YOLO

Not quite the title most would expect.....but there is so much truth in that word (if I can call this a word) I can't help but remind myself - 'Lady, YOLO!!!'

YOLO - You Only Live Once.

And here lies the 'thing' that underlies my recent decisions/choices.

You see, unlike a cat with 9 lives, I have one. And I owe it to myself to live this one to the fullest.
Mohatma Gandhi once said,

'The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others'

So when I say YOLO, it is a reminder to myself that I owe it to myself to live a live that serves :D 

I am sure someone's wondering - 'Why so serious?'. It's nothing like that. However, as I countdown to the end of 2013 I cannot help but count my blessings. Man! What a year this has been! It's easy to get lost in all the things we are yet to achieve and in the process ignore all the things we did achieve, All the friends and family still hanging around to share these moments of love, laughter and tears.

And even when there are no friends or family, the fact we can experience love, laughter and tears is evidence that we can stay fighting, stay dreaming and stay learning from our experiences. And for that, there is reason to be hopeful indeed!

It's with this realisation that I signed up to volunteer with Crisis UK, taking care of the homeless over Christmas. I am looking forward to spending at least 2 days with rough sleepers, attending to their needs, providing food and a listening ear.

I do it because I love it! It is such an amazing feeling being able to smile at someone and they smile back. Being able to share moments of joy and festivities with people all over. Afterall, isn't that what this season is all about?

I am also writing a list of things I need to do next year! This Womble is a dreamer.....as you may have noticed! My blog persona itself is a dream *chuckle. Although it would be lovely to live wombly free on Wimbledon Commons - no rent! no bills! no taxes! *FingerSnapToReality

I am not going to share what I have written out for myself - Sorry lovelies! *hehe. but rest assured this blog is high on that list! So much to do, so little time......Where to start? Here. When to start? Now.

P.S.

Did I tell you I haven't been cooking a lot lately! I know right! All my random kitchen experiments and hastily taken photographs - no more! Oh but I did attend an Intro to Photgraphy course in September. Maybe I shouldn't have said that because now you'll expect some quality shots next time I post pictures *gulp. Definately no pressure there!

Another 'disaster' is the fact I haven't had the chance to explore this beautiful city like I would love to. I have deliberately gotten myself lost by taking walks down streets, corners and sometime alleys I have no clue about. Things have to change #YOLO

Until next time, take care lovelies!!!! :D

Lady xx

29.04.2010

So I got home today and decided to vacuum the entire house - yep, all 3 floors of it!

I start with my room and soon after *beep, this text comes in


'Hi Lady, want all images taken during your photo shoot on 29.04.10 at STUDIOLONDON? More than 90% OFF original the price! Reply YES or call'

Being the curious girl I am, I called.No reply. Moments later a man rings back to say I have 57 pictures, can't preview any but if I pay £70 pounds I get a link to all my pictures via email.

Ok, now let me give you a background story - A friend signed me up for a free shoot and when I got the call I thought - ah well, what will it hurt. Off I go to London and spend the day, time and money waiting for my pictures to be ready. Now I was expecting to pay for them - obviously, but when they said £3,000 for the lot I zoned out and switched to autopilot mode.

£3,000 for what? Pictures? Can I resell them? Will they feed me? Pay my rent? Will they lay golden eggs? *PAH!....They obviously noticed the blood drain from my face because I was then offered the soft copies for £824 (I never forgot the figure, it haunted me!) and I could pay instalmentally. Now, I am a Womble and I have a policy - if you can't pay for it in cash now, forget it. *delayedgratification.

2 years later filled with occasional wonder about what had happened to them and I get this? Apparently the Studio went bankrupt (not hard to imagine why!), was bought and now the new guys are contacting people on their database to offer them their pictures at a reduced price.

That said, I told Mr Caller I will ring him back.

In this day and age, £70 is a lot for 2 year old pictures I think. Don't know - to buy or not to buy .....

HELP!!

Picture not taken by me - Web Image

Barbie & Ken's Traditional Wedding - PhotographybyObi

Ok so I saw this post months ago and fell in love.

I shared it on facebook and ended up chatting with Obi. According to him, his wife made the costumes while they bought the props. After the shoot, everything went on ebay - this was one expensive shoot!


I honestly cannot express how in love with this post I am. I just have to share it here. For those who don't know, this is a good representation of the Yoruba culture portrayed.

At the end of my chat, I told Obi to please tell his wife she is AMAZING!!!!.......of course that was after bragging about the finesse of a woman's touch. Lol.

Please visit PhotographybyObi for entire album and tell me what you think. xx