Hello guys,Missed you BIG!!!
So I've kind of been away these past two weeks and then some for those who noticed but I'm back now and I'm glad I am. I had been studying for an exam and it felt like it would have been some form of betrayal if I had written here rather than put in more study time and so I apologize in spades for my utter neglect.
So…what's been good lately?At my end a whole lot's been going down, for starters: I ended my NYSC programme last month YAY!!! Trust me I was so glad to be done but regardless it was a pretty okay experience even though my head tries to deny it way too often. I met the most amazing people, built new friendships and we are doing our best to sustain said friendships. Oh and then that annoying element called nostalgia won't let me completely forget NYSC so every once in a while I get that annoying pang of nostalgia reminding me of the past couple of months.
Right now here's a shout-out to my fascinating, funny and really sweet friend Farida who left the gang back here in Lagos and moved back home *sobs*, we miss you loads but we'll make it work, I promise - we be blowing up your phone every other day.
Reality sucks by the way, it's like you are in a bubble during NYSC and then afterwards it’s like a jarring wake-up call where you honestly can't hide under the umbrella of being a Corper. But truth be told I never really did much hiding, my job was basically the real thing and that was a major plus cos it did it's due diligence of fostering growth and learning which I'm especially proud of.
The most recent of all events was my birthday on friday which was during this past Muslim holiday. I think I had the most relaxing weekend ever these past few days, started out lovely and ended just as lovely. I had no plans of celebrating my birthday this year; who am I kidding: I never really celebrate so I had no raging party planned for the 17th of July. What I wanted to do for my birthday was hang out with people I love doing some of the things I love.
Somehow I kept on frowning and squinting thanks to the sun
You know I love playing dress up and I'm a photography junkie so I simply roped in my awesome friends Anuli & Collette into doing a shoot with me centred around celebrating street style and each showed up on Friday with their respective interpretation of 'street'. I liked that three of us looked completely different from the next but still managed to have that element of street in our getups.
Collette, who takes the best selfies by the way, had that retro vibe going on with her vintage shirt buttoned all the way up to her neck giving it that prim look but it was a complete 360 from her flirty khaki-coloured shorts (totally crushing on it FYI) which infused that whimsical touch, topped off with her full fro weave, spiked ear cuffs and black studded loafers reminiscent of the punk trend.
Anuli opted for blue high rise jeans and sneakers which is as street as it gets, but of course knowing her there had to be a twist hence the knotted plaid crop top and choker. And as expected, my friend the queen of crotchet braids didn't disappoint with her full fro crotchet braids (using Marley hair) which totally brought the entire look together. She loves her hair as big as always and I love how daring she is with her hair-dos.
I however opted for something more conservative yet eccentric...an ivory lacey crop top paired with a little black vest, charcoal-coloured distressed jeans, leopard print heels (cos evidently I'm not ashamed to admit I needed some height around these two goddesses) and a purple tie to give the look said quirkiness. My hair was pretty basic starting off initially with a high bun and eventually switching to a little pony tail in front.
Can you believe I can't remember how to ride a bicycle?
I apologize for the picture overload but our friend and photographer Omoregie just kept taking shots and who in their right mind turns down being an artist's muse so we just kept on striking poses trying to look bad-ass let's hope you guys approve of our attempt at being bad-ass.
Sorry, time for a selfie!
Photography: Omoregie Osakpolor Visuals
This was major fun and I think I speak for us four when I say we had a really good time on Friday though we did miss our Farida *wails* (honestly I hate separation). We wrapped things up in a couple hours thankful the rain didn’t do much damage, hung out some more, fooled around, ate pizza and then the gang disbanded when it got late just to beat traffic.
I'm grateful that I'm a year older now, hopefully I'm wiser and still headed down that path and I also love that the day itself was something to be thankful about amidst all the rain and sun that showed up. I'm going to make a note to do random shoots like this every once in a while to remind myself of the most basic of things in life: a laugh, maybe two, a smile, usual ramblings and the underlying joy of taking it all in with friends who have always got your back.
So I'm a year older and the question I ask myself is 'what next?' and the answer as always remains 'one day at a time till the very next milestone'. I'm not going to rush it rather I plan to savor every single minute from here on out and see where each day takes me. So far so good and I'm looking forward expectantly to the next thing in store.
Till my next post,
Love,
Ify*
