Juice it up with Greens

I recently got obsessed with green smoothies, I was at first a bit skeptical about them as drinking something made up of veggies and fruits sounded a bit awful. But one fine day I was trying to get rid of my greens so thought of trying it and I instantly fell in love with the green juice. it is totally awesome.

here is my recipe, where I just threw in whatever greens and fruits were available

– 2 handful of spinach 

– a medium sized peach, cubed 

– teaspoon of honey

– 1 tablespoon yogurt

– some Jarjeer leaves (argula) 

– 1 cup cold water

Just blend all the above ingredients together in a blender, strain it if you  want a clear juice , top it with chia seeds and flax seeds (optional) and enjoy!! 

Keep calm and read on

A good book with chai latte or a seamless cup of coffee – isn’t it a perfect epilogue to even a bad day. I try to do this at least on Thursdays after work; this is what I call me time and it so happens that reading therapy makes me relax in the best possible way.

A GOOD book and coffee – Combo made in Heaven

My current reads

I love reading and I read all kids of books, heavy, thriller, bios to soft light reads. A huge fan of Sidney Sheldon , but recently I have found a new interest – Sophie Kinsella light chic reads, which is kind of weird since I never even read them when I was in school – found them a little too meh. But believe me these are great stress buster, seriously who wants add stress with the nail biting thrillers when you are on vacation or trying to de stress yourself. Home is the best place for me to read, however sometimes changing your comfort zone is necessary. my two favorite coffee places in Jeddah for reading  are

–          – Starbucks at Jarir, sary street

–           –  Mugg and beans , near stars Avenue

Today me and my husband stopped by at starbucks for some after work coffee and I spotted a new shortbread and brownie…the caramel shortbread was YUMM

Belgian Chocolate square and Chocolate Caramel Shortbread

My skin’s life line

The texture of my skin is oily, which normally requires a little extra care as oily skin can be super annoying at times when your face looks and feels all oily. Also greasy skin is prone to pimples that’s what people say and I have seen so far though I never experienced such a problem ever in my life. This could be partially because I drink LOADS of water seriously  and that is rule no 1 to keep your body hydrated, it truly reflects on your face.

                                         

Secondly, to research and look for the best suited products for your skin type. I  found my skin’s life line almost 4 years ago with clinique oily to oily combination skin face wash and moisturizer gel. It is just amazing, now I just need to exfoliate my face just once a week because every time I wash my face with it the oil just vanishes away without leaving it extremely dry and the gel keeps the face moisturized at exactly the right level. these two products are my best friends forever .

Face Wash – Clinique

 I have minor gripe here wish the sales people at Paris Gallery and Debenhems Jeddah were as excited as I am when i bought these products for the first time.

DIY chocolate mask

Chocolate is girl’s second best friend next to diamond of-course , If it is dark chocolate then all the more better as its bursting with antioxidants and is an amazing stress reducing element. But if you cannot nab that chocolate bar use it up by making this easy and delicious face mask that can do wonders to your face.

                                             

You will need

– dark chocolate bar- 1 bar  or dark chocolate powder
– oats meal powder- 2 tablespoon
– honey – 1/4 teaspoon
– yogurt or cream- 1 tablespoon

Mix all the ingredients together with a spatula, apply with a brush and leave it on for 10- 15 minutes until the mask dries out completely. wash with lukewarm or cold water and voila! you witness refreshed face in the mirror. you can refrigerate the mask for about 3- 5 days for reuse.

                              

HOW to Choose the right sunglasses for your face…

Choosing the right sunglasses that complements the shape of your face, skin tone and hair color is a tricky task as it can make or break your look. So here is an easy guide for choosing the right sun glasses ….

To begin with, determine the shape of your face- oval, square, round or heart shaped or Oblong. 

Determine the right shape of your face

Oval shaped

Girls with egg shaped face have an advantage over the others, as pretty much any style works well on your face. So you can don those fashionable large shades with dark frames as they look amazing on ovals. 

Jessical Alba – Oval faced beauty

                                 

Heart-Shaped Face

If you’ve got a narrow chin and high cheekbones (like Reese Witherspoon), try to avoid any heavy frames or overly geometric lines. The perfect sunnies for heart-shaped ladies come with cat-eye frames, oval or rimless frames. 

Try to pick glasses that are wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. Sunglasses that feature some detailing or distinctive features, such as brow lines will also look amazing on heart-shaped faces. You can never go wrong with rounded aviators if you are a heart shaped.

Round face

If you got a round face, you can either make it work and look marvelous or if you opt for a wrong pair of shades  the worst can happen. To keep it safe choose angular shaped sun glasess with broad frames but stay away from round shapes please!!

                                    

Oblong face

Unfortunately, oblong girls struggle real hard to find a pair of shades that would not look odd on their faces.  Aviators are a safe bet however, you may also experiment with huge frames BUT avoid anything too angular  and keep away from small frames as that will look like you are wearing your kid sisters frames.

Square faced 

Square or a rectangle face can easily carry off oval or huge frames with delicate detailing . stay away from square or geometric shaped shades and frames that draw attention to your chin. 

Red Carpet Style- Sarah Jessica Parker

Sarah Jessica Parker attended the Red Carpet of AOL On’s ‘city.ballet’ series premiere, for which she is also the executive producer. SJP opted for a very busy look.  She picked up a light toned pink dress by Giles from the designer’s SS 2014 collection which she paired with a black leather jacket from Saint Laurent Resort 2014. But the black leggings were an eye sore. I love every single piece of the attire provided they were not worn together. Minus the leggings and jacket with hair tied up in messy bun would have gained this look a good score. This look is not sinking well with me, what about you?

Sarah Jessica Parker at Aol City.ballet Red Carpet

  

Giles SS 2014 Collection

Black Leather jacket from Saint Laurent Resort 2014 collection

                                                     

Red Carpet Style- Youtube 2013 Awards

First time in its entire history of eight years YouTube conducted its 2013 music Awards. the most prominent and talked about style was of Vanessa Hudgens who wore a Dolce & Gabbana wool-and-silk-blend dress printed with a mosaic inspired by Sicily’s Cathedral of Monreale. though Vanessa kept it simple with gold pumps and no Jewelry but a slight grumble here wish she had pulled her hair back in an updo that would have accelerated the look a lot more. Do you like or dislike? 

Vanessa Hudgens at Youtube Music Awards 2013

                        

Dolce & Gabbana Fall collection 2013 at Ramp

Celeb Style

Blake lively was recently photographed in Paris- what really caught my attention were Emanuel Ungaro spotted pants featuring a black ruffle at the side Ms Lively completed her look with a white Emanuel top, white  channel bag and pointed black louboutins.  Would you dare to wear the side ruffled pants? What’s your take on it- like or dislike?

The Emanuel Ungaro spotted pants from from the designer’s spring summer 2014 collection 

Chanel cruise white bag is also from 2014 collection

 

Confessions of a Brunchaholic at Kosebasi

The new weekend Friday- Saturday is such a bliss.I am elated with this change which allows me to completely absorb the feeling of a weekend in the real sense . I now get ample time to finish weekly chores at home, go out with my girls and most importantly some ‘me’ time as well. I love Saturdays now.
Saturday is a perfect day to unwind and relax. I usually try to finish all boring tasks such as cleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping on weekdays or maximum by Friday so i can have some me time and laze around at home the following day.
This Saturday we met our friends for lunch, a lovely couple with three beautiful kids. We tried out a new Turkish restaurant ‘kosebasi’ at Rawdah street. We had heard good reviews and had been waiting to try it out since a while but it just never happened, so when my hubby suggested kosebasi i readily jumped at the thought.
We arrived at Kosibasi at 3:00 pm without reservations and were lucky to find a table for seven as the crowd started to swell just after we had entered. We are avid fans of Turkish cuisine and have tried almost all popular local restaurants in our visit to Istanbul. We havent found any good Turkish restaurant in Jeddah. therefore, we didn’t have much expectations from Kosibasi. However, we were pleasantly surprised with our dining experience. It is a spacious restaurant with simple yet interesting interiors – a good mix of tradtion and modernity.

To begin with the menu has lots to offer from the Anatolian cuisine. It was a confusing, in a good way, to finalize our order with so many yummy dishes to choose from.  Me trying to be a vegan, ordered spinach pide and lentil soup with bulgar. Rest of the gang ordered donars, shish tawook and kebabs. The soup tasted just divine – and believe me i can instantly make out if the soup has been prepared from scratch or made from packet soup mix. To my astonishment it was freshly prepared as i always have a sour experience at other restaurants. I have never tasted such a delicious and non-oily spinach pide. The chicken kebabs and donar were readily slurped by my table-mates..

Since, the restaurant was overcrowded so a mishap was waiting to happen. We were served some wrong dishes and also delayed orders. Half of us had started eating while the rest were waiting for their food. To calm the situation and pacify us hungry savages apart from their sincere apologies, the staff tried their best to make it up by serving us complimentary salads, tea and yummy desserts.

As a sign off, we highly recommend Kosebosi and will always revisit as it serves the best Turkish food in J town until today.