Are you the "chocolate-type"?

Both A and I are chocoholics! If you were to drop by at any time, we'd be able to serve you at least 3 different varieties of chocolate. We run out of groceries, yes, but not chocolate!

However, the chocolate by Meiji is so pretty that I think I would just look at it all day and not even think to eat it!

Luxe Ladder

I've been on the look for a ladder to use as a towel rack! I love the colour and texture of the ladders in the pictures...

Picture Source: Apartment Therapy

My first week as GradschoolMom...

Last week was an extremely busy week, such that I did not even get to check email everday. Any that has NEVER happened! EVER!

I survived my first week as a gradschoolMom. I'm absolutely loving it - the people are inspiration-ally brilliant, the place is eclectic and old (I'm a sucker for all things old!) and the topic (design) is close to heart! What more could I ask for? Just a little more time with Z! I do miss spending every waking moment with her *sigh*. Her transition has been exceptional; she's been patient with her tired mom (I get a lot of hugs, kisses and cuddles when I get home), accommodating and just plain awesome!

A's been a super-dad and a super-super-super partner... We enjoyed home-made bread, courtesy of A and other yummilicious home-cooked food (have I mentioned that A is baker and chef extraordinaire?).. Life's been busy-good...

We enjoyed a quiet weekend - neighbourhood strolls, visits to the grandparents and catching up on sleep! Hope you're weekend was fabulous and your Monday wasn't too blue!

And A got me a gift.. isn't it pretty?

This week with Z...

A totally unplanned night-over at grandma's today. And I'm missing Z terribly. I'm so tempted to drive over and pick her up. The only thing stopping me is the possibility that I'll really hurt their feelings and Z's sleep being disturbed. 

I love you Z. I'm so excited I get to spend all day with you tomorrow (my hands-on business session got canceled which worked out really well for me!). You've got an exciting weekend ahead of you...


The 'new-s' this week:
- You learnt how to say pink "penck" and you confuse it with "thead" (red) but you've almost got it nailed
- The first couple of things you say when you wake up in the morning are "udhar jaana amma" (i want to go there mom) and you point to the door that takes us out of the room to the kitchen and you want to "dwaw" and drink "jus".
- You kiss us (aba and amma) on the lips and then squeal with excitement.
- You put your arms around yourself and say huggie (it's the cutest thing ever)
- You get super excited at the thought of wearing your "boots" and jacket. You stand by the door willing it to open so you can run out as soon as you have your outer gear on. You love the chill in the air, so unlike your mom!
- You love pulling you "mins" (clips) out of your hair. Every time you take it out, you run along to give me your "min" so I can put it away.
- When I take you to the bathroom to brush your teeth, you call out to your brush "brushie, brushie, brushie..."
- You hold my cheek when you sleep. 
- You love sitting on the kitchen countertop.
- You want to hear a story (and not from a book) before nap time. You don't like nap time anymore.
- You have started liking you bread sticks dipped in cheese.
- You say "c'est" before everything. C'est brushies, c'est crayon, c'est book, c'est boots, c'est shoes. I know you don't realise it's very french, but i love it :)
- You enjoyed watching the movie No Reservations with me. I enjoyed it more because we watched it together.


I hope tomorrow morning comes soon.
Good night my lovely Z - sleep tight!

the non-blog entry week & other happenings...

I haven't blogged in over a week now, simply because it has been a crazy busy week. Last weekend was thanksgiving weekend in Canada and we enjoyed a great couple of days with family and friends. Our dear friends Nikki (baker extraordinaire) and Omar (chef extraordinaire) hosted an intimate dinner for Sana's family and ours. As always, the menu was simple and the food, par excellence.

On the menu:
Bite-sized pitas with eggplant chutney from Sue's
Pecan and peppers green salad (I will share the recipe this week, I tried it out for a dinner at my mil's and I got a lot of compliments!)
Italian bread with garlic butter
Mashed potatoes with beef gravy
Turkey with your choice of cranberry sauce or pepper sauce

For desert, Nikki had baked the most decadent chocolate cake I've ever eaten. It was soft, moist and it melted in your mouth and the best part is, prep time is only 15 minutes.

This week started off rather well because A and I enjoyed date night #2 on Tuesday. We watched Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy's documentary Children of the Taliban at the beautiful University of Toronto campus downtown. Just being at this campus makes me want to start school again - it envelopes you in this rich academic bubble!
The documentary screening was extra-special since I got to meet Sharmeen herself! I've been wanting to meet her ever since I interviewed her for The Grind Magazine a couple of years ago. She is as charming in person as she was over the phone! It was such a pleasure!

I've also been prepping for fall - putting the summer flip flops away and bringing in the boots and coats. This normally mundane activity was a ton of fun because Z participated. Our morning walks have come to a halt because the weather's been dangerously low unfortunately. I think winter's come knocking at our door rather early this year!

On a positive note, this weekend is really busy and we have a lot of fun things planned :)
And...and.. I'm starting grad school next week. I will be an MA/MFA grad-in-the-making...I'm so excited and a bit anxious too! I hope the transition to student-mom is smooth :)

Date Night 1: Cirque du Soleil

One of the resolutions A and I made this Eid was to take out time for each other. We thought about how we could make it happen sans Z, sans work, sans work, sans blackberries/iphone and it translated into 'date night' one evening each week. Our first was last night and it was totally planned by A as a surprise for me. And it BLEW me away. I've been wanting to watch Cirque du Soleil forever now. We missed the show this summer and I was really disappointed.

So imagine my surprise, excitement, anxiety (I could hear my heart beat) when we drove into the parking lot that said Reserved Parking for Cirque du Soleil. We watched OVO, a story about the vibrancy of life in the ecosystem. The performance was mind-blowing. The choreography was brilliant. I loved the sets, the music, the acts. It defied gravity. 

I highly highly recommend you get your hands on some tickets (it was sold out in TO the last time we checked) and go watch it! What a perfect start to our date night tradition. Thanks A!

ps: we weren't allowed to take cameras inside the big top so A banned, yes banned me from taking my camera! It's big he said. sigh and i had to follow instructions since he was the master planner of the evening. All pictures are from the website.

pps: yesterday was the first night Z spent away from me, at my mom's. I was anxious to say the least but she had a blast! YAY for grandma's.

Fall already?

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.  

~ Elizabeth Lawrence

Even though I can't believe it's fall already and I'm already mourning over the loss of summer, I have decidedly determined to make the most of this season, especially outdoors for Z. Above a few images captured on our morning walks.

Blossoming Memories...

          

   Les canaux d'Amsterdam

My mom gave me a set of albums last week; pictures taken on our family holidays. I still remember the absolutely lovely trip my parents planned to Europe for our family. I was thirteen at the time and they had planned an extensive 5 week vacation to include 9 countries. Of the 5 weeks, we spent an entire week in The Netherlands. We flew to Schipol Airport, rented a spanking red BMW (my dad loves cars) and drove around the country. I can still taste their almond tarts which we would indulge in every time we were in need of a fill up (since they were only available at the petrol pumps). We drove from Amsterdam to Groningen (where my dad had some work) stopping along quaint little towns such as The Hague,  Edam, Volendam and a few others, along the way. If it was possible to savour the fragrance of a place, I tell you, I have The Netherlands' scent stored in a little bottle tucked away in my heart.

Sharing these memories with A brought upon teary-eyed nostalgia and as a very thoughtful cheering up gesture, he bought home tulip bulbs to plant in our front yard. Over the weekend, A and Z planted red, cranberry and white bulbs in our front yard. I'm so excited to seem them blossom in spring!

Thursday Thought...

                                                                  Toronto Zoo ~ 2009

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty...

Maya Angelou

Happy Thursday...

 

Z is spending the day at my mom's. And she has such a great time with her nani that I don't feel guilty about leaving her for the ENTIRE day...

I'm so enjoying this day to myself.

I took a walk, despite the cold (it's 4 deg here today). 

I enjoyed a cup of coffee and a good book.  

And I'm so looking forward to the episode of Grey's tonight.

My laundry list is calling out to me but I think I'm going back to enjoying my book for now.

Hope you're having a wonderful Thursday!

Salman Farooqi - A Contemporary Pakistani Artist

    

 

Sana's email about the Hanging Fire Exhibit got me thinking about my bare walls. I'd love to own any or all of the above pieces by popular contemporary artist Salman Farooqi? Aren't they just riveting?

Contemporary Pakistan Art

 

 

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! I received an email from a dear friend Sana Mulji who just got back from NYC. She was there to view her sister, Huma Mulji's collection at the Hanging Fire Exhibit, the first exhibit in the US of Contemporary Pakistani Art. If you are in New York, do visit, it ends January 3, 2010.

Tree Bookshelf

I remember

That I folded narrow and long paper

And stuck it between the branches of a tree

That memory

Led me to embrace a tree
The tree with books forever chatters
Before I knew it, the books became the tree
In full blossom, with sprouting leaves

A tree becomes a book and a book becomes a tree

~ Shawn Soh

I would love to have a tree like that for Z's room.
It can be bought here

Zoo Stories

I've never been one for zoos. Even though as a child I have vividly fond memories of my parents taking me to the Dubai Zoo and the Al-Ain Zoo. I love animals but I don't like them caged.

                                                               Z at Dubai Zoo, Jan 2009

Z loves her an-ee-maws (translate animals), so when we were visiting my parents in Dubai earlier this year, I took her to the zoo. Z, at 9 months, was most excited and babbled to all the an-ee-maws that were awake.

June 05, 2008 - given that we live just 5 minutes away from the Toronto Zoo, A and I decided we'd become members and take her once a week, atleast in the summer. Z loved it. Each time we take her to the zoo, she is animated, excited and bouncing of the walls with energy. It's an exhilarating feeling just watching her. I took her today and here's some of the new associations she made.

                

mooz

thead and gween birdie (translate red and green bird) 

                            birdie drinking mani ( translate pani, which means water in urdu)

                                                                    neigh neigh (translate horse)

I'd highly recommend a visit to the Toronto Zoo. It's such a fun way to spend the day!

!nkspiration: Two

AMI SIOUX

I came across her work via one of my favourite blogs A Cup of Jo. Her latest book is inspirational-y brilliant, Sioux asked 50 people to draw an area of Paris that they love. She then sketched maps of those areas and photographed each destination. It makes me want to re-visit Paris and use the book as a tour guide. Wouldn't you want to?

!nkspiration: One

PAPER

A week before Eid, I go in search of paper (even though I have a stock at home), I always buy some new paper on Eid. It's a traditional to give Eidhi (money, instead of a gift) to family and children and each year, I get all excited about creating a new way to present the Eidhi. It has to be pretty ofcourse and childproof.

Here's the paper I purchased for this Eid. I didn't have a chance to get a pic of the envelopes but they did look oh so pretty!

eid '09

I love Eid - the traditions, the customs, the family, the friends, the food, the eidhi, the gifts. A and I have always celebrated it with passion, trying to create an atmosphere our parents created for us when we were children. It is very different and to a degree, difficult, given that we grew up in Karachi and Dubai.

Since Z was born last year, A and I have tried to create our own family traditions and so Eid this year was ever more exciting. We started the day by going for prayers at the mosque, followed by breakfast with our friends, lunch with my family and dinner with A's family. A and i both have our families here and we're so blessed that Z can spend her holidays with her loved ones.

EId is also about renewal and rejuvenation of the spirit, a time of reflection and resolution. A and I make a list of resolutions every Eid.

This year, we have promised to:
- to make the most of our time
- to cherish each other
- to celebrate each day with Z
- to pursue our dreams; every moment, each day (if it's not something you love, it's not worth doing)
- to not cancel date night and put our relationship first
- to paint silver lines in the clouds
- to smell the flowers
- to go backpacking this year
- to make things happen
- to see the positive, even in the negative
- to find inspiration in simply living
- to make the ordinary, extraordinary...

                                                 our extraordinary, ordinary walk
 

I hope you had a memorable eid....

a perfect afternoon

a child's imagination

 

magic

 

bubbles

result in an afternoon of bliss...

09.09.09 - happy 9 + 9 my baby z..

dearest z,

i’ve been meaning to blog since the day i felt i had a little baby growing inside me. it was a momentous moment. my body clock changed and i would wake up at 6AM every morning despite the late nights that accompanied us that summer. it was a busy summer; we had just bought a house, gutted the interiors and were working within tight budgets to get it complete. and it was FUN but it was hard, between work, house guests and family. i was consuming 6 cups of coffee on average a day, eating poorly and inhaling all sorts of unhealthy fumes. i was paranoid that i had permanently damaged you.

but you were beautiful and healthy and.. the epitome of perfection. i was not very maternal during my pregnancy and i was worried that those were signs of lack of interest in motherhood, but i promise you, from the moment i lay eyes on you, when i felt you in my arms, i just wanted to mother you forever. and ever. and ever. and nothing else in between.

and today, i celebrate spending the best 18 months of my life. with you. because of you.

i want to thank you for giving my life meaning. for making it real.
you make me want to strive to be the best, in every facet of life
you make my every day worthwhile
you are my sunshine

i love the way you say things – amma, abba, purple, blue, green, dada, dadi, nana, nani, mamo, mimi, wawa, chachi, chacha, apa, aamena, elmo (all one after the other in one breath)..
you try to repeat everything i say and i love the way you pick up atleast 3 new words a day.

what’s this? you want to know what everything is. your curiosity with even the smallest of things fascinates me.

i am so amazed that you are so sensitive and so loving and incredibly thoughtful…
and so to celebrate our 18 months, below are 18 things i absolutely adore about you:

i love your eyes, your cheeks, your hair, your hands, the smell of you, especially when you’ve just woken up…

i love that you love to read

i love that you say hi to every living and non-living thing. hevo flowver, hi jus.

i love that you love animals - that you refer to each animal by the sound they make. for you cow is moo moo, sheep is baa baa and horse is neigh neigh. that you squeal with excitement every time you see the animal, whether it be a picture in the book, at the zoo or on tv.

i love that you are happier outdoors

i love the way you kiss me, hug me and love me – if i could spend each moment of my life just holding you, i would…

i love that you love to get your hands dirty

i love that you like to draw

i love the way way you walk – waddle.

i love your love for music and dance

i love how you, being with you, reminds me of my childhood

i love how you love being with me and at times with no one else (yes, i admit, i am an attached parent!)

i love how you run to me when i come home

i love waking up each day next to you

i love the twinkle in your eye when you are sitting on the swing

i love our everyday walks

i love our silent conversations

i love the person i’ve become because of you

i cannot wait for tomorrow. and the day after. with you
life with you is an adventure. fun. laughter. giggles. love. smiles. excitement. surprise.

i love you. please don't grow up too soon.

yours eternally,
amma