Mutha has moved!

Check out my new locally hosted website, I’m looking forward to your feedback.

Please visit www.muthablogga.co.za to view my latest posts!

What makes you love your city?

What makes you love your city? Is it the people? The nature? Your  friends? The atmosphere? The positivity you see in people each and every day, despite their circumstances? The respect? The creativity?

For me, it’s all of these things and more. I couldn’t leave ( no matter how much I say I would), if I was paid too. I am blessed enough to stay in one of the most beautiful, culturally rich, diverse, creative and positive cities in the world. Cape Town, the Mutha City. Here the rainbow nation bears its true potential. Sure there is poverty, there are vagabonds and those ever irritating parking guards, but we all contribute as far as we can. That’s what makes the difference.

A young economy such as ours and yet not even the likes of Mal-e-ma-n can dampen our spirits. We are in it together and here potential blossoms under the watchful eye of all who believe they are alive with possibility. As a mom I used to worry. Alot. About the future, about my daughter’s future, about our prospects.

Two weekends ago, after a long chat with a few family members I said to my fiance in jest ‘Honey, but you are not informed’. Later I realised it’s not that he is not informed but that he chooses not to be, not because he doesn’t want to be, but because of the way we grew up. The way everyone currently residing on this planet grew up. An unfathomable yet extremely sad truth. We are conditioned to accept bad news in a negative way, to talk negatively and react negatively. Let me ask you. What scares you about religion, the news, environmental affairs, economics, politics and other topics which should be the most important in our lives? It’s the negative conversations, attitudes and beliefs that these things install in us. This last weekend, something astounding happened, something that has changed me forever. While visiting the in-laws, the normal topic of politics crept into the room slowly and without much notice. Suddenly my fiance stands up and says in the most serious tone;

“I’m tired of all this negativity. We are the future and what does being negative do for us? Nothing! Someone has to stay positive. I have been waiting for catastrophe since as long as I can remember and so far it has been a waste of energy  and time. Without positivity we are going nowhere slowly, so as long as I am here, I am going to stay positive about this country and our future. Evil, ultimately eats evil!”

There were a few extra lines which I won’t throw in now, but wow, did he have an impact on the room, silence. Followed by the most positive conversation I have heard in years ( especially from my inlaws) about how things are going and where they are going for South Africa. I will stand by him on this. This sense of inner peace is part of why I love him. We don’t watch TV. We choose our content and I always prefer a documentary of some sort to a movie full of what  the general population terms ‘entertainment’ (I have even heard it said that our celebrity, movie and entertainment industries were invented to provide distraction from our environmental affairs and other topics of equal importance, such as self-development and a positive contribution  to society) . Now, I’m willing to accept the biggest challenge I have ever personally endured, not even the challenges of my business  or day-to-day life or making the books balance at the end of each month can touch this, and it is a challenge I make to the world and humanity. Yes, that means you, if you are reading this, I challenge you to be informed, without being negative. To catch yourself in conversation as you talk about the latest world crisis, crises taking place in your own town or  things you perceive as negative in your life right now, anything that drains you of your energy and therefore your power, love and truth ( Thank you Steve Pavlina). To do something about it, and stop, turn around and say to those people in the  particular situation,  I will no longer be negative about this topic, look how much we have going for us. Let’s look at what is positive.This small step in day-to-day conversation, if we were all doing it would change the world overnight.

Right now after 4 days of asking, the same question,’ what is my true purpose in life’, what makes me sit down and cry, what is my most important message to the world? It’s this, ‘I wish to be a catalyst for progress, for positive change, to make my mark on the world a positive one and no matter how informed I am, I will remain positive. I have more potential to change the world than any non contributor who seeks to create negativity whether consciously or unconsciously, by simply stopping those negative conversations in their tracks and asking, ‘ What positive contribution can you make to this conversation, right now? Negativity only weakens your will and ability to achieve your wildest dreams. My fear shall be my leader. My fears shall guide me, for as my friend Gina ( Secrets Unearthed) quoted, on her brand new blog:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

— Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech the greatest South African icon.

So lets all do ourselves and each other the greatest favour mankind can for this world, and let our positivity and light shine through. Be the change you want to see in the world.

I hope this blog post provides you with food for thought, and brings you a much needed breath of relief. Knowing that change can begin with  you. Even old minds, set in their ways can be changed when your inner and peaceful truth is spoken. By simply making a conscience decision to not play into others negativity, your words, your truth, the breath from your lips, can be the  beginning of a new point of view for the lives of those around you and that’s how you and I can change the world.

I’ve got a Secret..

Secrets Unearthed  ( yes, my favourite Jeweller in Cape Town) in collaboration with Casacade Jewellery will be showcasing their range of silver wares accompanied by bubbly and snacks this evening at their studio in Plumstead, Cape Town . For more information or to RSVP, visit their Facebook event page : http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=230839096950201 .

Then, if you have nothing to do this Wednesday evening, and love film, I highly recommend making a B-line to Fuguard Theatre. There’s a short film festival waiting to delight you. 6 of Cape Town’s finest emerging film makers will be presenting this short film extravaganza for free ( of course donations will be welcome)! Thanks to Grolosch, you will even be getting a free brewski, on the house.

The films showing are:

Anatoemy by Karlind Govender
Control by Michael Cleary and Pieter Hugo
Hive by Garrreth Bird
Jornada del Muerto by BlackMilk Productions
Sweetheart by Be Phat Motel
Witness by Dale Yudelman

Now, how can anyone with a creative bone in their bodies resist such an offer? Visit their Facebook page for more info : http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127837963968538

Back to School..

Settling into bed now and got my new book, Marketing Metrics by Paul W. Farris. Back to School tomorrow and I’m looking forward to getting back into routine. Yoga class first thing in the a.m, and loving the idea of adding a spinning class. Had a spin on Friday which burned over 400 calories in 45 minutes!  An action packed week to follow an action packed weekend.

Yesterday, my daughter and I hit the aquarium were we watched a fantastic magic show followed by the feeding of the predator exhibit. We cruised the red and blue sheds and headed to Quay Four for lunch. It amazes me, how, in so little time, my little girl has grown into a mature young tween. Five years ago a trip to the Aquarium meant chaos and possibly a tantrum somewhere along the lines and today I can sit and have a fabulous mom and daughter chat, no problem. Today, we visited family, and enjoyed a lovely Sunday lunch followed by Sundowners with my favourite ladies at Pepenero’s in Mouille Point. It’s a fabulous place to go for a romantic dinner, a business meeting or like we did this evening, an all girl catch up. 4 pm to 7 pm is happy hour and the cocktails leave little to be desired at half price. Every mom needs a little me/ social time too, and what better way to do it than catch up over cocktails watching the sun set over the Mutha City. Thank you my gorgeous friends.

Wishing all my readers a lovely evening and a great start to the back to school week ahead.

Water, water, everywhere and not a single drop to spare

Everyone, needs to watch Blue Gold:World Water Worlds.  A wise review, and I share this with the utmost agreement from Rotten Tomatoes:

“I don’t give a crap if your busy!!! watch this documentary, this movie will take you to a new level of water appreciation.”

It does, after watching this film, I’m counting every drop I have access too as a blessing. The race for clean renewable energy sources is nothing when compared to the immanent depletion of our fresh water resources. Already it has been mapped out where conflict will occur over water first, and it will happen within the next 15 to 20 years. First world countries included. This is it, we are going to live through modern day man’s greatest challenge yet.

The film starts with the renditions of a man who journeyed in 1906 from Mexico to California in search of gold. He survived without water for 7 days, when rescued, he documented the experience of thirst;

“Saliva becomes thick, a lump seems to form in the throat, the tongue swells so large that it squeezes past the jaws, the throat so swollen that breathing becomes difficult, creating the terrifying sense of drowning, the face feels full due to the shrinking of the skin, many people begin to hallucinate, the eyelids crack and the eyeballs begin to weep tears of blood.”

The speaker goes on describe his state when he was found :

“His skin was like purplish grey leather, scratched but with no trace of blood,  his lips had disappeared as if amputated, his nose withered to half its length, his eyes trapped in a wink-less stare. This is not a film about saving the environment, it’s a film about saving ourselves.”

Makes my skin crawl. Fifty years from now, we, our children, or children’s children, may experience thirst as described above. Every source of water on the planet, even our rain clouds, may be privatised. This is already happening. By the time most people realise what is going on, it will be too late. We’ve got sink holes forming under our cities as we drain ground water faster than it is being restocked. I was surprised to find out that this is where sink holes actually come from. Instead of replenishing the earth, rain water is being sent straight back to the ocean without leaving its precious mineral deposits along the way. Previously, not thought to be a problem, it is. We are using 30% more ground water than is being re- deposited. Why, if, there are permeable paving solutions that allow for rainwater to pass through into the subsoil, with the pollutants from cars being removed, improving the quality and the amount of ground water, are they not being used.

You are probably saying, yes, but we now have desalination, can’t we simply remove the salt from our oceans? Sure, but unfortunately desalination plants require fossil fuels to run, a lot of fossil fuels. It’s a dirty process and is extremely damaging to the surrounding environment, our environment. Nuclear power is also not an option as we do not yet know how to get rid of nuclear waste. Then we also need to ask, who would own these desalination plants? Corporations most likely, in collaboration with the World Bank. Imagine relying on them for water like we do for medication. Imagine what that means for a second, a corporate coup restricting water supply to your country, which has no water for a week or 2, how many would die? That sort of power, no one should ever have.

As a South African, living in the Mutha City, I am finding it easy to be passionate about this topic. In 2009 the City of Cape Town ( click here to see the weekly dam level reports)  released a report stating that our water supply would not adequately supply our city beyond 2013, since then we have installed a new dam and are transporting water from outside the city via pipeline. This film really hit home for me here. Dams and pipelines will not solve the problem long term. Another proposed  project includes the building  of a desolation plant along the west coast of Cape Town ( check out Cape Town’s water plan for 2011 here). As if we weren’t already one of the dirtiest countries in the world with our fossil fuel driven power stations. Now that I understand the impact, I’m completely against the idea. Perhaps it is time for us to do what they did in Bolinas, California. The citizens called for a halt to all housing development until the local water supply in the area could support all the people currently living there. It was a battle fought in court for 14 years. Government officials had said that this was an interference with commerce. The people ultimately won and it’s working for them.

Besides highlighting our local issues in sunny South Africa this film showed me the true dark side of corporate America and other 1 st world countries in Africa. The World bank has been providing African countries with ‘aid’ for years, while getting back $1.3 to the $1. So much for aid, sounds like daylight robbery. Basically through a million documents and legislation it comes down to something like this: ‘Hey, we’ll give you way below market value pricing on your valuable resources in exchange for aid you need now but later you will still owe us and will continue to do so forever as that is how our system works’. With no choice, they accept. I’d like to know how on earth this makes any sense? No wonder these countries cannot provide adequately for themselves or their children and need aid in the first place. It’s a sick cycle and it isn’t going to stop until the 1st world country populations, catch a wake up call.

Today, water ( and its related diseases, as well as lack thereof) kills more people than wars, AIDs, or any other reason put together. ( sign the petition here)

It takes 7 litres of water to produce 1 litre of bottled water, 32 liters to produce a single microchip, 350 000 litres to produce a motor car. So, what can you do about the situation?Find out more here or here or here or here and do take a look at Chicago’s green alley project, which is reducing there lost rain water to storm drains by 80% here.

Personally I take showers, we are lucky enough to not have a garden but a paved back yard, I grow my plants in insulated pots which don’t need lots of water, our toilets have the dual flush system.I turn off electrics and don’t leave lights running ( remember it takes water to produce electricity). We don’t have leaks, we don’t leave our water running when brushing teeth or washing hands, we only ever run full washing loads. I think I’ll be adding water catchments and even better, a hydroponic system so I can grow my own veggies in a much more water efficient manner than can ever be delivered by a store, and so can you, even if you are living in a city in a flat you can do this, check out www.windowfarms.org. Love the window farms concept.

I guess, the bottom line is that its time for us as a global community to grow up, start taking responsibility for ourselves.

The ‘Time is Capital’ factor

There’s a serious distinction between being self-employed and being a business owner. For those that have not read ‘The Cash Flow Quadrant’ by Robert Kiyosaki, the distinction may not be so clear. Let me elaborate in the simplest possible manner. When you are self-employed, you own a job, you are the business. When you are a business owner you own a business that works for you, in the same way that an investment does. It does not need your input to continue its day-to-day processes and if you died today it would live on as your legacy to the world.

Being a business owner, has always been and always will be my number one goal. I  do however want to achieve this goal without capital  ( monetary capital) input from either myself or others.  Getting my current business off the ground was easy in this way. No monetary capital required, just hard work, and a lot of it.What I realise now though, is that I made the no.1 rookie mistake of all who are self-employed. I did not look at my time as capital. Read that again. Your time is capital.

To be perfectly frank, at the time, I had no choice, time was all I had to give. I wanted to be self-employed, I wanted to be independent and not have someone else decide what I earned or what I did.  I have certainly achieved this. My idealism and passion for what I was doing has spurred me onwards through some extremely rough times, but how long can one move forward  on idealism and passion alone, when you are constantly bombarded with the fact that we do not live in an ideal world and passion wither’s under these circumstances.

Today, 5 years later, the long hours required of me on a daily basis are no shorter. I cannot yet, decide to simply take a break for a month or two, take a long holiday, not have my phone on for emergencies, or be anywhere without reception for more than a day or two. If I do take a break it is chaos on my return, requiring days or weeks of playing catch up, not to mention the lost income or upset clients. Originally my goal for the business was to have more time to spend with my daughter, run the errands that need to be run, study further, enjoy my favourite hobbies ( writing, researching topics of interest, DIY, gardening, exercise, cooking and photography) .

My Mutha was always one of my greatest inspirations ( I hope I will achieve the same for my daughter one day), she has and still is self-employed to this day. She still works hard and it keeps her young, ( really she doesn’t have a single health issue and is still gorgeous when compared to her peers), she won’t stop as she loves what she does, it is purely luck though that she loves her work, as even if she did not, it would still be necessary for her to continue due to financial requirements. While I admire and love her enthusiasm and the way she can weather any storm,I have to ask, do I want the same situation for myself in 30 years from now. The most honest answer I can give, is, no.

So where does this leave me now, having come to these astounding yet simple realisations, that only experience can provide. A catch 22. On the one hand I realise that I don’t want to be at these cross roads forever. On the other hand I want to take the next step but stepping away from my current business and starting something new, from scratch, after 5 years of input, feels wrong. I have been in the midst of this internal battle regarding my infant business with all its birth defects for 6 months now and it hasn’t improved the situation.

Another thing I realise  is that, I have a few character flaws hindering my progress. I like getting things done, I enjoy doing things myself or in a certain way and I find it extremely difficult to let go of the reins, I enjoy control, not something many will admit to, but I have found being honest with myself to be the best start to progress.Funnily enough I have come up with a plan which could allow me to make my current business, ‘me free’. Sure it’ll take some more ‘Time Capital’ on my part to get it going, but once running, it would not require very much input to be run. It’s such a bold move though, that I am scared I might simply slip back into old habits, feeling a need for control, wanting to constantly make sure clients are happy and then there is the fact that the model is so different from my current one that it will come with a range of new defects I cannot be expected to comprehend at this point. Considering that it does put my entire current business at risk is also just plain frightening.

Steve Pavlina‘s book, ‘Personal Development for Smart People‘, mentions several factors I can attribute to my current cold feet. Over generalisation,  social and media conditioning and the lack of accuracy inherent of planning for anything.  Perhaps I should take this risk, perhaps I should simply take  Richard Branson‘s advice and say ‘Screw it, I’m going to do it’.  If the Time Capital I invest ends in my business going under, what is really the worst that could happen? I’d have to start again, do something new, learn many lessons in the process. Not sounding that bad, I guess.

What would you do in my shoes? Do I take a leap of faith and step back from the reins, possibly risk the business its taken 5 years to build or continue to be self employed, play it safe and continue loosing my Time Capital?

Enjoy a clean desktop? Try rainmeter..

If there is one thing in this world I love, it’s a clean, neat desktop that offers the functions I use regularly, without those messy and often downright ugly Gadgets offered by Microsoft. Meet Rainmeter, a desktop customisation platform that allows you to display exactly the information you want to see, how you want to see it and nothing else.

Personally I opted for the Wheat 1.0 plugin.Which was designed by independently. Check out these gorgeous results:

Pretty, right? Time, date, my favourite blog feed, Google search and notes. What more does a mutha need?

There are so many options available and all plugins can be edited to display as required via notepad. For a few more examples of what I’m talking about, take a peek at Rainmeter’s download page by clicking here.

How to install and manage Rainmeter

Step 1: install Rainmeter here: http://rainmeter.net/RainCMS/ , choose the best option for you 32/64 bit version as you require.

Step 2: Once installed download your favorite skin from Rainmeter’s recommended skin suites or if you like mine, download Wheat 1.0 here. (You can also download multiple skins and simply mix and match your favourite elements from each of them).

Step 3: Right click the icon which now appears in your task bar, and click ‘configs’  then ‘manage skins’, you can now browse the skins you have uploaded, and add your preferred elements individually.

The rainmeter forum has a wealth of information on this product, but if you get stuck, leave me a comment and I will assist.

GooglePlus set to change the rules of social..everything

Image via CrunchBase

For weeks, millions have been waiting for their invites to join Google’s new ‘Plus’, social networking platform. It’s to make waves of epic proportions and if you haven’t heard about it yet, you probably don’t have many friends who are web developers, designers or anything web orientated.  Personally I feel that the closed Beta testing was done for a good reason as it was mainly tech savvy, media orientated people who received their invites or hacked their way in first. A good criteria for Beta testing, the feedback must have been phenomenal.

You are probably asking, okay, but how does this new platform change the rules of the game, why should I invest my time in yet another social app when I am already managing so many accounts, that I have to use things like Tweetdeck, just to keep up?

Well for one, what this platform is really doing is creating a web identity for you. Plus is set to influence how people interact, not only socially but for business , how search results you see on search engines display and what displays. Are you freaking out or over the moon yet? Yes, you will soon personally have influence over what results search engines give you. This technology is still under development and completely mind-blowing but sounding more and more like a challenge to figure out. How can this function help or hinder your business in the future, what practices will be required for the improvement of your website ranking? How heavily will this functionality impact on how users find you? Will your website ranking status be affected, and either way, how can this be measured? Others may say, oh, no, I was just getting the hang of working one way, now I have to change? For myself, I am seeing it as an  extraordinarily fun challenge, the beginning of a new journey.

As you can imagine, all of this excitement is creating quiet a ‘buzz’ with those in the know. For a demo check this out:

http://www.google.com/+/demo/

Having finally gotten my invite, I have had tremendous fun setting up my account.

So far , what I really enjoy most about this platform is the control over who sees what, Steve Pavlina (author of Personal Development for Smart People, ,the book I am currently reading) wrote a wonderfully entertaining article on using Google Plus’s circle function last night, read it here: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2011/07/using-google-circles/

I’m also looking forward to seeing how video conferencing in ‘hangouts’ works. Apparently, younger users are loving this function. Currently if you want to use Skype conference video calls at least one party has to be paying for a premium service. Don’t know if you noticed a few little tweaks showing up on Facebook in exactly this direction ( they must be worrying) or have perhaps you have heard of the new deal between Skype and FB recently? Somehow I doubt they will be providing the same functionality for free as they currently charge for this or perhaps the competition will scare them into providing a free video conferencing service as well. Its like watching trapeze artists swinging around without a net, extreme entertainment.

On the downside, although circles offer you more control than ever before in terms of the content you provide people, I would like to see a little more flexibility ( I don’t know if this will change in the future but I hope so), with regards to name display. As you all know this is my anonymous blog, so I feel its important for me to be able to maintain anonymity if I want to.  From the previews I had heard and seen I was under the impression that this was a function that would be offered. It doesn’t seem to be, currently. Wouldn’t it just put the icing on the cake if you could choose your name to be displayed for certain circles? You could then include a business or anonymous  profile to your personal profile without infringing on your privacy and  maintaining a  single account, instead of the crazy multiple accounts I have been until now. Honestly, I would shut down my FB account today if this was offered. I have never enjoyed Facebook as a business tool, its simply too limited in someway’s, like, friend limits and the fact that if you are in the placement industry having your staff and clients on the same page, may result in loss of business or the fact that you can pour your heart soul, sweat, blood and tears into your group pages, or app pages, and it will all have zero influence on your websites ranking outside of the FB platform, no matter how many thousands ‘like’ your service.

I know I shouldn’t be comparing these 2 but even with the limited friends I have on + at this point,  I am sure you can see which way I am leaning. I’m looking forward to more updates and upgrades and keeping a sharp eye on the progression of what could become the most powerful social platform yet! If you would like an invite ( they have now opened the flood gates and invites are open to everyone) pop me an email ( muthablogga@gmail.com) , and I will send you one.

Links and tips for the DIY Cape Town Bride

As a bride you have probably started realising the same thing I did about 8 months ago, getting married is expensive. I started questioning, why this is the case. Weddings appear  have become an entire multimillion rand industry, generally aimed at tourists. Perhaps its cheap for a foreigners budget, but for us poor South Africans, it leaves the newly engaged couple with a sense of dread and the possibility of not being able to afford a honeymoon. Mutha to the rescue. As I love researching things and DIY-ing everything, I’ve already lowered my costs significantly. Below are list of some of my favourite service providers that’ll give you the sense of relief you have been looking for:

The first step in planning any wedding is of course looking at your budget and the number guests you are planning to have, personally I am keeping the guest list to a modest 60 to 70 people. Extended family and acquaintances can suck it up if they don’t like it, the cost is a little more than significant and being my practical self, I won’t not enjoy a wonderful honeymoon for their sakes. The venue fees and lunch or dinner might at first appear ‘cheap’. Don’t be fooled, while it looks like a total of around R 300 to R 400 per head, when you get around to considering all the other expenses involved it generally works out to more like +-R 1000 per head. If you are really clever and with a bit of hard work, you can possibly get this down to around R 600 to R 800 ( I certainly have!) including your dress and sparkles.

So this is the first and most important step, you will need a guest list and its a good idea to first discuss family with your partner and parents. If your parents want certain people that are not on your list, invited, and you are covering the wedding costs, its common courtesy for them to cover the bill for these insignificant randoms who will be hanging around on the big day.

Next, you’ll need a budget planner. Download your free budget planner and guest list manager  from www.perdekoop.co.za. You can tailor it to your needs. It certainly served me well, to arrive prepared, when looking at venues. If I had not had that little piece of paper everywhere we went, I would not have found, on further investigation, that most places, had a gazillion little hidden costs they would only normally tell you about after you have signed the papers. Caught a number of them out hiding more than 50% of costs originally given to me.

Now here’s where the real fun starts, based in Maitland and stocked with all sorts of things you may require at your wedding, www.merrypak.co.za. They have a much wider range in store than what is on their website. So do yourself a favour, before  having your budget ripped to shreds by your venues provided ‘party planner‘ ( they all insist you have one that they provide, for which you pay), take a trip to Merrypak, you will be surprised what you find, from paper, to cake décor and confetti!

Love roses? Don’t have a fortune to spend on them? Contact www.amazingflowers.co.za, in Paarl, currently R 40 will get you 20 heads. Now that is value for money!

A while ago, while my fiance and I were viewing one those heavily over priced wine estates as venue, I did manage to come away with the contact details of the place I will be hiring a lot of our decor from, Bunches for Africa. These guys have got ‘well priced’ down to a bunch of real, tangible good prices. They also supply flowers and are truly the best value for money I have found so far in Cape Town. Check out there website here: www.bunchesforafrica.com.

Got any other links DIY brides in Cape town will love and find useful? Let me know!

Excuse my silence

Hi All,

Hope everyone excuses my silence this last week, but I’ve been busier than usual the last few day’s. A Mutha’s got to work sometimes too, you know.

I have been extremely busy with 2 massive work projects which have been eating up all my time. Not that I’m complaining. 2 new websites in a week, challenging but fun. Enjoying every second and writing up a storm, not too mention how much I love doing what I do! I have a few articles I’ll be posting later this week that I have been working on behind the scenes, so watch this space for tips on saving money on your wedding invites, useful wedding service providers in Cape Town that won’t leave you feeling like you just made an organ donation, and  updates on the latest book I have been reading. Also coming up; some great new recipes that’ll have your family and guests ( whoever is lucky enough to be invited) wagging their tongues around like happy puppies and singing your  praises to the Gods. In the interim, here’s some food for thought to get those creative juices flowing and beating ageing simultaneously:

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”

Hope everyone is well and that your munchkins aren’t driving you up the wall yet, personally I think I saw a grey hair this morning! With 3 weeks of school holidays to go, I cannot say there won’t be a few more by the end of it. Happy Holidays MuthaBlogga’s!