I Am A Feminist

I am a feminist. 

It took me a while to watch Emma Watson's HeForShe speech, while I read numerous articles, tweets and blogs I hadn't tried to watch it. I should have and so should you. I've included it below for your ease of reference. 

It was strange watching her speech about how when she was eight years old she was considered "bossy" because she wanted to be involved in the directing of the plays for her parents and that struck a cord because I was that girl too. I was told throughout my childhood that I was bossy for one simple reason, I wanted to be heard. 

This got me thinking, when I was growing up I was told how bossy when I probably should have been told that I have a great ability to be a leader. So as I grew older, while still somewhat bossy, I pulled back a little. I allowed my older brother to lead based on those two reasons he was older than me and he was a boy. It took me 24 years before I pushed myself out of the role of little sister into individual, feminist, equal opportunist when I went to law school. There had been a lot of things I had endured before that time. I was already a holder of my Bachelor of Law and Master of Law degrees, I had completed my articles of clerkship (or internship for non South African readers) and yet I still felt the need to be heard. 

When I attended Law School everything changed for me, I was suddenly more vocal (somewhat like I was growing up) but instead of people saying to me I am trying to "boss them around" they said I was a good leader. I was good at taking control and responsibility where others would have rather opted to complete the next six months of our lives without getting to know anyone else around them. I organised events and causes for us to get excited, make a movement and for everyone to be heard. 

Those six months awaken the nine-year old Natalie who had learned to be submissive. She was back and she wanted to take on the world. While the world is still on my to do list, it is moments like watching this video to and making improvements in mine and other people's lives that has pushed me to say that although I have a long way to go before I reach all my dreams, the fact that I am a female will not be the reason to hold me back. 

So I will continue to push myself and others to give their opinions (even if it is different to mine), push against the norms which have attempted to keep all woman down. There is a way for us to be respectful of our cultures and families without disrespecting ourselves and our greater purpose.  

Humpday Confessions {Link Up #19}

It's that time of the week! Confessions!!! Also, it happens to be Heritage Day, a public holiday in South Africa which is kind of awesome because I believe that every Wednesday should be a holiday so we can recharge and be refreshed for the rest of the week! 

Happy Heritage Day South Africa!

Anyway, of course I'm linking up with Kat today so let's get started

I confess that :

~ People who take pictures of random people or get you to pose for pictures but never post or give you those pictures really freak me out. Why would you want to keep pictures of strangers?

~ I’ve recently been finding guys with beards really sexy which is so odd because I usually hate unnecessary hair.

~ I have changed my shampoo regiment and am battling with the changes but really trying to give this new shampoo a shot.

~ I’ve still been a really bad blogger! I’ve been reading blogs but not as much as I usually do but even though I’ve been reading some I’ve commented on even less!

~ When I link up with Kat I actually type out her link address from memory because my memory is good like that!

~ I just checked my goodreads reading challenge for the year and I'm four books behind! At one stage I was two books ahead so I really need to get reading!

~ Also, I'm eating the last piece of pecan nut fudge I made last week.

What are your confessions?

Easy To Make : Microwave Pecan Nut Fudge

While everyone is getting ready to go summer body ready mode I wanted to share a recipe for an easy and quick cheat snack. One of the nights last week I was dying to have some fudge but we didn't have any at home (thankfully) and usually if I'm craving something sweet I can just let the craving pass after a few minute but this one was persistent.

So when I woke up I sent out for the ingredients and then made it. Once small piece was all I needed to fulfill my craving and a week later, the fudge is still around! 

Pecan Nut Fudge

Required:

Microwave

Microwaveable large bowl

Heat resistant dish (square or rectangle)

1 Tin x Condensed Milk – Full Cream

500ml x Castor Sugar

125 g x butter

5ml x vanilla essence

100g x pecan nuts (chopped)

~    Combine sugar, condensed milk and butter in bowl place in microwave for 2 to 3 minutes, or until butter has melted

~  Remove from microwave and mix well

~ Put bowl back into microwave for 10 minutes, stopping it every few minutes to mix

~  When the mixture starts to look a light caramel colour (around 6.30 min – 7 min) add in vanilla essence and nuts – mix well! 

~  Leave on for another minute and a half to two minutes

~   Remove and place in cool rectangle/square container which is lined with spray and cook

~ Place in fridge until set

~ Remove after two hours and indent pieces or leave it longer for  a more rustic sizing.

If you try it, let me know how it goes!

Have an awesome day!

My Survival Kit

I was contacted by Man Crates as to what would I consider to be my essential survival kit items. Firstly let me tell you about Man Crates, they are a company that ship your male gifts to the men in your life in a crate and a trusty crowbar so he can open it. The idea is that you can now think out of the box for your male gifts so you don't need the plain options I shared with you for father's day. 

Okay, so back to what would be in my survival kit, it's cliche but ...

~ Credit ~

1. Sunblock - I'm surprised as to how many people have never included this on their list but hello, skin cancer?! Sunblock is an absolute must in my life. Everyday or whenever stranded in the middle of nowhere 

2. Vaseline - I hate chapped lips and vaseline will help as a substitute for lotion in desperate times, just make sure to add loads of sunblock if you're using it anywhere but your lips. 

3. My iPhone and its charger - I wish I could feel a little bit bad about this item but I'm not! I go everywhere with my iPhone and it has multiple uses from GPS to the trusty camera. 

4. Soap/ Shampoo - So I would use whatever I had available to me soap/shampoo interchangeably! I've already shared with you how OCD I am about clean hair.

5.Comfortable shoes 

So, what would you keep in your survival kit?? 

Oscar Is A Murderer {Link Up #18}

Oscar Pistorius was found not guilty of murder. Now whether you’re a proud South African or a hill billy who checks in with the internet every now and then, you have probably heard of the Paralympic winner who was on trial for murdering his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day in 2013. Well, if you haven’t heard of any of this before that’s basically the story.

~ Credit ~

~ Reeva and Oscar ~

Oscar shot and killed Reeva who he had been dating for less than six months. The story goes something like this, Reeva was staying over at Oscar’s place, in the middle of the night he gets up (she’s awake) he goes to bring the fans in (or something like that) she quietly goes off to the bathroom to pee. He hears a noise, grabs his gun approaches the door, whispering, loudly, for her to call the police but never checking that she’s actually ok. He approaches the bathroom door shouting at them to “Get the F*&$ out” (never mentioning that he’s going to shoot) and then when he doesn’t hear a response, he shoots four times. Some time passes and he realises Reeva could have been the one in the bathroom and then he goes and puts his legs on and proceeds to try breaking down the door by all means necessary, including but not limited to the use of his cricket bat. He eventually breaks the door down and find it was in fact Reeva who he had shot.

He calls for help, people arrive, he’s arrested, he’s crying (which becomes a regular thing) he says he thought she was a burglar the State says he intended to murder her.

That’s the facts folks, well slightly hairy facts but for the main part that is what happened.

So my confession today, because it is Wednesday and I am linking up with Kat and Ian, is that Judge Masipa got it wrong. While I respect her, she gave a full explanation as to what dolus eventualis is (if A intends to kill B but kills C instead) he is still guilty of intending to kill. Oscar clearly intended to kill the “intruder” behind the door if we believe he didn’t actually want to kill his girlfriend.  She admitted in her judgment that Oscar was a bad witness, he lies and yet she trusted his version.

The State’s job was to prove that Oscar intended to kill. While they may have not had enough evidence at their disposal to prove Reeva was the intended kill, despite a number of inconsistencies in Oscar’s evidence, they did prove he intended to kill.

However, Judge Masipa did find him guilty of culpable homicide (manslaughter) which is the negligent killing of a human being. He will be sentenced in October.

I could write pages and pages about my opinion of the judgment but I won’t because everyone has an opinion and this way, when I catch up with my lawyer friends they won’t know my full on opinion. 

Did you know anything about this trial? Do you think he is guilty of murder?

Current Confessions {Link Up #17}

I am being such a lazy blogger today because I've been meaning to do a "currently" post but I also wanted to do confessions with Kat so I just combined them #SorryNotSorry

* Living

After another two weeks in Johannesburg, I'm finally back in Cape Town. I've missed my home but spending time in Johannesburg was good and I got to attend my reunion

* Missing 

My niece, Bri. I can't believe how big she is getting! 

*Wishing 

My cousin who's writing her prelim exams for High School good luck also, she's planning her matric dance(senior prom) in the middle of it all. 

* Eating

Sushi!!!! I love that the weather is getting warmer so sushi becomes my go to meal. 

*Feeling

HOT! The weather has been getting warmer but damn I forgot how hot it can get and how easily I can get sunburnt. 

*Reading

Since Forever Ago, I'm pushing through because I think my next book is going to be the GoT books. 

Also I have not been reading blogs but now that I'm back home I should be able to catch up.... #NoPromises!

*Listening

To the new One Direction song and these guys are so sweet they gave a free download for Fireproof! Love!!

*Watching

OITNB, I am on the last episode of season 2 and I can tell I'm already going to miss it so now I've started watching just about any crap I come across. 

*Wearing

Legwarmers in the heat! Well technically I went to a 80s party so I needed to wear them but they looked so cute!

*Snapchatting

The weirdest ish but hey, where's the fun in snapchat if it's not weird.

What's going on with you??? Oh and do you use snapchat??I'm still trying to figure it out!

10th High School Reunion

Last week I shared some school confessions with you in lieu of my upcoming 10 year High School reunion. Said reunion was this past Thursday. It was at a pizza restaurant and I’m not going to lie I was skeptical on the level of success that would be reached in the restaurant. 

You see, my year, we had around 270 students but only a third of the people came. There’s a bunch of people who moved around the country or out of the country and I’m happy to say that in the last 10 years only one of our classmates passed away (that we could think of).

Believe me, I know I was lucky to be able to attend my reunion because I have the luxury of being able to fly between cities when need be and not be too tied down.

While some people would clearly want to avoid their ex-classmates or any gathering with them, I couldn't wait. Although I was definitely nervous to rehash or rather revisit the past I felt that I knew enough about the my classmates for me to prepare myself for the marriages and children or great jobs that some of them have (Thanks Facebook!). Also, Facebook allowed for me those people I didn't quiet remember. To be honest, there weren't that many that I no longer recognised and for the most part my classmates have not aged badly.

I had some anxiety about seeing old friends as well as the obvious measuring myself up against them but on the day I actually just got really excited. I made plans to go with two of my friends that I still chat too but don’t see too often so that was fun and my future sister in law wanted me to have a make-up trial for the wedding and thought it would be a good idea for it to be done for the reunion.

While perhaps the first few minutes when I walked in were awkward but once I saw old friends and the hugs and side kisses were shared it felt like the last 10 years disappeared. During school I was friends with an array of people so I didn't just stick to one “clique” I was all over the place chatting to people. Not eating (bad idea) drinking shots of caramel vodka (good idea).

When the night was drawing to an end I found myself feeling really sad that I would probably wait another 10 years to see some of them again because let’s be real, watching activities on Facebook isn’t actually seeing them.

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School Confessions {Link Up #16}

Well look who decided to show up for class today? Ok, I know lame joke but seriously, although I posted on Monday about being all excited for Spring I have to admit I haven't  read more than five blog posts this week. So once I'm done drafting this post I'll be hopping around to clear my bloglovin feed.

Tomorrow (although really it's in two days time because I'm being a good blogger and typing this on Tuesday evening) is my 10 year High School Reunion. Wow. Even though I have RSVP'd and made my way to Johannesburg to make sure I actually attend the reunion it still hasn't completely sunk in. While I'm sure, or at least I'm hoping my reunion is so much fun that I get a whole blog post out of it that I will get to share with all of you I thought I might as well share some of my school confessions so I can also link up with Kat and Ian!

School confessions... here we go:

# I attended three Primary Schools (that's Grade 1 to Grade 7) but only attended one High School (Grade 8 to Grade 12)

# I played netball in Primary School but switched to hockey in High School

# I recently had the opportunity to take one of my teachers from High School out for coffee and I can honestly say it was awesome. This was is a woman who is so brave and inspiring and it shocked me to realise how much she really knew me. I know we were close while I was her student but I didn't realise how much our relationship actually meant to me or her. 

# The same teacher I've mentioned above told me I should leave law and become a teacher, I thought that was such an incredible compliment because she can see me as a person who is capable of giving back. 

# I had my first kiss in Grade 1... what was I thinking?! 

~ Credit ~

# I was young for my year so when I was supposed to go to Grade 1 after primary school, they didn't want to let me in because I hadn't learnt to tie my shoelaces yet. In my defense, I never needed too because my daddy always did it.... #OnceADaddysGirlAlwaysADaddysGirl

# By the time I got to Grade 12 my group of friends were so vast that even thinking of the reunion I can't believe how many friends I will see again.

# There are some people's names on the reunion list that I don't recognise??? #AwkwardIntro

So, would you attend your school reunion or once you're done with school, you're done???

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Spring Has Sprung!

Hello Spring!!!

In the Southern Hemisphere we are celebrating the beginning of Spring and boy is it well awaited.... For once it seems South African weather is on track because today isn't a bad day, at all and while we won't be swimming today, hopefully by the weekend we'll get there! #OptimisticMuch

Spring cleaning is a real thing, people and I've been in the process of doing it for a while however today I'm away from home so I figured I may as well get into some of my mental spring cleaning that is needed. I love the idea of it being a new season and me taking a. New mentality into a new season because let's be honest, I need to check myself out of the "keep warm zone" and push myself into the warmth of the sun! 

The flowers are out and so is my optimism. I'm my going to lie, I've been in a weird mind set of late but I've decided to mentally attack it which intimately means.... I'm in planning mode!!!

How do you feel about the change in seasons? 

Also, one of the most exciting things that last brought, mine was easily my niece! 

What was yours???

Ps: sorry about the crap layout and picture quality I'm blogging from my blogger app while my internet is down!