{Tanya} and {Sharon} have initiated a wonderful project, the #GraceFactorySocial
{The Grace Factory} collects and distributes new and used baby goods to orphanages around Gauteng.
On Saturday 13th July, come and join them at Jump n Play in Northlands.
All you have to bring is a donation of your old (decent condition) baby clothes/toys/bedding etc and a pack of nappies or a tin of formula.
Join the Facebook event over {here}
Today I had the absolute pleasure of attending the local Girls in ICT (Information and Communication Technology) event.
What is Girls in ICT you ask?
International Girls’ in ICT Day is an initiative backed by ITU Member States to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of information and communication technologies (ICTs). International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated on the 4th Thursday in April every year.
Hosted by Anglo African Events in partnership with HP, a few of us bloggers and journos were honoured to be included among about 200 young ladies, these lovely learners are all in grade 12/matric and are starting to seriously think about what to study in the near future.
We got to listen to Keynote speaker, Melanie Botha, Marketing and Ops Director at Microsoft SA, she told us of her fascinating history in various companies across the globe, and imparted one of the most important lessons of the day: ‘Never stop studying, keep learning!’
This was followed by a truly inspirational panel of women, Pippa Tshabalala, Palesa Sibeko, Lebogang Madise, Ntokozo Ncongwane, Shana Kay and Tsoanelo Takaendesa. These six women are, gamers, programers, IT security experts, app developers, business owners, teachers, tech consultants and all around awesome geeky gals.
These are the women that I want my daughter to look up to. I want her to see what these women have accomplished and know that she is capable of greatness. Whether she wants to be a ballerina, am astronaut, a doctor or a techie, she will know that she role models to aspire to.
I think that todays event gave that opportunity to a room full of intelligent, driven and motivated young women and I hope that they know they can make it in the ICT world, they just have to reach out and grab it with both hands.
What a fantastic initiative!
Last year Tattoo-A-Thon raised over R70 000.00. This year they aim to raise R500 000.00 by creating a recording breaking 1000 tattoos in 1 day!
From the Tattoo-A-Thon website –
The project originated out of an education course called the Self Expression & Leadership Program curated by {Landmark Education}, following the Landmark Forum. In order for the participants in the program to graduate, each participant must complete a community-orientated project using the structure taught throughout the program. Jordan Gray took part in this program in 2012 and what turned out to be a cool idea has snowballed into something with a life of its own.
So how does it work?
R700 gets you an hour of ink time and a set size tattoo. The funds raised from the event go directly to {CHOC}. The organisation does not receive funding from government and rely heavily on donations from caring corporates, individuals and parents of children with cancer. Donations and fund raising projects like Tattoo-a-thon are therefore the lifeblood of the organisation.
How do you book?
Contact one of the participating studios in {Jozi}, {Cape Town} or Durban and book your slot. That simple.
More info
If you dont want to get a tattoo or dont have time/funds at the moment you can make a donation directly to CHOC {here} or you can volunteer to help out {here}.
Follow Tattoo-A-Thon on Twitter {here} and on Facebook {here} and check out their website for {FAQ}
Yesterday was EPIC!
The launch of City Sightseeing {Hop On Hop Off Johannesburg}.
The first time I ever heard about the Hop On Hop Off bus was on {CBeebies}, {Boogie Beebies} show. The song was about a double decker bus and the bus was, of course, a Hop On Hop Off London bus. I googled it, since I had never seen anything like it and once I had read all about it I wished we could have one in Jozi. Looks like I got my wish!
{Gauteng Tourism}, Department of Transportation and City Sightseeing have revolutionised Jozi tourism.
Here are the basics:
Stop 3. Carlton Centre “TOP of AFRICA”
Stop 4. Santorama Miniland
Stop 5. James Hall Transport Museum
Stop 6. Gold Reef City Theme Park
Stop 7. Apartheid Museum
Stop 10. Origins Centre at Wit
Stop 12. Constitution Hill
I was totally blown away by the entire experience, the buses are clean and tidy, the tour staff are friendly and knowledgable and the onboard tour guide kept me enthralled the entire 2 hours we were traveling!
I cannot wait to take my family for a tour of our amazing city. I think we will start early and park at Gold Reef City, hop on the bus, visit a few of the stops, come back to Gold Reef City and spend the afternoon at the theme park.
Head on over to the {website} for more information and to book your tickets!
Before I leave you here are some of the pictures I managed to snap with my phone!
…I would have ticked off an item on Tueday.
Instead of a year end party, our boss took us to The Lion Park!
And we got to play with the cubs!
It was so much fun, we had a blast.
I showed the pics to Aaron, now all I hear is ‘Mommy, when can we go to play with the lions?’ Guess where we are going in the holidays 🙂
So Matt decided to grow a mo this year for Movember.
Those of you that know my brother know that he permanently has a beard. This is the first time he has been clean shaven in almost 7 years (last time was for my wedding). In the last month he has attempted to grow his mo and now looks like:
A. A traffic cop circa 1980
B. A peodophile
C. He drank chocolate milk and forgot to wipe his mouth
D. All of the above
Please dont let the horror of my brothers facial hair be for nothing!
Donate ($10 is only about R80!) on his MoBro page (here) and help in the fight against cancer!
Oh and as a bonus, just cause I know you all went and donated here is a pic of Matt dressed as a fairy!
Go on, go donate to a good cause!
I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the new Conrad Pezula Resort & Spa in Knysna (The launch was held at the Hilton in Sandton).
What a treat and what an amazing resort.
The new Conrad Pezula resort, is situated on Lagoonview Drive in Knysna and boasts 86 rooms, including 2 Grand Suites, 5 Villas and the sumptuous Pezula Private Castle on Noetzie Beach.
The name of the game is luxury. Log fire places, private patios and balconies, heated plunge pools, complimentary WiFi, 5 different dining experiences, plenty on-site activities, golf as well as the magnificent spa and gym.
The resort caters for businessmen, weddings and other functions. And children are welcome,from the age of 4 up they can attend the Kiddies Club run by trained, experienced child minders with the emphasis on fun in a healthy, natural environment.
All in all the resort looks fantastic and given half a chance I will be trying out myself!
Last night was the 2nd Annual iPhoneography Exhibition.
I just have to say, Marc Forrest, you and the iStore team are legends! What a slick, professional and awesome event!
If you couldnt make it to the Johannesburg event last night, dont worry, the artwork will remain on display until Friday 26th October and most artworks are for sale so if you go take a look make sure to take some cash with you. You wont be sorry.
If you are in Cape Town you wont want to miss the CT Exhibition on 23rd October.
So, in my previous post I mentioned that I submitted 5 images and 2 were chosen to be displayed.
These are the two…
What a rush seeing them up on the wall with my name next to them.
But an even bigger rush was this!
I sold an image that I took! I am beyond chuffed, especially since out of all the images that I submitted this is my favourite one, this is the one I wanted to get through. What! A! Rush!
I’m still doing a little jig this morning 🙂
I also want to thank Print Wild for the amazing job they did with all the printing. I will definitely be using them to print more of my images. Paul and I have decided to do a 3 x 3 (or maybe 4 x 4 if we cant decide on only 9 images) panel on our entrance hall wall of our Instagram images on canvas.
Edited to add: My darling sweetheart mommy just told me she is buying the other image!
The other day I was invited to attend the very first 2Beans Chocolate and Coffee event.
There was no way I was passing up the opportunity to learn about two of my favourite vices.
Held at the Wanderers Club, I met up with Laura and in we went.
Oh my, coffee everywhere!
Jacobs, Nespresso, House of Coffees, Chay.wa just to name a few.
We found our table and then went to get a cuppa.
Our table was covered with yummy chocolaty goodness too.
Soon Laura and I were joined by Nicki and Bron
The first part of the morning was a panel discussion moderated by Jeremy Maggs.
The panelist were:
They discussed marketing and trends in the coffee and chocolate industries. There were two things that stuck with me. One, the coffee that we have in South Africa is all very good coffee, so there should be no excuse for receiving bad coffee at a restaurant, if you do receive a bad cup you must send it back, the barrista needs to know that it wasnt good so that he/she can learn and know that the next cup needs to be made properly. The other thing I learned is that no matter what the trends, no matter how wild or out there they are, they will always come back to basics, coffee and chocolate or luxurious treats, especially plain and simple, just like you had when you were younger.
The next part of the morning was such a treat, Callum Hann, runner up in Master Chef Australia Season 2 gave us a cooking demo. He made a flour-less chocolate cake and a 5 minute chocolate mousse that only has 2 ingredients. You can find the recipes here.
Our very own Nicki got called up to assist with some egg beating and got herself a copy of Callum’s new book The Starter Kitchen, which looks amazing.
Im so glad I got to go to this amazing event, I certainly learned a lot and had fun to boot!
Charlotte (The Stiletto Mum) cornered me on twitter about joining the #blogsecretsanta this year. I thought about it for all of two seconds and agreed to join in. So much fun.
To see a little more about what its all about head on over to her post here! We are encouraged to let our secret santa know what we like in a blog post…
So, what do I like….
