Blue Abaya Ramadan Giveaway!

I'm excited to announce some new developments for Blue Abaya! Some of you may have noticed that "Blue Abaya Photography" has opened a fan page on Facebook. Blue Abaya has also opened a store on Society6, a network where artists all over the world sell their artworks. Take advantage of the FREE Worldwide shipping PROMO exclusively for Blue Abaya Photography customers who order before July 14th midnight PST by clicking this link.


The Blue Abaya Photography store offers Saudi themed art prints, stretched canvas, iPad covers, laptop and iPad skins, throw pillows and stationery cards. These items will be the prizes for Blue Abaya's first ever giveaway!

To celebrate Ramadan, Blue Abaya wants to thank all the fans for the continuous support by offering you amazing prizes from the online store! These would be ideal as Eid gifts or Saudi themed souvenirs to take back home to your loved ones.

It's very simple and easy to participate in the giveaway with just a click of your mouse. Anyone in any country can participate. There are different ways available how to earn 'points' which each count as votes, which the Rafflecopter program will automatically draw a winner from after the giveaway ends July 20th.

The only obligatory step is to 'like' Blue Abaya Photography on Facebook. Do this by signing into your FB account and then just click 'like' on the giveaway box below. If you're already a fan on FB, just click on the "I'm a fan" option and you will be automatically added to the system. After doing this the program opens up the rest of the options!

You can tweet about the giveaway, pin it on Pinterest, or leave a blog post comment for example. You can share it everyday to earn more points, the more you have the better your chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


There are three different prizes up for grabs worth up to 120 USD. You can participate in each giveaway once daily. To view the different giveaways, click on the little arrow on the side of the image in the giveaway box to browse.

The prizes are a choice of iPhone cover by Blue Abaya Photography, check out all the available designs here. The covers fit iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, iPod touch and Samsung Galaxy S4.  Made of impact-resistant, flexible plastic hard case.
Here are some examples of the phone cases, there are over 20 designs to choose from in the store.

The second prize is an iPad cover of your choice from the Blue Abaya Photography line, check out all the available designs here. The iPad cover fits on iPad 2nd, 3rd, 4th Gen and iPad Mini.
These are some of the covers available in the store:

The third prize is a Throw Pillow size 16"x16" of your choice from the Blue Abaya Photography store. Check out all the designs by clicking this link.
Some of the pillow case designs:

Exotic Paradox: Expats Blog In Saudi Arabia

The following is an excerpt from an article published in Newsline November 2012 issue. Journalist Naima Rashid writes about the three most popular expat blogs written by foreign wives to Saudis; American Bedu, Susie of Arabia and Blue Abaya. She talks about what all these blogs have in common, and how they offer a unique perspective and window into the Saudi culture.The entire article can be read on Newsline and for Blue Abaya readers here's a extract of the article and the Blue Abaya part itself.

Exotic paradox: Expats Blog in Saudi Arabia

"For several reasons, the Saudi culture is impenetrable to the outsider. An almost sacred guardianship of private space makes access to it pretty near impossible. A large part of life in Saudi Arabia takes place indoors or in metaphorical ‘chambers’ accessible only to insiders. "

"A curious axis around which are clustered three of the most interesting blogs is matrimony. Foreign wives married to Saudis have long held the banner high for cultural chronicling in the form of blogs. Their initiative created a niche in a territory that was virgin when they started, but which has since thrived. The best known among them come from cultures diametrically opposed to the Saudi culture,  namely American and Finnish. "

"These blogs go by names seeped in a charge of orientalism that comes from juxtaposing evocations of opposite cultures and to some extent, a sense of free-spiritedness and rebellion (‘American Bedu’, ‘Susie’s Big Adventure: An American woman moves to Saudi Arabia’, ‘Blue Abbaya: A Scandinavian Princess in the Magic Kingdom’). "

"...the authors, coming from Western cultures and a background in Western education, bring a natural ease of expression, documentary zest, outspokenness and an analytical bent of mind to bear upon the superset of their experiences in Saudi Arabia. Being married to Saudis, they have a direct canal to the culture they are tackling through the deep end – direct immersion. Where their clarity of observation, their willing embrace of a foreign culture, and the amusing contrasts between an Eastern and a Western culture meet, a thing of great value and beauty is created."

 "The third blog in the trio is called Blue Abbaya. Much younger than the other two, Laylah, in her early thirties,  is a Finnish nurse married to a Saudi, living in Riyadh and blogging since 2009. Susie and Carol have openly divulged their identity, but Laylah blogs with more discretion, and while her blog is all about Saudi culture through the prism of her personal experiences, she doesn’t always divulge her personal coordinates as openly."

"Her blog has a more distinct character than the other two, and her writing, detailed and diary-like. She has a very strong personality that comes across quite forcefully in her writings – witty, unforgiving in her sarcasm, sharp in her observations but aggressively positive in her conclusions. Between her spirit of forward motion, and her signature bite is the spice that marks her writing."

"Reading her blog, one traverses two regions equally mysterious to many – Finland and Saudi Arabia, and her blog pierces the mystery of both lands to offer us a window into both cultures through the eyes of somebody who embodies them both to some extent.

After surviving the tragic-comical challenge of a wedding à la Saoudienne, it’s been a mildly bumpy ride, to say the least, but her Finnish hardiness has helped her keep her feet firmly on the ground. Some unavoidable, amusing and enlightening comparisons between the Finnish and the Saudi way of life, whether they emerged unconsciously as survival tactics, or as a conscious reflection about the cultural polarity she embodies, make for some delightful traipsing for the culture vulture. 

Scandinavian ice and deserts of Arabia are physical reliefs, but like all environment, they become landscapes of the mind at some point. In ‘Blue Abbaya’, blue is the colour of the Finnish sky, and the abbaya is a cultural norm of Saudi Arabia. In its name and its nature, the blog is defined by the richly opposed but co-existing worlds that the author is part of, and the best and worst of which peppers her real and virtual space."

"In one post that went on to become a hot favourite, Laylah is choosing her make-up style for a wedding. Before she concludes upon an understated European look, she runs her readers through some popular make-up styles, naming each one with her characteristic sly wit. The list includes the poison-ivy look, the Herpes look, the raccoon look, the peacock look, the angry owl look, the Boy George look, the spider look and last but not the least, the measles look!

As a general rule, nurses are great people to gossip with in Saudi Arabia. The nature of their work and the sheer range of exposure across all social classes that they have access to in the course of a working day make them great story-tellers. Perhaps, the best stories they have to narrate are those relating to royalty and its pomp and decorum  as they have witnessed in the corridors of the VIP wings in hospitals.

 Some of Laylah’s most delicious anecdotes are about royalty and set in the King Faisal Hospital, Riyadh, where she works. ‘The Princess and the Pimple’ is a tale about a spoilt princess who wakes up one morning with a pimple on her face and throws a tantrum, as a result, her pimple is treated with more protocol than other human lives. 

‘The Royal Morgue’ is an unforgettable Chekhovian sketch of what happens when a member of the royal family is deceased in a hospital, the image of princesses in expensive abbayas and smelling of high-priced attars accumulating like ravens around the body of the deceased and the nurses hiding in the corridors and making themselves scarce for fear of offending anyone from the royal family.

Unsurprisingly then, the most colourful  yarns in Saudi Arabia, the most informative as well as the most entertaining, and the ones that rip open its cultural core, lie beyond the bland prose of newspapers, beyond the country’s few bookshops and television channels, along yet another diagonal axis."
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        -  Naima Rashid


Published in Newsline, November issue.

Awesomeness And How To Get Free Finnish Pancakes

I'm so thrilled to announce that Blue Abaya has been nominated for the second time as finalist in the category Best Asian Weblog at the annual Weblog Awards, The Bloggies! Blue Abaya is the only Middle-Eastern blog among the five finalists!

How awesome is that folks?

Like really amazingly awesome.

Thank you for those fans and readers out there who nominated Blue Abaya! Could not have done it without you :)

In fact I'm feeling so super duper happy and grateful that I promise Finnish pancakes and pulla for everyone if Blue Abaya wins :) In case you're Romanian, by 'pulla' I'm not referring to that certain organ, but a very special, fluffy and moist CINNAMON ROLL!

So, in order for you to collect your goodies, click on this link: http://2013.bloggi.es/

Scroll down to Best Asian category which looks like this:

Then scroll all the way down to enter your email address and word verification. Then go to your email and click on the link to verify your vote.
And you're done!
It only takes approximately 7-29 seconds depending on your typing skills and internet speed.
Surely you can spare me those few seconds right? Just think of that delicious pancake and heavenly pulla I'll be sending your way IF I win.

Check out and vote for other blogs too! Well except for the ones in my category hehe, although all of them are also awesome.
This is a great chance to discover new interesting blogs.
Some of my favorites:
BEST AFRICAN: My Marrakesh Beautiful photos, inspiring designs and ideas.
BEST PET BLOG: Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund. Cute, funny, entertaining.
BEST PARENTING BLOG: Parenting, Illustrated by crappy pictures Hilarious blog about parenting that every parent can relate to.
MOST HUMOROUS: The Oatmeal another illustrated blog that will have you laughing for hours!
                                    Suri's Burn Book Suri Cruise comments on fellow child celebrity outfits
BEST TRAVEL BLOG: The Unbrave Girl Interesting destinations explored by the very funny Unbrave Girl "encouraging scaredy cats since 2009"
BEST PHOTOGRAPHY OF A WEBLOG: Canvas of Light Simply stunning photography, amazing blog design.
BEST ARTS & CRAFTS BLOG: How about Orange? really cool and inspirational DIY ideas
WEBLOG OF THE YEAR: The Bloggess Possibly the best blog in the world IMHO

THANK YOU!