In the Kitchen

 I have always felt an awesome kind of connection to the kitchen. I know, I know, many women say this so its a little cliche but I still admit to this connection.

In the kitchen...

I feel like am home. I feel like am in the right place. Like its perfect timing.

My mom always taught us how to handle the kitchen. Being the first born, I had to hold the kitchen turf when my mama was away. I had to cook, wash dishes and make everything ready for my family. One thing I noticed is that, I loved it.

Source: pitut.com via Melinda on Pinterest

Now, when am in the kitchen;

I feel like I own it. I feel like I run the place.

I sometimes feel crazy......

The kitchen helps me relieve stress. If am thinking (worrying) about something, the kitchen gives me an outlet. Cooking something, be it simple or complicated, makes my heart tick.

I really don't understand why I feel this way but I just do.

Sometimes, I feel like am clueless, but I know that I can learn.

I want to learn more.

In the kitchen:

I want to learn to cook a wider variety of dishes

I want more appliances so I can experiment more

I want to be more open to new ideas

I want to enjoy my time there even more than I do right now

I love the kitchen!!

I Love Mondays: Weekend Update

I love Mondays. I have come to realize that once you find something that you love doing, then Monday is no longer the stressful day of the week. I love waking up well rested and easy on Mondays. Don't get me wrong, I love my weekends very much. In fact, this weekend was perfect.
I do not say perfect because I went places or went dancing or something of the sort. I say perfect because it was an easy, love filled weekend. We slept in, on both Saturday and Sunday and that is something I always treasure.
We went for walks, visited parents, laughed and loved. It is not the activities from this weekend that I treasure but rather the feelings that I experienced.
The peace, the love, the security and surety, the warmth and the calmness. I enjoyed these feelings and I will always keep them close to my heart.
And that is why, the transformation from the weekend to the week does not scare me because I have something to treasure. Something that will keep me going until the next weekend.

 Happy week to all of you!

Lemon Inspired

Hello Friday!!!Am in love with you already. Anyway people, am so happy its Friday. Before I go any further, I would love to thank all of you for all the comments am getting these days. I love reading them so much and replying and chatting with all of ya. So, thank you.

Now, as usual, its Friday. That can only mean one thing, Friday Fancies. This week, {av} set the stage for a fruit inspired outfit. I was certainly torn between all the fruits that I like. At first, I wanted to base my outfit on the watermelon, two minutes later, the orange, ten minutes later, the mango. But something was not right, because lemons are one of my favorite fruits and part of my favorite colors. So, I just had to go with lemons. (sorry all other fruits, no hard feelings!)
So, lets see what I came up with:

Lemon by emmyel featuring leather sandals

The skirt was the first thing I saw and I fell in love. If only I was much of a skirt wearer, I would buy that skirt. The sheer blouse was meant to break all the color and make the outfit, kind of peaceful and not screamy (is that a word??). Hope you like it and I cannot wait to see what your fruit inspired outfits look like.

High-Low Skirts

I did not know what I was going to write about today. In fact, I was thinking of just letting the whole posting energy go to waste. However, at the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to write about something that am loving right now, but I did not know what exactly that was.

So, I decided to hop on over to Polyvore and see whether there was something that I really liked. And then I typed 'h'. Suddenly, the suggestion of a high-low skirt came up but I did not know what that is. Innocently, I clicked, just so I could know what a high-low skirt was and so that I would not be the dumb girl who gets passed on by popular trends. Let me just say that this was magic at its best.

Two weeks ago, I went home. My cousin (more like a sister coz our dads are twins), mum to my beautiful niece Crystal, gave me one of her skirts that does not fit anymore. Funny enough, its a high-low skirt, but I did not know that's what they are called.

{For those like me, a high-low skirt is one which the hemline is not even. Some parts are shorter than others.} 

Now, I have to tell you that I love that skirt that my cousin gave me and I just wanna show you the beauty in these skirts, so you can understand why am crushing really hard.

high low skirt by emmyel featuring a hi low skirt

These skirts are gorgeous and I could not have picked a better item to crush on. Do you wear high-low skirts?? Tell me all about it!!

Purple and White

I've always had these white trousers but I do not wear them often. It is not because I do not like them but because white is so hard to maintain. I have to watch where I sit, what touches me, where I walk, just to keep it crisp clean all day. However, last week, my sister encouraged me to wear my white trousers and I loved it.

I paired it with a purple sweater top and really loved the brightness of these colors. Since then, I've been looking for purple and white combinations that tickle my heart.

                                                                    All images Via
I love it all. I especially feel that this color mix is so bright yet so calm and peaceful. I love that Pinterest gives us a place to explore our creative juices. Am definitely thinking about how I can add more of purple and white to my life.

I want to Remember

I want to remember each day as it comes,
That I am here for a reason
That my life is a precious gift,
That I should cherish it

I want to remember, the little moments that take my breath away,
Little moments that I recount at the end of each day,
Moments that make me smile,
Moments that I hold close to my heart

I want to remember that am here to enjoy my life,
To remember that life is too short,
To know there is no time for holding grudges,
Only time for finding things that make me happy

I want to remember that today is the only time I have,
That yesterday is gone, whatever happened is now in the past,
Tomorrow is only but a dream, a promise that I cannot be sure of,
This hour, this minute, this second, is what I have!

I want to remember this when am angry,
When am feeling down, when it is dark,
When I think that am at the end of the road,
I want to remember!

I want to remember so I can take it easy,
So, I can choose to smile,
To love and to laugh with an open heart
And to cherish this remembrance.

I hope you remember too!

Source: savearecipe.blogspot.ca via Carmen on Pinterest

Weekend Update and Appreciating Art

I have found myself at a point where I actually miss Sundays. Lately, I have been working really hard and that means that I mostly have to work even on Saturdays. This leaves me exhausted and waiting for Sunday so I can relax and rest.
I love the easy mood of Sunday. The easy air with few if any obligations. This Sunday was one of those and I made use of it by resting and catching up on TV shows. This also means that there is not much to report except that last night I actually suffered from insomnia. I got into bed at 10.00 and by 2.00 AM, I was still awake. #veryfrustrating.
Anyway, apart from the inaction of the weekend, I would love to share with you some artworks made by an artists near where I live. I love the originality and creativity in these works. We featured him sometimes back on our other blog, here. Anyway, I hope you appreciate these pieces as much as I do.

 Happy Week!

One Year Later: Tribute to Grandma

Today is a beautiful day. The sun is out for once in this week and the day looks like its gonna be really good. Am alive and thats also something to be grateful for today. 

However, there is something tugging at my heart today. You see, one year ago today (21st July), my grandma- my dad's mum passed on. I wrote about it here. It was a sad, sad day. I cried my heart and my eyes out and 7 days later we laid her to rest.

My grandma passed on at home, infact outside her house, with some of my aunties and cousins with her. I believe that she wanted to be close to people she loved when she died. 

It has taken a lot of time for me to accept that she is gone but today, am not here to cry, but to celebrate the life of an awesome woman. Her passing on has taught me so much. 

I now know that life is something so precious. I have learnt that there is not time to hold onto grudges. If you love someone, just tell them. If you care about a certain cause, follow your heart. There is no time to waste doing things that dont make you happy. 

I have learnt that the connections, friendships and relationships that we create with other people are the most important thing in our lives. Without such connections, we are dead inside. We must do things that make us feel alive. Things that excite us and keep us happy.

Grandma:

I know you are watching over us everyday and taking care of each one of us. However, this does not ease the fact that we miss you dearly. We will never forget who you were to us. The things you taught us (and especially me) are embedded close to my heart. And above all granny, we love you so much, always have and always will. 

Many many hugs and kisses to you!! 

Today, We remember you!!

 

                                        Grandma and me on my graduation (Dec 10, 2010)

So, Today I Meet New friends!

Hi lovelies. As you might all know, I am a girl and I love to meet new friends!So today am so grateful that today I get to meet new friends , courtesy of Irene from Inspiration from the Little Things. Am featured over there. Please go check it out.
And if you are new here. Am so happy to see you, leave a comment and hope you stay a while!

Current Crush Thursday

Its way too cold around here these days. Am freezing most of the time. It is actually really hard to look fashionable (as if that applies to me) and keep warm at the same time!I've heard many people complain about this thing. Am really jealous of those of you who are enjoying the summer sun right now, while am freezing over here. But, you just wait, in December, you will all be freezing while I will be soaking in some sun. (I know you are jealous.)

Anyway, my favorite thing right now is scarves. I actually never go out without one these days. I have like 5 and I would love to add to that collection. So for today, enjoy mu current crush on these scarves.

Scarves Crush by emmyel featuring polka dot scarves

They are really cute. Tell me which one is your favorite!!
Oh, and Thank you for your comments on my post on PMS. Thank you and you are all so adorable.

PMS - What's a Girl to Do??

I cannot believe that I am writing about this today. But, that's the fun of blogging, right? You get to talk about anything and everything. So lets do this!!
Premenstrual syndrome, that's what they call it but to most of us women, it is just PMS.

The sound of it even makes us cringe. But, its inevitable. Most if not all women experience PMS a few days before the period (oh, thats something else). Some months, it is non-existent but others, it is extreme. I have had my fair share of the same and thus the reason behind this post.My symptoms:
1. Craziness. I do crazy stuff. Like walk in front of a moving car while looking in the opposite direction. #truestory, almost got hit yesterday.

2. Clumsiness. The plates and cups seem to fall uncontrollably.
3. Mood swings. (This is the big one.) The day's emotions go like: happy, happy, sad, very sad, happy, very happy, teary, smile, screaming, joy, anger, I wonna hit someone, happy......and the list continues.

4. Irritable. Say anything and am irritated. Don't say anything and am still irritated.

5. Bloated stomach, full of gas. Two words, it sucks.
6. Headache. What is the connection between my period and my head??? Researchers should answer this question!
7. Tiredness. No, its more like fatigue.
8. Loss of appetite. Food tastes really bad. But, I could eat cake all day, but then I would get extremely fat!!
9. Too much sleep. Last night I slept for over 11 hours straight.
10. The body aches in every part and I lose interest in things that are usually interesting.

OK, I could go on but I wont because I know all the women out there understand what am saying. So, now lets look at what I do to ease these symptoms and sometimes even bring a smile to my face:

1. Rest. By rest I mean Sleep. A lot of it. If I get the chance, then I sleep and I forget all about the world and all its operations.
2. Wine or any alcohol. Just a lot little. To cheer me up. Sorry people, a girls gotta do what she gotta do! Did I just say that???

3. Watch funny movies. Since my attention span is like that of a chicken during this time, I like something that will make me smile. E.g, How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory. I avoid things such as The Bachelorette since they are too emotional and I might end up sobbing!!!
4. Take a walk. A short one and through places I love. Cool, quiet places.
5. Blogging, Pinterest, Twitter. (Sometime, not always)
6. Hugs. Lots of them from b/f. Makes me feel safe and taken care of.

I hope we can talk more about this topic and help each other where possible. This will make PMS more bearable for us  women and especially for the girls who are just entering puberty!
Images Via