Throwback Thursday: Unaizah Edition

While looking for something to post for this weeks throwback, I ran across this photo I took when I lived in Qassim. I hadn’t thought about my life in Qassim for a long time, but something about this photo brought back so many memories. Suddenly I remembered the crosswalks to get from the mall where…

MINISO mini-haul

Salaam everyone!   As you probably already know, the VAT has increased in Saudi Arabia from 5% to 15%.This will be a financial burden to some families here. A lot of people took this as an opportunity to go on shopping sprees before the increase happened, myself included. (Although I wasn’t as extreme as my…

Office Parties

  After nearly 5 (!!!!!!) years in Saudi, I have come to appreciate many things about the culture. The food, the music, the traditional dress… and the attention to detail regarding parties and gatherings. If I am being honest, I didn’t always appreciate this.  My sisters-in-law used to drive me insane with how carefully and…

Newest vlogs

During this pandemic, I have been staying home literally all the time. I haven’t been to work since December since I had maternity leave. After my maternity leave, I didn’t return to work because of the COVID outbreak. I’m basically a stay at home mom these days.  With that being said, I have more time…

Ocean Blue, Jeddah

  Every time we go to Jeddah, it seems we end up going to the same restaurant: Ocean Blue. It is an American style restaurant located on the beach and beside the aquarium. Do we go there because the food is delicious? No. Quite frankly the food is mediocre at best… We go there because…

Emptiness

Today I don’t have much to say honestly.  There isn’t a lot going on due to COVID. I recently went to an secret funeral for a friends sister, so that’s that. We all live in the same housing complex so it was easy to sneak over and give my condolences. She’s shattered, even more so…

Jeddah Aquarium

Having a toddler that is obsessed with “Baby Shark,”we never pass up a chance to visit an aquarium. So naturally we had to visit the Fakieh Aquarium in Jeddah when we visited. If you have ever been to Jeddah, you know the weather can be a bit miserable. Yes, it is as hot as Riyadh,…

Food Lust

It’s Ramadan, which means there is one major thing  on everyone’s mind these days… FOOD!   I know most of us, including myself, have been cooking at home a lot more since the COVID outbreak. And, while I am pretty good at cooking, sometimes I really just want to go out and eat something different….

Ramadan Fashion

One of the things I love about Ramadan in the Middle East is how everything become so traditional seemingly overnight. Shops adorn their walls with lanterns and stars, red streamers hanging from the rafters… But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the one thing I love more than the decorations and lugamait is…

Girls Only: Inside a Female Only Campus

One thing that often draws foreigners to Saudi Arabia is how secretive everything is. Until recently, there were no visitor visas issued so no tourists came here. Public photography wasn’t legal, so you didn’t see a lot of pictures from here. The culture in itself is also a bit private and secretive, so it’s not…

Coronaviruses

Right now it seems that the world has been in a state of chaos ever since the Corona virus outbreak. Some countries are doing a great job and handling it well. Other countries seem to be struggling (looking at you, USA). One of the countries that is doing a fantastic job of keeping the number…

Well-stocked West

We are in the middle of a pandemic. There is currently a COVID-19 outbreak worldwide. This corona-virus affects the respiratory system, making it hard to breathe. It is not a gastrointestinal illness, which begs the question, why is there no toilet paper in stock in the west? Actually, why can you not get anything in…