Pinterest Kenya Style

Hellos dear friends -  Yes, I said Hellos, not hello. It's one of my favorite Swahenglish things that you hear people saying in Kenya. In swahili there is a plural and singular hello..so a lot of Kenyans just apply that same concept to English and they throw out the "hellos!" or "Hi's" if there is more than one of you(s).  Makes me giggle.

Today, I want to show yous things I LOVE from little shops and markets around Nairobi. It's my version of pinterest if you will - given that I am hiding from that website because I'm sure it will make me even more covetous than I already am and waste more of my precious time on this planet looking at things that don't matter much.

And please - If yous have the time, could yous leave me comments about the items that yous love the most??

colorful clutch purses

printed belts

Yoga Mat bag!

Baskets Galore

SUPA DUPA IN LOVE WITH THIS BAG

recycled glass beaded necklaces. Love these.

retro Afrique

Wanted it..didn't buy it

Like a lot

my shoes match the spoons!

Disco

these are mine and I love them

What do we think about these horn earrings?

Awesomeness

Masai love - would you wear these colorful beaded earrings?

Beaded spoons in a banana leaf box

Serving thingy dingies

paper bead necklaces with flair

African patchwork bags

awww.iddy biddy elephant backpack

awesome quilts

Do you guys like these cross body bags?

Don't forget to leave your comments!!! I like to know what other people think about this stuff for gifts and things. and I promise I wont say YOUS in the next post ;-)

Happy Nairobi Easter with GOOD FRIENDS!

Happy Easter!
 It's been a good one here in Nairobi, although I miss my family on days like this - especially my byu (he went back to the US on Wednesday night).  Despite that, I spent the day - actually the whole weekend - with a GREAT group of people that I do love dearly.   My good friend Candice that used to live here flew in from South Africa to hang out this weekend so it's been a slumber party weekend with her and our lady crew and lots of fun dinners and bonding time.

People from home have asked me how Easter is celebrated here - Kenyans get good Friday off and also the Monday after Easter. So most people seem to travel "up country" to their family homes. The actual Easter celebration seems to be mostly about going to church and getting together with family for a meal. They do not color Easter eggs though the big malls have an easter bunny that you can take a picture with.  There are advertisements everywhere for Easter discounts on stuff..ranging from clothing to Johnnie walkers. So, it's somewhat commercialized here but there aren't jelly beans and cadbury eggs or anything like that....at least not yet.
My mom sent some easter candy with Sergio so I got my fair share of Peeps and an easter egg coloring kit.  I gave the kit to Rebecca to take to her kids since I figured they would get a lot more enjoyment out of that than me hiding easter eggs from myself!  Then yesterday I went for a long run and a group of little boys playing in the street started running along side me and wouldn't leave. They were adorable..using all the English they had to ask me questions and tell me about themselves. I felt bad running since a couple of them weren't wearing shoes so we did a walk run...they wouldn't leave me! so they came all the way back to my apartment with me and I gave them my easter candy - better on their hips than mine!

Little Watoto with easter peeps and twizzlers. They were happy campers..then had to make their way like 5 miles back to wherever they came from ;-)

Oh and speaking of candy, Candice brought me the largest Ferrero Rocher EVER.We took a meat tenderizer hammer thing to it was quickly devoured:

Saturday night we we all went to one of the BEST restaurants in Nairobi - Seven Seafood and Grill. Awesome seafood, awesome steaks..and it's just an cool ambiance.  We sat at the lounge first and ordered a fish bowl, which was new to me.  A giant bowl of all sorts of alcohol and juice that you all drink together - it was okay. Tasted like a Mai Tai.  Most of the photos are just of the ladies but Scott and Ash and Tom were there too - it was a great group.

Me and Beautiful EMMA

Fish Bowlin'

My Nairobi Girls

After dinner we all went to the bar next door for drinks - then we all (girls) crashed at my place.

On Easter, Candice and I went to church and then met the larger group for brunch at Talisman Restaurant. The place is a beautiful garden restaurant in Karen.

They have the most amazing feta and coriander samosas. Our table ordered 20 of them just to start - I could eat 20 myself.

Ash, Scott, Tom, Rose, Candice, Emma

...and Lenna

Now, we're watching a movie and glued to our respective internet gadgets at the same time - me on my laptop, Candice on her IPAD and Rose on her Macbook.  Good times.

Enjoy your Easter and God bless you and your families!

Beach Trip with Mume

(Sergio will here forth be referred to as Mume - Swahili for husband)

There we were last Monday night -  finishing our packing for the beach and about to go to bed when I decided to check our ticket print out for the departure time..WHICH WAS 8am MONDAY MORNING! Meaning, we missed the flight to the beach by about oh 16 hours. Not sure what I was thinking...I really thought I booked that flight for Tuesday morning. Damn! So I found myself on the phone with Kenya Airways at 11pm trying to get a flight for us the next morning. She rebooked us and told me it would be $80 extra per person..but no where along the way did anyone actually make us pay so that was sort of awesome.

The beach was awesome. We had the best time just doing nothing - well, I did nothing - sergio did scuba.  My big thing is hunting for coral and shells on the beach. I could do it for hours. You can find huge chunks of DEAD coral (promise I'm not collecting the stuff still alive).
There was  hardly a soul anywhere to be seen. I love it like that. We stay at the same place each time so we know all the staff which also makes it a special place for us. My mom went there when she came to visit too and they always ask about her and it's just a nice little home away from home and it's about $80 per night. If you come to Kenya and go to the coast - stay here! Here's some photos of our beach weekend and our favorite little hideaway:

Living room

Swahili style bathroom

Our balcony area

awesome bathroom...love the swahili design and decor

The room we moved to on the 3rd night

the lounge

My artistic shot of my Mume

Me, trying to be cute.

Sergio with Dominic and Alex - staff at Kennaways. Love those guys.

Other things we did included getting daily hour massages for $10 and....:

We rode in matatus - public buses...oh we are just nuts (sarcastic)

we saw a lot of monkeys - these are colubus - they are so cool looking ..long black and white hair. They try to steal your food

 

For our anniversary night, we went to dinner next door to the most amazing luxury resort - Almanara. The place looks like something transported from Dubai - the restaurant there is called Sails. It's amazing and about the cost of long john silvers for the quality of a 5 star restaurant. Here are some photos of our dinner there and the rest of this amazing place:

This was actually a photo we took the night before...but i can't find a photo of us that exact night. I had such a great time with my Mume.

Seafood Platter from Sails Restaurant. Lobster, Tilapia, calimari, prawn, salad, potatos ...all for $18. I'm telling you, come to Kenya.

Photo of the villas at Almanara - these places are nuts. I got invited in once when a friend of a friends family came from the US during Thanksgiving and stayed here - it's like a 3 story Arabian palace with a full-time chef, butler, waiters and a roof top lounge. NUTS.

Sails Restaurant

The Pool there

The Diani Beach. It really does look like this.

 Listen, I know Kenya is far away (17 hours by flight) and the tickets are a bit expensive ($1100 - $1600) - but all of you reading should really really make it Kenya once in your life. Despite the cost of getting here, once you arrive things are very affordable (beer is $1.50, wine is $3.00/glass- enough said)  and there  are soooo many incredible things see and experience.  This country is just breathtaking, from the coast to the game parks to the mountains. I guarantee you will spend more money visiting Europe and you won't see half the amazing sights that you can see here in Kenya.  It is a life changing type of experience.  COME TO KENYA!