How to not have a blue monday...

Make sure that you laugh a lot. A mere chuckle does not suffice, you need to laugh as if you have just watched HotRod ( or any other comedic movie of your choice). I'm talking about laughter that brings tears of joy to your eyes. If you are unable to find something that creates that giggle inside of you, then I think you can get away with smiling. Smiling people are beautiful people.

Eat lots and lots of chocolate. Seriously, it is scientifically proven that the consumption of chocolate triggers the release of endorphins in your body which is known to reduce your sensitivity to pain ( because we all know how painful Monday's can be) and also make you feel more cheerful! So, on Monday's, it is okay to consume chocolate.

Surround yourself with friends. Whether you are at work all day or at university or at school, there is always going to be someone around that you regard as a friend or companion. So take 30 minutes out of that day to spend time with that person, because you will feel more relaxed, you will have someone to vent to if you have had a bad day, you will then probably be comforted or cheered up, and your mind will be taken off the fact that its a Monday. Friends are great.

Find a quiet place. So often I find that on Mondays there is always a lot happening, and I have to wake up early, and I didn't get enough sleep the night before so I'm tired and look like a mess. What makes this worse is when you are surrounded by chaos and noise. In order to feel peaceful which will actually make you feel happier, you need to find a place in your free time where you can breathe, close your eyes, and daydream a little. An escape from the chaos. Sometimes its even good to do this early in the morning before your day begins, so that you have a chance to wake up and begin the day refreshed. It probably sounds like I am some hippy whose about to tell you to hug a tree, but that's probably because I am some hippy and if hugging trees makes for a better day, well then...hug away!

 

When you wake up, think of the positive! Don't wake up and think things like " I'm so tired", " I hate School/Work/Varsity ", " My life sucks". Rather wake up and say " Four more days till the weekend", " In just 12 more hours I will get to go to sleep again", " What a beautiful sunny day". " What a beautiful rainy day", " What a beautiful get-up-and-be-alive day". You get the gist of it?

What if God was one of us...?

When it comes to loving the poor, I feel that I, along with many other Christians still have not got it right, Actually we suck. Raise your hand if you feel good when you give some spare change to the boy who comes up to your car window at the intersection. I know I do. This is because I have learned to become satisfied with those "saintly" actions, they have become enough for me, and they have become enough for my faith.

Lately I have been feeling so drawn to the poor after reading a book called The Irresistible Revolution written by hippy-missionary-radical author Shane Claiborne. In his book he mentions the poor a lot, and quotes plenty of famous people on this topic. One particular quote was by this very wise,lovely lady named Mother Theresa - you may have heard of her. Her words really struck a nerve in me and since reading them I have been disgusted at myself for thinking that handing out R2 at the traffic lights was good enough.

" In the poor we find Jesus in his most distressing disguises"

Imagine what would happen if we started to see every poor person as being Jesus in dress up. I know for a fact that I would definitely give him more than a measly R2 coin. In fact, according to the Bible, in order to feel complete I should sell all my possessions and give the money to the poor (Matthew 19:21). Hectic.
Lets just say I have started opening my eyes more to what it really means to be a follower of Christ and to love Jesus. I think that we need to all get out of our middle to upper class comfort zones and throw ourselves wholeheartedly into loving and serving the people in society that we feel superior to, that we maybe feel a little afraid of, and that we possibly would rather just pretend are not there.

How many of us would open up our home to a child that is sitting alone on a street corner with just a rubbish bag for warmth. How many of us would take ten minutes of our time to speak to the man with one leg who is 'looking for food, a job, clothes, anything ' and find out about his life and offer him what we can, even if its just some love and Jesus. The generation that I am a part of has so much to offer if only we would open our eyes and look past our blackberry's and expensive clothes and safe lives. Now I'm not saying having that stuff is a bad thing, because its actually a blessing, but what IS bad is when that kind of stuff blocks our vision to the reality of the world - a world filled with sick,dying,heartbroken who desperately need to be loved.

I think the best way to encourage you in this would be through this scripture in Matthew 25:31-46. The whole passage is amazing, but a key line for me is this one ( Jesus is speaking) " whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me  '

So, what if God was one of us....the Joan Osborne song says "just a stranger on a bus", but I say what if God was just a young orphaned girl, or a cripple who lives in a shelter, or a young boy whose life of poverty is turning him to drugs and petty crimes. What would our actions towards those people be?

Lets be the generation that makes a difference, the generation that makes the world open their eyes to what Jesus was really all about, the generation who loves the poor.

 {Images from We Heart it}

The Good Ol' Days

A few days ago I read a friends status (read her rad blog Diary of a Daydreamer) concerning the movie The Little Rascals, which was a very popular movie in my childhood. It got me thinking to "back in the day" (now that I am almost two decades old I feel I can legitimately use that phrase) and about all the movies,games,fashions and ideas that formed and shaped my days as a young girl in the 90's and early millennium years. I actually got quite excited as the reminiscing began and I was overtaken by memories and flashbacks. I wanted to share some of them with you :

Ninja Turtles. Marbles. Kissing catches. Spinning tops. Rascals. Climbing trees. Playing Hide and Seek. Gypsy skirts and tasseled shirts that ended just above the bellybutton. JoJo's. Edible necklaces and bracelets. Puppy in my pocket. Swimming in rock pools. Super Mario and Contra and any original Nintendo games. Stretchy bellbottom pants and peddlepushers. Jellybaby shoes. The Spice Girls. REAL Disney cartoons like Poccahantus and Aladdin. Sketchers. Pumpkin Patch and Kideo. Mr Chinwag. Swimming in underwear. Those hilarious kiddies wetsuits. Playing imaginary games. Building secret fortresses out of blankets and pillows. Clip on earrings.  Barbies and those mini army figurines. Fruit Loops. Cartoon Cafe and the Wild Room. Barney. Having play dates. Colouring in with pastels. Those great art boxes with pencils,koki's and everything. Plastic briefcases. little black "motorbikes". Hula Hoops. The Never ending Story. Putting on shows for the family. Birthday parties. Birthday cakes. Jumping Castles, ball pits and slippery slides. Thinking that hugging the opposite sex was a huge deal. Crop tops. Platform takkies and Turtle shoes. Making potions. School lunches with sandwiches cut into four squares. Getting filthy dirty and not caring. Training wheels. Roller skates. Secret handshakes. Jump rope. Cheesy hairstyles. Step cuts. Lots of hair gel. PepperAnne. School Fun days. Dungarees and Play suits. Making up lame dance routines. Sleepovers with midnight feasts. Treehouses.Being a tomboy. MC Hammer. Middle partings. Ice cream in colourful cones. Cake sales. Dressing up in parents old clothes. Dress ups in general. Pigtails. Jungle Gyms. Television that ended at midnight and started again at 5am. Alfalfa, Waldo and Buckwheat. Dinky Dino's and Tamagochies. Tazo's. Razor Scooters. Being carried on Dad's shoulders. Jumping off Dad's shoulders into the pool. Boogieboards. Colourful fishing nets. Sunscreen in bright green and pink and yellow. Bobbleheads. Being absolutely fearless and getting hundreds of roasties. Learning how to dive and putting both hands in a prayer position before tipping gently into the water. Nesquik. Selling Lemonade for 50 cents a glass. When R10 was an inexplicably large amount of money.Candyfloss and spicy pineapples on the beachfront.  Not having a care in the world.

Priceless.

Cheap things are beautiful things

There's this website that I absolutely LOVE and am constantly going to for fashion inspiration....you may have heard of it - does the name Lookbook ring any bells? Well, if you are big into fashion then you should definately take a peep at it, because you will honestly die( not literally) when you see how amazing some of these outfits are. Actually, I'll show you ( because I'm cool like that).

So now, I'm guessing you have seen the photos's and you've ooh'd and ah'd and then you started feeling bleak because you reckon that making up an outfit like that requires cash. Well that's how I felt when I first came across this website, but then I was inspired by a few friends of mine who are always dressed so uniquely and yet don't ever seem to spend a lot on their clothes. Wanna know their secret? No, they do not have a rich fashion designer aunt who makes all their outfits for them ( although lets be honest, that would be highly ideal), or steal from highly iconic and fashion forward stores ( because thats NOT ideal)...they merely thrift shop. Now there are two of my favourite words - Thrift. Shop.

Basically ( for those of you who are clueless right now), here are the top seven ways to thrift shop :

• Second-Hand stores
• Vintage/Costume Shops
• Hospice Jumble sales
• SPCA jumble sales
• Factory shops
• In your parents or grandparents closets ( you'd be amazed at the awesome things you can find!)
• Make it yourself

You can find some amazing pieces of clothing at these places and you'll pay next to nothing!

This dress was originally form YDE and cost about R500 but my friend Amy went to the regular SPCA jumble sale and snapped up this beauty for just R40 !

Heres an example of how making use of your grandads clothing can actually turn out well...

Here are a few pictures of the friends who inspire me with their affordable yet great fashion sense.

Wow I love these stylishly beautiful people!

Shop cheaply, its the right thing to do...and its also such an adventure trying to hunt down the best buys so grab a group of mates and make a day of it!

Coffee is always the better option

Many of you may have heard about the strikes that have been happening throughout the UKZN campus's this week. Well I am lucky enough to attend Howard College campus which means that I get to arrive at varsity on a monday morning, see police everywhere, all the rubbish bins turned over ,  people standing huddled in groups ( for protection?) and hear a loud noise coming from within the pale pink walls. I mean, the noise could have just been a rather large choir doing a rather random performance in the middle of the cafe, because honestly, there were some really good harmonies from what I could hear, but no, my two and a bit years of university experience ( as well as a little spidey-sense) told me that the strikers had arrived and it was time to steer clear of all lecture venues.

So what do you do when your entire day of lectures is cancelled? You go have the best coffee at Bean Green on Davenport road. Duh.

" I have measured out my life with coffee spoons" - T.S Elliot ( He knew what he was talking about)

Coffee is so great because it's there for you when you are sad and just need to 'go out for coffee' with your best friend, it's wonderful on those procrastination evenings when you need to stay awake and study for that test you 'forgot' about, and it's a great way to spend time with friends whilst there are strikers tearing apart your university. I love coffee. I love Bean Green coffee. You should go there.

So, thank you strikers for letting me enjoy my day with a cup of coffee.