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	<title>Blessing Omakwu - photoblog</title>
	<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com" />
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	<author>
		<name>Blessing Omakwu</name>
	</author>
	<id>http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/</id>
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	<updated>2011-11-18T01:02:14Z</updated>
	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No 122: Technically Cheating
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/391950.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				Having beautiful friends is technically cheating for a photographer. Why? You get beautiful pictures with minimal work. Anyhoo, just wanted to let you all know I'm still alive. It's finals time so photoblogging is taking the back seat in my life for now. But I'll be back in full...soon :-)
			]]>
		</summary>
		<updated>2011-11-17T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:70261a12-174b-ccba-a92f23ab042e</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No 121: Love, Loss & What I Ate (4 of 7)
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/388932.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				What I Ate: Dim-Sum with Flowering Jasmine and Lily Tea Where I ate it: Ping-Pong (Washington, DC) Memory: The DC Snowcalypse of 2009 --- The DC Snowcalypse of 2009 was the first (and last time!) law school classes ever got cancelled. There was no way I was going to spend off days snowed in... so I went Chinatown exploring with my friends and had my first dim-sum experience! I was completely fascinated by the flowering teas...who ever knew a flower could grow in your cup? It started snowing in DC yesterday...if only....
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		</summary>
		<updated>2011-10-30T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:78b5d5ff-c2f6-4230-972cf57ea255</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No 120: Love, Loss & What I Ate (3 of 7)
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/388139.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				What I Ate: Mashed Potatoes and Sweet Curry Sauce Where I ate it: Welgevonden Game Reserve (Limpopo, South Africa) Memory: Spending Time avec Ma Mere --- One of the best two weeks of my life happened during August of 2011 when I spent a few days with my mother at a game reserve in South Africa. It's the first time I remember having her all to myself. The moments we spent together...squeezing each others palms as we were surrounded by lions, and savoring 5-course meals...are memories I will cherish forever. My mother is my earth and my truth... Ode to She..and mashed potatoes molded to perfection...
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		</summary>
		<updated>2011-10-24T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:62887b04-06fe-6d41-2805c8bb7d11</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No 119: Love, Loss & What I Ate (2 of 7)
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/387824.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				What I Ate: Pepperoni Pizza Where I ate it: AJ's Pizza (Abuja, Nigeria) Memories: My Brother's Graduation. Summer Time. Easy Living. --- I took this photograph last summer on the night my brother graduated from primary (elementary) school to secondary (middle) school. I had planned a roof-top dinner followed by dessert at an equally ritzy spot for him and his friends. However, as soon as we got to the restaurant, they were unimpressed by the bourgie menu. They all wanted pizza!! So pizza, shawarma's and french fries it was...and boy were they happy! All the boxes of pizza disappeared before I could say pepperoni!! I barely got a slice... That night, I was reminded of how little it takes to make children happy...and how much we (adults) can learn from that. It is truly the little things like laughter, family-time, and enjoying the moment that make the biggest marks on our lives! It was a simple night...but one of my happiest. As Paulo Coehlo said in one of my favorite books (The Alchemist): &ldquo;When each day is the same as the next, it&rsquo;s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.&rdquo; On that note, here's to a great week filled with pleasant memories for all my followers!
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		</summary>
		<updated>2011-10-23T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:d1f90e60-7870-e84b-ea4c00ba2729</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No 118: Love, Loss & What I Ate (1 of 7)
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/386480.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				What I Ate: Belgian Waffle Dream (A waffle with ice cream, pralines, cream, dulce de leche, syrup and whipped cream). Where I ate it: H&auml;agen-Dazs (Paris) Memory: Paris --- My love affair with Paris was never love at first sight. Paris is beautiful. But she is melancholic&hellip;and complicated. Paris is fashion and xenophobia; tourist and cliquish; cobblestone cum slum roads. Yet, from the first time I went there, I knew that my story needed her. So my junior year of college, I found myself on a plane to Paris where I planned to spend a semester studying at the famed Sorbonne and the American University of Paris. I was nervous and excited about the prospect of losing myself in the city of lights. Slowly, I built new memories there. I enjoyed waking up and never knowing how my day would end&hellip;from mischievous afternoons at art museums to midnight picnics under the Eiffel Tower. I fell in love with new sounds like tecktonik, house, soca and zouk. One of my favorite things to do was to take long walks on Champs-&Eacute;lys&eacute;es and get lost in the rhythm of the crowd. A personal favorite stop will always be the three floored H&auml;agen-Dazs Ice Cream House. I took this photography there this past March when I went to visit a friend... The laissez-faire way of Paris calls my name--most loudly on the days when law school crowds my brain leaving little room for sanity. I can&rsquo;t wait to taste her again.
			]]>
		</summary>
		<updated>2011-10-20T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:51a69f3b-634a-b26a-23284aa7de03</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No 117: Love, Loss& What I Ate
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/386479.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				(*Apologies to Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron for borrowing part of the title of their broadway play) It's been a very rough week for me. Want-to-pull-out-my-hair and shout-from-the-rooftops kind of rough. Yet, no matter how bad a day-or week for that matter-has been, these things always make me feel better: (1) Prayer (2) Talking to family members or friends (3) Exercising (4) Writing and (5) FOOD!!! Which brings me to my challenge: over the next 7 days, I plan to post 1 picture a day from my food photography collection, and the memories I associate with those photographs. I believe that food is one of the best ways to bring people together. Some of my best and worst memories are associated with food in one way or another. I'm excited about this challenge! Let's go!!
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		</summary>
		<updated>2011-10-18T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:c542e8a9-4ee2-a7f6-b17db8a3fb22</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No 116: Love (Ink)Corporated
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/384895.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				My friend recently got this tattoo. It&rsquo;s Chinese for &lsquo;love.&rsquo; I was listening to Kem&rsquo;s song &lsquo;Love Never Fails&rsquo; while editing this picture, and I started thinking about the lessons of love that I have carried, and that continue to carry me: 1. I&rsquo;ve learned to love myself: Learning to love myself has been my most beautiful personal journey. I learned to love myself not in spite of my flaws, but because of them. I am measures of laughter and tears. I am tower of strength and pieces of weakness. Embracing the contradictions and contours of this work in progress called me, has made all the difference&hellip;or as Audre Lorde said: &ldquo;If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.&rdquo; 2. I am learning to love people-not just the people who love me in return, but the people who take my kindness in their palms, squeeze the life out of it, and throw it in the trash. It is not always easy loving people who seem to not want to be loved. I fail miserably at it (often). Still, I carry my mother&rsquo;s words in my heart, especially on the days when bitterness or even apathy seems easier: &ldquo;the God kind of love asks for nothing in return&hellip;&rdquo; 3. I&rsquo;ve learned to love God: There is no 1+1=2 in my love for God&hellip;no logic. I love God even when I don&rsquo;t understand Him or His ways. Loving God makes me love myself-He is the light in me. Loving God has helped me to keep loving others even when the facts and logic dared me to look the other way&hellip;when history reminded me to turn my heart to brick and save its broken pieces as relics. God is love-for me to stop believing in love, I would have to stop believing in God. Love never fails.... And God never fails. Have a great friday people!
			]]>
		</summary>
		<updated>2011-10-07T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:fbc1d8e2-774f-3ad2-17fc37ca3105</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No. 115: A Conversation (Ngozi Iweala& Lamido Sanusi)
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/383760.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				I captured this conversation between Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria) and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Nigeria) at the 'Nigeria: Beyond the Banking Reforms' conference hosted by the editors of THISDAY Newspaper. It was a lovely gathering at Washington DC's Ritz-Carlton that brought together Nigeria's financial and banking elite, many of whom were in town for the 2011 IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings. Sanusi declared, "All the journalists hoping to see a fight between Ngozi and I will be dissappointed!" Let's hope he's right. PS: I am constantly fascinated by NOI's signature headscarves that always look like they are about to fall off but stay firmly in place. It is definitely her trademark. PPS: How are you guys? I've been such a horrible photo-blogger these days. Blame law school...
			]]>
		</summary>
		<updated>2011-10-02T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:ae0dd877-f3a8-b0a0-30a6bbb86691</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No. 114: DC's Fashion Night Out #5
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/381601.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				Lingerie and champagne party at the new Calvin Klein store (Georgetown, DC)...I would much rather be doing this right now. Sigh...Monday...
			]]>
		</summary>
		<updated>2011-09-19T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:cc6919e2-d093-659e-60daa6904352</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No. 113: DC's Fashion Night Out #4
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/381209.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				This is another shot from the fabulous Betsey Johnson soir&eacute;e during DC's Fashion Night Out. These models reminded me of the Candy Land game... brings back childhood memories.
			]]>
		</summary>
		<updated>2011-09-17T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:9dcec32a-2994-1422-21a99080e9e2</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No. 112: DC's Fashion Night Out #3
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/381083.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				Spotted at the Betsey Johnson soiree during DC's Fashion Night Out: one of my classmates...I loved her eye popping colors! Oh and shameless plug: She's decked in Betsey Johnson from head to toe.
			]]>
		</summary>
		<updated>2011-09-15T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:819cfea3-6e06-b7ac-d33dbf6e0e9d</id>
	</entry>

	<entry>
		<title>
			<![CDATA[
				No. 111: DC's Fashion Night Out #2
			]]>
		</title>
		<link href="http://photoetry.shutterchance.com/photoblog/380920.htm" />
		<summary>
			<![CDATA[
				no photographer comment
			]]>
		</summary>
		<updated>2011-09-14T00:00:00Z</updated>
		<id>urn:uuid:7a3c52af-b3ce-f46f-83858ad831a8</id>
	</entry>

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