Lydia's Weekly Lifestyle blog is for today's African girl, so no subject is taboo. My purpose is to share things that may interest today's African girl.

This week's contributors: Lydia, Pépé Pépinière, Titi. This week's subjects: Effortless Transitions: From Boardroom Meetings to Evening Soirées, PFAS and Fashion, Valentines and the Chinese, Shop right or shop wrong? and Ga Kenkey and dare to be different

Effortless Transitions: From Boardroom Meetings to Evening Soirées. The Corporate Girl’s Guide to Day-to-Night Slay. There’s a certain rhythm to life in Accra — the soft hum of morning traffic, the steady buzz of boardroom discussions, and the glittering pulse of evening rooftops. The modern corporate girl in this city isn’t just working; she’s thriving. Her days stretch from high-stakes meetings in East Legon to late-evening networking mixers at Skybar. And through it all, she manages to look impeccably put-together — polished by day, radiant by night. So how does she pull it off? Simple: she’s mastered the art of effortless transitions. Start Strong: The Power Base: Your base outfit is everything. Think sleek, versatile, and comfortable. A well-fitted sheath dress in a neutral tone (charcoal, ivory, or deep olive) can glide seamlessly from the boardroom to a cocktail lounge. Or, go for a chic wide-leg trouser and silk blouse combo — breathable for Accra’s heat and classy enough for the CEO’s gaze. Pro tip: Choose lightweight fabrics that won’t crease while you’re conquering your day. Nobody wants “meeting wrinkles” at a soirée. Swap & Slay: The Accessories Game: Accessories are your transformation tools. During the day, go minimal — a structured tote, simple studs, and a nude heel. But as dusk approaches, it’s your cue to switch gears. Swap your tote for a small statement clutch, change your studs for gold hoops or bold earrings, and if you dare — slip into strappy heels. Just that, and you’re red-carpet ready without breaking a sweat (or your schedule).

PFAS and Fashion. PFAS stands for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, a group of synthetic chemicals used in products like non-stick cookware, firefighting foam, tires and stain-resistant coatings. They're known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment and in the human body. The main concerns are ⁠environmental persistence, PFAS don't break down easily, contaminating soil, water and air, and also health risks, they are linked to issues like cancer and thyroid problems. But the tide starts to turn. In California major tire manufacturers are being sued because their PFAS have poisoned river and lake waters and killed fish. Now the European Union, with Denmark and France in the lead, and several states in the USA want to ban PFAS altogether this year. Tests have been done on Chinese Shein and Temu products and many contain PFAS. So the European textile industry hopes to curtail these cheap Chinese suppliers by banning products with PFAS. Forgetting that most textiles they import, whether from China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, contain Pfas to some degree. So if the consumer needs to be protected then the textile industry, and many other industries, will have to change. What is important here is the court cases against the tire manufacturers. If the government does not do its consumer protection job properly because of the lobby from industry, then the public should indeed take these industries, and their own governments to court.

Valentines and the Chinese. I already see the kiosk thrift sellers turning their showrooms into red, Valentines is on the way. I pray that nobody is dumb enough to commit suicide because no one invited her. Invite to where? I guess everyone has his own budget, though hampers are going from 250 upwards to several thousands. Business is business. And these days we see more and more Chinese in town, not only for the galamsey, including their youngsters, and these youngsters thus naturally chase young girls. Girl look for boy, boy look for girl. To take them out for Valentines, and maybe more. Take them out to where? To a Chinese restaurant of course.

Shop right or shop wrong? If you go to Shopright Osu to buy tea you may get the following: Lipton tea, 20 pouches 50 grams for 19.99 GHC. That's 399.80 GHC per kg, say 400. So better buy a big box, 200 grams at 139 GHC. Cheaper. Cheaper? 695, say 700 GHC per kg. What? Yes, you read this correctly. And as much as supermarkets have their marketing tricks, like putting the cheapest article very low or so high that you don’t easily see it, or putting candies near the cashier so that you'll give in to your moaning kid they've now gone into actually cheating. 5 cost 5, and 10 cost 12. On purpose. It was recently reported in a European consumer protection magazine. It's on purpose. You assume that a bigger packaging is more economic, but sometimes it is not, you need to check. And as most have difficulty with calculating the supermarkets get away with it, with your money. Beware. I guess the others are just doing the same thing, and in Shoprite it is not the first time I noticed this trick. Maxmart can even out do that, the article is priced on the shelf say at 47 GHC, but the cashier prints 67. Who checks?

Ga Kenkey and dare to be different. We decided to have a bit of a soirée, dress up and serve nice food, soft sax music in the background. So we had Ga kenkey with beef and goat kebabs with Dagomba barbecue spices from Ash to get away from the rather same tasting chinchinga everyone uses, white vermouth with ice and lemon from Noilly Prat (Martini is just a vermouth brand name) Vodka (cheap brand) with ice and to finish it off Val d’Oca brut millesimato Prosecco denomazione di origine controllato and vanilla ice cream from Tipsy Gelato. Lovely evening, deep talk, and in fact more fun than an upscale restaurant. And very little cleaning up to do afterwards.

Lydia...

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