Beautiful

So today I found a new blog (woohoo!) and it's called Equal But Distinct...I must say I think it's ah-mazing (hehe) and Aminah is a fantastic writer.

Among that...I was reading my old posts (because I was bored & none of my favorite blogs had updated...this is before I founded EBD^) and I found my failed attempt to do NaBloPoMo daily writing challenge that was titled "Beautiful".

Then the other day I was on Twitter (trust me it's not all "I just woke up" "I just ate pie" "I am so happy" <- that's more like facebook :P) and I found out about Bridalplasty- a show on E!. I read episode-picture reviews and was thoroughly DISGUSTED! (like everyone else who has seen this show- I think the reason it's so silly is why it's on air) If you haven't seen/heard about it, it's basically this: to-be brides compete to get plastic surgeries so they look "perfect" on their wedding. Every episode somebody gets voted off and the host says, "Your wedding will go on but it won't be perfect" :O that's the worst thing ever!!!! (the words, not the "wedding not being perfect") So all in all, it's a pretty silly show. Already, they've had 2 nose jobs and a something-I-won't-mention-on-my-blog done... :(


So the reason I'm just listing off my recent discoveries is because EBD/Aminah's blog inspired me to write about some serious stuff that's been crossing my mind recently, and the beautiful posts reminded me about one of those things. 

Our Distorted Image of Beauty

My opinion is- every women is pretty.

If you've seen the Dove self-esteem ad ^, you know the start of it. Photoshopped models are ruining everyone's perception of beauty.

BARBIE!

 Then me and my sis were discussing yesterday how Barbie, the beloved childhood doll, has horrible proportions! My sister told me that research was done that if Barbie was a real human, she would die in seconds because the weight of her body would be uneven, her body couldn't support itself...something or another but the straightforward thing is: she's horribly messed up as far as "beauty" goes.

Another comparison of barbie proportions- see how the most right woman looks extremely...unproportional? 

Allah Tallah made each of us- perfect. :) We are alive and that's beauty within it self. Our body and it's functions and our brains- everything is amazing! The only problem is- the society keeps selling this fake beauty...
If we were all 'beautiful' the way shown on media, than we'd loose the precious uniqueness we have. Isn't is so amazing that we all are so different but can live in similar ways?
Why do we strive to have our noses straight, our eyebrows arched, ourselves all small? What's wrong leaving things natural?


If you've seen Geo's new morning show (Utho Jago Pakistan with Shaista Wahidi) you've probably come across her skin segment every Monday where she has so far done 2 botox procedures, 2 neck-line removal procedures, and 2 rejuvenating hand skin procedures. This is what me and my sister deduced after all this SURGICAL PROCEDURE craze
*everyone is beautiful (my sister agrees now :)
*a procedure to help dry hands, sweaty palms, etc. is OKAY. It's like taking medicine for being sick---which is said to be okay in Islam (from what i've been told by my parents).
*a procedure to change the way you look is WRONG WRONG WRONG! Allah Talla made you, you! because that's the best way you look. Those small things you find errors are part of your personality and your perfection- your actually ruining yourself by trying to make yourself "perfect". Have you seen some people who got plastic surgery done? How could you harm yourself like that?

  

please understand-

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!! 

:)

see...i can write a serious post :) hehe

but seriously-- you are the pretty just the way you are 

Bloggy Stuff

Hel-o! :)

So I was messing around with my blog and FIRST....have you ever noticed I spelled lavender wrong? hehe...my blog name is LavendArClouds...well...I'm not going to change it now :P


SeCoNd... I was reading Menna's Blah-g (Blog) and saw that she had a header pic! So, I was like, why don't i make one too? (hehe) So i did make one with LavendAr clouds (kindda :P) but I think it didn't go well with my theme. It looked like this:

What do you think?

I took it off for now....maybe I'll put it later. :) (I just noticed how the clouds in the background kindda connected with the header :P) But it looks kindda out of place.

Heehee...i'm enjoying break and being able to waste a lot of time on blog headers. :D

Allah hafiz! :)

-LC/maria

Hat with Hijaab :)

So I took a pic with my hat and hijaab! :) hehe

hehe the smile is weird. :) but you can see the purple scarf with pink hat! and the scarf my neighbor's fam gave for my bday

So these days I look like a complete winter wonderland person when i got outside :P hat, gloves, scarf! But I want some boots...which my dad & sis say are pointless and will be too warm for school. Maybe...slippers?

idk if these look good... hehe

 Okay that's it for today! :) I did some more shopping. Hmm...i'll show pics! I got a grey cardigan from TJMaxx...it was $15 (which i think is pretty inexpensive for a cardigan) and i liked it because it was lightweight and flowy....and full sleeved! it's a good cover up for namaz, etc. (i couldn't get a picture of it...)
I also got a waterbottle! heehee i drink NO WATER whatsoever so i needed a water bottle (which will likely convince me to drink more water :P) 

I like that it's small (19oz), and has plenty of possiblies- open mouth, little hole to drink, and handle! lol

That's it! I really don't know if you guys like shopping posts...(my few dear readers :P) so i'll try to change it up next time!

:)

Hell-ooo! :)

So I was going through a bunch of social networks (Twitter, Facebook...well that's two but oh well :P) and I was like...hmm I haven't posted forever!! So...I'm going to post!

The New Year is only...5 days away!!! My bday was 2 days ago, and it was fun! I went to Panera Bread with my sis and my best friend. I don't know how many places have Panera Bread, but it is an AMAZING place! 

I've loved everything I've eaten from there...bagels, Mediterranean Veggie, frozen mango drink, frozen chocolate mocha! :) When we went the other day, they didn't have the proper bread for the mEditerranean Veggie (tomato basil is what it's called i think) and we got wheat bread instead which wasn't very good :( but it still had fun! 

I don't know how appetizing it looks- but this is an AMAZING sandwich in my opinion :P lol

Then we went to Bath and Body works to get some gifts for my amigas who were coming the next day (Christmas! :P) and then Charlotte Russe which I loooove. Since it's winter break me & my sis have been going a lot because...well...it's break! haha last time I went I got pink crochet hat which is soooo cute!

This looks awesome alone and with hijaab! It cost $5 at that time...on a sale :P

I actually got the idea from HijabTrendz who once had a post with a picture of the writer with a crochet hat and hijaab here...I don't post pictures of myself or else I would show you it in action :P lol.
I also bought some churiyah (bangles) for $4 (2 for $8 deal) ...I love Charlotte Russe sales! :D


On the topic of Hijaab Styling...earlier this year (summer) I watched a TON of hijaab styling videos! But when i got around to trying them they didn't look so good on me..but i think layering works! :) It's fun to mess with two scarfs at once...I did this style once with my school colors where I swirled up the two colors and rolled them around my bun. It looks liked this:

hehe i love my room colors showing up in pictures :)

I could probably take a picture like that with my pink hat...I'll get to that one day.
(Btw I got a laptop for next school year so I might post more picturey-fun posts :)




One last thing...Merry Christmas! I know this blog is international and all but i recently read something where someone was sooooo offended that somebody didn't wish Merry Christmas on Christmas and talked about other stuff (a Muslim person) and the person thought Facebook was like an American thing so it was taboo to say anything else on that day (*sigh*).


Also...Happy Belated Birthday to Muhaamad Ali Jinnah, aka Qaid-e-Azam, founder of Pakistan. :)


Thank you for reading!! :)

-LavendarClouds (Maria)

:) Today's message :)