A warm winter night spent with "Sho Hal-iyyam" ..

My friend called me this evening asking me if I was free to hang out. Its been a while since the two of us went out for a cup of coffee with warm cozy chit chat. And as we were wondering about where to go, she mentioned a concert being held in the Terrasanta schools theater later this evening for a local band called "Sho Hal iyyam" . I paused a bit when she said the name trying to remember where have I heard it before , and then it came back to me that few weeks ago , as I was skimming the newspaper , I saw a half page article talking about this freshly formed band , which consists of six members. I remembered that the review was praising their performance in a newly opened coffee place in Amman down town. So I thought, what the heck, lets go and hear them out!

My friend picked me up, and we were in Alwaibdeh area, where Terrasanta School is, before the concert time with ten minutes. I love the area there, there is this unexplainable passion and coziness in the old parts of Amman like Alwaibdeh , Jabal Amman and some parts of down town . That made me remember a funny remark of someone I know "Those places are sexy somehow"! and despite the fact that I was not able to relate to that , the comment blinks in my mind , every time I pass by them.

The whole event was organized by Arab Group For the protection Of Nature, where the funds raised from tickets will go to implant olive trees in Palestine and Jordan. Around 7:30 the theater was full , and after a couple of speeches from organizers , the band started , and I should say , it was one of the nicest , loveliest little concerts I've ever been to. The band consists of 2 ladies with lovely heavenly voices and 5 talented guys playing different cords based instruments, such as O'oud , guitar and Bouzoq in addition to Daff . They played and sang a collection of heart warming oldies, by Fairouz, Marcel Khalifeh , Shei7' Imam and Ziad Rahbani , such as , "Zouroni kol sana marra" "elba7r beyed7ak leah" "Inni i7'tartoka ya wa6ani" "sho hal iyyam". The theater was really cold, yet their lovely voices with that touchy play of instruments, and down to earth performance and attitude warmed everyone's hearts. And with every song performed, applause went on and on. It's really lovely to hear such a local young band, with beautiful voices and talents like that singing respectful, patriotic and romantic songs. I enjoyed every moment I spent there. And I encourage anyone to hear them out in any upcoming performance for them.

Random thoughts .. Piece of my journal

It has been a while since the last time I posted anything. I can't really think of anything specific to write about, other than the fact that the last couple of weeks passed way too fast and were kind of loaded, I managed to have 4 days away from work though, taking a day off between Christmas holiday and weekend. I was kind of forced into taking that day off , since the HR announced , that any left over vacation since 2005 should be taken , otherwise , they will be gone with the wind the moment 2007 starts ! And since I am the type of person, who does not know how to take random days off – call me crazy, but seriously, I don't feel a vacation is worthy, unless well planned to be spent somewhere else ! – So I still had a couple of days from the year 2005.

I spent a whole four days away from work stress , did not even dare to check my work email , since I did not want anything to disturb this inner peace I was feeling , being totally relaxed , away from stress , numbers , figures , proposals to be prepared , purchase orders to wait for , reports before the end of the year , customers queries to be answered , excuses to be made for out of hand delays and staying late to finish pending issues and going over it with the manager. So I had a nice little vacation , went shopping a bit , watched TV , read a bit , worked out , went in family visits and of course slept as much as I can .

I got back to work yesterday, and I feel that I am kind of being punished for having that day off, because of the amount of work that should be finished now! I was planning to take Thursday off too, now I am not quiet sure if this will work out, I need to be done with so many things. Everybody wants to close this year, wrap things up, calculate budgets for next year and start fresh and clean in 2007 .And you know something; I still find it weird that 7 years have passed since the starter of the new millennium, time passes REALLY fast.

That was random diary type post, its probably boring, but who said diaries should always be interesting to read !

Enjoy the rain.. I think I have to go back to work and I'll plug my headphones , listen to some Arabic oldies , they always work perfectly with rainy weather .. don't you think so ?

Fairooz & I ..

I don't know what is it with me and Fairooz , it doesn't matter where , what or when .. but whenever I hear any of her innocent romantic love songs , I just melt away with the rhythm , while her voice awakens those tender hidden feelings in my heart . I simply live the words in a world of dreams, it just sinks in me, deep down , knocking on a seemingly hollow sleepy heart . and then it pounds and yearns for a mysterious love and an unknown passion . My eyes shed tears, and my mind visualizes pictures and scenes of her words creation. And in winter, it gets even worse, as if her songs are MADE for it, it just fits those cold long nights, those foggy grey rainy mornings, and lonely hearts ..

I wish I knew how to post a song , but I'll leave you with links for some of my favorites of hers ..

2adaysh kan fi nas

layali elshemal

Kenna netla2a

Allah Ma3ak ya hawana

7abaytak belsayf

Ba3dak 3ala bali

wa7don

Keefak enta

Questions ..

I just cannot understand what's going on in Palestine anymore.. why? Why is this chaos taking place? Why is everybody throwing accusation on the other's shoulders? Why is everyone trying to show the ugly part of the other? Why have they diverted from the one basic and original cause which standing one against occupation, to self and political wins matters? Why all of the sudden killing of other's children is a tool to punish a person who is a parent before being a person holding any political position or being in authority ? What by Allah's name justifies the civil war Palestinians are being driven into? And the most important question is.. Who is the beneficiary?

It surely can't be any of the Palestinian parties involved, because if they think they do, then struggle is surely doomed...

A day in Damascus ..

Yesterday's afternoon :
-G.M. : Tealover, we have an appointment tomorrow at Damascus , noon time .with a key customer to conduct a presentation of some of our solutions . You are among the team going, be ready .
-Me (Tealover) : Oh ! what! okay!

So , today , I had to wake up early , had breakfast , dressed up , put my high heals boots on (and that was a mistake , I should've gone in tennis shoes !!!) , and was ready at the premises by 8 sharp ! .. Well almost sharp..

It was three of us , and the plan was to go , conduct the presentation and come right back. Boarders were empty , it was really cold , and the horizon was misty , by the time we arrived to Damascus around noon , the atmosphere around looked grey and dirty . Not sure if it was pollution, weather or the effect of both.

After the presentation, we decided to head towards Hamediyeh , and female readers , can imagine how nice and comfy is it to walk it with 7 cm high heals ! Anyway, we went to a restaurant in one of those aisles that one of the colleagues recommended, it was okay. Then headed back to Hamediyeh , and in our way passed by Bikdash , my colleagues had some , I had none , I don't rally like it , and I can't quiet get what people finds in it ! After that , we moved on in our way , all the way back to our car , and headed for Amman. A stop over by the Syrian duty free was a must. Then we headed back to Amman, was there by 9 p.m.

A funny thing that caught my eye at the Syrian boarders, was this sign that was saying in Passports, Private with the women, and that translated to
استلام الجوازات, خاص بالنساء … I wish I could capture it , but it was a bit risky at the boarders building!

Anyway, its good to be back to the warm home again ..














Syrian Candy box

Souq

Shanglish

Where we had lunch

From the car

Inside Hamedieyh

A tribute to ....... Nablus

Usually, when someone starts talking about where they have descended from, and which village, town or city they originated from, people around them, whether colleagues, friends, or in-laws may mistake it for either disloyalty for where they have been living for the past decades of their lives. , or simply, for a show off display.

However, the thing is, that we as humans tend to belong to a place, a home, something that we feel solidly hugged and immersed within, the question is, could it be more than one place? I believe, yes, it could be.

It’s a known fact that the population of this beautiful country, come from both sides of the river, we have both shared the resources and elevated up with everything that this generous land offered. And there is no doubt and no question to any of that. However, our hearts are divided in between. I have lived almost my whole life here , I've grown up here , had my full education here , have friends allover , know the streets of Amman like the back of my hand . Yet, I have this warm affection for my home town "Nablus".

Why am I bringing this up? Who cares about my home town? Who cares what do I feel for it, or in which way do I long for walking in its streets? For having some khdoud elset "whish is a yummy type of sweets prepared in Nablus, I prefer it even better than Kunafeh!" There is a good chance, no one will care. But that's okay, I simply felt this desire to type down few lines about it, and send it a tribute through them.

What has triggered it then? It could be those family chats about the old times, the way brothers gathered their families, having all cousins growing up under the same roof, knowing each others like siblings do. Those naughty funny stories of uncles and aunties deeds as kids, those richly colored memories with the taste and smell of the places they speak of , those pure little love stories , or even traditional marriage stories " they still had so many funny details within", it could be anything.

The truth is , as I'm typing these lines , I can picture myself , sitting on the garden's stairs on my grandparent house , overlooking the E'bal mountain ""عيبال , then walking down the street , all the way to the old town , smelling that roaster store on the way , entering those rocky aisles of the old city , celebrating my visuals with the ancient look of those stores going back to hundreds of years , hearing the old strong unique accent of my people blabbering . Passing by the spices merchants, and the soap factories, smelling that unique aroma for the Nabulsi soap. Heading towards Khan , buying some halaweh and Zalabiyeh " another Nabulsi sweet" and then going through the old neighborhoods , and all the way to the famous centre with the clock.

I can keep on talking about my childhood and teenage years memories there , and take you into a journey. But I think , this will probably need another post .


And to those whom are away from their hometowns, regardless which hometown they came from, I hope you'll be able to visit it again and celebrate your memories within.

I love you ya Nablus .. ya Jabal Elnar ..

Random non-business thoughts on ICT forum

I had an extremely busy week at work the past few days , and I've been cut out from the world of blogging for a while ,hopefully I'll be back to read my favorite blogs and post more thing now.

Exhibitions are usually boring, nerves burning and tiring by all means! having to stand up most of the time, being nice and talkative to people visiting, networking,on stand by mode for any one inspecting about the business line, to give a full detailed explanation for the really interested visitors, and even when the audience are out of the business scoop and end up to be random individuals looking for neat giveaways to take home and blabber about.

However, the Dead Sea ICT forum is more oriented and well organized to serve the genuinely interested individuals and companies in the information, communication and technology sectors.

I won't be diving into the technicalities and the agenda of sessions and discussions of the forum, nor the latest that has been officially announced or launched within, since I believe many other bloggers ((whom I have seen and recognized there, and to tell you the truth it was fun seeing them in real)) has already shared that with you in a very professional and elaborating form. I would only say that we have participated as partners with Int@j . After participating as delegates for the past years.

So, yesterday, I had to wake up early to take my time dressing up and attending the work before time to head afterwards with colleagues toward the Dead sea , convention palace.

The palace was crowded for sure; you would sense the business aura in the air, everybody pulling up the professional business looks and smiles, looking sleek and shiny. People were mingling, shaking hands, and business chatters all over the place.

I attended part of the conference opening, and then headed back to the booth, where we had a very busy, yet promising attendance.

After lunch, the session period started, and traffic on booths went down to minimum. However, the only session I attended was "Outsourcing Trends in the Region" which had a very interesting group of speakers and discussions .I would sum it up and say : people , outsourcing will be playing a part in the business process in this region in the coming few years !!

By the end of that session , I had no energy left to keep my eyes open , my feet were killing me for wearing the high heals for the whole day and standing up , climbing stairs , and my brains were about to explode after all of those business discussions during the day .

To conclude I would say All in all, it was good event to attend.

And … Its good to be back !

Answering the book TAG

A new wave of tagging is hitting the blogsphere shore lately .

I've been tagged by my sweet humours fellow blogger Mala2e6 to answer a very nice and short tag .

So here I am responding to the TAG attack !

the tag rules says :


-Grab the book closest to you
-Open to page 123-Scroll down to the 5th sentence
-Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog
-Name of the book and the author
-Tag 3 people



And here is the answer ..

القطن الفلسطيني انقطع بعد عقدين من الزمان , يوم جعل ظاهر العمر مدينة عكا كرسي حكمه في اواسط الأربعينات من القرن الثامن عشر , و أفلح , بمؤازرة ابراهيم الصباغ , مدير اعماله المالية و مستشاره السياسي منذ مدة مديدة , في ان يحل نفسه وسيطا بين

التجار الفرنسيين و تلك القرى اللتى تزرع القطن بين القرى الخاضعة لــه....ـ

اسم الكتاب : اعادة اكتشاف فلســطين - اهالي جبل نابلــس 1700-1900

اسم المؤلف : بشــارة دومـــاني

Tags goes to , and I am not sticking to 3 , because I thought it is such a nice easy task :

Tamara

Abdullah ( even though you don't have a blog )

Hareega

Qwaider

Sharifo

and Finally Dar (although you have such an interesting funny idea when it comes to books on your profile ;)

Anyone is more than welcome to answer the TAG on the comment section as well , it would be nice to know what do others read about .

And since Summer started this TAG , yet did not answer it , so here I am tagging you Summer !

**updated ** 7ala .. you are tagged :)

A piece of news ..

- So .. what happened during the weekend ?

-- Oh .. well … I became a citizen on JP !

- No Kidding !!!!!!! ..

-- Oh Yeah !!!! .. check it out :) !

And just for the record.. I think this is the shortest post I've ever wrote.. Saving you from a long long wordy read :) !

Sho Zareef halZareef !

Another loaded Thursday! I always thought Thursdays are supposed to be the lamest work days, everybody is usually mentally and emotionally prepared for the weekend. So by noon time, you'd find everyone wrapping up their pending work matters in an attempt to adjust into the "weekend mood" rather than the "work-holism mood" .

So today I had dinner plans with my friends, celebrating a birthday of one of them . And since we made it a habit to go out and try a new restaurant out each birthday . this birthday pick was the new Iranian/Persian restaurant "Zareef".

The place is located at Abdoun circle, occupying half a building of two stories "I think ! but who would really care about this piece of info. ! Anyway ..." .We arrived there after 8 . it was still empty by then .We climbed the stares to the 2nd floor where the better scene is . Our table was located next to the big windows overlooking the street and the shops across.

The general atmosphere of the place is cozy , and clean . Iranian music plays in the background , slightly dimmed lights , enhancing the coziness effect , not to darkness degree though ,I don't like places with minimal light , it always gives me the feeling that something creepy is going on , besides , eating would be such a hard task , considering the fact that you can barely see what's on your plate !

The menu had Iranian/Persian names with explanation of the content of each dish. We started with appetizers .Shami , which is very close to Koufta balls , along with some Nan Panir Sabzi , which is Iranian cheese , served with hot yummy bread , and some Kashk Badenjan , which is mainly fried eggplant topped with kashk , fried onions , mint & garlic.

Main dishes that we ordered were all about rice, meat and chicken. Rice is done in three different ways, either with saffron, vegetables or with Zereshk (some kind of sweet and sour dried fruit close to raisins). Persian food seemed a bit dry to us, since we are used to have rice with something to gravy/Vigi base to the side, We needed to moist our dishes so , each one of us ordered special Iranian yogurt to go with the dish. The food was good, the amount of rice was huge though.

I liked the place, the service was more than great and the prices are reasonable. Food wise , its okay , may be it lacks variety . but for rice lovers , I think it will be a perfect pick !

New policies..

One of the things I liked most about my current work is, they never were critical about the time we arrive nor we leave. So if we are like half an hour late, it would be deducted from our lunch break time , which was half an hour anyway , or we can simply stay for another half an hour in the evening and compensate . So you may say, my colleagues and I , have been living in a work paradise when it came to times of arrival and departure..

However, as any company grows from small sized to medium sized enterprise, the number of employees has doubled if not tripled in the last couple of years , and the management sensed the need to organize things better , so new policies were set that we had to follow , and time of arrival and departure was no exception. So, a circular was sent to all employees, that from now on, we should be at premises by 8:00 and we are entitled with 15 minutes to be late, but exceeding that will be considered extremely late, hence, a warning will be sent!

Picture from gettyimages

So having in mind the past couple of years of tolerance and previous policies, the warning part did not really fit. So, on Sunday, I did not really make any special effort in trying to follow the new policy, since we had a lot of those for the past couple of years, and they went down with the drain. The employees in general thought they were immune to changes. So anyway , here I am getting 23 minutes late for work on Sunday , and performing my usual tasks , until I get that email around mid of the day , the email was simply a warning for my late arrival , and cc'd to concerned parts in the company ! Eah !!!!!! when I saw that , I had this hysterical laugh , thinking "Oh my God , they are not kidding !!! that was my first REAL warning ever in anything that I've ever been too, whether school , university or previous job" . I have to say , geeee .. it felt a bit humiliating !


Not wanting to have such a warning AGAIN , I decided that I should start getting up and starting my engines earlier than what I used to for the past years . The problem is , I am not a morning person mainly , I usually feel grumpy in the early mornings , but I guess , I will have to start changing that !


But that is not all.. There will be a completion for this stream of thoughts .. but I guess , I'll keep it for another post !

Perspective ??!?

Is our perspective of people distorted?

What do you mean?

I mean , what are the elements that we take into our consideration on judging a person.

You mean like , honesty , morals , respect , intellectualism and things like that ?

Well, yeah ! Those are some elements, though definitions for these elements you mentioned differ from one person to another.

How! Those are general terms that we talk about!

Yes !!! And that's why I say, it differs from one person to another. a group of people may agree on a general definition , but each one of them may add their own personal ingredient to that .

Now you lost me, what do you mean?

I mean, the definition of, hmmm , lets say intellectualism . You may describe someone being intellectual , for knowing a good deal of information and details , in a particular or a number of subjects , say for instance ; literature , religion , politics , history , languages, sciences . There might be a general agreement on those lines of knowledge. Yet , there are people who consider not knowing about latest video clips, movies, series , world wide clothing brands is such an unforgivable crime !

Okay , that’s extreme ! But that’s a personal definition. The two groups you are describing, apparently have different orientations and perspective.

See, we are back to square one . How can we judge people? Say, you met someone, and he proposed, how you can tell that he applies for the definitions you have. What if he does not apply to your mental definitions, yet he applies to your heart definitions, what if it the other way around ?


Hmmm , I don't know .. but does this mean that you and all of your friends share the exact same orientation or perspective ? I don't think so , there should be variations .. otherwise , there will be no spicing in your relation , whether with your friends , or with your possible significant other .

Could be .. it’s a complicated subject ..

Well , not complicated ... but debatable!

*picture taken from gettyimages .

Eah , who said life is easy !

Again , back with the challenges of work . Being put into course of competition against your will. Having to face indecent opponents at times, having to sail into the sea of career darkness and multi opportunities to prove yourself and capabilities AGAIN, after "thinking" you finished the "proving" phase you've been into the past years, someone snatch you and say "It has just started , the past few years were only the warming up part" to start again and allover showing your bosses AGAIN that you can handle pressure , you can handle changes in work atmosphere and you can pretty much elevate the career steps to reach one day, to the top.


But what if, you were happy where you are, just in that little cozy place you are filling? Those tasks you've mastered which you know that you kind of perfected performing them? And that everybody is pleased with their outcome. Why can't you just hang in there for the rest of your career life? Oh, well, its true, we all value and seek comfort , BUT .. But we all have those little devils of ambition inside us that aspire something bigger, something higher , something supposedly better ,something that tells the opponents and the colleagues that picking you was the best thing they did , something that shows everyone that you earned that promotion , although , you haven't really asked for it .

Now the horrific part is when, you want to show everyone that you can HNADLE IT, but inside you, you are not quiet sure what to do next. You are lost, you know that there is a lot of catch up to do, and you know that your guide is no longer available, you have been tossed into the boat to sail on your own this time , you are not allowed to show your growing fear or your mere reluctant-ness , because your competitors will smell it like sharks , and snap the whole thing out of your hands.

Eah , who said life is easy !

قصيدة من الماضي ...

اذكر .. قبل سنين .. حينما كنت لا ازال طالبة في المدرسة .. اذكر انه كان للشعر طعم خاص ..الا ان ذاكرتي للقصائد اللتي كنت احفظها و ارددها حينها .. قد شابتها الشوائب .. و أغار عليها غبار السنين .. فلم اعد اذكر شيئا مما حفظته يوما ... .

لكن لست ادري لما ذا اليوم دونا عن كل الأيام تلمست الأبيات الأولى من هذه القصيدة طريقها لذاكرتي .. فوجدت نفسي ابحث عنها .. حتى وجدتها .

القصيدة للشاعر الفلسطيني عبد الرحيم محمود بعنوان "الشهيد ".. و ها هو نصها

ساحمل روحي على راحتي .... والقي بها في مهاوي الردى

فإما حياة تسر الصديق .... وإما ممات يغيظ العدى

ونفس الشريف لها غايتان .... ورود المنايا ونيل المنى

وما العيش لا عشت إن لم اكن .... فخوف الجناب حرام الحمى

إذا قلت اصغى لي العالمون .... ودوى مقالي بين الورى

لعمرك إني ارى مصرعي .... ولكن أغذ إليه الخطى

ارى مقتلي دون حقي السليب .... ودون بلادي هي المبتغى

يلذ لأذني سماع الصليل .... ويهيج نفسي مسيل الدما

وجسم تجندل فوق الهضاب .... تناوشه جارحات الفلا

فمنه نصيب لأسد السماء .... ومنه نصيب لأسد الثرى

كسا دمه الأرض بالأرجوان .... وأثقل بالعطر ريح الصبى

وعفر منه بهي الجبين .... ولكن عفارآ يزيد البها

وبان على شفتيه إبتسام .... معانيه هزء بهذي الدنا

ونام ليحلم حلم الخلود .... ويهنئ فيه بأحلى الرؤى

لعمرك هذا ممات الرجال ... ومن رام موتآ شريفآ فذا

فكيف اصطباري لكيد الحقود ... وكيف احتمالي لسوم الأذى

أخوفآ وعندي تهون الحياة ... وذلآ وإني لرب الإبا

بقلبي سأرمي وجوه العدا .... وقلبي حديد وناري لظى

وأحمي حياضي بحد الحسام .... فيعلم قومي بأني الفتى

Hot chocolate & Gerard ..

So I've been blabbering about Gerard and its amazing hot chocolate with marshmallows for a while now.. and although I admitted in one of my comments, on Tamara's blog that I've been staying away from delicious food and chocolate for a while , trying to control my eating habits , which by the way have been drastically ruined during the past summer , Ramadan and the two weeks after Eid , yet , today the temptation was stronger than what I can handle !

After a long loaded Thursday , having to stay late at work , eating barely half a sandwich , I came back home , to go out within less than half an hour , to pick up my mother and sister. So in our way back , we were close to Abdoun , and that chocolate lover devil started whispering in my ears " Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows ... Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows … Gerard is less than 5 minutes away .. you can do it ..go .. go .. gooooo" so it took me like half a second to convince mom and sister .Actually it was effortless job, they said okay without having me to convince them into it, and we headed there , promised with the pleasures of chocolate taste in a winter cold night .

I thought it would be okay for me to order hot chocolate this time, since I did not had much food during the day, so I needed the sugar and the calories – you know.. In order to survive- and ordered my sweet hot drink. You can see the picture DOWN.

The place was full as usual, so I held my precious drink with both hands, and sat outside. It was a cold night, yet all my sensations were warming up with every sip I take of this heavenly sweet condensed drink, and my heart was dancing and bouncing to the flavor of every marshmallow piece melting on my tongue ... ahhhh .. SUPER!

And since I believe that such pleasures should be shared, I took few pictures while the lovely staff was preparing our orders. Now my favorite is the chocolate fountain they have, I swear to God that first time I saw it , I had that childish desire to stick a finger under the running chocolate "falls" and tasting it ,and went further in my dreams into filling a cup and drinking it right there . Does this sound normal , or do I sound like choc-psycho ?

Another picture for ice cream cones dipped with chocolate and nuts, I've always wanted to have one of those and fill it with 3 scoops of ice cream, but every time I get that thought, I bury it, knowing that I'll probably end up having to work out 3 days in row to burn it! I wish If I can be less freaked out about this calories- burning thing.. ah.. pity.. I envy people with high metabolism rates !

Last picture for ice cream flavors, whether its summer or winter, an ice cream is never too cold to have !

Enjoy the pictures..

Words that "rhyme" with winter ..

Its not the type of rhyme in poems, its more like things and words that sound perfect with winter ,at least for me ! I know how many people hate this blissful season, I used to be one of them, back when I was at school and university! However.. Now I can hardly imagine myself living in a place that has no winter!



With no specific order , here are they ...

Warm family gatherings .. Warm friends gatherings.. Romance ..Cuddling .. intimacy ....Sipping Hot chocolate from a huge mug where both your hands are warming up by the hold of your mug ..Chocolate of all types … lots of tea .. American coffee.. Sa7lab.. Cinnamon hot drink 2erfeh " we call it Eainer " .. Lo2met el qadi "also known as 3awwameh" .. Cookies .. ma2routa .. chestnuts "kastana"

Soups "especially lentil soup ".. Heaters.. Fire places.. Reading lots of books and magazines.. Nice TV series and movies.. Walks under the rain .. Snowman.. snowballs.. Snow hikes.. Snow while it falls .. Heavy clothing .. Heavy elegant coats… waist length jackets with nice collar.. Less flesh showing " well some don't let cold weather stop them !" .. Trendy boots.. Scarves of all types .. heavy cologne .. play cards.. barjees "some know it as barzees ,and some don't even know it . For the last type , its an old traditional game played with special stones and a cloth where you have to move the stones " ..

Long nights where you can get enough sleep.. Fog "its almost like living on clouds" .. the lovely washed color and smell of horizon and sky after rain .. Napping in you balcony letting warm winter sun cover you "not for long time though, its harmful" .. better hair .. healthier skin .. Suspense and horror movies.. Romantic movies..

**Update ** Fairooz angelic voice in the early rainy and foggy mornings

These are some of the things that sounds Wintry to me.. And despite the fact that I freeze in cold weather , and that my hands never ever get warm .. Yet I am in love with this beautiful season ..



Share some of your thoughts if you felt like it ..

Is it a state of mind ?

Sometimes you get so frustrated and depressed that you feel your stomach will blow out any minute because of stress building up inside.

It starts like little twitches in your stomach, that builds later to a huge invisible -yet felt- knot in the center of it, and on the way a little furnace in your lungs, that heats up your exhale every time you take and withdraw a breath . That later during the day, it becomes a noticeably annoying and effort-needed process to breathe.

And when that happens, you no longer feel like you can keep up the good, friendly behavior with people around and you no longer stand any out-of-line comments or words, nor you can tolerate people's "sense of humor" because you are totally out of mood. You hold your tongue and nerves a million times, so you wont jeopardize your "Calm friendly character" and spell out something that would hurt them , you wish if people understand but they wont, and You just want everyone around you to shut up, and leave you sink in your own puddle of frustration and depression .



You could've had worst days, yet you were able to handle them better, but there are other days that the smallest thing may trigger your frustration and pick it up to highest levels, where you no longer can take it. It could be a broken phone line, an undone business, a comment that you did not really need to hear, an answered phone, a hang out you prepared for yet it was last minute canceled, or simply waking up on the wrong side of the bed. It could be a million silly things that triggered that nasty feeling in you to invade your system like a wild wave.

And the worst part is that this "feeling" is usually an irreversible thing in a one day interval , I mean , you cannot just switch back to norm within same day , your system and body are simply too much infected with the poisons of your status of mind , that it will take a whole day to flush. So all you could wish for is , to have the day pass fast ,and to spend it away from others , or at least the way you want with the people you like, where you can start maintaining the damages , hoping that an overnight sleep will finish it and freshen you up again the next day .

Feel like having "Homemade chocolate cookies"?

Okay , I felt totally unproductive during this long beautiful "on time" weekend , Its winter , its somehow cold , long nights , and chocolate always seems like a good companion to the previous , besides , my little brother was nagging me into making some , its been a WHILE since the last time . So I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies !

I am not going to write down the recipe, and that's not because it’s a TOP SECRET classified Danah's recipe , no no . Actually, the recipe is written right on the back of Hershey's chocolate chip semi sweet pack. I have made the recipe tens of times , and every time the out come is rich , sweet , chewy , and of course yummy yummy yummy .

I am probably stretching a muscle here :) , that's why I am posting the picture of my cookies creativity ! I wish if smell and taste could be transferred through blogs though , wouldn't this be neat !

One last thing , if you decided making some , don't make it a habit , these cookies are really rich in calories , lots of butter and sugar within , not to forget the chocolate chips .

Enjoy the looks :) , I guess I'll be taking some to my colleagues tomorrow !

YEPPPY!!! I am back :)

Finally !!!! I can view my blog again , after having some technical problem for exactly one week , I can announce cheerfully that my blog is completely recovered . I can write and see my posts again :) !


I kind of lost hope that it will come back again , sending more than one email to the blogger support , getting one poor response , and seeing no action taken , put me down a bit , and I started thinking that I will probably have to stick to a new blog , and forget all about this one , which I like very much by the way , feels like a part of me. Oh well, I can get dramatic sometimes..

I never thought that I would get this much hooked into blogging , and to tell you the truth , when I started blogging , it took me some time to make it public and feel easy about that .Then it took me more time to start feeling "Normal and secured" about writing something down , knowing that anyone can access that and read it . It may sound a bit childish, but I always felt like "PREPARING" for my next post, sort of a homework thing - Oh yeah , can hear a snorts of laughter ! , that my fellow bloggers explains why I am such a lazy blogger , but anyway , I think I am somehow over that !

Well , I want to thank you all for you sweet support during my blog "crises", whether by offering help , or simply commenting and asking . And a special thanks to Qwaider , for his kind gesture , letting my posts appear fully on Qwaider Planet during the past week , thanks a bunch !

And the bad luck events series goes on ...

This definitely cannot be my week , first my blog gets jinxed and is not viewing anymore , acting in a manner of a ghost blog rather than an ordinary one .. then , a business trip gets delayed after arranging reservations , buying tickets , confirming appointments , simply because the Visa to an Arab country will still take more time to be issued , and we were notified by that one day prior to the travel date .

And then , finally today , I am out on a short leave from work to get a present to a friend of mine , whom recently had a baby. And as I am on my way back to work , a monstrous Mercedes truck hits me and sabotages the far end of the left wing of my car , claiming he did not see me " a question popped into my mind , if he did not see me due to the fact that he is way high above the road in his giant truck , then does it justify mashing the other ordinary short cars driving on the road ?" , so I pulled to the side after hearing a loud noise ,in the back of my car , and took a look on the shocking accident.

I was too stunned and shaken to even say anything , then I started talking calmly , and dialed the traffic police number. Fortunately , and for the first time in my very short and small history with traffic policemen , the officer who answered my call , seemed to be having a pleasant day , he was speaking to me cheerfully , assuring me that the officers responsible for that area will arrive in less than ten minutes . Surprisingly, it took them lesser than that.

Of course, my parents came, and the officer who took record of the whole incident was very kind and cooperative, he took notes, and asked each of us of what has happened, and concluded that –obviously – it was not my fault .

So, somehow it ended well, yet that horrible urge to cry is still wandering in me. I need to vent out some of my personal frustration. It is frustrating to be in an accident, whether mild or huge, still the most important thing that neither me or the old driver of the truck had any injuries , Thank Allah.

Yet , I feel sorry and sad for my Toyota corolla , I kind of have this bond to my car , and what happened to it isn't pleasant by any means , and I wont probably be seeing it again until over a week or so .

El7amdolellah on everything ..

Trying something out

Apparently .. I am stuck ! .. My original blog "Life has its mysteries ways " has been facing some technical problems , seems to be originated by blogger.com , in settling some issues regarding blogger Beta , they seem to screw up other things , so apparently , my blog is one of the victims . I have claimed my problem to their support team , received a reply and was assured that they will be taking care of it , however, it looks like it will take a while , since up to now , I have seen no change .. and I miss blogging there :( .. I feel a bit lost !

So , whats the story with this blog "Trying something out" ?!





I have created this new blog over a month ago . Basically ,I wanted to check what changes can I apply to my original "Life has its mysterious ways" template , once changing from normal blogger to blogger Beta , and i liked the outcome , which is why I decided to go for it , while keeping this other blog -I'd say trial lab blog- private , to see how any change I'd apply will look like .

So , for the main time , I'll be blogging temporarily here and there synchronizing the posts , until the problem is resolved and I get back to my home blog ..

Unable to view my own blogpage !

Okay .. this is both weird and silly ! I can post and publish my post , I can modify , add tags and pictures , yet I cannot view my blog ! everytime I hit the address bar , I get an error message ! can yet the site feed seems to work fine ! Anyone help me with that ?

Rain .. Trip .. and other things

Another Sunday after weekend, back to work Its a cold wet grey Sunday.Streets were crazy today's morning , jammed , cars swimming in rain filled streets to their destinations. I turned the radio on Mazaj .fm, I like the collection they play in rainy cloudy early mornings- I just love hearing it more than the talk shows - those old Lebanese –almost ballads – songs , some of them still loop in my head like " law shebakek 3ashebbaki " and " Aletli sho byelba2li , elazra2 aw zahr elromman , 7atta 3younak teshta2li , balbeslak a7la Foustan " and Fairouz with her angelic voice " Fi ahweh 3almafra2 " , they sink into me songs in rainy days , as if they were especially made for such days .




Anyway, it took me over half an hour to get to my work place, and apparently, I arrived late! It never feels good to arrive at work late after most of your colleagues and especially the managers. And it really sucks when you have already planned it the day before to come early, to finish few pending issues without everyone's hassle on early morning, and of course, and especially on the first day of the week When you get there and see the time , you realize the failure of your plan , you're already late !

But I ain't stressing about it, I don't want to .I have to save my nerves for a billion other things stress worthy, like preparing for my trip tomorrow.

Tomorrow's evening I'll be flying to Muscat-Oman on my first business trip. I am still behind schedule in having everything I need prepared , but I am counting on today to get it all covered up . I am excited because it’s the first trip with work. Yet anxious and worried because I need to be fully prepared , there is a good chance that many things will get defined after this trip , and I really don't want it to be defined the other way around , and of course I am speaking career-wise .

I am the type of person who worries a lot , no matter how I try to convince myself with the reality that nothing really worth all of this nerve burning , yet I just cannot help it .

I needed to write something down, I haven't blogged anything for a while , and it looks like there is something wrong with my blogspot, I haven't been able to view it for over four days now , so I am not quiet sure if this will get published on time ,but I needed to write it down anyway .

Wish me luck, and I shall update you with my trip events, if its possible from there or until I come back by Allah's will.

Blabber

It’s the first working day after the long vacation of Eid. Surprisingly; I am fully alert and energized! I usually feel mushy after long vacations , more precisely , Eid vacations , because of the intense social activities -visiting and being visited- however, this time was a bit different , having the weekend coming right after Eid , was a good opportunity for relaxation and adjusting back to winter timing , winter weather and getting back to usual after Ramadan life style .

People in the streets seemed relaxed today too , regardless the traffic jam on my way to work today's morning , there were no horns pressing , no shouts and I can swear that I saw some people smiling behind their wheels " speaking of our traditional morning frown here in Jordan , today seemed to be an exception ! " .

I reached work around my usual time, greeted colleagues on my way to my office and then headed to kitchen – I simply like making my own drinks, I feel they taste better and they way I want them rather than having someone else making them for me - to make my long missed mug of hot Nescafe , added my Hazelnut flavored coffee creamer , started sipping it while scanning the stacked emails in my inbox.

They day has passed fast , having a long meeting , then following up with pending matters , I had more than one opportunity to stress about few "work stuff" , however, I passed them pleasantly and maintained my peaceful happy temper.

Yet ,something tells me that the coming days at work , are not going to be easy , many changes have been happening recently , blowing old traditions and messing things up , turning them upside down and I am the kind of person who dread changes , its not that I am not flexible , but I dread the side effects of changes , the unwanted results .

I guess this post is more of a blabber and sharing some inner confused thoughts, especially in the last part . I simply had this need to write something down, spilling out a peace of my mind.

Many returns .. Happy Eid

Through out my life,I have always enjoyed Eid al fiter somewhat more than Eid Al Adha , while Adha is a true Eid for those who are lucky enough to perform the pilgrimage , Fiter is longed for by those who perform fasting of Ramadan , where the first morning of Eid elfiter always has this special taste to the soul and definitely to the tongue !

As a kid, I remember how I used to wake up in the early morning of the first day – actually being awaken by my parents – brushing the sleeplessness off my eyes, and then rush to the kitchen, smelling coffee in the air and then pausing for a moment, making sure its allowed now to drink and eat at day time, It was a bit confusing back then.. :) ..

Then I would go to the living room, checking on Eid cookies " Ka3k & Ma3moul" , and then checking for the REAL craving , the Eid chocolate , managing to slip few pieces of different tastes into my hands to enjoy eating them later .

Maybe, as little kids, we were able to touch the Eid spirit more than the present time, back then our biggest concerns were the Eidieh " Money gifts by parents and relatives" , the Eid presents "especially plastic and water guns. Anyone knows why?" and then visiting our favorite cousins to play around with while our parents chatter with their parents.

Now, however, our concerns are no longer as childish and limited as before, we as grownups are more aware of the world around us, whether locally, neighborly or internationally, we know that while we are celebrating the occasion, there are others whom are deprived of such right, whom face death and oppression on daily basis, and whom kid's biggest dream is being able to walk the neighborhood's street without being terrorized to step back inside their houses.

For those who are forced to miss the Eid spirit, May Allah bless you and grant you peace of mind, peace of land and security , where you should know , that even if we are "celebrating" the Eid , it will never taste festival nor happy until you can , one day be a part of it and taste it equally .

My warmest and deepest wishes of a happy Eid with many returns in Allah's will , with a free Palestine and a peaceful Iraq ..

A Glimpse from past ....

Yesterday, I was looking forward for a lazy evening spending it at home , after being out for two iftars in row for the past two evenings and general lack of sleep , I felt energy consumed , and had nothing in mind other than relaxing . My mother though , had me an invitation to join her in one of the "ladies gatherings" for the old neighborhood , she brought up the matter in the sense of "its up to you " , but you could sense the " I'd like you to come" hidden between the words . The occasion of gathering was celebrating the birth of a child for a girl whom used to be one of my play mates as a kid ! I hesitated at first , then I thought , what the heck , it wont be hectic there , and its going to be a good chance to check on my old neighborhood and see my fully grownup play mate whom I haven't seen for probably over 10-12 years ! so , despite the fact that the whole gathering thing sounded to me of the "ladies thingy" or as we say in Arabic "Nasaweeni" , I decided to go !


We have moved out from that neighborhood about 13 years ago, I've passed by it several times , its not very much away from our residence now, but I haven't peeked on the street we used to live in for a while.
yesterday, when I drove up the street , everything felt smaller , the street itself, the buildings , and there was no more space land where we used to hang out as a little crowd – My brother , I and the whole neighborhood kids- instead , there was this huge residency building filling that small piece of land . the street was way too calm , no spirit ! I remember how we used to spend summer nights all gathered close to our house fence, chattering until we were almost dragged inside the houses by our mothers.


So, I parked the car, and went inside our old neighbor house accompanied by my mother . The visit was not bad at all, actually it was kind of fun, sitting with my old play mate and her sister was somehow refreshing. though I had some of those pause funny moments , where I was sitting , grinning and remembering how me and my play mate used to fool around with the rest of the kids about 14 years ago , she used to be a Tom boy , and I used to be a Tom boy wannabe :) , she oversized me , that’s why I always thought I was more delicate than she is and it took me an effort to prove that I can be a Tom boy too! she used to say "I'd never get married , marriage sucks !" and she is the one who got married first and now she's with a little sweet girl by her hand s!

Oh boy , we were happy children .