~Five Years Ago...~

aSalaam uAlaikum My Stylish Sisters...

Subhan'Allah how time flies!  It is hard for me to believe that it has been five years since I took my Shahada and became a follower of Islam....one who submits to Allah swt alone...a Muslim.  Alhamdulillah.

It has also been five years since I married my best friend, the father of my children, the one who I have been through the best of times with, as well as the worst.

Some days it feels as though I've been Muslim my entire life.  It's hard for me to remember the "old" me...the one before the scarf, before my beautiful kids, before my handsome husband.  The one with fewer pounds, no wrinkles, and no bags under my eyes.  She may have been skinnier back then, and much less sleep-deprived, but she was also less patient, less understanding, and less kind.

It took me a while to decide how to celebrate this anniversary with my handsome hubby.  We are not normally in the habit of celebrating anniversaries, but I felt like five years was a pretty significant number and deserved being recognized.  After convincing him to let me do the planning this year (and telling him that the ten year anniversary was his responsibility) I decided that instead of going out to a fancy restaurant, where we might be disappointed by the food, frustrated by the service, or have a heart attack when we saw the bill, I would set a romantic, formal dinner at home.

I often cook for my husband (of course) so I wanted this dinner to be very special, and decided to do a full, four course meal.  I chose to serve appetizers of bruschetta with ceasar salad, followed by french onion soup.  The main course was an herb marinated french lamb rack, with portabella mushroom risotto.  To finish the meal I bought (yes, I cheated) a personal berry cheesecake for the hubster, and a caramel chocolate mousse for myself.

For the table I chose to do an off-white tablecloth, with a black tablerunner, and black cloth napkins.  I went online and learned how to fold the cloth napkins into "crowns", and completed the table dressings with nice wine glasses (minus the wine of course), and a white candle surrounded by red rose petals inside a vase for the centerpiece.  By bargain shopping all of these pieces ended up being a grand total of $26.00.  Here is the finished look (although my husband had already moved a couple of things around so it's not quite as perfect as it was initially).

I set the table on our balcony so we would be around all of our plants, and bought some little solar-powered lights at Target to add a romantic touch.  He was totally impressed with all of the effort I put into the table, and loved the delicious dinner.  Here's a look at what I cooked:

The lamb was a recipe I got from Bon Appetit magazine, and the risotto I found online on food.com.  I garnished the dinner with a few slices of marinated portabella mushrooms, and a sprig of rosemary.  I must say, it turned out to be very tasty alhamdulillah.

Of course I wanted to dress up to look my best for my hubster, and it's rare that I'm able to get dressed without worrying about what scarf to wear, or how to layer my look appropriately, to look beautiful for my hubby, yet suitably modest for others.  It was nice to be able to wear what I wanted without worrying about being covered, so I chose to wear a simple, flowing, turquoise dress I bought at Macy's a few weeks ago.  I paired it with sky high black stilettos, and this beautiful necklace from shopthesouq.com.

When I received the necklace in the mail, I was a bit disapointed because the color of the necklace I received was much lighter than what was pictured.  If I had more time to exchange it I probably would have, but in the end I'm glad I didn't because the lighter color ended up matching my dress perfectly mash'Allah.  The necklace was such a great price, and it came with a matching pair of earrings- smaller versions of the feather that hang nicely from the ear.  This website has some truly beautiful accessories, as well as stylish hijab ranging from square hijab, to pashmina, to designer prints, at great prices.  I will definitely keep an eye on their site for future goodies.

Thanks to the lavish linens I found at unbelievably great prices, the delicious dinner I was able to cook on a tight budget, and the shimmering accessories I got to complete my outfit, the night was a total success.  The hubby was pleasantly surprised, and totally impressed by all the thought and planning I'd put into it.

It was a wonderful way to celebrate an anniversary that is so important to me for so many reasons.  Alhamdulillah.  Here's to many more anniversaries ahead, insh'Allah.

Ma'Salaama and Happy Anniversaries!

Fashionably Yours,
The (Muslim Martha Stewart!) Mujahada in Prada