::First off, thank God that the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards are over! Hurray! I had a blast running it with happyBBB and tinuo, with lots of generous input from Sting, and I look forward to what the 2011 awards will bring, but for now, I’m glad to have my life back! I can read blog entries again and update my own blogs more regularly. I’ve spent the past two weeks volunteering at a music festival so I can see Drake later tonight, but starting Monday, my evenings will be my own again.

I have more to say on the topic of the awards, but I guess I’ll save it for that blog. If you have any comments, and I’m sure some of you do, please leave them here or on the awards blog.

::I’m thankful for the people I’ve met through blogging. My dad told me sometime last year that I attract good friends and this has extended to the people I have met through this blog. I’m not sure what is it; well clearly it’s not something I do in my own power. Maybe it’s the fact that I pay most people who leave a comment five Canadian dollars. It’s not much but in most countries you can get at least one coffee with that.

My life is definitely better for having started this blog. I’ve been blogging for almost eight years now and I have always been blessed to meet lovely people everywhere I plant a blog. My only wish is that I could meet everyone in person!

::Hope
It can be hard to keep hope alive that you’ll meet the right person for you and get married and have those three or four kids your heart desires when you’ve been single for your entire adult life, but I recently read a book that kind of gave me some peace regarding the question of when I will meet a good man and get married. The funny thing is that I thought I was on that track but it turns out that things weren’t as clearcut as I thought! And this peace is probably short-lived, since I’m human and often falter. I’m sure I’m meant to learn to depend on God, and to stop trying to do everything in my own power. I’ve been working on that, saying prayers that let God know exactly how I’m feeling on any topic that pops into my head related to a future partner. I’m expecting a beautiful surprise!

My entry reviewing the book Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? Trusting God with a Hope Deferred is posted on Chichi’s blog, if you’re curious. It’s long but you can skim it.

::Those things we take for granted
I was tweeting earlier this week about how I went out on Sunday and also before work to run/walk and how it would be easier to just not eat ijekuje (junkfood) ever again than suffer from this physical activity (I wish I could just say “No more ikekuje!” and it could be so). But then on the late night news I saw a man from New Zealand who had been wheelchair-bound for the last three years due to paralysis of his legs following a car accident. Now, thanks to this bionic contraption, I think it was called REX, he was able to walk upright! He pretty much gets into a machine for the lower half of his body which helps move his legs…hope you can envision it. Anyway, the news report said something like he was happy to be able to shake someone’s hand while being level with them. Something some of us do every day yet never think of.

I have a colleague who’s very physically active, but a car accident some years back has left her with chronic back pain. She gets so pained when she sees people who are jogging because she can’t jog like she used to. Imagine wishing you could jog? She’s nuts sha, but I get her point: it’s when something you take for granted is taken away that you really realize how much you miss it (imagine if someone told me I could no longer blog?!).

Hope these two examples remind you like they did me to be thankful for those things we forget to even acknowledge. And I hope you have a great weekend planned!

Filed under: Miscellaneous, Thankful Thursdays by goodnaijagirl | 16 Comments »

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I’m all for sharing best practices. If you have found something that works for you and you think it’s the best kept secret, I beg you, please share it.

To help you out, here are the areas where I’d love your input:

• Best way to remove armpit hair
• Best exercise for flabby arms and stomach
• Quickest healthy meal
• How to wrap relaxed hair
• The essential spices for cooking most Nigerian dishes
• Least expensive way to call Nigeria (I think my current deal ($2.50 for 35 minutes) is ok but I wouldn’t mind something better)
• Best blemish-control regimen for the face
• How you keep up with your to do lists and get things done

In other news, I’m trying a new hair salon tomorrow morning for hair relaxing (I’m done with my old place). I’m hoping my scalp doesn’t get burned and I don’t get gouged financially! Ms. O and Bob-ij, I’m looking forward to receiving your recommendations for hair stylists in O-town!

Filed under: Beauty, Cooking, Miscellaneous by goodnaijagirl | 24 Comments »

Nigerian Blog Awards - visit the site

I’m back from my camping trip! The mosquitoes loved me more than they did last year, which is a bit sad: I’ve been rubbing and scratching my 15+ bites all week.

Speaking of love…wow! I have never felt so much love from people, just for being born! Thank you for commenting on my last entry and wishing me a happy birthday. I appreciate the facebook and twitter messages as well. I received phone calls from Writefreak, Aloted, Sheri, Anne and other friends. Olaoluwatomi and another blogger who may want to remain anonymous emailed me and I got text messages too. I even got a birthday serenade which I mocked for sounding “so Nigerian”. :)

A very special person gave me these lovely roses…and I guess it’s time for me to come clean about one or two things…

Ok: I have a friend named Allison and she and her husband have given me flowers for my birthday two years in a row now. I love getting flowers!

(Oh, did you think I was going to say something else?)

I could be wrong but it seems calling the celebrant on their birthday is a very popular thing among Nigerians. It’s not something that I do much—I’ll send a card or email and I usually receive the same—but judging by the way I felt as I listened to those messages later (when I got back from camping), I think I’ll have to add calling to my list of things to do for friends celebrating a birthday.

There are a number of things I’m very thankful for, aside from living to see another year and surviving the camping trip:

• that my youngest brother is now a college graduate (his gradation was on the morning of my birthday and I was happy to attend).
• that we survived an earthquake! My part of the country experienced an earthquake on Wednesday June 23 around 1:45pm and it was scary (magnitude 5.0 earthquake is no small thing). You should have seen how I ran down the stairs…when you think you may be running for your life, even a big girl can move. What was a bit worrisome is that I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on: our building has a lot of embassies in it, and we’re three blocks from the parliament buildings, so there are always demonstrations and other things going on nearby. There has also been a bomb threat in our building before so my priority was to be safe. In retrospect my actions were contrary to my childhood training on earthquakes: you aren’t supposed to go outside…you’re supposed to hide under a desk or other sturdy structure. I’ll remember for next time (though I hope there isn’t a next time).
• that my dear friend is expecting her second child—her second son—and all is going well. I could never picture her with female kids but if they decide to go for three maybe I’ll be proven wrong!
• for the faith and resiliency of those who are waiting to be blessed with children. Please keep these people in your prayers.
• for learning opportunities, even when I resist them and even when it takes me a few tries to learn the lesson I’m meant to learn. Right now I feel like one of my friends has been brought into my life to teach me how to take risks and I’m hoping I eventually learn what I am meant to learn.

Filed under: Thankful Thursdays by goodnaijagirl | 12 Comments »

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I will be celebrating my 31st birthday in two days with a camping trip. Confession #1: I didn’t want to go camping on my birthday but when I booked the campsite three months ago, that was the only weekend that was available. Confession #2: I am Nigerian and I love camping! I don’t know a lot of Africans, talk less Nigerians, who would list camping as one of their favourite summer activities but maybe I’m wrong. Do you camp?

I remember two camping trips with my family, soon after we arrived in Canada. The first time was about 23 years ago (gosh! some of you weren’t even born yet!). Friends at the church we were attending at the time loaned my parents their RV (recreational vehicle) which is basically a mini-house on wheels. It was lovely, and my sister and I were impressed with how the various compartments of the RV were convertible: the dining room doubled as a bed, for example. During the second camping trip one or two years later, we camped in tents. My parents shared a tent with my brothers while my sister and I had our own tent (if I recall correctly).

So it’s my parents’ fault that I love camping. In the last ten years, I’ve gone camping five or six times (aka “not often enough”). This will be my fourth year camping with this particular group that includes my sister and we always have a good time. But those of you who haven’t gone camping are probably wondering why I would voluntarily subject myself to mosquitos, sleeping on hard, uneven ground and cooking over the fire.

For one, because it’s a great break from “regular life” and is very relaxing. When the weather cooperates the weekend away feels a lot longer. You stay up late gisting around a campfire, you wake up early yet feel rested (until you get home and realize that you’re actually sleep-deprived), you lie on the beach, toes submerged in the softest sand ever, reading a magazine and you’re free to fall asleep. You shower if you want to (yes, there are shower facilities where we go, thank God! I’m not really into “roughing it” without flushing toilets and running water) and being lazy is a major rule of the time away.

And secondly, since I didn’t grow up cooking over a fire, there’s an aspect of novelty for me. If I had to do this every day, I’d resent it but once or twice a year, it’s fun. (Oh, and we have a propane stove that we also use so cooking over the fire is a real novelty).

Please join me in praying for good weather for this weekend. The meteorologists always get it wrong and I’m hoping the rain they have predicted for Saturday (rainstorm with thunder and lightning) is an error.

And in case you missed it, Group B nominations of the Nigerian Blog Awards are being accepted for the next 11 days! Have a look at the categories and nominate some of your favourite bloggers for categories such as Friendliest Blogger, Houdini Blogger or TMI Blogger. Go to the site and find out what these categories mean!

Filed under: Personal by goodnaijagirl | 21 Comments »

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If I was compiling a list of reasons that I’m not Nigerian, one would be Because my hair rarely looks on point. Nigerian women (and I’m not saying only Nigerian women) care about their physical appearance and their hair is a large part of the equation. They spend time on it, looking into the best products and hairstyles. Many change their hair style often.

Me? I relax my hair, and my scalp suffers. My hair care regimen is better than it used to be but still not perfect. I still sleep without a hair covering quite often. I need some silk scarves and my hair needs more moisture.

I was going to share pictures of my hair but I’m too embarrassed. Maybe I’ll get over that by the end of the entry, but I’d like to think that one or two of you have this idea of me as this polished, well put-together person (not even close to being true!) and I’m not sure I’m ready to shatter it.

Getting your hair done here is expensive if you go to a salon. I’ve never used the relaxer kits myself (my mom used to do it for me) and to be honest I love the idea of someone else working on my hair because having to wash and condition it is trouble enough (I know, poor me right?). The least expensive salon I can go to charges $68.25 to relax my hair. The other place I go to charges $79, and once last year, I paid $95 (please don’t judge me; it was painful to pay it), because I was hoping this more expensive place wouldn’t lead to a burned scalp (it did, but my hair had never looked better).

The lady I usually go to (Madame $68.25) is a usually pleasant, Ghanaian lady, but some of her business practices frustrate me:

The lack of organization
I never go to her salon without making an appointment; however, I think my sister and I are the only ones who bother to do this. Everyone else shows up willy-nilly, some waiting for hours (my sister waited for two hours once and she HAD an appointment!). They just camp there waiting. I’ll waltz in on time for my appointment and usually she’ll leave the person whose hair she’s doing and tend to me within 20 minutes because I always give her the “I booked an appointment” look. Inevitably, some of the people waiting will realize their day is half over and leave.

She needs to run her business so that clients are made aware that they have to book an apointment, and she needs to get an appointment book and keep it up to date. She should know it well so that when someone drops in, sans appointment, she can tell them that she has x amount of time available and that when the person who scheduled an appointment comes in, she’ll have to stop their hair and tend to that person. This way nobody’s time is wasted. She also needs to give better estimates of how long people have to wait because I’ve observed she’ll say 45 minutes when it’s really 2 hours.

Her phone skills
If the phone rings, she never hesitates to answer it and start talking, often animatedly, while continuing with my hair. I’m not sure why I find this so irritating, but I guess I find it hard to relax when she’s excitedly talking in an elevated tone of voice right over my head. I find it rude. It’s business time, not personal time, so I feel she should be focused on client calls.

She needs some sort of secretary/receptionist, who can answer questions about the hair products for sale, help a client send money to their relative/friend (she has a Western Union thing in her salon), and help customers who’ve just had their hair done pay for their ‘do, so she can focus fully on her current client. I understand that she may not want to spend the money on this, so what about a good voicemail system that she checks regularly, or maybe one of her kids, who are often underfoot, could do this. I think they’d learn a lot about dealing with people and gain some disclipline too if she had them answering the phone professionally, and doing small chores around the place. Instead the younger girl, who is undeniably cute and very personable, has grown spoiled (I’ve been going there for a while) and very used to getting her way. She expects clients to think she’s cute and coddle her when sometimes? You just want your hair to get done, pay for it, and get on with your day. You can tell she’s used to being adored and complimented by the older clients and just lives for it. Now that she’s at least 10 years old, the act is getting old.

Not making the client feel special
If someone comes in to buy hair products (which she also sells), or if the guy who cuts hair finishes with a client who needs to pay, she’ll leave your hair to go handle the transaction. Sometimes the customer has questions or needs guidance, so this isn’t always a simple and quick exchange of money. I sympathize with the fact that she doesn’t know this until she’s left my hair but it’s very annoying and adds extra time to my appointment. She never says “excuse me; I need to go ring in this sale”; she just leaves. And when things are running long due to questions, she never calls back to me that she’ll be right back. That is rudeness. And if someone should decide they need to send money to their cousin abroad via WU, she’s off again, leaving me rolling my eyes and sighing inwardly.

But I’ve dealt with these things for many years, complaining about it to anyone who’ll listen and to my sister, so that’s ok. But I’m tired. About a month ago, my sister went to do her hair. She said the hairdresser “hacked her hair”: usually she asks if you want a trim to remove the dead ends. My sister said she just wanted the dead ends off but she got her hair chopped and it really did. She lost way too many inches for it to be called a “trim”. Our hair barely grows so she was not happy.

Three days later I went to my appointment. I was kept waiting, I was forgotten and she really didn’t seem to care about what she was doing. My sister she felt the same way during her earlier appointment. Maybe she’s stressed or going through something.

When it was time for my trim, she cut my hair unevenly! I didn’t notice it but the next day at work, a colleague asked if I was rocking an asymmetrical style! I went to the bathroom and tried to see if maybe it was just the off-centre part affecting the length but it wasn’t: there is at least a inch of difference in length! I contemplated going back to get her to even it out but you know what would happen: she’ll trim a little off the left to even it with the right and suddenly the left will be too short. Then she’ll trim a bit off the right to match the left and before I know it I’m bald, and 25 years of growing my hair will be gone, just like that.

So, finally, I’m shopping for a new salon. One recently opened in my parents’ neighbourhood, but I’m going to do what some of my oyinbo friends do: I’ll meet with the hairdresser and make sure she knows my personal hair issues and what my hair goals are. Something about the way this new place is organized gives me hope that she’ll be that kind of hairdresser: the forever kind. I just hope she’s not too expensive!

Don’t forget: this blog is nominated in two categories in the Nigerian Blog Awards. To vote for this blog as Best Personal Blog, Best Personal Development Blog or both, feel free to click the links, which will take you to the polls.

Filed under: Beauty by goodnaijagirl | 29 Comments »

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Wow, 13 days must be a new record. You guys know what I’ve been up to so I don’t need to explain. Organizing the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards has been a blast; I’ve learned a bit about working in groups and I really have to give people running collaborative or group blogs on an ongoing basis a huge round of applause. It’s true that we can do more when we join together but it’s not easy dealing with different working styles. I’m a procrastinator generally speaking and if you recall it took a while to get the awards running. Now that things are running, I want everyone I’m working with to run with it when truth be told, were I not responsible, I’d be very laidback about things. And when you add the Murphy’s Law factor in; see stress! Serves me right, huh? But I’m having a lot of fun.

Do visit the awards site and vote for your favourite blogs. You have a week to do so and it’s one vote per category per person, please! Duplicate entries will be ignored (and will be given a slow hiss before being deleted, if they make it through the safeguards I’ve set up).

This blog is nominated in two categories. To vote for this blog as Best Personal Blog, Best Personal Development Blog or both, feel free to click the links, which will take you to the polls.

Before I head to bed, I’ve got to give thanks:

• that I was finally able to meet up with my friend this past Friday night. We met at 8pm and talked and talked and talked. She asked what time it was and I was sure it was no later than 11pm…turned out it was 12:50am! Time spent gisting with a friend to the point that you lose track of time is something great, and girlfriends are a necessity.
• that I have a regular date with my longtime pals every weekend. It’s a time to relax, watch movies or tv and hang out. I even bring my laptop and start a blog entry if I’m so inspired, and it’s not unusual for one of us to doze off (like I did this past Saturday).
• for my new phone. If my old cell phone (which I also use as my home phone) hadn’t started being unreliable, turning off mid-conversation, I would still be rocking the scuffed 3 years + old phone but I’m thankful for my new phone which is far more fun than my old phone. I have a better phone plan too which means I can send my Naija-based boo text messages for free…once I find him. In the meantime Seye, Writefreak, Funke and anyone else who wants to get hassled by me via text message should sign up in the comments!
• that the weather is finally summery here! It’s been so hot that I’ve used the air conditioner (thank God for the AC too!). I hate mosquitos though so I don’t spend too much time outside.
• for plants. My mom is a huge plant lover and I’ve inherited that from her. I’m trying to grow some fresh and it’s fun to see them growing. I also got a gorgeous hibiscus plant from my mommy and I love seeing the new blooms every morning. It’s a shame they fall off the plant within 24 hours of blooming though! But look how beautiful the plant is:

I’m also really thankful that I will be asleep within 5 minutes of crawling in bed…I never take the ability to sleep like a champion for granted!

Filed under: Thankful Thursdays by goodnaijagirl | 12 Comments »

Nigerian Blog Awards - visit the site