November ’19 Happenings

And just like that, November is over. I am currently sitting in a cold hotel room in West Virginia. The dry, bare winter trees are standing just in front of the distant mountain range providing me with a peaceful escape from the stark, bland colors of the hotel room. The sun is hitting the streets just as the cars drive by and I can not believe that I am here.

As my husband is at work, I thought it was best to recollect my thoughts and count the blessings of November. Doing these posts is always enjoyable because it allows me to focus on Allah’s gifts that He Chose for me and my life. Focusing on those allows me a moment to be grateful, say a warm goodbye and points me towards seeing the positives in the coming month.

Garden Bed

I was not supposed to have a garden bed until the next year and yet here we are. We had intentions of getting a houseplant or two at the local nursery and we left with all of the supplies for a complete garden bed. I enjoyed the process so much that I filmed it and it is now available on YouTube for you to watch and enjoy. As of yet, all of the plants are doing extremely well. I had my doubts on cilantro in the beginning but after a few cuttings, it found itself producing fully once more. Currently, with the frost warnings in our town, everything is draped over with a white frost cloth. I am looking forward to having it in full view once more once the spring arrives, insha’Allah.

If you have not tried to grow something yet, you are missing out! The first few times may be failures but I urge you to not give up. Once you get the hang of it, it will become one of your favorite things. Our hearts automatically inclined to that. Researching YouTube videos on growers in my area is how I have learned everything I know about gardening and it has helped tremendously.

A Friend’s Visit

Cherished friendships are a beautiful thing. My friend Ellie visited me as my first guest in our new home. We share quite a few years of history which blossomed and flowered with both of our love of henna – my love of doing it and her love of getting it done. She was my first paid client in my business and her willingness to let me create on her was one of the main reasons that I became a confident business owner to begin with. Our henna-only relationship soon turned into a comforting inter-faith friendship and I could not be more happy for it. Ellie stopped by for a few hours which resulted in a sleepover. Her arrival brought Allah’s Blessings into our home! On the morning of her departure, we started on my goals of walking once a week. Although it was a rather ambitious one, we managed to walk all the way to the local coffee house and help ourselves to a delicious drink of matcha. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of us so here is one of matcha instead to suit that part of our gathering.

I request you to please make dua for her as her health has been giving lots of challenges to overcome.

Dining Room Furniture

This month I made a few purchases to make our dining room come alive. As I shared with you in the October ’19 Happenings, I have been working with a designer on Havenly to come up with a plan for several rooms of the house. As she works on the plans, I am making a purchase here and there to turn it into reality. This is the progress of the dining room so far and I am in love! The chairs are surprisingly comfortable with their low, curved back, the colorful rug matches perfectly with the table (and my style) and the plant in the back makes the entire setting perfect. There are a few more steps to be done which may or may not happen soon as we need to get a few important things for our bedroom first. Meanwhile, I am going to continue enjoying the process.

Farmer’s Market

With my husband getting a rare Saturday off, we both woke up early and headed towards the much loved Farmer’s Market in Phoenix. The Uptown Farmer’s Market is considered to be the best in the valley and I have to agree. The market was swarming with people and the white tents consisted of everything from fruits, vegetable and herbs to hand made foods from different vendors and crafts as well. There were two Muslim food vendors too which was such a beautiful sight to see. We did get some delicious offerings such as Pickled Spicy Pineapple (which was AMAZING) and Keto donuts (pictured above). We are going to forget the fact that they resulted in an upset stomach because my eyes chose to skip reading the words “coffee” in the ingredients list. I was shopping with the stomach, you guys. Clearly.

We both enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and filmed the entire day as a vlog to be released in a few weeks. Once the video is live, the following link will be valid: Vlog 7: Day of Exploring Food.

New Planner

The most exciting part of the end of the year is a new planner. I ran a bit late with the new one as I usually prefer to get it in September but seeing how the entire year has been different with the new things, this year’s hunt for a planner took a little longer. Oh but I am so happy with it! The search for a new planner was a bit difficult this time because I had to make some changes to my criteria. Last year’s planner fulfilled the sustainability aspect really well but as the year progressed, I realized how little I was using it. The cardboard cover made it more delicate for me to carry it around and the minimal approach which I thought I would love was too… minimal. I needed just a little more flexibility while having more room to grow as I changed and evolved throughout the year. As I moved away from my preferences, the choices began to open up and I landed on this one on Etsy.

The thing that sold me on this planner was the flexible weekly layout. The boxes on the top half and a blank grid sectional on the bottom is perfect. It gives me as much room as I need to go out of those boxes and have virtually limitless space for all of the additional ideas-jotting, goal planning that I need. It’s like having a perfect combination of a bullet journal and a traditional planner. I feel prepared to tackle all the next year has to offer!

Alhumdulillah, I have to thank to Allah for such a beautiful month. After going through this list, I honestly have such a feeling of gratitude because so much growth happened just this November.

I pray that both of mine and your December is a beautiful end to 2019.

-S