October Favorites

I woke up this morning absolutely positive that it was Halloween, excited to cozy up this evening to gory horror films and tea. 

Alas, it appears that I am a day ahead of everyone. For that reason, I am writing my October favorites just a few days early this month. I'm practically bed-bound anyway so not sure what else could really happen within the next 48 hours to make the cut. 

I have severely injured my lower back and have been going to regular appointments with a physiotherapist to get some out of place joints sorted out. 

The therapist is concerned that I may have a slipped disc too due to some signs such as how I find more relief lying on my stomach that I do flat on my back and also the pain I feel every time I laugh, cough or sneeze. 

It has been about a week since I got hurt and slowly I'm weening myself off of the pain killers and can nearly walk without a limp. 

I really have been in the wars this month actually... not only have I started walking like an 80 year old, I have also experienced what it feels like to have a hillbilly's mouth thanks for getting my front tooth chipped. I got knocked in the mouth earlier this month and after a substantial amount of pain, I got it all repaired.

I guess I've been on a bit of a bender lately... stumbling home at about 4-5am on most nights. It's all innocent fun at the end of the day and I am just acting my age. I had taken on the life of a thirty year old far before my time and it has felt good to just let loose and experience my lost youth; and of course I can't deny I have been drinking away a lot of pain from my battered heart, but I'm not getting into that.

There aren't too many pictures at all this month. 

In all honesty, I'm not too sure what has happened to me. I used to be the creative enthusiast with a camera constantly slung around her neck. I was the snap-happy tourist in even my own town... yet the other night I decided to take a walk along the shoreline, the moon was bright and full and the stars polka-dotted the sky with their incandescent glow. 

A good friend of mine, Brendon, accompanied me on my walk and he piped up that it was disappointing that you could not capture that eerie appeal of the moonlights reflection blanketed across the silky, ever-moving waves. 

In response, I whispered that 'some things just aren't meant to be captured, only experienced,' and he gave me a smile of complete gratitude for my answer.

Perhaps that is why I have stopped grabbing my camera at every new scene in my life. Perhaps I was so busy trying to entrap that moment into a frame that I never had a chance to really live in that moment. 

Another thing I have noticed is that when someone takes a picture of me, I suddenly couldn't care less about the outcome. To this day, if someone has their photo taken (guy or girl), as soon as the flash erupts, the person goes flying towards the photographer in order to see if it was good enough, of their appearance, of the angle... of everything. People get so caught up in capturing the perfect moment that they forget to live in the perfect moment! So much so that so many perfectly imperfect moments are lost to us. 

That being said, here are the few that I just could not resist:

 

 

My brother and I enjoyed a nice family feast of spaghetti bolognaise along with my sister-in-law. 

 

Finally hunted down the perfect cross to wear around my neck. 

 

I'm not going to lie, September / October have been extremely stressful months for the likes of my heart... A hot stone massage was definitely a great help.  

I decided to go back to being a brunette. The upkeep was just too much for me. As a surfer, my hair just couldn't handle it. It was insanely pricey to keep doing my roots and lets face it, this looks far more natural. I do really miss the blonde already, but what the heck.. it's just hair at the end of the day.

Taking regular strolls along the shoreline, one of my favorite past times. 

 I found Prince Charming in a local clothing store! Hahahaha....

 This was a good day. Started with Eggs Benedict at East Heads Cafe, then went on to explore an old abandoned mansion and ended with an hour at Coney Glenn, taking in the beautiful town that we are lucky enough to reside in.

And last but not least, my favorite song of the month or probably more like the year. Not only is the melody absolutely stunning, the lyrics are also just so raw and real and true - I Will Wait by Mumford & Sons, enjoy it ya'll:

And I came home
Like a stone
And I fell heavy into your arms
These days of darkness
Which we've known
Will blow away with this new sun

And I'll kneel down
Wait for now
And I'll kneel down
Know my ground

And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

So break my step
And relent
You forgave and I won't forget
Know what we've seen
And him with less
Now in some way
Shake the excess

But I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

So I'll be bold
As well as strong
And use my head alongside my heart
So tame my flesh
And fix my eyes
That tethered mind free from the lies

But I'll kneel down
Wait for now
I'll kneel down
Know my ground

Raise my hands
Paint my spirit gold
And bow my head
Keep my heart slow

Cause I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

xxxx

More Rambles of a Travel Junkie

Where I work a number of girls have just resigned and gone off on new and exciting ventures.

With that, we have gained a handful of newcomers who are learning the ropes and who are all on their own individual new experience.

I feel like I am standing, super-glued behind the desk, watching as my old friends wave goodbye.

I feel as though I am seeing these new vulnerable faces, nervous and alone as they creep through these unfamiliar darkened hallways, desperately trying to find their bearings.

At least they too are doing something new.

All I want is to see something new.

Travel, if only for just one week.

I want to study something that fascinates me, whether it be cooking or writing, psychology or tourism.

No. I don’t want this. I need this. I can literally feel the aching yearn for it deep within my heart.

To be fair, I learn new things daily at the spa.

But it’s other things, even as simple as discovering what a lobster tastes like as it melts like butter onto your tongue – that has always been a must-do on my list yet I’ve never had the chance.

I’d like to feel the spitting breeze of the ocean as I stand high up on a mountain top, touching my callous ridden palms from learning to fish.

I’d like to go and drink gloriously smooth, fruity wine with an absolute stranger as we teach one another language and cultures.

I want to awake to cracking bones from a rickety backpacker’s bed, a sunken lifeless mattress that I find refuge on and know what it feels like to not have to brush my hair three times a day to keep up appearance.

If I had it my way, I would plan a small one week trip at least once every three months, whether it be overseas or just around the corner to Coffee Bay.

I’d just like to have something that I was working towards, something that made each day exciting. I’d work harder to get to where I was going. I’d have that extra motivation and excitement build-up that lets face it, I need.

Right now, I’ve buried myself into this rut. Some call it small-town-syndrome.

I adore Knysna, I really do. It is a stunning town and I am blessed to live here.



There is such a phenomenal amount of activities in this one place alone that my friends and I do that just wouldn’t be possible if I still lived in Cheshire, UK.

I took Knysna for granted when I was in high school and only realized this upon moving to Liverpool and getting a major wakeup call.



Be true to yourself - no matter what. Not everyone likes the drastic changes I have made in my life recently, but in my heart I know it's exactly where I need to be going.



I’ll never, ever take this place for granted again but my feet are starting to get really itchy.

Just a week.

...It’s all I want…



A week to experience another small slice of this world.

Quote of the Month

Quote of the Day has fast become a popular blog post to work with...

As a new addition to my blog, I have decided to add one post per month containing my favorite quote I have heard in those few weeks. 

This month, I watched a movie called The Vow. It sent chills down my spine and within the first few minutes it became my favorite film since Pride & Prejudice.

A line from that film left me riddled with goosebumps and I just need to share it with you all:

“Life is all about moments of impact and how they changed our lives forever.

A moment of impact proves potential for change. It ripples effects far beyond what we can predict, sending some particles crashing together making them closer than before while sending others spinning off into great ventures.

That’s the thing about moments. You just gotta let the colliding parts go where they may and wait, for the next collision…….”

Shin Splints

Shin Splints are one of the most painful experiences I have had to deal with since entering the world of fitness.

As a qualified personal trainer, I thought I should compile some facts.

Yesterday I woke up and had a shin splint in my right leg, at the side of my shinbone for the first time in months.

Shin Splints are caused from an injury in your tendon and are most commonly found in runners / walkers who have recently done an uphill challenge.

People who have been susceptible to this injury may have been wearing inadequate shoes or simply overused their muscles.

Most people find that shin splints affect them in the front of the outer leg, below the knee. Mine has become prone to the right side of my shinbone (the tibia). 

The sensation is a deep burn or a nerve-wrecking bruise. I often find it feels as though someone is poking directly into a nerve.

The treatment... I have searched high and low for 24 hours.

Firstly, popping back some anti-inflammitories and two disprins.

I also heard heat treatment works wonders so last night I topped up my infamous hot water bottle and slept with that comforting my leg. I woke up this morning feeling much better but the pain is still present.

Shin splints take time to heal.

Good luck and keep fit!

Salvage - Online Secondhand Clothing / Accessories Boutique

It's up! 

Below is stage one of my stores first ever logo design:

I was thinking of adding on a button or a small bow hanging off one of the letters somewhere, just to make the vintage / clothing thing be more dominant. 

I just LOVE the play with the V, turning it into an anchor. 

What are your thoughts?

Italy, Italy, Italy, Italy......

As many of you know, I am saving like mad to get going on this contiki travel tour of Europe as soon as humanly possible.

I have a savings account with an embarrassingly low sum of money cooped up inside, as well as R2000.00 being held hostage by my landlords.

I still have about R14'000 to save for this trip - that is for the tour alone. Then I still need to sort out my visa, have no idea how much that will cost! Above that I still need to save for the actual ticket.

My goal was to go in May, for my birthday but I'm starting to face the sad reality that this may not be possible.

On a mission to pursue my dream I finally actioned a plan that my dad and I have been working on for a few months.

I have been working on opening up my own vintage / secondhand clothing and accessories store called Salvage. There is a graphic designer busy on my logo, which I will reveal to you all within the next week!

As for now, I am running this little business through Facebook as it seems to be the easiest way.

I am selling handbags and clothing for as little as R5.00.

Some of the items I am selling have never even been worn - so it's really worth your while to check it out by finding my facebook page, linked below:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152159008680307.908627.598380306&type=1

For now it is just an album, but once I have my logo finalized I will create a page and get things more professional.

All money made is deposited directly into my Italy Savings Fund. 

This month I made just over a grand and last month I had similar results and that was from just a few random bits and bobs; old rings and necklaces I'll never wear again etc...

So in that regard, things couldn't really be going better!

I am finally getting relentless with my things. Yesterday I sold my favorite brown leather handbag for just R20.00, but I just finally realized I have so many handbags and although I loved this one it was just collecting dust in the back of the cupboard.

Some friends have been so supportive and work colleages too, I am so blessed to have such a loving and caring support system all around me that are doing whatever they can to make this dream possible.

It's quite ironic really... to be a free-spirited traveler requires a lot of money.

I also noticed that to dress like a hippy, in bohemian clothing is also an expensive lifestyle.

Main Bazaar and Papaya, my favorite bohemian clothing stores have the most incredible clothes for someone with my gypsy style, but they cost over R200.00 per item usually! 

I find that hilarious.

The world is just so controversial. Bohemian's, gypsys' and hippies pride themselves for being care-free and living from the earth and all of that but reality is that to adopt that lifestyle is even more expensive than before.

To be vegetarian is extremely expsenive unless you grow your own crop, which lets face it, a lot of us just don't have time for. I mean, I have been planning to start a herb garden for months now. I bought the seeds and painted the signs and everything... it's the planting part that I am procrastinating about.

My favorite maroon hippy pants, also known as aladdin pants nearly cost me an arm and a leg! They are really comfortable and I love them to bits - but I couldn't afford to have an entire cupboard filled with that... not unless I did another trip to Thailand.

I have collected all of my old notepads over the years and flipping through the pages of a nine year olds rambles about her hopes and dreams of traveling Europe at the tender age of twenty makes my heart swell with sadness.

Back then I thought it would be so easy. I knew nothing about the process, the money, the struggle it would be... I knew nothing about visas and language and this and that... I just knew that when I left school I would go. 

I did travel a lot at twenty, exploring the streets of Thailand and Singapore, I rode camels in Tunisia and sat on the steps leading up to an emmaculate building in Greece. I belly danced in Turkey and poked fun at the guards in front of Buckham Palace, England. 

I have swam in many oceans and toured wine estates, indulging in delicious cheeses... 

I have taken wrong turns and gotten lost, I have found enticing new gateways and colourful shacks...

I have aquired many skills from surfing to fire breathing, to poi-poi dancing (setting myself alight in the process,) juggling bottles and scuba diving... I've done it all. 

I have done a lot for my age and for that I am truly blessed, I just wish I had handled those times better.

My mother took me under her wing and sorted out all of the flights and visas out for me - so again I just had it handed to me on a platter...

Now, at twenty-one, I am discovering it is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. 

I want to embrace getting lost on unfamiliar streets and stumbling across new and exciting things! 

I am trying so so hard.. I am working my butt off and saving every cent I can.

Please support my new online store, Salvage. 

I think it is going to bloom now coming close to Christmas! All these little earrings and necklaces make great little gifts if you have a box to plop them in.

The clothing is cheap and as good as new, I take insanely good care of my clothing so you'd know it would be perfect.

All I need is roughly R25'000. It IS possible. 

This sign on my forehead means a lot more than just a superhero...

 

There will always be new things being uploaded onto my site, so keep looking out and supporting. 

Peace be the journey.

Mild Chicken Curry - Easy to Follow Recipe

Mild Chicken Curry - Recipe

 There is a wide variety of different spice packs you can buy when making a curry. These are the best three that I narrowed down and I opted for the middle one.

Ingredients:

• Tender & Tasty Chicken Breast
• Basmati Rice
• 3-4 Carrots
• 3 Fair Sized Potatoes
• 2 Onions
• 2 Tubs of Plain Bulgarian Yoghurt
• 4 Garlic Cloves
• 1 Can of Chopped Tomatoes
• A Handful of Coriander
• 1 Thumb-Sized Piece of Ginger
• Red Curry Paste
• Chutney
• Indian Curry Leaves
• Pack of your Preferred Spice Mix
• 2 Chillies (Optional)

 Preparation:

• Finely dice onions, ginger, garlic and chillies
• Chop up the carrots
• Peel and half the potatoes
• De-stork coriander and give it a quick, rugged chop

Now you can begin.

• Put oil in a pot and warm on the stove
• Add the onions and saute with garlic, ginger and chillies for 15 minutes, careful not to burn

 

• While you wait, slice your chicken breast into strips

• Add in your tumeric and paprika (which for me is provided in the spice mix). At this point your mix is going to be extremely dry
• Water your mix down

• Now add the tin of chopped tomatoes, a big spoon of red curry paste and two dollops of chutney

 Add in dry coriander seeds (also provided in spice mix,) along with your carrots and potatoes

• Add some more water now to assist the sauce and cook the raw ingredients
• Grind in some salt and pepper here and there
• Add a sprinkle of coriander, keeping the rest aside for final garnishing
• Toss in some Indian Curry Leaves
• At this point you can start making your rice
• Important Note: Only put chicken in when the potatoes are semi-soft! Let the sauce boil and bubble in the meantime, stirring every so often
• Add chicken and leave it to sleep while it cooks under the red sauce, you don't want to disturb the chicken too much as it will fall apart

• After about 5 minutes add in the final layer in your spice mix (the final spice mix smells a lot like star anise to me, but the packet doesn't specify. If you can't get your hands on this exact packed then just throw in a whole star anise or two, fishing them out later. This gives the dish a really nice, subtle liquorice flavor)
• Taste your sauce.

• If satisfied, take out a piece of potato to see how soft it is. 
• Dish up, adding yoghurt and coriander on top and enjoy!!

Lessons to Learn from God

Something happened in my life recently, something that brought me a lot closer to God than I ever thought possible.

For days I was glowing - with a cheshire cat grin and an illuminated soul.

Becoming connected with God was a life-changing transformation, something I had been yearning for for years but I never had the courage to pursue it.

It is an intimidating path and personally I have many self-issues about my past . . . my wrong-doings and my faults. Those things continuously kept me away from forming that relationship.

I always had this voice plaguing me in my head, telling me that I wasn't good enough, that God would never forgive me.

At this stage in my life, I was surrounded by religious, faithful people who constantly kept sending me cryptic, uplifting messages. Not only Christians but people from all sorts of different backgrounds.

One person stood out from all others' though.

This person gave me strength, courage, pride and dignity.

He told me inspiring stories and helped me so much so to the point of actually meeting God.

Meeting God, for me, was more of an overwhelming, dizzied feeling rather than an actual handshake.

I had been on my bedroom floor, in an absolute state, crying. This person told me to just sit, breathe, close my eyes and think of God and him. He said he would pray while I was doing this.

At first, this brought on more tears, but then suddenly it felt as though this essence, this out-of-world being wrapped me up into the most perplexing security blanket and I felt my head completely clear to the point of dizziness.

It felt, in an arbitrary way like some gentle but strong force was touching my forehead. With that, I wiped my tears, got up and somehow I had gained that extra strength I had needed to get me through the day.

It was by far the most incredible journey in my life so far.

This person couldn't stay in my life though. Not the way I wanted him to.

At this point I felt myself being reminded of a part in the bible where this man gets everything taken away from him.

Satan basically tells God that this man, although faithful, would question God if all was taken away from him.

So God tested him.

The man never questioned God, never faltered in his faith and the man had everything returned to him, but doubled.

I think it is called The Book of Job.

This is the version of the story I heard from word-of mouth. It may not be all the facts but you get the gist.

I'm not saying that every person gets everything back doubled, or even everything back... the point is that I had something I treasured. I had something that meant the absolute world to me and it was taken away. The person that brought me closer to God was gone in that sense.

I may be wrong, but the lesson I think I needed to learn, especially in my circumstance, is that I need to stay true and keep my new found relationship with God as strong as it was... and not question him or his plans.

And I haven't, I won't.

Just an uplifting Saturday message to all you faithful readers'.

Have a blessed day.

How to Maintain Blonde Hair

I highly doubt that I should be giving advice on how to maintain blonde hair... so for the record please note that this is from someone who has been every different shade under the sun. 

I have chopped all of my hair off, grown it down to my hips, I have streaked it and feathered it and curled it... It's no where near the healthiest hair you've ever seen, yet I still get asked how my hair is coping with all of my experiments. 

Firstly, I dyed my hair platinum blonde for the second time in early May this year. 

It took a painful amount of time to look the way that it does today, in fact I was a glorified ginger for my twenty-first birthday party. Not one one my proudest moments...

My twenty-first birthday.

Since May, I have been using the Super Strong Paul Mitchell range to try and revitalize my poor hair. 

Every time I brush it it disintegrates. 

I really should go for regular trims but the first time I did that the hair dresser chopped off way too much and I nearly had a heart attack.

The Paul Mitchell range also offers a great Hair Treatment product which I leave in for about five minutes which really helps to hydrate it. 

Earlier this year I also decided to take surfing back on after I had quite a scare when a wave churned me around to the extent that I had no idea which way was up or down. I was under for about two minutes and it took me a while to paddle back out again. 

Now, this is pretty common knowledge but salt water and blonde hair don't exactly mix. My hair started showing a hint of green, more so from swimming pools than the ocean I think but even so, I went to a local pharmacy to find something to help.

Overtime, blonde hair also has the tendency to turn brassy / coppery and yellow so I opted for some purple shampoo to help with this dilemma.  

The coppery tint.

I found a product called Bleach Blondes Shampoo by Lee Stafford. It was purple, which is what I was looking for.... so I bought it along with the conditioner. 

I wasn't expecting much from an off-the-shelf product, working in a spa I guess I've become a bit snooty with products!

After lathering in the purple liquid, extremely thin and runny, I rinsed and used some of the lilac colored conditioner. 

I then blow-dried and straightened, using my Tresemme Heat Protection Spray. 

That night I went out and nearly every person asked me if I had redone my hair, telling me it looked so much lighter! 

I use my Lee Stafford products once a week now and every week I get the same feedback! 

I am extremely happy with Lee Stafford's products and the instant results. 

 

As my hair is naturally dark, my roots are impossible. 

I always thought that my hair grew insanely slow but after being a long-haired blonde this time around, I have discovered quite the opposite. 

Since May I have only done my roots twice. 

Once, I got lucky and we had a hair stylist come in for an interview and I was the test-dummy. 

I'm not sure how this girl did it, but she turned me into an ash blonde, almost white! At first I nearly cried. I hated it... but eventually I got used to it and it actually reminded me and all of my friends of Kahleesi from Game of Thrones. A few friends even started to call me that which I was quite chuffed with!

The yellowy tones came back to haunt me though, as did the roots... eventually I went to a hair salon in town and as hard as they tried, they couldn't get my roots anything lighter than ginger. 

Mortified, I have had to deal with it. 

It is so expensive and as a girl saving up to get her ass to Italy and see the world... I would rather be stuck with a head of hair that looks like a terrorist has attacked it. 

A night out after using Bleach Blondes Shampoo by Lee Stafford. Hiding my roots with a bit of a fridge flip.

You HAVE to find the right person to do your hair if you are going to be a platinum blonde, I cannot stress this enough. 

Do your research, ask them questions... don't worry about insulting them. This is your hair and your appearance at the end of the day. 

Good luck fellow blondies!

Hot Stone Massage

For those of you who don't already know this, I work in a spa. 

We have a total of twelve different massages and of those twelve I have had three. 

The first massage that I had was the Swedish Massage, which I absolutely adored. 

The second was a more unique massage called the, 'Colour Balancing Candle Massage,' basically taking a soy based candle and using that oil to massage the body. 

I had been really excited for the candle massage because you could choose between seven different candle scents which relate to the seven different chakra's of the body.

I chose the green candle, which indicated the chakra of the heart. 

What the candle is supposed to do is rebalance you in those areas where you give too much or little of yourself. 

Before I had these two massages I had only had one other in my life... a back, neck and shoulder massage in the Transkei around Christmas time; so the whole massage thing was a very new concept to me. 

Maybe I had expected too much from the candle, but from the two massages so far, the Swedish I felt was far more beneficial. It was money well-spent. 

I guess to start with I should tell you that I'm not really one of those people who can just go lie by a pool in a hotel spa for a day. I would much rather be out hiking or painting or exploring, learning and doing something new! 

Relaxing isn't exactly my thing - which is the whole purpose of the candle massage. 

In all fairness, it was fantastic. The Swedish massage though, was more painful... it worked on getting those huge knots out from my shoulder-blades and that is what I NEEDED. 

Yesterday I decided to give the Hot Stone Massage a try. 

A) It gives me something to write about

and

B) I'd have an idea of what to tell clients in the future. 

I think that all therapists / masseuses will have their own technique - so don't take this as the standard way of doing things. 

You know in all those pictures where you see hot stones placed on the back, like the one you see below? That's not really how it happened for me. This was clearly for a photograph!  

In my massage she first used her hands to rub in some Therenaka African Revival Gel while the stones heated up. 

The technique I felt was her gliding the stones across my back and pushing into my muscles, using them as an extension to her own hands - which was actually perfect for me!

I tend to get extremely ticklish in certain areas of my back, so much so that every therapists laughs at me when I squirm around! 

Using the warmed volcanic mineral stones made my more sensitive regions a lot more relaxed and I was able to enjoy the full massage. 

I was pleasantly surprised constantly by the warmth of the stones as they found new skin to soothe... and I must say that I feel this massage is the perfect massage for a cold Winters day! It warms the entire body to the core

Hot stones are beneficial for many reasons: The stones help to ease the muscles into deep relaxation, improves circulation, assist with stress, releases toxins and also aids relief for tense, aching muscles. Back in 1500 BC, Native American's used the hot stone technique to release tension and soothe their muscles. 

This specific massage is great for those who experience insomnia, overwhelming depression, anxiety, back-pain, sore muscles and arthritis.  

People who should not have this massage are pregnant women, women experiencing menopause (as it could bring on a hot flush,) people suffering from diabetes or high blood pressure as well as anyone who takes medication that thins the blood such as Heprin or Lovonox. 

I walked out of that spa literally on cloud 9. 

I had never felt so relaxed and at peace. 

So far, the Hot Stone Massage takes the cake. 

September Favorites

And just when I thought that I was all blogged out... along came the new month. 

I actually got a bit of a fright this morning when I picked up my blackberry and read the words, '1st Oct'. It's just crazy! This whole year has flown by in the blink of an eye. I feel like there is still so much I want to do but time is moving so fast that I can't keep up.

I have adopted a new tradition of late. 

As each month passes, I compile a photo album of all my favorite moments from that month and upload them with a brief description as a memoir. 

The first time I did this was at the end of August and the post went down a treat. 

This month - I have been slightly more reserved and haven't done amazing things like enter surf contests or conjure up exciting new recipes in the kitchen. 

Below is what I have been up to though... and personally it has been an amazing month. 

I am incredibly blessed. 

Enjoy!

My two beautiful kittens, India and Guru, snuggled up on the sofa together. Inseparable since birth and my complete pride and joy!

I boarded a yacht for the very first time. It was absolutely breathtaking. I swam under the yacht with seals and drank wine in the afternoon sun. It was 30 degrees, could not have asked for a more spectacular day.

I discovered Hazelnut Latte's at Mugg & Bean... heavenly I tell you.

Finally had sushi at Emily Moon in Plettenberg Bay, which has been a must on my list for months now!

Indulged in delicious pastries from Il De Pain on Thesen Island.

The insanely cool cat that lives aboard the yacht... no jokes. This ginger furry friend resides on the yacht and is completely mellow about it. This absolutely amazed me. This is a cat fish!

Had a number of great girls nights out on the town. On this particular occasion we went to an Italian Restaurant and all had delicious pizzas and pastas, wine and hilarious conversation.

Lit the mini fireplace in my new cottage whilst enjoying red wine and a film called, The Vow. Very good film by the way! A must-see for all die-hard romantics such as myself out there!

I was given the most precious, gorgeous gift... this beautiful guitar arrived at work yesterday afternoon, sealed snuggly in its beautiful casing along with a flip-file of poetry.  This guitar will be honored, regardless of my weakened hands since the accident, this phenomenal parting gift from an extremely special soul is going to guide me back to my musical roots. I also think it will bring my brother and I much closer together as we have actually planned a dinner and guitar lesson tomorrow night.

 The person who gave me that guitar is a believer in my writing and has the faith in me that I need to push on with my dream.

Walk With Me (my first novel) is in its final editing stages. I now need to come up with the perfect cover letter and synopsis of my novel before I can send it off the publishers, which I am slightly worried about. 

I googled the requirements to gain more knowledge of what these publishers want to see. I know my novel is destined for greatness, but no one will even pick my book up unless the cover letter and synopsis are good! The pressure is intense. 

I have a firm belief that when I am ready, everything will come together. There is a reason why things happen in the sequence that they do. Regardless of how hard you work, things only happen when you are ready for them. It is your choice to use the inner strength to go forth and conquer or to fail hopelessly... and sometimes failing happens. It is a learning process. 

Regret nothing and try as hard as you possibly can!

I have also just got to work on a new novel, entitled 'The Other Woman,' for now. I am breezing through the chapters and delighting myself by how easily the words are flowing from my fingertips and onto the keyboard.

Watch out world, Jade is coming! 

Best-selling Author - that will be my title soon. 

I have not a doubt in my mind.