Fashion and Style

Picture courtesy of Unsplash I received the Liebster Award from Ariadna of The Always Believer about a month ago, and just haven't had time to write this post until now! I finally decided to go ahead and do it. Thanks so much, Ariadna! (If you haven't already, please check out her wonderful blog, which happens to be a source of abundant inspiration!) The Liebster Award is passed on from blogger to blogger, and is intended to recognise who are working hard and doing a great job with their blog. While I've seen different variations of rules for this award online, I'll be following the ones that say that when you're nominated, you answer the questions presented to you by the blogger who nominated you, then nominate a few others and set some questions for them to answer! Here are Ariadna's questions, with my answers! 1) What is one of your favorite quotes? Goodness, I have so many! I try share them on my Facebook page every week or so. However, for now, let's

Here's a guest post by  Ariadna Arredondo! Thoughts, that�s it. That is what we think all day,all the time. Especially if you are a girl, supposedly. That�s beside my point. My point is that we all think all the time and all the things that we think of often disappear within the hour. I want you to write down important things for you, I want you to actually see the greater side to this method. First of all, organize your thoughts without repeating. Second of all, as you organize your thoughts, the most important things come out in a clear fashion. Third of all, why keep everything in your head? It is always good to write it out, talk it out so we can let go of the bad stuff and reminds us of the good things. We all have phones, we all have a Note button on it, anytime, anyplace, it helps you to become you. Take a look at this, if these people didn�t write these thoughts down, then someone else would have� right? My point is that these words, whatever they may be, are important beca

Another guest post by my good friend, Aniqah Khalid, of Maisha , about what Ramadhan means to her. This month of fasting for Muslims around the world has just started, and I know that many of us non-Muslims have questions about what this month actually means to them. Enjoy! This is an extremely complex question to answer in a long point form manner. How I can answer this, however, is in a more metaphorical way. Ramadhan is coming home after a long hard day. Coming home, kicking off your shoes, finding solace in familiarity and comfort in its security. Ramadhan is that strong pain killer for when your body aches that you cannot sleep at night, you cannot eat and you simply cannot think. Ramadhan is that small open window in a hot and stuffy room. Ramadhan is that drop of water that can save the thirsty beggar. Ramadhan is what many pay hundreds and thousands of dollars on therapy for. Ramadhan is the light feeling after being forgiven and after forgiving. Ramadhan is fuelling the car af

Why do I return to the topic of change so often? Because stagnancy scares me. It bores me, it infuriates me, I absolutely hate it. I'm not the person I was 5 years ago, and 5 years from now, I'm sure there'll be many more changes in my life. These changes can be and have been both internal and external, but mainly focused on myself. Recently though, I've been thinking about the need to create change in the society I live in, for a couple of reasons; one being that most of our society is still stuck in the past as far as certain things go, like attitudes toward women and sexuality. The other reason is that when I look at the people around me, I recognise attitudes that I either had in the past, or would be terrified to be stuck with now, and that drives me to action. This reminds me of a book I'd read a few years ago, called "The Gift of Peace" which I won for some academic achievement in high school. One of the things this book talked about was that things

Last Thursday night found me at a wine tasting held at the Nairobi Wine Gallery  on General Mathenge Drive, featuring wines from Spier Wine Farm  (Western Cape, South Africa) which dates back to 1692 and is one of South Africa's oldest wine farms. Also in attendance was the lovely Jean Wandimi, of the Wine and Food Review . We got to try 7 delicious wines, 4 white and 3 red, under the tutelage of Danie De Kock from Spier. I'll list them and share a brief description in the order I enjoyed them from most favourite to least (although all were delicious), first whites and then reds! The reds were definitely much harder to rank than the whites. If you want any more information on these wines, please check out their website. All of these are available at the Nairobi Wine Gallery for those of you in Kenya, and hopefully at your local stores for those of you abroad. I do have some rough prices for them too, so message me if you'd like those. Whites: 1) Spier Signature Chardonnay: 

Another post by my guest blogger, Ak Brown!  When it comes to the subject of makeup there are so many different opinions.  But before tackling those opinions and maybe "stereotypes" what is the factual purpose and idea behind makeup?  Makeup, whether you want to believe it or not is a true art form.  It is used in a variety of ways including consumer based, television, ads, films, and in many ways of abstract forms of art.  It takes lots of training, schooling, and hours or perfecting this technique in order for anyone to be called a true makeup artist.  More so on the consumer level makeup helps cover up flaws and accentuate our features.  It's a great way to look natural without showing the world a few minor "no nos" we don't want to reveal. Recently however, there has been much debate over whether the utilization of makeup has gone to the extreme, transforming the entire face and possibly "tricking" others into believing in a whole new person th

Picture by Thomas Brault courtesy of unsplash.com When I was younger, a large part of how I defined myself was by the relationships in my life. I was so-and-so's daughter, so-and-so's sister, so-and-so's friend. That's not to say that I didn't have an identity of my own- I did- but it was nowhere near what it is now. While I was by no means shy, I guess I could call myself reserved. Added to that, living in a "small big" city like Nairobi (the population of the city is well over 3 million, and yet it seems that everyone knows each other), I was stuck with the burden of being the person I had been for the past few years. Many of you who grew up in small communities and went to smaller high schools will understand me when I say that it's difficult to really change yourself when people still see you as the person you used to be. I was fortunate enough in that I got to go to a university where I knew no-one. Not an exaggeration; Sewanee literally had no pe

Photo credits (left to right): Omar Havana, Getty Images; AP; Narendra Shrestha, EPA; Niranjan Shrestha; ScanPix; Sewa. The devastating earthquake that struck Nepal on the 25th of April, 2015 is still fresh in our minds in its scale and brutality. As news trickled in, we were horrified as we learnt how high the death toll was. Not only did the quake leave thousands dead in its wake; it left even more missing, injured or homeless. Those of us abroad with a personal connection to Nepal felt helpless and frustrated at being thousands of miles away and unable to lend our hands in the rescue and reconstruction efforts. Fortunately, there are several nonprofit organizations that are doing a great job on the ground with disaster relief and reconstruction, and now there's a unique way that you can get involved too, no matter where you are! Not only is participation easy, but you can walk or run and raise funds for Nepal whenever you want, wherever you want, at your own convenience. Read on

Another guest post from fellow HCBN member,  Ariadna Arredondo! Make your life a wonderful place....  1) Go to bed on time. Okay, we are not saying to have a bedtime, for all that matters, we want you to go to bed at more or less the same time every day. (or almost every day) Just set a routine and unwind before bed, make sure you catch your extra zzz�s. 2) Do one thing you have been putting off since always. Whatever it is, stop procrastinating. Yup, come on, get off your high horse and start to remember those things that you have been meaning to do. Set some time in your schedule to do them. Not in a year�s time, now.  Look now. 3) Feelings. Speak about them. Speak to that certain someone who has been on your mind for a while about that topic you need to vent about. Whether it is to dig deep down or just have a chat about everyday challenges, speak about your feelings. You�ll feel better, stronger and a lot closer to that person who you decided to share them with. 4) Appreciate! Say

I didn't write this, but read it on Facebook and thought it was well worth sharing! Death is one of the hardest things that we have to deal with, and I think many of us struggle to find meaning when presented with the loss of a loved one. Sheryl struck a chord with what she wrote, and I thought you all should read it too!  Today is the end of sheloshim for my beloved husband�the first thirty days. Judaism calls for a period of intense mourning known as shiva that lasts seven days after a loved one is buried. After shiva, most normal activities can be resumed, but it is the end of sheloshim that marks the completion of religious mourning for a spouse. A childhood friend of mine who is now a rabbi recently told me that the most powerful one-line prayer he has ever read is: �Let me not die while I am still alive.� I would have never understood that prayer before losing  Dave . Now I do. I think when tragedy occurs, it presents a choice. You can give in to the void, the emptiness that