Always and Forever, Love: Otis G. Sanders (Guest Author)

As part of the Black History Month book bloggers hop organized by Mocha Girls Read. This week is about business related topics pertaining to black authors. And so my guest author today is Otis G Sanders, a lovely African American man I met at the Los Angeles Black Book Expo where I did my first book Signing. He bought a copy of AHTM because he had visited Lagos before and wanted a contemporary take of the city in a novel. He also told me about his book project on love and marriage, and we decided to keep in touch. The book project was completed late last year and I was blown away when I received my copy of Always and Forever, Love: Success stories of 20+ years strong.

Follower Love Giveaway - My Sweet Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day {in advance} to you all. So many good things have happening on my blog this year that I missed the exact time I passed the 1000 followers mark. But no worries, This month of love is a good time as any to show my appreciation for how you made my book, A Heart to Mend and A Love Rekindled, bestselling novels at various retail outlets. Thanks for all the support of commenting regularly too.

The Follower Love giveaway hop is hosted by I Am a Reader Not a Writer and several blogs are taking part, with lots of amazing gifts, Check the full list of participants. Entries close February 14, and I'll announce the winner here on the 15 and also send an email.

The Marriage Avowal Series - Talli Roland - Patience is definitely the key!

Talli Roland says of herself on her blog, "When I'm not slurping coffee or wine, I write humorous romantic fiction." Her best selling novels, The Hating Game, Watching Willow Watts, and Build a Man, are available on Amazon. She is also the author of the 24 HOURS travel guides under the name Marsha Moore. Enjoy her marriage avowals below.

My Best Superbowl Commercials - Couple Love

I confess, I do not follow American football, nor do I watch the superbowl, but since moving to the US, I've gone from complete ignorance, to at least knowing what it's all about. And the major thing I like about the whole media blitz that comes along with the finals is the ad segment. Some of the commercials can be so good. As usual, I've just watched most of them, the good and the bad, and below are my favorites. They are about love and relationships :)

What are you getting your love for Valentine?

I am so stumped I may just stick with a simple card like the one above. Any ideas?

And what are YOU getting for your sweetheart?

Introducing the LagosMums website

Lagos Mums is an online parenting community for mothers and parents. We are dedicated to helping the typical Lagos Mum find answers to a questions, meet other mums, share ideas, advice and experiences, get information on education and events in the city and equip each other with information on the ever evolving task of motherhood. We also use it as a forum to encourage women owned businesses.

We believe that this would not only be a platform where you can share your thoughts about being a Mum but a place where we can all help each other to be better people; a place where we can survive in the city of Lagos as mums a bit more easily. 

Do you love Fashion, Live in Nigeria, Want to have a Reality Show?

I think these days, a lot of people tick all those boxes. I saw this on Seriously Doughnut's blog and just loved the graphics of the campaign. I think they must have had a great creative director, the idea is on point, as is the photoshoot, video and everything. And then of course, there is the giveaway, who doesn't like a free lunch. Well, all the best to those fashionistas in Nigeria!

Where is our Safe Haven? Guest post by Chinwe Obi

I wept as I listened to Chaz B’s Sharing Life Issues on Inspiration FM and the topic of discussion was “Incest”. I still shudder with goose bumps on my arms as I write this article. This is the kind of things that we read in the papers as they only happen in the western world “or maybe it used to happen here and people don’t speak much about it”. We are definitely not used to hearing of cousins, uncles, e.t.c sexually abusing the younger wards that they are responsible for protecting.

I remember growing up as a child in my family home; I felt so much peace, comfort and love from my parents, this is exactly how every child should feel, your home should be a safe haven for you, but the topic of discussion on the Chaz B show has shattered that belief for me.

My Bouari Weight Loss Experience - Day 9: Doing it Right

Sorry to those following these posts. I was supposed to update yesterday but was overtaken by some errands which spilled over into today. Anyway, I have some good and bad news to report. As you can see from the picture above, I've lost some more weight. So this makes a total of 8.6 pounds that I have lost so far. That is the good news. The bad news was, yesterday, I was at 146.4 and had been hovering between that and 147 for the previous two days. My weight loss had plateaued, and this was days ahead of what was usually the case. Why, you ask? I wasn't really following the meal plan in the program booklet.

I had an appointment with my health consultant yesterday, and as it happened, the founder of the Bouari program who drew up the nutrition plan, Dr. Carol Ann Chaney-Bouari, was there. The health consultant for the Tukwila branch of the program, Alan, was also there. It was a very interesting hour or so, as we really went into the plan in the booklet, with the sample menu and the acceptable food list.

Black History Month Around Town - Letter to an Old Master

Today's post was suggested by a dear follower on my Facebook page and here on the blog too. On my first black history post, Sally called my attention to this letter of note that has been going round the internet and wondered if I could feature it. I checked it out and read the entire letter on Letters of Note. This blog hop post is supposed to be about black history month events in your city, state, or on the web. I think this fits perfectly. My thoughts and feelings are inserted between the paragraphs, please share yours.