Mr Price opens a hot new store at Port Harcourt Mall !!!

Mr Price launched it's retail spot at 8am today in the Garden City of Nigeria and it attracted a crowd of fashion lovers ranging from women, men, teenagers, adolescents and kids. A lot of customers were able to win fashion vouchers and score more savings on items in the beautiful store.

The Sales representatives were really affable, helpful and very polite to customers as some residents of the city are new to the world of Mr Price. I was looking forward to shop their latest designer range by Anisa Mpugwe but was a bit disappointed when i didn't see any of her pieces. Guess I will be able to get one or two pieces when next I am at Lagos. If you were not there today, it's always open to you and it's fashion at the most affordable rate.


... xoxo...

What to wear as a bride or groom to your court wedding.

Court Weddings are usually formal and brief, a lot of people struggle with
the choice of what to wear to their court wedding,some prefer to go all out and be dramatic with their choice of outfit for the day but a court wedding doesn't need a dramatic wedding dress, since it's a formal kind of wedding "sophisticated, chic and demure" should be the three words in your mind when selecting what to wear. if you are going to tie the knot in a court, then you have a lot of freedom when it comes to choosing what to wear.

Personally, I believe Knee-length dresses and classy female suits are good choices for a courthouse wedding. They are not too dressy and not too casual either. Also pants, a chic top paired with a blazer would also work for an edgy fashionista.

When it comes to courthouse wedding attire; for men the choice is a bit easier. You can base your outfit on whatever your bride is wearing. If she’s made an effort to dress-up then don’t turn up in jeans and shirt.

If your bride is going to be wearing a bridal dress then a smart tuxedo would be a good choice. If you don’t want to wear a tuxedo, or you don’t have one, then formal shirt and tie is an option. if you are going to be saying your wedding vows anytime soon in a court, I hope these tips help. ...xoxoxoxo...

RANDOM POST: BE CAREFUL, BE VERY CAREFUL Part 1.

The unemployment rate is disturbing in Nigeria and this leads to so much idleness, idleness leads to so much empty hours, empty hours leads to desperation, desperation leads to deep thinking, deep thinking leads to either a positive or negative solution. In most cases, jobless people who need quick money abide with the negative solution. Hence, we have so many people committing criminal acts just to get money quickly; so much thought is not put into the process of doing something illegal, especially the consequences. The most popular criminal act of getting quick money is “cyber crime” popularly known as “Yahoo Yahoo” in Nigeria. A friend of mine was a victim and I decided to write about her experience to warn my lovely readers. I have changed the real names but the story is non- fiction.

My friend “Remi” is down to earth and friendly, she has over 1000 contacts on her blackberry messenger, people add her every day, if you use BBM, you will know that people who don’t know you often add you randomly to either increase their contacts or to genuinely socialize. Remi got a BBM request on one Saturday, this new contact did not introduce herself, she just remained a silent contact on Remi’s list.

A week later, Remi receives a broadcast about Human Hair Sales, she decides to help the seller rebroadcast. After an hour, her newest contact pings her to ask her questions about the broadcast. This is the first time her newest contact has sent her a message since she added this person. Remi decides to ask her “how she got her pin? why has she been silent? And other general questions like “what’s your name? where are you based?, Remi’s new contact says her name is “ADA” and goes further to tell Remi more about herself. She says she is half ibo, half Indian, she was born in Nigeria, she lives in Lagos, her Father who is the Indian parent works with Chivita, she is the last girl in the family, she is a doctor with an oil company that has a hospital in Lagos, her family is really wealthy but she prefers to be independent, she is 30 years old and single. Remi feels the information is too much and Ada is over sharing especially since she doesn’t know her in person but later concludes that Ada is just a very open person.

Over time, Ada and Remi become very close chat buddies, Remi doesn’t say much about herself other than basic gist, Ada keeps confiding in Remi every day. One day, Ada tells Remi she is bothered about her life, Remi asks her “what the problem is” Ada says she is already 30 years old and still unmarried, she feels lonely and her work as a doctor doesn’t let her socialize or avails her the opportunity of meeting the opposite sex in a neutral environment.

Remi feels sorry for her and decides to play “the match maker”. Deji is one of Remi’s friends on BBM, who has been her friend for over two years and always confides in her about settling down soon. Deji wants to get married but tells Remi that it is hard to find a wife material in Lagos. Since Ada is based in Lagos, Remi feels it won’t be a bad idea for Deji to meet Ada. So she introduces Ada to Deji via BBM, after a while Ada stops chatting with Remi. Remi decides to tease her friend Deji and tells him he has stolen Ada from her. Deji sends an “eye rolling” and “lips sealed” smiley, Remi curiously asks him if everything is okay? Deji says he is yet to meet Ada because she is always busy and he is not interested in someone who asks him to send 250,000 naira to her account on the second day of chatting. Remi is surprised and calls Deji a liar, that is impossible, Ada is not that kind of lady besides she comes from a wealthy family and her job pays well.

Deji believes Ada is a fake person and also believes Ada is probably not a female, Remi becomes disturbed by his suspicions.
To be continued.

Noon Inspiration: The "Leader" in "You"

The cliché definition of a leader is someone who leads others; this definition is correct but too basic. I prefer the definition by Wikipedia, Wikipedia defines leadership as a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Leaders are everywhere, in our homes, churches, mosques, private and public organizations. They say “some were born to lead and others were born to follow”, I think this saying has built the foundation for a lot of ills society faces. People tend to mind their business and always leave the responsibilities for leaders. I see this attitude in my everyday life; I used to be that way. If the issue does not affect us directly, then we should just remain pessimistic and careless.

There is a leader in everyone, we say the Government is not good, the Government is corrupt and they are supposed to be our leaders. I cannot defend people in power but there are little things that we can do as citizens to make our immediate community a better place. A common ill that we face in Nigeria as a result of the “carefree attitude” is flood caused by blocked drainage systems. We tend to litter the environment with our petty wastes like pure water sachets, snack wrappers, plastic bottles e.t.c, when the rainy season comes; we are faced with floods or high level of water on the ground.

Once, while I was still in school, I entered a public taxi headed for Uniport, I was thirsty, so I bought a bottle of lacasera from one of the hawkers on the road, when I was done drinking it, I threw the empty bottle out on the street, next thing I hear is the voice of a handsome man saying “You look intelligent, I am disappointed that you just did that”, I apologized. At that second, I knew the apology meant nothing to him but would mean so much to the environment, so I repented. My hand bag is usually a mini waste bag until I find a public bin; I neatly wrap my waste and keep it in my bag. If every citizen was responsible enough to show a little bit of leadership, we would have clean and free gutters; rainy seasons will come and go without any issue. Once, I told my friend to stop throwing his petty wastes on the streets, He said “he needed a reason to be patriotic and be different”, my reply? Every action starts with an individual. Your actions can affect one person and that individual can affect more people. I admire my street, the gutters are clean, and residents on my street make a constant effort to clean the gutters, when it rains in Port Harcourt, we have no issues but I can’t say the same thing for the city as a whole.

Leaders don’t have to be just the people at the helm of affairs handling critical issues concerning the economy. We could all be leaders in our own little way, assisting and playing our parts as responsible citizens. The man or woman who leaves his or her car during a bad traffic situation and controls the traffic is a good leader, I have seen a lot of people do this; they don’t sit back in their car and start blaming the Police or cursing the Federal government. Truth be told, most times when we complain, we end up getting a headache, every problem we face is simply calling for your attention.

Many a times, we see the young people who break stones to fill the “potholes” on our roads, these are leaders, they may not be wearing suits, or getting ready to head into a board room to address employees but they have managed to help a lot of people by the simple act of leadership. Sometimes, people say they do it because they are unemployed but they also could decide to be blind on purpose and say “it’s the Government’s responsibility’’.

What change are you bringing to your immediate community, country, and the world? Are you going to keep blaming every single bad thing happening on Political Leaders or will you ignite the “Leader in you” and start a revolution that will contribute immensely to the society and the world? Ponder a little.

Our world is constantly affected by a lot vices, the people who rule us are not enough to bring change to our door steps. We have seen a lot of young people leading with excellent projects that help others, one of such projects is “SLUM TO SCHOOL”, the founder of this project saw a societal problem, He saw slums with children who had no access to quality education, he decided to solve the problem and that gave birth to “Slum to School” and there are other inspiring stories of people standing up and impacting their society directly or indirectly.

Leading your country is unrealistic when you have no intention of becoming a political leader but you can be a leader in own little world called “your mind” and then change the world positively. Wake up, love your country genuinely, be inspired and realize it’s your responsibility to create the world that you want to see and be part of. Activate the “Leader” in “You”.

…Chioma Olamide Udom…

RANDOM POST: EBOLA PALAVA (MY TALE)

If you keep up with my blog posts, you would know I didn’t have a very pleasant experience during my youth service. Service ended and a month later, malaria and typhoid hits me, I hate being sick, it’s just annoying to see food and I can’t eat, to see water and dislike it because of the bitter taste it leaves in my mouth after drinking. So month after month, malaria and typhoid kept visiting me, then typhoid vanished, but malaria kept attacking me each month.

People who know well said it’s all the mosquito bites I received during service, some say it’s spiritual and the doctors say it’s because my genotype is AA, they say people with genotype AA are prone to have malaria every month and that is why it’s advisable to treat malaria every month. I took different anti malaria drugs and I think my system got used to them, so my body stopped responding to drugs, I was advised to start taking local herbs and that’s how my journey with the popular Yoruba herb “agbo” started.

So October came and malaria paid a visit, this time, it was painful, my joints ached badly. I was given anti malaria drugs but by the next day, there was no sign of improvement, My parents decided it was time to take me to the hospital. As we drove to the hospital, I sobbed at the back seat; my parents kept saying “I will be fine”. We got to the hospital 30 minutes later, the security person at the entrance points her infrared thermometer to check our temperatures, my parents had normal temperatures but mine was high. My dad turns to her and says “She’s down with malaria”, she smiles and lets us in.

At the reception, my parents gave the hospital attendants my card and they wait to get my file. After my file was found, as usual I was directed to the nurse on duty, whose job is to check my temperature and BP, she wears her gloves and before touching me, asks me “what is wrong with you?”, I reply weakly “I think it’s malaria”. She stands up and says to me “You can’t be inside the hospital, who let you in?”, then tells me in a tone to go outside. At that point, I just wanted to sit down because my joints ached so badly but I listened to her and went outside as instructed. As I walked out, my dad was curious to find out why she didn’t attend to me, she asked him “ did you bring her here?” and my dad says “Yes!, I am her father”, she turns to my parents and say “Ma! Sir! Please follow her, you all will have to wait outside to see the doctor”.

The doctor shows up 25 minutes later, stands at a distance to ask his questions. It was becoming very funny to my parents, My dad then suggested that he checks my file, he will see a history of malaria even before the ebola saga. The doctor excuses himself and doesn’t show up again. I was in a terrible state and started thinking “so everyone who falls sick during this period is an ebola patient, people could actually die because no doctor wants to treat a patient with high fever”. We regretted coming to the hospital but had to wait for the doctor, some minutes later, the same angry nurse who asked me to step out of the hospital shows up and ask us to enter the hospital through a back door. When we got into the hospital, they cleaned the chair I sat on with Jik bleach. Then we waited for some minutes, as we waited, my father entertained us with his jokes, it was funny, the whole experience was funny but I was in serious pain and couldn’t laugh. The doctor shows up again, still maintaining his distance to ask if I had taken any drugs, I said “Yes”, He smiles and says “Just finish the dose, you will be fine”. As we stood up to leave, my parents were so happy that they were not taking us somewhere to be quarantined.

If a private hospital could be so rational, I wondered how patients were treated in government hospitals. Even though the World Health Organization declared us “ebola free”, everyone still acts like WHO lied to us.

Foreign Countries asking Nigeria to teach them how to get rid of ebola should learn to be selfish and love life more than anything. A typical Nigerian loves life, whether life is comfortable or uncomfortable in Nigeria, we stick to Hope, In my own opinion, that is why we were able to get rid of the deadly disease, there was no sympathy for any kind of sickness that shares similar symptoms with ebola.

Happy New Month lovelies, feeling thankful and glad that I am healthy and I have a family that helps me get through good and bad times. Enjoy the rest of November.