As Jane Eyre says, Reader, I married him. Or should I say, I married them? After all, we are three — I, my husband, and our daughter, little Lemon. There is much to write about our marriage, our new home, the life we are settling into together. I will get to all that in due […]

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Re-upholstered dining chairs at the PirateHouse, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.
- from “Prayer,” by Carol Ann Duffy
In mid-July, home for the weekend at my parents’, […]

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Table for two at the teahouse in Cordoba, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz
Today is my 30th birthday. On this wonderfully sunny day that I’m enveloped in gratitude for the life I live, I’m most grateful for those who most helped shape me into the woman I am today — my parents. As I celebrate my birth […]

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A vespa the color of tangerines; Madrid, Spain, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
[I am slowly returning to writing again, and for that I have to blame J — who has somehow harassed me into agreeing to post snippets for the “3 Beautiful Things Thursday” category over at HijabMan.com — as well as everyone else who has […]

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Spoonful of Suga, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
Sorry for the radio silence at this end, buddy boys. The Grand Move of 2009 occurred last month, and the familia and I are still settling in - not to mention still busy clearing remnants of the last decade out of Casa420. Who knew that, once we relaxed our […]

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The better to stab you with, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
My colleague ducks his head through the doorway this evening on his way out of work and calls out, “Bye, Jasmin!”
“You call me that again, and we are not going to be friends anymore,” I mutter sourly, without turning my eyes away from […]

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Public library, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
It’s afternoon, and I’m sitting inside a coffeeshop, right beside the large window overlooking the street. I’ve been here for hours, watching the way the light shifts and feeling the sunshine and shadows spill across my table.
The two men sitting right outside my window seem to know nearly every […]

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I want a vespa the color of tangerines, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
Missed you much, Blogistan. Going through my Drafts folder now, and finishing up old, half-written posts I had never got around to publishing. Here’s one from last month; excuse the slightly disjointed nature of it. More are coming. I promise.
[+]
13 April 2008
We returned from […]

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From Pearls Before Swine
I’m in the midst of making lists and running errands, and my brother just sent me a text-message:
Keep the twenty dollars, I’m taking your sunglasses. :) muahaha!
He’s referring to the orange-brown aviator sunglasses that the Lovely L Lady convinced to buy (for eight dollars, for the record) from an accessories stand on […]

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Originally uploaded by yaznotjaz
This is just a public service announcement/placeholder post to let you know I’m here! and alive! And I have bajillions of stories to share with you all, but not nearly enough time to type them out. So, give me a few days. Also, I’m sorry for being such a bastid about never […]

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Pencils so pretty, it makes you want to eat them, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
My (3 or more) Beautiful Things posts always contain snippets from a single given day of the week, but, in this case, I haven’t written in a while, so the following is a compilation of things from the past couple of weeks:
one. […]

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Originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
Cross-posted from flickr, because I CAN. And also because I doubt the Blogistanis check out my flickr photos, except for those I post right here on the weblog. Lazy kids.
The following email came straight to my inbox this afternoon:
Everett High SchoolMessage sent - 1/18/2007Attendance Message
Hello, this is EVERETT HIGH SCHOOL calling […]

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Chukairiyaan, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
1. Waking up at 8am, realizing it’s a Saturday, and burrowing back under the warm covers to sleep in until 10:30. Washing my face, and then promptly sitting down at the computer. I check emails and weblogs while my mother pulls up a chair beside me and flips through catalogues and […]

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In case we didn’t already think Z is a cool dude, I am indebted to him for reminding me about what a wonderful weekend I had recently. When he asked me the other day, “What was the last fun thing you did?” my immediate response was, “Saturday, sitting outdoors for most of the day with […]

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I watched Walk the Line with the parents a couple of evenings ago, and now my dad thinks it’s the most amusing thing in the world to wander around the house and repeatedly mutter in a deep, distinctive voice, “HELLO, I’M JOHNNY CASH.”
Worse yet, he’s been blessed with a daughter (that would be I) who […]

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