Friday's Feature : Amna Hakim photography

Salaam !

I don't know about you but I'm a huge fan about photography ! I , myself like to take many photos of me and my life , but I have a wide range of favourite photographers, most of them located in Canada .

It's been about 2 years since I discovered Aamna Hakim Photography and I must admit it's absolutely wonderful . Aamna captures intense moments beautifully , and every wedding photographed by her seems surreal !
One day , while going through her blog , I discovered that she once photographed a Moroccan wedding ! I fell in love with the pictures , as nobody ever before photographied a moroccan wedding in such way . The pictures speak for themselves , and anyone watching them is blown away by the beauty of both the photography and the magnificent moroccan traditions .

 

Did you see the moroccan tea's photos ? they are wonderful and make me crave for tea right now ! 

Also the wedidng flavors photos ! 

Have a good day and  a nice week end everyone ! 

Strawberry Smoothie & Marinated Chicken

Salaam you all !
I'm passionate about food ! and who isn't , you must say ?
No seriously , I truly am . I'm though the type of people who pay attention to their eating habits , and - yes I will admit it - pretend sometimes ( maybe more than sometimes ) to be on a diet , but I love food ! I would say that my favourite range would be desserts and sweet dishes , this would be perfectly explained by my baking hobby , but recently I discovered that I am a fan of spiced dishes and a chicken-addict .

Now that my exams are over , I've been trying on many dishes , and I found out that indeed my city has a wide range of wonderful tasty restaurants !

The other day ( last day of exams ) apperead to be also the birthday of a dear friend and neighbour , so we went to the mall to have a nice chat and "have" something . It was arounf 10.20am , and we were in between breakfast and lunch , so what we were looking for was something light yet delicious . We went for "Amareno" which is a type of  a bakery , where from I uselly take ice cream . Their ice cream is one of the best in the city , very smooth and the flavour is slice but present . However, this time I decided I'd for something else , as we weren't in the mood of ice cream . I took the Strawberry smoothie menu which consists of a strawberry milk shake and a strawberry/blue berry cake . It was AWESOME ! my friends went for the caramel and the chocolate menu , which was delicious as well , but the strawberry smoothie was succulent and perfect !

The second dish that I loved this month was the Marinated Chicken , also from the mall ( I don't recall the restaurant's name though ) . This was actually adviced to us by two friends . We had some work with the organization , and we went for our lunch break to the mall . Usually , for lunch in the mall , we go straight to the food court , but this time my 2 friends adviced us to taste the marinated chicken . Eventually we were added to them on the list of addicted people to the marinated chicken ! 

As a big fan of chicken I just fell in love with this dish ! This dish made of a shwarma of chicken with cheese , along with salad and barbecue chips , has a spiced arabian flavour and is served along with a white sauce , kind of mayonnaise with other ingredients I wasn't able to define ! After seeing the dish and it price , I was litteraly Chocked ! such dish in such a restaurant at a cheap price makes it the ideal one for whatever occasion ! 

Now I'm eager to discover more dishes in my city ! 

Have a nice day everyone ! 

Get through

Salaam 
Summer is coming . Last week it's been really hot in here , btu this days it's cool ; sunny but not hot , sometimes even a bit cold . 


I haven't posted in quiet sometime and the excuse for being busy doesnt truly fit this time . However , one thing I noticed was that many of the blogs I follow haven't been updated recently ! Exept for Ihijabi and Shaza's scrapbook . 
It makes me think , maybe it's not about being busy but probably not having the intention or motivation to write a non interesting -even unpleasant - blog post .
As for my case , work ( what I mean by work would be my role among the organization I'm part of ) has been taking All my life ! 
We're facing several serious problems in it in this past few months , and this hasn't been free of stress or anxiousness . Especially when sometimes , there is nothing truly that we can do yet , we are so interested and concerned . Well in shaa Allah khair , and goign through all those details is definitely something I don't want to go through or write aboute right now , simply because it's an everyday concern that is 24/7 on my mind . 


But this , indeed , showed me how patient I can be , and if you know me you'll be chocked hearing this because I'm the last person in the world who can wait this long . I passed through depression , tears , stress , anger and being upset all the time , it just didn't work and wont obviously work . The horrible fact that there is no runnign away from waiting makes me tired , and eventually we are going to turn toward waiting again . 


Nothing come easy , and alhamdulilah I learned to be patient since chosing is way much better than having to be forced to accept it . 


It's very consoling to know I'm not alone in this , many people are in the exact same situation , but most of all knowing that people who aren't concerned show their support . It overwhelmes me getting messages from peers , friends and coworkers in other offices , asking about if there are any updates , and offering to listen , and comforting me , I'm deeply grateful and thankful to that alhamdulilah . 


Everything has an end , thankfully , but the journey is what matters , and in shaa Allah this will end on kheir with a lesson and a happy faith , and we will get through it . 


I would like to end this post about a very deep and beautiful quote that spreads hope and courage deep inside ( it is from Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashed Al maktoum's book , and was used in the speech of AUD's Valedictorian during the graduation ceremony of this year ) :           " Every morning in Africa , a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or be killed . Every morning in Africa,a lion wakes up . It knows it must run faster the slowest gazelle , or it will starve . It doesn't matter whetter you're a lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better start running ."

In her Handbag !

Salaam !
I've been going through my favourite magazine , and I found a huge selection of latest fashionable handbags for this upcoming summer !

It actually gave me a craving of buying a ( ok maybe more :D ) new handbag(s) !
I don't know about other regions , but we Arab girls tend to have that huge passion and love toward bags ! We buy plenty of them for every occasion , and sometimes just because we want to ! I , myself, have quite a big collection of bags I've been having since quite sometimes now ! The other day my mum asked me to make a selection of bags I didnt need or use anymore so we can get rid of them , because they just take so much place . That was a hard task for me ! I mean , I might not use all of them ( because to be honest , I just tend to stick to one bag and keep holding for many days ) , but I still love and Need them !
Furthermore , I found out my mum was indeed right . I didnt use many of them anymore ( some were really old !) , and that was indeed a great opportunity to renew my handbags wardrobe ! :D

I bought 3 handbags this year , and I'm intending to buy more !
I would say that handbags and clutches aren't just an accessory you use for gathering stuffs you need for going out , it's much more of a sign of delicance . They come in great styles, attractive designs , gorgeous colors and innovative shapes , which complements your personality and mood ! However ; some people ( including my mum lol ) and a big part of western women have limited number of bags with major colors ( black , brown and white ) that they would change according to the dress color and season . Sorry ladies , I need a matching bag for almost every outfit , and it doesnt necesseraly have to be black or white !
This indeed reminded me I need a white bag , and some clutches since I don't have much ! :D I'm just waiting for the latest summer designes to be available on the market !




I love this white bag , and the purple clutch ( I have an upcoming family wedding , and I'l be wearing a purple dress ! )

                                                              

                           

2 Months Update

Salaam you all !
I can't believe it's been 2 months I didnt post anything . I got like really busy :/
Well , I'm back now , and dont think I'll be that busy again .

My university life is going really good , only 2 more weeks of classes , then finals !
So last Month was my birthday , and that was a really nice day ! I mean beside the fact that I'm a year older now , but it doesnt really bother me . My friends took me out , and we had a nice evening together !

Before that , I went to an international conference held in my country , and that was truly the most amazing event of this year ! I'll dedicate a special post about that later .
The organization work is tight these days , as we're planign for much and have alot to do , but it's always done with passion and exitment !

Holidays are coming , but I don't have any great plans this year , exept my cousin's wedding after Ramadan inshallah ! If you read my previous posts , you'll know that I'm really exited about her wedding . Maybe even more than her lol :D but I guess it's because I always waited for it since we were all raised in one family and had so much together , all my childhood memories are connected to her ! I just pray Allah everything will be fine and go well .
So talking about that , I'm planing also for the wedding ! the other day we accompanied her to chose the jewellery and all ,and that was really wonderful ! My dress also came from the tailor which a relief as I wouldnt have to wait for it stressed and being afraid it wont be ready for the wedding . it needs some more retouches and stuffs to be added to , but they are last minute so need to worry alhamdulilah !

Last week we had the spring break that as usual flew away ! buit fun and relaxing , free of stress and the type of holidays you sit at home and go out sometimes . It was actually the opportunity to recapitulate with my family , since we didnt spend much time together in quite long . I ddint even remember the last time we all went together for a family day , just hanging around the mall and having dinner , and it was what we did last Friday , alhamdulilah it was splendid .

So I guess this was a quick update about me and my life for the past 2 months , I'm planing more detailed posts about important events that occured this past days , and also about upcoming ones inshallah , so till next time take care of yourselves !

WR : Proposal

Salaam ! 
I hope every reader of this post is doing well !
I haven't posted in few days , I was in an incredible other experience with my association ! ( but that's another post ! :D )

Today I'll be talking about wedding proposals ! 
Either they are done by phone , by a mutual friend ( a friend talks to you about how the man wants you for marriage) , directly , or by parents contacting parents , the marriage proposal is one unique events that marks a start to a new life phase !


We girls tend to imagine how our proposals would look like , would it be over a romantic candles dinner , by gathering friends and family so he can ask in front of everyone , would he take you to vegas and ask you at midnight , would it be while walking on the beach ? 


Totally normal we make incredible scenes in our minds , we've been watching and hearing about fairy tales since a very young age , maybe too young age . 
I believe this take us far away and we forget the real purpose of a proposal n but most of all the true message it is suppose to send . 
Searching via the net , I found this very interesting video ! I'll let you watch it , and you'll eventually come to the same conclusion


                    
How cuutteeee ! isn't it ? isn't the guy just wonderful !! that's how every girl should get proposed to ! 


Soryy to disappoint you , but to me it isn't really the case . Concerning the video , the whole porposal was awesome ! she was happy , overwhelmed and couldnt find her words ! I'm happy for them both and hope they'll get a life full of love and happiness .
But accordinng to me , what is special about this proposal is how he expressed his love , and how she felt . 
So it doesnt automatically means that , if the proposal isn't like this , the whole proposal wont be awesome . 
what matters is the message and how it is expressed . If your man thinks that you'd love this way , and if he himself like big extravanga things , believe me you'll get a similar maybe better proposal . 
Though other people - like Me :D - like things simply and a bit more private . If I had to think how I'd want him to propose to me , I'd say , it should be a nice private dinner where we'll be both relaxed and at ease :) 


So no matter how your proposal is , remember what matters is YOU . your man and you , your feelings and what you have toward each other :) 
If your guy appears to be religious and goes straight to contacting your parents , yet asking his parents to contact yours , you can make him propose directly to you after you and your family accept :D 


So till next time , take of yourselves !
Bunch of love from a little women with pretty thoughts ! :D <3 !

Horses - Daughters Of The Wind

Salaam , 

Hope you 're doing well inshAllah . 
These days the weather is getting nice and sunny and makes you have the envy to go on a vacation ! 
So for my last post of this month I want to share a beautiful Nasheed abotu horses ! 
It's i sang by Mishari Alafasy and mashAllah he's got such a beautiful voice . The clip itself is wonderful with gorgeous views and horses . And I guess we all like these magnificant creatures ! 


Enjoy it ! 


Till next time !