Collaboration blogpost by NAN : Time to unwind

Hi there,

 Does the title of this blogpost make you think of the baby formula NAN, if so then I know you're a mom, soon to be mom, aunt or something in that line, lol. Well in this case NAN is not a formula but stands for

 

Nadia - Abieda - Namreen

We're all wife's and most importantly mothers, whether of one or three, big or small, kids have their way of making us mad and even though we love them so so much we need to try and keep our sanity for our own and their sake, right? 

So we did this collab blogpost to share what we do to unwind after a crazy day or week of work, managing kids and everything else.

Meet the bloggers I did the collab with Abieda and Namreen 

Abieda Siers 

Mom of pretty twin girls and the cutest baby boy of 6months.

Go read on crazymomjournal

how she keeps her sanity.

Namreen Sonday 

from namusnarritives . Mom of three beautiful kids. Go have a read on Namreen's blog what she does to unwind.

And then there's me, mom of a busy little four year old girl that keeps me on my feet. Please read further to find out what I do to de-stress :)

Coffee

 So the number one thing I look forward to from the moment I open my eyes in the morning is a cup of coffee, no matter what time of the day or night, that one cup of pure bliss is what gives me life! Yes, yes I'm one of those 24/7 kind of coffee moms.
I enjoy it even more if shared with a friend or two but that only happens once in a while.

.

Soothing smells

A massage, mmm that would be perfect if a person could receive everyday but let's stick to what's realistic in this busy life. To me when having a warm shower (obviously a quick one, lol) the Youghazi body wash in Orange Blossom Amber Accord Ylang Ylang definitely makes me feel like I'm in a massage room for a bit, the soothing smell calms me and gives me that instant relaxation.

Shopping

 The most expensive thing to de-stress you'll think. But strange enough the cheapest most simple thing I get myself will make me happy and I can feel those stress hormones disappearing.

Blogging

Even after a long stressful day sometimes typing my heart out (in other words blogging), makes me feel at ease somehow and it's a way of destressing. It's like releasing whatever has been pilling up on the insides. 

And I'm not even going to lie I cant remember when last I read a book and I love reading however I read alot of articles and blogs online these days because that's where we live, most of the time Online.

Being optimistic 

They say being optimistic helps reduce the negative toll stress hormones take on your body. So no mater what the situation I always try to stay positive.

Music

I don't stay too far away from work but that 20 minute ride to and from work everyday I really enjoy. It's my alone time before I pick up miss chatterbox. I put on my favourite music and there I go singing along and hitting those false notes, not only does it release that work stress but that happy feeling comes along, puts me in a good mood for sure. 

Exercise

 I know this one's on almost everyone's list of de-stress things and yes it should be so I'm not even gonna try to give excuses but I do enjoy walking. I know I'm lazy but atleast it's something and I enjoy doing it, different views and some fresh air.

Nature

Last but definitely not least whether taking a hike or just sitting and admiring the beauty of nature truly makes me happy. I can sit for hours and watch how the clouds move or the sun set. They say exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing.

Thanks for reading and do let me know what you do to unwind.

Xoxo Nadia SS

Always keep Shining!

Fashion: One dress - three looks

 

 

Hi Beauties,

I hope you enjoying the little break as much as I am.

In todays blogpost I'll be showing you how to wear this stripe dress three different ways depending on the weather. When I saw this stripe dress on Diyana's instagram account I immediately sent her a DM but she replied that they were sold out and promised to have more available by the end of January. Like a small child I couldn't wait for the dress. When I received it I loved how it was the perfect fit, not too long or too short and also not thight and showing curves, I love the flowiness of the dress.



The dress is very versatile. It can be worn with heels for a formal look or dressed down with sneakers or like I'm wearing it with espadrilles for a more casual look. If it's a hot day you don't have to wear anything else with the dress except your shoes and accessories offcourse.

 As we transitioning into more chilled weather I can already feel the breeze some days, there's always a light throw to add another layer to keep warm but not too excessively because we don't want to get too hot though because there's still plenty of sun. This mellow throw just adds a pop of colour and makes it look effortlessly chic don't you think?
 

 

 

A leather jacket always adds that edge to any outfit. No matter what time of the year, winter or summer you can wear it with anything you want whole year through. For winter I can see myself just adding a scarf around my neck with a nice boot.

Three looks with one dress, let me know what you think and which look you like best.
Outfit details:

Dress and Throwby : Diyana RTWC

Necklace & Earings: Lovisa

Bag: Aldo |  Espadrilles: Yde

Jacket: Thruworths (old)

Scarf: rae_scarves

 

 Pictures by Angela Rea Photography

Life: Opening up

Opening up, yep that's exactly what I'm doing so grab your cup of coffee because this is a lenghty one. As you've seen I haven't really written a blogpost about myself and what's been happening in my life for a while, I have been blogging but mostly about other things like events, reviews and collabs but nada about myself. I now feel that the time is right to open up and share my rollercoaster experience with you.

Can you believe that we at the end of March again but I'm going to rewind a bit back to the beginning of the year, the time when we were all hyped up and feeling all kinds of positive vibes.
So the 1st of January 2018 was a lovely day, I spent the day with my husband and daughter and what made it more perfect was the fact that I found out a few days prior that I'm pregnant, I was about 7 weeks at the time and it felt like a dream. I was in cloud nine, to think there's something magical happening inside of me again. It's a wonderful feeling when you pregnant and wake up in the morning, you smile and realise that it wasn't a dream and that you are infact pregnant.

So to be exact I took a pregnancy test on the 23rd of December because I was spotting that whole week and I knew it wasn't my period, it was different. But due to a previous incident I'm very careful when it comes to these things so after the Christmas weekend I went to the GP just to make 100% sure that I am infact preggies and that everything's okay, he took a test and congratulated me, yeah! After I told him my history he examined me, I had no pain and told me there's nothing to worry about and spotting is normal in the first trimester. I told him that I was actually hoping for an ultrasound to have peace of mind but he told me to come back by the 15th of Jan then he'll refer me to a gynae as it's holiday and I was still early in my pregnancy. I feel sometimes it's better to listen to that inner voice inside your head, but okay he's a doctor and knows better.

 It was all good untill I started bleeding heavily on the third of Jan.  I immediatly knew that something wasn't right and being the person that I am I started panicking and imagining the wost. I told myself to stay positive because even though I stress very quickly I am also a very optimistic person. 

Mixed feelings much!

With the bleeding came some cramps but not too much so I couldn't really say what was happening. When I arrived at the hospital it was lots of questioning from the nurse before she finally took a pregnancy test, a few minutes later she confirmed that I was still pregnant and I felt so relieved but not too happy because something's definitely wrong because why the bleeding?

I then saw a doctor who examined me and then sent me for a ultrasound because according to her it didn't look good at all. And then I received the worst news ever, no sac could be seen, no fetus could be seen and that only means either I had a miscarriage or I'm having another etopic pregnancy or maybe it's just too early to see. She soon confirmed "the state of the art equipment we using these days you won't be able to miss it if you were 7weeks, so it looks like you had a miscarriage"

Smacked with reality I went back to dress myself after the ultrasound to return back to the doc, what's happening just a few moments ago the nurse told me I'm still pregnant and that my HCG levels are high but now a different story. The docter explained the reason for that is after a misscarriage it takes a while for your body to kind of read that you not pregnant anymore and to release everything (I dunno if  I'm explaining it right though) and for the hcg levels to drop and show negative so they will have to test my blood again after 48 hours to make sure the levels are dropping.

 I couldn't hold my tears, it's just the most painful thing to experience. We were really looking forward to the little one and thought Shaz was finally going to have a sibling. My heart shattered into peaces but I know I need to accept and be strong for my own sake and especially my daughter Shazia'a sake. And that's what I did, I had lots of time to reflect and think while in hospital, I accepted what has happened and know that things like these just make you stronger and increases your Imaan.

 It's so true what they say the quicker you accept the faster you will heal. On that very day while browsing through my Instagram feed I got to this picture and it was like it was ment for me.

 The caption:

That which you perceive as a loss may have been your biggest win. So close your eyes for just a moment. Think of all the times you felt you lost a part of you. And accept. Accept that Allah will always have your back. He will only take away something to make space for that which is much better. He only takes away that which SHOULD NOT and DO NOT DEFINE YOU. You have the most Kind, the most Wise, the most Considerate, the most Thoughtful behind you. Acknowledge. Trust. Appreciate.

Caption and picture by The dua journal (Instagram)

I kept busy and it helped but some days I just cried, I think I tried too hard. But with each day passing by I felt better and began to feel myself again.

BUT 

 It wasn't over, I had to go again the Thursday for another bloodtest, and the next Thursday for another one. My gynaecologist informed me that my hcg levels was dropping but very slowly which meant that I was still pregnant but not really, does that even make sense? I was having a PUL pregnancy (Pregnancy of unknow location), remeber they couldn't see anything on the ultrasound but it still showed I was pregnant, he explained that I most likely had an etopic pregnancy and some of the pregnancy tissue attached somewhere they couldn't see and somewhere a pregnancy can't survive. An etopic pregnancy is also called 'tubal pregnancy' and it's when the egg grows in your tube and leads to rupture if not taken care of in time. That happened to me with my first pregnancy in 2011, I had an etopic pregnancy without even knowing I was pregnant and my one fallopian tube ruptured at 8 weeks and it had to be removed via laparoscopic surgery. I almost died when it ruptured but that's a story for another blogpost. If you had an etopic pregnancy before your chances are high that you'll get it again so a person must be extra careful when having only one tube. I was also very worried that I won't get pregnant again with my one tube but Alhamdulilaah a year and a half later I fell pregnant with my little miracle, Shazia is four now.

So my doctor gave me the options for treatment, either he treats it by injecting me with the chemotherapy drug called Methotrexate. What this medication does it stops the pregnancy cells leading to the pregnancy being absorbed but there's obviously disadvantages of using this option and the one that stood out the most was the fact that for six months you shouldn't even try to fall pregnant because it will cause birth defects so you will have to go on family planning. The other option was that I will have to continue going for bloodtests every week till the hcg levels drops to zero by itself - which means I will have to wait for my body to do the job. 

What did I do? I obviosly went with the second option, I put my trust in the Almighty (tawakkul in Allah), it took a while but my doctor called me on the 15th of Feb to let me know that my hcg levels finally dropped to zero and the pregnancy terminated. It's all over, quite a bittersweet moment coz who wants to hear that? But the weekly bloodtests, the worrying that something weird will happen and the fact that I didn't take the chemo meds was such a huge relief.

I do believe that everything happens for a reason and that the Almighty won't put you through something that you won't be able to handle. I also believe wholeheartedly that I will fall pregnant again, this was just a sign for me that I can still conceive. In Sha Allah, Ameen.
 But for now I'll take the doctor's orders and give myself and my body a break for atleast six months before I try again.

Feeling positive

Also, I don't know if you were of those that saw my posts in January while I was in hospital but I thought to myself if I can share all my happy moments on Instagram all the time why not the sad ones too, so I posted but not what happened obviously because it was still too fresh and way too early to even tell what was really happening. I was so overwhelmed with all the get well messages and love you guys showed me even without knowing what was wrong or even really knowing me. It's amazing, as weird as it sounds it really made me feel better, it just shows that people do still care for one another even if they don't know eachother.

Shukran/ Thank you from the bottom of my heart, I really appreciated and needed it at the time when I was feeling my worst.

Always remember that there's always hope, never stop believing.

I struggled seven years before I fell pregnant the first time only for it to be an etopic pregnancy, imagine how I felt loosing my first. After that I had a succesful pregnancy and birth, Alhamdulilaah I'm forever grateful for my blessing. Then this now, I don't know what to call it a miscarriage / PUL pregnancy/ etopic pregnancy, what ever it was I overcame it and I'm feeling positive again.

If you still reading Thank you, I didn't write this post to get attention or anything but merely to help someone that's going throught the same thing or went through it and need a little push. It's also to raise awareness and that we need to take note of the signs that our bodies give and not ignore and wait till something happens. I'm always happy to help if you have any questions pop me a mail.  

 

#hugs

Pictures by Pursuing Pictorialism

XoXo Nadia SS

Never stop Shining 

Review: #HungryforHalaalmeetup at The Butcher's Wife

Hello Beauties,

 So I won't lie to you when I say my mouth wasn't watering the entire time while doing this blogpost, just by looking at these pictures and thinking back to the lovely smells and taste of glorious food and desserts we had the night of the #hungryforhalaalmeetup.
Yes! I was fortunate enough to get invited to the second #hungryforhalaalmeetup, it was the launch of a new menu and this time at a restaurant I've always wanted to go to but just never got around doing so 
The Butchers Wife.
  

 

The Butchers Wife is not called the Belgravia road charm for nothing, it's a unique & family orientated cafe' with a home away from home atmosphere. 

On the night of the launch I was running late and really thought I wasn't going to make it yet still decided to go, I arrived there just after 6pm and as I entered I immediately loved the vibe and the cozy feel. 



We were soon welcomed by Qudsiya and her husband Khalil who is the Butcher and owner of Pickers Meat Market which truly makes her the Butcher's Wife. Qudsiya welcomed and thanked us for joining and then spoke about what they've put together for us showcasing their new menu and she explained that they're doing a mini version as they wanted to fit in as many things as possible so we could try a variety.

The Butcher and his wife, very lovely people

(If you would like to know more about TBW history, their vision etc go read up on @Hungryforhalaal's blog here or you can visit their website at thebutcherswife.co.za)

Our Menu for the eve



 We were also informed that there will be a competition running and the person who shared the most about the evening on social media would win a dinner for two at TBW, check us out snapping away on this pic. But I promise you we don't even need a competition to take pics and share on social media because we all do it naturally #foodies





Now we getting to the interesting part of the night, food!
Our first course for the night was the:

Antipasti Platter

 If you know me then you'll know that I love anything seafood and mushrooms are another favourite, I mean before I knew I was pregnant with Shaz that was the first thing I craved,haha. So when the antipasti platter arrived I couldn't wait, I'm talking about crumbed mushrooms, pizza sticks, chicken livers, mussel bake & prawn poppers. Oh my, everything was delicious, yes for the crumbed mushrooms, if you love Nando's chicken livers you'll love their's too and the mussel bake in a creamy garlic sauce just the way I like it. The pizza sticks served with sweet chillie sauce and prawn poppers was something different and yes I had to stop myself because there were more food coming.

Pizza Boards

Okay to be honest I've never heard of a person that doesn't love pizza, check that big smile on my face you'd swear I never ate that day. Each one of us received a pizza board which included a slice of vegeterian, seafood, chicken and beef. They were all yummy but it was a close call between the spicy prawn and the vegeterian primavera pizza.

 

  

Pasta Bowls 

 Too cute not to capture!

Speghetti & meatballs, chicken n pesto, seafood and most peoples favourite the macaroni cheese al fourno were served in miniature pasta bowls on a board. To be honest I couldn't decide I love traditional speghetti and meatballs, I adore mac n cheese but I thought the chicken n pesto was so delicious until I tasted the seafood pasta. Okay, I know I'm confusing so just go try it yourself, thank me later.

 

Meat Platter

Our fourth course was the epic meat platter: beef ribs, lamb chops, sliced steak & mini beef burgers in BBQ or roast chilli basting served with french fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings and a selection of sauces.

 Meat is everyone's favourite and I mentioned that seafood is my favourite and I usually say that I'll choose it anytime over meat but Oh my The Butcher's Wife had me thinking otherwise when I tasted the steak strips that melted so softly in my mouth and then the most delicious ribs I've ever had. I'm not even going to try and explain it because I won't do it justice.The sweet potato fries, mini burger and the rest of the platter was delish too.

I didn't try the spicy ribs though because I was stuffed but the others were very satisfied.

 

Dessert Boards & Milk shake shooters

So after the meat platter I was sure that I won't even get a morsel of anything in and I was ready to say my goodbyes  but I have a sweet tooth so it wasn't difficult to convince me to stay. They say there' always space for dessert hehe, that's so true I won't lie I absolutely enjoyed it. On the dessert board we got carrot cake, churros with chilli chocolate sauce and a chocolate banana springroll with ice-cream. Everything was devine, it was my first time I had churros and it was lovely but what can I say the chocolate springroll was just amazingly heavenly, I had chocolate springroll before but this was exquisite and everyone agreed.

 

While we enjoyed the desserts out came the milkshake shooters, a variety of flavours were served. I'm sure they all taste good, I tried the turkish delight and it was yum.

Then the winner of the social media competition had to be announced and to my surprise it was ME, I was so happy and delighted because winning ment me spoiling my hubby and myself to the succulent ribs and more. I was informed later that week that the price is a R500 voucher at The Butchers Wife, Yeah to me for showing the night off on social media :) big smile.

 (Owner of The Butcher's WIfe) Qudsiyah and I just after they announced I won :)

Mind the tired eyes I ate myself to sleep

And if all of that wasn't enough to top it off each of us received a Gift bag and mini Cappuccino's for take-away.

The gift bag consisted of a buthcers wife apron, cutting board, TBW brand house water, two homemade sauces and a meal voucher.

A Big Shukran/ Thank you to @hungryforhalaal and The Butchers Wife for organising this meetup I really had an awesome time. The entire experience from the first meal to the last was amazing.  Thank you again for your warm hospitality and making my first experience extraordinary.

 Attendees at Hungryforhalaal meetup 

Yaseen Barnes: Ya_a_seen_Him , myhungryhusband, Rafieka @hungryforhalaal, 

Maryann from ilovefoodiesct, shaqct, smileyaleemct, Dilshad from hungryforhalaal, kauthar_b, inthemidnightkitchen, capetown_halaal

Press Play to watch the video I made of what went down that night :)




Hope you enjoyed this post.
xoxo Nadia SS