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

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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?

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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...



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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.

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

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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!

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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 :)

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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.



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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. 

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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.

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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 to 

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...

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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!!!

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