25 Facts About Me

1- I'm grateful for my teacher, Ms. Maureen. She taught me how to express myself in words.

2- I've been keeping a personal diary since I was 12.

3- The sound of a person chewing is usually the main reason why I might leave a room.

3- I love acting and I took part in several plays growing up. Once as a main character.

4- I love sleeping because I love dreaming. I accomplish 70% of what I want to do in real life during my sleep.

5- If I was an animal I would be an eagle.

6- My favorite color is green. My second favorite is yellow.

7- I love cloud formations and I could spend hours observing them.

8- I had an imaginary friend when I was in high school.

9- My first drawing objects were mermaids and cats.

10- Sunsets make me cry.

11- I wanted to be an astronaunt..and still do.

12- I have no specific ONE best friend. Just a bunch of good friends who complete each other.

13- I honestly love hearing your point of veiw.

14- People fascinate me. I find them to be walking miracles.

15- One of my dreams would be to go swimming with dolphins.

16- My exterior does not reflect my interior.

17- I did not write this in order.

18- I believe that an apple a day does NOT keep the doctor away. Tried and tested.

19- I feel uncomfortable sharing personal details with close ones. Yet I might open up to total strangers whom I'll never see again.

20- I believe that lots of orange juice and lots of honey will cure the swine flu.

21- I want to go to India, China and Indonesia. Not neccessarily in that order.

22- I believe that dates, figs, pumpkins, pomengrates and olives are MAGIC foods.

23- This is not as easy as I thought it would be.

24- I still have the doll I used to carry as a two year old. She's in peices but I still love her.

25- I think death is liberating.

Pigeon at home.

My family likes to collect injured and homeless living things.

I had tried to rescue a new born kitty about a year ago. Unfortunatly she wouldn't feed on milk from the dropper. She turned cold after a day and died in my hands after I had been struggeling to keep her warm. I have been very touchy about taking care of little poor animals since then..

Sister came home from work yesterday and brought an injured pigeon with. She placed him on the table in our balcony and the poor thing did not move for a couple hours. Wasn't eating or drinking either. I went and touched him to make sure he wasn't dead. Thank god he was still warm. Didn't wanna witness another death.

I desperatly wanted to help the poor thing so I googled injured pigeon. I learned that an injured pigeon is usually scared to death and in a state of shock. The article said to put the pigeon in a dark place until the blood system regulates.. That could take a few hours. Why dark place? Because pigeons sleep in the dark. So I got a large shoe box and punched a nice window for the pigeon to look through when it got bored. I lined it with newspaper and made sure it was nice and fluffy for the pigeon..after all it was gonna be spending a while in there. I also put a tiny bowl of water and scattered some seeds, just in case the pigeon decided it wanted to eat.

Now all I had to do was put the pigeon in there. I didn't want to freak him out. So I just approached him quietly with an old tee and grabbed him gently and put him in the box. He got in without a fight. I made sure to wash my hands very well.... bird flu and the like...

I placed the box in the shade then forgot about him for the whole day.

After sunset, I decided to check on him. I had to see what color his poop was. Apparently, it tells you if the bird is healthy or if it's ill. The second I lifted the box out he came flapping his wings like crazy trying to fly. He scared the hell out of me. Plus he only managed like half a meter. Poor thing.

I checked the poop. Bright green and solid. No disease there.

I changed the newspaper lining. He obviously wasn't eating still. I put him back and forgot about him until the next day.

The next morning my mom let him out of the box. He started flapping his wings like crazy again. My cat heard the commotion. I woke up to the sounds of my mom yelling at the cat. My cat had tried to eat him.

Thank God the balcony's sliding window was closed. The cat had bumped her head on the glass trying to get at the pigeon. Now she just sat in that weird position cats take just as they are about to pounce on something. Occasional hissing.

Poor pigeon. I filled up a big plastic box with water. Maybe he would like to wash up? I didn't know anything about pigeons. I slowly approached him. He was on the balcony floor now. I just slid the water as close to him as I could without scaring him. Then I left.

A few moments later he was drinking. Hurray! If an animal/bird is drinking. Then inshallah it's not going to die.

I noticed a few feathers missing from his left wing. He also shed a few feathers over the place. He was possibly injured. I wondered how long he would take to heal.

I scattered some bread crumbs for him to eat. He ate nothing. The ants however carried off all the peices until there was nothing left. I assumed he probably wasn't hungry.

I went on doing my usual chores. When I got back. I walked into the balcony looking for him. He had flown away. My cat got in and started sniffing around too. Then started eating the feathers he had left.

More bed bug battles

I've been battling bed bugs for about four years now. Before I go to bed, I make sure that my pijamas are comfy, my pillow is fluffy, my bed spread is clean, my cat is purring, my mobile is charging, my teeth are clean, the lights are off and I'm saying my bed time prayers.

Then I lie awake for the next four hours..until I hear the Fajr call for prayer. I get up wash and pray... then go back to sleep...lie awake until I start hearing the birds' chirrup outside..then eventually..I don't know how... fall asleep.

When I wake up (usually at noon) I'm usually cranky. I don't feel refreshed. I actually feel tired. My mom shoots me a look. She hates it when I sleep late.

The following evening, the same happens. I might lie in bed a couple hours until I decide to get up and make myself a midnight snack. The snack turns into grilling a couple steaks, frying some potatoes, and chopping up a few tomatoes.

I go to bed and wake up with a horrible beefy taste in my mouth. I promise myself I'll never do that again. Then go make same herbal tea with mint.

Another evening, I get up and start reading a meaningless dumb book about high school girls and college boys and parties and love and clothes and... and... and.... and.....

Another evening I get up and blog...

Sometimes I find a friend that's awake just like me and we talk about life...

Sometimes I decide to watch a whole season of whatever series...


..and sometimes...actually rarely...I manage to fall asleep just as I lay my head down.

Hijab on a Budget

The struggle between Hijab and fashion. Most women can relate. How difficult it is to have a good hijabi wardrobe without breaking the bank. You want to look good, but you don't want to spend a fortune. 

How is this applicable, when long skirts cost twice as much as short ones. When tiny tees are in the SALE! basket but the longer sleeved shirts are in the NO SALE. Department. Then comes the scarves and head dresses, you need to make sure that you have one for each outfit. Plus the additional undergarments that you need to wear to make sure your skirt and top don't cling to your body and show your figure. You need to buy bandanas for each scarf, and of course you want to look unique..you want to reflect your style.

My struggle with my hijabi wardrobe. Nine years ago when I decided to wear the hijab, I remember the struggles. The wardrobe mistakes. The days when I stayed in because I had nothing suitable to wear. Hijab at that time in Egypt was rare. The only scarves being sold were transparent flowery ones that were just plain ugly. There were no long sleeved tops in the market. In the summer, it was all tanks and tees. In the winter, it was better. I tried to buy a couple things during the colder seasons.. but the fabrics were just too hot to wear in the summer.

I found it difficult to maintain my pre-hijabi look. My favorite GUESS! tee was shoved into the back of my closet..and I found myself trying on my mom's baggy pants and skirts. I eventually found a jeans skirt that my mom stopped wearing because she gained weight. This skirt had become my saviour, and for a whole year, the skirt never left my waist. Along with a striped long sleeved tee that I previously hated, became my best friend. Of course the flowery scarves were totally mismatched with my clothes, but I didn't really have a choice.

As a student, I had little or no money to spend on clothes. So I tried to figure out ways that helped me find hijabi clothes that fit my budget:

1- I bought plain long sleeves tees, sometimes from the male section of the store. Then I drew artsy prints on them and tried to customize them so I would create a look of my own.

2- I looked through my old clothes and found a few pieces that would work as good basics for hijab. Baggy linen pants, and old shirts that I thought were too plain actually worked perfect in the summer.

3- I bought a plain white long sleeved tee and started layering it under most of my t-shirts.

4- I found a black cotton cardigan that worked great with tank tops.

5- I discovered shopping at second hand stores and flea markets. Scarves come in all shapes and sizes. Bandanas were for half a dollar. 

6- My sister's hand me downs that I thought were too big for me worked great given that I wanted to wear baggier clothes.

7- Beach wraps worked good as scarves as well as skirts.

8-I kept an eye on sales and special offers.

8-I observed other hijabis for ideas and if possible, went and asked them where they bought their clothes from. 

And last but defiantly not least... I made a lot of doaa :)

Peacock feathers for Bridezilla

I know it's rude to call my sister bridezilla. She wants her wedding to perfect. Sometimes she over does it. Like she did couple days ago.

Bridezilla wanted peacock feathers for her wedding centerpieces...and decoration in general. I don't know were she got the idea. She started obsessing as to were would be the place that sold them in batches and there was only one. 

Darb el Barabra (My sisters call it Barbados for code)

Darb el Barabra is a local souk in Cairo. It sells everything..dried flowers, plastics, silver wear, leather, fake flowers, bee lights, fabric, cats, stationary... they sell everything... in bulk.

When I suggested that she go there... I didn't know she'd me taking me and my two other sisters with. But one day I found myself being dragged out of bed, getting dressed...and on the way to Barbados.

For three whole hours we searched the alleys of Barbados. Asking around for anyone who sells peacock feathers. It was obviously something that no one asked for very often. The store keepers kept eyeing us suspiciously and telling us that they stopped selling it because of bird flu.... ummmmm yeah.....

The other thing that bothered the shop keepers was that we were not the usual customer type. We look different and dress different from most Egyptians and most of them insisted that we were foreigners. YOU ARE BEEUUTCHIFUL..... one guy called after my sister.

After my sandals were caked with soil, and my blisters were about to pop... someone finally lead us to a store that sells them. We bought 101 peacock feathers at a bargain price. Don't ask me why we chose 101... someone said 100 would be unlucky. The store keeper was a cute fellow with a beard that everyone called "The Sunni". He made small talk with my mom about the swine flu as we chose the largest brightest feathers...

When we got home bridezilla was happy. Thank God! My cat was happy too...she kept sniffing and chewing on the feathers until we had to put them away.