Raul Di Blasio… was sooo romantic yesterday!

Raul Di Blasio is helding three concerts at Music Hall- Beirut!

Jamil was thrilled when he heard about it last week,

And he kept talking about the concert he attended 10 years ago when this latin-jazz & easy listening argentine pianist first came to Lebanon, and how amazing it was…

The 3 concerts were over and we didn’t have even time to think about attending it, the past week was exhausting and frustrating!

Then we heard the news: an extra concert will be held on Sunday night

Saturday after work I headed to the ticketing box office

It was lunch break

I knew time was ticking and 30 minutes may diminish my chances of getting those tickets in appropriate spot.
And after a short debate with the supervisor (in fact it was a bit more than a debate), I managed to buy two tickets (there were just few remaining free seats!)

Jamil was really surprised when he saw them in the evening!

I, personally, have never heard Di Blasio’ music before

& I didn’t know what to expect from this big Latino guy with a huge moustache!

Cherries... 9 photos

Please allow me to introduce my second favorite fruit: Cherries!
I Love cherries and I would buy anything having cherries on its cover (yogurt-jam-Jello-ice cream-anything!)
I was trying to take some photos of these lovely round yummy juicy fresh fruit!

P.S. 1 NO Photoshop editing!
P.S. 2 this is done with my OLD canon 5 Mega pixels camera!

Dentist!

If Jules Vernes was alive

He would have written a book

Which includes a visit to a dentist

The dentist would be a young-cute-talented-funny- guy

The walls of the clinic would be painted in green

The chairs would have soft tissue with flowers patterns

The treatment would be done by MUTE machines

Which do not make any sounds like “errrrrr” “brrrrrrr””ezzzzzzzzzzzzz” or “vwooooooo”

The assistant would be very friendly and very cooperative regarding appointments

This is what I call fiction!

Spanish week

The ABC Mall celebrated the Spanish week 

It wasn't about the cliché-images of Spanish culture, but it included Flamenco shows of traditional songs with some old singers who filled the place with their hilarious voices and step dancing.
we enjoyed it a lot, even Ghadi, who watched the show and then tried to imitate the performers in his comic way.

I adore the Spanish culture

I love my Spanish books

and I miss my Spanish music!

Paco De Lucia is one of my favorite composers, Eduardo Mendoza is my favorite spanish novelist

Pedro Almodóvar is a great Spanish film maker, Todo sobre mi madre is one of my favorite spanish movies ever!

Color Palette - Chemical reaction

I've always LOVED chemistry

Especially when it demonstrates itself in such an amazing way

Remember my friends,

Beauty is in the DeTaiL!

This reminds me of a Spanish proverb: "son los detalles que enamoran"

oh yes... it's the details that inspire love...

Potty Training - Weekend 2

PT went great!

full control

don't even ask me how!

as a reward, 

Ghadi had his first tool table,

his first -4 wheels- bike

and he had his favorite meal (one bread without filling) 

sitting on his favorite chair, 

watching his favorite cartoon (SamSam!)

the magic drawer!

I have a drawer

An enchnating drawer

Because it has magical powers on me…

It’s fully loaded, a threat if you open it quickly, things may fly out, and yet anything can still fit in, in a mysterious way!

I open it occasionally, intending to throw away most of its contents, since that they are useless, outdated, or simply worthless. I spend a bit of time arranging contents on the bed, categorizing, sorting similar stuff, labeling small boxes, and willing to fill the waste basket with the majority of these things…

And after couple hours, I find out that every single object is back to the drawer, in order, well placed…

Waste basket? : empty!

I told you

It’s magic!

dismantling my drawer: layer (1) revealed

layer (2)

layer (3)

sample of the contents...!

Flohmarkt!

if you look around you, at home, office or even at your car, you will find out that you are surrounded by "useless"  objects, which you would never-ever even think about getting rid of!

While I lived in Berlin, i experienced an interesting activity : the “Flohmarkt” or “flee market” or whatever you may call it!

In every neighborhood, in a small street, a park, or unbuilt area, people get their stuff, and display all kind of stuff on a rented table or simply on the ground!… 

People who love antiques, old photo albums, all kind of unusual things are the main clients…

this way we can give away the useless items having a special place in our heart guilt-free, knowing that it would end up in good hands rather than simply throwing them away (which we would never do actually)

The experience is great, and in return one could get really amazing bargains!

I got once this wonderful book

It’s about brother grimm’s stories

i found out later that this book won several prizes, especially for the illustrations (which ARE great)

I got it for 2 euros!

So shall we begin planning a flohmarkt in Beirut?

Things I really hate - 0001

Among the Things I really hate here in Lebanon are the truck drivers who drive their multi-huge gigantesque trucks on the main roads, as if they are driving a Ferrari!

They try to overpass you, top speed, playing games with fellow drivers, stopping suddenly to pick up someone… 

unbearable!

But I hate Ferrari drivers as well, who head to manara,  achrafieh, verdun-similar, just to drive at a speed not exceeding 16km/h, enjoying people gazing and admiring their car…

The road may be empty, but still they won't drive faster!

I can almost hear the Ferrari mourning in agony…

Hope ferrari designers would never have to witness this!

subscription: finally!

I think I’m one of those people who don't feel at ease unless they have at least one subscription at some public and/or private library

And this week I could finally breath: at last I have subscribed to the media-theque of French cultural center

It’s rich and full of interesting stuff

And I came back with both hands busy holding tons of books…

Aaaaaaaah… really nice feeling!

Italian Circus

The last time i went to a circus was 19 years ago. It was in Raouche area, i don't remember much about it.

2 weeks ago, we heard that the Italian Circus came to town, and Jamil was so excited that i thought it's all about taking Ghadi there...

After I explained that Ghadi is still too young to go, I was surprised that Jamil didn't loose his interest, in fact he planned to go with his nephews and he was so enthusiastic about it! 

It is always fascinating when we discover something new about the man with whom we share our life! (even something minor like the fact that he loves Circus!)

Well, i got to know later that he went to the camp, and saw details about the the everyday life of animals and workers... He even knows that they got baby lion lately!

Hearing about the preparations i suddenly decided to go with Ghadi (Jamil was really keen to take him)...

We went yesterday.
it was hilarious!
I enjoyed the show like I never thought i would!
& when the guy walking on the rope was about to fall my heart fell and I screamed!
I was sitting there, clapping and yelling just like a little girl!
2 hours of real fun
and Ghadi?
didn't stop talking about the lions, the crocodiles, the lights and the huge Hippopotamus!

Potty training – Weekend 1

I really didn’t want to write about this but then I thought I should, because i believe that failing is not always bad, and for the reason that Edison’s quote is hung on the screen of my computer for three years now: 

“I will not say I failed 1000 times, I will say that I discovered 1000 ways that can cause failure”

Long introduction for a really long weekend, summarized as follows:

 

Day-1

8:00     Excitement (Ghadi without diapers, wearing his first underwear!)

10:00   not bad 

12:00   having played football, basketball, football (again) and having put him on the potty every 15 minutes, asking same question (do u have to pee-poop) every 1-2 minutes:

            Still not bad

02:00   changing clothes for the third time

04:00   Ghadi asleep… I’m not taking any break (arranging summer-winter clothes)

06:00   visiting grandma, showing off with the new boxer, anxious to sit on toilet, just to push the water closet   

            button, and to watch this astonishing mechanism over and over again…