Some photographical treats from Wales

The mountain biking park

Our bikes, chilaxing and taking in the scenery

Criccieth castle

Our bikes chiaxing half way up Mount Snowdon

The view from the top masha'Allah

Relaxing at the beach

Enjoying the calmness of the waves

Continuation...

  ... so after the questions we were told to come back at 4pm for the visa and to go pay at a different booth. We paid in cash only, I find it very strange that they dont take cards there, and then left to wander around for a few hours until it was time to come back to pick up the visa in my passport.

We took the tube to hyde park, which was only a few minutes walk away we were told after swiping our oyster card, and wandered over to Kensington mosque to pray Dhuhr. Then we walked over to hyde park to play with the camera and relax on the grass, we had tons of fun that day alhamdulillah. We played for awhile and then it was time for asr.. we stayed in that area as there was a mosque close by.. ok so it was a mosque that hubby didnt have the best experiences with but it was a mosque and he was able to pray in congregation alhamdulillah.. that was the important part. After Asr we leisurely strolled back to the Embassy to pick up my visa, sitting inside the marqee waiting for the official people was quite interesting.. I was obviously the only non pakistani there until a pale girl walked in (and by pale I mean she was caucasian in a nice way) who actually came to pick up a pakistani passport much to our amusement and nosiness ;) So we eventually got it, yes its in my passport.. still questionning why they need 2 photos with the application yes the actual visa has no image ;)
After that we wandered back to the park for more photos before maghrib, it was so nice to get out and about just the two of us out of the usual four walls, we do miss that.. we used to spend all our time outside before we got married. We prayed maghrib and was about to make our way through the park to walk up to Edgware Road, then out of the blue I got an unusual photo call asking for someone who was obviously not me. When I told the caller they had the wrong number the lady on the other end told me she hadnt and asked for my name. When she called back I asked my husband to answer it, after which he began a long conversation with this person and when he got he he quickly told me we had left our marriage certificate at the embassy. He ran back there while I quickly walked ;) before the building closed at 6pm.. alhamdulillah we got it back much to my embarassement *blush*
Then we made our way back through the park to walk up to the arab quarter of London on Edgware road for cake :) There is a particular shop that we used to frequent alot in our pre wedding days, which sells good cheap halal meaty food for hubby, yummy spinach fatayer for me and delish chocolate for us both with good mint tea ;) yummy!! mouth watering just thinking of it all. We sat for awhile, had chocolate cake and mint tea, took a few photos, chatted about the day still not believing that they didnt give us the marriage certificate back and how much of a hassle it would have been if we didnt get it back that day. After announcing that we were both nicely full we decided to head home :)

What an adventurous and much needed day out in the capital masha'Allah
Ammena

Photos

insha'Allah I will post a few general ones here and some on my private blog... but please be patient girls, I work silly hours and only want to sleep or cuddle up to hubby when I get home. Insha'Allah I will try to upload some today or tomorrow, or if not the weekend insha'Allah.

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

promised pictures

So I promised Aalya over on twitter that I would post the pics of my cool iphone cover.. so here we are :D enjoy. Cool eh!?

The interview

So I managed to get the assessment and interview down for the same day, turned up at the place quite early and took the test in about 10 minutes. It was 'which spelling is correct', 'put these names in alphabetical order of surnames' and 'do these sums' Well needless to say, I passed alhamdulillah and was given a time of 1540 for my interview.. I had to go for a tour at 1430 so it left me with about 3 hours to kill in Kingston (upon Thames, not Jamaica) But before that let me tell you about the girl who I pestered before even turning up to the interview on the phone and while I was there :) Her names Batool masha'allah, I so wanted to salam her on the phone but you never know how people will react to that.. anyways, after the assessment she took me to see where I would go for the tour and interview, she also showed me the prayer area in the hopsital (pic 1) we chatted about islam, me being a convert (her mums a convert married to an Iraqi masha'allah) so already Ive met a muslim, saw a few around the hospital, and found out where to pray alhamdulillah.
Anyways, I went into the city... its actually pretty big and I didnt even see all of it.. I bought some tops from Primark that are kaftans with some beautiful embroidery on (I got a black and blue one in the same style as Amtullah's abaya Hind :D ) for a fiver each, I bought 2 one black one cream. I got an ice cream, with a flake and strawberry sauce.. reminded me of the ice creams vans that used to drive down the roads in Liverpool :) Eventually I wandered back to the hospital, I went to the prayer room that Batool had told me she never sees other girls in there, to have to wait for a mat while 2 sisters prayed masha'allah. And one of them was a new muslim, or getting back to her deen cause she had papers on the floor for what to recite... bring back memories? :D It made me smile to see them.. so I prayed then went for the tour (boring!!) 10 minutes long when it was scheduled for over one hour long!! So I turned up to the interview really early but it was ok cause they were running late and although I got there about an hour early, I didnt go in for probably an hour after I should have or maybe a little less. I had the interview, I thought it went well, until i realised how dodgy i was sounding by all the random comments I was making... yes I was tired!! 'can the money go to an overseas account?' 'I was going to bring both passports!' yeh i know.. terrible eh? I hope it didnt spoil my chances insha'allah. They said I would hear back next week sometime, so please remember me in ur duaa... it looks like an amazing place to work and I really just need to get something soon.
On a more sombre note... my uncle passed away this evening, Inna lillahi wa inna elehe rajeoon, as you all know.. it wasnt a shock, but it doesnt make taking the news any easier. It just reinforces a whole lot of feelings in my head at the moment, for good? I dont know.. Allahu alim I just wanted to share that with you. Im not looking forward to the next few weeks I can tell you that. Anyways.. Im leaving you with a few others pictures I took over these last 2 days.. had fun with Rainbow and a mutual friend aswell as my pal Mina... :) pics on my pic blog :P hehe

Its been a long time...

To the tune of Aaliyah from one of her first tunes :) please note.. this isnt how Im feeling, I just thought of the title and instantly thought of the beginning of this song.
So yeh, its been awhile.. Ive been around, not really doing much but around. Its been a quiet and boring weekend, I spent some time in the garden mowing the grass and planting a tree for my grandad. Its in the most randomess of positions and looks like a twig sticking out the grass but its where he wanted it so Ill leave that to him. I didnt really do much else yesterday, took a walk to the shops to get some fresh air.. did I tell you the weather was stunning? I wore my new skirt (the crinkle silky one from LTS, love it!) Today I did a little more although not much.. my dad came over bringing my sister, her little boy and my brother too so was good to see them :) I got to play with my nephew and was pleased to hear that he recognised me and knew my name.. it always pokes me deep when I realise that a child I should see lots of doesnt know my name, which is what it was like for Matthew when I first came back to UK. I got to chat to my bro for a bit which was nice, and when everyone was leaving it was nice to get a kiss and hug off them both :) always makes me smile to think they still see me as their 'sister' when I was never there as they grew up, which I do regret but Allah has a greater plan for me. I went over to the shops.. again (and didnt buy anything, again!) but I did take these shots on my walk over.
My football team got through to the finals of the FA cup tonight :) so maybe thats why Im feeling a little better.. although according to my punky still feeling unloved, noone wants to talk to me or give me cuddles.. well maybe not they dont want to, just noone is here to do it
Ive got an assessment next week for a job in Surrey so remember me in your duaas ladies please.. means Ill be in London for a wee while :) travelling down tuesday and leaving wednesday... flying visit I know, but has to be done.. and as I dont really have anywhere to stay I dont really want to impose on people. The girl who offered me a bed is so generous masha'allah.. its what puts my faith in the ummah back up there.. Ive met her once, dont talk to her on msn, email, blogs, phone or text... I know her through a good friend, thats the only connection but still she didnt think twice about offering me a place masha'allah.
So tomorrow I will be organising a small bag for me to take down insha'allah.. and for tonight, thats all from me :D take care peeps.. peace and salams,