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. 

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.

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!