To be, or Not to be.....

You spend endless days, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, mending clothes, ironing, gardening, watching day time TV, doing school runs, looking immaculate, hosting, socialising and dutifully catering to your husband and kids. You should feel proud, accomplished (as far as being a woman goes), content even, but some how you don't feel any of these emotions. Instead you feel dissatisfied, unappreciated, invisible and worst of all, trapped. Your kids always seem to have a never-ending batch of laundry for you to attend to, they ask why you don't go to work like James or Sarah's mum (whom they fondly refer to as superwoman), they much prefer the odd days you order a KFC Family bucket meal to the beautiful homecooked dinners you spend hours preparing and they hate that you are always all up in their business (what business?? lol). Then your husband expects you to be submissive and a real life version of the women portrayed in the movie, The Stepford Wives (based on a satirical thriller novel by Ira Levin, set in the fictional suburb of Stepford, Connecticut). All these demands, combined with your need to maintain some kind of control over the only part of your life you feel your input matters, the efficient running of your home, leaves you undeniably disgruntled and yet you are amazed by the positive life changing results of Channel 5's documentary, Obedient Wives which basically glorifies your every day life.  

As I handed in my security card on my last day at work just a few weeks ago (ahead of business school in September......since a LOT of people are asking lol), I was dizzy with glee at the prospect of guilt-free late nights doing absolutely nothing productive, attending to things I never quite had the time to do, like live my life lol. But I never quite knew my free time would be spent mentally drawing up grocery shopping lists, doing house chores (no thanks to my severe case of OCD) and just generally morphing into a modern day Stepford Wife. Admittedly, my friends and I have discussed in detail over the years about the ideal marriage situation (i.e. to be a housewife or a working mum) and I always swayed more to the housewife school of thought, but over the last few weeks, I can tell you, both are equally demanding. Some women manage to seamlessly run their homes and maintain ambitious careers, but in my opinion, they either get a LOT of help or eventually suffer from a premature midlife crisis. In the Channel 5 show which put the Surrendered Wives movement (based on the idea that men can't change, so women need a radical re-think in order to preserve romance in marriages........a woman wrote this ish!) on the map, women were asked: 'Which do I want more: to have control of every situation or to have an intimate marriage?'  (who said the world doesn't revolve around men??)

Furthermore, it was established that career women find it very hard to come home and be feminine, loving and soft and caring - they just come home with this boss attitude instead (hmm I concur), concluding that for women who wanted to have it all (i.e. happy marriage and successful career), the quote "You catch more flies with honey, not vinegar", holds true. So I asked my male friends for their opinion and in a bid to seem modern and open, they all attempted to describe their ideal marriage situation but the not-so-shocking truth was, they all ended up describing a woman that didn't look much different to a 1950's Stepford Wife or the 2000's Surrendered Wife. The bottom line is men want to be served and admired by their wives, but what do we want? Well judging by all the conversations I've held with my girlfriends over the years, women generally want to be provided for. So why can't we all get on with it and drop the labels (career woman/StepfordWife/Surrendered Wife and whatever else). Besides as noted on http://www.stepfordwives.org/, to serve a man is not a cookbook, it's a pleasure! (Amen to that lol!)

Yummy!

I am having one of those weeks where all I think about is my next meal lol. It is so bad that on any given day, I can't actually keep count of all I've consumed because all I do is munch, munch, munch. Even more disturbing, people keep asking me where it all goes. At first I tend to say nothing but when they say "No, seriously, where does it go?" I usually feel inclined to say "ummm my head" luckily that answer seems to do the trick but when it doesn't I just ask "Hey are you gonna have that last piece of chicken or can we share it?" Then they just shake their heads in awe and wander off.....result!

The best thing about living in Maida Vale is its food scene (yes I'm allowed to say that). Obviously it is a lovely residential area, certainly posh at best, well endorsed by celebs (Kate Moss lives nearby in slightly more uppity St John's Wood, Jude Law is a neighbour and I've run into him and Vernon Kay at my local corner shop and pub......my claim to fame hoorah! lol) BUT we have great scenery thanks to Little Venice and greater eateries such as Raoul's, Thai Rice, Cafe Rouge, Cafe Laville, Idle Wild (and all the restaurants in nearby Paddington basin).

As I said in an earlier blog post, I don't entirely love slaving away in the kitchen so yes a lot of my munch sessions tend to happen outside my home (shame). Over the last few years, I've only ever frequented Raoul's to pick up my Lola's Kitchen Cupcakes but yesterday, my sister and I decided to give brunch a go and boy were we pleased! The service was efficient, food superb! (lurrrrrrrrrrrrrved my golden yellow Italian scrambled eggs) and the ambience was just as you would expect.......our fellow feasters were a bit rah-rah (fine by me) and the walls were nicely decorated with retro pictures of the likes of Grace Jones (topless.....not as scary as you would imagine). All in all a delightful experience :-)

West End Girl

Unlike a lot of other great cities, London is pretty compact and rather easy to navigate (in my great opinion lol). On a serious note, as long as you speak a decent amount of Anglais, don't look like your average tourist (Londoners hate tourists and for good reason lol), have a bright smile and own an oyster card, you are good to go! Fortunately for me, I have always been a West End girl and frankly, everything happens in my part of town :-) (yaaaaaay!). I am no property specialist so no this post isn't about the joys of living in my endz (as they say in East "Laaandan"), no no. The West End is London's answer to New York's Broadway, perhaps cheaper too (minus the world-class talent as our hotel concierge on my last visit to NY rudely pointed out...hater lol). It is the centre of London, an ideal tourist spot and Europe's largest shopping district (so you know why I'm hardly ever at home lol). Given my love for theatre, I have been to see a number of plays in my time, especially as my friend's brother is a RADA graduate and regularly stars in some hit productions.

This year alone, I have experienced the frustrations of Walter Lee Young (Raisin in the Sun), brilliantly played by Ray Feron (hottie!) at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Prior to seeing this flawless remake of the 1950's play (the first to be written by a black woman and produced on Broadway), I had my first theatric shriek as an obviously bipolar "Paul" in Six Degrees of Separation at the Old Vic Theatre, portrayed with great skill by Obi Abili, is seen butt naked on stage (full frontal!!!), when he's caught sleeping with another man, by his Manhattan-ite hosts (eeeeek!!!). John Guare's 1990 play partially based on the life of David Hampton who posed as actor Sidney Poitier’s son and managed to charm his way into the world of rich New York liberals such as Calvin Klien, Melanie Griffiths (disturbing no), went down a spooky treat. Shortly after that, my eyes were assaulted once again by another butt naked viewing of Asher D, in Bola Agbaje's Off the Endz at the Royal Court Theatre. Personally, the scene was unnecessary but Asher has got a tight bod! (so yes I managed a squeal then gasp before promptly changing my blackberry status lol). I was somewhat disappointed by this because Bola's earlier work (Gone Too Far, 2008) was beautifully written but this seemed to have a neither here nor there message. Granted it was a modern take on immorality in the black community and the idea that a lot of black people are deluded (I think Hip Hop videos should take responsibility for this lol). My friends also felt it was rather dark and hopeless with all the characters involved having a rather bitter end (well truth hurts!).

Following this, we sort of had a theatre drought and then another great play came along, Ruined, at the Almeida Theatre. Just like Raisin in the Sun, my friend's brother also starred in this excellently cast play ( a very strong contender for my best theatre experience), set in a small mining town deep in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mama Nadi (flawlessly played by Jenny Jules, Naomi Campbell's BF), brought tears to the eyes of everyone, as we sat through the last showing of a rather emotional, comical and violent portrayal of the ultimate test of humanity (love, hate, race, pleasure and shelter), in a civil war with no end in sight (very deep!). At the end, I chatted with Jude Akwudike (Chief Adeyemi in Iya Ile) who told me to be on the look out for a follow up play (you heard it here first!), while my friend's bro introduced us to the amazing cast who gave us palm wine! I love theatre!!!

So yesterday, after an exhausting 2 hour drive made worse by unexpected torrential rain (although weather forecasts said to expect mild showers.....as if!), my fellow theatre loving friend informed me of a play happening just a few minutes away from me titled Another Biafra. Thankfully the sun found itself and my sister was up for it, so we hopped into a cab and arrived at the Cockpit Theatre, a very easy to miss theatre just off Church Street. As it was the play's final showing, literally everyone (by which I mean London's glitterati) came to show support. Sitting with my friend and a bunch of other girls of Biafran heritage, the excitement was uncontainable and we soon found ourselves attempting to speak "Igbo" which didn't sound as good as it felt lol. However we were in for a shocker as the thought provoking play by Anthony Abuah focused on what he says is the "New Biafra", that is, the ongoing conflict in the Niger-Delta as a result of the lack of sustainable natural gas extraction procedures by international oil companies like Shell. Undeniably low budget but superbly resourceful and educative, this play probed the very core of my conscience and highlighted my severe lack of knowledge about the socio-political state of things in the region. We laughed, we gasped, we sneered, we sang along, we came close to tears, we were shocked and best of all, we were inspired. It was a nostalgic play that still managed to take on board the ever present perspective of the foreign media (British media in particular). A heart wrenching performance from the talented Anthony Abuah as Apori (whom I hope to see in the future) supported by a brilliant cast (notably Stephen Mcleod as journalist Eric Roberts, Onoriode Ujorha as Mr President (hilarious!!!) and Marlene Nwoye as Uwa, the long suffering wife) kept us engaged from start to finish. Pity it only ran for three days. Wonder what great play or musical I'll be seeing soon........

World Cup.....Over n Out!

The ground breaking FIFA 2010 world cup is officially over, we can all now stop pretending to love football (or the offside rule) and just mourn the loss of hot men running after a ball for 90+ minutes (nooooooooooooooo!). Unlike a lot of women (and some men, mind you), I actually happen to enjoy footie to some extent so I had no qualms with days in the office when all we did on the trading floor was clean out the vending machines and watch the 3:30pm matches right into market close (about 4:35pm for UK stock markets), while holding several Bloomberg chats with friends in other banks, analysing each team's talent (nope, not ball technique although that is interesting too....yah!).

I initially intended to do a top 10 best-LOOKING players list but a lot of people have already been there, done that, so I came up with a better and more rounded award system (with the help of my brilliant family & friends)......enjoy!

Scribblediva World Cup 2010 Awards

Best moment: Opening ceremony (SA made Africa look good!)

Funniest moment: The entire Spain vs Holland finals game.....felt like an uncut version of WWE lol

Most Embarrassing moment: Every Nigerian match lol (yes I said it!)

Shocking moment: Discovering Americans can actually play football, sorry I mean soccer "saukerrr"

Most intense game: Ghana vs Uruguay (I actually cried then went for a dim sum binge session with one of my best male friends lol)

Shocking fact: Each team was given $1m to prepare for the tournament (maybe Nigeria missed the memo)

Best match: Germany vs Argentina (maybe the fact I was on a date with a German guy at the time made it more ummm entertaining "gutten tag!")

Best goal: Kevin Prince Boateng (Ghana), opening goal against USA

Best Player: Hmm, Thomas Muller (Germany), based on the matches I watched (of course I skipped some obvious games (cue Nigeria vs Argentina lol)

Best Looking Player: Kevin Prince Boateng, for him I'd do a cameo in Cougar Town *drooooool*

Best Styled Coach: Joachim "Jogi" Löw (Germany).......can I say GQ meets West End

Most entertaining Coach: Diego Maradona (Argentina), restless munchkin

Best Team: Ghana (what can I say, love is blind lol)

Most entertaining Team: Spain! (not surprising considering a significant number of their squad play for Barcelona FC)

Best Coincidence: All the French speaking teams had verrrrry tight jerseys (not complaining, just noting)

Best Lookalikes: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) and Fernando Torres (Spain), the commentator said it too!

Best WC commercial idea: Lola's Kitchen World Cup themed cupcakes (my personal faves were: Ivory Coast's M&M's cupcake, Italian Tiramisu Trifle cupcake, English Sticky Toffee cupcake.....yum!).

WC Most Hated: Aside from the refrees, it has to be the Vuvuzuelas, Brazil even blamed them for their poor performance lol.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.....World Cup 2010 was a blast! On to the next one.......xoxo

Psssst....told you I know my football ;-)

White chocolate moments......*drools*

I am not referring to the novel by Lori Wick (a good read nonetheless), instead I am referring to those moments when I find no better companion than my scrumptious Ferrero made Kinder Bueno White chocolate (much like most of the readers of a chocolate blog I stumbled across recently, http://www.chocablog.com/ ). KBW is a thin, crispy wafer filled with delicious hazelnut cream, coated in luscious white chocolate which is covered with ground hazelnuts and cocoa........yum!

Mind you, I do not naturally have a sweet tooth, but I found myself munching through several packets of this chocolate delight, whilst working my way through my Sex and the City box set (which I finished for the millionth time yesterday, boo hoo!). I have now also discovered great joy in nibbling at its hazel nut and cocoa bits whilst reading I Heart New York, a freebie that came with the latest issue of Glamour magazine (loving the Carrie-esque twist to this novel).

To save face, I have coined these obvious binge sessions: my white chocolate moments. Thankfully I live about 10minutes (walking distance) away from two Tesco Express stores so I never not have a bar when I need one, like now :-)

The Nightmare

Oops! the title should actually read The Dream, but the dude has become a nightmare overnight so a name change is somewhat befitting. When I started this blog, I didn't intend for it to double as a gossip blog BUT after my posts on The Other Woman, Old Dogs New Dicks and Two Can Play that Game, I just had to chip in on this whole Christina Milian, The Dream and the "canoodled woman" fiasco (especially after I had raved about Christina's post baby photo shoot....just look at her wow!).

Quite similar to what you had find on the likes of the Jerry Springer Show, the story is a hot mess. First we had Nivea (remember her? the girl behind Don't Mess with my Man and Laundromat....loved her back in my boring Oxford days), who got married to Terius (The Dream) in 2004 and gave him three kids (a daughter and twin boys). The couple however divorced in 2007 with The Dream saying he was becoming bitter and didn't want to get to a point where he would take it out on Nivea (not in those exact words lol, but that was the general gist of his statement....yawn!). But this was not to be the last we would see or hear of Miss Nivea, no, she went on to have a son with Lil Wayne (say what? well they apparently dated on and off in the past...hmmm) in 2009. Apart from this, all has gone quiet in Niveaville, although the release of her 2010 album, Purple  Heart is still pending (thought so).

Then came along Miss Milian (hottie alert!!), you already know I will be somewhat biased cause she's just too darn cute! So Miss M strutted onto the scene with some baggage as she had been through a break up  in 2005 (cue cheating Nick Cannon, now Mr Mariah Carey). Nick had reportedly said he refused to stay faithful to her because their relationship was becoming more like a "Christian romance" (the nerve!). Fortunately, Miss M dusted herself off and went into another relationship in 2006 with Andre Lyon (who??). They supposedly parted ways in 2009 on an attempted "break" (still don't get why people think this ish works....just break up or stay together!). This time around, Christina said it was "hard to grow together when you live on two different coasts" (more like The Dream had told her "Shawty is a ten").  Anyhoo, their relationship became public knowledge after much speculation, especially after they were photographed in March 2009 when Christina had that dreadful-but-she-still-looks-foine blonde hairstyle.

They reportedly got married in Rome, Italy, few months later, with Dre saying he thought The Dream was "a good fit for her" (personally her alarm bells should have gone off at this point....Dre said what now??).  Even spookier, on September 11, 2009, they announced they were expecting their first child together (The Daily Mail reported that the pregnancy was a surprise). Then in July this year, after he was spotted canoodling another woman (his assistant Melissa Santiago) in the Caribbean/Atlanta (yet to be clarified), The Dream announced they had separated in late 2009 (apparently Miss M had no idea about this situation...deep!), just a few months after their wedding and before the birth of their daughter in February this year. Like Nivea, we are still waiting on Miss Milian's 2010 album, Elope.

Of course there is more, so today everyone from my friends to Perez Hilton has had every opinion possible on why a man like The Dream or any man for that matter, would cheat on a woman that looks like Miss Milian (ummm ever heard of Halle Berry's relationship woes?). Like I said in my previous posts, he did it because HE CAN  and obviously because one of "us" (women) made herself available for him to do it. Also it has nothing to do with looks, as one of my best male friends said, "you think Christina is hot? Then you ain't seen nothing yet!" lol. I had to laugh cause it is so damn true, there will always be someone hotter, perhaps better, richer, more accomplished, wiser, sexier and whatever else but there is ONLY one you. If he doesn't appreciate that, all I can say is good riddance to bad rubbish! Hey Christina, perhaps it's time you called off your break from Andre and give him another go......just saying! :-)

Sky's the limit.....virtually!

I have a couple of Big Fs in my life that make me happy, Food, Fast Cars, Fashion and some others. My focus today will be on F A S H I O N, especially as I started watching Britain's Next Top Model Cycle 6 (so far so fierce!). Now for a quick history on my love affair with Fashion. Fashion is in my blood, I respect it but I don't take it too seriously (some people will wear a thong on their head if Anna Wintour decides it is the next big thing.....pls!) and I am definitely not interested in spending hours behind a sewing machine, pretending to be the next Pierre Balmain. Funny enough, I was a muse for my mum back in the early 80s, modelling in some of her fashion shows and wearing creations from her wedding line as a flower girl or little bridesmaid. I recall browsing tonnes of catalogues in her show room, dressing up her mannequins, watching her turn her sketches into real life garments and also sitting in on classes in her fashion school BUT I always knew I was more intrigued by the vanity side of fashion rather than the actual art behind it (I'm fickle, shoot me!). I am not totally useless though, I can knit, crochet and do some funky stitches but that's as good as it gets lol.

To me, fashion unlike so many other industries loves to embrace and celebrate the "elephant in the room". Fashion is expression, personal, liberating, bold, insightful and unpredictable. When I started dwarfing guys my age and sticking out like a sore thumb in photographs with my friends because I was way taller than them, I've got to admit it didn't feel as fabulous as the fashion industry tells you it should. It also didn't help that I was relatively skinny considering it was the pre-size 0 era as back then everyone wanted to look like the video girls on MTV (note, Naomi Campbell in Michael Jackson's In the Closet and George Michael's Freedom '90, were some of the few videos that incorporated fashion's idea of what is beautiful, into the mainstream music scene). Then came the pressure of shopping for my height, I could never find trousers that were long enough and was grateful to the fashion gods that picked the eras of pedal pushers and Capri pants but cursed those behind hipsters lol. With time and several late nights watching Fashion TV, I started learning to enjoy my awkwardness and stopped limiting myself to low heeled shoes just to seem less intimidating and masculine as I always imagined guys would rather approach a girl they towered over. Moving to London also did wonders for my confidence as people were generally taller than in Lagos, models were idolised and so I found myself being approached by scouts a few times but never dabbled heavily as my parents would have had my head! So at A-level school and university, I worked the runway and almost always had the honour of opening or closing whatever show I did. To top it all off, being tall has been great for my Investment Banking career as bankers almost always go for the model types (of course you need to know how to model in Microsoft Excel!). I believe this year to be one of the most exciting times for fashion. There is something for everyone and it is great, needless to say, the big movement in the Nigerian fashion scene has awakened even the fashion unconscious amongst us. In my bid to stay true to why fashion became a great love of mine, I frequently wear "outrageous" outfits and skyscraper heels, and turn the streets of London into my runway, doing my best Naomi Campbell catwalk impression and secretly thinking of myself as the elephant in the room that fashion set free!

A list of other tall ladies (i.e. 5' 10" and above) that have broken the glass ceiling literally!
Venus Williams
Yolanda Adams
Ana Ivanovic
Kimora Lee Simmons
Ann Coulterer
Macy Gray
Elle MacPherson
Brooke Shields
Uma Thurman
Geena Davis
Wendy Williams
Taylor Swift
Rebecca Romijn
Rachel Hunter
Tyra Banks
Gisele Bundchen
Marion Jones
Michelle Obama
Nicole Kidman
Grace Jones
Khloe Kardashian Odom
Blake Lively
Kim Cattrall
Queen Latifah
Naomi Campbell
Leila Ali
Mandy Moore
Minnie Driver

Ready Steady Cook

It is fair to say I have a strictly love relationship with food, seeing as my closest friends are avid foodies. Funny enough I was one of those kids that embraced the liquid diet a bit too much for my doctor's own good. I absolutely hated food as a kid (looking back, I think the chewing part of it, tired me), and only indulged my nanny's excellent hot chocolate skills. However, my parents loved eating out and we often had family dinners with close family friends, relatives and foreign business partners at Eko Hotel, Ikoyi Hotel, Federal Palace, Golden Gate, Imperial Chinese, Peninsula and some others I am too young to remember. I was an only girl for a long time so yes I probably was spoilt, but my mum had no issues with me getting a perm or painting my face with my makeup set for these dinners and I think this is where my passion for food/eating out stemmed from. As I got older, I started to enjoy food and although we had decent portions at boarding school (Atlantic Hall, yes I know a lot of people do not consider this to be a proper boarding school lol), like Oliver Twist I always wanted more. It also didn't help that daddy would always bring home "grub" from the latest Lagos eateries and so we always had too much Ikoyi club or Mega Plaza suya, and I won't bore you with all the other goodies from Mr Bigg's, Munchies, Tantalizers, Sweet Sensation, TFC, Frenchies etc.

All in all, a girl just never really had to learn how to cook, especially as unlike most other girls, I opted to study Agricultural Science in senior secondary, not Food & Nutrition (ewww!). So anyhow, before I relocated to the UK to commence my A-levels at another boarding school, mummy insisted I spent some time in the kitchen (eeeek!), learning the ropes as she feared I would never have the opportunity to practice my skills.  Meanwhile, my younger brother had started flirting with ideas he picked up from the game show we never missed, BBC's Ready Steady Cook (Ready Set Cook in the US) lol. He would go to the pantry each day and pick out different ingredients and make magnificent dishes, so of course I was determined to catch the cooking bug. Anyhow I never quite needed to cook properly till much later especially as my friends love to cook, bake and whatever else you can do in the kitchen. Although we regularly take turns to host each other, we almost always eat out and so these last few weeks of freedom have been spent on research for where the next hot feasting spot in London is lol. Back in May, another friend and I had conquered a few such places in NY such as Tao (featured in SATC series), Buddakan,  (SATC Movie 1) and Zengo. Trapped in by the day's unpredictable weather, I gave up my plans of shopping in Sloane Square and decided to conquer my laziness and make some jollof rice with prawns, beef and oven baked chicken for my siblings (we are five altogether). Result! Not only did it taste damn good, I discovered I had some maternal instincts as it pleased me to watch my siblings devour my cooking especially as mummy is a culinary genius! I do love my food and yes eating out is in my genes lol, besides London has some fascinating places to eat, people watch, drink and just chill, but some days, cooking is just what is needed. (The sun better stay put tomorrow, I'm majorly craving a Henry J Beans medium cooked rib eye steak with Voodoo sauce yum....King's Road here I come!).

Graceful Swag

I am not quite sure what it is, but there is something very appealing about listening to an American accented sermon (perhaps this is why most Pentecostal churches have their pastors sounding American.....just saying). Yesterday, I went back to my favourite church in London, Hillsong, a vibrant Australian church, which is brilliantly situated at the Dominion Theatre (a.k.a Theatre of God on Sundays). It was a perfect Sunday for doing everything else but going to church, especially after a very eventful Saturday BUT I was in one of those places where I missed God and desperately needed to hang out with Him. So I took my ever willing sisters along for the 3:30pm service as a quick glance at the website http://www.hillsong.co.uk/, reassured me we were in for an edifying treat. We had a guest speaker, John Bevere an award winning, best selling author of several Christian books and evangelist from Colorado, whom I was well acquainted with, after his moving sermon on Honour almost a year ago.

For the first time in a long while, we arrived at Tottenham Court Road station a solid 15mins before service and decided to grab some much needed drinks and fruit salad as London was literally burning! At 3:30pm prompt, we strolled into the theatre and were met by a crowd of gorgeous, happy, energetic and friendly fellow Hillsongers (just made that up lol). Although we were early, church was already BUZZING and we felt very at home. Anyways, praise & worship commenced shortly after we had settled into our ushered seats and smiled at the fit guys and girls seated around us (another great thing about Hillsong, everyone is beautiful no lie). As always, the set was brilliant and uplifting, people had their hands in the air, waving and worshipping God in a way that was attractive and reminiscent of a concert minus the guilt of idolatry (my youngest sister who went for the 02 Wireless Festival told me she had felt uncomfortable with the JayHova-worship she witnessed when Jay performed Encore). Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, John B stepped on stage and he was the epitome of what I like to call "graceful swag".  He literally bounced on stage and told us (in his Yankee drawl) that he recently became a grandfather, and felt 25 even though he was 50. He had an undeniable supernatural swag, the type that comes from knowing you have an intimate and ordained relationship with God. The type you feel before you see and the type you can't seem to put a finger on but want to have no matter what. A spirit filled kind of swag and literally everyone in that church was radiating with it. It was enticing and made his sermon that much special as he had come with the message of what it means to be EXTRAORDINARY, especially in a world where mediocrity is celebrated.

At some point, he asked us: Why do you go to the world for creativity, when the one who created the world, lives in you!!?" This to me was the highlight of his sermon, as I have always had a problem with unoriginality. I believe it is lazy, a quick fix and I could go on but the world is full of clones at the moment and his question simply showed us this shouldn't be so. He went on to say there is a God given innate desire for us to live extraordinary lives and backed this up with statistical data which showed that the top selling movies of all times are usually centred around people living extraordinary lives like Superman, Batman, Indiana Jones etc. As an avid people watcher and big live-r (i.e. someone who loves to live life BIG lol), I gained a better understanding of myself, my goals and my dreams for my future. John's message gave me the kind of swag you can't buy, inherit or merit. It is a kind of swag that only God's grace gives, the same grace that empowers us to go beyond our natural ability (2 Corinthians 12:9). Not the kind of conditional swag that comes from your financial status, material possessions or accomplishments in life. As the sermon ended, my sisters decided a Ping Pong late lunch was in order, so we strutted down Oxford Circus with our new found G-Swag and I can tell ya, everyone was feeling it ;-)