Celebrity WeWe Pieces

Nicole Richie               Kimmy Dress in Sunflower / Sade Dress in Sand / Nikki Tunic in Lime

Lindsay Lohan             Molly Dress in Charcoal / Nikki Tunic in Skin

Ashlee Simpson          Kimmy Dress in Marine / Sade Dress in Forest

Eva Longoria               Molly Dress in Citrus

Tori Spelling                Molly Dress in Citrus / Toks Tunic in Bubblegum

Jessica Simpson         Sade Dress in Sand

Kate Hudson               Kimmy Dress in White Cloud

Jessica Alba                Molly Dress in Kiwi

Marcia Cross              Nikki Tunic in Lime / Toks in Sand

Audrina Patridge (The Hills)   Molly Dress in Charcoal

MEN

Gichi Gamba              Russell Tunic in Frosting

Dani Wooten              Russell Tunic in Moss

I may be missing others because the clothes are in stores. And like I said, WeWe Celeb kids are not included. Hope this helps!

Have a fab weekend!

Sidney truly is a rock-star. Ever since he got “Guitar Hero” for Christmas he’s been walking around the house with the guitar slung over his shoulder. He’s really playing the role of the rockstar to a “T”. One of his many goals is to play in a band someday. He wants to take after his grandpa, Sonny Okosuns (RIP), and I hope and pray that he will. I say rock on! You have the spirit, my son.

My beautiful boy, I hope you enjoy your day today. I’m sure that you’ll have a blast. You have a bunch of surprises coming, and I can’t wait to hear all about everything.

Today is Sidney day! If you see him, wish him a happy, happy birthday! 11 years-old and counting….!!! So hard to believe that my lil’ boy is already 11! What a joy!

Here are a few more photos for good measure:

Since I’m limited to three celebrities, I went ahead and chose four. Four is the new three. Lol!

That said, my immediate choices (this is tough - wish I could list more names) are Joy Bryant, Nicole Richie, Rachel Zoe and Zoe Kravitz. I picked these four because their styles are timeless, chic, vintage and boho. I design for the FREE. My pieces are liberating. You feel comfortable, beautiful, sexy and stylish. You’d rarely find these folks wear body hugging clothes, and that’s my mentality. Give me a maxi dress or tunic 4 sizes too big. Give me a flowy kaftan along with a glass of aged, fine wine. So far, out of the four I mentioned, Nicole Richie is the only celeb (I know of) that owns some WeWe pieces. She has the Kimmy maxi dress in sunflower, the Sade maxi dress in sand and the Nikki tunic top in lime. I can see all four of them in any and all WeWe pieces.

If I were to choose three men, I’d choose Kanye West (just because he is daring, bold, and would wear anything), Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt. What? Four? Ok, and Seal. There!

What do you all think? Can you pick a different list from mine? I think you should also include yourself!

This picture was taken recently, courtesy of Personal Shopper, Remi Fagbohun (on the left) and moi, on the right. Can you guess what we are talking about? Better yet, for the sake of trivia, can you guess the sex of the baby?

Note: Family members and close friends (you know who you are) are not allowed to participate.

Please bear with us. And while you are out there celebrating, stay safe and enjoy.

By the way, is it just me or is everyone else looking forward to the fashion spread? Afterall, a bunch of designers submitted suggestive sketches of designs they think will be better suited for the Obama family. I’m looking forward to seeing which lucky designer they went with.

Keeping my fingers crossed for Michelle. Hope she picked a fab dress (or several dresses).

Her comment was discussing certain individuals and how they are the “pioneers of fashion styling in Nigeria. They get the top jobs and are quite busy working and not commenting on blogs and giving interviews.” The last sentence got my attention.

Does commenting on blogs, granting internet interviews, blogging, connecting with fans, and networking on FB or other social networking sites conclude that you are jobless? No. Not unless you are abusing it and surfing the net at a corporate job when you need to be working.

But if you had asked me this several months ago, I would have said yes. I remember when WeWe started, Greg, being the social and interactive media guru, used to encourage me to blog and comment on other fashion / arts / entertainment blogs. We used to go back and forth and I’d say, “Baby, I have a lot of work to do…and commenting on blogs or writing articles certainly isn’t part of it.”

His response was always, “You know hon, there might not be anything more important for you to do.” But still, he let me figure it out myself.

Well, let’s take a second to talk about the recession and how it has affected majority of the companies in our industry. Many of the big name fashion brands, magazines, newspapers, agencies are closing shop. Some magazines are going entirely viral. Paperless. And some stores are closing down to operate online stores only. People are turning more and more to online shopping to avoid the skyrocketed gas prices, limited parking spaces at malls, lines or whatever reasons you may have. In fact, these days, you can find better deals online than at stores.

A majority of us turn to the internet to get our daily scoop on what’s going on in our industry. It’s convenient. It’s readily available and we don’t need to pay for anything. I seriously don’t remember the last time I went to a newsstand (which carries the added benefit of reduced clutter, as I’m not constantly collecting books and magazines).

The truth of the matter is that the internet is taking over. Face it. Celebrities are blogging, fashion designers are blogging, Fashion magazines are blogging, Department stores are blogging. Everyone is in on it. Whether these folks are individually writing their blogs is a totally different argument, but this is how most connect with fans, readers, market products and turn ideas into sales. Most relying on internet advertising.

And as far as celebs, fashion designers, stylists or anyone in that industry goes, your fans want to hear from you. They really do. Celebs like Kanye West, Pete Wentz, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Zoe, and Ashlee Simpson (to name a few) all turn to their blogs to either set the record straight on a rumor, express themselves, or to let fans in on what’s going on in their lives and work.

I didn’t understand it until I started working for myself. People are curious and they want to connect with you. Can you blame them? You extend your services, they buy your products, they want to find out more. They are spending their money, and letting them in a bit helps them feel more comfortable and connected. You are selling something, whether you are an actor, artist, designer, agency, etc. It comes with the territory.

Of course there is a fine line, and you have to know when to draw it.

Yes, you are entitled to privacy, and this is where it gets tricky. You become your own PR, your own manager and you choose what you want to share, and what should be kept to you and your family.

I can’t stress it enough, the amount of connections and exposure I have made since taking to the internet. It is essential to one’s business. You have to create time to connect with your clients, fans and colleagues. Block a certain number of hours during the day to devote. Because I have a packed schedule during the day, I set my alarm to wake me up in the middle of the night to respond to emails, blog, etc.

But the good thing about blogging is that you can write up several posts in one sitting and schedule them to post on certain days / time, so it doesn’t need to be a big time hog.

Did I also mention that some people get paid to this? Blog? As in this is their main source of income…

There’s also the crack-berry that we are all addicted to. Everyone seems to have one these days. They come in handy. I remember reading an article about President-elect Obama’s addiction to his CrackBerry and how he may be saying goodbye to his constant companion. I won’t dive into the artcle, but that just made me realize how viral our world has become.

So, dear readers, no, it’s not a waste of time connecting on the internet. If anything, it’s the opposite. It helps your business and there are so many things to learn from others in your field. The internet is filled with ridiculous resources…right there at the tip of your fingers. If you are a business owner, invloved in the fashion/arts/health/beauty/media/advertising industry, make the internet your companion. If you work in Corporate, you may not want to spend working hours on the net - I have seen people get fired over this.

One of my favorite bloggers, Heather B. Armstrong of http://www.dooce.com is a perfect example. She is a brilliant writer. Well, a few years ago, she got fired from her 9 to 5 job for not only blogging, but blogging about co-workers. Granted, she came out on top as she now does what she loves to do best. Write for a living! She’s so successful she makes enough money to support her entire family. Yes, her husband quit his day job, and they both comfortably work from home. If you’re familiar with Alexa rankings (Alexa has a great little Firefox extension called Sparky, that shows you rankings for the websites you’re viewing), her website is ranked really high up there. She commands somewhere in the range of 100-150k unique visitors to her site monthly.

She is obviously a one in a hundred success, but take her lead and dive in with both feet. There’s a wider audience for you just waiting to be discovered…you just need to go raise your flag and let them know that you’ve joined the game.

Good luck!

As far as my skin goes, I never use lotion. Never. It doesn’t work for me, not only because I have dry skin, but I feel like it doesn’t give me the glow/shiny look I try to go for. For my skin, I use the good ol vaseline petroleum jelly. It works wonders and makes my skin smooth. I have used vaselin since I was a little kid, and that’s about the only product I use on my kids as well. I also tend to mix it with Johnson baby oil. I have even converted Greg to vaselin, so yes, caucasians can use it too. I especially love my skin over the summer as I get darker and shiny. The vaseline and sun combo is extraordinary.

For make-up, I don’t have any secrets and know nothing about make-up. I sometimes rely on my sister, Funmi (she was responsible for my beautiful make-up on my wedding day). So, my make-up consists of the medicated dusting powder from Nigeria (it’s in a white can). It is often used for heat rash or prickly heat. That’s my foundation and my powder. It is white, so it does not rub off on garments, etc. It also works to prevent any breakage on my face while serving as make-up, and that’s why I love it. I also use black eye pencil, and brown lip gloss to get a more natural look and prevent chapped lips. That’s it for my routine.

To those who asked where I get my eyebrows waxed, I have never waxed or shaped my eyebrows. Never touched them. I’m no help in that area, but look forward to posts from other beauty experts who will give us some tips.

Because I use limited make-up, I usually don’t have to worry about washing my face at night before I go to bed. I just clean my face with sea-breeze and it’s a wrap. I use sea-breeze twice a day. First in the morning right after I shower and wash my face, and as I mentioned, before I go to bed. I do not use lotion or cream on my face…it clogs up my pores. It is also essential to drink lots of water.

As far as maintaining my weight, I work-out. A lot. As a mom, it’s difficult to find time to go to they gym, so I created one at home. My gym consists of a treadmil, different size weights, yoga mat, and an iPod. I run 10 miles/day (at most); on bad days, I run 6 miles and lift weights. With Sidney, I didn’t exercise during - I did after. While I was pregnant with Zurhi, I ran until it started getting uncomfortable running with a belly. With this pregnancy, I ran only a little, and stopped early because I got sick. It’s is OK to run while you’re pregnant as long as you were exercising before conceiving. It is not a wise move to start working out after/during pregnancy because your body goes into shock mode. Always consult your Doctor or personal trainer. I don’t do stomach crunches because I don’t feel like it works for me. If you don’t have flat abs, it creates a bulge aka tummy pooch and you don’t want that, however, I do side crunches to help with love handles or muffin tops as we call it in Los Angeles. 20 on each side (5 sets).

For those with new babies at home, run or exercise while/when the baby naps. When Zurhi was a baby, the sound of the treadmill actually put her to sleep. The Doctor said the reason they respond to noices like that outside the womb is because it is similar to the sound they were used to in the womb. The sound of a vacum. If you choose to catch up with other chores around the house when the baby is napping, I suggest you work something out with Dad. Have him watch the kid(s) for a couple of hours while you exercise, shower and look fresh for him.

I eat healthy food, and try to stay away from man-made carbs, or any sort of white color food. There are times when I do eliminate carbs from my diet, but when I crave, I eat whole grain/wheat bread, rice n pasta. Seriously, try wheat spaghetti and I promise that you’ll never go back. I treat myself once a week to red velvet cake and chocolates (the amount I eat is another story).

So, maintaining this lifestyle and not seeing it as a chore or phase is what has helped me preserve my sexy.  As mentioned in my holiday blog post, I’ll be featuring both women and men once a week, from all ethnic backgrounds (everyday people/parents, fashion, health & beauty experts, personal trainers, actors, models, etc.) on how they stay healthy and beautiful. We’ll have pictures and a mini bio up on each individual. They will share their tips with us.

PS - I am not Ethiopian or Somalian. I am 100% Nigerian from Ibadan, though, I have some Hausa blood