It’s funny how you can look back at your thirteen year old self and see all the mistakes you made. The old: ‘if I knew then what I know now…’ kind of thing. And yet when a kid once asked me what would I change about my upbringing, I looked at him blankly, thought to [...]

It’s funny, ever since I got back from Hajj, my prayers have changed. Before, I would often go into autopilot when I’d be praying. It’s hard not to. We memorize the whole prayer, it’s formal and prescribed as such, there’s only a few spots for spontaneity. I used to wonder why. But over the years [...]

I have a LOT more work to do! And yet I can’t help it. This is actually a very good follow up to my post on Perseverance. Maybe there’s something to be said about January funk, because I was definitely feeling funky last week when I wrote it. (And talking to some friends they were [...]

Sometimes my daughters read my blog and they often tell me if I’ve crossed over any lines. It’s unfortunate that in written communication especially, it’s so easy to misconstrue tone and meaning to people’s words. I’ve stopped responding to people’s good news via email with a ‘Good for you’, because I figure it can so [...]

Recently when I was invited overseas to do a tour and while in negotiations with the hosts, this phrase occurred to me, “it should hurt a little…”. It was in reference to the whole process of negotiation. Whenever you’re in the process of negotiation, there is ALWAYS give and take. When I was younger, omigosh, I [...]

I’ve been invited to afternoon tea! In Picadilly! Dear me, I must remember to crook my pinkie finger as I sip it! I’m practicing even as I type this! Does make reaching the the ‘p’s and ‘q’s and apostrophes rather difficult! LOL Can you tell I’m getting excited about the England trip??? As if I didn’t [...]

I started writing this on Sunday night. Tonight on Oprah’s visionaries Will.i.am was talking. If you’re not sure who he is, you’re not alone. I’d heard his name, but didn’t realize he’s one of the co-founders of the group Black-eyed Peas. The first half of the show was just him spouting off about how tickled [...]

I had a very interesting evening. Took a moment away from organizing this British trip (my Mom’s decided to come along as well as my sister!) and watched Oprah’s show on visionaries. Here it’s on every Sunday night at 8 pm on OWN. Tonight was James Cameron, the guy who did Terminator, Titanic and Avatar. [...]

I keep forgetting. Honestly, I’ll go most of the day completely unaware that I wear hijab, have brown skin, and otherwise look any different from anyone else and then suddenly something will bring me up short. I’ll see myself reflected in a shop window or someone will say something  like acknowledging how ‘tolerant’ they are [...]

I seem to have really ticked off a couple of people when I called David Cook a one-hit wonder. Guess it goes back to what your definition of a ‘hit’ is. I’d argue that a hit is a song or performance that is so POPULAR that you can make reference to it in casual conversation [...]