Learning Each Day - II

I once told someone I forgive but I don't forget. Understably shocked, this person said okay, that's scary. And it was. I very obviously had a very loose grasp on the concept of forgiveness at the time, and very long afterwards. These past three days things have been happening that I firmly believe are far from coincidence. Sunday morning before reading or even opening my devotional, while leafing through my bible I somehow stopped and read the book of Jonah. Yes, I and the whole world know the story and how he got trapped in the big fish, still I stopped to read it. Then a few minutes later when I started reading the devotional, one of the day's bible readings happened to be from Jonah. Hmm, coincidence? Maybe. Well, that very night while watching TV and flipping through the channels I momentarily stopped to listen to a televangelist speak. And guess what he started talking about some minutes after I had tuned in?

I Am A Woman

I am a woman. I am strong. I carry loads known to no one I endure pain known to no man I keep confindences sacred to many Secrets that are not mine Yet known by only I I withstand heartache seen by no eye I fight battles fought by no man I am a woman I wear a face so brave Look each in the eye Carry my head high Hold my shoulders back And speak with a voice firm I am strong I am a woman I am a woman I am weak I am afraid of the dark I am afraid of spiders - and lizards Even when I would rather not ask I find myself in need I am without strength of muscle I am unlike a man 

Learning each day - I

I'm learning each day.

"Saying wise things, sounding wise, is not the same as being wise and acting wisely."

I'm so very guilty of not understanding this one here, but I'm learning each day - To walk the talk.

         Katerina.

Sunday Bloom

Awake.

Again.

The gloom.

Again.

Blinds drawn,

To let the sun bless,

Share her glow,

The gloom to dispel.

A call to He above,

Lorn and long.

Same each morn,

Songs of praise,

A sigh, a prayer,

His gentle hand I feel,

Never too far away,

To bestow bloom,

Blessings anew,

Flames of faith,

Flickers of hope,

And embers of love.

That eternal trio - faith, hope and love,

At my core abloom.

Clear skies,

Humming birds.

Clear as daylight,

Nature disagrees.

Knows not of the gloom,

Creeping up every morn.

No abode for gloom,

Nature gently screams.

'Oh, what do you know?'

I want to ask. 

Perspective dawns.

Faith. Hope. Love.

'These three remain.'

And nature is abloom.

I yield.

I partake of her bloom.

I picked these orange blossoms up this morning on my way from church. Wonder what their name is. The little set up on which they stand, that I have had for some time now. I like looking at it, makes me smile, especially the bust of bright colours on the stand (it's an improvised one). Lately the vase has been sitting there empty, so this morning I decided to put it to good use, add more colour to the set-up, light up the corner. Sunday bloom. I saw these flowers and thought, pretty, I'm taking you with me.

I hope you had a lovely Sunday.

Much Love,

         Katerina.

It's Freeing! Off The Facebook.

I finally did it!

I'd been pondering leaving Facebook for a while. I just hadn't come round to it yet. You see, I had real friends there, and a 'life' there so to speak. I'm not one of those people that have 500 to 2000 Facebook friends or more. I really didn't see the need of 'friending' hundreds of people I didn't intend to stay in touch with, or be friends with in the true sense of the word. Most of my Facebook friends are people I know and have met; friends from school, university, and other areas of my life. Those that I hadn't met were friends of the friends I had met, whom I felt I knew in some way. I could say those I knew nothing of but ended up friending made up only 1%. I rarely (perhaps never) accepted a friend request unless the requester and I had more than a couple of random interests ( a musician, activity, etc) in common. I took this Facebook friending seriously, complete with a mini background check (person's wall, activities, etc) before accepting the friend request. Call me paranoid, call me thorough, that's just me. And these friends were for a very long time, up until late last year at a simple number of 50 friends. These slowly increased to about 170. Why? I had more time on my hands, and a more regular internet connection. And that was the figure at which I closed, after about 5 or 6 years of facebooking.

Some may say I was missing out on the whole point of a global networking site but I would say not. I'm as networked as I could ever want to be. The circles and information I need are still out there, Facebook or no Facebook. Yes, Facebook makes it easier but so does email, LinkedIn, and all the rest. There's also always the old phone call. It works wonders. Most recent example being me needing to get back to the runway. A phone call did just fine. No Zuckerberg.

Also, all the people I need to be in touch with, those worth the time, I can always get by email, sms, or a call. It costs more, but neither was Facebook free. I paid for that internet too. Except of course, my internet package payment is constant whether I get on to the Facebook or not. Sigh. Whatever. There are pros and cons to the whole Facebook thing. The cons just simply out-weighed pros. So shut went my Facebook account. At first I was hesitant to pull out. My blogs auto-feed to my Facebook page and most of my blog's traffic comes from the feeds to the Facebook page. So I withdrew from active participation on Facebook and left the account running so that my readers would find my blog pages with ease.

For me, Facebook was that one place that I never failed to find something that made me laugh, on any given day. When I was down in the dumps I logged on, left a few funny one-liners of my own here and there, read and laughed at other people's, and when I wasn't feeling up to it, simply faked it. Sometimes, like they say, you gotta fake it until you make it. Does that work for happiness and success too? Fake it until you make it? I know it works for self-confidence and learning how to smile. Yes, I had to learn how to smile. Or should I say I had to learn how to smile unselfconsciously? And I faked it, until I mastered it. A smile and laughter can be faked on Facebook too, with ease. :) LOL. There. The world thinks you're amused. Honestly, though, I mostly always found some genuine things to laugh about and always logged out feeling lighter. There were some serious discussions there too. I have friends interested in human rights, LGBT issues, pan-africanism, politics, African writing, history, et cetera, and we would get into some serious discussions, even arguments. But a lot of the time, I went to Facebook to escape from the drudgery and stress that life can be, joked a lot on Facebook, and did the same old stuff that millions of other people are doing such as over-sharing - like any one other than me really cares how big the bouquet of flowers my boyfriend carried to the airport was, how many bars of Snickers I eat a day, or how tiring and stressful my day was. But yes, I shared all this stuff all the same, liked pages created by others, and as I recently learnt, sometimes appeared to be someone I wasn't. The Facebook! What else is new.

I finally deactivated my Facebook account. I tell you, it feels so freeing, I feel lighter and more peaceful. I don't know what it is, may be it's the feeling of having one less account to log in to? But no, it's got to be more than that. Anyway, I'm off The Facebook. Digital me now resides on Blogger, WordPress and Twitter. Lord, does it ever end, this on-line life? One hiccup, though. I took lots of backstage pics of the fashion show (will post some later) and it turned out no one else had brought their camera along. All the girls of course wanted to have pictures of themselves, and they suggested we friend each other on Facebook so that I can send them the links to the pictures, or tag them. With the cost of the internet in this country, I should have charged them! I'm kidding of course. About charging them. About the internet costs, I don't know why we are not up in arms yet!

So, for the past two days, my Facebook account has been rife with notifications of me becoming friends with so and so. Now that I've closed the account before uploading the pics, I'll have to figure out a way to get the pics to the girls. Looks like I have some work cut out for me, trying to find out their email addresses. I'll just give them a Google Picasa link. That should suffice. See? Who needs the Facebook?

Oh, I forgot LinkedIn. Yes, I'm there too. A girl has got to earn a living, ergo the LinkedIn. Maybe one day I won't have to. I'll just stay home, bake bread, look after the kids and make a beautiful home in beautiful colours. I've been feeling all maternal for a while, I guess it's time. Next thing you know, I'll be out shopping for a bassinet and baby clothes. It's a boy, ladies and gentlemen. I know it, I feel it. Actually, two of them. Twins.

Back to the day's headlines, I'm off Facebook. I'm not certain what my blog traffic is going to look like from now on, but the Facebook ship has sailed and I've jumped off.

         Katerina.

That Which Has Given You Sorrow

The poet Kahil Gibran wrote:

“When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow, that is giving you joy. The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.’’

Tell me, people, what do you think?

         Katerina.

In Time Of Chaos

This is an excerpt from something I heard on 27th October, but it somehow ended up in my drafts folder. It was titled Surviving Hardship In Time Of Chaos. As we start a new week I thought I'd share it with you:

God's delays are not God's denials. He is waiting for your endurance, for persistence to overcome resistance. God will first take you through the university of adversity, before making you leaders in the kingdom of God. 

Surviving Hardship In Time Of Chaos

1, 2, 3 - I'm afraid I missed points 1, 2, and 3, but I'll try hard to look around for them (Google to the rescue!) and include them. Lol. 'So why didn't you just not mention them at all', you may wonder. Anyway, I got point 4 though, and it got me thinking.

 4. Ignore the winds and the waves When Jesus ordered the apostle to walk on water, he was doing fine until he started focusing on the waves and the howling winds. When you focus on the threat you'll experience fear. When you focus on Jesus you experience victory.

I wish those insightful wise words were mine, but I only got them from a telecast of Pastor John Hagee. I hope they touched you too, and helped you somehow.

Have a good Monday, and an even better week.

Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

Pink & Harem

More bright colours. You know why. Plus they look real good. So out came the shimmer and the Harem pants. I wore this to an appointment with my aunt. We hadn't met in a quite a while, and if I ever turn up looking below pa, she gives me a soft lecture on letting myself go, and looking fab, full time. That's what paternal aunts do here. May be one day I'll tell you more about their role. I promise you'll be informed, entertained, and amused. But not today. The looking fab all the time, same lessons I get from my loving mother, Her Royal Fabulousness. She has no forgiveness for anyone that sells themselves short in any aspect of life, and she has got this whole fab thing going much, much more than I do. She inspires me to be the best I can be. No, I don't mean dress-wise... I mean in life as a whole. To today's outfit. More colour. Colour breathes life in to life. Does that make sense?

Back To The Runway

My modeling career had been put on the shelf for sometime now. Now and then, I took out my high heels took a walk to and fro down the hallway or the living room, but that was about it. Recent unhappy events now have me rediscovering my fun-loving self, so off and back to the runway I go. The catwalk, ladies and gentlemen. One of the real good designers here is holding a fashion show next week, and I had been hearing the ads on radio for some time now but hadn't given it much thought. Then I thought, well, you really should go walk in that show. Friday, I called up some friends, found out who was in charge. Thankfully she happened to be someone I had worked with in preparation for Uganda Fashion Week a couple of years ago, and she remembered me.

 

 Me: Hi Camilla, etc, etc...

Camilla: Oh yes, I remember you! The tallest girl during boot camp...

Me, laughing: No, not really, Achen was the tallest.

Camilla: Yes, but you were the tallest girl with .... (she went on with a flattering list of good qualities, which included my not-bad-at-all runway walk while I laughed self-consciously).

Camilla, wearing one of Stella's designs. Not for the show. Just everyday wear.

So I tell Camilla I would like to walk in the show and she says, of course, do drop by for try-outs and fitting on Saturday. And yippee! went yours truly. Thank God for old friends and keeping in touch! I now had a go-see to go to. Come Saturday, I packed my high heels and went to go meet Camilla and the designers, and of course the other girls. And there were lots of them (they could have been 40, even 50), some dressed up in outrageously eye-catching outfits (you gotta put your best foot forward, right?). It's usually the new girls that go all out, though. Rules of a go-see are to keep it minimal while showing off your best points at the same time. Just another case of less is more.

Polka Purple II

As promised (months ago!) here, here's the full polka purple outfit. I'm making an extra effort to wear bright colours lately as I've been down in the dumps for way too long and my mood needs a lift. Bright colours like purple add some elation to life.

Unlike Facebook, it's harder on one's blog to pretend all is merry, perhaps because there's more writing done; and not just a few one-liners, a smiley and a LOL as one would do on Facebook. Unless of course the plan is to blog about the turmoil, then the writing would be easier. There's something about sorrow that makes it hard to hold back once you start pouring out your heart. So of course - as happens when I'm not feeling up to the writing - I've got a number of drafts, all waiting for that emotional/spiritual lift that'll have me up again. For now I'm resorting to the things that make me smile, without fail. One of those, no doubt, being fashion (exciting news here!). And here's to purple, more bright colours, smiles (real and fake) and happiness (real).

 

What Do You Do?

Do you look on and say well, that's too bad? Or do you encourage it, go along with it, and even profit from it? Do you stand on the sidelines and watch it? Do you participate, not give it much thought? Do you take a stand, say no thanks go on without me? Do you fight it? What do you do?

"Evil thrives when good men do nothing" - Edmund Burke.

In his original words,

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men to do nothing."

         Katerina.

Marathon Time!

Hey, people, it's that time of the year again - Marathon time! And boy, am I excited! You see, I'm a physical exercise kind of person - a walker, a runner, a dancer (lol). Every year I go marathon-ing, along with thousands of other people, none of whom I know. Well, I do meet a few familiar faces amidst the mass of sweaty heaving fun-having bodies, but for the most part we are all just strangers having loads of running fun.

The MTN Kampala Marathon organisers tell us they organise it for charity. You can probably detect some scepticism in there. It's because I don't really trust these charity events organisers, and how much of the proceeds (HUGE proceeds!) really go to charity.

Sometimes I Cry - Jason Crabb

An Intro to this, here. Ignore if you got referred here from The Part-time Christian.

Sometimes I Cry

I look the part 

Blend in with the rest of the church crowd 

I know the routine 

I could list all the bible studies in town 

Watch christian TV I know all the preachers...their clichés 

Been born again, without a doubt I know I'm saved

But sometimes I hurt and sometimes I cry 

Sometimes I can't get it right 

No matter how hard I seem to try 

Sometimes I fall down 

Stumble over my own disguise 

I try to look strong 

As the whole world looks on 

But sometimes alone I cry 

I try to speak faith 

Never give the devil one inch to get in 

I do worship and praise 

Let everybody know just where that 

I stand On the back of my ride is a fish and a cross 

For the world to see 

I know God is good, all of the time 

Yes there's no doubt for me 

Wandering Wonderer

I haven't written in a long time. A week only, yes, but for me that's unreasonably long. Usually, I may go a day or two without writing and then, some days, I will find myself posting two, three new posts at once. I have concluded it must have something to do with how my mind wanders from tree top to tree top, making occasional stops in valleys and along slopes. I've been under some duress that somehow inhibited the usual flow of words from my brain through to my finger tips and finally onto my pages, here. When that happens I usually find myself with several drafts, half-stories, that end up staying in the drafts folder until my spirits are up again, high enough to feel up to some interaction. And even then, my mind still wanders. And wonders. And wanders. Take for example, this morning as I prepared for my morning shower, some excerpts.

  There wasn't much hot water in there last night, I better switch on that heater. In the meantime I'll brush my teeth.Wait, why don't I first do my facial wash routine? As I brush, the facial wash will be doing it's magic then I can wash it off later. Yeah, of course, as usual. I've got to go to the drug authority today, then call those pharmacy managers, then... what else? You know, what if there's a power cut later today, perhaps I should leave the heater on a little longer, that way there will be enough hot water even after I shower. I should get back to my blog, have lots to write about. I should take the laptop out and power it, such that when I'm done here it'll be good and ready and off we shall go writing. 

I finish brushing, put up my toothbrush and walk out of the bathroom, head to the bedroom to pick the said laptop. Inside, a song is playing on the radio. Reggae tone, dance-hall beats. These guys are wailing about the cunning of today's city girl. Tough love, it's a tough city. Everyone's scheming. What, you couldn't beat them so you joined them? Great move, Mr. Musician. Enter yours truly.

Wooh! I really love this song! I start dancing. T


heir song doesn't have much lyrical value but I have to agree that the storyline is quite funny. I just love these beats! My God, I haven't really danced in a long time. Not even at Grace's party. Still mad about that, I threw that do, THAT was my big chance to dance like crazy! Well, there is always next time. There is also NOW. 

The MuvuleTree

Ermisenda at ErmiliaBlog puts up a picture every week and invites readers to participate. It's called Picture it & Write and this is my first time to participate. The picture is used as inspiration to build a story, or poem. Here's the week's picture, and below it, my submission. Enjoy. And please do let me know what you think.

 

The Muvule Tree

Brow creased, she looked warily up at the sky, watched the lightning streak through the gray clouds and light up the sky for a split second. It was barely 6:00 pm and the day had gone dark, already. Out here, the sun usually set at 7:00 pm, promptly, everyday. This was worrying. It shouldn't be this dark this soon, not yet. A thunderstorm was fast approaching. It should not find her out here. It could not. Nayiga looked around the plains, searching for a shelter. A beautiful sunny day had just turned gray and gloomy. She needed shelter, fast. As far as the eye could see there was none to be seen. Several Muvule trees yards apart, but no real shelter, not even a shack, the kind that the villagers usually used for temporary food storage during the harvest. Recently, there had been so many lightning accidents. Children in a primary school nearby had been struck; 18 had died and 50 were injured. Three more - sisters - had also been struck dead on their way from school, three mourners had been killed at a funeral and reports were pouring in from all over the country, more people getting struck, killed and others injured, every time it rained. It was all very worrying. Some said it was happening because too many trees were getting cut down, hurting the environment and nature's balance.

Fab News! Again.

Lots of good is happening lately. Did I mention I saw a shooting star yesterday? It has nothing to do with today's fab news but well, we are happy!

 I won a prize from DW-TV. Participated in a discussion on an interview with Michael Michalsky, the Berlin-based designer, and well, won. I've been waiting for a couple of weeks now, and I finally got the prize today. Prizes, actually. The Urban Nomads range of beauty products from . I'm a very excited owner of the Urban Nomads Shower Gel, Body Lotion, Deodorant, and Eau de Parfum. I'm happy to say they smell really great (not to mention classy and luxurious!), and I'm counting myself one very lucky woman.

 

I was so excited I took a pic of the box, too. Talk about clueless(!) and... immature? I'm a sucker for capturing even the tiniest bits of memories. It was all accompanied by a letter in German that I couldn't even read; guess I should add German to my list of foreign languages!

Caught In The Cross Fire

The politicians are at it again. Their same old self-serving agendas. They have us stuck in ourhouses and close to home for fear of venturing out, lest we are struck by a stray bullet or end up having to swim blind through a sea and clouds of eye-scalding tear gas. We run around terrified, scared for our lives, our property and the lives of our loved ones while they, in their chicannery lead us as they will, dragging us to places we don't want to go and leaving us hanging once they've achieved their goals. The 'Walk to Work' is, on the surface, a great idea. Some activists and politicians (the opposition) come out and speak out against what's on the heart of every citizen, the injustices going on that the government doesn't seem to be doing enough about; then encourage people to 'walk to work' every morning by way of protest.

The Lovely Blog Award

I bear good news today. Since I brought my blog over from Blogger to WordPress it's been a pleasant experience, I've met some great souls here at WP - the WordPress bloggers are a very supportive lot. On to the good news, I've received my very first blog award, the 'One Lovely Blog Award' from the lovely Janice at Aurora Morealist. Goes without saying I'm happy as a lark. I'm pleased that Janice, and others find my blog worth a read, for I don't write about anything earth-shattering. Simply what interests me, what I think, feel, see. In the words of Daniel my blog here is also "just another Me, Me, Me blog like 300,000 other ones." Thank you, Janice.

From what I've learnt,  there are some rules to be followed upon receiving the award, which Janice in  her true JAM style :)  has tweaked a bit:

1. Thank the person that nominated you by linking back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
3. Nominate 7 bloggers for the award (some say 7, 12 and others 15); Janice chose 8, guess I'll have to decide.
4. Drop them a note to let them know.

And the love goes on and on... . So, now for the tough part:

Bedazzled and Bejewelled

It's a Friday, so bring on the party mood fab people! Here's a little black number I've prepared for tonight. While looking through my many pair of shoes I tried on these River Island platforms, then decided I might as well take a pic or two for the Fab Fashion pages here.

And here, up close are the day's platforms. A pair from River Island. I love how well they fit, not to mention that zipper at the front. I could certainly hop around in these the whole night.

                                              

Now, believe me, when that dress is paired with these platforms the whole ensemble looks absolutely hideous! :-) But hey, it was fun having a photo-shoot on tiptoe. Obviously I had to rummage around for a different pair of shoes. This pair of platforms would go well with something more casual, which our little hot dress is not. So, on to finding a more elegant pair for the night.

Here's my dilemma: the evening is going to be filled with a lot of dancing AND to make my way to the venue I'll need to walk past some muddy patches. You can imagine what that would do to a fabulous pair of heels. So I have to choose wisely - something in which I'll be able to keep going all night long without breaking a limb and which can walk through some muddy patches without costing me an arm and a leg to repair, come Monday. Doesn't sound that hard a thing coming up with a pair of shoes, right? Well, 90% of my shoes are super high heels of delicate fabric.

Fingers crossed, 'cause wrong choice and I lose a limb, one way or another.

Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

Earth and Art

Food for thought ...



Image courtesy of Frock Candy.

Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

Style is forever ...

Much Love,

         Katerina.

Floral Oxfords

I'm not one to be left behind by a fashion trend, unless it's one of those really outrageous ones that I can't get away with in this conservative society in which I live.

Oxfords are in. They've been in for awhile now, and still are. So this week (what took me so long!) I went out and got myself a pair of Oxfords. There were many shades, monochrome and print alike. I got a pair in floral print and can't wait to try them on in a complete outfit.

Definitely not an outrageous trend, right?

Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

Some things I loved about India - and 10 I did not.

First, the loves. In no particular order.

1. I was popular. No, really, I was. On a couple of occasions I actually stopped on the street and waved like a Hollywood star - and got wave-backs too! People stopped me requesting me to take picture with their babies, mothers and wives. Pretty little girls and grown-ups a like. Did I mention it was insisted I carry the babies in my arms while the pictures were getting taken? In their defence [why am I defending them, I'm a pretty awesome person that deserves all the popularity the universe may send her way, aren't I?]: i) For most people, I was the first African they had ever seen. I really hadn't anticipated that, what with TV, the recent World Cup in Africa and all the talk about Global Village-ism. ii) At 5'11 I naturally stand out (and not just in India, but more so in India where I didn't find that many tall people, male or female) as ladies my height aren't that common. iii) I religiously never go anywhere without my red lipstick on. I've noticed that gets a few more heads to turn my way. Not my intention but hey, when life gives you lemons, et cetera. I promise I'm not vain. Just frank.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Soan Papdi - a certain spongy type of sweets. There are about a zillion types of sweets in India. There's one called Gulab Jamun. Put simply, these are balls of milk (yes!) floating in a sugar syrup. Yeah, how about that? And no, obesity isn't the greatest non-communicable disease there; it's actually hair-loss. Seriously, I checked.
3. Swings inside the house - this is a very Asian thing. I wondered, did these swings have anything to do with the hot (painfully hot!) climate - you know, a breeze is generated as you swing to and fro, bringing on a cooling effect - or were they just for the love of comfort and love for palatial comforts that's common in Asia? I concluded both.
4. I made some great friends. And met a kindred soul, too. The most thoughtful, selfless, generous girl I ever met.
5. The shopping malls weren't bad at all. At all.
6. The roads - way smoother and wider than those in my native homeland.  Ever heard of the pot-hole capital of the world?
   
   
   
   
   
7. The Taj Mahal. This should probably be higher up in this list but like I said, in no particular order. The Taj is truly a work of splendour. It's beauty is amazing, and so is the love that inspired it.
8. I got to see a real-life fort. Make that two. The Red Fort and Agra Fort. I love fairy tales, princes, knights and all that. So seeing some real-life forts was pretty awesome.
9. The number of women riding scooters and motor bikes. I still aspire to join that elite league.
10. India is the only country in this big wide world where each state speaks it's own language (in addition to the common national language - Hindi), has it's own unique cuisine and dress type. Now there's one huge dose of unity in diversity for you.

I'm all grown up now, Mum.

As a young girl, my eyes were always drawn to my mum's cup at breakfast.


The mark left by her red lipstick always caught my eye and I found it fascinating. I should add that I didn't like red lipstick much, then. Still, I found it fascinating. Now I look at my own cup at breakfast and think:

"I'm all grown up too, there is the proof."

It's no proof really, I know, but I truly am all grown up.

Au revoir! Much Love,

       Katerina.

One of those happy days...

This sculpture is found at Garden City mall. I think it’s a great piece of work … I can’t quite pinpoint exactly what I like about it, I just do; and it was one of those happy days so I took a picture with Mr Soldier there. 

I think it’s a pretty picture too, no? Yes? Yes. (:

XX - May be this post should also discuss my blue Harlem pants and pink sequinned vest? I'll think about that, and be sure to include the feet+shoes when I do post about the outfit!


Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

Gray and Grey

A recent post got me thinking about 'gray' and 'grey', and not for the first time too. Did you know that some colour charts consider grey and gray to be two different colours? Well, I did not. I often find myself debating on which of the two to use, the a or the e.  Usually I will choose depending on the letters in the following word. As in Gray Days I use 'gray' because it goes well with 'day'. Were it to be evening instead of day, I would choose grey instead. Being a fan of Grey’s Anatomy (both the Medical textbook and the TV show) didn’t help much either, as I seemed to have come to the conclusion that Grey is to names of people and Gray is to colours. Don’t ask me, I don’t how I came to the conclusion; my brain seems to have a lot of that going sometimes – drawing strange conclusions.

Google to the rescue. I decided to look characters Grey and Gray up; I’m not sure what took me so long seeing as I’m the ultimate Google poster girl. Apparently grey" (#D3D3D3) is considerably lighter than "gray" (#808080), and  some people see grey as a silver-like color, while seeing "gray" as a range of colours between white and black. British English uses 'grey' whereas American uses 'gray' although both will be found in usage in both types of English.

Warm gray, left; cool gray right.

Now that all that is ingrained in my gray matter I certainly won't be spending time debating over which one to use. Perhaps about which shade of grey compliments me better - of that I'm certain there will be some pause for thought.

Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

Gray Days

You know some of those days that just don’t go right no matter how hard you try, or what you do? Read a fav book, read a humour column or two, eat some comfort food ( three cheers to Snickers, the chocolate) but all in vain? On those days, I just wish I had a spell that could drive away gray clouds and leave everything rosy and gay.

And as if the world were conspiring against me, the clouds outside are literally gray and dark, and they’ve been so for the greater part of the day. Is my day gray because the universe looks gray, or am I feeling gray because the universe looks gray? Is the world simply agreeing with me, empathising with me and reflecting my gray-ness? Or am I simply taking on it’s colours? Is the universe for me or against me?

If the universe is for me why won’t the clouds let through a few bright rays of sunlight to brighten my gray day? Why do I hear no bird birds chattering gaily away. Has the gray day turned them sullen and gray too? Or have they just taken shelter from an impending storm? Should I, too?

Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

How To ... What!? No To Negativity

While browsing the web for some useful insight into blogging professionally I came across a WikiHow article on 'how to dissuade yourself from becoming a blogger.' What? Yeah, my sentiments exactly. It's not the kind of insight I was looking for but I really couldn't stop myself from clicking the link just to see how persuasive this dissuasion article was. "The article went ahead to list the steps one should follow to avoid the dreadful compulsion to blog. Ha. Step two stood out (for all the wrong reasons), it went thus:

"Consider that your voice, even if it is truly a good one, is a tiny peep against the massive wave of tripe out there. The odds of anyone you don't already know finding your blog are low."

Apparently this author figured such kind advice should talk anyone into resisting the urge to get into blogging, which I have found to be a beautiful world of self-expression, sharing and never ending learning. This person's how-to made me wonder at the odds that anyone would look up a how-to on not to blog. The irony.

On the positive side, there are more 'how to become a blogger' articles out there than there are ' how to dissuade yourself from becoming a blogger' articles. I don't see why anyone would attempt to talk well-meaning folks ( lol, the bloggers I've met are all well meaning, do ill-intentioned ones exist?) into believing that their voice is only but 'a tiny peep.'

It makes me feel for all people of low self-esteem out there. Sometimes there can be so much negativity going around, and as long as there's no harm in it I feel everyone deserves some support and a pat on the back for whatever it is they may want to venture into. Am I over-reacting? I don't think so, though. I'm a firm believer in all-shall-have-their-say and not hiding one's light under a bushel.

March on Bloggers! And you too, Go-getters!


Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

Home-Loving

I made a trip to the book-store intending to get my self  'Their eyes were watching God', a very good read, I hear. Well, as it turns out, my impulsive shopping doesn't stop at shoes, clothes, bags and chocolate. I instead left the bookshop with several books on house-keeping - some cookbooks and one on living room interior design.

I've wanted to re-do my living room for sometime now and had been looking for inspiration from magazines, et cetera. When I saw this book '101 Living Rooms' I just couldn't leave it behind! I can't wait to get started. Of course you know what this means... more shopping! Sigh. Well, good things cost. That's life.

Gorgeous Gadget Bags @ la Evelyn

As I shared with you HERE earlier, today was AGM and talking AGMs you know what that means: turn up looking your professional (and of course, stylish) best and get yourself ready for hours and hours of annual reports and members passionately discussing issues without literally pulling at each other's ties or pulling out their "adversary's" hair. But most of all (for the fun-loving ones among us) it means meeting old friends once again, especially those you only see once a year; catching up on old times and getting some juicy news on what's going down where with whom.

Evelyn is a friend with whom I went to medical school [don't look so surprised, I DID go to medical school! :) ] and I hadn't seen perhaps since we completed our hospital internship.  A lot has changed since, Evelyn is now a business lady, in addition to being a pharmacist and lecturing pharmacy students. I can't stop myself from smacking a little here, we are a bright, enterprising young lot I tell ya! :) Take a look at these.

Polka Purple

Hey, fab people! Polka dots are in right now, and anyway you wear them you're spot on. I wore my purple/white polka dot shirt to the pharmacists' society AGM today and I've got to say I felt real fab (if my mirror and the compliments are anything to go by :-P ). I love this shirt, and not just the polka dots but it's got a kinda rough texture that adds to its beauty.

Here's how I wore my polka dots. It's just a peek really, that I took when the AGM got a little boring. (Yes, fashion never fails to kill boredom!) As usual, rest of the polka dot outfit later.

Reader's Haven

Hey fab people! Good news: Aristoc has finally caught up with the world's classy bookshop trend. You know, that comfy zone where a reader can go in, take a seat and browse away. You may walk in, take a book of  your choice off the shelf, take a seat and lose yourself in the wonderful world of bookland. Now, there's a reader's bliss - if like myself you love bookshops, and books make up part of your retail therapy; right up there with shoes, bags and chocolate, then you know what I'm talking about. This new look Aristoc has got itself has really been a long time coming here in Ug, seeing as bookshops the nature of Aristoc elsewhere in the world have had the make-the-reader-comfy style for ages now. It's part of what draws the clientele and we love it.

Aristoc's Garden City branch, when it came around some years back, was a very welcome addition to the Kampala road branch which was (still is) a bit more crowded and did not offer much to a book-store lover who goes in there to explore and find that perfect book. That didn't stop us going there (and shouldn't stop you either) their collection is vast and like they boast, they are Uganda's leading book-store.

Well, now they've expanded the branch at Garden City even more and you'll find comfy sofa's set up for readers, and benches that are extensions to the shelves where you can seat and leaf through that book before you take it home, or quickly browse through another good one that you may not be taking home for one reason or another- cost, interesting-but-not-one-you'd-really-like-to-take-home, et cetera. I snapped a few pics for you, you'll please forgive the blurry-ness; I took them with my phone as I didn't want to look too obvious pulling out my camera (which I carry everywhere by the way) and all.

Afro-chic

Hey fab people! Here's my Afro-chic tee outfit as promised. I dressed up the denims with high-heels, a fab pair I bought from Charles & Keith. I felt the big brown belt added some contrast and brought out the outfit better. I also decided to have a clean look - no make up but for lipstick, and no jewellery either - kinda modelesque (or so I felt :-) )

Fab Fun Afro Friday

Hi there! My Friday's been fab, better be having a fab one yourself. Life should be fab and fun, life should be one big Friday!

Today I was feeling very afrocentric, so I took out my afro 'super sound' tee. I love this top a mighty bunch, the afro lady, and the silver words on it: 'Super Sound: follow my rhythm' Chic, right? I think so too. And well, so did my boyfriend :)

Here's a pic of the tee, I'll be posting the rest of the outfit later. I think my not-done-up hair matched the theme, too. Keep fab, have a fun Friday.

Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

Hair Story I

My Indian Voyages earlier this year came with joys and pains.The greatest of these pains being the loss of my beloved tresses. I'm still weeping for my beloved hair to this day. Here's how it all happened. I prepared for my journey well (not well enough, in retrospect, seeing as I lost the hair) by taking my African hair products. Relaxer, hair pomade, et cetera. Little did I know that I would not find a single salon capable of handling African hair. It was the biggest disaster of my several months trip, this damage to my hair.

If you know anything about 'relaxing/retouching' as regards Afro-hair then you know that it's a thing one shouldn't do to her hair by herself. Result = Your hair comes out half-done = Massive Breakage. Why? Because you can not clearly see what you're doing as you retouch, even if you use four mirrors. The hair that suffers most is the hair at the back of the head. I regret the decision to retouch my own hair with all my heart. I knew my hair would break some, I did not know how much. Now I have to wait months before my hair will grow back, and every time I see old pictures of myself with my old hair length I feel genuine pangs of pain. Sigh.

Loving Your Skin 101

Do you know your skin type? To love yourself you gotta love your skin. And you can’t do that if you don’t know what skin type you’ve got. Here’s the 411.

1. Dry Skin

Results from too little production of sebum, the skin’s natural oil. As a result dry skin develops fine lines and wrinkles faster, because there isn’t enough oil production and moisture to keep the skin supple and vibrant.

• Skin usually feels tight
• May be flakey
• Pores almost unnoticeable
• Not oily, if you wipe your skin with tissue it comes off with very little or no oil.

2. Oily Skin

Oily skin is (obviously!) caused by excessive production of sebum. All this oil ends up blocking the pores, resulting in frequent breakouts.

• Visibly shiny
• If you wipe your face with tissue it comes off oily
• Pores are usually visible (or large)
• Frequent breakouts

My Neighbour's Poodle

It looks so weird. No, not the poodle, the neighbours and their poodle. Complete with leash, all that the picture needed to make it complete were a jumper and little pink dog shoes borrowed from Paris Hilton's poodle. Yesterday but one I saw them walking it, it's little feet were muddy from the downpour earlier in the day. Then again, later in the day they walked it some more. It is obvious from the way my neighbours were walking that felt they were onto something novel.

I'm sure you can understand my taking out a second to be surprised at my neighbours and their poodle; without looking it, of course. I'm quite good at looking un-impressed and un-moved. I could agree with them that it's all a little novel but I wasn't about to tell them. Of course we've all seen it on TV and all. Still, Ugandans walking poodles in Uganda is as rare a sight as a North Korean giving a South Korean a big, warm, brotherly hug.

This is the second poodle I've seen here in K'la, and the other one was roaming around lost. I felt rather sorry for it, which is strange because I'm not a dog person. And I'm not a cat person either, I just happen not to be a fan of furry things. I can stand puppies, I even find them adorable. But then they have to go and grow up and become full-grown dogs, which brings us back to square one. No furry things.

Locked Out

Two days ago, on a work trip, I forgot the key to my bedroom hundreds of kilometres and too long a bus ride away. I was able to retrieve it today (thank God!), but it's been a nightmare. Friends had all sorts of advice, from pragmatic to downright hilarious: hit the couch; find the difference between the rock and the hard place, the results are the same; to the idea that I must have enjoyed sharing someone's bed in my predicament. Ha ha, I wish! Were that to be the case I would have had absolutely no complaints.

Well, here's how to survive being a prisoner in your own house (which is what I was), without ending up in a psyche ward for a day or two.

Fresh Fashion - Fab And Fun!

Hi there! For those that don't know, it's fashion week craze all over the world. Well, almost. We've got nothing much going on here, but despair not. You've got the next best thing: Fab, Fun, Life brings you all you need to know from the runways. I got you, beauties.

Fab Fun Life brings all you fashion lovers and trend-setters out there fresh fashion, straight from the runways at the on-going New York Fashion Week (Spring 2012). We are letting you know what will be in vogue during March, April, May (the spring) and perhaps even for the summer.

Bright colours are in, so are florals. Leather, as always, is timeless. Time to take your mini dresses and leather jackets out, ladies. If you love an athletic look, you're spot on, this is your season! If you love an ultra-feminine look, well, this is your season too. I've put together a few looks from the runway for you, don't be left out, there's no excuse!

First, Jason Wu. We love his collection for it's wearability and ultra-femininity. So many times runway trends come out with not-so-everyday-wear pieces that are elegant and ingenious but we won't be walking anywhere in them. Not this time. Oh, we also love Jason Wu because Michelle Obama loves his designs. He designed the First Lady's inauguration dress.

PS: You may need to zoom in to see how really beautiful each of these pieces is.

Jason Wu. New York Fashion Week Spring 2012. Pictures courtesy of STYLE.COM/

I love every peace of Jason Wu's collection, I like the assymetrical hems on the canary-yellow dress and the pink flowy skirt. I so see myself in that pink skirt!There's the sporty windy-breaker cum parka in the bottom picture, it adds fun to the look. And the ruffled white blouse and black pants that Joan Smalls wore.What's not to love! The cocktail dresses (I've only shown one here - right hand corner) are very chic too.

Next we bring you Alexander Wang. His collection is the most sporty I've seen yet. We see play with motorcross jackets, sheer and mesh jerseys, cargo florals and leather mini dresses. And lots of pointy shoes.

Alexander Wang. New York Fashion Week Spring 2012. Pictures courtesy of STYLE.COM/

Remember those army cargo pants you loved all through high school? Well, they've found a replacement in hot, cute floral cargos. FFL loves the jersey blouses, and the mini dresses too. Try out the leather mini dress. dress Liya Kebede's got on. Maybe you had one sitting in your closet since the 90's, time to bring it out!

The trends coming out are sporty (athletic), leather, sheer (transluscents), floral prints, flowing skirts, assymetrical hemlines, strappy heels, and a some pointy shoes here and there. Pinks, yellows, and blues seem very much in.

Now you know what to go shopping for, go hit the malls before the Dec/Jan price-hikes fowl all the sweet deals. Get looking fab!

PS: Did I mention the scarlet-red lip is very much in too? Well, it is! Add colour to your look, add a splash of red on those pretty lips. Mind this isn't for the faint-hearted. PPS: Choose the right shade for your complexion.

Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

A Good Laugh

Your mama is so fat all her relationships are long distance. Your mama is so fat the Boeing Jumbo Jet was made specially for her. Your mama is so fat the cops fined her for walking up a road that said 'No trucks'.

Haha... seriously, I had a good laugh with those your-mama jokes. Those african-american pips really know how to have a good laugh. Okay, I'm sure you did not guess but the last two of those jokes are original compositions by yours truly. Yepp, that's me. And yes I laughed at my jokes too, don't you laugh at yours? No? You should have a doctor check your brain, you just might find you've been missing out on a fun life. Or at the very least you may find out why people keep laughing at you when you speak - maybe they are actually intending to laugh with you. Thank me later, just don't blame when crow's feet start showing around your eyes as proof of the extreme enjoyment you're getting out of life - what with all the laughing you'll be doing once you learn how to laugh at all that's fun.

I wouldn't advise you to take laughing at your own jokes as far as Pablo, though. You know, the muganda guy (apparently) with the Ankole accent that won Uganda's Last Comic Standing. Is that the name of the show, I don't quite remember. Thing is, he was crowned the country's top comedian but the country's reaction to this wasn't a unanimous one, of course. At the time so many people didn't find him funny at all, myself included. Part of this, for me, must have accrued from the fact that my room mates at Uni subjected me to a radio breakfast show every morning that had Pablo as one of the crew. It was a christian radio so I feel compelled at this point to emphasise that I love Jesus Christ: I love Jesus Christ. It was Pablo's trying-so-hard-to-be-funny that I had a major issue with. And the fact that the room mates (whom I love too, by the way) hence made me miss out on my more fun radio shows and have Pablo as a substitute, as we couldn't play two radios at the same time. But trust me, I gave that a shot for a while.

Fab News!

The not-so-fab news first. Today my creative mojo seems to be running rather low. Still I really wanna bring you all something; keep the cogs of those pretty and handsome brains working. Plus Lady FFL here doesn't wanna get into a lazy rut.

Now the fab news: we'll be getting some videos up soon (Yay!) on a number of issues that mean something to us all. My first choices are health, beauty and fashion. Fab, Fun, Life is a healthy spot, and promotes healthy lifestyles. And I'm sure all you friends of FFL are a healthy bunch. So videos we shall have, and healthy, beautiful and fashionable we shall be.

We'll learn lots of new stuff and enjoy doing it. I don't about you but I can't wait! At FFL we love sharing, so go on and share with us, we appreciate the love. If there's an issue on which anyone would love to have me share some information please feel free to let me know, I'll be pleased to get in touch. At FFL the more the merrier.

Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.

Sharing Is Caring?

You hear the craziest advice on radio some days. A woman on one of those vernacular radio stations dished out some incredible (literally) advice today. Her advice was directed to the ladies. She said today men can be easily expected to 'marry' even five wives if the number of women out there is to reduce. Good gracious! I couldn't wait to hear her logic, her rationale for this wisdom - there was none. She went on to say that if a lady finds herself  'loved' by a man she should just accept him without a fuss because - here it comes- not many are capable of that 'love'. So it does not matter if he's got a wife already, or even wives, long as he professes his love the the both of you are good to go. Well I never! Honestly with the ease with which men proclaim love when they are simply after the cookie, I couldn't believe this woman. And yet she seemed a regular guest on the station (I heard the programme during a taxi ride).

Tuesdays - You Gotta Love 'Em

Wednesdays were my favourite day of the week (after Friday), then along came Tuesday. For those of you that haven't yet discovered the charm of Tuesdays, especially if you live/work in Kampala, then you don't know what your missing! But despair not, for that's about to change: you'll now know what you're missing. You may even get out there and do something about it. Ofcourse you will!

1) Free Pizza
Now, who wouldn't want some free juicy, cheese-dripping pizza in all its colourful mouth-watering glory! I know I would. Well maybe some of you knew about this already. Tuesday has been pizza buy one-get one free at Nandos for some time now. Hold it, hold it, I know what you're thinking: the pizza at Nandos on that day is not as good, they are in such a hurry and that it sometimes comes out too crusty, etc, etc, and the lines are too long, and several other reasons not to go get your free pizza, but hold your horses: Tasty's.

Yepp, Tasty's. Tasty's does free pizza too. Tuesday is pizza buy one-get one free here too.They've got a branch at Shoprite mall Lugogo, and another in Ntinda opposite DTB. And their pizza is actually good. You get to wait half an hour, though, but atleast I was told this at ordering so I could decide what I wanted to do: do something with my half hour as I wait for my pizza or forego the pizza. Ofcourse I found somethig to fill my 30 minutes, you know me. Pity they don't do deliveries. I wish Ugandans would take more to this part of business, deliveries. We would all be happier. And maybe a little lazier, but a lot happier, we do jog afterall - right? Tasty's Ntinda is open from 8:00 a.m to Midnight. More time to get your free pizza, more reason to love your Tuesday.

2) Half Price tickets at Cineplex
I just recently learnt of this but I'm sure it's been going for some time. You've got to agree it's a sweet deal. And another fun reason to love your Tuesdays. If the rain wasn't on another of it's sprees right now I'd probably be there as I type this. I love my movies, you know, and I'm itching to complete Hanna. As you may have heard here I was rudely interrupted before I could enjoy it to the end. Well, half-price tickets for any movie you've been itching to watch, a bag of pop-corn and why wouldn't you love your Tuesday?

3)Theme nights
Those of you that love the night life could help me here. I'm sure Tuesdays are theme nights somewhere in a certain funky up-town night club that you love. Does Afrigo band have a do at Little flowers? Or is it a Qwela do some where?  Is it fun factory comedy night? Am sure there's something, so let us know folks, share, anything to love our Tuesdays better.

4) The Big One!
And this is the biggest of them all. The mother of reasons for you to love Tuesday. Wait for it: It's the day after Monday. Monday that dreary day that has everyone moving about with dull spirits and pining for the weekend, dosing at their desk and drinking gallons of coffee. Who wants Monday? Tuesday is the real start of the week. You're alert, you're certain Monday is over and you'll make it through another week. Perhaps you're even more sober than you were on Monday. Tuesday is also the day before Wednesday, and we all know what that signifies. Wednesday is the day that brings the weekend. The day before Thursday comes to bring you Friday, day 1 of the weekend. For when Wednesday comes you know it's the middle of the week, and the weekend is nigh. Tuesday brings you Wednesday, Tuesday brings you hope. Now, truly, why wouldn't you love Tuesday?

Yeah, that No. 4 there sounded a little crazy, right? LOL. So now that you know why I love Tuesday, what's your fav day of the week? Care to share? Maybe you could even win me over to your day of the week!

Au revoir! Much Love,

         Katerina.