Thursday's Trio of Blessings

 Blessing One:

My hangover subsided fairly quickly this morning after my lock-in pajama party at a bar in town. Phew. 

Although tonight snuggled under blankets with my cat and watching series is definitely needed. 

So is a detox.

Blessing Two:

I received a wonderful belated birthday package from my friend in Canada  - which truly just made my day!!!
It contained a book that I've been wanting to read for so long, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, two mixed cd's which I still need to play but I know they are going to be good because Adrian has the best taste in music out of anyone I know!

Lastly, it contained an absolutely gorgeous dream-catcher that he made! Amazing!!!

I'm just beyond blessed.

Blessing Three:

Lastly, I'd like to take this chance to say thank you to the wonderful bloggers who took the time out of their day to really advice and chat to me about my situation I was dealing with last week in this post: Overwhelmed. 

I was completely heart-warmed by the long comments I received back and cannot begin to explain how much I appreciated each one of them. It made me feel very warm inside - so thank you. That wasn't exactly a Thursday blessing but I still feel so abundantly blessed today and had to make that known.


How has your Thursday been? I hope it is wonderful and that you are all showered with the love, light and happiness you deserve.

Peace be the journey.

Namaste.

Shoes of the Month | May

I know.

I vowed to never again buy from a cheap store....

Fail.

This months pair of new shoes comes from none other than Mr. Price (for you overseas readers, think of Mr. Price like Primarks).


I will never learn.

These shoes really caught my eye though and I couldn't say no. I'll probably only be able to wear them once a month to keep them lasting - and commit myself to only wearing them when I'd spend the majority of my time off my feet anyway...... what a waste.

OK - enough of the negative. Let me tell you WHY I chose these shoes (R 200.00) above something else... Well..

a) I thought that I was going to have no salary in June so I had to buy cheap shoes if I wanted to keep up my Shoes of the Month posts! (But then it dawned on me... oh God, how am I going to be able to afford the wine!?!? So I am not moving just yet. I couldn't. In all seriousness, I really just couldn't.)

b) I loved the beige color

c) They felt really comfortable

d) I love that look of merging the shoe and the heel into the same material

e) You can't deny it... they are pretty stylish and perfect for winter!

I love them.

Enough said... and my shoe collection is growing beeeeeautifully! I have same great fashion posts coming up showing how I have paired these boots with work attire.. so stay tuned.

Inglot 420 Lipstick | Product Review

I found this lippy about a year ago while traveling through Europe.

I fell head over heels with the color and went on a mad hunt to find it all throughout London. 

My scavenger hunt was unsuccessful and I returned back home to South Africa Inglot-less - and for a full year I never did stop my search for it. 

Earlier this month I ventured up to the big city and went strolling through a mall where I saw a big black sign with bright white writing: INGLOT. 

I could not believe it! Finally...

Needless to say I darted over there and scoured their  trays of lipsticks until I found my beloved 420 - which I bought straight away regardless of it being end of the month and having very little to survive on until payday.  

I had no idea how popular it was until I spoke to the Inglot rep who mentioned that I was very lucky to have found it as usually they are out of stock. It is one of the most talked about lipsticks in the range and on very high demand. 

It is a stunning matte, lilac color that lasts for hours. It is bright and playful; a real head-turner. I just love the lilac / purple shade to it and find it so unique and quirky. 

As it is a dry, matte formula I would advise against using it with chapped lips as it could enhance the dryness. Application feels slightly odd at first because of the formula but once you've got it on it is so comfortable. It doesn't come off easily, not even when you're eating or drinking. It sticks to your lips snuggly but isn't sticky - if that makes any sense at all. Overall - I really love this lipstick.

The packaging is classic and chic - simple and elegant.

It is paraben free and is not tested on animals.

It probably does lean a little towards the expensive side but because I've been wanting it for as long as I have.. I would have given an arm and a leg for it! 

So happy with my new lippy added to my endless collection.

A woman's guilty little pleasure... 

This photograph was taken in Munich in May 2013:

 And this photograph was taken in South Africa in May 2014, wearing the exact same clothing and the same gorgeous Inglot 420 lipstick. 

So awesome to see it one year later wearing the exact same things!! Wow:

Oh.. the hat was on during the course of the day - but during the dinner I took it off. 

I was have a seriously bad hair day too... I still am. Gah.
 

Overwhelmed

Here is my situation:

I have possibly got the best job in the world. I work for the most amazing people - I am surrounded by stunning and rare art work all day long. My salary is good. The town I stay in is beautiful.. Small, but beautiful. It's right by the ocean. I have so many incredible friends and family in the area plus my absolutely gorgeous little nephew, Jenson, who is only 5 months old. 

I am happy here. 

Then there's this big change coming up that is completely knocking me off-kilter. I'm supposed to be moving to Pretoria in three weeks time. I've resigned from my job. I've made the necessary arrangements - found a job, found a life.... but here's the thing: 

Pretoria is a big city. I've never lived in a city before. I'm a born and raised countryside girl. Naive and sheltered from the big bad world. I don't know what traffic and smog is! 

I am used to my independence - getting into my car and driving to the next town for a beer at a great bar I know on the beach if and when I want to. After all this time, I am used to being alone. Being a free-spirit. I'm scared that moving there will swallow me up and destroy every inch of who I am.

Pretoria isn't me. There's no ocean. No family. No friends of my own. 

I'm scared. 

Above all else, everyone I speak to about the move tells me I'll be miserable there. The people that know me the best have told me that my soul will be sucked dry. 

I need the salty ocean breeze and freedom to be the bohemian backpacking, barefooted and footloose person that I am. Don't get me wrong... I can pull myself together and wobble around in heels if I need to:

But at the end of the day, I always end up reverting back to the quirky, silly and humorous woman that I am:

Heels hurt man..... I try though.

I am a lady... I like to have a nice handbag and dress up. I enjoy lavish dinners and good wine. I am a bundled mixture of a free-spirited hippy, surfer girl and a .. golly.. I don't even know what to call it? A lady. That's the only way I can describe it. I like fashion and watching The Bachelor and doing my nails. I am both. I like to get my hands dirty and do crazy, adventurous things! I love camping and hiking and just being out in nature.

I am just me....

...A mixture...

The kind of girl who whips her sticky bra off in public and goofs around like a knob. 

And the dufus that wears helmets inside a restaurant... which is probably for the best considering.......

The idiot that rides a pink bicycle with tassles through Amsterdam and visits the Berlin Wall in her pajamas:

The absolute MORON who epicly fails at her chance to take a ridiculous toursity photograph with The Leaning Tower of Pisa!

I park like a wanker:

 

When I hug you I do it properly... I shower you with love and affection:

And when I buy presents I like to be really creative:

And although I say "No I am not going to stand in a stupid cluster of women and attempt to catch a bloody bouquet of flowers!" at every wedding I attend... I always seem to be roped in and catch the freaking things

I am always the first person up on the dance floor...

The Majority of my life is spent with sunburn.

 

And sometimes I snort when I laugh....

I need the beautiful views and  scenery that is my residence.

On that note....

I know life needs to move on and I need to experience something new. That is all part of growing in life, is it not? To me though, my form of growing is travel. I save and hoard money away like a magpie hides away shiny objects in its nest and when I have enough, I book a ticket to some great place in the world and I indulge myself in the culture, food, history and beauty of somewhere new. 

That is my passion. I work hard for that. I need that. 

In Pretoria my expenses will skyrocket and what I can save per month will quickly diminish. 

I don't know what to do. 

My boss has told me that they want me to stay. They are being so unbelievably wonderful to me and I actually cannot begin to explain how lucky I am. They've even given me options, to try it out and if it doesn't work I can come back after three months. I don't deserve such incredible people. I also don't want to muck them around - they deserve the best. 

I am just so, so happy there.

I want to stay - but is this an opportunity to grow and experience something new that I will be missing out on??? 

I'm so confused.

If I move to Pretoria my entire life will change. I know that. Everything that I am and how I live will be altered. I will become an instant mum to the most gorgeous 6 year old boy that I know and most likely end up married with kids of my own sooner rather than later too. I know that is what is awaiting me there if I take that plunge. 

I just don't know if I'm ready to change my entire life yet. I am so content with how my life is. 

I want to be married and have children and grow old with someone.. of course I do. But I feel that there's something I'm missing. Perhaps something that hasn't happened yet and is going to that will send my life onto a completely different course. Who knows what that is. It could be anything. It could even be the move to Pretoria! Or it could be more travel.. to Bali, Ireland, Canada and many many more places that I am dying to get to.

What if the rest of my life is right in front of me but I just can't see it??? What if the rest of my life is something I don't even know yet - or something I do know but can't get to just yet. 

I am dwelling so deeply into this stuff and normally, being the person that I am, I'd let life just take its course. I'd live with the confidence that whatever will be, will be. You can't change destiny. 

But unfortunately right now, I've completely overwhelmed myself with this move and giving up my lifestyle in the cozy town of Knysna. 

Do I move? Do I chance it? Or do I stay? 

Staying wouldn't be because I'm scared. I'm not scared of change. I embrace change. I love change. But I get this feeling that it isn't right. I don't WANT to be there - but I know I'd be missing out on an amazing life if I don't go. 

What do I do???? 

Only I can make that decision at the end of the day.....and the time is looming closer to when I need to make the final call and I'm just going crazy thinking about it!!

My heart and soul is craving something.... I just don't know what that something is.  

Right now it's Saturday afternoon and I just feel like doing this:

Giving up!

But at the same time I am the type of girl that believes that wishes do come true...

And although I know that happiness is a mood and not a destination, it will forever be something that I fight for.

Perhaps I need to listen to my own graffiti'd advice...

Someday Your Ocean Will Find Its Shore.

Right... glad I got that off my chest. It feels so good to just write it out sometimes. Apologies to those of you who had to endure that little rant and ramble!

Does anyone have any sort of advice or words of wisdom to offer me though??? 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Thursday's Trio of Blessings

Blessing One:

 My debut novel entitled Walk With Me is now complete, edited, polished, printed and ready for sale! It is the most fulfilling feeling I have ever experienced. 

To be dead honest with you, I feel like I now just need let the book go. Kick it out of its proverbial nest and let it build its wings on the way down.
I've been writing furiously away at my second novel which, to me, is far better. 

Walk With Me was written at the tender age of 19 and has been coming into fruition ever since. 

I can pick up on how my writing has matured and my story-telling grown as I flip through the pages of my first bound copy of Walk With Me. No amount of editing and polishing can change that and I am completely torn about what to do about it. 

 In one way, I feel I should be proud at what I wrote in my 19th year of life... in another way I feel like the book doesn't portray my writing to its full potential. 

I guess that's the thing about debut novels though isn't it? They are a learning curve and it can only get better from there. 

So... If you are in the process of writing your first novel I urge you to complete it, as long as it takes! Once it's done - edit and complete and then let it go! Start the second. Never give up.

Blessing Two:

I'm not sure if this one is a blessing or a curse.. but my good friend RichO has arrived safely back in South Africa after working on the rigs in Vietnam.

He's only back for the weekend and has planned a second birthday bash for me.... last time he was here was when THIS happened:

CRAZY APRIL PARTY.....

He is back with a vengeance!!!
When they work on the rigs they aren't able to drink - so it has been about 6weeks now.
Save me.

I've only just recovered from the last party with him!!

Let's go for round two.... oh dear Lord.

Blessing Three:

This morning I woke up with some of the blankets still covering me!

I don't know how she does it, but somehow my cat, India, tends to find a way to ensure that she hogs every last inch of warmth in my bed! It is winter. It is cold. Yet this morning I was so cozy - it was hard to get up! I adore my snuggles with my little Indie though - so she gets away with it.

How was your beautiful Thursday? 

Have a happy weekend, folks!