Keep Calm and Go To the Sea

When I was young, we only ever referred to our beach holiday house as "the sea" - as if it was the only sea out there. To us it was! And so as today draws to the close a rather interesting, hectic and emotionally draining work year, I bid farewell to these four walls and cannot wait to go to "the sea" next week.

The plans are few, but the food and fun will be plenty. Books will be read, sun will be soaked in, wine will be drunk, catch up convo's will be had, boardgames will be played and table tennis contests will be won (by me of course!) and the laptop will remain firmly shut with the cell phone of course not having any receiption....these are the best types of holidays which make the 9 hour drive to get there well worth it!


Now just to ask the weather gods for no wind and cloud free skies and all will be perfect!

Keep Calm and Fake a British Accent

Two Australian Radio DJ's might have taken this a little too literally last week when calling the hospital Kate Middleton was in last week, pranking two nurses and resulting in one of their suicides. I'm not here to rehash all the details (my favourite online newspaper Daily Mail can do that for you) but it did get me thinking of the obsession I, and many others evidently, have with the royals.

One of my earliest scrapbooking memories was as a young child paging through all my mom's old magazines hunting for pictures of Princess Diana. My room was plastered with posters, photos, newspaper clippings of my hero. Now if I, as a young South African girl, growing up on a farm in the middle of no where, was this obsessed, I can only imagine how others within her reach must have been.

Fast forward a good few years and hundreds of us (both male and female) crammed into our office canteen to watch as her son tied the knot to Kate Middleton. I don't think that anyone, especially my male colleagues, could quite put their fingers on what exactly our fascination with the wedding was but we all knew that we wouldn't leave until it was done. Prehaps it's the real life fairy tale element that keeps us intrigued or the fact that an ordinary girl can be given extraordinary opportunities.

Regardless of the reason, I hope that the tragedies of the past will not again be repeated. That we as "royal-watchers" can respect the gravity of the consequences when some take it too far.

Keep Calm and Unfriend

Who are you again?!

One of my new years resolutions in 2012 was to live life in real time, in the moment and savouring the memory in my mind rather than living life on / through / obsessing over Facebook. I had grown tired of hearing what almost random strangers were having for breakfast, how they were feeling after their breakup, or my personal favourites, how their child was growing day by day through pictures. As a result, this year has been an awesome one which those who I do know and love, have shared with me, in the flesh. The relative privacy has been refreshing and the conversations I've had with my friends when we see each other have been so much richer because we actually have news to share in person!

The other day I realised that while the choice to not share every gorry detail of my life on the 'book has been great, I still was being exposed to all the details of so many people who I either don't recall at all, or met once...on a random party night...12 years ago... Was it really neccessary for me to have 810 facebook friends?! Hell no! And so the great Facebook "unfriend" commenced - 120 friends less later (with many more still to come) and I feel strangely lighter and perhaps even a little more willing to share online again.

Possibly the goal for 2013 should be, rather than not posting, redefine what it means to be a friend and be even more brutal with the great de-friend! Here's to keeping calm and unfriending :-)

Keep Calm and Sing Carols

Wow - I can't believe how fast the past two weeks have flown past! Things have just not stopped and now finally, as the the end of the working year draws closer, the mad rush seems to be calming down and we will hopefully be able to laze our way into shutdown. #5moreworkingdaysleft

It hasn't all been hard graft though: 3 lazy lunches, 2 year end functions and 1 half day off in the last couple of weeks is not a bad strike rate. But for now my focus is going to shift from all that has not yet happened at work to all that has not yet been done on the home front. For what must be the first time EVER, I have NO ideas as to what I'm buying everyone for Christmas. Oh - I have the gift boxes sorted, quirky gift tags purchased, the Xmassy washy tape read to stick, but do you thing I have any ideas as to what will go into the pressies?! Serves me right for only shopping for myself at the recent gift fairs.

So besides a shopping spree of note this weekend, we're also off to Carols in the Park tonight! Great way to kick off the weekend and get into the holiday mode! Happy Friday :-)

Keep Calm and Enjoy the Weekend

I can't believe it's Friday already (but thank GOODNESS it is!) This week has been exhaustingly busy - between Year End Functions, Training and Induction days - I'm all forced-socialised out and physically drained! Nothing that an evening on the couch can't fix, because tomorrow it's off to the Franschoek Bubbly Festival we go.

With only 3 weekends left until we head back home to the Oos Kaap for the annual pilgrimage required by our families, I'm keen to seize all the luxuries that living as a refugee in the Mother City brings... wine farms, gift fairs, shopping malls with more than 10 stores, mountain walks, amazing restuarants (with good service!!) and reasonably priced sushi!

Happy Friday and enjoy the weekend!

Keep Calm when Remembering Rhodes

#rhodesmemories was recently trending on twitter much to the dismay of other univerisities alumni who replied on twitter asking where all their memories were?! As I read through the hundreds of tweets, I had mixed emotions remembering the the days that Wordsworth would decribe by his famous phrase "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times."



Many of us took years to part with our overalls



I sometimes get asked by the students I meet if I could rewind the clock and go back, would I or is the working world better? Its a tough one for me to answer. So many of my greatest friendships grew during these crazy 4 years - through thick and thin we supported each other through break ups, let downs, tragedies, growing up and finding ourselves. Without some of the tougher times, prehaps these bonds would have been less durable, and so if that's what I can take from them, I do it gladly.



Boatraces...enough said

Some of the funnier tweets recalled how every year, we as Rhodents celebrate like we've won trivar (invarsity games against NMMU previously know as Trivar because of the now nonexistant participation of UFH) although we never do.  Other stories told of Smuts House, a guys res, and their firedrills where often there were more females than males present! Many retweeted that prospective parents, after reading all the trending tweets, were intercepting their childs RU acceptance letters and burning them...I'm not sure that I blame them.

At the end of the day, be it the best of times or the worst of times, they were times that defined me - definate us as friends. I look back now and write it all off to growing up, learning about life, making memories that will never be forgotten and having (now) hillarious stories to tell of how it all went wrong along the way. Here's to keeping calm when remembering Rhodes!

Happy Friday

It's been a SUPER busy social week and I cannot wait for a night where I can put on my PJ's and laze on the couch watching Suits (I've FINALLY gotten into it!) But alas, this will not happen tonight as we are off to SNOBS night at Bombay Bicycle Club (#cantwait!)

The SNOBS dinner club is something I've "plus-oned" into and so I can't tell you much about the origins, the purpose (other than getting together once a month and drinking copious amounts of wine and eating great food) or anything else deep and meaningful. What I can tell you is that the group comprises of some of my man's coolest, funkiest, funniest friends and once I put aside the best behaviour I display when meeting a bunch of strangers for the first time and let my hair down, I was immediately accepted as one of the SNOBS.

But before I head out tonight, I have to get through one more work lunch at Avontuur in Stellenbosch. I could think of worse things to be doing on a Friday afternoon :-) HAPPY FRIDAY!

Keep Calm and Have a Ladies Night Out




At this stage in life, ladies nights are few and far between and have taken on a far more mature format to those crazy girls-nights-out of days gone by. This weekend the girls and I left the guys (and in some cases, kids) at home and met for dinner at The Foodbarn Deli and Tapas. While it's wasn't my first trip to the Deli for Tapas, I loved tasting the new menu items and once again was pleasantly suprised when the bill arrived at how affordable the really great meal (and wine) was.



Picture from Foodbarn
website



Beside the great food and drink, I was reminded of how special time with the ladies is and how important it is to prioritise these nights. Who best that to discuss your blonde moments, work frustrations, future plans, overseas holidays, kids allergies etc etc etc with!

So as the year draws to a close and our social calendars fill to the brim, I'm going to try as far as possible to keep a spot or two open for the various special ladies in my life. A couple of other great venues and events to bear in mind when planning the next Ladies Nights are:

- Rick's Cafe which is always good for a quick drink and snack after work before heading home
- The Bombay Bicycle Club where we are having our SNOBS dinner club on Friday (I can't wait! Great food, Great vibe, Great Decor)
- The Harfield Village Carnival is happying on Saturday and is apparently amazing
- Something I'm definitely not going to miss this year is The Franschhoek Magic of Bubble Festival
- French Toast is another spot high on my priority list to visit

So many places...so little time!

Keep Calm and Pass the Exam

A few days ago I was on the UNISA website, searching for a course to challenge, motivate and stimulate my rusty old brain. I had decided that studying something would be the answer to the rut that I've found myself in career-wise, a stepping stone towards the long-term goal I've set myself of working in a relatively unrelated field and doing something as far away from the corporate world as possible.

And then this morning I went to wish the candidates writing their final CA exam luck and saw their drawn faces, nervous smiles and tense expressions and all of a sudden, the idea of studying further seemed FAR less appealing! After a minimum of 7 years of studying, the fate of these candidates will be decided today - will they have a CA(SA) designation behind their names in a years time or not?

I remember my final exam in the Rhodes sports centre like it was yesterday. The nervousness of knowing that if it didn't go well your plans for the future would be delayed by a year and while returning for a 5th year as a Rhodent would not have been the worst thing to happen, the idea of spending any more time in the sleepy town (with no Woolies Food store or decent clothing shops) was at that stage less than ideal!

The jury is out for now on my further studies, but I'm thinking of all those who are now 45 minutes into their papers in that cold UCT sports centre and wishing them the best of luck. While there is always next year, no one wants the pain of repeating all the hours of study put into preparing for this big exam - so here's hoping that the guys can keep calm today and pass the exam!

Keep Calm and Drink Coffee

Of the many things I love about my apartment, the fact that's it positioned between a girls school (#morningtraffic) and the SAPS are not some of them. Initially the thought of screaming 10111 (in a local accent) whenever I needed assistance in the crime department was appealing. Not so much at the moment, after 4 days straight of being rudely awoken at 5.30am by a pig hooting and "bee-barping" the sirens for about 15 mins to gain access to the copshop.

Can the police not afford an intercom system or is this arse just too lazy to leave the comfort of his car seat?! Perhaps the coppers responsible for letting him in are sleeping on the job? Not unlikely. It seems my neighbourhood isn't taking too well to the disturbance either - the one upside to this all is laughing my sleepy self silly at all the vulgar comments screamed his way by the irate residents of the 'berg out of their bedroom windows. Should this carry on for a few more days, I too will swallow my pride, move the curtains aside and carry on like a scorned fish wife! In the meanwhile, I'm keeping calm and having an extra coffee each day.  

Keep Calm and Overcome the Sunday Night Blues

I live for Friday evenings through to Sunday afternoons at the moment. And while Monday's are by no means my favourite days of the week, at least they aren't as bad as Sunday nights. Prehaps it's the anticipation of the week ahead being worse than the last, or knowing that while I've got sunkissed skin from the weekend, I'll soon be stuck back in an office while the sun and fresh air taunts me from outside.

More likely, I think that the Sunday Night Blues that developed in my boarding school years have never quite left me. Anyone who had to make the long drive back into town after an amazing time at home - eating good food, sleeping in your own room, catching up with family and friends - will know what I'm talking about! My brother used to call it the "dirty laundry feeling", knowing that once you were back in hostel, back to reality, you'd have to change all your linen (a true feat for a 9 year old kid - duvet covers proved an enormous challenge for those tiny arms) and sift through that smelly laundry from the past week to tick it off on the laundry list!

And then there was Chapel...the 3rd compulsory service of the week...in our formal wear. Getting those blackmail stockings on over sunburned legs, still hot from the summer temperatures and sticky with chlorine, was never pleasant. My grandfather used to say that he went to Church enough during his boarding school years to never have to go again (this didn't go down well with my Gran!) While I might not agree fully with Grandpa, I'll avoid the Sunday night service at all costs.

Other depressing things to avoid doing on a Sunday evening definately include watching Carte Blanche (the music alone is enough to make you want to slit your wrists), eating any form of pie (King Pies in particular were always on the menu at school on Sunday nights) and wearing anything other than your PJ's from early afternoon onwards.

Now that the Sunday blues are over for this week, I'm off to conquer Monday morning...

Keep Calm and Love Your Natural Hair (Not)

It's the 5th last Friday until work shuts down!! The days are warmer, the sun sets later, the gym is fuller (and the fact that I know this means that I'm going!) and generally everyone seems happier at this time of year. I'm more convinced than ever that Seasonal Affective Disorder (or SAD) is a real, REAL thing, and boy, am I glad that this long winter is a thing of the past.

However, winter does have some perks: the fact that skirts and bare legs are hardly ever seen allows for less-than-freshly shaven legs; the extra kilo's we tend to accumulate in the mid-year months help to keep you walm and mousy-brown hair is far more acceptable in the colder season than when your skin is sunkissed.

Being blonde is high maintenance, not only because of the inconvenience of giving up a good few hours of your Saturday's, but it's can be painful and did I mention expensive! I wish that I could give it all up for the love of my natural hair colour, but this is just not going to happen!

Just look at the definition of said mousey brown hair as per the Urban Dictionary: "Having a drab, pale brown hair color. Almost gray (ish.) In easier words: A REALLY UGLY BORING HAIR COLOR WHICH NEEDS TO BE STYLED PROPERY (brown hair always falls under this definition . . . sometimes blonde, but mostly brown) You know that your hair is mousy if it's not necessarily a medium brown shade, not necessarily a blonde, just in the middle... with a hint of gray"

And so if you're looking for me tomorrow, you'll find me sipping cappicino's and reading my Kindle while Edwina works her magic for an hour or three.

Check out this recommendation of Reve Hair Salon in Wynberg by Kim Gray last year!

Keep Calm and Grow a Mustache

Today marks the middle of November - or the middle of Movember for the many ladies counting down the days until their man will once again be 'tache free. I count myself extremely lucky not to be amongst the hundred of girlfriends being forcibly exposed to the prickle (although, by the looks of things last night, my man might just be threatening a late entry into the Movember club?! Heaven hopes not!) I can barely keep a straight face when trying to have serious work related conversations with men struggling to even get one shade darker on their upper lip, but those who are over achieving in the mo department are even more challenging to take seriously.

Where did it all start you might ask? I did my research and suppose I shouldn't have been suprised to see that it all started with the Aussies, because the first time I heard about Movemeber was through one of many expat friends who left our shores for greener pastures (this topic deserves a blog all to itself! #comingsoon) Back in 1999 a group from Adelaide started this annual month long event in order to raise awareness of prostate and other male cancer related initiatives and it's grown from there into an world wide awareness campaign. To find out more visit Mo and Sons.

Keep Calm and Give Blood

Did you know that a single blood donation can save up to 3 lives? Did you know that while having 5 days of stock is ideal for the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service they currently have 3.5 days worth of stock and this number can at times drop to 2 days? Their website lists the 6 good reasons to donate blood as being:

1. Blood saves lives: Every unit of blood donated can be separated into its constituent parts and used to enhance the lives of up to four recipients.
2. There’s no substitute: Unfortunately, there is no known substitute for blood and it cannot be replicated due to its complexity. Only real blood will do.
3. Blood is in short supply: Because the need for blood is so unpredictable, we’re always one day away from running out. While 75% of our population are potential recipients, a mere 1.5% are donors, and only 16,000 donors give blood more than four times a year.
4. It's a good cause: Giving doesn’t get much better than this.
5. You could be next: It's not a nice thing to consider, but the fact is that you, a close friend, or a family member could well be the next car accident victim or surgery candidate requiring a transfusion. Wouldn’t it be good to know that our stock levels are adequate?
6. The process is safe and quick: We use sterile, disposable equipment, so there’s no risk of infection. The entire process takes just 20 minutes, after which you can resume your daily activities. And finally, you won’t even miss the one unit (475 ml) of blood donated. It is quickly replaced by your body.

I found this chart rather interesting. If you do know your blood type, check out who your blood could help:

I'm on my way to donate my 17th pint now (very convenient that the blood service comes in to our offices to do it!) So what is stopping YOU from giving blood? Visit the South African National Blood Services website to find out where you can donate anywhere in South Africa.

Keep Calm and Go Coastal

One of the greatest gifts that my late-grandfather left our family was a 'cottage at the sea.' A little short of 60 years ago he decided to build a beach house, on what I believe to be one of the most beautiful stretches of beach that the Eastern Cape coastline has to offer, Kleinemonde (affectionately known as Kleinies.) Ever since that our family, like many other farming families in the lower Albany, has religiously moved to Kleinies for every Christmas break and most Easter holidays. The cottage itself is nothing fancy, but that's the beauty of it. It's been the setting to some of my cousins' and my fondest memories - and is probably the reason that we are as close as we still are.

Everytime we have a chance, we reminisce about the time when: our uncles rather under the weather friend fell off the balcony; the boys hid cane and cream soda in the bushes and after it baked in the sun all day, they consumed it with hillarious concequences; we brought our first boyfriends / girlfriends to stay and the cousins weren't always too welcoming of the outsider; Grandpa would shout "batman" to the boys because he couldn't remember who-was-who and desperately wanted his whiskey; we would sneak to bonfires, before Kleinies had a bar; we'd run around in circles following seagull prints thinking it was the Easter Bunny; the parents insisted we lie down on our beds for at least an hour after lunch, in silence, before we could hit the beach again; we had to go door-to-door to collect money of the annual sports day; we had a Mexican New Years and tequilla with the adults - enough said; we annually attend Christmas Church 'under the trees' and how no one there says Happy Christmas but rather "Happy Happ" or "Happ Happ." These are just a few of the amazing times we've shared there and hopefully there will be many many more.

And so when much of St Francis Bay went up in flames on Sunday and everyone's first response was "well at least they are only holiday homes" I agreed until I had a chance to think about how I would feel if that was our cottage going up in smoke and taking with it the reminders of my happiest times. While it would have been in no way better had the houses been permanent residences, I don't think we can dismiss the sadness caused because they weren't.

Many in today's environment can no longer afford the luxury of a beach house and so now, even more than ever before, I count my blessings and thank Grandpa for his gift, a gift that will continue to bond us as a family and help to build even more amazing memories.

St Francis Bay Fires - 11 November 2012

Keep Calm and Go Shopping

Gift giving is one of my favourite things to do when you know that you've bought the perfect present and wrapped it with care. The Constantia Gift Fair took place over the weekend and while my intention was to get as much of my Christmas shopping done as possible (I promise it really was!), I'm embarrassed to admit that I left with four items for myself and no gifts to put under the tree.

We are blessed with many great markets in Cape Town and one tends to get a little bored when seeing the same stalls week in and week out at various different markets, but the Constantia Gift Fair had great new vendors with fresh ideas (al beit somewhat repeated amongst the stalls.) The main target market was largely girls and kids, but then again, when is it not.

  

The organisers should be commended for the great decor and festive atmosphere it created - large gift boxes lined the entrance, quirky quotes were pegged all around to entertain and artwork decked out the table tops. It was also great to be able to browse (and shop) across all the stalls with a basket and then pay at a single pay point at the exit.

You may have missed out on the gift fair experience in Constantia, but the tents will move to Durbanville at the end of the month for the Durbanville Gift Fair...so keep calm and go shopping!

The Gift Fair

Keep Calm and Eat Out

While cooking might be something that I enjoy doing, unfortunately it's not something I'm particularly good at doing. Growing up on a farm, you'd think that it would have been part of my schooling to learn to cook a good roast or malva pudding...and looking back, perhaps it was. But then came boarding school with it's mass produced meals followed by university, where the Rhodes caterers seemed more concerned with creating hangover cures than health meals. Mixed grill Thursday's come to mind.

I'm surrounded by friends who are great cooks, if not trained chefs, who are contantly treating me to fabulous meals. Do I reciprocate? HELL NO! Come to my place and we get pizzas delivered!

I'd be lying if I said that I remembered where exactly it all went wrong, but let's recap on some of my less than successful culinary attempts of late: there was the time when, after dating my amazing man for a little short of a month, I invited him over for dinner and decided to try a new dish suggested by a colleague. Big mistake. I'm still trying to ascertain if she had it in for me and if the dish was doomed to fail from the start. Failing sabotage...I must have just stuffed this chicken dish up royally. Now, my amazing man has a particular preference for chicken (I did mention that he is black, right?!) and after seeing my distress in the kitchen, he valiantly came to my rescue and salvaged the dish to the point of making it edible. Why he stuck around I still don't know, but he did mention that previously he'd had a rule that he would never date anyone who couldn't cook chicken!!

And then more recently there was the risotto. OK, so I knew that this would be a tough ask, but after watching hundreds of episodes of reality cooking shows, I thought that I had it in the bag. But no, 2 hours later and 2 mouthfuls in, the bin was fed the biggest portion of food it has ever seen (and probably the most expensive too!)

I don't mind too much when I fail at something when attempting it for the first time, but what does bring me to tears is when you've mastered something (hollandaise sauce comes to mind) and then you lose your touch. There is no greater culinary frustration for me!

And so for now, I keep it simple, shop at Woolies, keep calm and eat out.

Keep Calm and Tweet on

A friend of mine recently joined the wonderful world of Twitter (has he been living under a rock the past few years you justifiably ask?!) and posed the inevitable question: who is good to follow? Back in the day, when we were all getting started with our tweets, we had the benefit of the now scarce #FF's or Follow Fridays. These tweets allowed us boost up our following list in the inevitable hope of recipricated followers.

So, who would you punt as being the writer of your best tweets? Some of my #FF's for this Friday:

@Eusebius

@LifeisSavage

@HuffingtonPost

@NdumisoNgcobo

@nikrabinowitz

@mailandguardian

@Digimates

@becsplanb

@LewisPugh

@2oceansvibe

@bangersandnash
@dailymaverick

@StyleGuideCT

That's enough for now! Happy Friday :-)

Keep Calm and Listen

One of my earliest music memories was, after hours of listening to the radio or casette tapes on a long car trip with the family, asking my mom why all of the lyrics of songs related to love. I seem to remember that her reply was something along the lines of "because love is such a beautiful thing." Not being entirely satisfied with her response, I decided that I knew better and told her confidently that one day I would write songs about butterflies!

Thousands of hours of piano lessons, band practices, choir rehersals, marching band treks and music theory classes later, I'm not sure that I ever did compose anything even remotely relating to butterflies, but the seed was planted and the love of music grew from there. I find my emotions so connected to the music around me - wake up to a upbeat, major key and I'll be in a good mood all day. Get me started in my favourite minor keyed balade and I'll be in meloncholy mode from there on out! No matter the style, no matter the artist - put a solid base line down, interesting layers on top and lyrics with depth and you'll have me as a fan.

My current obsessions, amongst many others, are:

• Imagine Dragons (On top of the World)
• Band of Horses (The Funeral)
• Of Monsters and Men (Little Talks)
• Lana del Ray (Ride)
• Mumford and Sons (Babel)
• Bjork (Dull Flame of Desire)
• Rodriguez (Cause) Side note: Searching for Sugarman is a MUST SEE doccie

Keep Calm and Spread Good Cheer

If there is one thing I dislike more that being late, it's being lost. And yesterday I was well and truely lost...in Ottery, a suburb that seems to advocate no street signs and the same road names for multiple streets, differentiated only by the prefix "old" or "new." I'm now told by my in-the-know colleagues that the street signs fetch a high price and if you didn't grow up in the 'hood, you stand next to no chance of finding your destination in the ETA that Garmin estimates. Garmin...yes, that trusty old fellow would have been a rather useful aid to me, but feeling like a fully-fledged-Capetonian of late, I decided that I knew my way around enough to navigate on my own. Big mistake.

So after an hour of sweat, almost-tears, frustration and road works, I finally reached my destination - Christel House. I was there to attend the schools Year End Special Assembly and little did I know that I would be treated to a Glee-styled concert in additional to the normal prizegiving that we tend to snooze through. The learners put on the most incredible show and my mood was instantly cheered because of it.

The school was founded 10 years ago by Christel deHaan, well know in the tourism industry as an advocate of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy. The learners are grouped into Houses names after their sister schools in USA, India, Mexico and Venezuela and when the house results were released it was clear to see that compitition is rife between the four groups!

Particularly touching was the R600 donation that 2 young girls (a donor's daughter and friend) gifted to the school after running a lemonade stand. When handing over the donation they "hoped that the school liked the money and bought something nice with it!" Seeing such a generous spirit being developed in kids so young makes you hope that this is habit is nurtured and grows, encouraging others who see it to follow suit. (Donate here)

The Story Behind Keep Calm and Carry on

Obscure for close to 50 years before being rediscovered and now a household phrase, "Keep Calm and Carry On" seems to resonate with many as a slogan of hope in times of trouble. Used originally as a propoganda poster, with limited distribution, during the Second World War, the aim was to raise the moral of the British public in the event of a Nazi invasion.

The series of three posters were then rediscovered in 2000 in Barter Books by it's owners Stuart and Mary Manley, who reprinted the popular slogans which can now be seen on various merchandise. It's current popularity is attributed to the sentiment in our recession hit world, as well as the nostalgia for a certain British character and outlook.

While the poster is gaining popularity in South Africa, through retail outlets like Typo, when recently used for a work campaign we had many of the older generation scratching their heads in confusion! In a time where calm is hard to come by, I enjoy the little reminder every now-and-then to Keep Calm and Carry On.

View the story of Keep Calm:

Keep Calm and Get Motivated

Tuesday:

Perhaps its because it's the end of a very long year? Perhaps it's because work is quieter than normal? Perhaps it's because I need a change? I ask myself over and over, but have yet to find the answer to the question: Why is it that I am demotivated like never before in my life?

Every day starts with a battle. A battle to get out bed. A battle to leave the comfort of my home. A battle to drag myself to work. A battle to get on with the work that I should be doing. A battle to get off the social media sites that are the only thing to hold my attention for longer than 10 minutes. And then as the work day draws to a closer, the battle shifts to trying to get to gym!

This is something new to me, unchartered territory of sorts, and as such, I have no idea how to resolve it. I normally draw my strength from others, God, my surroundings. But now I feel drained, distant, au fait.

Perhaps a change really is as good as a holiday. Or maybe just a holiday is as good as a change.

28 working days and counting...

Jars of Clay - Dead Man

Imagine Dragons - Bleeding Out

Wednesday:

And then you wake up the next morning with a smile on your face, energy to run a marathon and not a care in the world!

Keep Calm and Read This (Take out Tuesday)

Open letter to the surviving Rivonia Trialists
Kay Sexwale (Daughter of Toyko Sexwale)



Dear Ahmed Kathrada, Andre w Mlangeni, Dennis Goldberg and Nelson Mandela, I greet you all in the name of the continuing economic freedom struggle of our people.

Your courage in fighting for the emancipation of our country is greatly appreciated.

I was fed ANC propaganda with my Purity baby food, but I believe the time has come to consciously choose South Africa over the ANC.

The governing party, for many, is like a religion, followed by many without question or doubt.

Surely comrades, your sacrifices were not for a one-party, one-trade union state?

The time for a younger, patriotic and selfless leadership, like yours in 1964, is here.

The thinking public laments our bumpy transition from liberation movement to political party, with some pointing out that a liberation movement has to be centralised and secretive while a modern party in government must be influenced by its members and society, and so be more transparent.

The loss of public trust through daily media exposure of the plague of government corruption, which appears to be condoned by the ANC, is deeply seated.

The public perception is that the Mangaung leadership debate will boil down to who will continue to allow rampant looting of state resources, the dangerous slippery slope of tribalism, or who might make a difference.

Truth be told, the names being bandied about as top contenders are all synonymous with the rot that plagues the movement.

The masses so loved by political party leaders at election time have taken to the streets to voice their dissatisfaction.

Earlier this year, even middle-class a­rmchair critics put on their designer sneakers and marched against ­e-tolling, also reportedly shrouded in corruption and an added burden on our ridiculously taxed wallets.

In March, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa informed Parliament that between 2007 and 2010, the most common reason for police crowd management of gatherings was labour-related demands for increases in wages, and that unrest requiring police intervention was related to service delivery issues.

Later in June, City Press reported that 372 protests related to service delivery had been recorded between January and the end of May this year alone.

In 18 years of democracy, we can still blame apartheid for many social ills, but we must also blame our leaders.

The disgraceful and shocking non-delivery of textbooks in Limpopo left me cold.

But the worst thing that broke the soul of South Africa during this fateful year of the ANC’s centenary was the shameful Marikana massacre, reminiscent of the Sharpeville slaughter.

It highlighted aspects of every ill plaguing black society under an ANC-led government: police brutality, wage strikes, corporate greed, failure of natural mineral resource redistribution, flawed implementation of black economic empowerment, violent crime, service-delivery failure, including inhumane slum settlements, unemployment concerns and much more.

The man who shoved his way to the front, taking the reins of leadership in this sorry mess, was Julius Malema, a spat-out child of the movement. In the space of a few days, he single-handedly nullified what little trust I had left in the aging ANC leadership.

I was raised by courageous men and women, people like you, the Rivonia Trialists, who now need me to tell them it’s time to let go.

The ANC has never been as self-destructive as it is today.

Cosatu, the ANC-aligned trade union federation, has driven the economy into free fall as the failure of their collective bargaining strategy, designed to perpetuate the racist status quo, is blowing up in our faces with one strike after another.

I’m waiting for them to stop blaming third-force right wing elements and take some responsibility.

And let me not get started on the recent madness of more than R200 million-worth of Nkandla renovations, SAA’s R5 billion bailout and the relentless e-toll attitude of government.

In 2009, I took longer than usual to vote in the booth, agonising over putting an X next to the face of a man I instinctively knew was bad news.

My love for the ANC won over my reservations.

In last year’s local government elections, I rebelled, voting for the ANC in my neighbourhood and for another party in the city.

I am sure Joburg Mayor Parks Tau is capable, but my rebellion against a President Jacob Zuma-led ANC began with that ballot paper.

To not vote at all in 2014, as many are threatening, will be to dishonour the memory of my uncle, Lesetja Sexwale, and his many fallen comrades who died in combat for my right to vote.

It will be to disrespect the struggle for which men and woman such as him, men like yourselves, sacrificed their youth.

Personally, it will be a betrayal of little Kay who was badly injured in a cross-border raid in Lesotho in 1982 when the apartheid forces were hunting down Umkhonto we Sizwe combatants like my father and Chris Hani.

I don’t know who I will vote for. All I know is that Zuma will never again hold office with my consent.

I know uncle Lesetja and uncle Chris would not view my choice as a betrayal of their sacrifices. I trust that you won’t either.

I choose South Africa .

Sexwale is a media and communication strategist with an interest in current affairs and post-apartheid experiences

Keep Calm, America, and Vote!

While I can't profess to have anything other than a limited knowledge and understanding of the American political scene, what I do know to be truths when it comes to election time are that:

• not voting is not an option - Voter Apathy among the youth is expected to be higher in this US election that it was in 2008 and will obviously have a great impact on the result
• if you chose not to vote, then you should not be allowed to complain about the leader you said you never would have supported
• this is election is not just about America nor unfortunately just about how their future internal policies will be affected. We don't have a say, and yet the impact of your decision will be felt across the rest of the world. All I can say is "The 80's called, they want their foreign policy back!" (Obama to Romney in the Foreign Policy debate)

Ready, Steady, VOTE!

Keep calm and be yourself

A few days ago at a work function, I heard the life story of a near-stranger. The way in which he was able to speak about some of the darkest hours in his life, with such honesty, humility and guts made me closely rethink my willingness to openly share my own testimony with others.

Not many feel comfortable speaking of their life's journey with those closest to them, let alone people they barely know. What stops us from being authentic, honest and real in the way in which we portray ourselves? Fear of criticism or being rejected? We so often crave the acceptance of others, but at what cost?

Listening to our lunch guest speak of his life and death experiences (in a totally non-glamourised way) and his resulting salvation I felt convinced to share my own experiences more freely in future. Those listening expressed their gratitude at his honestly and walked away, I believe, feeling like they had known him for years. Or at least I did.

I often find myself harshly criticizing "superficial" (mostly Cape Townians *wink wink*) characters, but have I ever stopped to think of how those first meeting me perceive my perhaps aloof exterior? Proud, off-ish or superior might come to their minds, when infact shy might be a more accurate descriptor.

My goal going forward: embrace the opportunities presented to be real, to be honest, to be vulnerable, to be accepting, to be kind....and most of all to keep calm and be yourself.

Keep Calm and Get Creative

In an attempt not to lose my soul completely sitting at a corporate desk job, I've recently taken up some semi creative hobbies. I say semi as I'm not composing musics or painting pictures, but rather scrapbooking memories (it's dorky and mid-aged momish, I know) attempting to blog (I'm new at this, don't judge me too harshly) and hacking away at the ivory again (or in this case, the plastic, given my refugee status)

At some point in my life the arts (and music specifically) were everything to me and I spend hours being creative. While I may have ended up in grey suits and boardrooms,  I'm hoping that I'll now be able to re awaken some of these lost passions that make my heart happy!

Some useful links I've found along the way:

Scrapbooking Factory Shop, Salt River, Cape Town

Online Scrapbooking

Top 10 Blogging tips for Beginners

Free Sheet Music