living in a 980 sq ft apartment with two children, a german shepherd, an african grey and the darling husband who tries to keep out of the way puts things in perspective. you simply come to terms with the fact that however longingly you stare at all the pretty rooms, in all the beautiful houses, in the many design blogs, it cannot be for you, at least not for a long time. maybe never.
it was in the midst of demolishing the piles in my cupboards kept exclusively for junk, aka stuff i can't decide whether to keep or throw away for good, i found a cute little frame. it had been a going away gift from a friend an neighbor in Chennai, just before we moved cities. basking warm in the memories of our fist house together, the birth of our daughter... there formed in my mind a plan.
the daughter punched butterflies from the yellowed pages of an old Oxford dictionary. all i did was stick it randomly on the frame. took less than ten minutes, that too, because little madam talks way too much.
also, discovered in the pile that i had saved for posterity, was a frame bought on holiday years ago with a picture of us clicked on that same holiday. mush overload. i had tried to remove the picture and cracked the glass with my, how to say it, two left hands.
i had spent enough hours on Pinterest for my heart to jump at breathing new life into it. it now holds a rather eroded and drab shell from Alibaug who just got its sparkle on. my kids' best DIY with me so far, may i add.
and, last, my star frames. a set i had found at bargain prices. the little one holds ferns from my teeny balcony garden. i had wanted to paint or print 'keep calm and carry on' for the momma frame as my children put it...
... but, the daughter had a surge of creative impulse and here it is. all of us, under a pretty rainbow, the epitome of happily ever after.