Monday 18 August 2008

Introducing Kfa Fashions


I very rarely do red carpet events as I am more of a casual dresser generally. However, when I do get dragged on by Denrele et al I can usually be found wearing something from this "new" designer. I am therefore excited that she has decided to spread her wings and is holding a three day show at The Coral Mall, 21B Idowu Martins, VI from this week Friday 22nd till Sunday 24th.

The first two days are an exhibition of the clothes (you can buy as well oh). On the last day there will be a major fashion show from 2-4pm. Yours truly will be MCing this event (a first for me). So I look forward to all the Lagos Big girls and Big Boys coming out to support her. And me. (Gulp).

Check Kfa out on their website - http://kayfafashions.com/

Tuesday 1 July 2008

A different Life

I went to South Africa a few weeks ago for a month, to get some therapy for my daughter who has Aspergers.We stayed in cape town, I have travelled quite a bit and still continue to do so but cape town is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.We rented a flat on the beach front. I would wake up with questions and apprehensions about my daughters care but once I caught a view of the beach or the mountains that surrounded us I felt such a sense of calmness and well being.I would take her for walks on the beach every day after therapy and every day the sea would present us with a different gift it could be a preserved sea horse amazingly coloured. Shells,bits of coral and so many different kinds of seaweed that my daughter suggested we take them home and cook them this is one kid that loves her vegetables.
Never have I felt so comfortable in a country I have never wanted to visit, always put off by the history of apartheid. My first trip out by myself to the mall I noticed that I blended in with the crowd completely as eighty percent of the people looked like me now you might think what is she talking about ? But this was an amazingly rare experience because as a mixed race person you tend to stand out a little.This was a kind of nirvana for me because when people looked at me they saw themselves and looked at me accordingly with a knowing acceptance,well what they thought they knew if you catch my drift.I went to the salon for a hair cut and one of the ladys asked me how long I had been away as she assumed I was a South African coloured with an english accent.I know SA has been getting a lot of bad press recently and some of it deservedly so but I have never met a friendlier more relaxed bunch of people blacks,whites and coloreds alike. The cost of living seemed to be lower than living in Lagos,the quality of life is amazing all this just five and a half hours away from Nigeria.

When I got back I wanted to relocate and had a bit of a cry as nepa took light once again and the local security teams started banging their iron bars as they do every night just as you are getting into a nice sleep presumably to scare off armed robbers.I had been used to the sound of the ocean putting me to sleep and I thought how much more comfortable my children would be in the Cape totally be able to blend in and have a healthy out door life on the beach,surfing,sailing........but hey there's no place like home is there ?

Friday 7 March 2008

Too Close For Comfort

The evenings of our first few months of moving into Lekki were filled with sporadic gunfire in the area as it seemed to be the season for armed robbers,so maybe we got a bit desensitised to hearing the noise and went into automatic pilot locking the doors,putting the lights out and staying away from the windows making sure the security men were locked into the compound with us and so on.I heard my first detailed eye witness account on Xmas day, we had an open house and lots of guests.The last set of guests came in early evening and recounted there near miss experience at The Palms a mall just down the road from us.Apparently they drove past the armed robbers who were on their way to rob The Newscafe Restaurant and bar were they proceeded to strip everyone of there money jewellery and mobile phones. From there they headed to shoprite on the inside of the mall and robbed them of all there takings and terrorised shoppers.I remember sitting there and thinking how insane the conversation sounded as we drank champagne, it seemed as if we were discussing the weather.

The mall was robbed again last weekend,and my daughter reminded me at that exact same time I was pressuring them to get out of the house and go to the mall to watch a movie.I thank God they did not give in to my trying to get them to go out and have a good time.They tend not to go out as much as they did in England,there is just not that much to do out here.
I was out the other day getting some groceries from shoprite trying to Ignore the bullet holes on the walls outside and just get on with it,as everybody does out here,when a wall of fear hit me so strong it made my eyes water. I had to sit on one of the benches in the mall as I felt nauseous.Here we all are going about our normal lives with fixed smiles on our faces and we are living in a war zone.
Last night was a little too close for comfort,I had just finished settling the little ones to bed at about 8pm when the gunfire started it sounded like one of the robbers had gotten hold of an automatic weapon and the gun fire went on for about 10minutes.They were robbing the local restaurant a mere four doors down from me. four doors down!,and yet we wake up get dressed and act like nothing happened,is this healthy? I don't know....are we as a nation too cavalier in our easy going attitude when it comes to our lives on the line?or is it that we have no choice but to be cavalier, because are we not just here by his grace?

Thursday 28 February 2008

Women Beaters

What kind of man finds it within himself to beat women?,is it learned behavior?.
There has been so much stuff in the papers recently mainly focusing on our sports heroes I couldn't believe it when I heard Nigerian former football international Godwin Okpara had been arrested for rape and torture of his adopted daughter.(I reckon she might have been his housegirl,but comon!).Then there's Andy Cole arrested just this week for assaulting his wife.I was also talking about Gazza on my show last week, as he was recently sectioned under the mental health act. He openly admitted to beating his wife on a regular basis in his autobiography. I also had the honour of meeting Frank Bruno a few years back, he came across as a wonderfully charming man,I wasnt aware at the time that he apparently used to batter his wife on a daily basis.What is it?.I suppose we shouldn't assume they should know better just because they are celebrities, earn shed loads of money and are, or where leaders in there fields of expertise.I think we somehow assume falsely that money makes people better.Well it obviously doesn't

Perhaps there are religious and cultural issues to also debate here.A friend of mine was quick to point out Ephesians 5:22-23 to justify the patriarchal dominance of the male.Islam religion also tells men how to control there wives by beating them with a stick no wider than the length of there thumb.
Some women say that alcohol contributed to there man hitting them.I suppose alcohol does have some bearing on behaviour,but I think that a person who would beat you when drunk would still beat you when sober.Violence occurs when someone decides that its ok to physically abuse you,What do you think.

Sunday 24 February 2008

Here we Go....


Had a brilliant time at Brila 88.9fm yesterday (no pun intended). It was such a buzz being live on air. I have never seen so many knobs and buttons. Its like being in a plane cockpit, push the wrong button and you could crash i.e. go off the air. I interviewed Ewigbe Enobahare, the Kano Pillars Goal keeper, reviewed the morning sports pages, did sports entertainment news i.e. told everyone about Gazza being locked up under the Mental Health Act, Ashley and Cheryl Cole's marriage wahala(shock horror he's been sleeping around!!), Posh and Pecs (I mean Becks) wanting to adopt a baby from Sierria Leone (puh-lleeze) and Ronaldos new mansion and so on ..

I then, with great glee and excitement, opened up the phone lines to talk about wedding rings. Some of the players that went out to Ghana conveniently lost theirs as they had to take them off before playing so I opened up the topic a bit and asked what people thought about wedding rings. Should they be worn permanently or do we have the freedom, male or female, to wear them as we like. There were lots of interesting responses like - Africans don't wear wedding rings! But surely if you are going to fully embrace the Christianity imported from Europe, get married in the church in front of hundreds of people then surely you are going to have to wear a wedding ring.

So I'm on again next Saturday with more sports entertainment, interviews and juicy gossip as I find out what sports celebrities are up to. If you hear anything juicy please let me know so I can spread the news to all my peeps. And I am especially looking for all you ladies to give me a call as I am going to be asking who the sexiest footballers are. We will try and keep it down to 100!! (LOL)

Talk to you guys soon.

Friday 22 February 2008

On the radio.....


Hey guys please check out my new show on Brila FM every Saturday from 11am to 3pm for the next four weeks. I will be looking at sports from an ENTERTAINMENT point of view and there will be plenty of opportunities for you all to phone in and ask questions which I will not have the answer to (LOL).

Really though it will be news, chat, entertainment, gossip and lots of fun along the way. With a few surprises thrown in.

Brila is on 88.9FM and their website is here http: //www.brila-fm.net/index.php

Y'all come and join me now, you hear?

Tuesday 19 February 2008

valentines day at lekki beach

with oga off travelling the world as usual and my two older ones after much begging and pleading (and then playing the you don't love us you went of to New York, and left us card)in England for the half term.I decided to spend valentines day with my two younger ones at lekki beach.As usual on arrival we were defrauded of our money
for the beach and also for the new tariff they have just introduced for the car park,the car park meaning a strip of sand with no clear definition that they occasionally hose down to stop you sinking into the sand,I dont mind realy and I quite like the beach area boys they try to keep the beach clean and are on first name terms with my kids so its all good.Gosh it was so romantic the water was so so blue like it had just been imported from Hawaii the sand was valentine clean, fine and powdery. I settled my self down on my favorite beach chair like an old aunt, put on my Jackie Os and began to watch all the action.couple number one descend down to the beach she looking all black Beyonce, with her little plasic valentines rose and he looking all Taye diggs with a bottle of Baron de Vlle red wine and a glint in his eye( today na today)she touched his arm and whispered in his ear to my imagination promises of delights to come in one of beach huts that affords the privacy to be erm.. romantic later on, and then pushes him off to haggle with the horseman on a white charger cos she wants a ride,the horse man who is charging valentines prices begins to irritate Taye Diggs as he is not willing to part with N700 for Beyonce to take a ride.Beyonce begins to fiddle with her bra strap and the horseman offers a quick discount, as they gallop of into the almost but not quite sunset Taye Diggs buys guguru and epa(peanuts and popcorn)couple number two enter my radar (she like Oprah Winfrey he unfortunately not steadman) mainly because she decides my little homely patch is good security for her bag and shoe which she, after greeting me like we were friends, drops by my seat.Her rose is made out of cloth unlike beyonces little plastic one and a bit larger.They run towards the water hand in hand,totaly immersed in each other you can almost tell they've farmed out the kids to family and are desperately trying to seek romance again.

I glance over at Taye Diggs who is now polishing off his red wine , not leaving much for Beyonce,whilst pacing up and down the beach wondering were she is.Oprah runs back with, not steadman and they retire to one of the beach houses for some....rest.
I briefly check that the tide hasn't pulled away my children and then on hearing
smacking noises coming from the beach house behind me I adjust my chair away from Oprah, and not steadman,and return to gaze at Taye Diggs,well you know, eye candy now, after all its valentines.He has finished off the bottle of wine and is running up and down the beach looking for Beyonce,asking all the other horsemen if they have seen de broda on de white orse ,no oh! we neva see am ! With Taye about to go into melt down Beyonce arrives with, did I say the Jay z lookalike!.... well he was yellow.
Now Jay z has a very satisfied look on his face and Beyonce looks like she had had a good ride, Taye looks as if he is about to take Jay Z out, but Beyonce whispers something in his ear. As Jay z gallops off I ponder on what she could have said to explain her absence for 45 minutes, if only I had super powers.Meanwhile Oprah comes out of the hut looking like the cat that just got the cream,and not steadman looked,
rested.As she began to look frantically for her bag I motioned her over,
not wanting to spoil her good mood as I had moved her bag for safe keeping.
So how was it now I said very forwardly she giggled like a school girl picked her things and ran off.Oh happy days so how was your valentines ?