Inspired by ..

Solange Knowles

Solange seems to personify the ugly duckling, not that she was ever ugly; but lets just say being Bey's younger sister meant that her arkward stage was evident for all to see.

But 5 years or so later although Beyonce is undoubtedly one of the biggest stars on the planet, her little sis isn't playing in the fashion stakes. She has cool hair, an amazing wardrobe, blogs for VOGUE, recently modelled for ES magazine and has an undeniable style that makes her one to watch.

Thank you

The last couple of weeks have been quite hectic which is why I haven't blogged for a while, so I'm going to cover the last two weeks in this week's round up:

Ten things to be thankful for:

1. My mum is back in the country, I am very much a Mummy's girl so I'm glad she is back where she belongs!! Love ya MUM
2. My Kindle - although initially quite reluctant I am now a Kindle convert. It fits into my bag quite easily and as I am always reading approximately 3 books at once, it makes it really easy to have them all with me at the same time. A very big thank you to the person who gave me the Kindle as a gift.
3. The awards ceremony that I work on was a success! I was quite stressed out for a hot minute but everything went well and the feedback has been really positive. Big thanks to the Brit School for performing,
4. I recently returned from my first trip to Paris, such a beautiful city. I had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back again.
5. I recently got to spend some time with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, I really need to make more of an effort to see friends and keep in touch with people because when I do I have the best time.
6. The warm weather we had this weekend; which enabled me to sip cocktails on the roof @ a city bar, and dine on the terrace at Laduree; also ate chips in the park #goodtimes.
7. My friend KayoSoul released his first EP this week, I am very proud please check out My name is KayoSoul is iTunes.
8. Mad men series 5 starts on Sky Atlantic on Tuesday!
9. F1 is back, I set my alarm for 5am (CET) to watch the Melbourne race whilst in Paris, unfortunately I hadn't got the time right and had to wake up again at 6am to watch the race. Well worth it! Go Lewis
10. Life - I'm living, breathing and stress free.

Thank you

1. My hip to waist ratio because no matter what it always makes me look much slimmer than I really am.
2. Good friends, they are hard to find and you have to work on keeping them. But in the end it's worth it.
3. My Cineworld card, I've got some days off next week and I am going to spend much of my time off in the cinema.
4. I went to see Maverick Sabre this week, courtesy of a friend - thank you. Always grateful for hook ups and I was able to convince a friend about Maverick, she is now very much a fan.
5. I had the opportunity to catch up with a friend this week, he is one of the coolest people I know.  Glad to be able to spend that time with him, and will do my est to make sure we stay in touch.

That's it for me this week, got a big event planned so wish me Good Luck.

Thank you - 5 things I'm grateful for....

1. My niece, she is only 2 but she is one of the cutest little girls I have ever met (I'm slightly biased I know). I love the fact that she now refers to me as 'Darling' and that she can recite her favourite book. Always fun spending time with her.
   
2. My sister, she saved me this week - thanks!!!!
   
3. Being loved, the death of Sofyen Belamouadden was tragic and I still find it utterly unbelievable that anyone would organise a fight that leads to someones death; but after reading Victoria Osoteku's background (Victoria has been convicted for manslaughter for her role in Sofyen's death), I am so grateful that I grew up with a loving family. Your childhood has such a profound impact on the type of person you become; we all have such an important role in ensuring that children have the love and support they need to become decent people.
   
4. This week I attended Parents Evening at my son's school; although he needs to work harder, I was glad to hear that he is on course to pass all of his GCSEs. Now its time to really put the work in. I know I'm a MILF lol.
   
5. Another Arsenal win and that F1 starts next week!!
    

Being a black woman today

So a friend shared an article with me today, in the hope that I would comment on it; and to appease her and generally because I think it's an interesting topic here goes.

The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation have produced some rather interesting research that centres on black women in America and their lifestyle. As I said there are some interesting statistics and its worth taking a look at what the outcomes are (I would be very interested to see a similar study produced in the UK) especially as it compares attitudes from both white and black men and women. There is even a whole set of questions on the attitude towards Michelle Obama; who in my personal opinion personifies Maya Angelou's Phenomenal Woman poem (thanks Mum for reading this to me throughout my childhood).

There are quite a few articles on The Washing Post  that cover this topic but what really stuck in my mind was this article article, and the accompanying video that can be found on the page;  covering the shifting portraits of black women in America. Having the first African American family in the White House, two black women being nominated for Oscars and the dominance of some of our black female artists in the music world, it should be evident that black women are a force to be reckoned with; we've truly arrived (well we were always here) and the glass ceiling has been smashed. I could share tons of research that proves that this isn't the case, only 1.9% of Fortune 500 companies have a black woman on their board compared to nearly 13% which include white women; but that's not the purpose of this blog post.

What interests me is the fact that articles like this and research on this topic are being published by media outlets like the Washington Post, showing a massive step up from where we were even a couple of years ago; and is a clear indication that things are changing. However before we become too congratulatory we need to consider why 60 years after the Civil Rights Bill was passed we are still segregating the views of black women as if we are a completely separate species?!?!

Even though I say this, and I'm hopeful that at some point in the near future we will be identified by are own special interests rather than the colour of our skin, the research and The Posts publication of the articles are welcomed and in my view are a clear reminder of how far we have to go in the UK.

There is lots to read and comment on, so I would recommend that you read the articles. I'd really love to  read your comments on:

1. Why black women are happier with their body size (and generally have higher self-esteem) than our white counterparts and to what extent do you think that this is to related to the previous lack of widespread representation of black women in the media?
   
2.  If things have really changed, the stereotypes of black women still exist and we are doing little to stop them, I would actually go as far as to say we are actually reinforcing them i.e. the oversexualisation of black women in the music industry and the angry black women phenomenon in black reality shows i.e. Love & HipHop and Real Housewives of Atlanta (I've yet to watch Basketball Wives - should I bother)?
   
3. What being a black woman means to you, and if any of the issues raised are relevant to black women in the UK or elsewhere?
   
4.  Do you think that women in the UK share similar concerns regardless of ethnicity and that surveys like this are useless?

If you would prefer not to comment, feel free to tweet me @nadie79. I would also like to say a big thank you to all the women in my life family, friends, acquaintances and women who I've never met making strides in all walks of life who inspire me, you've ensured that my head is always kept high x

The Rihanna debate

So all though not confirmed it seems that a lot of people are getting their knickers in an almighty

knot about the fact that Rihanna and Chris Brown may be back together. Grazia have covered the reported reunion in their 'This week's conversation' section with a 5 page spread and a range of comments including opinion from Barbara Ellen stating Rihanna has 'betrayed young women....'!

I'm not even going to go into my normal rant that people jump and down to Jay Z whose career is based on the fact that he sold crack (where do you think he got the money to set up Rocafella); and as an outcome would have destroyed endless lives (not just the addicts) and then regularly vilefy Chris. I'm no fan, but obviously Rihanna's face is more important than crack babies or other innocent victims of drug dealers!  Anyway to get back to the point, it's a rather slow news week, it was half-term last week after all;   but even so the furore is a little OTT. I normally have an opinion on everything but on this particular subject my views are:

1. I was not in that car and unless you were there or have a friend who personally works for them or know someone who can give you personal insight into the nature of their relationship, I suggest you focus on what you are having for dinner tomorrow.
   
   
2. Rihanna is like any other person on this earth, being famous doesn't mean you get a extra dose of common sense and therefore her choices should be judged in the same way that anyone elses are i.e 'not me, and if that was my [add female relative] would tell her..... but good luck to her'.
   
   
3.  Get a life, I love celebrity gossip like millions of people but any singer, sportperson, celebrity etc is just a person. They are not role models and they shouldn't be expected to live their lives in a way that we can all follow suit. The Royal Family have been trying to do it for generations and they still fail eg Prince Charles and the Duke of Windsor; so what hope has Robyn from Barbados got.
   
   
4.  Moaning about it isn't going to do anything at all. If they are back together, and this has yet to be confirmed, do you think they really give a shit what you think?! They have both released remixes featuring each other, with lyrics such as 'I've missed you' and 'put your name on it' rubbing your judgemental noses in it!!
   
   
5. This is the type of situation where you run your mouth, it happens to you and your back tracking quicker than Usain Bolt; because lets be fair it could happen to anyone. I know someone who was in a relationship for over 7 years and the abuse didn't start until the last year; totally unexpected and out of the blue.
   

Now I'm not condoning domestic abuse at all; I know one too many people (doesn't make sense but you get the drift) who has been a victim of domestic abuse and my go to response to any friend, relative or person I overhear talking about this situation would be 'leave him alone'! But I know that any situation where you are in love with a person and you need to let go is difficult; and this situation isn't any different. Rather than scorning Rihanna, or getting ready to say 'I told you so', use this opportunity to:

• speak out about your own domestic violence experience.
  
• to tell your daughters, nieces etc why they should never be in a situation where they feel that its okay for someone to lay hands on them.
• to support a domestic violence charity
  

 Some domestic violence facts from Women's Aid


1 in 4 women will be victims of domestic abuse
1 incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute
On average every week 1 or 2 women are killed by a male partner or former partner each week.

Just in case you thought I was blaming men, men make up 40% of the victims of spousal abuse each year.

5 things I'm grateful for ..

1. I'm a massive Arsenal fan, so all I'm going to say is 5-2.

2. The weekend, I've had a very crazy week this week so the weekend has been a much needed break from a week where I spent way too many hours in the office. It's the start of a very busy period for me so weekends are going to be blessings in themselves and I will making the most of them.

3. Spring, looks like the cold weather that we experienced in February is in the distant past. I've ramped up the pedicures and body exfolitation to make sure I'm in top shape for the summer. Next step is to make use of my gym membership!!

4. I've booked my first trip out of the country for 2012, looking forward to going away and having a break from the rat race.

5.Anyone who has read the blog, I know I ramble but thanks for reading xx