jet lagged

top, pants, and belt: f21  |  shoes: zara  | bag:  furla  | ring : ysl  | necklace:  diy

The next time I book a quick weekend trip where I return home a little before midnight Sunday night and then have to be up the following morning at 6 a.m. for work , please tackle me.  It's 2 days later and I'm still feeling jet-lagged.  What's up with that?

But on a much more cheery note, despite the jet-lag and throwing up in the airplane, this weekend was amazing.  Nothing like sitting at breakfast watching the deer run into the backyard, spending time celebrating a loved one's big day, and getting to meet so many (!) new and unknown (to me) family members.  D.C. is such a gorgeous city and each time I leave I'm dying to go back.  It doesn't hurt that I got to squeeze in a little Zara action as well :-)

Happy Wednesday my pets!

you knew these were coming

this past week was a whirl-wind of getting things done.  i probably slept less than 40 hours the entire week...i was on go! go! go! mode up until 3:30 a.m. the night of the party.  but in the end it was ALL worth it.  i had the best time celebrating with my family and friends

two days later, i'm still finding glitter on the floor and half empty bottles of coke on the counter....it really was a great night :)

Repeat Offender

I think I've worn this outfit 3 times in the past week.  Partly because we're moving and it's the first thing I've reached for, but mostly because I think it's a fun outfit.  I felt like I was an 80s girl..shirt tucked in, trouser jeans, and a faded pink blazer.  I've changed it up a teeny bit ( shirts & accessories) but overall the jeans and blazer are lovers.  

These pictures were taken right before the NKOTBSB concert .  My 10/22 year old self was freaking out...the .whole.time.  If you're debating on going, trust me..it's a good show.  I mean they pelvic thrusted like a hundred times.  

I'll share pictures soon.

xoxo

Memory Lane

To some, summer means the end of school, sleeping in, and family road trips.  Growing up, to me summer meant long letters that could only be read on the airplane, endless hours and days lounging by the pool, and last but not least....airports.  Whether going, coming, or seeing a friend off airports hold so many memories for me.  I've mentioned before that I'm a first generation Arab-American.  This means a ton of things, but one of my favorite things is that it means that we have family "back home".  So with the end of schools, comes the beginning of a long list of goodbyes.  So many of our friends make the trip back home during the months of June- August.  It's probably a mixture of nostalgia and a desire to go on vacation, but I found myself looking through old pictures of places I've been and would love to return to.

NYC

December 2009

Egypt

With my cousin in 2003? 2004?  

The Nile (2008)

Lebanon

June-July 2008

Being taught how to techtonik

and last but certainly not least....my favorite place of all :

Palestine

Nablus

Ramallah

Jerusalem


after all, home is where the heart is

My Weekend

My little sister graduated high school this weekend.  I thought I'd give you a glimpse into what we were up to.

I hope your weekend was just as fun

xoxo

DIY: Pink Pants

About a month ago Jessica from What I Wore blogged about some pants that she made.  I become completely obsessed with them and decided this would be a great opportunity to kill multiple birds with one stone (spring break project, my itch to sew, wide leg pants, and to replicate these pants).  So I immediately ventured out to start on my little adventure.  

But it took me a month to complete.

You see, technically I know how to sew.  My sewing isn't clean and neat, and the only teaching I've had has been from my momma when I was a kid.  So needless to say there were many many "What am I doing?!" moments.

So anytime I felt flustered, I would just put the pants down and come back to them with a fresh mind.  It was only the other day that I finally figured out my dilemma.  I sewed my pockets on all wrong, which led to my pants being bubbly, not straight and smooth.  So I'd like to say that I've finally finished my pants, but after wearing them yesterday and looking at the pictures I took, I noticed I need to tailor them a bit more.    But overall, I'm quite pleased with myself.  Who knows, maybe I'll try to sew a pair of jeans next? 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is what our family photo will look like in a few years.

I can't wait.

note to self: get more sleep and never leave the house without bronzer again

When your husband invites you to dinner at a restaurant, always say yes!

Morning!  How are you all today?  Sorry for the lack of post yesterday.  We had a minor medical emergency Wednesday night, which resulted in me getting a couple of stitches.

Want to know what happened?  I'll spare you the gory details (& pictures).

Wednesday's I have clinicals that last from 6: 30 am - 3:30 pm,  so usually I come home and I am so exhausted. I plop myself down on the couch and take a mini nap. 

(I should mention I'm usually up all night Tuesday night because I'm worrying I've forgotten something or that the next day will go horribly wrong....ask someone in nursing school what I mean, they can relate.)

Anyways, I wake up to find my husband has come home early and I'm pretty excited because it's a lovely day outside and I'm thinking of all the possibilities.  Maybe we can go for a walk, or play tennis, have dinner on the balcony?  Alaa tells me not to worry about dinner and that we'll just eat out tonight.  I'm not a big fan of eating out, so I told him we'd save it for another day and I'll just make tacos.  I open the fridge and notice that we have zero tomatoes left and no sour cream.  So I'm like uh-oh, what are we supposed to put on our tacos?!  Then I remember that we have a couple of avocados so I decided to make guacamole.  Do you guys know that trick where you stick your knife into the pit of the avocado to take the seed out?  Just  stick, twist, and it pops out.

 ( I'm a bit OCD, and doing this keeps the pretty look of the avocado.  I have issues, I know..) 

We'll, I got the first avocado pit out, but the second one wouldn't hold the knife.  I tried to stick it again, and somehow the knife skimmed the surface of the avocado and sliced my finger.  

It was bad.

I was in shock.  I think I let out a gasp followed by a million weak "OMG" and next thing I know my husband is rushing around getting my ID and taking me to the local minor medical center (we probably should've gone to the ER).

Anyways, we left almost 5 hours later and with 10 stitches on my left ring finger. ( I can't fit my wedding ring over my finger :( ) I've never broken a bone before, so 10 stitches is a pretty big deal to me.  And on one finger?  Have mercy.

So at midnight, we finally leave, get my antibiotics, and stop by Taco Bell because my poor husband is starving.  That's when Alaa turns to me and says, " I told you lets go out to eat earlier!"  I couldn't help but laugh.

So the moral of the story is:

When your husband invites you to dinner at a restaurant, always say yes!

Slumber Party

My sister surprised me by sleeping over last night.  I was pretty excited because well...no one sleeps over.  Excuses excuses..tsk tsk.  We're nice people..I swear!

Anyways, my sister is a make-up maniac and so she gave me a mini makeover.  I'm sure the results would have been far superior had she had her own make-up utensils ( mine are not up to par to say the least).  Pizza, eyeliner, curling irons, & sisters...what could be more fun?

And here is the debut of my bangs.  I mentioned before that I was on the line about getting bangs.  Well, I finally did!  Truthfully, I don't think they're my thing.  I think my cheeks are too chubby to have such full bangs.  It just feels like a lot of commotion around my face.  Or maybe I'm still not used to the look yet?

This was supposed to be a shot of the make-up.  There was a ton of eyeliner..something I'm always so scared to do.  But as usual, my sister did a good job.

Hope your all having a fabulous day!

xoxo

Wedding Week: Part II

When I decided to share my engagement pictures with you, I obviously forgot about these.  But I'm committed to showing you each step of our engagement journey so I guess I'll poke a little fun at myself.

The Khutbeh

February 16, 2008

So after 2 months of being engaged we threw a larger party for our family and friends.  This is usually the first big event where you celebrate your engagement with the community.  Oh, and apparently you have to wear a BIG dress.  Yea..I had no say in that.

I told you it was big.  In my defense, the dress DID NOT look like that in the photo I saw before ordering it.  It was supposed to be burgundy and it looked silky..what I got was a fuchsia dress made out of taffeta.  I looked like I was going to my Quincanera.( On second thought, I've actually always wanted one of those..)  When I saw the dress for the first time I wanted to cry.  I also wanted to grab the closest scissor and tear it apart but the party was two days away and I had no other alternative.  The night before the party I slipped on the dress and you know what?  I actually kind of liked it.  It was fun to dance in and it was too late to do anything about it.  If I could go back and choose another dress would I?  Most likely yes.  Sometimes I see the pictures and cringe, but then I remember the memories and I soften up a bit.

My hair inspiration came from Carrie Underwood, but I'll talk about my hair stylist in the wedding post.  Now, that was a story!

 At the Khutbeh, all it really is is tons of dancing with some hors dourves.  I think we only sat down once and only to take a picture.  When I say we dance a lot I mean we danced from around 7 p.m. to midnight..straight.  It was a fun night..and I'm glad that all of our guests had fun too.

And before I end today's post I wanted to leave you with this

See, I'm not the only one who wanted to wear a big burgundy dress!!

Tomorrow is The Henna.  Probably my favorite day!

Monday, Monday, Monday

Have I ever mentioned that I am a nursing student?  How could I not ?!...Being a nursing student consumes every aspect of my life.  It is my main priority and it definitely affects everything else in my life.    Mondays are always tough because I have two three hour classes back to back.  Go to the hospital.Then do hours upon hours of homework (which I can never catch up to!) And be present at the hospital bright and early at  6:30 a.m.  

Did I mention I love it?  As difficult and stressful as it is, I love nursing.

But, needless to say my veins are concentrated with this stuff 

 And I have learned the beauty of this little guy

But honestly, I couldn't be able to do it without this guy

or this lady

My husband and mom are my everything.