I am now a bonafide Louisianan…

Chat GPT tells me that one of the most asked questions a person from or who lives in Louisiana is most often asked is ‘do you eat crawfish all the time?’

Yes, I asked ChatGPT just to be sure because as someone who lives in Louisiana, I’ve been asked this question so many times, I cannot count. 

Well, guess what? In over 4 years of being here, my answer has always been a big pretty ‘nope’ and I always get this look as if they were to ask ‘you ok, girl?’ in the best Southern accent they can muster. 

The day came that I finally thought, you know what? I think it is time to accept and put on the badge of being a Louisianan if not for anything to be able to say ‘oh, yes, I eat or have eaten crawfish (depending on if I like it or not).

Well, well, my sisters Jennifer, Molly and Katie came through by inviting me to my first ever ‘all you can eat crawfish boil’ and I went prepared! 

 

Though prepared, I knew it was going to go one of two ways; either I liked it or not. But let me tell you something. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, dudes and dudettes, I loved those little mud bugs to  high heavens! I kept wondering why it took me so long to try them out. 

I tell you what, I loved it so much that 2 days later, I was a the Crawfish Hole, a popular crawfish restaurant to buy 10 pounds of crawfish! Wait, you didn’t just think I’d eat 10 pounds all by myself right? So why that much you ask? Because my girls seemed to love the mud bugs even more than I do. Yup, we caught the bug and decided to be Louisianans through and through! 

I’ve eaten and talked about loving crawfish so much that my friends threw me a surprise early birthday party and guess what?!!!! Yup, it was a crawfish party y’all!  

                                                                                          

Yay to having friends who know you and bring you what you love! 💃

Hey Tiffany, you are an MVP for this! You put in work, girl!!! Thank you. 

Trisha, you pulled it off nicely and yes, I was genuinely surprised and happy as it was my first surprise party ever! 

We ate the delicious boiled crawfish, had so much fun and wished the day wouldn’t end y’all. 

‘Talking’ about this makes me smile and tell myself indeed, God’s got you, girl. Four years ago when I left home to come down here at almost 40, I didn’t think I would make any friends, I told myself I was going to be a loner and do me cz who starts making friends at 40? Some days I’d tell myself I did not need new friends anyways… but look at me now, having friends and actually loving them! 😁

To everyone who celebrated and wished me a happy birthday, I say thank you. Let’s do it again next year! 

Yours truly,

A true Louisianan. 

PS: Melissa, we need to go for that drink we’ve been talking about!

More Than This….

Hola poeples!

Come with me on a girls road trip to see Cece Winans in concert!

It was amazing. It really was amazing, so so amazing, I am still reliving it so I will  not be writing much today, so please watch the video and I hope you enjoy it almost as much as I enjoyed being there.

 

 Ok, ok, maybe I will write a little bit. 

Have you seen the video yet?

Yes? Cool right? 😁 

No? Well, you should.  

It was an amazing two and half hours drive and it was totally worth it.

Listen, Cece took us to church! 

I have always loved her but seeing her in person, oh my! I cannot even begin to describe the feeling. She is so pretty, her aura so calming, she had the best smile, very elegant and so demure 😁. Cece sang so effortlessly but it did what it was supposed to do, take us to church!

I love how it wasn’t entertainment but a spirit filled praise/worship session. The atmosphere was amazing, we sang and we danced but most importantly, we worshipped. 

I am so glad I attended and I want to say a biiiig thank you to my sisters Jennifer, Molly, Katie and all the Sparks’ for inviting me to come along, it means a lot to me that y’all did as I wouldn’t have known Ms. Winans was this close to me and I would not have attended. Y’all are amazing. ❤

The ‘More Than This’ concert really was more than any I’ve experienced.

I attached below, a video summary of the concert as compiled by Katie, please enjoy.

Stay blessed.

xoxo

Rashin Sanni…

Y’all remember my I shan’t gree post? If you don’t, please read about it HERE.

So something funny happened at that concert, any time I think about it, I get a good laugh and cz I am good peoples, I am sharing with y’all. Before I go into it, who knows who this is in the photo below?  

                                       Guess who?

Did you guess right?

If you did, yes, it is Tasha Cobbs Leonard. One of the Hub’s favorite gospel singers. Remember how excited I was about seeing Chandler Moore in concert and how he, on the other hand was excited to see Tasha Cobbs? 

Well, after the concert began, he eagerly waited for Tasha to be called on stage, that’s how we did not see Ms. Cobbs oh and oga kept asking;

‘Where is Tasha Cobbs na?’

‘When is Tasha Cobbs coming out?’

‘Didn’t you say she was part of this concert?’

Me: abi he’s beginning to think I deceived him about her appearance? 😲

                            No be gadus Tasha name be this?

Well, I kept assuring him that she would come out eventually and at some point, I said maybe she isn’t coming as ‘someone else’ had sang one of her songs. He wasn’t happy at all as he actually looked forward to seeing her in concert. 

Eventually, Tasha Cobbs’ name was mentioned, I wasn’t sure what they said but it sounded like she was being introduced, Hubby jumped up to look but ‘someone else’ came out to sing a Tasha song!

What is going on? Why isn’t she coming out? 

Why aren’t they telling us why Ms. Leonard isn’t here? 

What is supping?

Then ‘someone else’ sang his favorite Tasha song, he was a little heart broken but we enjoyed the concert and that is what matters. I was sure something important must have stopped her from making an appearance and I explained to him that Tim Godfrey wasn’t here also and he’s been a part of the tour. So maybe, just maybe Tasha wasn’t part of this set. 

He made peace with it and we enjoyed our time, enjoyed Tasha’s songs that were sung by ‘someone else’ and the concert came to an end. 

So on our way back to the hotel, I decided to check Tasha’s instagram to see if she posted anything about why she wasn’t in New Orleans as planned. 

Brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, dudes and dudettes… guess what?

Hmmmm so the ‘someone else’ that was singing Tasha’s songs was indeed the Ms. Tasha Cobbs Leonard herself! 

What a wawoooo! 

Listen, this lady was literally right in front of us singing her lungs out and we were saying the ‘someone else’ was singing just as good as her. 

The thing is, the first photo I put up is the ‘picture’ of Tasha Cobbs I have in my head, that is the Tasha I ‘know’ but we both were looking for Tasha, the way we knew her to be; meanwhile she was living her best new life and doing what she does best.

Well, well, we both had a good laugh, tried to replay the whole concert with  this new knowledge but we missed our moment. 

So, as the saying goes  in Hausa, ‘rashin sani ya if darei duhu’. Anyone that can, should help me interpret this, pls.

There you have it! What is the moral of this story? Me sef I do not know but somehow, right now, I have more fitting proverbs in my head but I want you to feel free to drop one in the comment section. 

Ps: Next time you see  me, you might not recognize me either because… fitfam 😎 clean eating, maybe some workout... heavy on the maybe here pls.

✌️ 

xoxo

Vlogging Fail!

Hola! 

So, This should have been a vlog. 

This was supposed to be a vlog post..

But it is a blogpost…

Before I tell y’all why and how it ended up not being a vlog, allow me a moment to hail all vloggers, content creators and editors Cz ehn?!  

So, I had this trip planned a month ahead and because I was so excited about it, I decided I was going to vlog all about it. 

You know how all those Instagram travel people do? 😁

Yup, I was going to be one of them. 😎

Tihihihihi… I laugh at myself cz at some point, I forgot I was supposed to take photos and make videos. Then there was dealing with the baby who wouldn’t let me be a great Vlogger. We need to talk about traveling with a baby/toddler someday.  

So anyways, after the painful realization that vlogging/content creation is not part of my calling(s) I decided to jejely come back to my blog to write. I know it’s been a while, forgive me. 🙈🙈

Let me gist y’all the little I can. 

Oh wait, I haven’t mentioned where I was. I went  across the pond to Papa Will’s country … see why I was excited? It was my first time in the YouKay. So I planned to make the trip worthwhile and again, thought vlogging about it was going to make it even more interesting and have y’all experience it with me.  

The trip was fun and would have been more fun but the cold, the coooold in that Oga Charlie country ehn?! It was a different kind of cold. Yes, it was winter here when we left but the winter was wintering differently over there, it felt like tiny needles were piercing my skin and because of this, though the visit was very short, I did not get to do as much as I would have loved to.

I tried to make the best of the little time I had and I visited 4 cities; Chester, Manchester, Warwick and Oldbury. No, I did not go to London to see the Queen King; this was because… sigh, because I planned the visit to London on the day we were actually supposed to leave 🙆 don’t ask me how I made that mistake, I just did and thank God I realized soon enough but there was no wiggle room to go all the way and back. So, I did not make it to London. 😞 

Onto exciting stuff, I visited a castle. Like a real life castle, the Warwick castle in, well, in Warwick.  I don’t know how to explain how I really felt when we walked those grounds and towards the castle…. Kindda like I was on a movie set…(you know game of thrones kindda ish). And seeing the castle, it was amazing, I tell ya! I didn’t do much due to the cold but I got a few cool pictures…

A little history of the castle: The Warwick castle is a medieval castle in Warwick, Warwickshire, England. It was built about 957 years ago and it still stands! It has a rich history but I don’t want to bore y’all so if you’re interested in knowing more about it, go on and read on it, it is quite interesting… if you’re into such things. The castle has been used as filming location for some movies, so yeah, I was right to have felt like i was walking on a movie set. It was beautiful, I tell ya!

Another place worth mentioning was the Chester City walls, listen, walking those walls made me appreciate all them history lovers, I felt Iike I was walking in the past and there was this overwhelming need to know more and a sense of gratitude and awe. 

Fun facts about Chester; The Chester city walls date back nearly 2,000 years and are the longest and complete in Britain, offering a unique walking experience and a glimpse into the city’s history . Walking the walls is a popular activity offering views of the city and the Welsh mountains in the distance. 

Chester is home to one of the most photographed clocks in England, the Eastgate Clock. It was built in 1899 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

See us at the foot of the clock!

There are 4 main gates, I started the walk through the EastGate where the historical clock is and ended the walk through a different gate ( I can’t remember which). I loved every bit of the walk till my baby decided it was nap time and she’s the boss of me so… the walk had to come to an end, not that I would have been able to walk all the way as the walls are approximately 2 miles in length. 

The walls were built to protect the city during the medieval era, you know, like when Merlin was living in places Iike that? I kept picturing the wars fought back then and how the soldiers fought from the walls to keep the city safe. I think this visit is turning me to a history buff.

Moving on…

I visited a Nando’s for the first time, last last na chicken and jollof them dey sell, but it wasn’t bad. 

Did I mention how cold it was? 

I also got to see some of my favorite peoples, we walked on the streets of Chester, went shopping annd our kids met for the first time. It was emotional for us all and hated when they had to leave but I am  grateful for the time spent together. I was really a happy somebody. Though it was only a 5 day trip, I think I got a good deal out of it.  

Hmmm Manchester airport, Manchester airport… my worst experience in an airport ever, but this is gist for another day, let me not talk now before they refuse to let me in next time I visit. But I can say they collected my juice, even though I said it was for the baby, they wouldn’t let me through with it. I was pained! This mixed berries juice I got in Chester is the closest thing to berryblast I’ve come across in the last 4 years I’ve been away from Naija. Berryblast is one of my favorite drinks, you see why it pained me that they took it from me? *wipes lone tear*. And I told them it is for the baby oh! 😡

Wicked people…

Back to the should have been a vlog, do you see how this would have been a more fun post if it was actually a vlog? 

Now, if you want the vlog, say ‘aye’ and if you can or know someone who can put video clips and photos together and also edit, holla at me cz maybe, just maybe it might turn out nice; I say this because I just looked at my attempt at this vlog thing and I do have some cool pics and videos. So if you are my guy, holla!

Xoxo

Sources: words in italics from Wikipedia and coasttrader.com

If I shan’t ‘gree was a person

It’d definitely be me.

Listen, by the time you read about the level of I shan’t gree-ness I pulled off, you’d agree with me that ‘if I shan’t gree was a person, it would definitely be me’.

Don’t wonder too much, I’ll gist you. 

So back in February ‘24, I saw the promo(?) for the Good News Tour by Marveric  City Music and I saw that they were coming to my state.

I knew I wanted to attend the concert, I wanted to be there so bad and I said to myself:

Self?

Myself said to me: yes?

I said to myself: How do we do this?

Myself said to me: You already know, girl!

So I cooked correct tuwon shinkafa and egusi for The Half and practiced my ‘I wan go concert’ pitch… Cz errm it is going to be in a city almost 5 hours away from home. 

So sha, my pitch worked and we got tickets, not just any ticket, cz oga said “for you to be this excited and even come up with this type of presentation just to attend, I know you really want it.” (Though i secretly think him sef been wan go)

Listen, I didn’t just get tickets, I got Diamond VIP tickets (small thing I for faint with excitement). Like we will be in the front, front, very close to the stage I’d imagine I could see inside their nostrils if I looked well…and we also get to meet with the group and talk to them before the show begins!

So, tickets bought in February,

Concert is in November,

The wait starts,

Me and the calendar became best friends.

March, April, May…..and it was November…yay!!!

My excitement heightened. I could not wait for the day. 

Now tell me why 9 days to the day, I had to be taken to the ER, sick as a dog and I was scheduled for surgery exactly a week to this concert. 

It was at that point I understood why anyone would use the phrase  “you dey whine me?”

Cz what in the what what what is going on?? 

Me that have bought concert clothes and boots, (cz we gon praise ‘n drip) to go and jump and sing and be as loud as I can cz maybe somehow Chandler Moore would hear me and invite me to come and join them to sing. 

That’s how I looked at the devil and I laughed and I said ‘devil’, 

devil said ‘huh’

I said ‘ya not serious, you’ve come for the wrong one’. 

Anyways, I had surgery on the 14th, a week to the concert. It was brutal; excruciating pain doesn’t even begin to describe it. Three days after surgery, I was still in pain but somehow through it, with prayer and shan’t greeness, the thought of canceling never crossed my mind. 

 Two days to the concert, I had to prepare another pitch for The Half to convince him on why I needed to go and how badly I wanted this… bless him, he agreed. 😁

And it was Friday the 22nd!

I had to go see my Dr for a post op check up and off we went!

Listen, when I tell you it was worth every discomfort I felt on the way, I mean that! 

It was a super amazing concert. It wasn’t just a ‘show’, it was a praise and worship session and I am so glad to say “shame on you, devil!

I told you, you got the wrong one!”

So yeah, I didn’t gree and I made it and it was so so great!

Even though I missed the VIP experience of meeting with them before the show started, I am glad I was able to attend at all, and we got our souvenirs saved for us. 

So, yay!

I am so thankful to God that I came out with just scars from the surgery.

I am healing and mending nicely and I am happy!

I say a big thank you to my family, my friends, my Ms and everyone who sent a prayer my way when I was sick.

I am big on the THANK YOU, LORD!!!!! 

Ok, ok let me share more photos and videos and hope by a glimpse, you understand how blessed i feel to have been able to attend the concert.  

                                                 This is the set list if you want to create a playlist

                                                                        Tasha Cobbs

                                                                Chandler Moore

Naomi Raine 

PS: For some reason, videos would not upload, I will add them whenever i am able to.

PSS: I am sorry for the fonts not fonting, i kept trying to fix that but i could not. Anyone know what i can do to fix it?

Mo What?

Mo what? 

Movember! 

What’s that you ask? 

Let me tell you how I found out about it before I tell you what it is. 

Fair deal, yes?

Ok, so I saw a picture of a friend of mine whom I’ve known to keep beards before beard gang became a thing….and he was sans beards!!

He had shaved it all off! 

My flabber was gasted and I had to ask him pe, whattapun?! 

Let’s call this my friend ‘Yellow’ as we go on, shall we? 

Yellow went ahead to tell me he shaved it off for Movember. 

I was wondering if Movember was a babe that got this bros to shave off beards I know he loved to have and flaunt. But let it not be that I am jumping into conclusions, so I asked Yellow warris Movember? 

And he basically said ‘Google is your friend’ without saying ‘Google is your friend’ cz he sent me a link to check it out for myself. 

So the  Movember movement is actually a thing and it’s been around for a while. Google tells me The Movember Foundation is a global charity that funds and raises awareness for men’s health. With the foundation’s mission being to help men live longer, healthier and happier lives.  

It was founded in 2003 by Adam Garone and 3 others, the purpose of this movement is simple; helping men live happier, healthier and longer lives…

This foundation runs an annual charity event, with a goal to change the face of men’s health by encouraging men (who the charity refers to as Mo Bros to get involved… So what men do during Movember is that they grow a mustache for the month, getting friends, family and colleagues to donate to their effort. 

There’s so much more to this foundation, I tell y’all and I’m here for it. I’m glad someone started this for the men to feel seen and heard and cared for cz there are so many causes for women out there and you barely hear of any for men. So please next time you put up a pink ribbon or something in honor of women, kindly add a ‘stach to include the men in acknowledgment of struggles men face and are rarely spoken of cz as the society says they are men!

Well, well, did you know about this? 

No? 

Well, you’re welcome and thanks to Yellow for sending me to find out about it all by myself instead of just telling me. And if this interests you, please go ahead and read up some more about this cause and see if you will be interested in any of the challenges for the charity events. 

Me sef I’ve plucked the two bia bia I have in support of the movement.  

So which of you Vira’s blog bros are going to become Mo Bros after reading this?

As always, thank you for stopping by.

xoxo

Hard Guy in Tha Mud!

Y’all!

Y’all!!! 

Omoooh! 

Let me first of all start by apologizing to all the Mommas I Yimu-ed for being emotional on their babies’ first day of school.

Because, what is this feeling?!

Abi I should go back to school and wait in the parking lot? 

Listen, my heart is too fragile for this, I could literally feel my blood pressure rise after I dropped her off… I am not lying. 

So she was supposed to start on Monday, thankfully it was a public holiday so she did not go. 

So Tuesday, right? Toh, that’s how my chest started doing kikum kikum kikum.

Then I said to myself: self?

Myself said to me: yes?

And I said to myself: What is this feeling?

And myself said to me: if you ask me, na who I go ask? 

So, ladies and gentlemen, as I am sure you already know where this is going, that is how my baby did not go to school on Tuesday. Then today came and as school fees cannot waste, I chopped liver and took my baby to ‘school’ 

My girl!

*wipes lone tear* 

See the thing is this, I didn’t know how fragile me heart really is… I was forming hard guy when planning to register her in school cz a person that would fart and say “Eskiss me”, is most definitely ready to go to school. What I did not know however is that I, the momma was not ready. *insert wailing emoji*

Which is why I shamelessly sat in front of the school for over 20 mins after I dropped her off, contemplating my choices as I may or may not have shed a or some tears. 

And the anty did not send me at all, she waved and said ‘bye sheeee youuuu’.

*Clutches pearls*

So this girl will not even look at me and cry small? 

What a betrayed! 😪   

Y’all!

Y’all, send me hugs. Wish my baby a great ‘school’ year. 

Say a prayer for her and send me hugs as I start planning to buy JAMB forms.

xoxo 

Culture Shock!

Merriam-Webster describes culture shock as a sense of confusion and uncertainty sometimes with feelings of anxiety that may affect people exposed to an alien culture or environment without adequate preparation

Y’all, prepared for some ish I definitely was not, I can tell you that for sure because I have experienced all kinds of this confusion since I got to this Biden’s America and I’ll be gisting you about a few of those. 

So you know how on the 1st of October every year, to celebrate Naija Independence day, no one stays home cz we be outside chilling and chopping wherever we go? Hmmmm that is how on my first 4th of July here, I declared I wasn’t cooking, we shall go out and do this the Naija way.

Haaaaaa *wipes lone tear*

That is how we went out and drove the whole length and width of this town looking for where to eat. Tell me why not even one restaurant was open.

We even drove to the next town about 20 mins away. Guess what? 

Yup, you got it right. It was a ghost town. No food, no hanging out, nada!

So what happens here as against our deck up and go out is everyone stays home and does a bbq; basically hang out with family and friends and throw knock out at night. The knock out is always amazing so I wont complain much.

Now, to the more shocking experience for me… 

That is how I have not gone to church on Christmas Day since I came here oh! Ah, a whole Christmas Day and I’m getting a message the day before about how we should all spend time with family and have a blessed day.

Ahhh! Will  my Christmas cloth wear itself? So there will be no dancing and plenty offerings? We will not stay in church for extra time as our own part of omugwu for Jesus’ birth?

Oya what am I supposed to be doing at home on Christmas Day? No church, no outing cz everywhere is closed as usual. 

#Sigh

Did you just ask yourself what happens on New Year’s Eve and day of? Hmmmm no crossover service, no dancing in church till midnight and screaming ‘happy new year’ at mid night. 

You want to know the worst one of all? 

I was gobsmacked when I realized I would have to pump gas in my car, all by myself! Like why? Why can’t I just sit like the baby girl that I am and have someone else on it like I do back home? Why do i have to come down from the car, take the nozzle and pump? This is definitely something I still can’t get used to and because of this, my tank is always red before I pump gas.

Well, well, what can I say? Na who send me come, abi?

Oh, another one. If you go to buy fresh fish, this is what you will get. No head, no skin….                                 

                                                   

How does a Bachama girl survive this? Fish no head? 

*Wipes lone tear*

Thank God for the African shops that ship full fish as it was meant to be; head and skin intact!

Oh, don’t go and be confused like me when you order fried fish in the restaurants and get this ↓.

And the kind of things my eyes saw in New Orleans when I attended a concert during the Essence festival ehn? Gist for another day.

Sooo, now it’s your turn, tell me about the biggest culture shock you’ve experienced, locally or internationally. 

Xoxo

Ps: there’s  more oh but these are the ones I choose to talk about today, I will fill y’all up with time.

To Thine Own Self, Be True…

Hey Peoples!

It’s been a minute. 

I know, I know… just that life has been lifing.

#whew!

So a conversation happened that got me thinking… so much so that it made me want to get serious-ish with stuff, with the blog and maybe more. 

Ok, let me gist you. The other day, I attended a friend’s birthday party and the celebrant introduced me to another guest and this happened. 

Celebrant to Lady: you’ve met my friend, right?

Lady: No, I don’t think I have.

Me: shakes head as mouth was busy with sweet puff puff

Celebrant to lady: This is AA’s wife.

Lady lights up: Oh, you’re the writer!

Me to myself: Writer bawo? *swallows puff puff*

Me to nice lady: Oh no, I am not a writer.

Nice lady: You know XYZ in Shreveport, right? She told me about y’all and she says you’re a writer.

Me still confused: Yes, I know her but I am not a writer.

At this point, another friend, Momma Ify, who was with us looks at me and says ‘but you write naa, how about your blog?’

Me in a state of lol: Ehn but that is not writing writing like that naa…

At this point, momma Ify went ahead to make my head swell by saying how much of a good writer she thinks I am. I sha stood there accepting the hype but not with full chest cz who are y’all talking about?!

I however remember I met the lady from Shreveport through my blog page on the ‘gram and I thought to myself, so like this now, this lady has been seeing me as, and introducing me as a writer and I’ve never considered myself  one?

What does it even mean to be a writer? I know I enjoy doing this and I started cz I wanted to put down my feelings on stuff, opinions and the occasional amebo out there and for no one in particular, I just wanted a fun type thing. I also started anonymously because I was not confident in my writing and not sure anyone would even be interested in reading it.

But this lady saw me as a writer *sneakering*.  She saw me as more than I saw myself and that made me feel good and then it made me feel bad about myself. I felt good because I felt ‘seen’ then I felt bad because I didn’t see myself. 

I always shied away from saying I had a blog and even when I began to say that I did, I always felt I was not writing anything serious which is why I only sent links to posts to my close friends only. There would be days I’d go through others’ blogs and ask myself why I do not write ‘serious’ stuff in a serious tone like they do. Then I’ll will myself to write like them but whenever I do, it just does not feel like me *does that even make sense?*

Anyways, after thinking long and hard, I have now decided to be me, to embrace my writing style and generally, to myself, be true.

So please allow me to introduce myself…*shouting on top of my lungs* My name is Zandaborom *whispers* and I am a writer.

Stay hydrated.

xoxo

PS: I don’t even know if this post title even gels like that but that was what popped up in my head when I thought of writing about this and I went with it.