December 25, 2013

Have yourself a Berry Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! Have a very pretty day. I wish you the best of God's love, joy, peace, harmony, and blessings. All this and more to you, in Jesus' name. Amen!
PS... Watch out for my next post!

December 18, 2013

Cafe Maison aka Cafe MaiDON'T EVER IN YOUR LIFE!

Hey guys,

I don't like to give bad reviews of places or products, but I will if my experience was bad. Well, yesterday evening, I had dinner with my Bloggirls aka Power Puff Girls at Cafe Maison in Lekki. We wanted somewhere quiet where we could have some wine, gist and eat something decent. Stylefash said she had been there a few times and that they had lovely wraps. So, I headed there at about 7pm. I was annoyed about something else already, so I looked forward to the outing. Here are my 10 reasons why it was 2,850 disasters!!!


  1. When I got there, Fash and Bex told me they'd been moved from the section by the windows, because the cafe needed to set up for an event coming up the next day. Fair enough... although, I don't see how/why they couldn't have done the set up (which was just 3 tables put together) after we left. 
  2. Fash and I asked for glasses of red wine, and the waiter went off and came back saying they didn't have any wine. They had sparkling wine, which we didn't want, and asked for other options. We finally settled on Baileys, of which they had only individual-size bottles. 
  3. The waiter went off and came back saying they only had 2 of those mini-Baileys. So three of us had to share them among ourselves. No biggie.
  4. At about 8:00pm, NEPA/PHCN took light and it took an hour before power was restored because...
  5. Cafe Maison DID NOT have diesel for their generator!!! I'm sorry but how does a restaurant not notice that their diesel is almost finished? What does it take for the manager to make sure that there is always a can of diesel, in case the generator runs out?
  6. We ordered our food maybe 5 minutes before NEPA struck (approximately 7:55pm) and the waiter said it would take 15 minutes for the food to be ready. How about our food came at 8:50pm, after we asked them where our food was, and because they still hadn't gotten the diesel, we had to start eating using candles and our phones' lights.
  7. Me: I would like a Tuscan Sausage Panini. Please make sure there is no cheese in it.
    Waiter: Okay.
    *after Bex and Fash ordered their food...*
    Me: Please don't forget o. No cheese.
    Waiter: Okay.
    *50 minutes later in the dark, our food comes*
    Me: This sandwich tastes funny. Shey there's no cheese in it?
    Waiter: No, no cheese.
    *douses panini in ketchup because there's something I don't like about the taste*
    Me: Please can you confirm with the chef that there's no cheese.
    *waiter goes to the kitchen and comes back*
    Waiter: There's no cheese.
    *not too long after, power is restored and I can see my sandwich clearly*
    Me: Excuse me, can you go back to the kitchen and ask your chef if there's mozzarella in my food?*waiter goes to the kitchen and comes back*
    Waiter: Yes, there's mozzarella in the sandwich.

    *blank stare + rolling eyes + confusion + annoyed face + exasperation = BERRY* 

    In what world does a chef not know that mozzarella is cheese?!?!?!? If you said it was some random village somewhere, okay. BUT THIS IS LEKKI!!!!!!!!
  8. We all were very annoyed at this point, and said we wouldn't pay full price for the food because their service was terrible, the food order was wrong, and the one hour without light was stupid. They still brought a bill with the full price. After we raked a little, the manager said he would remove only N1000 from the bill!
  9. We explained that N1000 was not good enough. In fact, other good places might have said the drinks were on the house, or they would have removed the food item that they had gotten wrong. We told them to call the owner and explain, so we would see what he would do about it. They came back to say, the owner said they should take off 10% from the bill. Guess how much 10% came up to... a little over N1000!!!!!!!!!! *my wheel needed to be taken at that point*
  10. They eventually agreed to knock off N2000, and we decided among ourselves to split the bill evenly. The waiter brought the POS and stared at us when I told him how much we each were going to pay - N2850. He called his coworker and told him that we said we wanted to share the bill, and they brought out a calculator to figure out how much we were going to pay - the same N2850... DUH!!! I told you already!!!!!!
Stylefash was soooo upset and kept on apologizing for recommending the restaurant. I want to say that they had a simply, terribly OFF day, but I'm not sure. It was without a doubt, one of my worst dining experiences EVER!!!


Follow on Bloglovin

December 16, 2013

Random "Food" Things You Didn't Know About Berry

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas is a-comin and bells a-ringin!

Okay, that's not true, but I'm trying to get you ready for Christmas which is barely a week away!!!!!!!!! Funnest times, innit?!

I'm random obviously, so I decided to share random info about me and food.
  1. I have never eaten a club sandwich! *gasp* Why, you ask? Because I'm picky about eggs. I don't like them boiled and when fried, they must be beaten properly and well done.
    Source
  2. I don't like frozen ice cream. As in, if it's not soft-ish, I will gladly chuck it in the microwave so it can melt to my satisfaction.
    Source


  3. I don't like cheese at all, but I LOVE pizza! Yes, I know it doesn't make sense, but IT DOES! I will not eat any pizza that is just cheese, or one in which I can smell the cheese. YUCK!
    Source
  4. I won't eat lamb, ram, and any animals that look like goats because I hate goat meat. And to my invisible but not invisible reader (you know who you are), rams look like goats NOT small cows - see below)
    Source  -THIS IS A GOAT
    Source - THIS IS A RAM
    Source - THIS IS A COW... How does a ram look like a small cow? HOW? HOW COW?! COW HOW?!
  5. This one is prejudicial so I'm asking for forgiveness in advance... I will happily try (almost any) random food from any other country, but put random Nigerian food in front of me, and I will gag! By random, I mean things like ukwa (igbo food) that I still don't understand why people eat.  


That concludes the random information for the day. Stay pretty :)

Follow on Bloglovin

December 13, 2013

What To Do This Weekend

Hey peoples,

There's a ton of stuff to do this weekend. Alas, I would really just prefer to sleep all day long in bed! But these are Admiralty Way in Lekki ings I could potentially get out of bed for...

COPA LAGOS - Beach Soccer Tournament. Sorry the picture isn't clear. First of all, I'm not exactly interested in soccer, so that isn't the draw for me. There are supposed to be entertainment acts, fashion shows, and shopping this weekend - THAT is what interests me. Unfortunately, there isn't a schedule of the shows, so I'm not sure what's happening when. That's a deterrent. I might just show up randomly and see what's happening though. It is holding at Eko Atlantic, near Bar Beach in VI* 


BIG 60 - A WHITE SPACE - Sorry again for the poor picture (dear people that have events, please submit clear pictures to Bella Naija, that I can copy and post here!). Big 60 is essentially a month of events at this venue called, A White Space. My friend and I went to a few things there at the beginning of the year and had a lot of fun. This is for the artsy, hipster kinda crowd. The point is, go on any random evening and there'll be something to look at, eat, drink, buy, watch, etc. If all else fails, take pictures in the photo booth and scram! A White Space is located at 58 Raymond Njoku Street, Ikoyi.

LE GRANDE MARCHE - Yup, more shopping on Sunday at COPA LAGOS! Again, Eko Atlantic, off Bar Beach in VI.
 

J.MOSS AT THE WATERBROOK! My church is hosting J. Moss this Sunday, but at This Present House at 5:00pm. TPH is located at the end of Admiralty Way in Lekki. m not sure I know any of his songs, so I should be watching his videos on YouTube to get familiar.


Okay, that's about it.

Have a pretty weekend and smile at someone. :)

Follow on Bloglovin

December 11, 2013

The New Nigerian Drivers License Saga continues...

So, remember how I announced that Nigerian drivers licences were being changed, and the deadline was September 30th? Well, of course this is Nigeria, and they postponed the deadline to God knows when. Anyways, since Cakes and I had already started the process, we've continued with it, just in case.

We were supposed to go back to the Licensing Office for our data capture some time in October. Unfortunately, my handsome fiance thought it would be an awesomely great idea to go there 2 hours late. How about the Licensing officers didn't think it was that awesome OR great, and told us to come back in December? As we drove off, I put it in my phone calender with reminders... which reminds me, I'm still not used to the non-American way of writing dates. I mistake the date for the month. Whenever writing dates, I have to say the day and month out loud. Like today, I would say, "December Eleventh. Day comes before month. So write 11/12, not 12/11." And then I always verify that it's correct.

ANYWAYS.................................

We went to the Licensing Office yesterday morning at 7:15am for a 9:00am appointment, because we heard that it can take up to 8-10 hours to get your fingerprints and picture taken (don't ask me why or how). We waited outside with others until the gate (because the actual office building has a gate for entry, not a door) was opened an hour later. Of course, being Nigeria, people were running and pushing so they could get a seat in front. Cakes just walked briskly in front of me, while holding my hand (so chivalrous, innit?). After sitting for maybe 30 minutes, we were asked to submit our documents, which we did.

After another 30 minutes, they started weeding out forms submitted by people who had missed their original appointments, or were missing one thing or another. This took a lot of shouting back and forth between customers and licensing officers. When all that was done, they told the rest of us to go home and come back next year.

*blank stare*

So basically, we sat in that place for 3 hours just to submit paperwork?!?!?!?

Good luck to anyone else going through this process.

Follow on Bloglovin

December 9, 2013

What I'm Listening To - Always

Hey pretty people! I hope you had a pretty weekend :)

I did. Guess who I sawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! No, not Fu-leh-vuh N'Abania. But close enough! D'Banj :D. He performed at a corporate event on Friday night. Tiwa Savage performed too, but Cakes and I were late due to the maddening (or as Cakes calls it, demonic) traffic, so we caught D'Banj only. I have a short clip of his performance on Instagram. All I can say is, "His Waist!!!"

Anyways, the title of my post is incorrect. The real title is What I'm Obsessed With - Always.

Over the weekend, Cakes and I saw The Bestman Holiday. Personally, I prefer the first film and I don't see what was so awesomely great about this one. Maybe my expectations were too high? Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised to hear one of my favorite songs in the film, during a significant scene. Stevie Wonder's original version was used in The Bestman, and for this new film, the song was remade by Anthony Hamilton and Marsha Ambrosius. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this new version. So much so that I slept at 2:30am last night, replaying the song and I've listened to it 20 times this morning (it's only 10am, so do the math).

Without further ado, let's all listen to Always (or As, depending on which Youtube video you're watching).


  1. STEVIE WONDER - AS



    Mr. Stevie Wonder, you are a master genius for writing this song!
  2. ANTHONY HAMILTON & MARSHA AMBROSIUS - ALWAYS



    By the way, I think Marsha is underrated and should be much bigger than she is!!! Her voice is ah-MAH-zing!

    Oh, and if your body starts to tingle from this version, I was not there by that time o! Drink cold water or jump into the nearest freezer.


Alrighty, I gotta go find go take an ice bath...

Toodles, pretty poodles, and stir-fried noodles!
Berry :)




Follow on Bloglovin

December 3, 2013

#287 Reason Why I'm Getting Married...

Have you ever woken up late on a Tuesday morning, and realized that even though you organized your closet and already have an outfit picked out, you forgot to iron said outfit, and now it's too late to go downstairs and wake up the housekeeper to ask for the iron, so instead you rush a bath and grab a strapless dress from your closet, and just before you run out of your room, you realize that you can't zip up your dress and your bra straps are showing, so now you have to get a blazer to throw over the dress, so that nobody knows that you're basically half-dressed, but you just know that the reason that man that just walked by your desk is looking at you is because he knows that you're naked under your blazer, and now you're turning red from embarrassment even though you're dark-skinned, so there is no earthly way that your skin can turn red from blushing?

Oh, was that just me?




Follow on Bloglovin

December 2, 2013

Thinking about breaking up?

Have you been thinking about ending things with your significant other, or insignificant other, but haven't actually done it? Well, I'm here to let you know that NOW is the BEST TIME to do it! Why? I shall explain below


  1. It's almost Christmas, but there are still 23 days left till then, so your soon-to-be-ex should have started getting over it by then. If you don't do it now...
  2. New Year's is immediately after Christmas. Breaking up with someone around New Year is just a yucky start to the year. If you do it now, by New Year, your almost-ex will be pulling him/herself back together and determining to move forward with optimism. If you don't do it now...
  3. Right after New Year is Valentine's Day. Do you want to be THAT PERSON that broke someone's heart before Valentine's Day? No, you don't. 

Source - Just DO IT NOW!!!

P.S. If you live in America or Canada, then you should have broken up with your bf/gf at the end of October.

P.P.S. To anyone who's broken up with, this is a disclaimer to let you know that I am not responsible for the demise of your relationship. If it hurts really really bad, you can email me, and I can tell of my heartbreaks and how I overcame them.

P.P.P.S To those doing the breaking up, you're welcome. That is, unless you're an idiot and don't realize that your partner is perfect and you'll regret it for the rest of your life. But if your partner is the idiot, then YOU ARE WELCOME AGAIN!!!

Sending happy thoughts and curtsies to you and yours.

:)



Follow on Bloglovin

December 1, 2013

It's December!

Hey hey!

I think December is generally my favorite time of the year, apart from May. Actually, the end of November up until the first week of January has traditionally been my favorite period of the year since forever. For me, it starts with Thanksgiving (America), and then all the Christmas music and decorations up until Christmas Day (during which we always have family time), and then New Year. Do you know that I haven't spent Christmas in Nigeria since 1996?!?!? When people talk about going home, and Christmas in Lagos, I don't know what they're talking about. This is the first year I'll be in Nigeria during this period, so it'll be interesting. I'll miss the 24/7 Christmas music though :( Christian/Inspirational radio stations play Christmas music round the clock starting December 1st, or right after Thanksgiving.

Anyways, it's all good. I can listen to online radio here, so yay me!

Allow me to share my favorite things about Christmas...


  1. It's Jesus' birthday! God loved us so much, that He sent His son! What's not to celebrate?
  2. Christmas movies, especially Love Actually and Home Alone 1! Favorite Christmas movies of ALL TIME!!!
  3. Christmas music, especially Mariah Carey's versions of any carols. My favorite Christmas carols are...

    Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu


    Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve/Sarajevo


    Fay McKay - Twelve/Drunk Daze of Christmas (LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE - HILARIOUS)


    Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton - Once Upon A Christmas


    Mariah Carey - O Holy Night (Obviously)


    Okay, it's enough, if not I'll post 50 songs!!!
  4. Family time! There's nothing more fun than spending time with family. I love my family sooooooooooo very much!
  5. Santa hats! Every year, we get Santa hats and wear them throughout the day :D


  6. Baileys Hot Chocolate - have you tried hot chocolate with Baileys on a cold Christmas morning?!
  7. Speaking of cold - being by the fireplace!!!! (Chai, I miss Hamrikur o)
  8. CHRISTMAS LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHTS!!!
Okay, these are a few of my favorite things. What are your favorite things about December/Christmas?


Follow on Bloglovin

November 26, 2013

I've been featured again...

Hey everyone,

I know it's been a very slow 2 weeks in terms of my blogging and putting up posts. I was on such a roll before that, until the news of my uncle's death. Since then, I've just felt weird about life, but we're all dealing with it.

Things have been happening with me on other blogs though, so feel free to check me out on




  1. Fola's Oasis! She graciously asked me to complete an interview and send some pictures of my hair, as she's a Healthy Hair blogger. Note that I said Healthy Hair, not Natural Hair, even though she has Natural Hair. Anyways, you can read the post here.



  2. I know most of you would be very interested in reading my Wedding Diaries posts on Everything Weddings And More aka EWAM! Gee runs the wedding blog and introduced a Wedding Diaries series, which are posts from real brides on things they've been doing in preparation for their weddings. I've got 2 posts so far, and about 3 or 4 more on my external drive. My posts will feature Cakes and I's wedding planning process up until after we say "I do."


I promise I'll be back to regular blogging soon - maybe next week. Have a pretty week.

Berry

Follow on Bloglovin

November 20, 2013

On Nigerian Fashion Collections by Season

Hey friends,

I was just on Bella Naija, and there was an article of another designer posting a lookbook from their new collection. As you know, fashion houses typically make collections by seasons - Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer. Most, if not all Nigerian designers follow this schedule as well. But on most of those posts, readers leave comments asking...

"Which one is Winter collection? Do we have winter in Nigeria?"
"What is Summer? It's always Summer in Naija jo!!!"

So here's what I'm thinking - would it be totally crazy to have Nigerian seasons dictate collections made specifically for the Nigerian climate? See examples below...

"Introducing the new 'Jules by Berry' RAIN 2014 collection?"
"Have you seen 'Berry Bridals' 2015 DRY collection?"
"Oh boy, DakBerry's HARMATTAN 2013 collection is too cool for school!"

Lol, yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah. It doesn't quite roll off the tongue very nicely.

What do you think?

Follow on Bloglovin

November 18, 2013

Thank You/Leibster

Hey everyone,

Thanks to all of you who said a prayer for my family, those who left comments, those who called, and more. I really appreciate your thoughts, kind words and prayers. My uncle will be missed terribly. He'll be buried in a few weeks. His sons seem to be holding up well. His siblings have taken it really really hard. My grandparents are being strong. It's just hard to digest because we'd been praying for months and he was sooooo close to leaving for the surgery he needed (THIS SATURDAY was supposed to be the flight!!!)

Such is life [and death] I guess...

I don't know what a "good" transition is, coming from the somber post and mood that I've been in but I don't want to dwell in the sadness, so I'll use Nappily Nigerian's Leibster Award tag to move on. I'd been working on it last Monday when I got the news. 

The rules are:
- Thank the nominator (is that a real word?) and link back to their blog
- Answer the 10 questions posted
- Post your own 10 questions and nominate 10 bloggers
- Notify your nominees
- Drink chapman because it's one of my favorite drinks

1. Why did you start your blog?
I started my blog because I had finished NYSC and enjoyed blogging about the experience so much, that I wanted to keep going. I wasn't sure what angle to blog from, so I just decided to wing it and write about whatever comes to my mind. 


2.If you didn't blog about your current topic, what else would you have blogged about?
If I didn't blog about me, I would have blogged about Not Shopping. As in, it would have been called No Shop Naija Gurl - and I would have posted 365 days of outfits from my closet.


*In retrospect, thank goodness I didn't go in that direction, because every now and then I get a serious shopping itch - e.g. How am I just now finding out that H&M USA has online shopping??? My cart has 11 items already*

3. Big dogs or small dogs, which do you prefer?
How about NO dogs!?!?!?


4. Describe yourself in one word...

Cartoon or maybe Random.

5. Who's your favorite author?

Erm... I don't know. 

6. Dream holiday destination?

Bora Bora, then Greece, then Venice, then Madrid.

7. What's your favorite fruit?
Hmmm. I have no idea. Sometimes I really like bananas. Then I really like apples. Then I like strawberries. You know what, just because I have an apple on my desk at work, let's go with APPLE! 


*10 minutes later: the apple was stale and yucky, and someone offered me a banana, so I'm changing my favorite fruit to BANANA!*

8. Little white, black or red dress, which would you wear?

Black most likely, but I like LRDs.


9. What's your favorite beauty product?
Eeek. I don't know a lot of my favorite things. Any jasmine-scented body spray or perfume.

10. If you had a goldfish, what would you name it?

HARRY! And if it's a girl, DAISY! I have absolutely no idea why. 


My 10 Questions for my nominees
1. Why is your blog name what it is?
2. What's your preferred way to eat bread? PB & J, Butter, Margarine, Nutella, what?!
3. What would your superhero power be?
4. What kinda phone do you use?
5. Blogger, Wordpress, or other?
6. Which would you choose - diamonds or pearls?
7. What's your favorite kind of chocolate - Milk, Dark, or unnatural ungodly White? And if you don't like chocolate, what went wrong in your life???!!!
8. What are your feelings about the recent political crisis in Anambra State? Just kidding - what are your feelings about Facebook?
9. What's your favorite cake flavor? If you answer correctly, you'll get a FREE CAKE from Cakes! Answer very carefully.
10. What's your preferred internet browser - Chrome, Explorer, Firefox, non-entities?

Nominated Blogs
BexCooks
Nappily Nigerian
Naija Husband
Love, Ifeyinwa
Erm, will update list later...



Follow on Bloglovin

November 11, 2013

No title

My uncle died. He was sick for a while. We were praying for a miracle. I guess it's a miracle he made it this far. But he's gone now. It's 3:15am and I can't stop crying. I feel so bad for my mum, my aunts and uncles, my grandparents and most especially my cousins. I want to ask God why... after all the prayers. He's no longer suffering in pain though. But still, it hurts that he's gone.

Uncle Chinedu... rest in peace.

Please pray for my family.

November 8, 2013

REBLOG: 30 Years of Little Girls learning how to dance

I saw the comic below on Tall N' Curly's blog, which I follow because she's funny. Basically, little girls all over the world are progressively becoming worse when they learn dance moves from TV.

Original post here



Follow on Bloglovin

First Kiss Fridays - The Crush

Hello lovers!!!

Last week we had a SPECIAL SPECIAL treat!!! We had our very first First Kiss write up from a guy, and it was soooooooo sweet! He said his wife read it and blushed at all your comments :) Thanks again! And now let's turn to today's story about kisses and crushes.

Anyways, as usual, send stories of your first kisses ever, first kisses with boyfriends/girlfriends, ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, handsome/beautiful strangers, husbands/wives, etc... It will be TOTALLY ANONYMOUS!

Please send your stories to berrydakara@gmail.com



Hi Berry!

I really enjoy the first kiss friday write-ups, so I thought I would contribute as well.

I didn't realize I was smitten until after the third time i saw him. I was musing over the day's events with him and a few others. I had a glow and somehow it hit me, I had a crush...  Not just any crush a SUPERCRUSH! This was the second time I had ever felt so strongly about a guy. We'll call him A.

He was the best friend of a family friend (we'll call him D) and oh boy, the dynamics that situation presented didn't really click in my mind. Anyway we met often at  D's room and I would be dying inside but kept it cool on the surface. I couldn't let A know what was up! One evening, after bumping into him at the library and him saying he hadn't seen me the week before, I ventured onto Facebook to get his number and texted him. Cheeky me! We texted and he called me occasionally. To my surprise, he slowly and subtly revealed his amorous feelings to me as time went by.


The day before I wrote my first test as a university student, he came by the library to check on my progress and offer some words of encouragement. Blushing smiles from me, sweet words from him, heart racing and nervous fidgeting. Eventually he said he had to leave.

A: So I'm leaving..
Me: Okay, get home safe.
A: Uhm won't u give me a mmmm.. (brushing his cheek with his hand, indicating a peck on the cheek)
Innocent Me: Okay

I proceeded to peck his cheek. Just as I brushed his face, he turned his head and gave me his moist, soft lips!! Oh Gosh! In the library!!!  The blood rushed through my body, and time seemed to stand still. It was sweet but rather short given our location. He gave me a hug, peck, and silently, off he went. I blushed afterwards and heard some teasing from other students. I was left too dazed  and shy to text him that night...  What on earth would I say? After 22hrs (Yes, I was counting), finally, a text from A came through:  "Hey Candy, thanks for the kiss. It was sweet" ...I was in Heaven!

He was my first kiss and my first boyfriend :-)

*le sigh* Young love. I love crushes! And inspired by this post, I shall share my 2 favorite crush songs -  "Hey Lover" by LL Cool J feat. Boyz II Men, and "Crush On You" by Mr Cheeks feat. Mario Winans!



Have a berry beautiful weekend ma petite jolie!
Bisous!

Follow on Bloglovin

This Weekend... FUN STUFF!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Thank the Lord that it's Friday! And of course, there are fun things to do in LAH-GUS!

If you know me well, you know that I LOVE food! Yes, I do. Sooooo, if someone wants to drive me to Oregun, I would enjoy attending The Cajun Experience. It's only N2,500,  you get quality N'awlins food, and get to enjoy the pleasure of my company!!!


Before eating though, I plan to scoot myself on over to Naija Hair Can Grow's November Salon Day Out! There was a fierce TeamNatural vs TeamRelaxed vs TeamCantWeAllJustGetAlongWithHealthyHair battle on her blog last month, and that was where I took serious notice of her hair outings. So, if you wanna learn more about the different oils for your hair (which I've been talking about on African Naturalistas), come on down tomorrow at 11am.




P.S. I might not have a car this weekend, so feel free to pick me up :)

Follow on Bloglovin

November 7, 2013

What I'm Listening To Now... and You MUST LISTEN TOO!!!

Hello you LOVERLY person! You are sooooo lovely. If anyone tells you otherwise, tell them to come talk to me and take a chill pill.

Soooooooooo, I've told you before that my younger sister (well, all my sisters are younger, so I don't actually need to note that she's younger but I digress) and brother have a band - WiKiD. Well, there's a song called "Pompeii" by a band called Bastille, and my brother made a cover of it and I'm sharing with you.

Please comment and share if you like the song.



Follow on Bloglovin

November 6, 2013

Random confessions

Hey people,

These are my confessions at this particular moment...


  1. Sometimes I wish I was like the ladies that are into looooooong Bralayvian hair. Like I want a center-part with loooong wavy locks. Actually ombre. But I honestly can't be bothered to spend that kind of money on hair, when there's gas to buy for my car, rent to pay, and other little indulgences. I would look hawt in long wavy locks, sha. Just saying.
  2. I can't seem to find the motivation to work out consistently. The TW Magazine Fit Challenge is over in 3 weeks. And all I have to show for it are the ability to wear an ankara jacket because my arms are smaller, and the knowledge that I can work out if I push myself. But my weight just goes up and down and it's depressing. Eating too is a problem. Monday to Friday, I eat fine. Then weekend comes, and there's soooo much to eat.
  3. I don't think positively enough. I know God is in control, but I always have a nagging doubt or worry about one thing or another. I should exercise faith. God, please perfect my faith.
  4. My 2013 Goals List was pretty much a #BIGFAIL by the middle of the year.
That's all folks. 


Follow on Bloglovin

November 4, 2013

I am a CLOSET GENIUS!

Okay, the title of my post is not exactly true. However, sometimes I get brilliant ideas and I call myself a genius, and since this has to do with my closet/wardrobe... well, you get the idea.

Remember how I wanted to do a Closet Cleanse? Well, I kind of did, and then I literally had a bunch of clothes sitting on my bed for 2 weeks. In addition, I only just unpacked my boxes from my Atlanta trip because I didn't know where to put my clothes, and I came back 5/6 weeks ago, so you can imagine... DON'T JUDGE ME!

Anyways, the point of this post is I finally unpacked and have found a smart way to organize my clothes! First of all, let me say, I have enough clothes to last me for 2 months without needing to do laundry once. I'm sure I have enough for even longer, but wa'ev. Whenever I look at stylish closets, I see people who coordinate them by color or type of item (shirts, pants, dresses, skirts, etc). I would have LOVED to do that, but I thought of something else. I decided to organize my closet by OUTFITS! And I broke it down even further. See below..

MONDAY - Dress. I can pair with a blazer, cardigan, vest, shirt, whatever. But I'll wear a dress on Mondays
TUESDAY - Pants. Same as above.
WEDNESDAY - Skirt. You get the gist.
THURSDAY - Jeans...
FRIDAY - Ankara...
SATURDAY - Whatever. If I'm staying home all day (rare), I have my clothes that shouldn't be worn outside before I get mistaken for a housekeeper. If I'm going out, I have tees, jeans, shorts, mini skirts, and casual dresses to choose from.
SUNDAY - Whatever. I don't think I dress up for church. I'm mostly dressed down, in my opinion. But I want to dress up more. Actually, I need to be dressed up and down at the exact same time.
SPECIAL OCCASIONS - I have a section for outing outfits, sorted into Daytime/Casual/Dressy/Nighttime
BLOUSES - These will go with Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays/Fridays. I'll just pick one to go with the item.
BLAZERS/CARDIGANS - If any of the above outfits calls for a blazer or cardigan, I can simply select one.

ADVANTAGE

  1. Whole outfits are selected weeks beforehand and arranged in chronological order. 
  2. Time spent getting dressed is cut short because I already know what I'm wearing.
  3. I can be more creative with outfit selections and build outfits inspired by stuff I see in magazines and on style blogs.


DISADVANTAGE

  1. Closet doesn't look as pretty as color-coordinated closets.

So basically during the week, my outfits are built around a single item of clothing: dress, pants, skirt, jeans, ankara. Piece o cake!

Alrighty, I'm off. You're welcome for making your life easier.

Follow on Bloglovin

November 2, 2013

REBLOG: Naija Husband's Chop My Money

Hey friends,

I've told you about Naija Husband and Naija Wife? They have a GREAT blog with hilarious stories of marriage and courtship. They recently wrote about FINANCES (in 3 parts) and it's an awesome read. The advice is good for singles and marrieds alike...

1. http://www.naijahusband.com/2013/10/21/chop-my-money/
2. http://www.naijahusband.com/2013/10/28/chop-my-money-cost-of-love/
3. http://www.naijahusband.com/2013/11/01/chop-my-money-for-richer-for-poorer/

Here's an excerpt from the very first post...

“…NaijaHusband, I have to know all your bank account details in case anything ever happens to you 
and your in-laws try to push me out of our home but fail to succeed because I had the correct 
information about your finances and was able to reach the bank first and put a stop to their 
misdeeds and they won’t be able to kick any of our children out of the home and force them t
become housegirls in the city where they will be molested by old men nor make me shave my 
head and live in a hut and have to turn to my local “fellow widows” NGO for help where they’ll 
give me a micro credit loan to sell bread and oranges on the street but then someone 
will steal my oranges and I’ll be forced to sell my body anyway….”


LOL...

Follow on Bloglovin

November 1, 2013

First Kiss Fridays - SPECIAL EDITION!

Hello lovers!!!

Last week we had a First Kiss with a Handsome Stranger! And I told you that I had a SPECIAL SPECIAL treat this week!!! Well, without further ado... read this VERY SPECIAL entry :D

Anyways, as usual, send stories of your first kisses ever, first kisses with boyfriends/girlfriends, ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, handsome/beautiful strangers, husbands/wives, etc... It will be TOTALLY ANONYMOUS!

Please send your stories to berrydakara@gmail.com


So this  isn't my first kiss (and please don't ask how many), but it was indeed a very special one, and you are about to find out why.

So I had met this pretty damsel on Facebook and we hit it off on a good note. My version of the story is that my charm, cockiness and humour was too much for her to handle and she fell gbam! She doesn't quite agree that that is how it went down, but this is my story, so we have to stick with my version. We later graduated to Yahoo chat and phone calls as I was working in one state while she was serving as a corper in another state.

Fast forward to about 3 or 4 months later. Many midnight and daily calls, and numerous chats had gone down where we had explored, flirted and talked about (almost) everything and were almost dating without having actually met. We then decided to meet up and she was to come down to my state and spend the weekend at my place. The day I was to pick her up, I was a bit nervous and kept tabs on her all through her journey. When her bus was close to town, I left the office for the park. I got into a bit of traffic and ultimately got there late. I arrived to see her standing and waiting with her bag, and I was so happy to see she was even more beautiful than her pictures.

I apologized, put her bags in the car and we set off for home. On getting home, I was kinda flustered (who wouldn't, with a hot chic in his house for the first time? Abeg, free me jare). So I kept pacing around, trying to make her comfortable and all that. Next thing I knew she had walked up to me and was all up in my face, just by the wardrobe and then asked, "Wouldn't I kiss her?" (or something like that, I honestly for the life of me can't remember what she said). It was like I was in this beautiful trance as I lowered my head and our lips met. The kiss was heavenly, her lips soft, and as the kiss deepened and I held her close and inhaled her scent, I did not want to let go. That was an amazing moment.

And you know what the best part is? She is now my wife. And the kisses? Still as heavenly as the first time.

*Swoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon! I have to get "razz" for a second here, but YOU WANNA ROMANCE DIE?!?! Ladies, this is living proof that there are romantic guys out there!*

Thanks Dear Reader for this story. Keep me posted on your wife's reaction when you show her the post :D *he's surprising her with the post later - again, I have to ask YOU WANNA ROMANCE DIE?!?!?"

Dear Cakes, I know you don't like writing, but how about a sweet surprise like this for me? :D

Muaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah to you, you, you AND YOU!!!

Follow on Bloglovin

October 30, 2013

It's OVER! DO NOT CALL!

Earlier this week, I found out I have virtually no space left on my phone (which apparently has 8GB worth of memory space), so I started deleting. Pictures, videos, voice notes, phone numbers... and while going through the contacts on my phone, I saw names like

"DO NOT ANSWER"
"NEVER EVER CALL"
"JUST DON'T, HE LIED"

LOL. These contacts at some point or another, were names of actual people (mostly guys), but then our friendship or relationship turned sour and instead of deleting the phone numbers completely, their names were changed to stop me from calling or ever answering their calls. 99% of the time, seeing the contacts in this light definitely stopped me from prolonging unnecessary friendships.

Why didn't I just delete the phone numbers, you ask? Well, I used to do this thing where if I was "talking to" anyone, I'd memorize their number and it'd be easy to speak to them. That was until 2007 when I discovered that I couldn't UN-memorize someone's number and found myself calling them when I never should have. It was so bad that after a year of not speaking to said person, I still knew the number by heart. So because of that, I stopped memorizing numbers. This made it hard for me to recognize a number if I'd deleted it. Therefore, the next best option was to change their names to the aforementioned to dissuade me from continuing conversation :D

Luckily for me, after a while, I couldn't even remember who I stored as each of the names, so it was very easy to just ignore calls and stop myself from calling, because I didn't know who was who.

BRILLIANT IDEA, right? :D

How do you deal when a friendship/relationship goes bust?


Loading web poll...



Follow on Bloglovin

October 29, 2013

Berry's Shouts Out

Hey friends,

If you've noticed my blog layout, I don't have a Blog Roll. I've seen them on other blogs and actually found nice blogs via Blog Rolls, but didn't want to add one here. So I'm just going to give a massive shout out to some of the blogs I read faithfully and enjoy. I think I'll break them down into categories

HAIR

  • African Naturalistas - I'm biased cos I contribute on Fridays :p
  • The Kink and I - I like her layout. Some of the posts are too long and detailed for me though
  • My Fro & I - She inspired me to do my 31 Hairstyles in 31 Days challenge
  • Nappily Nigerian - Her name's Hadassah, which is soooo pretty! And her hair is looooooong!


STYLE

  • Style Fash - One of the Power Puff Girls (Her, Bex and I)!
  • For Style Sake - Sisters who are really stylish
  • Third World Profashional - Everybody knows her, no introduction needed.
  • Dressed - She owns a boutique on the mainland (come to the island please). She has nice dresses.
  • Irony of Ashi - I like her style. She wears a lot of color.
  • Style By Queens - Cute girls with lovely style. One of them got engaged recently


DIY

  • Crafty Girl Living - She took a break for a while, but she's back and engaged and doing lots of wedding/pre-wedding crafts!
  • PS I Made This - It's amazing what you can make in a short amount of time with a few things at hand!


MARRIAGE



LIFESTYLE



FITNESS/HEALTH



FOOD

  • BexCoox - New blog. I'm waiting for her to invite me BEFORE she starts a post
  • Lohi's Creations - I wish she was my friend in real life and lived next door to me
  • Vegan Nigerian - All her recipes are plant-based, no joke. Even Nigerian food!
  • Cakesiena - Technically it's just posts of cakes that Cakes has made :)

WEDDINGS

  • I Do Weddings - Event planner, wedding dress designer, etc. And she has an Olivia Pope thing about her. 
  • Aisle Perfect - She's my cousin's friend and started her blog/website when she got engaged.
  • Everything Weddings And More (aka EWAM) - I think she started also when she got engaged...
*secret* I actually wanted to start started a wedding blog after Cakes proposed. But no time, so there are only like 3 posts! Which is sad, cos I wanted to blog about the whole engagement process, and continue afterwards with marriage tales, recipes, date ideas, etc. :(

And now, I've come to the end of my Shouts Out. These aren't all the blogs I read faithfully, but I'll have another Shout Out post when I feel led to, and will include others.

Have a pretty rest of the week!


Follow on Bloglovin

October 28, 2013

This Weekend I...

Hey everyone!

How are ya? How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? Did you eat anything good? Speaking of eating, I believe there's a Love Language that wasn't captured by Gary Chapman - FOOD! I really believe that Food is one of my dominant Love Languages. Not that I love food a lot (although I do), but I think love can be shown through food, and no, I don't necessarily need to have cooked it. Let me tell you why I think it's a Love Language... whenever I'm with Cakes, at some point I ask him if he's eaten, and if he hasn't and it's late, I lecture him on proper eating. Why? Because I care. My asking if he's eaten is one of the ways by which I show him I love him. Granted, he probably thinks I just feel like nagging him, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Anyways, here's a brief run through of what I did this weekend...


  1. I took my mum and aunt out to watch "Saro, the Musical." If you've been following my blog for a while, then you know that I enjoy performance art. So when I heard about this show, I was psyched and decided to take my mum and aunt out. I wish I had pictures (goes to search for pictures, didn't find any)... The show overall was pretty good. I feel like it's something, if done well, that can be taken to different stages around the world. The show had very good dancers, music, actors and they showed different Nigerian cultures soooooooo well! For a second there, I almost forgot Nigeria's million issues. As good as the show was, there were problems: TIMING (it started 45 mins late), SOUND (it killed me that waaaaaaay to many times, the sound was muffled or just off... fix your microphones), and LIGHTING (at one point, all the lights came on, and I wasn't sure what was going on. I would say to the producer/director - Good job, but it can be sooooo much better!
  2. I went for the TW Magazine Fitness Challenge Bootcamp 2! This is the second meetup since we first started. I think all the ladies have lost weight, body fat and inches. Oooooooooh, if you subscribe to TW Magazine, the current issue (with Tiwa Savage on the cover) has several pictures of me :p and the other ladies. I've lost a tiny amount of weight, but not anywhere near enough. God help me these remaining 5 weeks!
  3. I went to the beach (have you noticed how much I love water?) with Cakes and our family/friends. We had a marvelous time drinking coconut water, eating fresh coconuts and being drenched by the ocean. FUN TIMES!!!

  4. I had what I'm calling a mini but prolonged asthma attack. I say mini because I could function, but I knew I wasn't breathing well at all. Prolonged because I had to use my inhaler 3 times in 5 hours before I started breathing better. Suffice it to say, going to the Lagos Fashion and Design Week finale wasn't happening for me. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I MUST go next year, without fail!
  5. I connected with God! I'm ashamed to say it, but lately I've been flipflopping with my faith and spirituality. But yesterday, I made a much-needed effort into plugging into God's presence. I asked for forgiveness for a slew of things here and there. I poured my heart out. I just felt refreshed. It makes me wonder why I would ever choose sin and deal with guilt, over obeying God and feeling light.
  6. The devil tried to steal my joy! Well, PMS really. Cakes and I went on a wedding errand and by the end of the night, I was crying, blubbering, sniffing my eyes out. I'm pretty sure I'm just PMSing, but I think it includes wedding stress and apartment hunting. Y'all should help pray for us o. If not, I'll be looking for somebody's house to perch at after the wedding. 
That was my weekend in a nutshell. Next weekend, I foresee a lot of Rest & Relaxation!!! God knows I need it. 

Have a lovely week darl'ns!


Follow on Bloglovin

October 25, 2013

First Kiss Fridays FIRST!

Hello lovers!!!

Last week we had a looooooong awaited first kiss that was explosive and electrifying! We've got a SPECIAL SPECIAL treat next week!!! As in, I'm almost excited enough to post 2 First Kisses today, but nooooooooooooooooope. Good things come to those who wait.

Anyways, as usual, send stories of your first kisses ever, first kisses with boyfriends/girlfriends, ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, handsome/beautiful strangers, husbands/wives, etc... It will be TOTALLY ANONYMOUS!

Please send your stories to berrydakara@gmail.com


This happened almost ten years ago so some details are a little fuzzy. I was attending a NSBE career fair and did not realize that the 50+ copies of my resume I brought with me were tailored to only one company - my objective specifically said that I was interested in working as an intern for Company X! So I had to run over to a FedEx copy and print shop to make some more resumes. As a broke college student, money is already tight, so I was extra stressed out that I had to spend money I did not plan for, and be late to the career fair where I was hoping for a chance to land an internship.

Anyway, at the FedEx store, this really cute guy who was behind me at the payment counter caught up with me after I paid and was on my way back. It turns out that he was attending the same career fair. It could be that because he is from the South and they are generally more laid back but as we walked back to the career fair, his pace was slow and his voice was relaxing so it helped to calm my nerves down. He gave me his business card and asked me to call him; he got major points for not being pushy and trying to collect my number, even though I had no intention of calling him, lol.

The next day, I ran into him and he said "Hey pretty lady, I was expecting a call or text from you all through yesterday." I gave him some random excuse about losing his contact information and he promptly collected my number. I was heading to lunch so he asked if he could join me. I had to go to my hotel room to freshen up or pick up something, I can't remember anymore. Anyway as soon as we got into the room, I kicked off my heels and sat on the bed; he sat next to me. We talked for a little while and he kept on saying things to make me laugh. If you know me, when I laugh, I do so with my whole body, shining my entire 32 and everything. I can't remember the exact details anymore, but I do remember reaching down to put my shoes on and when I straightened up he kissed me. It wasn't my first ever kiss but it was the most memorable first kiss I've shared with any guy to date..

*Our first First Kiss with a Handsome Stranger! My, he sounds like the quintessential Southern (US) gentleman. This reminds me of Gone With The Wind - just the whole Southern thing. I miss Atlanta...*

Thanks Dear Reader for this story. To everyone else, show some love to those around you today :)

Hugs, kisses, winks, a handshake and pat on the back, from moi to you!

Follow on Bloglovin