Inspired Muslimah

I have had the pleasure and honor to receive the coolest blog award from my awesome sister over at Thoughts from the desk of the Barefoot Empress Anisa... My awesome sister in Islam!!!She is not only my blogger buddy we are forming a real friendship insha'allah. Thanks sooo much, It was very unexpected. I love you sis. I have to pass this awesome award to a few deserving sisters!

I was tagged by my awesome sis, Empressa Anisa, thanks sis!

My favorite Things - by Inspired Muslimah on Polyvore.com

Salaams everyone I am in the midwest and its snowing like crazy! We already have gotten 6 inches and we are expected to get 8 to 10 more inches before the storm lets up. I hate the snow and winter!!!!!!! We finally got a snow day and I was wondering if this isnt the type of weather that illicit a snow day,what does???? Whats wrong is that it took till almost noon for them to cancel most of the colleges and universities. I had already decided I wasnt going but I have a lot of friends who bared the elements and now school is cancel and they are just out there in that mess. That sucks. Since I have snow day today, I will catch up on reading quran and work on some things I have been wanting to post. I am also watching little women on HBO on demand..Random right?? I have never seen it and I just felt like watching it. I also want to figure out how to adder blogger mobile to my iphone so I can easily post pics and post from my phone..which by the way, gets more amazing by the day!

Salaams everyone. I just wanted to know who out there uses google reader to read blogs versus blogger.com. I am confused about google reader. Its another way to read the blogs we follow right? Can you create a new post from google reader, or is it just to read and do you all find it easier to use??

Salaams everyone, Its a new year alhamdullilah! I hope everyone is having a good month. I have been down for so long, I am determined to give myself a pick me up and I noticed there are certain sites that I can read for days and they actually have an effect on me and my attitude. With that said, I will share some sites with you all I frequent, when I need to read some awesome islamic resources and learn more about islam:

Salaams everyone. My last post wasn't meant to offend any one and I certainly wasn't talking about anyone in particular. In MY opinion there has been a lot of tension amongst the bloggers. I didn't name anyone and I am not pointing fingers at anyone. That is not my point.As for mentioning particular topics that I did name such as race, taxes,Obama, hijab versus non hijab, my point was to say I am surprise with the tension that comes after these post. Like ok so a sister post something regarding whats on her mind, one of the above topics and then other bloggers start to comment and I am surprised at some of the comments I read and how it almost turns into an argument. I am not saying people shouldn't post whats on there mind regardless of how everyone else reacts too it.I dont blame the blogger, I am just surprised about some of the comments because everyone is entitled to post what they want. I hope I am clear because I am not a fan of the blogger police that go from blog to blog telling this person what he or she should blog about and I have said that on my occasions. Its your blog and you can talk about what you want. Its funny because the whole point of that post came across exactly the opposite of what I wanted. And lastly to the comment I made about the sis who mentioned people following her blog and not commenting and I mentioned this happens to me, I was saying anything about you sis in particular not commenting on my blog. I just meant in general. You are one of the few sisters who do take the time to comment on my blog so I am surprise you thought you were one of the people. Regardless, no one owes it to anyone to comment and I have read comments that said if they dont feel as if they can participate in the conversation, they will not comment at all and I couldn't agree with you more!

Reading some of the other sisters blogs lately has resulted in tension. If its not one argument it is another. I am not pointing any fingers, I am just saying that all of this tension and back and forth over various issues is draining. Race, Obama, proper hijab versus non proper hijab, Palestine, Israel, taxes and more.... I will not take part in any of these back and forth type deals because I dont want to be bias to anyone one sister. Then you have everyone else jumping on the band wagon either agreeing or disagreeing and I do understand that your (the bloggers) blog is to vent and say what is on your mind and I support it, freedom of speech ofcourse!

I am soo excited about this upcoming weekend. In 2 days my family and many of my friends will be traveling to washington d.c., to attend the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States..whoo hoooo BARACK OBAMA BABY!!!!!!!!!! I am sooo pysched about this. I am packing my clothes as we speak. We will leave on friday and probably just relax at familys house. On Saturday I will spend the day between shopping and doing some site seeing. I have been to DC plenty of times but I have never took the time to do some of the more touristy type stuff like see the museums and capital and stuff. I am a huge history buff and because there is much going on,these activities will be more fun than usual. I will wear something like this:

DC outfit by Inspired Muslimah :

Because it will sooo cold in DC. The whole east coast is under a major cold front so unfortunatley It will be freezing in DC. I think I am most excited about the concert on sunday that officially kicks off the inaguration activities. The " We are one" concert will feature my favorite Beyonce!!! As well as Usher, Mary J Blige, U2, Springsteen, Garth Brooks,John Legend, Sheryl Crow, and more......Denzel Washington, Queen Latifah will be speaking. I am sooooo pumped about this. Its outdoors at the Lincoln Memorial so we will have to be dressed warmly. The concert starts at 2 pm and will be aired on HBO at 7pm, which I will have my DVR set to tape, so I can enjoy it again. This concert will probably dominate my Sunday since we will most likely be ice cubes once its finished. On Monday and not sure what we have planned but on Tuesday, we will attend the inauguration parade that begins at 2 pm. My mom,aunt, and friends all tried to get ticket to the parade which were sold on Ticketmaster for $25. OK WHY DID THEY SELL OUT INSTANTLY!!!!!! When I say instantly, I mean my mom was on the site an hour before they when on sell, with credit card ready, and at 12:59 she started typing in her credit card number and hit send at 1 pm and they were sold out!!! AMAZING!!! There were only 5000 tickets for the entire country and they were for balcony seats. However, you can still go to the parade without a ticket, you just dont have a seat. I plan on having a blast and taking a million pictures which I can post immediately from my iphone for you guys to see. I haven't been blogging too much lately but you can definitely plan to hear all about my weekend in DC.

I have not been posting lately because I have been so overwhelmed with school. Test immediately following my winter break has snatched up all my time. I am also a little down. I had to pay $625 for my car to get 2 new tires and new breaks. That sucks so bad, because I couldve done soooo much more with that! I finally bought the new iphone and I am so in love with it. That cheered me up a little but I am still down. Its winter, its cold, muslims are dying in Gaza, school is hard...I can go on and on.I try to tell myself things could be a lot worst, clearly look at what our sisters and brothers are experiencing. I start a post on the UN worker who was killed by the israelis and I couldnt finish, it was too heartbreaking. To watch everyone sit by and nothing happens. I feel so sad for them :(. I have been wearing my hijab alhamdullilah, though i I have lapsed here and there. My eman is really low right now and I know why...but thats no excuse. Some one really closed to me betrayed me. Im having a really hard time getting past it. I know they are sorry and wants the best for me....that didnt stop them from hurting me however. I feel devastated one minute and Im laughing the next. My moods are soo up and down, I think my mom thinks I am bipolar. LOL. I just want to smile again.....ALL THE TIME..you know how something bad happens and it weighs on you and then you forget for a while, and then bam! It hits you and your down again. Its one of those things.... Thats all for now.

Pretty in Purple by Inspired Muslimah

Sorry for not posting day#2 as a Hijabi. I am so busy in chicago. I plan on working posting a blog about being a hijabi in chicago later on which I talk about day 2(yesterday) and day 2 (today), alhamdullilah! STAY TUNED SISTERS!!!

I am in chicago for the weekend and I heard there is a little section of town that sells alls arabic and islamic clothes,alhamdullilah, I am soo excited. I cant wait to go see what they have. I am staying at the beautiful hilton hotel on michigan avenue overlooking downtown, miles of shopping , the beautiful lake masha'allah (though frozen). I have been watching the news since I got here yesterday afternoon to keep up with the situation in Gaza and Iam sad that it has not improved. I am going to visit the masjid down the street and will take a picture or two from the outside as well as I will take pics on the street with all the islamic stores,which I will post,insha'allah. Chicago is soo beautiful and diverse! Its so nice to see a blend of all the different cultures coexisting!! The weather is actually decent, like high 30 f. Not bad since the last time I was here, it was blizzarding.I am going to go get dressed, stop by the masjid, and go onto the islamic stores and I will definitely report back. I hope to purchase so new hijabs,underscarves, maybe an abaya,a prayer rugs, and prayer beads..and what else I can not put down. LOL. I am on the 25 floor of the hotel and you can everything! Including all those million dollar lofts across the street, I mean, I can see into their living room!! Also, there are soo many muslims here! Yay!!!

Ok so today I woke up and I wore my hijab all day alhamdullilah! I was soo proud of myself. I have worn hijab before of course, but not like today, everywhere I went from the moment I left the house at noon till about 11:00 tonight when I got home. I went to the mall,bank, future in laws house, MY parents house, the pharmacy I intern at and several other places. The significance of this is that I have never worn my hijab around coworkers, to the mall I frequent, and most important my parents. Sure they have seen me with my pashima's wrapped casually around me with hair showing but today I was in full hijabi mode. Funny thing is, it was not so bad! Ok people did stare a little and that is a little uncomfortable and I had on my sunglasses most of the day and I felt like a coward for it (though I always have on sunglasses) so I took them and faced the world, hijab and all. At my parents house, they didnt even really mention it too much, which I guess is a good thing. My sis actually said I looked really cute. I went to visit my future in laws, and my fiance said wow, you look so beautiful as well as his mom kept hugging me Masha'allah!! He just kept telling me. He knows I am not very confident in hijab yet. When I walked into my job I intern at they were like wow, look at you??!! But overall, positive vibes. So you can imagine what I looked like, I created a set, see below:

My hijabi outfit by Inspired Muslimah

I had on jeans, a black turtleneck sweater under a gray sweater dress, cute jewelry, my versace sunglasses, Bebe handbag, Tahari pumps, and a black hijab layered with a black and silver hijab over top. I felt really pretty for for the first time in hijab. I know this is not why we wear it, but it felt good to feel attractive. So many men were looking at me, this was weird!! I have never worn hijab to the mall before and it didnt keep the men from looking oddly enough. I lowered my gaze as I am learning to do and finished shopping. I bought several items from bath and body and 3 sets of bracelets from a stand in the middle of the mall. I can tell I am changing for the better alhamdullilah. I spent $ 60 at bath and body, $20 in the middle of the mall, and $75 at eyemasters for new contacts and I felt soooo bad. Normally I spend and spend and dont blink but today it felt so weird and I kept asking myself If I needed these things. I am proud of the changes I see in myself I hope to keep them up. Wearing it in front of family members and coworkers was new to me, and only awkward for a second. Honestly, I forgot I had the hijab on!! As I grow my outfits will get better but overall I think I looked pretty nice and islamic. My sweater dress fit loose and did not show my figure too much. I didnt have any hair showing and although I had earrings on, no one could see them. I also made sure that my actions were proper by lowering my gaze and not engaging in unnecessary conversation with men outside of my fiance and father. Today was a big step in the right direction, alhamdullilah, I hope I can keep it up. I will let you all know how day #2 (tomorrow) turns out!