New breaks 🎊

Firstly congratulations to our athlete

WAYDE VAN NIEKERK

Not only did he get us a gold medal 🏅 but broke the world record in the 400m track event. It's moments like these that make me beam with pride as a South African. 

It's also even more special because he's from my favourite city AND we're the same 90's babies! So it seems as South Africa enters the history books, I shall enter into the blogging world with a new "identity".

And for some serious LOL moments watch the video below 📹 (you have to click on the link BELOW ⬇
Olympic moments - how you feel
……………………………

I know it's been a while but I've been contemplating changing my blog name to something more positive and still relates to me.

This task had a difficulty level of 10 🙈 (and I'm not being my drama queen self). That's because it involved tonnes of introspection and self evaluation. I've realised that I've never focused my energies on only one thing. I wasn't the loner nerd, nor was I superwoman on the sports field but I was the juggler "All Rounder".  I couldn't figure out something that I'd completely focus on nor could I find a word that could adequately describe me. Hence "Soda" the nickname that stuck and the 'easy' version of my name 😂.

Anyhoo welcome to the new site hope u like it!

Ps. Get my random bubbles and blurbs on instagram @soda_ontheblog

xxx
Saudaa 

I am...

I was going to start this off and say what I'm not, but I'd rather start off on a positive note of what I am...

I am intelligent,

I am smart,

I am funny,

I am kind,

I am loving, 

I am considerate,

I am driven,

I am religious,

I am emotionally balanced (at times),

I am brown,

Yes,

I am weird

I am IMperfect...

BUT

I am "ME"

I am a woman.

And I'm worth it. The time,  effort and affection, not only from others but from myself as well. 

Being the month that celebrates women ♀ as well as the month in which we voted to make a positive impact, I felt it apt that I talk about us women.

So often the value of being female is overlooked not only by males but by ourselves as well. 

I love the image that says, "Women who aim to be equal to men lack ambition, because they are already so much more than what men will ever be".

Focus on your strengths rather than weaknesses, but acknowledge them and work on it. I've always thought I'm only as strong as my biggest weakness. It's difficult to do introspection and find those weaknesses because you have to be completely honest with yourself. With me my biggest weakness is the "fear of failure". However I often use it as a powering tool that drives me to succeed. 

Think about your strengths and weaknesses and who knows you may find that misplaced screw that's hindering you from reaching your optimum performance.

Nobody is perfect to another person, but you should be perfect for yourself. Love yourself, celebrate yourself - I know it's easier said than done but just remember people may come and go, they may hate or love, but you're stuck with yourself so like my pj's say "Put on your big girl panties and deal with it!". 

Happy Women's Month my Lovelies!

Never feel alone in the jungle of life, there is always someone else in the same the same boat as you are.

And just so I can leave you with a promised smile

This picture is for you!

xxx

Saudaa 

Saying goodbye...

This is by far the most difficult piece of writing that I've had to put together.

"Ma's finished baby,

Ma is gone..."

These are the words that will echo for a long time to come.

This past week for the first time in many years I lost an immediate family member, someone who actually played a vital role in my life - my granny. One of the closest people to me, more a wise best friend rather than a "nani". That brings me to her reaction everytime someone referred to her as our "nani" she would say, "Who's a nani? I'm their ma". Her witty, humorous personality and her love for fashion is something that we connected on. She would match her outfit from head to toe, matching shades of the colours with the perfect shoes, handbag, scarf AND accessories to match.

Ma was my knight, the only real piece of armour that protected me from my mother. Her pep talks after my parents' lectures always involved a light hearted joke and an understanding that my mummy is a little 'nuts' at times.

My ma was our travel buddy she accompanied us on almost every single trip we made and was not the average "granny", she was  one of us, keeping up and alles. Seeing her sick for just over a month wasn't easy yet we all thought she would bounce back as she usually did. I guess now her suffering is over... Saying goodbye was tough, but all i can do is make sabr and dua (pray) for her to be granted jannah, smile and be happy as she always wished for me. insha-Allah Ameen...

I will miss hearing "yes, aunty Saudaa" to my 'aunty Fathi', the Half English/ Urdu jokes, the hugs, duas and so much more.

I will always miss you my "Thandroost chicken" (strong chicken).

Love you always.

xxx

Saudaa

Playtime, Yay time

Hello hello. 

Have you ever sat down and just become nostalgic or thought about the things you did as kid? I guess we all have and it's often the time I wish I could relive. The time of carefree, no responsibilities and friend-full playtime is something we all want. The past weekend we (my sister, mum and I) got a snippet again!  A surprise visit from an old neighbour who hadn't changed a bit! Except he grew up ofcourse 😅.

The Tales of our antics and his destructive tendancies brought the mini us alive! So out came the make-up and i had my "NO makeup" make look done by what seemed like a professional 🙌.

The make-up kit 

1 Cleansed with Mac wipes

2 Cream

3 Thin layer of Clarins Everlasting Foundation applied with a make up sponge

4 Highlighter - from The Body Shop 

applied on the T and cheek bones

5 Mac Studio Fix powder 

applied with a buff brush from The Body Shop (the silver case in the picture)

And what's a girl without two the essentials?

6 Softlips no.15 bronzing lip ice

7 One coat of mascara - Elizabeth Arden,

which was also used to brush up my eyebrows 

And Voila all done!

Yes an unprofessional male did my make up and I loved it! So who said "adults" can't have fun?! 

We just get to use the real stuff now, which makes it even better.

I hope you get to a moment to refresh your childhood memories. Remember you're only as YOUNG as you feel you are 

That's all for now 😘 

xxx

The UBG 

Saudaa 

Waiting and waaiting and waaaiting

Ever been extremely hungry and you anxiously await your food in the promised 15 - 20min?

Well so have I! 

Except I think I've been jinxed  to "wait forever!"

Being a Hangry (angry when hungry) type of person, it is probably the most annoying jinx to ever have.

Working up an appetite whilst shopping has been the norm and over the past few days I've been disappointed with every meal I've ordered. I am a fairly patient individual and respect the fact that good food takes time. However, telling a customer that their food will be ready in a certain amount of time and then taking 45 - 50 minutes to present the food, after being asked twice where the order was and have other people who ordered 25 minutes AFTER YOU given their food is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. If you think that's bad enough, my sister was served the incorrect dish! 

Then there are the excuses for delayed orders. Bear in mind that these places are take-out OR sit down restaurants.

• "The restaurant is really busy, sorry for the delay" - oh yes ofcourse! The three families of four are making it SO busy hey?!

• "So sorry Mam, they prepare the orders in number order" - Okay. Is that why 208 already had their order and we are order number 197? Riddle me that! Oh and how long does it take to make a burger?

• The other one is no excuse at all, just tell someone to bring my food when I stare down the cashier.

But the best one this week was from a manager.

Waiter: Sorry Mam,the kitchen messed up,  my manager found a problem.

Me: What was the problem? 

Manager: "Sorry Mam, yours was a big order so it got delayed". THREE FULL MEALS is LARGE order? So I'm meant to come eat by myself to get my food faster? Does my payment have no value? Is it just the number of meals I order? 

I had to practice such self-restraint not to be rude. But saying "innallaha ma'as sãbirûn" in my mind and my ever calmed father helped. 

The best place to order at is Burger King - The Zone in Rosebank. They are ever so efficient, during one of my visits as soon as I'd entered my pin for payment my order was ready!  BELIEVE IT.

Another of my favourite spots is Ninos at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. Friendly staff and beautifully relaxed atmosphere makes for a pleasant experience. 

There are others however these two places are the ones that stand out from the rest. May my jinx be over soon and hopefully just hopefully you don't experience the torture of "waiting, waaiting and waaaitng".

That's all for now 😘 

xxx

The UBG 

Saudaa

The Market Tales

Elooooo elooooo 🤗

I'm female as you all know... And one of the things we find most endearing is shopping! What makes it even better is when there's a sale or when we can get ourselves a good bargain 💱.

Being who I am, food plays an important role in my mood. Happy tummy = Happy Saudaa. Hence a combination of these two things and I'd be in a state of euphoria!

I was going to post on the Morning Trade Market but didn't get to fully experience it, so "Market Tales Part 2" shall follow soon enough 😊 for now its:

ROOFTOP NIGHT MARKET - MUSGRAVE

The first Friday evening of every month is where you can find the market in Musgrave Centre on the 4/5th level parking lot from ~17:30 - 20:00pm. This market has what others lack; a secure covered experience from rain and heavy wind (bonus points - you don't have an excuse not to get out of the house in bad weather) as well as secure parking 🅿 so can you can indulge with your mind being completely at ease!

My first trip to the market was with a good friend with whom I spent ~30 minutes in the parking lot trying to find a parking space, listening to what my friend called "Muslim-girl music" aka trance/ EDM kinda music😂.

Since my first visit I've overcome the parking battle and now have my "spot" - thank you for introducing me to this place!

 If you happen to visit the market you may come across a very happy Saudaa, this is because there's a huge variety of food AND the best part is, almost EVERYTHING IS HALAAL! 

I love trying new flavours and foods as well as the whole fancy serving of it. However, I find that many of the scrumptious looking restaurants aren't halaal leaving me without an opportunity to satiate my inner foodie.

So here at the Rooftop Market you can find clothing by local designers, thrift stalls, crafts including a beautiful African art collection and a little pet corner. It also boasts almost twenty food stalls ranging from wholesome foods to purely indulgent deserts. I can say with confidence that all of the stalls were created by cool people, my  reason?  The amazing use of puns in many of the stall names 😂.

These stalls are pop-ups thereby enhancing local SME's and entrepreneurs. Being opposed to brain-drain I fully support the saying "Local is Lekker" and this market allows me to follow through with that ideology.

Sketchy selfies

Although queues are long which lead to selfies (see above 😁), nonsensical comments, good company, AFFORDABLE great food and crafts compensate for it. Encounters range from the most random people of all ages to bumping into Mr India SA (yes, I'm a pageant girl) set against a backdrop of a buzz of all local artists showcasing their talent is an experience not to be missed.

If you're looking for a place to basically chill out at/ meet people/ support local businesses/ artists/ eat/ try something new or simply looking for a good experience in Durban other than the beach, be sure to visit next month (5 August)!

If you have been to the market share your experience with me in the the comments section below and if you see me there be sure to say Hi!

 That's all for now 😘

 xxx

 The UBG

 Saudaa

The Eid Effect

Peace be unto you all - in other words As-salaamualaikum ✌ 

A belated Eid Mubarak for all those that I didn't get to wish and thank you if you did wish me 😘

I'm sure everyone got to indulge and if you don't celebrate hopefully you had a good Muslim neighbour or friend that shared some goodies with you ➡ good company pays off😝

This year I fell into the category of "waiting for my phone to explode with messages" then put mendi/ henna before going to bed.😂 Eid was different this year, rather than it just being us at home it was a full house of family and it wasn't "Eid at the grannies".

⏰ My alarm on the morning of Eid was the sound of pots and pans klanking in the kitchen and mum's annoyed voice saying "Sa'ud wake up! Waaake up! You're going to miss Fajr" 🙈an atrocity not to be committed - losing the glow of the face on Eid, no thank you!! (It's because the morning prayer gives you "noor" (glow) on your face.) Morning prayer done - glow confirmed 🙌 then it was time to get cracking- shower clean up, help in the kitchen and ofcourse pack the plates of biscuits for the friends!

👗 Then it was time for the highlight and a sunnah on Eid: dressing up 🙌

I wore a Turkish style kaftan (that I'd been after for ages) from a store Saudi-Arabia - thanks to mum's recent Umrah trip, black Ajmaan inner (I absolutely love the fit of this inner), black pleather leggings from Winged Girl (CPT), my new favourite black Topshop stilettos, with finishing touches of a Hermes belt and a patent leather black bag from Jealousy (DBN) and a square scarf from ages ago!

 I usually wear my contact lenses on a dress-up day but I decided to play it cool and Wear my glasses 👓 I guess they are new and needed an introduction to the family 😂. 

Then there was the make-up I got to contour my sister's face, did mine and finished off with my second favourite lipstick which is from Avon! 

After dollin' up it was then time to head off to the new hotspot - my uncle's house, where everyone would be meeting for lunch. There's always one item missing and this year it was fire wood so off I went with the_eclectic_hijabi, cousin in-law and nephew to find some firewood. So there I was prancing around in circles to entertain the little-one in the shop with my amazing heels - so amazing that they deserved their own picture 😂

🍲 Back to the food The menu included soji 👌 ofcourse the grand "mutton breyani" drool because it was delish! Coming from me - a person who isn't a fan of such heavy foods you can believe it was divine🙌. 

There were other side dishes but the main attraction was my favourite - Pavlova 😍 since I was told my cousin from Cape Town would be down for Eid and making that for desert it was the only thing on my mind 😂 Only thing is EVERYONE wanted to try and having a big family wasn't cool for this moment because I couldn't indulge as much as I wanted to. I got restricted to only 1 piece if heaven 💔. 

Nevertheless lunch was a treat with the mini uncles and nephews and niece running around. Whilst we "in-betweeners" mingled with the adults laughing as we shared stories. I love the idea of large family gatherings you never feel alone. There's always that warm fuzzy feeling of belonging💗 if you haven't experienced it tell me and you can definitely come join me at our next big "thing" 😀.

On coming home, it was yummy food again soups, steaks and veggies! With visitors 😅 a change to the normal sense of serenity I usually experience at home, but a good supper time nevertheless!

Ofcourse to end my day there was a photo-shoot of selfies and "mum please take a picture of me" 😂

So my lovelies that was my eid! I hope you had an amazing day as I did. No need to feel underachieved on Eid 😊 

Please feel free to share your Eid tales with me or to take me up on the offer if joining me!

That's it for now 😘 

xxx 

The UBG 

Saudaa