A Rose For You

Oh, I just can't believe it! Almost a year! I don't want this blog to die. Not the idea of losing readers but the idea of keeping track of the stages of my life. This blog has been a really nice place where I was able to convey my thoughts and communicate with others.

Anyways, I hated the look of the shoes so I decided to post the first flower from our garden. We are so happy that we MOVED. It's been ten months now. We left the fourth floor and the beautiful view where you can see all of Amman and moved to a ground floor where we have a backyard and it worths it. We ate apricot, lemon and green cherries. We are waiting for grapes. I started gardening and I have plenty of plants. still trying and doing my best and experimenting the type of soil and what atmosphere certain plants prefer.

So, Karam graduated last week from his class. Ironically he will have to redo the class next year because officially he should be three years old to be in kindergarten. And he will in 20 days inshallah. My big baby boy is almost three now and my second baby boy is jumping inside of my belly as I am writing these words.

Oh, and a major change happened during the previous month. I rented a ceramic studio and started working and held a winter art camp for young girls. It went really nicely but closed it last week be prepared for the next baby. During this period I met people who can help me to go on with my ceramic career and I gallery owner visited my and loved my work and she wants me to display them at her gallery. Still working on that. and I also made over 30 ceramic artworks to prepare for a coming exhibition inshaAllah.

This is just an update, hopefully I will try to write at least monthly
That's all for now, see later

An Iraqi Student

I have to break the silence and ask you to stand for a moment to greet this Iraqi Student.

It's not just that he is working to support his family but he is still a student and investing his time in doing his homework. A salute to such insisting dedication.

P.S.1 I found this photo in a friend's profile on Facebook and I don't know if she took it or a licensed photographer.

P.S.2 I will come back for a real post shortly.
That's all for now
God bless Iraq

I'm Back... Hopefully

What a journey it has been for the last six months. I got married, I flied to Amman, spent Eid with my family in Dubai, then flied to Jeddah to be with my husband, flied again to Amman, spent almost a month without KJ to be reunited and settle down in Jordan.

We took this brave decision and decided to forget about KSA, hopefully for our best.

Back to blogging! I miss it. I miss talking to the keyboard and the monitor. I miss putting my thoughts and sharing with friends I've made through blogging. I miss hearing feedback and others points of view.

I've been here in Amman for the last 45 days. I'm still not totally settled. Many days was spent to sort and put aside the summer clothes which made me discover that both of us, KJ and I, don't have much of heavy clothes for winter. Being in UAE for the last five years, I forgot what winter is. KJ has been in Jeddah for almost two years. *Takes a pause. Looks at the lines she wrote and telling herself: what a boring post this gonna be*

humph

News. You must be asking for my updates. Well lots of things took place for the last six months and I'm gonna be a bit selfish now. But I have a lot to share about being in KSA and a lot about being in Amman.

Last week my eldest sister and niece came to visit from UAE. It happened that they decided to leave Amman and settle down in UAE when KJ and I set the date of our wedding and decided to move to Jeddah. It was great to see baby Lyann taking her first steps. Whenever we chat and they update me about her I feel i'm missing a lot. I was praying that I get to be the first to see her walk. Thanks God my prayers were answered :D

My mum and Sana are coming to visit next Thursday. I can't wait to see them. I have lots of relatives here but still have to do a round of visits.

The internet connection is good here and next time I use "I didn't have a connection" as an excuse for not posting, call me a liar. I do have time and lots of stories.

I miss my atelier. I miss playing with clay. I miss being creative. Now that we're sure we're settling in Amman, we're discussing and planning shipping the equipments from UAE. Still will have to find a place or would use the balcony for a small atelier alternative for the time being.

Lately, I've been taking lots if photo. There are hundreds of them that I decided to share one every single post. The one in this top shows the view from our bedroom. You can see most of the city in this photo. It seems I still need to work more on my Panorama technique.

That's all for now
I'll share more later

Catching Up... with Me

Well it's not what I wanted to say but I have to share some updates so I can carry on blogging on other topics.

About the exhibition, I'm not sharing because I want to include a review and some photos so that will have to wait a bit.

My thesis, I found a CEO of an HRM company and will help me find answers to my study, insha allah.

My atelier, I'm spending about 6 hours per day and I just love it there. Today, my friend R came and helped me in loading the kiln. still have two more shelves and numbers of plates and stuff to add. I'm very excited about the glaze testing I'm doing. Let's pray the results will be satisfying. The girls pieces are already in the kiln and they made two full shelves. I hope their work will be nice.

The nabog tree is amazing this year. There's a carpet of nabog on the floor due to the windy weather we're having. But now the weather is getting hotter and worms started to eat the fruit from inside :S

 

It rained for two days and Sharjah's streets went horrible. It rained on the same day I went to my Calligraphy teacher's exhibition. Will share more about that but check this photo of the next day!

 

Two more cats came to the scene. One of them is black and I call "him" Fury Furry but this is the other cat's photo.

 

What else? my health? Thanks God I'm feeling great nothing is annoying me other then my morning allergy.

oh and my sister shared a picture on Facebook, of us and our neighbor in Baghdad. The photo was taken in 1989. what a horrible photo :|

oh oh and I'm participating in another exhibition next April insha Allah

I guess that's all for now
and I'll be back to share more :)

Cute Weird Bug

 

I've been leaving the door of my atelier open lately. The weather is amazing; sort of cool windy with a bright sunny sky. While I was working the cats were playing outside, birds singing, the neighbor's black cat visited, and even the small kitten stepped in while i was working! so unbelievable cute.

A while later, the wind moved a dried leaf and it was one feet away from my door. I kept looking at it, annoyed that I just swept the door entrance! When I was leaving, I found the leaf still there. With a closer look it turned out to be a sort of bug. If I were still at school, or even collage, I would have caught it. Good old adventurous days! I think it's in transformation phase but i'm not sure what it is transforming into. But she seems like a fighter or in the military :S

That's all for now
I'll share cats photos later :)

My beloved Google Account

 

I've never new how much I am attached to my E-life, my Gmail, my Google account until this passing moment! They say when people die, their entire life flashes in their eyes. For a moment, seeing this message, I freaked out thinking: "my email, my archive, my online picasa web albums, my documents, my blog, MY ENTIRE E-LIFE flashing in my eyes!!!!

Then, I tried to sign in again, saying all the prayers I know, staring at the monitor, pressing the "sing in" button worried as much as hopeful and it worked. Thanks God, I can't be more thankful than what I feel right now.

That's all my now

P.S. Google people, I love you so much. Please don't mess up with me again. It really breaks my heart and takes away the trust I've invested in our relationship :)

A Cute Couple

 

Previously I complained about studying and how busy I was trying to juggle between university and study, atelier, house chores and another social activities. After KJ's visit, mom went to Amman and came back with grandma, we went to many places and yet I had to skip some of them. No, not because I was studying, but because I was sick. I spent the last two weeks lazily in bed. Now I'm all fine al7amdulillah, but I'm struggling to maintain my usual routine and struggling to go back to my study. I'm just revising it right now and still have two chapters to go.

***

Found this cute couple in a collection photos of the moon :)
That's all for now

QAQ

QAQ as in Qanatu Al Qasba
First time testing mobile blogging!

Green Leaf

 

I'm still working on my thesis. Progress is something obvious but I still need to speed up more than just a little. I'm rewarding myself and earning my hours in playing with clay in my atelier. This is a tile which I made for gardens. It's part of a collection. Can be hanged on walls or put under the water tab of gardends or just to step on between isles :)

That's all for now

No Thanks, I'm not listening to news for now

To study, to focus, to forget the world and sit down and write my thesis is not an easy thing to do. At time I forget myself reading, rereading and writing and editing. Then for a moment I feel I'm looking at a blank white board with a sound of silence that's too good if it lasts another 30 seconds without the AC noise coming back or a neighbor child's scream coming from the window, OR Aasi voice on TV. (don't get me started about this Turkish series my sister is watching).

Today, that sound of silence and meditating and focusing on a certain phrase I was trying to sculpture was broken by the news on the TV for a moment, then my sister voice, obviously calling Baghdad. I went out of my room and asked "what is it? where now?" only to hear my sister's choking voice telling me the update of the news in Baghdad.

"That's why" I said to myself "I've been blocking all news, tv and online, so I won't face the reality and look at my life in exile, just a trivial thing. So I won't think of my thesis a silly thing compared to real life events and stop studying"

 

Handmade Iraq maps by attawie

That's all for now
Let's pray for Iraq

Hopeful

Another morning to wake up late and miss the walk to the lake. I'm disappointed but I hope I'll study more and make up for the early morning hours. I miss working on the wheel! I told myself if I finish this ammount of writing I'll reward myself and go to the atelier and work on the wheel. Let's see what will happen.

Meanwhile, I'm sharing this handmade plate which I made along with another bunch of plates but took me a while to glaze them and I'm still left with many biskit plates waiting to be coloured.

 

That's all for now
let's hope for more

Seeking Fresh Air

It's been a week since I started my morning walks to the lake. It all started when R called and said "I'm going for a walk to the lake, please don't say you're busy studying or talking to Khalid". I rolled my eyes for sure but kept telling her I meant to walk to the lake this week but needed a merical to get me out of bed. She made fun about me supporting her for going to the lake and tried to make sure that I'm not saying complements or going to the lake just because it's officially called Khalid's Lake. (where I have to add a secret here that KJ and I are planning to go to the lake soon and add the phrase "and Atta" on the lake sing :D )

So off to the lake, with my cap and tennis shoes on, ten minutes and I'm there. Looking at the magnificent view; the bring sun, a blue sky with cotton candy white clouds here and there, the sound of the waves along with birds songs. It's still too early to feel the burning sun of UAE but yet not that early to feel the coldness of the early morning.

Forgetting my study and the burden it puts on my shoulders with every morning, which feels like a monkey hanging over my neck, I take my steps smiling at the wonderful morning and crossing my fingers wishing I would accomplish something today.

Now I'm going through a weird phase where I want to share all about my dreams and plans as well as the huge amount of inspiration I have for making new collection of ceramics. But I find myself confused whether to publish my work and art using Attawie or should I start an official blog with my full name to post. If I started a new blog for my art are would I link it to this personal blog? Do I want Attawie blog, my den, to be public to friends and family, here where I write my words right from my thoughts? Not sure yet, but until then I'll be sharing here.

 

Snail

That's all for now
let's wait for more

Words I Want to Share :)

My Dear Blog,

I am aware I've been away lately, unsure if it was the lack of motivation or being busy with life. It's not that you're not part of my life, on the contrary, at times I see you as the mirror that I look into to show me what I've done and reflects to me whether it's right or wrong. You even helped me evaluate myself, my thoughts and deeds. You've been the door to a whole new world to. Giving me the chance to express myself, introducing me to friends, opening my eyes to appreciate life from different points of views.

Knowing that I've been away for several reasons doesn't mean I don't care about you, neither does it mean I don't want to share with you. For that I'm sharing a secret I've been hiding for a while. I'm going to have a niece! (the secret I talked about earlier) :D

Yes, I know! It means I'm going to be a khala (an aunt). I'm going to be "cool auntie atta" :D

Unfortunately, I missed most of the shopping and preparations for the baby. One because my sister is living in Jordan, second is about me being busy or not there when my mother and Sana went for shopping. I did attend a couple of shopping trip (or was it three times?) and I got something for the baby. It's this tiny stand for bathing. I've never seen one before but the moment I saw it I thought "yay, we put it inside a tub or sink and put the baby on it" it looks like a tiny slide with Pooh and the gang (or was it Tigger? I sent it months ago).

What else did I miss to tell you lately?

Oh! me and another Iraqi female bloggers met at Zhra's for Fotoor (the meal for fast breaking) and then we had to hurry up and sit in a the car just like "Sardine fish in a can" as Zhra calls it. We were in a race with time to catch Isha Prayer (The last of the five daily prayers) followed by Tarawee7 (Ramadan night prayers). The Imam was Salah Bu Khatir, one of the best Quran Reciters I've ever heard(Click to listen)(Click for Translation). When I heard his voice of the first time, was about 18 months ago, I thought he was The best reciter ever.

It was my first time to pray in a masjid in UAE and it's the first time to pray Tarawee7 outside my home. The feeling of being one among those who pray in a group is amazing. How the people are scatered here and there and in one phrase said by the Imam they all stand in in straight lines with not a word to utter is such a feeling that cannot be described in words.


Click to listen :)

Today is the 19th day Ramadan, this night we're going to start the first day of the last ten days of Ramadan. They are considered the best days and they are yet to come. It is believe that the Night of Al-Qadr (The Night of Decree) is one of the last tend nights in Ramadan (Read the links for listening and translation).

oh, and yesterday 9/9/2009 at 9:09:09 was Dubai Metro opening!

A lot is going on in my life and on my mind and I needed to write this and clear my thoughts and hide in my den, at least until Eid. So my dear Blog, even though I'm away but I'll always come back with news and secrets I want to share.

*My calligraphy says: Mobarak Alaikum Ashahar (مبارك عليكم الشهر) May this month be full of blessings to you :)

That's all for now
Until I can share some more.

Ramadan Mubarak :)

اهلا رمضان :)

Welcome Ramadan :)

Accueil Ramadan :)

Click here and enjoy this gift, a nasheed by shekh Afasi, in three languages; Arabic, English and French :)

 

That's all for now
oh and this calligraphy is written by me :D it says Ramadan in Arabic رمضان :)

Bonjour Mes Amis

I'm sharing PHOTOS of my breakfast, not MY breakfast :P

Pancakes?

 

Just for me

 

Even the last bite :D

 

That's all for now
stop begging!

Bored I am :|

Read read read...
Read some more.
Write write write...
Write some more.
Hungry but too lazy to cook.
Messy but too busy to tidy.
Bored like never before.
Absurdity is in the air
and I just don't care

 

 

Presenting Arts on a Tray

She spreads her imaginary wings and flies to her own glittery world, where the cause of her effect seems just normal, with a trick of magic of different colours, she flies and takes thee off to her Fairyland.

An Iraqi mom, inspired by the cute smiles of her little ones; Moved by their sweet laughter and paralyzed by their tiny tears. My friend, Nadia, decided to join the blogsphere and present you her arts on an artistic virtual tray. I leave you my friend to take an adventure in her world, to enjoy a taste of The Neverland on her Art Tray.

The sleepy moon goes rounds and rounds
Colored with rainbow; shyly smiles

Burdens with worries yet it hopes
bright your sky and bid you good night



That's all for now

A tip for Lazy lonely Selfish People

Well well well! I'm bloging again (thanks to the fake crowds out there for embarrassing me to post). It's been hectic lately; sleep-deprived, disorganized, lazy and... Well, not really sure what else.

After postponing the laboratory investigations whether the "5 minute Microwave Chocolate Mug cake" is a myth or a truth, I decided to reward the awaiting-bribed-crowds with chocolate cake. I thought it takes 5 minutes so why not give it a try! And a try it was, yes indeed.

But alas, I ended up with failure due to overexcitement and carelessness.
Here is the recipe so you can understand where I messed up.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE!! (the recipe was emailed to me with photos but I'm posting my photos. You can google it to find it)

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract and your favourite tipple
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to your largest mug and mix well.

 

Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using), vanilla extract and a drop or two of your favourite tipple, then mix again.

 

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!


I made sure that I followed every single step and set the microwave on 5 minutes and kept watching. It really went high over the top of the mug and here I got really excited and started to jump up and down as the smell was very promising! The excitement lasted for few seconds because the cake was starting to shrink! the smell was revealing that something is being burnt! So on the 4th minute I decided to stop the microwave. the smell was horrible and I ran in disappointment to my laptop to re-read the recipe only to find out that it should be cooked for 3 minutes only! OH.MY.GOD. then why it said 5 minutes chocolate mug cake!

 

Looking at it I thought it's not that bad :)

 

Not that bad at all!

 

Oh My God! wait a minute! that's where the burning smell was coming from!

 

I spent the rest of the day and evening burning candles to get rid of the smell.

To tell you the truth, when I read the recipe I wasn't that interested. I thought this suits selfish lonely people who don't care to bake a whole cake and share with others. and this reason was the curse as I believe. If it works great for you, cut it into two halves and share it with someone else :)

If next time the recipe works better I'd share at least the photos with you

.............
Update:
A friend just sent me this healthier version of same recipe

That's all for no

An Open Window to my World.. Have a Peek

First of all hi everyone
I miss blogging. I miss sharing (but not food). I miss writing poetry. I miss a lot of things but somehow 24 hours per day is very little and I'm wondering again if we could add 8 hours for sleeping to the 24 hours.

A lot happened during May. Many things took place apart than Bu Qtair experience my sister's airplane. But I'm not sharing everything :)
After celebrating my sister's birthday and hospital visit and checkups; I had the chance of meeting a group of Iraqi female bloggers. It was different from other meetings for we had an exact purpose for the meeting other than just to get to know one another (I'll think of sharing later).

A couple of visits to our relatives; they are leaving back to Germany for good. I'm going to miss those five little ones horribly. Whenever I see them I take bunch of photos knowing they are growing up so fast (mashaAllah) but never thought I see them off so soon. Yes, we Iraqis always travel, and yes we have to leave and say goodbye (as touta says) but the bad thing about it is that we never know when, where to, why and how.

As for my atelier, the unwelcomed visitor disappeared and I'm glad for that. Hopefully I won't see him again on the walls, ground, TV or anywhere else. As for my work, I've been working on a collection of letters as per N's request. She wanted me to make the initials of her little ones. If it turned out cute I might share some photos.

My sister Sana left to Amman and I have no one to annoy. The house seems so calm lately. I'm thinking of flying her airplane now but there's a missing battery.
Another reason for being busy, as if I don't have enough reasons, is that I joined the institute of Arabic Calligraphy and Ornament. It's something me and my friend R were thinking of since we were done with the Art institute. After about a year the plane was executed and it feels like we're back to kindergarten. Now I'm sharing photos but please NO laughs.

This is Diwani and you can read about it here. or just write Diwani in Google Images to see the beautiful photos available on the net.

 

Alf

 

Ba'

 

Dal

 

Ra'

Any my favorite so far, ladies and gentlemen, the Seen

 

That's all for now
and stop laughing at my handwriting

Bu Qtair Cafeteria

"There's a child inside of all of us" is a phrase that expressed the childish behavior all of us do every now and then but when it comes to my little sister, it's a whole different story. The other day her colleague asked her what does she want for her birthday and my sister innocently said "an airplane". My sister became 24 years old a couple of weeks back.

She came home with gifts and flowers from her colleagues but she was mostly excited about The Airplane! Actually both of us were. But after a couple of hours I got bored and its sound became annoying and forgot about it.

My sister keeps recharging the batteries and keeps annoying me with its sound. I shouldn't have given her the rechargeable ones.

Anyways… to celebrate her birthday, I made some sweets and bought a cake. Then she only wanted us to spend the rest of the evening at Bu Qtair, a seafood restaurant. I don't know what words to use to describe the place and if the word restaurant is applied to such places. This is our second visit but since the place was dark it was hard to get a good photo. Everything was blurred. So let me try to describe.

First of all, we heard about the place from mom's colleague who been there and said it's The place where you taste the Best Fish Ever. She heard of it from an article in one of Dubai's Luxury Magazines and shared the article with mom.

We drove for two hours to get there, only to be disappointed about the bad lighting, seating and the horrible smell of the neighborhood, since it is in Jumaira Beach area. If you happen to walk in Main Street of Jumaira, you'd feel like walking in Cannes Street; it's the best neighborhood in Dubai people dream of living there. But back to where we dined; It was literally a cabin that was located in a Kharaba (abandoned land with remains of a building and usually a lot of garbage here and there). On the same piece of land there were handmade small boats and fishing nets. The only light of that kharaba are the avenue lamps.

The plastic tables and chairs are scattered on the sand of the kharaba. Some people are sitting at tables and others are waiting to be seated. Some are waiting in their cars and others are standing and waiting for their takeaway meals. With this inconvenient setting, it is not easy to get a table. There are no reservations, mind you.

In our first visit we were accompanied by my brother-in-law. After the two-hours-drive, expressions of disappointment were visible on my sister's face as well as mine. He whispered to us "just pretend it's alright and let's wait and see. If you didn't like the food I'll take you to another restaurant". Mom and dad went inside the cabin to order. After about half an hour, a man came out of the cabin and called my Dad's name and took the plates to a different table. We were in a shock! Why he's ignoring us if even if we're saying we're here!

The man disappeared and came after a while. He called a different name but came to our table and to place our order. That was hilarious. In our second visit, we saw a family who looked shocked just like us in our previous visit when his name was called and the food went to a different table.

The plates are plastic but the second time they were disposable. They serve you salad that's made of white cabbage, onion and lime slices. In addition to that, they serve you a spicy red sauce that I have did not even dare to taste. The shrimps made fire comes out of my ears but the taste was too delicious to stop eating.

But the fish! The look was not encouraging but the smell… Oh. My. God. Never tasted such a thing before and I don't think there's a place that cook such delicious fish and now I'm sure if the kharaba was even darker and the smell of the shore way much more horrible, people would still come to taste Bu Qtair's seafood.


Bu Qtair :)


Bu Qtair kitchen inside the cabin


fish


the spicy sauce

That all for now...
Happy belated birthday sis