It was My Birthday

Hola!

This past Friday, May 29th was my 38th birthday. For the first time in years, I actually looked forward to my birthday. In 2018 and 2019 I actually turned my phone off on my birthday because I didn't want to have to deal with all the happy wishes and pretend that I was thrilled. I was grateful for the wishes, yes but I was not in a good place. I haven't really shared what the past few years have really been like for me - but those who pay attention know that things haven't been quite the same. I've been a bit subdued and not as happy-go-lucky as I used to be. Just last week I shared a photo from 5 years ago, where I was dancing at my cousin's wedding. One of my family friends asked me, "Do you think you were happier then?" I answered affirmatively because the major aspects of my life were going very well at the time. My friend mentioned how I used to dance in the rain, and twirl all the time, and that she misses the old me. And guess what? I do too.

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday dear Berry..........
Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeeeee!!!

Since I couldn't do a photo shoot, please manage these photos from my phone :)

Japanese Hibachi Dinner at Shogun

Two weeks ago, Uncle Cakes turned 70, and to celebrate, the family decided to head to Shogun Restaurant. It is a Japanese restaurant not too far from home, and they have different offerings from sushi to hibachi grill food. Cakes had never been to a Hibachi restaurant before, so I thought it would be a nice treat for him.

FUN FACT: My sister and her hubby got engaged one night after having dinner there. I think.

Weekend Post?

Hi there!

In my post where I listed some of the things I miss most about Nigeria, I mentioned that I missed going to little events on weekends and posting them on Mondays here on the blog. Mondays used to be the biggest traffic draws on my blog, and I was quite concerned that moving to Atlanta would indirectly cause a drop in my blog traffic since I wouldn't be attending as many events anymore. It's not like I don't go out at all, but it certainly is not as frequent as before. This weekend was different though. It was my mum's birthday on Saturday and we had a whole weekend of fun!!!

Let's dance into this new week!!! 💃💃💃

A video posted by Berry Dakara (@berrydakara) on Aug 29, 2016 at 2:53am PDT

Happy Birthday to me!

It's my birthday!!!!! Woot woot! I am thankful to God for another year. I pray for His wisdom, joy, love to continue to shine over me. I hope I become a better Christian, listening for His voice AND obeying, no matter what.

Thanks to Cakes, my family, my friends, and to all of you for having my back. Your love and support means a lot to me. I wish I could give you kisses but my tonsils are acting up again and I don't want to leave my bed. So find someone to kiss on my behalf... Okay okay, you can hug if you don't want kisses.

Have a marvelous holiday tomorrow. Eat some cake, ice cream and pop champagne but only the sweet kind, because we drink only sweet alcohol.

Love ya!

My Birthday Wishlist!

My birthday is on Sunday, but first of all, Happy Birthday to my grandpa who turns 91 today :)

I don't think I've ever shared a birthday wish list on the blog. Even offline, my wishlist usually consisted of gift cards to go shopping. My favorite store in my late teens/early twenties was Victoria's Secret - don't judge, lest ye be judged!!! That's a far cry from my tweens when all I wanted were Barbie dolls and other toys. I remember wondering why adults never got many presents and determined I would ALWAYS get lots of presents when I grew up. But I think as you get older, you either start wanting less or realizing that you don't need as much. Or maybe it's that you prefer quality over quantity, and so would rather save up for something more expensive that should last a longer time.

Well, I'm in no mood for shopping - as in, zero appeal to go anywhere or have anyone buy me anything. All I want are...

Berry High Birthday Weekend

Good mornterneving everyone!!!

How are you? Thanks so much for the birthday wishes - y'all are awesomely berryful! How was your weekend? What/who/where did you see/do/go? I didn't get up to much for my birthday. I went to the dentist - who goes to the dentist on their birthday?!?!?!? NEVER EVER AGAIN!!! And then in the evening, my sister was very sweet to order dinner at her house, and we got some yummy cupcakes too :)

Celebrating...

Just a quick one here!

Yesterday was my dad's birthday :) My dad is shy so I won't post a picture, even though my fingers have been itching to since Tuesday. Anyways, I love my dad so much and a lot of people say I look most like him, and share some of his character traits - one of which is refusing to go to events if I wasn't invited :p. My dad is such an inspiring man - people who know him go on and on about how straightforward and honest he is. Integrity and humility are words that are usually used when people talk about him too.

He can also be VERRRRY goofy! You walk into a room, he sees you clearly, you see him clearly, and then he pretends he's sleeping and snoring. Yup, I do the exact same thing to Cakes all the time :D

I don't want to go on and on, but here's to my dad and wishing him waaaaaaaay many more years and wisdom and blessings and much more!

Continuing in the celebratory mood, today's my grandparents' 64th wedding anniversary!!! Can you beat that?! I just love the 2 of them so much!!! Hugs from me to you guys and hope I see you soon :)

#WCW - Woman Crush Wednesdays

Hey everyone,

No, I will not be starting a WCW series, but today's my mum's birthday and I thought, "Why the neck not?" My mum is my eternal crush! She's the first woman I ever met, and I've loved her from the beginning of my time.

My mum has been there for me at every turn -  in my good, bad, happy and sad times. Remember my post about Robin Williams, where I briefly mentioned a bout with depression? I know my family in general were praying, but my mum really stood in the gap for me. She got her friends, our Bible group, our pastors and others to pray along with her for me. She has consistently prayed for me and my siblings, even going so far as fasting on different days for each of us!

My mum has worked so hard to achieve a lot in her life, and at a point, put her career on hold for the sake of her children. That was one of the most selfless things she could have done, and I thank her for it. Even now, she's on her way to getting her own life back on track, and I pray that God rewards her with a very quick reward.

I never Esperred it!!!

NB - I had actually posted this last night, but wanted to get pictures from my camera and so I just finished editing the post, so voila!

Woot woot! My birthday finally came and went! YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHAI! It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much fun! I wish I could have carried you in my pocket - no wait, my dresses didn't have pockets - inside my bra like all them market women. Actually, it's not only a market woman trait, as I carry my phone inside my bra sometimes (in the cup, or held to my shoulder by my strap). Yes, I know I'm crazy but who currs?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Where do I even start from? Okay, let's go chronological, shall we?

It's MY Birthday and YOU are Invited!!!

Woot the woot woot! It's my birthday tomorrow and I'm sooooooo excited to be turning 27 again! I would have opted for 25, but let's face it, my weight these days is not allowing my young-looking genes to be great >:( so we'll opt for 27 this year. Never mind that I turned Thirty Flirty two years ago, okay?

So where were we? Yes, it's my birthday tomorrow and I'm very pleased and excited to announce that not only am I having a birthday party, YOU ARE also invited!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup, I'm just feeling very very generous right now and I want to share my special day with you, so let's get ready to Party over here, Party over there - Whooop whoooooooooooooooooooop!

Oops, I almost forgot the details! Silly me.

So my birthday is coming soon...

My birthday is in 2 weeks...

Since you didn't buy me a present last year, I know you want the opportunity to do something this year...

What awesome thing are you going to do, you ask?

Well, even though I have recently gained weight (Instagram followers, still SHHH), I want cake for my birthday...

And where do I want the cake from? Are you seriously asking me that question?... *the answer rhymes with 'bakes' and starts with a 'C'

Since you know where to order the cake from (Cakes: 2348033118995, 7BFA5705), all I ask is this...

WACKY, CRAZY, OUT-OF-THE-BOX, RANDOM cakes and/or cupcakes...

Need a little help with ideas? BLUE SUEDE cake, PURPLE COCONUT cupcakes, GREEN BANANA bread (not unripe banana bread - banana bread that is green), etc. I bet you guys are happy I'm not the one running the bakery :p

I know you're worried about my weight, but it's okay. Cakes will help me work it all off *hides innocent face*

#OkayThankyouILoveYouBuhBye


P.S. You can also order cakes for other reasons too :) Follow him on Instagram @cakesiena

Follow @BerryChocoLatte

Twas my birthday!!! - PART ONE

Hello beautiful ladies, and handsome gentlemen!

Isn't it such a glorious day?!

Actually, not quite. The clouds are meh, my office is cold, and of course I have the sniffles because I thought it'd be a smart idea to wear a halter top to the office.

So, a lot has happened in the past week.

I'm soooooooooooooooooo sawry I haven't put up a post. Between being extra busy, and my Swift modem having epilepsy, there wasn't any way I could put up a nice post.

In any case, I'm BACK!

I've been making noise about my birthday coming up, and wondering what to do - get a phone, go shopping, travel, etc. Well, I didn't get a phone (not yet but it will come). I kinda went shopping the week before on JCPenney online (they have some nice stuff, and they were ON SALE!). And I did travel - just not to Ghana.

Let's start with May 28th
I had Pineapple cupcakes delivered to my office to share with my coworkers. YUMMY!!!

Provided by Cake Factory

Office celebration, check!

One of my very closest friends shares the same birthday as me. So we had planned to have a Girls Dinner In - NO BOYS ALLOWED! My friend had arranged for 8 of us ladies to have dinner at her house, with a 5-course meal by the fabulous CHEF FREGZ! The theme/dress code was 'Glitz and Glam.' I was looking forward to it, because it had been a while since I hung out properly with my girlfriends, and I really wanted to dress up too! The plan was to leave my office at 4pm, head to the salon for the pedicure, go home and relax a little bit, dress up and head on my merry way.

How about I left the office at 5pm, waiting for a serious storm to subside, AND there was maddening traffic everywhere! I was so discombobulated and it seemed like everything was topsy-turvy. I finally got home at 6pm, reluctantly painted over glittery nail polish that refused to come off, and started dressing up. Cakes and his cousin came over, and we agreed that Cakes would drop me off at my friend's house and pick me up in the morning (Girly Sleepover Time!). Dinner was supposed to start at 8pm. Guess what time I left my house. Rhymes-with-ATE-PM. And of course, the traffic hadn't subsided, so I got to her house pretty late. Luckily, 3 other ladies were later than I was.

Eventually dinner started and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!