A rather thoughtful soul gifted me the Ramadan calendar from L’Occitane at the start of Ramadan. I am a fan of their hand creams and was curious about their skincare range, but it was a little outside of my price range, so it was nice to get a range of products to try out. The […]

I have been reading Annie Proulx’s short stories with much enjoyment, but kept seeing this novel on the library shelf and ignoring it. Much as I liked her tales, a book about ships, shipping news, stormy seas or widowers moving to the coast did not seem very interesting to me. In the end, the Pulitzer-prize […]

I met the strangest lady today. She visited with one of the councillor’s and was trying to explain to us what she wanted. She kept mentioning lots of things I was interested in: spirituality, the interface between art and science, holding onto our heritage and connecting with our roots, the way things are connected, networks, […]

I returned from the supermarket and asked Gorgeous to take the loo roll upstairs. I came up to find this: When asked what he had been thinking, he replied he had a very good idea, which was to empty the new pack into the almost empty old pack.   Yep, definitely a good idea.  Made me […]

Assalam-alaikam all, I hope this Ramadan has been truly blessed for you and that you have grown in faith and nearness to Allah (SWT) and that your store of good deeds has grown exponentially insh’Allah: “When it is the last night [of Ramadan], they are forgiven, all of them.” So a man from the people […]

I haven’t been able to blog as much as I would like to this Ramadan, despite my best intentions to write up some recipes, journal my healthy eating Ramadan journey and post some Ramadan links (although I might just sneak in this kids Ramadan crafts one I really liked). But sometimes, you find some inspiration that […]

This year our Eid decorations were quick and simple. The colour scheme was inspired by the card stock with the macaroons and some balloons my husband bought in the same colours. The teal green ribbon for the banners was from a box of cakes my niece sent us last Eid that I saved. I got […]

I really enjoyed the London Pride Festival that was organised to celebrate the Queens Diamond Jubilee visit to our borough, but despite the amazing artwork on display from British artists, the part that I really loved was the work on display (and for sale) by local artists. My favourite was the work of artist Yvette […]

As I am now on leave from work, Little Lady and her dad kindly nominated me for a short course at her school.  It is a five week after school henna application course and requires family learning, so both Little Lady and I must attend.  I love henna and have always wanted to learn, but […]

Have had a funny, aimless kind of a weekend, with nothing much getting done. I have been giving myself a break and trying not to feel guilty about it. Lots to think about at the moment. My department at work has just made four out of six senior managers redundant and had interviews for the […]

We visited the Natural History Museum with the children yesterday and in amongst the dinosaur bones, stuffed animals and fossils, I came across this lovely colour chart: It is thought to belong to the Bauer Brothers (Franz and Ferdinand), travelling botanical artists – even the job title is wonderful.  This is one of a series […]

Our last stop on the visit to Greenwich wa the National Maritime Museum.   The first exhibit pleased my mum because it was called Rawalpindi, which is near where my parents are from in Pakistan. A large pat of the museum was devoted to Britains history of trade and interaction with other countries. The famous Cutty Sark: In all, the […]

I was asked to review a new magazine for children called Amazing! magazine.  The magazine brings together the editor of Horrible Histories magazine (which my children are avid readers of) and writers from the Simpson’s and Beano comics, the latter which my children are fans of.  With this in mind, I had high expectations of […]

Subhan’Allah, the month of Dhul-Hajj is upon us: Rasulullah (sallahu alaihi wassalam) said: “On no days is the worship of Allah desired more than in the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah. The fast of each of these days is equal to the fast of a whole year, and the ibaadat (worship) of each of […]