ramblings of a sugar addict

a7im..

2009-12-18T18:29:00.002+03:00

Hello lovelies..

jooj is officially back!! I realize I've probably said that a few times over the past 6 months or so, but I think I'm back for good this time.

The past few months that were absolutely exhausting, and comprised of 7 hour stretches of non-stop research and writing in the depressing and slightly mildew-ey smelling library with minimum coffee breaks because I learnt the hard way that one does NOT leave their stuff unattended in libraries in London..and I'm not a fan of lugging an ironically full never-full across campus to the nearest starbucks for some close to reasonably caffeinated coffee unlike the equivalent of brown water thats served at the coffee shops at uni

Anyways, I am back home (Doha in this case) .. still hasn't sunk in though, I think I'll most probably be instinctively heading towards the nearest Qatar Airways in a few weeks to book my return ticket, only to realize I have no where to return to! jk I'm enjoying being back home, but just feel a little lost as to my lack of insight on what to do next.. *neon flashing sign "FIND A JOB" *..

Things have been hectic since I got back though, since we moved into a new house that I still haven't warmed up to, which is probably due to the fact that my bedroom is completely empty, aside from my bed from our old house and a tangle of charger wires, since I insisted that I wanted to redecorate myself and made it very clear that absolutely NO ONE was to touch my room until I got back and gave the green light, the redecorating process is slightly frustrating though since furniture shops don't seem to have my Marie Antoinette-esque neo classical vision, and I'm not bothered to do the order from Italy or wherever thing that will take too long.. so until then I will be collecting pieces from different stores and have begun to stock pile throw pillows and interesting looking lamps until I find my dream bed..

So far my dressing room is my fav part of the house.. probably only because my shoes are all there- though I'm not completely happy with it since the neo classical style light wood and glass doored walk in closet I showed my mother a picture of before leaving to London has mysteriously turned into a brightly lit overly modern WHITE and very edgy walk in closet.. hmph..

Oh have I mentioned I'm sooo not the home furnishing/decorating person.. I have absolutely NO patience for color swatches and pantone paint samples.. when I say purple I assume the paint dude knows what shade of deeeep royal velour tracksuit looking purple I mean and get overly frustrated when I'm presented with no less than 12 shades of the WRONG purple..

Ah almost forgot, todays December 18th, marking Qatar's National Day so kel3am wnto b5air, on cue *ilyoum youm ils3ad fe deeeert ahl il7mya dar iltimeemi 7amad 9boolah ilshathlyyah* .. ok that's about as patriotic as I'm getting, after the f3aliyat of last year, yesterday on the way to a tres cute gathering at a friends house, with a national day theme *jalabya's compulsory* 3ar'6a music provided, I again got stuck in traffic between two cars, one with 9 year old boys yarzifoon out of the sun-roofs on a friggin high-way, and another blasting music, with a bunch of overly excited teeny bopper girls who looked like walking flags attempting to get the attention of an AD plate numbered range rover a few lanes away sporting pictures of both ilshaikh Khalifa bin Zayed andddd ilshaikh Hamad.. madre 5awala g6ryeen, aw jayeen yqadmoon foroo'6 il wala2 wil 6a3a 7ag sha3b g6ar al shaqeeqa :P so I decided today, to the dismay of my friend who shall remain unnamed but had JUST finished finals the day before that I would not be partaking in any activities such as a) cruising the kornaish and other maseera ridden areas, b) going 3ar'6a watching (so sad :( ), c) karaking via the 3ar'6a area's or kornaish, or d) all of the above..

T3bt t9dgon.. m3na badya hal post 3ady mn sa3tain bas I keep getting kicked out of the 9ala for satellite fixing dudes to come in etc and so far the wireless still isnt up to par and only works in the 9ala .. fun times.. till next time my loves xox

Yallah b7sn al 5atema..

2009-09-12T16:59:00.008+03:00

As much as I love Ramadan.. I've noticed that all it seems to do nowadays is bring out the worst possible side in people.. the number of pre-f6oor psycho-esque incidents I've witnessed seriously can be made into a book.. but of course once that tamra is downed by the ice cold glass of liban its all good again..so they think..

I've been in so many road rage incidents with people I used to consider "3ain il3agil " that I've sworn never to get in a car with them behind the wheel again.. vocally.. to them!

I've heard so many heated phone conversations about the stupidest things.. I've heard various swear words being thrown around.. and even more gossipy gossipy tales told.. and then I watched them wrap themselves in their simply embellished "shailat 9alah's" and open their Quran's at the page they last stopped at.. and act as if they didn't just screw their 9yam moments ago..

I've heard doors being slammed.. phones being shut in rage.. remotes being thrown.. maids being yelled at.. and yet still manage to say I love this month.. but yes I have had quite enough.. oh did I forget to mention how they scurry off to Qiyam prayers after spending hours chitchatting about the goings on of other peoples private lives.. ahh..lets just stop there and get to the positive part of this post..

I've decided that my dissy is going absolutely no where as long as I'm back home (being Qatar in this case).. therefore with no further adieu I have decided that as soon as we're done with the meaningless hustle and bustle of 3eed, I am going home (in this context though home is London) and I'm staying put till its time to submit my dissy..which gives me 2 months or so..

I miss the walks in the park.. I miss meaningless wandering around exploring never been to streets and teeny weeny boutiques.. I miss the excitement me and my friends share at the prospect of finding the new "it" cafe or dessert place.. I miss the starbucks barista who thought he was funny and asked me every morning if I found a suitable parking spot for my rolls royce and laughed when I would EVERY MORNING show him my oyster card with a smile.. I miss grocery shopping with no obnoxious "obo 3yal" following you around the grocery store.. I miss just leaving the house in whatever I was wearing inshallah pj pants and a hoodie to go to my friends flat across the street.. I miss sitting in my balcony listening to 3abdel7aleem and drinking my latest hot drink obsession.. I miss my cousin coming over and switching the soundtrack to dagny instead and dancing for the entertainment pleasure of my surprised neighbors.. I miss my uni's oh so un-user-friendly library and the rude assistants.. I miss the revolving door hitting me on the ass every morning because atani7 while looking for my student card in my humungous bag..I miss getting frustrated after lectures and hopping on the first bus I see just to see where I'll end up (not always wise).. ahhh I even miss the stereotypical Harrods outings just to see who's going to be there while we very well know whooo and when they are going to be there.. I miss getting all glammed up for an outing with the girls then throwing a pair of flats in my bag juuust in case before rushing out the door.. I MISS MY LIFE..!

God I hope this post doesn't jinx my plans.. mashallah mashallah tabarak Allah la ilaha ila Allah.. for good measure..

And as you can see I've been channeling my energy into baking.. and I quote "this is orgassssmic" :D yay my double layer walnut brownie cake with cream cheese frosting is successful (quite the understatement) :D .. and attempting to work on my dissy both by day and night.. equally useless might I add..

oh .. and please don't think I live in a lunatic asylum regarding the descriptions of slight signs of crazy mentioned above.. my family is quite sane.. most of the time ;)

Rama'6an gaaanaaa

2009-08-21T14:59:00.004+03:00

I think I've taken to disappearing for unknown amounts of time without prior notice .. I like to keep you on your toes ;) But I'm back.. don't know how regularly I'll be posting because I'm attempting to finish my never-ending dissertation (from now on will be referred to as my "dissy" or the curse of the devil).. which is as I mentioned.. never-ending.. just like youm iljm3a.. ironically enough ilyoum is iljm3a.. jm3a mbarkah.. wait didn't they say you can't say that anymore.. well if you can then there it is, and if you can't, well sorry I guess you can ignore it..

I'm tres excited about Ramadan, and was sooo disappointed yesterday when they said it would start on sat instead of today! Anyways, alls good.. closet's been stocked with adorably cute and comfy jalabiya's.. new fnayeel and dlal have been bought (was my job this year I got sooo excited in the shop my friend kep

t calling me um s3eed :P ).. fattening and shabe3-ing so7oor goodies have been stocked up on.. every last can of cherry coke (only get this craving fe irm'6an) has been bought and are chilling nicely in the fridge.. ok that's about it lol

I also have a bi%#$ of a backache! madre mn wsho it's not like thab7a 3mre bl work outs or anything.. thought it could be the endless hours (or hour) I spend each day mjabla il laptop and the million page articles I'm supposed to be practically memorizing for my dissy.. I think it's that.. lets just blame everything on the good for nothing dissy.. have I mentioned how much I'm hating the dissy process.. even if I haven't , I think it's been implied.. ok thats enough for now..

Mbark 3alekm ilshahrrrr Allah y3oodha 3alikm w 3alina b5air w 9e7a w salama inshallah :*

I'll leave you with a preview of my jalabiya fetish.. and my two loves who got over excited at the prospect of another month off pre-school *hearts*

shaab galby wl 3mr tawh shabaab..

2009-07-08T00:31:00.002+03:00

And another year rolls around.. jooj is now all of 23 years old.. I feel very blah.. I fein sleep as I don't feel like picking up all the birthday calls.. and I attempt to sound (type?) enthusiastic replies to the many sms's and bbm's.. but I just don't care.. I appreciate that my friends and family remember my birthday and call me at 12am sharp and I love them all to death for it, but really..

I realize how cynical and pessimistic this sounds but really.. does a birth DAY really mark anything.. if anything should mark your life or the number of years you've graced humanity with your presence its your accomplishments and al thkr il6ayyb that you leave behind.. and not a date on a calendar.. aarghhh.. madre shfeni I hate that I feel this way on my birthday .. but all the pretty boxes and ribbons and bows just seem kind of shallow right now..

People keep asking me what I want for my birthday and get frustrated when I answer "mafy shay fe 5a6re, al7amdla".. where as I really want to say "I want to be left alone" ..

aah this is such a depressing post.. hopefully I'll be feeling more celebratory in the morning..

here's to life

Random BiKshars

2009-06-30T12:31:00.007+03:00

After a "hectic" exam session we decide to dali3 ourselves even more if possible and indulge our inner fashionistas and go have Pret-a-Portea at the Berkley... note the Paul "Frank" cutlery as um 9waile7 referred to it hahaha ;)

Hathiii 3ad bnt il kalb qhratni ib jesm-ha chan akl ras-ha.. please excuse the chipped goth-like purple polish :P

And of course we cant post pics without including my lovely Hummingbird cuppie-cakes.. red velvet and black bottom of course .. *drool*

These sweets were from an old school candy store in Kent.. che 9j mal awal w theres a letter at the entrance from Willy Wonka himself giving the store permission to sell his sweets in those big ass jars etc mafe shay wrapped ywanissss.. not so hygienic but cute all the same! note the bai'6 3yoon 7alawa!!

The mug pretty much states my mantra "a balanced diet is a piece of cake in each hand" I should've bought the entire stock and handed them out to anorexic looking stick people :P

And as we strutted our stuffed selfs down the streets of Sloane.. after having just indulged in our favorite sugar-rush (ok second favorite), crack-brownies (a.k.a hazelnut brownies) from Ottolenghi on Motcomb st, we happened to come across two of my favorite things, after cupcakes of course, but put together, TOGETHER, ice cream & Hermes! It was the cutest thing ever, and tres yummy too! Kudos to City Girl for spotting them!

So my friend fatoosh a.k.a um 9waile7 drew us on a plate when we went to visit her in Kent.. it was soo much fun I absolutely LOVED Kentttt it was sooo cute and SOOO fatooosh, esp. the tree climbing episodes... wish I could post a vid of that hahaha

Soooo that's pretty much it, the rest have been censored so I don't divulge my identity (5efy 3alina inte wl identity malich, ur nick name pretty much states ur name skte bas skte jooj) .. ok that's not true I'm just too lazy to upload the rest :P

ta ta for now lovlies :* hope you enjoyed

Back?

2009-06-22T11:48:00.002+03:00

I'm such a bad mama :( I forgot my baby blog's first birthday .. (which was June 10th :x )

FORGIVE MEEEEEEEEEEE.... lat7rmeeeni mn cupcakes w chay PLEASEEEEEEE <- ya belfait apology mtjeh lel blog..

Well I'm sure I didn't intentionally forget it, but I kind of disconnected myself from the blogsphere for the past few months because I had finals.. and had to.. wait .. I can't bring myself to say it.. *deep breath* .. pack up.. my..flat.. and.. ... la ma a3lant eflasy.. I just had finished exams etc and the parentals decided that it was high time their dear "ambitious" daughter..leaves.. her beloved London :(

But do not fret oh streets of Sloane, Walton and Bond, my loyal acquaintances at Aubaine, Joe's, and many more cafe's I will not disclose for fear of Arab infestation.. I shall return.. :D and sooner rather than later.. but sadly as an obnoxious visitor and not a education seeking spoiled student.. aaah.. all good things come to an end..

I don't think it's hit me that I'm back here for good.. the last time I came back home after studying abroad.. I had SEVERE depression for no less than 3 months of constant tears and sleep.. so far I've been so busy I don't think it's hit me that THIS IS IT.. I have no more excuses.. I can't make up another degree.. well there's a PhD but I recall discussing that with dad a few months back and he basically or quite bluntly said "wain nlgalech rayl 3nda masters 3ashan nlgalch wa7d 3nda Phd?!?!" .. so I'm guessing the PhD is out of the question until further notice.. baini w bainkm I don't even wanna do a PhD, malaait mn il derasa.. I just want another excuse to leave hahaha.. don't get me wrong I love do7a and I love my family to death.. but I kinda love my independence a bit more :x

ok well kind of long for a "I'm Back" post.. but I'll try to post more frequently .. though I don't know what would keep from FROM posting seeing as I have nothing to do at the time being.. besides obvious family obligations etc...

you have been missed my lovlies x

The intellectual across the aisle..

2009-05-05T00:43:00.002+03:00

So after an impromptu visit back home to Q town, aka Qatar for a few days, i was interrogated on the 7 am plane ride back to London by an intellectual american across the aisle from me.

He was amazed at the fact that underneath the "sophisticated and elegant" embroidered veil (a.k.a 3abaya :P ) i was dressed like his teenage daughters.. i think he may have expected me to be in a jalabeyya or maybe a princess jasmine esque ensemble complete with the bare midriff hahaha.. wallah i wouldnt mind travelling in a jalabeyya lo la il 5oof ina wana nayma seegani te6la3 :P

He thought it was amazing that under that untouchable exterior and the air of indifference to anything and everything as he put it with the huge designer shades and crystalized flats and extra large intimidating embossed hand bag (this dude knew his fashion terminology) was a teenage girl in a tracksuit and a pony tail who fell asleep promptly after take off.. i failed to inform him that i was not a teen and was in fact in my 20's..:P

He told me this as he sipped on his double espresso and admired my macbook air as i typed away my international branding strategy final report, very (almost too) interested in what i was typing and at my perfect english.. he said that he'd been all over the gulf and found that qatari women were the least open and friendly towards foreigners and that even in saudi arabia he managed to strike up conversations with random strangers in hotels etc asking about their views and culture, but in qatar he found all the females standoffish and very unreachable even if one was sitting across from him in a cafe or next in line at a shop counter.. he looked familiar for some reason (then again everyone looks familiar to me) fa i thought weeh laykoon hes a reporter or something and hes going to like quote me or something in a controversy striking article about qatar! b3dain glt kaifa may3rf ismi (as if he was actually a reporter) :P

He kept saying that females like myself were a pride to the region and should keep up our good work (ay work allah wkeelk masawait shay mofeed fe 7yaty klha :P ) i thanked him and went back to my paper.. only to be interrupted again asking if the reason I had waited for some time to take off my 3abaya was significant, i said no and that i was sleepy and took it off so i could sleep more comfortably.. he said "ohh I thought you may have been waiting till after we cross over the saudi border" .. shraykm into bas :P k2na il hay2a by6l3lonli fe GMC jawwy w bts7bni mn sh3ry le agrab markaz lel da3wa wl irshad because oh lord almighty,i had removed my trusty 3aba..

Mskeen.. i swear mskeen.. he was soo interested and he felt that he hadnt gotten enough out of his short visit to qatar because he wasnt able to interact with half of the population, the women. why is it so difficult to do so, why must there be a million barriers between women and men.. it will only add to more "issues" and taboos emerging from the depths of our complicated culture.. ahh how i love our 3oqad.. *please note the sarcasm* .. ana magool ina it should be completely normal for any male forgien or otherwise to walk up to a female in public be it a mall , the street, a cafe, a hotel whatever, but forgieners shouldnt feel intimidated or unable to interact with the local population, however small it is.. what kind of image does that give off about the country? he said that he enjoyed every bit of his visit nonetheless but only wished to have some insight from the locals about the rapid developments and projects that are popping up like crazy.. what they thought about it all, and if they resented the vast foriegn population for taking over their country..

I told him that in my opinion for now qatar needs this vast foreign population mainly because the local population are not nearly enough to manage and be employed in all the new industries, and secondly because the locals will not do laborious tasks.. eventually they will have to, but now thanks to the government and the high GDP and GNP (al7amdillah 3al ni3ma), a very large percentage, if not the majority of the qatari population are quite well off and do not need to resort to such "menial" jobs.. i'm not saying this is a good thing, i think that the country should be built by its countrymen, not a bunch of nepalese construction workers who dont give two shi$ts if the building they're working on collapses on the heads of the hundereds of people who will be employed in them within a year of its completion.. aah alas 3oqdat modeer il3am wl maktab w hat chay w 9b ghwa w hat il jireeda have taken over the minds of the new generation of employees.. i read an article the other day that about 80% of the work in government institutions in qatar is done by female employees because the men are too busy reading the sports page.. ila al amam ya banat :)

Inspector Cluso/ Sherlock Holmes and breakfast :P

2009-04-12T10:43:00.003+03:00

Here I am.. back in Heidelberg for an unknown amount of time... till I absolutely haaave to back in London for uni I guess.. which is in another two weeks.. lovely..hmph

Various instants around here have made me laugh so much I started to cry.. not because they were actually that funny.. but because so5reyat al qadar has put me in such a situation that there's nothing left to do but laugh.. y3ne the stupidest of things have left me in peals of laughter, the kinds that result in stomach and backaches!

At the hotel we stay in here in Heidelzeft oops I mean Heidelberg- there was another guest (I say another because the occupancy was like 10 people.. and 5 of them belonged to my family) so basically the staff are on first name basis.. well last name basis .. with our last name which they've raped quite nicely.. with us all ma3ndhm '3airna w ma3ndna '3airhm :P anyways back to the guy.. klyoum netlaga 3al breakfast (yes jooj sha6oora w etgoom tetrayyag m3 omha hnee at the crack of dawn.. aka 9 am..almost reminds me of my morning runs to starbucks on the way to uni only to get yelled at by my friend who INSISTS on waiting outside starbucks because apparently MY and only MY morning chai latte will provide israeli's with yet another bomb..bas mb maw'6o3na) anyways this guy "Herr Holmes" as they called him would always sit on the table nearest to ours.. order an omlette.. and when it arrived he would literally cut it to pieces and start saying to himself in a kind of eerie whisper that got louder gradually "no meat! no meat! NO MEAT!" as he went through the tiny pieces.. well duh no meat yalthoor 6alib omlette wsho tabi telga steak m5shoosh fel ne9?.. w kelyoum 3ala hal 7ala

This of course going on in front of our very eyes at 9 effing am would have me and mommy dearest in fits of laughter unable to hold our cups of tea properly.. and thus everytime we see anything that looks remotely like an egg mama looks at me and asks "no meat?" .. this happens quite alot though due to Easter hahaha fa fe eggs hanging on every lamp post and ywaz3oon hathaila il colored Easter eggs 3ala ilnas w madre wsho.. which mama politely declines every time she's offered one.. by saying none other than "no meat" apologetically with a smile and walking away.. :P

May I add that mom calls him inspector cluso.. which I didnt understand for the longest amount of time till I realized that inspector cluso was the detective fe pink panther, and holmes being the name of sherlock holmes was also a detective.. lol yes mamas sense of humor is old school , but hilarious none the less.. but hey she deserves credit for remembering the name of the dude from pink panther sneen wana a'39bha tshofa m3ay fdait-ha w hy thkrt wana nsait :P

Right now asma3 bells w mn msa3 m39ba afaker ya allah wsho hatha mn il9b7 madre mn msha'3l music .. yes whilst sitting near the balcony.. mama 5awenat w traygt mn wagt so I was left no choice but to order in the room rather than be left alone in a room with mr no meat :P chan astw3b that todays sunday.. and none other than easter sunday.. so inevitably mama btef'6a7na ilyoum declining numerous amounts of easter eggs :P

ta ta for now lovelies.. xx

Procrastination at its best

2009-03-29T18:16:00.005+03:00

Hi my name is jooj, and I'm a procrastinator

echo..*Hi jooj!*

mb bas yabeeeli PA meeting a.k.a procrastinators anonymous :P

My God fe 7yaty mashft 7ad y3rf w yatqn '6aya3 ilwagt mthli!

I have two papers due on tuesday AND finance and pricing test.. why oh why jooj do you do this to yourself why oh why do you convince yourself that such classes will be based only on coursework which you can get away with working with a group of nerds on and passing only to be shocked astonished and slapped in the face realizing that yessss there is coursework BUT theres a test too! Well I've mastered the art of being mfahya in this class and the professor and I have come to a mutual understanding resulting from my ignoring him for the past 9 weeks, I don't make eye contact, thus he doesn't ask any questions..

I've also decided that in order to pass this little "test" that he claims alot of people get 100% (my ass) on.. I will fake an accident involving my morning chai latte and my beloved TI83 calculator that has gotten me through many repeated math classes :P and thus will HAVE to use my ipod touch's calculator instead.. where my oh my, I maaaay just find a note with , low and behold, a few insy winsy formula's in it *look of sheer shock* by pure coincidence of course ;) nyahahahah

Yesterday I decided that I would go and treat myself for all my hard work (6al) by going out to breakfast with the lovely formerly known as pinkest pout, since we had both been away the week before and needed yes NEEDED to catch up.. then I would bounce back to my cave (a.k.a flat) and bury myself in endless journal articles and a lifetime supply of purple highlighters, and my dear pinkest pout would scurry on to the library to get some work done too.. little did I know that being home by 1 p.m on a Saturday (yes coming BACK home not just getting out of bed) would bring about another method of procrastination I like to call cleaning.. now don't get me wrong, cleaning is always good.. but it's kind of pointless when the cleaning lady had been through the flat top to bottom the day before.. w '3air che I'm a OCD-ly neat person.. y3ne there's nothing to clean! so I decided that I would take the time to do a bunch of laundry, da55in my clothes (yes I do that and no I'm not a 70 year old grannie), try on weird lipstick mixes (genius btw) and experiment with various styling products :P theeeeen I actually sat down and decided to work on my essay numero 1, when what did jooj see? FINGER PRINTS on her screen.. no no we can't have that can we now.. out comes the dettol wipes.. resulting in lots of smeary wipey streaks.. out come the damp tissues.. resulting in little bits of tissue falling between the keys.. out comes the thing that sprays air to clean between the keys (3rafto ga9de?) .. still streaky screen though.. got a msg from a friend to check out someone's facebook profile.. which was enough to distract me from the streaky screen that bothered me soo much a mere 10 seconds ago .. I swear I have the attention span of a goldfish..

omg 7ata nesait the point of this post.. bismla 3alay wallah I think I've officially lost it and its all Sheth, Mittal, O'Shaughnessy and Freud's faults them and their stupid journal articles that I could care less about :~(

oh but I doooo still have it (it being amazing ghwa making skills that would make any grannie proud) ;)

ke7 ke7 ..

2009-03-18T18:32:00.005+03:00

OMG it has beeen AGES.. I don't even want to look at the date of my last post lana a7s 9j 9j mn ziman 3an bloggy il3aziz

bas the salfa behind my sudden disappearance is that I have become quite nerdy.. not by my own will though.. and have taken to spending my free time reading stupid journal articles in tears.. pulling my hair out.. and cursing the day I heard the words "masters degree".. instead of ranting here, but you have all been missed none the less!

For those of you in london, SHFTO IL JAW?! Mashallah yjanennnnnnn y3ne sunglasses, NO JACKETS, NO SCARVES, NO STUPID HIDEOUS UGGS, NO GLOVES :D I AM IN HEAVEN!

As you can probably tell I'm not a fan of winter wardrobe.. I'm more of a sandals, tights and chiffon-y type tops kind of girl.. I've seen a few people out and about in sandals the past few days.. but my severe lack of tan will keep my toesies safe and sound in their ballerinas until after easter break when I go back home and get my badly needed dose of sunshine <3

I just realized ma3nde salfa what so ever.. and I'm just in a good mood and decided to share my sunshine with you all my lovlies :* weh weh shhal 7ob wl 7anan ili nazil 3alay.. 9j iljaw y'3ayr iljaw if you get what I mean hahaha

Ahh.. this weekend I'm off to Heidelberg to see my lovely parentals who have decided they're sick of recurring sandstorms and want some fresh air.. I tried to convince them that London has quite alot of fresh air (in Hyde park at least).. what I heard on the other end of the line was "aah.. laa 7abebti blmara nray7 shwya hnak, w inte t3ali bl weekend t'3yreen jaw" .. which translates to "allah ykrah hal blad ili inte 3aysha feha malyana 3arab w ashkal matsir, wallah majekm ila itha me'66ara w la billah many me'66ara al7een!".. from that you can probably sense the sheer hatred my parents have for the city I <3>

ok I've overwhelmed myself now.. just realized how much I have to do before leaving tomorrow night.. aaaarghhhhh! must. shut. laptop. must. finish. paper. must. print. slides. must. pack. bag. must. unpack. bag. must. repack. bag. must. make. list. must. email. professor....

tata for now <3

oh p.s the pic is of a frozen yogurt place I like in spirit of spring and being to eat icecream outdoors without catching pneumonia ;)

REKEEEEE'6 :P

2009-02-18T19:46:00.004+03:00

So I just got back from a run.. yes I jooj queen of cupcakes and chay 7aleeb have taken up running as a hobby since deciding that the gym was overrated in this country (don't ask)..

I attempted to coax a friend into coming with.. she too had decided to shun the gym.. and any other physical form of activity .. and so declined my offer.. but noooo that didn't cause my previous motivation to disintegrate, I put on my trainers, leggings, oversized hoodie, wrapped a shma'3 around my neck (3an il bard yngalikm).. then realized I had no pockets .. so I stuffed my ipod and keys, phone and credit card up my sleeve making a mental note to get a hoodie with zippy pockets, realized it was a bad idea.. took out the phone and the credit card.. held the phone and decided that I would have to go moneyless and skipped out the door!

Crossed the street and made my way into Hyde Park thinking aaaaah what a beautiful day.. only to almost step on two miniscule dogs yapping about and fighting over a stupid tennis ball.. 3abalkm the dogs 5afo ? anaaaa ili 5eft! mashafo ila '3barti w chaaan ten6aliq jooj fe 3ar'6 mostamir Allah y7afe'6ha len legat nafs-ha jdam al lake :P

I then realized I had had enough hard core running for the day and continued to jog/walk (briskly may I add) moving my arms up and down like you see those ppl who jog and I'm 100% sure I looked like an idiot but I could seriously care less :D

aaaah it was sooo relaxing soooo refreshing .. y3ne usually after gym I feel good but so exhausted I can hardly get in the shower.. after today I was sooo energized and hyper laa w ne9 il wagt I was thinking of how to do my pricing and finance assignment fa y3ne che multi tasking bismila 3alay!! ka2ni wayd eshta6ait? ..

almohm after about an hour and a half of m7afa9 and running away from dogs and squirrels and ducks (la7a'6too klhom yaboon yaklooni or something?!!?) the sky began to darken signaling time to go home because I for one was not prepared to be alone in the park fel '6alma even if it was early :P and I had left the pepper spray RHN fedait-ha got me at home.. a9lan 7ata law jebta wain ba7e6a! .. fe dla'3i mathalan? :P looool seriously I need to get a hoodie with pockets mthl ilnas..

and here I am my lovelies.. at home on my couch.. snacking on roob farawla whilst telling you the story of my excersizeful day :P hathi kelma a9ln? tawni istw3bt mool ma3ande salfa bas mstansa so humor me :P

ciao bellaaaa's

p.s please excuse the crappy pics.. mobile cam!

Happy wshooo day???

2009-02-17T02:19:00.004+03:00

weeeeeh w chan ansa aktb post youm al FALANTAIN ila ilyoum :P

sam7ooni ya 9abaya w ya shabab.. if there are any shabab out there.. I know you're out there 7amood but y3ne other's who aren't obliged to read my blog because of blood relation :P

5alna indesh bl maw'6oo3..

jooj and her girlies... spent FALANTAIN day observing the actions of the bo-3arrab around london town.. it was quite comical.. especially the abundance of RED .. on people who shouldn't be caught dead in anything other than navy blue at their wildest :P .. middle aged men should NOT .. I repeat NOT wear red silk shirts.. (this is for you shooshi hahahah) well technically he wasn't wearing a red silk shirt.. but we could SOOO see him wearing one later on that night when he went on his rendevouz with omm g7a6a or whatever his wife's called..

However, the day after FALANTAIN was spent quite intimately.. with me.. and.. a box of cupcakes.. courtesy of my one and only true love H <3>

but you know what.. the fact that my only companion was a box of treats practically screeching CELLULITE CHOLESTEROL ANDDDD HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE at me was nice.. mali 5elg ag3ad at3adl for someone who doesn't even know what date it is.. mali bare'6 ag3d a7oos 7ag alf sa3a adawer the "perfect gift" ..weh ya doob I find myself the perfect lipstick b3d ag3ad a7aty someone else.. uh uh my friends.. I have decided to become completely (even more) self absorbed, if that's possible, and worry only on finding perfect gifts for yours truly.. and my girlies of course fedait-hm :* ..

w fel 5etam, a7b agolikm ina boys are yucky

HABBY FALATAAAAAIN :*

FORZAAAAAAA ITAAAAAAAAAALIAAAAA.. ok not so much..

2009-02-11T17:41:00.007+03:00

OH ! EM ! GEEE !

Do you know where jooj went yesterday?

Do you know whoooo jooj shared oxygen space with?

Do you know what jooj did?

Do you wish I would shut up and tell you already?

ok ok ok fine a39abkm 9alo 3al nby..

THE BRAZIL VS ITALY MATTTTTTTCH AT EMIRATES STADIUMMMMMMM (none other than the home of the Gunners a.k.a ARSEEEEEEEEEENAL <3>

ok t7amst shwy zyada 3an il lizoom bas e3throoni ams shft 7abeeb ilgalb <3

and so, from now on I would like to reques

t to be addressed as 7aram sa3adat il sayyid Jean Luca ZAMBROTTTTTTTTTTA... why? just because I love him.. always have.. always will.. and love him a little more after the up-close-ness of the match :D

Well lets start by saying that yours truly (a.k.a 7aram sa3adat il sayyid Jean Luca Zambrotta) is a hard core la squadra azzurra (ITALIAAAAAAA) fan.. and also that yours truly has been left with no or very little voice as a result of her c

onstant yelling, screaming, and screeching ITTTTTTAAAAAAAAAALIAAAAAAAA, ZAMBROOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I LOVEEEEEEE YOUUUUU at last nights match :P bsss 3ade 9oooty fdwa 7ag ra3y jersey # 2 <3>

The journey to and from the stadium was hilarious .. the

road to the stadium was closed so the cab dropped us as close to it as he could get.. which was basically in the ghetto.. so me and 4 of my friends emerge from the cab dressed in head to toe in Italy (3 of us), and Brazil (2 of us) jerseys, scarfs, flags, caps etc even yellow tipped french manicures for the Brazilian supporter among us , into again, the ghetto :P so basically we followed the crowd until lo and behold we saw it <3>

Throughout the match I was dubbed "the 3yooz" (again) by my friends because of my excalamations of "5ASKOM ALLAH GOMO 3ANAAAAH" and "BSMILA 3ALAAAAAAAAAIK" when my hubby had was being attacked or when he fell as a result of the misconduct of a certain Brazilian player notorious 7ag 7alja al enormous w facha bain '6rosa making him look like the donkey in Shrek.. m3 e7trami lah w lkm ya yellow and green fans :P

We also experienced some..hmm I don't even think it can be called t7arsh by a few Brazilian fans who were sitting infront of us who decided that every time Brazil would make a goal, he would kiss my friend, or so we understood through his broken english, and then attempted to prove by practically smothering my friend by jumping on her in attempt to follow through his deal :P .. didn't work don't worry hahahah

Anyways, after our a7m.."defeat".. we left the stadium wes6 a7shad mn ilnas wallah kan shay y5awf over 60,000 people leaving at the same time is not a pretty sight.. especially the stupid Brazil supporters who would yell "CIAAAAAAAO" at us since we we're dressed a'la Italia .. again, the roads were closed so we had to walk to the main road to find a cab, though what my friend named (and quite appropriately) "rape central".. which comprised of a huge dark bridge with no lighting that we had to walk under.. almohm after leaving "rape central" we found a cab al7amdla matbahdalna felro7a wla al jaya like everyone told us we would, and aside from a few frozen tushies we returned home unscathed..

oh btw.. the result was 2,0 .. to *cough*Brazil*cough* ..

*SAD FACE*

SnoOooOw :D

2009-02-02T23:01:00.005+03:00

Ok ma3rf shsalft the layout AGAIN.. but bear with me please..

just thought I'd share some pics I took last night and today during our mini-blizzard!! I think wjohna 5air 3ala landan since according to the englaiz it hasn't snowed like this for 18 years.. the metro is closed, buses have stopped, cabs won't stop for anyone.. basically ili ye6la3 mn baita ydabbr 7ala!! and the best thing is that uni's been canceled because of lack of transportation YAAAAAAY

We had ourselves a snow adventure and walked all over london in the freezing snow (typical 3arab), had steaming hot chocolate crepes and hot chocolate, played in the park, had a snowball fight with random people, and after getting home, eventually built a statue "ina y3ne fananeen" (with boobs :P ) well my cousin built it, but I helped.. and moved it to the balcony, yes we picked it up and carried it inside and upstairs and then out to the balcony, because a neighbor yelled at us last night for making too much noise while he was trying to put his kids to sleep malat 3alih :P

I'm sooo not a winter person, but today was a blast! I loved it and had sooo much fun, can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

kisses xx

yal bortoqalaa.. :P

2009-01-27T21:48:00.005+03:00

This post is going to be a mix of furious ranting and wonderfully descriptive imagery.

Lets begin with the ranting shall we, today was the first day of my classes after a week long break after exams, began nice enough I was slightly late so I skipped my morning stop at Starbucks and went straight to class sans-caffeine which is not usually a good idea.. anyways, after a few hours I noticed that oddly enough I had gotten zero msgs or calls all day, I'm not saying that my phone is constantly ringing but ok it kinda is, and besides that I have a few very loyal "9aba7 il 5air wl ward wl kady wl blbalbalbla" msg-er's that I wake up to each and every morning, but in my rush to get to uni on time, didn't notice the lack of flowery poetry 9aba7 il5air msgs gracing my inbox.. anyways, a friend of mine popped into mind, and decided to msg them and ask how they were 3atib-ing them all the while for not asking about me for so long.. I got "MESSAGE FAILED"..

resend... MESSAGE FAILED.. I decided there must be something wrong with their phone and tried to msg another friend... again MESSAGE FAILED flashed furiously at me on screen along with a red envelope..

I tried to call someone, and got another furious message, but this one said NUMBER BARRED instead.. logically I then decided that I probably went over my limit and the phone company must have barred my number..

After finishing class at 5, I went to the phone shop named after a certain color near my house and asked to pay my bill because my phone had been barred.. the response I got was that I didn't go over my limit, BUT, someone had attempted to access information on my account and provided the phone company with the wrong security code RESULTING in the phone company barring and blocking my phone until further notice.. in this case further notice meant proof of address .. which I faxed over immediately only to be told it could take up to 48 hours to reconnect my phone :) lovely. @#$&ING LOVELY! so now I feel mnga63a mn shjarah and had to quickly call my mom from my qatari line informing her that no I have not been abducted and that my phone would be off for up to the next two days and to call me on my qatari line or the house phone until then.. DAMN YOU ORANGE I HATE THIS FEEEEEELING! oops I think earlier in the post I tried to conceal the identity of the said phone company, but you know what I don't care because they're service is crap and their network is crappier and the only reason I'm not transferring to another company is out of sheer laziness.

Ok onto the next line of business.. my weekend was absolutely amazing :D al7amdla the weather was beautiful on saturday and we got to do alot of things that rain/fog/hail/wind stopped us from doing previously...

We started the day at Portobello market and found a few antique/vintage jewelry stands that were AMAAAAZING.. one had pearl bracelets and earrings from bahrain, and another sold afghan jewelry ithat was gorgeousssss.. the guy who owned the afghani stall showed us excerpts from Tatler magazine, showing his jewelry but sold at Liberty instead of the market, and for triple the price, estans 3alina ina 3arab w g3ad yetfalsaf shway bas it was ok and we bought heaps of rings with huge amber and emerald colored stones outlined in teeny weeny pearls and gold detailing with Mashallah and M7amad Rasool Allah engraved on them.. and of course jooj being jooj forgot her camera and had to suffice with her phone camera instead..

We then ended out romp through the antique stalls with a well deserved sugar-surge-esque break at Hummingbird bakery.. btw the saturday special, nutella cupcakes are to dieeee for.. though I stand faithfully by my favorite red velvet cupcakes and carrot cake :P

w rja3naalkm mn jdeed :P

2009-01-18T17:30:00.002+03:00

Helloo bloggers :*

I realize it's been a while, but I've been crazy busy since my last post.. I came back to London and was greeted with below zero weather and exams.. followed by a case of the flu that put me in bed for over a week which was not pleasant and was seriously the wrong time since I had exams.. and it was kass il 5aleej season :x

Lets skip all the exam and flu drama and go straight to the kass il 5aleej-ness.. I'm quite a hardcore al3nabi fan, and kass il 5aleej season is a sacred time every other year where I lock myself at home with my girlies in front of the tv equipped with dlal chay w gahwa, mucho snacks and a match schedule :P This year however was different.. on the first day Qatar was meant to play, versus KSA, etifaggna to meet up at my friends flat (equally hardcore al3nabi fan, if not more), my friend got out dlal and started the gahwa up etc while I surfed channels looking for the game.. resulting in multiple screeches.. and my friend poking her head out of the kitchen to find me verbally attacking all the arabic sports channels for not having THE game on!

She came over and took the remote from me calmly going through the list again, Abu Dhabi sport, NO, bahrain, NO, qatar tv, NO, KSA sports, NO, dubai sports, NO, Oman tv, NO, yemen tv, NO, sharjah, NO, etc etc etc.. Al Jazeera sports was no where to be found :(

A shock of genius came across me and I went on the al jazeera website and got the frequency and decided that I could reprogram the satellite again and get al jazeera sports since it had magically disappeared from the channels list.. bad idea because you know what? I ended up erasing all of my friends channels in the process, along with the newly programmed al jazeera sports! this was 5 mins into the game btw...

After various screams of LAAAAAAAAA YALGHABIYAAAAAAA JOOOOOOOOJ!! OBAIH OBAIH SHNSAWEEEEEE .. my friend came to her senses after I was massacred by a bunch of throw pillows, jumped up threw my jacket and bag at me and pulled me out the door in the direction of a road notorious for its arab-ness lets say.. here may be a time to add that me and my friend were dressed for a day at home.. and ran down that good old street where we usually wouldn't even be caught dead on under any other circumstance.. and burst into a crappy cafe with an arabic name in our flamingo pink juicey's to be greeted by the stares of at least 15 male hardcore KSA fans.. of course the only empty table was the one at the frooooooont of the cafe which was the equivalent of sitting in the first row at the movies for our necks, oh may I add that we had to walk through all the KSA team groupies who gave each other questioning looks of "wtf hatheela wain 3abalhm dasheen" ..

Of course to overcome the akwardness of the situation, we made our selfs at home, put our feet up on the chairs facing ours, and ordered chay ne3na3 and a plate of 7ommo9 , which shocked the guys even more than our bright pink attire, il'6aher we looked like "3a9eer farawlaaa" types of girls instead.. throughout the game (which was crap might I add) we heard various swear words (toned down due to our presence) at our coach and team.. which we did not react to so that they wouldn't realize that we were the enemy.. until the waiter f'6a7na w 9ara5 anaaa bashaji3 qataaarrr ma3konnn ya 9abayaaaaaa!!! w7na :SHSHSHSHSH f'6a7tna!!

Anyyyyways.. after that uneventful game that was seriously 7ARAG A39AB!! we paid the bill.. got up and left b kel theqa w prestige kana y3ne kna g3den fe ga9r ilmaleka mb some ghetto gahwa fe mb gayla wain man3an lel e7raj :P as we walked down the street we saw a bright green red and blue ART sign yabreg.. rka'6na towards the shop w 6ela3 wa7d 3rbi (duh) and my friend burst out: 5arebat il satellite (pointing at me) y9eer tje tbarmeja mara thanya w jeeb cart il jizera m3ak warana mobarayat! the guy gave us a blank look like he was thinking "into ettab3oon mobarayat?!?!?!" and after taking down the address and promising us to come and fix the tv within the hour and laughing at our "GOOL WALLAAAH's" we left and went home awaiting mr satellite dude who ended up telling me about all the guys he knows that go to my uni.. w he'll introduce me law abee!..uncalled for mr satellite dude.. uncalled for!

Well thats all the drama I have for you right now.. let me just say that exams are OVER and I'm feeling better al7amdla and mabrook lel mont5b il 3mani who seriously deserved to win after ALLLLMOST getting there 3 years in a row :) no hard feelings .. make goals not 7alwa w ila al amaaaam :P hardluck to KSA and I seriously think yasser il ga76ani bynjl6 itha manjila6 last night.. and if not.. salman bin fahad is probably going to beat the crap out of him :P hahah yestahal wayd shayf 3mra m3 de3ayata :P

kisses!

Oh and H and nwayyer ra3yet il vtc if you're reading this , kas il 5aleeeeej was NOTHING without you and you know exactly what I mean :*

Randomosity..yet again..and again...

2008-12-31T00:27:00.007+03:00

First order of business:

I have no patience for photography anymore.. I used to be the girl who didn't leave her camera + lens + stabilizer at home even for a trip to the supermarket.. now I don't even bother taking it anywhere unless I know 100% for a fact I'll have something to snap away at.. I don't know why.. and I'm not liking this new laziness.. could it be that my shoulders have finally gotten their message to my brain that my handbags are heavy enough without excess camera equipment being stuffed inside alongside humongous wallets, makeup bags, perfume bottles, kleenex packets, mini hair spray bottles (you never know!), planner's, various pieces of paper, pens, endless packets of gum, and last but not least too many keys for my own good...? .. hmph

Second order of business:

New years eve is coming up... lets not forget ras al sena al hejrya that was last night (kel 3am wnto b 2aaalf 5air)... I have mixed feelings about the new year.. I was quite met7amsa and feeling optimistic until I actually put some thought into it and the Palestinian issue came to mind.. y3ne mn awlt-ha al sena betkoon che? .. Allah yaster.. inshallah Allah yan9r i5wana w a5watna fe falas6een 3ala al a3da2 al yihood.. all I can say is I hope 7osni mubarak falls of the top of the highest friggin pyramid he can find.. and then I hope the pyramid collapses on top of him.. leaving nothing but that hideous suit jacket that he's been wearing for the past 30 odd years... Malat 3alih.. jad malat 3alih.. mafeeh dam.. may5af rabbah.. bejeela youm.. w 5ala yshof ili byogaf m3ah w m3 hal 30 malyoon ili be6e7oon b chabdah 7azt il7aza!

... ok back to the topic of the new year b3eed 3an il nakkad

I was telling a friend of mine that we have to be more optimistic, I'm generally an optimistic person.. I mean its not like I go rainbow hunting and marshmallow planting but I do generally tend to think of things in a brighter sense.. for example we get a reservation at a hot new restaurant at 10 instead of 9, no big deal, gives us more time to chill somewhere else before hand and enjoy the scenery if you know what I mean hahaha .. ok stupid example but its all that came to my mind.. so ya, we have to be even more optimistic than usual.. you know why? because people expect you to be negative, it surprises them and catches them off guard when you ..wait for it.. SMILE! or.. hold on.. here it comes... say that everythings OK, it was not an inconvenience and you don't mind that they don't have your size/order/reservation etc! and don't make a scene worthy of a security escort off the premises.. (ok if they didn't have my reservation I think I would make a teeny weeny scene but no throwing phones etc) ..

this is exhausting me..

ya be59oo9 ina I LOVE WINTER IN DOHA :) LOVE LOVE LOVE it.. everyone is soooo much happier lol it's weird but 9j y3ne the weather does make a difference.. jad il jaw RAWAAAAAAAG... y3ne 7ata the disgusting dude who felt the need to say his number in english (yetfanan yabelfait) FOOR FOOR WAN HANDRAD SEFAN SEFAN made me laugh instead of giving him my usual "kel tbn" :P

that will be all for now :P

Happy New Year moqadaman to all you bloggers out there, inshallah this coming year will be better than last and I hope all your dreams come true (BUT YOU HAVE TO BE OPTIMISTIC FIRST!!!!)

kisses!!

kelena ge6ar <3 18.12.08 <3

2008-12-19T00:21:00.009+03:00

Well first of all let me start by saying that I've been back in Doha for a few days now, and am enjoying every minute of it, except EXCEPT for the weather.. its cold!! Don't you dare say "bas inte jaya mn landan shlon bardana?!" bardna '3air! bard il9a7raaaa ydsh il3a'6m 3ala 6ool la a7m wla destoor!! Also may I add that wearing a million layers under a 3abaya just looks ridiculous so regardless of my 'light' winter wardrobe I'm still cold :(

Second of allll, mabroooook 3alekm ilyoum ilwa6any w thekra alta2sees ya sh3b Ge6ar :* kelna ge6arrrr w ge6ar kelena w qasaman le man raf3 ilsamaa2 w dar iltmeemi 7amad w narrn tshb il7a6ab w do2i ya mazzika w yo dan dan fel 5etam :P

Thirdly, awal mara te6l3oon mn byootkm? Awal mara terkboon syayyer? awl mara tshofon 3ar'6ah? awl mara td5loon maseera?? LAAAA 6B3AN , then why oh why the crazy za7ma?! seriously I didn't think ge6ar feeha enough

enough people to cause all that traffic! 3nibo sa3tain SA3TAIN bl syara 7g mshwar that shouldn't take more than 30 mins WITH severe traffic!!

But b'3a'6 iln'6ar 3an kl hathaa I must say that I for one NEVER get bored of watching il3ar'6a .. seriously I could've stayed 3ala 6reeg ilwajba for hours (who said I didn't :P ) just watching those swords go up and down...aaah ya zeeeenk ya 7alatkm!

Laa w b3d thoob 9oof w '3etra shal.. yaaa salaaaaam

3alikmmmmm.. 9j irresistable!! Thats the upside of winter around here.. you become surrounded by pure hotness!

We spent today cruising around 6reeg ilwajba, where each gbeelah had their 3ar'6a.. of course the regulars were there, along with a few new additions, "gebayel 2009" 3ala golat a friend hahaha, but regardless of who they were, rzeef is hot no matter who's doing it! There's something seriously attractive about a man with a sword, add camp fires and camels etc in the background and you've got yourself a jooj who won't budge!

Oh 9a7 nsait agolikm 3an "shad ilthilool" and "darb ilsa3y", which was basically maseerat hijin from alro'6a (man6eqa 5arij ildo7a) to ilwajba (wain ga9r ilshaikh 7amad) throughout doha, so yes there were camels all over the place! the pictures I took were soo crappy aste7e to post them 7ata , taking pictures in a packed car is not one of my strong suits , ne9 il 9owar had the drivers head in them, and the other half had the roof of the car in them.. then again thats what happens when I give someone else my cam to take pictures for me since I was near the other window :P

All I can say is RHN you missssssssed our adventures!!!!

(oh and for future reference, next year I REFUSE to leave the house on Dec. 18th, and if I do I give you complete permission to slap/kick/pull my hair etc to me)

If you haven't noticed I absolutely LOVE al3r'6ah and rzeef.. and here are my favorite 3ar'6a 'songs' ya nedeeby <3>ya shaikh sal il7edab for anyone who's in the mood for a bit of torath :P

*my apologies about the messed up layout, bs mool mali 5elg a3dla :P *

yal 3aydooo yal 3aydooo.. (8)

2008-12-09T20:26:00.004+03:00

3eeedkm imbarak yal rabi3 :)

Hope you all had a great 3eed.. I for one enjoyed my "different 3eed" and the festivities that lead up to it!

Youm gabl il wagfa me and some friends decided to make machboos for f6oor.. so the morning of il wagfa me and a friend headed to Tesco's to begin the first stage of machboos-ing which was of course the grocery shopping.. we stood in front on the chicken display thing for aaages.. well my friend stood in front of it, ana 36ait ildyay '6ahry because tlo3 chbde mn raw chicken/meat/fish etc y3ne if I see it raw I can't eat it later :P fa gelt fe nafsy a7sanlch ya jooj lfy w 6al3i il smoked salmon aisle latmoteen joo3 3gb il m'3rb :P aaanyways, after deciding which part/kind of chicken would be best for our machboos.. well my friend described it to me and I gave input based on descriptiveness hahaha.. we decided on chicken breasts 3ashan mantwahg bl bones w halswalf.. almohm.. after getting all our ingredients we headed home and got into our cooking mood ... (ok truth must be told.. my friend who will here on be called um 9waile7 did all the heavy duty cooking.. warning me to not come near the kitchen when raw chicken would be exposed to my delicate eyes :P ) I on the other hand made a salad... while my other friends fried sambosa and spring-rolls a`la irm'6an, and made uber yummy chocolate covered, dipped, baked, melted desserts .. (mucho kisses to Pinkest Pout for her nutella covered heavenly choclate squares, that I'm stilll snacking on)

Numerous dallah's of gahwa and miniature cups of karak later estanzalna 3ala qanat "infinity" since it was the closest to Rotana that we had and my iTunes jalsat/6agagat playlist :P resulting in screeches of laughter and t9ifig being echoed through the corridors to the undelighted ears of my unsuspecting neighbors who were probably wondering who was being murdered in the flat downstairs :P

*all bow down to um 9waile7 for her kick-ass machboos which was m6ba5 sh3bi worthy with 5 stars*

Now moving on to 3eed itself (ams), we decided that we would meet up for laughs, gossip, impatient phone calls to family and of course brunch at a cafe that we frequent, then indulged in some shopping on the streets of Sloane before teetering on our heels (yes during the day IL3EEEEED SHFEEEEKM :@ ) towards yet another restaurant for what we decided would be a tres late lunch/early dinner motioning towards the end of our unorthodox London-3eed-y celebration.. avoiding at all costs "3eed ball's/banquets/estqbal's etc" at various embassies.. for reasons none other than manabi inshof wjhooh ilta3eeseeen ili ydrsoon m3na :)

True we had lots of fun and it was certainly something different, but there was still that pang in the depths of my tummy when I spoke to my parents earlier that morning and heard the notorious iz3aj of youm al3eed at my grandma's .. but none the less it was an experience and wouldn't have been the same without my amazing friends.. mwaaaaaaaah 3ala 5doooodkm il mthalja mn hal jaw ilta3eees :*

w fel 5etam, 3eedkm imbarak ya blogsphere-y il3aziz, w 3asakm mn 3awada :D

2008-11-27T18:02:00.005+03:00

B3d 3ana2an 6aweel I have resurfaced from the sea/hell hole/torture chamber/mstashfa ilmjaneen of papers, books and journal articles that others like to call the library..

moving along..

Yesterday I walk into the spare bedroom of my flat, that's used solely for shoe storage and something tells me to look up.. when I do look up, low and behold what do I see???

A water stain in the shape of a bathtub on the ceiling.. with a trail of water leaking through the wallpaper and resulting in it forming weird shaped bubbles of the wall!!

Ok that couldn't have happened over night but even if it did I probably wouldn't have noticed because I NEVER GO IN THERE except straight to the row of shoes on the opposite wall and out again :P

faj2a an idea bulb gam yalbg fog rasy telling me that it was either one of the two:

1) water pipe from the flat upstairs burst, thus resulting in the disfigurement of my spare bedroom ceiling and wall

2) obese naked old man/woman died in the bathtub with the water still running and will eventually fall through the ceiling right into my flat giving me a minor heart attack while I'm enjoying a nice cup of tea in front of "ili yadry yadry" or some other vintage masr7ya..(I had to explain why the culprit was obese to Nwayyer, its pure physics you see, if the person wasn't obese then the water wouldn't have flowed out of the bathtub .. but then I realized that I said that the water was still running.. oh well)

for the sake of my imagination and to keep this post interesting, let's stick with the second idea..

So I realize I'm going to drown in my own flat at around 11pm, and promptly email the landlord guy explaining the situation and telling him to come yet9araf ASAP.. today to my delight I receive a phone call from him hoping that I would hear that they fixed the problem and that no naked, obese, rotting senior citizen would fall through my ceiling any time soon.. except I got:

LL- umm.. jooj you JUST realized the ceiling was leaking?

jooj- yaa last night when I emailed you

LL- well.. i've had the plumber in and he says that this is at least two weeks worth of leaking..

jooj- what? their baths been running for two weeks!

LL- thats not the point! you haven't noticed for two weeks that your ceilings leaking!!!

jooj- it's the spare room I never go in there

LL- no one stays there?

jooj- well my friend sleeps over sometimes..

LL- what about all those shoes?!

jooj- what about my ceiling!

LL- ah yes.. don't worry it'll be fixed soon

jooj- ok but don't send them anytime before 1pm on the weekend

LL- don't worry I've got the spare key, I'll let them in!

jooj- no, I mean I'll be asleep!

LL- *mumbling* ah alright then is there anything else?

jooj- no thanx byeeee

LL- pleasure

click.

Aham shay ili kan y7aty my shoes! w aham shay mb m9adg ina I never noticed.. well I'm sure it was less than a weeks worth of leaking because I called my friend who slept over last weekend and asked her if she noticed a bathtub shaped outline on the ceiling.. she didn't :P and now all I can hear is them banging around upstairs y3nee stop banging you're only going to break the ceiling faster! Aham shay ina 3abali afham sh'3lhm akthar mnhm.. I'm in desperate need for a nap.. bas il iz3aj '3air 6abee3y y3nee a3teqd law 6l3t anam bl balcona bekon quieter.. it actually would be.. bas it's cold outside.. so scratch that..

Oh and for those of you who read the last post referring to "It", there is an update.. after overhearing It's conversation with a guy outside uni while smoking, a friend told me that It had voted me prettiest face in our program, and a Spanish girl the sexiest body in our program.. and today one of our professors split us into groups to discuss a case study.. and it was me, It and the Spanish girl in a group! Seemed to be It's lucky day, Allah yegrfha :P it was hilarious everyone kept winking at us over It's head.. needless to say me and ms sexy body were not amused!

waaaaa mo9eebataaaah

2008-11-12T20:58:00.003+03:00

Today was a good day.. long but good.. until about 5 mins ago!

Let me start by introducing "It".

It is a student in all of my classes, whom myself and the rest of the class found difficult to differentiate it's gender (Allahma la shamata).. some said "It's a guy!" some said "Nooo It's just a girl with no style, a crew cut and bad posture!" .. the negotiations went on for about a month.. till after severe observations we unanimously decided that It was in fact a female..

After this discovery, It was put in a group with yours truly for a project.. and since It comes from a country far far away and speaks hardly any english, and what english It does speak is darkened by a horrendously heavy accent that requires 500% concentration to decipher what is being said.. thus number's and emails were exchanged etc etc

Back to today.. during the class that me and It share a group in, It felt the need to graze the top of my royal blue headband with her hand and say with a weird smile "you are beautiful always, every day looking nice".. I forced a half-smile, said "uh thanks" and quickly but discreetly scooted my chair a few inches away to the amusement of a classmate who's been insisting that "It likessssss you!!!" for the past few weeks.. and almost fell out of his chair when he saw that little interaction..

Class over.. we went to check our grades for a test we had last week.. I received an sms from It saying "I past" (we assumed It meant that she passed the test).. I ignored the sms thinking "w b3dain shasaweelch y3ne" and went home after checking my grade (btw I "past" too hahah)..

A mere 5 mins ago I received a phone call from our friend It.. poor jooj assumed It wants to ask about the assignment for next class and picked up.. to jooj's dismay she heard the 7ashra and iz3aj of none other than a bar in London during happy hour and It's voice in the background.. after various "HELLLOOOOOO?!?!?!?"'s, It decided to speak and enlighten jooj with the reason she called.. which was to inform jooj that she had gotten drunk, broken up with her GIRLFRIEND (seeee she admitted to being a lesbo :P ) back in country X, and wanted to know what I thought about that..

NA3AM I5TY?! galolch omch wana madre shda5alni feech inte w bnt ilkalb 7bebtch al sabeqa?!

Continuation- jooj being the nice person she is faked sympathy and said "ohh that's too bad, but whyyyy???" .. It then proceeded to tell jooj about how she found out that her girlfriend was cheating on her back home through incriminating pictures on facebook and a few phone calls from friends that ensured that yes, It's gf was a lying cheating @#$%^... (shlon fhamt kl hatha m3 lahjat-ha ilma2sawya madre)..

Anyways.. I was like "ohh that's too bad" again .. which then prompted the follwing:

It: aaah can I ask you question??

jooj: sure

It: aaaah, you have boyfriend?

jooj: *jak ilmoot ya tarik al9alaah* YES!

It: oh.. aaaaah, he here or in your country?

jooj: NOOO he's here!!

It: aaah, he no in your country?

jooj: nooooo nooo he's here he lives in London!!

It: aaah... he lucky

jooj: 5air?!

It: huh?

jooj: umm ok "It" I have to go now

It: are you at home?

jooj: no I'm out

It: where you out?

jooj: at my friend's house, see you in classss bye!

It: aaah ok, aaah I serious ok, he lucky!

jooj: aha ok byeee "It".

CLICK

WJA3 YA5THCH W YA5TH OMMN YABETCH YAL MO2REFA!

7ata al boyfriend il magrood ili manadry waina w b3d ma legainaah alafnah 3ashan tnjl3 injal3at roo7hha inshallah.. waaaa mo9ebataaaah!

Seriously.. WHAT IS NEXT?!?!?!

Nida2 mn galbi ila kl al inte7aryeen

2008-11-05T18:52:00.004+03:00

Dearest suicidal people,

I won't try and make you change your minds, I won't tell you not to jump, I won't tell you how valuable your life is, I won't remind you of your poor family who will go through torture the second they hear of you demise, I won't try and make you look at the bright side of things, I won't tell you to count your blessings, I won't tell you that your so much more better off than thousands of people out there, I could care less about your dismal lives and irrelevant problems, but what I will do is ask you to please not decide to commit suicide by throwing yourself in front of a train on the underground on a Wednesday morning, thus disrupting and delaying all trains on that line for the remainder of the day, making innocent people (a7im like me) late and screwing up their schedules for the second damn time this week!

3nibo there are other outlets, there are speeding cars, there are high bridges, there are electrical sockets, there guns, knifes, hairdryers in bathtubs, there's sim feeran for Gods sake 7abakat tnt7r jdam my train!

With much love and no sympathy what so ever,

-jooj-

Donut's are a girls best friennnnnnnd >3

2008-11-04T16:27:00.005+03:00

I feel like a cop in the US.. except for the fact that I'm still in my fluffy robe and sitting in front of the TV.. I'm having a nutritious breakfast of a glazed Krispy Kreme and a cappuccino..

This is what "Reading Week" (week of no lectures so you have time to do all your readings and coursework) does to you.. I've become SO lazy it's not even funny.. the ONE lecture that was compulsory and I mean COMPULSORY was today at 9 am.. where was jooj? in her bed :P

My alarm went off at 7.35 .. I almost cried.. I looked up and saw my uber hot new Armani oversized hoodie, skinnies, and patent ballerina's and huge pashmina and considered going only for the sake of cuteness .. then I looked back at my pillow .. turned off my screeching alarm, silented my phone and fell back into a deep sleep.. and now.. 6 hours later.. I have just woken up..

I personally blame the gym.. yesterday ishta6ait shwy w zawadt-ha 7abetain, thalath, la arba3.. I am ACHING! It even hurt to "vigorously mix" my coffee as the instructions say.. which made me feel a bit better about missing class because the tube at 8 am is a complete nightmare all the pushing and shoving is seriously a toned down wrestling match.. ad5al chni ilba5at ahabel. a6la3 chna dayseen 3alay ib giant sized construction boots..

Also, lastnight I was invited to a dear friend's birthday dinner.. out of the 45 guests there I was among the 4 over 19.. and ironically enough we were all seated at the same table.. I never felt so old in my life.. they were so loud and so oblivious to everyone else at the restaurant.. they were so childish but in a nice way.. in a way I kind of miss.. I miss being part of the loud obnoxious group that calls over the waitress every 3.4 seconds for more ice, less lemon in my coke, more napkins, a new fork, pepper, another menu.. the list goes on..

Me and my fellow geriatrics (20+) stopped and stared (yes I'm referring to the song) and as a friend put it ever so perfectly "sho 7asa 7ali mtl il 6an6 bl 7afleh" which went perfectly hand in hand with my feeling that someone was about to call me "mama" .. I must admit that half of the guests looked at least 25 and we're in shock to find out that we were all (aaallll 4 of us) doing our masters and were between the ages of 22 and 24 .. as one cute but wayyy too young guy put it "baaal mooool mb shaklkm that old".. which was greeted by a series of shouts that sounded alot like "THAT OLD?!?!?!!"

hmph.

غطي أرض الحبيّب بالندى والجمال مثل ماهو مندّي بالمحبة فؤادي

2008-10-28T22:12:00.006+03:00

So an hour or so ago, I was sitting on the couch with a mug of chay 7aleeb chitchatting with H on the phone, describing to her something HORRIFIC that I saw today, when all of a sudden I hear something on the window.. and the malgoofa in me makes me get up off the warmth of the couch and drag myself to the window to see whats going on.. what does jooj see??

WHITE!

No not snow calm down people.. but hail stones (ibridy) as if they were being thrown at my window by the handful and landing in little piles of melting ice on the balcony.. H freaked out on the phone with me fdait-ha such a good friend.. at the fact that its STILL OCTOBER y3ne what am I supposed to freeze into a little ice sculpture donning a sparkly headband by January???

Next order of business.. the HORRIFIC tale I was describing enthusiastically to H on the phone using lots and lots of crazily vivid imagery .. where we came to quite a few conclusions that didn't make sense, but we're enough to make me feel brave enough to strut on down to the underground once again...

YTBA3:

today as I was walking down the stairs at a tube station somewhere in London with a classmate, I noticed drops of what looked like blood on the stairs, after conferring with my classmate we decided that yes, it was in fact blood, and it was probably someone who had a cut on their finger or something (3inibo mb 9b3 hatha..) anways.. as we got to the bottom of the stairs we hear an announcement on the PA system "will any member of the London police force notify themselves to the nearest member of transport security immediately" .. this of course resulted in a minute surge of panic to my fragile heart, which I decided was unnecessary and bid my friend farewell as I took a right to my train, and she took the left to hers.. as I approached my awaiting charriot, I saw nothing but a pool (ok not pool, bas ya3nee wayd not drops) of blood on the floor and a few security guards standing around it looking confused but talking into walkie-talkies trying to look like they had the situation under control, and and empty train behind them.. everyone just walked on past like it was completely normal to see a maybe homicide scene on a daily basis while malgoofa jooj stopped and asked WHATS GOING ON WHAT HAPPENED to the security who said oh nothing its fine the trains just delayed a few minutes.. ay few minutes ay b6eee5 hathaaa dam mb 3a9eer 6ma6!!!

jooj promptly turned on her LV ballerinas and went in the opposite direction in search of her friend, and boarded a train going in the opposite direction to where she lived where she got off at the next stop, far away from the homicide scene, hailed a cab and went home among no blood stains or idiotic excuses for police.. (it's still a mystery to me why I didn't just leave the station instead of going on the other train in the opposite direction .. il 5oof w maysawy!)

Btw the conclusions that H came to was that someone was giving birth, I told her that when someones going to give birth (as far as I know) her water breaks, she doesn't bleed! but H was like well you never know what comes out 7azat il 7aza.. so just to make me feel safe it was just an overly pregnant woman that caused all that commotion on the tube.. not a serial stabber.. and not a gang or group of skin heads out to get me..

Expectations..

2008-10-22T17:12:00.005+03:00

For the last two weeks me and a bunch of friends have been wanting to try out this new restaurant that's apparently THE PLACE TO BE and regularly frequented by the likes of Amy Winehouse and a bunch of other rehab-rejects ..despite its location in the lovely but sketchy Camden Town.

And since yours truly carries the official title of "HRH reservations-maker" (they should make me a tiara) I had the privilage of calling Gilgamesh (yes, thats what it's called, and no it's not some villain from Harry Potter) and making reservations..

Here's how the convo went (after all the various "for reservations press 1 blabla")

Lady on phone: Good afternoon Gilgamesh restaurant lounge and bar how can I help?

jooj: Hi, I want to make reservations for Saturday night please at the restaurant

LoP: For how many people?

jooj: 6

LoP: what time?

jooj: 9.30

LoP: would you like to be seated at the bar prior to your meal?

jooj: no thanks

LoP: is there a special occasion, birthday etc?

jooj: no just dinner

LoP: can I have a contact number an email and a credit card number please

jooj: sure, (insert number, email, and credit card info)

LoP: shortly you will receive a form on your email please fill it out and return it so I can confirm your reservation

jooj: *baaaal shd3wa ma9arat 3asha* ok sure

I filled out the form, which oddly enough had THE SAME QUESTIONS she asked me on the phone but with more detail.. 7asait nafsy I'm applying to adopt a kid a'la Angelina mn kthr al detailed questions..

Annnnyways.. the reservation was confirmed ba3d 3ana2an 6aweel... and we went to Gilgamesh.. or "tgalgemshna" as a dear friend of mine preferred to put it.. and guess what!

It was NOT what we expected.. 6ab3an again, re7na labseen kl thyabna expecting some amazingly chic place with that ever so stylish ambience.. (we have to stop doing that!) we were surprised to find people in just jeans and tops, or straight from work in power suits.. almkan allah wkleeekm k2na school cafeteria.. iz3aaaaaaj w it was huge w malyaaan 6awlat fe kl corner 3ala kl i3teba razeen 6awla w il bar sh6ooola ylf 3al mkan klah.. 3ama b3ainhom 9j sikeera hal sh3b.. anyways mb maw'6o3na.. y3nee seriously we expected to hear someone singing "fooood glorious fooood" (reference: Oliver Twist) in the background..

After being seated we were surprised to hear the choo-choo (well not exactly choo-choo, but iz3aj) of a train that practically ran through the cafeteria..a7m restaurant .. and the menu was brief to say the least .. their sushi was good, but the Thai Chicken Curry I ordered was basically a coconut and some chicken.. I don't like thai food.. and DESPISE coconut.. but ordered it because the waiter kan wagif 3ala rasy.. needless to say it was not appetizing..

The upside was that the decor was tres jolie and very "gilgamesh" and eastern-y-oriental-y as one would expect and the music was amaazing y3ne shwy w istanzalna mn il music coming from the lounge.. the outing we had been planning for the entire week ended in about an hour.. when we left in search of the nearest ben and jerry's for a sugar fix after that unfortunate experience..

Oh may I add that upon giving them her credit card, my friend was met with yet another form.. why you may ask? .. plainly because they were worried that her bank would go bankrupt as a result of the credit crunch and they would never get their money .. please Gilgamesh CALM THE 6EEE6 DOWN :P

btw that's a picture of the arm rest of my chair .. me likey :D

Drum rollllll pleaseeeee

2008-10-16T17:09:00.003+03:00

Hellooo my lovelies!!!

I'd like to welcome one of my bestest girlies to the blogsphere, none other than my favorite "in house designer", the genius behind Haif's Closet , the wind beneath my wings hahaha.. she's hillaaarious and has the funniest and most sarcastic sense of humor ever, check out her blog Stutters of a Mumbler and welcome her to the wonderful world of blogging :D

Randomosity..yet again..

2008-10-15T17:10:00.007+03:00

Warning: this may be the randomest post yet..

Ok so this bulgarian dude whos in all my classes wayd 5ath 3alay.. and now he wants to teach me bulgarian.. which just sounds like wa7d ga3d yetma'6ma'6.. also, our bulgarian friend feels the need to hug me at random times during the day.. and get my attention by pinching my waist.. sweetie I don't know where youuuu're from (bulgaria duh) but back home WE DON'T DOOO THAT :P maraa sekatna.. martain bela3naha.. thaleth mara esta'3farna rabna.. kel youm 3ad!! w don't be all "aww he likes youuuuu", because the dude's engaged, and shows me pictures of his fiance and wants to "introduce us this weekend at the pub".. pub fe 3ainek halllli nag9ni aroo7 il pub at3arf 3alaa 56eebat hal 3illa! but the thing is, he's such a nice guy, and he's been in all my seminars and group discussions since we started so we've gotten to know each other pretty well and became "friends" considering the short time we've been here.. yallah what to do in3eesh wn shoof.. a friend was telling me "malegaiti ila wa7d bulgari yfar9 5a9rtch, 5ali wa7d 3rbi ysaweeha 3ashan y'66ar y56bch ba3dha" :P

Ok thani maqlab.. the gym! my neighbors joined a gym and kept telling me that I have to join since it's soo nice and the trainers are really good and everythings new and stuff aaand it's in walking distance of where we live (major plus).. thus jooj got off her behind and skipped to the gym to join with her friends... after I filled the paperwork, paid the fee, figured out how to use the m3aqad locker system, I walked into the main hall thing.. chan ashhag w alef 3ala my friends "FE RYAYEEEEEL!".. resulting in them cracking up and saying "3abalch fel do7a inte obviously its mixed!!" ..

Common sense would tell you that the majority of gyms in london are mixed. Upon joining, I must have left my common sense at home (as I do on a regular basis..) .. I also must have blocked out the images of the many johnny bravo-esque men swiping their membership cards on the entrance to my left.. well at the end after just standing there for about 15 mins chatting with my friend on the exercise bike not knowing what to do and contemplating whether I want to work out or not.. I then said to myself screw it klhm fe 7alhm.. klhm enlgaiz.. no one cares about around here and I'm fully dressed so whatever.. and hopped on a treadmill.. then silently thought to myself "the trainer who I chose to do the measurements and weight stuff with was called Toni.. laykon b3d rayal!".. but kept my thoughts to myself and I guess I'll see today when I have my "induction session".. btw hathaila wayd y3aqdoon il omoor wsho induction 7g gym I know how to use the damn machines!

I had something else to say.. but I can't remember.. so another post for another day ..

Dizny wa6ee7

2008-10-07T21:01:00.002+03:00

I woke up this morning with a sinking feeling in my stomach.. I thought it was just me finding an excuse to stay in bed.. but it probably was the first sign that I should have hid out under my fluffy quilt for the rest of the day!

Most people wake up to the sound of birds singing, or a'3any rayga (fayrooz etc), w wyooh 7elwah tefta7 ilnafs.. ana 9aba7t 3ala rak'6a to the underground, w ra39a 7tha ra7d mzakm lawa3 chabdy knt abee arish 3aleh Dettol spray, w I don't know what I touched so I had black stuff on my thumb (it came off with sanitizer thank God!)..

Almohm, we9alt aljam3a b7af'6 Allah w r3ayta approximately 7 mins late.. and since al falsfa mn 6bay3 hal jam3a al ne7sa, the entrance to the building where I had my first lecture was an automated revolving door..

I5tkm jooj of course was busy texting, and didnt notice that she stepped in a puddle before stepping into the revolving doorway, thus resulting in zalga ma ba3adha zalga, leading to 6ay7a ma ba3adha 6ay7a, leading to the revolving door continuing to revolve disregarding the girl sprawled on her bottom on the floor with her phone, ipod, student card, shawl, and bottle of water scattered around her, and proceeded to smack me on the bottom as it kept revolving, resulting in yet another 6ay7a ma ba3adha 6ay7a.. this finally resulted in jooj crawling out of the doorway with zero prestige whatsoever!!

The upside is that I was already late, so there was no one in the entrance foyer to uni to catch the live show of my extravagant entrance, except me and the security guard who tried his best to stifle his laughter while asking "alright love?" with a huge smile on his face.. La 6ab3an mb alright ya7aywan wara mawagaft ilbab alt3ban malkm!

But jooj composed herself, held her head high, nodded to the guard while saying good morning and proceeded to walk towards the ladies room in the most calm manner her frazzled self allowed her to, to fix her messed up hair, wash her hands (yady inzalqat it hurts mn galb!), file her broken nail (freshly painted Berry Hard might I add), attempt to dry the wet patch on the right leg of her light grey skinnies, and spritz herself with Trish no. 9..

Aside from that, I emerged unscathed and walked into class a good 15 mins late, but in one piece, even getting a few "ooh you smell nice"'s from classmates as I walked past to get to my seat..

When I got home mom was like whats wrong after seeing my unsmiling face, and I explained my "fall" to her with tons of grand gestures and examples to how I fell, and where the damn revolving door hit me, expecting some sympathy from the women who carried me for 9 months as I've heard time and time again.. I got hysterical laughter.

Camden Town

2008-10-02T21:30:00.006+03:00

Where oh where did jooj go on Sunday????

CAMDEN TOWN!!!!!!!

6b3an mom made me change like 10 times before I left the house because apparently I was going to get robbed since I was wearing a polo .. if I had draped myself in a mink what would have happened 3ayal :P

Anyways, nerja3 le m7war 7adeethna.. my cousin and I set out for Camden on a bright and sunny (believe it or not) Sunday.. it's like a market that branches out over a million or so tiny streets, and sells everything and anything you could think of, from collars for mice (completley serious) to time machines (see pictures)!! My cousin had been there before and knews her way around it quite well, but it was my first venture into the land of druggies, hippies, punks, and just plain weird people!

I took soooo many pictures and got ripped off because everytime I'd take a picture in a shop , the shop owner would make me pay 20p.. which apparently isn't a rule bas shafoni msabaha fa galo yrb7oon shwya mn waray..

It was seriously an experience, but I don't think I'd go there again, if you've seen it once, its quite enough for the rest of your life trust me.. oh ya w re7na on Sunday fa kna 9aymeen, so we were seriously drained of energy by the end of our outing..

At one of the stalls, the guy asked me if I was moroccan, I said no, he then said, "are you arab?" I was like no.. so he was like "oh, you look very arab", I just smiled and walked away to take a closer look at some "havainas" (FAKE) flipflops.. then about 10 seconds later I turned to my cousin and said quite clearly "shhal 3afsa yalah ne6la3", she looked at me like I was the stupidest person alive and pulled me out of the shop before I realized what I had done hahaha

What happened next you wonder???

My dear cousin set her eyes on a huge (1m x 80cm) mirror with a carved teak wood frame, that I must admit was really quite breathtaking, the carvings were SOO intricate, it seemed like it must have taken years to carve in such detail, in a balinese/malaysian themed shop..

She had to have it.. and no, they do not deliver..

The lady wrapped it up in layers of bubble wrap and fashioned a handle out of some other material, leaving us with a heavy bundle to carry back home.. on the underground might I add!

So if any of you were in London, and saw two girls trying to maneuver a huge bundle around the sunday crowds on the London underground, it was us!

Some guy came up to us and was like "is that a massage table???".. knt ba9fga bl mirror.. bas 5eft mn 7 yrs bad luck :P

On the catwalk...

2008-09-27T13:44:00.011+03:00

Fashion Weeeekend">
Fashion Weeeekend

So fashion week wasn't as glamorous as we expected.. we were expecting to fall head first into a sea of choos, lagerfelds, coco's, and miuccia's.. we were wrong

Apparently it was just a preview of the collections of some new designers like Hannah Marshall, Jenny O, Belle Sauvage, but shown on the catwalk mixed in with other pieces from people we've actually heard of like Matthew Williamson, Jaeger, Carvela, Kurt Geiger, and H Chalayan..

Anyways, models included, seriously, me and my friends we're the best dressed people there.. y3nee gaymeen mn il9b7 w kash5een labseen kl thyabna w makeup w sha3ar w 7alatna 7ala, wl nas looked soo 3ade y3ne mratebeen w che bas not mt3adleen y3ne no obvious effort ila w7da mskeen with a puff gone wrong 3ala ras-ha..

A7na we got our inspiration from the fashion week ili fe Sex And The City, the movie, shfnahom kelhom kash5eeeen w sh7alat-hm, fa we did the same, thinking London Fashion Week would be no less, if not more! am7ggggg wallah.. 9aymeen w 7altna 7ala w mn il9b7 makeup w ya2s w killer heels.. it lasted 4 hours.. I was ready to leave after the first hour and a half because 5ala9 shefna kelshay w I wasn't bothered to wait for the show, bas my friends we're like laa stay netsala watching these people ili 3abalhom kash5een bas in reality labseen stuff we wouldn't be caught dead in in the privacy of our own homes.. am7g thouq.. am7g sana3 :P

btw, yngallikm itha you wear one white boot, and another black one, fe nafs il wagt, and ripped tights shaklhm tawhm 6al3een mn 7alj tais, INTE KASH5A W GOMAR W MAA7AD GADICH!

Bas ib9ara7a we had fun, and I'll leave you with some pictures ...

(btw the food they were serving looked uberrrr yummy w ree7at the espresso bars fe kl corner was PURE TORTURE! w in the gift bags there was this HUGE chocolate bar wrapped in sex and the city paper, wallah kbr my laptop, 6ab3an may7tay agolikm awl ma athan hatha awl shay dash 7alji .. and by the end of the night.. it was finished :P )

AAAAAAAAAHHHHH FRUSTRAAAAAATION!!! ok apparently it's like physically and technologically impossible to upload any pictures here right now.. so I'll leave you with a link to my Picasa album if you feel like checking out some pictures from the show

P.S. Mr. Bloggerman MA9A5T-HA yet again.. aish hal borooood ya5y ma3ndk '3airi?! sa3a w ne9 3ashan anazil the stupid pictures of the stupid designs from the stupid fashion show?!! and don't you blame it on my connection thak ilyoum ya zeeena saree3! wja3 inshallah wallah ink 5arabt 9yami :P

I say tomato, you say... tomato?

2008-09-24T23:22:00.006+03:00

a7imm..

Awalan:

Today while walking around, doing some more "discovering", I came across The Church of Scientology, aaaand it's Celebrity Center! I snapped a quick pic with my phone, but was kind of paranoid that some priest-ish-scientologist-er would come out and get pissed at me for acting paparazzi-esque outside their place of worship :P I called mom and was like "legait church of scientology!!!" .. she was like "w ba3dain? yma ta3ali ilbait wla 3abalech tom cruise by6la3lich mathalan" .. popped my happiness bubble 3al saree3.. I don't know why I was happy about it, but it was a kind of random place for a church.. it wasn't even church looking.. it was a victorian house with a sign out front! .. tamweeh yngal lekm..??

Thaneyan:

I >3 tomato's!

I really love them! Especially cherry tomato's, or those small "english tomato's" 3ala golat marks and spencers.. m3na la english walahom ya7zanoon.. they're soo yummy, I just don't get those of you who when ordering a burger stress the "NO TOMATO" , or pick them out of your salad, and push them to the side of your plate of pasta.. they're beautifulllly juicy and sooo good!

Allah y5aleeni 7g 6ma6y wy5aly 6ma6y ly :P

I realize this post is very random.. and probably makes no sense.. but I promise to have something more interesting to say after I go to fashion weekend on Friday ;)

As promised..

2008-09-20T17:11:00.006+03:00

It felt soooo nice to sleep in today, I really appreciated the arrival of the weekend! I woke up at 7.45 awal shay and freaked out a little trying to remember what time I was supposed to be at uni, then I realized it was Saturday and that I didn't have to get up at all and fell back onto my fluffy pillows..

I've done absolutely nothing today, except being sent to the supermarket to get

something for my mom :P and I'm loving it.. I think I'll go get a mani/pedi in a bit, and maybe a nice walk in the park hahaha ili yshofni ygool 9j 3aysha ildoor!! but no, yesterday a friend of mine wanted to go to the park madre laish so I'll see if she's still up for it, to kill some time before f6oor..

Oh btw DO NOT under any circumstances use those wipes that are meant to disinfect bathrooms (wnto ibkarama) with your bare hands! I thought they were like the regular dettol wipes bas they sting like crazy and now my hands are kind of red :(

I'll leave you some pictures I took over the past week, some are from my "river walk" with my class, others are just random shots around the area where I live.. some were taken by phone camera so please excuse the quality.

changes

2008-09-16T22:17:00.003+03:00

So here I am.. blogging from my new adorable vintage-ly decor-ed flat.. where I live all alone (well I'll be alone after 3eed when mama goes back home).. in London town, starting my new life.. (just for a year that is hahah).. and new masters program

I love it so far, I thought Ramadan would be horrible and too difficult for words here, but it's not bad as long as you're busy, and I certainly have been busy, I've done the following since Sunday

1- fly to London

2- go to 1st day of "induction week" at uni (on Monday)

3- move into flat (on Monday)

4- go over inventory etc etc with landlord (took an endless amount of time for some reason)

5- go get stuff ili nag9a and accessories for the flat (not as easy as one might think)

6- learn which key opens the crazily heavy front door (I don't do keys.. If it's locked I call and someone usually opens the door.. doesn't look like that will be the case here)

7- go to second day of "induction week" (today)

8- leave induction session because it was pretty obvious info being given out

9- go get more stuff for the sheqa (may I add that the second you get home you remember something SO important and have to go back!)

10- go grocery shopping (see above)

11- make a salad :D <- the highlight of my day hahahah

12- eat what mama's friend made for our f6oor mskeena

13- wash about a million or so dishes give or take a few

14- make gahwa *a7mm* I mean kick ass gahwa

15- da5in the sheqa and put the md5an on the balcony to the delight of my neighbors who were surprised at the fragrant 3ood-y scent wafting into their flat through their open window

Thats basically a summary.. I can't begin to describe how tired I am..

My day started at 8am today, made it to the tube station by 9, made it to uni at 9.30 just in time for the second induction session..

Tomorrow's going to be hell, we have to be at uni by 8.30, since they're taking us on a million mile long walk along the Thames enbankment for some reason k2na mashayfeen nahar mn gabl.. I would ignore them and catch up on some much needed sleep but apparently theres going to be some sort of discussion after the walk (at the river!) and I don't want to be running up and down the embankment looking for them if I'm late..

On another note, contrary to what I said above, I take it all back!

I want Ramadan to end ASAP *ista'3far Allah*, I actually NEED it to end.. I need my coffee, I need energy, and when its 11 degrees in the morning a 10 minute walk to the tube station could be made much more comfortable and tolerable with a nice hot tall skinny chai-latte (shfto ilfalsfa.. ysamona karak mb chai-latte!) between my freezing fingertips ... uff September wana chee mthalja la 9ar Dec. ibshro bl icicles ili btkon mtnathra mni .. I doubt I'll be able to get out of bed in winter, I am NOT winter person, winter bldo7a I freeze and make good use of heaters/ dowwa's/ huge fluffy blankets and endless cups of chay karak.. I really think that I have been made strictly for spring/summer use.. I think I should've come with a sticker 3ala ybhety saying that I should be left to hibernate like the bears or raccoons or whatever animal hibernates in winter..

Ahhh ya zeeen ilchay b3d ilf6ooor.. w belive it or not it's even nicer when you make it yourself.. 9j you feel the taste lol or maybe mabi aksar 5a6r nafsy w I pretend it's better than the chay our maids make at home..

I'm also staying away from the "regular" London scene.. I want to see how long that lasts though heheh.. I'm looking forward to discovering the area which I now live in since I'm not that familiar with it, I love how quiet it is and how pretty it all looks, everything is sooo pristine and white and clean, there are flowers on every window.. people are actually friendly too..

14 more days..

I'll leave you with this quote, that I find pretty appropriate right now by Boswell

"Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing it's great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists."

ooh p.ps. I promise to post pics next time!

mta y2athin mta y2athin mta y2athin

2008-09-12T16:12:00.007+03:00

I had a dream .. it was so real.. I woke up.. trying to grab at the last few images in my head.. I was so sad to find out that it was just a dream.. and I was just in my bed.. and it was all.. a figment of my ever so imaginative imagination...I felt like crying..

I dreamt of...

Wla agolkm la 5ala9 esta'3far Allah, laish a5arb 9yamkm..5aloni I go read Quran a7sanli...

On the other hand.. since your still scrolling down, I'm assuming you want to know...

Yes.. those of you who know me well will know "what" visited me in my dreams.. It hasn't happened for quite a while.. I thought I was done with those kind of dreams.. I thought "it" had finally stopped haunting me..I thought I got over my "addiction" lets call it.. I'm surprised that it happened now of all times.. and in Ramadan y3ne of all months... I miss "it" so much.. it's been sooo long.. almost 2 months.. I don't think I can be strong anymore.. I'm going to go for it..

I present to you...

*drum roll*

it was so real.. I swear I could taste every bite..

The second I woke up I called Fauchon but I only got the answering service saying that they don't open before f6oor :( I WANT MY CAKE :(

I even made mama want it I kept saying "7iloooo w baaaarid w creaaaamy w che faj2a piece of pistache y6al3lichhhhh" all the while mama's eyes getting bigger and bigger until she was like "yallah gomi 5alna nro7 nyeeb" .. but alas.. they're closed :( WHY.. ya3ne fara'6an 7ad 5a6ra y7aly mn fauchon b3d ilf6or 3ala 6ooool mn ili bero7 the second y2athin just for a cake or some choclate..

ME !

Note: I dreamt of my all time favorite cake which is the pistache cake from fauchon, but couldn't find a pic so these are other yummies from fauchon etigazeron feehm 3ala bal my I find a pic of my baby.. an9a7km if you're pistachio fans TRY IT!!!

Jooj & the insy winsy spider

2008-09-08T19:47:00.005+03:00

Kan ya ma kan mn youm aw ithnan SPIDER FE '3RFTY..

It was black, and tiiiiinyyyyyy, and was just walking in circles on my bedspread.. It was actually kind of cute y3ne I almost expected to see two huge cartoony eyes sticking out of its head wallah kan katkoot mskeen.. back to the story, I of course freaked out and did a little dance of fear comprising of jumping up and down and waving my arms around.. lets just say ma7ad 3abarni.. anyways, I huffed and puffed at it and it fell on the floor and as I was about to reach for the bottle of hairspray (a girls number one method of killing insects), I remembered the story about Alrasool (3alih il9alat wlsalam) and the spider web, so I decided to ignore mr. spider and left the room hoping that since 36aft 3alih it wouldn't come back and bite me, thus poisoning me and leaving me to die a slow and painful death..

LATER that night as I was getting ready for bed, I saw the spider again, I ignored it (I swear its like the size of a pea mayswa 3alay) and got in bed.. then I thought to myself *insert lightbulb on top of head* "waaaaait a minute jooj your actually going to attempt to sleep with this vicious creature lurking around your room"?!

Chan I push qe9at Alrasool (3alih il9alat wlsalam) to the back of my mind, grab a handful of kleenex, jump out of bed, with a burst of shoja3a-ness squash mr. spider, run to the bathroom (wnto bkarama), throw bqaya mr. spider in the toilet w a'6rab 3alih a7la flush.. Only then, as I watched mr. spider go around and around the toilet bowl did I think dammit I should've asked if he was the same monster as msa3a or if he had other friends hiding in my room!

That is NOT the end, I washed my hands quite vigorously, and went back to bed.

3abalkm nemt? laaaa 6b3an al weswas il5anas ma5alani fe 7ali, w gooomi ya jooj tsab7y mn jd w jdeed w lbsy new pj's w get back into bed and try to forget that creepy-crawly feeling you have that something's walking on your leg.. w hathi 7alti till 5 am Allah wkeelkm, imam al masjd 3balkm merta ga3edta? laaaa hathi anaaa ili dagait ilbab 3alih :P

The End

The moral of the story: never pretend to be ba6ala and attempt to kill creepy crawlies by your self because they will only haunt you later on. Be a girl and abuse the fact that you can yell and scream and wake up the whole house to come and kill the monster ili mayste7y 3ala wajha dash '3rf banat ilnas :D

Rama'6aniyaat..

2008-09-07T20:32:00.004+03:00

Has anyone else noticed al ajwa2 il rama'6anya ili t3m il bldan fel shahr ilfa'6eel??

(No I do not mean 5yam Rama'6anya etc)

Why is it that during the day all the men look pissed off and scary (due to lack of nicotine/caffeine etc etc), bas awl mayje il lail '67kat-hm tla3le3 w ma'3air tshofon '3tar 6al3a mn a cloud of smoke..

Why is it that during the day all the girl/women are chal7at mal7at, y3ne you wonder if they even washed their faces in the morning when they woke up, w all you can see are a6raf jalabeyat sticking out under their 3abaya's, w 3yonhom bl ar'6 w you just hear faint whispers of "esta'3far Allah, la ilaha ila Allah" while they walk aimlessly through supermarkets/malls/hospitals/wherever..

Bas awl may6la3 ilgomar, alsa7rat b3ad te6la3,, ma'3air kiloat la to3id wala to79a makeup mkawedda 3ala wjohhm ilmal7a, w alwan w almasat etilama3 w tabreg w 3abaya's fit for wedding parties with enough embroidery on them to make a set of good sized sitting room curtains, lets not forget the trail of perfume and 3ood and d5oon they leave behind them..

Ok, when it's said that you shouldn't be "motabarija" while fasting, they don't mean bahdelo a3markm and look barely presentable to the public! 3aib ya nas! Ok, refrain from putting perfume/3ood/d5oon while fasting, don't overdo it with the makeup, no need for scary colors and shiny Abaya's that will only bring unwanted (or wanted??) attention to yourself.. but DON'T leave the house in your nightgown thinking a Abaya will cover it up, because you know what sweetie? it's not magic, it doesn't! There's still such a thing as V.P.L (visible pantie line) if your practically naked under your Abaya.. am7g 9yam..

Another thing, your not the only one fasting! We all are! There's no need to be all moody and mnafsa 3alina, we didn't have our morning chay 7aleeb either so smile for 6ee6's sake and remember that this is a Holy month and we should try our best to use it positively to it's extent since it only happens ONCE A YEAR!

You're not going to die if you leave your house without having your daily dose of caffeine, we've all been in a situation when your soo late that you in the morning leave 3al reej, so be a man/woman and get over yourself! Bala t2f2ef w bala ya2s theb7tooona with your mood swings and your frowns!

And to you annoying women in hospital waiting rooms: I realize sha3ry 6ali3, I realize "7jabi mb kamil", I realize that my arms show when I reach for something, you know why??? BECAUSE dear melageef, I am not met7ajba, it may seem odd to you, but I'm not, and yes my family know, and no, they don't lock me in my room until I swear to cover every last hair on my head whilst crying hysterically! I do know that "kel sha3ra 6al3a ib jamra" as one thoughtful women in a parking lot felt the need to remind me, but you know what? baini w bain rabbi yal mo7tarama inte yali teda5lain fe 59o9yat ppl you've never even seeeen before!

One even had the nerve to say "9yammich mayngibil itha inte mb met7ajba"!

Really?

Really??

So do YOU make the rules oh woman with a meswak in your mouth chewing at it like a naga waiting to be slaughtered?!?!

Note: I am NOT anti-7jab/deen/Islam. On the contrary, I understand and know that it is a far'6 and Inshallah when I feel I am ready to do it properly I will, ON MY OWN, without the endless ranting of strangers who push ktb ad3ya in my hands when I walk past them!

Note Note: No I do not frequent soug il5amees wl jm3a where people such as the ones mentioned above would most likely be found, but believe it or not, these incidents happened in public places within the borders of civilization and urban planning.

Note Note Note: despite all of the ranting upstairs, I LOVE RAMADAN :D I love the gatherings, the '3abga's, the "jaw", the ra7a nafseya...

Mbarak 3alekm ilshahar :)

2008-09-03T11:53:00.002+03:00

Yes I realize I'm probably the last person in the blogsphere to abareklikm blshahar, bas y3ne excuse me I've spent the past few days running after my boss :P

I have three words to say ..

I...AM....FREEEEEEEEE :D (well only for the next few weeks)

I've been trying to hand in my resignation at work since Sunday when I started again after my vacation .. the modeera refused to acknowledge it/sign it/ look at it/ smile at it/ offer it tea/ compliment it/ 3ABIR IT for four days.. FOUR DAYS the "kitab isteqala" was sitting all by itself on her desk .. mskena 3abalha ina if she put it off long enough I would change my mind?

I then got the guilt trip "a7na sawaina shay? ga9arna bshay? 7ad za3alch?" etc etc.. as if y3ne abe at6alg mb quit.. and after I explained to her for the millionth time (what was already written in the letter) that I was still under the probation period (6 months) and still ma tethabbatt, legally there is no contract between us, and until the 6 month period is over (3 months left) I can quit at any time without so much as a weeks notice..

She then began talking about a new mashroo3 that she wanted me to take on, which would be ongoing for the next two months.. IGNORING the fact that I was trying to quit.. w ya3ne it's not like I was quitting for the hell of it, I told her that the reason I'm quitting was because I'm going to start a masters program in the next two weeks, thus I cannot be in two places at once 1- university, 2- work, seeing as they were on two different continents, I HAVE TO QUIT..

Again, she disregarded my plea lets call it, and proceeded to talk about my future at the company.. I don't know if it was the effect of fasting on her but I think she has a case of severe ADD.. I then reminded her that it's just a 1 year program w "inshallah la 5ala9t arja3lkom" (arja3lhom 6al) and she began to talk about doing my masters bil morasala wl intisab!!! I love how she just re-planned my life!

At the end she was like "7abeebti ana wayd mash'3ola ilyoum magdar awaqe3 6alabich, ta3ali bkra il9b7"

Seriously?

You just spent an hour going in circles about something VERY STRAIGHT FORWARD and now you say your too busy to sign my resignation letter which would take, oh about.. hmm lets think.. 2.3 seconds!

BUREAUCRACY IS A FEMALE DOG! (bismla 3alay masib wana 9aima)

The thing that annoyed me the most was that because ana ma tethabat yet, all I could have done was go to human resources w as7ab malafi mn 3indhom w leave a note with the secretary that I quit w inteha al maw'6o3.. bas ilsana3 shain yal rabi3.. since the modeera was a friend of my mothers glt mafashil ilmama w I wrote a "kitab isteqala" IN ARABIC might I add with all the "ta7ia 6ayiba w ba3ad" "taqabalo fa2iq il i7tiram wl shikir" blablabla , STATING not ASKING, STATING my resignation.. and when I complained to mom about it she was like ma7ad gallich! you should've just walked in her office and told her your done and thank you maga9rto w m3 ilsalama laish tetfalsefain!

All that aside I am back to ba6alya-ness for the next couple of weeks before I become immersed in the deep dark sea of university once again .. I'm looking forward to being "empty" for the next few weeks in order to get around to doing Ramadan things i.e. reading more Quran, praying qiyam, and basically relaxing, things that unfortunately I've been too exhausted, and not have enough time to do :P

Ta7ya al ba6ala *holds up empty finyal gahwa*

I'm baaaack :D

2008-08-30T21:20:00.003+03:00

And so jooj returns to Doha safe and sound with a slight migraine from a child who decided it would be fun to scream for the entire duration of a 7 hour flight.. bas hatha mb maw'6o3na

I came back arms laden with boxes of La Duree macaroons and Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes for various friends and family..

Upon arriving home, at 8.45 pm the first thing I did was give the driver a bag with the GREEN La Duree box who I said was for X, and a bag with the PINK La Duree box saying this is for Y, and a box containing cupcakes saying this is for Z.. ok so far?

The following took place:

jooj- take these bags and boxes to X, Y and Z's houses now please NOW or it will spoil!!

driver- Green for X, pink for Y, box for Z yes?

jooj- yes, green for who??? (testing him ya belfait)

driver- X

jooj- pink for whoooo???

driver- Y house

jooj- box for whooooo???

driver- Z

jooj- NOW haa not later not bring milk first NOW

driver- yes now

After that one would think that he had gotten the message loud and clear.

At 11 pm before I went to bed I was surprised that I hadn't gotten so much as a "thank you" sms from X,Y or Z, but didn't think of it and fell asleep.

Today at around 1 in the afternoon I was on the phone chit-chatting with Y and was like "btw, did you get me macaroons?" This was the shock of my life after yesterdays long explanation with the driver. I shut the phone with her and promptly called the driver who chose not to answer his phone.

I called Y back and was like "wallah shakla al sawag t3asha macaroons, ams bllail 3a6aita w lain il7en mayrid 3al telfon mswad ilwayh"

*fe hal athna2 driver calls back*

jooj- wain ili 36aitek ams twadeehm?

driver- in the car ma'am

jooj- WHAT?!

driver- now taking no problem

jooj- I TOLD YOU LAST NIGHT AND ITS 1 PM W B3DA 3NDEK?!

driver- yesterday tired, too much bags carrying, today taking no problem

jooj- CAKE HATHA FE PROBLEM ITS SPOILED NOWWWWW

driver- I thinking it was clothes. Now taking no problem

jooj- NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Within 5 minutes I got an sms from Y saying that the driver got her the macaroons.. and that they were still scrumptiously edible despite being left in the car overnight and Z got her box of cupcakes.. but X hasn't confirmed the delivery.. I'm thinking Y got all the macaroons by mistake.. oh well at least I tried..

Ma9arli 24 hours fel blad w already mbtalsha ib '3atha il5adam .. can't live with them, can't live without them...

Class of 2007 :~(

2008-08-23T02:20:00.003+03:00

Q)What did jooj notice after she got on the plane from D.C to London and after the "switch off your phone announcement?????"

A)That she wasn't wearing her graduation ring, which she always wears..

Q)What did that mean???

A)That she left it in the hotel room in D.C when she took it off to tie her hair since the hair tie thing always gets caught in it..

Q)What did jooj doooo??

A)She hid low in her seat and called the hotel and told them where EXACTLY they could find her ring, and then called her aunt and gave her the mwa9fat (7asha syara) as in stone color, engraving, year etc etc so she could follow up with the hotel..

Q)How did jooj feel during the entire flight???

A)SAD! I know its just a ring and I could order another one easily but it had sentimental value.. and it's just gay to order a graduation ring yourself y3ne 7alata the uni does it for you ..

.....

Q)What did jooj find a good 24 hours later while rooting around in her enormous hand bag???

A)Her graduation ring ... (and a piece of paper she'd been looking for for quite a while.. )

Moral of the story: DO NOT REACT QUICKLY and DO NOT make relatives yell at hotel managers to search lockers of the housekeeping staff.. if it's lost, in most probably in your bag! Unless you lost your bathtub or something that can't fit in your bag, keep in mind that a good sized bag these days can fit a kitchen sink..

How gangsta of me..

2008-08-17T21:27:00.004+03:00

I don't know what it is, but I think I subconsciously attract ghetto superstars :P

Over the course of my stay here in D.C I can't begin to describe the number of times I got hit on by someone either in the process of becoming an RnB star/Rapper in terms of style and "ride" :P It just makes me laugh I mean I get complimented by gay guys on the street for either something im wearing or my hair (I say I have like a million products in but its actually rgdy ib wet hair tgomeen ib kisha inama eeeh), but the amount of times 7awelo ygardinooni rab3na al rappers (or rabbar's as dad likes to say) in an elevator is just funny..

Scenario 1 (in elevator)

Guy: What's yo name?

Me: uh.. jooj (notice no polite smile, and yourself?) *ajawba b3d malat 3alay*

Guy: I'm Don, Don Mohammed

Me: hi

Guy: girl, you smell gooood

Me: uh.. thanx *al3an il youm ili t3a6rt feeh..*

Guy: Where you from jooj?

Me: Qatar

Guy: You know whaaat, I'm going to Qatar in November

Me: are you now? *rolls eyes in disbelief*

Guy: uh-huh, I'm in the music business, I'm Joe's manager, he's an RnB artist, you heard of Joe?

Me: Joe what? fat joe?

Guy: no just Joe, were coming to Qatar for a concert

Me: ah, how nice.. *plays with phone*

Elevator door opens, I leave and walk towards my aunt

Guy: *extends hand and says hello to aunt* Ma'am, I'd just like to say, you have a beautiful daughter

Aunt: thank you *about to burst out laughing looks at me for explanation*

Guy: Ma'am, I would like to ask for your permission, before giving your beautiful daughter my business card so we can keep in touch

Aunt: w7laaaailaaataaaah, sure Mr Don go ahead

Me: *Stares angrily at aunt* takes card and smiles

Guy: Keep in touch jooj, hope to see you in Qatar, tell me girl what IS that perfume?

Me: uh.. its arabic. bye.

Aunt: WAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

Me: MAY'6A7IK *throws card in nearest trashcan*

Scenario 2 (in elevator) I walk in holding a box of cupcakes

Guy in bathrobe at 11 am: Is it your birthday?

Me: uh ya

Guy: Yo it's her birthday dawg sing her happy birthdayyyyy

Dawgs (entourage??): SNAAAAAP, happppy birthdaaaay to yoooou etc etc..

Me: uh no its not mine, it's my mom's (it's neither bas abe asakt'hm)

Guy: Well you wanna come out and celebrate with us tonight, not yo mama, just you

Me: no thanks

Guy: We're staying at the pent house

Me: I'm sure it has a nice view

Guy: you wanna come see for yourself? *wink, catch a glimpse of blinged-out teeth..*

Me: no thanks

Guys friend a.k.a dawg: we got a hummer limo to go check out the scene tonight, you should come!

Me: *what scene inta ba3ad!* thats nice (arrive at my floor)

Me: enjoy your stay (runs out of elevator)

Guy: WAAAIT whats yo name girlllll, what rooom you innnnnnn?

So I guess i'm big pimpin or look like a rappers girl friend or something.. either way I'm not amused .. as you can see my ghetto-speak isn't up to speed.. despite the many interactions..

Oh I almost forgot, another thing,while we're on the topic hahaha

Mom took her uncle (rayal kbeer fel sin) to the embassy to get some paper work or something here in D.C, like most places here, all the security guards and the police surrounding the embassy were African American's, when they got to the entrance, he told her to wait, and proceeded by going up to each and everyone of them saying "ilsalam 3alekm" and shaking their hands.. while Mom watched in confusion, when he finished:

Mom: 3ami laish salmt 3alihom kelhm?

Great-uncle: akeed asalm, mb hathaila 3abeed ilshai5? *excuse the racism*

Mom: *holding back laughter* la 3ami hathaila security w shr6a, hathaila amreekan mb g6ryen!

Great-uncle: shdarani, 3bali 3abeed ilshai5 7a6hm 3nd al sifara..

Again, I LOVE OLD PPL!

6g ya m6ar 6g.. baitna jdeeeed... madre wsho 7adeeed

2008-08-15T07:48:00.011+03:00

So yesterday afternoon I was taking a leisurely walk down M street in Georgetown doing a bit of shopping, I looked at the sky which was practically yelling at me "ITS GOING TO RAIN GET A DAMN UMBRELLA LIKE THE REST OF HUMANITY :@".. then chose to ignore the sky's ranting and walked into Keihls to stock up on some of that yummy olive shampoo (7sha salad dressing) that makes your hair so gawwwwjous..

I spent quite a while in the store, even though it was like mtr ib mtr, since the lady was kept asking me stupid questions and attempting to chitchat, only sufficing to prove over and over to me how ignorant some ppl are about things like, lets seee, the geography of the world they live in..

Anyways, nrja3 le m7war 7adeethna, when I walked out of the store, t5ra3t, ma w3ait ili ana wagfa fe ne9 thunder storm mn 6eraz tsunami w rab3ah wl 3alam kla yamshi reallly fast with umbrellas wana wagfa mthl al habla with my freshly blow dried hair and brand new suede bag fel m6ar!

What does one do in times like this?

I thought about going back into Kiehls but the womans annoying conversation put me off, so I thought about crossing the street and wasting some time in American Eagle 3ala bal ma the storm goes away.. 3ad hnee they don't just cross wain ma yabon nafsna (ay nafsna mn gal we cross streets fe bladna a9ln) you have to go to the damn pedestrian..

On the way to the pedestrian, my ballet flats which were NOT made for walking in puddles slipped and slid and almost landed me on my face all the while trying to hold my bag under the part of the sidewalk which was in the shade (about a foot wide)..

What did i5tkm jooj do? attempt to cross *a7m swim* across the street? laaaa 6b3an, estaslamt lel wa'63 ini mb kafo atmasha fel m6ar w I stopped the first cab I saw Carrie Bradshaw style and said "the (insert hotel name here), pronto!", without the pronto, and made my way home in the warmth of the cab.. forgetting about my throbbing ankle, which yes, got kind of twisted during my little dance between puddles on the sidewalk..

Ooooooh I almost forgot, 9erna tourists mn ili y7ba galbkm today w re7na one of my favorite places as a child (yes I was cultured and mothaqafa at one point in time), the Natural History Museum, it was my favorite because I absolutely loveddddddddd the dinosaur exhibit and would just stare at them for hours amazed at enormous creatures used to roam our earth..

lets just say I was dissapointed to find that:

1) I was no longer enthralled by dinosaurs,

2) the exhibit's weren't as breath taking as I remember,

3) due to false advertising, there was NO horse exhibit in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi National Equestrian Federation, and

4) it was just plain crowded and some idiot played with my camera yesterday so I spent the entire time trying to fix the focus instead of focusing on the exhibits..

يوم الفقر شلتوا علينا عيوبـــــه.. واليوم عقب النفط جيتوا لنا أنسـاب

2008-08-14T03:39:00.004+03:00

Today while having a late lunch with mama and my aunt, we witnessed something quite embarrassing to the entire arab population..

The restaurant we were at was near the entrance to a mall in the area thats quite popular with vacationing Arabs.. we saw a tinted mini van and a black tinted escalade complete with all the rims etc that would make any pimp proud pull up in front of the entrance, two huge suit-shades-and-headset-clad body guards jumped out of the escalade and proceeded to run towards the mini van and open the back doors, of course we expected no one less than condaleeza her self to pop out 3gb hal 7shra kelha (may I add they blocked the entrance for like 15 mins).. WHO came out of the car?

Two adoraaable little boys in matching clothes, no older than 4 and 7 years old.. two more bodyguards in similar ensemble, a maid, and another fdawy-type-guy..

*background chitchat mn al amrekan "OH MY GOD I THINK I JUST SAW PARIS HILTON STEP OUTTA THAT SUV (or something like that)"...maynlamon le galo 3nhom sha3b mota5alif...*

The kids looked oblivious to all the hustle and bustle they'd caused, and innocently looked up at their maid and said "nb'3a mcdonalds, waina mcdonalds?" in a Saudi accent.. I actually felt sorry for them!

WHO THE HELL would do all that? WHO THE HELL would employ a 7-person-entourage for PRESCHOOL CHILDREN?! I mean no matter whooo these kids son they were I'm sure they did NOT need all that security.. and if they were the answer to life itself as they seemed to be treated, I'm sure that a less eye-catching entourage would have been much "safer?" for them..

Only arabs.. ONLY arabs would do such a thing.. wallah infashil ya3nee seriously was all that necessary?? If this is how the little kids roll, I wonder how many bullet proof tanks surround their parent's cars..

Y3ne ok 3alikm bl3afia but seriously y3nee hatha iltabtheeeer b3ainah.. come onnnnnn even I limit my entourage to 4 people, ok fine.. I make it 5 in crowded cities ;)

3 words for you...

2008-08-09T14:11:00.002+03:00

RANDOM SECURITY CHECKING..

yes, despite popular thought.. it is completely and totally RANDOM.. HOW on earth picking the three arab looking people two of which haven't been to the US in 7 or so years, after being there almost twice annually, who were at customs DID NOT happen on purpose..

I mean seriously WHAT is it to you idiots who run airports in the US, what kind of effort does it take you people to think of all those idiotic questions you ask us at your goddamn airports!

A7im, a few examples:

Guy at counter: what kind of work does your son do?

Dad: my son is not travelling with us

G.A.C: yes, but what kind of business does he do, it says here that he's older than 30, I assume he's not unemployed at this age???

Dad (about to slap the guy): he's in (insert profession here)

G.A.C: ah, and why is he not accompanying you on this trip?

Dad: he's a little old to be going on family vacations don't YOU think? (*under-breath* il3an abokm labo abokm wli yjekm mara thanya)

G.A.C: have you had any surgical procedures done?

Mom: in this country?

G.A.C: no, in general

Mom: how is that relevant?

G.A.C: please answer the question Ma'am

Mom: It's none of your business and shouldn't even be an issue

G.A.C: ah, so I can assume it's a cosmetic procedure? or a health related procedure?

Mom: WHAT?! there was NO procedure

G.A.C: ah, not at all? never in your entire adult life? Ma'am it's crucial that you answer these questions that have been set by the american government

Mom: that is none of YOUR or the american government's business

G.A.C: so I can write down that no procedures have been done?

Me: yes! my God that's what she's been saying for the past half hour!

G.A.C: Ma'am, can you please take off your sunglasses

Me: are you going to ask me anything?

G.A.C: no Ma'am just please remove them

Me: ufffffffffft (takes of glasses) (*under-breath* shmshklat ommn yabeta shfeeeh shyaby fa'6y ho? a7na mb fa'6yeeeeeeeeen)

Mom: skte!

Dad: *look of death*

Me: ...

All that aside, I'm now in Washington D.C. the land of culture and museums and considerable shopping.. and a 6eee6-load of 3arabs :P

Its 7 am, I've been wide awake since quarter to 6, since I went to bed at like 8 last night.. which was about 4 am Germany time.. so yes jetlag is a bitch.. and I'm owned.

"alma2 wl leef wl wajh alkaseef"

2008-08-06T00:54:00.004+03:00

Ok let me start by saying I have lost all feeling in my feet.. why is that you may ask, because I walked 8 friggin km or more like ran 8 friggin km trying to keep up with my dad..

Quote of the day: "ufff wa5ro 7ag 3mamkom" - courtesy of mama (aimed at a bunch of germans upon us entering a very crowded store)

After hearing her say that with all seriousness, I just leaned against a pillar and laughed for what I think was 3 minutes straight! I love my mom's sense of humor, she's hillaaaarious, her sarcasm kicks in once we leave the Qatari borders as she likes to put it, therefore making her the perfect travel-buddy!

Favorite quote from last summer: "goooly 7ag Davido, haki al sanyoora 9arlha sa3a fel sikkah" (Davido is the doorman guy at our building in Florence, and he was supposed to take her somewhere w naga3ha w hy ten6ra fel share3 :P al sanyoora, would be her of course )

Anyways back to my numb footsies.. this afternoon I was lounging around flipping through a magazine, and my dad asked me if I wanted to go with him for a walk.. I said ok and grabbed my bag, he then told me to put on trainers because my sandals would hurt my feet.. me being me, had no trainers, thus slipped into the closest thing, satin ballet flats and a pair of juicy track pants..

The following dialouge then took place:

Dad- shtabeen fe halshan6a

Me- a'3ra'6y

Dad- bt-hajreen? ila sa3at ziman!

Me- feeha camerty, booki, telfoni, tissues, detol wipes, ipod, A7TAJHOM

Dad- ok ok 5al9eeni IMSHY

During our walk, more like dad's walk, my run! A feeling of adoration and love overcame me and I had a sudden urge to run up to my dad who was about 10 meters in front of me and give him a huge hug.. but since we're not exactly huggers t3awtht mn iblees w I continued taking pictures of him while he wasn't looking, since he doesn't like getting his picture taken, he finds it physically impossible to smile if a camera is pointed at him, he looks like Groucho Marx in all his pictures y7laila :P

The pictures above were taken during my little nature walk :P

The Heidi pic is ihda2 5aaaaa9 to my best girlie Nwayyer :P

Gutentaaaag

2008-08-05T00:06:00.003+03:00

Greetings from the lovely land of Heidelberg.. a.k.a middle of no where, between a river, a valley, and a bunch of mountains in Germany..

After a sleepful 6 hour plane ride, I arrived refreshed and ready to go take a long walk, which was not greeted postively by the parentals who insisted that I needed to rest "la2na twna wa9leen mn ilsifar!" .. y3ne as if I walked all the way.. bas ma3aleh.. I turned on the TV, and what was on? Sanawat al '6aya3.. (warana warana) which is a teeeny weeeeny bit better than Noor in my book, as in I can actually stand it, so I watched a bit of that before disappearing on my walk.. then I proved myself to be ever so 3arab.. and proceeded to ignore all the quaint little cafe's lining the streets, and walked straight into Starbucks, the home of the over-processed, and kind of burnt tasting coffee, that we love so much!

I watched "What happens in vegas", and "Made of Honor" on the plane, actually I just watched the credits in the beginning then fell asleep, I know I know "tawinasssssss" 3al movies, but believe it or not, when I didn't get the chance to see them in the theater awl ma nzl, I didn't watch them online in order to save them for the plane!! Don't ask, it made sense in my mind!

I also realized that fathers can be quite annoying on the plane.. well not all fathers, but mine specifically. This is mainly because daddy dearest has a very severe fear of flying, so he's tense the entire time we're in the air, in the airport, near an airport, and for a few days before traveling.. this doesn't get better in the air because he can't sit still.. he kept coming over and leaning on my TV screen wanting to chitchat, I was still awake, but kept my eyes closed because I didn't want ilnoom y6eer 3ni :P I know it sounds mean, but I mean what was I supposed to do for 6 hours if I didn't sleep as soon as the bed-bug-bit!! He then walked around a few times, patted a few random kid's head's, then sat back down and started to read... about an hour later when I woke up to start the next movie (only to put me to sleep of course), he sensed some movement across the aisle and got up and kept peering over the partitiony thing as if he was trying to tell me by telepathy "WAKE UP AND ENTERTAIN ME YOU USELESS DAUGHTER".. I wonder why he didn't try these methods on my mom..

GiftAholic

2008-07-29T20:41:00.003+03:00

Have I mentioned how much I love my friends??

Well I absolutely LOVE them!!

I came home to find a box from Aramex (I would've taken a pic bas ilf'6ool theba7ni w shgaita), after ripping it open I found a B-day present from one of my best friends who sent it from Kuwait.

She's the owner of GiftAholic, a company that custom makes gifts for those of you who hate shopping for the perfect gift!

For those of you who are interested, they can be contacted at +965-7977586, and they do a wonderful job :)

There there baby it's just a box of stufff.....

2008-07-29T19:55:00.003+03:00

I think I'm going deaf.. I've been obsessed with "Speeding Cars" by Imogen Heap for a while and I've been singing it "don't feed me VIOLINS just RUM..." and "there there baby its just a BOX FULL OF STUFF.." I mean I've been known to make up words to songs but not this random.. the actual words are "don't feed me violence just run with me through rows of speeding cars..." and "there there baby its just text book stuff.."

On a happier note, ref. to my previous post about Mr. Asshole , I just filled out another form and left it on his desk, and I still haven't gotten a phone call from his poor secretary saying that it's been declined again so I'm assuming I'm good to go.. frankly even if I'm not good to go I don't really care, I don't want to be all "I'm going to call almodeera and she will tell you that I'm leaving..", but I seriously think I'll have to resort to that if said asshole continues being his wonderfully delightful rude self..

Before I took my afternoon nap I wanted to check a few emails (since yahoo, hotmail, facebook and anything else entertaining is blocked at work) but my connection was so weak it kept disconnecting, summoning up my inner computer nerd, I starting fiddling around network preferences or whatever its called and what do I find?.. Roland.. yes Roland.. some network along with my "Home" network called Roland.. now I may be technologically challenged as opposed to me previous comment about my inner computer nerd, but I'm the most computer savvy person in my house so it was obviously not someone else at home.. and y3ne fog hatha kla we don't have a Roland at home.. I'm assuming its a neighbor trying to get into my wireless range.. wtf what is this China.. y3ne its password protected for a reason mr neighbor a.k.a Roland (my neighbors don't look very Roland-y though hmmm...)... Who are you and WHY are you in my wireless network-y thing?!

Ahh yes I forgot the highlight of my day, some idiotic person who thinks he's higher than traffic ETIQUETTE and laws nearly gave me a heart attack, he was second in line coming from one of those side roads and the light was green on the main road so I were going pretty fast, mr polite blue landcruiser (first in line) stopped and waited for me and everyone to pass, but mr wld ilkalb camry (second in line) decided that we could just stop and wait for him and popped out of the side road, and proceeded to try to get into the 3rd lane from the 1st, right in front of me, I of course made sure that he's permanently deaf in his left ear mn il haran mali, and allah ysalm al braikat I stopped the car like less an inch from him thinking I had hit him, I freaked out 7ata mr blue landcruiser msaikeen haranla w sabba w asharli ina my car was fine w ina ma 6gaita y7lailata, the mr wld ilkalb b3d had the nerve to wave to me ina y3ne sorry, and sped off again leaving me and my beating heart which had promptly dropped to the bottom of my pinkie toe mn al 5r3ah.. my hands were shaking the entire way home and when I walked in the house my mom t5r3t shes like whats wrong laish mn9afga.. I told her, w y7lailha atwaqa3 ina mr wld ilkalb fell in a baloo3a at that second mn d3awi mama :P

P.S I doubt any of the description about my near-accident makes sense but ya that's how I describe stuff to do with traffic lol

YOU'RE NOT MY BOSS!!!

2008-07-25T13:00:00.003+03:00

I don't get along with him..

I dislike him..

His mere presence annoys me..

He looks all razza and kash5a, but HE HAS NO ESLOOB WHAT SO EVER!

I HATE HIM!

Who is this mysterious person whom I cannot stand???

The guy who's in charge, while MY yes MY supervisor is out of town..

He refused my "6alab ijaza" .. why? Because I'm still under probation period (for 6 months), and I shouldn't want to take a vacation for a month.. WHATS IT TO YOU?!

Whennnn I took this job in the first place, and during the interview to be precise, with THE MODEERA of the place who outranks this asshole at least 20 times, she asked me if I had any prior engagements that wouldn't allow me to be at work during any point, I told her that I have "eltizamat 3a2leyya" and I won't be in Doha for the whole of August.. she said it wasn't a problem and that I can take time off WHENEVER I want and that she already has given me the green light and will tell the management people etc..

Mr Asshole on the other hand, decided to go on a power trip the day that I submitted the "6alab ijaza", and put a big fat DECLINED stamp all over my pretty writing!

Upon me asking why, he said "you can only take 20 days with pay, and you said you want a month off, w a9ln, wain btro7een?"... ok smartass excuse me for assuming that you idiots would use your useless brains and give me 20 with pay and 10 without.. but no.. you have to be idiots.. and shda5lk wain baroo7 inshallah baro7 jahanam may5e9k feni!

I therefore said, "ok no problem I'll take it without pay" (HAH MR ASSHOLE IN YOUR FACE! UNLIKE YOU, IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY WITH ME, ANA SHAYFA 5AIR I DON'T NEED YOUR STUPID SALARY).. that he did not expect, he then said "m3aleh bntfaham al a7ad"..

Tfaham wya omk ya 7ywan who do you think you are, YOUR NOT MY BOSS I HAVE THE MODEERA'S PERMISSSSIOOOOOOOOON :@ is what I wanted to say, but of course being the polite person I am I said "ok" and walked away..

When I got home, my parents had already sat down for lunch, I walked in, threw my bag on the nearest surface, took off my abaya and shaila leaving it in a black blob on the floor , angrily kissed them both hello, and sat down.. my mom held back laughter, and my dad just said "good day?" Thus inviting me to start ranting like there was no tomorrow about Mr Asshole.. this of course did not go down well with daddy who was slowly turning red.. and said "shsma hatha?" .. I gave him the name.. he then said after a long drink of liban "baroo7la al a7ad.. b3lma banat mn yt2mr 3alihm".. causing me to drop my fork , jump up and yell "NOOOOOO mn 9jk mn 9jk 3balak im still in school!"

After a few 7alfa's, daddy dearest was convinced that I could deal with Mr. Asshole alone, and made me promise to call him if he ever so much as got in the same elevator as me .. awwh don't you love my daddy!

chocolate and choices..

2008-07-22T22:31:00.007+03:00

I had the most delicious dessert ever today! It was called "Chocolate Killer" at Le Notre.. 3bara 3an a tower-esque shaped chocolate cake, with melted vanilla filling, covered in caramel and roasted hazelnuts, sitting in a pool of milk chocolate and white chocolate syrup, with a scoop of french vanilla ice-cream on the side... mmm mmmm mmmmm! It was orgasmically sweetly chocolately lusciously delectably divineeeely yummy, and I was going to take some before and after pictures, but mom quickly told me to put away my camera when she saw me reaching for my bag (she knows me too well haha) because apparently people who take pictures of food "mashayfeen 5air" lol..

I don't know why it take me sooo long to choose a dessert, when it can take less than 2 minutes for me to choose my main course. I was torn between the Chocolate Killer and something else I think it was called Negro Mania (a little racist aren't we Le Notre :P) which was also 3bara 3an a chocolate explosion, but my aunt chose that, so I decided to get something different, and have a bite of hers 3an 5a6ry ..

Anywaaay, as we were enjoying out meal, a former male colleague of my mother's was sitting at a neighboring table with another man. He saw us approaching and quickly changed his position so that he wouldn't be facing us.. he then proceeded to send an sms to my mother saying "maseech blkhair ******, esm7eeli almafro'6 asalim 3alekm bas m3ay wa7id mn ilrabi3, atmana testamte3on b omseyatkm"..

I mean WTF! My mother simply replied, "wa inta kathalek", she showed us the msg and I of course burst out laughing and was quickly shushed with my mother's hand over my mouth so he wouldn't notice I was laughing at his msg.

We then began to discuss numerous points, being:

1- Why did he feel the need to justify not saying hello, if he truly felt it was a legitimate reason

2- Why on earth was he embarrassed or ashamed to talk to us in front of this particular friend, when a few months ago in Starbucks at City Center, he had no problem vocally expressing (quite loudly might I add) in front of about 30 men how "al a9far yela3le3 3alech ya um *****" after catching a glimpse of my mother's canary yellow skirt when her abaya opened while she sat down.. y3ne esma7li wsho y3neee tgol 7g omi ala9far yela3le3 3alech! shayfha raga9a wla mtrabya m3ak wla mn bgaya halek!?! ufft 9j prestige 9ifir hal insan..(who happens to have a dual Phd in law and social causes or something like that)

3- Why do some men act as if they're your best friends at work, or flirt even if innocently with you, but the second they see you in a public place they get all uncomfortable and red faced and don't know how to act, whether to shake your hand or not, what to introduce you as to his annoyed looking wife, or whether to even acknowledge your presence at all!

Ahhh the norms of changing society.. I could go on forever, but I choose not to :P

thaaank you haif :*

2008-07-22T22:07:00.006+03:00

Today I came home and found my much waited for surprise from my bestest girlie ever, Haif's Closet's one and only Haif!!

A personalized crystalized ghetra that's absolutely gorgeously adorabley hot! I love love love love love it! Despite the heat, I've been walking around the house with it wrapped around my neck all day. My mom loves it, my dad loves it, I think the neighbors might just love it too! This post is for you Haify, 3gbal mateft7een ma7alich :*

Again, for those of you who are interested, the entire collection can be viewed on Haif's Closet's group on Facebook , orders from Haif's Closet can be made by contacting Haif at haifs.closet@gmail.com though she's out of town at the moment, I'm sure she'll get back to you and let you know when you can have your order ASAP. Enjoy :)

i9aba 6are2aaa yal rabi3

2008-07-20T18:33:00.003+03:00

Let me start by telling you that today I was in absolute AGONY at work.. I was in excruciating pain and there was nothing I could do about it..

No.. I didn't get my arm caught in the shredder..
No.. I didn't staple my finger to the page..
No.. I didn't set my shaila on fire (how one does that in an office is beyond me though..)
No.. A filing cabinet did not fall on me..
No.. I was not electrecuted by the gajillion wires in the hole behind my strategically placed bulliten board

I
GOT
A
PAPER-CUT!

Where you ask?

On the joint/knuckle part of my pointer finger..

Mind you it was probably there for quite a while before I actually noticed it, but once I noticed, boyyyy did it hurt! One of the girls at work insisted that I should spray perfume on it 3ashan y3aqim ilmkan.. wtf.. its not a mosquito bite its a tiny tiny cut that hurts like hell.. she proceeded to take a bottle of perfume out of her bag... what did I do you ask? I ran away.. mafe ila '3bartyyy w shaila 6ayrah w jooj ran back to her office at the sight of the bottle of that summery escada crap that everyone happens to use during the summer because "its sooo fresh".. it smells like you poured a bottle of fruit juice down your shirt.. I hate that perfume!.. ok back to my paper cut.. well thats about all I have to say about it.. but it hurtsssss!! It still does :( I mean how can something so damn tiny hurt sooooo much!! It shouldn't be physically possible.. and yes I did contemplate leaving early, but I felt that I might just get fired after writing "I need to rest, I got a paper-cut", in the reason why I'm excusing myself early!

Oh may I add that our place of work has been hosting a workshop/seminar for women from the police force here a.k.a L5wyyya.. it has not been pleasant.. these women are NOT easy to work with.. and to add a line to the poem (I had to hahaha) today I was told that after I left on Thursday, one of these shr6yat (most of who could be confused as shr6a 3afana allah..) did what you ask? SHE ASKED ABOUT ME! wtf wtf wtf wtf! What is thisssss al i3dadyya in some goverment school in the middle of no where?! NO I was not flattered.. lets just say I refrained from helping passing out questionairres etc (not my job description sweetie) and being nice for the remainder of the day, and plan to continue being anti-social and mean for the rest of the workshop/seminar period which is another two weeks!

Oh I forgot.. WAAAAAAAAA33333333333333333333333333333333

umm al 5a'6ar wl leef

2008-07-19T00:21:00.008+03:00

My dad always tells me that he wishes he'd walk in on me taking a picture of something worth it, and not just playing with lighting etc.. today he mentioned that he wanted me to take some pictures of his beloved na5al (palm trees) and r6ab (dates) .. an that the best time would be around 3 in the afternoon because of the lighting and shadows etc.. but me being my stubborn self decided to have my little photo-shoot at night..

foog il na5al

I also made vanilla cupcakes with butter cream frosting in between dying of heat stroke taking pictures.. may I add that they turned out deeelish (despite the slightly mistakenly-exploded-cupcake look they have) and so far I think I've eaten about 4 .. my waistline will not be happy about this.. my taste buds on the other hand are positively EUPHORIC!

note to self: next time make half as much!

AND do not venture into share3 alkahreba/mshaireb/ma ba3d jasr iljaida a.k.a bambayy on a friday if your life depends on it!

p.s. b59oo9 ina blogger 9ayr ab62 mn 9af al 3arabi when loading pics.. y3ne 9j mr.blogger ma9a5t-ha I am NOT satisfied with your services!

Don't cry for me.. Oprah?

2008-07-16T22:05:00.003+03:00

I'm in shock.. apparently I'm much more sensitive than I thought.. or maybe I'm just having an off day. I was watching Oprah (yes I stilll watch Oprah) while having dinner, and my eyes actually TEARED UP and I kind of choked, when they had a video-conference with a soldier stationed in Iraq and his wife that underwent a makeover on the show.. I mean I could care less about the soldier or his stylishly-challenged wife, but the idea that they haven't seen each other for over a year, and that he wasn't there to watch their 11 month old daughter grow up made me cry!

I only thank God that no one was there to witness my emotional breakdown in front of the TV or I would never ever live it down "eee t9ee7 3al hal amerkan ama a7na mat9ee7 3alina blablabla" ..

Then again I don't know why I'm sharing this kind of humiliating news flash with you all, since this will only serve to authenticate and act as a source of my utter and complete lack of stability when it comes to certain matters..

All I have to say is I'M SUCH A GIIIIIIRL!

*CLARIFICATION* I'm sympathizing with the SITUATION the said couple is in, NOT with the war in Iraq or anywhere else for that matter, I do not support the war in Iraq, American foreign policy, Bush, the US Army, the Mexican national guard, the South Korean border police, or the International Lumberjack Association... I think you can see where this is going..

Perfect end to a perfect day...

2008-07-13T19:41:00.005+03:00

A day at the spa was crowned with a box of macaroons *my fav* from this new dessert shop/cafe called Le Macaron (greeb nadi il forooseya for those who are interested) that mommy dearest picked up for me..

I attempted to take a bubble bath when I got home, but someoneeee stole sadadat al banyo malti @@ what

kind of a world do we live in when one can't leave sadadat banyo unattended to?? I asked the maid about it later and she simply went into another bathroom and took the one there and brought it to me.. I can't help but wonder if thats how mine got missing in the first place..

btw I don't know what's wrong with the layout I can't get everything aligned and its annoying the #$%@ out of me... ufft..

DHL drama

2008-07-11T11:41:00.005+03:00

*drumroll*

Finalllly! My very late order from net-a-porter (containing my cousins VERY late birthday present) arrived!

The *6ee6* from DHL must have called me around 5 times on Wednesday (during my nap might I add) to get the address, only to then inform me (AFTER I told him like 40 times) that my address was already in their database.. no problems no problems.. I specified that I wanted the order to be delivered ASAP they were like "of course ma'am an hour maximum"..

5 hours later.. no order.. they THEN called me at 7.30am on Thursday.. no worries I was on the way to work.. I gave them the address AGAIN (btw. they kept saying if you're in a hurry you can come pick it up, but noooo, it's their job for THEM to deliver when I want), I then called home and made sure the maid knew to sign for the package and not just tell them I wasn't home (precautions precautions...)

I came home later that day expecting to find a surprise.. but NO.. so then I decided I had no choice but to unleash the wrath of jooj on them.. I called them and yelled at the guy who knew me the second he picked up, "aaah hello good afternoon miss jooj", 6ab3an ana la hala wla mar7ba dashait bl jad w 6ala3t 7arat al esbo3 kelah fel msaikeen, needless to say.. I got my stuff in less than half an hour :) ..

moral of the story: DON'T be nice to DHL.. they'll only take advantage of your niceness and stall your order for an unnecessary 36 hours.. malat 3alihm ..

btw. I'm staaaaaarving.. I had a banoffe & pralines and cream ice-cream and banana crepe with a crazy amount of caramel last night for dinner.. and now I want food.. as in 3aish..

wli sha3rato shabo yet7asar 3a shabbaaaboh... :P

2008-07-08T00:23:00.003+03:00

happy birthday to me.. happy birthday to me.. happy birthday dear jooji.. happy birthday to me..

IM OLD :'( ..

To those of you who called at 11 deciding it was late enough to be considered tuesday, and to those who actually waited till tuesday (12 am), THANK YOUUUUU!! I *heart* you all!

And to those who still haven't realized that this is in fact the day when humanity celebrates the birth of it's most favored, sexy, and intelligent female specimen, a.k.a jooj, I forgive you, and you have another 23 hours or so until I black list you for the rest of eternity ..

Nataqabal al eeda3at fe 7sab raqam 9873-46510-03666 (ma fawq al 100,000.00 $ faqa6 la '3air) fel bank al swaisry al wa6ani..

Nashkorkm le ta3awnkm , w dumtom lena, w dmna lakom :P

A summary of my day..

2008-07-06T23:16:00.005+03:00

Facts about yours truly

2008-07-04T14:52:00.004+03:00

So I got this in an email, and wasn't bothered to send it back to the 10 people (yes yes I know I'm going to get struck by lightning/run over by a car/ fall off a balcony etc etc) so I decided to post it here instead..

note: I hate these kinds of things, and I'm doing this strictly out of severe boredom!

What I'm doing: sitting in front of a turned off TV in the sitting room

Who I'm with: my mama

What I'm wearing: grey track pants & rolling stones vintage looking tee..

Bare feet or slippers: scarily fuzzy slippers

Last thing that annoyed me: stupid net-a-porter order wasn't going through, THEY called my bank, who interrogated me about the "person who tried to put in an order 20 times consecutively", so they assumed it was an impostor .. I told them it was ME!, they then were like "oh, sorry for the inconvenience, can you try again in an hour?".. stupid security precautions..

Color of nails: red

Favorite phone brand: nokia

Favorite song: ghaly al athman

Favorite singer: Mohammed 3abdo

Favorite movie: Troy

Favorite book: Sakir, by 3aisha al7asher

Mac or windows: Mac!

Sweet or salty: definitely sweeet

Heels or flats: heels if a 3abaya is involved, flats anywhere else

Pants or skirts: jeans

Shoes or sandals: sandals (heels), shoes (flats)

Ipod or radio: radio in the mornings, ipod any other times

Coke or Pepsi: neither

Spicy or Sour: sour

Family or friends: depends on the incident

Paris or london: London baby!

UK or US: depends where in the US.. but currently UK

Starbucks or Costa: coffee bean and tea leaf (new obsession)

Tea or Coffee: tea (at home), coffee (anywhere else)

Last person who called me: lady at the bank

Last person I called: net-a-porter help center thingy

Plans for today: I don't know yet

Person I miss: too many to mention..

Where I'd rather be: on a beach somewhere

Who I want to be with: friends I haven't seen in too long

What I'm thinking right now: if its too crowded to go buy a new camera now..

Last meal I had: lunch

What I'm eating/drinking right now: bottle of water

Sunshine or lights: sunshine

Pictures in wallet or pictures in phone: both

Favorite Magazine: Glamour

Favorite Brand: at the moment Lanvin

Dehn 3ood or Perfume: Both

Favorite Women's Perfume: Cartier fleur du madre wsho (big red bottle)

Favorite Men's Perfume: What ever my dad uses (don't know what it's called)

Gucci or Dior: neither

Gold or Silver: both

Pearls or Diamonds: both

Straight or Curly: curly

Why I'm doing this: I don't know...

I tag... Oblivious Mortal & Na9er & anyone else who feels like being interrogated ;)

randomosity..

2008-07-02T18:45:00.009+03:00

So I was on my way home from work today.. and this car was next to me (the plate number says Iraq, Baghdad) *surprised face*, with my beautiful luck, the light turned green, so I didn't have time to fumble around in my bag for my camera, and my phone was the nearest thing, so.. ta da..

I mean what was it doing here.. not that it's like illegal for people to drive here from Baghdad, bel3aks, no one loves to hear a good old 3eragy accent more than I do 3aaaini, but what caught my eye was that the car had that FAHAD embossment that we all know so well, showing that the car was bought from the FAHAD Mercedes dealership here in Doha..then maybe taken to Baghdad, and brought back ??? I don't know why I'm so intrigued by this, now that I think of it, its no where near interesting..

Soundtrack: yal 7aya ya um rasain dshy bjederhom, smeely kl ahl ilbait bas 5ali waladhom..ymkn min3o halaah..ymkn min3o halaaaaah... <- and there's some retro 3eragy music for the MTV/Rotana generation out there...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUksSKXCB5o

Moving on, this I absolutely loved! It was staring me in the face when I went out to dinner a few nights ago at a Mexican restaurant.. the sarcasm sooo reminded me of Nwayyer (not that she spits or anything, but it seems like something she would say hahaha)

Soundtrack: La cucaracha la cucaracha, ya no piedo caminar, porque no tiene, porque le falta, marijuana que fumaaaar... which when translated means: the cockroach, the cockroach, now he can't go travelling, because he doesn't have, because he lacks marijuana to smoke.. WHAT?!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=srNdTnOnLFk&feature=related

OH MY GOD I was looking for the exact lyrics because when I sing it, its usually just weird noises made with hand snapping movements since I never knew the actual words, and I never realized that all these years we've been singing about a cockroach thats like high on weed.. yyyy33333333333 .. Allah ygrefhom.. why on earth would they make such a song practically Mexico's theme song is beyond my knowledge..

Haif's Closet

2008-06-29T20:24:00.007+03:00

Yaaay I finally have an excuse to use my advertising skills!

a7m..ba3d 6ool al inte'6ar ilaykom ... *drum-roll* HAIF'S CLOSET!!!!

Haif's Closet is proud to announce the debut of the TAKALM line. TAKALAM is a line of Arabic scarves (shemagh) that have been toiled with to the fashion limits. Each shemagh is decorated with handmade accessories and put together with extreme precision and case. TAKALAM will not only be the perfect accessory for your travels, but you will also be donating 25% to a good cause. The Abu Dhabi Centre of Speaking and Language Disorders is a private organization that lends a helping hand to those with disabilities. They have a rigorous schedule of organizational, behavioral, and other therapies lined up for the disabled whose families are hoping that they will be able to communicate with them. Speaking is one of God's gifts to us that many take for granted. Therefore, I encourage you to browse through the line and let me know if you want to place an order or need any additional information.

The official launch will be sometime in August/September. I will keep you posted.

The TAKALAM shemaghs will be available starting June 29, 2008. Enjoy

You can browse the facebook group to see more pictures "Haif's Closet"

or contact Haif directly at haifs.closet@gmail.com

May I add that the designer is one of my bestest girlies ever, and is truly talented when it comes to putting things together!

Best of luck Haify! (and I absolutely CANNOT wait for my crystalized/personalized scarf!!! YAAAY)

If you would like to contact our in-house designer a.k.a Haif, message me, and I will provide you with the contact details.

The long lost art of 6ill-ing

2008-06-29T19:25:00.005+03:00

First and foremost *kololololoololololosh* al jaw is no longer beige yal rabi3!

Do you know what this means? Yes children, TANNNING THIS WEEEEEEKEND!!

Ok.. I think gabast 3al jaw 3al saree3, and the beige-ness will most probably be returning to the lovely skies of Doha within a few hours heheh

Today I don't really have anything specific to rant about, besides the fact that I got lost on the way home AGAIN (ok, give me some credit I was in an area I've never been in before AND YES that's possible in Doha), and was subjected to some "6ill-ing".

6ill-ing, is NOT the act of doing the 6ill-ing as one might think, but being the 6ill-ed at (or ma6lool-3alih) by a third (or second in this case) party, who is in a significantly higher, bigger, and easily-able-to-crush-you vehicle than yours, whilst driving or being driven in a car. Might I add that the person doing the 6ill-ing is usually one who's face is a board *loo7* and will not cease 6ill-ing upon you 6ill-ing up back at them with that "WHAT?" face that we all know so well.

These 6ill-er's are usually found either in buses (which are supposed to seat about 50) with over 162.83 workers in them, around fatrat al3a9ir (shari3 al Emarat anyone?), in guy's in humogously-humongous overly tinted hummer's with scarily huge wheels that are most probably taller than I am, you know, the kind that when you see them you abruptly stop look around for act's of war, barbed wire, and qa9f jawwy around you, they can also be found in big-a*$ truck drivers which are meant to be on the roads between the hours of 10-12 am, but somehow they're only there around 7.25 on your way to whatever you spend your days doing, they're also found frequently near any traffic light, but in this case they're in a land cruiser or some other 4 x 4 of some sort, that shouldn't normally be big enough to 6ill out of, but the wonders of hydraulics (bedat al falsefa) have made that possible, they have also made their seats so high so that they're obliged to 6ill on you, whether they like it or not... I hope I've clarified where and when to find these 6ill-er's so that you can watch out for them..

Back to the story, as I was on my way getting back to civilization (in this case looking for the notorious airport sign so I can find my way home), (and NO MoMo as we discussed yesterday baitna mb fel m6ar!), I was at a traffic light for no less than 5 minutes, all the while being 6ill-ed at by some english dude in a huge pick-up truck *bo shanab* type thing (add those to the list!), he seemed unamused at I DONT KNOW, but he looked very frustrated while 6ill-ing in my car, I 6ill-ed right back up at him, he did not cease the 6ill-ing. Green light, drove off, next comes a roundabout, and GUESS who's next to me.. YES mr. englaizi ra3i al pick-up, *and boy did he look out of place*, again the 6ill-ing resumed, I 6ill-ed right back up, then my long lost 3yoz-esque reaction popped out "la ilaha ila Allah" "3a6enakm koo3 il3asam la bkm roo7 wla nisam" (my mama taught me that *_^ shraykm into bs), because of course he was in the process of giving me the evil-eye :P haha, anyways the guy really annoyed me because he was looking with a very stupid look on his face, and it wasn't subtle at all, it was just plain annoying and rude!

At that very moment, a friend I haven't spoken to in a while called me, who's from Lebanon and doesn't speak arabic very well, anyways on the roundabout the guy proceeded to 6ill while simultaneously almost crashing into me, resulting in me yelling "6al 3alek jini yal 6eee6!" .. my friend was quiet for about 5 seconds, then burst out laughing, and proceeded to laugh until I reached home, when I shut the phone, while she was still laughing might I add..

I received a message from her a few hours later saying "You SO made my day with that, you're such a 5etyare *old woman in lebnani lingo* in choos' and lipgloss".

This post is for you Di, and I loved the tashbeeh, I'll have to find somewhere to incorporate it into!

3english?

2008-06-28T00:06:00.002+03:00

Have you ever thought of languages.. I mean who invented them? That's always been something amazing to me, I mean HOW do you invent a language! And what makes a language what it is, why can't we add new words to a language? Who says that a word isn't really a word? Webster's dictionary? Oxford madre mn?... I'm not convinced

The other day, none other than yours truly nearly invented a word herself.. how you may ask, let me enlighten you..

I was chatting with a friend, who for some reason chose to have a picture of an undersea creature as their display pic.. I didn't understand the reason for the choice, so I started to type "why do you have a pic of a horse-fish as your d.p?" .. before pressing enter and humiliating myself (for the millionth time in front of this particular friend), I said to myself "that doesn't look right..what the hell is a horse-fish", and after a few seconds (too long if you ask me) I remembered that the said creature is called none other than a sea-horse, and NOT a horse-fish...

A few days later I was on the phone with none other than Doodz, a.k.a RHN, and we were on the topic of up coming summer plans I said, "ya I can't wait, we'll go everyplace!" .. Doodz was unsually quiet, probably wondering what the hell I was talking about, theeen I realised the 7arga and fixed it whilst laughing a certain body part off saying "I meant everywhere everywhereeee!!"

These are just mere examples of the tangee3at/7rgat/6A5's that come out of my mouth on a daily basis as a result of... I have no friggin idea! Ok, true I just spent around 6 months doing absolutely nothing, which could lead to my brain disintegrating, BUT I think I've read more books in the past 6 months than I read during my entire time at university! I don't understand why my english language proficiency is going down the drain! I've been known to have a few off days what with replacing the word "sure" with "5oor" (don't ask)..

magool '3air 7asafat floosk ya yba 3ala al madares al ajnbya :P

"A rose is a rose is a rose" -Gertrude Stein

2008-06-25T21:59:00.004+03:00

Odd incident ... as I was sitting in my temporary shared office minding my own business, doing nothing productive what so ever, the secretary walked in, a pink rose in hand, and handed it to me, with a smile on her face. I looked up at her and asked "for me?" she nodded, I took the rose from her and thanked her with a look of complete and utter confusion on my face, she then smiled turned around and left..

There were three other coworkers in the room, why did they not get a rose or any other form of nature for that matter?!

Is this the way they welcome new employees, by giving them a rose? I mean, I'm not a homophobe or anything (ok yes I am) but I'm not that comfortable accepting roses from members of the same sex as I am!

To make things worse, I had to answer questions for the rest of the day about where I got the rose, and who gave me the rose, from everyone who passed by the office, giving me that silly knowing smile, which proceeded to fade away with obvious disappointment as soon as I said (insert name of secretary, lets call her Sally) gave it to me, which was not the scandalous answer they expected.

Sorrrry coworkers, you're going to have to dig a little deeper to find some gossip about the new girl!

Back to the point, I looked up what different colored roses mean, and guess what pink means:

Appreciation, grace, thank you, perfect admiration, gratitude, gentleness, "please believe me"!

Now I'm even more confused..

btw sorry for the bad quality of the pic, I snapped it with my phone, just for proof!

noor j3lah al '6lma..

2008-06-25T18:52:00.008+03:00

I can't begin to describe how much I loathe this new series that has taken the Arab world by storm, "Noor", its not even originally arabic for God's sake! Its a Turkish soap opera that's been translated into Syrian arabic, quite well I must admit. Though that is NO excuse for TV stations to show it EVERY SINGLE DAY during prime show times, for an entire HOUR.

To make matters worse, at around 2 a.m they repeat "Noor" for 3 HOURS... how the one hour episode expands into three I'm yet to know, I'm assuming that they rerun the last three days episodes at the time of night when yours truly tends to suffer from insomnia and would like something better to watch..

I will admit that I'm being very judgemental about translated soap opera's and that I'm yet to watch more than 3 minutes of "Noor", but I absolutely REFUSE to watch it, and will promptly leave the room if someone else happens to be deeply engrossed in the oh so fake drama..

I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT!!!!

Ok enough ranting about stupid shows. Today while at work I was rooting around the gallery of my phone and found something very dear to my heart.. A poem one of my bestest girlies wrote for moi *blush*, ok before you go all "how sappy and gay", i'll tell you how this poem came to be. My friend, Nwayyer Ra3yet al VTC to those of you who read my comments (she by no means owns a VTC its an inside joke ;p ) was taking a poetry class last semester, and during one of my visits, she had an assignment due, which was to write a poem about something or other. Well, seeing as I was there, she didn't get around to doing this assignment of hers, and when we were meeting up with other friends for lunch at Macaroni Grill (where you can draw on the tables), she got inspired and decided to write a poem about me, a nagah, and some rmoosh.

I don't know if you'll find this as charming as I did, but I dieeee laughing everytime I read it! This post is for you Nwayyer, I <3>

For those of you who can't read it (sorry for the quality, its by camera phone), it says

Once upon a sa3a

there was a bnayeh

her name was joojeh

she loved a nagah

but it was a chathabeh

it had some rmoosh

that were very jathabeh

9a7 ilsanich Nwayyer *reeses pieces & kisses*

supermarket therapy

2008-06-25T15:13:00.000+03:00

I just *heart* supermarkets! Not jam3eyya type ones, nooo, the proper supermarkets, i.e. Spinney's, MegaMart etc... They relax me for some weird reason, and no, I doubt it's my inner house-wife calling, since I can hardly make a piece of toast without giving myself carbon-poisoning, may I add that I'm banned from using the microwave at home after a certain melted plastic incident that I don't care to elaborate on..

So today after I woke up from my nap (at 7pm :s) I decided to go for a leisurely stroll down the aisles of my favorite supermarket, to stock up on essentials; power bars, oronomin C (I'm officially addicted, the fact that it can't be found in all places in Doha has not changed that one bit!), pralines and cream ice-cream, magazines, gavottes (chocolate covered french biscuity things that make a huge mess everywhere but are still to diiie for), reeses pieces cups or whatever their called, and grenadine syrup for my new cocktail-(VIRGIN!)-making-phase... and of course endless packs of gum.

I noticed that the customers around 8'oclock aren't the same as the ones that I'm used to bumping into in the mornings, and exchanging knowing smiles that say "I recognize you, but still not enough to actually say good morning", no tired looking mom's pushing babies and carts simultaneously (has it never occurred to them to put their babies IN the cart?!), or dragging kids still in their school uniforms behind them, no rosy cheeked foreign women still in their leggings and t-shirts from yoga/pilates/whatever class, but mostly young men stocking up on goodies for their majlis hehehe (one bought about three cartons of soda water, I wonder what they mix it with coz its just nasty by itself! ... yes I know I'm nosy and yes I look in other peoples carts!)

On that note, I wonder what people think when they look in my cart, if anything they probably think I'm the most unhealthy person to walk the planet since it was overflowing with the creme de la creme of chocolates, chips, ice-cream, and various other products with a way-too-high sugar count (the way all things should be!).. they probably also assume that I'm stressed out or going through some sort of emotional breakdown, thus the sugar bingeing, but nope, they're completely wrong, I actually think that if I was going to eat out of comfort, it would be a good salad and not a tub of choco-chip-cookie-dough ice-cream!

Enough for now, my pillow awaits, long day tomorrow supposedly, according to my "supervisor", whom I have no idea what so ever is talking about half the time.. oh well .. the life of a (insert profession here) is never easy *_^

(p.s. it's taking aaaaages to post this thanks to the efforts, or lack there of, of our lovely q-crap..)

(p.p.s. one would think that after clicking "publish post", one could drift off to sleep comforted by the though of their ramblings being unleashed on the world wide web, contrary to my thoughts, Mr.bloggerman decided not to do his job! I woke up to a "failed to open page" message :( this is getting ridiculous, and not in a "the back of your head is ridiculous!" kind of way, so a very good morning to you, and forgive me sil vous plait for the delay)

(p.p.p.s ooops I can't believe that in my rush to leave the house on time this morning and after expressing my deepest hateful emotions towards Mr.bloggerman (above) I forgot to click "publish post" hehehe slightly embarrassing, oh well, I hope you had a good night, morning, and as of now afternoon!)