parisian party

I am a HUGE fan of Bollywood movies. I love everything about them- the costumes, the music, the dances! The women are always so elegant and beautiful, and the men are so honorable and gallant. The storylines are usually cut and dry (good over bad) and you’re almost always guaranteed a happy ending (except for Devdas, which still shocks me to this day- but I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it…) I’m also in love with Shahrukh Khan, and hope to get the Sharukh “Ken” for my birthday, but thats probably another post in itself…

I’m going home for a few weeks this summer, and decided to celebrate my birthday early while I’m over there. I’m having a Bollywood Bling Birthday! I finally found an affordable place to have the party, Schuba’s, which is a typical Chicago Tavern. Now I have to come up with ways to transform it into Little India for my party AND I’ll have to do it on the cheap since I paid a FORTUNE to fly Paris - Chicago in July. I’m ordering a lot of stuff on ebay and having it sent ahead before I arrive, but I’m too Type A to choose everything over the internet, so I headed over to La Chapelle. La Chapelle is known as Little Jaffna, because it’s the center of the Sri Lanken community in Paris. The main drag is Faubourg St Denis, where you will find tons of grocery stores, music and DVD shops, travel agencies, jewelery stores, yummy restaurants, and (my favorite) Indian knick-knack stores! Because luggage space is limited, I had to look for small things that I can hide in my suitcase without my hubby having a fit- I spent about 30€ in Nair Saab and came back with a treasure-trove! I got packs of Bindi, incense, stickers, fake henna tattoos, a bunch of pillow-cases (1,50€ each!!) and a big wall hanging of Shiva.

Next I had to find my birthday outfit. I had thought that I wanted to wear a sari- something in orange. But after I found one that I liked, and then tried it on (sorry, no pictures!) I realized that I just didn’t feel comfortable. It felt too much like a costume, plus I was walking around like a robot because I felt like I was going to unravel at any moment! I decided to go for a salwar: a tunic top and pants look.

Honestly, I must have tried on at least 12 different outfits in just as many stores before I found The Perfect Outfit: A burgundy raw silk kurta with tiny gold embroidery at the neckline, plus cream-colored capris with gold embroidery around the cuffs. I feel just like Aishwarya Rai!