Wanderlust...

Wanderlust : A strong innate desire to travel about
One of my top top favorite words! Right up there with happenstance.

Sometimes I'm scared I'll never find "home"...
The idea of home is a strange one. Is it where you've lived the longest; Lagos, or where you were born; New York, or where you first discovered who you were; San Francisco, or maybe where you realized you were enough; Florence,  or maybe It's where all the people you love are; Scattered all over the world. All I know is that I'm always longing for some place...

A couple of weeks ago I sent The partner a photo

Him :You look like the girl I fell in love with...

Me: O_o what does that mean? I'm no longer pretty ehn?

Him: No there's this radiance about you, you look happy, happier. Lagos took a lot from you and the stress got to you.

Me : Oh :(

 After the conversation I pondered over he said. I don't want to be happier here, I love the people in Lagos, my family and friends, and I love being in close proximity to them, but here I have easy access to the things that feed my creative energy and make me happy. The stress, the air and Lagos in general is too much for me and leaves me drained mostly.

Someone suggested I would Like Abuja, and I quite like Calabar . The partner says we should run away to Ghana. lol! Maybe I'll always be looking for home, at least I have someone who will wander with me...

Buon' Weekend!
Sabirah

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 5

Today's exercise is called "Envision your values in action"
We were asked to rate our values from 1-10, 10 meaning that we embodied this value fully and we were living it!, we were also asked to show actions that we needed/were performing to fully live out our values.
Here goes.

Spirituality- 6.5

• Trust God completely
• Read to gain understanding for myself
• Actively bring God into my consciousness through out the day

Personal relationships - 8

• Check in more often 
• Listen more attentively
• Confront issues when they arise
• Be a good friend. Be a good lover.

Life-long learning - 6

• Read wider range of material 
• Explore and travel more
• See every opportunity as one to gain knowledge from
• Be open to new ideas and viewpoints
• Listen

Creativity - 6.5

• Craft more and continue to surround myself with and gather inspiration
• Be less shy about my creative abilities
• Channel it into many avenues including NS.
• Let it reflect in all I do; clothing, speech, music and lifestyle in general

Healthy living (physical and mental) - 7.5 and 8.5

• Stop cheating on diet
• Challenge body with new workouts.
• Conquer fear of running
• Self care often and as needed
• Get plenty alone time to reflect, rest and just be
• Meditate and pray.
• Live mindfully
• Remove time wasters and negative sources of energy

Love- 8

• Be an example of love wherever I am.
• Show love to even those who hurt me
• Let love be the guiding force behind my actions
• Accept people and love them as they are
• Conquer fear.

Family- 9

• Talk about issues
• Get closer to brother
• Contribute more

Financial Freedom- 4

• Save more and find deals
• Prioritize needs and wants and avoid instant gratification
• Looks for ways to channel creative interests into successful business ideas
• Develop and grow NS.

Making a positive impact - 5

• Work more on EWA and develop new ideas.
• Find volunteer opportunities
• Be kind to everyone 
• Leave everywhere better than I met it.
• Follow up

Integrity - 8

• Remain true to myself
• Remain honest
• live in truth

That wasnt too hard and looking at my values i'm doing pretty well in general, it's nice to be able to see the weak areas can't wait to continue working on me!

Love, 

Sab.

Hello 2012

Happy new year,

It is with great joy that I welcome you into this wonderful year *continues with the drama*... Really though I'm glad you made it, that we made it, I hope it's a great year for all of us. The whole holiday season was really fun for me. I spent the earlier part of Christmas day with family and then later in the evening with the partner** and some mutual friends(mostly his, newly mine), which was a blast. Went to an owambe** style party, danced and had my name sung to me. It was a blast.

Random interjection, I'm really thankful for the partner, He really has a good heart, not just to me, he's an overall great person. He got me a Christmas present, well four- books (I might review them in a bit) that I absolutely loved- finished reading them all already- and the cutest card, I love cards! And what did I get him? Nothing :( I need to start earning money soon, this won't do. Anyways end of my gushing about the partner.

The day after Christmas I got on a plane to Port-harcourt to visit my close friend from high school Sopi, and her friend (now mine too) Mnenna. We all then headed to Calabar and met up with another close high school friend Eneni. Best decision Ever, Calabar was a blast. Pictures coming up in the next post. We left Calabar on the 29th, headed back to Port- Harcourt stayed for two days then headed to Opobo, Sopi's village - yes i'm a real jet (and road and sea) Setter. Can't wit to share my adventures in detail. I had the most amazing time.

Came back home with a bit of a fever and some asthma complications, but I'm very well now. Nigeria is in turmoil now, fuel subsidy has been removed and it seems to be the straw that is breaking the Camel's back. As a result there are on going protests all over the nation and a labor strike starting tomorrow. I pray for the safety of everyone and I hope that this is the beginning of a new beginning for Nigeria, It's been a long time coming.
If you're participating in any protests do stay safe.

Love,
Sabirah

The partner*- everyone asks me why that title? Well simply I've had boyfriends in the past and he doesn't quite fit the definition boyfriend and I like the sound of partner- One who shares :)

Owambe - A Nigerian party, usually a Yoruba one with lots of music, most likely a live band and heavy dancing and spraying of money. Yes they're amazing.

Italia : The Trip

Welcome to the 'Italia' series :) I will be docuenting my experiences in Italy :)
(ps pls forgive any typos, italian keyboards are a bit different and i'm still learning)
So on Wednesday afternoon My friends dropped me off at LAX after an amazing 5 days in LA. The check-in line was so long that it continued all the way outside, it was amazing that from the line I already felt like I was in Italy, everyone was speaking Italian. I happily eavesdropped while also noting things I didnt understand to look up later... *ayeee see me always the learner :D*

When I finally got to the front of the line, my luggage was over-weight (as usual) I looked at the attendant and while I was trying to decide on whether to start crying or not he asked me to take some stuff out. So I got out my towel and the first things I saw. He then re-weighed my bag, printed a luggage tag and asked me to put my stuff in, I was confused but obliged, then he said to me "i'm African too you know, from Algeria, we gotta look out for each other" Hell yeah! i'm all about that Pan Africanism! Lol I was thankful! he saved me $75 I didn't have!

The security line was also long and Slow! I remember now why I dislike that airport so much! Bleh!! of course they found liquids in my carryon bye bye oil clease solution and make-up remover... i was just ready to get out of security, I couldn't care less. (now I do tho, cannot find any natural facewashes or oils to buy in Italian stores! arrghhh)

I usually take my time and go through duty free but this time i didn't even let the tantalizing perfumes sway me... girl on a budget!! soon after i was on my flight, Let me just say right now that I will not be flying Alitalia anytime soon again. Their service was not very nice, the flight attendants were a rude, curt and spoke in  Italian even when they didnt need to. I understand Italian fairly well and they spoke english well too but would ratherspeak italian to even english speakers but they had this haugtiness about then that I can't describe. They didnt turn on the entertainment till after we had been in air for over 3hours!! and made no apologies either... I could go on and on but yeah their service was not the best.

I just thank God that they got me to Rome in one piece and didn't misplace my luggage either.
Till my next Italia post
Ci vediamo dopo!