Arab American artist Helen Zughaib

This past weekend I took my oldest daughter to Washington DC to visit my ailing father. While there we had lunch with one of my favorite people in the world, Helen Zughaib. Helen is a Lebanese American painter who lives in a beautiful condo close to George Washington University, with stunning sweeping views of the Potomac River.

Needless to say my daughter was awe struck by Helen, especially since she found out that President Barack Obama presented Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's a gift of one of Helen's paintings during his visit to the White House last year. The painting is called "Midnight Prayers" and it is an imaginative interpreation of her idea of tranquility and peace. Despite all that is going on in the piece, there is a sense of calm and contentment to it.

Helen's rendition of the Washington Monument was also presented as a gift to King of Morocco Mohammed V1 from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Her work is in major collections all over the world, including the Library of Congress, the US Embassy in the Republic of Mauritius and the University of Bern in Switzerland. Right now she is working on a series called Arab Spring and while I don't have any photos to share, all I can say is that it is astoundingly spectacular. Her use of bright colours in her artwork makes it pleasurable to look at and brightens up any room or mood. I should know, I own three of her pieces and could fill a whole house with more. Every time I see her work, it evolves into something that is even more exquisite then the previous series. Just when I think I have a favorite piece, another pops up to happily replace it.

Helen had just returned from a trip to Beirut for an exhibit and was busy working on another upcoming show. We were very lucky to catch a little of her time to share stories and amusing political gossip. She even let us in on a local tourist attraction that wasn’t very well known. She told us to go to the Kennedy Center for the Arts and head to the rooftop for panoramic views. It was very beautiful and on our way down we meet members of the Tunisian Symphonic Orchestra that had just left a rehearsal for a Monday concert in honor of the one year anniversary of the Tunisian uprisings. We walked along the Hall of Nations, noticed the Libyan flag was not yet corrected and named off as many countries as we could.

It was a wonderful afternoon and a lovely break from the emotional drain of going home for a few days to see my father. It made me wish I had spent some time getting his stories of his life leaving Libya and coming to America too. I'll be heading back to DC soon to see my father again, this time armed with a recorder and inspired by Helen's series to capture the history of my own family.

The importance of relaxation

When I look over my schedule of all the things that I've done this year, it's really amazing that I haven't gone insane. And when people ask me how I do it, my answer is easy: I take time off.

Being a mother of three under 9 years old is really quite exhausting on its own. Add to that the stress of owning your own business, volunteering as an Art Docent in three classrooms at my daughters’ school, selling at four different stores in my area, leading a girl scout troop, being a community organizer for a nonprofit and teaching at various venues around the state. But I've learned that it's important to have a balance. I have an amazing husband who is vey supportive of my business and my well being. Earlier on in our marriage, when I wasn't taking time off, we hit some rough patches. He (and I) came to fully comprehend the line "If mama ain't happy, nobody is happy." This awareness actually led to him encouraging me to take some time away to recuperate. I wish I could clone him for you.

Earlier on in my regrouping efforts, I was still taking my anxiety with me. I would go on retreats where I would be teaching, or organizing, or storytelling and had convinced myself that I was still getting away from the stress of home. But it wasn’t working. I came to the realization that in order for my time off to be truly mine, I had to leave everything (and everyone) at home.

Now when I go away, I leave my phone out of my sight (do I really need to know what my husband fed my kids for lunch?...not really, I’m sure it’s not nutritious and fast food, but I bet they’ll live), my projects stay at home (I know I need to deliver 24 sarcastic birthday cards to my store in Pike Place Market because my inventory is low, but I bet they’ll survive till next weekend) and my email stays unanswered (yes, it’s amazingly cool that Seif Al-Islam Gaddafi was caught, but I bet the news will be same on Monday when I get back). Because the true definition of vacation is a specific trip or journey, usually for the purpose of recreation. And I think we as a modern society have forgotten how to relax and view real recreation as a way to take a breather from the rest of what you are in the real world.

The most important thing I pack now? My pjs and my Nook. Because really, when was the last time you actually saw a mother of three sit down and read a book all day? And I bet if we don’t do it more often, we’ll be as extinct as the Dodo Bird.

Eid Mubarak!!! (puzzle)

Well it's finally here...Eid! What a great month this has been. It was a lot of hard work and fun making the crafts for Ramadan and I look forward to next year's challange.

Click here to read about our 30 days of Ramadan Crafty challenge or click on the tags on the right with the words Ramadan, craft tutorial or children and they should get you to the 30 crafts we made over the past month.

In celebration of Eid, I've created a Eid stamp puzzle for you to enjoy. Please be sure to stock up on these stamps when you are at the post office. They were beautifully created by Islamic calligrapher Mohammed Zakariya.

So Eid Mubarak everyone and enjoy this puzzle. The person with the best time will be mailed a Eid Mubarak card in time for the next Eid!

Online jigsaw puzzles from JigsawSite.com