31 Day Reset - Day 29

Create a bucket list
If I had 6 months to live... all the things I'd like to do, see or accomplish.

Erm If I had six months to live I'd eat really good cake everyday. OK i'm kidding. not really.

1. Visit every state and tourist attraction in Nigeria
2. Be completely fluent in Italian
3. Go skydiving
4. Learn to swim X_X
5. re-learn how to ride a bike
6. Dye my hair red
7. Visit India
8. Have a one on one Jam session with Nneka
9. Get pregnant  Ooops they said six months :s
10. Learn the tango
11. Throw my mom a surprise party
12. Go on a family vacation
13. Explore California with the partner
14. Make something special for everyone I love
15. Act in a movie/stage play
16. Run a marathon
17. Have a family portrait done
18. ...

OK here's the deal, not sure where this list is going, but to be really honest If I had only 6months to live I wouldn't be running around the world trying to finish a bucket list, I'd be at home with the people that matter, doesn't mean I won't have fun, but that's where i'm happiest and every moment is precious.

Love always,

Sabirah

31 Day rest - Day 28

Let go of the past.
Ermmm can I get a rain check
I promise to come back to this in no more than 4 weeks. Promise.
I'm just not ready right now.

31 Day reset- Day 27

I've slacked on my challenge tasks :(

I did this one on the day of sha.

It was "Revive your love life"

Ermmm all the things i'd have liked to do were impossible because of the damn atlantic ocean.

So I wrote a love letter. cos I enjoy those :)

Love always,
Sabirah

Music | Efya

The first time I ever heard of Efya was when I stumbled upon this video of her and Dipo freestyling

(I will probably do a post on Dipo's awesomeness when I return to Lagos, He's my friend :) so maybe we can get up close and personal for la bella ). OK back to Efya, so this amazing woman. I have been sleeping on her music! What! If you read this blog and didn't share *side-eye*... I mean all you have to do read my music tagged posts to know she's right up my alley. I mean that blend of Afro-beat, afro-pop, jazz soul is everythiiiing! I love it

I came across this video and got goosebumps! I mean she gave Whitney's I will always love you a brand new twist. Refreshing, original and beautiful. Love her original songs "cigarette" (the first one) and the last one "Nothing"(last one) just as much. I love her powerful soul not-trying-too-hard voice, and the way she infuses Twi (I think) into her songs, she's Ghanaian :)
Enjoy!

And one more for the road

She's amazing!

Love always,
Sabirah

31 day reset - Day 26

Make a new friend

The person should be in your community of support, someone who is like-minded and can hel you achieve your goals.

Funny how this friend "came to me" she keeps saying, "you're amazing and I was drawn to you" which can be creepy but somehow I get it. She is someone I work with, much older than I am but I already see her as a friend, a mentor and someone I will learn a lot from the upcoming months.

She and I have talked about everything from self development (especially that) to relationships to character building all the way down to clean eating. since we started having our DMCs (Deep meaningful conversations) I've been saying a prayer for here everyday, thanking God for bringing her into my life. It was truly like magic.

Here's a Toast to my new friend!

Cheers!

Love always,
Sabirah.

31 day reset -Day 23, 24, 25

I decided to keep Day 23 in my journal, it's quite lengthy and involves information i'm not willing/ready to share.

Day 24 was a day of rest and reflection, also in my journal. been writing quite a bit.

Day 25- Find a community to support your goals - working on it. Detailed updates soon.


Love always!
Sabirah

31 day reset - Day 22

Start a side hustle.

Na so?
Na so e easy reach?

OK I shouldn't have this attitude but really though, aunty rosetta chill now, lol. Ermm I kinda already have one across the ocean and I guess I should be working on reviving it.

So despite being away and having extremely limited (monetary) resources, I used my most valuable resource- my brain- and spent the day writing up ideas, reading and researching.

It's kinda frustrating to see everything at my disposal and not be able to access it. Sigh. For now I'll continue fine tuning ideas and plans and surely something will fall into place and get things in motion. Till then i'll just stay inspired and keep doing what I can with what I have.

Love always,
Sabirah.

31 Day Reset - Day 19 & 20

Day 19's task was to get rid of stuff we don't need. As most of you know I just came from Nigeria two months ago and brought the bare necessities so I have no clutter to get rid of

Day 20's task was to remove Negative people from our lives; I did a clean sweep last year and about a week ago I deleted my twitter. Negativity gone :)

That's all

Love always.
Sabirah

31 day reset - Day 18

Today's task was to develop a self care plan
"Your self-care plan will be your guide for the next week of getting back in tune with your inner and outer self. It should help you become more mindful about your thoughts, as well as what you put into your body"


So if you know anything about me you'll know I've been "Self-caring" lol, for a while now, My physical and mental wellness have been top priority in my life lately and I'm very happy about that. My spiritual health is developing at a steady pace as well and I feel great about that. For this week here are some of my goals in relation to Self care.

• Wake up and get up at 7- Quiet time/ meditation for an hour
• Drink more water
• Be mindful about my thought patterns and let my inner voice be positive.
• Find out about seeing a gynecologist.  >_< necessary evil. lol.

Love always,

Sabirah

31 day reset- Day 17

Today's task. 100 things that make me happy!!Whoop. fun fun fun. That was the whole purpose of this blog so here we go. In no particular order.

1. Family
2. Close Friends
3. Yoga
4. Exercising
5. Eating great food
6. Cooking great food for myself and others
7. The partner
8. Posting on this blog
9. travelling 
10. Exploring new things
11. Pretty stationery - Cards and note cards especially blank ones
12. crafting - Making things with my hands- Soap, headbands, earrings, cards
13. DMCs - Deep Meaningful conversations
14. Candles
15. Flowers that don't make me sneeze
16. Neo Soul music
17. Afrobeat
18. Karaoke
19. Hosting brunches
20. Playing Taboo
21. Playing "concentration"
22. Sweet cocktails
23. Dressing up
24. Natural hair
25. Afros!!
26. Watching movies based on old english novels- Pride and prejudice, Jane Eyre etc
27. Spending the day at the beach
28. Day trips
29. Photography
30. Going to museums
31. My Leather journal
32. Spending time with loved ones
33. Salads
34. Home
35. Giving gifts
36. Receiving gifts
37. Taking long baths
38. washing my hair
39. Drinking tea
40. Dancing
41. volunteering
42. Smell of pastry
43. Books- real books made with paper
44. The smell of old books
45. Music from Baba himself, Anikulapo!
46. My daddy's singing
47. My mom's laugh
48. My brother's jokes
49. Jewellery
50. Thrift stores
51. Pretty bras that fit
52. sexy undergarments
53. Lipstick
54. Farmer's markets
55. flea markets
56. Gummy worms
57. Good wine
58. Sunshine
59. Rain
60. Thunder
61. Live music
62. Cafes 
63. Road trips
64. Singing in the car
65. Massages
66. Doing my nails myself
67. Sun dresses
68. kisses
69. Chocolate
70. hugs
71. butterfly kisses
72. vanilla flavored and scented things
73. Strawberries
74. Mangoes
75. Agbalumo
76. Balsamic vinegar
77. Being in Love
78. Sunday mornings
79. Pancakes and Perfect scrambled eggs
80. Strong women
81. Pretty food
82. Reading
83. Fashion
84. Italy, Italian culture.
85. intimate Wedding decor, planning, attire.
86. Men's Fashion and stylish men
87. The color green
88. Pictures
89. The color coral
90. Interior Decor
91. Love quotes from old books and movies... and poetry
92. Soft serve ice-cream
93. Boy shorts
94. Lifting weights
95. Smiling
96. Saying "Thank you"
97. Jazz music
98. Fluffy comfy beds
99. Long train rides.
100. Leather satchels and briefcases
101. Classic shoes
102. My quiet time
103. 101. Luxurious bath items- soap, bath bombs, lotions
104. Bookstores
105. Tiramisu
106. Chocolate cake
107. The smell of coffee
108. Independent and foreign films
109. Book readings
110. Being on time
111. Warm nights on roof tops
112. Lights, sparkly lights, pretty light at night.
113. washing my hands
114. Glasses
115. Male feminists
116. Sade Adu
117. Nneka
118. Dialogue
119. Sunday brunch
120. Numbers divisible by 3.

I am an alaseju (doing the most) I couldn't stop at 100... and I could still go on, but yeah see what I did with that last one? ;)

I enjoyed this task! So much fun, even if you aren't doing the 31 day reset(which you should totally do) you can do this task! just for fun, if you do let me know/see!

Love,

Sabirah

Buon' weekend!

31 day reset - Day 16

So Day 16 was a day of rest and reflection. Remember how I had planned to do Day 15? Well that was a fail because my body decided to turn on me. I had the Godfather of cramps yesterday and between crying in agony and puking out the entire contents of my stomach (green bile inclusive) [sorry for the graphic visuals]. Isn't it lovely being a woman?
I was basically in a semi-conscious state. I spent my whole day in bed and I actually succeeded in not using the internet until the end of the day when I was finally awake, tired and not sleepy.
I watched a movie. "A room with a view" I enjoyed it.
I guess it wasn't a complete fail, just that I didn't get to do any of the cleaning I had hoped to.

Ah well. health first.
I feel much better today, minimal pain.

Lets see what Day 17 has in store!

Love,
Sabirah

Soulmates

Reading old emails and I found something.
The Partner and I were discussing soulmates and he quoted some writers on the subject.


This was his favorite


"A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we're pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we're safe in our own paradise....When we're two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we've found the right person. Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life."  -Richard Bach


This was mine:

I have been here before, but when or how I cannot tell:

I know the grass beyond the door,

The sweet keen smell, the sighing sound, the lights around the shore.

You have been mine before - How long ago I may not know:

But just when at that swallow's soar, your neck turned so,

Some veil did fall, - I knew it all of yore." - Dante Gabriel Rosetti

At the time this moved something so deep inside me, glad to say it still does. Perfection. Funny we weren't dating yet then. (this can be argued but...)

"You have been mine before - How long ago I may not know"

Profound.

I don't think we all have only one soulmate by the way. 

Anyway, sigh :) Love is good and beautiful and special.

Love always,

Sabirah

31 day reset - Day 15

So I failed today's task completely. lol

Welll what had happened was... I read the email (properly) too late...

It went something like this "Turn off of the TV for 24hours..." I was still half asleep so I thought, easy peasy  I don't even own a T.V. and snuggled in. Later I went back in my inbox and read again. "If you do not watch T.V., stay away from non-work internet use including this blog! LOL. Epic fail

It's my day off. All I've done is play on pinterest and etsy, skype with my dear friend Eresuyi and chat with the partner! lol

But you know what? Challenge accepted for tomorrow!
I also have the day off, I will go to class, gym, come home, wash (scrub the hell out of ) my bathroom, do laundry, tidy up (all this is going to call for some deep bonding with my music library) and then make some phone calls to people I love. (ask me how I did!!)

Sounds like a plan.

God give me grace.
Amen.

Love,
Sabirah

:)

“Even 

After 

All this time

The Sun never says to the Earth,

"You owe me."

Look

What happens

With a love like that,

It lights the whole sky.”

- fourteenth century Sufi poet, Hafiz.

I love this, So I shared.

Sabirah. 

31 day reset - Day 14.

Redesign your day

• I want to sleep a bit earlier and more importantly GET OUT of bed when I wake, I think i'll sit at my desk , read and pray there?
• Tidy up my room in the mornings before I get ready.
• Be more consistent with my daily devotion.
• Cut out idle websurfing, no more "window shopping" lol
• Be more conscious of time, no rushing out of the house.

Other than these things, I don't have too much of a problem with my day. I'd like to start imparting these improvements.

Random, some one called me disciplined today and it's a quality I never thought I had but I guess I've developed it. It made me so happy ^_^. growth!

Love always,

Sabirah.

31 day reset- Day 13

We were to conduct a time audit. This is my average weekday.
6:00am-7:00am:Wake up
7:00am-8:00am:read/ respond to emails and meditate and pray (or at least try to)
8:00am-9:00am: get ready and get out
9:00am-10:00am:class
10:00am-11:000am:class/gym
11:00am-12:00pm:gym/home
12:00pm:1:00pm:work
1:00pm-2:00pm:work 
2:00pm-3:00pm:work
3:00pm-4:00pm:work
4:00pm-5:00pm:work (depending on the day i might get off here)
5:00pm-6:00pm:work
6:00pm-7:00pm:work
7:00pm-8:00pm:work
8:00pm-9:00pm:home
9:00pm-10:00pm:rest
10:00pm-11:00pm:watch a show/ study/ read/ write in journal
11:00pm-12:00am:bed time
12:00am-1:00am:sleep
1:00am-2:00am:sleep
2:00am-3:00am:sleep
3:00am-4:00am:sleep
4:00am-5:00am:sleep
5:00am-6:00am:sleep


Lol looks like all I do is work and sleep. hahaha


Hope everyone is having a great week

31 day reset- Day 12

Today's task was to craft our ideal life narrative. I really enjoyed writing this :)

I am living in a quiet surburb filled with the sounds of birds, wind and children playing. Our house is spacious and has a lot of light coming in through the large windows, I especially love my home office because of the giant inspiration board above my computer. It is organized and messy at the same time. This is where I create. We own a lot of art and It's everywhere. Mostly by me and the people I love but also some prints of famous pieces. Our Decor is very DIY- Quirky. I love to entertain and my huge kitchen has been the home to lots of laughter, tears of joy and reunions. My partner and I host dinner parties often to catch up with friends and I hold a monthly book club meeting.


I am not "famous" but I am well known and respected in my field. I am good at what I do. I am a teacher, a creator and inspiration, a mover and shaker(lol). I run a successful cosmetic line and own an all natural salon and spa. I am active with the youth in my community especially girls and I am a mentor to many. I am part of a successful NGO in this area. I also run a blog/website where I share random things like recipes, book reviews etc and remind myself to stay happy and not forget me.


I spend my summers with my family in Florence doing some work, relaxing and continuing to practice my Italian. Travel is important to me and I try to experience a new area often whether 100km or 10,000km away. I enjoy and cherish my time alone and try to find at least a little time to spend by myself often. I take long baths in my vintage cast iron tub with claw feet to relax and often dance/go dancing with my partner for fun.


My partner is a handsome loving caring man who supports my quest to be a better person as I support his. I am very close to my parents and see them at least every two weeks. My brother and I are very close and he often spends a lot of time at my house. I am in touch with extended family members and often call, send gifts and visit.


I exercise often and cook healthy meals for my family. I am healthy physically and mentally. I earn enough to live the life I want and enjoy a few luxuries once in a while. I portion at least 10% of my earnings to helping others have a better life.


I am consistent on my self development journey and I continue to find ways to learn more, read more, give more and create more. God is ever present in my life and I bring him into my consciousness all the time. I stay on track with meditation, quiet time daily and prayer.
I am living my truth, and you can see it in all the love that shines upon me.

31 day reset - Day 11

Write a letter to your lizard brain.


Dear Lizard brain,
I've been noticing you popping up at certain points in this challenge and in my life. It seems like every time I want to do something for my own happiness and growth, you show up to tear me down
I do not appreciate you acting like I can't do it! You always rear your ugly head close to the finish line and instill fear into me.


I won't back down! take that!


I see what you did last year and you were at your strongest, well not anymore. I get you though, you're afraid, but you're not helping. Me putting myself out there, trying new things, pursuing my dreams and taking risks is the only way I can grow. You are hindering my growth.


I will fulfill my potential. you cannot stop me. You've had many years but now it's my turn. So I'm breaking up with you!
Bye bye


Sincerely Sabirah.


I know I was a bit silly on this one, but I'm in a cheerful mood and I still conveyed my feelings! boom
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Day 10

Find an accountability partner.

• a friend, family member, co-worker, mentor, coach or someone else you can trust to help you keep a commitment
• someone on the same path as you or simply willing to help you in your specific journey
• someone who can help you stay on track toward reaching your goals
• someone who stands firm and won't let you get away with making excuses or procrastinating
• someone who will ask you all those difficult questions we tend to avoid

I made the obvious choice.

Because, he just knows :)

Love Sabirah

Thursday tidbits

Haven't done one of these in a while!

1. I've been laughing really deeply past couple of days. I just feel good.
2. Yesterday I was on a three hour phone call where i only said "Hello", "Tell me", I love you". Sometimes being there is just listening.
3. I hurt someone today :( unintentionally but then I couldn't lie...
4. I made something delicious today! a complete experiment. I've still got it! whooop and it was diet complaint!
5. I could eat greek salads forever. Noms.
6. I really enjoy and value my time alone.
7. My phone dependency has drastically reduced! I can't believe it. I barely look at it now. it's a great feeling.
8. Do you have a blog? I want to see. show me.
9. God loves me, I believe it. He loves you too. A lot