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Sealine Beach in Qatar

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Sealine Beach in Qatar

For more than 6 months a year, Qatar is pretty much uninhabitable.  The heat and humidity is so intense that Ali’s glasses fog up within 2 seconds of walking outdoors.  And don’t get me started on the sweat stains.  The city empties out of the species called human to escape the heat and those poor souls left to stay brave through the treachery until October comes rolling in.  When the summer merges into winter (there is no autumn here - my favourite season!), the air cools down to a pleasant 24-28 degree celsius and humanity emerges from hibernation, wide awake and spinning with excitement.  All this to say, a few weeks ago , we drove out to explore the Sealine beach, an hour south of the big city, to enjoy a BBQ in the wild with new and old friends.  Except the ‘wild’ was humankind.

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Babymama Takeover at Pink Lake in Gatineau Park

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Babymama Takeover at Pink Lake in Gatineau Park

Fall in this region is simply breathtaking, so we took an hour or so hiking around Pink Lake, chatting about life, babies, careers, inspiration and everything in between.  Sometimes, you just need these moments to unwind, breath in nature’s glory and give your spirit a jolt of adrenaline to help your creative juices flow.

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Welcome to the Cape: Part II

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Welcome to the Cape: Part II

Cape Town is a special city. A Dutch colonial outpost for trade with Asia, settlers brought slaves from modern day Indonesia in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was subsequently controlled by the British bringing a wave of Indian migration. These communities mixed with the Africans indigenous to the Cape and with people of European settler ancestry. The result is a vivid mix of race, culture and religion.

One of the main highlights was visiting the small neighbourhood of Bo-Kaap. Home to the ‘Cape-Malay’ community – it’s a small Muslim community dating back to early 1800s and comprises a mix of Indonesian, Indian and other ethnic communities settled in Cape Town by European settlers. Small tightly backed houses like the streets with each house proudly painted in bright colours.

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Welcome to the Cape: Part I

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Welcome to the Cape: Part I

The beauty of the Middle East is that most of the world is really accessible to you. When deciding where we want to travel, we literally open the map and start dreaming up possibilities.

And that’s how we thought of Cape Town. Although not particularly close to Doha, its much closer than from Canada. It also fit exactly what we were looking for: moderate weather, incredible natural beauty, a rich and incredible history and culturally vibrant.

Happy First Mother's Day

Happy First Mother's Day

I can’t even begin to describe how incredible, inspiring and supremely talented this new mother is. Its been only four young months into motherhood, but she has fully embraced it (despite her own protests that she doesn’t know what she is doing). She’s constantly thinking about Hayat, worried and eager to make life for her better each moment. But that’s not what makes me so proud.