Concert and Anniversary

We have an apartment that is being built and hopefully it will be ready this time next year. We passed by this past week and saw the progress. I think it is going to be very nice. And the view from there is gorgeous!

 

 

 

We also went to the movies this past weekend. It was fun and we had popcorn, my favorite! We got half salty and half sweet. Yummy!

 

This past Friday I had the privilege of attending a concert for my niece and nephew’s choir. They did a great job and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening! This group is very talented!

 

Later during the weekend we went walking by the sea and saw the sunset. It was so beautiful and peaceful, even if it was still a bit warm even at that time of the evening.

 

 

On Sunday, we celebrated a year since we got engaged. A lot has happened in that year. We are so happy to be married and able to be together all the time instead of on different sides of the world. We celebrated by relaxing at the beach. 🙂 It was a great day!

 

 

And I would say this was the perfect end to a day in the sun. 😉

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Speeches and Cocktails

This week my niece graduated from high school. I usually don’t enjoy graduation ceremonies but I knew I wouldn’t miss this one because she was giving one of the graduating student speeches. However, not only did I enjoy the whole program but I left encouraged and inspired. My niece’s speech was amazing! She is a gifted writer and her delivery was very personable.

 

After her speech we heard from the principal of the school who gave a very inspiring speech to the Class of 2013 and he was followed by the UK Ambassador to Lebanon. The Ambassador’s speech was very interesting and he is a very big supporter of Lebanon and was very encouraging and quite humorous in his delivery. He even quoted my niece! All in all it was a great night. 🙂

 

The other night I had the best cocktail since coming to Lebanon. Well ok, it was only my second cocktail since coming here, but it was SO good. It had lots of pieces of fruit in it, juice and then on the top were almonds, cream, pineapple, mango, cherries, and avocado. Yummy! So refreshing and amazing!

 

So, it may seem that all I do here is eat and cook, cook and eat. Well, that may be true….Last night we went to a great sandwich place and had the biggest sandwich I have ever had! It was so good and we were so hungry. I ate the whole thing! Wow, was I full! Needless to say, I really like the food here. 🙂

 

 

Weekend fun

This weekend we had a full schedule. We drove to Ain Dara on Saturday afternoon in time for a wedding of a friend of my husband. The wedding was beautiful and I was excited to attend as this was just my second wedding in Lebanon. I was asked to sing at the reception and I was honored to do so. The evening was filled with food and music which made for a great night. I am not very good at taking pictures with people in them but I heard my mom’s voice in my ear saying “take more pics” so I asked my sister-in-law to take this one since we did dress up for the occasion. 🙂

We spent the night in Ain Dara and spent time with my in-laws. It was good to visit with them. I am motivated to learn Arabic every time I am with them as it’s hard not to be able to talk directly to them. They are so sweet and a great example to us.

On Sunday, we went to church and then had lunch and left later that afternoon to head back towards home to attend my niece’s ballet recital. The venue was beautiful and she did a wonderful job! I was so proud. 🙂

She’s so beautiful and is a natural ballerina.

All in all, it was a great weekend and now we are starting a new week with new possibilities for adventure. Who knows what it will hold!

Q&A – As I mentioned in my last post, I am trying to make this blog more interactive. Someone asked me last week what was in a typical Lebanese sandwich. I mentioned on here before about an amazing sandwich I love to get when we go to Ain Dara. There are many other places to get a sandwich like this but I think this place, so far, is the best. There are many different kinds of sandwiches in Lebanon but my personal favorite is Taouk which is pieces of chicken wrapped in pita bread and toasted, then you add pickles, french fries, garlic sauce and usually a little mayo. It is so amazing! You can eat it in a wrap or they will put everything individually on a plate as well. So yummy!

Happy 4th and a Baby Shower!

Happy 4th everyone! I hope that you all enjoyed a wonderful day yesterday celebrating America with family and friends. I was celebrating from Lebanon at a baby shower for my sister-in-law. She is so cute and excitedly anticipating the arrival of her baby girl. We had a wonderful time preparing for the shower and then enjoyed fellowship with family and friends.

 

These flowers I found out how to make on Pinterest. They were our decor outside in the garden. 🙂

These cupcakes were in progress. Chocolate with strawberry icing. Yum!

 

My sister-in-law made a delicious, refreshing labneh cake. Isn’t it beautiful? Labneh is dried yogurt and this cake is layers of bread, yogurt, cucumbers, zatar and maybe a few other things. I hope to have the recipe and make one myself soon. 🙂

 

All the ladies seemed to enjoy the baby shower. We ate, played games, laughed and ate some more. 😉 The makings of a wonderful party!

Thank you to those who sent me questions to answer. I thought it would be fun to be more interactive.

Stay tuned for the answers! 🙂