And you only thought it was soda.

I don't know if you are like me but I like to search random things on the internet {sue me, okay :)} and what I fell on this morning, you would not believe. Get this, crazy random uses you can have for................ COCA COLA! Yes, my friends, I am not kidding you, there are so many crazy things you can do with Coca Cola. Now, I am a huge fan of Coke; I know soda is not very healthy but it's a thing I can't shake. I think it's embedded in my DNA, no joke.

In my home country {Djibouti, for all of you that are new to my blog. It's a small country in East Africa}, we have different tribes and one tribe in particular are called the Afars. They are known to love Coke; they drink it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I think I might have some Afar blood in me because I crave Coke all day every day but I don't drink it that often; I'll buy a 2L bottle once or twice a month. Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah, the many uses you can have for Coke. This is where I get all wikipedia on you guys and tell a little bit about the origins of Coca Cola. It's been rumored to be green at the beginning but no proof of that yet. Apparently, Coca Cola was originally made of coca leaves {the plant of cocaine} and cola nuts that grow in Africa; so yes at first, you could find 60mg of cocaine in each serving. It also contained alcohol and it was used for medecinal uses. But eventually, they took out the cocaine and the alcohol because it gave people headaches.

Did you know?

* That Coke can relieve a jelly bean sting. All you have to do is pour the soda over the sting.

* That if you have the hiccups, you can gargle a bit of Coke and your hiccups are gone.

* That if your baby has the colic, let the warm Coke go flat, pour in the baby's bottle and give it to him. It makes the tears and the colic go away.

* That to clean your burnt pots and pans effortlessly, you can boil some Coke in it.

* That you can antique your photos; take a photo you'd like to antique {make sure you have a second copy in case that you're like me, and you'll mess up} and soak it in Coca Cola. Use a small pan and pour in about 1/2 inch of Coca Cola. Then put in the photo until it's covered with the cola. Just soak for a few minutes until you get the color that you want. Gently lift out the photo {careful not to touch the front with your fingers}. Then gently pat dry with a soft lintless material. Or, drip dry. Then finish drying with a hair dryer.

* If you have a too-dark dye job, you can fade out the color. Just take DIET coke and pour it on your hair; it should remove the dye considerably.


I have also heard that you can tan with it, get soft, silky hair, remove gum from hair and also get smooth skin. Who knew good ol' Coke could do this ? I sure didn't. Did you?

Get ready....this might just be a jam packed post.

Oh My God! It has been a week since I haven't blogged! Did you guys miss me? :) I cannot wait to start reading all of your blogs again and commenting; it feels like I haven't blogged for months. Seriously this is getting HIGHLY addictive!

First things first, if you have been reading my blog for a while now, you know how much I was trying to find a really great design that I love for my blog layout for a while now; something that is aesthetically pleasing but that can also just inspire me as soon as I open it. I have struggled for the past 24 hours trying to perfect it and I don't wanna cry "VICTORY" just YET but I think this might be IT. I feel definitely inspired when I log so I think "Mission Accomplished." What do you guys think? Do you like it? Any suggestions will be definitely welcome.

Second, I had a tiny little move. Tiny, tiny, tiny like "changing floors"- tiny and it's definitely weird getting used to new surroundings but I have a little more space now so it's okay. Also, did you know that I was gangster? Do you know why? Because I'm doing Leigh's "Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays" on a Thursday. Say what????? Well, I had so moving stuff to do yesterday and since I didn't sleep for nearly 30 hours, I just plomped down last night and I really didn't want to miss this week's questions since I missed last week's. Get it ?

{one} if you could rid the world of one thing, what would it be?Racism. A person is never defined by the color of his/her skin.
{two} if you could go on vacation for the next month with an unlimited budget, where would you go?Thailand; did I ever mention how obssessed I am with Thailand? I saw a documentary on it about 3 months ago and I just fell in lurrrvvvv.
{three} cats or dogs?I'm kinda afraid of dogs {Don't laugh please.....}; the only dog I could ever handle being near is my friend Marissa's dog Princess. And I'm kinda allergic to cats; I get red-eyed and my skin start to itch.
{four} would you rather date a lot of people or be in a committed relationship?I think I have never dated around. I have always been either single or in a serious relationship; I don't know if this qualifies as weird but all of my relationships have turned into a long-distance relationships because my butt just can't sit still. Except my current relationship with Mr. Shy.
{five} would you rather own a luxury yacht or a private jet?I have never been on a boat, not even a canoe so I don't know if I'd ever get sea-sick so by elimination process, I'd say private jet.
{six} what was the last book you read?i am STILL reading "The Other Boleyn Girl". As much as I try to finish this book, my mind just can't get it; it's been 3 weeks.
{seven} would you rather be really hot or really cold?I would rather be cold than hot; as I've previously mentionned I hate the sun, its rays and its warmth hotness. I can deal with low 20°C/80°F but as soon as it starts rising above that, I get cranky, I lose my patience and it ain't pretty.
{eight} if you could change your name, what would you change it to?Regina Philangie {Friends reference}. Since the host of this quiz stole already gave my preferred answer which was Princess Consuela BananaHammock and I don't want her to ban me from ever playing her game again not like me, so I chose another one. On the real side, I have always loved the name Abyan which is basically my name "Ayan" with a B in it. I fell in love with that name as soon as I heard that my mother had intentionnally meant to name me like that but since my grandma was adamant on naming me Ayan, my mother obliged. Abyan means complete in Arabic and Ayan means fortunate in Somalian and God's Gift in Arabic. I don't think I have gotten the short end of the stick, now have I? Sorry for the ramble.
{nine} what did you dream about last night?I, sometimes, have what some people might call "action movie dreams"; I dreamt that I was a secret canadian agent being chased by a hord of chinese secret agents because I had the key to the code that would lead China to take over Tibet and I wanted them to be free or something along those lines.
{ten} if you had to throw away either your tv or your computer, which would you throw away?Well, I had that dilemma happen to me last night since my TV decided not to work except for TWO channels. So me and the TV are on outs as of last night so maybe I'd throw it away in a moment of anger.

I'll post more later on. Time to go eat now!

Wordless Wednesdays.

{All pictures from Just Be Splendid, Chasing Pavements, and Audrey Hepburn Complex.}

Oh and I'm also participating in Take it From Me's Welcome Wednesdays. If you wish to blog hop along, feel free to check it out.

Embarrassment 101

A reader of mine sent me a question here asking me about my most embarrassing moments or at least to blog about one. I thought about not even doing this because "why would I just relive basically the worst moments of my life over again and then probably have other people laugh at my expense?" but then again, if I can't laugh at myself, how much fun can I be? So here I am, sharing one of the worst moments of my life. Although it had been mortifying, that night ended up teaching me something I didn't know about myself: I'm pretty ballsy.

I must admit that I am a walking, talking, breathing, living KLUTZ. If I don't go knocking over a chair, stumping my toes on the door or breaking a plate for at least one day, then I better just play the lottery because I am on a roll. I must also specify that I, in no way, shape, or form, actually had anything to do with this; it was all Mother Nature's fault.

Tis was the night of prom. I had actually looked like a girl; I wore this gold floor length grecian gown with a small train, accented with Swarowski-encrusted butterfly clips on the straps, a swooping cowneck-like backline, and gold crystal-encrusted strappy heels. I had my mother's wedding pearl and gold tiara that she wore when she first married my father and a vintage gold clutch. Not to toot my own horn, but TOOT TOOT! Some might have said that I looked FYYYYYNNNNNNNNE but you know, I did.

I was sitting at my table surrounded by my friends and we were the last table on the left side, nearing the buffet. In order to get out of the ballroom, you had to pass by seven other tables which included all the jocks and the pretty boys, their girlfriends and the TEACHERS, cross the ballroom, climb a few stairs and out of the door, you were. I do have a pretty small bladder and while waiting for the evening's festivities to start, I had felt the urge to pee. As I got up to go to the ladies's room and started walking away from my table, I hear my best friend, frantically getting up and walking right behind me; like RIGHT BEHIND ME! She couldn't have been any closer even if she tried. I didn't pay any attention until I noticed five other friends of mine, basically circling me. I prompted to ask what was going on and they just said to keep walking. I reached the bathroom only to notice THE BIGGEST STAIN on my dress. Yup, Aunt Flow came to town at my prom.

To say that at least half of my class and my teachers saw that would be an understatement. I think I had the biggest meltdown of my life; I cried half of my makeup off, trying to figure out what to do. Thankfully, a friend of mine had a spare tampon and another one knew that Club Soda or sparkling water, fizzy water, carbonated water if you prefer takes out colored stains. She rushed to the barman to get some and we were able to get off the stain. I sat for 15 minutes under the hotel's hand dryer and I had managed to pull myself together, emotionally and physically.

As I walking towards the ballroom, my friends kept asking me if I was "really" going back in there knowing pratically everyone knew what happened to me, by now. I kept thinking "I did not pay nearly 400 bucks for a dress I'll probably only wear once, spend an entire day on my hair, make up, fake nails and the whole shabang, spend money a limo and spend 100 bucks for a prom ticket, all for a prom I'm never going to get to enjoy. FUCK THAT! I'm going in there like I own the place; like none of this even phased me and I'm going to have the time of my life and live it up because this only happens once in your lifetime." And that, I did friends. And that I did.

I went in the ballroom, smiled at everyone and proceeded to make my way to my stained chair. I asked one of the waiters for a new chair and offered to clean my mess; they told me it was all good and I enjoyed my night. I don't have many memories from that night except the ones I remember capturing with my throw-away camera but I remember how much fun I had, looking back at pictures.

If I had opted to go home after said-incident I might have missed out on all of those great moments that I could proudly look back on now, sit with my friends and just say, "I had so much fun! Oh my god, look at us! We were so young! I don't know if you remember, so and so was sooooo looking at you when you were on the dancefloor. Do you remember her giving you the dirty look because you had accidentally stepped on her dress?" and other moments like that.

I learned that I'm comfortable enough in my own skin to just overcome most situations, and I did it in such a fierce manner. I'm fierce and ballsy! Anything like that ever happened to you? How did you react?

P.S: Would you like to hear some more embarrassing stories? Please leave your comments if you do. Happy Hump Day! xo

Day 5: Letters to your dreams

Just like Tasha, I don't have a sibling so Day 4 of the Letter challenge will be skipped.

{Part of the 30-day Challenge}

Dear dreams,

I am not talking to those of you I have whenever I'm asleep and that I practically don't remember, LIKE EVER; by the way what is up with that? You need to stay fresh in my memory because I am kind of getting tired from these deja vus; you know just FYI.

No, I am talking to you; the dreams I hold deep inside, the ones I don't mention out loud because I'm so scared that they won't come true. The ones I daydream about daily and the ones who give me faith that everything WILL be all right.

You know what I really want from you; I want the simplest things but sometimes, obtaining the most simple things are the hardest task. I want to find myself; find out who I really am deep down. I want to experience mind-blowing love; the kind of love that sets your skin on fire and turns your insides all gushy. I want a husband, kids, a quaint home in the suburbs with a white picket fence; I want to be able to love freely and be able to just be me. I want happiness and love for all my friends and family.

Some things can't be just realised by just wishing hard for them; things like world peace, no hunger, no diseases and equality for all but I hope that if we can keep on dreaming about it, it will lead us towards a greater path. A path that will eventually make all of these dreams come true. I would actually love it if all of you could become my realities and I'm seriously hoping you will.

But I know that things don't fall into your lap as an apple falling from a tree; it takes hard work and dedication and God knows I'm well and willing; if you could please, just do me one tiny favor? Please stop running so fast and let me catch up! Okay, thanks :)

xx Daydreamer

Obsession: Whimsy Beds

To think that I'm 13 posts away from my 100th post makes me all giddy. This blogging thing has really helped me and I've met so many cool, people along the way and I'm just grateful for everything that's happened so far.

Did you know that I have this obsession with beds lately and I've been literally scouring magazines online, photography sites and everything in between. I've been dreaming about my "dream" bed and I'm absolutely in love with these. Which ones are your favorite?

Oh my! I'm so in love! Aren't you?

All pictures:via

Top 10 Romantic Movies.

I was surfing the good ol' web a few days ago when I fell on a random email on the top 10 romantic movies of the past decade. I found myself disagreeing to a few of them. That's when I decided to give you guys my top 10 romantic movies of the past decade or so ; now some of you might not agree. Please leave in the comments your top 10. Enjoy.

10. How to Lose a guy in 10 days (2003).

I mean come on, Matthew McConaughey is just simply scrumptious in this movie; he has that wicked smirk we all know and love.

9. Just like Heaven (2005)

I first read the book in french; it's called Et si c'était vrai by Marc Lévy in my last year of high school in french class and I remember how touching the story was. Although the movie didn't do the book justice, it is still a beautiful story about a couple who fall in love despite the fact that the heroine isn't even alive.

8. Brokeback Moutain (2005)

Some people will focus solely on the fact that this movie is about two guys falling in love; but it's deeper than that, much deeper. I remember sitting in the movie theater with my best friend Karine, both of us crying our eyes out. No wonder this movie snatched 3 academy awards.

7. a tie between You've got mail(1998) and Pretty Woman (1990)

Between Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks who despise each other in real life while being completely in love online and Richard Gere falling in love with a Julia Roberts, who portrays a hooker while having the capacity to kill someone with her amazing smile, my heart just cannot decide.

6. 50 first dates (2004)

I do love The wedding Singer with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, their first movie together, but I love how even she loses her memory every single morning in 50 first dates, he still sticks around every morning reminding her he loves her.

5. Casablanca (1942)

Oh how my heart jumps everytime I hear the word Casablanca. It's been more than 60 years since this movie came out and it holds a dear place in my heart. It's a beautiful story of love and virtue when a man must decide between the love of his life or his destiny to save his country.

4. P.S I love you (2007)

I first fell in love with the novel; a woman (Hilary Swank) receives letters from her dead husband to help her cope with her mourning. And it seriously didn't hurt that the lead male was played by Gerard Butler.

3. A walk to remember (2002)

Mandy Moore is amazing as a fragile yet strong girl who is sick and has the most-coveted boy of her high school fall in love with her. The saying "don't judge a book by its cover" comes straight to mind.

2. Titanic (1997)

Jack, Rose, what more can I say? Celine Dion's "My heart will go on" says more than enough.

1. The notebook (2004)

For a long time Titanic held the number 1 spot in my list until this masterpiece came out. A wretched love story between a couple from different social classes; just to show you that love knows no boundaries.

What are your favorite romantic movies?

Tag!

Oh how I live for tags. But tags are so easy to do and fun to read; you get to know someone through various miscellaneous questions. So I tag everyone who reads this.

1. The strangest thing I've ever eaten was Raisins; I know people often eat raisins

but I cannot help but feel like I'd be eating old wrinkly people when I think about eating raisins. RANDOM!

2. My best friends are Crazy!!!! And funny! And truly random!!! Oh I just love them!

3. If I could live in a different era it would be the victorian era because of the fashion.

4. If you should only know one thing about me it should be that I love my friends and family more than life itself.

5. My favorite book of all time is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

6. The one beauty product I cannot live without is lip gloss.

7. Blogging is a new part of my life; a wonderful way to fully express all the thoughts cramped up in my little head.

8. If I could star in a movie with one actor/actress, it would be Jennifer Anniston; I simply love her to bits.

9. One of the best feelings in the world is knowing I made a difference, however minor it can be.

10. My current obsession is chinese food. My mouth just started watering at the thought of it.

11. What's for dinner tonight ? Penne pasta with sweet peas and bolognaise sauce.

12. The last thing I bought was Cosmopolitan Magazine.

13. I am currently listening to Like a prayer- Glee Cast Version- The power of Madonna.

14. If I could have a home, totally paid for, totally furnished anywhere in the world, it would be in New York City.

15. The one thing I would change about myself is my stubborness.

16. If you could go anywhere in the world in the next hour, where would you go? Tahiti. I need some sun and beach.

17. The languages I would love to learn are Korean and Swahili.

18. My favorite quote is:

"Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,

that I shall say good night till it be morrow."

Romeo and Juliet- Shakespeare.

19. I am most afraid of regrets. oh and snakes. and heights. and small spaces. and amphibians.

20. My favorite colour is All the many, pretty shades of purple.

21. My dream job is anything that allows me to be able to write.

22. The one thing that brings a smile to my face instantaneously is My friends and I watching FRIENDS.

23. The one word I use a lot is, well it's more of a sentence but it's "Excuse you?"

24. When I'm feeling blue I eat chocolate, curl up and listen to music, cry my eyes out in order to get everything out, get up, put music on and start to write.

25. What inspires me is nature, sunsets, moonlight, people, friends, music, books, family, tv, relationships; everything inspires me in one way or another.

26. My favorite season is, well it's a tie between fall and winter. I love when the leaves change colours during the fall and how beautiful is any scenery with bright orange leafed trees and fallen leaves on the ground. I also love the first fall of the snow during the winter and the winter snowstorms.

27. My favorite dessert has to be any kind of cheesecake; I die for that stuff.

28. How many tabs are open on your browser right now? 9; haha, you can tell I'm a multi-tasker.

29. What was the first thought that crossed your mind this morning when you looked in the mirror? Whoa, I need more sleep.

30. The best piece of advice I was ever given was " If you do not question everything, you will fall for everything."

31. If I had a millions dollars to give to one charity, I would give it to a charity who would offer the people who live in the slums a decent, proper neighborhood.

32. If at first you don't succeed, quit whining and try again.