It’s a girl! 🎉🎈👶

Just wanted to write a quick post to announce the arrival of our beautiful baby girl born in the early hours on 16th June!!

After a long and traumatic labour for us both we are (slowly but surely) on the mend and looking forward to family life with a newborn ☺️ little Safia is still in NICU but has improved much in the last few days so hoping to be able to take her home soon!

Keep us in your prayers and thoughts and wish Safia home with us quickly. So so proud to be a mummy to a gorgeous girl, still can’t believe she’s mine!

My lovely babyshower!

Only a few weeks ago I had my babyshower at Amirs cousins house. We decided that where we lived just outside of London would make it a longer journey for all the guests to come to so had it locally to my mums instead. As well as this Amirs cousin F had only just got engaged a few weeks back so the marquee and decor was already half set up for us to use in the garden! We changed up the decor for the engagement day blue to my mint green theme and everything turned out beautifully!!

Everyone helped set up and make the day soooo much fun (much much better than I had imagined), sister N and M bought personalised gift bags for guests, sweets, and decor, Amir got the food sorted and helped me bake the day before (which is a hugely amusing story in itself as my husband has two left hands when it comes to baking) as well as organising the day, bro in law set up the marquee, sister in law A sorted out games and elder sis F made a beautiful banner (which will go in baby’s new room). Aunties, mums and mum in laws cooked delicious food and everything was perfect!

I won’t go on too much as the pics do it all justice, but I had a wonderful day and was amazed at the support and generosity of my friends and family, I receive some beautiful gifts for baby (and me!) and feel so blessed that my little one is already loved so much! (I have a feeling he or she is going to be MAJORLY spoilt!)

Here are the pics from the day:

(Hubby helping the day before with baking hehe)

(Sweet table set up my me and my sisters)

Decor and cake!

My mum to be banner and the yummy food, amir also ordered a huuuuuuge pizza (only to be described as American size!) and home made food.

We also played some cool games including guess the baby, where guests had sent in baby pictures of themselves for others to guess and making a nappy out of loo roll…my team lost! Was good fun all the same

I also received some beautiful gifts, I especially loved the effort my sis in law A went to to make this amazing nappy cake!

All in all it was a great day and everyone had a lot of fun, food and baby related goodness. I’m very lucky to have everyone help set up and take part in occasions like this and look forward to more days like these!

(Just a side note, if my pictures are not quite in order it’s because I am getting used to using blogging again!) also linked to this page is my sisters version of events which may be more coherent at the beginning of this post!) x

I’m back! Where to start!!?

Hello everyone! Guess who?

I have been MIA for a few months now and for good reason! Now I’m wondering where to begin!

Only this morning I got another email with a comment from a reader and decided I would make an appearance.

Where have you been I hear you say? Welllll firstly let me apologise to my readers for neglecting you (and this page) but I have some good news!

Shortly after I stopped blogging I found out I was expecting! me and the hubs decided it was the right time to start and family (and also those comments from people had started…not that they influenced us at all) and we couldn’t be happier!

Thankfully pregnancy has been kind to me and I’ve enjoyed every month of new feelings and change. I’m now at the end of my third trimester and due in almost 3 weeks!! Things will be taking an exciting new change in our lives and as scary as it seems I am sooo excited! Can’t wait to meet my little one!

I have sooooo much to catch up on and may backtrack on a few posts to come soon but for now I thank you for your patience and now I’ve typed up this post am actually wondering why I didn’t do this sooner! 😊

Emoticon biscuits

Cousin S sent me a pic of some emoticon biscuits she had found a picture of and whatsapped me them as a baking suggestion….

As I had little else to do on a Thursday I decided to make them! I felt very happy with the end results 😊

they were delicious too!
How do you feel today? X

My anniversary Registry ❤

Amir and I finally got round to getting our registry done last weekend! We never got round to it in the chaos of wedding prep last year so eventually decided to do it on our first year anniversary. Unfortunately the dates didn’t quite match up to last year and we ended up missing the closest date so settle for the 14th which was closest to the walima.

The day went lovely! We got up early (to the sound of rain..) and I spent an hour putting my face on…well mostly sticking on eyelashes which kept coming off! Got there in the end though. I then got changed and went to the hairdressers to get my hair done as I wanted to look nice and hairstyling is not really my strong point. By the time I left the hairdressers I was pretty much ready, on time and just had a few last minute touches to add! To add a sentimental touch I used a hair piece from my engagement, my bangles and bag from my wedding day and was so so so lucky to be given a beautiful brooch by my mother in law who had been given to her by her mother in law and it matched perfectly!

engagement hair piece

Once the family had all arrived we made our way to the registry office to get married…lawfully and officially! 🙂

we do!

my husband ever the poser

After the ceremony which was short and sweet we made our way outside for some pictures together and with the family

Thankfully the weather stayed ok enough during this time too. Once we’d posed for more pictures than amir wanted we made our way home to relax a while and to allow time for midday prayers before lunch. I took the time to enjoy the lovely gifts I received from family, jewellery, beautiful flowers and LOTS of chocolate!

me and gorgeous baby niece

more posing

Once everyone had had a few minutes to relax, chit chat and give me plenty of much deserved compliments (I know, I’m sooo modest! Haha) we made our way to the restaurant nearby where we had booked the upstairs area for our lunch.

While we waited a few speeches were made and amir was even encouraged to make one which was sweet. I refused on the other hand which Amir moaned about…hey! I wasn’t prepared and I don’t do ‘on the spot’ speeches thankyou! 😉

amir making a speech

The food arrived slowly at first but soon our tables were filled, the food was yummy! Almost everyone commented on how good it all tasted which was great. And for dessert? What else…..cake!!!!

guess who got first bite…?mmmmm!

Once we had all eaten some of our family had to set off home and the rest came home with us to spend the evening laughing and celebrating our anniversary, marriage and mum in laws and cousin S’ birthday as well with more gifts and more cake! (I must’ve eaten about 3 slices that day!)

Mostly though, I was just happy I got to marry the man I luuuurve all over again and be reminded of how lucky I am and how happy he makes me, hope our marriage lasts forever and always. X

Beatrix Potters museum

On our last day at the Lake District, we decided to take our time having breakfast and leisurely getting ready to go. The hotel we were at was really nice and included an indoor pool. Amir was determined to use it which we did the evening before watching the rain fall above us through the glass ceiling. After another yummy breakfast we had a look around in the gardens and grounds.

they also had a bird cage with plenty of birds in

getting ready!

Once we had checked out we decided to go to the Beatrix Potter museum before we headed on the long drive back. It’s not very big but was actually quite nice, the price was also very reasonable. I would say its more child friendly than anything but the works on display and the stories they tell are quite fascinating if your into the whole Peter rabbit and co works.

Amir found a new friend!

Mr.McGregor’s garden

from the gift shop you can create your own name with Peter rabbit chocs!

Lake District anniversary weekend

Last weekend Amir had booked us a anniversary weekend away in the Lake District area. I’ve always wondered what it was like and have always been curious to go there so was looking forward to this trip! The weekend fell on the anniversary of our wedding day last year which made it even nicer for us.

We left late Friday morning and drove the gazillions of miles up north. We made pit stops for loo and lunch which made the journey easier. Amir even went out the evening before and got us snacks for the journey and something for me to read to keep me entertained…

my first Jeffrey archer novel!

We got to our hotel around 4pm and guess what…it was raining! In fact the whole weekend was pretty much rainy and cold, not that it stopped us. Here’s a few pics of what we got up to.

our bedroom, the hotel we stayed at was once owned and lived in by the famous Beatrix Potter

view from the room

We relaxed a while and unpacked before going for a walk in the rain with our brollies. Unfortunately for me I had only packed summery bits (optimistic as I was) but luckily took a pair of old trainers I ended up wearing the whole weekend instead 😉 we walked up to a boating area which had some nice greenery around with some cool views.

cute duckies and swans swimming around

When we came back we found our room had been remade (yeh we messed it up a little..well amir did, messy one) and found chocs on our pillows! That got me well excited and raving on about how ‘posh’ the place was!

We went out for a late night dinner in the local town and got to bed ready for tomorrow’s exploring.

We woke up to the best breakfast I’ve ever had. It was seriously posh and seriously tasty!!!

We then headed out to Brockhole visitors centre, we started off our day with a treetop trek which I have done before, it was scary (I’m afraid of heights) but exhilarating! I loved the thrill of it, was so so so much fun!

By the time we had zip wired to the end of the course amir (to my hilarity and not sympathy) had incurred some injuries and refused to walk the second higher course with me, we ended up going on the third level to do the zipwire ride twice which was sooooo worth it!

view on return from zipwire end

After we had returned our harnesses we walked around (in the rain) and came to the pier where we could boat out way to Ambleside and then to Wray Castle, we decided this was easier than returning to the town to go boating so got tickets and waited ten minutes for the boat to arrive.

Brockhole gardens

We arrived at Ambleside confused as to when the next boat to Wray castle was and turned out it would be a 40minute wait! We decided to lunch while we waited as it was raining anyway so had some fish and chips in a small shop where we could easily keep an eye out for our boat to arrive.

The one thing I found in the area was everyone was so friendly! Even the chip shop man made us aware his normal fish and chips wouldn’t be suitable for our halal requirements and suggested a gluten free version which would be cooked seperately for us! It was yummy!

We finished stuffing our faces (I say we I mean me) just in time for the boat to arrive! This time it was less crowded and we got the Wray castle to explore. The castle itself looked beautiful from outside but having been neglected inside for so long we were told it was still being refurbished and restored since only last year.

Inside was very child friendly, plenty for kids to do and as a teacher I managed to get a few ideas to use in class too!

I really like the signs on the doors of different rooms telling us what they used to be..

Once we had finished looking inside we went outside to play a few games and enjoy the beautiful scenery..

Luckily we made our way to the pier again early and a good thing too as the boat arrived early, we made our way back to the visitors centre, to our car and home to rest a while before heading out for dinner again.

The day itself weather wise had been rubbish, we got rained on about every 5 minutes but we still had lots of fun and I don’t think I laughed so much (mostly at Amir) ever! which was so worth it. It was also nice to spend time together being in a beautiful place and having a romantic adventure 🙂 X

Happy 1st Anniversary!

Me and my husband started the celebrations of our one year anniversary yesterday which marked a year from when we signed our nikkah papers.

I can’t believe a whole year has gone by so quickly and as cliché’d as it sounds it feels like only yesterday we were getting married and celebrating. The time has gone by so quickly full of so much love, happiness and fun. We had our massive amounts of ups and like most marriages some downs too.

I’m so thankful for my amazing husband and all that he is, I could never have imagined a year ago I would feel the way I do now. I look forward to many more years of being happily married cos for me…this is just the beginning!

We are going away this weekend for a romantic get away to the Lake District, can’t wait i am so excited! It’ll be the perfect chance to get some quality couple time together and make the most of our anniversary weekend (as that was the weekend we had the actual wedding day

For now though we started the mini celebrations by treating ourselves to some yummy dessert…

I look forward to spending the the rest of my life making the most of my marriage and all that’s in it, love my hubby to bits!

cool times

relaxing times

crazy times

annoying times

romantic times

Happy anniversary! Will be posting pics on our weekend away once we are back 🙂 X

Rainbow cupcakes

This weekend was my sister in laws sisters mendhi celebration. Sis in law had asked me a few weeks ago if I would help out by making cupcakes in the theme colours for the day. I made about 100 and split the workload over two days which was great because it felt like a lot less work than it actually was. Here’s what I ended up with from beginning to end:

I used a range of toppers to create a simple but striking effect

The final looks..

We got to the venue a little late which meant I had an audience as me and my sisters helped set up (I felt very embarassed!) but when we finished I’m happy to say we did an amazing job, the pink table setting against the cupcake colours was awesome! We left a few on the main dessert table too. As well as this I left my newly made business cards on tables for guests to see and perhaps help me kick start a cupcake business 🙂

What do you think?

very cool henna inspired biscuits made by my sis in law

I had a lovely evening and the bride to be looked gorgeous. The evening went by quickly with plenty of colour, music, fun and games.

I spent much of the evening with my adorable niece who looked the part in pretty pink.

My hard work paid off as I received plenty of compliments from sis in laws and her sisters which I was proud of. I look forward to the wedding now where I hope to eat some cake and take a break from making them 😉 X

Eid celebrations

My Eid this year was awesome. I spent the first day with my in laws family and the second with my own family at my mums house. Both days were full of laughter, gifts, beautiful clothes, yummy desserts and delicious, rich food!

Here’s a few pics of the celebrations:

the boys took me to the main street the night before to get me henna done on ‘chaand raat’ an evening of Hena decorating, bangle selling and eating tasty late night snacks

dressed up for the day, I had on a long flowy dress but didn’t manage to get a full picture in the business of the day

enjoying a late night with the family

fun and games with newly received gifts

mums amaaaaaazing feast! Absolutely delicious!

my nephew showing off his ‘eidi’ money

me and my sisters jewellery and henna, everyone looked gorgeous

chocolates I ordered for the occasion

Me and Saq also made treats for eid to share, they went down a storm!

my Eid decorated shortbread biscuits

Saq’s yummy cupcakes

We all also received plenty of cool gifts as me and my sisters have always exchanged each year for Eid. We usually make a wish list of what we want but it was so short this year we bought pretty things for each other we thought each might like. I loved my gifts! Here’s a pic of some of what I received (I tidied the rest away before taking a pic!)

gifts ready to be handed out

pretty dresses and jewellery from my sisters and a new phone from Amir! ❤

I spent two days having a blast enjoying everyone’s company and making the most of family, making precious new memories with all those around me (including the new babies whose first Eid it was) especially my new family. Eid for me has always been special and this year round was no exception, as always Ramadan and Eid have come and gone so quickly but I look forward to the next one with just as much excitement as I received this years. How was your Eid and how did you spend it? X