Ramadan has swiftly passed, and all the beautiful meanings and blessings it left in us will sure be missed; unless we ourselves try to maintain them as much as possible ;)
Anyways, EID MUBARAK beautiful people!! Hope you had a great first day of Eid with your family and friends - I sure did, alhamdulillah.. I spent my day with my cousins and aunty and uncle, as well as my in-laws, and this is what I wore throughout the day:

Salam! I'm back with another University Series part; WHERE to study for university?
In case you've missed the first part about WHAT to study, check it out here, but for now, i'll leave you with this hopefully not as long blogpost - hope you benefit from what you read!

Whenever you ask someone about university, they tell you that it's a whole new life that you get to experience and live for at least three years, and where you study  totally plays an important role in this experience. In fact, what actually matters about a university is its academic performance, status, atmosphere, location and fees - and unless you choose wisely and subjectively, you might regret your choices later on and enter the storm of changing university, which can either be easy or become a mess!

After choosing what major you want to study, look for the universities that teach it and are convenient for you and list them all down - gradually you will start to cross down the least convenient ones and hopefully you'll reach you conclusion easily. A university being convenient for you means that it offers your choice of major with high standards, yet is still reasonable money-wise and location-wise, as choosing the best university that offers your program would be a great addition to your CV later on, but may cause you many hardships in registering, paying, and even living.
Look for universities that also offer good discounts or scholarships that apply to you, and consider the opportunity of living in dorms or transportation wisely.

After looking and listing, start collecting data and reviews from students who attended this or that university or were considering your options. Call campuses,ask and even visit! Ask about facilities, recognition, fees, transportation.... and every single question that pops into yours - and your parents' - mind! What students may tell you will also play a big role in making the decision, as they probably considered your same options and decided, or experienced some of your options and so they have positive or negative feedback. However, don't take everything bad you hear from them negatively nor every good thing positively - what you find unbearable might be okay with them, and what they find very bad may not even matter to you, so be wise and reasonable.

A very important factor to your decision would be your confidence in your abilities and what you can do:
- Think about whether you'll be able to live in a dorm room, alone or with friends or even strangers
- Consider whether you'll be able to handle the pressure of transportation, for example, or tight schedules as not all universities offer the same system: some universities would allow students to create their own schedules, whereas other universities would give their students an already planned schedule.
- Balance between the pros and con of every option personally, and with the help of others..
- Be realistic, especially when you're considering travelling or studying in your country.

An important thing to keep in mind is that having your friends with you in university might be a good thing - you should, however, keep in mind that even though  you're in the same campus, you might net even meet or see each other very often according to each's major and schedule, so do not limit yourself to where your friends are.. you will get busy, have different time schedules, meet new people...etc.

My final tip to you would be to seek the answer from Allah.. I have mentioned the same thing in the last Uni blogpost but I'm re-mentioning it here because after all, without His guidance, where would we be? ;)

Hope you find the information here helpful and if you have anything more to add, feel free to type it all doooown! ☟☟☟☟☟

Salam lovies! I'm back with an outfit blogpost for ya'll and I hope ya like it! I just love this outfit and how elegant it is..

Top: Promod Wide Pants: Stradivarius Belt: necklace from Aldo Shoulder Bag: Shoe Mart Necklace: online from Amazon Eyeliner, mascara, blush and lipstick: Maybelline... hehe Concealer: H&M Watch: Aldo Perfume: Dior Shoes: Aldo

Assalamulaikom lovelies and welcome to the first part of my University Series! I decided to start this 4-part series to talk to you guys about university; what, where, and how to study and how to survive university life by reflecting upon my personal experience and thoughts ^.^

For this part, we'll be discussing the topic of choosing the major... Hopefully, you'll find this blogpost very helpful in making up your mind and deciding what you really want to do and study through the few steps i'll be listing below, but first, I might as well start by talking about my background of this topic in case you guys would relate...
I also would like to say that i'm not a psychologist or anything - I'm just an 18 year-old who has been through what some of you might be going through right now and so I have so much to talk about regarding this topic.


So once upon a time, I have decided to become a dentist. I don't know if I was influenced  I have already decided where I want to study that major and with whom i'll be staying in the dorm room - My dad and I even visited that university and paid the early tuition fees, and I was so thrilled - until I started recalculating in my mind, and so I started to ask and add everything up in my mind until I slowly started to believe that I am not capable of studying for 6+ years, nor was I willing to do so. I also considered the job market and how easy or difficult it would be for me to find a job in the future and I decided that I wasn't up for it.
I didn't 'chicken' out nor was I willing to throw my dream away, I was just being realistic, and that would be my first tip to you: dream big, but also be realistic about what you want and don't let the glitter of that dream blind you from recognizing the possible from the impossible.
Anyway, back to my story; so you might as well ask about what I am currently studying? Did I end up following my dream or did I throw it behind?
Well, I simply made a new one to look up to. I decided to study interior design and am determined to be successful at that, inshallah. But I didn't decide to study this major all of a sudden, in fact, I felt so lost after deciding to not follow my dentistry dream and there came sleepless nights and endless proper talks with my parents and family! Eventually, I made a plan which I followed carefully to make up my mind and be convinced about the result because after all, what's the use of studying something I'm not even convinced with.
The plan I made consisted of a few steps: LIST, LOOK UP, BALANCE, PRIORITIZE, and ASK, and I will be taking you through each step briefly.




☞ LIST: To list means to write down and count, and in this step, you'll be listing two things: who you are (qualifications, how others see you, how you see yourself, characteristics...) & your preferences (what subjects you like and hate in school, your hobbies...). Be honest when describing yourself as this is a very good way to know your strength points and weaknesses.
 I wrote down both lists for you guys to see in this gif:


☞ BALANCE: After searching for all the options that match what you've listed, you need to balance each option by writing down its pros and cons. By doing that, you're actually giving yourself reasonable reasons as to why this major/job is good/bad for you instead of refusing or accepting the idea blindly... You then have to eliminate the options that have more cons than pros :)
While listing the pros and cons, you can write down that you really want this option but you have to be realistic and honest in writing why you want it so badly.

☞ PRIORITIZE: You should now be left with fewer options, much fewer even! So it's time to put them in order based on how much that option appeals to you, how many pros it has...etc. and try to come up with maximum five ranks so you'd have less options to keep thinking about.
☞ ASK: All what you have to do now is ask about your results. Ask God for guidance, your parents for their thoughts and concerns, people who are studying the majors you came up with or relate very closely to ones who do, and most importantly ask yourself...
Finally, I would just like to give you a few more tips that inshallah you'll find very helpful:
❀ Be confident about your choices and even stubborn sometimes! But don't let that stop you from listening to others and their thoughts and concerns.
❀ Always have a plan B, C, D even Z for you never know what might happen.
❀ Getting the highest percentage in school shouldn't be for showing off, nor should you be upset about not getting the percentage you wanted so badly. Focus on getting the percentage that will allow you to enter the major you want as well as the other ones in your backup plans, for when you enter university everyone - including yourself - would forget about percentages and focus on GPAs!
❀ Unless you are truly convinced of your decision, don't take a further step towards it. Yes, you can switch your major in university after you've started, but why should you waste money and at least a year of your life? ;)

Salam peeps! I'm back with another blogpost and today imma tell you guys about something I have been doing lately: decorating cakes and cookies!! I have actually taken a 'course' with my friend Dana where we decorated these yummy foods and it was so exciting! :3 As I 'learnt' the basics of decorating cakes, cupcakes, and cookies, I decided to share with you guys a few cake and cookie recipes along with their icing sugar, royal icing, and even sugar paste tips...

SO for this blogpost, imma share with you a cookie recipe and icing I have used, and share with you some pictures of what I have baked! :D

For the cookies, I used this video, which I found very simple and helpful:



One note though, is that I didn't have baking soda at home so I didn't add it to the dough, but still, it turned out to be fine and delicious :3

For the icing, I have two recipes, one for only drawing and marking the edges, and the other is for both drawing and filling in the drawn lines.

For the drawing icing, you need to add and mix by hand: one egg yolk, and two cups of sifted icing sugar added gradually (you can add more if you found the mixture to be soft and liquid-y :P), you can also add the color you like! It is important to note that this mixture dries rather quickly.

As for the filling icing, you will need: 4 tablespoons of icing sugar, 3 tablespoons of meringue powder, and 6 tablespoons of warm water (not hot, neither cold.. in between).
Sift the icing sugar and add the meringue powder then add the water.. Start by adding the water gradually for once it becomes loose, it's hard to thicken it back. Until here, you can use the mixture for drawing, so if you want a looser mixture to fill in the surface, add a little more water to the mixture!.. You can add the colors to any stage ^.^

Now that you've been given the recipes, it's time for you to show me what you've done! Tweet me pictures of your cookies and decorations to my account @AyaKholoki :D

As for me, this is what I have done with Dana, and alone:

These decorations were pretty basic as we were playing around, experimenting different design techniques and colors :3

Hope you like the recipes and my designs! Can't wait to see yours ;) Take care xx
Salam! x

Yup! A pineapple canvas DIY, that can be done as a decoration for your room or a gift to friend who loves pineapples.. Very simple, cute, and imaginative, and here are the steps you'll have to follow:

Find a picture of any pineapple and place as many copies as you want on the paper to help you place each pineapple correctly and accurately on the canvas. edit it, then print your paper once you are satisfied in grey scale, for you will be turning it into a template later on, and so no colors are needed.

Empty out the parts you want to fill with colors using scissors or an exacto knife then place your template on the canvas and secure it using tape like below

Choose the colors you want and get a sponge, and a toilet paper or a plate to squeeze some of the color out.. For this canvas, I used the colors above: red, orange, yellow, and blue for the pineapples, and green for the leaves.

Dip your sponge in your desired color and fill in the places you cut before.. You can play with the colors and textures as you can brush the color against the canvas to give it a smooth look, or you can gently tap your sponge against the canvas to create a rough look.

This is such a cute, fun, and easy DIY! If you liked it, please let me know, and if you created your own pineapple (or any other fruit) canvas, feel free to tweet me the pictures on @AyaKholoki :D I would love to hear your thoughts and comments and see your creations! ^.^

Good luck, and until next time, SALAM! <3

FINALLY! My fall semester has ended and I'm finally able to write and blog again, and it feels so good to be able to do so :') Inshallah i'll be able to upload a chapter of Backwards and a few other blogposts during this week off - yes, I only have a week off for I'm gonna start my winter semester next Sunday :( boohoohoo..

Anyway, here are a LOT of pictures of mine and my family's visit to Miracle Garden in Dubai. That place was amazing, but it was a bit upsetting that although it was filled with flowers, no beautiful scent could be smelt :( *sigh*
Nevertheless, here they are! Enjoy xx

hooray for the family shadow picture :P hehe

Hope ya like these pictures and i would REALLY recommend you to go there and see the beauty for yourself :')
Until the next blogpost, take care <3 Salam! xx