To health, happiness and more blessings

Good Morning All :)

Its been years since I have been in here or at least it feels that way, reason why??? Refer to this post and you will know why.


However I am not here today to complain and the what nots....do I even ever do that? *looks sideways* anyhow today I am here to tell share something absolutely amazing....


Yesterday AK and I marked our seven years anniversary since we started dating in 2005..yes, seven years.... of beautiful memories made, funny and silly but memorable laughs, dreams shared, future planned, and all things shared. I thank God everyday for giving me such an amazing partner even when he is not being amazing!!!!

AK's first cousin (J) and his wife (S) on his mum's side had a baby boy that I have been dotting over ever since we found out that J and S are expecting. How trully amazing that God blessed them with a sweet bundle of joy on our special day and consireding the fact that I was sick and spent the whole day at the hospital visiting doctors and getting pricked by needles, this was trully a beautiful gift from The Man above.

So here's to all good health, happiness and more blessings for everyone, especially the little baby who has so much to see and explore and learn from this world :)

Nasreen

xxxx

What I am loving Wednesday

Hellow People!!! Its Wednesday, two days to the weekend *2 mins happy dance*

Today I am linking up with Jamie over at This Kind of Love for her What I am Loving Wednesday. I know I have been linking up a lot lately but I just cannot help myself with all these lovely link ups that I stumble into, they are all so lovely and all so fun.

So what am I loving this Wednesday?

The fact that I found this fabric in red/dark blue and green (picture below) for this kind of dress (down) with this back (further down)

 The Fabric

Almost same kind of cut

The back

The fact that March is almost over and April will be here soon, celebrating my 7th year anniversary with AK (The Boy)

This also means that I will be starting my Monday Love Story link up soon (please grab the button from my wall and join in on the fun and spread the word :)

The fact that I am meeting AK today after two whole days, life is gloomy without his smile in my life, even for a day

The fact that in just a few days Shannon over at Eat Pray Love...Live will start her 30 Day Challenge Link Up (I will be participating) and hopefully turn this challenge into a tangible experience.

  

The fact that Easter is around the corner and I can finally wear my shorts and sandals and put on sun screen for the Unity Games being held here and not have to worry about work and interviews and the what nots of the corporate world :)

The fact that Rachel over at {Simple.Little.Joys} has Naked Palette Giveaway that I entered and hope to win seeing as I am make up less after I lost my whole bag of make up when we were moving houses :( so here's to hoping I will win *fingers and toes crossed*

 The fact that I have an awesome bf :) *giggles* 

Love this pic :)

What are you loving this Wednesday??

Nasreen

xxxx

My Love Story

It's the BIG SEVEN!!!!

There are only 29 days left untill AK and I celebrate our 7th year anniversary since we started dating that funny awkward cute weird childish love filled and sun kissed day of 24th April 2005 (it was a raining cats and dogs outside!!!!!!!). I cannot believe that its been this long since we started dating, I mean just a few days a go AK bought me a book and has already made a bookmark for my next book (I love reading) but than I guess its these kind and small things that we do for each other that make us feel like we just started dating last week.

Throughout these seven years we have made huge mistakes and small mistakes, we have told of each other in a loving manner and sometimes in the harshest manner possible, we have learnt to live with one another and apart from each other (for three years whilst I was studying), learnt to spoil each other with breakfasts (that he makes), lunches and dinners that we take out and that he also makes, we have mastered reading each other mood swings even over the phone and have learnt to say the right words to one another when needed.....in short they have been amazing years.

And so I have decided that I will dedicate each Monday of each week to post a part of our love story featuring things that have happened over the years and how they have made us stronger in some departments and shaky in other departments.

I am looking forward to recapturing these moments and hope that you will join me in this fun exercise and together we can share our love stories with one another. Please do join me and spread the word :)

Life has taught us that Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Please grab the button below and join in the fun and if the button doesn't work (in case I got it wrong somehow, please drop me a line at nasreen(dot)hassanali(at)gmail(dot)com and please pass the word around :) Thanks

<a href=”http://tanzanitesdream.blogspot.com/” target=”_blank”><img src=”<a href="http://s1158.photobucket.com/albums/p602/thetanzanitedream/?action=view&current=LoveStory.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/p602/thetanzanitedream/LoveStory.jpg" border="0" alt="null"></a>“>

Remember to drop by Life of Meg to join in on her Mingle Monday Blog Hop



Nasreen

xxxx

Blogger Challenge Day 26

Day 26: You're Dream Wedding

I (grooms) take you (bride) as my lawfully wedded wife, to love, Honor and cherish, in good health and in sickness, for richer for poor............ *sniff sniff, take the tissue and wipe the tears streaming down my cheeks and messing my make up*

I don't know about all of you but I am a sucker for weddings, I love every thing about wedding from when the dates are set, to the preparations, to being the brides maid (once), to the ceremony which always leaves me with happy tears and to the receptions which in most cases for me are usually boring and quiet (being an Ismaili doesn't guarantee attendance to great receptions!!!!)

However, I want to take advantage of this challenge today and not talk about my dream wedding but rather what it means to be married to me and thus no matter how the wedding, what the dress and the absence of a Tanzanite ring (I hope not) my wedding will be the dream wedding.

From the time we start watching Disney Fairy tales we learn that there is always a girl from an unfair background and that there is a knight in shining armour who will come and rescue this girl from any situation and so we learn that there is a Prince Charming for each and every one of us. Our parents even start calling us by the names "princess", "precious" and the what not's because we are special that way and we will one day find our prince's and leave their home. This theme is true throughout our lives with our parents giving us lessons on love, on the "right" boy and how how hearts will skip a bit when we meet our soul mate, how the earth will be moving beneath us and how the world will be such a beautiful place when we kiss and how our kiss will be magical and what not. And will live happily ever after. This is true for most of the part, in the fairy tales anyways.

But have you noticed how we never see the "forever happy after" part?? Does it never make you wonder what happens? Let me tell you what happens, there is jealousy, there is suspicion, there are mood swings, there is miscommunication, there are misunderstandings and to make matters worse there is the external world, the many faces of the "Step mother" or the "Witch" if you may!!!! Then you ask yourself so where is the "they lived happily ever after" part??? Well that part doesn't really exist!!! Okay maybe it does, to a very few couples, where there is love, respect, trust, understanding, good channels of communication and most importantly FRIENDSHIP!!! If you have this in your relationship than you could possibly me on the right road!!!

And so my dream wedding is one where all these factors are in large quantities, whereby I can look at my husband first thing in the morning when I wake up and feel like I have just met him and we have just started dating (the honeymoon phase) or him being the last thing I see when I go to bed and longingly wait until I wake up again and feel those excitingly comforting butterflies in my belly that make me smile the whole day. More so, I hope that he will be feeling the same way or even ten times fold than and only than would I have achieved my dream wedding!!!

I know this post was supposed to be full of wedding details but at this point I feel like my feelings outplay the wedding details. But don't be fooled, I still have a diary (my mind) which keeps on planning the big day everyday ;) and these shoes below, I just loved.

{here}

What do you think? What is your take on this???  

Nasreen

xxxx

Celebrate; You're a Woman!!

Most of us have heard the story of Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit from our elders, religious leaders, TV and everything that gives us information. More so, this story has always been accompanied with comments on how Eve was the evil bitch that made Adam eat the forbidden fruit that has led to the evils of the world and what not. Of course, one has to wonder whether this is true or not seeing as all women involved in history be it religious scriptures or not have always had some form of negative impact on their male partners. For example; Samson lost his eyes because of a woman, Delilah and David committed murder because of Bathseba and so on.

Granted that women have always been portrayed this way ever since the time of Adam but have we ever thought why Adam was given a woman as a companion and not another special animal or more fruits and stuff? Simple because of this below conversation between Adam and God:

God asked Adam: "What's wrong?" and Adam replied, "I'm lonely." So God said: "Adam, I will make you a partner. She will wash and cook and clean for you, she will listen to what you have to say and never interrupt you. Who won't nag you about your actions and she will even bear your children. She will stay loyal to you and never be influenced by other men." So Adam asked, "Well, what's his gonna cost me?". "An arm and a leg." And Adam asked: "Well what can I get for an rib?". And the rest is history.

{here}

And so on this day of women's day, I would like to wish all the women out there a Happy Women's Day and that we should not forget who we are, what we are not only to ourselves but to humanity as a whole.

Nasreen
xxxx

Blogger Challenge Day 15

Day 15: Bible Verse

I am back!!! I have only been away for three days but it feels like its been ages. The things that technological problems and corporate world can do to you!!! But I am back and I am happy to be with all of you again and more so excited about all the 30 Day Challenge that I missed when I was away. Hope ya'll are well. Now, lets get on with it. Oh, by the way, hope all of you had a lovely Valentines Day :)

"Ask, and you will receive; Seek and you will find; Knock and the door will be opened to you."

Mathew 7:7

I know you are going to ask yourself "but she is a Muslim!!!!" The thing is, I think of myself more of a spiritual person than a religious person. The reason behind this is simpyly because I believe that we all believe in One Powerful Force that we give different attributes and names. We call this power God, Allah, Jehovah, Nature, Superior Being and all those other names out there. But I believe that at the end of the day we all pray to the same Power, seek for comfort, knowledge, wisdom, stregth and give thanks to the same Power no matter what the name. And this is why I have a favourite Bible verse apart from Corintians 13:4.

Why is this my favourite Bible Verse??

1. Because when I was very young, my mum (she was a Catholic) used to read this verse to me and told me that I will always have someone (God) that will be there for me for whatever reason and in whatever circumstance.
2. Because I can give testament to this verse. I have been given all the things I have asked for, some in plenty and those that have not been given to me have reasons behind them. I have knocked on so many doors and many of them have been opened and some have led to greather things than I had expected.
3. And I am trully blessed to know that at any day I can do these three things and someone will be there to answer me. Its a comforting feeling :)
4. It gives comfort to know that option #3 (above will always be open). There will be light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank You Lord.

Nasreen

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An Affair in Red

In honour of Valentines Day :)  

 

Need I say anything???

Nasreen

xxxx

Cupid Hit the Wrong Target???

I was on facebook yesterday like any other day and came across a status update from my friend that read along the lines of why do more people break up around Valentine day these days. This got me thinking....... I am still thinking, I have not come up with a conclusion yet but I did come up with a few theories.

Theories:

1. It is believed that cupid always "hits" people with his arrow and so they fall in love. We have seen this in Tom & Jerry, Scooby Doo and all the chick flicks we watch. What got me thinking is, did cupid hit these people by sheer pull of these people's emotions at that particular time or did he consider the future as well? Because I do not think he did, consider the future, that is! I mean if he did indeed look at the future than he wouldve definately known that these people will argue, fight and relationships will break, right???
2. Does cupid really "hit" you with an arrow and spread love in your system for the other person? I am thinking that if this is the case than really its cupid's love for that person that's in your system, right? Otherwise if these feelings were really yours then why do people argue, fight and relationships break???
3. If you really want this person then why do we always have to bring cupid  (or the universe or some other power in the surroundings) into this equation??
4. Is it LOVE or is it just LUST???
5. If its LOVE then why do people argue and fight all the time? What happened to " I will forever hold your hand and never raise an eyebrow forget accusations, questions or require answers from you?" Because we are both going to be honest, communicate with one another and more so trust one another.
6. If it is LUST then what happened to we will just tear each other's clothes while tripping over each others toes, scatter buttons and clothings all over the floor, push one another on the wall, break a table lamp and maybe that mug from the ex, pull at each others hair, keep the neighbours awake and live for that moment without complicating things?

You are probably wondering why am I asking all these questions right?

The thing is that I have come to realise that so many relationships start with a friends or a relatives push (cupids) with them saying "but oh, look, you guys look so cute together" or "really if I were you, I will never let her/him get away". And those relationships that started out without the cupids help were based on our looks, our phisique and even our money. All of which are not good foundations for a good relationship! Than again what is a good foundation for a relationship? And when they do start on a good foundation we find ourselves facing other challenges such as misunderstandings, third parties and simple hollywood (disney) stories that never come true! I mean not getting flowers from your boyfriend becomes an issue because thats not the "norm" or not getting a text from your girlfriend every 10mins about where she is and what she is doing is not an accepted thing or that what you consider to be important is not for the other person or that you sacrifise so much and the other person does not appreciate or that you think they dont appreciate........... and the list is endless!!!

Which brings me to ask, did cupid hit the wrong target?? Because if he had hit the right target than would this still happen?

Someone anyone am I making sense???? What I am probably asking is why are people in the relationship that they are? Or more like, what makes them stay in these relationships? I am probably asking all these questions because it seems like love is in the air all of a sudden now that Valentine's day, I am interested in knowing why are you with the person that you are with this Valentine day??!!!

Nasreen

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Blogger Challenge Day 8

Day 8: A Place You Have Travelled To
 
When I first read the title of the challenge, I was like yes, I can talk about all the places I would like to visit and shop, all the shops, all the things I can buy and then I looked at it properly and I am like noooo *Indian dramatic moment*
 
Anyhow, I have travelled to a few places like South Africa {I studied there but I did not really get to travel that much :( maybe one day I will do some more travelling there } . I have been to Kenya (Nairobi and Mombasa) but I think the best place I have been to is the Island of Zanzibar.
 
The weather is amazing, the people are so kind and helpful, the food is just yummy and the island itself is just too beautiful.
 

This is what you see when you land :)



Romantic gate away



Forodhani at night (sea food :)



You can get your heena done as welll

{here}

 
AK and I during our December holiday in Zanzibar
 

At forodhani, staring at our dreams!



Sunset in Zanzibar

Heaven :)

Nasreen

xxxx

Blogger Challenge Day 7

Day 7: Favourite Movies
 
Wow!! I can't believe its been a week since I started with this 30 Day Challenge, time sure flies.
 

Today's challenge is one of my favourite challenges, I mean who does not have a list of favourite movies? My list is so long that if I were to make it stand it would be taller than me!!!! I mean, I am one of those people who prefers staying in doors on a good day or night with a cup of hot Masala tea or hot chocolate and just watch movies, be it alone, with AK or with friends. I have a collection of Indian and English movies that I can watch over and over again, I even know the dialogues, how sad? I know but I just can't help it!!

 
So here we go, of course I have categorised them in English and Indian.
 
1. Pocahontas
 

To be honest I was quite young when I watched this and the only thing I remembered was Pocahontas's long thick beautiful dark hair, her voice, the magic tree and what happened when Captain John Smith was about to get beheaded. But than I watched it and really, what a love story.

2. Lion Kin

Lets talk about Simba, doesn't this boy, well cub, have the guts to take his uncle ( I wonder what they call uncle in kingdom lion) on like that and fight for his throne?? I mean he gives me the guts to fight my battles, okay maybe not really but you know what I mean. Lets not forget Timon and Pumbaa, what characters...lol!! And the songs, love em, especially because I can sing along to "Hakuna Matata."

3. A walk to remember

Okay remember on Challenge #2 I told you that I am such an emotional person and how you put a chick flick on and I get a towel, this is so true. This movie just pulls at my heart, I am not sure if its the true believer in me that makes me cry or that I have a lot of that chemical that makes you cry ( I tried looking for name, came up blank!!!). But really, he learnt how to dance just for her, how romantic.

4. Sex and the City (I & II)

Now there is a lot that I can say about this movie but friendship is the core. I love how all three women manage to be best of friends from their early youthful years through to menopause and beyond. Still trust each other, stand by each other, defend each other and most important enjoy life like they were 20 years old. Of course the clothes, jewellery and the shoes are also an important factor to consider when it comes to my love for this movie :) And who doesn't wish that their man would punish them with a stone for being a naughty girl ;)

5. The Harry Potter Series

So I love stories that revolve around witches, witchcraft, magic, vampires, werewolves and the likes and to tell you the truth, the Harry Potter series is all that for me of course minus the vampires and werewolves. Really who doesn't wish to make some love portions or some vanishing powder for those really awkward moments that we go through in life. My favourite movie was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

6. Jodhaa Akbar ( translation: Great King Jodhaa)

This is one of my favourite movies from my Indian collection. It is a love story of two different individuals that were forced to marry due to the critical circumstances that their country was facing and ended up falling in love and not only merging (If I can use that word) their lives together to form one but also that of the Muslims and Hindu's of India. The songs in the movies have a strong meaning, their clothing's are just fabulous and their love amazing (if you do get a chance then do watch it, with subtitles of course :). Aishwariya is not only beautiful but she is an amazing actress and put against Hrithik, the chemistry was explosive.

{here}

7. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (Dear, I have already given my heart)

Fun musical movie to watch. I love how Aishwarya and Salman flirt with each other through the course of their relationship and how Aishwarya ends up marrying a guy she does not love but eventually trust, respect and companionship turn to love. The simple ingredients of a relationship.

{here}

8. Vivah (translation: Marriage)

You know all those beliefs about arranged marriages? The ones whereby the couple never falls in love and never really share a strong emotional bond??? It all changed once I saw this movie, I even wanted to fall in love this way, I guess love after marriage does happen :)

{here}

This was fun :)

Nasreen

xxxx

Blogger Challenge Day 6

Day 6: A Picture of Something that Makes You Happy

Good Morning people and happy Monday :)

I hope that all of you had a great weekend, mine was another lazy weekend :) something I have come to love lately, the corporate world can you leave drained, I tell ya!!! {This is a post for saturday as I did not manage to blog :( }

I got this video from a friend, a very long time ago and it always cracks me up, LOL!!

Don't you always wonder what you had said as a kid???

Have a beautiful day :)

Nasreen
xxxx

Blogger Challenge Day 3

Day 3: Your First Love
 

Lets talk about heart breaks because all first Love's lead to heart breaks, at least in my case!!!!

 

The first time I saw my first love was on television, it was a sad day for the world and mostly for him and his family. However, this small, tiny, cute, little man with a mass of blond hair on his head was walking with an air of "I will be alright". And I fell in love there and than only, glued to the TV for the whole duration that his mother's funeral procession was going on. Oh, Diana Princes of Wales, thank you for this gem of a man.  

 

Ladies and gentlemen (if any), let me introduce you to my first love *drum roll* Harry, Prince Harry :)

 

Little wittle cutey Harry :)

 

The day I first laid my eyes on him and fell in love, August 2007.

He is everything you would want in a man :) 

Harry, the sports man

Harry, the humanitarian!

 Harry, the friend :)

Harry, the tank commander!

Harry, the party animal!

Harry, the heart stopper!!!!

But then the clock struck midnight and my Cinderella story was that, a Cinderella story, an incomplete story until I met the real physical love of my life.

Let me now officially introduce to you my knight in shining armour *blushes*

AK

US <3

It feels like midnight will never come :)

I had fun doing this challenge.

Have a great day.

Nasreen

xxxx