Home-made Pizzas!

My brother in law built this grill at my parent's house and this summer has been all about food and that grill. Anthony has been wanting to make pizzas on it and we finally did it today. Rolled out some dough and cut up some veggies and made some pizzas. And what is pizza without every hot sauce on earth! Well at least for us ;) The cutest one was my nephew Ameen's happy face pizza!

Third image down is my day 166 image with the theme perspective!

Scarves: My favorite Souvenirs

 

I'm not a typical tourist in the sense that I don't care much to bring home those key chains and magnets. Not that there is anything wrong with doing that, I just never gravitated towards them. When I thought about what I brought back with me from my travels, I realized I brought home a whole bunch of scarves! I love scarves! Not just because I wear them on my head but because they are beautiful pieces of fabric with so much personality. I love the bold colors, patterns, and designs. So here is a collection of scarves I brought home from my travels, modeled on my head!

Cooking with Mama: Fatayer (pastry stuffed with spinach)

Soooo....I pretty much suck at cooking. It's true. I have the flavor profile for it but I'm so unenthusiatic about spending time in the kitchen. Maybe it's the independent woman in me that refuses to slave in the kitchen or maybe I just feel like I could spend my time more wisely. I'm in technical terms an lacto-ovo pescatarian (simple terms I don't eat meat or chicken-I do eat dairy, eggs, fish) so I should be more into making alternative dishes right??? Well no, not so much.

Ever since we moved into my parents basement apartment I've been watching my mom cook more often. She started to force me to help her with dishes. Yesterday we made grape leaves and they came out really good!! Today we had the family over for dinner for mother's day and our aunts birthday and my mom made fatayer. Fatayer is a lebanese dish of pastry with some sort of filling. The filling in these were spinach with chickpeas. Oh and my mom is like the best cook ever by the way! Not just saying that, she really is. I took some pictures during the process and wanted to share. Do you guys like to cook?? How do you keep from getting bored in the kitchen?

She's got the whole world in her eyes

Thinking of the state of the world today. It's hard not to feel an overwhelming sadness about this planet and it's people.

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." Albert Einstein

Feeling like I need to do more to help. I definately want to make this year more proactive in terms of community work and helping those less fortunate. Even more important though cleansing my heart of negative emotions, forgiving more, and creating a more positive world for my children to grow up in.

This photos was inspired by earth day and the project life theme #eyes. Happy earth day!

Moon by day

Today, I am a flower.

"Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye.. it also includes the inner pictures of the soul."
Edvard Munch

Today, I am a flower :)

Green

One of my favorite colors! I went out and took a picture in a green scarf, turban style. I feel like a floating head with the black turtle neck but oh well! Green floating head it is!

Freedom: In the Dead of Winter

There's freedom and beauty even in the dead of winter

We're free to think positive

Free to forgive

Free to make better choices

Free to love ourselves

Free to not judge or be envious

Free to appreciate and be grateful for the good

Free to love a little more

Free to see the beauty in the small things

Free to see hope for tomorrow

There is freedom even in the darkest and coldest of times.

It's the dead of winter here and it can really take a toll on you when it's so dark day after day. Anthony and the kids went outside to play and I decided to go out too. It was a bit before sunset and there was a glow in the sky that was just so beautiful. An overwhelming release and sense of freedom came over me and out came a poem similar to the one I wrote above. I ran back inside and grabbed my camera of course. Everything seemed dead from afar but then I started seeing such beautiful intricate details, each one more beautiful than the next. A story started to unfold. The color scheme, the elements just started to fit like puzzle pieces. Black leaves, small cotton-like flowers, rose-like pine cones, purple thorny branches, dark leafy vines climbing up the trees, the texture of bark on a tree, and bare branches. There were so many beautiful things in nature even in the dead of winter.

Baby Omar and Family Newborn Photography

So excited to share these! Meet baby Omar and his parents. He was born February 3, 2013 and weighted 6 pound 11 ounces. This was my first newborn session and itt was an honor for me to capture this precious moment in him and his parents lives. Wish them much love and blessings!

p.s. his mama knitted the adorable hat, scarf and booties for him!