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Lately, it seems to be the trend. The plumber, the taxi driver, the carpenter, all send me invoices of “as much as I want”. I wonder how they have the guts. Imagine I send Burburry lady an invoice of “as much as you want”, I’d end up with nothing! Guess they’re hoping for more than they were planning to ask for. Next time I will keep them up to their words and REALLY give them as much as “I” want!

It’s a hectic week over here, lots of projects on the way, but so far I can proudly announce that I am illustrating for the Arabic version of A List Apart magazine for web designers, thanks to the very lovely Beshr Kayali & Mohammad Kayali. With this, my darlings, I wish you a beautiful day

In other news, Philippe El Hage’s website that I’ve been working on is up! Philippe is my all-time favourite jazz pianist. More on http://www.elhagephilippe.com/.

Have a great weekend my darlings, see you Monday!

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Yes, that’s how I will end my emails from now on, because the medium through which we are sending emails seems to be essential nowadays! So I might as well specify that the email was “Sent from my laptop”. Proudly, mind you!

Have a great day my darlings, I’ve got a song for you today, a 2-piano piece by Simeon Ten Holt, Canto Ostinato. Enjoy!

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To all of you who did post the colours & details of their bras, no offense It did add some spice and fun to Facebook – which has been getting boring after Twitter and all that jazz… But in my humble opinion, the campaign did not in any way raise awareness about cancer, it only got people discussing bra colors in flirty ways in the comments section.

Some interesting reads about the issue:

• http://www.bigfishmag.com/extra/blog/8/

• http://www.fakingnews.com/2010/01/thousands-of-voyeurs-spend-whole-day-thinking-about-bras/

• http://dmhatingfemisfromhell.blogspot.com/2010/01/im-wearing-silky-leopard-print-pushup.html

Enjoy, and before I leave you to your busy weeks, I’d like to dedicate a song by Lila Downs to you!

Agua de rosas:

Enjoy!

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Click to enlarge - ELLE en parle spread 1

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Click to enlarge - ELLE en parle spread 2

Great stuff in this issue. Go get it now!!

And have a lovely weekend!

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GRRRRRRRR! Can you believe it? All this honking turned out to be a very creative and thoughtful way of saying hello to someone you cross in the middle of the road. Regarding the “truck that fell 3 days ago” that I’m referring to, here it is and here’s the aftermath. And before I leave you to your busy days, here’s a song for you! Sarah Slean, Get Home. Have a great day!

<– If this gives you “file not found” you can listen here.

On a side-note: my designer-colleague Arine left the office to do her masters yesterday! I wish her all the best of luck for the coming year, will miss her a lot!

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Seriously! It’s the same story EVERYTIME! How am  I supposed to know if it’s one or two or three? You always end up having to throw a “oh hehe I give 3 kisses Lebanese style!” or “oh! hehe you want to greet Lebanese style?” I guess it’s better to just stop greeting people completely

Oh!! First post of 2010 HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU MY DARLINGS, love you so much And because I do, here’s a song (that I absolutely adore)  dedicated to you to start your year with Kiss Me, by Sixpense None The Richer – it’s a classic!

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Those beautiful billboards ALL OVA THE STREETS have been haunting me! Are there people who REALLY enjoy going to ‘OSCAR PALACE’ to watch Marimar & Toufic Abdo singing and dancing for 800-2000$ per person? Well maybe there is, but please stop those New-year-style badly photoshopped billboards! So my darlings, this is my last post for 2009. It was an amazing year, and I hope that 2010 will only be better for all of you. Enjoy your eves and don’t get too drunk you don’t want to start your next year with a headache! See you next year!!! Love you all!!

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*Nefrah mennik = you get married (translation for non arabic-speaking readers)

I thought social pressure for marriage starts for women in their early 30′s. But guess what! From the moment girls are born, they are brought up to “hope” and “dream” of the day they will get married (most women I know dream of this day). Marriage & childbearing is still regarded as the most rewarding achievement in the life of a woman, while all the other “career-related” achievements are only secondary and should be avoided if the financial situation allows it. This clearly causes a lack of confidence and sense of failure to some of the women who are not married – which I find completely wrong! I’m glad Kolena Laila initiative is giving me the space to say what I think about all this!

Other Lebanese “bloggeresses” for Kolena Laila.

• Café Thawra “Fighting the right ennemy”

• Identity Chef “The Lebanese Laila: 5 lessons in Marketing & Self Branding”

• Independence05

• Lara’s photograph

• … (let me know if I missed someone! )

Now before I leave you back to your holidays (for the fortunate ones) and to your work (for the not-so-lucky ones like me!) here is a song from the soundtrack of a movie that I’ve been CRAVING to watch, but haven’t had 2 free hours in a row to do so. Walk The Line <3 The song is ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ sang by Joaquim Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon for the movie … Enjoy, and have a great day

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It’s here! It’s Christmas fever. Christmas is in 2 days and I still didn’t get all the gifts for friends & family, and the TRAFFIC isn’t helping!!  But anyway now is not a time to complain! It’s one of my favourite times of the year (except for the items listed above). I love the lights and the gifts and the whole spirit! Have a great day (to those of you on vacation) and to the rest of you who like me have to work until the 25th… GOOD LUCK

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I keep receiving emails and messages asking why I’m not posting a lot. Well, here’s the explanation So, my darlings, I hope you will be more understanding! I still have a load of work that I am happily finishing; will keep you updated! Here’s a song to brighten up your day: Trouble is a friend, by Lenka