Ramadan Mubarak!

Feel very blessed to get the chance to observe Ramadan again, alhamdulillah! Being the holiest month in the calendar of Islam, there's just this air of magic in its days, somehow.
Do you feel the same about this month too, my fellow Muslim sisters and brothers?

It's already the fourth day of Ramadan and fasting is thankfully going well for Shah and me. On the outside, it's mostly "business as usual", but with the addition of preparing dinner earlier than usual to break our fast (which is not hard to do since we don't have to think about breakfast and lunch), performing tarawih prayers at night after Isyak — one of the magical bits of Ramadan, in my opinion! — and eating in the middle of the night for sahur.

I'm now very much looking forward to travelling back to our parents' homes to experience Ramadan this year with our families! All I can say is THANK GOD for vaccines and the brilliant minds of scientists around the world, because I can't imagine (and don't want to imagine) a vaccineless world where Covid still runs rampant unchecked. (Praying that there won't be any more "surprises" à la 2020 anymore, oh dear God please.)

I want to share my outfit photos from the first day of Eid of 2020, which for some reason I never shared. I bought this abaya during my dreamy umrah trip back in April 2019, in Madinah. I don't know what it is about shopping for abayas but it could get VERY addictive, so I had to make a real effort to reel myself in. (Obviously Shah funding my shopping and knowing when to step in helped!) 

You'd think rows rows of black abayas can get boring, but, ugh, trust me, that actually makes each abaya even more exciting somehow. I think it's clear why I chose this particular one: the beautiful colourful embroidery running down the front was irresistable to a colour enthusiast like me.

See: My Madinah/Medina Photo Diary

I remembered how we were worried about not being able to celebrate Eid with our families in 2020 due to the lockdown (I mean, gosh, remember the many, many lockdowns?) but then Covid cases went down, borders were opened, and we got to travel back home to be around our families again! There were still strict rules about the number of people allowed for gatherings and whatnot, but all Shah and I cared about was seeing our parents and siblings again. 

Again, SO thankful for vaccines because Eid visits back home are definitely on the horizon this year, unlike last year when we had to celebrate both Eids just the two of us here in Johor! (With our furbabies who manged to cheer us up as always, of course.)

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I shared this message on my Instagram but I want to share it here too:

May you reach whatever goal you have set for yourself in this holy month but to not be discouraged if you do not. May Allah accepts all our ibadah however small or big, and grants us barakah in every deed that we do. And may we be gifted with the chance to observe more Ramadan months to come.

Thank you for reading this post, I appreciate it. Hope you're well well and safe at wherever corner of the world you're in right now. 

Ramadan Mubarak! May Allah ease your fasting days as well your personal betterment journey if you've decided to be on one this month ❤