Mama Mona: February 2010

Bought Lately

>> Tuesday, February 23, 2010

6 hijabs and a couple of under-scarfs. I could totally have bought 20, but I was trying to restrain myself. There are SO many to chose from! There was on shop who had 2 for 1 at 45Le, so I got 2 there and I actually bought the one on the far left specifically to match the ring I bought below.

I finally found the rose ring I was looking for at Claire's but they only had this turquoise one, which was fine but I wanted black. It was the last one on clearance. Other stuff starting on the left, going clockwise, Eyeliner/Kohl, Heart/hoop earrings, a phone case/bag thingy, a rhinestone hair pin, below that, assorted hijab pins, stickers, a new wallet. I love it because it has a place for your keys, phone, money and id. All you need sometimes and all in a handy wristlet. Left of that is a cute mirror compact and red nail polish. Click the image to see the hijab pins better, I love them!

Dream Park

So I thought this day of our trip deserved it's own post. A sort of review of sorts as well.

Dream Park is the only real theme/amusement park in Egypt. It's comparable to Six Flags in size and layout. Keeping in mind I haven't been to Six Flags since the early 90's . There's a nice mix of kiddy rides and older kids/grown up rides as well.

The down side is they need more people in charge around to keep littering in check and to stop line cutters. A lot of people brought food with them and made picnics and left trash everywhere. Mobs of teens cut in lines completely ignoring everyone. No one did anything. That kind of behavior got you kicked out of Great Adventure but since there was no consequence, they didn't care. Also, promptly at 7 pm, closing time, they shut off all the lights. I guess that's the only way to get people to leave? It did annoy, but we didn't let it ruin our day. I think I'll email them. Their website is a navigation nightmare too.

Inside the fountain were soda cans and other trash.

The first thing we did was ride the water ride. We got soaked. I wish we took more pics but we were busy having too much fun.

All in all, it was a really great day. I really felt like I had the most fun out of us all. I really had a blast. It's been a long time since I felt so young and alive!

Trip Time

>> Monday, February 22, 2010

This last week before the second school term, we decided to take a quick little trip. E was in Damanhour so my mom, the kids and myself took a bus on tuesday to Alexandria and, man was it long. It was supposed to take 8-9 hours but it was a full 11 hellish hours on that bus. They played X-men Origins, Wolverine and some dumb 70's Egyptian movie. I listened to 3 pod-casts and read half a book. Salwa was sick 2 times and some guys behind us apparently never heard of headphones.

Hi!

Keeping busy.
Safiyah took this one

Sleepy

Are we there yet?

When we finally arrived we were so glad to be out of there, we forgot all about that suffering and went to City Center Mall. They've expanded it a lot since I've been there last and it's really nice. Carrefour was insanely crowded so we got out of there and shopped for hijabs and accessories.

Zayneb is trying out hijab when she feels like it.

The next day we took it easy and stayed in Damanhour and did a little more shopping. Stuff is cheap there and hijabs were calling my name.

On Thursday we went to Green Plaza Mall had dinner and went to the movies. We saw Alvin and the Chipmunks 2. It was really cute and the kids had a blast! We walked around and did a little more shopping. I saw the Defile sign Ange posted about. Heh.

Who's your favorite? Theodore is mine.

Friday we went to Cairo and checked in to Pyramisa Hotel in dokki, then to City Stars Mall for dinner and did I mention we like shopping?
The view from on of the rooms.

In the morning.

Saturday we went to Dream Park and had a fun, amazing day! I'll do another post about that, but it was a great few days and I'm so glad we did it.

Getting ready for a fun day!

Abayas On Yahoo Avatars!

>> Monday, February 15, 2010

Yahoo avatars have added abayas! They are calling them "Islamic Oufits". The outfit is a rather fitted abaya with a scarf around the neck. The two available are now on the first page on apparel/full outfits. You have to add the hijab separately. They only have a tan one (boo!) and it's under Extras/scarves.

I still love this this caftan, too.

It's actually more modest, I think.

~Now Smell This~

>> Sunday, February 14, 2010

My new favorite is Flora. I just want to sniff it all day long. In second place, at this moment in time is Bvlgari, Jasmine Noir. It's darker and kinda heady. I love sweet/woody scents. Old fave was Lolita Lempicka and it's still really great to me, but you know you need to switch it up sometimes. Really, I'm not fancy nancy richy rich, I just have a lot of perfumes that were gifts from awesome people.

What's your favorite perfume?

Chocolate X2

>> Saturday, February 13, 2010

Today, I baked this delicious Black Magic Cake! I got the recipe from Jujey's cooking blog, and it came out really good. We'd baked it together last week at her house, and I loved it so much. I used the highly recommended Kittencal's chocolate butter cream frosting recipe and I'll never use another. It came out so nice and made actually frosting the cake easy. Tasted amazing on the rich chocolate cake! I used whipped cream in the middle some white chocolate Toblerone shavings to decorate.

Dawood compared it to a giant Oreo. It kind of reminded me of a hostess cupcake , in fact next time I should do a white swirly design on top. Alhamdulillah, everyone liked it but we all agreed to top it with less frosting because it was kinda thick. Next time you have an occasion or any day, think of this cake/frosting combo, it's great!

Sappy/Happy

>> Friday, February 12, 2010

It's always good when you catch them doing something nice!

+ Awesome! $

>> Wednesday, February 10, 2010

I just learned how to change my post & sidebar title fonts to this cute one! Can you all see it?

It's a fairly involved process, took about an hour, but it's great! Here are the instructions. If you decide to do it, follow them carefully when you have some time.

$Thoughts...

>> Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The kids are off school for mid-year break and it's going alright. The days are long so we're always thinking of things to do to fill up the time. They want to stay up later and later but bedtime's 11 pm. It helps when I want to sleep in a bit. They go back the 20th so we still have over 10 days of vacation. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to going back to HW, studying, more books to cover for the second term, but usually the second half of school goes by fast, inshaAllah.

It was so nice and warm today, made me want spring to start already. I'm done with winter. Not that what we have here is a true winter but, it's winter nonetheless.

Who here in the Middle East watches Fatafeat? It's like The Food Network. I like Sunny Anderson and Nigella Lawson most. Giada De Laurentis gets on my nerves and comes off kind of phony, but she made some yummy looking chicken tetrazzini today. Watching this channel is dangerous though, it makes you hungry and sparks cravings! But it does give inspiration for dinner and desserts.

Anyone have a favorite podcast? I listen to 3 weekly. This American Life, Manic Mommies, and The Lost podcast by Jay & Jack. Anyone have a good pod cast to recommend?

Jorge Garcia who plays Hurley on Lost, just started one last week for Lost lovers, Geronimo Jack's Beard. In case you didn't know I write a weekly Lost Blog HERE. LOST fans, unite!

Tonight I went for a quick and easy desert, Strawberries & Banana slices with whipped cream and some chocolate sprinkles on top.

Make Up & Stuff

>> Monday, February 8, 2010

Today the kids played for a little bit at the mall while I checked out the new make up store, Faces. It's like the Arab Sephora but not as good. Man, it was over priced. Dior Show mascara which sells for $24 in the US was 260 LE and sold out. I was like , oh pity. I was gonna buy one of each color. Yea right.

Anyway at a more reasonable store I got these.

I love cute stickers! The nail polish reminded me of the ruby red one Skye posted, not as great, but pretty.The Avon mascara is pretty good. Not goopy and it thickens well. I love this gloss, its a pretty plum/mauve shade and moisturizing as well.

This ring is bolder than I usually wear but I love it.

I ♥ shopping!

Keywords

>> Thursday, February 4, 2010

A wonderful thing called Blog Patrol keeps track of your blog visitors and how they got there, etc.

Here are some of the funnier key words that people used in Google to find this here blog o' mine.

"i dont give a crap anymore" meaning

why middle eastern people keep watering can in bathroom

i have lockjaw and feel weird kissing

mona 33 ways to have fun with men beofre you are married

are u supposed to swallow the white strips?

egyptian hijab hater

why do all middle eastern toilets have a hose?

I stuff toilet paper down ther

Funny ways to make people hate you

Collaging

>> Wednesday, February 3, 2010

I like to make collages. Yesterday, the kids were cutting and pasting so I joined in and made one too.

Click to enlarge, if you wish.

Fun and easy. I hung it up inside my closet door. Like?

7 Things Tag

>> Tuesday, February 2, 2010

I was tagged by Angie at My Lebanese American Life for this meme. Seven things about yourself, easy peasy.

Strong and sweet!

I've been addicted to iced tea lately. Making and drinking a pitcher each day.

Boomde-ada, Boomde-ada, Boomde-ada, Boomde-ada

I love Discovery channel shows like How It's Made, Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs!

MashaAllah

I want to travel so many places, to Tokyo and Kenya most. Maybe one day.

Perpetually the new girl.

Growing up, we moved too many times to count...something like 15 times before high school.

I see race, shoe, bee, tan, gee, bee, ear, vice...

I love playing PathWords on Facebook, it's the only game I like on there, just started playing around a week ago. I'm trying to get to 1000 points. I'm up to 920.