April 08, 2022

Black n Yellow

I rarely get the opportunity to dress up, so when one of my faves invited me for her birthday dinner, I was excited to get dolled up.

I chose this black H&M turtle neck and yellow skirt from Shein and

finished off the look with tassel earrings and black booties. See the finished look below.

And can you believe we all coincidentally showed up in yellow and black!

Have a great weekend y'all!

March 10, 2022

An Afternoon in Saint-Louis, Senegal

A few years ago, I visited the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art to see a Senegalese exhibit, Good as Gold. One of the exhibits was a video presentation of The Fanal, an end of year parade in Saint-Louis, Senegal. I was so drawn by the rich culture and knew that if I ever made it to Senegal, a stop in Saint-Louis was a must.

So when I finally made it to Senegal a few months ago, Saint-Louis was the first city outside of Dakar that I visited.

 Saint-Louis is the oldest colonial city on the Western African coast. It is made up of three parts, Mainland, Island/Old City Colonial, and Fisherman Village/Guet Ndar.


Saint-Louis also known by its Wolof name, Ndar is 4 hours away from Dakar. We only planned to spend the day in Saint-Louis, so we set off bright and early.



We got to Saint-Louis at about noon, and started our adventure with a horse carriage tour.
 
We started our adventure in Old City Colonial and could immediately see the glaring traces of the colonial past.

The Portuguese-style buildings are typically two/three floors
The colonial French homes are generally bungalows
The colors of Saint-Louis...so beautiful!
We also spent some time in the Fisherman Village, the fishing community of Saint-Louis. The main occupation is fishing and this passed on from generation within the family structure.
However, fishing activities in this area has declined in recent times due to overfishing (mostly illegal)by European countries and
foreign industrial fishing companies. 
According to a study by European Journalism Centre , Saint-Louis, ministry data shows an 81% drop in fish caught since 2016!!

The western world really does get away with anything when it comes to Africa 🙄. Still, this is a vibrant community of people who work hard in their colorful pirogues to provide for their families.
These little boys came up to me and asked me to take their photo. These ended up being my favorite photos from the entire trip
How beautiful are they! That rich melanin against the blue skies is everything!
Louis Faidherbe Bridge is Saint-Louis most notable landmark. The bridge goes over Senegal river and connects the Mainland to the Island/Old City Colonial.
L'Agneau Carnivore is a bookstore that has an extensive collection of African books and art.
The entire store was a vibe.
How beautiful are these gorgeously dressed women!
 
Saint- Louis was an entire vibe, and I hope y'all enjoyed seeing this West African gem with me.

Happy Thursday!



September 09, 2021

The fair comes to town


The fair came to town and my bestie niece and I decided to visit. 

Now, I am scared of heights and I don't do rides at all! However, my niece wanted to go on some rides and wanted me to go with her...eek! So I ended up on the ferris wheel 🎡 and some other ride. TBH, the rides were not as bad as I had imagined, and I might have even enjoyed them a tad. However, I am in no rush to relive the experience.

Anyway, we had a jolly good time and took some really cute photos too. 

Enjoy...

Did you guys visit any fair or theme parks this summer?