Gift ,, a smile

The fear of being misjudged or the thought of of someone thinking that I'm bragging, did not stop me from writing this post, at least not anymore! Once someone said to me " You are trying too hard / or much?" I forgot the last word :p it was said to me after "giving", time and simple gifts. Misjudgements and wrong views of our actions; are, inevitable! Yet the purpose behind this post is far more rewarding :} and priceless!

Yesterday, I had a small conversation with the coffee guy, he's the manager of a small coffee place close to my office, along with two subordinates, they feed us with caffeine everyday. He spoke about how hard work is and how their management is not providing a replacement to the third guy (his 2nd subordinate) during the conversation where he described how bad the employees morale becomes when management does not pay attention to them, his eyes touched me deeply, they were teary. It was only work, not an issue related to his family nor his health BUT he was that passionate about his work and how he is trying to put up a fight against management to facilitate more manpower to do work better. Ironically something similar occurred to me a while ago, but its not about me nor seeing a reflection of me, it was his teary eyes vs how he served us coffee with passion, he's never satisfied if a customer doesn't smile, checks on your opinion about the coffee and changes it the moment he "feels" your not satisfied. He is a dedicated and passionate person, who should only be happy.

Everyone deserves a good happy life, yet life it self is not fair and we face bumps, what if we helped some one by putting a smile on their face? Encourage them? Give kindness not charity?!

How?

A smile, a gentle gesture, a gift..

I'm very fond of this traditional sweet called "Samsamiyah" which is basically sesame seeds and sugar syrup. When I saw it today, he came to mind, aided by the latest IKEA buy :p small gift card-boxes. Simply fold and you have a box! Very handy for anyone who enjoys gift wrapping.

I can never get enough of making small gifts, that have no occasion, they have an AMAZING positive effect on people! I don't ever expect anything in return but a smile :} best return for kindness is kindness back and a smile.

Your gifts do not have to be physical, it could be a smile, a helping hand, a paper folded like a flower?! Be creative and simple or just google some DIY anyting, the idea is to not over burden yourself and others, enjoy life, enjoy their happiness.

Question is, when was the last time you made a simple small gesture to someone? :} Do it more often, its good. Enjoy giving.

P.S.: Giving can set you loose from getting too attached to things! Rather than people.

From here and there

اسنتاجرم ،، بالكويتي

يا صور اكل ، او صورة شي استهلاكي و تشوف تحته اممممممية تعليق (بالذات على الهدوم ..) من وين؟ بجم؟؟ حتى لو كانت الصورة منقولة من عرض ازياء لماركة معروفة! يكسرون خاطري المدونين و غيرهم، اللي يحطون صور منتجات، اعتقد يتحطم الرقم القياسي للأسئلة اللي ممكن تنسأل عن منتج بس من خلال الانستاجرام، اغبطهم على صبرهم .. و اللي يعطوني الضربة القاااااااااضية، لما يكون في جيو تاق (المكان محدد فوووووق الصورة) و يسألون ، هذا وين؟

حلو تشارك الناس بمنظورك للحياة، و حلو منظورك يكون ايجابي، ان كان اللي تشوفه و تبينا نشوفه معاك اكل او فن او لبس او انشطة، بس الاجمل التنويع و الابداع :) التكنولوجيا سهلت لنا الابداع، بس شوي تحرروا من التكرار و التقليد و الدوران في محور واحد ..و اللي يسألون حاولوا تنتبهون للتفاصيل في الصورة و موقعها و اذا كان مكان عمل او محل دقوا تلفون او زوروهم ،، مو صعبه

"Be truthful, Gentle and fearless" - Ghandi

Picked it up a magnet with this quote from Violet Concept Store, from a brand called Quotable.The reason why I think quotes are charming is that in a sentence a valuable experience of a person who lived before you, is summed up!

The flow of ideas that I got from the three adjectives instantly made me smile, how to bare the three together and insert each in your character in the same time. Maintaining them at all times is the real challenge, we change and at many times life forces us to give up on our believes or we simply choose to. The real effort is to see the right track, maintain it and avoid the bad one. Life is too short to hurt others and your self.

كوفي مربع

حايشني هوس بهالخط ، يمكن لانه خط ينرسم و ما ينكتب! الاجمل بنظري الديواني و الديواني جلي تحديدا بس الكوفي المربع مريح و فيه جانب هندسي .. الخط فن ما تخيلت بحره واسع بهالشكل ، و التعليم فيه ياخذ سنين و تمرين مستمر و متوسع، لما تشوف خطاط يكتب تتوقع انه مثل ما تكتب بشكل عادي، و ما تتخيل الوقت و الجهد المبذول في تعلم كيفية وزن الحرف الواحد! فما بالك بالكلمة و الجملة ،، و الكتاب. اقدر الخطاطين جدا

 Tulip Mania

"was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed" - Via mighty Wiki

This article sums up our ability to increase or decrease the material value of something, the can be as simple as a flower or as essential as a house! 

"n February 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman" - Same article 

Continuing I read this article also which revolved around all the ideas on how we have the power to increase or decrease the value of something, the main question was WHY?! The how is simple, get the why to motivate the demand and if demand is gathered with scarcity it is much better! What made sense to Dutch people at that time doesn't now to them, similarly to what makes sense to us now. The solution? Lower the demand with change of mentality = the "WHY?!" , or , abundance!

الكويت اكثر من وطن - Meet Kuwait in the Avenues

"For the first time in the Middle East The Avenues mall will host in mid November and for a period of 17 days a 300 year narrative of Kuwait's history presented through the latest picture recognition technology."

"في منتصف شهر نوفمبر القادم سوف يستضيف مجمع الافنيوز لمدة ١٧ يوم مشروع وطني رائد والأول من نوعه في الشرق الاوسط هو عبارة عن سرد ٣٠٠ سنة من تاريخ دولة الكويت بإستخدام الهواتف الذكية."

Passed by the Avenues and saw a large installation of Kuwait map on the floor along with a wall filled with pictures going back to history from 1600 to the present day. Illustrating important historical events and facts about Kuwait. Its a unique VERY hip project, because you have to download an application called "Treek" which is Kuwaiti for "Hand lamp" :} you use it to scan this icon on the pictures / map

Here is how it looks like when the application detects the image, you get a play button & you can enjoy the video :}

 The videos are in both Arabic and English, very short and in sometimes funny! You'll be surprised, check out the videos

 

I loved how people are looking around on the floor, some are using the application others their own memory to locate the areas on the map and many were looking for their houses :p

Its a huge effort that is worth visiting and appreciating :} check out out people, it will last for 17 days

ملخص عن المشروع بالعربي

Project rundown in English

Instagram Hashtag.. Ceiling_Obsession

I'm fond of looking up, I make sure that I take a good look at the sky before I start my day, any building I enter the first thing that catches my eye is its ceiling .. The other day in Instagram one user directed me to include a picture of mine in #Ceiling_Obsession .. What an amazing world was over there! One of the best things the internet provided is the possibility & ease to find people with common interests regardless of anything else attached to them, other than the "interest" it self :} If you're in Instagram check out the hashtag

From here & there

Sunsets are charming, especially this time of the year, to prove it see the flipped up picture below :D its even charming upside down!

اقل من ١٠٠ كيلو متر بالساعة

كان عذاب محدق في شوارع الكويت اني اقيّد بعدم تجاوز سرعة ١٠٠ كم/س! طبعا الكل يطوفني حتى راعي البرّد لكن الاكثر ايلاما لي كانت الشاحنات، لي طافتني شاحنة و اهي متعدية سرعة ال١٠٠ لا و تناشبني على الحارة الوسطية تحوشني ميني "غبنه"!! و يطق لي هرن بعد؟ زين ما بجيت .. بس اللي تعلمته احترام قوانين الوقت و المسافة :) زاد تقديري لمقولة "الدنيا ماراح تطير" صح علشان اوصل بوقت معين المفروض افكر بقيد سرعة السيارة و اعطيها وقت فوق وقت المشوار المعتاد ، و الاهم، ان غالبية اللي يسوقون بشوارع الكويت طايرين على غييييييييير سنع! صدقوني كلنا بنوصل :) 

و يمكن الموقف الوحيد اللي طيّب خاطري ، واحدة تعدتني و اهي شاااااخطة، و لما وصلت للمخرج اللي ابيه اكتشفت اني يمها! كان ودي اقول لها هااا اشوف الروس تساوت ;>

Dar Alathar kicked off the 18th cultural season, I was so happy to receive their e-mail. True I could not attend ANY event last week, but will do as of next, hopefully :}

و يتجدد اللقاء مع نقاط! انا جدا سعيدة بموضوع هالسنة و بكرس له بوست كااااااامل بس بما اني كسولة تدوينيا قلت احط اللنك من الحين للي يبي يسجل

Keep calm .. Kuwait .. iWish

Pic source

The story of Keep calm & carry on... I think a similar campaign is much needed in Kuwait #iThink

Entrepreneurship: Vision, Value & Passion

Monday was a mind turning day to me, I used to think that all those management / Self-Improvement related courses, books, lecturers are a waste of time! Actually my real mind change started back in 2009 when I attended a course by an amazing figure Mr. Khalfan Aleisery from Oman, which I will post about in details later inshallah.

I was invited to attend “Entrepreneurship: Vision, Value & Passion" - More info in FB - by Ahmad Al-Mutawa. A young Kuwaiti who manages companies that provide all sort of consultancies, this one was organized by Mubaader. The seminar started with a push of motivation and enthusiasm to awaken the “Entrepreneur” within,,,, yes I did feel a bit lost in the beginning :p and that nothing he said was out of the blue, then as the seminar progressed, I got influenced, positively. What this seminar gave was; very useful tools, ideas and information on how to start your own business, in a time that small to medium businesses are in constant growth.

Success stories were discussed as well as difficulties, when to start and how to take each step, how to be innovative, do something new, be unique and how to practically establish a business (formal government-related procedures, negotiating, branding and even pricing,, etc.). The person behind the business took a lot of focus, he paid attention to the ideas of the attendees, a thing I liked, even the ones on paper!

I left wanting to own a business, someday :} and with a new mindset! A more appreciative attitude to such management-related information, that give us useful tools which ironically slip away out of your mind at the time of need, no matter how trivial they sound.

Even if those courses content to you might be a cliché, repetitive, found online or in books, the person saying it makes a huge difference in comprehending and applying those principals, and what they aim to change in you, Al-Mutawa was good, I can see him 5 years from now being a really good speaker and motivator.

In many times all we need is motivation, words of encouragement, a push forward and a few simple tools to EXECUTE and do something we want.

8 years

Yesterday , Sunday 29th of July, my blog has been around for 8 years.

I admit over the years I had my peak and low moments of blogging, yet it has been around, always there for me, my dear blog. Its one of the very rare things I kept close, till now there is a weird thing that attracts me to it.

Anyhow, this post is dedicated to my dear blog, my quiet tiny space online, every "bit" of you is loved :} Keep on Chill'n

Fluffy clouds factory

I want to live there! Yes I'm serious :} One day I will own a company to produce fluffy clouds .. Or start on making animated movies :> My heart melted away when I saw the short animated movie "Cloudy", must see.


Cloudy from FriendsWithYou on Vimeo.
We are so excited to present the short film "Cloudy", an art piece with the purpose to transcend its viewers to a relaxed and joyous state. It will be premiering on i am OTHER via Pharrell Williams’ brand new cultural movement, an entertainment based portal online. Read on to be transported to the clouds!

This short is an exploration into the Clouds. The idea of clouds singing and performing their duties in a joyful manner show us that everything in our world has a role and a purpose.
A sweet visual soundscape that takes the viewer through a personal journey into the sky. Sing, dance and relax as you follow a sweet cast of clouds and raindrops through an entrancing adventure you'll wish to take over and over again.
Cloudy is made by FriendsWithYou

"We are so excited to present the short film "Cloudy", an art piece with the purpose to transcend its viewers to a relaxed and joyous state. It will be premiering on i am OTHER via Pharrell Williams’ brand new cultural movement, an entertainment based portal online. Read on to be transported to the clouds!

This short is an exploration into the Clouds. The idea of clouds singing and performing their duties in a joyful manner show us that everything in our world has a role and a purpose.
A sweet visual soundscape that takes the viewer through a personal journey into the sky. Sing, dance and relax as you follow a sweet cast of clouds and raindrops through an entrancing adventure you'll wish to take over and over again."

The other man (2008)

Been a while since I enjoyed a drama, Liam was the reason I did not change the channel I admit, I'm biased to Liam Nesso.

Movie is about a "happily" married couple, after the wife's death "Laura Linney", the husband "Liam", discovers that she had another man in her life "Antonio Banderas"! Trouble comes in when the husband decides to know that other man closely and e-mail him from his dead wife's account, he gets so close to him and becomes his opponent in a chess game,,, ironic

A bit depressing and sad drama, yet sheds the light on an area in life, not many tackle nor discuss. Does digging the past bring out anything? Or change the way life is? Is killing the other man, a cure to all what he knew? Can one forgive such a thing, out of love? Does the point of view of the other (traitor) make a difference? Is there a justification for a double life? Why would anyone want to be the hidden part of someone's life?

I'll end it with a line from the mighty wiki post about the movie (link above):

“forgiveness and love need to replace hate”

#Kethra Venice Biennale and Kuwait

I have been following @Kuwaitpavilion on Instagram for a while & CANT want to know what is #Kethra is all about! follow them and see how wonderful their world is :} Did I ever say how much I love architecture? well it mostly shows on Instagram & Twitter

Kuwait will participate in Venice Biennale! To know more stay tuned, 2 more days left & we shall all know! Where when is as per the picture below from their Instagram account! More info in twitter @_Kuwaitpavilion 

 

Will attend inshallah and see what's Kethra is all about, after all what can I ask for more than this:

Kuwait will be represented

Architecture

Creativity

In one place! {:

كثرة، مشاركة الكويت في بينالي البندقية هالسنه ، الروابط لحساباتهم في تويتر و انستاجرام فوق ، و يوم الاثنين بنعرف شنو قصة كثرة

جدااااااااااا متشوقه!

From here & there

Twitter & Instagram are really stealing me from the blog world, easy on the go publishing is so alluring! Especially that you don't have to consume a lot of time editing or thinking much, Instagram, take a picture (which is a thing I do by the minute :p) post it, add a tiny caption or a few hashtags OR don't! As simple as that.

يوم السبت هذا في سبمبوت موضوع جدا شيق! جسيم هيجز، و بيتكلم فيه الدكتور علي حسين عبدالله لنك التويت لمزيد من المعلومات :)

Latest discovery & addiction is "Dhafer Youssef" first introduction was through a dear dear cousin of mine and I heard his Quartet - Les Ondes Orientales that moved me from being amazed by the harmony of the Oud sound with the Piano to the intervention of other instruments, topping it off with his weirdly manipulated voice to a speed up in the rhythm then a slow smooth closure, very close to how it all begun! Please "listen" to it and not just hear it :} 

من جماليات الصيف بالكويت، غير انتشار التكييف (عسى الله يرحمك و يغفر لك يا من اخترعته لنا) اللي تحس بفقدانه لي رحت دولة ما تعترف بالتكييف بكل مكان نظرا لان جوها بارد ،، عموووما! قلة الحركة المرورية حزة الدوامات ، جدا مستمتعه بروحتي و ردتي من الدوام ، لكن اللي يثير فضولي، شنو قصة الساعة ٧ بالليل؟ اكو دقمة يضغطونها و فجأة تنترس الشوارع سيارات؟

Sadu and me , a story I wish to elaborate on but its not the time to do so yet, so stay tuned. In the time being give Sadu House a visit its a GREAT establishment in Kuwait, a lovely old house that has historical architecture from our culture all over it, the Sadu weaving materials & story exhibited and every Monday they have the Chai Aldhaha event where you can stop by have some tea & explore the place, more information in their twitter account.

Moleskine love

Almost done with my red one which i held for a loooong while since 2009! Mainly because of digital note writing means, available in my handheld / computer / tablet you name it.

Going to the Venice one (or as it says Venezia,, trying to be a bit Italian r here) is very exciting, I'm thrilled to use it, has a map (for my trip there one day!), pen holder & its lined!! A huge mercy for who wants to read my handwriting.

Yes in talking about a small note book. Now back to the post.

Sketching was the biggest benefit of having a paper note all the time, now that I'm working on a Fashion design project I have been literally eating the pages off of it. And no digital drawing apps are not my thing, even with the pen thingie.

Using hand & pen still has an amazing charm. I often get drifted while writing to focus on the reactions, hand & body movement, capture of the brain storm moments on paper, I find all of that very fascinating :)

The idea of uniting man with the simple man-made tools to 'express & do' what we want is everywhere and is a great pride bearer to nations, question that attacks me all the time when I drift with this idea:

What did we give to Humanity?
What did we give to earth/ our country?


P.S.: Venice note was a wonderful gift from a lovely person, I shall take the note as an invitation to see Venice, before I'm done with it.

Posting on the go!

Installed blogger app, testing it with this post :) lets see if this will make me stop making excuses for not posting more often!

Added a picture of #WISRN to confirm twitter's influence ;p

شكراً كاريبو - Thank you Caribou

It all started with what Caribou had on their paper cup, I love them, filled with funny inspirational scribbles!

I posted the picture above in a tweet @ 11.12PM , I had 6 thank you's to learn in order for me to complete the 10, by 12.48 I did! with the help of 4 tweeps
@ammar200x
@DaNa_AlMutairi
@Nunu_San
@hameedosh

:D annnnd by 1.12PM two more tweeps
@donveto
@blasha

Added 5 more! So I ended up knowing how to say "Thank you" in 15 languages! :> #iHappy

I didn't include the Indian "Shukria - شكريا" because its like the Arabic one and very common to me :p but just to brag about it, I practically know how to say thank you in 16 languages :}

شكراً

شكريا

Thank you

Merci

Gratias

Grazie

Danke

تشكرات

Gracias

Arigatou

Sheshe

Spaseeba

Tack

Salamat

Keetos

Obrigado

 

goes to Caribou, tweeps mentioned above and twitter!

Where have I been?!

In the era of Twitter and Instagram, the tools to publish on the go, blogging seems is a bit time consuming, but has a greater joy to me :} This post will sum up most of the highlights in the past two weeks....

A banner @ The Sultan Center, if your into Jazz, check out the Gulf Jazz festival, coming up next week!

Reuse 5.0 is on now till 22nd of April, check out en.v website & follow them on twitter @env_initiative for more information, I will go in a few days inshallah & might post about it. I still have last year's pictures that I blame a lot my self for not sharing them! I need to find a solution for the boredom in blogging pictures, due to the long process I take in resizing them & adding the blog URL stamp.

Final note, go to reuse, support "REUSEing" :}

"REUSE is an annual exposition that serves as an opportunity for non-profit organizations, companies, professionals and aspiring creative talents to showcase their accomplishments in the fields of social responsibility and sustainability via a range of artistic mediums and interactive activities for the general public." via FB event page

احب الطيور و بالذات الزرازيير ،، هالزرزور كان مونسني كل صبح في كورس جدا ممل و موضوعه جدا جميل! مشكلة المحاضر ان اسلوبه هادي و على وتيرة وحدة و الموضوع جدا ممتع و يحتاج شخص عملي و متحرك اكثر، ذكرني باهم دروس حياتي ان المادة العلمية تعتمد على المرسل بقدر اعتمادها على المتلقي.

و على مدى ٤ ايام و انا اصوّر هالزرزور (او زرازير مادري لو تغير ، كلهم يتشابهون) و اخيرا باحد الايام عبرني و طالعني! من وناستي بنظرته سيدا انستاجرااااام :> 

ممتع انك تلقى اشياء بسيطة حولك تونسك ، عندكم شي يونسكم بالطبيعة او الناس اللي حولكم مثل وناستي بشوفة للزرزور؟ اذا لأجربوا تلقون لكم شي / شخص / مكان

Was an amazing NIGHT organized by DAI in collaboration with the USA Embassy in Kuwait , I have never heard Coco York before , what a strong beautiful voice she has mashallah! Mike del Ferro was on the Piano, his reactions while playing killed me, he was funny, however, when you listen to him play, you go to another world see this video for them in "My funny valentine"

Now the CHERRY on top, or shall I say cherries started off with ... Salman AlAmmari , a very famous Kuwaiti singer of old Kuwaiti songs. A huge shift in the mood, Mike tried to go along with some piano tunes but I am biased to "AlSout" art, to get a feel listen to this songs in youtube, this is one of my favorites by him called "إذا المرء - ّIf a person" based on a lovely old Arabic poem by AlShafe'i.

و عقب العماري دشت بنية "نسيت اسمها، يمكن بشاير؟" كانت تسمع يوكو تغني اليوم اللي قبل حفلتها في مركز الامريكاني ، فقالت لها تعالي غني! و رافقتها عازفة جاز سويدية :) ونسونا و بعدين شاب نسيت هم اسمه للاسف، و غنا لنا، بس بالنسبة لي فاصل العماري كان جميل. انا جديدة على فن الصوت و قام يطربني حديثا من سنتين تقريبا، العماري يعجبني و صلاح حمد خليفة بس اللي فعلا صوته عجبني سلطان مفتاح، و اهو اللي حببني في حسنها شل روحي

 

A really nice event, fototalks it was a 2 day event, included a general presentations, discussions and workshops. I mostly liked the live photographer's challenge where they gave 2 photographers 15 minutes to take a picture and edit "if needed" for a certain object, none knew what before the competition started :}

I'm looking forward for next year's fototalks , I think it was a great event, lacked publicity especially on twitter, I wished if it had a designated hashtag where participants shared their view of the event. All in all it was a great 1st time {:

Last but not least, attended this cine-concert for 4 cellos by "the musinema cello quartet" more info in Kuwait-music. In short its 4 cello performers who put a sound track for a silent movie, the performance was somewhat boring to me BUT when they made extra sounds "vocals" that added effects to the music, I took a pause and started to see the big picture! At the beginning of the performance  I either focused on the musicians or the movie, then kept watching the movie and forgot they were there, although I have a very wide view of the stage, here it hit me, the importance of sounds (music / voices) in a movie, how they are the hidden solders that might make a great performance, story and direction fail or succeed :}

Then it became more interesting, as I focused on the big picture, where really important factors of success are hidden and how you have to look very carefully into details to appreciate every bit was put in ANY effort. It was a nice experience.

Random thoughts on picks

Pick your fights

In life time is limited, life it self is limited by time, time has the upper hand, if we don't pick our fights well, we can become very good time waters. Main things to consider before entering a fight:

Can I see my aim out of it's circle, is it avoidable?
Is it repeated?
Value of the outcome, is it really worth it?

A dear friend used to ask me after every discussion "So who won? you or me?" my answer then, now, and forever will remain, BOTH! A fight is not a win-lose issue only, this is the proposal made by the general mentality people have, but a win-win situation is always a gain :}

If your side doesn't make it, find out why it didn't and that's your gain, even if some might consider you a "loser" you actually won!

If your side makes it, you gained someone else that considers your way/idea/mentality (will use idea for ease onwards) is right! BUT if you didn't get any gaps on your side, be very aware, nothing is perfect, perfection to us human beings is subjective.

I consider exposing your idea to different mentalities is a gain in all forms (typical: winning/losing), if its not right and didn't spread you should know why, and improve it. If you find gaps about it or in it, try closing them and look to your idea from that prospective "the gap finding one".

Don't repeat your fights, don't go through fights with the same mentalities they have with the same mentality you have! Do it smarter or simply don't. Finally do not focus on hearing "YES YOU WON" rather than winning on actual grounds :} Winning people's respect and tolerance is also important.

Pick your view

Instagram the latest addiction of mine, is a perfect example of how people "see" things, out of the least noticeable angles comes beauty. All over the accounts in that application you see how people interact with photography! By documentation, advertisement, spreading of Art or ideas, you name it.. In a way, more than writing in twitter or a blog, instgram or image publishing all in all, shows you really how people see life. So you can see beauty in almost everything, lower the bad or ugly and increase the pretty and good :}

Violet Concept Store

No I wont turn this blog into an AD page :p BUT a dear person invited me to this store "Violet Concept Store" she and her partner were there, welcoming, lovely spirits and with a unique concept!

Jugglers outside holding jewelery by Ingenious, they have a few pieces but that is not the juicy part that made me LOVE and write about them

They make custom made leather goods! Phone covers, leather straps for watches, wallets and boxes for jewelery & watches. The leather good made for you can be marked with your name, price? VERY affordable and compared to the leather and making quality VERY REASONABLE. Its actually cheaper than what brand names offer and is more personalized 

Ingenious pieces fall under simple chic, the type of everyday jewellery that will not cost you and arm & leg!

I decided to take this bracelet and matching necklace , the picture above is edited through my latest addiction, Instagram! I'm crazy about it, love easy publishing and editing, although I try to not use editing on pictures, love raw natural ones.

Violet concept store is located in Waqf Al-Babtain "Sababel" - Opposite to Al-Ameeri hospital on Ahmad Al Abdullah Street

بيت السدو و بن حثلين

دخلت و لم انتبه لما كتب على هذا الحائط الواقع يسار المدخل، انتهيت مما جئت له و قبل ان اخرج لفت نظري هدوء المنظر و جمال الكلام. على الرغم من معرفتي بكلمات هذه القصيدة للشيخ راكان بن حثلين ، الا انها لم تلفت نظري بشكل كبير قبل هذه الصورة

بيت السدو حمل الكثير من السكينة و البيت المعلق على الحائط يحمل الكثير من الهدوء، فهو يصف جمال الاستمتاع بالقهوة في صحبة "خفيفة"، لحضات ابتعدت بها عن الواقع، احسست بالهدوء و إبتسمت للجمال

الكلام

المكان

الوقت

لا اهمية لهم الا بعد ان منحهم عقلي تلك المساحة و الارتباط الجميل مع العاطفة، فكل منهم على حدى قد لا يعني الكثير، بدون الاحساس بالحاجة للهدوء و حبّ الجمال البسيط، قد يكون مروري على هذه "الربّعة" مرور الكرام، الا انها على صمتها و جمودها، تركت لي ابتسامة و اثر جميل في نفسي 

قصيدة بن حثلين 

يا ما حلا الفنجال مـع سيحـة البـال
في مجلسن مـا فيـه نفسـه ثقيلـه
هـذا ولـد عـم وهـذا ولـد خــال
وهـذا رفيـق مـا لقيـنـا مثيـلـه
يـا ليـت رجـال يـبـدل بـرجـال
ويا ليت فـي بـدلا الرياجيـل حليـه
يا بو هلا طير الهـوى خبـث البـال
الطيـر نـزر والحـبـارى قليـلـه
يا الله يا اللي طالبـه مـا بعـد فـال
يا اللي من الضيفـات نجـى دخيلـه
أفرج لمـن قلبـه غـدا فيـه ولـوال
والنـوم مـا جـا عينـه الا قليـلـه
لا من ذكرت ارموس عصر لنا … زال
شوف الفيـاض وفقـد عـز القبيلـه
يـا زيـن شدتهـم آليـا روح المـال
يتلـون بــراق حـقـوق مخيـلـه
يسقى خصيفا والثمان أرضهـا سـال
مرتـع معطـره السيـوف الصقيلـه
عجمان لا ركبوا علـى كـل شمـلال
يفرح بهـم راعـى النيـاق الهزيلـه
من جو ساقان إلـى السيـف همـال
وينـوش حسنـا والرديفـة هميـلـه
ولا قادنـا مـن يمـه القفـر خيـال
يصبح شديـد البـدو عجـل رحيلـه
قاد السلف واستجنبـوا كـل مشـوال
والعصـر يـا محـلا تخيبـط نزيلـه
وإن شرف البادي على روس الأقـذال
والمـا كثـر الــزول زود جفيـلـه
تلافحـت مـا بينـا شهـب الاذيـال
ومن ضيع المفتـاح يـا عزتـى لـه
ركبوا علـى طوعاتهـم كـل عيـال
وكل لبلـج يحـرى بكسـب النفيلـه
تغانمـوا المفـزاع ذربيـن الافعـال
من قبـل تسبـق غـارة تنثنـى لـه
يبغون طوعه روسهن قبـل الادمـال
وتغانمـوا خلـف كثـيـر هجيـلـه
وحال الكمى من دون عطرات الاجهال
ومـروا ولحقـوا مقحميـن الدبيلـه
واللى تريض عقبهـم يلبـس الشـال
مــن صـنـع داود دروع ثقيـلـه
يلـزم عليهـم علـة عقـب الانهـال
ومـن غارتـه لـزم يضيـع دليلـه
والدم من قحص الرمك يثعـل اثعـال
يزعج علـى وروك السبايـا وشيلـه
هذى براعيهـا مـن المعرقـه مالـه
وهـذى شكلهـا مطـرق مـا تشيلـه
من وقـع كـل مجـرب قدلـه افعـال
وفـروخ صـاد الحبـارى فصيـلـه
وليـا ركبنـا فـوق عجـلات الازوال
وبايمنـا حـدب السيـوف الصقيلـه
وما حن نحسب لا شتبك عج واكتـال
وتـرك صبـى يفتـنـع بالفشيـلـه
وصـلاة ربـي عـد مـا زايـل زال
على نبـى الحـق راعـى الفضيلـه 

ترانيم على جدار الحب - عبدالمعين الصالح

Today I went by Gallery Tilal for the exhibition of Abdel Moein Saleh , Hymns of love "this is my translation hope I did it well"

مررت اليوم بجاليري التلال، لمعرض الفنان عبدالمعين صالح ، ترانيم على جدار الحب 

المنحوتات كانت من البرونز

Sculptures were made of Bronze

 

These two works are called "left to right" : Harmony - Connection

العملين اعلاه "من اليسار" : إندماج - العلاقة

الجميل باعماله بساطة التشكيل و وضوح الشكل! على الرغم من غياب التفاصيل و الملامح في منحوتاته الا انها تعبر بقوة عن الموضوع!

What is beautiful about his work is the simple composition and bold definition of shape! Although, you can't see much details and features in the sculptures yet they do represent their subject strongly!

Two works called : Dove

عملين بإسم : حمامة 

مجددا، تفاصيل الحمامة بدقة غير واضحة الا ان المنحوتة انسيابية الشكل و حدودها جميلة، المنحوتة تعبر عن جسد الحمامة لا تفاصيله

Again, the details of the dove are not clear, yet the sculpture is smooth in shape and the edges are beautiful, its a representation of a dove's figure not exact physical shape

Polyester on wood, is the other section of his work, which I really liked also

الجانب الاخر من اعماله، بوليستر على خشب، و التي اثارت اعجابي ايضا

  

آجمل تلك الاعمال كان الحصان "العنفوان" ، و ما شد انتباهي بالاعمال بجانبه انه مثل كلمات باشكال مبتكرة! زيارة للمعرض ستفي بالغرض لتروا جمال تلك اللوحات :)

The most beautiful of those works in my opinion was the Horse , what also attracted my attention in the art works next it that he represented words in creative shapes! A visit to the exhibition would defiantly help you to see how beautiful they are :)

 

The Promise

العهد

منحوتة جميلة كانت ملفتة بالاضافة للحمامة، لامرأة جالسة و بجانبها كرسي فارغ

A lovely sculpture that caught my attention in addition to the dove, for a woman sitting beside an empty chair

Exhibition from 12 to 23 of February in Gallery Tilal

المعرض مستمر من ١٢ و حتى ٢٣ فبراير في جاليري تلال

From here and there

"Samah is a Certified Life Coach and a Pranic Healer"

She is the person who dares you to be unique! Who I knew through twitter, been following her for a while, and like the motivational and positive outlook of life she paints through her tweets. She has a book out, its called "Why did I choose Kuwait" and the signing will be this Monday :} more info here.

استنزاف الانتخابات للفكر و العاطفة ابعدني عن عالم الانترنت و التواصل، فتور غير اعتيادي حاشني تجاه تويتر و انا مدمنة لتويتر! الاخبار تنهال و الساحة حامية و ما عندي نيّة اكمل بهالموضوع، كلنا نحتاج الراحة و شوية وقت بعيد عن هاللوية

:}

Blair from Atlantic-Pacific is inspirational, the woman who made me be very bold in my style

From her 25/1/2012 post

The picture above shows exactly WHY I love her, she amazingly manages to mix different patterns and prints, yet appear VERY nice! I've always had a fear from prints to be mixed together and prefer to add one piece and the other is plain, yes I am bold with colors but not prints and patterns containing so many colors, let alone together. She also made me pay more attention to accessories, they do make a lot of difference! Blair is brilliant, her blog is a MUST see.

الجو حلو، الاستمتاع فيه احلى، قبل لا يجينا الصيف و يراوينا العين الحمرا، و اللي ما يطلع الصبح محروم

Kimmidoll

"Collectable dolls expressing life's true values" - Kimmidoll.com

lt all started with a friend that got me a magnet for a tiny cute kimono dressed character, back in 2009, honestly at the time I didn't really care to look up Kimmidoll :} Not until a few months ago my sister's brought me a cup with an adorable Japanese-like character, she was "Michiru":

Hello, my name is Michiru 'Wealth' My spirit cherishes and shares.  You find my spirit in the love of family, the gift of friendship, the sanctuary of home and the fulfilment of work. May you discover the great wealth of life.

Each piece from Kimmidoll character carries a meaning! Their story says :

"The traditional Japanese Kokeshi dolls are a perfect example of this simplistic Eastern beauty. Kokeshi dolls have been a Japanese cultural institution for over two centuries. Giving and receiving Kokeshi dolls dates back to the Edo period (1603-1867) in Japan. Kokeshi dolls were handcrafted by woodwork artisans of the time known as Kijiya, (which means woodworker in Japanese) to be given away as tokens of love and friendship. 

 Kimmidoll® is a family of contemporary doll characters, each lovingly designed and representing one of “Life’s True Values”. 

While they look individual, there is one philosophy that all the Kimmidolls share, and that is about celebrating important values in life’s journey such as kindness, happiness, joy and respect. "


Promoting values through characters is brilliant, for instance:

Ayame 'Gratitude'

Ami 'Love'

Hiroko 'Generosity'

Misaki 'Tranquility'

And many more!


Through a tiny paragraph defining each character, on simple everyday everywhere belonging (like a mug or a magnet!) a smile is drawn and a person a reminded with a virtue :} Kimmidoll(s) gives me more than an adorable sight and a cute character, it also gives me a reminder of a lovely virtue and a wish. They are available in Center point - Kuwait.

From here and there

المدونة العزيزة الزين، اصدرت اول عمل مطبوع  لها "فضة و شاهين" ، حضرت حفل التوقيع ، كانت امسية جميلة بحضور اجمل و ابتسامات دافئة، الرواية موجودة في مكتبة افاق في التلال

The sky today was amazing, I think my followers in twitter probably got bored from the number of pictures I posted of it, the best scene was near sunset, breathtaking! The picture doesn't even do it 10% of its beauty.

على الرغم من سخونة الاحداث السياسية في الكويت، بالنسبة لي جو الانتخابات هادي! فضلت الابتعاد كثر ما اقدر، النتيجة جميلة 

The best part about winter in Kuwait is the cultural events ALL over :} I am not covering all of the events I attend but from now on will do, starting from tomorrow!

اليوم شفت نوّير و شوية عشب غض! لونة اخضر شااااااب و منور الارض، استانست بشكل خيالي، بالذات بالنوّير ، النوير اهو علامة الربيع عندي، على الرغم من ان اللون الاصفر مو من الالوان المفضلة عندي و كان بفترة يستفزني! الا اني اتحالاه على النوّير

A tiny wish from me to every eye that got to this line, please take a look up at the sky before you start or end your day outside your house :}

Touching the sky

Touching the sky: A series of abstract posts, as abstract as the wish I have to touch the sky, when looking up, especially when there are "fluffy" clouds.

Character template. 

As one goes by life, meeting people is a normal thing, building templates of characters for those people is a common error. People vary in their characteristics, habits and ways of thinking. Fitting one, into a template of another person just because of “some” similarities we might see among the “original template builder” and the “new person” can be very harsh!

Most just and fair way to evaluate people or deal with them is to directly ASK, when something is vague, asking is a definite tool to skip assuming and eventually judging and the template fitting.

Always allow space for “different” in every case, for I have learned, that as much as we human beings are similar in terms of organs, characters, ideas and many other things, we are VERY different, else, outliers* wouldn’t exist. Judging someone with whatever you have seen before can be very harmful, especially if that judgement went over the boundaries of your ideas into actions or words :)

Never judge people, fit them into templates or say: 
yes, he is a man like all men OR she is a woman like all women. 

Instead, react with who you meet, what you see or hear, depend on your mind, feelings and reason (the order of those is up to you), the final outcome is your experience and true interaction, which is far much better than trying to fit people into templates and maybe hurt them, or worse, fool yourself and see nothing away from your own nose! 

*Used outliers as an extreme example for out of the normal cases.

Touching the sky

Touching the sky: A series of abstract posts, as abstract as the wish I have to touch the sky, when looking up, especially when there are "fluffy" clouds.



The sound of rain is more refreshing than rain it self, it tickles one sense, allures you to look outside and see the lovely gift of rain coming from the sky. Pleasure is about amusing all of the five senses, ecstasy hits you, when passion is involved.

When a rain drop touches your skin, smell the wet floor, see the the clouds sticking together to pour their heart out on us, hear the sound of it's drops landing on the floor, and finally when you feel a few drops slip into your mouth, take a deep breath and feel the joy of RAIN!

I love rain.

وطن الشعراء .. للفنان وليد عبدالرحمن الفرهود

زرت اليوم معرض الفنان وليد الفرهود في قاعة عبدالله العدواني في ضاحية عبد الله السالم، سمي المعرض بـ وطن الشعراء، ليحمل لوحات فنية من الخط العربي كتب بها ابيات شعرية لمجموعة من شعراء الكويت

 

اللوحة تحوي كافة الشعراء اللي شملهم الفنان في اعماله الفنية ، اللي تناصفت بين جمال الفن التشكيلي و الخط العربي 

الشعراء من الاعلى الى اليمين 

السيد عبدالجليل الطبطبائي

سعاد الصباح

فهد العسكر

زيد الحرب

حمود ناصر البدر

عبدالله العتيبي

يعقوب الغنيم

يعقوب السبيعي

علي السبتي

سليمان الهويدي

منصور الخرقاوي

حمد المغلوث

خالد سعود الزيد

خليفة الوقيان

احمد السقاف

محمد الفايز

عبدالعزيز البابطين

عبدالله زكريا الانصاري

احمد العدواني

صقر الشبيب

فهد بورسلي

استغرقت وقت طويل في تصوير اللوحات في المعرض و عندما راجعت الصور وجدت صعوبة في اختيار اللوحات التي سأشملها في هذه التدوينة! فجمالية الاعمال التي تدمج بين الخط، الفن التشكيلي و التصميم الهندسي صعبّت المهمة، ولكن اختياري وقع على التي كان أبياتها الاحب لنفسي...

وطني - فهد العسكر

وطني و ما أقسى الحياة     به على الحر الأمين 

ما راع مثل الليث يؤسر     و ابن آوى في العرين

 

كريم الأصل - عبدالعزيز البابطين

فإن كريم الأصل كالغصن كلما تحمل أثمار تواضع و انثنى 

شعوب الأرض - زكريا الأنصاري

تمضى شعوب الأرض للعلاو هذه امتنا لاهية

الحياة - يعقوب السبيعي 

إن الحياة بغير حب صادق تمضي سدى ايامها و شهورها 

اكثر ما لفت نظري في لوحاته الفنية التركيب الهندسي، رأيت في كافة اللوحات تركيبات هندسية معينه، و شدني دمج الزخارف مع الخط العربي و التصميم التشكيلي ، لوحات جميلة من الفنان الكويتي وليد الفرهود، انصح الجميع بالمرور للقاعة و الاستمتاع بها و التحدث مع الفنان الذي كان متواجدا للشرح و السؤال و الحديث عن فنه. المعرض مستمر حتى ١٩ يناير الجاري.

Izakaya ,, when delicious meets creative

I admire the work of Chef Ahmad Al-Bader, starting from The Burger Hub (love the patty! Best fulfilling burger ever) to Prime & Toast with a killer breakfast menu, love their poached eggs (on multi-grain bagel & the NY bagel with Zereshk), Pizzetta and now!!!! Izakaya.

The place is cozy, contemporary, with grey brown'ish look, small but elegant. The food? Is amazing, it blew us away and when they saw us taking pictures and admiring the food complimentary dishes were served from the Chef! I was up for tasting this new restaurant's food, I ended up having a FEAST

For the salad we took Rasberry and baby spinach
and

Green crisp salad

Both were amazing, right balance of greens/ dressing and.. FRUIT! You see the rasbery gave a bit of a tangy taste while the pears in the 2nd one gave this rich crusty flavor.

Shrimp popcorn ,, lovely,  the taste was not too surprising but also good, however the 3 sauces on the side made all the difference.

Then the chef decided to give us two complimentary dishes :}

Cucumber strips with sesame dressing

and

Asparagus with miso hollandaise

Both were light and tasty, the veggies were not veggies anymore! A lot of taste and infusion made them delicious, eating asparagus was a task in my diet, with Izakaya it became a pleasure :> 

The rest of our appetizers arrived....

Honey soy mushroom
and

Nut crusted shrimp

The infusion of honey and soy, in the oven baked mushrooms was to die for! Sweet, tangy sauce with smooth mushroom texture and flavor, you can't go wrong with it. As for the nut crusted shrimp, its another story.....

The nuts with their crusty texture and smooth rich flavor were exceptional with the taste of shrimp, I would have NEVER pictured the two together, I think Chef Ahmad Al-Bader created this piece of art just to take your sense of taste off track and try something out of this world.

Now for the main courses...

We took 3 maki'es from right to left : Izakaya roll "removed salmon, not a fan!" - Dynamite spider - Poached butter ebi & avocado. 

I can't really do them good with saying YUMMY, I recommend all three if you are a maki fan, I do like Japanese food but not into Sashimi nor Sushi thats why we skipped them in the menu.

The highlight in the Izakaya roll is the smooth flavors mixture, the poached butter ebi maki the zesty ginger flavor and oddly!! Dynamite was very safe :p

Continuing with the mains...

Grilled local shrimp

Grilled local Crab

I'm not a dill fan, BUT the amount used in the shrimp was PERFECT, the infusion of flavors was well balanced. The crab as per my friend who had a fight with it was delicious too.

Although we were FULL but with all the good food we tasted, we could not stop the "dessert" temptation....

Nutmeg and hazelnut icecream
and

Pain perdue with raspberry shisho jam 

The icecream was yummy as expected, but the Pain perdue, was a taste test. Just as we though that the food can't get any better, the Pain perdue flipped the coin! Izakaya won. The infusion of the crusty bread, raspberry jam and ice cream was thrilling, you can imagine each alone but the combination was a surprise, rich bread taste with the strong a bit zesty/ berry raspberry flavor topped with vanilla ice cream, made all the sense in this world :}

Another complimentary dish from the chef, 6 home made ice cream flavors: dark chocolate - banana chocolate chip - cranberry - butterscotch .. All were nice the cranberry was the most exceptional one, it did taste like fresh cranberry!!

Now the last 2, the cherry on top, the surprise (can you count how many surprises we got? :p),,,,

Basil and bird-eye chilly and the Balsamic vinegar  ICE CREAM!!

YES Balsamic vinegar and CHILLY!! Green one is the chilly

To taste iced chilly was not on my list :} Again, he broke the senses rule, the regularity of taste, but since I'm not a chilly fan I didn't like it much, but was really surprised with it, it blew me away. Now the Balsamic one on the other hand, tasted really delicious, I didn't expect it to taste this good

We had a great time in Izakaya, from food, to atmosphere to service, a place I would defiantly go back to and try to finish the menu :) I thank everyone there for preparing such a lovely meal.

And yes, I will have to work hard in gym to burn off this meal, I broke every diet rule Wednesday night, and it was defiantly WORTH IT, and yes I will still blame Iakaya for the extra kg or two gained.