My Life in Pictures

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 came out. I cried. 

My work! 

My desk at work! 

Mister.

Nabeel and his bud, Buzz. 

My street (from the Irving Park Brown Line station).

Downtown!

My very favorite view when riding the train home from work.

Nabeel and I at my work's yearly outing! 

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

These are some highlights from my summer. I'll post more later. 

Wedding Post!!! (Partial)

Nabeel and I got married on June 25th. It was perfect in every way. Most of these are pictures I took on my phone in the days leading up to the wedding, but some of them are pictures taken by other people, which I will note below the photo. We do have beautiful real photographer photos that were taken by our friends Sarah and Colin. We haven't had a chance to put the pictures on our computer yet -- but as soon as we do, I'll write another post about the pictures.

My mom made cupcakes! They were delicious and everyone loved them. Our friend Jakey loved them so much that he licked the frosting off a bunch of them -- but left the cupcakes on the plate.

Yes, at one point I was wearing my Gryffindor cloak and waving my wand around. No biggie.

This was my bouquet that our friend Keri made! It turned out so beautifully and I was so happy to carry it.

We got married on our back deck. Our best friend and former room mate, Dustin, was our officiant. He did such an amazing job and it was just perfect. My face looks weird in this picture because I was struggling not to cry throughout the entire ceremony. My sister was my maid of honor and Nabeel's best friend Twan was his best man.

(Steve took this picture.)

Here we all are after the ceremony!

(Steve took this picture.)

Our first dance was to the song "Earth Angel" from Back to the Future. Our officiant/best friend Dustin played it for us. It was so wonderful.

(Steve took this picture.)

We took pictures in the Lincoln Square neighborhood and it was so much fun! There was a little group of girls following me around because they thought I was a princess. There were people yelling "Congratulations!" out of their car windows as they drove by. People on the street clapped when we talked by. It was all just so great. I will have more pictures from this once we put the real photos on our computer.

And that was our wedding in a very small nutshell. It was amazing, perfect, wonderful, fun, exciting, and every other good adjective you can think of.

I promise I have a good reason for not keepin' up with this blog!

I got a job.
An office job where I have a desk, and a phone, and a computer and everyone there knows me by Stephanie Shaikh and if I said my maiden name they'd be completely confused. Also, I work with one of my closest friends, Heather, and most days (when we're not too busy) we get to eat lunch together!
This job pays really well and I get to work the Monday through Friday schedule that I wanted.

I will write a much better and more interesting post this week sometime (if I can manage to keep my eyes open when I get home from work). Maybe I'll write all about my fun weekend at my work's outing near and mine and Nabeel's first time staying in a hotel - which is totally ridiculous considering we've been together over 5 1/2 years!

I'll be back soon.

Here are a few of my favorite things...

Hello!

I've decided that I'd like to start blogging on a regular basis. Now that I'm not in school and constantly freakin' out about papers and readings, I think I will be able to devote the time and energy to keeping up with a blog. It also helps that I can update this blog with my phone. 

I am a huge fan of blogs. I have about 20 blogs that I read regularly - but I definitely have a few favorites.

One is the blog of one of my closest friends, Heather. Her blog is always interesting to read and she has recently started writing "outfit posts," which are awesome because she has an amazing sense of style. I admit that I often try to recreate her looks, but I can't quite pull them off as well as she can. Also, Heather has got the coolest kids ever and her posts about them are always so great. And, not only is she super gorgeous and an amazing mom and wife, but she is also in a band: Venna! 

My all-time favorite blog to read is called Casa de Kaloi. Actually, the woman who writes the blog, Stephanie just seems like such an awesome person. I secretly (although I suppose it's no longer a secret) have been thinking of ways for me to become internet friends with her, because I think we'd get along great. (Also! She's a photographer with her best friend and they take awesome photos - go check out their company: White Rabbit Studios. If I lived closer to Alabama or had more money, I'd have definitely hired them to shoot mine and Nabeel's wedding.) Stephanie and her family seem like the most amazing people I've ever read about and I always look forward to new posts. She writes about everything, and I find that I almost always agree with her opinions on some "controversial" topics. I feel like she's one of those people you find on the internet, and you know that you'll never meet them, but feel like if you did, you two would be awesome friends. Also, Stephanie and her husband are younger and not super wealthy, so it's inspiring for me and my new little family to know that people like us can live a full, fun, and not always stressful life without having a ton of money to waste on frivolous products.

And last, but not least, there is Parsing Nonsense. This blog is written by a hilarious lady named Erika who always makes me literally lol. There have been many times that I've been reading her blog on my phone while on the train to work, and I've had to stifle a snorting laugh, lest the other people on the train think I'm some crazy kid. She recently published a book (you can buy it for the Kindle! It's only $4.99), so for me, a possible future writer, it was great getting to read her blog as she wrote her book and to realize that if a mom to a young child can make time to write a novel, so can I! 

Now, I will just say that the bottom two of the above blogs might be considered "mommy blogs," since they both discuss their lives as mothers. But! Both of these women have lives outside of just being a mom, and I love that they are able to talk about something other than their children. Not that I don't like hearing about children, because (don't freak out mom) I am slightly (okay, pretty) baby crazy. But still. It's awesome to know that when I become a mother myself, I can still maintain my own life apart from my momma life. 

Besides being mildly obsessed with the above blogs, I also am an avid reader of all three of the Offbeat Empire sites. Even if you're not super offbeat (or as the writers on the Offbeat Empire sites say, "offbeat lite"), you would still enjoy these sites. Especially Offbeat Home! 

I think I will end this post now. I just wanted to tell people about my favorite blogs because they are all awesome and I think everyone should read them! 

I am. I am. I am.

Hello stranger.

I realized that if I'm to attempt to be a "real" blogger I should have an introductory post for those who may not know me in real life.

So.
My name is Stephanie Shaikh. I live in Chicago with my husband, Nabeel (as of today, we've been married one week and three days, but we dated for five and a half years before we got married). I have two cats who I am sure I will talk about often. Their names are Icarus Nolan Ledger Shaikh (he's the orange one) and Bellatrix Lestrange, or Belly (she's the grey one).
I have a degree in English and American Literature, but I am currently doing nothing with it. I love poetry. And young adult/independent reader fantasy. Sylvia Plath is one of my favorite writers, but I also espeically love Anne Sexton, LeRoi Jones (now Amiri Baraka), Harryette Mullen, and many others, but I cannot recall any more names at the moment.
I work at a Paper Source, and you can find me there crafting things out of paper, rubber stamps, tape and baker's twine.
When I am not working, which is often because I'm only part time (note: if you or anyone you know is looking for a full-time secretary or editor or proofreader, let me know! I need a "grown up" job), you can find me on the back deck of my apartment reading a book. Or playing Lego Harry Potter on my phone. But more likely reading. Lately, I've been re-reading the Harry Potter series in preparation for the final film which comes out on July 15th (Wahhhhh.... I'm sad). I self-identify as a slightly obsessive and most definitely crazy Harry Potter fan. I have two HP tattoos (the Deathly Hallows sign and the chapter illustration from HP & the Half-Blood Prince: The Cave), I collect HP toys and having been reading the books and watching the movies since I was 11. Basically, Harry Potter has been my favorite thing in the whole world for half my life (I'm 21, almost 22).
I also like writing letters and if you haven't heard of Postcrossing.com, you should really go check it out!

I am going to go watch 10 Things I Hate About You with my husband.

I think I'm going to do a post next about my favorite blogs, so keep an eye out for it!