MIA here cuz I was in NYC!

Ate some totally yummy food by my aunt, and then headed out.

We got into the city safely.

Time Square, to be exact.

Where some of us were rescued by Batman!

Then had MacDonald’s, despite my deep loathing of the stuff – but they insisted, and there was a bouncer at the door, flashing disco lights, a million screens and everything, who could say no? The fries were still gross.

We watched the marathon; it was nothing short of amazing.

Walked like 40something (FORTY-SOMETHING!!) blocks to the bridge because we were unable the cross the street!

But then made up for it by having THE.MOST.FANTASTIC calamari ever!

Then was fed even more by my cousin.

Strolled through Central Park.

Attended the conference.

Felt a bit American, and then came back home.

Share your thoughts... (9)

Life is so not like a box of chocolates!

Life is like a vortex, you gotta either hold on to what you think is safe and hope that you remain protected, or just let go and pray that you land in one piece!

I just decided to let go...

So, I had some goals at the beginning of the year, and I think I’ve stayed true to them, well, as often as I thought I could at least!

I am less of a “ball of lard” now than I was then, well, at least I do workout a lot more, but if any of you are looking to lose some of that extra weight, I have a giveaway that may help… a 1 month supply of sensa... I haven’t tried it, but you can, and let me know how it works! Leave a comment for chance to win!

On support and mercy

It’s been an amazingly difficult year for me – by far the most difficult of my entire life. Now, I’m astounded by the support that comes from places that you would least expect, at the time that you need it the most. I would go so far as to call it a miracle even, this support that I’ve found in people who continue to awe me everyday with their strength and faith and friendship.

I got the best compliment of my life recently, and no, it wasn’t “wow, you look particularly hot today”, although someone did tell me that today – that may be a miracle all on it’s own actually! I can’t share the compliment because it was so good that I was humbled and brought to tears because of it, because of the person that said it, because no one ever told me something that made me feel so blessed and unworthy all at the same time. And funnily enough, she is a person I’ve always thought of as a gift to the world, or the blogisphere at least!

In the spirit of feeling good, what’s the best compliment that you’ve ever received?

My new journey

Most people strive to find happiness in life, it’s innate, I think, for each of us to want this sometimes elusive emotion for ourselves, the ones we love, and humanity as a whole, but there are times when I feel like I don’t want too much happiness. I feel like in this life, true happiness may not be attainable, or even if we attain it for a short time, it’s almost always not sustainable.

I feel that in reality what we strive for is peace, or contentment, knowing that though life is not necessarily the way we would like, and though violence, racism and ignorance are so widespread and rampant, and though injustice plagues the world at a level that I don’t think we’ve ever experienced before, we can look to the positive bits in our life, in our world, and feel content.

In Islam there is a saying, “live in peace, or leave in peace”; the mousehunter and I have decided to end our journey together, we’ve chosen to “leave in peace”, but of course, even though we are separated, our kids still remain our priority.

I think at some point, we all learn and are awed by how much our lives do not end up the way we planned but truly by the “Qadr of Allah” (the will of God), our life ends up as it should be.

It’s a humbling experience to be brutally honest with oneself, and though it may thrust us into dark, scary and unknown waters, I believe that each one of us has the strength to remain afloat, to hold on to faith, to the people who support us, who love us, and always find back our peace and contentment.

My weekend

As my sister and I were exiting the electronic store, the alarm went off, we both looked back at the cashier and she waved to us to go…

My sister: Why do they have alarms if they don’t even take it seriously?

Me: Perhaps they look at the type of people and make a judgment based on that? Two women walking out with an x-box, looking completely enthused about the purchase… prolly nothing to worry about! But, wow, how “profiling” would that be?

My sister: It was sort of a rhetorical question.

While watching Dora with my 2 year old, she and Boots were singing with a new friend…

2 year old: Mommy, who is that?

Me: Um, Dora’s friend.. do you have a friend?

2 year old: No, I have you!

At the grocery store I decided that I should buy cheap frozen chocolate cream pie…

My sister: Why are you buying that?

Me: I dunno. I feel like I need it.

My sister: Huh?

Me: I just do, and also, I need to eat it all, by myself.

My sister: O.K. Well, I’ll pay for it then, you already look like enough of a loser if you intend on eating that by yourself!

And with that, I am going to be taking a short blogging break, so I’ll see ya next week, have an awesome time without me!!