learning, loving, living

girlfriends

Posted by sieni on May 6th, 2009 — Posted in Random moments

1 Comment »

beautiful day at Bahji

Posted by sieni on May 6th, 2009 — Posted in Random moments

A glorious day was spent at Bahji with some friends recently. Our girls were absolute gems inside the Shrine and the surrounding gardens. It turned out to be quite a biology visit too with inspecting ants along the way, discussing gardening and digging the soil for new plants, and visiting an injured baby owl that was found on the grounds. We ended up transporting the owl back to Haifa on behalf of the Gardens Department to be taken to a bird sanctuary. The whole way back Tara was so concerned about its injured wing, and later that night when daddy was putting her to bed she told him, “When I get big, I want to be a doctor and take care of animals to make them feel better”. Joooooooon!

The countdown begins as we await the arrival of our second baby at the end of May! Mom will be arriving in a few weeks’ time, and then Ioana and Joey visit in July. Helloooo summer!

1 Comment »

Naw Ruz greetings to you!

Posted by sieni on March 24th, 2009 — Posted in Random moments, Trips

4 Comments »

25 random things

Posted by sieni on March 9th, 2009 — Posted in Random moments

I’ve been tagged so many times on blogs and Facebook to do this, so I’m finally going to cos I’m bored and there’s nothing really left to do–the house is clean–check, husband and toddler fed–check, vacuuming done–check, laundry in the drier–check, leaving the dishes for tomorrow–check, everything is besedeh, over and out. I’ve been entertained by a few random posts so far so I guess that has been the inspiration. So, in between my bathroom runs, I’ll attempt to type up some random things about moi. Nyd, I’m looking forward to yours.

1. I almost drowned once when I was 5 years old in a well that was under our first home at Sa’anapu kua. I remember seeing darkness and the foundation posts under the house through the water, but was surprisingly calm by the time my mom pulled me out.

2. I spotted Dustin Hoffman and the guys of No Doubt within the span of 10 minutes at LAX. I remember Hoffman being very short. Meanwhile I was dying to go up to No Doubt but was too palaai, until the dark-haired one walked right past and smiled at me! Made my day.

3. I got bitten by Saba’s dogs on my hip when I was walking near their home with his sister, Nasime. Put me off Samoan canines for life.

4. Since becoming a stay-at-home-mom-desperate housewife-domestic goddess, I’ve been experimenting a lot with cooking–Persian, Asian, Italian, Samoan, and they taste goooood! I’m also a little OCD when it comes to clutter and cleaning.

5. Every now and then I need a bit of retail therapy. I recently got hooked onto amazon.com.

6. I can’t stand needles. After a cyclone in Samoa, I stepped on a loose board and the nail went right into my foot. I screamed all the way to the emergency room not because of the pain but because I didn’t want to get the tetanus shot.

7. I caught my parent’s gardener peaking through the window of me and my sister’s bedroom in the wee hours of the morning. I shouted at him and threw water in his face and went straight to my mom who gave him the biggest tell-off of the century. To this day he still works around the yard. That’s Samoa for ya–live and forgive.

8. Giving birth was the most agonizing experience of my life, and I can’t believe I’m going to go through it again.

9. The qualities I’m working the hardest on are patience, eloquence, confidence, and purity of heart, especially now that I’m a hormonally imbalanced preggo.

10. I love giving gifts–everything from the time spent, to the wrapping, to the expression on the person’s face.

11. I think I have the cutest fingernails.

12. I almost got hit on the head by a falling coconut when I was little. My sister ad I were watching my parent’s tennis game when I got this sudden urge to get up and move with her to another area. Just as we stood up and walked 3 paces, BOOM! Coconut in the spot I was sitting on.

13. In high school during P.E. class I won best dance moves to the “Electric Slide”, lol

14. While playing rugby with friends, I tore a ligament in my knee when I was running away with the ball from a plus-size opponent. She never even touched me when I konked over in pain, much to the amusement and laughter of the bystanders.

15. I’m a world citizen, having German, Irish, African, Chinese, and Samoan blood. That mixed with Persian, Canadian and Australian, my daughter looks nothing like me.

16. Every year I go through a “Pearl Harbor” movie phase. In fact, I feel like fulfilling that quota right now…

16. I still have a scar on my cheek from my brother biting my face off when he was a baby.

17. I still get the flurries when my hubby randomly tells me he lurves me.

18. I’ve lived in Samoa, Ponapei, New Zealand, and now Israel.

19. I think one of the funniest people on the planet is my daughter. Recently she put on black kitchen gloves on her feet and walked around calling herself a duck.

20. I use to bury my sister’s Barbie dolls under our house and stage eulogies and prayers at their funeral with her sobbing uncontrollably. My mom was not impressed.

21. I wish I could afford to buy a TAV dress from the Cook Islands. I don’t have a pic, but they sure are puuurty.

22. My favourite airline is Singapore Air. Nothing beats the endless food, friendly staff, and diverse entertainment choices.

23. I’ve already designed my dream home on paper and got my dad (an engineer) to assess and quote it. It’ll most definitely remain in my dreams for a while.

24. One of the most touching letters I ever recieved were from my Year 13 students from a high school in New Zealand. I was on teachers’ prac and had taught them for several weeks, namely the films “Dead Poets Society” and “Moulin Rouge”.  They thanked me for assisting them and said I was the best student teacher they ever had

25. The most tense month of my life was experiencing the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006. I was both stressed and reassured rolled in one. I had to continually remind myself to rely on God, and place my faith and trust in Him. I need to keep doing that.

6 Comments »

feels like spring

Posted by sieni on February 9th, 2009 — Posted in Random moments

Some recent activities here and there…

Visiting Bahji with Sheehan for Rose Garden class

Enjoying the kids’ section in a bookstore

Playing around in a toy store

Experiencing a Happy Meal for the first time

Tara finally allowing Nasime joon to trim her fringe

A success! Here’s a cuter version with pigtails

A recent, favourite activity

Sitting in her toy box

Picnicking at a new park near the beach with Aunty Sahar

Such a beautiful day!

Playing with Elfida at home

3 Comments »

2009 so far

Posted by sieni on January 16th, 2009 — Posted in Random moments

We celebrated Nasime’s birthday with a surprise bash with friends, brunch, and a family dinner at Japanika restaurant

Some of the 30+ guests

The cupcake tower Saba, Sahar, Tara and I whipped, baked and sprinkled together

What’s a party without a little Samoan siva?

Brunch… Tara was happy to help Nasime blow out those candles

Then Japanese for dinner… I’m definitely coming back and ordering this plate after I give birth!

belly shot! at 5 months

Girl’s night at the cinema–watching “Australia”! A pretty good film–beautiful scenery, cinematography, story line, romance, and history. Later that week, I took Saba out to it. Here he is enjoying his burger prior to the film

At home… Tara helping herself to eggs

At the playground… don’t you just love those boots? i forgot i had put them away, thinking they were too small. Tara found them and wouldn’t take them off for days. They were such a good deal too–$2 from a second-hand sale in the States.

This is what happens on daddy’s watch while mommy’s napping

2 Comments »

Ruth & Khosrow’s visit

Posted by sieni on January 16th, 2009 — Posted in Random moments

Over the month of December we had very special visitors–Tara’s baba joon and grandma joon! We enjoyed having them with us so much, and now that they have left, we have so many amazing pictures and memories to remember. Here are a few of them.

A walk down the Terraces in the evening

At the Holy Day prorgramme

Visit to Bahji

Tara’s amu Naeem and aunty Maryam visited from Germany at the same time!

Samoan dinner at Shahin & Saloomeh’s

Sitting around til midnight munching on pomegranates

1 Comment »

little one on the way :)

Posted by sieni on November 23rd, 2008 — Posted in Family

Tara’s going to become a big sister in June ‘09!

14 Comments »

imaginary play

Posted by sieni on November 11th, 2008 — Posted in Tara

Lately, I’ve been listening in on Tara when she plays with her dinosaur figures, little doggies, cars, and dollie. Inbetween humming and singing, she creates conversation that sounds something like this: “Honey? I miss you”; “People? money! coins, twenty cents”; “Hello, how are you? Let’s go home? Yes? ok. Here’s the car. Vroom. vroom. Bye bye! kiss? Now they’re gone”. Then she packs them all up in her stroller and takes them for a ride. When I try to play with her, she tells me, “Mommy, go other room”, and she shuts the door. Haha! Ok Miss Teenager.

5 Comments »