6 things I know about creativity

• Some people’s mistakes make them scared; other people’s mistakes make them famous.

• Art is natural but developing and expressing it is a choice.

• It’s not possible to be uncreative; you are just not doing something right.

• Anyone can draw but the drawings that stand out are those done with passion.

• There are two sides of you; your creative side and your stubborn side.

• Life is a permanent teacher but are you a permanent student?

My boyfriend's passion

Have you ever been in a situation where you see yourself falling (not literally though) and you can’t do anything about it? Anyone who has fallen in love with a person they know is wrong for them will know what I mean. My story isn’t that simple anyway. Ok it’s like this, I have two friends I spend most of my weekends with. We have been friends from Junior High School and kept in touch ever since. We do the whole ‘girls-girls’ trip to the salon, shopping and even go to some events together. We called ourselves SIL (single independent ladies) until Mimi decided to get a boyfriend! Dennis.

Don’t get me wrong we were happy for her and knew our own men will come by soon but things where naturally going to change. Good things was, there was a lot more to talk about. Mimi seemed so happy, I’ve never seen her happier. Her Romeo was something else. She had one problem though (no, he wasn’t cheating on her) He adored sports, especially football. She usually felt left out when he and his buddies were talking about matches and she just couldn’t understand his passion. I think this is very common and advised her. I said, ‘sweetie there are two ways to deal with this. One, try to learn the game. And two, get yourself busy when there is a football moment. Sadly Mimi took the second option which was to be a joke. You see, my friend just can’t stand being the slightest bit boyish.

Naira who is my third friend is the tom boy and she was even willing to give Mimi a crash course in soccer but she nicely refused so we dropped it and hoped for the best. Weeks later things got a lot worse with the start of a new season. I was happy at first to see her spend more time with us but it was clear she wasn’t happy. She wouldn’t swim when we went to the pool, she would walk straight past her favourite shoe shop without even noticing and she just didn’t laugh much. So Naira and I decided to have a little talk with Dennis so at least he would do something about it. I called Mimi up and invited her and Dennis to a cocktail party my cousin was having. She felt reluctant at first but I told her it was a good way for Naira and I to finally meet her man and she agreed.

Naira and I came early to help out with the party arrangements. We couldn’t help gossiping about how we imagined Dennis to be and how much we would laugh if he wasn’t as ‘charming’ as Mimi described. (It’s a singles thing lol) They finally arrived and I must tell you I was impressed. He wasn’t drop dead gorgeous but he was charming and extremely gentlemanly. The introduction went smoothly and Naira confessed that he seemed just like Mimi described and knowing she was an exaggerator didn’t think it was true. He was funny and friendly but he wasn’t very open. He would smile but won’t talk much. He was a little free with Mimi though but not entirely.

Later that night, somebody wanted to speak to Mimi concerning a loan from the bank she worked for. I kindly stole her away from Dennis and took her over to the person. They had quite a lengthy conversation and when she was done we had a little chat as we walked back to Dennis and Naira. ‘Those Dennis feel uncomfortable here or he can’t wait to go and watch a match?’ I teased. Mimi giggled. ‘That’s the way he is. He only lights up when he is talking about or watching soccer. That’s why I get so upset. It’s like it makes him more happy. He has never lit up like. that with me before.’ She replied. Just then I completely understood her. She had all the reason to be hurt. I put my hand on her shoulder and asked again, ‘do you love this guy?’ The smile that appeared on her face as she nodded was enough of an answer.
When we got back, I was startled. As we talked to the couch Dennis and Naira were sitting on we could hear them talk and laugh. They were talking about soccer players because I could hear Messi and Fabregas in there (yup, I’m a fan too). Dennis looked like a different person. He was laughing and throwing his hands in the air, Naira also. They were sitting so close and occasionally, Dennis lapped her knee as they talked. Honestly they seemed more of a couple. If this was how I felt I couldn’t imagine what Mimi was feeling. She watched as her boyfriend found a lady that shared in his dream and made him happier.

A month later Dennis and Mimi broke up. Naira felt very bad about what happened and deliberately avoided Dennis. I kind of blamed myself for the whole incident because I invited them over. I felt they could have worked things out but everything I hear happens for a reason. This event just thought me one major lesson, know what your partner’s passion is and see if you can deal with it before you get involved. If this isn’t the lesson of the day I don’t know what is.

Dreams

If dreams could come true, what would we do about our bad dreams? Would there be a way to shut out the nightmares and turn on the fantacies? Would life be more fun? I’m just as clueless as you. Last night I dreamt I was deeply in love with a strange man. This man was well known to be mean and violent and here I was holding hands with him and hugging him like an absolutely harmless person. In the dream my brother heard from his friends that I was dating him and he refused to believe it.

In my dream I could see my man was no angel because he clearly had tatoos on his arms, not sure about his hair but it definately wasn’t modestly cut. There is a scene I so vividly remember and it goes like this... He opens his car to sit in it and I walk over to his side. He that asks, ‘do you want to drive?’ I smiled and nodded. He looked at me and smiled even harder and opened the door for me? (Doesn’t sound very tough guyish righ? I know!) So I sit in and he gets into the other seat and we are off. He makes fun of me as we drive through a crowded area. He is teasing me constantly and I try not to laugh too hard and lose concentration. Then I think we meet someone else and she also wants to drive so I hop into the back and my man playfully cries out for help. She gets into the drivers seat and is making so many mistakes. My man is totally laughing now and I’m trying to direct her and I can’t help but giggle at thesame time.

After all the drama we are alone again and this time we are at a pub. We got a table and had some drinks while we talked. (In a very friendly way) People around were starring, looking at me like I was crazy but I didn’t even budge. I looked into his eyes and wondered where he had been all my life. He was almost the definition of a definate ‘no no’ for me but for some reason he was so right.

When I was taking my shower the dream just came into my head and I was wondering if I would ever want such a dream to come true because I was truely happy with someone who scared the daylights out of everybody else besides me.

The Little ones

Kids are so interesting. They amuse me every time. I had the chance to spend some time with my nieces and it was more fun than I expected. I definitely want to have children one day and my future husband better be ready! I came home from a very stressful day. The flexibility of my job is quiet fun but the unpredictable nature is also annoying. A day before, I planned to have my hair braided and spend the rest of the day working at home. Just before I knew it my planned had to change. I received a call. Had to meet up with my business partner, get some design work done together and meet up with a client to deliver the work. After the hustle and bustle in town I got back at about 8pm.

When I got back, two things were on my mind; eating and sleeping. When I settled in and had my supper sleep didn’t look far from me but my nieces asked me to put them to bed. ‘That wouldn’t take long.’ I said to myself and nodded. As I waited for them to brush their teeth, I glanced through their photo album. All three of us ended up going through the photos and teasing each other. It was then time to sleep. One said to me when they were well tucked in, ‘I want Winnie, my teddy bear.’ The other asked for hers whose name seemed to change by the minute. I walked to their play room and came back with two stuffed animals that matched the descriptions they gave. Immediately I entered their room there was a huge outburst of laughter. ‘What is it?’ I asked giggling myself. ‘That’s not Winnie. That’s Winnie’s sister.’ My niece corrected. Wow, how was I supposed to know that.

After I got the exact toys they asked for it was story time. We each had to tell a story. Apparently this is some ritual I also don’t know about. I listened to their fairy tale cartoon inspired stories and decided to be a lot more creative and less fantasist. I told them an Ananse story and was surprised to see their extreme interest in the story. When the story ended instead of having them fall asleep they weren’t just wide awake, they wanted more. At that moment I wondered why I didn’t stick to the usual boring happily ever after story they were used to. Instead of telling stories we decided to sing songs from cartoons we had all seen. The Little Mermaid tunes were a favourite. After all this they were worked out and half asleep. I turned out the lights and left their room after saying goodnight.

I had spent almost two hours with my two little girls and didn’t even notice it. Children are indeed something.

Plan your life!

Planning is one very important part of our lives. It is said that if you fail to planning, you are planning to fail. From daily schedules to timetables, there are so many types of planning. Even though we all know life is very uncertain in the sense that only our Creator knows the future, we need to prepare ourselves and be organized for the days to come. Planning can also be a very interesting activity. I am a big fun of planning. Some people plan daily, others weekly and even annually but no matter how often you do it you need to have an ultimate life plan.

I asked a friend last week if she had a life plan and she looked at me as if I was from another planet. ‘I’m just 19 years’ she said. There is no age restriction when it comes to life planning. You see, a life plan is just a structured organization of events from the present to the future. It’s a map that shows how to get to your dreams, aspirations, objectives and achievements. This type of plan serves as a universal set to all other plans irrespective of how small they are. In other words all the plans you make come together to form your life plan.

One nice thing about a good life plan is that it keeps growing and changing as we ourselves grow. This is because life is simply unstable. Lots of people just give up planning when things don’t go their way. That is just wrong. Life plans should be strict but flexible. Once you start by knowing this, the easier you cope. You should know that you cannot control everything in your life but you are 100% in control of your life ‘plan’. Don’t let your plan control you! Here are a few tips for a successful life plan.

• Be as realistic as possible. Unreasonable goals or dreams will frustrate you when you can’t achieve them because you may not even come close.
• Take advantages of your resources. Identify what you are good at and work around that in our plan.
• Do not focus too much on one particular area. Make your plan all rounded. When you put all your energy in only one sector, you will lose out on the others.
• Be flexible especially with time. Deadlines can kill sometimes. You can use words like ‘soon, often and later’ when it comes to huge tasks and achievements. There is a time for everything.
• Revisit your life plan often. Make changes when you have to. When you miss an opportunity don’t take it out of your planning completely. For all you know a bigger and better chance will come your way.
• Write it down. Don’t just have your plan in your head. Put it down in black and white. It could be in a little notebook, on your computer or even on a poster on your wall.(pieces of paper are not the best)
• Do not let your plan control you. Just as you wrote it, you can change it so you don’t have to kill to get it done how it is. You should also know that it is only God that can make things go exactly as he wants it. Your life plan is just a way of preparing yourself for the future and making your decision taking easier.
• Put down the main things and not every single detail. This will keep your plan simple and create an illusion of it being easy to undertake. Making it lengthy might even scare you away.

These should help you put down your own special life plan. Make sure you follow it though, because a map that isn’t used is just a piece of paper. Bon chance!

ZediCross

Hi it's me again, lol. For the past seven months (since October) a couple of friends and I have been working on a fashion project. It was obvious we all like fashion and the idea of being able to create. Fashion design has been my interest for I don't even know how long and I realized it was about time I put my all (or close to it) into it. We came up with the name ZEDICROSS. This is a fusion of two, ideas, worlds, cultures and even genders. Zedi is my part which is part of my middle name Azedi. Cross is my current partners idea. He got the name cross from 'Jesus on a cross'. These two, Zedi and Cross lived individually several years ago, but now are one item.

Our clothes are creative in their own right. We gather ideas and inspiration from all over the world and display it in our works. The Ghanaian influence is very strong though and we are very proud of this. We produce clothes and accessories for both both genders such as shirts, trousers, skirts, dresses, bracelets, bags and earrings. We are hoping to have a complete range of clothes soon and are working very hard towards it.

We have been quite lucky to be part of a number of fashion shows in Accra, Ghana. These shows were very enlightening and exciting to be part of. We work harder and harder each day to make our dreams come true and it seems with the help of God we will get there.

We don't see ourselves as just designers who make clothes for sale but people who want to start a fashion family and all our fans feel just that!

The men who get the women

Just yesterday, I was watching a movie, can't remember the title though but it was about a woman who was working in a law firm. She was very intelligent and hot..most of the men wanted to date her for vaaaarious reasons. This made her build some form of wall so she doesn't get hurt. Being a beautiful top attorney made her fall prey to many oppurtunistic men. But at the end of the day, a man came and swept her off her feet. (not literally though) This got me thinking, (my imagination can go off on anything, trust me) are there 'some' men who get the women and some who just don't?

As much as I don't want to believe it, there are some guys who just get all the girls. They seem to know what to say and do to get a lady's attention and to make her feel special. I believe ladies know what they want and when it comes by they are good. But sometimes what comes by is even better than what they want so of course they will go for it.

This makes me wonder, are there women who get all the men too?

Fashion inspiration

Everybody whether they like it or not have a distinct style. Some are similar to others and some completely stand out. A person's style can be influenced by so many thing. Examples are the weather, where they live, the amount of money they have, their religion, their physique and lots more. There is also what I call the sandpaper effect where other people's fashion rubs off on you. It happens all the time, consciously and unconciously.

Some people pay a lot of attention to what they wear and how they wear it. Some people have specific themes for how they dress while others mix and match. The themes vary. They could be according to colour, religion, shape, length and so on. These themes can be used to define or describe their style. You may hear people say 'my style is bohemian chic, or African or even vintage.' They are merely fashion inspirations.

The fact that maybe your style does not have a definate name does not mean you don't have a fashion inspiration. It's either you have very many or you don't know what yours is called. lol. I for instance don't have one fashion inspiration. I like to mix and match so much based on how I feel. Some poeple may not know their style just because they don't pay much attention to it. I'm a big fan of art, fashion and style and as such it intrigues me to see different types of shapes and curves as well as the deeper feeling of it. I design clothes in my spare time. I know people who think designing clothes is easy but trust me there is nothing easy about it. I have met several people who said sewing is the most challenging part of making clothes and designing the clothes is a peice of cake.

I do not disagree with sewing being hard but designing isn't easy either. I'm not going to take you through the process because that will never let you see the real picture. All I can say is, when you are creating something for someone you can't just do what you like. There are a number of things you have to take into consideration. I'm sure somebody reading this is saying to themself 'isn't this thesame blog I read about going all out to be creative?' Yep, it's the same blog but this is a different issue. It's like looking at a shape from different perspectives; you will never see thesame thing. When you are designing clothes you are not creating the clothes in general (that was done millions of years ago) you are creating another way to wear them or another type. Here the basic idea of clothing must be present. When it comes to 'shapes, accessories, texture' and the like then you can go all out. (I hope my explanation is good enoough)

In several parts of the Western world, people get their fashion inspiration from celebrities and famous people. These 'stars' literally set trends for many to follow. I find this phenomenon quiet interesting and extremely easy. I mean think about it...the celebrities usually have a stylist who puts their clothes together (to fit THEIR body type) and other people watch and follow. This goes to the entent that some clothing shops make and sell clothes that look as close to what the celebrities wear as possible for sale.(Naturally at cheaper prices) So don't be surprised if you see three young ladies in thesame outfit (head to toe) at an event. It was probably rocked first by Beyonce! Don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's bad I'm just saying going the full length is very lazy.

I noticed that is Ghana, more people dress according to what they like or admire from anywhere. Don't get me wrong we do have trends but they last longer and the craze to dress in the latest trend has always been high as far as I can remember. The difference though is that trends can be set by anyone.(I'm working on my very own) From a beautiful lady at a wedding to a man crossing the street. I have never in my life seen a boutique in Ghana sell clothing styles that Jackie Appiah or Mzbel wears. Have you? I guess that is not part of our culture.

I believe fashion is a personal statement and whether you are rocking, be it 'old school' or vintage all you have to do is make it yours!