Experiences

Life’s lessons

My Newyork trip: Rugrat in the city

I have been to New york city many times before but this was the first trip with my little one and his first city holiday.

While my city trips usually have an itinerary of FOOD, FEEDING, CONSUMING and some kind of "Museuming", it had to be different this time because one, my son eats nothing apart from plain pasta and chips and two, he is so restless on the dinner table so I had to put in the effort to find other entertainment to the detriment of getting nutrients into my body.

I was quite nervous at first taking a child to a big bustling city, how can I entertain him? How can I do things he loves and still have time for my past times. I quickly snapped out of my fear and thought, I live in a mega city myself and I find things for my child to do at home so why not here in NYC.

My ultimate plan began, and schedule started looking something like this, child activity- cocktail on a rooftop- child activity- Food and more cocktails- then food and drink planning for the next day after all we need food and drink to stay alive right? RIGHT!

1.The first place we visited was The NFL experience in Times square. It is an interactive place where you get to experience what the NFL feels and sounds like, with a 5d cinema, the experience was exciting and mesmerising for the little man. Prices start from $33 per person

2. THE RIDE NYC- Forget about taking a tour on the regular open top buses, the ride has taken city tours into the 21st century. A comic tour of the city on a party bus with epic street performances, there is no better way to see the city. Tip: take the tour at night and take the risk and book on the day. Our last minute booking saved us $28 dollars each.

3. Duncan's Candy shop- Lets just say my lil one lost his damn mind in this candy store, there are a few scattered around the city. Make sure you visit the cafe and try one of their Sundaes, they do it big I tell ya.

4. Central park tour on a Rickshaw or horse drawn carriage - We went on the Rickshaw and it was a nice tour and cheaper than the latter. They riders knew every movie that was shot in the park and they tailor the tour to children's movies and shows if there is a child on board. Your Rickshaw driver is also your photographer, use him well to get epic shots

5. Statue of Liberty tour- If you are with kids my advice is to do the tour where you see the statue of liberty from the water, it is a great view and only a 2 hour tour. Longer tours (4 hours) that include going to Ellis Island and require queuing to get to the top may be too long for the little ones.

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FOOD (Alero, do not be a slave to food I told myself several times a day in NYC).

1. After eating a truck load of Shake Shack I thought it was time for a change. I stumbled across a petite crepe place Vive La Crepe on Columbus and 68th. With sweet and savory crepes, there is something for everyone. I loved the egg, bacon and cheese crepe.

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2. Black tap was an awesome burger place just one block from where we stayed in Mid town Manhattan 55th W and 8th Avenue. We always saw massive queues in front and thought this is a good sign. With their brioche burgers, crispy chicken wings and amazing sundaes, who could resist. Tip: don't let the queues put you off, we stood in the 45 minute queue for only 10 minutes because a table for 5 became available so we jumped the queue to our delight.

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3. Miss Lillys Caribbean restaurant down town. With its beautiful retro vibe, excellent decor and amazing food, whats not to love. When I tell you I haven't had better oxtail and Mac and cheese before in my life, please believe me, it is not an exaggeration. The food was smashinginly delicious, Caribbean food at its finest. It wasn't cheap though so hol' ya dalla dalla bills.

Image result for miss lily's new york

Image result for miss lily's new york food

4. Ichiumi-  Although we literally got chased down the road for a tip ( no kidding, my first instinct was run but I had a child with me and I had called an uber already so I knew running was a bad idea 😂), the food was decent. A Japanese buffet restaurant with the buffet area as long as half a football pitch, variety was the man of the match (see what I did there? get it?)

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Newyork city was a great mixture of culinary experience and fun things to do with kids. After my trip I wondered why I was so nervous in the first place. With some careful planning and great friends, I would do it again and again.

One thing for sure about NYC is every time I visit, I see the hustle on the street and I top up on my hustle spirit and I am raring to go. #CEO gang. #We aspire.

Thanks for reading and see you back soon Buttercups 😘😘😘

  Ps: not all photos are mine (Not about to see the inside of a courtroom anytime soon)

Blogging from NYC the fashion capital of the world

Ok as you all know I went on holiday to NYC this summer. Needless I say it was amazing. I had been to Newyork twice before but I just went shopping. This time I mixed it up with touristy behaviour as well and I don't regret it one bit.  Five things  I love about Newyork 1. Beergarita (Lucy's Cantina Penn station) Google beergarita now (don't fall my hand). Heavenly combination of Corona beer in a frozen margarita (Gerra-ra-here). It was delicious, it was a cheeky refreshing drink at 2pm in the afternoon after being abused by Newyork sun.  The funny thing is that my sister and my friend Annette the vampire slayer who were at lunch with me didn't even question drinking in the middle of the day (real alcoholics). Trick me once shame on you, trick me twice , shame on you times two lol. My sister took me there again and we repeated thesame shameless behaviour. Shay... shay....shay... Shame on you Omas.     2. The Halal guys (54th and 6th avenue) NYC is truly the street food capital of the world. The halal guys got a fair chunk of our Dalla Dalla bills. The food was delish and cheap. Chicken or lamb shish with falafel was $7 (shut up and take my money).  Several meals later with hot sauce, good morning my neighbours.        3. Central Park  It was a bit fascinating that a massive park was planned bang in the middle of a big city. Viewing it from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building I was like wow. I loved how you can actually travel across the city walking or cycling through the park. It was great fun renting a bike and just riding without direction or purpose. Very liberating.          4. Getting around  Going from A to B in NYC was easy, numbered street in order, higher numbers going uptown and lower figures downtown. The subway was so easy to access and navigate. I am used to the London Underground so found it easy. But please taxi it up if you don't want your hand totally "falled" in a city where you could be anything you wanted actress, singer, model, song writer, fashion blogger, anything, no one knows you, act like a celeb. Don't act like a tourist cos you will get over charged for everything.  5. Afro punk Brooklyn If you haven't seen my post on Afro punk please keep scrolling to the end of this post.  Finally how can you go to NYC and not do a fashion post. Here it goes, just for the sake of being in Newyork Newyork babay.                           Err-thang was from Nordstrom apart from the sunglasses which are Mercura NYC. See next post. Afro punk

Slayers at Afro Punk 2015

If you haven't heard of Afro punk festival, please google it. A music festival full of cool, Afro-centric people, good food and amazing skin and hair products. An idea planted in my head by my sister who casually suggested we should look into going to Afro punk 2015 in Brooklyn Newyork, a decision I will cherish all the days of my life. Apart from the line up of awesomeness and vibes from artists like Kelis, Laryn Hill, Everyday people, Sucidal tendencies, Kele and Lenny Kravitz, it was the individuality and unique afro-centric hairstyles that amazed me the most. Infact the more you push the boundaries of fashion, the positive attention you got because I guess this was one place to be yourself and let it go. Please feed your eyes on the slayers of Afro punk 2015 (and some of my outfits too:-)) _MG_7900-2 _DSF2199 _DSF2192 _DSF2190 _DSF2188 _DSF2201-2 _DSF2202 _DSF2203 _DSF2210 _DSF2223 _DSF2220 _DSF2213 _DSF2231 _DSF2241-2 _DSF2248-2 _DSF2252-2 _DSF2254 _DSF2261 _DSF2269 _DSF2271-2 _DSF2279 _DSF2275 _DSF2273 _DSF2287 _DSF2290-2 _DSF2298 _DSF2300 _DSF2284 _MG_7857-2 _MG_7856 _DSF2304-2 _DSF2302 _MG_7858-2 _MG_7859 _MG_7860 _MG_7863 _MG_7872 _MG_7869-2 _MG_7868 _MG_7864-2 _MG_7874 _MG_7885-2 _MG_7876-2 _MG_7877 _MG_7889 _MG_7893 _MG_7884-2 _MG_7898 _MG_7897-2 _MG_7896-2 _MG_7895-2 _MG_7900-2 _MG_7902 _MG_7905 _MG_7906 _MG_7913 _MG_7911 _MG_7909-2 _MG_7907-2 _MG_7918 _MG_7920 _MG_7921-2 _MG_7928 _MG_7959 _MG_7939 _MG_7933 _MG_7960-2 _MG_7962-2 IMG_7951-Edit

Men who should consider taking their wives surname: A comprehensive guide

So in the past few weeks we learnt that Zoe Saldana's husband Marco Perego decided to adopt his wife's surname, throwing out tradition of thousands of years. It has sparked a debates on TV and radio shows everywhere. According to Marco Saldana, he explains that women take their husbands surname everyday and it doesn't make the news. When Zoe tried to talk him out of it he added  'I don’t give a shhheeeetttt!!' Why not? What are you so afraid of?'. Really what are we so afraid of breaking tradition? What the press don't talk about so much is that Zoe also took Marco's surname, she is now Zoe Perego and he is Marco Saldana. Does that now sound better to you guys? I started thinking about it, talking to guys about it. Most of them dismissed the idea of taking their wife's surname without knowing exactly why. Some explained that it is emasculating, others explained that they will be mocked by their friends while the Naija men I know gave me the dirtiest of looks before adding a resounding    I am still yet to hear a good reason from the lads why this is such a taboo.  Some very famous people now hyphenate their surnames which kind of brings this whole tradition to the 21st century.     Jay-z famously changed his name to Sean Knowles-Carter after he and Bey tied the knot. Well who wouldn't, if I got married to Beyoncé everyone in my nuclear and extended family will add Beyoncé to all their legal documents by faya and by force, you best beh-lee that.     The Jolie-Pitts are also leading the way, combining their surnames after marriage. Why are more people not taking this step at least. But wait oh,  Blue-Ivy knowles-Carter gets married to Pax Jolie-Pitt she will now become Blue-Ivy Knowles-Carter-Jolie-Pitt? (Are we seeing complications in this already?).  Anyways, I heard a few men on radio giving the reasons why they have gone down that route of taking their wife's surname. The most common one was that they didn't like their surname in the first place. When your surname is Ramsbottom or Hiscox or Pratt then change of name is almost expected of you, why not to your wife's soft name like Cottage or Humphreys. Other men unselfishly decided to take their  wife's surname on because she is from a house of daughters and someone needs to continue with the name. Warning to all reading, THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN IN AFRICA, NOT NOW, NOT EVER. (Forever ever? Forever ever!) So I continued thinking (impressive isn't it? ) of very exceptional cases in which it will be in a man best interest to take your wife's surname.  1. Your wife's name is Dangote or Gates or Murdoch. Don't think twice, change that surname.  2. If you are above 25 years of age and you have a Mohawk , you expect someone to take your surname? Please leave that your surname on the table and walk the other way.  3. If you have cornrows, you want to marry? Please just wear a pinafore, knee high socks and cortina, you are a primary school girl, surrender your surname immediately 4. You play x-box from morning to night while your wife goes to work, surname transplant for your ass.  5. You sag your jeans and wear your hat backwards. Need I say more?  I personally believe hyphenating surnames is a good and progressive way to an equal union. Let's start there and maybe evolve in the future. I am interested in hearing what men have to say about this. Please comment below and please don't throw shoes at me, I have odeshi.    

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