Geraldton Trip Day 1 and 2

Last weekend, some friends and I went on a road trip to Geraldton and places nearby. I was very excited to go to the beach (can you believe I haven't been swimming in two years? as a Maldivian, that feels criminal tbh) and to see the sights. We went to a few small trails and saw stunning views (i'm still getting used to hills and rivers) and lots of native wildlife (mostly plants and a few kangaroos!). 

Cervantes

It was a four hour drive from our Perth home to Geraldton, so we had a stopover in Cervantes for a light lunch and I love the strip of beach and how much of a beach town it was. Truly it was giivng Hometown Cha Cha Cha vibes with all the blues. 

The Leaning Tree

On the way from Cervantes to Geraldton lies the Leaning Trees of Greenough the main of which is a native eucalyptus (Wirnda Ngadara in Wajarri) that leans due to the strong south winds. It was truly beathtaking to see it, especially as we were nearing the sunset and the warm glow of the setting sun brought a feeling of true contentment watching the marvel of nature. and years of history unfold right in front of our eyes. There is a poem by Nola Gregory, a Gija/Bardi poet written in 2014 that accompanies the sign near the tree that really reosnated with me, written down here. 

I am Wirnda Ngadara

The leaning tree

I have grown this way

From too much breeze

My twisted trunk

Bowed down to search

And pay respect

To my Mother Earth

Stand here awhile

And look at me

I am Wirnda Ngadara

The leaning tree

Kalbarri National Park

We spent the next day driving another two hours to Kalbarri National Park which is absolutely massive. The Murchison River is stunning and despite the heat (and my shoes breaking down, thus having to duct tape my foot to the shoe), we managed to walk the small Ross Graham trail (named after the first headmaster of the Kalbarri primary school) and see the beautiful sights of the river which was a little dry this season but the teal color absolutely magnificent among the greens and red browns of the trees and rocky plateus surrounding it. The way the Nhanta people lived in the vast area is truly inspiring. 

Kalbarri Skywalk

We also went to the skywalk which gives the most spectacular views of the river and surrounds that seems to go on forever. As someone who's only seen the sea every horizon, it felt so surreal to see just rocks and trees for as far as the eyes can see, it makes you truly feel so insignificant. 

Nature's Window

Next, we took another trail to see Nature's Window, a rock formation where you can see the river gorge down below, which is stunning. The formation of the gorge and surrounds millions of years ago will make you feel a kind of existential calm and revel in just how marvelous Allah's creations are. The walk uphill is a little hard (espcailly for someone like me who truly despises any outdoor activity) but well worth the views (tho I will still complain the entire time haha) despite the blazing midday sun. 

Island Rock Lookout

On the way back, we stopped by the Island Rock lookout, another great marvel where the ocean meets the hilly shores of Nhanta land. I always love seeing the ocean and it's spectacularly juxtraposited to see the same ocean that lands on the beachy white sands of my home also reaches the hilly rocky lands of where I call home now. The tales these waves can tell. 

Castle Cove

We also stopped by the Castle Cove to see the natural bridge formation and see the ocean yet again. I love how the lookouts are made safe and easy for people to come by and easily acessible. The views are beautiful beyond words. We also saw a kangaroo in the surrounds and lots of birds around. 

Hutt Lagoon

Before coming home, our last stop of the day was the infamous Hutt Lagoon also known as the pink lake which gets it name from the high levels of salinity that turns the water into a shade of pink/lilac. We went by close to sunset and it was definitely more pink than blue/green but the camera (by then my camera had died so I was on my phone) doesn't do much justice to how pink it really is. 

By the end of the day, we managed to come home just after sunset and basically just crash! I had to do a quick run to kmart to get new shoes as my feet was duct taped to whatever was remaining of my old running shoes!

Monday Playlist - What I've been listening to this month

 As this month comes to an end, I wanted to share my playlist that's keeping me afloat all month. Some of them are brought over from last month while other I got obsessed with just this month. 

• Fictional by Kate Ross - I heard this first on booktok and immediately loved it. How do I not love a song about fictional characters, for so long I also thought I would only love a fictional characters, and I've been happy to be proven wrong. 
• You're Losing Me by Taylor Swift - I'm sorry but this maybe the saddest Tay song ever. Like I've heard so many of her heartbreak ballads, and this one just wheezed its way to the top of the list, especially the part where she says DO SOMETHING BABE it just kills me inside everytime. 
• Cold to My Core by Meg DeAngelis - I do love myself a little Meg, seeing her grow has been so lovely to see and because I'm currently going through the suffering of being cold all the time (thanks winter!) I mega relate to this song as well. 
• Left Right by Ali Sethi - Yes, I'm a fully convert into an Ali Sethi Girl. This song has such a great vibe, absolutley fantastic rhythm, and a kind of charm that only comes with Shae Gill. I have been playing it on repeat for far too much. 
• Sanak by Badshah - I only recently listened to the new Badshah album (and as a Badshah junkie that was late) and this song stood out a lot. Especially when THAT part comes. You know what I'm talking about. 
• Bye by Aditya Bhardwaj - This kind of slight desi pop indie songs ae really gaining a place in my hear. It's soo pretty to listen to, and you can't stop but bop your head to, despite it being kind of sad in a way. 
• Dahi Shakkar by Srushti Tawde - I've been obsessed with her since Hustle 2.0 and this is stunning. It's very different from what she did in the show, but it's great to see so much variety from her, she truly is versatile. 
• Deora from Coke Studio - Oh the hold this song has on me in insane. I've probably listening to it about 100 times now, no lie. It's got so much Josh, and makes me so happy. Also makes me want to learn Bengali, the language sounds gorgeous! 
• Hasti Rahe Tu by Paradox - Another fan favourite from Hustle 2.0, with a song that really makes me very excited. I love his deep voice, and this is fantastic writing as well. 

What have you been listening to?

5 New Shows to Watch This January

This month, I only have one Kdrama recommendation for you, which is only there for one reason (you'll find out) but there are a few other exciting dramas to keep you entertained. 

Agency

The main reason this Kdrama caught my eye was because it's set in an Ad agency, very Mad Men vibes. I work in marketing so I'm already intrigued, and there are a few notable faces, Lee Bo Young (of Mine) takes the lead as the female head of the agency in a cut throat industry, along with Son Na Eun (Ghost Doctor). 

Premiere Date: 7 January

No. of Episodes: 16, twice a week

Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches

With Alexandra Daddario at the helm, I'm so excited for this. The thing with me is that I love anything witchy, but I'm also very averse to horror, but it looks like something I can handle. She plays a neurosurgeon who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches, and must deal with things that has been haunting her family for years. 

Premiere Date: 8 January

No. of Episodes: 8, once a week

Koala Man

This animated show from the creators of Rick and Morty, is sure to bring a lot of laughs. I'm not a particular fan of this animation style but I do love the humor! Aussie humor is something I'm getting used to, and this show is going to defo help. It follows a family father who lives a not-so-secret identity as the titular hero who possesses a burning passion to snuff out petty crime. There's a lot at stake here, and Koala Man is here to save the day!

Premiere Date: 9 January

No. of Episodes: 8, all binge-ready

Accused

This is giving me Law & Order meets Lie to Me vibes and I enjoy episodic shows a lot. I know it's going to make me feel emotional. The show revolves around ordinary people getting caught up in extraordinary situations, where one wrong turn leads to another, until it's too late to turn back. The cast lineup is very promising including Abigail Breslin, Rachel Bilson, and Molly Parker to name a few. 

Premiere Date: 22 January

No. of Episodes: 15, 2 episodes a week

Shrinking

Harrison Ford stars as Dr. Phil Rhodes, a grieving therapist who starts to tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge changes to people's lives - including his own. There's not a lot more information about this but with a cast including Ford, Jason Segel, and Christa Miller, I think we have a show that will make us root for the characters and find a little breakthrough of our own!

Premiere Date: 27 January

No. of Episodes: 10, once a week

What shows are you excited for this month?

2022 Highlights

I love doing the year end highlights, looking back and reflecting on a year lived. I've been doing it since 2017. (Missed 2018, ugh) but you can check out my older years here. 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021

2022 was a year of the big change, which led to so many new things that I'm grateful for, but it also feels like I've hit a little slump on living life somehow. 

The one constant I've managed to keep is doing the daily crossword. In fact, I managed to start a streak and keep it going for more than a month, which is a big deal. It still takes me a really long time to finish one, but I enjoy the process so much and it feels like a hobby that's just solely mine (mostly because none of my friends do the actual crossword) and makes it all the more of a solitary activity that I love. 

During the first three months (prior to my move to Aussie) and a few weeks after, I had some classes, definitely felt like my last classes. I miss teaching so much, I miss being inside the classroom, I miss the conversations, the quizzes, the games, the inside jokes, there's just something so fun about teaching. 

We did see a few movies in theatre here (including watching Avatar twice, once in a bed in a movie theatre, which is such a surreal experience), and we love going to see movies, it's one of our fav things to do. Movie theatre magnums and popcorn just hits different. 

I've always been big on kdramas, but 2022 was when I took that obsession a bit more by going into #kdramatwt and I made a few friends there which is fun. It's always crazy watching an ongoing drama, all the theories, all the fanfare. I just love that. I also managed to watch the same amount of non kdrama? Now that is kind of sus, I thought I was a kdrama girlie through and through but looks like I do tend to deviate away, ahaha. 

Leaving also meant a lot of celebrations (and missing even more!). We had multiple farewells despite the circumstances we had to leave in, and I cherish every single second of them. I miss celebrations the most because I'm a party girl at heart and my family and friends know me as the heart of every celebration. 

Last year I found myself (for the first time in years!) having a lot of free time because I wasn't doing 4 jobs at the same time. So, I got into plants, and managed to keep a lot of plants alive (12 died but that's a lesson learnt) despite me falling sick for months, and in between moving apartments. I'm taking that as a big win!

Coming here meant finding everything new. Between two moves, learning the neighborhoods and trying to cook more, we didn't go out to eat that much (finding halal food is still a hassle!) but I do enjoy cooking, and have a few signature dishes that I can do really well. Plus, I'm now an overnight oats kinda person. I do love finding little coffee shops and trying new desserts, definitely a plus to moving to a big city is there's an abundance of both. 

I really slacked off on content creation last year. In total, my content didn't even reach 10 posts over the four main platforms I use, which is newsletters, this blog, my youtube and podcast (which was at a staggering zero, whoop), but this year I plan to post more. I have missed writing and putting content out there a lot, it definitely gave me a purpose to keep documenting my life (because I love reading back on it). 

Mostly, last year was about rediscovering myself as me, because who am I without my family, my friends, my home? I'm finding that out. Moving was so hard but it has also brought so much new things into my life and for that I'm grateful. I'm grateful for a new home, just for the both of us. For sunlight in the mornings, for the vastness of this city and for the beauty it adds to my life everyday. 2022 was tough, but it brought me a lot of joy and love. 

I hope 2023 brings lots of light to your life. What was the thing that brought you the most joy last year?

Women's Day 2022 - The Local Brands Leading Conversations to #BreakTheBias

Women's Day is always such a difficult time for brands to manouver, as it should be, because for far too long has it been commercialized as a way to both sell stuff for women and make women an accessory to drive up sales, neither of which makes us feel appreciated on a day where conversation should be about empowering women, not getting our money!

It's also one of my favourite times for brands because there is just so much we can do, to bring women's stories forward, to create conversations on what brands are doing (and can do) to make workplaces and products more inclusive and safe for us. 

Here are a few posts and campaigns that caught my eye, reeling the conversation into the right direction. 

Zero Waste Maldives Cupverts Video

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Zero Waste Maldives is doing a great job on awareness on sustainable living, and their Cupverts programs are fantastic in converting more people towards more sustainable period choices. What a brilliant way to talk about periods on Women's Day. 

Mihaaru's Profiles on Women

I do love seeing profiles on women doing their thing. This collection of different women in areas is a great addition in bringing stories of everyday women. 

Sosal's List of Best Women's Day Gifts

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This is such a brilliant post, I love everything about it. Yes, this is esactly what women want, and I love how simple yet meaningful this series of posts are. It brings in the conversation about gifts and the celebratory nature of women's day but reels the focus back into breaking the biases. Way to go with the theme. 

The Story of Anbalange

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This beautiful video shows how five women became friends and started their own jewelry business, bringing an old form of crafty women's spaces into a modern world. What a gorgeous and heartwarming beginning.  

Bank of Maldives' Video on Stories of Women & Sea

Meet these incredible women who are driving change through their work and love for the oceans!🌊They share with us the prominent impact the environment has on our lives.💗 @xoooms @nisthu @HamnaHussain13 @Lllamatoes

Here's to a sustainable tomorrow for women, by women!#IWD2022 pic.twitter.com/Nh9BDjc0Fg

— Bank of Maldives (@bankofmaldives) March 8, 2022

This video makes you so happy watching because we are the daughters of the Maldivian seas and to see the women in diving brings such joy to my heart. Here's how to be a part of the story in bringing the voices forward! 

2021 Highlights

I love doing a year wrapped (like spotify, ahaha). I've been doing it since 2017. (Missed 2018, ugh) but you can check out my older years here. 2017, 2019, 2020. 

2021 was truly a rollercoaster of a year because there were SO SO MANY bad moments but there were equally (if not in number, then in magnitude) of happy exciting moments and I am so beyond grateful for the year. Here are my highlights of the year!

I probably taught more students this year than the previous two years. Teaching always brings me so much joy, and my calling in life definitely is academics because I enjoy everything about it (minus the bureacracy and elitism). I taught at 3 different colleges, all online and met so many students all of whom I hope I was able to make their academic lives better through the online classes we had. 

This year I finally really got into crossword. It has always been a lingering thing and as a self described puzzle girl, it is high time. When I go into something, I just make it my entire personality and for half a year AL and I did the crosswords everyday (well almost every day) and it was such a blast. There were so many moments that sparked joy and ones that sparked anger at how ridiculous NYtimes was! 

This record has been broken by my husband, ugh.

As usual, I did my fair share of watching TV shows but like 90% of my shows were Kdramas. It's hard to watch English shows now, give me the visuals, the cinematography and the ahjussis of Kdramas, I'll choose that everyday. Last year did prove to be so busy that I did not have enough time to enjoy as much of mindless TV as I would have liked. 

Reading wise, it was a very interesting year for me, because for half the year I was in a reading slump reading maybe 3 books in total and then last half of the year I was reading like a thirty books back to back, it was such a craze. I will hopefully do a separate post about my best books of the year. 

Mom started making book sleeves this month, and I love them.

Gift giving is truly my love language and lats year, more than every, I embraced every little aspect of it, from choosing a gift, to the packing and the polish. I love to spoil the people I love and showing my creativity through the gift wrap. 

Giving "blind dates" as books have become my new fav thing!

Jannat went through a kafka-esque metamorphosis during her journey through Faerun as she battled more dragons and giants and made friends far and stayed true to her kind heart and fighting spirit. I really enjoyed DnD sessions, it became a place of hope and happiness last year. 

DND is always a fun time, especially because of pretty dice

I did try to get back into blogging but life truly took so so many turns last year and I managed to get a few blog posts off (including making two new blogs, hello my Dhivehi blog and card blog!) and I like that this blog will always be a place I can come and write my heart out. 

Due to the restrictions and safety measures, lots of birthdays were celebrated virtually but we had so much fun, playing new games and reading more community cards and having a blast. I love birthdays so much!

My very perry the platypus themed birthday party by my friends!

BTS cakesicles I ordered for Lam, made by Faathy

A very hearty ramadan roadhaveelun with my book club members. 

Absolutely love this spread made by my cousins, love the cake by Celebakeshions

Not a lot of food adventures last year either (blame the pandemic and also my obsession with a few places so going back there again and again) but there were a few notable places that became favs and some recurring ones. 

For a while I was obsessed with Cheese Tea from Nosh.

Honestly, I'm more of a TV show girl than movies. I'd be like, that movie is 1.5 hours long? and then watch 2 kdrama episodes that are 2 hours long, I make no sense sometimes ahaha. We did watch a few movies, but nothing noteworthy enough it was just a good time. 

There were 3 main trips last year (and one of them was my "honeymoon"? during a lockdown when we were literally stuck in our hotel room overlooking a sea we couldn't even go to, sigh) and it's very less but ah these are trying times we are living in. During the last few months, there was a friend trip which was so fun, finally some moodhu, and Al and I spend a cozy weekend in Huraa that was so lovely. I do hope we get to travel more this year. 

Huraa's kulhi is so gorgeous!

In the middle of such a chaotic year, I had a big job change in my day job which is going very well, I love the people and the place so muc  h. I'm going to miss it when I have to leave. I also got offered a new teaching job at a new college which came out of nowhere but it was a ncie experience, getting to expand my evergrowing cv and adding another job to it, ahaha. 

The highlight of my year ofcourse, was that Al and I tied the knot! It was so bittersweet because we had to get it done rushes during a lockdown so we had a proper zoom wedding so we couldn't have all our friends and family with us, which sucked but on the bright side it was such a lovely day and I am so so grateful and humbled to start a new chapter of this life with someone I care so much about. 

The gorgeous amethyst ring that is mine!

In home wedding shoot that's bookish.

My favourite photo of the wedding, shot by Shuu. 

The year had so many bad news and uncertainity but it also had a lot of love and happy moments so I am grateful to be able to live another year, and look forward to more.