Life Lessons.

"“There’s a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, “Dear saint-please, please, please…give me the grace to win the lottery.” This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, “My son-please, please, please…buy a ticket.”" 


—  "Prayer is a relationship; half the job is mine. If I want transformation, but can’t even be bothered to articulate what, exactly, I’m aiming for, how will it ever occur? Half the benefit of prayer is in the asking itself, in the offering of a clearly posed and well-considered intention. If you don’t have this, all your pleas and desires are boneless, floppy, inert; they swirl at your feet in a cold fog and never lift.” - Liz Gilbert 

 Here’s to buying a ticket.

Reposted from one of my favorite blogs: sydbelle.tumblr.com.

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: My Blog Girl Crushes Part VII.

Elaine Lu of Laineygossip.com.

Who? Blasphemy, go kill yourself.

Before we begin, just check out this TEDxTalks video please.
Also, you may want to read this interview:

And last but not least, check out Laineygossip.com.

Alright, now that you have been given a crash-course in awesomeness, we can begin.

What can I say about Lainey? I can write a whole book about her but I'll keep this post short because she'd want that.

I discovered Laineygossip.com later than most people. I then proceeded to read every post she's ever written that's available online.

I never want to meet her because if she disliked me, I'd want to die (I have a tendency to over-use exclamation points and because she hates that, I'm now very careful about it).

Straight up, I want to be her. She is fucking awesome. Even if you don't like celebrity gossip, you'll appreciate her writing. You'll respect her as a human being, you'll want to go and get a drink with her. She's too boss. She is cool as hell.

I love her.

For the longest time my family thought I actually knew her because I'd always start a conversation like "Lainey said-" So when they asked me what I wanted for my birthday, the answer was simple: a smutty shout-out.

And will you look at that, I got it!

Sigh. One of the highlights of my life.

*Photo courtesy of Lainygossip.com

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: Blog Girl Crushes Part VI

Christine Teigen of Sodelushious.com

I follow Christine Teigen on Twitter because she's unapologetically judgy in a funny way and I love that in a person. It makes my inner-bitch happy.

Anyway, I knew Christine had a food blog but I'm a vegan and Christine doesn't "fux with vegans". What would be the point of reading about dead, rotting flesh soaking in different sauces?

Um, you so silly Juwon. Christine is hilarious. Everything she writes is awesome.

New bucket-list item: become Christine's friend.

I'm currently reading all of her posts and it truly is a great read for anyone who loves food. Do something nice for your inner-fatty!

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: Blog Girl Crush Part V

Jillian Harris of Jillianharris.com 

Most people who know me know that I am a former Bachelor addict (no I did not follow Sean's season. After Emily and Jef ended things, I decided a break was necessary. It still hurts too much).

I've been watching the show for years and while Emily turned out to be a pleasant surprise, my favorite bachelorette of all time is still Jillian Harris.

The Canadian cutie made me a fan because she seems like a cool gal. She came onto the Bachelor already established in her career and content with her life. I'm all about the girls in the world who don't expect men to complete them.

Now try not to hold the fact that she was on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette against her. Jillian's website was launched in the vein of Goop but I actually check hers out more frequently.

She has great interior decorating tips, yummy recipes and cool fashion tips. Personally my favorite part of her website are the photos of her and her friends and family. Jilly's a "Live Laugh Love" girl and her photos remind me to enjoy the life I have instead of moping about the things missing.

*Photos courtesy of JillianHarris.com

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: Blog Girl Crushes Part IV

Ashley Madekwe of Ring My Bell. 

Why do I read RingMyBell.com? Helloooooo, she's Ashley from Revenge people.

She's as pretty as a doll and she dresses the way I would dress if I weighed nothing and she's part-Nigerian so I'm supporting one of my people okay?

If you like fashion blogs, hers is a good one to check out. She pairs clothes in unexpected ways but she's not so avant-garde with her style that it's unwearable.

And she'll inspire even the biggest lover of flats (that would be me) to embrace heels and walk the streets like you're Naomi on a runway.

Sigh. Serious girl crush.

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: My Blog Girl Crush Part III

Fabiola of Diary of a Third World Fashionista 

ThirdWorldFashionista.com is a blog I stumbled upon while I was procrastinating like a champ. I don't frequent lots of style blogs because I usually can't afford the clothes the girls are wearing but what's so amazingly awesome about Fabi is the fact that she sews most of the clothes she wears.

And they look fantastic.

Besides her boss skills behind a sewing machine, I find it comforting to read about another girl's struggles living in a third-world country.

Now let me make something clear: there are parts of Lagos that are like any other city in the states. People who live in Lekki, Victoria Island, things people take for granted until it's no longer available.

But I live in Alagbado.

We don't have those fun things in the boondocks and it can be a bit boring on my side of town. But Fabi, who lives in Honduras, would tell me to dress up, head to the market and have an impromptu photoshoot among the bootleg DVD stand.

Reading about her adventures in an underdeveloped country motivates me to take my lemons and make a tart yafeelme?

 Love her.

*Photos courtesy of Thirdworldfashionista.com

Not Mandatory But Freaking Good: My Blog Girl Crushes Part I.

The true test of whether I'm obsessed with a blog is if I read all the old posts. I have (sometimes more than once) with all of the blogs I'll be writing about in this series.

If I could invite anyone I wanted to a dinner party, these are some of the ladies that would be on my list. I not only love their blogs but I have a major girl crush on all of them as well.

Speaking of girl crushes, shout out to Jenna Marbles, an honorable mention on "my girl crush list". For those who don't understand the concept of a girl crush, I'mma let Jenna explain it.:

Are you schooled? Great. Shall we begin?

My Blog Girl Crushes: Laney Crowell of Downtownromantic.com

I first "met" Laney through her blog "Dating a Banker Anonymous". I followed her when she started FaLoMe.com which later became (Downtownromantic.com) because getting a glimpse into Laney's life was way too addictive to stop.

Laney frequents the restaurants you'd eat at, wears the clothes you'd buy, cooks the food you'd make and is the person you'd be if life was fair.

It's not by the way.

AND she's incredibly nice so you can't hate on her. She's kind of like to me what Gwyneth Paltrow is to Lainey (I'll get to her later). I trust her taste. I have actually emailed her before picking a venue for my birthday, before heading to LA for vacation and before moving to Nigeria. The crazy thing is, she gets back to me! How crazy is it that someone who is as busy as she is, takes the time to reply to an email sent by someone she's never even met?

 I'm a fan for life.

* All photos from Downtownromantic.com