Friday Things

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Hello friends!

So this edition of Friday Things is almost at the end of Friday night, but it still counts, right? It’s been kind of a crazy day but I had time to kill so figured I’d do a quick post.

So I have a confession: I just finished watching the last episode of Fuller House. And I actually liked it. Lol. Like so many kids growing up in the 90s, I loved watching Full House. It was one of the few shows I could watch with my (brown) parents, and they actually enjoyed it too! When I first heard about the remake/sequel, I was a bit hesitant, but then jumped on board when I watched the trailers. But after watching the first few episodes, I was a bit let down. The show was insanely cheesy. I guess it didn’t help that I had my husband watching it with me and he kept cringing every five minutes. He eventually gave up and I thought I did too, until I finished my Downton Abbey rewatching and decided to give it another shot. And I’m so glad I did!

The show is still cheesy. The humour is silly. The characters repeat many of the same lines. And there’s so many attempts to break down the fourth wall. But it’s still cute. And funny. And loveable. It’s like curling up with an old teddy bear, one you’ve outgrown but still have fond memories of. So if you’re looking for something light and silly to watch, I definitely recommend it! Especially if you watched and loved the original. Just try to look past the cheesiness…

In book news, I’ve been struggling with a book called Kingdom of Little Wounds, and it’s honestly one of the gruesome books I’ve ever read. It’s supposed to be a teen fairytale retelling, and while the concept sounded interesting, it just depresses me. It reminds me of cautionary tales masked as fairy tales and there’s also this whole sickness aspect to it. I really want to soldier on, but I feel like it might be on it’s way to becoming another Did Not Finish title. 🙁

I’ve also started dieting again. And it’s just so difficult! I don’t remember how I used to do it. The last time I lost a huge chunk of weight I dieted for about a year and it became so easy to me after awhile. But it’s only the second weekend and all I want are cookies and ice cream and pasta and pizza and everything else sugary or carby. Yup, it’s like when I’m fasting: when I can’t have it, I want it! I’m thinking about having cheat days on Saturdays again, like I used to, because I think it helps me stay on track the rest of the week and not cheat in little ways. I also tried to cut back on the baking, but my excuse is my husband, and so far I’ve made him sugar cookies and brownies in one week and sampled them both. 🙁 Ugh, why don’t I have more self-restraint!

But in related news, I HAVE been working out! I know, it’s crazy right? You all remember how much I hate working out right? And the truth is, I still hate it. But I’ve sort of found a solution. I find this link to some Jillian Michaels workout videos and I decided to try them out. In the beginning I was only able to do about 20 mins (including the stretch lol) but now I can do 40 mins! I know, I’m amazed too. I do it in the morning, first thing when I wake up, well before I have a chance to get lazy and skip. It’s been 2 weeks and I haven’t skipped a day yet 😀 I was starting to get bored of them, because I have to listen to the trainer say the same thing every single time I do it, but now that I can do most of the workout, I just put music on on my laptop while the video plays and I follow. It definitely makes it slightly less boring. Here’s hoping I get some results soon!

Anyways, it’s getting late and my eyes are closing as I type this. So I hope you all have a good weekend! I’ll be back soon to share a new recipe with you all. 🙂

Thanks for reading,

Ikhlas

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Recipe: Easy Chocolate Cake

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Easy Chocolate Cake

So I’ve been suffering from a bout of laziness lately. I haven’t felt like doing much these days and seem to be stuck in a funk. All I want to do is rewatch episodes of Downton Abbey and that’s what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks.

I started from season 1, episode 1, and it’s been so much fun watching the series again, after knowing what happens in the end. I loved it before, but now having all six seasons at my fingertips and being able to watch the whole show, has made me love it even more. It’s like reading a really good book that I can’t seem to put down!

And while I love watching the show, it’s made me abandon writing (for now). I was so sure I was going to start writing again, but I just seem to be in a funk and don’t feel like it. I’m still hashing out the plot and it’s such a slow process since my brain feels like mush these days.

Easy Chocolate Cake

I haven’t been reading much either. I recently read Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it. It didn’t grip me. I’ve recently started another Teen book but I haven’t really gotten into it yet.

But one thing I am into is this easy chocolate cake! If you’re feeling lazy (like me), then this cake is for you. Moist and chocolately, the chocolate ganache is literally the icing on the cake. It’s also not a complicated recipe or one that’s time-consuming so it’s perfect for chocolate cake cravings on ordinary days. Have a look!

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Taking a Leap

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So remember when I recently posted about my intense and crippling fear of failure? About how I am so scared of failing at all the things I love that I don’t even bother trying anyways? Well, I ended up taking a leap and a risk!

I recently started posting one of my original stories on my other blog.

So how it came about is that my husband and I watched The Martian a few weeks ago, and it got me thinking about a lot of things. But the most interesting thing it sparked had to do with the movie’s conception. The movie is, of course, based on a popular book by the same name, but before it was a book, The Martian was a serial story on the author’s blog. The author would write and post a chapter every week on his blog, and it eventually grew in popularity. He eventually published it as an Amazon e-book, and then it got made into a hardcover book, and then of course it got made into a movie! I mentioned this to my husband and he encouraged me to share my story in the same way. He knew of my frustration with the lack of response I’d gotten from agents, and suggested that I should start posting my fiction on my other blog, chapter by chapter.

So initially, I was scared to death of this idea and shot it down immediately. How could I possibly share my work online? What if someone stole it? And more importantly, what if people hated it? If you’ve ever written anything, you know what a big deal it is to share it with another person, let alone share it on the internet. It’s like putting your baby out into the world and expecting people not to judge it. It’s a frightening prospect.

But slowly I began warming up to the idea, since as everyone kept telling me, what did I have to lose? So finally, almost three weeks ago, I posted the first chapter. Ever single time my phone vibrated with an email, my hands would be shaking to see if someone, anyone, had commented on the story.

The first chapter didn’t get many hits and maybe only one comment initially (from my best friend), but I was still happy to see that people were reading it. It was only after I posted the second chapter did the story get even more comments, and then even more with the third.

The past three weeks have been exhilarating; I still can’t believe that there are people I both know and don’t know out there in the world who are reading my words and liking them. It’s a scary feeling, but one that is slowly disappearing after every comment I read that tells me how much a young girl relates to my characters and loves the story. It’s just so gratifying 🙂

I try not to have any expectations for it. I already know that publishing stories like Harry Potter, Twilight, etc. are the exceptions, and not the rules, and that it’s very possible that nothing will come of this. It’s possible that a handful of girls on the internet will enjoy the story while it’s being posted, and then it’ll disappear into the abyss, like so many things, when it’s over. (Not trying to be a pessimist here, just a realist.) But it’s still so amazing to share the story with people and have people relate to it and enjoy it. That’s why I wrote it. And while it’s still my dream to hold a physical copy in my hands one day, I’ve decided to be happy with this. Because it’s a step.

If you’re on my personal Facebook, you’ve probably already seen me posting the links. But I wanted to share it here as well, in case any of you were interested in reading it. It’s my dream, it’s my baby, it’s everything I’ve been working for since I was ten years old. 🙂

You can check it out here if you’re so inclined . And here’s a brief synopsis to tell you what it’s about:

Twenty-two year old Aisha Ali is a firm believer in arranged marriages. In fact, she believes in them so strongly that she matches people up for a living at The Islamic Marriage Bureau. But one day, when Adam Swift, a recent Muslim convert from Toronto, comes to small Windsor Bay, Aisha’s views on men and marriage get shaken up.

Thanks for reading,

Ikhlas

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Recipe: Rich Chocolate Mousse

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Rich Chocolate Mousse

My best friend Fatima and I both love to bake, but we have different styles. I love everything she makes, because she has a different style. She makes different things than me so whenever I’m invited to her place, I know she’ll have made something yummy and pretty. This Rich Chocolate Mousse is one of those things.

I’ve had this mousse at her house many times, but the time I remember enjoying it the most was at my bridal shower. She had decked the house out for me and had made the most adorable table, with so many delicious and beautiful things. She had put the chocolate mousse in these cute plastic see-through glasses and I remember gobbling up two of them, and then taking them home where my brothers and dad also devoured them. It was that good!

Rich Chocolate Mousse

I’ve never really been a mousse person, but this mousse changed everything! It was just so rich and so decadent. I don’t know why but whenever I used to think of chocolate mousse, I used to think of chocolate pudding: dense and thick. But this rich chocolate mousse is anything but!

It’s rich and creamy, and the stuff that chocolate-lover’s dreams are made of. Have a look!

Rich Chocolate Mousse

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DIY-ing

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DIY-ing

As some of you might know, I love arts and crafts. I love being creative and putting things together to make new things. And now that I’ve moved into a new place, I’ve become obsessed with making things by hand to decorate my new place with.

The above piece is a verse from the Quran. I saw it on instagram a few weeks ago and fell in love with it! I love Islamic art, especially calligraphy pieces like this with beautiful artwork. I tried to track down the piece but couldn’t seem to find it anywhere. I had pretty much abandoned hope when I went back to the original post on instagram and saw that someone had commented below it, saying how happy she was to have her artwork featured. I clicked on her name and voila! I found her Etsy page and finally found this piece. I was so happy about finding it finally that I rushed out to find a frame that would look nice with it, when I found this vintage looking one in Michaels.

I’m sure you all know how much I LOVE Michaels by now. I use it for all my card-making supplies, but have recently discovered their other sections. Originally I picked up a contemporary looking frame, but then fell in love with this classic one and think it’s more suited for the beautiful, flowing calligraphy.

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I bought this birdcage from Michaels months ago when it was on sale. They had a whole bunch on sale and I was so tempted to buy one in every size, but I managed to control myself. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it, except that I just loved how cute and vintage it looked. After some Pinterest research, I settled on decorating it with flowers. These flowers were 3 stems in a set for $1.30, and were an additional 40% off! I didn’t really count how many I used, but they ended up being pretty even. I got small stems that fit inside the birdcage and had thin, wire stems so that I could twist them slightly so that they wound around the cage without coming out.

What I loved about this project was how easy it was! You can definitely change up the flowers depending on the season or based on your mood. You can also decorate a birdcage with in so many different ways! You could put some nice decorative candles inside or even twirl some fake pearls around it for a girly look. Mine has a handle on top and so I can even hang it from the ceiling, although I have no idea how…

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So this is a blue shadow box with paper roses inside. I got the shadow box from TJ Maxx for $10 one day when I went in to browse. I had no idea what to do with it, other than that I wanted to do something different. I love shadow boxes; I think they’re a nice change to the regular frame. I made a shadow box with memories for my best friend on her birthday years ago, but I wanted to do something different from the collage shadow box. This shadow box came with 4 beautiful key shaped pins as well, which I thought was a nice change from the straight white push pins shadow boxes come with…

I saw a picture of a shadow box on Pinterest with a collection of ombre paper roses inside. As soon as I saw it, I knew that’s what I wanted to do! Mine didn’t turn out to be really ombre though because I didn’t have enough shades of pink in my paper collection, but I still think it came out nice. Instead of gluing the roses onto the pin board of the shadow box, I pinned a piece of paper to it. This way I can easily just remove the pins and get rid of the paper if I ever want to put something else in the box, without having to peel the roses off. I’ll probably be doing a DIY tutorial for this so stay tuned!

In the end, I ended up with 47 paper roses, which took my 2 nights to make. It was so nice to just sit on the couch and roll my roses as I watched episodes of Downton Abbey. Very relaxing!

So those are the 3 DIY projects I’ve completed recently. The only problem is that now that I’ve done them, I don’t have anything else to do! My hands are itching for a new project but I haven’t really seen anything on Pinterest that looks good. Any ideas? If you know of any fun projects or crafts, do let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading,

Ikhlas

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