A few days ago, I decided to give up Soda…I don’t drink too much of it to begin with but when I do, it has always been diet.  Effective 3 days ago, no more soda!

Awww! Gorgeous Lili! :-)   

Cute Couple…Thanks to me!  

Amused!  

 State prosecutors decided Tuesday to drop charges against a former Tampa teacher accused of having sex with a 14-year-old middle school student.The decision, announced hours after a judge rejected a plea deal for Debra Lafave, means the victim won’t have to testify.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys had urged the judge to accept the deal for the sake of the boy involved. A psychiatrist who examined the teenager told the judge at a previous hearing that the boy suffered extreme anxiety from the media coverage of the case and does not want to testify.

Marion County Circuit Judge Hale Stancil, however, said the lack of prison time for Lafave under the plea deal “shocks the conscience of this court,” and he rejected it.

Assistant State Attorney Richard Ridgway, in explaining the decision to drop the charges, said: “The court may be willing to risk the well-being of the victims in this case in order to force it to trial. I am not.” [Source]

Such nonesense!

This is unbelievable. We know very well if the situation was reversed and the 14 year old student was a female whose 25 year old male teacher slept with, he would be in jail now! In a poll asking “Do you agree with the prosecutors decision to drop the charges against Lafave?” 59% said No and 41% said Yes. I wonder what the 41% are thinking!? I don’t care if she’s bipolar or whatever, I strongly believe she should have been charged…

I am a Rainbow! Breathtaking and rare

You are totally enchanting and intriguing …But you usually don’t stick around long!

You are best known for: your beauty …Your dominant state: seducing

What Type of Weather Are You? 

She has no sense of time what-so-ever!

Turath will be the very first center of its kind, established in the city of Chicago, to celebrate Arab culture and heritage. There are close to 220,000 Arabs living in the greater metropolitan area of Chicago who will be served by its programs and will gain visibility as active cultural community members in the diverse multicultural construct of the city. In addition, the wider American public will also have access to a range of Arab arts and cultural programs which will facilitate a better understanding of Arab history and culture.

Turath will bring the realm of Arab culture within reach through creative presentations and displays; provide resources and facilities; collaborate with the community; and engage everyone, especially youth and children, in creative work, teaching and learning.Turath will embrace progress, diversity, unity and will maintain positive leadership and a standard of excellence.

we definitely need such cultural center in the community. It will be good for the community in many aspects: It will to foster the public’s understanding and appreciation of Arab and Arab American history and culture while bringing the community closer together. I’m looking forward to this.

Turath will be a unique and vibrant cultural center that will strengthen our diverse community and provide a facility where our culture, art, and language can be preserved and passed on for future generations. A visit to Turath will be an educational and cultural resource for all visitors seeking to learn about our people, history, heritage, values, and future.Turath will be a warm, comfortable, and inviting venue where our community will enjoy artistic and cultural events; gather to celebrate holidays; and where our children will acquire a deeper understanding and appreciation of their history and heritage.Turath’s exhibit halls, events spaces, theatre, film screening room, library, information center, classrooms, and offices will be functional and aesthetically pleasing.Turath’s programs will be inspiring and creative.

The Nawawi Foundation invites you to join its spring course Islam in the Modern Age at the University of Chicago, Wednesday evenings 7:30-9:00 p.m. beginning April 5th, 2006. This seven-week series will focus on Islamic intellectual and political developments—revival, reform, modernism, and Islamist activism—as they emerged and developed during the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.

I’ve always have wanted to attend courses held by the Nawawi Foundation, but the timing and location have always been very inconvenient for me. The course, Islam in the Modern Age sounds very interesting. I am hoping I can make this one.

Many times it seems that we are expected to make sense of the problems of the modern Muslim world by providing commentaries on verses of the Qur’an or Traditions attributed to the Prophet, as if present-day complexities grew directly out of scriptural readings. In reality, the last three hundred years of communal Muslim experience provide direct background to much present-day Muslim thought and behavior, be it forward-looking “modernist,” rigidly “fundamentalist,” or somewhere in between. It was during this complex and highly varied period that modern “Islamic and Islamist thought” emerged and took on the varieties of molds and shapes that distinguish it today. (Read on …)

It’s tempting to blame big food companies for America’s big obesity problem.

After all, they’re the folks who Supersized our fries, family-portioned our potato chips and Big Gulped our sodas.

There’s also the billions they’ve spent keeping their products ever on our minds and in our mouths. ikened by some to the way tobacco companies seduced smokers, such practices have made the food industry the target of lawsuits and legislation seeking to yank junk food from schools and curb advertising to children.

But some experts say neither the problem nor the solution is nearly so simple. “You don’t have the collusion or the cover-up you had in smoking,” says James Tillotson, a business and food policy professor at Tufts’ Friedman School of Nutrition.

“We want to blame somebody, but the thing is, we’re all a part of it.”

Yes, we are all part of it. We have to be responsible enough and very mindful of what we put in our plate. No need for the chicken sandwich extra mayo, and super sized fries… instead of ordering a full individual meal you can order one for the two of you and share. This is Lilian’s new seceret recipe for losing weight - weight she doesn’t have…but you know, most of us have this complex and always feel that we could lose a few extra pounds.

It so happens that everytime I speak to Lilian on the phone or see her in person, she has to mention her ‘new thing’ …of limiting her food portions by sharing a meal when eating out. According to her, this has proven to be a very healthy way of losing a few pounds and watching her weight. It so happens that we went out to dinner not so long ago…I was expecting her to ask if I’d like to share a meal…(I was not going to agree anyway!) Lilian ordered appetizers and a main entree. All gone! so much for her ’secret recipe’ …

Anyway, it’s time to stop blaming food companies and restaurants for people’s obesity. Market demand and a sense of social responsibility are better catalysts for change, industry officials say. And some companies have done their share with educating consumers and producing healtier food. Bottom line and like Van Gelder says “You put the food on your plate. You choose whether to eat it.”

Here is the full article

A:

Facial

Manicure

Pedicure

Massage

Tan

Denim Skirt

(Disclaimer: No, the author has no relation what so ever to being superficial! once in a while self pampering is goood for the mind, body and spirit!)

This definitely seems like an interesting read, and I will definitely be reading it very soon. It’s available for shipping next month!

An Arab Woman’s Memoir
By Jean Said Makdisi
When Jean Said Makdisi decided to write this family chronicle, she discovered she knew little about Teta, her grandmother’s past, and not enough about her own mother’s life. Using unpublished family documents, the memories of friends and acquaintances, and histories of the region and period, Makdisi traces her family’s personal story against the backdrop of political events as they take place in Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and the United States.
The story begins in the 1880s of her grandmother’s early childhood in Ottoman Syria; details her mother’s experiences of two world wars and their repercussions for the Middle East; and concludes with the author’s own experience of raising a family in Beirut, amidst the endless, futile, disillusioning fratricide of the Lebanese civil war (1975-90). This remarkable intimate biography reveals the unsung private histories of three extraordinary women — as they work, socialise and raise families under the most difficult of circumstances — and through them the history of the Arab people. Much more than just a memoir — it is a discovery for both the author and the reader of a richer and more complex past for Arab women than both ever would have imagined. (Read on …)

I hate turning to the local news … shootings, fatal accidents, missing people, high gas prices, thunderstorms …

This March has not been my kind of month what-so-ever…I know that this month is/was supposed to be the month I attempt to get back on track with my work-outs…it’s the 11th day, and the most I’ve done is walk to and from my car, down the hall at work, up and down the stairs at home! 

I was determined, and somewhat I still am … it’s just the motivation is not all there! I hate Dr. 90210 …It’s all Dr. Ray’s fault!