Bridesmaid Duties Once Again: #IT2014

Honestly, I can't believe how frequently I've been blogging recently, my boss is currently away and so things have been generally less busy at the office. More time for blogging! Yay! Because more often than not, after an exhausting day at work, I just can't bring myself to put my thoughts into words. Anyways, today's post is another wedding one, my cousin Itunu got married to the man of her dreams, Tosin in December and I got to be a bridesmaid at the event. You may remember when I was a bridesmaid back in August at a different cousins wedding, they really opened my bridesmaid market! Haha. And then I attended the wedding of one of my best friends sister's. It's been weddings galore since I moved back and honestly, I don't even go to that many. If you live in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos, you know it's possible to go to a wedding every single weekend!

Anyways back to the koko, she got married in Ibadan and on the morning of the traditional wedding, I took a road trip there with my cousin Tomi and two friends, Funmi and Ore. Truthfully, I was exhausted by the time we got there, exhausted but ready for the turn up! It's hard to describe the colour of the aso-ebi, it was really sparkly and shiny and depending on what you chose to line the fabric, it looked slightly different. The effect was really gorgeous though and the gele was a really lovely coral and goldish colour... Do you know what, I think pictures would make this description easier! 

Do you guys remember my first post ever on 'aso-oke'? It's actually one of my looked at posts via Google.

Lunchtime Cravings at BBQ (&) Cravings

I'm torturing myself right now so that nobody else would accuse me of only torturing them when I do these food posts that I specifically time to come out around lunch time.. Lol. As I'm about to type this, I haven't yet eaten and I know that this is going to be one hell of a trip down memory lane. Allow me to introduce to you, for the first time on this blog, BBQ Cravings or is it BBQ & Cravings? Who knows.. 

Not that it matters much anyways, this place reminds me a lot of 3 Cousins & A Crook which you may remember me reviewing and for good reason apparently... The person who now owns BBQ (&) Cravings, was allegedly a co-owner of 3 Cousins, perhaps he was the crook? I don't know oooo. Anyways, I went with my girls Deola and Yvonne both of whom you should remember from Coral Blue and Afro-Tech Girls. Funnily enough, this was the meeting that really ironed out a lot of the kinks in the planning of our first competition which I talked a bit about in this post.

The benches are literally the exact ones from 3 cousins and a crook... Maybe my earlier allegation isn't so far fetched after all....

Hair Talk: Length Checks and Updated Regimen

So for those who don't know, I've been natural now for about a year and a half. Some time in July 2013, I decided to stop texturising my hair and start gradually getting rid of the relaxed ends. My initial plan was to transition to natural for 18 months which would have meant I would only just be chopping off the final straight ends this month. However, somewhere along the line I gave up and after about a year of transitioning I picked up some scissors and hacked away at the last straight bits.

Anyways, that was all a long time ago now and I've been actively and inactively trying to grow my hair since then. I have a couple of progress pictures to show my growth. I guess it's also a good way for me to keep track of my hair journey, by sharing it with you guys on the blog occasionally. I'd never forget when I learnt that I was doing more harm than good to my hair in this post by adding tea rinses and just having too much protein, the advice in the form of a comment from a blog reader and I couldn't be more grateful!

Currently my regimen is pretty simple, I was every 7 to 10 days, and the reason for the range is because sometimes on a Sunday, my official wash day, I'm just too darn lazy to start the process and so I postpone till Wednesday at the very latest. Wash days consist of:

Afro-Tech Girls: Sciletes Quiz Competition

So I can't believe how quickly January has gone and how so many things are happening and changing just generally. 2015 should chill oh, no need to play those rushing games that 2014 pulled on us, haha. January has been a great month of accomplishments for me actually and one of my very proudest moments was just yesterday at the very first event of Afro-Tech Girls. 

So a few months ago, my very good friend Deola, who you may know from Coral Blue approached me with an idea of starting an NGO with the aim of promoting enthusiasm in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in young girls. Not everyday sit and talk about boys, some days talk about female empowerment. It came at the perfect time because around the same time I was gearing up to carry out an NYSC personal project aimed at students in the science class! We spoke a lot about girls in STEM and our various experiences and I got introduced to a friend of hers Yvonne who you may also remember from Coral Blue! The three of us got talking and the vision of Afro- Tech Girls was born and brought to life.

As a female engineer myself I know first hand how underrepresented girls and women are in the areas of STEM. Being the only girl in a room full of testosterone is something I've grown quite accustomed to and while I don't mind it per se, it would be nice to have more female faces around. Girls everywhere need to be reminded that science is not just for boys, you can be whatever on this earth you choose to be and there are no restrictions. You don't have to allow anyone to put you in a box, life is too short for confining yourself in small spaces. 

Lunchtime at Bistro 7

So honestly, I can't tell you I know what has been going on with me and blogging these last few months. It seems that after like 4 years of doing it, I just ran out of steam one day and quit. Not only blogging even, I know I don't post my short stories on here a lot but I haven't even felt compelled enough to put pen to paper recently and produce any form of creative writing, I just don't get it. Well actually, I know part of the reason I guess... I was getting quite disheartened by it because I stopped looking at blogging like a fun and relaxing way to let out steam but rather as a popularity contest almost. I look on other blogs that I don't feel have the most original or the best content with thousands more page views than my little old space and I sit and wonder what or who I'm really doing all this for anyway...

Well, the truth is, being envious never got anyone anywhere and so I'm going back to my 'roots' of blogging about whatever I want, whenever I want. No fancy schedules, no nothing. Just me, so help me God. I'm looking to rekindle the flame of the original love and passion and so what better way to start than with food?? If you know me, you know eating is one of my favourite pastimes. I'm going to throw us all the way back to last year, sometime in late November when I played hookey from work to go with my mum to a conference and then ended up having lunch with her afterwards. We went to Bistro 7 on Kofo Abayomi, it's number 273 and is on the left hand side of the road, shortly after Intercontinental.

2014 Recap and Looking Forward.

Well first let me start by wishing you a belated but not forgotten HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So I did that thing I always do again, I dropped off the face of the earth. In my poor defence though, this Christmas period was the busiest two weeks of my life, I had a 21st, a 50th, two weddings, 1 engagement and a myriad of Christmas parties. But enough of the excuses, it's a new year. Time to get cracking and boy do we have a lot of catching up to do.

First and foremost, the winner of my 200th Post Ankara Bag giveaway is Deola Shasanya! Thank to everyone that entered, I do appreciate it and I hope Deola loves the bag as much as I loved picking it out for one of you.

Now that that's out of the way I can't start the new year without doing a post on the highlights of 2014 now can I? This blog is roughly divided into like three or four sections, Health (Hair and Fitness), Food (Restaurants and Recipes), Stories and my random musings. Some posts did really well and here's just a small recap of what went right this year..

200th Post: Ankara Bag Giveaway

LTV has reached a new milestone today! It's our 200th post up in here, can I get a whoop whoop?? Weheyyy! I've been blogging on and off for about 3 and a half years now and it's been such a journey. Starting from my original baby "Through Hell and High Waters" which I eventually merged into this 'new' blog, all I can say is how time flies. 200 articles in and I know I'm not stopping anytime soon. I just wanted to say thank you to all my regular readers, my sporadic readers, my first time readers and those who are only here to try and win the free bag. I appreciate every single one of you.

Now on to the matter at hand, the giveaway. Recently, an aunt of mine started to sell these absolutely gorgeous bags made of Ankara. I know a lot of people have been in on the trend and there are lots in the market but hers were truly special to me because I know the circumstances they were born under. I've always wanted one of these bags but often found them waaay too pricey to really justify. Don't get me wrong I like my bags, but I felt the novelty of the ankara bag would wear off quickly. That was until I saw the amazing array of prints my aunt had, some of them don't even look like ankara!

Okay let me stop blowing her horn and show you pictures of some of what she has in stock! She does iPad and iPad mini cases

Clutch bags in various shapes and sizes

A myriad of bags with long handles and of varying sizes

These ones are fairly big

Totes

Aren't they beautiful? It was sooo difficult for me to pick one for you guys but I chose something that I thought would appeal to a lot of people. It is one of the smaller bags with the long handle, consider it an early Christmas present :) 

It can be dressed up or down and no those yummy heels don't come in the giveaway too! Haha. I just thought they looked quite darling together. :)

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is to leave a comment saying your favourite thing about the blog and one thing you really really want from Santa this Christmas. The giveaway will be closing on the 19th of December and unfortunately, it is only open to my readers in Lagos State. Apologies to everyone else, I'd work on something really special for you all soon.

Don't forget to share the page and tell your friends to enter too! :)

If you would like more details on any of the other bags, including pricing and delivery and pick-up, feel free to call on 09099019508 or email cokertunde@yahoo.com, just ask for Tund's Bags. :)