I don't have much to say because it's been a pretty long week if I'm being honest. You guys know I like to keep it real on the blog and if I'm keeping it real I'll admit this has been a bad week actually. You know what's really difficult? When you go out of your way to better yourself and your life but other people go out of their way to ruin your life, progress, and happiness. When it comes to narcissistic abuse, people talk about relationships or parents who are narcissistic but not many people talk about what it's like being stuck with narcissistic siblings.

Please don't buy my book...

About three months or so ago, we decided to stop by Jiko Restaurant which is located in Tribe Hotel and of course I wanted to share the experience and review with you guys. Fun fact, Jiko in Swahili means cooking stove and it usually uses charcoal. A little like a barbecue grill. Shoutout to my cousin for taking these awesome pictures and going the extra mile! The Vibe The vibe was immaculate, such a lovely place and oddly enough there were lots of lilies everywhere which are my favourite flower! …

I wanted to share yet another review for my debut novel, Perfect. I've honestly been overwhelmed by the support I have received for my writing and am beyond grateful for everyone that has chosen to read and review the book. Even if you simply gave it a read, that means the world to me. For us indie authors, those reads and reviews are not as many as traditionally published books but they mean the world to us. They truly do. This week's review post was shared by Sally Cronin…

About The Author Sally Cronin is the author of nineteen books including her memoir Size Always Matters in 2024. This was an updated version of her first book, Size Matters published in 2001 which followed her weight loss of 150lbs and the programme she designed to regain her health. A programme she shared with her clients over her 27 year career as a nutritional therapist and on her blog. This has been followed by another eighteen books both fiction and non-fiction including multi-genre collections of short stories and poetry. Her latest book is part of a three book series set in a garden in Spain and then in Ireland.

I'm back with another restaurant review and this time I'll be reviewing Troy Restaurant and Bar. We went to this lovely restaurant a couple of months ago and I thought I would share my full experience with all of you today. Shoutout to my cousin brother for the lovely images and experience! The Vibe Troy Restaurant is located in Gem Forest which is one of the most visually appealing places I've been to. This was out second time there but our first time at this restaurant. It's quite beautiful and has a lovely view of Nairobi.

As you guys know, I've been loving getting into art and doing some drawing and oil pastel art instead of scrolling mindlessly. I mentioned on one of my older posts that I was currently working on a picture of Roger from American Dad! This was one of my favourite scenes from the show and I also wanted to challenge myself with the art. Usually, I follow online tutorials but this time I decided to do everything from scratch. I drew outlines for everything which took a while because as I've always said, I'm not much of an artist.

Last month we visited About Thyme Restaurant and had a lovely time. I wanted to share my review and experience of the place. We had been hoping to go here for dinner for quite a while now and it was great that we were finally able to go. The Vibe The vibe was a 10/10! It was chic but also so much fun. We were seated in a corner so it was quiet as well which we appreciated. The staff was super friendly, helpful, and did a great job.

On Sunday, I received an unexpected review that I want to share with all of you here. But first, let's go to the beginning. Back when Perfect first came out, I reached out to a lot of reviewers on social media and in general. Among those reviewers was Alicia. She was so kind and bought a copy on her own. It had been a while since then and I didn't know if she had read and/or that she would be sharing a review. I assumed she was probably busy, as we all are.

I had an intense yoga experience last week that I wanted to share about here. You may wonder why and it's actually because this is my blog and I can share whatever I want to on it. Lol, just kidding. But before I share the experience you may need some backstory. Backstory I'm sure I've mentioned this before but this year I read The Body Keeps The Score and to say the book changed my life would be an understatement. I learnt so much about trauma and how it's stored in our mind and body.

I am so grateful to share another review for my debut novel, Perfect. I want to continue to share them on here. Today's review comes from Thomas on his site Leonberger Life. I was first introduced to Thomas through this blog which I very much enjoyed even though I've never owned a Leonberger myself. His blog was inspired by his dog Bronco and he has also written a book about Bronco's life which I reviewed quite a while back. You can find the full review I wrote for his book…

Dolly Parton Quote: What's Up With Pooj? I really love the Dolly Parton quote above. It's a much needed reminder that although we don't have control over what happens to us, the way we choose to react is up to us. We can fall apart or we can take things in stride. Not much is up with me at the moment. I have lots of books to read all written by fellow WordPress bloggers. Slowly but surely I am moving through my TBR list. I'm so impressed by the talent writers we have on this platform.

The General quickly became one of our favourite restaurants in Nairobi. Technically a bar and restaurant. They recently updated their menu and since my cousin was around, my two cousin brothers and I decided to go to The General one night and try out their new menu. The Menu Here is their updated menu for anyone thinking about visiting. The Vibe The vibe at The General is always immaculate. The wait staff is so friendly, everyone is having a good time, it's really chill. Honestly, I would just go for the vibe regardless of the food and drinks lol.

I had a different post planned for today but read about Gloria Steinem's passing and wanted to share this post. Believe it or not, I actually hadn't heard of Gloria Steinem before I got to university. During my third (maybe second?) year of university, I took a course about the sixties which focused on the rise of counterculture and the new left movement. It was one of the most interesting courses I had ever taken. And it was one of the first modern American history classes I took which I think made it more special.

About The Author I was born and grew up in North London, England, and engaged in various occupations, including dental nurse, laboratory assistant and shop assistant, before I married aged twenty and travelled the world following my husband’s career. I spent much time reading, a passion since childhood, and toyed with writing. Eventually settled in the UK I took evening classes and gained ‘A’ levels in Psychology, Sociology and English before becoming a mature student and gaining Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English and Literature before training and working as a teacher.

Hey, everyone! I'm back to blogging. Unfortunately, while I was gone, we said goodbye to two legends- Dolly Parton and Tim Curry. Generally, I try to distance myself from celebrities as I don't think parasocial relationships with people you don't actually know are healthy. However, I was a really big fan of both Dolly Parton and Tim Curry and their passing hit hard. Especially as they were unexpected. For those of you that are new here, when I was in university I took a lot of different elective courses and one of them was about the history of country music.

Hi, everyone! I know I haven't been posting as much as usual recently and although I have tried to keep up with blogging, it seems life has a way of undermining our best made plans. I have a lot going on right now with my cousin leaving for uni soon so I'm trying to spend as much time with him as I can and I'm also trying to get out of this writers block rut I'm in. It gets a lot. And I don't want to force myself to blog when my heart isn't in it.

I want to share a special thank you post dedicated to Eugi from Poesy Perspectives. She has been sharing a series of posts dedicated to bloggers that she enjoys here on WordPress. I always love seeing WordPress bloggers supporting one another which thankfully happens quite often. She has been sharing numerous wonderful bloggers. Some I already followed or was familiar with as well as some I was excited to discover. Recently, she shared this blog post which I was very honoured by. I am grateful that she shared me and my blog and I know I'm in great company with other wonderful bloggers.

Have you ever dealt with someone who can never change their mind about something or can never admit when they're in the wrong? Even with tiny little things. Like you can say it's 1 p.m and they say no it's actually 2 p.m and so you show them your watch and prove that it's 1 p.m. And instead of just being like "oh my bad" they decide to say something infuriating like "well it's 2 p.m somewhere..." Every time something like that happens, I'm just left thinking- why are people like this?

I am so thankful to that I am still receiving reviews for my novel, Perfect. As I said on an earlier post, I don't want to post them all at once and would rather share one at a time so you guys can go over and read it too. Today, I wanted to share this review of Perfect by Jan Sikes. A lot of you may already know her as she's a blogger on WordPress and an award winning author. I actually reviewed one of her books some time ago, you can read it…

Vernon Saunders Law Quote: What's Up With Pooj? I'm in a bit of a funk. Writers block is at my throat, fighting the words once more. I wonder when things got so complicated in life. I remember the days when it was simple. The good old days when times were bad. It's not that I'm sad, I'm not sad. It's more like an indifference to it all. I'm tired. Or maybe I just need to take my B12 supplement which I keep forgetting to do lol. In less melancholic news, we went to the…

I'm sorry for not blogging as much recently but a lot has been going on in my life. And I've been trying to focus on that and just live in the moment. I have missed all of you of course. Today, I wanted to share a review for my debut novel, Perfect. This one comes from Alex Diaz-Granados. For those of you that don't know Alex, he is also a writer and author as well as a WordPress blogger. I have read and reviewed his books on my blog before and have quite enjoyed them.

About The Author Teaching and learning have been a focal point of my life and now I can add writing. My background is in literature and languages and I have always loved reading. Plus having lived in Hong Kong, India, France and the UK,I feel home can be anywhere you create a support community of friends. My interest in the wellness field started when my relationship got strained and I had to find ways to manage the emotional turmoil. That was my introduction into Emotional Freedom Technique (or tapping as it is commonly called) and after 25 odd years I am now a certified practitioner, volunteering to support cancer patients.

Photo by Sergei Skrynnik on Pexels.com How much safer could your workday be with the right equipment on your truck? Whether you're behind the wheel every day or managing a fleet, safety is always a priority. Long hauls, busy job sites, unpredictable weather, and heavy loads all increase the risk of accidents if your truck isn't properly equipped. According to the Government of Canada's annual occupational injury report, the road transportation sector recorded the highest fatal injury rate of any federally regulated industry over the past decade, with 353 workplace fatalities between 2014 and 2023…

I want to thank Marsha Ingrao from Always Write for sharing my short story, The Bookstore, on her blog. She has a segment called Story Chat Digest which she told me about when we first connected. It was right after she had read and shared an amazing review of my book. I was really grateful and excited to share this short story. As you can tell, the story is about a bookstore and how one bookstore changed the life of someone who visited it when she needed it most. The story was inspired by something I went through as a young adult.

I want to say thank you and congratulations to Michelle Ayon Navajas. I'm sure many of you on WordPress are familiar with her. She has published an amazing amount of books, have a significant following on WordPress and social media, and is also a bestselling author. It's all quite impressive. Other than that, she is also an incredibly supportive person. She was kind enough to share my debut novel, Perfect, which I really appreciated. You can see both posts below. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that…

Photo by Jep Gambardella on Pexels.com You take a new job, join a weekly class, start showing up at the same gym, and within a month the same faces begin to appear. One of them asks if you want to grab food after. That is how most romance still forms, through repeated low-stakes contact with the same people. A 2024 Pew Research survey found that about 1 in 5 American adults has no close friends, a figure that has roughly doubled since the early 1990s. Thin social ties give romance nowhere to start.

I got this notification last night and realised that it has officially been 11 years since I started Lifesfinewhine. Generally, I try not to be too sappy but I always get a little emotional when I get this yearly notification. Yes, we all like to complain about WordPress every now and then. However, this platform also gives us something that is unique on the internet. It's a platform where people can genuinely connect with one another and can share their content without caring about likes etc. Thanks to Lifesfinewhine, I've been able to live a life I didn't think was possible.

A Survivor’s Common Sense Approach to Recovery from Social Anxiety By Dr. Robert F Mullen Today, I wanted to share my review of A Survivor’s Common Sense Approach to Recovery from Social Anxiety by Dr. Robert F. Mullen. He's someone I look up to and admire. He's been through so much with his social anxiety disorder and still came out on top and now he's dedicated his life to helping others do the same. If that's not amazing, I don't know what is. When he published this book, I knew I had to read it and since I had so many thoughts on it I decided to share my review here too.

Building Financial Resilience as a Freelancer Image Credit: Unsplash Freelancing offers incredible freedom, but it also means you're responsible for your own financial stability. Unlike a regular job with steady paychecks and benefits, a freelance career requires you to be on top of your money management. Building financial resilience isn't about getting rich fast; it's about creating a solid base that can handle the natural ups and downs of working for yourself. This means careful budgeting, smart tax planning, and consistent saving. Setting Up Your Freelance Budget The first step to…

We're officially at the end of June. I can't believe half the year has gone by, I truly can't. It's been an incredibly eventful six months and not always in a good way. I think many of us hope that the rest of the year will be more calm. July is usually difficult for me, for whatever reason it never goes well. I think as a Taurus I may be incompatible with Cancer season. Or maybe it's all astrological nonsense and I just happen to have a tough time in July.

Oscar Wilde Quote: What's Up With Pooj? I wanted to share this Oscar Wilde quote this week because I finally finished reading The Picture Of Dorian Grey. When I tell you that book is one of the greatest books I've ever read in my life I am not even slightly exaggerating. It is now in my top 2 and maybe not no. 2... If you haven't read it yet, please do. In other news, I've spent most of this month realising that I'm on the right path and the universe has put me exactly where I need to be right now.

As my mental health improves thanks to therapy and personal effort, I have realised the importance of gratitude. When I was at lower points, I still had so much to be grateful for but chose to focus on the negative. This year, I promised myself I wasn't going to do that anymore. I was going to choose to focus on the positive instead. And I have been doing just that. Two things I've realised from this is that a lot of envy, jealousy, hate, comes from personal insecurity. The more I chose to love others and approach them with empathy, the less I felt negative emotions in myself.

Note: This Widow's Bay Review contains minor spoilers!  Today, I wanted to share a short review of a show that absolutely blew my mind. My expectations were met and then some. And that show is Widow's Bay. Widow's Bay is a horror comedy, one of my absolute favourite genres. It revolves around a small island town called Widow's Bay and how a mayors good intentions of bringing more tourists to the island quickly turn into his worst nightmare. It is VERY difficult to get a horror comedy right. It can't be leaning too much in either direction and this show was the perfect amount of horror and comedy.

Oops she did it again... When I published my poetry collection quite a while back, I missed a couple of reviews because pingbacks don't always work or for other reasons. I promised myself I would stay on top of the reviews with my latest novel, Perfect. However, I was not prepared for the number of reviews I received and how quickly they came. Of course, I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm ecstatic every time I see a review. But it does mean I miss one here and there. Today, I want to highlight some reviews I missed.

Summary “Surviving Sue” is a heart-wrenching story about the torment of keeping secrets, told from the daughter’s perspective. She navigates her mother’s mental health and addiction issues, while trying to shield and protect her disabled sister. “Surviving Sue” is about the power of storytelling to build resiliency, and a guidebook for others who struggle with complex family issues including Alzheimer’s, depression, alcoholism, developmental and physical disabilities. About The Author Dr. Atkinson (Vicki) earned degrees in counseling and psychology and a doctorate in adult education. Vicki is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and a leadership and life coach in private practice.

I know I haven't been posting much other than occasional life updates and reviews of the book. I hope to post more next week but these past few weeks have been busy. In a good way though. One could even say it's been a pretty perfect week... Reviews But today, I'm back to share more thanks because the reviews have continued to roll in. And I am nothing if not grateful for them. I want to start with Selma Martin's review. She shared her review on Amazon and Goodreads as well as on her blog.

Bertrand Russell Quote: What's Up With Pooj? It's been a minute since I did one of these! The weather has been lovely in Nairobi, by which I mean it's been nice and cold just how I like it. Last weekend, my cousin and I went to Afri-love Fest which was an incredible experience. I had no idea what to expect because we had only found out about it and decided to go last minute to support Pocket Libraries (please feel free to follow their page!). Which we of course did. My cousin signed up for a membership and we participated in the Letter To A Stranger activity that they offer where you write a letter to a stranger and pick a letter from a stranger.

I'm proud to say I have been getting more reviews for my novel. Seeing each one makes my heart swell and I couldn't be more grateful to all of you that have chosen to read, Perfect, and share your reviews. I've decided to share only one review today because I don't want to keep bunching them all together. I would rather share multiple posts with a review or two which is what I plan to do. The review I want to share today is from E. A. Wickham who I have known thanks to WordPress for quite some time.

I am so grateful to have participated in not one but two interviews recently. It's odd being on the other end (as some of you may remember I used to conduct interviews with bloggers before) but who doesn't love talking about themselves lol. Kidding. But seriously, I am so thankful for both of these. Interview #1: The first one is with Eve Marie, a blogger I only recently met through E. A. Wickham on her blog Bleuwater. She had shared a short review of my novel, Perfect, (more on that on my next post!) along with a review of Eve's book…

A little while ago, my cousins and I decided to visit a restaurant called Mr. Pang. It's one of the restaurants located in J W Marriot. It serves East Asian foods. We wanted to do something a little fancy because I didn't do much for my birthday since one of my cousins wasn't around so we decided to celebrate my birthday this month now that he's back. Of course, I wanted to share my Mr. Pang review with you guys since I know a lot of you enjoy my lifestyle posts.

Hello, friends. I'm here today to share some thoughts about fantastic books I read in May. So, sit back, grab a beverage and let's dive in! PURCHASE LINK MY REVIEW: I've read both previous books in this series so immediately pre-ordered this one when it came up. I knew it would be Ace's story and I couldn't wait! Now, I'm impatiently waiting for the mysterious Damian's story!

Hello, friends. I’m here today to share some thoughts about fantastic books I read in May. So, sit back, grab a beverage and let’s dive in! PURCHASE LINK MY REVIEW: I’ve read both…

I can't believe we're so close to half the year being done, I know I say this a lot but time is flying. I feel like we just celebrated New Years and now it's somehow June. Still, I'm very grateful because I've gotten a lot of my goals down already. And I'm pretty happy with how the year is progressing for the most part. As I said in my last post, there are some hitches here and there. Life is never perfect, not for any of us. However, I am learning to focus on the positive and continue to do the things I love such as…

I'm in a terrible mood right now, absolutely riddled with anxiety, frustration, and sadness because of dealing with very narcissistic behaviour from someone all day. Walking on eggshells simply because others have low emotional intelligence is exhausting. In order to improve my mood, I decided to share some things that made me smile this week instead. The Mandalorian And Grogu…

Summary Within these pages, you will encounter a boy on a quest. The peripatetic, searching for a home; the stoic chased relentlessly by God, and the rebel confronted by destiny. Somewhere between childhood and a midlife crisis, a reluctant poet found his voice, set aside childish pursuits, and sat with divinity on a cold windswept beach in North Wales. You may join him on this quest, and much like life, it promises to be an adventure.

I had a different post planned today, I was going to share some more art and a little bit about what I'm up to (going to see the Mandalorian and Grogu movie soon!). But instead I got a lovely surprise that I just had to share here today. I want to shoutout Elsie, who I recently found out is called Lucy and Elsie (LC) is actually a nickname.

I am so excited to share that Lauren Scott from Baydreamer Writes recently shared her review for my recently released novel, Perfect. I'm truly grateful and honoured every single time someone does that especially when it's such a positive review as hers was. Do check out her post below because she shared reviews for two other books that I would recommend checking out as well: …