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Have you heard of Ivy? She has been blogging for 2 months now rebelling against some of the Lebanese society standards by motivating single girls to make the first move and hopefully have a good valentine this year instead of just waiting for guys to approach them!

Ivy's Mission

In no time, Exotica felt excited about supporting Ivy’s cause, and they were ready to team up with her in organizing a Valentine related event called “Decode My Rose!” which consists of distributing roses to single girls to give to the guys they like!

Two girls from Exotica distributing Ivy's roses at Gemmayze

So I decided to go with my fiancée last night to Gemmayze to check on the Decode My Rose campaign, and yes she made a move on me (as if she needed to do that!) by handing me this one.

The rose I got

And now I just have to decode it…

How to decode your rose

Time to have a look at what the Lebanese bloggers were writing about in the past week. 9 Links for today.

• Traveling back in time
  Maya’s Amalgam
• أبراج شهر شباط/فبراير ٢٠١٠
  Hummus Nation
• Decode My Rose!
  Ivy Says
• Brussles is the New Beirut
  Lebanon News: Under Rug Swept
• Lebanese Women, Diet, and housekeepers
  Zain’s ups & downs
• The Better Daily Star Project.. Here we go!
  The Better Daily Star Project
• Lowering the Voting Age: No Real Impact on Percentage of Christian/Muslim Voters?
  Qifa Nabki
• my nineties
  Posh Lemon
• When life gives you lemon – Make coffee!
  Beirut/NTSC

See you next week!

This is hilarious! I wonder if Nadim Gemayel and Michael Moawad laughed at it too…

It’s that time of the week again! 10 links for this roundup.

• the “Black Box” is the Lebanese state
  B-side Beirut
• A Beautiful Ski Day in Faraya
  Blogging Beirut
• Deja new…
  Beirut/NTSC
• Quid Pro Quo
  Qifa Nabki
• Things My kids will never be turned on by (unnaturally)
  Bazella W Rez
• Red Roses For A Blue Lady
  Beirut Drive-by Shooting
• And so we’re racist
  Independence ‘05
• Beirut: Sex And The City Meets South Beach.
  Ivy Says
• مياه الشفة: لن ننساك أبداً
  Hummus Nation
• Fanart#8 + interview
  Maya Zankoul

See you next week!

I came across this store while driving through Tarik Al-Jadida today. Apparently Victoria Beckham found it too expensive to rent a place in Downtown.

And check the small sign on top of the door

They have another branch for Kids wear! (Named after Victoria’s son maybe)

Another week passes by, and here’s the link roundup with 10 new links.

• Cisco Internships in USA and Lebanon
  Blogging Beirut
  A good opportunities for Lebanese students!
  
• More Nahr Ibrahim Hiking
  Sietske in Beiroet
  More photos from Sietske taken at Nahr Ibrahim.
• GIVEAWAY: Fringe Complete Season 1 DVDs
  Identity Chef
  Here’s your opportunity to win Fringe Season 1 DVDs on Valentine’s day.
  
• Parking in Lebanon
  Qifa Nabki
  Funny parking stories from Beirut.
• Driving in Lebanon 26
  Manamania
  Driving in Lebanon is a series I’ve been following on Manamania, and here’s a new funny episode.
• What The Drink You Order Says About You- the Lebanese Version
  Ivy Says
  Is it true?
• هيبة الدولة وجنط الرينو ١٢
  Hummus Nation
  It’s a rims republic!!
• Parkophobia
  Incoglilo
  Liliane is complaining about the parking problem in congested areas.
• Bloggers Face-OFF: Darine Sabbagh vs. Rami Fayoumi
  chanty
  Yes that’s me vs. Darine Sabbagh at blogging related questions!
• A new era begins…
  Maya’s Amalgam
  Maya’s blog is now self hosted! Mabrouk!

See you next week!

Sniffing powder to get an energy boost? That’s the ultimate “faseid”!!

Whoever thought of importing this to Lebanon is a corrupt mind. It simply makes it easy on drug addicts to practice their “tizyii7″ habits publicly while pretending it’s the Bullshot powder!

7 links for today’s roundup:

• Nahr Ibrahim Hike
  Sietske in Beiroet
  Sietske picks another marvelous place in Lebanon to visit.
  
• Men, Flu & Marketing 1.0: Lessons in resisting change
  Identity Chef
  Darine compares the behavior of old marketing managers to a man’s resistance to take medicines.
  
• Bloggers Face-OFF: Maya Zankoul vs. Youssef Alam
  Chanty
  Chantal asks quick questions to several Lebanese bloggers and displays the answers side by side.
  
• kibot/HELP HAITI
  the adventures of kibot
  Kibot helping Haiti’s earthquake victims, nice of him!
  
• Sent from my laptop – with love!
  Maya’s Amalgam
  Maya got annoyed of the silly signatures people end their e-mails with when they’re using their mobile devices.
• Hayda Khateeby Ya ^**%%%%
  Ivy says
  Turned out the guy that Ivy was seeing is engaged. What’s remarkable actually is the reaction of the other girl!
• الدواخين في الوجدان
  Hummus Nation
  The central bank of Hummus Nation issuing new banknotes!

See you next week!

Two days ago I went to the newly opened Beirut Souks, Beirut’s new largest shopping area, which was rebuilt by Solidere according to the original grid plan and location of the old souks that were destructed during the civil war while maintaining the landmarks and street names.

To my disappointment, the new Beirut Souks look nothing similar to the image I have in my mind for the old Beirut, and I’m pretty sure the new image defies the memories that old people who knew the old souks have in their mind.

Souk El Tawileh (via yabeyrouth.com)

In my opinion Solidere did a horrible job at preserving our heritage there as the new souks no longer reflect the real identity of Beirut, in fact the new souks have no identity at all! Nothing inside that big mall makes you feel like you’re in Beirut except for the “decorative” street plates of course. Be the judge yourself by looking at the photos I took below, it can be Dubai, Paris, or whatever other city!

Add to that the fact that the old souks were a destination to almost all society classes prior to the civil, while right now Beirut Souks is another destination for the snobbish people in Lebanon, I really cannot imagine a low income individual being able to spend a day there. Once again, Solidere probably had the Arab tourists in mind when they designed this place! Just like what they did when they were rebuilding the other parts of the central district.

To me, the Hamra street is a much more authentic Beiruti street than the new Souks of Beirut, though it is full of new restaurants and outlet stores but it has at least maintained its spirit throughout the years.

At the end, I will leave you with this comparative video between the old souks of Beirut and the new ones.