Hijab-Friendly Accessories and Business Ventures

Salaam.

Long necklaces are a great hijab-friendly accessory.  And as I'm sure you could tell from my previously-posted jewelry board, I have a nice collection.  The only problem is sometimes a girl just gets bored matching metals without color.  So, armed with a tutorial I headed to Michael's to get supplies!  ...And then the only beads that met my apparently high standards were not colorful, but white.  Alas.  However!  I lovelovelove the necklace, and I'm so glad I bought the beads.  Here is the finished product and the awesome shalwar kameez I ended up wearing it with!

The (silver-plated) chain length is 24" and the "pendant" is ~2.5" from the top-most jump ring to the bottom of the cluster.

Y'all remember the dangle earrings I made earlier this year?  At work it came up that one of my budding hobbies is beading and jewelry, so I brought them in to show (off).  And someone bought them!  And then told me she got tons of compliments when she wore them over the weekend!!  O.O  <-- This has been me for the past few days....  It's gotten me considering, especially at Char's encouragement, that I could sell handmade jewelry on purpose instead of by accident.

And quickly.  After my completely foolishness in bringing absolutely nothing in my class color to Reunion, I had to *scramble*.  This is the result  A bright yellow bow on a headband!  I know.  I look adorable.  ( :  Plus some others I made for another fun, hijab-friendly accessory.  Char insists I should sell both jewelry and headbands.  Thoughts?

xoxo

Contest Entry - Concrete and Nail Polish

Salaam.

Entry for Concrete and Nail Polish's nail art contest.  It's not super fancy, but I like it. ( :  And I love the shine on OPI Black Onyx.  This is without a topcoat!  Inspired by http://pinterest.com/pin/185632815860934514/

xoxo

Family

Salaam.

Family.  Now there's a loaded word.  Love, trust, faith, companionship.  That's what that word means to most people, right?  They are the people you trust.  The people you look forward to seeing.  The people who make you feel safe.  They aren't just blood-related.  They are the friends who ask you why you aren't your usual bubbly self.  They are the professors and TAs who take a special interest.  They are your significant other who holds you while you're crying.  Family are the people without whom you would feel your support system falling apart.  It hurts so much worse when those people let you down, too.

xoxo

Garden On My Nails

Salaam.

NAIL POLISH YAY.  Okay so, since discovering nail blogs and getting excited about doing my own nails, I've been buying more polish.  And I've spent more than a hundred dollars on it in the last month!  That's crazy. NO MORE.  (For now anyway....)  But I can have lots of fun with what I already have.

I'd never been much into nail care, but with my nails in the brittle shape they're in, I've been looking to take better care of them.  I think the actual problem is runs-in-the-family vitamin D deficiency I have, but in any case.  I bought a simple cuticle trimmer.  Let me tell you - it's fabulous!  I won't bore you with a photo, but after using it, my nails felt clean and healthy, and my fingers felt lighter.

Onto polishes.  My good friend Ebs showed me a fun and easy way to spice up the regular ring finger accent.  Reverse the colors on the other hand!  I honestly had never thought about that before.  I tried it here with Revlon Impulsive (purple) and Mischievous (grey-purple).

My latest kick is flower inspirations.  A few weeks ago I used the colors from one of my favorite summer dresses to create a matching manicure.  I don't have a dotting tool, but I think I did a decent job!

The last two pieces are I have for you are my first dabbles with paint brushes and nail polish.  Any tips on keeping them clean would be much appreciated!  So someone posted a picture of a beautiful hyacinth natural to South America, that is unfortunately flourishing in Bangladesh, throwing ecosystems off-balance.  Still, it has gorgeous petals, and is the inspiration for the first painting.

The second manicure is the simple but popular dandelion flower.  A while back I watched a tutorial but I couldn't find it again to share here.  ) :  Again, no dotting tools or striper, all this is brushstroke.  Thoughts?  All constructive criticism welcome.

xoxo

Happy Anniversary, My Dearest.

Happy anniversary to me and my beloved Char!!  Another year stronger, and with things moving in the right direction, iA.


xoxo

Happy 5-year Reunion to ME!!

Salaam.

The first weekend of June was my five-year Wellesley Reunion.  Talk about crazy times.  I can't believe it's been five years.  So technically I graduated in 2010, but so what?  My class, Golden 2007, graduated five years ago.  ( :

It was a too short of a weekend, but it was amazing while it lasted.  Seeing my ladies from Al-Muslimat (The Muslim Women - Wellesley's MSA) was incredible.  I saw most of Stone Second Short - I've known those beautiful women since the first day of Orientation.  We broke a record for most reuning students in a class with 222!  The Alumnae Association Board gave the class a shout out.  I don't know how to explain how it felt to be with all those amazing women again, laughing, sharing stories, eating meals.  It felt good.  It felt right.  We've all come a long way, and it's a wonderful feeling to know that I will always have them to lean on.

Golden Class of 2007!

The other updating point is that Immunology grades came in and I got an A!  Alhamdulillah!  YAY!

xoxo

Congratulations Class of 2012

Salaam.

My dear baby brother graduated with his Bachelors degree on May 20th.   In Religion and Biology, masha'Allah.  He's now a proud alum of the mighty brown and blue!  Alhamdulillah.  In his honor, I made these delectable blue velvet cupcakes with an unexpected chocolate butter cream frosting.  Get it?  It's the red velvet cupcake recipe from before (Chef Google), and that's how I found the frosting as well.  The best part was leveling the tops by hand before frosting, and eating the scraps!!

Congrats 2012!!!

xoxo