Wednesday, 15 January 2014

It’s 14

Wow, this feels weird… coming back to my blog after almost 9 months of no posts.
Last year was eventful, to say the least. Actually, it qualifies as a significant milestone in my life path.
Long story short, on May 20, 2013 I gave birth to a healthy baby girl by the name of Nour Alexandra. Then came the hormones, the sleepless nights, the weight loss, the weight block, and finally the recovery.
It goes without saying that all that suffering was extremely worth it. I don’t want to pass a cliché, but nothing, no emotion in the world, comes close to comparison with motherhood.
Motherhood is herculean strength mixed with gushing love mixed with endless giving mixed with fearful worrying mixed with pride mixed with weakness mixed with optimism…
In 2014, I don’t want to list endless resolutions I know I won’t come close to accomplishing; instead I want to give 2014 a title:                       “Perseverance”
 Be it personally, professionally, or academically, this year will be the year of perseverance.

Friday, 22 March 2013

Mother's Day Flowers

Mother’s Day in Lebanon is on March 21st; it is by far the busiest day of the year for all flower shops and pastries. So, with all that hustle, some errors are bound to happen, but it becomes unacceptable when such “occasion reliant business” abuse such occasions to make an easy buck by deceiving customers.
Below are two stories about two different flower shops that should seriously consider closing because they can’t deliver a single right bouquet of flowers on an occasion such as Mother’s Day.
Case 1: www.zoohoor.com:

I sent this feedback on behalf of a friend of mine who fell victim of this website’s scam:
“On the 20th of March, one day before Mother’s Day, I ordered four flower bouquets from your website with vases.
According to the website, I was required to order before 10 pm in order to have the flowers delivered at the time, date, and place of my choice. By referring to my order, #aaaaaa, bbbbbb, cccccc, dddddd (I removed the real order numbers for privacy reasons), you can see that I ordered them on Wednesday, March 20, at 8 am, to avoid any delays or conflicts, and to give you the proper amount of time to get my order correct and up to the required standard.
Upon receiving the order, I discovered that the pictures of the flowers are nothing close to what was delivered, the quantity was less than promised, the quality was garbage, and the delivery was not consistent to an extent that one of the four bouquets was not even delivered to its destination.
Your website is a scam, or you don’t know the difference between tulips and wild roses.
If a flower shop (or website in your case) can’t deliver flowers on occasions, what can you do? Why are you open for business if you can’t fulfill the sole purpose of your business?
I sent four bouquets to my mother, mother –in-law, wife, and sister and none of them was up to my expectations or at least close to what I was promised while I was purchasing them from your site. You put me in a very awkward and shameful situation with your very low standards.
I was extremely unsatisfied with your flowers and your delivery services; I did not receive what I ordered or anything close to my money’s worth.
I expect to be refunded the full amount of my purchase and you should consider closing your deceitful, unprofessional, and over priced flower business.”
Case 2: Coqueta Rosa
This is a summary of the experience I had with the flower shop I order from. Bear in mind that I’m a regular customer and order all my flowers from them…NOT ANY MORE:
I called the shop on March 20th, at 9 am to order three flower bouquets for my mother, my mother in law, and my sister in law. I told the guy that I wanted three flower bouquets, described the colors, gave him the detailed delivery addresses, and the times at which they should be delivered. I asked him to write down the order and repeat it to me to ensure that he got it correct, I also emphasized that I’m ordering and having the flowers delivered one day in advanced to avoid the Mother’s Day traffic.
To my disappointment, and despite all my efforts to avoid errors, not one of the above mentioned bouquets was what I ordered; not in terms of color, size, or quality.
I called the shop owner and said:
“the person that took my order is either deaf, blind, or illiterate. How can he get a simple flower order wrong when I repeated it to him twice, had him write it down, and called him 3 times during the day to make sure he got it right?
The shop owner started apologizing and asked if there was anything he could do to make it up.
I told him that the damage was already done, and the best option for him now was to close up shop, because they just couldn’t deliver flowers on an occasion like Mother’s Day.”
I bet 90% of the people who sent flowers to their mothers yesterday or the day before were very disappointed with the results. This is a common problem we have in this country: Bad customer service, deceiving business owners, and over priced wilted crap.

Saturday, 9 March 2013

Michael Abou Sleiman should be banned from Television


I usually don’t watch TV, let alone Lebanese TV, but when the show “Dancing with the Stars” became so popular, I was curious to know what all the fuss was about.
I have to admit, the dancers, the celebrities, the dances, the costumes… the entire show was truly very nice.
Apparently, one of the starts on the show, Mirva Kadi, had some type of wardrobe malfunction that showed a little more than was intended, I didn’t see the scene. Naturally, the tabloids went crazy, and as if there isn’t enough “on purpose” flesh on TV for them to watch; they had to emphasis the “by accident” flesh.
Anyway, what drove me to write this blog was not Mirva’s outfit or the general public opinion about it, but Mr. Michael Abou Sleiman’s (the co-host of the Lebanese talk show “Talk of the Town” on MTV Lebanon) disgusting, vulgar, inappropriate, ill-mannered, unacceptable comments about the incident when Mirva was a guest on the show.
The moment Mirva walked on the set of “Talk of the Town”, Mrs. Mona Abou Hamzeh gave a brief summary of Mirva’s modeling career and achievements, and then started at her regarding the costumes she wore on the show, especially the last one.
No matter how much Mirva tried to cut the debate short and stand up for herself by emphasizing how she is always careful in selecting her clothes, and that they don’t rehearse while wearing the costumes, and that it wasn’t such a big deal, Michael kept making those very dirty jokes about the costume and about the last Buzz commercial she did where the electricity generator pops and she asks her nerdy, chubby, unattractive neighbor to help her fix it, then joins him and his friends for karaoke.
I don’t know why is it ok for talk show hosts to pass dirty, sexual jokes and insults to a young woman on national television on a show that is watched by all types of viewers.
Mirva deserves an apology and Michael Abou Sleiman deserves to be kicked off television.
For those of you who understand Arabic, below are links for what I’m talking about.
Buzz Commercial:
Mirva Kadi on Talk of the Town:

Friday, 1 February 2013

It’s a PLUS - 19/9/2012

It was time to do the Clear Blue! A week had lapsed and still no sign, so doubt was beginning to eat me up in side.
My husband and I stopped by the local pharmacy and bought two Clear Blue tests; apparently there are two kinds, one that can tell if you’re “prego” even before you miss your period and is more expensive, and another than can tell on the same day! How lame! (12,000 L.L. v/s 6,000 L.L.)
Anyway, I bought both, took them home, and put them on my bedside cabinet for next morning! As if they need to be there in my face for me to remember!
The next morning, I got up, took one of the tests from the bag and went to the bathroom to do my business. I waited patiently for the result…
Two lines, a.k.a. (||).
Suddenly I became blind and illiterate. Seriously, it’s like you’re reading the results to an exam you want to pass so desperately! No matter how many times you read “Pass” it still reads gibberish!
Not convinced, I left the bathroom and went back into my bedroom to get the other, more expensive thus more accurate, test and tried again.
A Plus sign, a.k.a  (+).
Hmm, I swear I knew what a plus sign looked like before that day!
I called my husband, who came running into the bathroom, and asked him what he saw. Naturally he said two lines and a plus sign and grinned so deeply!
Still not entirely convinced, I called my Dr. and told him about the test. After saying those early congratulations, he told me to do the Beta HCG blood test.
 I admit, I’m usually a calm person, who takes things easy, but they say when you’re pregnant things change; and I guess calling the lab 3 times in an hour counts.
Mr. Lab Man: “Your HCG level is 3,300.”
Me: “Soo what? What does that mean? Positive or Negative?”
Mr. Lab Man: “It’s a Positive, Congratulations!”
Me: “Ok, Ok, Ok, positive, Ok, Ok.”
And I closed the line in the poor man’s face!
What came after were a bunch of tear filled phone calls, congratulations, and a new sense of serenity and content I had never felt before. May God bless every woman (who wants children) with such a feeling!
Ladies and Gentlemen, yes!
Me.be.mama.9 months! 

Thursday, 10 January 2013

Is it too early for “Mommy Blues”?

I’m as blue as a Crayola Crayon, and I’m only in the 20th week of my pregnancy!
If you’ve been reading my blog, you’d know that I’m very self conscious about my weight and looks. I really care about being fashionable and keeping a fit figure (meaning slightly under weight). So naturally, the pregnancy figure is bothering me.
I don’t know how many moms or moms-to-be can relate with me, but this is really a dilemma. One minute you’re enjoying the changes and thinking about what an amazing thing my body is doing; then you feel so fat, round, heavy and big that you wonder if you’ll still fit through the doorway.
Your inner demon keeps twisting your mood, and external factor don’t help. I mean I’m lucky to have a support system made up of my husband, my friends and family, but there is still the mirror, the skinny jeans that won’t buckle and the high heals that kill your back.
I did some research of the acceptable weight gains during pregnancy and found that I’m well under the threshold…feeling better.
Part
In Pounds
In Kilograms
Blood
3
1.4
Breasts
2
1
Womb
2
1
Baby
7.5
3.4
Placenta
1.5
0.6
Amniotic Fluid
2
1
Fat & Protein
7
3
Retained Water
4
1.8
Total
29
13.2

Monday, 7 January 2013

I’m late, I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date! - 17/9/2012

I suppose you can guess what I’m talking about from the title! And I don’t intend to be quoting the bunny from Alice in Wonderland.
When we got married, exactly 1 year and 7 days ago, my husband and I decided to put off having kids for about a year just to get used to the new “Married” life style and the responsibilities. I wonder if the doors to heaven were open back then and God heard our plans and approved.
I don’t want to rush things and start planning the baby shower and college applications but things are happening to me that have never happened to me before. Such as:
1.       Late… I’m never late… I mean there could be an entire calendar made based on my cycle. Figuratively speaking!
2.       Weird cramps… it feels like your gut is being grabbed tightly for a new seconds and then nothing.
3.       Acute sense of smell… I mean I usually have a good sense of smell but this is ridiculous, bloody hell! I can smell my husband a mile away, I can smell the cotton that my shirt is made of and I can smell the papers on my desk… you know those very discrete smells that aren’t usually there!
4.       Acute sense of hearing… I can hear each one of my colleagues’ key board typing, and their breathing, and whispers of people talking from other offices.
5.       A little light headedness and an unprecedented disgust for the taste of toothpaste in the morning.
I suppose a quick Clear Blue test wouldn’t hurt.   

Friday, 4 January 2013

PreVue - Wearable Pregnancy Ultrasound Belt

I came across this while trying to get an idea of what my 3D ultrasould scan will look like through google images.

What do you think?

http://www.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=23800