A Stellar Woman's World

I'm just now done clearing my desk and putting all my work stuff in order, safely in boxes, deleted some folders I feel have become redundant, in preparations for the Christmas holiday that is finally here with us. While doing this I just thought of how happy packing to go for this particular holiday used to make me feel. The excitement isn't as intense now as it used to be when I was a child, with parents who back then took the burden of ensuring that we had a good time. We are now the parents! We now gotta worry about everyone else and ensure they get Christmas memories worth holding onto. Who'd have thought this would happen? Too soon perhaps? Growing up is a scam, right?! The Pandemic year!  YOOO! This has been a year an a half! Not only has it been confusing, it's brought with it loss, grief, sadness, you name it! It's just been one hell of a funky year that started well, got worse, then now ends with uncertainty still lingering in the air. The menace is still ...

Body insecurities. ​Do I have any? YES. Despite now being the time I feel the sexiest and/or healthiest, I’ve still got major body insecurities. I feel like I’m insecure about a certain part of my body every day. One day I might be worried sick about how long my arms are, another day how wide/big my head is, lol. The one constant and probably long struggle I’ve had is my skin. I don’t know whether calling it sensitive fits the whole situation but my skin is pretty delicate and it’s got a lot of things going on. It being the largest organ worsens the situation because it’s all I see and while I don’t give much thought to other parts of my body that aren’t aesthetically pleasing, this one I think about pretty often. We don’t pay much attention to our bodies until some changes start to actively show, like say hitting puberty. I was a very late bloomer. Stuff like breasts and having periods happened to me way late into High School days. While my peers were experiencing cramps I was sil...

Today felt like a good day to take stock, so here I am with my open heart, mind and spirit: MAKING more time for exercise. This has been my most active year, physically. Quarantine days made it easier, especially in March when all we did was stay home for the most part. For several months now, since then, I made a weekend workout routine which involved an early morning run and some easy exercises after the run. I do this on Saturdays and Sundays. Some days I go hard, some days it's really tough but I'm glad I haven't given up on it. It's become part of my life and I think I'm gonna do it for as long as I'm here. People exercise for many different reasons; losing weight or building muscle being among those reasons. For me working out has proven to be one of the main ways I keep sane. After all the noise and activity that the week comes with, I like to just take some time for myself, a good hour, where I just go do something that gives me peace of mind and a kind ...

What's that one thing about your pre- kuomoka life right now that you seem to really like or really hate? Chances are that in some few years to come your life will take a turn for the best, or for the worst depending on the choices you're making now, right? We're a hopeful and positive nation (and might I add, very religious) so our eyes are set on life going great, yes? Tunasonga mdogo mdogo tu, kuomoka iko kwa horizon. Before my grand majestic entry into the kuomoka kingdom in few years, there are few things here and there that make my heart leap with joy about life as is now, one of them being Nairobi's Matatu Culture. Mmmh, on second thought, I think I'm stretching it when I say it makes my heart leap with joy, let's reserve that for falling in love. Anyway, matatu culture makes me enjoy my Footshoebishi and Legsus days lakini sio kila siku. Nikipiganga budget yangu ya transport kuenda job for the month, nawekanga around 200/- ama 220/- max per day. Si...

I was part of a group that recently went to The Masai Mara National Reserve and I have nothing but great memories from the short trip; to be cherished for as long as I live. Our hopes, just like any other person visiting the Mara, was to witness the great wildebeest migration and spot as many animals as we could. Unfortunately, our timing wasn't right, but we had fun regardless. We learnt that the best times to see the migration; a world class wonder largely driven by the rains, are between December & March or between May & November. This however fluctuates from time to time owing to the unpredictability of the rains - so it's safe to say that it's got no fixed schedule. I made a short video of my forever cherished experience and posted it on my Youtube page, just hours back. Check it out HERE and lemme know whatchu think. I hope it inspires you, wakes up that adventurous side of you, makes you smile - and well, have you plan a trip there, because why not?! 😜😎 Ev...

Here's the thing about the man up above. The silent prayers you occasionally make that only you know, that one thing only YOU know you need a breakthrough in, even before it becomes a thought in your mind, he knows it and always goes ahead of you to start working on it - on your behalf. ​​The battles you fight on your own, that no one knows anything about - he's in there with you and all he needs you to do each day is gather your strength and approach each day with faith. HE knows!! Life's gonna come with hurdles and mountains that we'll have to climb day in, day out. Some days we'll be happiest, some days we'll not. Good thing is, you have a past, including yesterday that probably had the most hurdles, those you thought you couldn't handle - but aren't you here today? Alive and healthy? Why do you think that is? He 👏knows! He hasn't brought you this far to leave you. He hasn't invested this much on you to now say, "well, you're on your...

Let me tell you Maina, we went hiking the other day and came back different people. There's no way you can go up there and come back whole; the old you is taken (to Valhalla probably) and the new you comes downhill to Kattegat (If you know, you know). A group of us set out to explore Kenya recently and have nothing but good memories to treasure from our adventure. Rurimeria Hills forms one of the towering peaks of the Aberdare Ranges and stands at approx 3,860 meters above sea level. It is the third tallest hill after Mounts Satima and Kinangop. Unlike other hikes I've been to that start with a long trek followed by a steep climb, this didn't even give us a heads up - the steep climb was first, followed by the not so long trek on level grounds towards the summit.  Going up the hill was fun and quite easy especially for the few of us who'd previously made efforts to make working out a lifestyle. What about going downhill you ask? My friend, it bite itself each other like...

STORY TIME; High School Edition. Hii githeri iko hapa, imeomoka. Ni ya group of schools, where I didn't come from. Lakini here's a tale of what we went through pale high school few years back. I still, to this day, don't understand the logic behind 'kuwekewa mafuta ya taa kwa chakula' back when we were in high school. Do they still do it? Someone please explain to me like a class two baby because that'll help me answer some questions I've carried with me for years. There's one time the school admin decided that the best way to maintain order in the DH (Dining Hall) was to introduce 'Table System', a system whereby all students in the school are divided into groups of 7 or 8, a leader & assistant picked and a table set aside for each group - where they shall, at all times, find their already 'measured' food that's meant to be enough for every group member. Breako/lunch/supper - all considered.  The idea sounded great when conveyed ...

Jajuok = Night Runner 👽👺 Chiro = market 🍉🍍🍅 Years back, one fateful night tukitoka 'chiro', tuliencounter 'jajuok' head-on. Ocha wasee huenda chiro late sana, it was normal for women, men & children to leave home at around 5pm to go to an evening flea & vegetable market that's about 8-10km away on foot. This day my mama, Nyar Gwassi decided to send four of us to the chiro; myself, two lady cousins & one king of life's mischief, my cousin Omondi. Among the tasks to be ticked off the shopping list was making sure tumesiaga mahindi gorogoro tatu zenye Nyar Gwassi had put in a gunia. Hio unga ndio ilikuwa ya kupika supper that night. Omosh decided kutangulia using my father's Black Mamba bicycle as his mode of transport. Plan ilikuwa ni afike wa kwanza ndio apange line kwa kisiagi, afanye shopping so that sisi tukifika we just pick the stuff together with other 'lady stuff' and head back home. Easy job, RIGHT?  Hakukuwa na...

Ushawai ibiwa kitu live live?🤔 Live live as in mchana 😆 This story is about this one fateful day when a phone that didn't belong to me, a one week old Nokia C2-01 was snatched from my hands tukiwa na mwenye simu hapo kando yangu. Tulikuwa tunastay Lenana karibu na Lenana School aka 'Changez' and on this day kulikuwa na "Changez Open", a talents-day sort of event where all 'known' high schools would show up. The August Holiday had just commenced. The event was more of a 'close of term' event - why it was held on a Saturday - just after shule zifungwe. Said event was open to the public (bad mistake❌!) so you can imagine venye nlibambika when one tall, dark & handsome man, A.O*, my then boyfriend-to-be agreed attend this event. ❤ A.O & I had met on Facebook through a classmate, Poxxy. He was Poxxy's neighbour and lived not so far from our school. Our physical meeting happened on the first day of mid-term break (before August) ...

This is a 9 year old pikcha ❤. I was in form 4 North at the time, Mr. Muchiri's class📚. This was a borrowed blazer, mine never fit this well 😂. The skirt, well below the knee & 'acceptably tight' had been soaked in one famous 'blue bleach' that was very hard to acquire but once you had it you automatically became the Dangote of the school; just rich enough to attract more 'friends'. After bleaching the skirt, the routine would be that you take it to the hanging lines to dry kidogo tu. . (while seated not so far away keeping watch vigilantly because taking your eyes off it for one second would mean getting it a new owner 😂). The rate at which uniforms, cups, spoons and buckets went missing was very alarming, you'd think Kariamiti had training sessions on the timetable for students. 😲 The skirt was thereafter neatly folded and put under the mattress weeks prior to the d-day. The mattress would give it a brooding feel because as you slept o...

The morning of March 7, 2020 had me stoked to the core! I decided to join a group of hikers on a long awaited trip to Nakuru - one of the richest Kenyan counties when talking tourist attraction sites including but not limited to national parks, lakes - both fresh & salty, presence of hundreds of bird species, pre-historic sites and the immense Menengai Crater, to name but a few. My body, in its entirety - soul & spirit, picks up an almost out-of-body vibe anytime I get a chance to do anything involving nature. I have a thing for trees and a cool breeze, give me that over anything - anyday! Here's how the day panned out. We left the capital an hour late and unfortunately got caught up in traffic just before we got to the Great Rift Valley viewpoint - to pay homage to the gods of the land; the one unspoken ritual travellers are known to perform on that spot just before proceeding to their destination. You cannot just drive past that place without feeling drawn towards th...

Janet Mbugua (love her!), an extremely eloquent Keyan ex-news anchor, a mother of two and a champion for menstrual health has this series on her Youtube Channel where she occasionally talks about 5 things that are on her mind. She talks about anything and everything without limiting herself to a certain area of life’s happenings. I love her content but especially love the fact that she is championing for normalization of conversations surrounding menstrual health management, a conversation that is long overdue. I believe that we’re in a era where topics that were previously considered taboo are no longer to be shied away from. I have become more open to such conversations, sex education topping the list because I have been part of a community that turned a blind eye to such talks for as long as I’ve lived. Anyway, here are the 5 things currently on my mind. JANUARY CRAZE is the no. 1 thing on my mind! At this time of the year everyone’s become a motivational speaker, lol. I scrol...

In 2019, I turned 26 , visited & kissed a giraffe at Giraffe Centre, hiked all 7 hills at Ngong Hills – twice, went on several nature walk escapades at Ololua, went zip-lining at Machakos w/girls from my former High School, travelled to Voi then later to Mtwapa for a girl’s trip, learnt how to ride a bicycle at Karura Forest, went on an exciting ​​road trip to Hells-Gate Naivasha for my birthday, improved on my writing (Blog) & maintained consistency with posts, facilitated team-building activities w/Trio Magik at Arboretum, Limuru & TGRV Mai-Mahiu. I applied & got my EAC passport – which I hope to one day use – inshallah, participated in the Mater Heart Run (4th time in a row), missed my annual StanChart marathon coz I was broke like a burukenge, consistently worked out & tried drinking my fair share of water – so basically I stayed hydrated for the better part of the year – or not , did some outreach work – not as much as I’d wanted & want to do this year...