*Happy Ramadan to everyone*

Tomorrow's the 1st of Ramadan according to the Islamic calendar and so starts the month of fasting, which will be followed by Eid:)! Happy Ramadan to everyone. I hope this month is awesome for everyone, I hope we get time to think and ponder and pray and thank God and be better human beings. I also hope that we can all, in our ways, improve the impressions of Muslims and Islam all over the world. Islam is not what is being portrayed by so many of us, and that is really sad.  

For those of you who don't know much about Ramadan, I will write a detailed post soon but for tonight, I wanted to share something. Sami Yusuf has one of the most amazing voices and it really touches your soul. This was his first song I ever heard and I've been a fan ever since. Its called 'Supplication'. The video is awesome too. Very peaceful.

 

PS: Some links about ramadan:

1. this one about how a typical Ramadan's like in Pakistan.
2. and this where he answers questions about Ramadan, its funny.
3. and this blog is all about Ramadan in different parts of the world.
4. and this pakistani advertisement depicts Ramadan in Pakistan.
5. and this is a documentary about Ramadan in the states.

*another collage*

another collage I made yesterday. The quote is from the book I was talking about earlier here by Ann Brashares:)

Collage I made today!

So today's looking like one of those creative days and that makes me happy, REALLY happy:)! and who would have known, the sun's managed to find its way through the clouds too and the day is turning out better than it started.

Here's my work from today. The quote's from Judith McNaught's 'Almost Heaven'. I love all her books. They're such sappy romantic reads, the kinds that manage to give you butterflies(lol). If you're into chick literature and haven't read her books, I'd recommend them any day!

Photo + Word *art*

I got the inspiration for this last night, while i was just playing around with my calligraphic pen (my husband had bought them for me and I just hadn't used them before). So some scribbling, some pictures, and some photoshop-ing, and this is the result...

I'd like feedback so if you drop by here, I'd love to hear comments.

POTD: the one that wouldn't talk to them

*the one that wouldn't talk to them*

The Story: After dinner at this chinese place, me and my husband walked a block to our grocery. On the way back we saw the pigeons and the one that wouldn't talk to them..

PS: I'm wondering if I should crop this picture to exclude the pigeon head on the bottom right corner, tell me what you think!

update: I decided to crop it and this is the new image. I think it looks better this way:)!

Introducing - 'Picture of the day'

Okay so I've decided to start a picture of the day post to share all the pictures that I keep taking and want you guys to see.

Yea I know I keep sharing pictures all the time so what's the point of this. Yea good question and I'm still wondering about the answer. I know I'm going to have a good one but until I do, just look at the pictures =)

movie night - 'kite runner'

So its 1:00 am here. We just watched the kite runner and just like I expected it was beyond awesome. There were moments where I could feel the emotion enough to bring tears to my eyes, specially the part where he goes back to Kabul. very touching. Its even more emotional for us from Pakistan with the kind of situation it is there, with local taliban wanting to bring their kind of Islam to the country. We're all just praying and keeping our fingers crossed. I cant even imagine how it must be to feel like a stranger in your own country, to go back and see everything destroyed. I'm praying though, and hoping everyday that things get better.

*things I want to do today*

1. Vacuum clean house
2. Organize the mess in the freezer (cuz you really cant find anything when you need it!!)
3. Call up all the people i promised to call, and never got round to it (proly cuz I'm just so very lazy)
4. Clean/Organize the guest room/my craft area.
5. Do a load of laundry

{Random Picture for the day}

(all the hydrangeas in the house and me in my silver 'khussa's)

update: check to vacuming, check to organizing freezer(yay). i did call up one person but not the rest sigh. TRIED to organize the craft room, i organized stuff in boxes to put under the bed when i'm not using it (cuz i dont have place to do anything else). Uncheck to one load of laundry.. badd!

"no no no no noooo"

so well i was outside over the weekend just taking random pictures in the yard and what do i notice! the leaves are turning red on the maple tree!! noooo! i mean i know the tree looks gorgeous when its all red but it does mean that summers are gone. it means that autumn is here and days are going to get shorter. and its going to get colder (sigh.. i hate it when i feel cold all the time. like when no matter how many things i wear its like my feet and hands are always cold.. no i dont like it), and oh gawd its goign to be raining all the time, and we're never going to see the sun! sigh i miss summers already!

*these hands*

"these hands make the music of my life..these hands are yours and you are mine"

hehe.. very lame i know.. i just felt like getting poet-ish. this is just a random shot of my husband doing his thing a few days ago. i love his music. i love the look on his face when he's playing music. i love the way he hums when he's making his music. i love all of it. yes i'm a happy woman today :]

[what's been going on] picture update

*driving around in Seattle*

[what's been going on] part3

the most exciting thing these days is this,

my first car!!! I'm so excited, my husband bought this for me (yea he is so sweet.. i luvv him) and I'm all gaga over it =]

[what's been going on] part2

I've been working on these things these past two weeks!

1. Have I mentioned how much i love http://www.issuu.com/ I read about it on http://www.photojojo.com/ and once I'd forgotten everything else to do, to look at some of the awesome stuff people had created there, I was soo inspired. I have a number of ideas for books/magazines. So well, right now I'm working on this book about me and my husband, here's a peek.
   
2. I mentioned the love journal I was working on right? So its almost complete, I just need to add some more stuff and then I'm done I think. I'm not completely liking the cover but the rest of it, I think I do:) . Here's some of it.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Here's another peek into my home. This is our hallway. The 'summer of 08' little picture book from flickrtoys is up there, and so is a sketch my husband made alongwith a popart print of me and my husband I made on flickrtoys this week (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/)
   
   
4. Some photoart i made in photoshop.
   

That is pro'ly it, in the 'things i've been making' update.. see you in a while :)

[whats been going on] part1

Alot has been going on my side all this time that i've been sort of missing! so i thought i'd tell you guys about all of that. so where do i start. firstly it was my guy's birthday a few days ago. i didn't do anything special which was sad, and i felt bad, i was really busy with this *other* thing which i will mention later.

(made using this http://www.blyberg.net/cardgenerator/)

*this is him reading the card i gave him, and our tiny icecream brownie cake with the little balloon we just had to get!

*last night's art*

after a little break from my she journal, i was back to it last night. while my husband watched the olympic final of soccer, i sat on the floor in the living room and i cut, i glued, i taped things, i wrote words.. and i ended up making 4 collages, 2 with quotes from the book 'the last summer of you and me' ..here they are:)

ps: you can view them larger on my flickr photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/51506905@N00/sets/72157606600555585/)

*video inspiration*

Just had to share this awesome piece of art. did i mention i'm into making movies too? well i am. i haven't done anything too major yet though, just edited my wedding movies and all but i'm working on a few things these days.

This video is a major source of inspiration for me today. Its this video for a pakistani song, but get this, made with pictures! so all the motion you see in the movie is actually images arranged like that. i love the idea and the video is just eye candy for me.. love it!

*the last summer of you and me*

i just started reading this book, 'The last summer of you and me' by Ann Brashares. I'm really enjoying reading it and its making me nostalgic. her writing is so haunting. and I'm so excited because it has these gorgeous lines which I so want to use in collages, actually I think I could make a whole 'she and him' journal based on these lines. so yayy I have new inspiration for a new series!

update: I finished this book and I have all my fav quotes from it written down. just have to think of an idea to use it. I used a few in my she journal too..

*happy days*

i'm happy for the following reasons

1. The weekend was alot of fun for both of us, we drove around and discovered some new places.
2. I got my haircut, and i think it looks nice.
3. I found the alphabet stamps that i was looking for (my boy found them for me), and i cant wait to try them out now
4. We did some car searching, and we might've (fingers crossed) found THE ONE.
5. Things are changing in pakistan now after a long wait, and hopefully it'll be for the better.
6. I finally organized my pictures and music folders on my computer (some of them atleast)
7. And i discovered this awesome music... my husband was browsing cd's in silver platter and i was just bored walking around so i picked up these freebies they had on a table( one of them was a dvd of some live performances of 'a fine frenzy'). I just listened to it, and i cant believe i hadn't heard about it. this woman has the prettiest voice ever!

*o sunset*

{14th august: thursday night}

ps. no editing involved, just my camera on sunset mode.

*{summer of 2008} pocket album*

Here is a glimpse of the pocket album i made with http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/pocketalbum.php.

The text inside reads:

*warm, sunny, long, days outside in the yard, reading, thinking, taking pictures*

*trying out and enjoying our little awesome new camera*

*lots of pretty flowers and bright nail polishes*

*you and me, our evenings on the couch, tea, movies, soccer, just being together*

*you playing songs for me when i got cranky, you and your fingers that make pretty music*

*lots of macro pictures of lots of pretty things*

*long sunny days, clear cloudless nights, summer of 2008*

update: its sitting in my hallway on the floating shelves with all my fav stuff.. will take a picture and put it up:)

*what i've been doing*

i've been quiet this last week. i've just been busy doing up the house a little bit, i just felt like making it more like summer inside. the weather's been warmer here and it feels good:).. i mean whats the fun if summers dont feel like summers. i've been cleaning out and organizing my craft space.. so hopefully i'll be able to make some more fun stuff!

i'm working on a 'love' album now. its going to be a collection of my favorite romantic lyrics and some quotes. its a lot of fun to do. its all collages basically and alot of fun to do.

i also made a summer collage for display above our fireplace. and i used flickrtoys(http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/pocketalbum.php) to make a tiny summer of 08 album to display in the hallway with pictures and words about our summer. i'll put some pics up of that too laters. plus i'm thinking of some more ideas for crafts for decor around the house! any ideas are welcome:)

i'm taking a break from my she journal for a while. and am on the lookout for more 'she' words.

be back in a while!

'i'm feeling patriotic' flickr fav's - colors of pakistan

'i'm feeling patriotic' flickr fav's - colors of pakistan
Originally uploaded by Perpetual*Bliss

the final in this series. 'the colors of Pakistan .. this one's my favorite! The images are so much fun and so colorful.. here's to Pakistan.. may you live forever, may this year be the beginning of peace and prosperity. May this year be a change in the destiny of this amazing country. Amen

'i'm feeling patriotic' flickr fav's - the people of pakistan

'i'm feeling patriotic' flickr fav's - the people of pakistan
Originally uploaded by Perpetual*Bliss

part 3 in this series of flickr favorites! here's to the people of Pakistan! I just love them! We're such an amazing nation and its sad to see what the world thinks of us!

I'm feeling patriotic' Flickr Fav's: the children of pakistan

'i'm feeling patriotic' - 2 - Flickr Favorites
Originally uploaded by Perpetual*Bliss

2nd in the series. Here's to the children of Pakistan. The hopes of an entire nation are going to be vested in them. Love these pictures .. they're enough to bring a smile to one's face!

'i'm feeling patriotic' flickr fav's

'i'm feeling patriotic1' - flickr favorites
Originally uploaded by Perpetual*Bliss

as Pakistan's national day approaches (14th of August, 61 years ago), I'm feeling more and more patriotic, owing partly to all the songs on tv and all. so I searched for some images. Here is part of this I'm feeling patriotic' series.

gorgeous images of the national flag, by flickrites!

Some links about Pakistan

1. http://beautifulpakistan.com/
2. Yaiyasmin's travelogue of her trip to Pakistan
3. Saira Khan's Pakistan adventure
4. Truth about Pakistan
5. People and Places of Pakistan
6. Ali Khurshid's flickr photostream, his pictures are gorgeous. I'm a big fan

*luv*

*i luv you, little thing*

*this week in pictures*

*top to bottom*
{1. my guitar boi doing his thing on saturday, 2. shrimp salad, 3. new apron from pakistan,
4. bedtimes, 5. yellow in the house, 6. hot pink it is}

glimpses of summer

'glimpses of summer' - 5th aug 08

-made using flickr toys

*Collages*

Last night I made my husband watch this movie with me which I'd brought from blockbuster, 'Blueberry nights'. wow it was so boring, nothing happened in the whole movie. so well I sat down with all these magazines around me and I just tore and cut pages like crazy. so much fun. so now I have lots of inspiration for new collages. these were two I made today, again for the 'she' series.

..and ooh i finally read twilight..

I finally read twilight yesterday and omg it was soo awesome.. I was up till 5 am, reading it b'cuz I just couldn't put it down.. i cant wait to see the movie now, December is soo farrr awayyyyy!!

Some of my favorites from the book (I so have to put these in my collages somewhere)...

* I love you', I whispered. 'you are my life now', he answered simply.

* 'And so the lion fell in love with the lamb...' he murmured. I looked away, hiding my eyes as I thrilled to the word. 'what a stupid lamb,' I sighed. 'what a sick, masochistic lion', he stared into the shadowy forest for a long moment...

PS: i'm in love with edward!