Date Night

I’m married nowww (cue Adele). Ibraheem and I are trying to figure out what to do about date night and we’ve decided to go with paint night - considering that he’s an artist and I’m…not - here’s what we went with:

Date Night Paint Kit

June: Fasting

Ramadan officially began in late May. I wanted to really focus on fasting this year. 

Fasting from food, fasting from social media, fasting from my nafs. 

It's been strange and empty and I don't know how else to describe it. 

One major lesson I've learned is that I haven't maintained my lessons from months past. I haven't worked out, or dressed well, or worn makeup - I've barely even focused on myself, so maybe in the next half of the year, I will. I'll re-live my experiences a second time, and by December - I'll be a better person?

Who knows?

only God.

April: You're Beautiful

What is beauty? Subject to the eye of the beholder. I've spent most of my adult life with the acquired knowledge that I am beautiful. It's something that was grown and requires the maintenance of acute self-love. But, what a revelation it was - when I did accept it. Life is so much happier, much easier to live when I tell myself that I am beautiful, I am enough. 

I decided to focus on beauty for the month of April. Surface-level, of course; I still have no idea how to develop inner-beauty, I'm learning. 

Anyway, the month of April started with a quick emptying, of sorts. I went through my measly makeup collection and threw away old or expired products, as well as items I didn't use anymore. I didn't realize how deep beauty was, for something that is only skin deep. I started off with shampoo and conditioner. I had heard a lot of great things about Shea Moisture (before the "incident"), so I decided to purchase their Coconut and Hibiscus set, because it smelled so good. After the first couple washes, my hair smelled and felt amazing, but then the product stopped delivering. After a few weeks, my hair just felt stringy and dry and though the smell is still amazing, the overall health of my hair has deteriorated. I'm going to have to keep doing my research. 

Regarding the actual beauty aspect, I ended up going to the Spring Beauty Trend Show at Nordstrom and learned about makeup and skincare trends. The most important thing I learned is that beauty is so individual, so unique to the person who's wearing it. And, it is very much skin deep. I've been blessed with great skin, genetically, and it isn't very very difficult to really maintain it. Water, some face masks, a daily cleansing ritual. I was not really a fan of makeup removal wipes, but I started using them in April. I don't go to sleep with makeup on and honestly, try to never wear makeup to sleep. 

I bought a lot of products, some of my favorites? 

• Amore Pacific Compact Cushion

• Dallas: Benefit Blush

• YSL Shocking Mascara

Anyway, beauty is great for play or for comfortability.

March: The Curated Closet

In March, I wanted to focus on my wardrobe. I love clothes. I love dressing up and I love dressing down. I figured it was time for me to clean out my closet. *cue eminem* ...so tonight, I'm cleaning out my closet. 

I took advantage of a few resources for my month-long quest. I borrowed The Curated Closet from my local library and started learning more about my personal style. Honestly, I still haven't figured it out, but a friend of mine described it as "mellow with a shot of swagoo" and I don't disagree. Actually, I feel like it's pretty accurate. 

I also downloaded my first paid app, Stylebook. As I started throwing out and re-organizing my closet, I would take pictures of every item of clothing. The app is really helpful because it serves as a database for clothing; I uploaded photos of all my clothes in the app. I can choose outfits in my phone, I'm able to record which outfits I wore on which day on the calendar and it's great for shopping because I can see what I already own and buy pieces accordingly. 

This month has been quite the detox, who knows how long it will last?