Fashion and Style

This is a post that I'd written a few years ago for a good friend of mine. Unfortunately, she has now closed her blog - so I thought it would be fun to share here! Try as they might, your younger years do little to prepare you for the physical and intellectual freedom that you will have in your twenties. Sure, there are certain things that we learn better when we are younger, like languages and maths and other such 'traditionally' educational pursuits. Luckily (or so I've found), our twenties give us ample opportunity to learn, grow and explore in other ways! 1) Yes, it's not glamorous... but this is the best time to l earn how to cook, clean and 'look after a household'. Being an adult comes with a lot of responsibility, and soon enough most of us will have to juggle this responsibility ourselves. Most of the time, learning to do everyday tasks is not at all exciting, but you'll thank yourself for it later on. Who wants to be a 30 year old who needs he...

The more time I spend in Kenya, the more cool brands, places and events I stumble across.  Madafu Moxie  is one of those brands, and when you see their stuff, you'll realise why I needed to feature them! And for those lucky readers who're based in Nairobi and its environs - you have the chance to win Ksh. 2,500 worth of Madafu Moxie items! Read on to meet Heer Raja, Madafu Moxie's founder, and to find out more... When did you start Madafu Moxie? Around 5 years ago How did Madafu Moxie start? A few years ago, three girls were sitting at home and looking for ways to add character to our wardrobes � wardrobes that were filled with the same generic garb that everyone wore. We decided to revamp our existing wardrobe using bits and pieces of material lying around the house. Soon enough, we started receiving boxes of waste material from clothing stores and tailors � bits and pieces of African and Indian prints. It was fun to rummage through bags and bags of materials to pick out m...

Do you really even live in Nairobi if you've never been to Hashmi and raved about its food to all you know? Yes, I'm being (mostly) serious. I can't remember the first time I went to Hashmi - only that I've been a regular customer for more than half of my life. Nowadays, we order in more than we actually visit, just because they're always so busy.  However, I took some days off earlier this month, and decided to take my mum on a mummy-daughter lunch date to the restaurant - I knew the food is amazing, but I wanted to see if the rest of the place lived up to the hype.  Location wise, Hashmi is in the Nakumatt Ukay complex - convenient, but depending on the time you go, potentially tricky to get parking.  Side note: If you're reading this, I REALLY hope you're not one of those people who parks ON THE ROAD instead of the designated parking that's just a short walk away.  Anyway, back to Hashmi. Ambience wise - including interior and music, unfortunately, th...

It's a cold winter here - for Nairobians, at least. Stormy weather, cloudy skies, the occasional downpour - you get the picture. I took a few days off work, and thought that it'd be perfect weather to head to one of my favourite coffee & waffle joints for breakfast with my sister - and finally get a review in. The place is owned by two friends - but don't worry, I made sure to make this review as unbiased as possible! Tucked away in a little corner at the Spring Valley Petrol Station on Lower Kabete Road in Nairobi, you may be forgiven for not realising that there's a cafe in there. In fact, the location may be one of the only complaints I have - not because of the way it looks, but because of the difficulty in finding parking. (Luckily for all of us, they'll be opening up another branch soon, so that should take care of vehicular woes!) Their coffee is already quite popular in Kenya, with the cafe almost being a 'side' to that. The decor is chic and ec...

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realise this and you will find strength. -Marcus Aurelius When I was 14 years old, I dislocated my patella while playing basketball. Naturally, it took a while to recover, and I was in a full leg cast for about 5-7 weeks, and crutches for a while after that. I remember finding it very easy talking about the incident whenever anyone asked - I naturally (and correctly) assumed that they would understand. "Oh yeah, I dislocated my knee. Should be fine soon, though! I just need to take some time to recover." Fast forward a few years later - I found that it wasn't that easy to talk about my experience with depression . In the spirit of being open, and vulnerable (and let me tell you that I'm not too fond of being vulnerable), because of some conversations I've been having recently, and given that it's been more than 4 years since, I decided that it was about time to share. It was my junior year of college that thi...

About a year ago, I had written a post about personal financial management , and thought that it'd be a good idea to do a follow up - let you know how well these tips have actually worked for me, and reflect on them a little bit. We'd discussed some common money mistakes that we make: Not prioritising savings Having a very vague idea of where your money goes Forgetting non-monthly expenses in monthly budgets Spending more than we need to Living paycheque to paycheque Getting into unnecessary debt And we also discussed some tips to help us avoid these mistakes: 1) Prioritise savings: I think this is one of the tips that has worked best for me, and one that I've been able to follow religiously. How did I do it? I set a savings target that is a percentage of my income, and whenever any money comes in, the first thing I do is transfer the target into savings , and treat that as an expense. The savings target will obviously depend on you - some people do 5%, some 10%, some can...

I don't know if any of the rest of you do this, but occasionally I find it interesting to go back and look at work I did in school. I was reading an essay I did for an introductory Philosophy class (God, Death and the Meaning of Life), and thought it may be interesting to share some snippets. Some of my thinking has changed - evolved - since I wrote this, but it's interesting to see what I still hold to be true. And the question is always a fascinating one - what makes our lives meaningful? What are we living for? What makes our lives meaningful? Have we lived good lives if we were �happy� throughout but made no significant achievements? Or have we lived better lives if we were miserable throughout but dedicated them to a worthy cause? I believe that in order for my own life to be meaningful, I need to be self-reliant and have self-love. I need to be happy with who I am, and have the love of the people important to me. I also need to be able to live for more than just myself. L...