It's too cold outside!

It's been a while, crocodile. But better late than never, eh. For the past few weeks I've been running around like a headless chicken. I gave my final assignment in on Thursday, while the rest of the family went to a wedding. The sacrifices you have to make for an education! So this year, I've finished 7 pieces of assignment, each 2,500 words long That's a total of 17,500 words that I've written! Aside from my uni workload, I've also had a birthday party, for which I had to do my fair-share of organising and baking for. I will share the party photos later. Finally, when I thought I've got this weekend to myself and then it's time to start revising, we get buckets of snow! 

The snow is estimated to be 3ft deep, the top left photo shows the humongous sized icicles. I find icicles pretty! So instead of having the weekend to myself, I'm housebound...again. Rather than procrastinating I decided to organise my books and folders, and et my revision brain into gear. Rather than some pictures from planned outings, all I have is...

I did plan on playing outside in the snow with the little one's, but the plan soon changed as the cold winds escaped the front door. I cannot just sit and do nothing, so I decided to start planning my revision, I should hopefully have a revision timetable by the end of today! During my breaks away from revision I should hopefully blog more often, the biggest misery of all (my assignments) has been accomplished :) x

Who doesn't Love a bear?

We all love the cuddly teddy bears, right? Or am I the only one? Anyway, I have quite a few teddies, which hold some significance to me and some which are just of sentimental value, because of the story behind them. Either way they all hold good memories, some which I would consider to be the good time, and would give anything to go back to. To start off with, this is my biggest and cuddliest teddy!

Watch out for more bears to invade my blog :) x

Monsoooon

Hmm, so I think it's about time I got back into the blogging spirit :) As mentioned before I have recently purchased a few new tunics from Monsoon, so I thought I'd share them with you all. The first is in a creamy colour, with accents of brighter colours. I'll let the pictures do the talking..

The design of the tunic is in black, and I like the small detailed, yet elegant design. I was also very find of the embellishments around the neckline. I find that with less embellishments on tunics, I can wear them down or up more easily. They are also more smartly casual, yet sophisticated. The colours are bold and beautiful  yet not so bright as they are minimal. The tunic also has a East meets West touch to it. 

The second tunic I will be sharing with you is in the opposite spectrum of colours. 

Unlike the first tunic, the design on this one is full of nature. This includes butterflies, birds and greenery. Although this tunic only had embellished cuffs, I though to add a hint of sparkle to the front of the tunic as well. Thus, I added some beads to the butterflies, at the front of the tunic. The best part oft his tunic is the heavily embellished cuffs, which just make the whole outfit sparkle. I also like the buttons on the cuffs, they give the cuffs a very elegant touch.

The final tunic is more casual.

Although it is more casual and plain, this tunic is heavily beaded around the neckline, hem and cuffs. From a first glance only the gold beads can be spotted, but if you look closely enough, the gold beaded rows are surrounded by the same teal-ish coloured beads. The tunic can be worn formally or casually, depending on the occasion.

So, what do I wear them with?

As I aim to dress modestly, and cover as much skin as possible, I wear the first two tunics with a churidaar. This is a Pakistani garment, which is similar to leggings. However, they can be adjusted to your size according on how tight you wear them. Part of dressing modestly is not showing the shape of your body. So, I try to wear a more loose churidaar. Which looks elegant but is not tight. The churidaar also has a naturally ruched look at the bottom, this therefore gives my outfit a touch of East! The material of the churidaar is satin, so it matched the material of the tunic and looks really elegant. Although, my current churidaar is Black, I was thinking of opting for a more brighter coloured churidaar for the first tunic. I am yet to buy and get sewn a churidaar with the last tunic. 

The see through sleeves can also be a problem, I have only had the chance to wear the fist tunic once yet, so I wore it with s short black cardigan. This covered my sleeves and also kept me warm in this unpredictable weather. However, I couldn't bear to cover the cuffs of the second tunic, so I just wore a cap sleeved beige t-shirt underneath. Although, I really should have worn something longer. But, the sleeves of the second tunic are more heavier, and give me quite a few pleats to cover my skinny arms :) 

I might opt for a more mustardy goldish churidaar with the last tunic, What do you say? I really should post a picture of my churidaar as well, it will tell a story of it's own. I will try to get a few pictures of myself wearing the outfit, to show you all how the tunics look with my churidaar.

Cheerio, for now :) x

Randomness..

After spending the whole day baking with a 5 year old, what more can I do but relax and write a blog, maybe throw in s little something to watch. Oh my, 5 year olds are such hard work! Rather than baking she decided to sweep the kitchen floor with the brush, and while I was making the cupcakes she shouted at me for making more mess! We decorated the cupcakes, and she made a mess of some. I had to promise her I wouldn't be making anymore after she had left. She reminded me on the way home, that it's her Birthday soon, and she wants a cake! I better get practicing! Anyway...

I have been given a one week extension on my coursework, because the new edition of the book required is coming out in 30 days and the previous edition has been taken off the shops of most major booksellers. I kind of got lucky, and my brother kindly travelled to a nearby city for me and got me the last copy of the book within our region. The other copies have to be either ordered from online or can be collected from other Waterstone stores in London! Phew, I thank God I got it when I did. Other than the book adventures, I bought  Kindle. I didn't like it at all! It was not what I expected, although you can download Apps on it, there's no bleeding camera! So I returned it, and did so with a smile across my face :) Yup, so I've been there done that! In other news,  I only have 2 assignments and 3 exams to go, before the end of second year! How time flies. I had been meaning to update my blog, but living a busy life means you have to squeeeeze time into your busy schedule. 

I came across an article recently, which was about a 17 year old girl who committed suicide. It got me thinking, as you have probably realised, I over-think and over-analyse almost ever heart renching thing out there in the world. I was thinking of the day when the vice principal at college came in and whispered something to the tutor. At the end of the lesson, the tutor broke the news to us. A fellow student had died earlier, when the news reached the media, we all found out she had bulimia and had committed suicide. I still remember the grey day ahead of us, the college fell silent and crowds were consoling each other. You could actually hear a pin dropping in the usually loud and boisterous college. the college, is one which some have dubbed as 'Hogwarts' - the name says it all. It is awful hen you get such utterly sad news. I hope no-one has any such news broken to them, ever. 

I had a friend in primary school, she was deaf, but as a child that's all I knew about her illness or the extent of it. When we parted to go to different secondary schools, I was told she had sadly died. I don't know how or what was wrong with her, but yeah unfortunately I lost a good friend. I also had another friend who I lost when we we're about 5 or 6 years old. Again, I don't know what was wrong with. As I was just a child myself. Yesterday I saw a further friend of mine after a while. She had disabilities of some sort, although her mental capacity was normal. Looking back, I kind of think I always came across such people for a particular reason. Like I said I over-analyse everything! But I hate sad news, I hope no-one has to have such news broken to them :) x

Random Musings and Stripes

I have been putting off blogging lately, not only because of unforeseen circumstances but also because of my workload. It grows by the day, unfortunately. Apparently I am studying for the second hardest degree in the country, I think the hardest is most probably Medicine. Anyway, I have done 5 assignments of 2,500 words each since September, so that means I have 2 more to do and 3 exams, then we shall call it a year :) I can't wait! 

So since I've been missing, I've studied hard, shopped harder and also written a guest post for a friends blog.  I have also been getting handy with the kitchen. Although I'm dubbed 'kitchen cleaner', I can actually bake up quite a storm in those 4 walls. Since the little one's birthday is yet again approaching, we've started making party plans 4 months ahead. This is because I will have to fit in my exam studying and revision  within the 4 months. We had initially settled on a Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatters tea party, but letting the little one loose with the laptop usually brings a new theme to us everyday. Thank God she has 4 months to decide. We have settled on one thing though, We will cut the cake with the family and she can share some baked goodies with the friends. It will not be a full on party, but more of a girly gathering. As of today, we are on a 'rainbow' theme. Let's not get cosy with it just yet though. 

Elsewhere, I baked cookie dough on the weekend, which I didn't think would turn out to be as good as it did. I forgot to take photos, but hopefully if and when I have time to make it again I will take photos. It was actually quite nice, but there's nothing as good as sitting in Pizza Hut and having it made for you.

Elsewhere, here are a few snaps of stripes to get your head around. When you look between the lines you always get more than you've bargained for. (no pun intended)

These stripes are collected from a range of everyday household things amongst us. Not only does the radiator have a striped effect, so does the bare wood flooring and the raw silk curtains. Even the roman blinds have a striped effect.

This time I captured the stripes in the rug and also the cushions. Although not all the stripes are the same they all have the same repeated pattern but with a different effect.

This picture shows the stripes in the roman blinds more clearly, the rug again has a striped effect. 

Again, spot the stripes for yourself. We foten turn a blind eye to the natural patterns around us, until we hit realisation and everything around us actually made up of stripes.

*All the above images are owned by Tutu's & Glitter, unless otherwise stated*

My Grandpa x

So, it's been 2 years today since my grandpa passed away. That's a total of 730 days since I last saw him. It feel like yesterday since he left us, time passes by ever so quickly. But, the pain is still raw. I miss him now more than ever, he was the best father anyone could have asked for. All we're left with now are memories  I didn't realise that the day he closes his eyes, it will rock my world. You just can't imagine it happening to someone you love, but it does, we all have to go one day. 

My grandpa was more than just a grandpa to me, he was everything any child could ask for. I looked up to him and we shared a close bond. He raised us with all the love and care a child needs. He never let anyone feel left out. Sometimes, there's that one person in your life who keeps your world together like superglue. Once they leave, the world crumbles around you. My superglue went, my world crumbled. All I have now are memories. 

My grandpa was an honest and law abiding citizen, who had a heart made of gold. my memories of my grandpa start from a very early age. Around Christmas, when I was around 4, he came around with a black bag full of Roses chocolate boxes. We all got one each, he was entertaining us and pretending to be Santa. He looked after each of his grandchildren without a spare of love. I spent a lot of my weekends and holidays at my grandparents house. We were spoilt rotten and got everything we asked for. As we grew up, we didn't part, we just grew fonder of each other. For a good few years, when I was in secondary school, I would pack a bag on Friday morning. Because I knew when I got home from school that day Dad would be waiting to collect me. He'd shop on a Friday morning, and would be as excited as me. I would spend all weekend at my grandpa's and then he'd take me back home on Sunday night. All day at school I would be so excited and full of anticipation, I couldn't wait until the bell went off at 3 o' clock. I hated Sunday's. because I didn't want to go back. I also lived with him for a 2 and a half year period. I loved every minute of it. 

Looking back at the memories I have, I often think of what I would have changed if I could go back in time. The first and last funeral I ever went to was my grandpa's, and not only was it a new atmosphere to me, it was unfortunately also the last time I would see my beloved Dad. He had a sudden death, so he left without little warning, only if I'd known. I visited him on the day he passed away and was fortunate enough to make him his last cup of tea. Oh how I yearn to go back to that day and tell him how much I loved him. He passed away 10 minutes after I left him. I have gone through a circle of 'what if's' and always come back to the same point - God gives life and he takes life. x

New month, new thoughts

The first month of the year seems to have flown by, a little to fast. it makes you think how fast life is passing by. How one minute it's new years eve and before you know it, it's Christmas again. What do we do all year round? The same things, each and every year. Perhaps we should put life into perspective, what do we aim to achieve in life? What is your purpose in life?

In my honest opinion, I don't want to be the owner of a headstone without having achieved anything in life. What's the point of doing nothing all your life, and then resting 6 feet under? I want to make a difference. We as a society cannot control peoples minds or actions, but we can demonstrate a purpose in life. We can make a difference, it takes one to set the trend off but usually the rest follow pursuit. I think if you follow someone for a good purpose in life, it is not being a sheep but it is gaining recognition of the difference the leader is trying to set. 

We have all seen society for over a decade or so, what changes have we seen in society  Is society yet exempt of evilness? No, Why? Because we cannot control peoples thoughts and actions. But what can we do? We can help others, I'm sure it's no crime to be compassionate and kind. Has the question of what will happen to disabled children once their parents pass away ever crossed your mind? We cannot control God's decisions, but we can make life better for those surviving.

My aim in life is to make a mark, a positive mark, something which will influence society in a  positive way. Not something, big, bold or loud - the loudest person in the room is always the weakest. To influence  a positive change in society, first we need to influence a change to the attitudes of members of society. What makes a good attitude? Humble behaviour, kindness, a positive image, politeness, good manners, compassion and sensitivity. We as humans, are prone to turning a blind eye to the problems around us. Why? Because we are weak, we can't face the truth. The sooner we start identifying the problems in society the sooner such problems will diminish. We all need to judge ourselves and leave the judging of others to God :) x