January Post

Obama in the New Year!!!

Happy New Year....It's 2009 baby, the year of receiving abundant favour amongst hard times if we stay in God's will.

I'll rush straight through to the highlight of the month. President Obama's inauguration today, 20th January. His Speech was mind blowing and impressive. I am completely in awe of him. Congratulations, more grease to your elbows! We are with you all the way!! For the entire transcription of his speech, check it out here. I would also like to say congratulations to Vice President Joe Bidden and wife. All the best for this term. Now, check out pics of the Celebrities at the inauguration below.

Speilberg! Possibly the most powerful man in Hollywood.


Newlyweds or not quite...Beyonce & Jay-Z


Denzel Washington got there early! I can guess why! Just watch 2 or 3 of his movies.

Aretha Franklin, who sang

The couple with Solange, Beyonce's sister

Magic Johnson and Arnold Schwarzeneger

John Cusack

Michael 'Magic' Johnson

Muhammad Ali

Oprah

Dustin Hoffman

Don King

DIDDY representing

Thanking God for his life and his family.....speaking of family, controversial comments were made (as usual) about Michelle's outfit.

Culling this from another blog - There was nothing traditional, meek or remain-in-the-background about this outfit. She deliberately DID NOT wear a tasteful "First Lady" frock. From the sunny, optimistic color to the choice of a dressy, almost evening look, she's telling us she's independent, proud, self-confident, and young. Like other "young" career women, she doesn't have to wear a mannish suit or even a suit at all, to be taken seriously.



Inauguration Concert

The Lincoln Memorial Inauguration Concert took place yesterday with music, speeches and lots of dancing. A host of celebrities performed and/or were present. Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Heather Headley, John Legend, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder. A few "historical passages" read by celebrity actors a few "historical passages" read by celebrity actors - Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington. Check out pictures below:

Tiger Woods

Shakira, Stevie Wonder, Usher

Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, will.i.am

Bono

Mary J. Blige

Jamie Foxx

Garth Brooks

Beyonce

Tom Hanks

Denzel Washington

Kids' Inauguration Concert



Finally, the kids Malia and Sasha enjoyed a Kids Inaugural Ball on Monday night. Several kids were privileged to attend this with stars such as Ashton Kutcher, Jamie Foxx, Lucy Liu, Halle Berry, Queen Latifah, Usher amongst many others. The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus also performed. See video here:

So..............when the music fades, what is Nigeria doing in terms of Change We Can Believe in? Or are we back to reality i.e. corruption, greed, self absorbed leaders, hatred, backwardness? Or is our generation going to wake up and not follow suit? Something to ponder.....and not just ponder but to take action against. Night night xxx

The Run Through

Not Such a Quickie Divorce for Thierry

"Thierry Henry’s ex wife Claire is reportedly demanding a £10million settlement. The pair split last year after 4-years of marriage and the model was granted a quickie divorce in September when she cited her husband’s ‘unreasonable behaviour’.

But Thierry, 30, has now hired top lawyers Mishcon de Reya to argue that he was a success before he met his wife and that she wasn't involved in his professional decisions.‘Thierry has made an offer to Claire, which she has turned down flat,’ a source tells The Sun. ‘His legal team have really come on strong — warning her to shape up for a messy and bloody battle.'

Claire, 27, who has hired Sir Paul McCartney’s divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton, is also said to be demanding a cut their £5.9million marital home in Hampstead, north London - which he bought before they wed in July 2003." -- more at Now Magazine

Starbucks Beaned Out?

Starbucks posted its first quarterly loss as a public company for the first time in more than 15 years as restructuring costs wiped out its profits for the quarter - a closure of over 600 of their underperforming stores in the U.S. led to this -- who begged them?

It has been struggling in the US as consumers have cut back their spending on expensive coffee. Rising dairy prices have also raised costs and an increased competition with the likes of Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's introducing their own lines of gourmet coffee.

Starbucks said that there had also been a fall-off in customers in the UK, while sales growth had slowed in Canada.

What's On in Lagos? - Things Fall Apart

50 years on, Theatre@Terra presents live on stage, Chinua Achebe’s classic work-Things Fall Apart

Every Sunday in August

Written by Chinua AchebeAdapted for the stage by Biyi Bandele

Directed by Wole OguntokunAssistant Directors-Kenneth Uphopho, Sunkanmi Adebayo (Plus a pre-show bonus of drama sketches written by Wole Soyinka)

Venue - Terra Kulture, Tiamiyu Savage St, Victoria Island

Time- 3pm and 6pm

Tickets – N2000

Produced By Wole Oguntokun

A Terra Kulture- Jasonvision Ltd -Hyve Ltd Production

For Tickets and Enquiries, please call 0702 836 7228, 0808 123 9477 or e-mail laspapi@yahoo.com

London - WLFF

An interesting Not for Profit Organisation known as "With Love From Friends" is hosting a launch event/fundraising ball this Saturday!

WLFF is an initiative started by six bright young ladies organisation dedicated to the advancement of quality education in Nigeria. It aims to work with charities and other school projects in Nigeria to raise funds, to provide BASIC resources for underfunded schools.

Their belief and saying is that..........................Education Rocks!!! (It does, doesn't it?)

So let's put our philanthropic hats on together and encourage these ladies. Go on, attend the event being held at Parker McMillan (venue details below). Visit their website and blog

Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 8:00pm - 2.00am

Parker McMillan, 47 Chiswell Street, EC1Y 4SB

Fashion Rocks Too!!

P&R's Rouse Collection is Here!

Lola Abiodun of Peridot and Ruby says:

--"I haven’t always been a fan of interviews, Period! While I understand that it is a way of getting people to know my work, my inspirations and goals, I also know that it’s a way to misinterpret one’s words. I have always wondered what my response would be if I was asked what inspires me. I would love to tell this elaborate story of how travelling, culture and all the good stuff inspire me but I can’t. So when I started working on this collection, I decided to pick at my thoughts and discover my inspirations. To me, this was an avenue to tell my story just as it is. Peridot and Ruby was as a result of having an idea of what the average woman is all about. She could be the lady next door, the mother, daughter, wife, celebrity, career woman. She could be anybody with the underlining factor, a sense of individuality. She is one who likes her style to reflect personality. No matter how glam and elaborate a woman may try to be, there is this idea of simplicity although relative, in each woman, because when I looked around to understand what simplicity means, I realised everyone interpreted it differently.For this collection, I tapped into lives of friends, family, acquaintances that inspired me to put the collection together. These women are representative of all women Peridot and Ruby caters to. In each designs, I worked delicately and consciously with each customer in mind, understanding style in its simplest form without losing the sense of individuality." --

Check out the rest of her collection here.....

Michelle Obama and Kanye West on Vanity Fair's International Best Dressed List

Speaking of fashion, Michelle Obama tops at number 2 just and Kanye pushes in at number 18! Hmmm that's wassup. More here....

Vogue Italia's Black Issue Sells Out!

40,000 printed issues (and counting...) later, this issue is hot! Can't wait to get my fingers on it!

As part of the Black BUT Invisible campaign to promote and get more models of colour into mainstream fashion I am supporting the push to make this the biggest selling issue ever by getting everyone to buy this copy of the Italian Vogue. The issue costs approximately £7.

To read more about modelling and the changes over the years in terms of discrimination against black models, click here