~Tea Cups~

aSalaam uAlaikum and Good Evening My Stylish Sisters,

It's been a loooong time since I've posted about something truly fashionable, so tonight I decided I would vent a bit about the trouble I'm having trying to find what SHOULD be a very simple functional accessory to give a jump start to my home decor for my new place.

The item I am referring to are tea cups.

"Tea Cups?"  you say scratching your head and wondering WHY on earth something so basic could be causing me such consternation.

Yes....Tea Cups.  Because, you see, I don't want just ANY tea cups.  I don't want the little white china ones with the tacky blue and pink flowers or the oversized American coffee mugs that hold two liters of liquid.  I want the simple, traditional Middle Eastern style, non-handle having tea glasses.

I have searched high and low on the internet.  And when I FINALLY found a set that I really liked I discovered that the shipping for them cost just as much as the actual cups do.  That to me is just...well...un-necessary!

I can distinctly remember being in Jordan walking into a regular, run-of-the-mill kitchen supply store in downtown Amman and being totally shocked at the amazing selection of both beautiful and inexpensive tea and coffee sets.  Anything from the plain glass, to the simple gold-rimmed to the ornately decorated...and all under 10 JD.  (for those of you who have never been to Jordan that means all under around $18.00)

For the record...I did find a set I liked on ebay for a reasonable price and was going to get them until I realized they were a set of FOUR...ummmmm who EVER heard of an Arab household (okay even a half-Arab household) only have FOUR guests at once???

So, you can just imagine how disgusted I am with myself that I am sitting here wasting two hours of my evening searching high and low for some tea cups that I KNOW are just waiting for me on some dusty shelf of a tiny shop in the city I love half-way around the world.

Well...anyways, during my search I did see some beautiful cups that I thought I would share with you marvelous muslimahs, even if I'm not actually going to purchase any of them. 

I like these well enough, although I wasn't sold on the plum color of them.  The price was right, until I discovered the shipping costs.  If you like them, you can get them at http://www.justmorocco.com/.  They have many beautiful styles, but I was somewhat turned off by their crazy prices and the fact they have a monopoly on all things Moroccan.  If you notice they have like four or five websites that look different, but upon second glance are really the same company.

These are beautiful, and are in the blue hue that I had in mind...albeit a bit TOO blue for me.  These are from Amazon.com and come in a set of six which is nice...but after shipping they are still over $40.00 which is kind of hard for me to stomach, especially when I normally get free shipping on Amazon but these are excluded   : (

Okay, so these are the ones I am currently considering.  Enough blue to tie in the color of my carpet, along with a tan to match my furniture.  I like the understated gold accents instead of the bright and shiny in-your-face gaudiness that so many Middle Eastern tea sets possess.  I haven't actually purchased them yet though, so feel free to grab them at http://www.amazon.com/Moroccan-Tea-Glasses-Blue-Smara/dp/B000TRC2VY/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1279352112&sr=8-11 if you like them!

These are very pretty, although they are silver and I was hoping for something with gold.  It doesn't really matter anyway because they are NINETY DOLLARS.  Yeah...crazy, huh?  Probably made in China and cost the company around twenty-five cents per glass to make, but you know us crazy Americans and how much we'll pay for anything "exotic."  Well...some of us anyways...I know better.  But if you don't... go ahead and get them from http://www.stlloftofstyle.com/.  You would think if they're charging that much for some tea cups they could afford to spell 'decor' correctly...sheesh.

And last but not least my all-time favorite set.  Beautiful...inexpensive...and SOLD OUT.  Ugh...just my luck, eh?  Anyways, you can see the picture if you want to at http://www.mightyleaf.com/.

Well ladies, my search for the perfect tea cups is over for the night.  I was really hoping to find some pretty little tea glasses for serving guests, especially with Ramadhan fast approaching, but I need my beauty rest.  It looks like my hunt will continue, but I would really appreciate any suggestions from you lovely ladies!

Ma'Salaama and Happy Tea Cup Shopping!

Fashionably Yours,

The (tired of sipping my tea from a styrofoam cup) Mujahada in Prada 

~Inna Lillahi wa Inna Illayhi Rajioon~

aSalaam uAlaikum and Good Afternoon My Stylish Sisters,

I'm not really sure how to write this post.  It's been a long time since I have suffered the loss of a loved one alhamdulillah, and grieving is a very private process for me.  But for some reason I have the urge to let the world know that recently I lost one of the greatest people in my life, and it is unbelievably hard.

I'm not sure if you sisters remember my post a while back about being in New Mexico and my Aunt and Uncle's dog eating my shoes.  Well if you do...I have since lost something much more important than a stupid pair of clogs.  Early this morning that same Uncle passed away.

It was a huge shock to all of us.  He had just recently gotten healthy after struggling with some health problems.  He was happy, vibrant, hilarious, and loving.  Even though he wasn't a blood relative, he and my Aunt have been best friends with my parents for 40 years, and I can't imagine them not being in my life.

I can remember when I was young we spent every single Thanksgiving at their house.  The adults would be upstairs cooking and laughing, and the kids would be playing downstairs.  I remember one year as I was running up the stairs I cut my foot on a wayward nail, and started bleeding everywhere.  In his true character my uncle made jokes to make me laugh while my mom and Aunt cleaned my foot and bandaged it.  After I converted to Islam and didn't drink alcohol anymore, he was always considerate enough to make me a "virgin" of whatever drink everyone else was drinking at family functions.  The last time I visited them my aunt highlighted my hair, and I can remember he was disappointed he couldn't see how the end product looked.  Even though I'm 30 years old with a child of my own, he always called me kid...I will miss that so much.

I have soooo many memories of this amazing man that I could fill up pages with them.  Instead though, I will continue to let them fill up my heart.  He may not be with us anymore, but every time we gather he will be with us in spirit.  There are many things I wish I had done differently, called them more often, not made such a big deal over their dogs eating my stupid shoes, but I can't change that now.  All I can do is hope he knew how much he was loved by all of us, and continue to honor his memory by telling my daughter about this amazing man that she unfortunately will have to grow up without.

I will miss you Uncle R.

Ma'Salaama

The (Tearful) Mujahada in Prada