Music on, World off

These last few weeks, I have been under a lot of pressure and stress. I have been juggling work, studies, finals, and of course, the blog. So, when things get a little tough, when my world starts to crumble, I like to getaway and relax for a while. So, I listen to music.

Today, I bring you few of my own music selections. Some are old, some are new.  I hope you like them. Who knows, you may be one step away from discovering your new favorite song… Enjoy!

 

-          The “Keep Calm” playlist

-          The “Party on” playlist

-          The “Hopeless Romantic” playlist

-          The “Women Empowerment” playlist

-          The “Stay Strong” playlist

 

1-      The “Keep Calm” playlist

·         River flows in you by Yiruma

·         Kiss the rain by Yiruma

·         The end of august by Yanni

·         Felitsa by Yanni

·         One man’s dream by Yanni

 

2-      The “Party on” playlist

·         5,6,7,8 by Steps

·         Cotton Eyed Joe

·         Dirty Picture by Taio Cruz ft. Kesha

·         You make me feel  by Cobra Starship

·         Memories by David Guetta

·         We found love by Rihanna

·         Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO

·         Party animal by Akon

·         Last Friday night by Katy Perry

·         Fireworks by Katy Perry

·         This is my life by Edward Maya

·         Summer Love by Justin Timberlake

·         When love takes over by David Guetta

·         Getting over you by David Guetta

·         YMCA

 

3-      The “Hopeless Romantic” playlist

·         La vie en rose by Edith Piaf

·         Hello by Lionel Richie

·         Just say yes by Snow Patrol

·         A whole new world by Brad Kane and Lea Salonga (Disney’s Greatest Love Songs)

·         Carry you home by James Blunt

·         Siffler sur la colline by Joe Dassin

·         Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley

·         You’ll be in my heart by Phil Collins

·         Only Hope by Mandy Moore

·         Iris by Goo Goo Dolls

·         Superhuman by Chris Brown ft. Keri Hilson

·         The way you look tonight by Maroon 5

 

4-      The “Women Empowerment” playlist

·         Ladies Night by Atomic Kitten

·         All the single ladies by Beyonce

·         Do it well by Jennifer Lopez

 

5-      The “Stay Strong” Playlist

·         Viva la vida by Coldplay

·         I feel good by James Brown

·         Smile by Uncle Kracker

·         Keep holding on by Avril Lavigne

·         I will survive by Tina Turner

 

Musically,

T

Recipe of the Week: Pizza Wheels

I love pizza. Who doesn’t love pizza anyways? Some people might not. They’re crazy, that’s for sure. They don’t know what they’re missing out on. But, I don’t blame them. “Don’t eat pizza”, I would say to them. “The less you eat, the more there’s for me”. Their loss, my gain.

This Saturday, I decided to revisit one of the world’s most popular dishes, and do it in a different way, pizza wheels way.

 

Pizza wheels 

Makes 16 or 20 pizza wheels

 

Ingredients:

-          1 store bought pizza dough, or 1 package puff pastry

-          1/3 cup pizza sauce

-          1 tablespoon fresh or dried oregano

-          1 garlic clove, minced

-          1/2 – 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella

-          24-30 thinly sliced pepperoni

-          2 tablespoons grated parmesan

Directions:

-          Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

-          Place dough onto a lightly floured surface, and roll out to about 0.5 cm thick (try to get the dough to 22x30 cm) (If you’re using puff pastry skip this step).

-          Spread pizza sauce sparingly over dough, and top with oregano, and garlic. 

-          Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over sauce, and finish by topping the dough with the pepperoni slices.

-          Starting at one end, carefully roll dough into a large, tight log, and place onto a cutting board, seam side down.

-          Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

-          Remove from refrigerator, and cut 2.54 cm or 3.81cm pinwheels from the log.

-          Dredge one cut side of each pinwheel in the cornmeal until well coated, and place (cornmeal side down) onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or using a little bit of cooking spray.

-          Sprinkle top of each wheel with a small amount of Parmesan, and bake for 16-20 minutes or until golden brown (in the last 5-7 minutes, check the bottoms to make sure they’re not burning)

-          Allow to cool for 5 minutes, and serve with extra pizza sauce or ketchup for dipping.

Enjoy!

                                                                                                                              -Xoxo,

                                                                                                                                   T

Recipe adapted from “Pizza Wheels” on Spoon Fork Bacon, retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.spoonforkbacon.com/2013/05/pizza-wheels/

 

DIY Graduation Gift Ideas

So, graduation season is coming up and with it, the unending search for graduation gifts to offer. Everybody knows someone who is graduating either from school or university. I, myself, have a brother and a cousin who are graduating from school and friends who are graduating from university too. I want to offer them something special and handmade, so I started brainstorming for DIY graduation gift ideas for both girls and boys. I got numerous ones but these are the ones I decided to craft:

1-      DIY Reese’s Graduation Chocolate

2-      DIY Graduation Champagne Bottle

3-      DIY “In case of emergency break glass” frame

 

1-      DIY Reese’s Graduation Chocolate:

 

Material needed:

-          Reese’s mini peanut butter cups

-          Scissors

-          Glue

-          Ruler

-          White crayon

-          Raffia

-          Black cardboard

-          Tape

 

1-      Draw on the black cardboard 5x5 cm squares and cut them. Those will stand for the graduation hats.

2-      Leave a 1 cm margin from each side of the square and draw an inner square with white crayon

3-      Cut two raffia bands for each hat, with one shorter than the other.

4-      Glue them in the middle of the hat

5-      Cut small tape pieces and roll them over to connect both sides, sticky side up.

6-      Place the tape on top of the peanut butter cup and then place the graduation hat on top of the tape

Easy and fast!

 

2-      DIY Graduation Champagne Bottle

 

Material needed:

-          Craft foam

-          Glue

-          Scissors

-          Needle

-          Thread

-          Piece of white paper

-          Graduation Hat (from the previous DIY)

-          Champagne bottle

-          Chalk

 

1-      Get all the needed material

2-      Take the champagne bottle, fold the foam craft in two, and wrap it around the bottle just to see if the length is good. If not, mark with a needle the needed length

3-      Draw a line in accordance with the previously made mark and cut to remove the unneeded part of the foam.

4-      Once that it done, cut a triangle on the upper part of the foam (on the side that was folded in half). This triangle will serve as the neck of the graduation gown.

5-      With a chalk, draw the pattern of a graduation gown on the foam and then cut along the lines.

6-      Using a needle and a thread, stitch the sides and the arms of the gown

7-      In a white paper, cut a small band and roll it to make a small diploma then tie a piece of foam around it to hold the diploma together.

8-      Stitch the foam of the diploma onto the joint arms of the graduation gown

 

Use one of the graduation hats made in the previous DIY to dress the collar of the bottle.

 

Done! You now have a champagne bottle dressed in a graduation gown.

 

3-      DIY “In case of emergency break glass” frame

 

Material needed:

-          20x30 cm frame

-          Money bills

-          “IN CASE OF SHOPPING EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS” printed on a transparent paper

 

 Mabrouk to all graduates <3

Xoxo,

T

4 girls, 4 outfits

Choosing what to wear everyday for university can be a real brainteaser. It can go from being your favorite things to do, to the task you push till the last minute. But if like me, you like to have everything planned a head of time, here are some outfit suggestions that I bring you from real-life university girls that I meet every day in the hallway and that are true fashionistas who plan their outfits from head to toe : hair, makeup, accessories, clothes, bags, shoes, and sometimes phone cases too!

1-      Victoire Bejjani’s color-me-yellow look
 

Top: Ralph Lauren

Coatigan: Lookbookstore

Belt: Fossil

Necklace: I am

Jeans: Mango

Rainboots: Pointure

 

2-      Chams’ fierce-animal look

 

Shirt: from Turkey

Pants: Zara

Bag: GS

Shoes: from Turkey

 

3-      Mayssa’s sailor-chic look  

 

Top: Zara

Jacket: Designer Outlet

Scarf: Mango

Pants: Stradivarius

Shoes: Converse all stars

Accessories: Ice watch – Aldo pearl earrings

 

4-      Melissa Loukieh’s daring jumpsuit look
 

Jumpsuit: H&M

Necklace: H&M

 

See you soon for more fashion inspiration!

 

-Xoxo,

T