I loved how the dresses for the wedding turned out.  Fashionista originally wanted to go for hot pink, but took one look at this dress and decided she had found the one.  After hunting all over London (Green Street, Ilford Lane, Southall), she found this in Birmingham.  We made a second trip with her to […]

I have been trying to be very careful with money recently as I know I can be an impulse buyer.  I have been cooking at home, learning to make do with things that are less than perfect rather than rush to replace them and getting organised with my money in general. The exception has been […]

I came across this article today about the work of the humanist psychologist Carl Rogers and this quote resonated deeply: “I have found it of enormous value when I can permit myself to understand another person.Our first reaction to most of the statements which we hear from other people is an immediate evaluation, or judgment, […]

It’s very in vogue now to say that we won’t smack our children; this is probably a good thing. In the UK there have been attempts by various groups to bring laws into effect that ban smacking, although they have been defeated by the Peers in the House of Lords. My parents and grandparents grew […]

I lost it today.I really, really lost it. BIG time. So much for “peaceful parenting” and articles in the NY Times on the topic – I feel like a bit of a hypocrite at the moment. Boy did I lose it today. image source After a stressful week at work with longer hours, lack of […]

This Eid I wanted to throw an Eid Party and was trying to think of a colour scheme.  I originally thought of a antique-y pastel theme with soft aqua, peach and grey shades – pretty and chic. Realistically my parties are always full of a large number of friends, many with crazy kids and the […]

We have just introduced a cute range of children’s jewellery to our online Shop. I originally found these for my baby daughter and baby niece and everyone loved them. They are smooth with nothing that catches and seem to go beautifully with everything. We’ve been giving these as gifts and everyone just seems to love […]

Alhamdulillah the blessed month of hajj began last night and today is the first day.  The first ten days of dhul-hajj are such a great opportunity for 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 […]

Our social lives seem to revolve around food at the moment, especially with Mum- and Dad-in-law going to Pakistan this week.  We’ve had numerous dinner invites from friends and family to say goodbye, five in the last two weeks and the odd occasion where we have invited people to dinner. In itself this is rather lovely. […]

After visiting the pretty village of Luss in the Trossachs National Park, we decided to make our way round as much of the rest of the park as we could manage. image source From Luss we made our way up to Tarbet and Inveruglas, both as scenic, if not moreso than Luss and with lovely views […]

I have been meaning to post my Eid pictures for the last few days but have simply been defeated by a mix of the housework and Darling trying to wrestle with my poor laptop every time I try to switch it on. Over the years we seem to have developed some traditions for both of […]

This weekend my mum-in-law is flying back to Pakistan after staying with us for the last five months. She is here for about six months every year and her coming and going usually means lots of change in our home and family routine. I have written before (in The Art of Living With Your In-Laws) […]

I attended Sheikh Alaa Elsayed’s seminar on marriage at the Twins of Faith conference and it gave me lots of food for thought. The seminar was engaging and very funny and I came away with some clear information. The seminar listed things that men and women should look for in a spouse and what things […]

Alhamdulillah, this Eid really was about the kids. We had two lots around whose parents were on hajj.The girls wore maxi dresses and rainbow bangles which we took them out to pick the night before. The boys wore white thobes over jeans (it was freezing yesterday – literally, I woke up to find the bins […]