~Blah-dity Blah Blah~

aSalaam uAlaikum and Good Evening My Sweet Sisters!

Insh'Allah all of you are doing well, enjoying watching the weather slowly turn from winter into spring.  Here in Southern Cali the weather has been as unpredictable as the traffic is.  One day it's 65 degrees and sunny, and the next it's hailing.

Have you ladies ever gone through a time of feeling like you're just hanging on by a thread?  Like there isn't really anything specific bothering you, but you feel just a tad slower on the uptake than usual?  Recently between work, the girls, planning birthday parties, keeping the house presentable, and trying to spend a few minutes with my husband every day I am totally drained.  I look forward alllll day long to those few minutes in the evening when I can sip my tea and think my own thoughts in silence....but by the time those minutes come I'm too exhausted to think at all.

I know I haven't blogged about fashion in a long time, and for that I truly apologize.  But with so many horrible things going on around the world, sometimes I feel a bit superficial talking about which style jeans I like now, or how who should wear what.

I do have to share one absolutely adorable discovery I made recently though....baby sized ballet shoes:
The Cutest Ballet Shoes Ever

Aren't they just the sweetest things?  I've been shopping a lot on Etsy lately.  I searched high and low for a party dress that I wanted for my youngest princess to turn one year old in (can you believe it already???) and couldn't find ANYTHING....until I looked on Etsy.  Within five minutes of logging on I'd found this adorable little dress for the baby, along with the second amazingly cute outfit for her big sister:

Birthday Girl:

Big Sista:

We're doing a ladybug theme, and I am all geared up to make a giant ladybug cake and 24 polka-dotted cake pops! Yay!  I couldn't find red, black, and white outfits anywhere for the girls because those colors are usually seen around Christmas time, so I was soooo excited to find them on Etsy!

My husband can't stand the month or so before the kids' birthday parties because that is ALL I talk about.  Teehee....I'm not sure who likes the parties the most:  the birthday girl or me!  I will insh'Allah share lots of pictures of the cake and cakepops with you ladies to get your opinion on my workmanship.  (It's my first time doing cake pops, so please be kind!)

Well, either way, I just wanted to stop by and send my salaams and let you amazing Muslimahs know I hadn't forgotten about you.  Things have been truly mind-blowingly hectic, and like I said....I'm barely hanging on by a thread.  Alhamdulillah for everything though, I wouldn't have it any other way :)

Ma'Salaama and Happy Etsy Shopping!

Fashionably Yours,

The (Anyone have an extra life vest?) Mujahada in Prada

~Shoes...Stress....and Renewed Opportunities~

aSalaam uAlaikum and Good Evening My Stylish Sisters!!!

It's late here...after one in the morning, and as I sit here enjoying the peace and quiet that finally fills my busy home after another long day...I decided it was about time for me to catch up with all you ladies and find out what's been going on in YOUR busy lives...

Alhamdulillah everything has been going a bit better here.  I have found different ways to try to ease my anxiety a bit.  I've made attempts to come to grips with the fact that with a preschooler and toddler in the home chances are that at least 50% of the common areas in my home will be covered with toys laying about....no matter HOW many times I try to pick up during the day.  I've also realized that if I am constantly worried about where I'm going next and what I need to get done next...that I can't really enjoy what's going on NOW. 

I need to bake more.  (Random....I know)

Anyways....I've gotten totally addicted to this website called www.shoedazzle.com.  In case any of you amazing Muslimahs are new to my blog....I am completely, totally and helplessly addicted to shoes.  Stilettos, Wedges, Sandals, Peep Toes, Pumps, Platforms, Ballet Flats, Espadrilles....you name it.  Shoedazzle is this website where you go fill out a short profile about yourself, and name some of your preferences in shoes and they will specifically select a small selection of shoes for you each day.

I haven't placed an order...yet.  I've been trying to restrain myself until dh gets his tax returns.  But, I'm not sure how much longer I can wait. 

Alhamdulillah we had an amazing time with dh's cousin while she was here.  She has young children, one around my daughter's age, and they had a blast with eachother for the week they were here.  Seeing my princess having so much fun with someone her age, (then feeling guilty she didn't know any kids her own age) I decided to enroll her in some classes to keep the two of us busy and spending time together.  She started her classes this past week and alhamdulillah LOVED them.

While dh's cousin was here we started to discuss business ideas.  As you ladies know I am already somewhat of an entrepreneur, having started my jewelry line Love Nyla a couple of years ago, but I have about a million and one other ideas for business....we've just been waiting until we could save up the capital to start one of them.  She, on the other hand, has the capital and no ideas!  We sat and chatted about different ideas I have and decided to focus on one in particular....so I'm starting to draw up a business plan now.

I mean, how exciting is THAT?  As soon as I decide to stop sitting around the house complaining about not feeling well, and actually get busy doing things...an opportunity fell into my lap!  When Allah swt closes the door...He opens a window. 

Anywho, I've noticed more and more through close observation of friends and family members that women tend to overlook themselves way too much.  I mean, not to sound like some bra-burning feminist or anything, but we truly ARE the backbone of every single successful family unit.  It is the woman who is there for her children, her husband, her parents, and her in-laws through thick and thin, yet we practically never take the time to spoil ourselves!

That's why recently I've tried my best to make myself a priority at least one day a week (okay it's turned into more like one day a month....but whatever).  Although I feel a bit guilty spending the money, it really does help the stress levels to go once in a while and get that mani/pedi, or new hairdo (yes- even hijabis should have their hair styled once in a while!) or just a day to grab lunch and a movie with some sisters.  Alhamdulillah I have a hubby who completely agrees, and even encourages me (probably because he enjoys my less frequent nervous breakdowns LOL).  My sensational sisters, please do take a bit of time to yourselves to do those things you used to enjoy doing pre-baby/marriage/career days!  You deserve it!

Anywho, I know this post was completely random...insh'Allah I will be back to my normally sheduled program soon and actually have some fashion posts for you.  In the meantime, go grab that Starbucks or Tim Hortons and read the newest People magazine while pampering your tootsies! (then enjoy the look on the manicurist's face when you say "No polish, please!" LOL)

Ma'Salaama and Merry Manicuring!

Fashionably Yours,
The (Totally Scatterbrained) Mujahada in Prada

~Forgiveness~

aSalaam uAlaikum My Stylish Sisters...
(and whoever else may be lurking about my blog)

Insh'Allah this finds all of you ladies in the highest imaan and good health.  Alhamdulillah everyone here is doing well.  Keeping busy, recovering from colds and all of those fun things that come around this time of year.  I've been seriously considering purchasing one of those French Press coffee pots, do any of you ladies have any experience with those?  I've heard the coffee tastes amazing, and they just look so fancy and elegant that I've always wanted one.

Anyways, I digress...this post is NOT just about coffee.  (I can hear the sighs of relief)

This post will be brief, to the point, just a quick reminder for all of my sisters (and lurkers) out there....and of course for myself.

I wanted to chat a bit about forgiveness. 

I can remember before converting to Islam, seeing people on the TV whose loved one had been badly hurt, or killed by someone speaking to the press about how through forgiveness they were able to move on with their life and I would think to myself  "They're CRAZY!"  First of all, how could you forgive someone for something like this, and second of all....how does forgiveness have ANYTHING to do with moving on in your life?

Well...I didn't have something quite THAT bad happen to me.  Alhamdulillah no one in my family was killed or anything by anyone else, but I personally was badly hurt by someone close to me a couple of years back.  And when I say hurt I mean kicked in the gut, doubled over on the ground, sobbing kind of hurt.  I mean the not wanting to get up in the morning, forgetting to brush your hair, not wanting to eat kind of hurt.  In short...I was a MESS.

In time, I was confronted with the choice of forgiving this person, or keeping my heart hard toward them and hating them forever.  I prayed A LOT.  I made TONS of du'a.  I fasted, I attended the masjid, I made dhikr....and I prayed some more. 

And eventually...I forgave them.  I don't think it was even a conscious decision I made.  I honestly think it was a change that Allah swt made in my heart for me.  He knew what was best for me (as He always does) and He emptied my heart of the rock that had formed there, and replaced it with forgiveness.

The funny thing is...sometimes it's the actual moving on part that is even harder than the forgiveness.  You see, if you turn to Allah swt HE will take care of the forgiveness...and of course He helps you with the moving on too....but that's something you have to keep trying at.  Every.  Single.  Day.

Alhamdulillah, it's taken time.  There have been ups and downs.  Lots of tears.  Sleepless nights.  And many days I asked myself if I made the right decision.  But that doubt in my decision only lasted until I realized that it wasn't a decision I had made, it was a path that Allah swt had chosen for me.

So you see ladies (and lurkers) forgiveness takes a long time.  A lot of patience, and tons of prayer.  But in the end....

Alhamdulillah it's worth it.

Ma'Salaama and Remember:
"Those who control their anger and are forgiving towards people; Allah loves the good." (Qur'an, 3: 134)

Forgivingly Yours,
The (Insh'Allah I too will be forgiven one day) Mujahada in Prada

~What to say....what to say....~

aSalaam uAlaikum waRamtuallahi waBarakatu!

Good evening my Stylish Sisters!  It is about midnight here in Southern California, and despite the fact that it is barely the 8th of January, it has been sunny and warm for the past few days.  Before I forget....

Alhamdulillah, so far this year has been good.  Unfortunately both of my princesses and I caught some kind of a virus while we were traveling over the Christmas holidays and it's clinging on to us for dear life.  It's been tough because my oldest daughter, who is three, has never ever ever ever ever been sick in her entire life, and my youngest (who is still a baby) now seems to be making up for all of those missed sicknesses for her older sister.  *sad face*  Ahhhhh well, that's the way it goes.  Alhamdulillah it's nothing worse.

Anywho, I struggled for a while to decide what I should chat about for my first 2012 blog post.  At first I was considering a post about New Years Resolutions (to be more patient with my daughters, and to get back down to the weight I was when I met the hubster), or the latest fashion trends (Owls- LOVE, Skinny Jeans- OVER THEM!), or my most recent home improvement projects (trying to make more room magically appear for all of my daughter's toys) but I've already talked about all of that, so instead I've decided to tell you about the super fun time I had last night baking with Princess Curly Q. 

As I've said before, Princess Curly Q is three years old, a lover of tutu's, a hater of jeans (they FRUSTRATE me, Mama!) and THE most creative little three year old genius I know.  (Yes, I have to say that....I'm her Mum)  Like me, she loves to cook, loves to clean, loves to bake, yet somehow manages to still maintain the most un-domesticated attitude.  Hehehe.  It's quite hilarious actually.

After being stuck in the apartment for a week with a raging fever, she decided yesterday (after her fever broke) that to finally bring in the New Year, we should bake cookies.  And, being the cookie lover that I am (there goes New Years Resolution #2) I of course agreed.  We pulled out an ancient recipe that was my grandmother's, for Peanut Blossoms, and got to work.

Peanut Blossoms are actually just little slightly Peanut Buttery tasting cookies that have a chocolate kiss in the middle.  In case you've never seen these culinary masterpieces, you can find a recipe HERE.

Well, we got through adding all of the ingredients without her insisting on changing the recipe (which happens a LOT when making anything with this girl)....until she decided the normal Peanut Blossom color was just too boring. 

So she decided on creating this lovely Teal Green color....

See how pretty that color looked all rolled up in the shimmering sugar coating??

We also decided to use dark chocolate kisses, instead of the normal milk chocolate, because I am a HUGE dark chocolate lover...and really, those little purple wrappers are just so much prettier than the regular old silver ones!

So...the first few out of the oven looked like this:

Other than the odd coloring, they look pretty normal.  Which was NOT satisfying for the Princess...who then decided that the kisses looked like beaks, and we should start making them look like birds.   And here are our final Peanut Blossom Kiwi Bird Cookies......

We had so much fun....she even cracked the eggs herself, and we haven't run across any eggshells in the cookies yet!  I swear this girl is a Mini Martha Stewart.  I can't think of any way I would have rather rung in the New Year (even if it WAS a week late).

Ma'Salaama and Happy New Year!!!!

Fashionably Yours,

The (okay, now I'm REALLY going to start my diet!) Mujahada in Prada

~Remember Her 70 Excuses~

aSalaam uAlaikum and Good Evening My Stylish Sisters...

This will be a quick, happy post to let everyone know (who may not know already) that Aisha Khan has been found.  She returned to her parent's house safe and sound this evening.

Although it is easy to get annoyed, or frustrated that after all of this effort and worry was for naught, we must ultimately be thankful that she returned home of her own free will, instead of the alternative.

We must also remember that we do not know the circumstances surrounding her choice to "get away" for a few days, there may be issues in her life that we are unfamiliar with. 

Most importantly we need to remember that she is our sister in Islam and deserves her 70 excuses.

Alhamdulillah she is back home, and insh'Allah whatever caused her to disappear can be resolved with the understanding and patience of her family and the mercy of Allah swt.

Ma'Salaama and Thanks to Everyone Who Helped.

Thankfully Yours,
The (relieved) Mujahada in Prada

~Find Aisha Khan~

aSalaam uAlaikum and Good Evening My Stylish Sisters...

Tonight I am writing you with fear and dread in my heart, begging you to assist in any way possible to help raise awareness for a situation of a missing young Muslim lady from Kansas.

In short, Aisha Khan...a 19 year old student at University of Kansas, who has been married only three short months, went missing this past Friday, December 16th.  (Read the whole story here) She was sitting at a picnic table on the campus of her school, studying for a final, when she called and left her sister a panic-stricken voice mail telling her that a man who she thought was drunk had started harassing her and tried to kiss her.  She said that she slapped him out of reflex but was extremely confused and terrified about the incident.

When her sister called her back she never answered.  And she has been missing ever since.

Sisters....this is our sister in Islam.  Other followers who may not be Muslim, this is our sister in humanity.  We would never want this type of situation to happen to ourselves or any one of our family members or friends.  We as women, as Muslimahs, as sisters in humanity need to join together to do everything in our power to help bring this young woman home to her family.

Please, keep her family in your du'a, your prayers, your thoughts.  Please make your FB profile picture her missing poster, "like" the FB page dedicated to finding her,  print the poster below out and hand them out, contact any relatives who may live in the University of Kansas area, and contact (816) 474-TIPS if you have any information.

Jazzak Allahu Khairun and Thank You.

Ma'Salaama and Help Find Aisha insh'Allah!

Apprehensively Yours,

The (scared beyond words) Mujahada in Prada

~An All American Boycott~

aSalaam uAlaikum and Good Evening My Stylish Sisters!

Please forgive me for my lack of pleasantries and usual bantering on about tea, or coffee or such, but tonight I have something real, and discouraging, and downright depressing on my mind.

I'm talking about the withdrawel of Lowe's home improvement store's advertisements from the show 'All American Muslim'. Now, I KNOW some of you don't like the show, don't approve of the show, think it's disgusting, immoral, haraam, or whatever. I get it, and I will keep my own opinions to myself to prevent any fitna between myself and my sisters....BUT your opinions about the show are insignificant right now because we are facing only what can be called a media-enforced hate crime.

For those of you unfamiliar with what I am talking about, 'All American Muslim' is a show running here in the United States that follows five different Muslim families living in the Dearborn, Michigan area and shows their normal everyday lives. Lowe's used to be one of the major companies advertising during the time slot that 'All American Muslim' showed every Sunday, until recently a group of bigoted, right wing, hate mongers contacted Lowe's urging them to withdraw their advertisements.

And....surprise, surprise. They did withdraw their advertisements.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that the First Amendment was a freedom of religion, speech, and media. I understand that it is totally up to Lowe's to decide when and where they should advertise, but to me it is very depressing that they were bullied into making this decision based on the desires of what can only be described as a hate group.

To me, Lowe's can be described as nothing more than a spineless, cowardly company willing to contribute to the Islamophobia that is ailing my country and causing the slow erosion of our First Amendment rights.

I am asking you sisters to assist me in spreading the word about this prejudism and to blog about it, tweet about it, make your FB status about it, and to send an email if you choose. I've included a template (that was well written by a dear sister I will refer to as "S"),  for an email to send them below, feel free to use what you choose, and add what you think necessary. 

Jazzak Allahu Khairun my sisters in helping us fight this fight.

Ma'Salaama and Boycott Lowe's!

Fashionably Yours,
The (I've always liked Home Depot better anyways!) Mujahada in Prada
__________________________________________________________________________________
To: customercare@lowes.com
Sent: Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 1:04 PM
Subject: Why I wont be shopping at Lowe's anymore
...
Dear Lowe's,

I was extremely disappointed to hear that you had pulled your advertisements from the TLC show "All American Muslim" because of pressure from a bigoted, right-wing "family" organization. This was a cowardly move to appease a small, but loud group of ignorant, prejudiced people who would rather that Muslims continue to be portrayed as subversive terrorists than be seen as the law-abiding, decent Americans that they are.

My family, friends and I will all be taking our business elsewhere until you reinstate your ads for this show and make an apology for succumbing to the pressure of hate groups.

Sincerely,