Congratulations Nadia & Nabil!!!

Went to a Walimah reception last night for my friend, Nadia!! Ofcourse, even tho the reception was set to begin @ 7 ... I got there @ 9... ya know prepared for paki standard time... BUT this time, for like the 1st time in history... people were on time! Maybe, because it was a Bengali wedding. Had such a good time! Nadia looked gorgeous as always, Mash'Allah! Finally met the man himself... such a sweet guy Mash'Allah. May Allah always keep them happy together. Ameen.

Food was really good. Sameera had butter chicken for the FIRST time in her life. It was growing experience for all of us. There was this chocolate fountain... Samana fell in love with it and vowed to have one at her wedding :) Bengalis know how to party!



Nabil and Nadia.. the happy couple! I loved how they were so coordinated...



Nadia and me... in orange.. my new fave colour!

Mmmm nihari...

Ammi's trying to teach me how to make Nihari... come on how many times a year am I ever gonna make that?! I told her I would learn whatever she wanted when I am about to get married or whatever.. but then she goes to me... "Ohhhh, mujhe arraam nahin do magar apni saas ko arraam do gey?" What a joker! So anyways, for once I tried to humour her and actually tried to help out... I did all the easy stuff like pouring the oil, adding the meat, 'piecing' the saunf and adding the masala... I think all u hafta do is add water and cook it for a coupla hours...and TADA.. you're done. What was all the fuss in that...

Besides, how many guys really eat the trad'l stuff like roti and saalan !!! Only refs!!

Yakeen

I saw this Arjun Rampal movie last night called ... you guessed it.. Yakeen. I don't really watch indian movies much because they are ALL usually the same...about a guy and a girl and pointless and full of a dozen cheesy songs...but the plot in this movie was really different. Kinda suspenseful, kinda mystery. It's about this married couple (no not like Mr. & Mrs. Smith) who get into an accident... the husband has amnesia but later finds out that he was about to divorce his wife.. so he's on the search for the reason behind it. It's got a lot of twists that you really don't see coming. I liked it! And oh yeah, Priyanka Chopra's in it too.

Is one Advil enough?

Thinking i was a superstar (yesterday), I decided I'd move on to the next level in the Pilates Workout... called The High Performance Pilates. Dude, I couldn't do 3 of the moves... :S and still my abs are killing. I didn't even know I had abs!! So, I guess in that respect.. :D Yay I have abs! Besides, the chick said you would feel the pain the next day... so maybe it just comes with the territory. I think I'll take a day off to recuperate. I hope one Advil is enough.

Bottom line: I'm def not a superstar... but one day I may be.

The 1st Annual Ali-Rana BBQ :)

We went down to Wasaga Beach on Saturday with my bro's fiancee's family. Dude, we had sooo much fun! The weather was perfect, the beach wasn't too overcrowded, the water was pretty clean, food was great, tons of pics taken.. all in all, we all had a great time. Insh'Allah many more years of these outings with them. It was like we were out with family, which they are about to come inshAllah.. so it was cool.. especially, since we really don't have much family around here. And, good news, Sahar showed up... ditched work and came. Well, actually she texts me in the morning around 10 when they were supposed to be arriving to our place, and says that she called in sick she wasn't feeling well... so I texted her back asking.. well more like telling her to come.. and she's such a punk, she says she's gonna stay home and "rest"! But anywho, she ended up coming so Yay!



Sahar and her little sis, Anisa on the drive down to Wasaga



Me and Anisa.. on the drive over! Dude, it was such a scenic route we took, we saw sooo many cows and horses.. actually Sahar saw this one white cow with black spots on its butt... only Sahar would notice such things... haha.



Miss Anisa.. soakin' up the sun.



Me, Anisa and Naila... playin' in the water. As it turns out, we're just as immature in the water as the kids. We all got drenched... praying was a mission and a half. Anisa got a little cold afterwards... and the sand was soo hot!



All the men around the BBQ... the guys all pretending to help when Uncle and Papa did everything.. lol.

Papa and Ammi at the BBQ.. enjoying some watermelon and kheer!



Wait for me!! Naila and Anisa on the beach... and there's me trying to 'nichor' the water from my pants... man, we had sand EVERYWHERE... next time we'll bring the towels to the beach and NOT wear jeans.



Sahar's parents @ the BBQ.. they are soo adorable!



Me and Naila laughing at the guys



Uncle and Akhtar (Sahar's bro) enjoying some food

Najeeb Bhai... trying to scare the little kids



Me and Sahar.. whose that surfer dude wannabe behind us?



Ahmer and his new best friend, Anisa... I guess all the chocolate & presents paid off!.. sounds about right, I think they are at the same maturity level... actually what am i thinkin' Anisa is wayyyy ahead of him in that department.



Yasir had had enough of Anisa... but she didn't care... she could take him with her hands behind her back.

Goals of the Summer of '05

It's amazing how the summer is more than half over already... no I won't mention the 'S' word yet.. but with that said at the beginning of the summer I had made a list of a few goals I hoped to accomplish by the end of the summer. And ... I thinks I needs to revisit that list now that i have like 6 weeks left. Well, actually I had made this list while sitting on the plane heading to Manchester.. had nothing better to do the damn movie channel wasn't working... only paki dramas... ewww. So yeah, back to my plan. 1. I wanted to start working out... and alhumdalillah I'm starting to become more consistent 2. wanted to get a lot of the wedding preparations on track instead of dealing with it during school -- and we're getting there; all the major stuff is pretty much done with; i'm workin on the invitations presently 3. that driving thing... I dunno why i am so lazy when it comes to driving school :S 4. wanted to become really active in organizing community/Islamic events... alhumdalillah I think I am getting there slowly but surely thanks to the YM Shura & MuslimFest stuff 5.spend more time with my family... well we had a family day at Niagara Falls :) and there's the 1st Annual Ali-Rana family BBQ this weekend.. where Miss FBI had better show up to.. and i don't care that ur working! 6. Clean up my room from the inside out... haven't touched my room since I've been back... and now that its wedding season there's gonna be even more clothes everywhere

And today I came to the realization that sleeping in until noon (if I'm lucky and Ammi doesn't wake me up sooner) is really preventing me from maintaining and reaching my goals. Yeahhhhhhh it's true!! Okay, so it took me half the summer to realize... but come on, in Karachi.. my Abba used to wake us up at like 9 am and we used to sleep at like 3-4 am each night.. had to catch up somewhere. Lately, I've been sleeping less and I've realized I've become more productive... which is why i think i was reminded of these goals. So yeahh....

Sudoku anyone?

What is Sudoku, you ask? It's a puzzle.

The object is to fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

That's all there is to it.
There's no math involved.
The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else.
You solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic.. that is IF u have it.
And oh yeah, every puzzle has just ONE correct solution.

My bro actually got me started on these, the first one i tried took me about half an hour... so don't worry if it takes u a while to figure out. And now I'm hooked... it lets my brain juices flow ya know. There's a daily puzzle in the Toronto Star or you can check out The Daily SuDoku.

ENJOY!

The Weekend......

Must admit I had a pretty eventful weekend... started off at Wonderland and ended in Niagara Falls.

Saturday... me, Marria, Shabina & Nilofer headed down to Wonderland... but first we made a pitstop at Timmie's for some breakfast. It was packed.. and people kept looking at us.. bunch of hijabis and me.. well I guess it didn't help that we were loud and talkin about London. After our breakfast of chocolate danishes and coffee, we headed outta Brampton to the sound of Shabina's hindi movie soundtracks... we fit right into the Brampton scene... but I really liked the songs from Barsaat (I think) they're all shadi type songs; I think I'm gonna do a dance for my bro's mehndi to one of those songs. Anyways, so we finally get there around noon and park and we realize that it's crazy hot... me & Marria shouldn't have worn black. Actually me and her were dressed almost identically - black kurta shirts and dark jeans... I can't wait to see the pictures. The lineups were pretty decent considering there were so many people. The weather was really bad tho.. we were sweating buckets... and it was only noon. We hit Dragon Fyre first... the first drop is always the worst.. and I think i kept my eyes closed the whole time... didn't want my contacts flying out. We hit all of the wooden coasters... and they are definitely the worst.. I swear I thought i was gonna fall off on Wild Beast! First off the wooden ones make the scariest creaking noises on top of being shaky. I even banged my head on someone's shoulder... lol.. so embarassing. I couldn't bring myself to put my hands in the air... But I think Marria was def the funniest... looked like she got electrocuted. And then there was Shabina who was cursing for one minute straight on one ride after she banged her shoulder on something. Nilo's hijab didn't whip anyone this time.. good one! Drop Zone messed up my balance I kept walking into Nilofer.. lol. The SpongeBob 3D show was pretty good.. esp after the chuppal fiasco.. Marria and Nilofer got punked by the guy for taking their chuppals off. Then it started raining while we were on Mighty Cdn MineBuster.. and my hair went crazy frizzy and all over the place... I looked like cousin It from Addams Family :S I managed to avoid the Bat... dude that just looks too scary for me..come on it goes backwards and they wanted to go on it at night!

Then it was Raihan Concert Time! Raihan were jus simply amazing... especially when we were sitting in the 2nd row :) They're the only reason I know Malay... and Mash'Allah such humble and down-to-earth guys.. everyone had nothing but amazing things to say about them. From Syukur to Ta'ala Badru Alayna to Allahu Allah.. they had the crowd excited and cheering. And when they had the kids up on stage... the crowd was probably at its loudest.. The Grand Finale was Thank You Allah.. the crowd was on their feet. Such a great show, Mash'Allah! No wonder they are the world's best selling Nasheed Group. But they didn't play my fave nasheed: Iman Mutiara. Sarah sad.

Definitely, one of the best days of the summer.. thanks guys! Next time we do the funnel cake and slushies.

Sunday... we took our Uncle, Aunty and cousins down to the Welland "boring as hell" Canal and Niagara Falls: the ultimate Newcomer's Canadian experience. It was def a nice break from all the heat. We took a lot of pictures... once i figure out how to upload pics from the digicam will put some up. It was actually more fun than I thought it would be, considering I've been there a million times. We hit Clifton Hill after dinner.. me and Ammi made cholay at 12am after I came back on Sat night.. it was sooo good I must say. We checked out some of the funhouses down there.. and the midway. The night ended with a wicked fireworks show... it kinda made me reflect on life...





Me, my Ammi and bro @ the welland canal.. btw those aren't Ammi's sunglasses!

FULL HOUSE: one of the best episodes of FH! Little 2-yr old Michelle made her first li'l friend, Howie from Nebraska. When it was time for him to leave, they hugged and wouldn't let go of each others hands. Danny had to break it up. After he left, she goes "Howie no go, Howie no bye bye"... i swear it broke my heart... that is the best acting EVER by a 2-yr-old. Michelle is my hero. And then she moped around all day and clung to Uncle Jesse's leg, until he sang her a song called "Michelle's smiling", then she smiled and said "Yeah" and just when he thought she was over Howie, she said, "Howieee!" Then Becky brought Michelle a surprise.. a video of Howie and she watched it over and over again. Michelle's first heartbreak.

Upcoming Young Muslims Events :)

Plenty of things to do this summer :)

7th Online Quiz Competition
July 14th - August 27th 2005
Want to test your Islamic knowledge? Think you're smart enough to make it into the top ten, or the top hundred? Try our Online Quiz Competition, and pit yourself with Muslims from all over the world. Register today at http://www.youngmuslims.ca/quiz/


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Brothers’ Sleepover
Date: July 23rd, 2005
Place: TBD
Muslim brothers, young and old, will meet up at a local mosque in Mississauga for a night of personal Ibadah (worship) and fun activities to keep ourselves awake. Join us for Qiyam, Soccer, Tafseer Discussion, Speech, Amateur Wrestling, and other indoor sports!
For more information, email info@youngmuslims.ca

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Let's Discuss Our Deen
Date: July 30th, 2005
Place: Islamic Information and Dawah Centre, Toronto

For more info, please contact ldod@youngmuslims.ca

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Annual Summer Picnic

Young Muslims Canada is once again holding its annual Summer Picnic!

Place: Erindale Park, Mississauga
Date: Saturday, August 6th
Time: 12 PM - 6 PM

Delicious BBQs, games, and refreshments to tear you away from the summer blahs!

Stay tuned for details!


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Summer Tarbiyah Camp 2005
Date: August 19th to August 22nd, 2005
Place: Dar-ul-Tawhid, Mississauga
Age Group: 14 to 22 (brothers only)

What: The camp focuses on the moral training of the Muslim youth, and especially the need to be involved in the community. Through this program, we hope to activate a change in the attendees. The primary theme of the camp is “Bringing Positive Change – Around Us, Within Us”.

Over the four days, we will invite several speakers and scholars to enlighten us on various topics. We will also have sports and other physical activities throughout the program to keep a balance. Plus, there will be three meals served (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). So join us, and learn how we can change ourselves and the society around us for the better!
For more info, contact camp@youngmuslims.ca

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Sisters' Sleepover
Date: August 20th, 2005
Place: Malton Islamic Centre

Sisters will be coming together at Malton Islamic Centre to listen to motivational speakers, enjoy good food, socialize, and top it all off with an exciting talent show. Come along to meet new people and have some good ol' girly fun!

For more info email: sisters@youngmuslims.ca


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Halaqas [Youth Study Circles]

These study circles, being our most essential gatherings, provide a chance for you to get involved in our activities, meet the brothers/sisters personally, and get to know new people. As a stepping-stone for getting active, our study circles provide a positive environment for brothers and sisters to learn more about our Deen, and our approach to the Qur'an. We would like to invite you to join a study circle that is happening near you!
For a complete list of our study circles please visit http://www.youngmuslims.ca/events/default.asp

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Monthly Sisters' Social

Sisters from all age groups and backgrounds come together in a fun-filled environment to relax and get to know one another better. Themes vary from karate, swimming, potluck, sleepovers, and more. We are always open to suggestions so please do not hesitate to contact us with them!
For details email: sisters@youngmuslims.ca

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Weekly Brothers' Soccer Get-Together!

Brothers will be meeting up at local parks in Mississauga on a weekly basis this summer to have a game of soccer. It’s a great way of meeting new brothers, and keeping in shape at the same time. If interested, you can email info@youngmuslims.ca.

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Resume Critiquing

Are you a student looking for part-time or summer employment?
Are you graduating from university or college soon without a job lined up?
Are you confused about resumes and cover letters?
Is your resume done in a Microsoft Word standard template?
Are you tired of sending resumes and getting no response?
If you said "yes" to any of the above, you need our help.

Young Muslims has launched its latest initiative - Free of Cost Resume
Critiquing. Learn from the experiences of your brothers and sisters and get
help with your job search. Write to us today at academics@youngmuslims.ca for resume critiquing and job search help.
***Due to resource constraints, as well as the lack of familiarity with the norms in other countries, the service is limited to Muslim youth living in Canada.***


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Social Development Projects

Every three to four months, volunteers get together to donate blood to Canadian Blood Services. Volunteers also get together and head to the streets, where we provide food to the homeless living on the streets of GTA.

We also have our Orphan Sponsorship Project, through which, with the help of ICNA Relief, we are currently sponsoring 12 Muslim orphans in Kenya. Although the cost for sponsoring a child is $30/month, you can donate as little as $5 per month!

If you are interested in joining these or any other projects that promote social justice and helping others in need, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@youngmuslims.ca for more info, or visit our website at www.youngmuslims.ca.

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Sincerely,
Your Sisters and Brothers @
Young Muslims Canada

RAIHAN's comingggg!!!

RAIHAN is coming to Toronto!!! Their 1st ever performance will be on Saturday, July 16, 2005 @ Paramount Canada's Wonderland for Muslim Day. They are my FAVE nasheed group... soooo excited!!! I have been waiting to see them perform since RIS back in December when their visa thing didn't work out... let's hope it all works out this time bc they are the Headliners (the only headliners) for Muslim Day.

Then in 3 weeks... MUSLIMFEST 2005!!

"Freeze Nerdbombers!"

I had an interesting conversation about my MSN name (which was "Alright I found a nickel! Alright I found a cheeto" in case you were wondering) today.. and found out that I am not the only in-the-closet Full House fan! Come on, I know that everyone loved that show ... and cried when it ended...or maybe that was just me. I guess watching it now allows me to relive my childhood... oh the good ol' days indeed.

In keeping with the theme of today's blog and Azfar's Full House update.. I have decided to tell y'all what's happening on Full House today also.

Full House: Stephanie and Michelle dressed up in Danny's clothes and were prancing around the house UNTIL DJ caught them in the act and told them to "Freeze you Nerdbombers!" and take off all of Danny's clothes. So Stephanie took off Danny's watch and wedding ring... and then DJ accidentally dropped the ring down the drain! Ahhhh! So they stuck a wad of gum on a tie to fish the ring out of the sink... didn't work. Uncle Jesse came to the rescue.. turned the water off.. Duhh! But the better question is WHY did Danny take off his wedding ring?! :O Bad man!

It's Dholki central time again...

I went to a Dholki this weekend.. shuddap Humarah.. according to her I am ALWAYS going to Dholkis and because I missed her birthday party one year because of Kash's Dholki. So yeah, as always we got there late.. or so we thought (we were actually early)... man I don't even know how late Paki Standard Time is anymore! Saw my Farah, finally! It was a bunch of us girls and Aunties... and forreal I think we all forgot that we were there for a dholki, we were all jus chillin and eating... until the Aunties summoned us downstairs to start the singing.. well for all of us it was more like lip-syncing. Aunties are hard to please to say the least. Firstly, they were singing all these old songs that we didn't even know and ALSO were not in the song book! Then when they were singing songs we knew or songs from the books.. they would change up the words.. and go into other songs. So we would all jus start talking again... at which point each of our Mothers would start giving us dirty looks which meant to shut up and sing.

My fave Dholki song is... the one that goes.. "Yeh peela jora, yeh hari hari chooriyan" or the one that goes "Jiski biwi lambi/gori/moti.." .. cracks me up!



Me and Nadia (Bhabi) chillin' at the Dholki. Man I sucked at bajaoing the tambourine... or maybe the Aunties just weren't singing on key with my tambourine bajaoing.. Hhmm?



Tan, Qandeel, Sara and Khalida... Covergirls! You know they never let me hang out with them when I was younger :( Well, I didn't know Sara until she married Kashif .. but the rest of them... meanies... except that Khalida let me come with her once to drop off library books on Eid. But I'm cool enough now YAY!




All of us: Tan, Q, Sara, Nadia and Khalida and me & Farah (in the front). We look like a rainbow :) Good Times!

Tribute to Auspar

Azfar is officially a part of the working world... awwwww mah l'il baby is all grown up! His first real job... i think he makes coffee for the office.. haha... no I really don't know what he does... all i know is that he is working at an accounting company... trying to get some experience in the field. I think he is in charge of the calculators... GO AUSPAR!! The youngest kids are always the most spoiled man, I was working in High School... he's half way thru University... ahh its all good.. he had us to spoil him cuz he's our lil baby! Which is why I have decided to do this tribute for him :)



This is the CUTEST picture of him EVER! I think he was about 18 months old... him and his adorable curls and chubby cheeks... now he was a heldy kid, MashAllah! It was his very first time in the water so he was testing the waters in Pakistan... he was a big scaredy cat.



This is Ammi, Azfar, me and Papa at his 2nd birthday party. We still don't know why he is wearing a Daffy Duck party hat.. haha. There's my other bro, in the Spiderman hat. I love Azfar's sherwani.. always the most stylin' kid!



Opening presents at Azfar's bday party. You're the cutest kid EVER, Auspar! Why'd u hafta grow up... next thing u know, you'll be getting married...

SaraH ... in PAIN!!

I finally decided to start my much anticipated return to the world of working out... and man, I don't know what I was thinking!! "Why am I doing this to myself?!" was my initial reaction to the pulsating pain everywhere... and then I remembered, that the first comment my relatives in Pakistan made about me was how "heldy" I had gotten since last time.. and u know WHAT that really means! Means I'm FAT or fatter.. whatever same thing.. Mama NOOOO!!! I blame university... why they gotta keep me there all day and then fill the vending machines full of fattening and accessible junk food that I like?! But then again I would never buy a salad..

Plus, I'd gotten a headstart in Pakistan, by losing a few pounds so I thought it was the best time to start. I've been meaning to hit the gym/Pilates for like a long time now.. but things kept delaying it and I've jus been crazy lazy.. tee hee. Let's jus hope I keep with it this time! You guys have gotta do ur part too tho, if I do fall off the wagon.. jus remind me that I am getting HELDY again... and I am sure it'll be more than enough to get me back on track :)