The New Marriage Rule: Age Matters

I recently read this article in the new Cosmo that claims that when it comes to being in a successful marriage the age you (the girl) got married matters. They set the magic number at 25; however I didn't quite understand if they were suggesting that magic number to be the minimum age or the prime age.

So why 25?

Turns out, the more years of higher education a woman has under her belt on her wedding day, the lower the chances that she’ll get divorced…and by 25, you’re more likely to have earned a degree or two. “Educated women tend to be more confident about who they are and less willing to settle for a man who doesn’t meet their standards,” explains Terri Orbuch, PhD, author of Five Simple Steps to Take Your Marriage From Good to Great.

I can relate to that statement. Not that I define myself by my academic achievements, but it's definitely a contributor to my self-confidence.

Odds are that by 25 you’re also supporting yourself, so there’s less incentive for you to rush into marriage because you’re seeking financial security from him.

Makes sense! At this point in life I'm not financially independent, but I know that in the future I will have the means to be. I would never rush into a marriage for financial security....maybe other types of security would cause me to be rash and jump into something, but it definitely wouldn't be financial security!

One of my friends who got married young was pretty blunt about the fact that financial security was a big part in her decision.

At 25, you’ve had time for some crucial life experiences, including a relationship or two that may have improved your Mr. Right radar.

Now that I can definitely attest to! My priorities and "make-it-or-break-it"s are definitely different than what they were when I was 18 fresh out of high school, and when I was 22 fresh out of college, and even when I was 23 fresh out of my masters program. This is mainly due to experiences that I've had with guys who I thought could really be "the one".

Agree? Disagree? either way the article is an interesting, easy read.

The New Marriage Rule: Age Matters

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Guess whose going to Miami?????

It's black and gold to the Super Bowl baby! Both the Saints and the Vikings played equally sucky driving the game into a very tense over time. It was all in Hartley's hands as he has to make a field goal from 43 yards away.

I cried and cried and cried and I was so happy. We will remember this moment for the rest of our lives:



So now it's time to party in the MIA

Bring 'Em To The Dome!!!

Forty minutes till game time and we are ready!!!!

"It's our house It's our house It's our house!"

No matter what ends up happening tonight I'm so proud of my Saints!

A little bit of what I've been up to lately

So everytime I want to resume blogging I decide there's too much going on and don't know where to start. Then I get overwhelmed with deciding what topic to blog about and decide "efff this". So I decide to do some micro-blogging for those that still take interest in this blog.

1) This semester is raping me. 23 credits, 11 classes. Literally speaking school is my life 90% of the time. I take comfort in telling myself that one day it'll all be worth it and that I'm taking my expanding ass to Costa Rica for Spring Break.

2) I paid what felt like a million dollars to attend a Saints game-my first and only of this season. I decided it was worth it considering the amazing season they've had and that was something I wanted to be part of. They lost that day to like the worst team ever. The best team in the NFC loses to the worst team in the NFC and coincidentally this has to happen on the one game I could attend. The arab in me wanted to rip the chair off the ground it was attached to and toss it down below.

3) Randy came to visit. Ever since her divorce to butt-face she's definitely been making some serious changes in herself. She's not so much that materialistic diva I grew up with. Regardless of that we spent her time here going to some of the most exclusive spas and eating out at some famous restaurants.

4) I'm renting a really nice condo, in a really nice building, in a trendy hip part of town. We just got served papers that our place is going into foreclosure. I don't understand what these landlords are doing with our rent money if they're not paying their mortgages!

5) MTV's The Jersey Shore has been one of my favorite guilty pleasures. A couple weeks ago I was out with a friend and I had to go to the bathroom really bad. I couldn't hold it anymore so I ran to the closest restaurant and guess who I sighted there? Snookie!

6) Socially speaking things have been weird. I've been losing ties to some of my closest colleagues. This is mostly due to the fact that clubbing and drinking is not something I do and that they have found shopping, eating out, hookah cafes, and the movies to become less exciting. I also feel pretty disconnected with the arab/muslim crowd of my class. For the most part it's a group of fake, insecure people who try too hard to fit in. Actually my new class is largely like that. It's like go back to high school people!

7) Things in the love department however have been going great. Allahu a3lam though. I try not to over-analyze, obsess over everything, and have all kinds of demands and expectations like I used to. We've successfully worked through some rough patches and were able to come out of them with greater admiration, respect, and understanding for the other. Whatever is meant to happen will happen and for right now I'm very content with the way things are.

8) One of my greatest fears in life came true. A person that is very dear to me admitted to me recently that around a year ago she had discovered my blog (the old one actually). She was able to easily figure out it was me and to also easily figure out where I was talking about her. She was hurt about some of what I said and thought I was a "complete bitch". She made the decision to not tell me about it then.

ZEITOUN: You have to read this book!

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers is the true story of a Muslim family's experience during and after Hurricane Katrina. It's the story of a tragedy that unfolded out of a different kind of tragedy. It's a tale of of family, faith, the unconditional human bond as well as a story of catastrophic incompetence, xenophobia, and injustice that will leave a mark on you if not make you cry.

The book starts out slow and sweet with an autobiographical tone recalling the upgringing of Abdulrahman in a Syrian coastal town and Kathy's independent conversion into Islam. However once the action picks up the story sucks you in with suspense. The story took a turn that I definitely wasn't expecting when I knew I was reading a book about the effects of the great storm. I actually read the second half in one sitting and when it finished I wanted more!

Kudos to Dave Eggers for taking interest in the story of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun!

Well HELLOOOOO Blogosphere!

I've successfully completed a semester of my pre-professional health program (for lack of better words yall)! I mean not only did I not fail anything, but I had some damn good grades. I took a total of 8 finals and as soon as I finished my last one and knew I did great it may have been one of the most happiest moments of my life. Is that like sad or what? It didn't even bother me so much that after my last final by car refused to start and my phone stopped working. I just kept thinking how wonderful life is!

So now I'm home on my 3 week break and I don't think I've ever been so free in my adult life. I've never had like absolutely nothing that I needed to do. Even during school breaks I was always studying for some kind of makeup exam, working on a paper I got an extension for, or doing some kind of volunteer work I pre-committed to. I made a list of mini-goals to accomplish during my break, but so far I've just been bumming it and spending a lot of time at Starbucks withe Angela, on Suzy's couch, or eating out with Randy. I almost feel guilty being so free....almost :)

Hope you have a good break!

Controversial author Norma Khouri comments on my blog post about her

It was humbling to have author Fadi Faqir visit my old blog and send me her book. It was very exciting to have artist Ena Vie comment on my blog post praising her, and now Norma Khouri replied to my post Investigating Norma Khouri in Forbidden Lie$.

Is it really her? I guess there's no way to be totally sure. If it is, I thank you Norma Khouri for taking the time out of your schedule to address my post and some of the following comments.

Unfortunately I'm in the middle of an intense finals time so I just don't have the time to appropriately reply. I just really wanted to give any of you interested readers out there the opportunity to reply to her comment that I'm copying and pasting below. Maybe we can have have a constructive discussion over it.

norma(jdoit@lycos.com) said...
Hello, I am Norma Khouri. You can believe whatever you like about what my intentions were or are...my intentions from the start were to raise international awareness of the existence of these crimes and the Jordanian Laws which allow for them to continue. Rana Husseini was one of the first reporters to write about Honor Killings....the problem was that she was publishing the stories in the Jordanian Times...a small local circulation english language paper in Jordan...which was not even available on the internet...and still does not archive any of its articles on the net to this day. Now for someone who lives in Europe or the US or any other country other than Jordan...how were they going to become aware of such crimes??? no other media was reporting on it...womens rights issues have never been a media priority unless there were political reasons to report on them as in the case of Afghanistan.

As to KJ...the original US version of the book is actually stamped "fiction"...the book created problems for Jordan...too much attention was being focused on them as a result of the book...that is clearly evidenced in the articles that Jordan published where government officials are quoted as saying that they are receiving too much pressure from the UN and the US "as though this is the only place this happens". Amnesty conducted its own investigation into the number of honor killings that occur there...you should check that report out, so did the UN.

The media and the documentary make a lot of outrageous claims...controversy sells...they also claim I am wanted by the FBI...call the FBI yourself and ask if I am wanted?? I am not. i live and work and pay taxes in the US, I am not in hiding. The money from the book and from the documentary is going to human rights groups...it does not even come through me to go to them...it goes directly to them from publishers and film company...Maybe I should have done it for money...I wouldn't be working 70 hours a week to pay a mortgage and bills... Norma