OUR CHRISTMAS PHOTO PORTRAITS STORY

 

What's up wonderful, amazing, sweet and lovely people. How are you all doing today? I hope you're all having a great day today and are not letting anyone steal your joy. Welcome to Maryam's Joyful Life. Today is a beautiful day. Thank you all for checking out my blog today.

Christmas is almost here and everyone is scrambling to take their annual family Christmas picture and I am not exempted from that list. In fact, I started thinking about my Holiday picture as far back as early October. LOL!

I actually asked a photographer in my community how much it would cost to take family Holiday pictures and I was quoted $150 for HD Digital copies with no outfit changes for the family. I was excited to do it but this photographer is very good and highly booked. SO the thought dawned on me that I could take the pictures myself. After all, I am a blogger, I take pictures all the time.

I had one fear though and that was "how would the kids respond to taking these photos?" See, my kids don't mind filming but when it comes to sitting down for an organized photo session, Le'Veon might let me take a photo or two but Zozo is harder to convince. 

A few hours before the session, I told them we were taking some Christmas pictures. I still had a bit of nervousness as to how it would all go. But when it was time, all that nervousness I had vanished. Le'Veon and Zoe were so co-operative that I almost forgot they were the same babies. LOL! Christmas time is truly a time of miracles. This photo session, was my first Christmas miracle with my children. 

I still wonder how other mom bloggers do it. How do they get their kids to take those adorable photos? I  often wonder because my kids have their own minds, I have to always prepare myself for whatever response I get from them. It is fascinating to me. And again, I have always wanted to have babies who have their own minds and are not afraid to express their minds. Let's just say I got exactly what I asked for in my babies.

Thank you for reading my blog to the end. I hope this season is filled with unexpected miracles for you and your family.

With gratitude,

Maryam

p.s. all pictures were taken on my iPhone 8 plus!

MY NEW LOUNGE WEAR COLLECTION|| FEMME LUXE REFINERY

Hello wonderful, amazing, sweet and lovely people. How are you all doing today? I hope you're all having a great day today and are not letting anyone steal your joy. Welcome to Maryam's Joyful Life. Today is a beautiful day. Thank you for checking out my blog today.

Today, I wanted to share my new lounge-wear collection with you all from Femme Luxe Refinery . There are many reasons I love Femme Luxe Refinery but I'll share one of them with you. I always find what I am looking for on their website. 

On this particular go on their website, I wanted to pick lounge wears that I had never had before. Something that was cute and appealing to me. Well, I found four very cute lounge wears that I am very excited to share with you on today's blog.

You can purchase anyone of these lounge wears you see me wearing in this blog post. Just click the links I have added to each outfits and you will be taken straight to the location of each outfit.

Rust Ribbed Pocket Detail Lounge-wear Set

 https://femmeluxefinery.co.uk/products/rust-ribbed-pocket-detail-loungewear-set-rust

Here's why I love this Rust Ribbed Lounge-wear; it's soft to the touch and orange is a beautiful color.. If you like this type of style, you may want to check it out.

I love that the pants are high-waist and the strings add a little character to the outfit.

Grey Ribbed Twist Front Lounge-wear Set:

 https://femmeluxefinery.co.uk/products/grey-ribbed-twist-front-loungewear-set-calley

I think that I might like this one more than the rest of my lounge-wears. I love the twist front and gorgeous fit of this set. It gave me the feeling of wealth. I like wealth😁. Grey is a neutral color and I wouldn't normally go for it but I am glad I did. This is gorgeous. If you like this type of style, make sure to click the link above and check it out.

The material is very stretchy and the outfit is very well made.

Running up the steps like I always do, is even easy while wearing this gorgeous set.

Even watching my favorite Hallmark Christmas movie has never felt better in my gorgeous lounge-wear.

Beige Lounge-wear Tracksuit Set:

 https://femmeluxefinery.co.uk/products/beige-loungewear-tracksuit-set

This cute beige tracksuit set is really lovely. It was the first I opened on my package and I love it. In fact, it is what I was wearing while typing this post for you all. I've never had an outfit in this color before. I mean, I have had many tracksuits in my life. As an athlete, you live in tracksuits lol. I used to live in tracksuits when I was in college. Now, I live in lounge wears lol. This particular style appeals to me. If you're not into all the extra cute stuff in your clothes, this may just be the right choice for you.

It even has simple pockets you can play with.

Even my Zozo likes the pockets. Remember to click the link above to check this out for yourself.

Khaki Crop Lounge-wear Set:

 https://femmeluxefinery.co.uk/products/khaki-crop-jumper-loungewear-set-deanna

This Khaki Crop top lounge-wear is gorgeous. I really really like the color. I like the extra satiny look and touch to the material. It's a first for me and I am digging it lol. 

The pants are cute too and are tight all the way to the ankle and I don't mind that at all. 

Seems like strings are the thing too and I still don't mind lol... The strings bring a little bit of play to the outfit to keep your hands busy when you're nervous lol.

If you like any of these outfits, make sure to click the links next to each title and you will be taken straight to the page where you can make a purchase. 

Thank you for being here today.

You're amazing!

Maryam

MARYAM'S WHOLESOME POTATO SOUP WITH SAUSAGE

Hello wonderful, amazing, sweet and lovely people. How are you all doing today? I hope you're all having a great day and not allowing anyone steal your joy😊. Welcome to Maryam's Joyful World.

I am so excited to be sharing a new recipe with you all today. This particular recipe is one I just thought of and it came together as I moved around in my kitchen. It was delicious too😋.

So, I got up that day thinking about what delicacy I could put together in the kitchen that everyone would love. A different recipe that has vegetables and very nutritious content for the kids and us(me and my sweet man) to enjoy. It was then, that this delicious soup made it's grand entry via my kitchen recipe experimentation😁. Well, everyone my kitchen is my laboratory😂😂. I love coming up with different recipes that I and my family will enjoy and that I could share with you all. I strongly believe in sharing every new hack I find or come up with because there are moms or dads who may need it.

Okay, enough with all the smooth talking😂😂😂, let's get into the recipe.

What You Will Need

- 4 Medium Russet or regular white or red potatoes

- 1/2 A cup chopped onions

- 1 Teaspoon Knorr Beef

- 1/2 Teaspoon salt

- A Tablespoon olive oil

- 5 pieces fried boneless, skinless chicken strips

- 1 Pack Breakfast Sausage cooked and chopped

-  4 fresh medium tomatoes or a can of diced tomatoes

- 1 1/2 cups frozen green peas

- 1/2 frozen yellow corn

- 4 cups of water

- A soup pot

DIRECTION:

-Peel potatoes and chop them into small cube sizes

- Add 2 1/2 cups of water into pot 

-Place pot on stove at medium high

-Let water boil

-Add potatoes and cook until very soft(15 mins)

- Get a masher

-Mash potatoes but leave little chunks still

-Take pot off stove

-Turn off heat

-Get a bowl

-Empty pot content into bowl and set aside

-Rinse pot

- Set aside

- Get a blender or food processor

-Throw tomatoes, chicken strips, peas and corn into it

- Blend using the puree option

-Set aside when done

-Turn on stove to medium heat

-Place pot back on stove

-Heat up for 2 mins

-Add oil

- Throw chopped onions into oil

-Cook until translucent

- Add puree

-Stir in spices 

- Stir until pot content is one beautifully united symphony

- Add 1/2 cup of water and let boil

- Stir in potatoes and cooked chopped sausages 

-Cook at medium heat for about 10-12 mins

-Turn off stove and let simmer for another 5-8 mins

-Serve yourself a wholesome plate and enjoy!

This was very delicious. I hope you are able to recreate this recipe and enjoy it like my family and I did😍.

Thank you for stopping by today. It was my joy sharing this new recipe with you today.

Until next time,

Stay blessed!

Maryam💕

SUMMER FASHION CLOTHING HAUL|| NADINE WEST

Hello wonderful, amazing, sweet and lovely people. How are you all doing today? I hope you're all having a great day today and I hope you're not allowing anybody steal your joy, welcome to Maryam's Joyful Life!

Today is a  beautiful day and I am super excited to be making a post about fashion today. I like clothes and get very excited when I get to tell you about my new finds in my Nadine West Styles package.

I really liked this particular package because all of the pieces in them were very nice and I am going to enjoy every one of them this summer.

Remember you can sign up today on https://www.nadinewest.com/ to get your personalized styles curated for you by one of their amazing stylists.
I hope you give them a try and enjoy opening your package as I do☺️.
Thanks for stopping by to read my blog today. I hope you have an amazing summer and an even more amazing life!

Love,
Maryam
xoxo

PEANUT BUTTER SCOTCH CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

Hello wonderful, amazing sweet and lovely friends. I hope this message meets you well.

As promised, here's the recipe to the most recent baking video I posted.

You may watch the video to see how to mix the ingredients together. Learning to bake takes interest and passion. You've got to have fun with it. You may fail but don't give up. Practice makes perfect. Until you truly start enjoying it, you won't continue long enough to master it.

Here's the list of ingredients you will need:

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour(you can use all purpose flour but make sure to add baking soda about 1 tsp)

1 cup white sugar(granulated)

A sprinkle or 1/4  tsp of salt

1 stick of butter

1 large egg

1/2 a cup butterscotch chips

3 tbps peanut butter

Oven at 350

Vanilla extract(a splash or a tsp)

Timer 12 mins

A regular baking pan

Baking sheet

An Ice cream scoop

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, combine egg, butter, and vanilla extract. With a hand mixer or tool I used in the video, stir until all ingredients are one smoothe paste.

Get your flour, add the salt and mix with a fork.

Add flour to paste.

Mix until you form a mound of caramel colored dough

Add your chips and spread them until evenly distributed throughout the dough.

You're ready to cut your dough into serving size cooking to be baked.

Cut dough with ice cream scoop

Mold into balls with your palm(you don't have to do this part, it's how I did. Do what's best for you).

Get your baking sheet out

Press dough down with ice cream scoop

Place dough about an inch apart from one another

Preheat oven at 350

When oven is ready, place your cookie sheet on the lower rack

Set timer for 12 minutes

When timer goes off,

Get your cookie out and let cool for 5-8 mins

Now you're ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Seal dough that is left with a plastic wrap of aluminum foil. Refrigerate until when needed.

Thanks for checking my blog out today. You're awesome!
Sincerely,

Sweet Maryam

MY SWEET, AMAZING APPLE PIE RECIPE

What's up wonderful, amazing, sweet and lovely people. How are you all doing today? I hope you're all having an amazing day today and not allowing anybody steal your joyyyyy. Welcome to Maryam's Joyful Life. Today is a beautiful day and I've been doing A WHOLE LOTTA IMAGING!

I have been doing a lot of studying about why I think the way I think and how that related to the kind of results I'm getting from life. I must tell you that it's been both eye-opening and mind-blowing. Life doesn't have to be very complicated. But see, I didn't know that. I know that my Bible tells me that God is a god of principles but I didn't know that getting money or achieving great feats also have principles behind them apart from working really hard. I mean, I sort of knew but ONLY very little about it. Well, not anymore. I know now that the universe is controlled and governed by principles set by God. Understanding these principles and how to apply them will give me access to WHATEVER I desire in life.

Matthew 7:7 states that "Ask and it shall be given..." is true. It shouldn't be complicated. It didn't place any limit to how much you can ask. So, I have been asking for BIG THINGS.

The Bible says "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." I am learning to control my mind and reject what I don't want more than ever before because I've got to "guard my heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life." This is from Proverbs. Anyways, I'll just leave you with this: Whatever you want out of life, don't think about reasons why you CAN'T get it, just fix your eyes on it and start acting the way you would as though you already had it. Yes, I'm disciplining myself to do more of that. Let's be GREAT TOGETHER, sweet people! This was supposed to be a recipe post. Sorry, I had to share some sweet life recipes first. Here is the original recipe I had imaged and wanted to share with you.

MY APPLE PIE RECIPE 

You need 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, an egg, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/3 cup of olive oil, a cup of apple pie filling, 1/3 cup of water, half a cup of brown sugar, 3 whole apples and a baking pan. Get your oven preheated at 350 degrees.

Here are pictures to show you:

Chop the apples:

Flour, salt, egg, water and olive oil:

Mix flour, egg, water, salt and olive oil together. Use your hand to combine together. Do it right, it looks like this:

Roll dough on a cutting board with a pin:

It should look like this:

Place it in a pan that was greased up:

Now let's move on to the next. Cooking the chopped apple in water and brown sugar:

Cook the apple for about 10 mins. Then pour content into the pan:

Take some another egg. Beat it and get a brush and brush the top of the crust. Then take the other rolled out dough and place on the top of the filling.

Cut off the excess dough. Like the picture above.

Take your sweet pie and place in the oven:

45 mins later, here's your delicious apple pie!

From the heart of a home-cook, to your homes; My sweet, amazing pie!


ENJOY!

I'll see you next time.
Don't stop dreaming BIG!
LOVE,
MARYAM