The Liebster Bloghop Challenge

This blog post is looong overdue and for that I am terribly sorry (once again). Unfortunately my focus is on my career at the moment and that is why blogging has become very rare for me. Luckily today's post will be interesting. I am taking part in the Liebster Bloghop Challenge.

I was tagged by Cape Town blogger and writer Steven Benjamin. You can go visit his blog here. Part of this challenge is to mention 11 random facts about myself and then answer the 11 questions I received from Steven. I then get to tag 3 - 10 other bloggers who will hopefully also take part in this little chain-letter blog challenge. I'll be sending out an email to the 3 I would like to see continue on this challenge. If there is anyone who wants to become involved please send me your contact information and I will be in touch.
To keep this post beautiful, I have decided to include photos I have been wanting to upload for a while now. They were taken on Onrus beach one late afternoon.

Hope you enjoy this post :)

11 random facts about myself:

1. Would love to see the entire world before I die.
2. I have the best friends and family in the whole wide world.
3. Sushi is my absolute favorite treat!
4. Madly in love with Alle Farben and Alt-J's music.
5. My favorite colour is blue.
6. I really have no time for selfish people.
7. I can sew...
8. ... paint...
9. ...... and pretend to be a great cartoon artist.
10. A brief visit to the beach makes me a really happy person.
11. One day I will find a way to heal the world.

Steven's questions and my answers:


1. What sort of books do you like to read?
I am going to be completely honest... I have not read a good book in ages.

2.  Do you believe in a higher power?
God is everything.

3. What fascinates you most about humanity?
 There are so many different types of people in this world and not one of them look or act the same.

4.  If you were a colour, what colour would you be?
Hmmmm... it's a tough one because my mood will most likely affect my colour. 

5.  What’s your favourite scene from a film?
P Shermin, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney.
Only because it's the very first thing that came to my mind when I read this question.

6.  What are your three favourite foods?
Sushi, Thai Green Curry and braai.

7. What is your favourite song or lyric?
I have so many, but if I had to choose two favorite songs it would be Seether, Rise Above This and POD, Alive.

8. What is your passion and what inspired it?
One of my many passions would be this little blog. I found it my way of letting the world know what goes on inside this chaotic and sometimes crazy brain of mine.

9. If you could do one wild and extreme thing, what would it be and why?
Travel the world with nothing but a a few essentials and then settle on an island.

10. If you could have lunch with a comedian, who would you choose?
Mark Lottering because I just want to touch his afro. 

11. Could you think of three things that your close friends would say that would describe you the best?
Silly, funny and being a free-spirit... I've been told.

Compact Living

If you haven't heard about Take Part, I think it's time you go check them out. I came across Take Part when I watched the saddest movie in the world. The Cove. It definitely is not for sensitive viewers, but it does open your eyes to what happens around us. 
Take Part focus on the problems and issues that transform our lives and the world we live in. Their content range from happy news to content that will make you cry. You can go read more about them here.

 Recently they had this post on their website. My immediate reaction to this was complete claustrophobia and broke my heart at the same time. Imagine living in a confined space of only 40 square FEET and sometimes even smaller. As much as I think this would save people living there a whole lot of money (noticing an iPhone in one of the photos), it also saddens me to know what people are forced to live in. Yes, it might be a roof over their head, but the conditions do not look healthy. Go read the article and be grateful for every single thing you have, the air you breath and the space you live in.


The following images were found on the article and taken by Society for Communication Organization.

Upcycle Your Tshirt

It's great to see people "upcycle" clothes!
What?
I'm so glad you asked what upcycle is ;) let me tell you! Upcycle is when you take something old or out of date and completely revamp it, making it look brand new. What I love about the whole thing is that what you end up creating is completely unique and 100% you. It's a whole lot cheaper than going out and buying something you end up wearing a  few times.

So in the spirit of upcycling I have decided to do a little something of my own and share it with you.
Just remember I never studied fashion design so I'm not a professional. I was fortunate enough to have a mom who knew how to sew and so was taught a few tricks.

 

WHOOPSIE! Spelling error... my bad! *Stitch"

App Day Monday: Assertive Touch

Before you say anything... I know it's Tuesday night. It seems like my App Day Monday will now be coming at a surprise... I like to keep things exciting!


Assertive what? Yes, Assertive Touch. This is not anything physical or to be taken literally. This is something that you actually might find useful one day. This does not apply if you only just got an iPhone or if you have upgraded to a later more modern looking iPhone. This post is to those of us who have had one iPhone for a long period of time.

Now, to those of you who fall into this category, you will know that after a couple of months (normally after a long couple of months and a lot of usage) the home button on your iPhone does not always respond when it is being touched. This button will decide not to work anymore, or you would have to press it at a certain angel which can be a pain up the bum.

Thankfully I had a very clever little student in Thailand who introduced the Assertive Touch on the iPhone.
What is it? Well, its a "home" button, but it works from the touch of your screen. It's not a physical little button on the bottom end of your phone.  I suggest that if you have not activated this home button that you do so as soon as possible. It didn't bother me at all. The first day or two felt a little inconvenient, but after you get to know this little button, it kind of just sits there and you end up using it more than what you would use the actual home button.
You can find the Assertive Touch Button on iOS5. It also gives you access to shortcuts that you can customize on Favorites menu. You can rotate your screen, shake, lock, adjust volume and mute your phone simply by using your "Device" option. You can do all of this just by using one single touch. It's a great feature!
This awesome feature is not only available on the iPhone, but also on the iPod and iPad! 


There is quite a bit one can do with this little feature. What does concern me is that this feature was created with great reason behind it. Does this mean all Apple products with a home button will need this feature eventually because the device might suffer a manufacturing malfunction?! If the answer is yes, well then it's just great (sarcasm). So to save yourselves the drama, time and perhaps some cash for unnecessary repair, get to know this feature. I even found a great little video you can look up to find out more.




If you want to activate your Assertive Touch Button you can follow these easy steps:

- Settings (scroll down)
- General (scroll down)
- Accessibility (scroll down)
- Assertive Touch (scroll down)
- and switch it on.

Easy as pie...

                            ... and your welcome :)

In memory of our Toffee

Not too long ago, Toffee our doggy child, passed away. She was such a dear little dog. We absolutely loved her. She wasn't just a dog. She was family. I blogged about her crazy and funny personality a few times. If you haven't read those stories you can go read them here, here, here and here. :)

In honour of Toffee I have decided to do a little cartoon about her. As you should know, bull terriers have  very long snouts. It's rather difficult for them to see over it if they trying to focus on something directly in front of it. Toffee got massively irritated with the staffie next door. The staffie teased her through the vibracrete walls. It drove her mad and the other dog knew it. Although one day, she discovered a tiny little gap between one of the slabs...

And the staffie wasn't seen for a while...

Here's to you Toffee... a legend that will never be forgotten!

Shooting Stars in the Ocean

While I was in Thailand, I experienced something I wish every single person in this world would get to experience. We were on our way back from Koh Tao and I was struggling to sleep due to the fact that a huge foreigner next to me was taking over the entire sleeping space. Not only his, but the ones allocated on either side of him too. Yes he might have been slightly big boned, but there was enough space for him if he only tried to be nice. I know these beds are tiny, but you try and be accommodating to your neighbours around you. You get over the awkwardness and everyone sleeps in a spooning position. Think of it as a bunch of sardines in a tin. Gross example sorry. This does not mean "take over all the beds because I can".
Normally you would have to take an over night ferry to and from the islands as these trips can really take quite some time. In a nut shell the whole boat thing is quite an  experience on its own there in Thailand.

 So because I wasn't able to sleep at all, I decided to sit on the deck of the ship.  I sat there in the darkness all by myself. I admired the millions of stars above me. I had never been able to see so many stars as I did that night, in my whole life. I was in the middle of nowhere and there were no city lights to interfere with the night sky.

 As the hours passed, I didn't even notice the huge change below me. Infact, I had been staring at it without anything registering in my brain. 

 When I did notice what was happening, I realized that I had finally got to experience what I thought I would never see... bio luminous plankton.

My doodle drawings do no justice to what I saw and I wish I had a camera. Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture the glittery ocean and the fish that darted through the ripples appearing like shooting stars. Thankfully, we have very awesome people in the world that are able to capture these things that happen. Here are a few examples I found on the internet:

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/pictures/120319-glowing-waves-ocean-blue-bioluminescent-plankton-science/

Source: http://www.bioluminopedia.info/apps/blog/categories/show/553421-natural-history

Finally, have a look at this amazing video shot by LoghanCall. His video clearly shows you just how awesome this bio luminous plankton is.

I'm a Creative person

If you met me years ago, you would know that I was constantly busy with something creative. I was lucky to be born into a creative family. A dad with his architecture and mad oil painting skills, together with a mom's creative eye and attention to detail created a monstrosity of a creative little me! I've always learned that if you can make it, then why bother to buy it. This worked really well to keep us creative. My mom taught me how to sew so that all my dolls and barbies were pimping in the latest Claudia Trends and when they weren't pimping, I was pimping in clothes I made myself.

When we grew out of dolls, we played with dough and created little animals or sculptures. We even baked them in the oven and went as far as painting them afterwards. My dad would make us anything we needed out of wood. When I say anything, I mean anything from a doll house, to a wooden violin and even a few shields and swords for my brother and his friends. On summer days, we even built ramps for skate boarding and rollerblading. My dad eventually got the neighbourhoods boys and dads into building go-karts.
Us girls grew out of barbies and into our jewelery phase. We would spend many Saturdays around our kitchen table chatting about boys and making pretty things. Those were the awesome days of our childhood. In our house, there was always something fun to do. 

I've been wanting to upload some artworks of mine I recently came across. Hope you enjoy them!

After many years of not painting and only being creative on the laptop, I have started experimenting with different styles to water paint...

I did this one for my brother. He requested the Robin wearing sneakers :)

The image below is one I am currently working on for a friend of mine.