#dosatozchallenge

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge. D is for

Doria 💕 Her incredible, supporting and loving Mother. In Meghan’s own words - “Dreadlocks. Nose ring. Yoga instructor. Social worker. Free spirit. Lover of potato chips & lemon tarts. And if the DJ cues Al Green’s soul classic “Call Me,” just forget it. She will swivel her hips into the sweetest little dance you’ve ever seen, swaying her head and snapping her fingers to the beat like she’s been dancing since the womb. And you will smile. You won’t be able to help it. You will look at her and you will feel joy. I’m talking about my mom.” 💗

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge

J is for…. Jewellery! Whether from that H and M initial necklace that got the press talking or to her beautiful engagement ring, Meghan has some beautiful pieces! From rings she stacks and mix & match earrings she’s had for years, to gifted earrings from the Queen and a bracelet from her in-laws, to her loaned pieces - that stunning tiara, and to the bits that are hers as a wife - her wedding band and that stunning rock that was once Harry’s mothers. She has quite the collection 💕

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge. C is for…

Calligraphy! ✒️ Meghan’s handwriting is so gorgeous, she learned calligraphy whilst at school and managed to use her skills as a job for a while. She is known for sending beautiful handwritten notes to her loved ones 💕

[harryandmeghansussex]

Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge. Y is for... yoga.

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge.

E is for… Engagement! 💍 November 27th Meghan and Harry announced to the World their wonderful news! The ring is both gorgeous and sentimental - it’s yellow gold (her favourite), the centre stone is from Botswana (a place they visited together), Harry designed it and the the two diamonds either side are from his late Mother’s personal collection. A proposal at home, whilst cooking dinner, sums up these two who seem to have very much found their equal and home in each other.

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge.

I is for… Invictus Games. We’ve seen Meghan on five separate occasions now support her boyfriend/fiancee/husband’s project and I’m sure we will see her at more IG events on tour.

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess Of Sussex A To Z Challenge. T is for... The Tig! Named after Meghan's favourite win and also her ah-ha moments in life, The Tig was Meghan's "baby" for three years. I still miss flicking through her site, and if anyone wanted get a vibe on Meghan as a person, her blog sums her up. A mixture of her loves; food, fashion, travel, beauty and positivity. I shall leave you with her final quote - "Above all, don't ever forget your worth. As I have told you time and time again: you my sweet friend, you are enough." 💕

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge

N is for… Nottingham Cottage. Harry and Meghan’s home and the place they got engaged. I’m sure no matter where the Sussexes end up in the future, Nottingham Cottage will always hold a soft spot for them both 💕

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z.

L is for London. Thankfully a city she already adored, Meghan packed up her life - split between Toronto and LA - last year to move to London. Home is wherever Harry it is seems.

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge

F is for Friends. Meghan’s got a good loyal supportive bunch around her. “Friends are the family we choose for ourselves” 💕

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess Of Sussex A to Z challenge.

A is for Activist. “Activisit. noun. 1. a person who campaigns to bring about political or social change.”

Meghan used her voice and way with words to help create change as a proud feminist and human rights activist. I for one, am so looking forward to seeing what patronages she takes on and how she continues to use her platform for good.

[harryandmeghansussex]

Last one of the Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge. Z is for ... Zodiac. Meghan is a proud Leo ♌ and her sign fits her well. Loyal, confident, kind, driven, romantic, headstrong, empathic, big-hearted are all Leo traits that fit Meghan well! 💕

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge. B is for

Babies - her fur babies, Bogart and Guy. Meghan is a big supporter of the ‘adopt, don’t shop’ policy and loves her two rescue pups. Despite leaving one back home in the care of good friends, she brought one of her fur babies over to live in Nottingham Cottage with her & her Prince. She’s definitely a softie when it comes to her pup 💕

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge.

G is for… Givenchy aka the label that designed Meghan’s iconic wedding gown 😍

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess Of Sussex A to Z challenge. (I'll admit this is a bit of a stretch/is me cheating, X is hard okay?) X is for ... xoxo - kiss 😘😍😘😍😘

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duchess of Sussex A to Z challenge.

M is for Meghan who is more than an other. “What are you?’ A question I get asked every week of my life, often every day. ‘Well,’ I say, as I begin the verbal dance I know all too well. ‘I’m an actress, a writer, the Editor-in-Chief of my lifestyle brand The Tig, a pretty good cook and a firm believer in handwritten notes.’ A mouthful, yes, but one that paints a pretty solid picture of who I am. But here’s what happens: they smile and nod politely, maybe even chuckle, before getting to their point, ‘Right, but what are you? Where are your parents from?’ I knew it was coming, I always do. While I could say Pennsylvania and Ohio, and continue this proverbial two-step, I instead give them what they’re after: ‘My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I’m half black and half white.’. To describe something as being black and white means it is clearly defined. Yet when your ethnicity is black and white, the dichotomy is not that clear. In fact, it creates a grey area. Being biracial paints a blurred line that is equal parts staggering and illuminating. When I was asked by ELLE to share my story, I’ll be honest, I was scared. It’s easy to talk about which make-up I prefer, my favourite scene I’ve filmed, the rigmarole of ‘a day in the life’ and how much green juice I consume before a requisite Pilates class. And while I have dipped my toes into this on thetig.com, sharing small vignettes of my experiences as a biracial woman, today I am choosing to be braver, to go a bit deeper, and to share a much larger picture of that with you. It was the late Seventies when my parents met; my dad was a lighting director for a soap opera and my mom was a temp at the studio. I like to think he was drawn to her sweet eyes and her Afro, plus their shared love of antiques. Whatever it was, they married and had me. They moved into a house in The Valley in LA, to a neighbourhood that was leafy and affordable. What it was not, however, was diverse. And there was my mom, caramel in complexion with her light-skinned baby in tow, being asked where my mother was since they assumed she was the nanny. I was too young at the time to know what it was like for my parents, but I can tell you what it was like for me – how they crafted the world around me to make me feel like I wasn’t different, but special. When I was about seven, I had been fawning over a boxed set of Barbie dolls. It was called The Heart Family and included a mom doll, a dad doll, and two children. This perfect nuclear family was only sold in sets of white dolls or black dolls. I don’t remember coveting one over the other, I just wanted one. On Christmas morning, swathed in glitter-flecked wrapping paper, there I found my Heart Family: a black mom doll, a white dad doll, and a child in each color. My dad had taken the sets apart and customized my family. Fast-forward to the seventh grade and my parents couldn’t protect me as much as they could when I was younger. There was a mandatory census I had to complete in my English class – you had to check one of the boxes to indicate your ethnicity: white, black, Hispanic or Asian. There I was (my curly hair, my freckled face, my pale skin, my mixed race) looking down at these boxes, not wanting to mess up, but not knowing what to do. You could only choose one, but that would be to choose one parent over the other – and one half of myself over the other. My teacher told me to check the box for Caucasian. ‘Because that’s how you look, Meghan,’ she said. I put down my pen. Not as an act of defiance, but rather a symptom of my confusion. I couldn’t bring myself to do that, to picture the pit-in-her-belly sadness my mother would feel if she were to find out. So, I didn’t tick a box. I left my identity blank – a question mark, an absolute incomplete – much like how I felt. I, on the other hand, have healed from the base. While my mixed heritage may have created a grey area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that. To say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman. That when asked to choose my ethnicity in a questionnaire as in my seventh grade class, or these days to check ‘Other’, I simply say: ‘Sorry, world, this is not Lost and I am not one of The Others. I am enough exactly as I am.’ (Some experts from an article Meghan wrote)