Dress Red Dresss Boutique  Sandals Steve Madden  Wool Hat (linking similar one that’s available in three colors)

The City Palace in Jaipur is truly a work of art. It was the very first place we visited and it immediately blew my mind. The architecture, colors, and design was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. We spent quite some time exploring the grounds and learning about its history from our tour guide. (For the record, our tour guides name was Rajesh (with TAV tours) & he was fantastic. He truly made Jaipur a city to remember and overloaded knowledge on us about everything!! Without him we would’ve been lost! I highly recommend him if you’re traveling over there!) This complex was built in the 18th century and still remains as a royal residence today. I was hoping we might see some royalty but instead we got to walk around the meeting hall, examine old artifacts, and  view preserved clothing that they use to wear. Hopefully, after looking at some of these pics maybe you can imagine you were there with me!

Inside this palace you’ll find a courtyard area with these four doors.

The peacock gate represents autumn and is dedicated Lord Vishnu. You enter the courtyard through this gate and immediately see the three others. They are all symmetrical of one another.

The rose gate represents the winter season. It’s dedicated to the goddess devi.

The lotus gate represents summer and is dedicated to Shiva and Parvati.

The green gate, representing spring, is dedicated to Lord Ganesha.

These doors represent seasons and I’m used to associating seasons with months & temperatures. Days go by and seasons change. Time passes and temperatures adjust (at least in our time zone – EST/CST they do). With that being said I saw these doors in a different perspective.  Through my eyes I think they are symbolizing life changes. As you/we move from door to door, we are changing.. just like we all experience change within our life. As I stood in the middle of the courtyard, taking pictures, I thought to myself, “I’m in a season of life right now. As time passes I’ll enter a new season. just like I would enter through these doors for ‘yearly seasons’.” Are you catching on to the analogy I’m making? In my heart the doors represented so much more than just beautifully designed art, and god’s, and seasons. They represented how I feel about change within my life. Right now I’d like to think I’m standing at the summer door. Not because it’s summer and it’s hot, but because I’m like a lotus flower this year. Blooming to new adventures, expanding the horizons in my soul, and letting my old life fall off of me like water drops. I’m learning, growing, adjusting. Check back with me in a year to see what door I’m at?  And think about what door you would be at and why <3