We all need some SUNSHINE in our lives!

The lovely Johlet of Our Journey to Everywhere awarded me with the beautiful Sunshine Award.

I met Johlet through my friend Claudz when Johlet started planning to JHB Blogger Meet-up taking place on 9 November. Her and I share a love of travel, so I am looking forward to meeting her in real life... along with all the other lovely ladies out there.

There are a few simple rules for the Sunshine Award:

Include award logo in or on your blog post.
Link to the person who nominated you.
Answer 10 questions about yourself.
Nominate other bloggers to give this award to.

1. If you won a million dollars (let’s say R 10 million for our South African bloggers), what would be the first thing you would buy and why?
I would buy a house for my parents closer to me and in a safer area.

Then:

1. I would buy a huge farm to house all the abused and neglected animals. I would pay staff to look after them and I would work there as well.
2. I would put money aside for my nephew's education
3. Plan a round the world holiday for myself and my friends
4. Buy my brother & his wife a house

2. Do you have any pets and if so, what are they? And their names?
I have 1 cat. A beautiful boy named Squeaky (real name is Galileo)

3. Who is your favourite beauty guru and why?
Mmmh I am not really into the whole beauty thing... I would like to go see Bobbi Brown to get her to teach me how to do make-up nicely... and love doing it.

4. What kind of blog posts do you like to write the most?
Travel posts. I love looking back through my photographs and re-living the memories.

5. Name a few of your favourite bloggers and what you like about their blog.

• Kate from The Cow Jumped Over the Moon. I have said it many times... Kate is a lady. She is real. Kate is gorgeous without realising it and hilariously funny. And her blog name is really cool
• Claudz from Purple Lips and Perfect Smiles. Being a fellow Gemini, wine lover & cradle snatcher, Claudz seems to write about many things that are relevant to my life. I feel like she 'gets' me. Claudz started out as a bloging friend and has become a real life friend, making her very special indeed.
• Gae from Heart Of Iron. This is an inspirational lady of note! Driven, courageous and with such a positive outlook on life, you cannot help but feel inspired.
• Megan from Meghan Silva's Lifestyle Blog Meghan's blog is a wonderful mix of fashion, make-up and real life (lifestyle) and I love that she caters for every person's interests. Meghan is the perfect example of what a blogger should be: Varied content, regular poster, Wise words. (She puts me to shame! I can't only aspire to be as dedicated as her 1 day!)

6. If you could take a 2 week vacation to anywhere in the world, where would you go, and who would you take with you?
I would take my boyfriend, or my mom, as she has never been overseas before.

With BF: Machu Picchu

Mom: Italy

7. If you could only wear one brand of makeup for the rest of your life, what would it be?
MAC

8. Describe your favourite casual outfit?
My coloured jeans, some pretty flip flops and a strappy top layered under a pretty top (chiffon, lace etc)

9. What is your favourite holiday?
I love relaxing-on-the-beach-sipping-cocktails but I also love "tourist" holidays - exploring the cities of a different city every few days.

10. What TV series are you looking forward to watching?
The new series of Suits and Dexter

I nominate the following bloggers:
The Cow Jumped Over the Moon

Purple Lips and Perfect Smiles
Heart of Iron
Meghan Silva's Lifestyle Blog

Join in the fun and let me know who you have nominated.

Interactive CV

This is really creative.
When I see stuff like this, I wish I could be cool like them!

Do yourself a favour and click on this link.
http://www.rleonardi.com/interactive-resume

8 Things Every Happy Woman Should Have

I haven't felt much like blogging this week, so I thought I better add something happy after my sad post on Monday.

Stole this from Minky who stole it from Thought Catalog

1. A go-to drink
Cosmopolitan with extra cherries
Non Alcoholic: Passion Fruit & Lemonade

2. A go-to Karaoke song
I cannot sing, so I prefer not to subject people to this torture.

If I had to choose.... What Makes you Beautiful by 1D. The note is low and the tune is so catchy people might not notice my terrible singing

3. A uniform
Difficult - I change my wardrobe according to my moods - which change all the time!!

Probably jeans and a tank top/strappy top layered over a strappy top and flip flops or my sneakers.
4. A hair-stylist you love
My Mom. Nobody else

5. An Exercise Routine
In the distant past - gym 5 times a week. Now... nothing

6. A hobby
Photography, Blogging and Reading

7. A best friend
I have a best friend. She can talk the hind-leg off a donkey and sometimes I need her endless chatter to distract me. Other times I just need to be left alone to deal with my problems my way

8. A healthy sense of self
I am very comfortable with who I am as a person. I am happy with what I have accomplished in my career and in my personal life.

I think I could work on my self-confidence a bit, but I do not hate myself or do silly things because of an out-of-perspective self-image.
Join in and let me know!

Devastated

It is with a heavy heart and tears streaming down my face that I write this post. It has taken me over a week to try to form the words, but I just don't know how to articulate everything in my heart. I have cried every day and the tears are not finished yet.

Last week Saturday - 12 October - my friend Glen Dell crashed at an air show in Secunda and died later that day. 

Words cannot explain my heartbreak. 

I first met Glen in 2005 and thought he was so sexy (for an older man) 

His striking blue eyes were kind and wicked all at the same time.

But it was his kindness, his gentle nature and his humility that made him so extremely special.

We bonded over our love of animals and red wine. Glen took me for my first plane ride in June as a birthday present and I was lucky enough to be treated to another ride a few years later.

We sat over dinners and lunches and discussed marriage and children. Glen made me feel comfortable with my decision not to get married in my 20's like everybody around me.

He made me feel sexy, he respected my opinion enough to ask advice on important things and he helped me to realise the strength within myself.

He changed my life. He helped me enjoy the adventurous side of myself. He helped me realise my self-worth.

I remember the day he amazed me & surprised my friends who were flying to PE and he happened to be the captain of that flight. He called them both to the cockpit! 

Another time he flew directly over my house in Centurion to cheer me up - even though he was not even supposed to be in that air-space!

He made a friend of mine's dream come true by taking him up in the air and teaching him some aerobatic moves because it was important to me.

This man was exceptionally kind and giving. If you read his Facebook wall, the messages streaming in show you the calibre of person he was. He was only 51.

I was going to get married under the gazebo at his house in his backyard.

What bothers me even more: I could not stop thinking about him on Friday. Glen kept popping into my thoughts. I thought, "I'll message him when I am in Mauritius and catch up"

He died the day I landed in Mauritius and I never got to speak to him again.

You'd think after what happened with John Sinclair in 2006 (kept thinking about him and he died the next day) that I would have learnt my lesson!

Emergency services took 8 minutes to get him out of his burning plane after dawdling around and being so ill-prepared that he was only removed from the wreckage 20 minutes later.

He died not from any broken bones, but from the extent of his burns.

What a senseless way to die! If he had died from injuries relating to the actual crash I would have understood, but when the people we rely on to save our life are the indirect cause - it makes me sick.

RIP Glen - I cannot tell you how much I will miss you.