I Love Coming Home

Why I Love Coming Home!

Aside from being within walking distance from the beach, the ocean being right outside my door and my amazing parents, I am always spoiled and greeted with surprises. Normally, there are toys for Layth I would otherwise not buy myself either because of lack of space or funds; my parents are taking great pride in their role as grandparents and spoiling their only grandchild. But this visit was different than other visits, because both Layth and I were greeted with gifts. Mine was awaiting for me when I arrived home, but Layth's were already awaiting him in the car when we were picked up from the airport making the 40 minute car ride an enjoyable one. Rather than trying to convince Layth we would arrive in just a few minutes with our attempts to deceive him, he was already typing away on his new V-Tech Tablet trying to draw letters, find letters, draw shapes and guess them. He could not have been happier, if it were jiddo ( his grandpa) picking us up himself. And so, I was shocked when I arrived him to also be greeted with gifts. Immediately, upon arriving home I took the bags upstairs to see two shoe boxes from Saks awaiting me and a peach colored top. Trying to avoid making contact with them, I distracted myself with putting the luggage in my closet and running back downstairs to tend to Layth ( who was already attacking the toys). And so, when Layth was taking his nap immediately put him in his bed and went straight to the shoe boxes. And inside the boxes were two fabulously colored sandals which feed my shoe addiction perfectly. Normally, I would be worried about downsizing since we're moving in a matter of months, but shoes are well worth the exception. No woman can have too many shoes, because she is always in need of the perfect shoe for that one outfit you do not know you'll soon be wearing!

The boxes and shirt awaiting me when I arrive!

Monkey Bites...yum!!

Hello Everyone!!

This past weekend was one filled with one event after another; Saturday alone we had four events to choose from! Thankfully, we were able to make it to three out of four of them. Although I do regret not attending the fourth event, a rally raising awareness about the opposition in Syria. If it did not happen to conflict with two of the events, and did not take place on a popular street corner, I would not have minded putting Layth in a stroller and protesting along with them. However, there was no guarantee Layth would sit still as Chafeek and I stood there with our signs raising awareness and I could not risk my little lion potentially running into the street. But we still showed our support by driving by the rally, and honking in support of their cause. Prior to the rally, we were invited to a birthday party for Allison ( one of Layth's classmates). The party which was intended to have a fairy tale them ended up taking place in the backyard with all the children either playing in the sand box, on their trampoline or on the swings. Only toward the end of the event did the children partake in the party's scheduled events of taking turns going under the parachute as the parents lifted it up, boxed each other on an inflatable mat as the parents helped and eating tons of birthday cake from Miss Muff'n! Even though the cake was amazing, the one party tray I could not get enough of was what Joanna, the hostess, referred to as monkey bites. This dish consisted of nutella topped with bananas and almonds smeared along shortbread cookies. After about five cookies ( yes, I know they were intended for the children), I had to ask Joanna the recipe. And simply told me that she took the Walker Shortbread cookies, speared nutella along them, and then cut up some bananas, put them on the nutella, and sprinkled almonds on each cookie. They were amazing, and will definitely be making this dish for my next party!

Ingredients:

24 shortbread cookies (I used Walker's Pure Butter Shortbread Cookie)
1/2 cup Nutella
1/4 cup of chopped almonds

2 bananas, sliced

PGY1 2007-2008

Alicia Keys concert with Nabiha

I went to Disney World with my parents, I was their child for the night!

The first snowfall we experienced here in Memphis

Yes, J. Lo is that hot in person!




We mistakenly bought tickets to their all Spanish tour! Thankfully, J.Lo and Marc Anthony did cover all their English songs!

Eid 2007

We met the Arab singer Elissa


She really liked my mom's outfit

Steak Two Nights In a Row: Not Very Goddess Like!!!

Hello Everyone,

After several posts chronicling my adventures with the little lion, I have decided to go back to my " Goddess" training in hopes I can become a domestic diva. However, it seems I got the diva part down, but the domestic part, not so much. Layth, on the other hand, would disagree, and he is all that matters. So if I am viewed as "perfect" in his eyes, then I have completed my mission! And one reason contributing to that belief is cooking all his favorite meals, including steak two days in a row. A domestic goddess would have had her meals planned weeks in advance with her ingredients set aside for that day. She would also make sure her meals were cooked and the house cleaned before she went out. We could all learn lessons from her and become more efficient in completing our household duties, but since I have already accepted I will never be her, I find it acceptable to allow some of my own duties slide. Since Layth and I had a day packed with a field trip and appointments, and thinking about what I was going to make for dinner was far from my mind. Instead I was focused more upon remaining sane as we completed all our trips. And thankfully, I completed that task with much ease. Therefore when finally got home around five I had completely forgotten about dinner or even preparing it for that matter. I just assumed Layth and I would simply call it an early night once we arrived home since we had both been up since 7:00 am without naps. And so, quickly I ran to the freezer pulled some steaks out and allowed them to defrost ( it also helped Chafeek would be coming home late!). At first, I thought it would be wrong to have steak two nights in a row, very un-goddess like; but, a goddess would much rather her family eat a home cooked meal versus eating out or preparing something processed. Layth, too would have preferred steak over anything else since it is his favorite. And in my defense, last night's steak was sirloin, today's was a rib eye ( it did not matter to Layth since he ate both steaks without protests on his front). Of course, I refrained from mentioning Chafeek what we would be having. Regardless, he would have to eat what was made for him ( a very important lesson that can be learned from a domestic goddess). I was lucky I did not need to employ this rule since Chafeek was simply happy to have a home cooked meal, which meant I had two happy boys at home. Therefore, if I broke the domestic goddess rules of serving the meal two nights in a row, I did perfect one, maintaining a happy household!

Chasing Geese Madness

As a domestic goddess in training, it seems like I am really failing at trying to acquire the title; particularly, after our recent endeavor. A domestic goddess would not just have prevented it, but had a back pack on hand with a first aid kit, towel and an extra set of clothes for both her son and herself. And since I failed at that miserably, I will be happy to settle with simply being a domestic diva!! With this being said, let me tell you about our recent adventure because looking back at it, it actually makes me laugh. Every Monday and Friday after Speech Layth and I walk over to Germantown Municipal Park ( across from the Germantown Public Library) and ride the swings and chase the geese. It always results with Layth running after the geese telling them to " wait and come back" until they eventually jump into the pond nearby and Layth running to chase the geese still on land. This being said, the one time I choose not to bring out my baby bag, Layth chooses to jump in. Thankfully, the water was not even at knee level otherwise I would have really had a meltdown and made everyone aware of my diva like ways. Even Layth himself did not realize he was wet until he realized the geese, he was trying to jump in and catch had flown further away. Only then did he tell me, " Mommy, I am wet." Of course this was without me jumping in after him in my coach sneakers ( rest in peace, for you will never be the same) and making sure he was more than fine. We both turned to each other and laughed! Looking back at it, a domestic goddess would have taken it with a such a lighthearted attitude. But what really got me laughing was after we were done laughing at our own situation, Layth pointed to my car and said, " mommy, go to red car, and need blue pants" which is synonymous with mom, " We need to go to the car change our clothes and change me into my other pair of jeans," smart child to know he had another pair of jeans awaiting him. As we got into the car and I was changing him out of his wet clothes, he replies, " I need a bath" and so, when I tried to put him in his clean jeans says, " I'm yucky, need a bath." As a result, we drove Layth home with a clean shirt and underpants and mom barefoot!

Open Paint Days With The Little Lion

Hello Everyone!!
I hope everyone is enjoying Spring Break as much as I am and keeping themselves with things to do! Since our " real" Spring Break does not officially start on the 29th where I am taking Layth for a week to Panama City to spend time on the beach with my parents, I am not really stressing on trying to find things to do to fill up our week. Instead I am taking my time relaxing, catching up on many of Layths' appointments and occasionally giving in to the Spring Break activities Memphis has to offer. I am purposely trying to avoid the obvious public places such as the zoo, CMOM and My Big Back Backyard ( the great thing about having membership to all three places, is we get to go whenever we want even for just an hour two without having to rely on breaks). With this being said, I decided it would be best to utilize our Living Social deal for two kid open paint days at High Cotton in Germantown. And since it is Spring Break, they are conducting open paint days everyday this week. Since we had already used one, we choose to use the other one yesterday where the kids were scheduled to paint a fish. Layth, on the other hand, decided he would still paint a sea creature, but insisted upon being different from the group. Getting a two year old to take direction and wait for everyone to finish their strokes and/or instructions is pretty much next to impossible, and so I was impressed with Layth's ability to still paint within the group without having a meltdown! And Ms Amy, the instructor, could not have been more understanding when I explained to her Layth was just two and not the four years old she suspected him to be. She even gave him permission to openly paint freely on the canvas, and was equally surprised when he came up with a whale. All she had to do was define his black lines to make it the whale it was supposed to be. While I can not say that he did not manage to make a mess, the mess was worth it when I saw him proudly blowing his portrait dry with a hair dryer proudly saying, " I did it, I did it" with a smile on his face. So if your looking for an activity to do with your children, I would highly recommend seeking High Cotton and registering for their open paint days!!

2007: Austria, Germany and Syria

The Citadel, Aleppo, Syria

Germany

Sam and Randa, Austria

With Lulu in Syria

Homs, Syria

Outside the Gazebo, where they filmed, " The Sound of Music"

On the set of " The Sound of Music"

Happy to see a store called " Memphis" in Austria

Damascus, Syria

Germany

" Sound of Music" set

Hello Everyone,
I do not know if you recall me mentioning only spending two months of 2007 in Memphis before heading back to Milwaukee, but in reality, it was just six weeks! I had completely forgotten that within two days of moving here, I headed to Syria, Germany and Austria for three weeks leaving poor Chafeek and the movers to unpack everything (very ungoddess like). Although I know it does not make me a domestic goddess leaving my husband to unpack a house, it was one of my best trips to Syria! And so, if I did not unpack the house and make sure every detail was perfect, I am willing to part with the consequence and be shamed by other domestic goddesses since I do not know when I will be visiting there again!

2007

Hello Everyone,

I ended my last post with pictures of Randa Alattar's visit to Memphis in 2007 for my birthday, and will begin this post with more pictures from that trip. The two days she was here were so memorable, I want to share with everyone all the fun we had. And first year i.e. PGY 1 continues!!

Brunch in Nashville on my birthday ( you'll soon notice birthdays are big deal with me!)

My 24th birthday brunch!

Randa A. may have come for my birthday, but on my actual birthday Chafeek took me up to Nashville for the first time.

I'm putting up pictures of the Peabody Place because it is no longer open to the public. The Peabody Hotel is converting them into hotel suites.

Getting ready to go out for my birthday dinner at Stella's, now Flight Restaurant and Wine Bar

A view of Mud Island River Park

Yes, we ran through the fountains

And it was tons of fun

We headed to Victoria Secret at Peabody Place and bought some clothes we could change into to run through the fountains!