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Saturday, 15 August 2020

Scars To Your Beautiful

Two posts in one month. Things are looking up, aren't they?

Tell me, what are your thoughts about scars? Do you see them as ugly? Are they one of the many things that 'need' to be covered? Marks that blemish a perfectly crafted skin? Reminders of what you would rather forget?

Or do they bring back memories of your past that give you encouragement? Signs that make you recall what you've been through and how you overcame? Do they add beauty to that canvas, like a new stroke of a paintbrush on a masterpiece?

Geez. That last line got me feeling like a bad ass poet right there. 

Anyway, I digress. Where were we?

I have always been known as 'The Girl With The Hot Legs' all my life. Sounds corny, but true. Long, slender, straight, smooth - from my thighs down to my feet...all the works! God took his sweet time crafting these legs I tell you.

LOL, I actually won the title for 'Miss Hot Legs' in secondary school- Rainbow College to be precise, during one of our social nights and in several Slum Books

Sigh. High school - those were gooood times.

Not to be all conceited or anything, but like an old friend once said, "If I no blow my trumpet, e go rust". I mean, sometimes being 'modest' isn't good for your self-esteem, and it took me a couple of yearssss to learn that.

I don't know how I did it, but I hardly ever got any wounds or scars on my legs, save for one time when I was a kid. It was an unconscious effort at first when I was much younger. But then, as I grew older, of course the adulthood mindset sets in and I got more conscious of it and made every effort not to smear my near perfect leg skin.

And that's the thing. Once you're so paranoid about something 'bad' that could happen, it eventually does - sometimes in the worst way possible.

Dial back to a couple of months ago in 2019. I was getting ready for work one morning around 6 am. So I bring out my dress from the closet, lay it on my bed, switch on the iron, and start well...ironing.

I was done so I unplugged the iron, held it on one hand, and then bent down to pick up my phone from the bed with my other hand. And then, my nerves on my thigh went ballistic because, yep you guessed right, I had burnt it with the edge of the iron.

My, oh my, was I in pain AND complete shock. Like HOW could this happen to me??? My pride. My joooy! My Hot-Fresh-Out-Of-The-Oven laps! Obviously that day - that WHOLE week at work was horrid for me. 

Fast forward to trying to figure out ways to get rid of the scar - from scar removal creams purchased on Amazon to natural homemade remedies. Ko le werk. I even browsed through the laser scar removal option and then changed my mind when I saw how much the process costs.

And then, an idea popped into my head. I have always wanted to get a tattoo but because of my religious beliefs and other societal judgmental issues I never got round to it. So I thought to myself, what better reason to get one now than to cover the scar? And are tattoos really that big a deal? Hmmmm.

Thus, my research began, as I scouted the internet for tattoo designs that weren't 'too much' but 'much enough' to cover it all up. I asked friends and my sister for their opinions and kept going round in circles for about two months, because I mean, this is a lifetime decision. 

I found a really good tattoo artiste, @fresh2defcustomsandtattoos online and discovered that one or two friends and acquaintances were his clients. That in itself was a good sign.

We discussed the cost, which was way above my budget, and as a result, made me start rethinking whether or not it was a good idea. So I decided to get a small tattoo, see how I feel about it for a couple of months, then save up for the major one on my thigh. 

SLAP - Sounds Like A Plan! (Lol. I literally learnt this 'slang' from Deon Cole's special, Cole Hearted on Netflix last night and I just had to add it to my vocabulary)

I had settled on getting the Latin phrase - 'Veni Vidi Vici' on my wrist. It means 'I came, I saw, I conquered.' 

I ran this by a few folks and the response from two of them stood out. They both said, "But Ify, you're still young and you haven't quite 'conquered' anything major just yet."

One thing about me is that I love tattoos that are symbolic to the people who have them. And to be honest, I just wanted this cause it's a bit unique and it would really look good as a tattoo. But does it resonate with me at this time? Nope. 

So I went back to my research space and then found another Latin phrase - 'Memento Vivere', which means 'Remember to Live'. I just turned 29 - a reminder that before I hit the big 3.0, I better make the most of my last days in my twenties, no?

SLAP! Lol!

Before I changed my mind AGAIN, I quickly booked an appointment, made full payment, headed to the tattoo studio, which was miles away from home (thanks to my girls who took this 'road trip' with me) and FINALLY got it! *big grin* 

 

Surprisingly, on a scale of 1-10, the pain level was a 3/4, and the process took all of 20 minutes. Dude even offered us drinks, gave me two bars of chocolate 'for the pain', he said, and gave us a full bottle of red wine to go. Talk about a five-star service right there!

Side note: I decided I'll get the VVV tat after I 'conquer' bungee jumping and skydiving on my 30th birthday next year - hopefully. And maybe one...or two more tattoos after that (side eye)

Oh, about my thigh? Am I going to get to get it covered you ask? According to my sister and a friend of mine, they pretty much both said it actually looks kinda beautiful - like a birth mark of some sort. Plus, I have gotten so used to it it's beginning to grow on me. 

So to answer that question, nah. I don't think so. But who knows?

In the meantime (or more like when we are finally allowed to hangout after this Rona saga) imma whip out my shorts, mini skirts, and mini dresses, head out, and flaunt it.

Yep. I'm hairy. My VERY silly friend called me King Kong the other day.

By the way, my momma hasn't seen the tattoo...yet. Shhhhh!

Thursday, 6 August 2020

Twenty-FINE!

Yooooo!!! It's been a whirlwind of a week and it hasn't even ended yet!

If you know me then you know my 29th birthday was less than a couple of days ago - the 4th to be precise. And even though in an ideal 'Rona' free scenario, I should've been in Kenya, looking down the safari from a hot air balloon in Masa Mara, to jumping down a plane skydiving in Diani beach, and swinging on a rope bungee jumping in Nairobi. This trip that I had already made a deposit for was cancelled, of course. And to make matters worse, my phone decided to go bonkers the weekend before, leaving me struggling to answer NUMEROUS messages and calls on my birthday with an ancient iPhone I forgot still existed in my 'archive'.
But still, I couldn't have exchanged how it all turned out for ANYTHING!

Like my travel agent @funmioyatogun cc: @tvpadventures 'prophesied' that morning:
Hehe, more like:
Kiki - 5
Corona - 0
Ha! Take THAT Bish!

Let me lay out the scoreboard for y'all:

1. BORDERLINE DEPRESSION
KiKi - 0
Rona - 5

I was borderline depressed as my birth date drew closer for obvious reasons: 
1. No trip - wailsssss :(
2. No cash - salary slash and what-not (boo hoo)
3. This also meant that I couldn't pay for my long awaited birthday photo shoot with @thetspictures, a photography business owned by a friend of mine and her husband
4. It's Rona season and pretty much everyone I know is broke. So hinting at my family and friends to buy gifts felt a tad bit selfish, so I simply wrote down a birthday wish-list just for the fun (and sadness) of it.
5. And then the realization that I was gearing closer to my last year in my twenties hit me (I wasn't ready yo!!! Tbh I'm still not ready *cringe*).

So my plan was to be a bum and stay in bed all day, eating the special meal I knew my mum would definitely prepare for me - at least that was a given. 
In a nutshell, I just wasn't really looking forward to it. The Rona was having a field day on my parade. 
But then...

2. PHOTO SHOOT
KiKi - 1
Rona - 4

My sis-in-law to be (at the time), made it her mission to find a way I could still have a photo shoot at a very affordable rate. She found a promo package by a make up artiste @faces_by_candie, which came with a make up session and a few edited pictures and she and my sister made sure I signed up for it. 
Then a few days later, I saw a couple of pictures that @thetspictures posted on their Instagram page of a birthday photo shoot they just did and I sent my friend a message saying how it was a bummer that I couldn't have mine due to my forlorn situation. Lo and behold, she calls me to tell me to come over for my shoot - FOR FREE! 
Luckily for me, it was scheduled on the same day I was getting my make up done and both locations were in the same vicinity. So I had my face beat with a few pictures taken in the morning and my main photo shoot that afternoon. Talk about the perfect arrangement!
Your girl was looking like a whole damn three-course meal!
3. LEGALLY MARRIED
KiKi - 2
Rona - 3

First off, the background hitch story: I made a new friend on my trip to Ghana in April last year, whom my  'bigger' brother saw her picture on my status and didn't allow me rest for my unborn children until I gave him her phone number. Long story short, they got engaged a couple of weeks ago. *big grin*

The court wedding was scheduled to hold on the week before my birthday but due to the Sallah break, which of course was a public holiday, plans changed and it was postponed to Tuesday - my birthday. This gave me a 'more than enough reason' to actually get up from my bed and get all dressed up for the ceremony. Of course my 'being-a-bum-all-day' plans were nullified - for a good cause. SCORE!
P.S: If they don't give me a special shout out on their big day, imma crash the wedding. *straight face*

4. GIFTS and WELL-WISHES
KiKi - 3
Rona - 2

Remember the birthday wish-list I mentioned? My sneaky sis sent it to a couple of friends of mine and out of it, I got:

A pair of gold brogues (they are blindingly gorgeous!)

A cake - from SALT! If you know @saltlagos they make one of the best (cheese)cakes in Lagos. 

Some casssssh! *doing the money dance* (however that's done)

Then my new sis-in-law added yet another cake from W's Bakeshop @bakeshopofficial to the pile! 
PLUS, my brother-in-law said he will help out with buying me a new phone! *tears of joy*

My hairdresser (yep) even made and gave me a pixie human hair wig as a present! I meeeean...how sweet!

And oh, did my friends and colleagues make me feel special or what?! I got countless messages and calls even from people I NEVER expected! As tired as my fingers and voice were of constantly responding to messages and phone calls, it was refreshingly overwhelming.

4. AGING LIKE FINE WINE
KiKi - 4
Rona - 1

Looking at my life and how blessed I am to have family, friends, talents, features, and things I find insignificant or irrelevant, things people will literally kill and die for, I realized that day that it's not how long, or how far you've gone, but how well. And I sure am doing way better than I thought. 
I have a long road ahead of me but I'll get to my destination eventually, because despite all my shortcomings and faithlessness, and sometimes (if not most times) my ingratitude, He's got me.

So 20, 25, 29 or heck even 30, the fact remains that I am alive. I am healthy.  I am happy. I AM LOVED. And that's really ALL that matters at the end of the day.
I meeean! Just look at that!
(peep my gurrrrl, BluBlu at the back)

5. THE NEW ADDITION TO THE FAMILY
KiKi - 5
Rona - 0

And the ICING on the already yummy birthday cake *drum rolls* 
My other sis-in-law, that's my 'big' brother's wife was pregnant (for clarity- so my 'bigger' brother is the one born after my big sis, and my 'big' brother is the one born after my 'bigger' brother, whom I was born after. Got it?) and I had been teasing her for months that she would give birth on my birthday. Yep, you guessed right.
My cute little baby niece arrived by 7:05 pm that day! ECSTATIC couldn't even describe how I felt!!! 
The PERFECT end to a perfect birthday. 
Sigh! *love struck*
Need I say more? 

That being said, cheerZ to living the last year in my twenties with a BANG! 

Oh, and one more thing: