Wedding watch

I recently asked a sister to make a watch for my wedding day. I wont really be wearing much jewellery and as my current wear every day bracelet is gold it doesnt really go with the rest of the outfit so I told her the colours and the materials Im using for other things and this is what she came up with masha'Allah such a talented lady. What do you think?? I asked her to put the clasp near to the watch face so the pattern of the bracelet wouldnt be interrupted with the clasp and I think it looks amazing. I cant wait to see it 'in person' and I most definately cant wait to wear it on the day insha'Allah

On a side note, I eventually picked up my dress today... and for some reason the chiffon has shrunk and is now shorter in some areas that the lined satin layers.. I cried :'( I shouldnt have messed about with it but theres nothing I can do now. She said it will weigh down with the fabric but Im doubting her seriously!!

Blogger

My blog is playing up... the recent posts widgets just wont update.. or maybe its this computer. For whatever reason, its annoying!!!!

We played at grown ups today and discussed money :) The money we have been saving since we married will be getting used soon and we were trying to figure out how much we have and how to sort it out. Insha'Allah it will work out ok for us all and I do remember that Allah provides.

Unfortunately my husbands bike was stolen from inside the mosque last night as he prayed Taraweeh :( my reaction? Im upset... a brother from our own community who may have prayed next to my husband or given him salams in the street has stolen something he has worked really hard for. It upsets me to think about it :(

Food

The other day I cooked salmon en croute with roast potatoes, parsnips and some steamed baby corn. It wasn't until I put all the food on the plate that I realised I should have cooked a different coloured vegetable. Plain looking food, no matter how different the tastes, it always tastes blander to me :( but it was still nice. Some things to remember if I cook it again, and hubby liked it. Which in my book is the main thing. So alhamdulillah


Ammena
Via BlogPress on her pretty cute iPhone

My mood

Its been awhile but here I am again... I had a great conversation with my mum last night alhamdulillah. She has her outfit for the wedding and wanted to tell me all about it, as was the same about her shopping trip, plans when she gets over here, things we are going to do. She isnt letting me see A the morning before the wedding *rolls eyes* but whatever lol :) I got to bed late but I was glad I talked to her.. woke up late, as tired the whole day but alhamdulillah
Now I just got a call from the hotel saying I cant have the layout for the tables that I wanted :( there is my disappointment :'(

MOOZ-lum Official Trailer

Bread

I've been meaning to make this for so long now since trying them awhile ago. I bought pastry recently to make the cinnamon rolls, on the packaging was a recipe for salmon en croute that I wanted to try. It needed spinach, so I thought why not try making the rolls too. Hubby has been asking since the last try. So today I used my time fairly wisely and made the rolls. Here's a beginning shot, I'll post an after shot when I can get on the computer insha'Allah

This is the after shot :) we still havent tried them yet, so I will let you know and if you would like the recipe you can find it here on my dear sister in Islam's blog. Enjoy and if you do try them yourself please let me know :) I made a few adjustments to her recipe as she isnt the best when it comes to writing down ;) I added half a 450g of ricotta cheese (albeit at the wrong time) add the spinach and cheese into the flour with the sun dried tomatoes.
Ammena
Via BlogPress on her pretty cute iPhone

My pages

I know some of you read me in google reader so don't see my whole blog. Or maybe you haven't noticed but a few weeks ago I noticed an option to make pages (something I've been waiting for on blogger) I wrote an intro on one and copied juz Amma onto another to keep up to date with my memorisation.
Well yesterday I was able to cross out the first surah since making the page and also the first surah in such a long time *blush* but I'm so glad I did it and now I can move on alhamdulillah.
I just wanted to ask about your memorisation, do you go by size? Or just in order? I started by size and now I'm onto the 8 ayat surahs but I'm getting far enough into it now that I really should start learning in order. Any suggestions??
Peace and salams

Ammena
Via BlogPress on her pretty cute iPhone

Blogger question

Is there a way, once a post is made on one blog, of reposting that on another post?? Instead of copying and pasting and then re-adding any photos.

Anyone??

Conversation with harrods guy

Him: where u from?
Me: Liverpool
Him: brunai?
Me: Liverpool
*getting bored*
Him: did you convert?
Me: yes
Him: how long ago was that?
Me: erm, about seven years ago
Him: interesting. It's the fastest growing religion in the world
Me: apparently
Him: interesting


Ammena
Via BlogPress on her pretty cute iPhone

Cinnamon rolls

This morning I made cinnamon rolls for hubby :) Check out the photos and recipe... no special equipment needed, very quick and easy masha'Allah.

Take 50g caster sugar and 2 tsp ground cinnamon, mix together in a small bowl

Roll out 250g ready made puff pastry to an 8 inch square, sprinkle half of the sugar mixture over the square

Roll out the pastry to press in the sugar, making a 10 inch square. Brush with a beaten egg and sprinkle the rest of the sugar mixture over the area.

Loosely roll the pastry into a log, use the egg to secure the edge in place. Using a sharp knife cut the log into small sections

Place onto a greased baking sheet and place in a preheated oven at 220 degrees Celsius for about ten minutes, until golden and crisp

ENJOY :) Iftar isn't for another five hours, so I'll let you know how they are then ;)

30 mosques

I just wanted to blog about an awesome website I just stumbled upon via twitter, its called 30 mosques and is basically a blog about two guys who have decided to visit 30 mosques throughout the 30 days of Ramadhan. This isnt the first time they have done something like this, but this is more media attentive seeing as a journalist from Al-Jazzera is following them too :) check it out.. the picture qualities are amazing too masha'Allah

Iftar cooking

Final product: Pakoras

Hubbies vegetable pakoras.... batter, then veggies, then final product

Ammenas falafels... yummy

Final iftar food, vegetarian sausage rolls, falafel and vegetable pakoras :) yummy yummy

Poll

After thinking about who to choose and not being able to choose between my 2 best friends, I decided to ask my cousin... I texted her yesterday to see if she would do it, her reply? "Just pass us a pen" :D My cousin alhamdulillah :) One of the girls I mentioned though has agreed to do my make up (minimal of course!) those who know me wont even question this lol :) So Ive asked her if we could make a little evening out of it, a few friends, take-away and make up.. proper girlie night, dunno if I can handle that :D should be nice though insha'Allah

Telephone conversation

had a nice little chat with my mum just before about the wedding things, I wanted to ask her if she would sit behind me and A with my Dad and A's brother to sign as witnesses. Thought it would be nice. Apparently the thought of doing that isnt so appealing to her, so she suggested I get a good friend to do it for me. Oh well... easy enough for me ;) She still wants 'special' flowers though :)
Im currently searching for a tie on ebay for my stepdad which is annoying but has to be done I guess.
Started learning surah al-Humazah (dont first verse lol)
Big intention to not fall asleep and miss taraweeh tonight insha'Allah

Now let's see if this is working. Would make things easier if I could blog on the go this month insha'Allah

Its here

Ramadhan has started alhamdulillah :)

we were able to stay for the full 20 rakats of taraweeh last night alhamdulillah and we woke in plenty of time this morning to have tea, scrambled eggs, mushrooms and toast :) well I had water eggs and mushrooms the rest was for hubby ;)

Ive read the first juz of the Quran today and intend to read a little more today.

Most of all Im grateful alhamdulillah. I have a wonderful husband by my side who is fasting with me masha'Allah (hes just out for Asr at the moment) my grandad is home from the hospital eventually waiting for more tests, but home. Im just so grateful for everything today alhamdulillah and just wanted to share. I pray things are going just as well for you, wherever you are

Peace and salams
Ammena

Ramadhan Mubarak :D

Cupcake Storage

I figure I will get more chance of a reply from blogger than from the friends who I know dont do cupcake stuff on Facebook.

So the thing is, my friend is making the cupcakes for my wedding insha'Allah, at the moment Im thinking I will be picking them up the Sunday evening for the wedding on the Monday. So will they keep? Whats the best way to store them? Anyone??

Please and Thank you in advance

My mood

I havent done one of these posts in awhile so here goes, Im off work for the day today as Im working on Sunday but Im excited as Im going to an area in North East London that Ive never been to, to meet up for lunch with a few friends. The sister, Canadian, invited me over to her newish pad as well as a few other sisters we know who I havent really sat down with for quite sometime now :) So Im looking forward to having some girlie time and enjoying my friends insha'Allah. Photos may follow ;)

New Pants

I want these pants, in black... I saw them on a girl a few years ago at an islamic weekend, she got them from shukr. Now seems like they have stopped making them :( Im wondering if someone can make them for me so I will look into that later on insha'Allah...

My cake topper

We bought this yesterday while buying a little present for my brother in law when he comes over for the wedding insha'Allah

My other ring

Heres my 'engagement' ring for those who havent seen it (minus the black cardigan hair on the clasp) soo.. do you think the wedding ring will go with it? not too thick? not too sparkly??

Ring

For those of you who have seen my 'other' ring... heres the wedding ring Im thinking of. Tell me what you think :)

Wedding favours

I collected a parcel today and after standing around listening to the accusing eyes accompanied by the smirks over the fact that I dont have ID under Ammena Butt... he finally gave me two portions to my wedding preparations.
Firstly... heart shaped mints that will go in a small dish next to the guest book for the guests to munch at (or keep) while they sign our book insha'Allah

Secondly... the rock pieces that will go in the wedding favour bags that hubby's mum is sending over from Pakistan :) 

I have ordered some more rock pieces, purple ones :) so far Im really pleased with these masha'Allah.. we are thinking to order some more of the mints because 100 just doesnt seem enough, also they are cute and only 99p :D In the favour bags there will be pieces of traditional pakistani fruit favours, some mini eggs (cause hubby recently tried them and loves them and suggested we put them in.. how can you deny an excited husband that??!) I think thats enough :) I did want to add something small as a keepsake, but I cant find anything simple and cheap enough. I thought about heart shaped stones, but thats practically impossible ;) Also we are getting some wedding bubbles to put on the tables so I think that should be enough for everyone to enjoy insha'Allah

And again

...... once more, feeling special?? lol

So, Ive been given my official start date today, September 7th :) which will be the last week of Ramadhan. Ive written to the manager to make sure they are ok with me taking the three days off for my wedding, so we will wait to see what he says. Currently Im writing out my letter of resignation to print out at work (cheeky eh?!) and give in tomorrow insha'Allah.
Grandad is still in hospital, they have an operation to do but will only decide whether to do it based on some tests he has to go for. Basically they wont decide whether to put him in for the operation until mid September :( otherwise he will have to have a catheter inserted for the rest of his life, which I cant really see him doing. Allahu alim.
We are still looking at cars, thinking more of a VW now, a polo perhaps or a toyota avensis, we have been watching reviews on youtube lol :) I would like a newer car with me being out at such random times.. my mum suggested getting a taxi to work for a few weeks (and the bus back in the afternoon) so we can save up a little extra money, we will see... Have to also figure out the parking situation too, insha'Allah we may have found a way around it as our neighbour parks his van in the customer car park for the shop we live above so we will see if we can do the same thing insha'Allah.
Ramadhan is nearly here... are you excited?? prepared? Im actually not as prepared as I thought I would be this time last year.. but I have certain books I want to read, stitching I want to finish, lectures I want to listen to and surahs I want to memorise so insha'Allah.. what are your plans ladies? Ive already made a batch of samosas, going to finish them this weekend, then try my hand at making the pastry and making meat samosas (well hes going to do the meat bit) Also going to make a batch of coconut biscuits, gingerbread biscuits and Im planning on a few new dishes throughout the month insha'Allah

Bedtime for us... peace and salams,
Ammena

Update for Ms Rainbow

It has been a little while and I do apologise to all my readers, life has been pretty hectic lately. We had to make the trip up north for my great aunties funeral, we decided to leave a little early and got to visit my grandad in hospital too alhamdulillah. They have found out what it is, apparently his bowel is leaking into his bladder which is causing the infection and the great amount of pain he's in. Only problem is they seem to be taking their sweet time getting him into theatre to get it sorted :(
Ive been communicating with the guy who is to be my boss in the new place :) Things are moving along alhamdulillah, he's fine with both of my references and now Im just waiting to be given the all clear health wise. Although I really dont understand how they can see Im fit for the job by asking my previous experience with chemicals and lifting, or my height, or whether I suffer from diabetes/ high blood pressure/ hayfever/ etc. Once Ive been given the all clear I can give my months notice in at work. I dont know whether I want to start as early as possible or as late as possible, early would be bad for Ramadhan especially with the super early starts, also it gives us less time to find a car but early would be good as the extra money would come in for when we get married. However, late would be good because of the holiday issue and I need to take holidays for the wedding as well as for when we go to the home office to sort out hubby's papers... I guess Allahu alim right ;) insha'Allah it will work out well either way.
I found out yesterday that my student loan, as of the end of March was just over £8K which Im so pleased about... then I was even more pleased because I have still been putting money away since March which means that Im actually around the £7,500 mark which I was super excited at.. with the extra money from this new job and when hubby can start working full time hours, insha'Allah Im looking to have it paid off by next year which Im super super excited at alhamdulillah.

Ok time to eat.. Aloo Gobi :) yummy... back soon insha'Allah