Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Music: On repeat


Am so late on this song and this group. Just found out about them and this song while reading about the recent MAMA - Mtv Africa Music Awards.

This song has been on repeat. Love the rhythm, love the video, love the styling, love the way it makes me feel.

Ahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Stampede styling

The Calgary stampede kicked off yesterday. The Stampede has a special place in my heart as it was my first official outing and total immersion in Calgary when I moved here. I moved to Calgary a week before the Stampede that year.

One thing that stands out during the Stampede is the fashion, conservative office folks leave their suits at home and put on their best western duds. Even the police wear  Stetsons during the 10 days of the greatest show on earth.

Given that I am originally from the east cost ( like they call it here in Calgary), I don't feel myself going full on western stylewise. So for this year's Stampede, I turned to some of my favorite blogs to gather inspiration, here is what I came up with.

The following images are from the blogs, Kendi Everyday, Simply Cyn , Moiology, My Little Secrets and My Small Wardrobe .

The Canadian tuxedo is an obvious classic and Old navy is a great spot to find all shades of Chambray shirts. The trick to a good Canadian tuxedo is to wear different shades like Sasha from Moiology does very well. 



Rompers are common during the summer and to add a western feel to them would be to do it in denim. Again Old navy has this great denim romper here or a denim dress as rompers can be annoying when nature calls.

Some other clever ways to do denim

Now I know the dress that Cynthia from Simply cyn  has on in the picture above is not denim but I think doing the denim look works.

A gingham dress is a unique way to go as well. I am also inspired by this leather mini with a plaid shirt. A great way to kick it up a notch with the plaid shirt.



With these inspirations and more I feel ready to do Stampede this year.

Yeehaw!!!!

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

                                                                via lighthousepub.ca

Yayyyy!!!!! it is Canada day today. Apart from the fact that it is a holiday and a break from work. I personally have never really done anything festive on this day. This year, I decided that this will change and am off to join in some if not all of the festivities. There is so much sadness and seriousness in the world, I believe we have to take advantage of opportunities to celebrate and have fun.

Calgary this year have made things easier by posting all the events for the day on a website. Plus there are shuttle buses to take you from one venue to the other, so yes I am leaving the car home as well.
http://www.calgarycanadaday.ca/

I plan to document some of the festivities I get in today and hopefully post on the blog. It would be great to look back next year at this and see what I did.

Cheers to all who call this great country home.

Natural Hair Reaction

Sunday afternoon in apartment lobby, with laundry card in hand
Knock, knock
" My laundry card does not work." I say
"Hi", says the Building Manger, " You look different."
" Really"
" Did you gain some weight?" she says.
With a frown, " No"
" But you look so different" she insists.
" No I haven't gain any weight" I say. " you saw me just a week ago, the only thing that has changed is that I took out my braids."
" Oh yeaaahh! you look soooo different, come I will get your card  to work."


Monday Morning, at work
click clack click clack, space space click clack (Typing on my keyboard) 
" wow, what did you do to your hair"  Sheri says.
" she went and cut it all off"
I look up to see a small crowd is gathering. " No I did not cut my hair, maybe a little trim but no I did not cut it. My hair just shrinks up, that all, see" I pull one curl extending it to show it's length.
" It is curly, can i play with your hair?" Angela asked with excitement in her voice.
"No, I don't like it when people play in my hair" I responded.

 Same day, the last hour of work
"You have one curl sticking out" Angela informs me with a grin on her face. She still has that look of bewilderment. " I like your hair, it is like my sister-in-law's hair and I am always playing in it"
Tucking the culprit curl right in, " You can touch my hair if you like, it is almost time to go home so, I don't care very much if it is messed up"
" I love it, it is so soft" Angela touching my hair very carefully. You can tell she is trying not to mess up my fro.
"Erin you should come touch it"
"No" says Erin, giggling by my desk.
" It is okay Erin,  you can touch it"
"It is so soft (giggles), it is like a pillow" Erin practically squashing my fro like it is a loofah.
Freeze, now my thoughts at the time  was "my hair is not a loofah but you know what? let her knock herself out, it does not matter anyway, she is just curious." 


The next day at work, in the hallway
Helen stops me, " Hey I love your hair,  I keep trying to explain to every one that it is your real hair but they keep saying you cut it. I told them that you took your extensions off and you are natural so your hair looks short."
" I like that you are natural and don't use relaxers"
" Thanks Helen, I tried explaining too, but no one is getting it so I stopped"
" I love your hair like this, it looks good for the summer, fresh"
" Thanks Helen" with a big smile on my face.


A few days later.... at lunch
" Do you like Jenell Monae?" asked Savi
" Yes" wondering where this was going? I had my hair in an updo the day before and she had asked me if I cut my hair and I described the whole roll, tuck and pin.
Savi shows me the day's metro paper.It had a picture of Jenell Monae with a scan code for the hair tutorial. 
" Savi, this looks complicated" it was a updo but the front was not the usual pompadeur but a 40s press curl.
" it is not that complicated, besides there is the code, you scan it and do it" 
" Okay Savi,  I will take a look at it, thank you" 


A few different reactions I got for my natural hair, days after I took down my braids and wore my hair in twist-out afro and updos. I wasn't too surprised with the comments but was a little surprised at the amount of attention, which even after three weeks am still getting. To be frank, I don't like the amount of attention, but that is just me, I get really uncomfortable if I get too many compliments for my looks. Especially when it comes in the form of getting a good morning or hi greetings like 5 times from the same person in a space of an hour.I know I know, I should learn how to take compliments and move on. One thing I can say is I appreciate the compliments and reactions, they have all been positive and have made re-embracing my natural hair easier.