Taken using a 4th gen iPod Touch… with a little tweaking in iPhoto. It’s annoying how Apple has allowed the iPod to shoot HD video but the photos aren’t up to scratch in terms of quality, as you can easily tell when you view the pic at full size.

For my best friend, SimSim.

Drawn using a Wacom Bamboo Pen in Adobe Illustrator CS5.

Btw, I’ve realized just how lazy I’ve become wrt my camera. When I bought my first digicam way back in 2002 (a Minolta summit or other), I was so excited by my shiny new purchase, I insisted on fiddling with every manual setting available. These days, I normally shoot on auto-mode. It works out okay in well-lit environments, but the picture quality becomes extremely naff (I mean, more so than I’d expect) in anything less than daylight. I keep reminding myself that I need to figure out the best settings for indoors – especially as I hate using the flash – but bah… laziness.

Then, the other day, I lent my Canon to another sister from the ISoc, and within a few minutes she’d taught me five new things about the camera, like how to control the flash intensity (I had no idea I could do that), and change the aspect ratio to widescreen (though I’ll probably stick to doing that during post-processing). This is one of the few times in my life that I’ve been outgeeked by a fellow Muslimah! I am totally going to leech off of her knowledge, insha’Allah. In a good way.

In other news, the first meeting of the Sisters Film Club went well, masha’Allah, in spite of clashes with the Muslim Medics AGM, and general exam stress all round. We have our sights on the first project, which should be ready for June, insha’Allah. More details as they become declassified for public release.

The good news is, on my way home from uni this afternoon, I discovered my camera in my coat pocket. Thus I was finally able to capture some shots of the Natural History Museum ice rink, which I’ve been eager to do ever since it was set up a few weeks ago.

The last shot is my favourite… I think it would make a nice postcard. Btw, am I alone in thinking ice skating is the most romantic of the winter sports? All that huddling, cuddling and giggling… Sigh.

Happy Eid, everybody!

The dried henna has now been removed; we’ll see how dark it turns out, insha’Allah. I don’t usually do anything special, like apply henna oil. Mainly because my design is so childish, that I’d like it to wear out as quickly as possible!

Is the Eid-Mendhi association an S.E.Asian thing, or do Arab/ African/ etc sisters apply it at this time of year too?

The following is my personal favourite; click to enlarge.

Jazakallah khair to brother Mohammed for inviting me to Cumbria, and granting my father and I a personalised tour of the area.

The weather was gorgeous, masha’Allah… just perfect for a BBQ.

After lunch, we took a leisurely walk in the woods and fields surrounding the picnic area.

These were the shoes I was wearing during our little Nature walk… not good for wading through patches of mud. Alhamdulillah, I survived, unscathed.

A nice shot I managed to capture from the car on the way home. Click here to see a larger version.

My parents and I used to travel to Blackburn at least once a year, back when we were living in Leicester. However, moving to London added another 150 miles to the car journey. That, together with my studies, meant that in the last ten years we’ve only bothered to drive up there for two important family occasions: deaths & marriages.

Upon leaving the wedding house yesterday evening, we exchanged the usual pleasantries with our hosts, not-so-subtly acknowledging the fact that only another wedding would likely reunite us in the near future.

“Insha’Allah, it’ll be your turn next, Mehzabeen!”, my aunty chirped in Gujarati, as I put on my shoes. Luckily I was looking down at the time, so she didn’t notice the eyes rolling in my head.

Oh well. At least they’ll be the ones making the six hundred mile round-trip next time, if she’s correct.

I was testing some new AA batteries out on my camera. Their half-life was terrible (a matter of seconds), but I managed to capture this before the camera died.

Click for full size photo