A little while ago, I stumbled into a store and saw a really nice comfy hat. Said hat was supposedly on sale- the price was $30 and that is actually the definition of tragic. The hat itself 110/10 NEED in my life - the price on the other hand, even with the sale, had me contemplating if I knew the correct definition of sale. 

A few minutes later of wandering around, I stumbled into another store that had hats on sale for $7- THAT is sale! Now I took the hat in my hand like yes yes yes hello hat that is already blessing my life. But, alas, I was then convinced not to get the hat because “hijabi’s don’t/can’t wear hats”. [seems like my sombrero all over again]

When I went home that day, I still really wanted the hat and the sale was ending that same day so the only way to still get the sale price was to order it online. Well that idea did not go as planned -so I had another idea [when plan A & B failed you always gotta have a C D E FG etc.!] Why not crochet a hat myself?

 Mind you, I had no crocheting background so this was going to be a challenge teaching myself something by watching probably about 500 youtube videos. So, I ventured out to the craft store and picked some yarn and got to work the next day. 

here we have ma heart and soul on the ground after I was halfway through and realized I messed up the second line by missing a loop.

The process of this hat filled my brain with a lot of these questions: Did I loop this correctly? Did I miss a loop? IS THIS EVEN GOING TO WORK OUT? How is this going to form like a hat @ youtube lady???

Funnily enough, when it came time for finals I was extremely stressed and this hat was right there waiting for me to crochet my stress away. It just made everything loop together, and calm me down, though ironically this hat gave me so much stress but it was a good type of stress (if that’s possible). Numerous times I was undoing the whole thing because I messed up on one part and thus that made everything else wrong. Pulling the loops out and fixing it over and over again- there was lil miss doubt inside of my head telling me to give up, but there was also lil miss optimistic inside my head telling me OH C’MON YOU GOT THIS KEEP GOING.

One month later and here we are with a multicolored hat that’s probably cooler than me. This hat taught me a lot about patience, so much that it had me drinking from a patience mug I made for my mom for Mother’s Day. I learned that hey it’s going to get tough along the way but once you reach that goal it’s going to be worth it- the harder the challenge is the better the success feels. Also, sometimes it’s good to throw yourself out of your comfort zone and try something new. Challenge yourself. Because of deciding to make this hat instead of buying it at the store, I plan to crochet for nonprofit organizations, I just have to find one I’m 110% on.

Along the way of challenging yourself, that lil voice inside your head might be like lol let’s turn back I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS bYE. Here I am to tell you YES YOU CAN DO THIS. YES. YOU. CAN. DO NOT LISTEN TO THAT VOICE. [And suddenly I’m the living embodiment of Barack Obama’s campaign slogan.]

The hat in the store code $7 and the hat I ended up making cost me $10. Yes, 3 dollars extra, but for those three dollars I’ve learned how to crochet, the actual definition of the phrase ‘patience is key', and the importance of challenging myself.

ALSO @ people who think hijabi’s can’t wear hats DO I HAVE SOME NEWS FOR YOU

ps. If you yourself would like to take the challenge of crocheting yourself a hat- here's the video I used HERE. In the video she went from

yarn + rib = ribbed hat effect

but all I wanted was the hat effect as in

yarn = hat

so I didn't do the 'ribbed' effect she was talking about and just went my own way

Also some other helpful links:

Weaving in Ends

How to Crochet: Adding a New Ball of Yarn

Weave in Loose Ends

Never miss a post via twitter HERE

Never miss a post via Instagram HERE

your personal desert in motion HERE

give my blog some lovin' HERE

After the Rio Olympics, essentially me having the adrenaline from bouncing up and down on my couch, I decided on reviving a dream of mine and making it larger- go big or go home right?? Previously before becoming a professional couch potato whenever the Olympics were on, I used to love running. Due to having coaches in high school that yelled 30/7 and essentially treated me like the ground they walked on because I wasn't their "Number 1 bae on the track", this made me hate the sport. Before I disregarded the sport completely, I did this 5K run and ended up wining first place in my age group- without the pressure of the coaches I had #bless.

As Rio came to a close I found myself remembering my medal for winning first place in my age group. It made me remember the saying "Hate the player but not the game". I could dislike the coachers I had but that didn't mean I had to disregard the sport like a sock with a hole in it. (sorry, I'm not John Green material) So after seeing the Rio olympics, it reminded me how much I missed that feeling of racing and generally feeling productive. 

It was then that I decided that why not give it a shot? Why not try to become apart of the USA Olympic Tokyo 2020 team for running? It can't hurt- I'd much rather try and not succeed than not even try at all. The most difficult part about a dream is taking the first step to making it a reality, but once you get started it's not as hard as your brain keeps trying to convince you it is.

.....

Well I'm hoping it isn't......

@ brain R E L A X pls

---

PS. Highkey waiting for Michael Phelps to come to Tokyo 2020 as a plot twist. 

Sahara xo

Did you ever know that eating too many oranges can be bad for you? 

I've only recently realized this after eating about 4 large oranges a day. Now fruits are healthy so in my mind I thought to myself  5x on healthy fruit = Your body is thanking you for taking care of yourself.  But science decided to burst my bubble, as in I felt as though someone took a needle and POP.

The reason why I eat 3-4 oranges a day is because I have a morning class, and 2 afternoon classes. Usually by about mid-way through the class I start to feel myself getting sleepy and so I figured out a solution: eat an orange; the freshness is bound to have some sort of affect. When I used to feel myself falling asleep I take out an orange and start peeling it, and it's like the freshness was a shot of expresso because I would be peeling with one hand and scribbling down some notes with the other wide awake. But then after looking online I realized two things:

Eating one orange a day = Healthy person 

Eating 3+ oranges a day = Overdose on healthy life

So, when you eat more than about 2 oranges a day you can have weight gain, heart burn and stomach pains. (You can find all information on this HERE) Basically, trying to be healthy by eating 4 oranges a day did not work in my favor because just as I thought I saw the last of the words "weight gain" it came back for Round 2. 

 "Too much of anything is not good for you..." ~ Barry White

I didn't necessarily think eating 4 oranges a day throughly because I thought Eating Healthy = Healthy self but overdoing healthy = not so healthy self.   Attempting to keep myself awake mid-way during class is proving to be a challenge since most foods (such as anything with sweet) allows you to ride the energy wave for a little while before it crashes. After thinking of ways to stay awake, and realizing that peeling an orange in class in the front row is awkward enough, anything else that requies anymore effort doesn't really seem like the very best idea.

I guess I'll have to guess and check and keep an orange on the side just in case plan B,C,D,E,F,G (etc) doesn't work. But the Tip for the day is: If you want to stay awake eat an orange, it is 100% guarantee to wake up up the same way expresso works its magic! Just don't overdose on them!

Sahara x