What a night out taught me…

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I went out on a girls night for the first time in forever! We ended up at a night club which I haven’t done since New Years 2013/2014 (I kid you not) …here is what the experience taught me:

not here yet at least…

– tights are now pants, regardless of size of wearer or translucency of tights it is no longer a necessity to cover your bum.
– bare midriff tops do not require particularly toned tummies or flat ones, it’s a free for all especially when paired with tights
– men’s pants are tiiiight now, leave something to the imagination people! between the men’s jeggings and women’s tights, night club is basically a pop quiz for a gynecology/urology students
– my music is now “old school” I actually heard a girl say “well that is waaaay before my time”
– takkies are the shoe of choice (not sneakers, no, I just jumped off a treadmill takkies) not even paired with a hot little number like on the runways or as seen on Rihanna… yes heels make some women walk like new born giraffes but gym clothes and club clothes should not be the same thing (sudden thought,maybe  they’re rocking slinky dresses in zumba class)
– it gets “late” much earlier, while we used to curse our curfews and swear we would stay up till the next morning dancing till sunrise “once we could” we never do.
– no matter how old you get, a good friend always makes for a great night
*disclaimer, I used to dress rather risqué “if it covers my butt it’s a dress” so party on girls 🙂 just be safe, I’ll be over here watching series in my onsie, till next time.

NOW

THEN

New Blog, New Me

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I know that today is Mommy Moment Monday, but instead allow this mommy to have a moment 🙂
I’ve updated my blog, thanks to Odette from OsoInspired . The thing is, my blog is very much an extension of me…I have been undergoing so many changes lately it seems only fitting that the blog would do the same, so there you have it, the new look!
What do you think? I feel like it looks grown up! also it was needed with the new domain and all 🙂 talking about new domains, did you check out Oh!Boy’s new website I needed to buy the domain as the free site names were way too hard to remember and relay to people…it’s supper easy to use so do go over there and don’t be shy to hit shop 😉

Other changes in my life include:
– A work shift (wont jinx it yet as there are decisions to make)
– Getting my body back, I’m eating better and getting more physical, because I looked in the mirror and wanted to weep!!!
– Taking care of myself better, the water retention is back and both my insulin and iron levels are not where they should be
– Being kinder to me, I’m extremely hard on myself, I can be a bit of a bully and really don’t want to be that anymore so I’m working on being nicer to me
– Take care of mental health; depression and social anxiety are real and I need to take care of me
– My first month making and selling Oh!Boy went really well, the plan now is to sell the end of range things and make a whole new range…I really want to keep doing new stuff, it makes my heart happy
– Studies still going strong 🙂

… I’m in re-invention mode and feeling rather positive about it all

Do you know Jonelle of Tyranny of Pink

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You know the group I am part of SaMomBlogs well they are undergoing a awesome new makeover including inviting blog readers to join the FACEBOOK GROUP where they can follow all us mommy bloggers in one place, handy hey…

We are also reviving the whole featuring each other thing, which I LOVED! My match up for the month is Jonelle of Tyranny of Pink  she is an awesome soon to be mom who is extremely real, check out her blog! you get such a great sense of a multifaceted person who is really nice, we need more nice people says me 🙂 she also does the cutest picture/word graphics  🙂

-Tell us a little about yourself and your family…


I’m originally from Swaziland but moved to Cape Town in 2003 to attend University and ended up falling so in love with the city that going home just wasn’t an option anymore.  I’m now married and fully settled in with two dogs, two cats and a baby arriving September 2015. It doesn’t get more domestic than that!


-What do you do when not blogging?


I’m really new at this whole blogging thing and it just doesn’t seem like there is a time when I’m “not blogging.” Usually I’m checking stats, replying to comments, editing images and planning for my next post while watching series with my husband. We do have a “bit of” an addiction when it comes to series. Otherwise I love eating out or visiting wine farms (which was admittedly much more fun before I got pregnant) but otherwise I’m quite a homebody and just like being at home. My absolute favourite thing to do is host family lunch on Sundays where I spend most of the day telling the dogs to stop begging.


-What made you decide to blog and how long have you been at it?


I just found myself feeling really unfulfilled in my job towards the end of 2014. I’ve never really been someone who likes working for others and always had plans to do my own thing “one day.” Eventaully last year, we starting planning on starting our family and I wanted to be at home with my children when that happens and I thought that was the perfect time to just take the plunge. I started my blog in Janurary to document that journey.  


-What was your concept behind your blog?


I’ve always had so much to say and very strong opinions. The idea was to post about taking the leap from full time employee to following my heart and becoming a diversity management consultant (I have a degree in Diversity Studies) but my blog seems to have taken on a life of its own and immediately moved more in the direction of making lemonade out of the lemons that life throws at you. I refuse to apologise for the way I live my life  and I try to put a positive spin on the tough situations we find ourselves in. I think my readers enjoy seeing that it’s possible to be happy and see the silver lining even when things aren’t going perfectly as planned.


-Did you find yourself nervous at prospect of letting people into your life in this way?


Yes absolutely. I’m often hesitant before I hit the publish button (especially on some of my more controversial topics like divorce, grief and death) but then I remember why I’m doing this and the kind of life I want to live and I just think that I am who I am, some people will like me and others won’t but I can’t and won’t apologise for being myself.


-I know you announced your pregnancy recently do you ever worry that your kids will be like “mom why are you exposing my life?” 

Believe it or not, I’m quite a private person in real life so it was an interesting decision to be so honest about my thoughts in such a public way. I’ve always been very careful of the things I post on social media but with my blog it just seems okay to put myself out there. I hope that one day my children will see this as an act of bravery and respect why I do what I do but I don’t think my blog would ever be too intimately about my family.


-Does your family read your blog?


My mother reads it every morning which is wonderful because I usually wake up to her pointing out any grammatical or editorial errors and it’s like having my own personal editor. I love it. My husband also reads it every day and is incredibly supportive of my blogging journey. As for the rest of my family, I think they read a couple of posts here and there.


-What do you hope to achieve through the blog?


I’m happy knowing that some of the posts I write have an impact on people. I love hearing the stories about how people can relate and something I get told a lot is that I write what people feel but don’t have the words to say and that’s enough for me. Knowing that something I’ve written has had a tiny influence on even one person makes me happy. I just want people to know that they aren’t alone in the crappy things that happen but that it doesn’t mean they should give up.


-What do you think about the blogging culture in South Africa?
Honestly I’m so new to blogging that I don’t have too much experience with this. I’ve heard that it can be very competitive but everyone has been really lovely to me so far and I think it’s great that blogging is becoming a more recognisable career. I think it’s important that we as bloggers support each other if we want to see growth in the field. We need to stand together and show a united front – especially when it comes to monetising our services so that bloggers aren’t taken advantage of by brands and businesses.


-What do you think makes for a “good blog”


I think the best kinds of blogs are the one’s that stay true to the blogger. The only type of blog I really can’t stand are the ones where there is clearly a strong focus on advertising and making money instead of on the content. I can’t read a blog with ten affiliate links and content geared only towards making you click on those links.


I love blogs about personal experiences that I can relate to where the blogger just takes me into their experiences. One of my favourite bloggers is Lotte Lane (lottelane.com), an English blogger who blogs about everything from a very frank and genuine place and I just love getting lost in her stories.


-How do you personally measure success in the blogging world?

Success for me is knowing that I’m staying true to who I am and that my words have had an impact in some way. I like knowing that people are reading my blog posts but if no one ever did that would be okay too. I really just enjoy writing so if someone tells me that they really related to a post then that’s an added bonus. I think what’s important is to remember why you started blogging in the first place because otherwise you can find yourself lost in a world where there will always be a bigger  and better blog than yours. If you’re happy with it, that is all that should matter.


Learn more about her HERE:


super easy eye-spy bottle DIY

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Aidan is home from school for the holidays, WHAT am I supposed to do with him for so long, hehe.

As I work from home (with needles, scissors, blades, PAINT) it is rather important to keep him busy so I will need to get creative! I made a eye-spy bottle, or as he calls it a “find bottle” and it has been a hit.

This is it, a rice filled bottle with bits and pieces floating around and you
shake it to find a specific item
get a plastic bottle or jar (needless to say you need to be able to see through it)
collect little bits and pieces from around the house
you will need rice too, it’s not pictured, but I trust you, hehe
Take a picture of the things you will use and print it out
(mine are random but you can go for a theme)
Also if your child can read you can write what they need to find instead of taking a picture

Add rice and your bits and pieces to the bottle, I  did mine; rice, items, rice, items
for distribution purposes.
I then stuck the picture on using contact plastic (wow I love that stuff)

Love the concentration on his face, he used a whiteboard crayon to mark off the things he found
The best part is I just used tape to seal the bottle so can replace bits and bobs whenever I feel like it  but he can’t get in there, which is awesome because I don’t feel for a mess:)

You can colour the rice like I showed you HERE just leave out the eucalyptus

Day one drop out…

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So it’s official I’m a student again!
I attended my first web based class last night and very nearly ran away…
I’m studying towards an accredited digital marketing diploma which I hope to use on the blog and also with Oh!boy.
I love learning new things and often sign up for short little self encrichment courses, but this one is way more serious, there are weekly assignments and a final exam!!!
I know some people are probably rolling their eyes at me thinking,uhm what did she think exactly? well I don’t know, I suddenly  feel so unclever (see I could not even think of the proper word to go there).
School/studying always came fairly easy to me, I was not top of the class but I have always maintained a B/C average without much effort and failing never entered my mind.Now it’s the only thing entering it. Maybe it’s similar to why I don’t like seeing guys who were into me during my University days ( now in my trying to fit back into pre pregnancy jeans days). I prefer not to taint their image of me. Maybe that’s it, perhaps I do not want to taint my own image of me, because as far as I know I’m still the girl who brings home distinctions, maybe I don’t want to discover that’s not me anymore.I swear as the lecturer was giving dates for assessments I was giving reasons why dropping out on day one is a completely reasonable option… It’s not like I want to become a digital marketer per say, I already have a diploma in print media and in broadcast media, so really this it is just greedy. My time could be better spent.With loadshedding I could lose my wifi connection at any minute, it’s better not to get too vested in it right now.
It’s weird this fear thing. Age has made me much less brave, as a youngen I would rollerblade backwards down a hill, now the thought is INSANE! “do you know how you could hurt yourself” I could party till the early hours of the morning “but then who will watch YouTube and drink Milo?”. I would see everyday as an excuse to dress up (I had that as a motivational poster on my bedroom wall and was once voted most stylish media person) now I’m like; “which pair of black leggings will I pair with my comfortable shoes today”.
That right there is why I’m sticking it out in this course, come what may, I need to challenge my belief system a little. Be daring (cause quiting my job, getting a refresher course in needlework and starting a kids label was not daring, hehehe)
But you get me, I’ve become too complacent, too frumpy, too mom! it’s time I look into what exactly it is being JustEllaBella!
and scene, so dramatic this Eleanor woman…I do take cute pics though,check it out on instagram, or tweet me or fb me or pinterest me 🙂

Mommy Moment Monday; Robyn

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So I’m bringing back mommy moment Monday’s because I love hearing from other mom’s… I’ve changed the format though and will interview a different mom every week 🙂  So here goes the first of the series staring my bestie, Robyn… we could not be more different if we actually physically tried, BUT we spent most of the last ten years having to help people differentiate between the two of us, no I’m not Robyn , that is, or I think you mean Eleanor, that’s her…so arb I tell you.

Robyn’s Mom story:
Brief description: me, ex journo, student teacher working towards my dream, mom of almost 3 year old twins Blake and Riley who are the light of my life, my reason for breathing and my reason for losing my mind all at once lol.
1. Tell us about the time kids made you cringe: um hard to think of just one. Recently Riley’s new fun thing to do is to ask loudly as people walk past; “whose that lady”, “whats that man”. Blake is still being potty trained and when my mom was looking after them he decided to poop in a toy colander
2. Tell us about one moment you felt like you were winning at this mommy thing: Whenever they get excited to see me and also when I see how they play together and you can just see how much they love each other it really warms my heart. Also we try to pray every night and before meals but in the rush of life I sometimes forget, but without fail one of them will remind me and makes me happy to be raising them with a love of the Lord
3. How has mamahood changed you/your life: Well for one thing my time is never really my own. Every decision is made with them in mind. Our lives are busier now and sleeping in is a distant memory. Also i used to be a lot more judgmental. Now I never give advice or my opinions. If someone asks I rather say what works for me. I now have more compassion towards other people’s journeys because “you never know what they are dealing with”. I can’t judge a mom with a screaming kid in the shop because tomorrow it could be me.
4. What do you wish you knew before: hmmmmmm. Well firstly I wish I knew that the image of perfect kids who follow instructions and have a concept of time was just an illusion lol. I cant even count the times I’ve had to say; “no Riley you can’t wear two tops and no pants”. Things change when you have strong willed kids who don’t understand you are 2 minutes from being late for work and about a minute from losing your mind and one is running around bottomless and the other one is hiding away without making a peep.