This week's beauty essentials

Thanks to maternity leave, myself and Nai Nai have been out in the sun at every given opportunity for the last week - hey this break-your-heart-when-it's-over summer doesn't last long. Canal side strolls, sunbathing in parks, getting stung by bees in beer gardens (me, not Nai thankfully!), we've done it all. Now I have a lovely chocolatey glow, I want it to last all summer so I've been slathering on Palmer's Skin Therapy Oil, 60ml for £5.99. It's such an amazing moisturiser and feels so refreshing after a cool shower in the evening post baking in the sun. I've also discovered that if you put a couple of drops on your cuticles just after you've painted your nails they dry super quick - perfect for me as my nail-painting time has to fit around Princess Naima! Palmer's Tummy Butter, £5.35, is also doing some good work on my stretch marks. Okay so it's no miracle cure but they certainly aren't as biblical as they were three months ago. A definite must have for any mamas out there. I smell cocoa butter-tastic at the moment...

Musicality...

My good friend E has just informed me that super hot mama Beyoncé is going back to work after having her baba and therefore we need to start saving our pennies for tour tickets *abandons Sainsbury's trolley and stuffs money down bra* Although I may stone her out of jealousy at how amazing her post-baby body is I would kill to see her live in concert so the saving begins. I think of E as my super hip-hop gf; we have the same tastes in fashion (pom-pom shorts good, double denim bad), beauty (eyelashes and Ruby Woo all the way) and music (Jay-Z's face will be tattooed on our forearms by the end of this summer). We are made of surreal conversations about pigeons and foxes eating vomit and the joy of bouncy castles. So as E has me thinking about music I thought I would share with you my top 5 tracks that I'm listening to on these heady, summer days:
(1) D'Banj - Oliver Twist. An Afrobeat essential - non-sensical lyrics and a wicked beat.
(2) Azealia Banks - 212. She's so cool it hurts me. It physically hurts me.
(3) M.I.A - Bad Girls. She's a tad too old to be singing those lyrics but hey, it's a hot track.
(4) Nicki Minaj - Superbass. Yes it's been around for ages but it sounds great in the sunshine.
(5) Rihanna - What's My Name? Another oldie but it's just soooooooooooooooo good!
Tune in to 1xtra tomorrow morning at 9am to hear me chat about this weeks hot new music releases with Twin B. See how nicely that tied in there? Who needs a PR....

If I'm gone...

Motherhood makes you all serious and stuff. For instance, this past week I've been trawling t'internet for life insurance. How very grown up and early thirties of me. I remember a  time not too long ago when my internet traffic went mostly to ASOS.com, closely followed by Topshop.com and Net-a-Porter.com for the all important fantasy shopping spree. Life insurance makes you think about providing for your little one if you're not here and ultimately leads to you thinking about who would look after baby if you weren't around. Depressing as it is, it's a reality you have to think about and will influence your choice of godparents. As Nai Nai's mummy I'm in charge of seeking suitable godmothers, hubby's job is finding godfathers. For me, two women immediately sprung to mind, AA and DBB. These two are a rare breed of friend, the great friend who is also a relative and even better one from each side of my family, from hubby's side and from mine. They are as similar as they are different. AA is a couple of years younger than me, works in the music industry, is her own boss, driven and dynamic, and sometimes so silly. DBB is a few years older, is pretty high up in her profession, works harder than most people I know and has that air of someone that is so completely comfortable with themselves. They have both been there for me in both quiet and obvious ways at various points in my life and they both genuinely love and care about me and bubs. Sad as it makes me, I know that if I weren't here they would bring Nai Nai up to be the mini-me I want her to be. If I weren't here I know they would tell her all about the Scottish-Ghanaian connection, my love of Jay-Z and my obsession with wearing gold and black at every opportunity. Picking a godparent for your baby isn't all about having someone around for guaranteed babysitting and great gift giving (although DBB turned up with a Mulberry bag on my 30th birthday!) - you're picking someone to replace you if God forbid you were no longer around. Something to think about mamas - select wisely. I know I have.

Gf's for life...

Since becoming Naima's mama, I have really, really learnt the value of friendship. Some people forget you exist when you have a child - sounds harsh but they really won't call anymore. At first I was hurt but now I just don't give a s**t. It made me feel better that this was a common experience of motherhood and meant I wasn't just a bitch! But it means that having a baby can be incredibly lonely or incredibly social depending on what type of person you are so obviously I've made it social-tastic! I've made some fantastic new friends, women who will be in my life forever *sheds an ironic tear* and my friendships with some of my pre-baby gf's have become stronger than ever. So to that end a little love-you-for-life hug goes to Vidia Henshaw aka vidiamamalush.blogspot.co.uk. Thanks for the cheeky Friday wines in between vintage finds...

At last...

Hey y'all! Welcome to my first blog post. Now, considering what I do, it's shocking that it's taken me until now to write a blog - life just gets in the way sometimes! But along with the birth of my gorgeous baba Naima Isis Nana Adwube Adom came tons of inspiration and energy to do all the things I thought I never had time for! So here it is - my first blog. The past five months since Naima came along have been a rollercoaster of highs and lows (so many more highs than lows!) and, without meaning to sound like a pure hippy who lives in the woods, burns joss sticks and wears hemp, a real time of self-discovery. I've made some amazeballs gf's, and shed those deadwood friends along the way - all to the good! Now it's time to start really having some fun and telling you guys all about it too. So, thanks for reading and much much more soon!