Twas a Berry Floral Weekend!!!!

WARNING!!! Picture overload!!!

So the Floral Party hosted by Dabs of Naija Hair Can Grow and Savvy & Chic Hair and Beauty Hub (which also has a magazine) was sooooo much fun!!! As you know, a bunch of bloggers (myself included) were invited to a Garden Party, and we each were asked to bring one reader, and get dressed up in floral themes. The photos from the event will be in the next edition of the Savvy & Chic magazine.

I wore a black and white outfit (I REALLY like black and white! Remember my wedding?). It was a floral skirt, white button down, and my wedges (also from the wedding). Unfortunately, I forgot my hair clip at home :(. I got to the venue (The Social Place) before 3pm, to drop off the cupcake bouquets Dabs ordered from Cakes (meanwhile, it was my sales pitch, so I think I deserve a 150% commission). Then I left to pick up my winner, Olanike, at an agreed place and we went back to the venue.

Proverbs Blog-Along: Days 29 and 30

Almost there!

CHAPTER 29

1Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism

will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.

Constructive criticism isn't a bad thing. Like I mentioned in the last post, which had a similar verse, it only seeks to help you make better choices and decisions.  

Proverbs Blog-Along: Days 27 and 28

Barreling right along, today Chapters 27 and 28 are my focus.

CHAPTER 27

1Don’t brag about tomorrow,

since you don’t know what the day will bring.

2Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth—

a stranger, not your own lips.

The first verse stood out to me because we can make sooooo many plans in life, travel to here, spend that, go there, do this, etc, but ultimately we can't tell the future. We can't tell what will happen tomorrow. It's really all up to God. So yes, make plans, but be mindful that anything can happen.

The second verse talks about self-praise. If I came to tell you that I'm such a nice person, very jovial and cheery versus someone else saying the same thing about me, doesn't it make sense that you'd give more credence to the other person?  

Would you rather be Pretty or Photogenic?

Hiiii!

So here I am watching something on E - well, it's on and I'm not paying attention - but I heard one of the reality show people say, "You could be the most beautiful girl in the world, but if you're not photogenic, you won't make the cut." Well, something along those lines. And it reminded me of an encounter I had a few years ago in Atlanta. I'd gone out for a friend's birthday party, and there was a round of introductions, which then led to taking photos. I took a picture with this one guy, and showed him the photo on my phone, and he goes, "Wow, you're so photogenic!" I didn't really think much of the statement, and thanked him for the compliment.

Proverbs Blog-Along: Days 25 and 26

3 more posts in this Proverbs Blog-Along series, and we'll be done!!! Today, I'm tackling chapters 25 and 26 and will be discussing any verses that catch my eye. Please feel free to share what jumps out to you from these chapters, in the comments :)

CHAPTER 25

5Evil people must be removed before anyone can rule with justice.(CEV)

Dear Nigeria... enough said.  

Your body belongs to your husband?

Buon giorno!!!

You guys know I've been harping on about gaining weight since the wedding and not-so-secretly been blaming Cakes for it (oops!). At the end of the day, my body is MY responsibility and I should have stopped eating as much, and continued exercising, so let's shift the blame back to me. But that's not the issue here.

A couple of weeks ago, I was crying in front of the mirror (what else is new?) because I have been feeling very unattractive and soft and jiggly all over my body. And sweet Cakes came and wiped my face and says to me, "But baby, I'm even more attracted to you now."

*insert record scratching sound here*

Proverbs Blog-Along: Days 23 and 24

In the last Proverbs Blog-Along post, the last few verses of Chapter 22 began with 5 of Thirty Wise Sayings, and they continue in Chapter 23. As always, I'll choose the verses that stood out the most to me. Please feel free to share what jumps out to you from these chapters, in the comments :)

CHAPTER 23

Wise Saying #6

1When you are invited

to eat with a king,

use your best manners.(CEV)

It actually goes on to say a bit more, but just this first verse caught my eye. If you take it on its own, it's pretty clear that the message is to watch your manners and behave properly in the presence of a king, or someone of influence maybe. Taken with the verses that follow though... it's a little more tricky. If you get it, please tell me in the comments. 

Weekend Shenanigans: Dinner with Berry and Cakes

Hello Darln's!

I hope you had a nice weekend :)

I had a pretty restful one. I had determined to sit at home the whole weekend long (apart from church). Saturday went as planned - I literally didn't even open my apartment door. I did do something though, which involved a tutorial and video equipment (if I like the results, I'll share it at a later date). This post though has to do with Saturday evening. Since I was home, and feeling erm, somehow, I decided that Cakes and I should have a romantic dinner (instead of the usual watching TV and eating in the living room). So I got the food ready (I didn't say I cooked :p) and we had a pretty good time.

Note to self: Turn TV off and play soft, romantic music next time.

Proverbs Blog-Along: Days 21 and 22

Moving right along with the Proverbs Blog-Along, I'm going to share the verses that stood out to me from Chapters 21 and 22, and I hope you do too.

CHAPTER 21

3The lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just

than when we offer him sacrifices.

I think this is a good verse to  remember. Some people think that if they give offerings, financial or otherwise, they're good-to-go, without examining their hearts and what they do. Not good - no bueno!

9It’s better to live alone in the corner of an attic

than with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home.

19 It's better to live alone in the desert

than with a quarrelsome, complaining wife. 

This is exactly the kind of wife I DON'T WANT to be!

Proverbs Blog-Along: Day 20

I sincerely apologize for stopping a little over halfway of my Proverbs a day challenge :( At first, it was the traveling back and forth, and then it became more of a people-aren't-commenting-so-maybe-I-should-reduce-the-frequency thing. But at the end of the day, it was something I really wanted to do for myself, and include anyone who was interested. Funny enough, I actually got emails and was told offline that the posts were really encouraging and helpful, so I don't know why I stopped. Well, I'm coming back to it and I'm finishing before September ends!!!

So here are my favorite verses from Chapter 20. (I used New Living Translation all the way)

3Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor;

only fools insist on quarreling.

20 Random Facts About Me Tag

Yo yo Double D's

*did I explain what Double D's stands for? DD = Dakara Dahlings! And also boobage*

The lovely Ifenyiwa (of Love, Ifeyinwa and Ajali, which just won Best Made in Nigeria Product of the Year) tagged me 2 months ago in the 20 Random Facts About Me. And now, I'm finally getting around to it :D. So get ready, grab some popcorn and a fruity cocktail/mocktail, put on your sunglasses and be amazed......... at how boring I am/can be.

Source

Ooops!!! And the GIVEAWAY Winner is....

See my life!!! I actually forgot that I said I would announce the FLORAL PARTY Giveaway winner today! And I was here muttering to myself that this will be a dry weekend here on the blog. Well, thankfully I just remembered and woot wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!

So, the valid entries totaled 11 (no Ogoo, ugwu and bitter leaf don't count :p)

Anyways, the winner of my first ever Giveaway is....

Why do Good Girls like Bad Boys?

Hey there Double D's (erm, DD happens to be the initials for Dakara Darlns - *hides face*)

If you've been following the news, you might have seen the video posted by TMZ of American Footballer, Ray Rice, punching his then-fiancee (now wife) in the head, rendering her unconscious. I'm not posting the video here, because I just don't want to - just Google it if you wanna see.

Anyways, I was driving home and thinking about it - after this chick got knocked out by her fiancee, she still went ahead and married him a month later. And I had to ask myself why on earth any sensible woman would do it. Which led to a broader thought - a lot of females stay with their boyfriends or husbands who exhibit very bad behavior. It goes from violence to cheating to verbal abuse and so on... WHY STAY?

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Weekend with Temi Dollface and... Sisi Yemmie

Hello Double D's!

How are you? How was your weekend? Was it fun? Was it relaxing? Was it stressful? Was it annoying? Was it too short, too long, too weekendy? Tell me!

Well, I had a mostly relaxing weekend. Friday - nothing. Saturday - nothing. Sunday - a fun and relaxing evening at Temi Dollface's show.

Actually, I cooked on Friday and Saturday. Yes, it's a biggish deal, because I stayed in the kitchen for more than 30 minutes. Anybody who knows me knows that if the meal isn't quick and easy, I'm generally not interested in cooking it. But I felt like cooking hearty meals this weekend because the whole of last week, I mostly ate fruits and vegetables. So I made a Sweet Ground Beef and Vegetables Medley Sauce over rice on Friday, and then on Saturday, it was just Chicken Stew with rice/plantain for Cakes - I had a mashed sweet potato with my stew and was full!!!!!

Anyways, last week, while doing my usual perusing of Bella Naija's Events this Weekend, I noticed a Temi Dollface mini concert happening on Sunday at The Jazzhole in Ikoyi. I've always wanted to go to The Jazzhole, but Cakes hasn't taken me - it's not as if he's gone there himself, or stopped me from going myself o. And I like Temi Dollface a lot, so this was a MUST-DO for me this weekend. I asked Sisi Yemmie (My Big Nigerian Wedding winner and as she likes to call herself - DOROBLOGGER) if she and Bobo would be interested, because we've chatted a few times but never met and Cakes made their traditional wedding cake, and I thought we could have a double date. They accepted the invitation and I can tell you that we had a splendid time!

First Impression: Nazuri Curls

Hello there!!!

Today I'm going to give you my first impressions about a company called Nazuri Curls (see the Nigerian store here). Nazuri Curls produces virgin hair weaves in Afro Kinky Curly, Kinky Curly, Curly and Kinky Straight textures. Their weaves are made from virgin hair that has been steam processed to get curls that can easily blend with afro and curly textured hair. Nazuri Curls hair is suitable for all hair types - natural, relaxed and transitioning. The hair comes in weave bundles, clip-ins (no extra cost), and in wigs (for an extra price).

Nazuri Curls is UL-based and they have a Nigerian distributor, but ship worldwide, so anybody anywhere can actually order.

I was contacted a couple of months ago and given a generous discount to purchase any of their hair products for review. About 5 weeks ago I finally decided on which weave I wanted (Afro Kinky Curly) and decided that I wanted them with clip-ins, so that I could easily take off the hair and wear it in different hairstyles. I finally got them a week ago - there was a snag with delivery, as I had traveled and when I came back, their distributor here had traveled as well. Eventually, I got the hair and I've worn it for the past 1 week. I will do a full product review after some time - 4 to 8 weeks. But for now, I'd like to share pictures I have taken over the course of 1 week.

I want to CHEAT!

This is not a hypothetical situation. It's 100% real. It has crossed my mind maybe 5 times in the past 2 days. i even brought it up with someone at work. But I'm struggling really hard not to give into temptation. I've actually succumbed before :(

*gasp*

I know that's what you're thinking. And you're probably very confused too.

Well, when I cheated before, although the outcome was sweeeeeeet, I immediately felt very guilty. So much so that I confessed not too long afterwards. Lucky for me, it wasn't held against me too much. We were able to move past it and restart.

But now I have that itch again, and it's very very bad. The short term result would be satisfactory, I'm very sure of it. In the long run though, it would make it easier and easier to keep doing it. It only just occurred to me a little while ago that it's VERY hard to cheat the first time, but once you do it, it's WAY harder to stop. If you could it once, it will be easier to do it again. I'm ashamed and I don't know what to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Somebody please help me because I'm really so unsure of

WHAT LETTERS TO PLAY IN 

WORDS WITH FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could easily easily get 48 points if I play my letters right, but all that's coming to me right now are stupid words with a maximum of 20 points! This is blawdy annoying! 

*scurries off to Google*

Forgive me for cheating.

So we went to Dubai... Part 3

Hi Darlns! As you know, I've been sharing pictures and stories from Cakes' and I's trip to Dubai! What?!? You haven't been following? Okay, see Part 1 and Part 2 for the gist.

The last 2 days of our trip were mainly for resting and shopping. We went to Dragon Mart to look for industrial ovens and things. We got there and honestly, it was more nauseating than anything. All these cheap perfumes and lots of fake items too made us gag. The building is HUGE! We sha found someone with industrial kitchen items after roaming around for an hour.

GIVEAWAY: Savvy & Chic Garden Party!!!

Ciao mi amor!

This is my very first GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!! Woot wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot! I have a couple more planned soon, but let's celebrate this one first! I have been invited...

Fancy, right?

Natural Hair Meet-Up in CALABAR!!!

Hello everyone!

This is just a Public Service Announcement for everyone interested in Natural hair in the Calabar region. You can be natural, transitioning, relaxed, texlaxed, bey-laxed and whatnot - everyone is welcome :)

For the first time ever, there will be a Natural Hair meetup in Calabar, so if you live there or near there, or know someone who can attend, save the date - 18th October 2014. It's being hosted by The Kink & I, and Natural Nigerian.

I wish I could attend, as I've never been to Calabar before. We'll see what happens :D

So we went to Dubai... Part 2

Enh heh, as I was saying about Dubai... See Part 1 here

Soooooo, on our second day of Dubai fun, we had scheduled a full day of touring! It's best to research different tour options and make your booking before you get there, so that it's one less thing to worry about. Different tour operators have different activities, so decide what you'd most like to see or do. Another reason why I scheduled this tour for early in our trip was because the daytime tour would take us around the city of Dubai and help give us a bearing for moving around the last 2 days of our trip. Our tours were handled by Dubai Online Vacations and it was a package that included a daytime tour of the city and a desert safari tour in from late afternoon to evening. IT WAS SOOOOOOOO FUN!!!!

So we went to Dubai... Part 1

Heeeeeeeeeey errbawdy!!!

*Note* I was supposed to have posted this a week and a half ago, so just play along*


So things have been a little more quiet than normal on this blog, because I've been traveling for about a week and a half. First of all, Cakes and I finally went on our honeymoon!!! Woot wooooooooooooooooot!!! If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen our little montage of pictures posted last week. If you're not, then you can enjoy the pictures here :)

We flew Qatar Airways, largely due to convenience and while their Nigerian staff almost messed us up before we left, they made up for it and our travels back and forth were smooth (minus a delayed suitcase - which meant I had to wear the same sandals for like 3 days). I'll put up a review of Qatar Airways a little later, but for now Imma just focus on our trip.

No, really... How are you?

Today at work, I was heading away from my desk and saw a coworker. I asked, "How are you?" and he basically shrugged in response, and said "You don't really want to know how I am. It's just a greeting."

*insert blank stare*

Well, it led to a short conversation about this simple question, with just three words: HOW ARE YOU? I said that usually, when I ask, yes it's a passing question. However, if I pay attention and notice something's off, I will stop and ask what's going on. My coworker had a point though - too many of us are going around, asking how people are, but we're not really interested in the answer. Most times, we're just flying by and don't even wait for a response, whether it's good or bad.

The Alphabets like you've never heard before! CHIGUL!

OMG, guys! I saw the video on Facebook and quickly had to come and share. Chigul is hilarious and I think this is the funniest I've seen.



P.S. If you're at work, or eating or drinking, watch with care :D



Have a great weekend everyone!

Sharing is Caring... and so is Liking

Ciao miei amici!!!

Come stai?

*swiftly moving back to English*

I just wanted to take this time to point out that I've added Social Media buttons to my sidebar, so you can connect with me easier via Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, Instagram, Email and more :). In fact, with time, I may do away with the stand-alone widgets for each of these social media platforms.

In addition, if you like any of my posts, please pretty pretty please, feel free to share on Twitter, Google Plus, Facebook, etc. All you need to do is click any of the buttons after the post.

Thanks!

Monthly Reminder: Self Breast Check

Hey everyone,

I'm sorry I didn't put up the monthly reminder for the self breast check last month. I got carried away with the Proverbs Blog-Along, which I still haven't finished *tsk tsk*. Anyway, this time, I've decided to use info from Dr. Olamide Craig's post on Bella Naija (read the full article here).

He writes about the Look (3 times), Feel, Squeeze, Feel technique in checking your breasts a few days after your period. He also mentions that you should get a feel for what your own breasts are like, so that any abnormalities will be caught quicker.

When you ask me if I'm pregnant...

I get this question more times than I like, and when the question or assumption comes out of anyone's mouth or text, these are the things that go through my mind...

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Weekend shoenailsigans...

Bonjour mes amies!

How are yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa? *picture me singing the yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa out* How was your weekend? I hope it was berrylicious! And how was my weekend?!?!?! Well... it was fun. And busy (as in... BUSY *wink wink*)

Anyways, don't mind me, I'm being naughty... but telling the truth - ah, there I go being naughty again. Oops!

Okay let's really dwell on the OTHER activities of the weekend :D *chuckles*

Going into the weekend, my plan was to sit at home and rest the whooooooooole weekend. No wait, I'd gotten invited to watch an MTN Project Fame episode being taped live, so that was on my radar. BUT apart from that, the plan was to sit at home and rest the whoooooooooooooooole weekend. That worked out well for Friday. And well, Saturday didn't quite work out like that.

On Saturday morning, I woke up and decided to declutter my shoes and give my hair some TLC. Here's the thing with the shoes - my dad and Cakes say I have too many. I disagree. I don't have shoes in some colors. I don't have sandals in some colors. I don't have slippers in some colors. I don't have enough black pumps, etc. So obviously, I don't have enough shoes. That aside, I decided to whittle down the shoes at home to the ones I really like, and show Cakes and my dad that I really don't have that many.

I have only 70 pairs of shoes as you can plainly see.