Striking

So hard, yet soft. Real, raw.
This is art
Art, to me, is beauty created or captured in such a way that gives pause.
Beautiful. Striking.

MASHAYABHUQE

Found this here

Choose happiness

Some Monday love...

Desiderata

Desiderata – Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, 
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story. 

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery. 

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism. 

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself. 

You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here. 

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be. 

And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world. 

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

This is what got me through today

at the thought of you...

This poem moved me. As I read, I felt, I inhaled and when I exhaled, it felt as though I'd lived. 

Enjoy

at the thought of you by Warsan Shire

Dear Friend

Dear Friend

I Don't come to you to be judged. Now, I know this sentence seems as though I may be starting a fight, but take this as my plea to you. A plea for you to understand my understanding of friendship.

We know a lot of people. We engage with a few more. We experience people and we learn a lot about ourselves from these interactions.

Here's what I need you to know - I love you. I trust you. I appreciate you. This all comes with responsibility. The responsibility to know that I give my heart and honesty to you, because I know that with you I can just be. I can be weak, I can be strong, I can be. I need you to be my friend in the way that I understand friendship. (Sounds selfish, right?)

You aren't a colleague. You aren't an associate, not a random, not someone I say hi to nje at a party, not just someone I know. You are my friend, you are a part of who I am, who I hope to be, and whom I hope to become. Please be careful with my heart. This is existential.

Dear friend, as much as I need you too tell me what I don't want to hear sometimes, and so on and so forth, I do expect not to be judged by you.

I come to you, come to you in need and in abundance, for whatever reason - never to feel less. I love with all of me, including my insecurities, never to be made to feel like I'm not good enough.

You are my friend. My heart. My sun. My stars.
You being a part of my facebook, twitter and bbm life is just the cherry on top.

Friendship is so beautiful.

The Mighty Wallet is here!

Been hearing whispers about these super durable, original, environmentally friendly and super thin wallets for a while now. I want one (or five) and really want to gift them as well. They are as quirky and interesting as my earring collection. Must have.

So, they can be found in various Look & Listen stores, in Rosebank at a store called Republic, and of course online -
www.hotonlinefashion.com (free delivery)

Check out more styles here:
www.mightywallets.com

Choked

I can't breathe
I can't articulate my frustrations
I can't think straight

I can't tell you what I want because I feel choked, and don't even know where to begin.
So, instead, I'm just going to post this image that makes me somewhat happy

Cannot for the life of me remember which tumblr I found it on

I want to move to Nairobi

Kenya is calling me. Don't know yet what I'd do there and for how long, all I know is that I have to go.

All Photos sourced from the incredible: DAILYSTRUGGLE

I am in love with a place I've never been to.

Nando's does it again....

A couple weeks ago I tweeted something along the lines of  "Nando's cant make chicken, they should stick to somewhat funny ads"
And of course, unlike the chicken, their ads never disappoint when it comes to a little chuckle.

Just in time as we watch the Protection of Information Bill in parliament

Source

By Black River FC

Rolling Stone SA

This cover actually got me excited about the launch of Rolling Stone in South Africa

I'll be honest, I was very blasé before, but seeing Bra Hugh, looking oh so cool and oh so old skool in that "I'm a G" for real kinda way has actually positioned Rolling Stone Magazine quite well in mind. Now I know to expect more than just riff raff and sensationalist bs; I'll be entertained, informed and well taken care of within those pages.

Viva Rolling Stone SA, Viva

Writers Write

It's that simple really, isn't it?

So what makes one a writer? Simply, a writer writes. A writer bleeds words from the core of their being; paints pictures, scribbles emotions and strokes souls with their words. They don't wait for inspiration, they write because they have to. They have to release the beast that is within them. They have to create with words.

Writers Write. That's it.

6 things

Source- Tumelo -  This is the perfect setting for any kind of celebration. Maybe my next birthday

So I've been thinking, analysing, breathing, and essentially having a little existential dance with myself and I thought to let go, share, release and exhale these 6 thoughts. Walk with me.

1. Dreams vs Reality:
I'd like to move to Nairobi for at least a year. For now, I'll leave it at that. It's something I've been thinking about for a few months and the feeling gets stronger and stronger everyday. I don't know what exactly I'd do there, or what opportunities there are, it just is something I really want and need to do for myself.
I think I see it almost as the first step to my big dream of travelling the entire African continent. Gotta start somewhere. And Kenya is where I want to start.

2. Trying something new:
My personal style is pretty simple - Interesting with a statement - and I kind of play around the same circles with different variations around cuts of clothing that speak my body's language and make me feel beautiful, elegant and interesting. A close heart-mate of mine calls my style 'bohemian cache' - whatever that means. Anyway, the point is, last week Friday night I attended the Channel O Music Video Awards 2011 at the Sandton Convention Centre, and until about an hour before the show, I didn't have an outfit. Boogy (Trunks and Cast) sourced a look that we played around with and to my absolute surprise - it worked. It was just so incredible and simple, yet interesting and elegant. I wish I'd had my picture taken to show you, so I'll try and describe it: Black high waisted straight leg pants, gold and leopard skin belt, black corset thingy, patent brown platform heels, and some accessories. I felt and looked beautiful. I've never owned a pair of high waisted pants nor a corset before, now I love how I translated Rock Star Glam for the night. So excited to try another variation, maybe with high waisted leather pencil skirt.

3. Contradict  / question myself:
I always say that Life is, at its core, the search and experience of beauty. We are alive because of beauty, and everything we do is for beauty and the search thereof. Yes, I truly believe that.
About two weeks ago I went to Arts on Main Sunday Market, had lunch under the trees in the courtyard garden, bought some pretty things and drink delicious cocktails, mingled with Joburg's beautiful people in a beautiful setting. This was then followed by some rooftop vibing, sipping and laughing at Main Street Life, all culminating in a warm evening having supper at Dukes in Greenside. That's all beautiful, right? That's what life, according to me, is all about, right? Well, something irked me that day. It felt like a little bit too much. It got to be too much. Too much to take in, too much to take in, too much tp experience. It was all great, no doubt, but something about it was all too much and I felt an aversion to it all by the end of the day.
Could I have misled myself with all this beauty experiencing "Life is" philosophising? Could I be wrong about it?

4. Helplessness:
No, I'm not dying. My car, named Bokomo, is. She's a 1995 model Honda Ballade and she's awesome, but dying a slow and painful death. Most recently, we crashed into some dude going down the wrong way in a parking lot, before that, the drivers side window stopped working, the radio won't switch on, her chassis is bent, got a clinking sound going on, she's wiggly and tired and and and. For the last 8 months or so, I've had to fix something or another and it's not all that cheap. Bokomo is my baby, she loves me, and I love her to bits. Not only because she is paid off, or that she's my only walk in closet, or that she listens to me when I ramble on, but because she offers me freedom. Freedom to go where I want, experience things, be quiet on my own and leave whenever I want. We don't appreciate that kind of freedom enough. Sometimes we call it independence, but I'm dependant on Bokomo for that freedom. And she's about to die. I feel helpless and hopeless, like a penny with a hole in it... *breaks into song*  Oh Lord please buy me a Mer... ANY WORKING VEHICLE. Or send me Xzibit to pimp my ride

Bokomo's parking lot bash. 

5. Parked idea:

See how I did that? From parking lot drama to parked inspiration? 

Have you read this - Fashionista spoilt for choice - in the Times a little back? Oh, you haven't. Click and pop there, read and come back. It'll help get us out of sadness that is Bokomo. 

Yay, you're back! I'm delighted. Did Milli's post make you wanna crawl into foetal position thinking about all that money you've spent on clothes? Yeah, me too.
Wait a minute, you seem a little nonplussed. You don't know who Miss Milisuthando Bongela is do you? That's okay, I won't judge. Ok - check out her blog, while I collect my thoughts. Please come back. No, really, come back. You know how the internet can lead you down paths you hadn't intended. (world wide web, hint hint) - http://missmillib.blogspot.com/

Welcome back. So,after I read the spoilt for choice post by Mili, I got thinking. I really would love to take an afternoon with a small group of friends, walk Newtown, Joburg CBD all the way to Noord street taxi rank and surrounds, taking in the city and shopping! Wouldn't that be a fantastic? Just got to flesh it out and propose it to some people.

Finally...

6. A picture / thousand words:
I used to be the one at every party, gathering, walk, talk and more with a digital camera capturing every moment and telling stories through those amateur pictures. But now. I just don't document my life as much. Is it because I don't find it interesting? bollocks. Is it maybe because I'm lazy? Possibly. Is it because I'm more immersed in everything to stop and take pictures? Yeah, that's deep enough, just not Good enough.
I broke my awesome Canon digital camera, and I'm going to replace it very soon. I loved taking pictures and blogging with those pictures. and I want to do it again. Practise for when I sell everything and go backpacking across Africa blogging away. Yes.


These are some of the things traipsing through my mind. Thanks for listening.

Til I write again. 

Me Likey

Cassette tape portraits

I am Ok

I don't think we tell ourselves that enough, or even show gratitude to ourselves and our God for being ok.

Yes, the desire may be to be ecstatic, bubbling over with happiness and the absolute picture of perfection and peace, but seriously - who the fuck can be on that high 24 hours of every single day? Sometimes we just need to be still and accept that the basics are ticked. Gratitude is such a simple and divine experience that allows us to see clearer, be clearer and float with purpose.

I am ok.

Build from there.

Copacetic

One of my favourite English words...

Today I choose to be and feel copacetic...

Dailymood

COPACETIC; very good, completely satisfactory, excellent

Why I WON'T enter X-Factor / Idols

Came across this video shot secretly by Ben Rotten in Berlin, Germany
I properly butchered Beyonce's "Listen"

Disclaimer:

it was 3am, waiting for a bus back to hotel, after a little too much wine... don't judge!

Laughing at myself, join me

Music is life

I found my happy place - and it is a collection of mixtapes from Mixing Monthly!

Click download and soar into bliss

Shot Tumelo for the link bella

The Slutwalk happened

Of the six organisors of the event, I think I was the one who did the least of the actual groundwork, but I know for that Sandi (founder of Slutwalk Joburg), Walter, Sam, Gina and Nadia put in hours and hours, through blood, sweat and tears to make Saturday 24 September a success. To them, I am forever grateful and in awe of their passion and enthusiasm.

The weather was a little nippy, but it certainly helped keep us cool during the walk of protesting rape and victim blaming and shaming, with chants and posters shaking up Rosebank.

I cannot even begin to express how emotional it all was for me. Seeing people, dressed in all sorts - wild as well as conservative - men, women, children - I didn't see any animals. It was fun, it was important, it was camaraderie, it was energetic and I can only hope we made a difference.

Thank you if you came along. Thank you if you talked about the cause, the name, the importance - whether or not it was positive - you helped create dialogue. Thank you.

It was an incredible day. Hopefully next year we'll do it again. Hopefully one day we won't need such protests and men and women and children's bodies will be respected.

Source  - Me and Sandi

These awesome wristbands are only R20, and go towards recoup the almost R30 000 spent by the organisors to make the event happen.
you can email slutwalkjhb@gmail.com to get
Over flow of the proceeds will go to rape related crisis organisations.

Slutwalk Wristband

SUPPORT!

Also, check out www.isaidno.co.za  - portal for victims to become survivors! Share stories anonymously or otherwise. Find information of help centres around the country.

Thank you again to everyone who came out to take a stand against rape becoming our heritage on Heritage Day 2011

A

Heritage Day at Ogilvy

Heritage Day Celebrations at Ogilvy Joburg  today...