Category Archives: Life

Sep16

Flashcards

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Flashcards

In an effort to help Jennah learn her vocabulary I resorted to an old and ancient technique despite all the “modern” methods I have read about online (eg. My previous post Spelling & Vocabulary).
Index-Vocab

 
The first thing I did was go to our area stationary store…. Fun Fun Fun!!! and I bought “special” Vocabulary requirements.

They include different colored index cards, markers and highlighters. It was hard to control myself and not buy anything else.

I just had to keep reminding myself to stay focused on why I was there!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

index-vocab WORDS
I had written all the vocabulary words on one side of the index card, made it fun by using different colors.

We then spoke and demonstrated each word to each other using different actions and memory triggers. That way she had a visual of me every time she read one of her words. It was almost like a weird game of charades.
I had written all the vocabulary words on one side of the index card, made it fun by using different colors.
 
Ind-VocaWrite
 

After practicing and talking about each of her vocabulary words for a little while I had Jennah write the corresponding meaning of each word on the reverse side of the Index.

The prepping of the index cards ended and we then went to traditional Flash card technique.
 

I would show her the word while the reverse side was facing me. She just had to tell me the answer and I could easily check it since it was facing me.

I’m proud to say that this technique is 100% effective because she did really well on her vocabulary test.

One test down and many more to go!!!

With a little more effort I managed to transform studying into Making Life Memorable by studying creatively.

Sep15

Quick Fix Dinner

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Quick Fix Dinner

There are times in every mother’s life where all she needs is a quick fix dinner because some activity ran too late and bedtime is approaching and there isn’t much time to prepare a “proper” Dinner.

On days like these I often turn to a simple mix & Match of veggies.

Those days I open up my freezer and it’s vegetables feast!!

IMG_5329

So the menu is:
Green Peas & Corn
Brussels Sprouts
“House” Salad with oil & vinegar dressing
Edemame
Cream of Mushroom Soup

Healthy, filling and quick dinner what more can a mom ask for after a hectic day?

So the next time you’re stuck and don’t have time remember Mix & Match what you have and concentrate on Making Life Memorable.

Sep13

Fun @ Art Space

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Fun @ Art Space

I hope that yesterdays post made you even more curious and intrigued to learn more about Art Space in Galleria 2000-Salmiya.

Between my busy schedule and the girls its been really difficult to make it out to Art Space and enjoy the full experience until last week everything changed!

The perfect date, time and artwork!! My husband, two girls and I head to Galleria 2000 and live it up.

cats

 
 
 
 
The kids workshop we went to was 5pm-7pm with Mr. Salem, A man full of life and enthusiasm and the ability to captivate the children to follow his step-by-step tutorial of what seemed like a difficult painting at the time.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Gpainting
 
The girls sat eagerly with their cute Art Space aprons on watching Mr. Salem’s every movement as he began to set everything up for them from paints, canvases and brushes. It was hard for me to resist not going into the studio to join in the fun!!

Then the fun began as he started to explain to the children every step, his interaction with the children made it even more fun as they also stated their opinions and choices. With occasional one on one help, especially for Zeenah (she is after all only 4!) every child felt his special touch and assistance.

Girls
 
 
Every child had added their own version of what they wanted and cam out with an amazing canvas that’s going to go up on our wall. You can actually see the girls personality in each paining.

I am extremely impressed with their capabilities and with their capacity of following instructions. All this while my husband sat comfortably in the café enjoying the girls enthusiasm from behind the window and sipping our coffee.

Needless to say we ALL went home happy.
 
 
 
 
 

But this was not enough for me!!! I wanted in on the fun too, for days all I can think of is “They have adult classes!!”, “this is my kinda place”, “I need to go again”

While talking to my best friend and how much I love the place it suddenly dawns on me!! “WE HAVE TO GO!!” So we set it our next “Date night” is going to be at Art Space….
 
 
anchor

We found the perfect time to join the class and our Painting conveniently had my favorite quote of all time

Off course as soon as I walk in I’m greeted by the gorgeous Sarah and Salem, immediately feel like I’ve known them for years. My best friend walks in and she feels the same way!!

We make our way into the art studio Apron and all and meet our Instructor Lamia. A truly adorable lady that made painting seem like it was a piece of cake!! Oh which we were served by one of the other instructors, just because.
 
 
 
 

me
 
 
 
As I’m sitting there painting my background all I keep thinking too myself is “I can live here and how are they going to keep me away!”

Sure enough as we follow Lamia’s steps, instructions and techniques while choosing our own little changes and tweaks the painting starts to look more and more presentable than ever expected.

This all wouldn’t have been remotely possible without Lamia (our instructor) and the Art Space team’s continuous support, encouragement and cheering.
 
 
 

To that I have great honor in presenting my “first” work of art without complete embarrassment.
myanchor

Here I am proud by Making Life Memorable one canvas at a time. Surely not the last of them!

Sep12

Art & Culture

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Art & Culture

There are so many things we can do with our children when it comes to activities yet I favor those things that are most meaningful and everlasting.

Jumping up and down in a bouncy castle does have it’s benefits but still there’s no real culture.

In my quest for art and culture I stumbled upon an amazing instagram account called @artspaceQ8 and that’s when the stalking began!!

Door
 
“Artspace Café” is a unique and amazing concept. The concept is simple yet so unique at the same time! It’s a Café fused into an art studio.

They host daily workshops in a casual and authentic atmosphere. Their vast range of times is perfect for everyone schedule with 4 different sessions a day for all levels: 11am-1pm, 3pm-5pm, 5pm-7pm and finally 7pm-9pm.

In addition they have kids sessions during the weekends Thursday, Friday and Saturday from either 4pm-6pm or 5pm-7pm.

art
 
With a café attached you can also enjoy a cup of coffee, relax on the couch, listen to music or even grab a book to read.

Look around and I’m sure you’re going to find lots of artwork that you’re going to fall in love with. Surprise Surprise all artwork around the café and studio are also for sale!

art
 
 
 
 
 
And even better if you’re feeling artistic and inspired you can pick up a canvas and have an artistic session of their own using all the tools, paints and facilities they have available.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

An art studio that has a life of it’s own. Amazing set of people that are so friendly that you actually feel like you’ve known them for years and you’re just hanging out in their living room.

I’m equally impressed by the artistic level displayed by everyone at ArtSpace. The willingness to assist and help you is uncanny. They are actually so vocal in cheering you on that you feel like you’re Picasso! The positive energy and love in their humble space makes you want to jump for joy, a rare feeling these days. Maybe it’s the youthfulness of everyone but it sure made feel good and that’s all that matters.

Be sure to follow @artspaceQ8 on instagram and visit them in the basement of Galleria 2000 in Salmiya,

Here’s to you visiting an authentic space and Making Life Memorable!

Read more about our artistic debut at Artspace.

Sep11

Spelling and Vocabulary

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Spelling and Vocabulary

Ok it’s official Jennah is in Grade 3 and I’m starting to have heart palpitations… We are no longer coloring and working on chapter books. This is some serious stuff here!!!

Our first week and we’ve got spelling and vocabulary test to study for, and when I say we I really mean WE!!

I’ve been doing a ton of research on how to teach vocabulary words….between spelling city, teaching websites and other spelling apps on the ipad I have come to a few realizations and conclusions that I would like to share.

Please bare in mind I am not an educator or a scholar. I am just a regular mom wanting to make the learning experience for my child as pleasant and painless as possible (For the both of us!).

What I am about to write is my opinion and my take on learning/teaching. It may help you find new methods, re-enforce what you already know or just be irrelevant to you.

In my little world I’ve found it helpful and hope that you do too!

wordstudyRR_mastheadA very interesting article I came across was about “Word Study”

This article talks about how to teach children to identify which letters are in a word using certain rules.

The technique is basically moving away from just memorizing how a word is spelled but rather developing the skill and knowledge of figuring out how its spelled.

I was actually intrigued by the whole concept and made a note on doing more research about “Word Study”

This website also has an online newsletter that you can subscribe too which I was oh so eager to sign up for!

Of course there is more to this website and definitely worth the browse.
 
 
 
K5logoThe next website is K5 Learning This site covers learning from kindergarden to Grade 5, so it has everything you need for the elementary level.

It covers areas of both Math, language (reading/Spelling…etc) & study skills. A more comprehensive site that’s interactive with videos of what tools they provide.

I was even more impressed after watching their “Parent Video” explaining what K5 Learning and the tools they provide.

My favorite is that your child is actually assessed by the website to know what level they’re at and selects the best program for them.

This however is a paid website and if you’re like me I only like FREEEEEE stuff. It’s still worth the money though and has a 14 day trail with no obligation to subscribe.

These were the most prominent 2 research sites for the day. There is so much more out there that I had to stop myself before getting more overwhelmed than I already am.

So with everything you do for your child in Making Life Memorable put a little more effort in making studying memorable for them too!!

Sep10

Cafe Bazza

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Cafe Bazza

It’s such a beautiful sunny morning in Kuwait that you can actually walk to your car without feeling scorched today.

A great day like this is a great excuse for a day out for breakfast… As soon as I drop of the girls to school I call my husband and we make a date out of it before we both heads out to work.

Our latest addiction is Café Bazza in Bneid Al-Gar. Close to home & my work that it’s not going to make me late.
bazza-out
A taste of traditional Kuwaiti food in a historical time warp. With the seating like an old “Gahwa” (traditional old coffee shop) with the modern TV playing old Kuwaiti shows and plays on silent while the radio plays old songs that bring butterflies to your stomach remembering the past.

For those that didn’t live that era it’s equally intriguing to see and hear things from a past you haven’t experienced.

Egg
 
 
 
 
A vast selection on the menu our choice was difficult to make.

My choice was the exquisite “Cheesy Omelet” a delicious combination of eggs, Spinach and Kraft cream cheese (Jibin glassat)

OHHH the rich creamy taste of processed cheese I must say was sublime with the healthy twist of spinach was hard to beat!

qima
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
My husband was craving the “Qima” a traditional minced meat stir fry (7amsa) with green peas, onion, tomato and what I assume is Indian spices. All on a brick oven bread made like a pizza.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
hummus
 
 
 
 
Off course all this wouldn’t be complete without Hummus for dipping.

 
 
 
 
 
All this accompanied by traditional Tea with milk in a little pot for one.

We truly had a “big feast” of a breakfast as Jennah would say.

So the next time you’re wondering where to go out for breakfast as early as 7am I would highly recommend that Cafe Bazza be your choice.

The amazing thing is that if the Bneid Al-Gar location is not close enough to you they have several other locations like Salmiya, Avenues, Abu Halifa and A2Z.

Off course you are not limited to breakfast their menu has a variety of lunch/Dinner & Dessert. We do intend to take the girls one day for a full blown meal.

Here’s to Making Life Memorable one meal at a time!

Sep9

Polish Galore

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Polish Galore

I am not one for vanity, we will see me in public without makeup, in flats wearing jeans and a T-shirt, but there is one thing that I will say will always be there in the style department and that’s NAIL POLISH!

My nails no matter how short they might end up being will always be polished, and if my nails just have a clear coat my toe nails will ALWAYS be polished. My biggest pet peeve is open toe shoes that reveal unpolished toe nails!!

In my busy schedule I rarely have time to get a professional Manicure and Pedicure so I’ve resorted to doing it myself. Which isn’t hard since I gained lots of experience in college with my Roomie & Bestie!

With doing it myself came the responsibility of having color choices.

The more colors you have the less you use certain colors. The best are the OPI MINI you can have a large range of colors that you use and won’t dry up like the regular 15ml size bottles because you’ve used it up.

opi Mini

 
These little 3.75ml come in sets of 4, 6 or 10. I am in love with them!!! I highly recommend nail polish lovers to get a few sets and keep them stocked up at home. 1

I also love these collections because they have a theme related to it. Makes it easier to choose. The world of nail polish can be very overwhelming at time.

 
 
 
I’m going to sign off to put some nail polish and get busy in Making life Memorable one nail at a time

Sep7

Sleep Deprived

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Sleep Deprived

Today I feel like I’m a walking zombie….. I’m walking around looking like I’m composed and functional yet I’m nothing close to that!

I’m actually surprised that I’m sitting up right looking at the screen and typing…. mind you I’m misspelling every other word (I actually wrote order instead of word, that’s how bad!) Thank God for spell check and that squiggly red line!

I decided to actually Google “Remedies for Sleep Deprivation” and the first on the list was WebMD….ahhh yes the site that make you believe you have a tumor or fatal disease because you complain of a simple head ache… I went to read what it had to say anyway!!!

I start the first few paragraphs and say “Ok….tell me something I don’t know!” and then I get totally insulted when the article starts talking about age!! I mean seriously it’s getting personal here! SO I then decide I need to find another site to get educated…

Most of the sites I read all spoke about ways to avoid sleep deprivation…. I know why I’m sleep deprived “I SLEPT LATE!!” and I need to fix it now so I can function normally….Remedy = Cure why isn’t Google not giving me the cure?? I don’t need preventative measures….

Did I put to many “….” in that last paragraph?? Well I’m probably not going to proof read any way I’m too tired for perfection today:) still misspelling every other word by the way.

GREAT now this other site is starting to talk about how sleep deprivation can cause depression!! This is not looking good, obviously I’m depressed I want to curl into bed and sleep but don’t have that luxury.

Page after page of somewhat useless information at this point I’m feeling like I’m just wasting my time without getting anywhere. Yet I move onto the next website in the hopes that it will have something to wake me up!

That’s IT I’m calling it a post! I’m just going to engross myself with a ton of work, ignore the fact that I feel like I’m jetlagged and hit by a bus at the same time and have a big cup of coffee to give me some false energy.

Turns out I am human after all people!

Here’s to hoping that I get to bed earlier today so that tomorrow I can start Making Life Memorable with all my screws on tight!

Sep5

One week down!!!

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One week down!!!

OOOHHHHHHOOOOOO!!!

We survived the first week of school chaos. Between the traffic, figuring out classes, getting the new uniforms and settling into routine I think we did pretty good.

I’m jumping for joy as to how convenient this year is going to be with both girls having the same schedule and I don’t need to spend 4 hours a day on the road from one location to another.

Off course with that I had to have some sort of celebration at the end of their first week.

The girls decided that they wanted to go out for ice cream after school and that’s exactly what we did.

Dessert

The funny thing is they insisted on having a big dessert.

We therefore went to Chilis (one of our favorite restaurant choices) Conveniently there’s one located at Al-Mohalab Mall next to their school.

They ordered the Chocolate Molten cake with ice cream while I was having the BBQ Chicken Salad. After about 4 bites of their dessert they looked at me and said “Can we share your salad”. I am truly blessed that my children eat healthy and would actually turn their dessert away and devour a salad.

I must have done something right!!

We then walked around the mall, went into makeup stores and put lip gloss on. Went into The body shop and tried almost everything that had a “TRY ME” sticker on it. And just giggled all the time.

Then it was time to head out before the security had enough of us!

Next choice was the infamous “Color Me Mine”

We are addicted to that place and soon will run out of choices of what to paint because we pretty much painted almost every mug, plate, bowl that they have.

The trick about what I do at color Me mine to make my money worth while is that the girls MUST choose something useful.

We used to do the figurines but then I just have a shelf full of “STUFF” and at the rate we go I’m going to run out of space. So it must be something we can use. Therefore we have plates of different sizes, bowls and mugs!

CMM-2

Let me tell you we can spend so much time there it’s crazy.

Now that the girls are older they really take their time and it’s not just about painting with colors over each other.

Trust me we have a bunch of Icky brown bowls from mixing colors. Now the girls chose colors wisely and start to make designs on their ceramics.
CMM-Zee2
 

I was especially impressed with Zeenah on how she was handling her cup and taking her time in making it pretty.

By the end of this day we had a calm ride home, talking about what a wonderful day we had.

I am so privileged to have girls that appreciate me and here’s to “Making Life Memorable” as a family!

Sep4

Class Gifts

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Class Gifts

Like many things that I do to myself I’ve always given teachers “first Day” gifts and something little for the class.

Last year I made the Popcorn Treats for the girls’ classmates and a Teacher’s Survival kit for the Teachers. (Click on link to see last year’s gifts)

This year I stuck with the cookie theme for both the teacher’s gifts (which I posted about yesterday) and the kids gifts.

The girls and I decided that we were going to bake chocolate chip cookies that Jennah said her friends were going to think it was “Choowy Goowy” because they were so tasty.

While the cookies were cooling it was time to make labels…. We went with a basic Polka dot label that I had found for free online on www.teacherspayteachers.com a site that I intend to post about soon!

CookieTags

I downloaded the set, I was so excited to see the selection of colors and sizes this pack had. All for Free!! I love FREEEEEEE!!!

I plugged the best size for our labels into powerpoint and just added the text.

Jennah chose to go with a sophisticated font called Pristina while Zeenah went with a more playful font called Crayon. Both of which I downloaded off of the internet for FREEEEE…

Each Tag had “You’re going to be one smart cookie!! Good Luck in KG1” (or Grade 3 in Jennah’s case) and their name.

The girls insisted on printing the labels on yellow paper. It would have been much easier to print them out on Sticker labels but then that’s just what I get for getting them involved!!

What’s another 20 minutes spent on cutting the labels and putting double sided tape on each and every label 42 to be exact!!
cookieGirls2
 
 
 
By this time the cookies had cooled down and we started to bag them individually.

This was really fun to do because usually I spend most of my time doing it and the girls are now old enough to do it themselves…. So much fun giggling with them. It really brings out the child in me (not that I’ve grown up!)

 
 
 
 

As much as I wanted them to continue helping me I had to stop them because the labels had to be stuck on perfectly and I knew it would be double the work if they participated. That’s when I pulled go play in the playroom because it’s almost dinner card.

cookieJ

So having the girls help me with these just makes the experience even more meaningful.

Here’s for sharing the experience and teaching children ways of Making Life Memorable.