Drool

All pictures sourced from an amazing photographer's blog - From Me To You.

Don't you just love it when you stumble on a new blog? Oh the excitement of clicking on 'older posts' and knowing that you won't be disappointed. This is what my evenings this week have been about. Mostly. Not only is Jamie good at photography but she also gets to photograph the most exclusive events! Lucky lady. But really, luck us. Cos we get to tag along through her blog. 

Check her out already.

Made in Kenya

Friday was payday so you can be assured my weekend featured some long overdue purchases. Does anyone else have majah problems at the end of the month like I do? For some reason for the last 6days of the month my wallet is usually sooo empty. You'd think after many such months of suffering I'd have figured out a proper way to avoid this situation.
Must. Budget.

 Lately I've been very conscious of buying Kenyan made products like the shade above. It cost Shs. 700 and is more of teal-ly colour than it looks in the picture. It goes well in my room but I especially like it cos I know it was made locally.

Spent some of my Sunday buying pillows for the house. I must have looked like I was hosting a pillow fight cos the pillows were spilling over my trolley! I believe a good pillow can make or break your night and it was about time we got new ones. How often do you change your pillows?

 While at the till about to pay for the pillows, I came across these chocolate bars for the first time. Ring a bell? 

I do my eyebrows at home and even though tweezing has been working fine, I decided to try these razors. I think I watched a Dulce Candy video once where she used something similar to do the part above the brows (where the lady in the picture is going for). But I believe they say you shouldn't, right? Let's see how these razors work, hopefully they won't irritate my skin.

I'm listening to Rihanna's album right now, Talk that Talk. The whole album seems to revolve around one thing really: sex. Have you watched the 'Where Have You Been' video? The dance moves are amazeballs!!! Watch it please. I love how they have some African influence too. I need to learn these dance moves, find a couple back up dancers and hit the club. You can watch the video HERE. I'll be damned if it doesn't tickle your dancing bone.

The way I've been going through nail polish remover is scary. I think someone is secretly spilling out some of the bottle's contents when I'm not looking. Someone is trying to sabotage my nails' reputation. Got two bottles at about Shs100 each. Let's see how long they both last.

 How crap is this nail polish? Luron #65. Clearly I was supposed to use it on top of another colour. I really had high expectations for this one.. Really.

Who's excited that Big Brother Africa has started??????? me.

High Waist sorta Day

This here is the story of how these came to be my favourite jeans. 

High-waisted jeans - second hand market; Top - Meltz; Cardigan - Mr. Price; Flats - Mr. Price; Necklace - gift

A couple weeks ago I decided to take my health a little more seriously by introducing some form of exercise. I've always assumed that since I've always been pretty small and never had a problem with my weight that I don't need to work out but you and I both know that's not how it works. Working out should be about maintaining a healthy regime and not just losing weight. So I put on my running shoes and took a 20minute walk - let's not fool ourselves here people, I wasn't going to go sprinting for my first time out in the exercise jungle. I kept it up a few times and probably went out for a total of 4 walks, each one longer and quicker than the last. And then that's when it happened, within 10 days my jeans weren't fitting around my hips and bum. And so just like that I stopped walking but decided to keep going with my pilates. The only pair of jeans that stayed true to their fit were the ones above thus earning the coveted title of 'best jeans ever' as rated by my thighs and bum. Hands down.

Aren't a good pair of jeans the best thing ever???

Sometimes when I close my eyes I can't see

There's nothing more liberating than slipping out of your ever so tight, high-waisted jeans and slipping into a bati which I believe is similar to, if not the same as, the direh. I first came across a bati at my friend's house as her mum was wearing one and I couldn't get over the pretty prints. I'm not sure if it's a traditional Somali or Arabian dress so I won't exactly comment on that, but I do know that it's a helluva lot more comfortable than these bandage dresses and tighter than tight jeans that designers are churning out. That being said, the first few times I wore this dress I almost choked myself to death and this I kid you not. Whoever designed them gave a small allowance for the neck area and I can't tell you many times I'd sit down only to have my air circulation abruptly cut off by the front part of the dress. But fear not, I have come to master the art of avoiding 'death by bati'.

I'm not sure if this is true for all batis but the ones I usually get come in a boxy shape and are ever so long therefore making it free-size. You can get them in all sorts of colours and prints too which is a plus. I'll rarely leave the house in a bati as it doesn't do much for my figure but whenever I do, I'll slip on a belt and throw on some jewellery to make it look a little more decent.

What do you put on when you want to get comfy around the house? Do you ever leave the house in it or is it a no-way-ho-zay sorta situation?

Make Room for Me

 Blazer - second hand market; Top - Meltz; Jeans - Edgars; Belt - second hand market; Necklace - Mr. Price; Fuchsia flats (not shown) - Mr. Price. 

Make room for me to lead and follow you beyond this rage of poetry.  ~ Maya Angelou

The best part of my day was probably the moment captured above - the sun was out and there was good reason to believe that it would stay out. That didn't last too long though.

Even though yesterday was a public holiday I still can't wait for the weekend. I've been able to get my hands on a whole lot of movies/series and I'm ready to indulge in some major couch potato-ing. Is anyone else as excited to watch the Avengers as I am?! I believe it comes out in a couple days! Expectations are higher than a kite.

I haven't yet been able to comfortably wear bright shades of lipstick but that doesn't stop me from buying them. Perhaps if I found the perfect bright lip colour.. Any recommendations?

When all you can do is take pictures

Road trip. Family. Sunday. Silly pictures. Self portraits. Clouds. Ice cream. Fun, and lots of it too.
That's about it in a nutshell.

Anyone out there who wears glasses and often has to make that awkward decision between seeing clearly or getting some shade from the sun? 

I love how they'll stop licking away and patiently wait for me to take a picture of their melting ice cream cones. Sweethearts.

Half Moon - B&W

Next on the plate for my nail art roll was the half moon. So far, this is my favourite especially since it's also one of the easiest I've tried. Good thing about this is that the materials you need are easy to find and you don't have to use any specific nail polish colours for it to work. Just two contrasting ones are good enough and the end result will be striking, which is what we're aiming for. I've also seen some bloggers use only one colour leaving the part around the cuticle bare and it still looked pretty good. So really, whatever tickles your fancy. And in case you're wondering, I've had these nails for about 3 days hence the chipping and scratches!

I got these little stickers from Nakumatt and they couldn't have cost more than Shs100. I think they're about 200 of them, maybe more, so you're assured to be able to try as many half moon looks as you could possibly wish for. If you're interested:

Step 1: Put a base coat

Step 2: Paint your nails with your desired base colour - this is the one that will appear in the shape of the half moon. I went for white and put two coats as the first one came off really streaky. 

Step 3: After waiting for your nails to dry, place these little stickers over the cuticle area to create the half moon shape. Make sure you press the sides down tight enough so the second colour doesn't seep through.

Step 4: Apply the top colour of your choice. I went with black and only used one coat.

Step 5: After waiting a couple minutes, gently remove the little sticker and voila, your done! You can also put a top coat for extra shine if desired.

This nail art, as like any other, is bound to get messy so fear not if it's not as perfect as you expected. I can assure you, people will still be impressed by your work!

{ Phone pic taken soon after application}

It's Labour today which means it's a public holiday! I'm spending my day in bed doing a little blogging, watching Revenge (how cool is this show?) and eating like there's no tomorrow. Happy Labour day to all my Kenyan readers and a beautiful Tuesday to all!

p.s.: So excited because I've just realised that this is my 100th post! 100 and counting.