Famous Fridays | Arpana Moorjani

Arpana Moorjani - Personal Stylist

It's both refreshing and encouraging when you meet women who pursue their passion professionally. Arpana Moorjani from Brag your style is one such lady I know.

 Her endless love for fashion is evident not only in how she dresses herself but also as she talks to me about her journey of styling herself and friends to now being a professional Personal Stylist.

Recently, Arpana styled me for Valentine's Day and the entire outfit selection process was so seamless and easy. You can read all about it here

She is talented, ambitious, gorgeous and all set to explore the new realms in fashion. I'm so delighted to host this fashionista on my FF page today!

In conversation with Arpana, as she tells me all about brag your style

1) Tell us everything about brag your style

Brag your style is my way of expressing who I am through fashion. With my expertise as a personal stylist and shopper I help people find their own unique style. My services include styling men and women for special occasions and/or updating their wardrobe.

2) Is being a stylist something you always wanted to be?

I’ve always been driven to fashion. In the last few years I realised how much I loved helping my family and friends put together outfits/accessories and I decided to convert my passion into my profession.

3) Fashion to you is...

Fashion to me is an amalgamation of all beautiful things life has to offer. As once said by my fashion icon, Karl Lagerfeld,
“I am a fashion person, and fashion is not only about clothes – it’s about all kinds of change.”

4) Walk us through, how you work with your clients?

My job as a stylist and shopper is to work with clients to help them avoid the hassle of shopping for themselves. With the busy lives and schedules that people have today, they have no time and patience to shop for themselves. That’s where I come into play. The process is very easy and convenient and includes an initial complimentary consultation where I meet the client and get their requirements including size, budget, event, etc. Thereafter I shop for them and take their selections to them. The client keeps whatever they like and the rest goes back.

5) Whats in store for brag your style in the new year?

The plan for 2017 is to continue to grow and establish a strong foundation of clients who can benefit from my services. I would like to help my clients understand that anyone can look fabulous and stylish without breaking the bank.

6) An accessory that never fails you?

My Hermes Collier de Chien bracelet. Whether I’m casual or dressed up, this bracelet always adds the right touch to my look.

7) Your favorite Indian fashion icon?

Sonam Kapoor is my favorite Indian fashion icon. She is very fashion forward and carries herself with a lot of grace and sophistication.

Valentines Day OOTD

Come February, and it definitely seems like love is in the air. My inbox is overflowing with special valentines day shopping deals, merchandise at the mall is drenched in shades of red on their window displays! Dunkin' Donuts and their heart shaped donuts or for that matter 50 shades darker playing at the movies. Everything seems to be love struck.

Luckily RJ and me have the same take on Valentine's Day or any such special occasion. We don't pressurize ourselves into celebrating it,  however do make time to do a thing or to. Lately with our little one around, even a dinner (just him and me) turns into an occasion for us. And so we decided to do so over the weekend and call it our V-day date! 

The Culture Tree + Desi Babies book reading!

As a mother of a ten month old, I do have qualms about raising her here in America. Whether or not - will she grow up learning to communicate in her mother tongue, having knowledge and respect for Indian culture or feeling at least a tad bit connected to her Indian roots. 

Luckily, I'm not the only mother with worries stated above. After meeting mompreneurs like Anu Sehgal, owner at The Culture Tree and Reena Puri & Mital Thelan from Desi Babies, I feel extremely proud that there are women out there who are making an effort to infuse the richness of our culture amongst these tiny tots. 

When Anu invited me to an event hosted by her and Desi Babies, I was more than happy to attend. It was a book reading for babies and toddlers for the book Meet my Hindu gods followed by a coloring activity into My first Indian colouring book

Reena and Mital- the authors of the book Meet my Hindu gods have taken great efforts to illustrate it in a manner that would appeal to the kids. Adding fun as they get to learn about their hindu gods.

The book has some cutest of drawings and the choice of words makes it a perfect read for children. 

The hosts were so kind to hand me a personally autographed copy of their book for my daughter. I can't wait to start reading this to her and teach her about Indian gods in the form of most innovative stories. 

Throughout the book reading, the kids listened to the narration patiently and displayed equal enthusiasm during the Question and Answer round. When asked about who their favourite gods were, I was amused at how promptly and confidently they spoke about their choices. 

All the mommies kept themselves entertained indulging in mimosas and samosas, as they happily watched their kids get engrossed into being a bit more desi. Sonia Puri who runs Sonia's petite patisserie added a dollop of sweetness to the event by baking some adorable cookies for the kids. Well let's just say kids weren't the only ones eating them😜 They were irresistibly cute and delish!

Being part of an initiative like this, put a broad smile on my face as I walked my way back home after the event. Making a promise to myself that I'll do my best to teach my daughter about our culture and knowing in my heart that I'll always have company and support from these lovely ladies!

MEET THE TEAM
From the left: Sonia Puri, Reena Puri, Anu Seghal and Mital Telhan

           

 

Posing with the authors, and delighted to have an autographed copy of their book. 

My little one enjoying her story time at home, as I narrate stories of Lord Ganesh and other gods.

Book reading in progress

Checkout how cute these cookies look, adorned with logos of Culture Tree and Desi Babies on them.

Sonia Puri,  owner - Sonia's Petite Patisserie

(Belated) Happy 2017!

I know I'm terribly late for "happy new year " wishes.  My apologies for being MIA but I really hope everyone's had a terrific start to twenty seventeen!

With no good reason to justify, why I ignored my blog, I partly blame it on my laziness and partly on being a bit overwhelmed! Yes, overwhelmed from all the hype created around the New Year.

What are your plans for the New Year's Eve? Have you made a list of resolutions yet? Are you hitting the gym already? Feel the energy, be positive etc etc. The pressure of keeping up made me do exactly opposite of all this. Hence, my start to the year was a mellow one. 

Spent the New Year's Eve playing poker with family (losing big time), eating pizza and calling it a night at 12:15 am. This entire month went by doing the following- 

1) Catching up on Bollywood movies that I missed watching on big screen. Aye Dil Hain Mushkil, Rustom, Dear Zindagi and M.S Dhoni. Absolutely loved them all.

2) Wearing the chefs hat and trying my hand at new recipes that included Thai curries and baking thin crust pizzas! 

3) Practicing driving under the supervision of RJ with a mission to be able to drive independently by the month end.

4) Reading The legend of Laxmi Prasad -a book that I wholeheartedly enjoyed and was pleasantly surprised with not just Twinkle Khanna's writing skills but also her choice of genre. 

Having done all this without any pressure to perform makes me feel that I'm ready to get back into the game and put my best foot forward. So if any of you happens to be sailing in the same boat as mine, let's just say it's never too late. Because its not just the first day of a brand new year, but any day, that can be a new start.

Have a lovely weekend! ❤

Holiday Party!

Hey folks! It finally snowed here. There's something about the first snow that puts a smile on my face. I feel like everything around starts looking prettier with fresh snow on it. Anyways,  I hope y'all had a fun and relaxed weekend! Mine turned out to be a not so relaxing one. We were switching apartments and all I could see around me was stuff, stuff and more stuff that needed to be packed into boxes. But more about that later...

Coming back to what this post is about, me and my friend - who is a fashion designer,  hosted our first holiday party together. We invited a bunch of friends we know from the fashion and blogging world and had a super fun night alongside cocktails and conversations.

The venue Cibar lounge, NYC deserves a special mention here because of its beautiful ambience and some great choice of food and drinks! If you're making a trip to NYC, I highly recommend trying this hidden gem. Whether you're lounging with your friends or on a date night, it's the perfect spot. Also, they have happy hour Monday to Friday between 5-8 pm so don't forget to make the most of it. Though this place doesn't serve dinner but they have lots of small plate options. And since we tried almost everything on the menu, I can totally vouch for their food. Infact just thinking about it makes me wanna revisit! 

Well, I won't write anything further, want you guys to check out these pics! They pretty much sum up  our party.

Girl Squad

My Co-host, Stuti Majmudar - Owner, Stuti Anand

Monika Rajwani - The Frye company.

Sadia Majeed -  Owner, The Fashion Edit

Neerja Patel -  Owner,  Neerja Public Relations

Nikki Dodani - Blogger, The Nikki Standard

Ritu Bhatia - Blogger, Chiffon Talk 

Mala  Vora - Jewelry Designer, Malasbymala

Perfect Date night spot! Isn't it?

Lunch date OOTD

Sometimes the best therapy you can get is endless conversations with a bestie! This is exactly what happened over the past two days. RJ had to fly out of town for work. For those of you who don't know me that well, I am a scaredy-cat when it comes to staying home alone at night. My brain automatically starts generating flashbacks of all the horror movies I've watched till date when I'm all by myself. 

Thankfully I had my friend to the rescue, who came over to keep me company. What followed next was a night of meaningful/ meaningless/ much needed girl talk! 

Next day started with a heartwarming cup of chai, and a whole lot of Netflix. Later, we headed out for our lunch date and spent the evening playing pool. All in all, it turned out to be the most relaxing stay-at-home vacation I could have asked for! 

Thank you babe for a memorable time and using your camera skills on me!

 

Outfit Details:

Sunglasses - Burberry // Top - Forever 21  // Denims - Abercrombie & Fitch // Watch - Karl Lagerfeld  // Overcoat - Zara // Booties - Aldo // Clutch - Old 

Holiday Party OOTD

So, yesterday I attended my first LadyDrinks event.  LadyDrinks NY is an initiative that connects South Asian women entrepreneurs by organising events every month. I personally think its a great initiative to bring our community closer. Over the past few years, I've heard so much about their awesome events but never took the effort to be a part of it. This month they hosted their holiday party at the Empress.One in NYC and I decided why not! 

It turned out to be an evening well spent amongst a group of highly inspirational South Asian women! Plus, I always look forward to going to the city!  This time of the year makes it even more worthwhile when every street in the entire Manhattan is in the holiday spirit.

Other than that, I had so much fun getting dressed up for my first holiday party of the season. 

Outfit Details:

Perfume - Flowerbomb by Victor & Rolf // Necklace -Anthropologie  // Watch & clutch - Tory Burch // Boots - G by Guess // Dress - Dear Hannah