text: We paid Al Maryah Island a visit as we were very curious about the newly opened high-end Galleria Mall. It was so beautiful inside, but just as I have said earlier, it was high end - meaning most of their shops are the likes of Louis Vuitton, Prada, etc. If you are willing to splurge then this is the mall for you, but for us who are short on budget we just feast our eyes on the marvelous displays of the shop and the view of the mall itself.
  Then we passed by the much talked about Magnolia Bakery inside the Galleria. This cafe is very famous in New York for its cakes.
  The restaurant itself has a very rustic ambience. It was simple yet elegant. The pastel colors of the interior are really relaxing. The service was excellent, too. The staff was so nice to even give my kids a sample of one of their best sellers - the red velvet cupcake. The only thing that I noticed was that most of the customers raised brows when they saw a Filipino family dining in this restaurant. The staff was not racist, but the customers were. But you know what - I didn't care, as we were paying customers, too.
  We ordered the last piece of their carrot cake, which was the best that I have tasted so far. Now I know why it is so popular. We also tried their red velvet cheesecake and the mini cupcakes were given for free by the staff. The cakes were perfect for my hot milk tea, which was served in this country style mug.
  The price was awesome. At first I thought it was expensive because it is a franchise of the popular Magnolia Bakery in New York, but I was totally wrong. It was very affordable. A slice of cake costs around AED 20 to 30, which costs almost the same as the ones we order from Starbucks, Dome, etc.
  Dining here was such a delight and I will make sure to sit here and relax whenever we are in the area.
  These guys have a pretty unique approach for customization. Depending on the amount of Karma points, you can choose different creatures to represent your Plurk timeline. Other than that, you can customize the color scheme of your profile page, but it's limited as to how much you can do.
  There's currently no API for Plurk and it would be pretty interesting to see what people do with it. The interface here is definitely worth checking out.
  I've been playing with Plurk for a few days now and so far, it's pretty cool. I'd like to see how this develops. For now, I'll be sticking with Twitter because it's a lot simpler, and I have it integrated with this blog. Follow me!
  Evolving from a piece of lace, these earrings are intricate and beautifully detailed. Each piece has been cast in sterling silver, before being hand-plated and assembled in LoveHate’s Melbourne studio.
  LoveHate jewellery is delicately handcrafted using high quality materials. Each piece is so versatile that you can wear it lots, however there’s some places it doesn’t like to go:
  Water is not a friend to delicate jewellery, so it’s best to remove it before you go for a dip or exercise.
  Let your sunscreen/moisturiser dry before putting your jewellery on and avoid spraying perfume near it (as it can discolour).
  Store your jewellery in its box when not in use and away from humid environments such as the bathroom.
  A republic is a government where the country’s political power comes from the citizens, not the rulers, and is put into use by representatives elected by the citizens. The Oromos elected their leaders as their representatives. For this reason, Oromia was a republic even before Ethiopia was. Ethiopia has never done a free and fair election that did not involve coercion of citizens. This makes Oromia ahead of Ethiopia!… In fact, this puts Oromia and Ethiopia in different leagues.
  Oromia changed its leaders peacefully every eight years while Ethiopia has never ever changed leaders without violence.
  Gadaa is a republic that involves Oromos electing their leaders for 8 years, with recall at the fourth year based on performance during the first four years. If an elected Abba Gadaa did not fulfill the task, he will be replaced by another from the already elected cabinet.
  The United States is a republic. So the president is the Commander in Chief of the military as power in a republic is always held by elected officials. The framers did not want a professional military leader as chief of the military, they wanted a civilian elected by the people.
  To live in a Gadaa Republic, you do not have to be an Oromo. The Konso, Garba and Garri have been living under the Boorana Gadaa. The Sidaama also practice some form of Gadaa.
  Before the world, we had a republic in which government is for and by the people. All the current generation has to do is look in its back yard, shine the Gadaa of our forefathers and shoot like a star across time horizon to the future. Look back to go forward!
  It is not leaders we lack, it is the idea that leads we should look for. We have that if we choose to use it.