently. We are a bunch of individuals who can totally handle social interaction, but are drained by it ad need periods of calm and quiet in between to re-energise themselves. My lot accounts for between one third to one half of the total world population, we are far from being an anomaly. We just live in a world where the extroverted gang dominate and rule all.

If you still don't believe me, I urge you to read "Quiet : the power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking" by Susan Cain.

But this blog post is not about giving you yet another description, of what it means to be an Introvert and how, NO it doesn't mean socially impaired or shy (seriously stop saying that already!).
It's about my little personal slice of hell:

The dreaded Summer break

A feeling that has you feel like you are running on empty and on the highway to "Burnout-ville"

There is magic to be found in this world. If you look too hard, you might miss it. Yet, it is found in the most unusual places. Places you might overlook if you are too rational (and you never should be).

This weekend, I found out that all you need to look into is a dot of paint. One dot multiplied by many, this is where magic lies :

Magic it was I tell you. An art workshop that ask you to let your soul speak in dots. Dots and colours, like a mystical telegram from your mood.
There was a lot of fun, a lot of focus, a lot of raw expression, the key ingredient to manifest positive energy. Magic I tell you.

There was no right way, no wrong way, and no right age. Just the way art should be.

My mood spoke of pastels and warmth. Ishita's longed for space and galaxies far far away:

If you bother enough to quiet yourself and listen to that voice deep inside, it will start talking. Through a dot, or two, or three if it must.

Ishita and I found out as much this weekend when we took part in a "Magic with dots" workshop.

It all start with a base, then a dot. A dot that becomes many, in a pattern, or at the random, big or small, bright or dark.

There is magic there, if you dare to believe...

Did you grow up in the 80's or 90's? If you did chances are you either heard or enjoyed making friendship bracelets.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, friendship bracelets looked like this:
I am talking about the cotton thread knotted variety of course. In French, they went by the name of "Bracelet Brésilien" which translates as "Brazilian bracelet". The name was fairly accurate considering they are said to have originated in South America. There were two variants of the stories linked to them in the days.

In both case, the bracelet is supposed to be gifted to you by a friend and tied to the wrist to never been taken off.
In the first story, you are to make a wish when it is tied and wait until the bracelet wears off on its own for the wish to come true. In the second variant, you wait until the bracelet wears off and fall on its own, and throw it in the ocean while making a wish.

What is certain, is that these were all the rage among kids and teenagers alike in the 80's until the mid 90's. In my school, if you wanted to be a cool kid, you had to learn how to make them and it was not unusual to see kids with length of thread pinned to their jeans patiently knotting away.
Like many of the other girls (and some boys too) I could be found with my leg propped up during recess or in-class free time. We would exchange tips, and try new patterns. Because, YES patterns were a BIG, no HUGE deal. We were all seeking to perfect our skills to be able to ace the most complex designs.
There was also a highly coveted and surprisingly hard to get pattern book, a book that was the holy grail of bracelet knotting. I must have visited every single book shops in Geneva to get it back in the day, until my mom took me to a special arts and craft shop to score the last copy available.

The book covered all the basics one needed to learn and the step by step guide to make a solid 20 different patterns, ranging from the the simplest "Stripe pattern" to the most intricate, advanced, patterns.
Friendship bracelets are deceptively simple to make, and all start with lengths of embroidery cotton threads that the maker painstakingly knot into the desired pattern.
The knots themselves are basic Macrame knots. I remember my Grand ma pointing out that these bracelets were nothing but a way to make Macrame look cool again.

The simplest pattern, which is often called the "beginner's bracelet" is the stripped pattern:
This picture is actually one of a bracelet I taught Ishita how to make. That's right! It's easy enough a near 7 years old can pull it. The rest is a test of patience more than anything else.
The straight line pattern only use one type of knots (there are 4 in total): the "straight 4 knot" as it is often called:
The reason it is called "straight 4" is because in this knot, you take the thread that is the furthest on the  left and  cross it horizontally  over the next thread to form a "4".
At least this is how the placement of the thread is taught to beginners, once you master it, it is more like a loop knot.

Once the thread (in this case the pink one) has been placed above the second thread (the purple), you slide the extremity of the pink thread under the purple in the loop that has been created and pull it up tight.
This knot needs to be repeated TWICE on each thread in the bracelet until the thread you picked up to the far left ends up all the way to the far right.

Once a thread has completely crossed over to the other side, you take the next far left thread on the left and make it cross the exact same way, by knotting it over each other threads.

As you see, the technique is simple enough.

Once you master the stripe pattern, you usually try your hand at a simple chevron pattern, and then a pattern that combines chevrons and diamonds like this one:
This bracelet above covers all 4 types of knots, and once you master this one, you are pretty much ready to take on any pattern.
The Chevron pattern is nothing more than two stripes that meet in the middle. For this bracelet, you need a vertical symmetric axis.

The threads on the left of that axis will be knotted with the "straight 4" knot until they have crossed over all the lefthand threads.
The right hand threads will be knotted from right to left using the "Reverse 4". This knot basically means you pass the far right thread horizontally over the second to last right thread and loop. It's a mirror image of the "straight 4"

To make one chevron, you start with the left thread, make it go to the middle, then do the same with the thread of the same colour on the right. Then you knot both threads with a "straight 4 knot" in the middle, and keep on going with all the colours in turn, until the end of the bracelet.

The diamond shape happens when you first make a X with the thread you used to make the last chevron.  And then make it cross again back to its original position.
It means making sure that all the other half completed stripes are knotted in turn to form a support bridge for the X and then make mini chevrons to form the inside of the diamond.

The two other type of knots I mentioned are the "straight + reverse" and "reverse +straight" knots. As you must always remember, a thread is knotted TWICE on each thread. ALWAYS.
It's either two straight knots, two reverse, or a combo of straight and reverse.

The combo knots are used to make a thread that started on one side to remain on the same side it started from. So if a thread started on the left, the "straight + reverse" will make it go back to the position it started in. It is particularly helpful to make the sharp angles of a diamond, or to preserve the order of the thread on the next line.

If you guys are interested in knowing more about friendship bracelets, I'll put  more detailed tutorial up in the future.


P.S: The reason I suddenly found myself making friendship bracelets again was because I bought this "starter kit" for Ishita in an effort to keep her busy in this heat.
I realise quickly that knotting friendship bracelets, is like riding a bicycle: Once you learned,  you never forget. 

Fess up! You are on the verge of loosing your sanity if you are a stay at home parent in India. Most of you have probably been in this Summer break gig for about a month. It's hot, and your child is starting to be bored.

You are struggling to find new ways to entertain your troops and find yourself dreaming of running away from it all, hide into a spa retreat, or seek colder latitudes.

The heat, the kids, the TV, it all has gone to your head and GAH!!!!! It's been only a month! Most of you (lucky you) have another month to endure, and it is time to take care of yourself!
I myself am stuck in this crazy gig until July end, the price to pay for the change for a better school (sigh!)

To get you to this slice of sanity salvaging heaven, there are two things you need to do. First, if you haven't already, go check the Shopping Guide I put together in April. It's all about keeping your kids entertained.
Second, this month's Shopping Guide is all about things to make you relax. You need it! Your wellbeing is supremely important at this point.  And because it is Home Cyn Home style, it has to be full of colours.

Needless to say that this little Shopping Guide is full of affiliate links, if you buy anything, I get paid a commission, which will probably go toward a spa treatment to regain my own sanity (wink wink).

1) Step one to relaxing yourself : the prefect chair or hammock. This cheerful cushion swing just fits the bill.

2) It has been proven that colouring is an activity that relax the mind and help you refocus. Sadly, until recently, colouring was considered a children's thing. NO LONGER! Adult colouring books have made a massive come back as of late (they were kind of popular in the 90's). It's all about finding the one you love. I myself own this one right now, but this Vintage designs album has made it to my wishlist. Not to mention this pocket size "Into the deep" album. How can you go wrong with a book that says "Peace in your pocket"

I say YES please!

3) In this heat, the only acceptable thing to eat is ice cream, and anything better than ice cream is ice cream that looks stylish. This adorable serving dish should get you there.

4) You've probably seen them on many blogs. Mason jars have been all the rage for years (even if almost never used for preserves). Now it is the time for you to own those mason jar mugs. I kid you not I use them to get my intake of water going in this heat.

Plus, they are awesome to brew single servings of iced tea: Brew your favourite tea, add sugar and lemon, and put in the fridge to cool. These jars fit perfectly in the door compartment, ready to grab the instant you find water too boring. 

When it comes to arts, there is no right or wrong. There is no perfect way. You can't succeed at arts, and you cannot fail.
You only have people offering their opinion and making or braking your artistry. That is their problem, not yours.

Sure, most artists will go take some classes, some even have a diploma in visual arts. But they only learned their basics so they can break the rules better

Pablo Picasso once said:

"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist"

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up" 

 A blank canvas is a powerful mirror that push you to drop your inhibitions, show you who you are all the while giving you control over the final outcome.

So, go grab those paint brushes, sharpen your pencils and dare to go on that quest to discover yourself.

You can't go wrong, because there is no right either.

My home is a mess. I don't like it, but I can't bring myself to do anything about it.

It's too hot you see. It's not worth the sweat. It's not worth passing out or suffering a heat stroke.

So, my home is  mess. As it should be. It is Summer after all, and I am too busy pretending (or trying) to hibernate.

It's a mess I tell you! See! There is laundry sitting in a basket (won't tell you for how long) taunting me from the balcony where I locked it away:

There are clean dishes in the kitchen. Dishes that I should have put away, but won't, not until time to cook comes (and don't ask me when that will be)

There are towels and clothes scattered all over the floor of my bedroom (and possibly the whole flat). But, HEY! The bed is made, what can I say, I have a twisted sense of priorities...don't judge!

My home is a mess! There are stuff on my dinning table that should not be there:

Some days, it is worse than other (but I won't confess how bad it can be). Sue me! We barely eat anyway, it's not like we really need the whole dinning table. Too hot for that too you see...

The living room is where we pretend to have a life, so we can't be bothered to make it look appealing anymore:
No more pretty vignette either, the place has been overtaken by art supplies, piles of books and papers that we won't clean up, we don't have guests so we don't care.
The study is the worst. It doesn't matter, nobody that walks on two legs bother hanging out there as it is hotter than hell. My cat is the only one enjoying it and she took care of storing herself away:
She claimed the room has her turf. She does it from April till June.

My home is a mess and I will not bother doing anything to change it. Not now, not until the monsoon delivers us from this evil that is Summer.

Then, it'll get cleaned, it'll get tidied and I will reclaim the study as my own. My cat will give me a fight that's true, but we will coexist at my desk peacefully once again.

The rain is the only thing that will make us care about the content of our plates. I will then find joy in the kitchen again, not before.
There will be cup of teas that will be enjoyed instead of being gulped down out of necessity.

Yes, we'll come back to life. We always do.

Until then...

My home will be a mess. 

En Mai, fait se qu'il te plait