Ode to My Fashion

2017 is coming to an end. What a whilrwind this year has been! Everything I knew and valued has been shattered. Everything I ever wanted came true but with a huge price. Yet, I am hoping that it was for the best. Scarf -taken from an Indian outfit Velvet shirt - (so old) gift from my Dad Pleated skirt -thrifted Leggings - India Shoes - Next Bag - Fair in India Ring - (so old) HM Pearl necklace - DIY  For one, I grew tremendously this past year. I started doing adult things, some things I never thought I would do or ever want to do again. But so is life. I lost a lot but I gained a lot as well. I learned every single day about life in general, love, family, work ethics, myself. I am getting to know who I am and what I am capable of. I know I am strong, I am resilient. I also know I am older (found out two gray hairs this year) and not as pretty as I used to be. But that is alright. I now think that it is okay to be selfish, to put myself first, to love

I have to admit that one of the greatest joy I have as a working woman (well, you know expect from doing what I love, and getting paid) is dressing up in the morning. For years, I eagerly waited to get a job to build me a wardrobe suitable for work. And now that I have, it is a pleasure to pull clothes out of my closet, find news ways to style them. However it can often turn into a nightmare particularly when I am in a rush in the morning (because I overslept) and I realized that the blouse I wanted to wear needs ironing I do not either have the time or the patience to do. On days like that I often opt for jeans and tee, but last time I got so lazy I borrowed my Mother's pyjamas.   Scarf - Sandaga market Open sweater and tee ensemble - stolen from my Mother Pyjama pants - stolen from my Mother Mules - stolen from my Mother Mind you, there are silky smooth pyjamas my brother got her as a gift from France. There are the kind of pyjamas fancy ladies wear to bed. I am not

Remember when I said that I was never going to change my style, because I like what I like (which is to be comfortable)? Well I lied! My style is slowly changing. As my love  life is in shambles at the moment ( I will get to that in a future post, I promise), I feel the need to go for a drastic change. I have contemplated the idea of cutting my hair (been there, done that!), dying it blond/ red or just forget this Hijabi thing all together. But as always, it is in the clothing department that I get to transform myself. Truth be told, I am sure that even when things were perfectly normal at home, I would still go with a style change. The reason being that I am influenced at work. Women at my job are very simple and casual but they can turn the heat up from time to time. My favorite day is Friday when almost every one get to dress up in Traditional Attire. As someone who does not have many traditional attires, I am amazed at all the designs and styles out there. My eyes are feasting

A few weeks back, something unusual happened to me: I won! I played a game on the Instagram of Karelle , who is a very famous food blogger here in Senegal. And I won a voucher for a brunch for two at a very nice hotel in town: the Pullman Teranga Dakar. I was surprised at first because I have never won anything in my life. And believe me I have tried my luck on many games. This time I was just playing without really hoping to win. I was so excited because, I have been wanting to go eat at the Pullman for quite some time now.  I originally wanted to give the tickets to my parents for them to enjoy. But upon speaking with my baby brother, he told me that those tickets would be wasted on them since they are old and cannot eat that much (it was a buffet!). So I saved the idea to treat them for later and decided to take my kids and best friend instead. My baby bro and his fiance also joined us. I have been to the Pullman for work before and I fell in love with the decor. The first

 Ever since I moved back home more than a year ago, I have not really been shopping. I checked stores at our mall that were highly overpriced. And those at the market were not any better. However, I was given life when I returned to the Saturday market. This market located near my parents house in the subburbs is filled with goodies, second hand items from overseas but also new stuff like under garments and fabrics. We can haggle the price therefore I always manage to get a good deal. I have to admit that I have been going there every other week. My favorite things to score are shoes. I always look for quality, size, wear and tear and of course the brand. I found shoes from Michael Kors, Steve Madden, Target and more. It is kind of hard to score the nicest ones because they mostly come in smaller size. But I did get lucky once. (Or twice) Scarf - borrowed from my Mother Top - Liberte 6 market Jeans - Liberte 6 market Shoes - Saturday market Earrings - Gift Whem am bus

  I went to my first "After work" the other day. For those who do not know what that is, "After work" is when colleagues get together for drinks or diner after work. Oups! I forgot to tell you! I started working for an international aid agency recently. I finally found myself a job that I also happen to like. Praise the Lord! I have been working for the last few months. It is challenging but I get to learn so many new things. And the best part are the people I get to work with particulalry the ladies. I enjoy them, every single one of them for they all have interesting personalities. They are also hilarious. I spend my days laughing. And I could not be more grateful to God for that! Since two of my co workers were leaving (sad part of my job: people do not tend to work there for a long time), we decided to surprise them with an "After work"/ farewell party. We went to Marina Bay, which is a seaside hotel with a fabulous pool located in a hip area call

Hello dears. How are you? And for those fasting, how is your Ramadan so far? We are in the last week of Ramadan and I am feeling great. I cannot complain. However I could not help but notice a certain lethargy that has engulfed the town and the people living in it. since the beginning of Ramadan. For starters people go to work later than usual because they are still trying to catch some sleep between the time they eat and pray in the morning and the time they go to work. It is harder particularly for women who wake up early to cook something for their families. Even when you get organized and cook something the night before going to bed, you still have to get up earlier to heat it up. And most women I know are not content on cooking something simple, like ordinary breakfast. They want to make elaborate meals that would please their families. They feel the pressure more than anybody else, and they sleep also less. This lack of sleep can have some serious consequences

Sénégalese people are known to do whatever they want or like no matter what. What only matters to them is that "gnu dem" ( they advance) as they say in my country. As long as they get what they want, the ends explains the means. For example, they might take a wrong way even on the highway if they are in a rush to get to work. They will not queue at the store but instead force their way in. They will park any way they want without thinking of the next car.  That was not the case in the past. People were thoughtful and caring particularly between neighbors. They tended to keep the peace and even had nice relationships. For example, a woman would send lunch over to her next door neighbor. Or she could go and borrow sugar if she ran out. During events, she could borrow chairs from her neighbor or even her entire house if there were too many guests to fit into her own. Some neighbors became so close, they ended up being family.      Blazer - thrifted  Shirt - Ma