Eid Mubarak

The Holy Month of Ramadan has come to a close and today we celebrate Eid. I want to wish all my fellow Muslims Eid Mubarak! The days were long and hot but you did good! We have planned a day of fun along the Jersey Shore today with family and then a some more fun with friends towards the end of the week.. so I'll leave you with some lovely Etsy Eid finds.. and see you next week with a pantry makeover!

 Ayeshas Collection

Ocean and Ink 

Yellow Brush Studio 

Path of Light Designs 

The Eclectic Revival

Amira Rahim

Have a great week!

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Friday Photography

July was a good month.. four of my photographs found new homes.. 

Frustration was shipped off to New York and Los Angles..

Rippled Road is headed out to New York today

Night Circus will be heading off to Vermont next week..

One could be headed your way too.. you can see more of my work HERE

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Date Night

We don't do it often enough.. we have never used a babysitter.. so when any of our parents are visiting we try to squeeze in a date night or two.. catch a movie, get a massage or dinner for two. It's always initially weird like something is missing.. we don't seem to know what do do with ourselves. No one to feed, to take to the potty, no one to entertain but ourselves. Just us.. him and I.. we can finish a sentence without interference, we can hear each other speak, no one to shush... we had our last one a month or so ago.. what we hardly ever remember to do during all the sneaking out of the house before D spots us is take a picture of just us.. him and I. In fact it's something we forget to do even when we go out as a family.. it is usually him or I taking the picture.. and if we do by some miracle happen to both be in the same photograph.. together there is always a child in the mix.. we need to start taking more.. at least one picture of just him and I during any outing.. here's one we did manage to take during our last date..

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Friday Photography

I have a ton of new photography waiting to be edited but just can't find the time.. and I continue to take more photographs.. my 'in progress' folder growing.. so while I may have nothing new to share with you I thought I'd take Friday's as a day to share something none the less..

Bejeweled - I took this in Italy. It was taken inside the Vatican Museum in 2009. We were married almost two years and I was very soon going to find out I was pregnant with D. This particular ceiling was carved and intricate, the embellishments stunning.. 

Unfortunately 'Bejeweled' is now a discontinued print. There are only two prints remaining and the prices are not only at 50% off but I'm also offering free shipping {for a limited time only} 

Not for you? How about getting a head start on the Christmas list? 

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A Trip to Philly

After our little trip to the zoo we felt the need to hit the road again.. we haven't traveled anywhere in sooo long, I can't believe I am actually counting our trip to the zoo as 'travel'. Around this same time last year we had just returned from our trip to Turkey!

So with two kids and in laws in tow we packed up the mini van and head down to Philly. Our first stop was the historic center.. we stopped by the Liberty Bell and passed by the memorials

here's a little throwback for you.. M and I in Philadelphia.. married six months back in 2008 

but we could see our travel companions losing interest and the heat was beating down on us so we jumped on ahead to stop number two.. The Readington Terminal.

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We all appreciated the cool air and shade and who could resist being surrounded by all that delish food! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Reading Terminal... some back story.. The Reading Terminal Market occupies the ground floor and basement levels of the Reading Terminal's former train shed, now part of the Philadelphia Convention Center. It is an indoor public market of over a hundred merchants offering fresh produce, meats, fish, groceries, ice cream, flowers, baked goods, crafts, books, clothing, and specialty and ethnic foods. We spent a hour or two there but it was hardly enough, the Market deserves much more time to slowly peruse and consume the numerous mouth watering options it has to offer. We will be back some day when H and D are old enough to appreciate all that the market has to offer. When in Philly this is the place to have your breakfast, lunch and dinner!

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M and I split up and decided to each purchase two things.. I stopped at Kamal's for a chicken shawarma and a strawberry, pineapple, coconut juice.. the juice was great the shawarma was pretty much like any other shawarma I have had.. which is nice. 

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M had better luck at Profi's Creperie. We are not big crepe lovers but this crepe was divine. M choose a savory beef crepe with cheese, mushrooms and onions.. and we wish we had more, even picky eater D was gobbling it all up.

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My next stop the 12th Street Cantina where I got a nice big burrito bowl. The guacamole and salsa were excellent. 

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M's last stop was the Flying Monkey Bakery for some whoopie pies.. original and peanut putter :) and then of course we ended the meal with Bassett Ice Cream 

source "Credit Jared Kofsky"

Unfortunately they were out of all of our first choices and we had to settle for seconds.. M had to settle for his third choice.. and while everyone raves about Bassett's ice cream.. to me I could have been sitting at home with a pint of Eddy's or Ben and Jerry's and it still would kinda tasted the same.. plus we would have gotten the flavors we liked. 

And when all the eating was done, we headed to the Smith Memorial Playground. It is just a few miles away from the Please Touch Museum which we are all a big fan of.. yet we had never heard of this park before.. it is a hidden gem you must check out if ever in the area, free and dedicated to children under the age of ten. 

The century old 39 foot long 13' wide Ann Newman Giant Wooden Slide.

there is an indoor park too, the mansion is pretty much a giant play house; unfortunately it was closed by the time we got there..

And my favorite photograph.. : )

and even though we ended the day with a flat tire on the highway in the unexpected rain storm.. it was still a pretty good day.

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DIY Skinny Table

In our living room, behind our gray sofa we needed a skinny table. Somewhere to place our coffee cup while we sat on the couch, a place for other little this and that's. Our sofa is lower and longer than standard making the pickings a bit slim. Plus with our dinning table being in close proximity we didn't want a very wide table.. making pickings even slimmer. Pinterest was full of great projects.. to get the idea ball rolling.

I lost most of the progress pictures when my computer crashed but the idea was simple.. two planks of wood, one for the top and one cut to size to make two legs. And we bought a set of decorative brackets to make it pretty and a step above basic. We ended up adding a second plank of wood for added stability.

a little wood filler and some sanding and then we needed to decide what color to paint it.. we swayed between a bright yellow to a navy blue..

We decided to go with a beautiful deep midnight blue..  we picked the shade from the blue in the rug and the throw pillows and it all tied in perfectly.

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We Went to the Zoo

A month of no blogging made me realize just how much I love to blog, it was as if a part of me was missing.. we have a running nose, a stuffy nose and a headache that's going on five days now. Ramadan just started, D is going to summer camp and H is trying a hand and finger foods. But hopefully, fingers crossed, this is me back..

So much has happened in this past month.. so let me take you back to the beginning.. when we went to the Bronx Zoo. It was our first visit. We were there from open to close and I'm pretty sure we saw only half of the animals. We started the trip out with sleeping hippo's and polar bears in no mood to entertain.. but the disappointment ended there.. the big brown bears were in a heat.. they were frolicking in the water, trying to affectionately eat each other or make out with each other. not really sure.. but D was awed.

A monkey got frighteningly close.. it was very cool though you could tell D was a bit cautious..

the gorilla's were magnificent. they had just had a baby and it was beautiful to see them all gathered to welcome to new little on.

we rode the monorail..

and a camel..

and when the day came to an end we had to drag D out kicking and screaming.. :( I guess that means we need to go to the zoo more often.

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