Z is for Zen (A to Z Challenge)

Finally it's the last day of the A to Z Challenge and I'm so happy it's been a long month...

It's been a trying month for many reasons but I always wondered if finding my "zen" would help.

Zen means finding peace and meditation or calmness and for a girl who grew up in Johannesburg, I know all about being stressed, full of worry and pushing myself beyond the standard. That creates some crazy in life and I want to find some calm.

I found this list to find one's Zen but I don't think it's as easy to do.

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I am currently living in Cape Town and while it is much more peaceful (or slow, as Joburg people would say) I still think I'm searching for my zen.

One of the things I enjoy doing in Cape Town is walking along the beach but I hate that I don't actually do it enough.

What do you do to find your calm space?

Y is for " You" songs (A to Z Challenge)

Its the second last day of the A to Z Challenge, you can see all the other posts here.

Today is some of my YOU songs!

Lucy Pearl - You ~ reminds me of my early teens, I still absolutely love to dance to this song

One Direction - You and I ~ It's a recent song of the latest 1D album but it's really sweet and their newly released video is a calm and sweet video compared to some of the more whacky fun ones they have done for their more upbeat songs.

Chris Brown - With You ~ while I am not a fan of Chris Brown, I love this song.

What's your favourite "You" song?

X is for X-Men (A to Z Challenge)

Being the proud 80s and 90s child that I am, I was able to grow up surrounded with some of the best cartoons ever!!!! For example, Pepper Ann, Doung, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the smurfs but my favourite has to be X-Men.

So when the movie idea came up, I was so excited something like this

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I was always a huge fan of Rogue and Gambit. I did do not understand why everyone else was obsessed with Jean Gray

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When the movie released and there was no Gambit, I was so disappointed but then I watched the first one and the choice of Rogue was terrible! I hate the way they portrayed Rogue's character of being too young and naive really pissed me off. 

 

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The reason I loved Rogue (in the cartoon) was because she was strong, independent, sarcastic and sexy. No offense to Anna Paquin but she is nothing like that in the movie. 

However in light of the fact that I loved the cartoon series, I continue to watch the movies but every time Rogue is shown or mentioned, I'm just reminded how badly adapted the movie script is. 

Which was or is your favourite character? Did the movies do him/her justice?

W is for When you're no longer young ...(A to Z Challenge)

....You understand Monica Lewinsky jokes

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.... You use the term "When I was young..." 

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.... Nerds were not cool (although, here's tip - most of the "nerds" end up being great hot husband material

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``` you taped songs off the radio with a cassette and had to use a pencil to rewind it so you could listen to it again and then this happened - see picture below - and your life was over!

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....You know Uncle Carl

DO you remember any of these?

xxx Nats 

V is for Vexatious (A to Z Challenge)

Vexatious - Causing or tending to cause annoyance, frustration or worry

~ Oxford Online Dictionary 

During my law degree, I learnt that a person could be penalised for vexatious behaviour and I always remembered the word. I thought it was funny like, serendipity, just one of those words I would always remember. 

Can you sense the annoyance?

When I try using it in my everyday conversation I notice how many people don't know what it means so I thought I might as well share it with you.

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Have you used this word before?

U is for Uptothemoon (A to Z Challenge)

Uptothemoon is my race horse, my animal soul, my friend.

Our first meeting

While a lot of people laugh at my attachment to Uptothemoon or think it's crazy that I think she and I understand one another - it does not matter because I know she gets me. She feeds off my moods and has the ability to alter my mood within minutes.

After her first race, she had grown so much!

I mean if taking a selfie with a horse isn't the cutest thing, I don't know what's going to make your day better :)

Just relaxing her head on mine.

T is for Travel (A to Z Challenge)

Just go, anywhere....

xxx Nats

S is for Say Something (A to Z Challenge)

The first time I heard this song was on America's X Factor and I thought it was haunting and beautiful.

Here is the original:

Don't hate me, but I actually think I like Alex and Sierra's version more... 

What are your thoughts? Love or hate this song?

R is for Random (A to Z Challenge)

It's Easter Monday and R - day so here goes my latest random thoughts 

~ I'm the man -Aloe Blacc-  love this song

~ All of me - John Legend I cannot hear this song enough

~ sickness is crazy. When it hits, it can really wind you and the weirdest thing is how quickly it can change a person.

~ Still loving Pretty Little Liars! I know people love Hanna and Caleb but I'm glad their over. 

~ Speaking of Caleb, Ravenswood is a strange show but I keep watching it. 

~ Cape Town has once again reminded me why it is a Top Tourist Destination, the sunsets have been truly break taking.

       

          From Signal Hill

     

        From Gordon's Bay

~ I had my grandmother and one of my cousins who were visiting Cape Town for the first time, and it was amazing to watch their reactions to some of the things that have come to form part of my everyday life. 

                                   

   Bo Kaap, Cape Town

~ How much does your name dictate your personality? 

~ the 80s and early 90s fashion is back with a bang and now I feel old because I remember a lot about it....! 

~ I read the first two books of the Divergent series in 3 days and now I've spent 2 weeks reading the last book.. Which had caused my delay in reading this month's Blogger Book Club book "The Scent of Rain and Lightening" I hope I'm going to finish it in time for the link up..

What did you get up to this weekend? 

Again, I'm posting from my phone so no proper formatting to this post and I can only hope it comes out ok. 

xxx

Nats 

Q is for Quarter Life Crisis (A to Z Challenge)

When I first thought about the fact that I was in my mid twenties, feeling overly anxious about where I was and not sure about where I'm going - essentially living through the motions just to exist because from a far, my life looked like it was on track. It was relatively normal and I hated it. That's when I started thinking I'm too young to be having a midlife crisis although the symptoms were there and then wonderful, dependable Google (aka Uncle Google) had the answers. I was not alone in this feeling of unrest or fear of mediocrity - was I doing enough with my life? This had a term - Quarter Life Crisis. 

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I form part of a generation whereby your success is broadcast on Facebook, your intellectual thoughts are sent through sporadic 140 character tweets and your fabulous, life 'within' your means photos are showing on Instagram and if I'm not meeting the requirements of a substantially happy life - I would know because it does not compare to the thousands of people I communicate with in social media. Now I know what you'd like to say, "Each person has their own journey" or something along the lines but the truth is - there has to be one moment when you receive an invitation to a wedding, babyshower or wedding renewal and you think "WHAT? How did they get there so quickly" .

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While I definitely have a lot of stories to fill my 27 years on this earth and I've traveled more than a lot of the 20 somethings I grew up with, I've kissed a few frogs (still looking for the one who will turn into a prince) , laughed and cried and triumphs and losses, I still feel like I haven't done enough to say my life is on track. Then it clicked, my life wasn't on the track. Not the track that I had planned when I was 17, finishing off school. 

I haven't figured it out, I haven't entirely made peace with it but I am doing what my generation does - googling my way to the answers, taking quizzes, looking for cures and faking it until I make it.

I would love to hear your views on a quarter life crisis?

P is for Pescatarian (A to Z Challenge)

Pescatarian - A person who does not eat meat but eats fish

Oxford Online Dictionary

Today's Good Friday which is one of the most holiday days in the Christian calander. One of the most significant habit we observe on Good Friday is to be Pescatarian.

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Growing up, that's not what I knew it as but essentially that is what we do. In the mornings before church we only eat Hot Cross Buns and tea or coffee without milk (Although I don't like cooked raisins and this year my mom found an awesome substitute). After church we eat feast on a variety of fish or seafood dishes. 

Do you and your family have any traditions which you observe on Good Friday? 

Wishing you a wonderful day with your family and loved ones!

O is for Old Wives Tales (A to Z Challenge)

I absolutely love old wives tales!! I always feel slightly silly for admitting it but the more I think about it, I think it's just one of my quirks!

Here are some of my favourite or rather most popular old wives tales I know of:

~ If you cry while cutting onions, your mother in law is going to like you. Truth or Lie?

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~ If a wasp comes into a house, there's a female who is in the house who is pregnant

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~Where you carry your baby during pregnancy will indicate the gender - if high (girl) if low (boy) - what happens if it's twins and one is girl and one is boy?

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~ If a bird poops on you, it brings good luck, really??

To see some other funny old wives tales, head over to this article that I found. 

Have you heard of any other old wives tales? What do you think about them?

N is for Nail Polish (A to Z Challenge)

Nail Polish - Varnish applied to the fingernails or toenails to colour them or make them shiny.

~ Oxford Online Dictionary 

I may not be a beauty blogger but I really love nail polish! If you catch me without any nail polish on my hands or toes then you must know that I'm not in my usual head space. 

I always look at other people's hands and toes because I'm always conscious that other people are looking at mine. I don't even understand how some woman walk around with smudged nails or chipped nail polish. My favourite brands are Essie and Rimmel. While I like the Essie colours more, I really like that Rimmel's 60 seconds nail polish does try really quickly. 

I was so afraid of trying to wear red but now that I've started I really love it. I really love bright bold colours on short to medium length nails and then when my nails are long I enjoy softer natural shades.

Here's some pictures to help sum up how I feel about nail polish.

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Do you wear nail polish? If so, do you have a go to brand or colour? 

M is for Metaphor (A to Z Challenge)

Metaphor - A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. 

~ Oxford Online Dictionary 

Often I hear people using the word metaphor or the term "metaphorically speaking" and then they continue to speak without their sentences being a metaphor. Metaphor is a nice word for people to throw around in conversation as i to sound smarter so I thought I'd take a moment to discuss ramble about one of my favourite figures of speech which when used correctly, it really can lighten writing and/or conversation. 

When I was in school, the easiest way for me to understand what a metaphor is, was to remember that it was a comparison of things which did not necessarily need to use comparative words such as "like" and "as" (as one would use for a simile). Metaphors are best used when they are subtly included 

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One of the more popular metaphors which you have probably encountered without truly understanding you were using it is "It's raining cats and dogs". It's easy and well known that hardly anyone would question the use of the term. 

When watching Meet Joe Black (again and again) I tried explaining it to someone that Death had taken human form in a metaphoric manner. That completely went over their head for two reasons, 1)the person didn't really understand metaphors and 2) that is not the way many people interpreted the movie. It then occurred to me how difficult explaining metaphors can be and thought I could post about - however, I think I may have confused you (and me) more than clarify something I knew already... 

Do you believe we should understand metaphors or are figures of speech purely useful to get us through High School English?

L is for Liverpool Football Club (A to Z Challenge)

I don't ever remember not being a Liverpool Football Club fan. When I was younger I was surrounded by majority of Manchester United's fans in the beginning of Man U's glory days. I grew up in a house where my dad and I are the Liverpool fans and my mother and brother are Man U fans. It was tough. It was not Liverpool' finest hours but it taught me a lot about what it means to be a football fan.

Being a Liverpool FC fan has not been easy but I think it's the reason that being a true fan has been so character building. Yes, I've had the benefit of watching and supporting the greatest comeback in European Championship history by winning the Champions League in Istanbul to when Steven Gerrard inspired the winning FA Cup final against West Ham in 2006  but other than that, supporting Liverpool has been challenging. Challenging but worth it. 

Look How Excited I was!!! 

In the midst of the LFC vs Manchester City game yesterday (Which LFC won!!!) my mom was making fun of the fact that Liverpool had lost the two goal lead and I remember saying to her "This isn't just for fun" to which she laughed because Soccer is supposed to be fun. However for me and for most Liverpool fans, it's not just about fun. It's passion, love and loyalty. 

Perhaps the reason Liverpool fans feel so much for their team is that our current leader, Captain Fantastic, Steven Gerrard is so incredibly passionate about Liverpool and despite his once youthful wavering mind to leave Liverpool, loyalty trumped his ambition. 

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I cannot explain how much I adore supporting my team, through wins, losses or draws - I have shouted with joy at their wins and I have cried with their losses. When I visited Liverpool a couple of years ago, it truly was one of my favourite memories and while a lot of people asked about Scousers and how they treated me, I only have good things to tell. 

I'm trying to keep this post short, which is extremely difficult because this is a topic I feel so much passion for but I will say that when you support a team, any team ... there's a difference in supporting and being passionate about them.

Have you ever been passionate about a team or sport or player?