Facts About Me { #Blogtober14 }

I've been wanting to link up again for Blogtober but been a bit lazy to actually work at the topic that's why today's topic is simple PLUS I need to redo my about page so this is me working some of those kinks out... 

* I am OCD

*I am an Aquarius and while I don't follow the whole star signs thing anymore I think it's interesting to know. 

* I believe in love at first sight

*I'm a qualified lawyer

*I'm obsessed with travelling and there's not a place in the world I wouldn't go to, just once. 

* My favourite place is Ireland. I've been twice and I know I will be returning many times over. 

* I love my horse. 

* I'm obsessed with soccer/football and my captain fantastic Steven Gerrard

*I'm a bibliophilia

* I have my person and I didn't always understand the relationship we have until Shonda Rhimes showed it to me!

* I'm basically a TV addict. 

* I like the Kardashians, especially Khloe. 

*I've been on a contiki trip and I recommend it to just about everyone

* I'm a nerd at times

Yes, I'm repeating last week's image.. I'm a bad blogger!

* I love different types of music especially country and folk which is only gaining popularity recently in South Africa

*I'm South African - this is the most surprising fact which I receive comments from other bloggers... yes we read blogs in SA.

* I'm in the middle of starting a new adventure but not ready to share the details but I'm so excited by it all. 
* The Script and One Republic both follow me on Twitter, so you should do the same!

So I sort of cheated by bringing a lot of my old posts into this one but these are all facts about me.. do we have anything in common??? Share in the comments!

And of course, I'm linking up with Helene and Tay so go check them out!

Be Your Own Heroine

So, to be honest, I only thought of this post after I posted on my Instagram account this morning but it sort of coincided with the fact that I finally watched Frozen last night. 

I have obviously heard a number of great reviews and of course I remember the whole John Travolta debacle with Idina Mendel 

But the truth is there was a lot to learn from the movie. Woman are brought up to believe we need to find our Prince Charming or rather wait until he finds us and I really liked that this was finally a strong message that woman need to do things for themselves and try not to get caught up in the moment!

Logic, right?

The truth about most girls

And mostly the movie shows this simple truth for woman...

With that, I'll let you get on with your week... what have you got planned?

Don't Grow Up

I feel like this may well be a pointless post because if you're reading this blog you're probably old enough to realise what every adult out there knows, life is easier as a kid.

While being an adult and doing what you want because you're paying for what you want has it's obvious perks, being an adult is difficult.

Paying the bills I can still deal with it but making difficult all decisions are challenging because literally every decision you make has an even bigger reaction. I'm a definite list person, it's the lawyer in me, weigh up pros and cons and your decision is easy, right? NO, wrong! 

And ofcourse while there are decisions concerning other people's lives I can give a to the point answer because, hellllllo, I don't have to deal with the consequences. 

The last 12 months of my life have  been extremely difficult in the decision department and I have had to rely heavily on my faith in God to get me through. I have made decisions where the people around me do not understand and even I at times did not see the bigger picture but I truly believe that taking a leap of faith is what's getting me through it all! 

So the point of this post is simple.... Don't Grow Up! When you're in your teens, think about that only enjoy those challeneges, when you're in your 20s stop stressing what your 30s will be like so that when you're in your 30s you don't have to wish to be your irresponsible 20-something year old self. 

Also, my one beauty item I can't live without is sunblock, I've mentioned this before and while I know some may argue sunblock is not a beauty item, my skin would beg to differ.Check out what the other ladies can't live without from the #Blogtober14 link up with Helene and Tay 

A song for you this weekend... 

What's your weekend plans???

Humpday Confessions { Link Up #23 } { #Blogtober14 }

I'm not going to lie, I've got the Bloggers Block - BAD! There's so much swimming around in my head but to actually sit down and type it up had been a challenge. I hate that I've been neglecting this little piece of my life or the web but when the time is right I'll be sharing things with all of you, promise! 

Anyway today ofcourse I'm linking up with Kat and Ian for Humpday confessions of "what makes me a nerd"  although while I'm prepping this it seems as if Kat is still on vacation and not hosting the link up :( 

* I'd rather stay in and read. While people say it's because I'm getting older I can assure you I was 11 years old and perfectly happy not playing outside if I got to read a new Sweet Valley High. 

* I refused to watch the Book Thief until I finished reading the book even though it meant I went alone on a Thursday in the day. I was totally ok with it.

* Stationery gets me excited! See my latest purchases of notebooks.

* I bought the aforementioned books at Typo and I can spend hours in that store.

* No one likes to go to book stores with me because it's not "fun" to browse books stores... 

* When I get really excited I do a happy dance! 

* I've been spending a lot of time with my cousin and my current happy dance is the running man. 

* I make lists of lists, it's ridic. I currently have about 5 or 6 different lists on one page just so I can keep control of my shizzzz 

* I just used the word shizzzz which I've never done before but if I did it wouldn't help my cool factor

* I know soccer/football quiet well, so much so that I end up talking most people under the table because they always look at me and think, she's just a girl... Except I'm a girl who likes to study and have knowledge so I have an informed opinion.

I'm sure there are many more reasons why I have "nerd" tendencies but the best part is that when you're in no longer in school all those type of labels don't mean a thing. 

Disclaimer: I don't actually believe in the the whole idea of nerds being silly and bullied, I just think the nerds of your school days are the best husbands (or wives) of the rest of your lives *hint hint, nudge nudge* Also, in school, I didn't fall into any particular category and I liked it that way! 

What's your nerdiest quality?

Also, linking up with Helene and Tay for #Blogtober14 about what are my pet peeves... 

I've already shared a few but one more that I've picked up is when I find drinking glasses and there are fingerprints on them .... eeew! 

My Favourite Quote & Other Confessions { #Blogtober14 }

I can't believe that I haven't blogged in the last week, to be honest, I haven't even given this blog of mine much of a thought. I've been neglecting my twitter account, hardly visiting my fav blog reads and rarely posting on Instagram. I've been busy peeps! A lot has been going on and while I considered sharing my last week's confessions through some of my snapchats I decided to save that for another day but for now here's some of the drama that's been going on...

* I went onto some site, I don't know which one otherwise I would share it with you so you could avoid it because now my laptop is inundated with pop up ads and basic spam

Source

* I know people complain about their iPhone5S battery lives, I am one of those people but I checked with my service provider as to what I should do about it to check if mine is more severe than others and he said he would have to take my phone in for SIX WEEKS without a replacement! 

Source

NOTE: The last two gifs could be used interchangeably for both my scenarios!

* My brother's wedding is in 15 weeks time and I really want to be much smaller healthier by then so today is day one of seriously Healthy Natalie 101 because I've been so bad in recent weeks due to roadtrips and celebrations and family time. 

* Lastly, I'm linking up with Helene and Tay for #Blogtober14 and today I'm sharing my favourite quote and it's easily my first choice. I learnt it when I was about nine years old and it always stuck because I loved the idea of love at first sight but as I've grown older I think your smile really shows what kind of person you are and people should know how loveable you can be. 

Also, I'm linking up with my girl, Kat for Humpday confessions 

What's going on with you?

A Letter To Myself In 10 Years Time { #Blogtober14}

Dear Natalie

Congrats on finally realizing you didn't have to plan your entire life for it to be better than you could ever imagine. I knew you would be able to combine your different passions and make all your business ventures a success. Confectioner. Lawyer. Sports Management Guru and best of all, Published Author. When you reflect on the last 20 years, I hope you will remember how people who loved you and supported you despite not understanding your vision spurred you on.

You're a mother now of a few kids and who knows how many more but don't feel bad that you waited to have children, that you waited to marry your soul mate because as you know, the wait was so worth it!

Uptothemoon is old now but don't forget to visit her, she still loves you more than anyone else.

Your younger years were your building years and there's still some work to do but I think you should be happy that you're crossed off so many more countries off your bucket list.

Remember, although you have lost people over the last 10 years, time heals all wounds but your love for them will remain in your heart forever, cherish them.

Just like Crisitna told Meredith...

Yours sincerely,
Your Future Self

PS: I hope you've continued to work on not being so OCD!

PPS: Your 37 year old body rivals JLo in her 40s and that's a huge compliment!

Linking up with Helene and Taylor for Blogtober and Kathy for Humpday Confessions.

What would you tell your future self?

10 Things You'd Tell Yourself When You Started Blogging { #Blogtober14 }

While I would like to tell you I intended to join in Blogtober for the entire month I would be lying. I did link up on day one, you can read what I would do if I won the lottery here otherwise I've just been living my life, planning nights out which end earlier than the plan, going to whale festivals where the whales forgot to show up yip, that's what I've been up too. Oh, and baking... lots and lots of baking.

However today I wanted to link up again with Helene and Taylor for the "10 Things I Told Myself When I Started Blogging" and thought why not start off Monday with some reflections from the beginning.

Note: I was just about to hit "Publish" then checked Helene's blog and she had a post "10 Things I Wish I Told Myself When I Started Blogging" and thought I wrote about the wrong topic but I went over to Taylor's blog and I wasn't wrong.. so that made me feel much better. 

1. I would not blog everyday. I wasn't wrong because I have not managed to do the blog everyday, ever, I always miss a day or three. I knew that I would not want to blog every single day because I wanted to blog about things that I wanted to read so content is important. 

2. I'm blogging to get my thoughts out. I'm not blogging for money (while that would be great) it's not my profession - not for now.

3. I could stick with the default template. I was wrong, I needed to change it to something that would reflect more of my personality. 

4. I'm not in it for followers but I like building a community, one blogger friend at a time.

5. I'm going to be an anonymous blogger. Truth is, I really would have done this if I knew how to do it but then again I wouldn't have been able to be an actual "lifestyle blogger" because I would have been hiding my real lifestyle.

6. I'm going to just be myself, the point is for me to have a creative outlet.

7. I will never let my employers know who I am, two months ago I finally added my URL to my CV. 

8. I didn't need to custom design pictures for each blog post, probably because I didn't know how to do it. 

9. I wouldn't buy sponsorships not until I was sure to be getting a return on it. 

10. I would do a football or soccer post every so often because it is a huge part of my life. I did this for a while but then I realized that this wasn't the correct forum so I actually may start another blog, a female sports blog, sounds good doesn't it?

So, what did you tell yourself when you started blogging? Are those things still relevant to your blog?

If I Won The Lottery I'd... {#Blogtober14}

This is the kind of thing which highly unlikely to happen for one simple reason, I don't play the lottery. I've just never been able to get into risking my money, that being said, it's fun to think of things I would do if I won!

1. Pay off all my debt, it's not that much but I hate any sort of debt

2. Purchase a house, maybe two. One in Johannesburg and one in Cape Town. Property in Cape Town is really expensive so I would definitely need the lottery money to help me out.

3. Invest in a cause like Make A Wish or Operation Smile

4.Fund my wannabe Sports/Law firm

5. I saw an article about 1000+ coffees and I love the idea of being able to have coffee with all my Facebook friends. It really got me thinking, if we're friends on Facebook, whether we met while waiting for our next flight in Dubai or we met at a bar five years ago or (my favourite) we were on a Contiki trip in London and Paris together - if we could not sit down to have a coffee (or more) together we shouldn't be friends in real life or facebook. I am absolutely in love with this idea and you shouldn't be surprised if I actually take this up sometime in the future. It would cost a shitload of money because I have a lot of friends in South Africa but many more around the world starting in Kenya to Morocco to Kansas to Rio De Janeiro to Granada to the South of France.. you get the idea right? There are all corners of the earth crawling with friends I've made over my 27 years and I would love to see them again.

 I would take my family with me to some of the places because we haven't traveled together overseas and I think every family should do that and I would go watch soccer matches everywhere I went.

So who would you visit just to have coffee with, anywhere in the world?

Today I'm linking up with Helene and Taylor for #Blogtober14 and with Kathy for confessions!

sorry the button wouldn't work :( click on their names for the links!