Aastha journey’s in Asia’s Next Top Model

Posted on February 19, 2013 | 13 comments

I am sure you remember Aastha Pokharel who was representing Nepal for Asia’s next Top Model here.  I was really busy lately so didn’t have time to catch up but finally I was able to watch up to Episode 10 over the weekend. I am already a big fan of this show as it gives aspiring models a big chance in their career and at the same time teachs them how to be a better model giving them opportunities to learn during the show.

Asia’s Next Top Model started out with 14 contestants from all over Asia and Aastha was representing Nepal. The show is doing really well and I love every challenge they get.

Here is what has happened with Aastha so far. I really thinking she is doing a great job and has a huge potential to be a world class model.

Episode 1 Little India Shoot

Episode 2 Wearing Prada for Harper’s Bazaar

Her group won the best group and she won best photo for this shoot and she deserve it.

Episode 3 Chinese Zodiac Shoot: Aastha as a rat

In this episode all the girls were given a makeover and Aastha’s long hair was cut short. She was really not happy with her new look and it took its toll on her photo-shoot. I do like her new look .

Episode 4 Photo with hot Jason Godfrey

Aastha really impressed judges with this shot and was the runner up on the ‘Be Sexy’ shoot.

Episode 5 French Riviera shoots

I really like this photo of Aastha. She was runner up on this shot as well but I really think it was the best shot.

Episode 6 Tresemme Beauty Shoot

For this episode, everyone made an ad for Tresemme writing their own script and performing in a commercial.  Aastha won this challenge with the following ad.

Episode 7 Environmental campaign

In this one Aastha struggled and her photo was not so great.

Episode 8 A haute couture red dress

During this shoot Aastha was told she needs to keep her energy up during the shoot. But I loved this shot of her. Aastha came third.

Episode 9 Underwater photo-shoot

This was one of the worst one for Aastha was it was an underwater shot and she cannot swim. But I am so proud of her since she managed to overcome her fear of the water and gave a great shot.

Episode 10 Movement and passion

I really like her ad for Suvaru with Girls on the Move concept.

Later during the photo-shoot, Aastha complained that her dress and hair wasn’t working for her. I felt bad for her but she still managed to give nice shot which judges thought had a great pose but her face was blank.

If you are interested please click the following to watch it from the start. I am waiting for the last 2 episodes to come on YouTube now  🙂

You may also like :

*Aastha Pokharel representing Nepal on Asia’s Next Top Model  *More stars shines under Prabal Gurung’s collection *Varsha Thapa: First international fashion model from Nepal

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Posted in Fashion, Nepal

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Valentine’s day 2013

Posted on February 15, 2013 | 12 comments

Like every year, Valentine’s Day, the day for love, has arrived this year as well. I am sure you know I am crazy about love from my previous posts here and here.

If you don’t know, I am telling you that I am a hopelessly romantic person and my husband knows that. It is not that I want him to spend lots of money and spoil me rotten on this day but at the same time I don’t want not to celebrate this day like many of my friends who think it is too commercialised to care about. I know Hallmark and florists are making lots of money on this day by selling emotions but I really don’t need roses, romantic cards or heart shaped chocolate to feel spoilt.  Simple gestures like breakfast or home-made dinner will make me super happy for sure. I will even be happy with just a big hug and cuddle.

I am really happy to have a hubby who is so caring and loving in my life. He always makes me feel very special and I am so incredibly blessed to have him as my partner and my best friend. He has endured so much, including leaving everything that he has known his entire life behind and moving to Australia just for me and that means more to me than I can express in words. I treasure the good as well as the difficult moments we have shared together.

This year, as I was still very unsettled from my recent holiday and with a mid-week Valentine’s Day we didn’t really plan what we were going to do. We just thought it will be nice to have a dinner out and that was it.

So like every other day, on 14 Feb 2013, my alarm woke me up at 6:00 am. Lazily I work up and went to the bathroom. I was half asleep when I came back to the room and I saw there was something on my bedside table. When I went closer, I realised that it was a bunch of red roses! I turned around and he was lying there with a big smile, the smile that I fell in love with.

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I kind of knew I would be getting some red roses that day. Normally he comes home with it in the evening. I have always told him not to spend too much on Valentine’s Day roses. I know that it is a big waste of money as they are super expensive that day.

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Anyway, back to Valentine’s Day morning, I was so happy seeing the flowers that I was lost for words. All I could do was hug him tight. I don’t know how he smuggled flowers to our place the day before but he did a damn good job. Even though I didn’t expect this it was such a great feeling to be loved. To top it off, he told me that we were going for a massage after dinner and that was all that I had wished for.

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I really wished it had been a day off but I needed to get out of bed to go to work. As we were going straight from work to dinner, I wore a red dress with matching red shoes.

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Work hours felt long but finally it was time for me to meet my baby again. We met and went for dinner. We chose a low key place over big fancy ones as most of these places would be too crowded. The Thai restaurant we went to was not very busy so we were served quickly. We had Satay Chicken for entrée followed by some curries and special fried rice for main. We skipped desert as we were going for a massage and didn’t want to be too full.

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Also I had bought some really cute cupcakes for my hubby (he didn’t know I had them in the car).

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The massage place was a few blocks walk away from the restaurant so we strolled hand in hand until we reached the place. We had been there before and AS knew I had loved it. I just love the vibe of this place because even as you walk in, you can feel very relaxed because of the ambiance and of the sweet aromas. We waited for a few minutes and it was our time to relax under competent hands.

Valentine (1)

We always go for Aromatherapy Thai massage and we went for the same this time as well. As the lady massaged each part of my body; my stress reduced and my body was relaxing. I just loved the feeling you have when you get a good massage. An hour passed so quickly and we were done. But my body was thankful for every minute of the awesome massage.

We drove home and when we got to our apartment, I gave AS his Valentine’s gift; lots of mini cupcakes which were beautifully decorated with a cupid, hearts, and romantic words. He was really pleased with his cakes and enjoyed his desert. I am really happy that he loved it as it tasted so fresh and soft.

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And this is how I spent my Valentine’s day this year. Do share how yours was?

P.S I think I am more romantic than I care to admit as I just realised today that I have a special category called Valentine’s day in my blog. Seriously, who does that!

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Posted in Relationship, Valentine's Day

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Pretty in Pastels this SUMMER

Posted on February 12, 2013 | 4 comments

This article was published in +977 (a Nepalese Lifestyle Magazine in Australia) in Feb 2012 issue.

977fashion

Pastels are so sweet, soft, romantic and ethereal. Pastels may be pale in hue, but combined with right jewellery and shoes give them a bright look. This summer pastel is not only for kids but everyone who wants to make a fashion statement. You can look sweet despite the heat in a rainbow of taffy-coloured hues.

You can choose outfits from a beautiful pale pink, gold, green, blue, salmon rose, milk caramel, velvety peach, powdery mint, banana, guava, lavender, baby blue and many more. Bags in pale pink, banana, lilac or mint are winners this summer.

Tips to wear pastel colour

  • The most important rule of pastel shades is not to overdo it
  • Wear with a neutral colour like beige, black or white.
  • When wearing pastel make sure to put on more cheek and lip colour
  • Highlight the look with statement accessories
  • Metallic gives pastels a glamorous edge
  • Combine pastel jeans with a white and black top
  • Accessories in pastel shades can also be used separately with full black attire
  • Pastel shoes look amazing in combination with white pants or a light coloured dress
  • Try using a pastel coloured nail polish.
  • A scarf is always a good way to add a touch of pastel to your outfit.

You may also like :

*Autumn Trend Alert: “Dot On” *Fashion from Nepal
 *Spring 2012 Trend Alert: Hello, PETAL!

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Posted in Fashion, Published

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Forever Blackout

Posted on February 10, 2013 | 6 comments

This article was published in +977 (a Nepalese Lifestyle Magazine in Australia) in Feb 2013 issue.

977post

Living in Australia we always hear things happening in Nepal like strikes, Nepal Band, political instability, traffic problem, pollutions and of course load shedding. We always sympathise with the people who have to live with these conditions and we feel sorry for them as they how to put up with all this hardships in life.

I have to admit it is easy to say “Bichara” and move on with our happy life in Australia but it is a different ball game when you are facing the problem first hand. I have been in Nepal for a few weeks now and I had never imagined how much load shedding can affect one’s life until now. How can you lead a normal life if you have to live without electricity for 12 hours a day and it is predicated to be more hours in coming weeks.

Living in Sydney I never have to plan my life around electricity but in Kathmandu you must be a great planer if you want to live a smooth life. Most days, working people of Kathmandu won’t see electricity at their home as there will be no lights when they leave home and there is still no light when they come back  home. It’s like you live in the city that has no electricity at all.

Currently, the only days, I wake up with electricity is twice a week on Sundays and Mondays and rest of the week, no lights during mornings and evenings. If I want to do something that requires electricity, I need to wait till 11 or 12 in the afternoon and quickly finish my chore before electricity goes out again.

It is winter here so if I want to shower with hot water using the hot water geyser, I must run and turn on the geyser as soon as electricity comes on as it is a luxury of only for 4-5 hours. Also I must iron my clothes, charge my entire electrical appliance in that time as well otherwise I have to wait another 7 hours before I can use all the gadgets.

Some people have even water problem because of load shedding. If water is supplied when there is no electricity most people can’t fill their tank which is on their rooftop so they have to ration water to live for day to day life.

We all know that Nepal has a huge hydropower potential. Nepali rivers and the steep gradient of the country’s topography provide ideal conditions for the development of some of the world’s largest hydroelectric projects, approximately 40,000 MW of economically feasible hydropower but currently Nepal has developed only approximately 600 MW of hydropower. Therefore, bulk of the economically feasible generation has not been realized yet.

Nepal is not able to generate even half of the 900 MW peak supply demand during dry season. The electricity demand in Nepal is increasing by about 7-9% per year and so has pollution in major city like Kathmandu so until and unless major hydro electricity projects get started in Nepal, there seems no hope of people of Nepal to expect normal electricity supply in the country.

I hope Nepal will  get its act together soon and generate electricity not only for whole Nepal but also to export electricity to India and China, both of which are in need of more power to fuel their development goals.

There are a few alternatives that people are using in Nepal when power is out like inverter or solar electricity but not everyone can afford this luxury which means people are still using candles everyday like in 1800 in this 21st century to do their everyday tasks.

Most evening if you walk around Kathmandu, the whole street has no light which make the city less safe to go out after sunset affecting lots of shops and restaurants around the country.

Now you can imagine how lucky we are in Australia and rest of the world to have electricity facility and how privileged we are not to have to plan our life around electricity. And I salute all the Nepalis in Nepal who are still happy despite living in a country with major blackouts everyday.

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Posted in Nepal, Published, Social Issue

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My nephew’s Pasni Party

Posted on February 8, 2013 | 8 comments

After the Pasni Puja in the morning everyone was tired including the little one but there was no time to rest as we had a reception organised for 300+ people that evening to celebrate the Pasni ceremony. Pasni ceremonies have become very lavish these days, with large parties of not just close relatives, but also colleagues and friends being invited for the event. As my nephew was the first grand kid for my parents and for my SIL’s parents, they wanted to make sure everyone necessary was invited.

After lunch my MIL, FIL and AS left for home to get some rest and also to get ready for the evening. So as soon as I finished eating, I rushed to my parents’ house to prepare for the evening. There was not much to do as these days you just need to order catering in the party venue and they look after everything for you.

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So I just made sure that mum was ok with what to wear for the evening and she didn’t need any help. My SIL had 2 of her cousins helping her to get ready. We had already decided that my nephew was going to change into a red velvet pasni dress with blue and gold embroidery that I had bought for him.

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So it was my turn to be ready and be there before guest arrived. I first went and did my hair and make-up. I was so excited to wear the special sari I had designed and ordered. It took me more than 2 hours to finally be party ready. When I was done AS picked me up to go to the party venue.

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When we arrived at the venue, most of our close relatives were there already and a photo session was going on with my nephew.

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He was looking really cute and adorable in the red velvet special pasni dress.We made sure we got heaps of family photos as well as photo of the little man.

PARTY PASNI (1)

Proud Grandparents

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Slowly guests started to come one by one. There were lots of relatives from my mum and dad’s sides so I spent lots of time mingling and making sure that everyone was looked after properly.

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Also AS’s side of the family including his aunts, uncles and cousins were invited. Once they arrived at the party I was even busier as I had to talk to everyone and make sure they were eating and drinking properly.

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By this time, the dance floor was slowly getting busy with my uncles, aunts and cousins dancing. I wanted to join them as well but it was a bit hard for me initially as I didn’t know what my in-laws would think. For me party has always been more about dancing and fun more than food but being a new DIL and having all AS’s close relatives at the party, I didn’t want to  go and jump on the dance floor.

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But then one of AS’s aunt showed her desire to join the dance floor and asked me if we shouldn’t enjoy ourselves too. That was the only excuse I needed so I asked all AS’s relative to join us on the dance floor. And yes, that included my MIL as well. I am so glad my MIL took it well and did show her few moves . It was really fun and nice of everyone to just go with the flow attitude. Also AS and his cousins joined and we had a great time. I had to go away from dance floor from time to time to meet relatives who had recently arrived but I was really enjoying everything. I also had few of my good friend joining us for the celebration.

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The evening went quickly and slowly guest started to leave in ones and twos. By the end of the evening only close relatives were left so we all had our meal as well. We made sure everything was OK and then left for home.

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Proud Grand ma

It was really great to be a part of the celebration and it was nice to meet everyone during the celebration.  One of the nicest memories I had from Nepal this trip.

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Happy Fufu

And my nephew was an angel whole day. He didn’t cry and was smiling at everyone. He was held by more than 200+ hands that evening but he was just smiling and playing with everyone that everyone was so impressed to see such a playful happy baby.

He is growing up so fast and every time I see him, there are some nice changes with him. These days he has learnt how to move his fingers in the “come here” sign so it is so cute to watch him do that. Sometimes he is so amazed that he can do that, he keeps on looking at his own hands. Also he is falling in love with himself. Every time he is in front of the mirror, all he does is smile,

8 Comments

Posted in Family, Nepal 2012 / 2013, Nepali Culture, Newari Culture

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