Book Love

Assalaam Alakium ladies!

Good morning! I got sucked into The Hunger Games last night and stayed awake until I was finished with the book. Needless to say, I didn't get up again this morning to workout. I guess that means I'm going to have to workout when I get home tonight. I hate working out at night, I'm way more into the morning thing. 

This morning I'm at Barnes and Noble, yes, again. I enjoy the atmosphere here. It's so quiet and helps me be more productive. When I walked into the store today I immediately grabbed the second book of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire. I haven't been into a book this much for a long time, it's exciting to take your mind somewhere else for awhile. 

I also have a sense of guilt because I know I've been spending way too much time reading The Hunger Games while I could have been reading the Qur'an or some other Islamic book. I try to make time to read the Qur'an everyday, but I have to admit some days it just doesn't happen. I have an app on my phone with the Qur'an and that helps a lot. I feel better having the Qur'an at my finger tips but without having to carry the actual book around. I get nervous when I carry the Qur'an around in book form. I'm always scared I'm going to get it dirty or drop it on the ground so having it on my phone helps. 

I've been meaning to tell you all about a book I came across at the Islamic bookstore this past weekend. It is called The Metamorphosis of a Muslim! Can you believe it, that is my little slogan for this blog. I was thrilled when I seen it. It's a book on a converts story to Islam and was around $10 at my Islamic bookstore. The book is probably around 100 or so pages so should be a quick read. InshAllah I plan on picking it up next time I'm there. 

Look at this awesome bookshelf!

As you can probably tell, I love books. I try to prevent myself from going crazy and buying a bunch of books at one time so I get a chance to read each one, but sometimes it's just so hard. Also, having an actual hard copy of the book on a shelf seems more "real" to me than having it in Kindle form on my phone. Don't get me wrong, having it on my phone is super convenient but I love being able to look at a shelf of books and find something that is right for me. 

Have any of you read The Hunger Games? If so, what did you think of it?

What books would you recommend, Islamic or not?

Articles of Interest:

http://johnshore.com/2010/08/18/evangelicals-and-muslims-both-love-jesus/

http://theletteredwayfarer.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/why-i-love-the-prophet-muhammad-so-much/

Enjoy your day!

Wasalaam,

~Hijabi Butterfly~

Routine

Assalaam Alakium ladies!

Good morning! How's your morning been? It's just another Tuesday over here. The Writer and I were slow getting out of bed so no after fajr workout for us. Instead, I got up and made him breakfast, dropped him off at work then went to go workout. 

When I pulled into the parking lot of the gym I noticed it was packed full of people! The gym I go to is never like that and I have to admit that for a second I thought about just turning around and going home. I have no idea why that thought crossed my mind maybe I just wanted to give myself an excuse not to workout. I went in anyway and completed 45 minutes on this cross trainer type of machine. It's awesome because it's kind of a like an elliptical but the arm handles don't move leaving me with a perfect chance to read The Hunger Games. Can you tell I like love this book! I'm about 3/4 of the way through it and can't wait for the movie to come out later next month. Watching the trailer totally pumped me up!

As for the rest of my day it's going to be pretty routine. Nothing exciting over here. The Writer and I live by routine. We like to come home from work at night, eat dinner, talk and lounge around until bedtime. Weekends are spent catching up on sleep, reading and family time. I thrive on routine. When something is thrown out of whack in our schedule it's hard for me to overcome. I often get upset when something pops up out of the blue changing my day around. Structure is my middle name. I know this is something I need to work on and become more flexible especially if we ever have kids inshAllah. 

As for now though, I'll try to be less annoyed when the little things change and thank Allah for everything He has given me. I really have nothing to complain about and when I do, I need to "gut punch" myself and think of all of those people out there who don't have what I have.

A man plans his course, but Allah (swt) guides his steps.


Below is a great video on avoiding extravagance and living simply. Please share any thoughts you have on the video in the comments below.

I'll see you later with another post inshAllah!

Wasalaam,

~Hijabi Butterfly~

Workout Distractions

Assalaam Alakium and good afternoon!

InshAllah my last post didn't scare some of you off. I just wanted to share my experience with death and remind us all that our time is near. On to a brighter subject. =)

Let's talk exercise! Last night, I intended on staying up after fajr to workout. No such luck though. Since I had a hard time falling asleep last night I was too tired to get up. Even so, I still worked out. I dropped the Writer off at work and went straight to the gym! I was only there for 45 minutes but I feel amazing! 

At times, I can get bored while working out, especially if I'm on the elliptical or something similar. I need to keep my mind occupied or I'll dread the entire workout. Today, I read The Hunger Games and my workout flew by! I looked down at the machine the first time and realized I had been on for 20 minutes! It felt like five minutes. I think I've found my new workout distraction since I'm trying to break the habit of listening to music. 

After working out, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few random things. I came home and made myself a  smoothie with my new blender. 

I've used it twice now and I have to say, for $15 it's great. It crushes ice and frozen fruit really well. For this mornings smoothie I used:

• 3/4 cup unsweetended Almond Milk
• 2 Scoops of protein powder
• 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed
• 1 cup of frozen blueberries, blackberries and strawberries

If you're into smoothies try this one out. The one above was 280 calories and had 14 grams of protein! Awesome! I need to start prepping the meatloaf for tonight's dinner. I'm trying out a new recipe for Mediterranean meatloaf, it has a ton of veggies in it! I'll let you know how it turns out. =)

Have a great rest of the day!

Wasalaam,

~Hijabi Butterfly~