Uni time is almost here

Assalamu Alaikum

I'm really excited that it's almost time to get back to uni. It took me a while to get over the initial shock when I learned that I am missing a subject and can't graduate this month. But Alhamdulillah I am glad that it turned out this way.

My beautiful uni

I will be doing Advanced Crime and Criminology, which to be honest I find very interesting. I am really looking forward to studying again. I already ordered the text book and in sha Allah today I will get out of the house and borrow it from the library so I can do the readings. In sha Allah I plan to develop a really god routine this semester (especially seeing that I only have one subject to do). So yeah I would really like to get into the readings asap.

The only thing I am worried about (quite terrified actually) is that my baby is due in the middle of the exam period. Eeeep... I just pray that the little one waits around until after the exam is finished. And that the exam is scheduled at the beginning of the exam period. But in sha Allah even if it doesn't work out that way I'm pretty sure they would give me a deferred exam.

But It's all in Allah's hands

Till next time

Salam

Appoinments and other musings

Assalamu Alaikum

It's me again, late as usual

This week I've been so busy. It's been one appointment after  another - either with the midwives, or obstetrician, or normal doctors. It seems like every day there's a place to be. Plus, we are looking for a new place to rent so I've been inspecting houses too. I hardly get any time to just relax while I still can. But I love that time at the endof the day where I can just sit down and feel my baby moving and just forget about the world for those few moments :)


In other news, My grandma came back to visit us for a while. I was so happy to see her and her big bright smile. I love that lady to bits. My younger cousin also came with her.


Yesterday my sister, niece and that cousin came over to visit me, after such a long time of having an empty house. We went out a bit to Nandos and then for a coffee. It was a good day Alhamdulillah. It does get a bit lonely over here in Brissy. So its good to have someone other than hubby to talk to lol


Ooooh.. Maghrib time again. 


I'll have to keep this one short and sweet.


Till next time,
Salam

Our Lil' Shopping Trip

Assalamu Alaikum

The cot we put on lay-by

The pram

Lst night me and the hubby finally went out and looked for baby things to throw our money at. I wanted to get in early cos now they have all these baby and toy sales going on. We put a pram and cot on lay-by so I'm pretty happy :) I also bought some unisex baby clothes, just couldn't resist hehe. It's all so exciting - starting to feel even more real now. In the next couple of days I gotta go to target and get this car seat I wanted, put that on lay-by too. I figure it's better to put them on lay-by now and get all the discounts that are going around at least for the big things. That way I catch the sales and don't have to worry about where to store all these things.


There's so much going on at the moment. All these doctor's appointments, training sessions for work, not to mention work itself, the baby planning, blah blah blah.


I need to find us anew place to stay also. This apartment really isn't worth what we are paying for it. So its time to move on. Our lease expires just after Ramadan so I really need to get my act together and start house hunting asap.


Speaking of Ramadan - it's going to feel so weird not fasting. I've been fasting ever since I was a lil' kid Mashallah. I'm going to miss that spiritual connection and everything that goes along with it. I tried fasting the other day and to be honest it made me feel so sick and faint and it made me worried about my baby. so I doubt I'll be able to fast during Ramadan. But Alhamdulillah, there's still plenty of Ibadah to do. In sha Allah...

And the camera - I MUST BUY ONE!!! Enough said

But that's all for now...

Salam

Long-overdue update

Assalamu Alaikum peeps

Yes this post has been long overdue. But instead of giving a long lost of excuses (and I've had some pretty valid ones just so you know..) I'll just get on with it.

I'm current;y recovering from a very stressful exam period. But I cant shake the nagging feeling of one of the exams. To be honest I'm 97% sure I failed that exam. Which means if I don't get a really good mark in one of the others (which I'm not expecting) I'll probably get my enrolment cancelled. Which totally sux because I have one subject to complete next semester so I can graduate.

But at the same time I really can't stress about it cos I have some very excited news.

Let me give you a hint: 

It crawls before it walks

In a couple of years it begins to talk

And it makes us so happy 

(girl are you tellin me??)

WE'RE HAVING A BABY.....

-R Kelly

(I stopped listening to music a while ago but this one has been going through my head ever since I found out the news)

So yes, We are having a little baby in sha Allah. I'm 20 weeks now, half way there. And we are both so excited. We decided no to find out whether its a boy or a girl, but I have the strongest feeling it is a boy. But We'll just have to wait and see. But Alhamdulillah all is well. I had an ultrasound a couple of days ago and everything is looking well Mash'Allah.

Also, I started working with the Islamic Women's Association not too long ago as an aged care social support woorker. Not really in my line of study but it will do. Its only a few hours a week, which is all I can handle really at the moment. But it's good - gives me something to do.

But ye... thats the main things.. so much more has happened in the last few months but now's not the right time to spill everything here. But in sha Allah I'll keep you posted more frequently from now on.

It's Maghrib time so I gotta go. Plus hubby is coming home from work in a couple of minutes so I should go finish off the dinner.

Salam

A gift from mummy dearest

Assalamu Alaikum peeps

I just wanted to share a beautiful thing my mum has done for me lately. Hubby and I went over for a visit yesterday and there on the porch was a beautiful gift from my mum. She knew I was on the lookout for one of these and she stumbled upon one and bought it for me as a surprise for when I come back from Sydney. Is my mum the bestest or what???

View just after Fajr

Now I can just wake up, make a cup of coffee, throw on my large khimar, pop outside and enjoy my coffee and daily readings/email checkings/blog reading/and dont forget facebook vith a view :) Alhamdulillah

And don't forget Princess Armina having chips and sporting my under-scarf as a hat. 

Gotta love that girl

Overall it was a great day Alhamdulillah

PS I finally went out and bought one of those pre-paid internet modems. That's why the sudden semi-regular posts

Dinner Treat

Assalamu Alaikum

It was such a tiring day yesterday. After the loads and loads of washing, kitchen cleaning, vacuuming, bed-sheet changing I was exhausted. And the Brisbane heat and humidity weren't helping either. By early afternoon I was spent. We had plans to go to the markets, followed by a walk in the park but it was just too hot. So instead we stayed at home untill after Maghrib.

My husband decided to spare me the effort of cooking in this heat and took me out to dinner. Its something we haven't done in months. It was only Nandos (not much halal food nearby) but it was really good. He shouted dessert and everything. After that we sat in a nearby hill just enjoying the view over Brisbane.

Assalamu Alaikum



PS This was meant to be published on Saturday... but the internet went down ... and then I forgot to try again until just now... oops

Home Sweet Home

Assalamu Alaikum

It's good to be home. After a long day of flight cancellations, delays, and more delays I finally made it back to hubby. It felt like I've been all around the world these last couple of weeks. Honestly it was hard to enjoy it without hubby around. But I'm home now and I'm at peace.

I think the best part of the trip was the halal McDonalds. I know it's quite bad but sitting there through that burger felt like heaven. My whole body just melted away. I wish I bought a couple more. I have no idea when I'll be having it again. I'm not saying that the rest of my trip was bad, but the burger just hit the right spot at the right time.

But it was so good to see hubby at the airport last night. It was almost midnight by the time I made it out of the airport. Just that first hug made it clear where I belong, right in his arms. And everything else that happened these last few days disappeared. And I was home.

Last day in Sydney

Assalamu Alaikum

As the title of this post suggests, today is my last day in Sydney. I know it was a very short trip but what can you do. I have a life in Briabane now and I miss my hubby soooooo much. I cant wait to see him again.

I am gonna miss this place though. Only Allah knows when I'm going to be back. I didn't get up to much, mainly because I didn't want to be seen. You know how it is - one person sees you and then they tell a friend who tells a friend who tells a family member. And the next thing you know everyone's angry at you because you didn't come see them.

But I did see my best friend Ghada. We met up in Parramatta and had lunch and walked around a bit before we decided to go Bankstown and do some hijab shopping. Needless to say I spent a bit more than I should've. But what's a girl to do surrounded by all these hijab shops knowing that once I go back to Queensland there's not going to be many hijab-friendly shops around. That night I also went to see a friend in Auburn. We had dinner and then went to her place and I spent some time with her family. And then there's yesterday, I just went shopping in Merrylands with my cousin. So I managed to squeeze in pretty much everything I needed to do. All that's left is to have some halal McDonald's in Auburn. Inshallah I'll go there on my way to the airport. It's been years literally since I has McDonalds. Which is for the best I guess lol.

But anyway I'd better get back to my Aunty. I came here to pray and then got carried away.

Salam

Aaaand we're outta here

Assalamu Alaykum

Guess what?? I'm on my way to Sydney today. This holiday worked out to be great :))) Alhamdulillah. Basically what happened was that my cousin from Sydney was visiting us is Qld and she needed someone to drive back down to Sydney with her. And that somebody happens to be me :). So she stopped over at Moree and stayed the night and now we're off to Sydney. I can't wait to have the Adana kebabs, the hijab shops, halal food everywhere and not to mention catching up with some friends. It will be a short stay but Inshallah a good one. Mohamed booked me a ticket home for Wednesday night. So Inshallah I'll get to see him sooner. I miss him so much. This is the longest I've been away from him in months. And now that we are married it seems to be longer still.

Highlight of the trip? Playing with little Nicky

Greetings from Moree NSW

Assalamu 'Alaikum

I am taking a short holiday in Moree with my family. Well, not really short and not really a holiday. It's more like a ten day healing trip in whoop whoop. I dont know if many people know about this place, but it's a town in northwest NSW famous for its hot mineral spa baths. And that's what we are here for.

I don't know if I mentioned my shoulder pains before. They just hurt so bad every few months- bad enough that I can't move my left arm even an inch, and I cry through my salah. I've been going to the doctors for roughly ten years but no one has been able to tell me what's wrong with me. So many people have been saying how much it helps to bath in these hot waters, and my parents go every year. So we are here to try and see if these baths will work.

Although being the only hijabi in This place isn't very pleasant. I can't step outside our motel without every single person staring at me. It is so scary. And especially when I put on my burkini lol even I would laugh at me. But it wouldn't surprise me if I was the first hijabi these people ever saw in real life.

But anyway I don't have much time atm so I'll leave you with some pictures

Clean clean clean

Assalamu Alaikum

Yes... I'm in one of those moods again - where all I want to do is clean. I get obsessive-compulsive like that lol. So far the kitchen, bathroom and living room are spotless. All that's left is the thwo bedrooms and I'm done.

Tomorrow my mum is coming over for llunch/dinner Inshallah with my grandma, sister and their next-door neighbour Hamida. I'm really looking forward to it. It's the first time Hamida and my grandma get to see the place and I'm pretty excited to throw a dinner. I've always looked forward to hosting dinner parties and decorating the table. Can't wait. Inshallah I'll manage to get it all done in time by myself. I still need to go buy some fruit today Inshallah...

Anyway, back to cleaning I go

Salam

Family visit and nice stroll along the beach

Family time

Assalamu Alaikum

I know, I know... I haven't been posting for a while. I don't mean to be absent for so long.. But without the net at home it's been kinda hard to find the time and motivation to put up a decent post. All I have is my iPhone and the occasional visit to uni. But I'll do my best Inshallah.

Yesterday the hubby and I paid a visit to my parents on the Gold Coast. Things haven't been well for them the last few days. I hate seeing them so stressed, especially when it's due to another family member's selfishness. They deserve so much better from someone they helped so much all their life. But it was a good day Alhamdulillah. I tried my best to make them smile and keep them distracted.

My amazing grandma

Me and mum went to the shops and found some bargain cookies and biscuits. And my grandma just LOVES them [did i mention that she came back from Sydney??] So we ended up buying like six boxes to surprise her. And it was all worth it. Just seeing that big smile across her face made my day.

My mum also made some pita for us all. I love my mum's pita. We all sat around eating and talking, with one family member missing due to incident hinted at above. And unfortunately that put a negative haze to the night.






After we all ate and finished complaining about how full we were, we went for a nice stroll along the beach towards Surfers Paradise. Not all of us, just me, Mhd, mum and dad. But it was great, so nice and relaxing. Nothing to do except enjoy a nice conversation, take in the view and breathe in the fresh air. It was the perfect way to end the day.

 

Until we were faced with the one-hour drive back to Brisbane