Found In Translation Bike Ride Fundraiser

It was a beautiful night for a sunset ride along the Charles River in Boston last friday night. The amazing volunteers gathered to bike for an amazing cause. I was fortunate enough to come along and capture the beauty of it all.

If you're a long time reader of this blog you probably know what Found in Translation is but for those who don't know, here's my little blurb. Found in Translation in an non-profit committed to helping low-income and homeless multi-lingual women train to become medical interpreters with the use of their language skills. They provide a free 12-week course, child-care services, mentoring and job placement to help them get their way out of poverty.

This organization was founded by my friend from college, Maria Vertkin (Yes, check out her website, she is a superstar!) I'm always rooting for these guys! I'm so happy to be able to share my talents in any way that can be of service to them. These are a few of my favorite shots from the night!  I still can't believe they raised over $20,000 for next year's class of 2014!

Special thanks to the riders, Mark Stewart, who organized the ride and led the bikers, and all the sponsors who donated food and prizes!

If you feel like contributing or being a part of a great cause, please consider Found in Tranlsation. For updates follow them on Facebook

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 :)