An Evening of Dance: "Fight!'

So this past weekend was quite a busy one for me. While I was watching Interstellar with Deola, right before we went to Coral Blue, I got a phone call from a good family friend of mine Namir, who had extra tickets to a dance production taking place at Muson Centre called "Fight". It was a super tight squeeze but anyone that knows me knows that I love stage productions and so I plotted and rearranged my day and made it to Muson Centre just in time. When I think of arts, I rarely remember contemporary dance to be one of the best forms of conveying messages and feelings but this was a nice reminder.

The theme of the production was "fight" obvious huh... And there were various scenarios pulled from the theme. I don't have pictures from every single dance because there were a lot of lighting effects and my camera couldn't always keep up.

 The very first dance was to Breathe Me by Sia, which is a song that I lovee! If you haven't heard this song before then stop what you're doing and YouTube it right now! Well... When you're done reading it. Depending on my current state of mind the song has the ability to move me to tears and even though I was very chipper that day, watching the dancers move so fluidly and gracefully definitely brought a tear to my eye.

This dancer moved to a spoken word piece about fighting with ones inner demons and using positive thoughts to conquer the negative being that is in almost all of us. It was quite an emotive piece and I liked that it was different to the rest.

They also performed to Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran and it was really really cool. I got some nice shots of one of the couples although this one was performed by almost all if not all the dancers.

The next one was about a girl in an abusive relationship and was by far my favourite because the dancers were SPECTACULAR. They were soo connected with each other and the music they danced to was completely wordless which made it even more powerful. They also used the lighting to convey the mood and it was red when times were bad and blue when things were better.

There was also a dance about traditional dancers in an Igbo village fighting for the hand of the King's daughter. This one was hilarious, all the dancers really got into character as villagers and the choreography was excellent too. The costumes were also quite colourful and fun.

I unfortunately couldn't stay till the end, even though I pushed it and stayed an extra 30 minutes longer than I had planned. All in all it was an interesting performance and I'm grateful to Namir for remembering me :)

My only negative comment is that I wish it was more of a connected story rather than a bunch of stories with the same theme because this would have drawn me in a lot more but it was good nonetheless! Someone needs to tell me how exactly people advertise for these things though because I almost never hear about it until the day of the production and then I'm fortunate enough to be able to score some tickets.

Are there any good websites or people to follow on social media platforms to get information on upcoming theatre productions?

Coral Blue: Just Swimming By.

Happy Monday guys!

Does such a thing exist? Well it should actually because why programme our minds to think Mondays are bad or annoying. In that vein, we're going to be talking about one of my favourite things today! FOOD!

Chai, there's nothing that puts a smile on my face faster than food! So this past weekend I tried somewhere new in Lagos, something I haven't actually done for a while even though I have a long list of places to go. But as I've said before, this corpers salary stays holding me back. So on Saturday I went to "Coral Blue" to have a late lunch and was really looking forward to it because it's a seafood restaurant and I love seafood! I'm also tired of going to Ocean Basket (which I would review soon) and so I went with high hopes and expectations.

Coral Blue is located in V.I. at No. 1 Adeyemo Alakija and actually shares its building with another restaurant called Kilimanjaro. The decor is all white and blue to keep in line with the sea theme and it's quite tastefully done.

I especially liked this fishy gentleman that signified the gent's room. The lady fish was just not very cool to be honest but we'd let that slide.

Am I the only one that think he looks Mexican?? Just swimming on by... Haha.

Attention to detail even on the staircase. 

Deola my foodie friend, (remember her from Yellow Chilli?) and I waited for Nkem to arrive but in the mean time busied ourselves taking selfies and being silly, as you do.

 

Once Nkem arrived, we perused the menu and placed our orders, and the waiter brought us some complimentary and very yummy warm bread rolls to keep us happy while we waited.

We waited and caught up with each other, had a good chin wag about the movie "Interstellar" which Deola and I had just seen earlier that day and generally gisted. I was slightly disappointed when my drink came though as the waiter had mixed it up. Deola and I had both ordered Mojitos while Nkem had an Ocean Breeze.

 

When our drinks came the waiter announced that he had one Mojito, one Mokito and the Ocean Breeze. The Mokito is the non alcoholic version of your standard Mojito and he was sure that it was what I had ordered. I immediately recognized my error, you see, when I was ordering I asked for a Mojito, pronounced Mo-hi-toe the way it should be. HOWEVER, most waiters in Lagos pronounce things as they are spelt and so I should have asked for a Mo-GEE-to! The funny thing is my friends and I are always going on about this but it just never occured to me that I should try to blend to their ways. Luckily he was nice enough to take my drink back and make it alcoholic without too much complaining and I trust he didn't spit in it after... I hope.

Not too long after the drinks came and just when we were really starting to get hungry, the mains arrived. Nkem and I had the Sea Shore Paella which is a rice dish with mussels, prawns, crab and calamari. My mouth was watering when I read the description and as difficult as it was for me to make up my mind, I chose it because it had the most variety. Deola had the Ribs and Calamari with a side of fries.

When my food came, I was impressed at the presentation but extremely disappointed at the first bite. Paella is traditionally a very rich, tasty dish but this was more of a very bland fried rice. The rice barely tasted of anything and was visibly coated in a sheen of oil. Ugh. Nkem ended up putting a huge dollop of pepper sauce in her food just to give it some kick and I went for ranch sauce that came with Deola's food. The helping was very big though and I couldn't finish the rice so I just picked out all the yummy calamari instead :D

Overall though, I was underwhelmed and I hate being underwhelmed. 

You can really see the oil on this.

Deola described her ribs and calamari as nice and not much more but from the empty plate at the end of the meal, I think she enjoyed it more than I did mine! My bill for my meal was N5250 which is slightly pricey for just one course but with the amount of sea food I had, isn't that bad. All in all I would go back to Coral Blue again to try something else on the menu, just because I really want to like it and so I'd give them another chance.

In summary though...

Food- 4

Service- 6

Ambience- 8

Overall- 6

Deuces guys, have a great day and an even better week!

Lilac Tinted Views: Because, Introvert.

So people ask me all the time why I just disappear from the blogosphere for days and weeks on end and really I find it difficult to explain most times because the answer is usually that I wasn't "in the mood". It seems a selfish thing to say especially when you want your readers and followership to grow, you want to have more comments and you want to feel like your little space on the internet is useful or interesting to someone out there. However, the thing is...

I'm an introvert. There I said it, I finally admitted it, haha. I've never thought there's anything wrong with me or my incessant want to mostly be alone in my thoughts and just enjoy the feelings of being my truest self. But recently I've been going through a lot of ups and downs, feelings of discontentment have played a part in my thoughts and I've not really been able to shake them. I even sat down one day and constructed a 15 song playlist called "Pensive", that's the exact word to describe how I've been feeling. When I feel like that, I have zero compulsion to edit pictures or type words and post them on the blog, "Who really reads it anyways?" my mind says to me.

Don't get me wrong I know everyone goes through these moods and really what would life be without them? But sometimes I sit and think that people don't talk about these feelings often enough. Everyone always wants to put their best foot forward and maybe that's the way things should be, but there's a certain relief that comes from being able to say "I'm worried, I'm scared, I'm unsure" I don't have my whole life planned out and now at 23 I'm more or less in a constant battle of telling myself "I'm only 23!" and "I'm already 23!" The world expects you to have your shit together, to be able to say at the drop of a hat exactly what you want and how you plan on getting there. By what age you wish to be married and how many babies you will have but the truth is that as much as I know to some extent what I want, I have no idea how I'm going to get there.

I'm an overthinker by nature, I analyse situations until they make the most logical sense in my head and I'm pretty damn good at piecing things together from the end to the beginning and beginning to end. It's what makes me a good engineer. My gut is also right about people 95% of the time and whenever I've ignored it, it always comes back to bite me. I talk to my few close friends a lot and seek their advice on a lot of things but most time I'd keep doing whatever I was going to do because my gut tells me to. It's not that I don't appreciate their advice, I do, sometimes we are blinded by our own eyes and can't see the truth of situations in the plain light of day. I'm going through one of such situations now, I think it' what's making me so pensive because every day I feel that I'm becoming more and more sure of a certain reality even though it hurts me to admit it. It's really nothing very serious but sometimes even the smallest things hold us back.

I'm not entirely sure why I chose to write this piece and honestly it's probably the most personal thing I've written on this blog till date but I know the number of people I talk to one on one who feel the same way as me. Who feel the crushing weight of time passed and passing and the trepidation that the future is uncertain and that that's both the beauty and the bane of life itself. It really is a case of the "Mean Reds" which Audrey so perfectly describes in Breakfast at Tiffany's. I've been trying to "Let go and let God" more because I believe that He already has a plan for my life and whatever is meant for me will never miss me. 

Sometimes though I feel utterly overwhelmed by reality and I go into myself, I go for a run or pick up my skipping rope because it means that for the minutes that follow I can't think of anything else but my breathing, my heart rate, the consistent repeated movement of my body. Or I go outside and stand on the balcony or stroll towards the lagoon right near my house, I think I've said this before but I honestly love looking out into the water and remembering that none of my problems can ever be as vast as the ocean or the beaches of the world. Some days I even get treated with an amazing view like the picture on the top of this post. It forces me to appreciate my world and my life and I have to be present in the moment and most times when I'm done my head is cleared and I feel like I can look at the world through my lilac tinted views again. When it's too late to run or I simply can't be bothered to jump rope, I turn to music and let the lyrics and the beat wash over me until this moment comes when I think... Hold up, what the hell was I worrying about anyways? And then in that moment of clarity, I get up and resume life, the negativity and dissatisfaction gone because everyone knows that as nice as it is to wallow, wallowing never solved any problems...

Work-Out Wednesdays: Say No To Negativity

So recently I've been having a think about my blog and how most times it's just a bunch of random hulabaloo of whatever tickles my fancy and so I've decided to try and put some more structure into it. I haven't quite decided exactly how I'm going to do it all but I'm working on a little something for the rest of this November.

Wednesday isn't hump day for no reason... It's the middle of the week and the weekend can't seem to come any quicker or slower. The whole day is full of anticipation for the weekend as well as reproach for the fact that the week isn't moving fast enough! Or maybe that's just me and to everyone else it's just a regular day. Lol. So in line with trying to make things more 'structured' on here, I decided that hump day has now been declared Fitness day. Because my fitness goals tend to be the hardest ones to stick to and it would be nice to have to remind myself (and everyone else) why I'm doing what I'm doing.

So in this community I live in and this environment I work in, people always comment so freely on others weight that it's kind of annoying. Like, can a n*gga live? It seems there's always someone round the corner to declare "Ah! You've added [weight]" or "Have you stopped eating? You are looking too thin" Everyone is so concerned with other people's weight or lack of and for people on a journey to change their weight it can be very discouraging and at times angering to hear certain comments. Here's how I deal with the haters and nay sayers...

1. Have a healthy image of my body

I definitely don't hate my current body, in fact I quite like it and I'm sure if I didn't like it so much all those Digestives and akara would be easier to say no to. Lol. It's so so important to remember to love the skin you're in, a lot of people who aren't confident think "Well when I get skinny I'd be more confident" and sadly that's often not the case. While image is important it should never define you. Realising that you are so much more than the body you're in is one of the first steps to dealing with negativity. 

2. Do it for YOURSELF

Life is just too darn short to live your life for anyone else, if you want to lose weight, DO IT. Gain weight? DO IT. If it's not even about weight but about fitness and health, do it even harder! Have a goal that's based on your own decision and not because somebody else told you you had to. All those people that made/make you feel inferior are not worth your salt and that's just my two kobo. Doing things because of other people is the fastest way to an unhappy and unfulfilled life.

3. Work for what you want

Don't be like this kid checking everyday if his summer body is ready even though he hasn't even done exercise in about a week. Consistency is key in many aspects of life and this is one of them. I find that setting mini goals works really really well for me and helps me stay focused. I used to be so good and do them every month (example here) but I fell off the wagon somewhere, definitely going to continue soon and very soon! More information on that later.

Anyways people, say NO to negativity. Especially from strangers, keep your eyes on the prize and go for a run! Haha.

How do you deal with negativity from people you care (or don't care) about?

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Beauty Review: Mia 2 Clarisonic

So over the summer, well towards the end really, while I was in Palm Springs, I went on a nice, relaxng Spa day with my mum. Girls day out while the boys and my dad played golf in the punishing sun. During the treatment, the beautician used a Clarisonic on my T zone and therein was the beginning of a very special love affair. Lol.

You see I had always wanted to try out the Clarisonic and see what benefits it would bring to my naturally oily, sensitive and extremely break out prone skin but I was worried about it being too harsh for me. But with the reassurance of the beautician I tried it and my face felt like it had received new life! Haha. There are quite a few different types of clarisonics, and their uses range from the face to the feet and even the whole body. The one I bought is called the Mia 2 and I got it with a 15% discount right after my treatment, the original price for the Mia 2 is $99, minus VAT. So I definitely felt like I had struck a bargain.

The Mia2 and all it's accessories.

So now, on to some before and after shots. I started using the Clarisonic towards the end of August 2014 and my after picture was taken a couple of weeks ago towards the end of October and so that makes two full months of usage. I use it just once a day, every morning while I shower and one cycle lasts for exactly 1 minute. Most people spend much less than a minute washing their faces but I ready that you need to spend a minimum of one minute to really cleanse your pores so the Clarisonic is perfectly timed.

Surely I don't have to say which is before and which is after! The difference is so clear to me! But just incase... Before is on the left, after is on the right :)

I should state as well that this is NOT an exfoliating brush, it's a cleansing brush and not to be used with face washes that have abrasive micro particles like typical exfoliators do. I guess the combination of both could irritate the skin.

Also before I forget, let me add that you are intended to change the brush head every 3 - 4 months and this device is rechargeable but completely waterproof to allow for use in the shower. I adore my Clarisonic and face washing just has never been the same since... Now all I have to do is stop being lazy about washing my face at night and maybe those annoying spots will finally be gone forever.

Have you ever used the Clarisonic? What were your thoughts? Also does anyone have any beauty tips and tricks for clearer skin? Do share, I'm obsessed with making my face flawless now. Haha