As promised, the rest of my Spring break… for those of you who want to know how I spend my time when I have nothing to do.
Wednesday morning Saqib dropped me off at the Metra station in downtown Lisle and I took a train to Union Station downtown to get on another Amtrak train to Ann Arbor. I was a little nervous about using “so many” trains to get to my destination, because public transportation makes me nervous. The schedules, tracks, fees, and employees are generally confusing or not very helpful. But alhumdu’lillah, I made to Ann Arbor in one piece, to be picked up by my bhabi.
Wow, what a driver. Hunno really knows how to make good time. She picked me up right when I stepped off the train, and we were off to the grocery store before I knew it. We had to pick up a few items for ammi who was waiting for me back at home. Hunno, who wanted to make good time, managed to pick me up, stop at the store and get me home all within one hour. Impressive, wouldn’t you say?
Once I got there the three of us shared a pizza and hung out in the kitchen. Slowly it turned into nap time and I got to make myself at home in my mommy’s bed. I was OUT cold so fast I didn’t even know what was happening. Ammi woke me up about 2 hours later, Hunno was gone, and Fati and abbu were home. Yaaay, Fati!!!
We ata kaana together and then just wasted time in the basement. Ah, the good old days. Fati doing fat-kwon-do, watching Scrubs, and me not doing anything. Here and there I helped ammi clean up the basement and pack up some presents for a party she was having on Friday night. The evening ended with me making magic bars for Fati, which were, unfortunately, another batch of tragic bars. They turned out to be too too sweet and kinda mushy. The ones I made for Osman on Monday were much better in my opinion.
Thursday morning I got to work with Hunno cleaning up our house, vacuuming and dusting. Once we finished up all of that, we headed to the mall to do some last minute shopping for a party I was going to on Saturday night. This party was the main purpose of my trip to MI. One of my oldest and bestest friends is getting married this summer. So on Friday night my parents threw her parents a pre-congratulatory party, and on Saturday night two of our friends threw her a bridal shower. All very fun, but more on that later.
The mall was fun, just ‘cuz it was Hunno + Ayesha + shopping… hilarity ensues. Why can’t we act like normal people when we’re together? I don’t know. We ran into one of my friends at the mall. She was with her older sister. Big sis nudged little sis to tell me something important… and she did. My friend is expecting!!! This is extremely exciting because she’s the first of my 6 OG friends that is having a baby! May Allah make these months easy for her, and bless her with a righteous, pious, healthy baby. I guess we’re coming out of that phase where we’re all getting married, and now entering the realm of parenthood. Yowza!
Back at home I took a nap, woke up, and met up with some other old-school friends, who are literally old… school… friends. I met Karen and Bonnie at Guernsey’s for some good old fashioned ice cream. I love Guernsey’s because it will never change. It always smells like fried chicken, it’s always employed with high schoolers from Novi and Northville, and it’s always packed with bushy haired old people. I had so much fun with Karen, yucking it up about the good old days, and catching up on the recent days. It’s so nice to have a friend you can revisit and pick up right where you left off.
When I got home I ate kaana with my parents. Then I got to work on making dessert for my parents’ party on Friday night. I had to make it the night before because it requires some quality time in the freezer. I took vanilla ice cream, peanut butter and cool whip and mixed them together. I poured it into a prepared graham cracker crust and let it freeze. The next day I added cool whip and crushed snickers, and voila… peanut butter ice cream pie. It’s so easy and it’s sooooo good. Try it out sometime 
Friday morning I woke up and took my dad to see the doctor. He had to get an out-patient treatment done to his foot. Poor abba seems to have a tough time with his feet. May Allah make his pain an expiation for any punishment in the next life, ameen.
When we got home I passed out in bed and emerged from my room at 11:00AM. I got to work with ammi and Hunno in the kitchen, who were busy trying to make a pasta dish, and trying to keep three separate recipes straight. I chopped up some salad and also cleaned the bathrooms… not at the same time, thank God
After eating a lunch of jam-bread and left over pasta, Hunno and I set out to run some more errands with a bad case of the giggles. We had to drop off donation clothes, pick up some kaana, and get the oil changed in Hunno’s car. I was convinced that with Hunno’s good timing, we could be home in 20 minutes. Unfortunately, the drive to Canton took up most of our time. We still made it home in time for her to take a nap before ammi and abbu’s party.
Which, speaking of, was awesome! It was all of ammi’s closest friends and some of my favorite aunties. I miss them so much when I’m in Illinois. Every time I go to a dawath, or a wedding, I miss seeing their caring and smiling faces. I guess it’ll take some time before the aunties here know me as well as the ones in MI do. Most of them have known me since I was born, so I’m guessing in about… 23 more years we’ll be able to compare the new aunties to the old ones. But, who knows?
Saturday I spent the morning at home, but then in the afternoon went to Dearborn to get my haircut with two of my friends. It’s always so much fun with Allu pea and Shoaa Especially if Heba is there to be bugged and picked on They’re my favorite girls.
Shoaa dropped me off back at home and then I got ready to go to Ayesha’s bridal shower… which was even more awesome than the party on Friday night. All 6 of my OG friends in one place, at one time. This hasn’t happened since… I don’t remember the last time, honestly. Ayesha, Humaira, Zaiba, Aliyah, Lubna and Shoaa, all excited and happy for Ayesha’s wedding, and all having a good time. We were acting so goofy together and having so much fun. I felt like I was 17 again or something. Nothing can beat an evening with all of your oldest and closest friends.
I got home pretty late on Saturday and woke up early on Sunday to eat breakfast with Lubna. She came over and I made pancakes, omelettes/scrambled eggs, and hash browns. Conversation with Griswaldi is always too much fun. I think my family loves her just as much as I do. My parents appreciate her punjabiness, and Fati appreciates her humor and intelligence, and I appreciate all of it!
After she left, Fati and I packed up and shipped out to Illinois. She’ll be here until Wednesday. We drove straight to Osman’s and stayed for dinner. Hunno had made a whole middle-eastern spread of food. Shawarmas, fatoush, hummous, garlic sauce, tahini sauce, and the regular sides: wings and fries. All so good, too many choices! I stuck with a lamb shawarma and two wings. I was full when I left early because the weather was horrendous last night. Thirty-two degrees, just the right temperature for a wintery-mix of snow and rain. It took us a full hour to get home, and the car slid twice just on Leask lane, yikes!
And thus ended my Spring break… with a snow storm. So typical!
