Gidi Girl

Reporting live from Lagos!!

Been back for 3 days now and its been a BLAST. Honestly you'd think I'd been away for 10 years instead of a year judging by my level of excitement at being in Lagos.

I kicked off my wakajugbeness by attending a Christmas party for my old firm ACAS, the day after I got in, forgot my camera so couldn't take any pictures but I had a blast as I always do with my former colleagues. Awesome people.

The next day, Saturday I attended my friend Equi's traditional wedding. It was just like a massive reunion,  we're family friends and have known each other practically since we were born, lived in the same area, attended the same church and when I was little we were all part of this huge clique comprised of the children of our mum's friends. We did everything together. Now we're all old and shit, and everybody's doing their own thing so I haven't seen a lot of them since then but loads were at the wedding, couldn't get pictures of everyone but I had a great time.

Seeing as I got into Lagos barely 2 days before the wedding, I couldn't find a tailor to fix up my aso-ebi so I wore this blindingly pink abaya I got at some random store in Dubai.

I was a bit heavy handed with the smokey eye, especially for daytime but I forgot my Mac shadows and had to make do with some strange teenage brand my 14 year old sister plays around with. Needless to say I won't be trying that again.

I attended it with Mrs. U, her equally formidable sister Mrs. N and my friends Onyeka and Chika who were spending the weekend at mine.

Onyeka, Chika



Equi looked soooo beautiful, this picture didn't even do her justice, the child was a vision.

My boo Gina was there with her baby who I hadn't seen yet, she had on the cutest ankara dress. My baby hunger has been simmering under the surface for a while now but the minute I saw her it flared right back up.

Damn I want a a baby.

My legion of family friends were running riot, it brought back so many memories. All the parties we had, the overlapping crushes everybody had with everyone else, the fights, the setting p in church after Mass (St. Leo's church was the ultimate hook-up joint when I was young).......

*sigh* Nolstagia is a female dog

I thank God my mother was such a social butterfly because her circle gave me friends for life.

Jibby and Isoken

Nnamdi, Chuchu, Uche

They're so tall, love it!

Good times....

Love and light xx

Black & Gold

So I attended the Afro-Caribbean society at my Uni's Christmas do on Friday. Alright party, at least it got me out of my house. Weird how I didn't know we even had an African society in my Uni till recently. I'm not big on school extra curricular activities, I never join any societies, groups, whatever. The closest I came to that was when I was at Grange Primary and tried to join the Brownies because I heard they might be going abroad for an excursion, they obviously saw through my deception and turned me down. Then in QC I joined the Interact Club, only because boys came to their meetings and they had the coolest socials. I was such an active "Interactor" that by SS3 I was one of the officials.

Good times.

Backless sheer shirt - ASOS
Sequin pencil skirt - ASOS
Purple suede pumps - Aldo
Orb purse with tassels - Topshop

Hellloooo heinie!




I've begun the habit of taking Instagram pictures before I set out on a night of debauchery. Can't believe I once thought it was overrated, its like visual twitter.

Ooooh its not too clear here but I got metallic snakeskin Minx on my fingers, its the coolest and I got the gold fishnet Minx on my toes.

Ace!

The dvd of my sisters' Live At Roseland show arrived a few days ago, haven't watched it yet, I'm saving it for Christmas Eve.

Me, a mug of Horlicks and Nda Beyonce.


Oh yeah, I've got one Christmas present off my list so far...thank you you beautiful person. 1 down, 4 to go.

Love and light xx

One Young World, Nigeria Novelty Match

ONE YOUNG WORLD, NIGERIA- FOOTIE FOR THE FUTURE NOVELTY MATCH

One Young World Nigeria (OYWON) is a movement that was birthed from the One Young World global youth summit held in London on February 8 to 10, 2010. The summit, conceived in 2009, brought together young people from over 100 countries around the world to engage in discussions with fore-runners from all walks of life such as Kofi Annan, Bob Geldof, Muhammad Yunus, and Desmond Tutu etc on issues confronted by present and future generations. As an outcome, a consciousness was raised amongst delegates that attended the summit to play active roles in addressing pressing issues faced globally and within their respective countries.

According to a statement issued by the group’s coordinator, Kaidi Eddie-Obiakor, OYWON is a joint initiative of the Nigerian delegates that attended the summit and other young, intelligent and forward thinking individuals passionate about social justice and development. It is a platform that seeks to promote change through projects that integrate principles of creativity, resourcefulness, measurable impact and sustainability at its core.

He said “the group seeks to create an avenue where everyone - young and old - can be involved in the process of positive change for Nigeria by sharing ideas of projects that are targeted towards improving lives and livelihood. These ideas are built upon and dissected into simple, practical and actionable activities that are easy to carry out in collaboration with OYWON volunteers, organizations with common goals and the general public”.  OYWON seeks to engender and promote the culture of “less talk, more action”. “We all know the issues so let us join efforts to confront and overcome; even if one step at a time”, he said.

 In line with its focus and Supported by the Development Information Centre (DIC) One Young World Nigeria is promoting its current project “Adopt a Library” through a novelty match. The aim of this project is to facilitate refurbishment and creation of libraries in public secondary schools. This is informed by the recognition of the malaise in the Nigerian education system. By liaising with the general public, volunteers and alliance partners, One Young World Nigeria seeks to organise collection of reference books, textbooks, storybooks and all forms of literary works to be donated for use in these school libraries.  The novelty match aims to raise awareness for the Adopt a Library project in Ilado high school, Ikoyi, Lagos as well as fundraise for the project. It will be held on the 17^th of December 2011 at Astroturf, Ikoyi, Lagos, 10:00 am.

To get involved in current and future OYWON projects, share your ideas or find out more, you can contact us via oyw.nigeria@gmail.com, www.oneyoungworldnigeria.com, on twitter @OYWON or through the following numbers:  +234 80 3186 1692, +234 80 6007 8028, +23480 5600 4586

My Christmas Wishlist

Hello beautiful people, its the big dreamer again. Due to the overwhelming success of my birthday wishlist (minus my Chanel ela), I've decided I better ride that wave of success and see what God can bless me with for Christmas.

This list is a tad more modest than my last one, well apart from #1, the rest are bupkes for you guys, I know this.

So without further ado, I present to you (oooh that rhymed)


1) SINGAPORE

I've always wanted to visit the Far East; China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, the Phillipine's....any of them will do. Someone should just please, for the love of God get me there.

If that is too tall an order, this next destination is a little closer to home,


HAWAII

Lumahai Beach, North Shore, Kauai on the left and Waikiki Beach, Southern Shore, Oahu on the right...again I repeat...anyone will do. Danke.



2) MULBERRY BAYSWATER IN METALLIC HEDGEHOG BRONZE

 Please pretty please with sugar on top. You can buy it HERE


3) LINDA FARROW FOR ALEXANDER MCQUEEN GOLD TIPPED CAT-EYE SUNGLASSES

The awesomeness that is these pair of glasses right here....I can't even speak. I want! I wantI I want!

Get it HERE

3) VIRGOS LOUNGE POPPY SKIRT

Due to unforeseen difficulties *cough* poverty *cough*, I couldn't get all the VL stuff I wanted, precisely this Poppy skirt. S/M, merci! Get it HERE


4) VERSACE FOR H&M MENS BELT

 If you follow me on twitter you'd have witnessed my immense irritation when the H&M site kept crashing the day of the Versace launch. Not like I wanted much, I thought all the clothes sans the leather dress were awful only a few accesories caught my eye; this men's belt above, the Versace insignia choker and bracelet and the lion's head choker. Sadly I couldn't get them because the damn site didn't want me to be great. Surprise surprise, while I was writing this here post, I had to go to hm.com to get a picture of this belt and I idly checked to see if they had re-stocked and SCORE!!!! The choker was back in stock! Right now, I barely have 2 pennies to rub together but I had to get it, just had to. Nothing short of a miracle I tell you. You can find it HERE or at any sensible H&M store because I doubt its still available online.

5) ASOS CHAIN DROP CUFF

Verrryyyy affordable, thanks in advance! Get it HERE


See what I said about this list being more sensible than my birthday list, Jehovah Jireh is in control, I foresee success. Sending this list to the necessary parties...Ikenga U. and Lolo U, you know I mean you guys, just stand by.

I decided to do the bulk of the work this time and provide links, so the people that love me won't be stressed trying to find where to get these items. For the destinations...well, you know what to do.

Confession is possession.

Love and light xx

Gleek

So I don't know if I've said this on here before, but I'm a massive Glee fan, HUGE. Yeah it can be corny, sometimes schmaltzy but it never fails to make me smile...not once. No matter how depressed I am, I watch one episode of Glee and I'm singing along, smiling like an idiot, it totally defines the phrase "feel-good".

So what inspired this sudden ode to Glee? Last night's episode.

This season has been very....I'm not really sure how to describe it, but its been a season of extreme highs and lows, unlike previous seasons where every episode was amazing, this season has had some very meh moments and some very standout ones. Favourite episodes this year, the 'First Time' episode, where Rachel, Finn, Kurt and Blaine all did the dirty for the first time, not all together though; another standout episode was when the Troubletones did the Adele Mash-up and Finn outed Santana and the BEST. EPISODE. EVER.......last night's.

I don't know what it was about it exactly but I bawled from start to finish, the Michael Jackson tributes were amazing, Mike Chang and his fathers reconciliation, Rachel taking a backseat for once, the Troubletones and the New Directions coming together again, I was intensely happy throughout....and I'm a lifelong pessimist, it takes a lot to make me happy.

Anyway last night's Glee introduced me to my new favourite song and I want everybody to hear it and love it with me too. I've already downloaded it and its looking to be the soundtrack of my life for the next few weeks or so. I usually wear songs out, Hearts 'Alone' and Christina Perri's 'Jar of Hearts' recently received the Daks treatment, these songs practically skip on my iPad now. I've worn them out.

The song is called 'We Are Young' by Fun; if you look on youtube there's an acoustic version featuring Janelle "I Might Die If I Ever Wear Anything Besides Black & White" Monae.

There's no video for it yet on Glee's Vevo page but once they put it up, I'll post it here. Beautiful song, absolutely beautiful. Makes me want to be 17 again.


Just to throw it in, here's Glee's Adele mash-up by the Troubletones, another home run.

#ProudGleek

Love and light xx


UPDATE!!!

I managed to find a video of the performance of We Are Young on perezhilton.com.

Enjoy

MILK Bar & Shisha Lounge

The MILK Fashion Bar and Lounge is a fashion- inspired concept bar and shisha lounge opening in Lagos this December.

With an emphasis on privacy and restrained sexy, we aim to introduce a new way to party at night AND relax during the day. Our MILK Model hosted theme nights are set to become the by-word for fashionistas in the know. If you can't get to the scheduled events, come join us on other nights where the popular watering hole will be a mash-up of celebrities and fashion industry heavyweights.

MILK mixes a dark, almost sinister vibe, with the mystery and sensuality of the Middle East and North Africa. Think sumptuous, oversized floor pillows, dark leather seats, burnished gold lamps and backlit alcoves.

A sexy shisha lounge by day and a fashionable bar at night, MILK offers an extensive drinks menu featuring an impressive list of Champagnes and the opportunity to experience our specially formulated cocktail list , signature blends and some spectacular shisha.

The Shisha Lounge at MILK Bar brings you a quintessentially Middle Eastern tradition with modern flair.

Indulge in a wide variety of shisha flavours, enjoy our specialty mixes and novel preparation techniques.

The Milk and Honey shisha mix and the Vodkatini are absolutely gorgeous … just to name a few of the delights we have in store.

From connoisseurs to shisha virgins, we look forward to welcoming you all at these times.

The event this week is being hosted by German/Nigerian model  Nalu Jennifer Rittner; a Canadian based model of German, Nigerian and Brazilian heritage.  She is born to a German father and Nigerian/Brazilian mother. Nalu’s first job as a model was a photo shoot and spread for Elan magazine. Since then, She has worked for top Nigerian designers and She is currently featured on the Chris Aire Red Gold Campaign. Nalu is also a 1^st year law student at the University of Toronto Canada

MONDAY: 4PM-MIDNIGHT
TUESDAY: 4PM-MIDNIGHT
WEDNESDAY:4PM- MIDNIGHT
THURSDAY: 4PM-2AM
FRIDAY:4PM-3AM
SATURDAY:6PM-MIDNIGHT

To get on the Guest list, Please contact MILK Fashion Bar and Shisha Lounge on +2348089833398 and Blackberry Pin 22D6AEFF

Old Friends & Birthdays

This past weekend was hella fun, it was my friend Dami's birthday and an old friend of mine from QC; Toun, came into Abz for the day. After I'd spent the whole week in a mad rush to complete my classes and coursework, Friday was the perfect "let off steam" day. Oooh, one thing, my LLM is about 95% over, all my classes and coursework are done and all that's left are exams in January. One year is really not very long, it feels like it was just yesterday I was having my Wardrobe Sale in Lagos. 

Time is a female dog yo.

So Friday started awesomely with the early morning delivery of my ASOS lightning bolt earrings and portfolio clutch. Honestly joining ASOS Premier was one of the best decisions I ever made; free next-day delivery for an entire year, wonderful. Second to that was my decision to pay for Megavideo and Videobb, I have not regretted it one bit, no more 60 minute video watching.....another word for unlimited is God-sent.

These earrings.....WOOOSHHHH.....LOVE! Of course they're a total rip-off of Melody Ehsani's but who cares when they are a fraction of the price.

Pink double breasted blazer - Bershka
Leather look tights - Topshop
Silver smoking slippers - Topshop
Portfolio clutch - ASOS

This mahoo-sive clutch is totally giving me life right now, funny but it reminds me of those clear, plastic file thingys they sell in traffic in Lagos. Not in looks of course, but in size. The thing is huge.

Rings - Topshop


So Madam Birthday Girl aka Dami, had us all convene at TGI Fridays which I love. Their Tennessee and Jack Daniel's sauce are so sinful they should be illegal, the ribs, sesame chicken, prawn skewers....kai I like food sha. Only thing I don't like about TGIF are the freakishly happy employees, they act like they're under some sort of perenially happy spell, and its the same at every TGIF you go to anywhere in the world, like they're gassed up on helium. About 2 years ago, I went to a TGIFs in Dubai with my friends Ediri, Erenma and Amaka, for kicks we decided to lie it was my birthday so we could get a free cake. By the time like 27 demented looking employees in bunny ears, clashing cymbals and singing loudly in incoherent voices came to present the cake, me gan I'd gone off it.


Too much happiness is just.....weird. 

So as I was saying, we went to TGIF.....

Dami Lola COCO! aka Birthday Girl


My friend from QC, Toun, came along with us and I don't think I'd seen her since graduation in 2001 (hell of a long time I know), but she looked exactly the same. I was talking about it with a few friends how we all look pretty much the same as our teenage selves. I really expected 16 to be very different from 26, but apart from issues like getting jobs or getting married etc, there isn't that much of a difference. The next 10 year mark will be 36 and I expect my issues then to be getting my kids into good schools, juggling family with an awesome career, trying to decide whether to go to the Maldives or Maui over a long weekend.....


You know, trivial stuff like that

Toun!!!


It was like a very very mini QC, Y class reunion because Nike, Yosola, Toun and I were all in the same class from JSS1 to SS3. Yosola was even my seat partner in JSS2, incidentally that year holds the record for the most times in my entire secondary school life that I landed on the names of noisemakers list. 


Who's fault? Yosola's of course.

Nike, Yosola, Toun

After lemming tight we decided to show Toun a bit of Aberdeen nightlife and headed over to a Japanese bar called Konichi that happened to be having an African night (what are the odds eh?). Fun night, good music and Toun witnessed first hand the enormous thirst that holds Aberdeen guys in bondage.


Y'all might remember the post I did on clubbing in Aberdeen when I first moved here and how the guy avalanche was like an assembly line. Literally wave after wave of men besieging me. No shame, no fear for little things like propriety, dignity, pride etc; they just toast diligently to quench their awesome thirst. It can go to a girls head a bit but once you realize that all you're experiencing is "fresh meat syndrome", you'll sharply fix up.


That night Toun was fresh meat and as always the Aberdeen mating dance is pure entertainment. Poor girl, she barely took a step without some eager beaver popping up and declaring undying love.


The THIRST!!!

We sha managed to have fun despite the constant interruption.

Good times....

Love and light xx