Christmas!

The most wonderful time of the year, Christmas, is here again! I'm in the Christmas mood, are you? I've already started giving out Christmas cards and spreading the Christmas cheer. 

Spent last holiday working. This year I plan on having an amazing holiday. I'll be volunteering at a respite home, helping out at Mey's Kitchen and later on going on a trip with friends. 

Last week I went shopping for trimmings and ornaments to put on my desk at work. Got myself a cute snow man.

Say hello to my little friends :-) Ended up getting the grey snow man on the far right. I've named him "Tubby".

Just in case you are looking for Christmas trees, ornaments, decorations, lights, wreaths, gift wrap, ribbons and much more to transform your home and office into a Christmas wonderland, I recommend you visit The Lagos Christmas Shop at Silverbird Galleria, Lagos. That's where I got Tubby from.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Lagos - so excited, Christmas shopping starts next week. Goody! If you are thinking of what to get me for Christmas, click to see my wishlist. :-) 

May your days be merry and bright! Have a holly jolly Christmas! 

Ré. xxx

P.S. Santa baby slip a Rolex under the tree for me, you know I've been really good gal! ;-)

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Re's Wish List 2012

Ré's day comes up this Wednesday on the 28th of November and I'm looking forward to it. I love birthdays, mine especially!

Feel like it's my own new year, my own January 1st happens on the 28th of November. Somebody set off the fireworks! :-)

Looking back at the past year, I'd say things have been pretty great. I've made a couple of dumb (very very foolish) mistakes and but thank God, I've learnt from them. 

I'm proud to say I have achieved all my visions for this year apart from one thing which is going to happen next year.

Now to my wish list.  

1. Christian Dior Poison

I absolutely love "Hypnotic Poison". Feel free to get me anu of the three though.

 2.Canon EOS 600D Camera

Last year I couldn't decide what camera I wanted. This year I know what I want.

3.15 inch Macbook Pro and (or) iPad

Had a dream someone bought me an iPad. If you love me I know you'll make this dream come true. LOL

4.  A Panda

Yes I still want a Panda. Well if I can't have one, I'd like to see a  'real' one. Been watching random videos of Pandas online. They look so cute

I can't think of anything else.I love surprises! So surprise me!

Thank you!

Have a wonderful week everyone. xxx

Ré

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Talk!

I published this post and then I deleted it because it stirred concern amongst my friends and offended some people. Now I'm publishing it again because the truth is we all need to express ourselves one way or the other. Plus it was my first angry post. Let it be.


I’m the type of girl who keeps her mouth shut.

Almost like I only speak unless I’m spoken to.

You know how they say “the walls have ears”? Well I’m a wall just sitting there and soaking it all in. Now this wall is ready to crack.

I hate to see people disappointed or hurt so rather than express how I truly feel, I just keep quiet.

Even when people hurt or upset me, I hide and scream or hide and cry then appear with a smile (or my ever famous scowl) on my face like everything is OK.

When people say or do stuff, I just figure its cause its who they are or how they are. I am now tired of making excuses for them.

Tired of keeping my mouth shut, I want to talk!

Truth is, this is not me. I love to talk and I can talk.

So you think I’m stupid/ wired cause I keep mum, well I think you are stupid so I’m only going along and listening to your stupid stories.

Dear ex-friend, we are not friends, you hurt me, in ways not words but a knife can better express, so I will not talk to you ever. Don’t bother.

“Me I go talk my mind.”

Share with me, have you ever felt this way before?

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Love Thyself

Sometimes I feel really down and then I get into a mood that I can't get out of. I find it really hard to even smile. The thing is I have a thousand and one reasons . . . scratch that, a million and one reasons to be happy. Yet I let just one silly little thing get me down and start doubting myself. Woke up this morning and decided to stop beating myself up. I thought of all the adjectives people had used to describe me in this week and felt good :-)!

Precious                        Talented

  Great         Wonderful 

Amazing                        GodSent 

      Beautiful                  Angel  

Special     Awesome Ingenious

If there's one thing I've learnt this week don't sweat the small stuff. Everything does happen for a reason. Stop beating yourself up for silly mistakes, wrong decisions and things beyond your control not going your way.

Love thyself no matter the situation. Did I mention I got the promotion I told you I was working towards!!

Like a match to a flame! This girl is on fire!!!!

Have a fab weekend/week ahead!

Ré

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Who Promised You Tomorrow?

Who promised you tomorrow?

Who told you it was yours and you could have it just like that?

Causally throwing around 'tomorrow's day' in conversations. 

See you tomorrow,

Talk to you tomorrow,

Call me tomorrow,

Email me tomorrow,

Why not today?

Who promised you tomorrow?

It's not just another day,

It's totally different from today, 

Extremely different from today.

If it can be done today,

Why tomorrow?

Who promised you tomorrow?

Sitting there dreaming about tomorrow,

A tomorrow where everything is ok,

And everything goes exactly your way,

Wake up!

Who told you to trust tomorrow? 

A day that may be for you or not,

A day filled with unpredictable events.

Do you know where you'll be tomorrow?

Do you know what will happen tomorrow?

What do you know about tomorrow?

What do I know about tomorrow?

All I know is I'm living for today,

Always having God in mind,  

Whilst praying and hoping for tomorrow.

My friend and neighbour Aboyowa 'Abs' Harriman passed away yesterday morning.

Last thing I said to him was see you tomorrow.

Tomorrow came and he wasn't there . . .

I thank God for his life and letting me be a part of it. I'll miss our morning conversations, after work gist and hearing his hearty laugh from over the walls of our house.

Abs

Adieu friend of mine. Till we meet again. 

Princess Re

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The Wedding Crasher

Don't really like going for weddings except I know the bride or the groom or family or something. Nigerian weddings always have a way of turning into carnivals. I hate crowds. Dear Future Husband, I'm all up for a destination wedding, I want to be able to remember every thing that happens on that day and share it with only our family and real friends. (Am I selfish for this?)

A year ago, I went to a friend's sisters wedding on the mainland, from there my friends decided to go to another wedding on the Island. And I agreed to tag along since I knew the bride's younger sister (at that time, that was a good enough reason to crash the wedding).

The wedding on the Island was so beautiful and the great thing about it was that there were loads of people I knew there. I noticed my neighbour was also there, he's older than I am, but we cool. So he walks up to me to ask if I was OK, if I wanted a drink et al.

As I get back into grooving, he come to chat with me again asking for my mum, sisters, who did I come with . . . and I mention I was with some friends. Then I ask him "Who did you come with?" He looks at me surprised and then starts laughing hard, while I'm wondering what I've said that's so funny, he calls out to his friend to come hear the question I asked him and that one starts laughing as well and replies "Its his wedding o!"


The thing is I saw his sisters in aso ebi, but I didn't think anything of it, just thought they were related to whoever's wedding it was. When I go to weddings, I usually look out for the bride and groom and say hello to them (even when I don't know them). This time, I was already happy thanks to the alcohol I had at the other wedding so I didn't think of it.


Chai! I was embarrassed. Before you laugh at me, tell me you've never crashed a wedding. You have haven't you?

All dressed up for a wedding I was invited to :-)

Ré

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I'm Back!

Hi beautiful people!

How’s everyone been?

Haven’t blogged in a few weeks. And I do feel bad about it. I’ve been writing though, but not blogging. See my excuses below :-) :

1. I've been busy. Aren't we all?? Well I’m working towards a promotion (and a raise).

I work HARD

2. I went away on holiday (again). Really needed to get away. 

3. Been lost in thought. Busy planning the future. You know how you make plans and you are so sure everything would go your way . . . *sigh. But other things you didn’t plan for happen? Well I'm dealing with that.

Sometimes I feel like no one comes here or reads my blog, but in the last 3weeks, I’ve had nine people I never thought would read my blog ask me “When’s your next post?” “Why haven’t you blogged?” Thanks for reading and proving me wrong!

I Princess Iré promise to blog at least once a week.

Have a great week everyone!

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Between The Lagos Government & The Doctors

My younger sister 'Hurricane K' is currently studying medicine at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital. I'm so proud of her. Every time she comes home she's always using us her family members as lab rats; diagnosing this and that. I remember when she learnt to give injections, sister was always threatening us that she would give us injections imagine! Even though she's a twin, she's the baby of the house. In the next three years she'll be a medical doctor and people will start calling me 'Egbon doctor' :-).

My baby doc aka Dr Keni G

A couple of weeks ago, the Lagos State Government sacked Seven Hundred and Eighty Eight medical doctors. Yes 788! To replace the sacked doctors, they went and hired three hundred and seventy three doctors described by a Punch columnist as neophytes.What were the demands of the sacked doctors? "Improved working conditions".

Now Federal Government hospitals have gone on strike as well to protest the sacking of their colleagues. The Nigerian Medical Association chairman says their strike will not end till the sacked doctors are recalled. Even the private hospital doctors are appealing to the government.

In all the hullabaloo, what I'm trying to understand is was there no negotiation between the government and the doctors. Were their demands so preposterous? Why were they sacked just like that?

Some people have argued that the doctors should have never gone on strike in the first place, that as a physician who has taken the Hippocratic oath, you've got a duty to perform and people to look after. I'm just saying, what if they (the doctors) just wanted to be looked after too? And they felt their employers were not doing enough for them.

What about the masses? Will they be catered to health wise? Are there enough doctors to look after/treat them? Will they be used as lab rats by the beginner doctors? The truth is they are the ones who'll suffer from all this. Does the Government really care?

Now what happens to the seven hundred and eighty eight people who are now out of job and most now homeless?  (They got kicked out of their government owned homes as soon as they were sacked).

Just saw in the papers that Governor Fashola will be on 60minutes with Angela showing on AIT today at 4:30pm and he'll be talking about the sacked Lagos State Doctors amongst other things. Will be tuning in to hear what he has to say.

As we Nigerians always say: It is well. Check out the post I wrote about a year ago about My experience at a primary health care clinic. x

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Why I Love The Water

Whenever I’m stressed, there are different things I do to relax myself. There's:

*Junk Food therapy: Pringles, Ribena, Coke and Chocolate (in any form).

*Retail Therapy (Not necessary clothes, maybe a book or even a hair scrunchie)

*Water Therapy

A couple of weeks ago, I was so stressed about Lord knows what, anyways, I decided to engage in some water therapy, so I got my friend Ese, went to buy a large cup of ice cream and went to the beach at 7:25pm!

Have any of you guys been to the Bar beach in Victoria Island before? I was one of those people who wondered why the Lagos State Government was messing with nature by putting/building huge concrete blocks on the sand. But men in the process of walking down the beach looking for where to sit, the water seemed just too close and I swear if it had a face, it would be an angry one, it seemed as if it wanted to send one huge wave over us and onto the main road. I’m not exaggerating, ask Ese.

Photo Credit: Hadi D

When I was younger, my mum told me this story: that when the IBM plaza now Fin bank was built, the sea people aka mermaids as we call them: mammy water had a problem with it cause the windows which are like reflectors used to send the reflection of the sun into the water so it seemed as though there were two suns shining under the sea. The sea people got upset with this and sent a messenger to the Oba's palace down the road to tell him about it. The Oba was of no help to them. So they took matters into their own hands and decided to chase the people out. So whenever it rained, they used that opportunity to send waves in that direction and cause a flood.

Have you ever been to the beach at night???

Photo Credit: Hadi D 

It is so beautiful! We found a nice log in front of the water and sat down and ate ice cream. It was so soothing. The way the waves sent little splashes of water towards us, the cool sea breeze (I swear, it had this peppermint feel), the smell of salt.

We sat down and talked about what lay beyond the sea. There were these lights right across from us. And it looked so nice with the night sky.

Close your eyes and imagine, the night sky, tiny bright lights, the smell of sea salt and mint, cool breeze, the sound of roaring waves. Bet you feel relaxed already. . . Ré

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Maju meets M & K By Ambrosia Bakery with its Spring/Summer 2012 Collection :-)

Maju meets M & K By Ambrosia Bakery with its Spring/Summer 2012 Collection at a Mother's day special exhibition.

Date: 18th of March, 2012  Venue: A White Space #58 Raymond Njoku Street off Awolowo Road Ikoyi, Lagos.
Time: 12 noon -7pm
Spread the word! There’ll be food, drinks, sales, raffle draws and loads of fun.

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Let's Try Something New

Been busy living life and enjoying every minute of it. Believe it or not, this sister is letting her hair down (I really am). Haven't done anything exciting yet (meaning I'm going to do something outrageous real soon); I like to entertain myself. Asides from work, I've been busy investing in myself and learning new stuff.

Took acting classes three, four weeks ago. I'm not thinking of becoming an actress but I've been told that to be a good presenter, you've got to be a good actor. While at I was at broadcasting school, I kept being told "Princess you are great but you need to know how to act your script". Now I'm learning. Acting class was so interesting got to meet creative minds and amazing film makers. During the improv circles, I heard my voice in a completely different way, I was scared. I just couldn't believe the voice I was hearing was mine. I've made a couple of videos. Will show you guys when I have the courage to.

The guys from acting class with Kunle Afolayan.

Social Media Marketing Boot Camp with Okechukwu Ofili: Seeing as I currently work in Digital Media (and marketing) I thought it would be important I attended it. Thank God I went, It was amazing. Won't be sharing what I learnt with you :p.

"The path to success is simple and straight forward". Photo Source: Ofilispeaks.com

Linda Ikeji at the bootcamp. (Confession: I'm a LIB'er. Don't judge me, I know you are too!)

Went to this this Fashion Film Talk thing a week ago with film maker Kathryn Ferguson and designer David Saunders. Just know my next fashion film will be fab. *Fingers crossed.

Last night, I started cooking classes with Chef Hassan. I CAN cook but don't you get tired of cooking and eating the same thing all the time. Right now, I absolutely refuse to eat rice or indomie (except I'm really hungry or I don't have a choice). Last night, I learnt how to make salad dressing from scratch, chilli, shredded chicken and beef, white sauce and chicken escalope.

Chips and Shredded beef. I had gone halfway tasting (eating) it then I remembered to take a picture 

Chicken Escalope, Chips and Veggies. Yum! Was real proud of myself till Bros mentioned it needed salt. My friend David called it the "unsalted escapade" Lol!

Looking forward to working at Chef H's restaurant this weekend. He's going to let me cook for his customer's after my 3rd lesson. Woo Hoo!

Have a fab day!

Ré

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The First Post

Happy New Year everyone!

Its not the first day of the year but this is my first blog post this year, well it's not my first blog post this year but it's the first post I've put up this year on That Ré Of Sunshine. I've been blogging, just not here. Check out these blogs and website:

• Re's City
• MTV Base 
• M n K By Ambrosia

Just got back from holiday in Europe three days ago and I loved it. Waking up when I liked, eating non-stop, moving at my own pace and shopping!

First thing I did was buy myself a pair of boots!  (Hadi's boots)

While on holiday, I noticed just how commercial Valentine's day is. Yes it's always been, but I just noticed how commercial it is. Apparently, consumers spend more that $7 billion a year on chocolates. I wonder how much of this money is spent on chocolates on Valentine's day.

Since Monday its been work non stop for me at the Base. I miss being on holiday. Oh well, a sister has got to make that dough (and save to go on another holiday). ;-)

Its Shrove"Pancake" day today. Lent is here, still trying to decide what I'll be giving up. Off to the Cathedral to have some pancakes in an hour.

Ré

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