I'll be seeing you...

It breaks my heart to have to put this blog, this space, my space on break but the truth is that I am neglecting it more I ever have neglected anything and because I love this space and blog community I feel that I have to officially stop blogging for now. 

You see, it's not that I don't have anything to say, I just don't have time to say it and when I do have time to type up whatever is on my mind, it's that I don't have time to tweak it and and make it pretty or anything like that and while I could just keep clicking on publish just to get myself out there, I didn't start blogging just to be heard, I started blogging to be me. 

I have repeatedly said that I started blogging to express myself and when I started blogging and really engaged with the blog community I found out that blogging here in South Africa is totally different to other places, especially the US and that's not a bad thing it's just a thing...

So, I think that CTP will be on a break until early 2016. I thought about closing this blog own and then opening a new one when I felt like it but I really like this space, this name and this community. I think I follow a lot of my blogger friends on different social media platforms and I'll continue to read all about what you are sharing on your blog but for now, I need this break. I need to not feel guilty that I am not consistently sharing with you guys and I need to take the time out for myself and my blog. I want this to be a space which represents me and right now it's not.

Okay, enough with making excuses... I'll be seeing you...

If you feel like keeping in touch please do so on Twitter or Instagram please do!

Let's Be Real

I can't believe how my laptop not working has really messed around with my blogging schedule and my life in general. Isn't it insane how much we depend on technology? I, of course say this to you via some means of technology - the irony is not lost on me. 

The truth is, and this is what I intend to discuss today, is that our online personas are so far from who we are in real life that at times I think we spend more time worrying about "Will this make a good picture?" "Should I blog about this?" "Will my readers want to know this?" "Will they still like me?". My last question is the biggy. WILL YOU STILL LIKE ME?

The internet has become such a huge part of who we are and how we communicate that it's only fair that we should care about our online image as much as we do our real life image but and here's where I'm going with this thought process... shouldn't the two images be the same, or somewhat aligned?

People in your real life don't get to see the filtered/edited version of who you are and you know what, most of the time they like you anyway. I think it's incredibly important for us to align our online personas with the real person. I think I shared the article about the guy who was flying all around the world to sit down for coffee with all his Facebook friends and of course I think that is an incredible idea but it got me thinking.. do I even want to have coffee with some of my Facebook friends? Sometimes I see photos being posted on my timeline and I honestly have no idea who it is in that photo I am supposed to know. Am I alone in this?

Also, I think when I was younger I used to add everyone on Facebook or accept friend requests if we had a few mutual friends but the truth is now I am so reserved and try to limit new friends because I don't want people in my business AND then it hit me.. then your business probably shouldn't be put out there. So it's not. I have resisted sharing my new work related developments with my online community and resisted sharing details of being an employer as opposed to an employee and I've resisted sharing my frustrations as well as my joys. 

So I think, I need to really work on aligning my online persona with my real life one (which shouldn't be too challenging because I have been so silent online) but also I think I need my real life personality to start shining through a little bit more. 

In upcoming posts, which I have yet to plan, I will share what's on my mind and really get back into blogging or facebooking or instagramming or tweeting because I want too and because I have something to say not because I feel pressured to share the perfectly filtered version of who I think you want to see. 

Whoa! That was a heavy post for a Friday but it is Friday! Tell me what's your weekend looking like?

Snapchat Update : August Edition

So you know I have been missing blogging but it's been such a challenge to do it from my phone but I really wanted to share some of what's been going on in my life and the easiest way is to share highlights from the month... I could share all the pretty filtered options but that's not necessarily what's been going on in my life so I thought I may as well show the truth! 

A visit with Brielle

Lovely woollies Tea

QT "Me" time 

Loads of good food 

Beach walks

Night Markets

A visit from a fellow joburger and long time friend 

My favorite drink 

Cousins #LongHairDontCare

What an athlete!

Gangs Of Ballet Performance

Deserved huge daiquiri 

Trying to change the windshield wipers!

What my "office" has looked like...

Long days!

Trip to Joburg and girls night out! 

Surprise morning visits 

FriYay drinks!

Feeding the ducks with my person and munchkin ;)

Love that she's walking now ... 

Happy girls!

Family day at the fair!

Coming home (begrudgingly)

 Girls Night Out - Toni Braxton & Babyface! 

Looking back on August, I got to spend a lot of time with my family which is awesome and I seem to be drinking a lot more #ImNotEvenSorry but also in eating healthier #BalanceIsKey and lastly I seem to be catching the best moments of the sunsets... 

What did your August look like?

PS: Again, I'm posting from my phone so I apologize for the crappy set up! 

Spring Spring Spring!!!!

I love the beginning of new seasons and it's officially that in South Africa today! 

There's just something about spring that makes everything seem like it will be okay!

I'm looking forward to this "S" month Spring, September, Success ... 

What's your plans for this month? 

x Nats x

PS: My laptop is still being sorted out so still posting from my phone.... Sorry for the horrible format ! 

Embrace Your Unique...

While I was skimming through facebook as per my daily routine (#ImNotEvenSorry) I came across this article and I'm just going to leave it here for you to give it some thought. 

Also... how is it August already??? Seriously it feels like I just blinked and Winter is almost done. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the humidity of a Durban summer..  however for now, as hard as it may be - I am going to embrace my unique and I think you should do the same. 

Now tell me, what's your plans for August?

No One Is Permanent

I don’t usually just find sudden inspiration for a blog post or at least when I do I usually want to cultivate the thought process and not just spew it all out. Today is different.

This morning while I was in the shower I started thinking about someone and I couldn’t remember whether I had spoken about them recently or thought about them or dreamed about them. It wasn’t romantic it was just a thought or a flash of happy thoughts and it got me thinking this –

NO ONE IS PERMANENT IN YOUR LIFE.

Now before anyone gets upset, for those who live by faith (as do I) I know that God is my only constant but what I’m talking about here is that we go through our lives at all ages but especially as kids to teens to even our twenties (I’m hoping by your 30s you’ve had this realization) and in those precious moments that will guide us to be the adults we were meant to be we look at the people who surround us, the boyfriends, the girlfriends your boy – friends and girl – friends, teachers and even some family members and think “ they are so important to me. I love them. I can’t imagine my life without them.”

That may be the case – at.that.time.

However in reality, the inevitability of people flowing in and out of your lives you will have to live your life without those people. It’s not a bad thing and I think that’s actually what the point is of this post. It’s ok that you love or loved those people. They are exactly what you needed at that time in your life but as you transition into new phases and new places it’s OK that you won’t keep in touch like you did before. It’s OK that you have no idea who they are dating. It’s OK if you don’t get invited to their weddings (I’m not sure if this part is really ok, lol ) but basically it’s all OK because no one is permanent.

Your parents will eventually pass on, your siblings will probably get married and create a family of their own and you’ll become their secondary family. That is also OK because when you decide to get married that’s when you have your permanent person. That’ s why marriage is so important to people and the decisions we make as to who we want to share our lives with mean so much because that person, they are your permanent until then, everyone is just passing through.

Some will stay longer than you expected some will leave sooner than you would like but if you make peace with the fact that life is unpredictable but that you like yourself because you will always be the common denominator then at the end of the  changes in friendships and relationships you will maintain some of your sanity because you would be at peace with the inevitable changes life will bring your way.

Thoughts, anyone??  Too deep for a Wednesday?

You Probably Don't Know... {Link Up}

I've had a lot of news to share about what's been going on with me so I was super excited to share it today because I could meet some new readers and I could update my faithful readers all in one! So thanks Helene for forcing me to open up, it's about time!

For those of you who aren't familiar around here, I'll tell you, I'm South African but for those that are used to my surroundings, I wanted to share the big news... Well big to me anyway - I've moved to a brand new city. Durban, South Africa.

I'm still getting used to things around the city which explains part of why I'm not blogging regularly because I don't have a regular routine any longer... I have a new job, no; a new business venture which is going with the expected (and unexpected) teething problems. I've been house hunting for a while and it's a challenge and the biggest challenge is that Durban has always been my least favourite of the three big ones in South Africa but God has put me here and I'm ready to embrace it. 

I will blog more about it and my experiences of moving to a new city, finding friends/a boyfriend (which my family is all pushing me towards) and mostly finding myself. 

I hope you stick around to how how the changes happen.

Also, if you want to know more about my country, I've blogged about it on Amy's blog a few weeks ago but it's easier to send you there than to repeat it here. 

A few other random things you probably didn't know about me..

I'm an Aquarius (which is an air signbut everyone  thinks is a water sign) 

I am a huge soccer/ football fan whichever you care to call it.

I'm a pop culture junkie.

And Johnny Depp is 51, people - the sexiest 51 year old I've ever come to know! 

Remember to go check out the other bloggers sharing some of their stuff you probably didn't know... 

x Nats x 

Do You

Sometimes, scratch that, most times in life you will find yourself making decisions for the betterment of others. We call that being a considerate person. 

I'm all for being considerate, I honestly believe more people need to be considerate but here's where the twist comes in... 

Being considerate does not mean giving up who you are and what you believe for others.  Being considerate does not mean you're selfish or self-centered. 

Basically I just wanted to take a moment to remind you, you're living YOUR life so you should just... Do You! 

Have a great day readers xxxx

June Wishes + Weekly Wishes

I cannot express how I feel now that June is upon us. Here in the Southern Hemisphere it's officially winter but the truth is where I am I am still wearing shorts and sandals without a chill but more detail about that will come during the course of the week.

Yes, that means I will be showing up later this week and I'm so excited to get back into my blogging. I know I've been pretty much absent for the last couple of months or if I'm honest 2015 - but today I am promising myself (and all of you) that I will be here and if I decide to stop blogging I will let all of you know.

Considering that it is Monday and the 1st of June, I figured I should set out my wishes and/or goals for this month and week thereby killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

* To create a routine for work which can be flexible if there needs to be changes

* To finish planning my blogging schedule and to actually draft some posts

* Eat healthier

* Complete 210 minutes of cardio a week.

* Go shopping (seriously, I need to buy some new clothes and make-up)

* Go on more dates. This one is probably the most challenging with my schedule and well because men don't want to date any longer they just want to hook-up and well, as Kelly says... 

Source

So... what have you got planned this month?

The High Road Is Not For Me

I’ve heard this saying for years and thought that would always be me. I pride myself on being a kind person but recently that limit was pushed.

I suppose I could blame it on the blistering heat wave that we’re in the middle off (you know, how could I keep a cool head in these temperatures?) or that it was that time of the month (that would just be a plain lie) or that I was just tired. Tired of being bullied and why shouldn’t I be? Why aren’t you?

Someone did something to me and instead of walking away from them (figuratively) I responded to their nasty emails with one of my own. I must be honest, it really wasn’t that nasty I just can’t seem to think of another term to contextualise either mails. You see, I could have handled nasty but underhand bullying is what really pisses me off and that’s what the mails were. I ignored the first but when the second came in I just couldn’t any longer.

A part of me wishes I regretted responding but the truth is I don’t. If anything I feel better for finally getting everything off my chest. As a trained attorney one of the things I have learnt is to mask rudeness in a mail with words which cut through the bull shit and still manage to make me seem very articulate. It’s an art… and it’s one of my favourite lawyering skills – to be able to be stern with not being overly rude or abrasive.

I digress. So the mails were forwarded to me and I responded one on one to this person and I let it rip because I was fed up and I knew that a lot of people would not appreciate what I was saying because you know.. “don’t go down to their level” but I also knew that no one but me was dealing with the effects of what those mails and that person’s past behaviour did to me.

Therefore in closing, I’m not sorry for unleashing years of anger hurt on that person because I hope that even if it’s just one line, that they think before the next time they want to treat someone as a second rate citizen.

I’ll see you guys and girls later this week! Do you always take the high road?

Thanks for stopping by! x

Do You Act Your Age?

A couple of days ago I was having a chat with my cousin and we were discussing this idea of compromising what we believe in for others and as you know, I'm kinda passionate about not being a hypocrite and while we were in the middle of the discussion I said to her "we're not pretending for others we're just being grown up about it".

It was in that moment I realized  what being mature in a situation is about. It's not the idea of always doing the right thing or what I believe in but it's about doing what's for the greater good.

Although in understanding this I also finally got the full understanding of "fake it till you make it" because sometimes you really have to just push through circumstances for the sake of not upsetting the apple cart.

While we continued chatting I must be honest I realized that we have a lot in common! I already knew that but her answers to some of my questions or responses to what I was saying we're just about identical to what I have probably already said 10 years ago. It's in this conversation that while I may "28 going on 18" in many ways I think I've finally plateaued in being the same age as my level of maturity.

Do you think you act your age?

It's My Birthday Week!

I'm claiming the whole week as mine! My 28th birthday is on Wednesday and I've decided it's only fair to claim the entire week as mine to celebrate or sulk or dance too because .. why not?

I honestly cannot believe that I will be 28 years old this week. I've been trying to wrap my brain around it but I still haven't been able too. After all 28 year olds are probably married or almost there... they are suppose to have the rest of their lives planned out. I'm not that person. And yes, while I will appreciate the messages or comments that I get sent to me about how "we all have our own paths in life" or some version of that just take a moment to appreciate the fact that I just mean that my life isn't how I planned. It's not that I'm necessarily sad about it or ecstatic about it - it just means I have to make peace with it.

My brother is getting married next week so our whole lives are busy with organizing that but I'm going to take a minute to really think about what the next 28 days/months/years are going to be like. Too much? Probably! So let's stick with the next 28 hours. 

What do you have planned for this week? Did I mention I'm in Cape Town for a few days! 

Alacrity

I'm not sure if you remember but at the beginning of last year there was a trend of posts going round where bloggers were almost setting their goals or the tone for the year ahead and my choice was to Be Present. This year I gave this some serious thought because it worked for me to come back to my main focus for 2014. 

This year I wanted to be anti-procrastination and I had to search for a word that fully encompassed this and Alacrity is the word. The meaning is simply:

1. Cheerful willingness, eagerness
2. Speed or quickness; celerity

This is what I want for myself. I hate that I procrastinate so much so I think if I make a conscious effort to completely opposite it then I'll be 1000 times better than I've ever been.

So, what's your word for the year?

Sisterhood Of The World Blogger Award

 

Happy Holidays Readers!!!!

 

The lovely Miss Laura Bora from Miss Laura Bora's Blog has nominated me for an award for the Sisterhood of The World.

Here's how it goes:

The Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site

2. Answer the ten questions that have been set you

3. Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer

4. Nominate ten people

5. HAVE FUN

So the questions Laura has given me are:

1. Who is your fashion inspiration?

To be honest, I'm not much of a fashion person I mean I appreciate fashion but I'm more of a safe dresser. Although when I do need inspiration I love a mix of Khloe and Kim Kardashian #SorryNotSorry

2.  Do you have any pets?                                      

Right now I don't but I really REALLY want a Labrador but I want to make sure I have enough of a backyard for him or her.

3. What is your favourite quote?

I really love this one but more recently I shared one that Khloe had shared and it's heartbreaking and beautiful.

4. Favourite song right now?

 

5. What is your new years resolution?

 

To be healthier version of myself and to keep pushing through everyone else's perceptions of me so I can do what I want to do.

 

6. What is your middle name?

 

I'd rather not say juts because with my full name my online profile would have no secrecy left :(

 

7. Glass half full or glass half empty?

 

Half full... most days

 

8. Favourite TV show right now?

 

Pretty Little Liars

 

9. What is your favourite wild animal?

 

Are horses considered wild animals?

 

10. One makeup item that you couldn't live without?

 

Concealer. I don't wear a lot of make up but concealer is a must to hide my insomnia nights in the morning sun...

 

That's it folks... I'm going to cheat and not tag anyone but if you choose to do the tag send me your link and I'll definitely pop by. I just don't want to force anyone to do this post at this time of the year.. if you do decide to do it, these are my questions to you:

 

1.Who's your favourite blogger and why?

2. What's better bold lips or bold eye make up?

3. Favourite Christmas memory?

4. Favourite sport? ( you don't have to play)

5. Do you have breakfast daily?

6. Do you own a LBD? What makes yours special?

7. At what age did you stop believing in Santa?

8. Have you ever tried online dating?

9. What's your fail safe recipe?

10.What's your New years eve plans?