29 Things That Make Me Happy: White Orchids

Day 19...

White Orchids (Phalaenopsis)

So my grandma is quite the green thumb and so she's always planting flowers and making really beautiful flower arrangements. I'm not really into flowers the way that some people are but then I discovered these orchids and my whole life was changed. Lol.

They became a permanent fixture in my uni rooms and even though they're meant to be easy to take care of I kept finding ways to kill them :( over-watering, under-watering, freezing, heating.. All sorts of conditions, but still I love them! I haven't figured out how I'm going to do it yet but if my wedding bouquet could be an arrangement of these beautiful orchids then I'd be the happiest bride that ever liveth.

Johnson Family Vacay: Warner Bros Studios

So I've been getting soo carried away with doing the "29 Things That Make Me Happy" so much so that I haven't even finished telling you about my trip to L.A and Palm Springs. I wasn't going to but a little voice in my head was saying "The people deserve to know!" and so here we are. The final day of L.A.

We spent the day at the Warner Bros Studios and went on their 2.5 hour VIP studio tour. If you're a movie buff in LA then this tour is definitely for you. 

Warner Bros is the machine behind a whole lot of my favourite TV shows. Vampire Diaries, Big Bang, Game of Thrones to name a few and while we were there they were filming a new series called A to Z. The storyline sounds pretty interesting but our tour guide didn't say when exactly it would be released.

Isn't he such a gentleman?

 We got to go to the studio where they film "Pretty Little Liars" and I was so sad that it's not a show I watch. We weren't allowed to take pictures but imagine a single room with a different set pieces in each corner. One for the cafe, one for someones living room and so on.. The working space is tiny and I really appreciated the hard work that the camera folk must do to capture all the different angles that make a tiny corner look like a full sized cafe!

Also almost nothing is real, from the buildings to the walls, to the glass and most of the heavy props like concrete benches. It's all made of other incredibly light fake material so that it's a lot easier to move around and manipulate.. What I did see that was real and very real though were the costumes worn in various Batman movies. Gotham City stars.

From "Dark Knight Rises" Anne Hathaway's costumes.

Bane!

The Riddler, Batman and Robin from "Batman Begins"

 And then straight to Privet Drive..

Harry, Hermione and Ron's costumes

The Weasley brothers

I got sorted to Hufflepuff. Can you question the sorting hat? I want to question the sorting hat. Hufflepuff is for cry babies! :(

 I read the most interesting fact about Dobby, this Dobby was created as part of the vision and visualisation but the character in the movies was completely computerised and was just represented as a tennis ball on a stick during dialogue.

There were also a couple of fully functional bat mobiles on display, my only annoyance is that they wouldn't let me drive one no matter how I begged and pleaded. Big meanies.

This brings us to the end of my experiences at Warner Bros Studios and in Los Angeles, Here's a quick lil selfie before we started the 3 hour drive to Palm Springs because why not.. See you guys there! Lol.

Hope you guys are gearing up for an amazing weekend!

29 Things That Make Me Happy: Perfume

Day 18...

Perfume

I'm actually fairly surprised that it's taken me 18 days to get to something as simple as perfume. I LOVE perfume, there's just no other way to put it. I don't know how or where or when it started but there's just something about smelling good and sweet that makes me happy. Is it weird to say that my perfume also reflects my mood a lot? Or at least where I'm going. There's YSL Parissiene for when I'm feeling all ladylike, Armani Si for when I want something sweeter and stronger. YSL Black Opium for those times when I feel daring and very flirtatious and a host of other scents.

Those of you who are familiar with the blog would know that I started and failed to finish a small experiment called "Scent Stories" where I wrote a short story on 7 scents that I currently owned. I got to 4 and then either life got in the way or I lost inspiration but I'm not going to let myself start something and not finish, even if it's months later. So I think it's apt that today I release number 5 of 7 "Coco Mademoiselle"

If you want to read the other ones find them here: Attimo, Si, La Petite Robe Noire, Candy

What's your favourite perfume? And do you have different scents for different occasions?

Scent Stories: Coco Mademoiselle

She tiptoed quietly into the room in her pale pink dressing gown, the morning sun streaming in from the window and caressing her skin. She sat at her dressing table and perused it, wondering what jewellery to wear and which powder to apply to her nose. She crosses her legs, then uncrosses then recrosses. She's slightly anxious, it's her fiance's surprise party and everything needs to be perfect. The caterers have arrived and the decorations have been done, the live band and the DJ are setting up. She's always had a flair for throwing exceptional parties and this one was to be no exception. She opts for her pearls and slips into her white slip dress and white louboutins, a slightly sexier version of what she's imagined of herself as a bride.

She went down to the living room to do her final checks as she awaited the 20 invited guests, a glass of rose in her hand to calm her nerves. It felt like their wedding day all over again. The food was laid out, the candles were lit to give a romantic feel and the doorbell buzzes announcing the arrival of her first guests. They are greeted at the door with bellinis by cocktail waiters and ooh and aah at what she's done with the place while she fusses over them and makes them feel welcome. It's 7.20 now, 10 minutes before her husband is due home, all the guests have arrived, thank goodness. He thinks he's coming to pick her up for dinner at a nearby restaurant, little does he know. She hears his horn and compels all the guests to be still and silent as she hurries outside to meet him. "Mademoiselle" he calls to her, as he's always done since the day they met, even though neither of them are French.

She smiles a wide smile at her dashing fiance and kisses him softly on his lips and urges him to come in briefly as she grabs her purse. They enter the house and the dim lights flicker on as all the guests scream "Surprise!". She sees the looks of shock, then confusion and finally realisation pass on his face as she turns to him and says "Happy birthday, my love"

29 Things Make Me Happy: Room Decor

Day 17...

Room decor

So before I left for Lagos I told my mum that when I got back I wanted to re do my room and make it into a more personal space. For the last 7 years which is pretty much the time we've been living at our current house, I was only ever at home for holidays. Most times I would live out of my suitcase for the 2/3 weeks and not really pay much attention to making the room my personal space.

But since it was to become my permanent dwelling space till further notice I decided to spruce it up with the help of a friend and interior designer Alexis Romeo, check out her blog here. I decided that the colour scheme for my room would be purple, cream and gold. Ordinarily I would have gone for pink but I didn't want it to end up looking like a 5 year old's Barbie themed room. Here's some of the pictures that were on my mood board.

I really like the textured pillow on this bed

I love the contrast between the central wallpaper and the one of the left wall, the white furniture really brightens up the room.

Ideas for those of us stuck in "attic style" bedrooms like myself.

Doesn't this just look so royal and decadent?

I'm not really into rustic things but the exposed wood work and antique look wardrobe really do it for me!

Purple, purple and more purple!

My room is since finished and I can't wait to share the before and after pictures with you.

Who else is into interior decorating? I'd love to look through your blog or any blogs you love. It's never too late to start thinking about decorating rooms in my home!

29 Things That Make Me Happy: Reading

Day 16...

Reading

So before I get started let me just apologise for the delay in this post. Had I known that the after math of my birthday would have been so great I would have scheduled this post on Monday too. Truthfully I'm a little bit under the weather but nothing that can't be managed and handled. Today's "Thing That Makes Me Happy" is reading... Especially on rainy days where I just want to lay down and rest, reading is like the perfect form of escapism for me. From novels to journals to blogs, I can spend hours reading and have been known to finish some pretty massive books in days if not hours. Once I bought a Harry Potter book at the airporty (Order of the Pheonix I think) to take on a family holiday to Portugal from London. I started it at the airport and was over 3/4's through before we arrived at the villa! Lol

I also started a "Read with Reni" monthly on this blog which I was convinced no one ever read until one of you lovely readers, Tunrayo, told me about some books she was reading which had been featured there. Just goes to show that if you love doing something you shouldn't ever stop.

Here's a couple of my "Read with Reni" book reviews..

And The Mountains Echoed- Khaleed Hosseini

Gone Girl- Gillian Flynn

29 Things That Make Me Happy: Friends

Day 15...

Friends

So guys, the day is finally here! It's my birthday!! Whoop whooooop! *does silly dance* *does awkard shuffle* *generally misbehaves because she can!* hahaha. I'm writing this the day before because I know that tomorrow is going to be a packed day, I have like a million and one things to do before the guests aka my friends arrive at mine this evening for a little post work food and drinks do.

Friends are one thing that I am grateful for and that would constantly make me feel happy and blessed. I know I talk about feeling unsure of moving to Lagos a lot and one of my biggest fears was that it would be too difficult to make new friends because everyone is kind of already in established friendship circles and all my closest friends were staying back in England at the time. But now I'm here and honestly I feel overwhelmed by the love that these people I call my friends show me every single day. From those I've known for my whole life to those I just met this year. Each and every single one of them have been a blessing from God.

I don't even know why I feel so emotional right now but just thinking about it is making me tear up. The best things in life really do come free and so this post is dedicated to every single one of my darling friends both near and far and also to all of you readers who make me feel like coming here is worth while and someone actually wants to read what I have to say. Honestly and truly, I appreciate every single one of you.

I'm not even going to attempt to put up a picture of any or some of my friends, I don't want anyone feeling left out, so instead I'd say...