Monuments of PARIS!!!!

DISCLAIMER: Much of the historical information in this blog has been taken from online sources. This blog has not been properly cited, for proper citation and more detailed information google the monument of your choice. I just wanted to give you guys a quick history of the monuments I've visited. The pictures were obtained by me during my vacation

The first thing I wanted to see before I even reached France was the Eiffel Tower, I am pretty sure that it is the most seen monument in Paris. The Eiffel Tower, which is named after Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, a french structural engineer. His design of the "Tower" was selected during a competition for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. It stands 320.75m / 1,052 ft. including antenna and weights about 7000 tons. I wanted to get in line to go up the tower but even at 7pm the line was ridiculously long, so I opted to just take pictures, maybe next time. This tower was the tallest structure in the world until the Empire State Building was built about 40 years later.

The Musee de Louvre is one of the worlds largest museum, and it is also the most visited art museum in the world. So if you are truly an art fanatic this is definitely a museum to be visited. A french citizen told me that it would take me at least a week to visit the whole museum, WOW. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, which housed the french kings as a fortress till Versaille became the next palace. The glass pyramid that now stands at the new entrance of the Louvre was inaugurated in 1988. Oh I forgot to tell you, the Mona Lisa is housed at the Louvre, but I didn't go in to see her. 

Finally, the Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic War, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. I found out that you can actually go inside the Arc, which is pretty cool.

Hope you enjoyed the monuments.

Love and Kisses from France

France for the Holiday!!!!!!!!!

So you can guess where I'm at for the holidayssssss. Yup, that's right FRANCEEEEE. This has been a long time dream of mine, all thanks to Allah for allowing me to see it through. So I arrived today December 26, 2011 and I am leaving January8, 2012. I departed from Philadelphia International Airport with US Airways on 12/25/2011 at 6:20 PM and Arrived at Charle de Gaulle at 7:12 AM on 12/26/2011. The flight was nice but I definitely like Air France services better. With such a long flight the only thing that I wanted to do after I was picked up by my nephew (Youyou) was to SLEEP.
After a nice 4 hour nap (9-1pm), I was now ready to get my vacation started. My nephew, his girlfriend (Leslie), and I took the train to meet my cousin (Zara) at Gare du Nord in Paris (this place reminds me of Amtrak station, but bigger and nicer). From there we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner, then back home.
One thing that I have noticed so far is the evident diversity in ethnicity/culture (love it), but according to my nephew and cousin, there is also a strong presence of racism (haven't experienced it, so I don't know). Looking forward to my day tomorrow. So far we have laser tag planned and going to Champs Elysee.
Bon a la prochaine, et je vous souhait bonne fete.

Beautiful

Youyou and I coming from the airport

 Leslie and I 

 Zara and I

 Dinner for $13.70

 Chopstick timeeeeeee

 Lol, chopstick is not working for her

 Working for me though, lol

 These black triplets were soooo black, the flash ruined the actual color

Summer 2011 In Review

Summer 2011 is really over. It's always soooooooooo hard to say goodbye to something that was so great. I must say that I Lived it up, Laughed alot, Loved every minute of it, and was immersed in some cultural Learning. My summer basically consisted of clubbing/hanging out with friends, traveling to MEXICOOOOOOOOOOO, and fasting for the wonderful Holy Month of Ramadan, Alhamdulillah (Praise God).

GIRLS NIGHT OUT

COUNSINS PROM AND GRADUATION BBQ

CELEBRATED MY TWINS AND THEIR BROTHERS GRADUATION IN N.Y.C.

 WENT TO WEDDINGS




CLUBBING

COUSIN VISITED FROM AFRICA

WENT TO A.C.

WENT TO MEXICOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 

EID MUBARACK!!!!!!!!!!!!





Like I said, it's sooooooooooooooo hard to say goodbye to something that was so great.  Summer 2011!!!!!!

I AM STILL ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW, I can't believe that my last blog was in March. Well alot has been happening since then. I've successfully  completed my first year of grad school (Yeahhhhhhh), I'm back at work full time for the summer, went to MEXICOOOOOOOOOO, in short i've been having a great summer so far. My goal is to start posting more, so let's see how this goes. Live, Laugh, Love, and Learnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!

Face Of The Day (FOTD)

Soooo, I'm on spring break right now, and I should be catching up on some school work. Butttt, I know that if I don't write this blog, I am never going to concentrate on my school work. So, this FOTD was actually inspired by Sonia Kashuk Highlighting brush and Sonia Kashuk's flat top brush that I bought from Target. I have been looking for a nice stippling brush that was not going to cost me an arm and a leg, and many youtuber's have done positive videos on the Sonia Kashuk flat top brush www.target.com . So hey, why not try it? If I like it great, and if I don't then at least I didn't waste my hard earn money. All I have to say, is that it is AMAZING. It definitely gives me a flawless finish, and I realized that I was not using a lot of foundation which is great for two important reasons: My foundation can last longer, and I am using less product on my face to clog my pores. This was such a fun find for me.

The highlighting brush is great for depositing a small amount of bronzer, blush, and/or highlighter.

What I used:
(Face)
   -Revlon PhotoReady in Cappuccino
   - MAC Studio Fix in NW50
   -Lancome Color Design in a matte Vintage (used to fill in eyebrows)

(Cheeks)
   -Black Radiance Baked Blush in Warm Berry
   -Lancome Blush Subtil Shimmer in Shimmer Mandarin Sky

(Eyes)
   Loreal HIP duo in Brazen (the brown shadow)
   Black Radiance Baked Eye Color in Rum Spice

(Lips)

   -Milani Lip Flash in Star Flash
   -MAC Lipglass in Cultured

Love Hate relationship of oily skin

As an African women, having oily skin was part of my genetic package whether I wanted it or not. Some people say that it is hereditary, others say it has something to do with your hormonal level, and others say that it has to do with the cosmetics that you are using. All three of these factors may be true for some women, and not so true in others. Some women may be combination skin, this means that they are dry in some parts and oily in other parts. If a women has combination skin, her skin care routine will require different types of products for preventative, intervention, and up keep of her skin. Individuals who have combination skin are often dry on their cheeks and around their eyes, and oily on their foreheads and nose. The dry areas should be treated with rich creams and moisturizes, while the oily areas would benefit from frequent cleaning and gel or light moisturizers.
Oily all over skin is what I am currently dealing with. I see it as a love hate relationship due to the fact that, I love the concept of my skin not being prone to wrinkles and aging and fine lines due to its elasticity. I HATE the part that I am more prone to having acne, enlarged pores, and shiny look throughout the day. I can actually deal with the shine and the enlarge pores, it's the acne that I can live without. I've used Neutrogena, Skin ID, and Proactive in the past, and they've all seemed to work. The problem with Skin ID and Proactive is that the minute I started to wean myself off of it, I would start having breakouts. So I decided to have an actual skin care routine and stop jumping from one popular product to another. One thing to keep in mind is that there is no CURE for acne, yes the sad truth. You can treat it with preventative and intervening care, and it does not have to cost you an arm and a leg for it.
So, for now this is what i'm doing:

Morning and Night care: Clinique Acne Solution set

As a morning moisturizer I use Garnier refreshing gel cream

And at night, I use the dramatically different moisturizing gel by Clinique. I use this at night because in my opinion it's a little heavier than the garnier gel.

I am also using the Ultra-Lift Anti-Wrinkle Firming eye cream, in the morning and at night. This is more of a preventative care tip.










This is currently working for ME in treating my acne and oily skin. Let me know about your skin care routine.........