Heres one I prepared earlier

So while checking through my tags the other day I noticed that I hadnt posted a stitching of mine from awhile ago, here it is :D all framed and lovely alhamdulillah

Monday in BC

We had intended to catch the 7am ferry over to Vancouver island, then just before we fell asleep decided on the hour later ferry but then woke up late and finally made it onto the 11pm ferry alhamdulillah. Was nice to be on a ferry again, its been so long since I used to go on them from Liverpool docks. Was nice to be back on a boat again too, I forgot how much I missed the water, I suppose when it just isnt around you (lake Ontario doesnt count) you sort of stop missing it. But the missing and longing is back there now :( then Ill be back in UK and travelling to Algeria, morocco, syria, egypt and back around some places in Europe insha'allah.. so im looking forward to the sea again :) insha'allah. The wind was nice, although cold at times, we had a hot drink with us and took a trip around the boat too. I think it was good to go on this trip with someone pretty new to the whole travelling thing, it makes me stop taking things for granted and forces me to see things through the eyes of a newborn (almost) Alhamdulillah. On the way over a woman stopped us on the deck and pointed out these 'clouds' to us that were actually some mountains in Seattle I think. It was amazing, subhanallah... it was so clear out that day and we were truly grateful for everything we saw. Although we had been told you can see dolphins at times, unfortunately we didnt :(

We drove down to the hotel we were staying in for the night to find that we couldnt check in until 3pm, so decided to do some of our sightseeing while we were waiting around. So we grabbed a quick sandwich (foot long veggie for me thank you, I was hungry) and made our way over to Glendale gardens. I must admit I wasnt really looking forward to walking around a garden but after the pace of the last few days I was glad to just take it all in there. The gardens were amazing, with all different types from mediterranean to japanese, masha'allah and the views surrounding the gardens were breathtaking too. There was a little lake at the bottom (although you would prob call it a pond here, but a pond to me is something in your back garden) Pond or lake people? We spent a good few hours there, and the weather was amazing too alhamdulillah. After the gardens we drove back down towards the city, I seem to remember driving somewhere else before going back to see if we could check our bags in... oh well, thats what old age does for you :P we dropped our bags off then walked down the road with the trusty map and found our way to Victoria chinatown. The place was amazing.. not as big as vancouvers, but still pretty impressive, there was even a public school there in the shape of the traditional chinese buildings where all the kids were stood outside playing. So cultural masha'allah. Then we popped into the market square which was quite but so nice, we could almost imagine it on the weekend days, especially with how the weather was. There were lots of little shops all around this smallish square where u only assume they would have market stalls, at that time there were just people sitting around and enjoying the sun. We bought some fudge, yummy.. and I bought some cinder toffee too at which point the lady behind the counter proceeded to tell us the name for this that visitors from all over the world call it on a little piece of paper she had tucked away. So cute. After that we walked around taking in the cute little shops and the people who were coming in and out of them, was so nice. Eventually we ended up on the water front, which is their downtown.. can you imagine having your city centre next to the water? subhanallah.. amazing. We went to the underwater aquarium to see a lovely selection of fishes and underwater creatures. There was even a display at the end with a guy diving into the water and showing you all the different creatures down there, some were really ugly looking but it was nice to see... I remember when I went scuba diving at turtle island in Turkey, subhallah the world under the sea is amazing, the colours, the varieties, the feelings, I will never forget that insha'allah. So this was a nice sight to see... Afterwards we started to get a little hungry so I pointed out a chain restaurant 'the old spaghetti factory' not far from where we were cause I had been in the mood for italian since the night before. We got a seat eventually and had a really nice meal, soups, salads, main meal, ice cream & tea for like $30 between us... so we were equally impressed with that too. Then afte rthat we met up with Alixianna :) which was fun.. we had coffee together, then when it closed she took us on a little 'things the toursits dont see' tour of the nearby area. She showed us the parliament buildings all lit up, which we would have missed if she hadnt shown us, she took us into some hotel that she knew where you could walk up to the top and take in the views.. we were just amazed at this little petite figure taking us through the hotel without blinking an eye, that girl has had some life masha'allah.. was all very amusing though and we had so much fun, thanks alixianna for showing us a little of your world. Shame you couldnt make it Aalia :( We dropped her off on the bus (thanks for the present ;p) and walked back down to the hotel, was a long and tiring day, especially with all the walking.. but still Aminah found time to shower.. I was pooped and nodded off as soon as my head touched the pillow alhamdulillah.

Next day we were late for the ferry again and ended up taking the 12pm ferry back over, I slept all the way back I think hehee. We had intended on doing a few things in vancouver before our booked habour tour.. but it never happened unfortunately. We practically had to go straight to the boat after getting off the ferry, but it was ok... still taking everything in alhamdulillah. The tour was about an hour long.. it took us just out of the inner harbour and back again, there were 2 ladies sitting inside with us who actually slept for the majority of the journey, we were gobsmacked :) The sights were nice, although I have to say Im not really impressed with the skyline of Vancouver, toronto is much nicer masha'allah... on the tour we saw a bald eagle, and some little seals.. too cute masha'allah. This is me when we came off the boat... very tired :) but relaxed alhamdulillah. We drove over to our evening meal booking deciding what to do afterwards as we drove over, eventually found somewhere to park and walked over. We were super early so we stood inside a cinema and watched the world go by, was nice and amusing at the same time :) Time was there for food, which was really nice masha'allah and afterwards we drove over to Waves for just one more London fog (well for me anyways) before residing ourselves to going back to Ontario :( We dropped off the car and got a taxi to the airport... then it was time to say farewell to BC, we will miss you... insha'allah I would like to go back there, there was still so much stuff that I didnt get to see. Maybe Ill take hubby :) Allahu alim. Bye bye BC... and I slept the whole of the journey home cause the breakfast pancakes were disgusting!!!

So thats the end of my trip to Vancouver... insha'allah you enjoyed reading about some of the things I did as much as I enjoyed doing them. I look forward to my future trips around the world and about blogging about them afterwards insha'allah. Im going to pick up my developed film tomorrow (although I had the all put on discs) so maybe Ill post a few more after that insha'allah.
Peace and salams, Ammena

Sunday in Vancouver

So on the sunday we woke up early, although probably not as early as we should have.. I think that was the day that Aminah turned off the alarm the wrong way and we woke up at around 730, when it was goin to take us 2 hours to get to where we were supposed to be going and had a table booked for breakfast for 10am. Just it was a mad panic. But we eventually got out onto the roads and followed the GPS to Whistler to arrive at around 1040 I think. We made it just in time, seems the time was different and we managed to get in for breakfast, I miss having big buffet breakfasts at posh hotels. Not that I ever did it alot, but occassionally I did.. and its nice. I had a plate of fresh fruit, plate of mushrooms, omlette, croissant, smoked salmon, more mushrooms (yeh I like mushrooms) and other bits I cant remember, washed down with apple juice and chocolate covered strawberries to finish. I was so delightful full :) it made me smile.

Then we wandered out into the grounds, my friends friend lives there.. actually works in the hotel we had breakfast at so she gave us the grand tour of the nearby scenery which was amazing masha'allah. I was soo jealous of the people with their snowboards, never thought I would say it... but Im going to miss the winter this year :( As we wandered around she pointed out many things to us, people were constantly telling us that we picked the right day to come up and we did.. this was the little outdoor market in the upper village and you can see the mountains in the background. There were so many people there masha'allah and lots to see, they had horse riding, people were over for the extreme mountain biking over the lower ski slopes where the snow had now completely melted away. Then we wandered over to the lower villages, I think theres 3 in the area, at one point we came across a little park so we sat down for like 20mins.. it was so nice to just sit and take it all in. I miss the parks from UK, there isnt really anywhere you can sit and watch the world go by here, the parks arent that nice from what Ive seen, and the only nice grass near me looks over a stream in a really quiet area and is always covered in ants. This was interesting us sitting there.. the park was covered with skin :) ladies in bikinis and guys in shorts taking dips in the water or playing football. Thought I was back in UK for a minute there, the weather was probably around 20degrees not that warm!! but first sign of sun and thats it, strip off.. they dont get as much sun in vancouver as in Ontario so I suppose it is the same as UK you learn to grab the moment while its there :P alhamdulillah. We walked around some more and seen some lovely sights masha'allah, water streams, mountains and forests. We got lost a few times.. well her friend did :P we obviously didnt know where we were going :D heehee Then when it was nearly time to go we dropped her friend off at her house and she took us to see the view that she would see every day on her way down to work. Aminah had to pray, and I love praying outside so I suggested that she pray there and then.. can you imagine?! subhanallah... was amazing. And I sight I pray I never forget insha'allah. We then said our goodbyes and headed back to Vancouver, aminah drove this time and I chilled in the passenger seat.... I was actually pretty good (i get bad car sickness if Im not driving) but I did ok after we stopped at one of like 4 tims that we had seen in the province. We chatted on the way back about how amazing everything is over here masha'allah, Im sure that if I moved back to Canada I would move to a different province :) Allahu alim. We got back around 9ish and decided to make a little detour to an area that we had heard was full of little boutique shops and stuff, so we parked up and walked around... the place was like a little Spain, I loved it... for some reason Aminah thought I was nervous, interesting.. she said 'ive never seen you so nervous before' I was like.. what??! not nervous, excitingly taking everything in.. when I get around latinos it brings up my passion for learning that damned language :P insha'allah.. I would love to get back into my spanish again and insha'allah I pray i will one day. anyways, we decided against coffee here and made our way back to 'our' coffee bar for a night cap :D The perfect end to a perfect day alhamdulillah. I liked Whistler, I will always remember it insha'allah and always remember it being the first place I got a hijab tan :D alhamdulillah. Then we drove back and attempted another early night :D thats another post though :P insha'allah you are all enjoying the updates of my vancouver holiday :D I wont be doing this all the time, so enjoy it while it lasts :P
Peace and salams, Ammena

My deen

so after waking up early at 620am this morning I have been pottering on my laptop, its now nearly 9am in which time I havent really done much. Ive spoke to family, added some more pics to my facebook and played on my forum, made a cup of mint tea and ate a banana. In the midst of all this I have been thinking about the situation with my deen and my family and decided that there were a few things that I intend to accomplish with these issues. So I thought i would make a list of the things I plan to have completed by the end of 2009 insha'allah of course :)
fast more
read quran more often
set aside time of day to learn new islamic things (whether it be a story of shahaba, duaa or something totally new)
set aside time of day to read with h2b (maybe not together)
attend halaqas
start arabic course
I think thats enough for now :D Ill let ya know how it goes :P

Stitching

So here is my latest work of art :P I will post about it cause I know for a fact that she never reads my blog. Its for a friend of mine here in Canada, her algerian husband came over last year, we had fun at RIS and I love her to pieces. She moved to toronto just when I moved over to Cambridge which is a shame cause she was so much closer to me in Hamilton, Allahu alim. So the names read Kim on the left and Muhammed on the right. Insha'allah she likes it. Comments, do you think Muhammed should be moved around so you have to turn your head to the left rather than the right, what do you think?

Saturday in Vancouver

On saturday we picked up the car eventually, our b&b owner wasnt the most helpful. We had told him when we arrived that we wanted a car and what day, he said leave it with me.. which resulted in picking up the car at 12pm saturday afternoon, we werent impressed I can tell you that!

After picking up the car we drove straight over to Granville island just south of vancouver, its a small piece of land (still attached) with a big fishing influence and lots of market stalls and shops. We parked quite a distance away and walked into the centre of the island where all the stalls and the indoor market was, it was originally intended for us to just check out and spend a little time there. With us being super late because of the car it looked like we would spend even less time there, but we were there for quite awhile and I wish we could have stayed longer. Maybe next time, insha'allah. Anyways, we walked over the water which was very pretty and into the area of the shops and habour, sort of got ourselves sorted with where we actually were and headed in THAT direction. We found a cute little hammock shop on the island which I have always wanted.. maybe when I live in the sun I can get one for the back porch.. what?? cant I dream?! insha'allah of course ;P Then we grabbed the nicest fish and chips I have tasted in a lot time masha'allah, the chips were the nicest Ive tasted in North america and the fish was soo fresh with hardly any batter on and straight from the water. It was nice to have something that fresh, and yes I ate it! cant go all the way over there and not have the fish, as much as people are screaming thats not a true vegetarian! 'get a life!!!' We wandered around a little more and spent 20 minutes watching some dude play with fire sticks and climb on top of some little tower made of a skateboard and several different pieces of piping, WITH firesticks!! I took a little video of him, he was funny. Tiny little guy :P Then we wandered back to the car, saw some ladies about to pay for the parking ticket so I offered them ours as we paid for the whole day cause we thought it would be cheaper. They were nice girls, asked how much we wanted, we declined obviously to which she replied.. 'wow, us girls rock' which i thought was pretty cool alhamdulillah.

After the island we drove north to the capilano suspension bridge which is masha'allah amazing. I took most of my pics there on my film camera, so waiting to get them back but I still have some to post. We spent a good few hours there in all the different trails and little bridges within the park which was pretty cool. We saw 2 little chipmunks having a little fight which was funny.. there was also alot of rocking on the bridge, from the website I thought it was very stable (which i was unimpressed at) but alhamdulillah it was moving everywhere. My friend got used to it for the way back but some people were really terrified. After we finished here we got back in the car and drove about 5 minutes to Grouse mountain which was pretty cool. This picture is at the top of the mountain and you can see the wires for the cable car that you ride up there. The ride took about 6 minutes, we were such tourists complaining that it was too quick and not enough chance to take in the scenery. I was amazed at the snow up there, I originally thought it would be very icey, but after a few pics and some time playing I found out it wasnt at all which was nice. Since getting back into snowboarding I really miss the snow now :( which is something I never thought I would say. We had a little food up there too, our table was next to the window so we had a lovely view of vancouver from there while we ate which was nice masha'allah. Not something you will be able to do everyday, unless you live there of course, there were a few people in the cable car dressed up all fancy too so I assume that in the end it just turns to be one of those places that you go to for a posh meal. Although its an expensive $37 taxi ride away and thats per person!!! I wonder if the close residents actually get passes or some sort of discount, I know I wouldnt go up there often for that price! The view was a amazing though and highly recommended if you want the scenery pictures, although it was freezing up there and I mean cold! we saw the bears on top of this mountain (check out the video I uploaded) behind a big cornered off area obviously heehee, but was nice to see masha'allah.
We got home late after this little adventure but was nice to sit back down and just take everything in after such an exhausting 2 days, alhamdulillah. Then it was time to plan our next day which was a trip up to whistler so another early start :D Thats the next post.
Peace and salams, Ammena

The morning

It was finally here, the morning I would become part of a couple. Me & him, him and I, us, them, that couple, and I couldnt wait insha'allah. I woke up in my quiet boxed up flat with my 3 friends who had turned up armed with food the night before when I had needed them, alhamdulillah. I looked at the clock as it flashed 7am, I was getting too old for this staying up late malaky but I smiled as I stretched and knew it would be something that I missed. I poked Helena in the arm as she lay next to me, she smiled and opened one eye to look at me while trying to slowly adjust to the light that was now streaming through my window. I sat up and stretched some more with a stiffled yawn and a twitch of my nose, sitting back against a box it then i was brought back down to earth wondering what the day would bring. The civil service was booked for 12pm that day, with the nikah being performed at the masjid at 930am, we had decided the nikah would be a small service with just family and close friends, then we would all go out for breakfast at a local restaurant where we knew the owners.. ok, where he knew the owners :P Then we would make our way over for the civil service.
Suddenly I jumped when my phone started vibrating on the wooden floor and the sound echoed out around the room, 'who had turned my ringer on' I wondered. I flipped open the phone 'Hello? hey mum, just we're all awake. Where are you? ok, you want to come around here? yeh should be room. Then we can meet everyone at the mosque, you sure youre ok with all this? Good' After a while I sniffed, wiped a tear from my eye and tried so hard to stop the quiver in my voice 'I love you too' then I put down the phone reaching for a tissue. Davina sat next to me with some orange juice, gave me a little squeeze and kissed my cheek 'Alhamdulillah sis, alhamdulillah' she smiled, I knew exactly what she meant. Who would think that the woman who gave birth to me, then disowned me for 3 years of my life would be at my wedding? My wedding!! To a muslim man! and not just any muslim man, a non-english muslim man! Alhamdulillah in deedy doody :D
So now we were all sat around driving tea or juice when my mum pulled up downstairs, she rang the bell and I buzzed her in. When I opened the door she gave me a big hug and I was surprised to see what she was wearing, as she went around the girls hugging them all and giggling at everything I smiled to myself as I watched her walk around the room in her bare feet (after taking her shoes off at the door) her floor length lilac coat skimming the floor around the bottom of a pair or ivory loose fitted trousers and a lilac shirt. I felt so proud of her and I knew it had been a big deal for her, but she made no fuss and just carried on.
'You want some tea? juice?' I asked her, she shook her head as she fingered the material of my dress hanging over the door. 'Cute outfit Lavine' Davina commented to my mum, she blushed... 'oh just something I found in the shops' she said pulling her jacket off to reveal the shirt underneath, it was at that point that I noticed the sewing detail inside and the fact that there were no labels in the coat told me she had had the jacket made. I smiled to myself, then caught Davinas eye as we both realised the same, then we both mouthed the same words 'masha'allah' and I looked at my mum again with a new found pride. She asked how long it would take to get there and after me telling her it was about 10mins drive away by taxi (which we had booked the night before) she proceeded to ask what needed to be sorted before we left. The list was small but important to me all the same, we had to pick a few relatives up from the train station, although they werent all coming to the masjid they were here for the wedding and it meant just as much to me. There were flowers to pick up on the way to the civil ceremony and there was luggage to drop off at the hotel we had booked for ourselves and a few guests. I had packed my bag the night before under the watchful eyes of my friends, many items went in and out under instructions from them and we laughed during the whole episode, but at least that was done.
The time was now just moving past 8am so I pulled out a few things and moved towards the bathroom to get changed, the next time I appeared from the tiny little room I was wearing an ivory long silk slip with a thigh length slit in (to tease him, my mum told me... 'muslim or not, he likes to be teased') I blushed at the conversation we had in la Senza a few weeks before. The girls whistled and my mum knowingly smiled at me, I blushed some more before pulling my dress out from under all the layers. Then disappeared into the bathroom once more, I zipped up the back of the dress (well it was more the side from my hip to just under my arm) after slipping my arms into the sleeves and after having my hijab ironed I smoothed down the sides of the scarf to sit tight against my face and pinned it under my chin. I tucked the ends into my dress as I had decided to do the night before and looked at myself in the mirror, 'was i ready for this? of course!' Now I was ready to step out of the bathroom, i walked out and got the reaction I was looking for alhamdulillah.
This was it, this was the start of it all and I could hardly wait... but then I felt sick and turned right back into the bathroom.

Thats a new one

"Are you from Iran?" asked the little old guy at the muslim petrol station I have started to frequent after feeling bad for giving all my money to the big bad Esso station down the road. I like this place, it makes me think Im giving something back to the Ummah and the guys who work there are so cute (in a personality way!!) bless him.

Stanley park and such

Next we arrived in Stanley park and tried to navigate ourselves around, see me and one of my many trusty maps :) When we figured out what we actually wanted to see we headed off in... erm.. that direction ;) We saw lots on the island, just its an island with a road through that takes you from downtown Vancouver to north Vancouver and its amazing. Its a park within a city, every city should have one in my opinion :) Anyways, what did we do?? well we wandered around for a bit getting a little lost with all the different trails on the island. We walked abit and took in a little of the scenery from the side of the water. It amazed me at how dumbfounded I was by the amount of water around there, I suppose I have forgotten what its like to be next to the water :( and that saddens me a little. So we sat and talked a little about the mountains that you can see in the background of this pic, we discussed where to head to next and had some fun on the beach :D it was only a little bit of sand but fun still. Alot of the time we were just in awe at the beauty that Allah (swt) has laid on this earth that we take for granted every day. We stopped at the infamous totem poles in the park that have been moved around from one place to another, there were little plaques there to tell you the story behind each one. We also got into a little tiny argument about what something meant on one of them too, to the point that apparently a lady was stood there just listening to us, heehee. We climbed tree stumps :) well she did, I just took pictures. We also found the rose garden that wasnt really up to much at that time of the year which was a little disappointing but what can you do?! It was pretty and very peaceful there, probably because there were no roses. Then we pottered around, there was more walking involved inbetween these sights and there was also a big sit down at one point to take in the mountains and the lake (from opposite sides on a field) masha'allah.. truly amazing. I could have sat there all day and it reminded me of being in Hertfordshire when I would sit in a park all day, with either friends of h2b :) that was nice, I cant wait to get back into that insha'allah.
After Stanley park we got back on the bus and wandered through Chinatown, which is amazing by the way!! Ive seen china towns before, was overcome at the one in Toronto, but this is by far the most amazing one Ive seen yet alhamdulillah. These are the gates to enter the town, everything is in chinese, even the street signs and signs on the stores. We wandered into a few little shops before being pointed in the direction of a restaurant to eat our tea :D (evening meal) That whole experience was interesting to say the least... mainly because of the people around us and their conversations, but that is something else and I pray that I remember that time for the rest of my life from this blog. It was a nice vegetarian meal and we didnt eat it all so decided to pack it into several little containers and give it out to the people on the streets if they would have it insha'allah. Ive never done this before and my friend told me there were ways to do it and we shouldnt assume they will take it because they too have options like us. In the end we found 2 people who were involved in the street programs to look after those homeless around that area, so we gave it to them and prayed our intentions would be rewarded and someone would have some food that evening. It was weird.. as we handed over the food and turned around, I got quite emotional and I dont know why.
After this we got back on the bus and headed over to the lookout for the evening pictures (which I posted in the last blog) then we wandered around for a little bit and went for coffee. We found a little coffee house, a chain no doubt that served some nice stuff.. Im sat at the back in the photo so with the long glass mug is my London Fog, which is earl grey tea, vanilla and hot frothy milk yummy, and a slice of lemon cake which was lovely. We stayed in the coffee shop, after getting some comfy seats, for about 2 hours and I had such fun. These are the times I enjoyed the most, when we could just sit back and enjoy the surroundings, people keep asking me about my best times, I swear it was when we were sat down in a park, coffee shop, on the bus, just watching the world go by without having to think about anything. Alhamdulillah.... After coffee it took us far to long to get back to the b&b, the bus never came so we ended up getting a taxi back and there are a few stories about our time at the bus stop too :P but thats for face to face stories :D For now thats the end of this post :D Salams

Vancouver

Next installment :D So where did I leave you hanging?? Oh yes the next day :) ie Friday and our first full day in Vancouver.

So our first stop was breakfast at which point we were told by the man who owns the b&b that he lets out his monthly bus pass for people to use for $9 a day in oppose to the $35 we were going to sell out for a trolley tour of downtown vancouver. So we gave him the money and off we went to make note of the areas we wanted to visit, first official mistake of vancouver was walking up the road to a bus stop to be told we were on the wrong side of the road and downtown was the other way.. oh well :P We eventually made it downtown after the bus driver helping us with directions and warning us off the highly dodgy area (where we were later offered things that shouldnt be offered to naive young ladies like ourselves) Then we found our way into Gastown, it got its name from the man who founded the town and there was even a steam powered clock that also resembled the name of the town and was famous for it too. In this area we did quite a bit of souvenir shopping, and window shopping and general chit chat. We havent been together for awhile so it was nice to take in the area and talk as we did take many
stupid photos. My friend bought sushi for lunch at a very cheap price of $3.50 which we were both very impressed with masha'allah. Then we wandered around, pulling poses and taking in the beautiful scenery of the mountains for the first time we had seen them. From that point we couldnt wait to get out of the city and see the true beauty of the area, but first we stopped in a native indian store that sold all sorts of lovely handmade bits and bobs. Including jewellery, paintings, clothes, books, statues, and all sorts of other scary things. The prices were some what pretty steep or maybe it was just because of the things I was picking up. I found a lovely ring that was gold with a silver band in the middle all around the outside circumference but my budget really wasnt stretching the $400 price tag. Was nice to see all these sorts of things, I believe the family who made most of the stuff was deeply involved in the shop which is nice to know. You can buy 'authentic native indian hand made' stuff, hand made all the way away in China.. sort of makes it very cheap indeed :( Then I got a really nice egg salad sandwich after a big discussion on whether its a 'cheese salad sandwich' or a 'vegeratarian sandwich with cheese' and sat down for a bit with some refreshing drinks. After this we walked somemore and found our way to Vancouver lookout.. now this was a little disappointing, there was a picture in the lookout showing the heights of some of the tallest buildings in the world including the CN tower (Toronto) and the Sears tower (Chicago) in the list of about 20 buildings, Vancouver look out was last :( but there were some amazing pictures to be taken masha'allah

Then of course we went back later in the evening as the sun was setting for some more pics

After the lookout during the day we took the bus further, before stopping making even more silly photos. Then we made our way into Stanley Park by bus, we were very impressed at how easy it was to get around the city and how tourist friendly it was there too. Was nice to just sit on the bus taking a few pictures as we went along, the people on the bus were interesting as well.. although I couldnt say that about the girl sat next to me who was sitting on half my chair.. I mean, I know I dont use it all but does that mean you have to use it for me? I was glad when it was time to get off and venture into the park, but that blog is for another day... its nearly time for me to go home and sleep so i will leave it here for now insha'allah.
Peace and salams, Ammena

Vancouver

so you have all been waiting for a little more about my holiday, well Im back at work so what better to do than sit at my desk and fill you all in on what I did over the 5 days with my good friend Aminah :) Where do I start, ok lets do it a day at a time.

So day 1, Thursday: I finished work at 7am and promptly went home to sleep for a few hours. Aminah woke me up around 1230ish I think and I started to get myself sorted with last minute packing and a little tidying up. I wasnt praying for the whole holiday which meant that I left for her house before dhuhr (I was going to leave after salah) i got stuck in a big traffic jam so didnt get to hers till prob nearly 3ish I think, parked up outside and my mum phoned me to tell me about her citizenship test that she had just had. Alhamdulillah she thinks it went ok, she proceeded to tell me that there was only her, her husband and another white lady (from coventry hehee) and this is her not being racist :P anyways theirs was totally different, they have to wait for the results I think because there was so many people there. My mum thinks she might be welcoming canada day as a canadian citizen, but I doubt it.. its too close, but Allah alim. Anyways, we sorted ourselves out, got in the car.. drove to the airport and finally found our check in desk. We got our bags in and said goodbye to her mum who was clearly having a moment masha'allah.. its funny, Ive been travelling since I was a baby and on my own since I was 16, Ive been on holiday once with my mum from then until the present time, I cant imagine it any other way. Then I have to remind myself that other people dont hold travelling as high on their importance scale for whatever reason, and that makes it so much more fun when travelling with them. :D We finally boarded the plan around 7pm and sat waiting for it to move, I was getting tired by this point but surprisingly I didnt sleep. I watched the film '27 dresses' which was terrible! we ate.. although I didnt eat alot cause the pasta just didnt look appealing to me. anyways, we took some random pics going up.. was weird cause the whole time we were flying it was light and only just getting dark when we landed in vancouver because of the time difference. It was a 5hr flight and vancouver is i think 2 hrs behind toronto, alix? aalia? correct me if im wrong. Was nice to step off a plane into the unknown again, its been awhile since Ive done that and I miss it. I had so many things going through my head at that point but above all I needed to sleep, we picked up the bags (i got a new smaller suitcase thats turquoise so easy to spot) and headed to the taxi rank. Got one straight away practically and headed off to the b&b, took us 20 mins to get there but was well worth it. We got in, and settled ourselves then for some reason didnt sleep straight away.. dont ask we, I think we were too excited and we also had to figure out what we were doing in the morning to set the alarm. Eventually we slept and... well.. thats another blog.. I should probably get some work done :P
Peace and salams, Ammena

The bears

7 year old orphaned bears

License

just wanted to let you know, I received the paperwork back for my firearms license today. Just have to sort out pictures and referees and then insha'allah I can send it off. Can you imagine? a firearms license with hijabi heehee, cant wait to get it back insha'allah

The land of life

Alhamdulillah I am back in Cambridge. All composed and relaxed.. but missing vancouver. I had an amazing time, those on facebook Im adding pics so go check.. insha'allah I will post some here too. For the time being Im off to bed, just wanted to check in with you all. Still here :) decided to post some pics for you all anyways.


Peace and salams, Ammena

chilling red

this is similar to an outfit I wear for work. A red dress over my jeans and whatever hijab Im in the mood for :) The only difference is, I have to wear safety shoes which are just black leather loafers.. but I love these DCs masha'allah :D

yay me

my first polyvore attempt, so hayah.. what dya think?? not as good as yours, but I did this from everything in polyvore not clothes that I like through the net.. that will happen when Im not at work insha'allah

Coats

opinions needed girls.. which is better??

Wudu socks

Can someone please tell me the point of these?? I mean, if you need to remove your socks for wudu, wouldnt you just take them off?? Yes only 5pounds, but still a waste of money I think. Feedback appreciated :) Click on picture for link

weather

so the warm weather has started, I havent yet been outside but I can smell it from inside my flat. You know that smell of heat, I dont know whether this is just a thing someone from a known colder country can sense but I have always been able to 'smell' heat as weird as it sounds ;P I used to love the sun, and still do... but now it brings more torment than anything. I can find anywhere to enjoy it on my own halal like and Im constantly being bugged for the clothes that I wear during the summertime. 'arent you hot?' 'you must be roasting in that' I have repeatedly told my mum to stop telling me what I must be feeling just because she is, she never listens to me.
Last night she told me that her husband had been talking to a lady who works in the morgue in an area between me & her. She told my stepdad that i should write in to them, that they are always looking for people to help. I used to want to be a forensic pathologist, but now Im steering more to forensic science, I dont want to be the person who just cuts people open and weights their organs. So my mum asked if i wanted her to get the address, 'its just an option' she told me.. im getting sick of it now.. now im wondering if her disowning me if I told her i was a muslim would be a good thing.. at least she would just let me go then.. Allahu alim.
Working this weekend :( but counting down the days till Vancouver which im extremely excited about, bought a new suitcase yesterday which will also help even weight out for when i move back to UK too :) so just 5 more working nights... then its fly time :D
Well, thats enough from me for now
Peace and salams, Ammena

Today

Im tired so Im in a crabby mood today at work :( and I still have nearly 8 hours left :( I only got 5.5 hours sleep this morning after finishing work at 7am because I had to be up early (dhuhr time) to drive over to mississauga to visit a doctor for an evaluation on my hand. So my mum phoned me to wake me up, then phoned me again to remind me to 'not tell him everything was ok when it wasnt' Now let me explain something about me and my sleep.. well I love it! I have to sleep at least 8 hours to be alert and fully functional, woah betide anyone who tries to wake me up and even tries to have a conversation with me when I have just woke up. So for her to do this just after Ive woken up was frustrating to say the least! Anyways, so I pray and then drive over.. with visions of me being late and having to wait another 3 months to get an appointment. Anyways I got to the area and was looking for numbers, which isnt hard at a very busy & big intersection in mississauga (eglington & erin mills if u know the area) I find 2310 and then I see 2200, damn.. ive driven past it! So i pull a u-turn and pull into the hospital area (where it HAS to be!) Im driving around looking for a number of the hospital and eventually stop to ask a nurse, she points me in the direction which I would never have gone because its through a car park. So it would mean me going in and having to pay money when it might not even be there.. does that sound tight? i dont mean it to.. but would u pay to cross a border when you dont know if what you want is over there? I think not my friend :D So I park up and hooray its 10mins before my appointment, I walk over and try to find the floor.. stupid thing says suite 405, on the list in the hall it has all these letters next to the names.. which I just realised was the letter for the surname *smacks forehead* and gives the suite number.. but when i get in the lift it has 5 floors, then I realise 405 must be on floor 4 (but i ask somene just to check) I wait around for ages then finally go in. He asks what I did, takes a few photos and continues to make comments abotu my accent and how I say words... yeh, its getting really annoying now!!! He asks whereabouts im from and mentions he has family in sheffield so i tell him i went to university in bradford... 'uni!' he says... its weird, at that point i realised how much i have changed the words I use since i came over here.. I refuse to say some words like.. gas for petrol, or cell for mobile.. but i dont generally say uni anymore cause noone knows what it is (well most ppl) anyways.. he told me this is the final stage in my Workers compensation claim, to leave it 2months and if i havent heard anything to give them a ring. He said he hears them telling ppl it will prob be another few months then a few days later a cheque appears in the post :p insha'allah.. would definately help but Im not holding out for any big amount. Alhamdulillah I still have use of my hand and thats all i could ask for.
When i phoned my mum and told her she said 'well dont take the first offer, refuse it and see what they come up with' im like.. are you real?? i have use of my hand, im not expecting anything!! i couldnt believe she was being soo.. ooh whats the word? u know.. money orientated, it bugged me..
Thats about all i did today, I got home around 5pm so i couldnt even nap... thats why Im knackered and going to sign off here insha'allah
Peace and salams, Ammena

Inside the world of UK muslim women

Alhamdulillah, at last... a good survey from the women of the United Kingdom
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jun/01/britishidentity.islam?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

Books for sale

hello everyone,
so I have some books that Im looking to load off while sorting out my flat.. Ive given the links and the price, this doesnt include post and packaging, insha'allah we can sort that out if you want me to send you some. All prices are CDN$

Princess Sultana's circle Jean Sasson $10 (paperback)
Anybody out there Marian Keyes $20 (paperback)
Annie Freeman's fabulous Travelling funeral Kris Radish $15 (paperback)
Petals in the Ashes Mary Hooper $5 (paperback)
Mirage Soheir Khashoggi $7 (paperback)
Tamarind Mem Anita rau Badami $10 (paperback)
Brick Lane Monica Ali $10 (paperback)
My fathers notebook Kader Abdolah $15 (paperback)
Veil of Roses Laura Fitzgerald $7 (paperback)
Rethinking muslim women and the veil Katherine Bullock $15 (paperback)

alhamdulillah

I have my laptop back :D check out new pics on facebook, the smile on my face from seeing h2b after so long, and Aalya, the ipod link worked!! woohoo!! but Im sure I dont want to go back to how I was before I took the laptop in so now Im off to pray sunnah maghrib prayers and finish a stitching insha'allah :D