Driving.....

It is raining out and I am sitting in my bedroom listening to my favorite tunes, and thinking to myself, why is it impossible to get everything we want, I want something but I know it is not going to happen ever, and the more I think about it the more I think that I need it, I know that whatever I am saying now makes no sense but I cannot just say what I really want to say "what’s the use since it will never happen anyways", it’s just a thought and I felt like letting it out…
Yesterday, was a lot of fun, in the morning I met some friends that I use to work with at my previous job, it was really nice seeing them again, they told me everything about the office gossip it was nice listening to them and wow so many things have changed over there, we talked for 3 hours none stop about everything and anything while enjoying our Starbucks coffee and decided that sometime within the next week to meet for dinner. After meeting with my friends I went to the spa, it was so relaxing I really had fun and by the end of the day I was supper relaxed and ready for the evening that was ahead of me.
My friend and I are both upset with the our special someones and we wanted to take a break from them so we decided to go crazy for the night, we went down town, wearing high heels and looking good, we went to a restaurant called mama grazzi, they had really good food, what was funny about last night and while we were having our drinks, a very cute guy approached us and asked if we were interested to have a drink with him and his friend, my immediate reaction was no, I don’t know why I said no, I kinda regretted it later, cause the guy was very good looking, ooo well! What can I do, I cannot change anything now and of course my friend hates me for it but I know that we will be able to move on "looool". I should say that the food was so yummy we enjoyed every bite. After dinner we wanted to walk in the market but we couldn’t cause it rained on us, so we decided to take a long ride, we took the 417 and just drove for 2 hours it was amazing, I don’t know why, sometimes I just love to drive to no-where, just spontaneously, the thought of not having a specific destination that we want to get to is amazing, it’s just you and the car and the roads, I usually take these rides whenever I am upset or supper happy, I don’t know why I like to do it, to some people this could be crazy but I love it and I think that I will always do it, anyhow, by the time we were back home it was after mid night I felt that the night was still young, so I kinda took a small walk in the rain and in the dark, it was nice but cause I was wearing my high heels I couldn’t walk for long. I wish I could do that every day, but I know it is impossible. I think that life has a way of telling us that we are only aloud to be crazy for one night at a time only, I think that this  is what makes life interesting and makes us want to live in this hectic life of ours........

A phone call…..

A friend of mine called me from Paris this evening, it was really nice talking to her, it’s been a long time since we spoke, and every time we talk it brings back a lot of memories, it took me back maybe 15 years, wow how fast time flies, it’s scary.... We talked about the past and how much fun it use to be and how free of responsibilities we were, all we cared about is how we looked and what to wear before going to school the next day… how we change as time passes by is so amazing we think that we are not changing but when we look back and see how different we were, we realize that yes we did change and yes everything about anything in our lives is different now. She told me that she is heartbroken and that she misses her boyfriend a lot it is unfortunate that she cannot be with him now, I feel for her and I wanted to ease her pain as much as I can but I couldn’t, she said that love hurts and that’s true in certain ways but I think that, that’s not true as well, cause I think that loneliness hurts, rejection hurts, loosing someone hurts. Everyone confuses things with love but in reality love is the only thing in this world that covers up all the pain and makes you feel wonderful again….. I said to her that soon they will be both together and whatever caused their separation now it will soon be over and they will be back together, I actually promised her that this would happen, I know her boyfriend, he is a close friend of mine, I actually introduced them, and I know just how much he loves her. I just hope that he will return soon.
The good news is that she told me that she will be visiting me soon, well! Not that soon, she said that she will come in December to spend the holidays with us, she is like family, I told my dad and he was very happy that she is coming. Sometimes friends are connected to us more than anyone in this world and I am glad that she was and is and will always be part of my life.

Cards...

Since a very close friend of mine is leaving next week I decided to get her a card. I  think that a card is a signature of your appreciation towards a person that you respect and admire. I always like to show my friends how much I care for them by choosing a card that best describes how I feel and how I want them to feel about whatever the case may be, I always think that showing people what they mean to me is always nice and affective. it will prove to them just how much I care. Anyways, as I was browsing for the perfect card this afternoon I thought to myself “ amazing! for every occasion there is a card” So I guess there should be no excuse for us to ignore the people that we love, I think the least we can do is buy a card especially if that person is far away from home, I don’t know why I like buying cards, maybe because I could really express how I feel toward anyone by just giving a card to a certain person. When I was young, I use to create cards and give them out to my friends for their birthdays or for just thanking them cause they did something that I was grateful for, I think it is the best way to thank someone. The best card that I did was the one I did for my mom when I was just 11 years old, I remember that day as if it was yesterday, it was mother’s day and my mom was away cause she was sick, I wanted to give her something that she can keep forever, so I made her a card and here is what I said to her “ mammy I love you and I want your pain to go away, I know that god will be with you cause you are the best mom and all of us here are missing you and wishing you a happy mother’s day, mammy you are the best mama in this whole entire world” . I actually forgot about this card until a month before mama passed away she gave it to me and she told me that she kept it with her all the time and that she wants me to keep it with me cause she thought that it will somehow bring me luck, I still have it, and every time I look at it, it brings tears to my eyes cause it reminds me of so many things and most importantly it reminds me of how much I love and miss mama.

Attitude....

last night as I was driving back home I thought about the conversation that I had with my friend which was about attitude and how people react about certain things that we face in life I came to realize that the longer I live, the more I see the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. We are in charge of our Attitudes, I could be wrong but this to me makes total sense.

Anyways, I am sitting in my backyard now it is nice and sunny outside a little cloudy, I am thinking to go for a long walk but I am a little lazy maybe because I just got up or maybe cause today is my lazy day where I like to take my time in doing anything, I don’t know why Sundays has always been my lazy days, maybe if I get myself a big cup of coffee it will give me some energy to start my day and to go for my walk, I have to do it, because before we know it the cold weather will come again and then we will not be able to do anything… I can smell the grass and the trees I love this smell, it always reminds me of my childhood, back when I was still in Nigeria and after each rain fall I use to go out stand in our huge garden and smell the beauty of nature, what I love about Canada is that when it rains in the summer it always brings me back to my childhood, cause in Nigeria it use to always rain in the summer and it is where my childhood was I only wish that I could go back in time and enjoy it one more time just for one day and come back, if only…….

News and The ugly truth and Nonesense

A very close friend of mine told me today that she will be leaving soon, to peruse her career oversees, she said that she will be leaving in 10 days, I was shocked when I heard the news, I felt like something is been ripped away from me, but as I always say this is life and life has to go on, I just hope that she will come and visit us often, I will of course be visiting her too and that’s for sure..

Anyways few days ago I went with some of my friends to the movies and we saw The Ugly Truth , it is a very funny movie, yea it is romantic comedy but I think that guys will enjoy it as much as the ladies cause it is based on our differences ( I mean men and women) and what we think of men and how we want men to treat us and vice versa, it is a nice way of putting a smile in our faces and I think it is a great escape from reality, but is it really true that all men see in women is the outside and never the inside, is it really true that they don’t care how we think and what we want??? And us women are so romantic and we think that they actually listen to us when we talk to them? But as it is in the movie the truth is ugly, and we have to accept it no matter what, regardless how true the movie is, I thought it was very funny and I think that Gerard Butler is very cute and that to me is the ideal man, but if only he is real… I also think that Katherine Heigl is very cute and funny; I think that they both made cute couple in the movie (this is what I call real chemistry) . I recommend it to anyone and take my word, you will enjoy every second of it.

Tonight is one of those nights that I am thinking of so many things and cannot put myself at ease I have no idea why? It could be cause my friend is leaving soon, or maybe cause I think that my life needs a serious change? So many things is possible, but for now I feel a little relaxed and I think that whatever I am writing now makes no sense what so ever, but still I am typing and while I am typing I am thinking what will my next sentence be, or how will I end this stupid post, maybe by just stop typing, if my mom was still here and I was talking to her nonsense she would say to me “ Imane have faith and relax and do what you do best "read" this will help you forget and help put your mind at ease for a while” what is funny about this is that I can hear her say that to me, ooo how much I wish that she was here with us. Anyways, I think that I should go get a book and read, maybe this will help me forget or at least help my eyes and me go to sleep.

Terrou-Bi, A French Restaurant...

Yesterday my sister and I and friends of ours went and had dinner at an amazing French restaurant called Terrou-Bi. This restaurant is one of the most beautiful restaurant that I have been too, it is surrounded by the ocean and full of palm trees, also there is a huge swimming pool that is somehow attached to the ocean, we ate outside and by the beach and all the beauty of the greens, what was amazing about last night and while we were having our drinks outside and enjoying the scenes that was in front of us, I looked up the skies and saw the moon it was beyond beautiful, it was actually a new noon, sitting in the middle of all this beauty, I seriously felt that we were sitting in a painting, maybe in a dream, I wanted to walk and get close to the moon and the beach so I excused myself and went to the beach, and when I got there I stood still and said to myself this is my best friend, while standing by the beach I looked up at the skies again and saw the moon was still there and in the middle of this huge ocean, I was like wow, this is a dream but it is also real cause I am standing here listening to the sound of the waves and feeling the water touching my feet ( my sandals were ruined but I didn’t care) I just wanted to stay there, I don’t know how long I stayed standing there, all of the sudden my sister came and told me that my order was in, this is the first time that I wasn’t very happy cause the food was finally here, I actually don’t even remember what was the taste of the food, I told my brother in law when he asked me how did I enjoy my dish, I told him to be honest I did not care about the food I am actually enjoying the scenes that is surounding us, we were sitting in the middle of the ocean seriously it was so beautiful and it was like a dreamy land, one of my friends said that being in this restaurant feels like being in heaven and I totally agree with him, I did not feel that I was in Africa at all yesterday or even in earth....
I wish I had my camera with me, it is so unfortunate that I forgot it, that is because we decided to go out for dinner suddenly. Since this weekend is my last weekend here in Senegal, I asked my brother in law to bring me one more time to this amazing place, so that I can keep it inside of me and share it with my friends by taking pictures, I told him we don’t have to eat anything, we just come again for a cup of coffee but then he smiled and said “ well Imane !!, it is going to be a very expensive cup of coffee but for sure I will bring you here again not just for coffee but also for dessert” I smiled at him and told him that I cannot wait to come back again for the last time before going back home...

Thousand and one nights..

I always tell people that I am a night person, it is now 1:45 am here in Senegal and as usual I cannot sleep and when I cannot sleep my mind starts to think, for instance few minutes ago while watching TV and before I decided to come online and write this post an episode from an Arabic series taken from a very famous and ancient story book called Thousand and one nights or (Arabian Nights), I was trying to watch the episode but I couldn’t concentrate that is because my mind was occupied with all the things that I have done and the places that I have visited and going to visit. As I mentioned before I went to Malaysia, Dubai, Lebanon and Senegal, all these places made me feel like I'm living in the time of the thousand and one nights and that’s because I have been to places that I haven’t been to before, it felt like I was living a dream, it was beautiful, it was actually more than just beautiful, to be honest I have no idea how to describe my experience with such great places, I was amazed by the people and how simple they are, and mostly by the sceneries that I have seen, it was really, really, really beautiful, and the food was just divine especially in Dubai, I have been to so many restaurants all over the world, I think that in Dubai is the best food ever, I had sushi there it was soooo yummy beyond belief. A friend of mine says that I am like sindibad because I keep flying from place to place but that is ok because I am like a bird but only the kind of bird that likes the change and enjoy it no matter what.
Now here I am in Senegal it is almost the last part of my trip, in 2 weeks I will leave this country to go back to Lebanon and London and then after that back home, time flies so fast we cannot control it but we can at least enjoy the present and download things into our heads and make great memories so that when we go back home we will share our experience with the people that we love, this is what I am planning to do, I will tell everyone that I know about my adventures, I did share some of my adventures with my friends already in Facebook by posting pictures, but there are things that you cannot just post, cause you can only share it with the people that are close to your heart, I was happy and I want the people that I love to be happy with me and that is by sharing my news/adventures with them…