Is it just me or has this summer been extra long? Maybe its because I'm taking two blocks of summer courses that are never ending (yup worst dcision I ever made).
It's a new month therefore time for a new beginning especially since july hit me in th head pretty hard.
So I thought I'd set myself a few simple goals.
My main goals for this month:
- Always stay positive
- Don't give up hope in any aspect of my life ( studies / friends/ blog etc)
- Get back to posting at least 1 post a week for the sake of my sanity.
- Smile, even if I'm sad or if there is no reason to
- Drink 2 bottles of water a day
- Leave the house ! Breathe some fresh air ! Go for an aimless drive
- Don't procrastinate ( My biggest number one flaw )
- Always remind myself that everything is and will be OK.
- DYE MY HAIR - something that i have never done and never thought i'd do because of all the damage dying it does.
- Try at least ONE new thing that I haven't done before.
I think that every month should be a new start to every one of us and that you as well should have a mini goal list, even if it contains just one or two things and let me know what they are.
- First of all, I'd like to share with you one of my ALL TIME favorite things which happens to be a Dr. Seuss Quote :
Let that sink in...
Ok, so this quote is what I live by on a daily basis, it is actually the quote that made me finally actually write a blog because well, IT'S TRUE. If you really think about it, the true people in your life will support you no matter what you do or who you become, they love you. Whilst others will just try to put you down and be negative, these people do not want your happiness. They don't matter.
Now, on this beautiful Sunday morning, I thought I'd pop into Carribou and snap a few pictures for you, as well as sharing some of the thoughts of this week.
- A snack that I am totally truly loving (which i got my friends also hooked on) is Carribou's Chocolate covered Pretzels. Okay so this is how I'm going to describe it :
The Chocolate surrounding the pretzel is a thin layer of dark chocolate, but the salt on the pretzel, once you crunch on it, it is the best combination you can ever taste. The dark chocolate does in no way overpower the biscuit, and yeah yeah I know what you're thinking, eew dark chocolate it's so bitter and blegh and nasty. But I honestly can say that you cannot taste any of that when you eat it. I for one am not a fan of chocolate whatsoever, but this, this hits the spot, with a side of tea... mmmhhm nothing better. Try it, I know u'll thank me.
- Can we just take a minute to admire how cute this "mug" is? As i write this, i keep eyeing it. I want it really badly, but my friend had a good point when telling me that this is an easy DIY kind of thing and not really worth the money.
Yeah so that is a cute thing....
Moving on !
- I've started to do this thing where I allow myself to just pause for 10 minutes, sit back and just do some deep breathing. This really calms me down and relieves some of my stress. I become more conscious of my lungs and i therefore am grateful for having them as healthy as they are. You should do the same, you won't regret it.
- This flower pencil. Look at it. It's perfect.
Not only do i love using it, I love putting it behind my ear which makes my hair look as though i'm on a tropical beach somewhere. Plus i love leaving the flower part sticking out of my bag as i walk around, it's the perfect spring accessory for any outfit.
I got it from Accessorize.
- Songs...who hates songs? Nobody that's who.
This week I have had 2 non-stop constant replay songs both by the same singer - John Legend. One is called - "Tonight (best you ever had)" and the other is "All of me".
They're pretty old songs, but i have recently discovered them thanks to my little sister. Now, I can't get enough! Tonight just puts me in the best mood, smiling and making me have a good day.
And can we just quickly talk about how GORGEOUS his wife is in "all of me"?? I mean WOW !! You are one lucky man john.
Well, That's all I have for today,
I'm thinking about posting another post soon...a recipe maybe who knows.
The best quick relaxation combo any girl should do?....
GET A MANICURE.
So I decided to go and get a manicure since my nails were in dire need of attention, but of course it can't be all that fun without a friend by your side so that you could be chatting away and forgetting the world for an hour.
Tea is a must to help the process of relaxation, but those marshmallows on the side... YUM. My sister (who came with me) gobbled up both our meringues - apparently they were delicious.
Luckily for me, my manicurist had the softest touch and was very careful when doing my nails, i loved it.
I don't know about you but when i don'y feel comfortable during a session, i think that it is NEVER worth it, especially once you get hurt or it's not up to your standards, well then believe me, everything goes downhill from that point on.
Since it's spring now and everybody is having a hard time dealing with hay fever (esoecially yours truly) I found that this recipe helps keep evryhing in check.
The ingredients:
- A mug of your choice
- Lemon slices
- Honey
- Twinnings - Revitalizing Lemon & Ginger Tea
Add water into your mug and plce the tea bag inside, once that has settled for a while take out the tea bag nd place as many lemon slices as you'd like. I put in just one.
For some sweetness, add a couple table spoons of honey - or as much as your sweet tooth would like to have.
Voila !! The prefect relaxing, soothing, delicious cup of tea.
Nearly forgot to mention my current nail colour obsession !! I have been wearing this colour for the past 3 or 4 months. Its perfect, not quite winter, not quite spring. It fits all the seasons.
What better way to say hello to the weekend than with a great stop at the local Healthy food restaurant called GIA right after classes. We ordered A LOT of food which sadly i didn't take pictures of all of it because well....my salivating hungry self just dived right in.
This place is absolutely yummers, i love their simple menu and the food is pretty delicious if i do say so myself.
It is a nice cleanse and change from the everyday food we eat, I'm going to try to be a lot more healthy from now on (key word TRY here - so any of my friends reading ... don't judge if i fall off the wagon every now and then hehe)
On the left, ratatouille pastry.
Greek salad, fresh green apple juice , 2 kinds of quinoa salads
.
Aubergine with yogurt, pine nuts, pomegranate and i think spinach although i'm not quite sure
Something with chicken (not mine because i'm a vegetarian) so excuse me for not having the name of the dsh and freshly made lemonade.
Roasted vegetables quinoa salad.
Other things i didn't take pictures of :
- Roasted potatoes with a hint of lemon, rosemary leaves and whole garlic cloves (my favorite thing on the menu).
Not to mention, a great view to enjoy. Hope you have a lovely, healthy weekend too !!
Here in the middle east, we celebrate mothers day on march 21st (I'm not really sure why though that it is a separate day from the rest of the world). Anyway, I thought I'd show you what I did for MY mom, it might inspire you to do the same.
Now, to be honest, I'm a bit disappointed with a few things because they did not turn up quite as planned and I could not get my hands on some things that I really wanted ( like a balloon that said MOM).
But generally, it was quite a success and my mother absolutely LOVED every single little thing and detail.
I placed all the gifts I bought for my mom in a lovely white basket and just tied some ribbon around it to give it that extra pop of colour.
Here, I took some mason jars, removed their lid and tied some rope ribbon around the lid area. A tiny bow sufficed. It doesn't have to be perfect. (As much of an OCD person as I am, I just thought that i would let it go this one time)
I poured some water into the jugs and put in a small white candle. (Thank you pinterest)
Since, it was an extremely beautiful night outside, I placed everything in our canopy and added some walkway lights to brighten up the scene. This is what it looked like (Of course it is much more beautiful in real life)
For those of you wondering what is inside this goody basket, here is a list:
-Flowers, a pink mixture of baby roses and some white regular roses
- A set of matching lace teapot, cream/Milk Jug, and mug
- A Hallmark stand that says MOM and other things
- A small goodie bag from victorias secret
- A Shirt dress nightie from Etam
- Last but not least, a lovely, gorgeous, exquisite card for mothers from hallmark
The cake was magnificent, a Victoria cake with some fruit and it went just perfectly with the colour scheme.
I hope you enjoyed this post and that it inspired you to do something special as well.
What did you do for mothers day? Or are planning to do?
I have been a total bed potato this past week and I'm not really sure why. I have been waking up at 10 am...10 am !! I'm not usually like this.
I stumbled upon a meme which I think completely summarizes why I have become so lazy.
Yup... This.
And while not leaving my bed but not napping what am I doing? Watching a new series that has got me totally hooked called "Scandal". I have watched all of season 1 and season 2 ( a total of 29 episodes at 45 minutes a piece) in literally just 1 week. Something HAS to be done.
So, I have decided to prioritize and plan, get back into the gym and leave the house more often.
I think that everyone should have one of these weekly/monthly planners. The are so handy, and no matter how uncreative you are, you will automatically find writing in it fun and you want to make it look nice. So, I have just done this weeks important to-do things.
Plus I have printed this week planner to jot down the important university stuff that needs to be done and pinned it to my board so that i can see it in plain sight to be reminded. The best feeling in the world is when you tick off something off of a list don't you agree?
Sorry for this week's post's pictures, Its a cloudy day and i did not do my board nor my planner's pictures any justice.
Ok, so almost all of us want one of those kind of hands where when someone just brushes or accidentally touches them we want their reaction to be " WOW, your hands are so soft !!"
Well, i have just discovered the very secret to getting those amazingly soft, smooth, delicious smelling hands.
My friend Jo and i recently went to have a look at the Laura Mercier makeup collection, and as we were looking, Jo kept raving about the body cream called Creme Broulee and how amazing it was and how delicious it smelt. I was quite intrigued and so i asked the sales lady if i could smell all of their available body scents. They were all divine but the one scent that Jo and myself fell in love with was the Ambre Vanilla collection. Oh my goodness how spectacular that scent was. It didn't give me a headache like most scents do which is a huge plus for me.
Trying out the tester body cream souflee, i immediately knew that this collection just had to be mine. The cream itself was so light, liquid almost. A little went a long way, and it spread out so smoothly, so evenly, so lightly. This is what the definition of what a cream is.
But to my dismay, they were sold out of everything in that scent except for a small hand cream and body butter. I was heart broken. I was (and still am) desperate to get my hands on the body cream souflee, shower gel, honey bath, and body scrub. (You shall be mine i promise.) hehe.
I decided to get the hand cream. Best decision of the day believe me.
I applied some on my hands.
Non-greasy perfection.
My hands just soaked up the cream in no time. After that, i could not stop touching my hands or smelling them !! My hands got so hydrated and looked so healthy if that is possible. And the scent, no joke, lasted about 5 hours after the application if not more!!
I felt like such a lady with my amazing hands. Just as they should be and just as i should always feel like. It is these kinds of products that every lady should have and use daily.
I cant rave about this product enough. I HIGHLY,HIGHLY recommend that you purchase it.
If you own an apple device i highly suggest that you open the app store asap and download this amazing app. Its called : "12 Days of Gifts." Itunes has this app every Christmas and this year from December 26 - 6 January they will be giving you free stuff everyday.
In the past, Itunes has given away via this app: tracks, movies, apps, games, books and much more, so expect that that is what is to come.
7 days left till the first gift people !!
When you download it, there is a little gift already to get you excited about the upcoming days. It is a Lorde song called No Better for you to downlad for free.
Also, Lorde's Royals (TV EDIT) video. So i guess its a 2-in-1 deal.
P.S
A tip is for you to enable the notifications so that just in case you forget a day, you will be notified and reminded when a new gift is available for you.
Merry Christmas and thank you Itunes.
If any of you know any other fun apps, let me know. I'd love to discover what you guys are interested in.
I don't knowabout you, but during the cold months my lips turn SUPER dry therefore I tend to pick at the dry areas....very attractive.
So I popped into Lush the other day and i asked the lovely lady what the best remedy is. She recommended that I try one of the lip scrubs they had. Of course with me having a sweet tooth I just had to go with the vanilla and chocolate sugar lip scrub. Trying it out at the store the results were absolutely amazing!! They were soft and my lipstick easily went on.
Its basically sugar (yum) with a hint of vanilla and chocolate (double yum), which made it hard for me not to keep licking my lips. You just take a little amount (or else it will just fall off your lips) and scrub your lips with your finger. leave for a minute then lick your lips since they are all natural ingredients - in fact that's what the lady told me to do. For extra soft lips, repeat and leave it on a little longer.
And ofourse how can anyone go into lush and just buy 1 item?
So I found this beautiful ruby lip balm called A Million Kisses. I applied it on after the lip scrub and let just tell you....hello perfect combination, especially for winter. It is a bit hard to remove off of your finger though. Plus you can increase the darkness of the colour buy just applying more layers.
I highly recommend that you check them out whenever you next visit Lush. They always have something for everyone.
