Our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses…

Nothing could ring more true in life. I have always felt all too often that my “perfection” making holds me back in life. The idea of doing something, even slightly wrong, scares me so much that sometimes I would rather not begin the task at all. Even when I do complete certain tasks I am never happy and this creates a bad energy around that specific situation.

Although, recently, I feel that I am now on the path to getting things done without the fear; I’m just jumping right in and going for it without hesitation. This attitude seems to be showing in my work, especially in my writing. I feel my articles are showing my new found confidence and therefore I am surging ahead with confidence.

I would suggest to anyone, that if you feel like something in your personality may be holding you back in life…please tackle it head on and face those fears because life is soo much easier when you are not looking behind you every 5 seconds to see what you have done wrong. Look forward, hold your head up high and step into your future because the time is NOW so don’t miss it!!

My Realmdigital internship

I have been working at a company called Realmdigital for the past month, and so far I have absolutely loved every minute I have spent there. They are such an awesome company to work for and my days there are filled with laughter and ofcourse education.

I have been working on the marketing side off things and so I wanted to show you a snip bit/teaser of what I had written for them on the recent Marketing Indaba, held at the CTICC.

It is titled, "The Smartphone revolution is happening now":

Although 90% of South Africans have cell phones, these are generally not Smartphone’s they are feature phones such as the Samsung D900. Companies need to understand who their market actually is, and what handset they are using. There is no point creating all these fancy applications if the majority cannot access it, as they would needlessly be losing money.

There are two ways around this:

1. Go Blackberry – There are already a huge amount in the market base so stick to what is affordable and steer clear of Android and iPhone apps (for now).

The second way came from Brett StClaire, Google, South Africa:

2. Create a Smartphone that is affordable. Google have created a phone (not available in South Africa) that can do everything an iPhone is capable of but only costs R750. This will broaden your Smartphone market.

Brett’s topic for the day was, “The evolution of mass media”. He pulled us all into Google’s latest invention known as, Google Goggles. With Google Goggles you willbe able, for instance. to take a picture of a French menu and your phone automatically asks you whether you would like to translate the menu into another language. It works with not only menus but magazines and televisions as well. Regarding the TV and magazine you can take a picture of a page in a magazine or of an advert on TV and the image will drive you to the site of the advertiser thus generating traffic for that particular company. In my opinion, Google Goggles looks awesome and I want to get involved.

He spoke about a couple of statistics through out his presentation such as:

• 89% of a day is spent on Smartphones (we are becoming an always online consumer).
• 50% of Smartphone uses watch videos on their phone.
• 93% of Smartphone usage is at home (watching TV whilst using Smartphone. This should push advertisers into engaging with the Smartphone user).

 So thats a little taste tester to read the full story follow this link:

http://www.realmdigital.co.za/post/the-smartphone-revolution-is-happening-now/

Hope you enjoy the article :)

Realmdigital

I have been studying for almost 4years now and have always been terrified that the route I have taken was the wrong one. I had this idea that once I began working I would hate going to work and hate what I was doing. This has played on mind so much so that I was terrified of going for job interviews.

When I was given the opportunity to work at a company called Realmdigital, an IT company, I was shocked and didn’t know what to say or do. Wesley Lynch, the CEO, was convinced I would be perfect for the position of marketing intern and pushed me to come in for an interview. My interview went well and my confidence level went up.

I am now in my third week at Realm and couldn’t be happier. I love it there and the office is like one big family which is so awesome. I feel confident in my position and my supervisor, Suhaifa, is so helpful.

I can now say that I am looking forward to my future in the business world and I have Realmdigital to thank for that.

Try a Cliché: You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube

We are coming to the end of the term and it seems to be that the ‘survival of the fittest’ tactic has come into play. Some of us have either been ‘wishing upon a star’ or ‘shooting for the moon’ yet either way you need to ‘keep your nose to the grindstone’.

You just need to go ‘on a wing and prayer’ because there is ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. ‘The ball is in your court’ so ‘knock it out of the park.’

‘When push comes to shove’ try not to ‘take the easy way out’ or ‘get your knickers in a knot’ just ‘burn the midnight oil’ and you will get through.

When it comes to group work always remember ‘many hands make light work’ and the philosophy of ‘you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch your’ should apply.

Some assignments might ‘drive you up the wall’ as you don’t ‘see eye to eye’ so try to ‘keep it simple stupid (KISS)’.

Remember once we are ‘over the hill’ we will be the once who ‘laugh all the way to the bank’.

Chasing Time

About  1 years old here

One never seems to realise how quickly time passes us by. Pictures tend to give away the actual years that have flown by without any of us noticing.

Slept where ever - so good :)

This happened to me recently when my ex boss from San Francisco emailed me a picture of his daughter, Dawson, who I used to look after almost 4 years ago. I could not believe how much she had changed and yet how much she actually still looked like the same baby I had carried around for hours on end all those years ago. Some how she had managed to become even more beautiful than ever.

Learnt to pout at a very young age

She meant the world to me then and still does to this day. I can’t go a day without thinking about her. There are pictures of her all over my room and she is just the most gorgeous, precious little angel I have ever met in my entire life. I want, need and have to go back to visit her at some point in my life because she was such a big part of me and I feel that I need to see her in order to complete my history with her.

With her newborn baby sister.

I hope that one day, some day; soon I will have a baby girl just as incredible as she was for me.

Duck watching. Just one of our many outings.

 I am unable to put recent pics up of her due to a request from her parents :)

The light in my life

Feelings follow behaviour

Not sure what to write or if I even feel like writing tonight with all the pressure we are under at the moment at University but I guess I will have to have a go at it and as they say, there’s no time like the present.

In my life the only thing that has ever mattered is getting married and having babies, not lots of babies but two will suffice. At times though I catch myself thinking…’will I ever get married???’ This is a new thought pattern that has started and it makes me nervous because by thinking this, it must be showing in my behaviour and therefore I am sending out mixed messages in terms of body language etc. This sort of behaviour was obviously stimulated by a specific feeling that has hurt me in the past and I do not want this to interfere with my future.

I think I need to work on positive thoughts and make sure those who surround me understand that I am not a threat but something that needs to be cared for and looked after just as much as the next person. Positive thinking and acting in a positive manner are the only way to receive the same in return.

I have always believed that what you give out is what you receive back and so I just need to stop thinking of the negative and what could happen and think of the positive and what will happen.

It is better to practice a little than talk a lot

I’m not sure I totally agree with this topic. In my live I tend to talk A LOT!!! and that has always worked for me. Sure it has gotten me into trouble on many occasions but it has helped me out on many more occasions.

I have never been able to for instance, just sit down and study. Nope I prefer doing the hands on work, the work where you can ask question and go from there. I need to speak in order to understand and process the information. I cant sit and read and be expected to concentrate and take in the information because that will never happen.

As far as I know they have always said it’s not what you know but who you know. Getting to know someone takes a lot of talking (lucky I’m great at that lol).

I’m not saying that you don’t need to study to get far in life but a balance is always needed. You cannot have one without the other. So I guess I’m going to need to work on the “other” which is the practical side in my case because I believe in having a balance.

Now and Then...

My best friend, Verity, who I have known for around 20 years, has been in South Africa for the past 3 weeks. She arrived from London, where she has been living for the last 2 years, in order to be here for her younger sisters 21^st.

The four of us at dinner on Wednesday

I did not get to spend a lot of time with her as even though three weeks is a fair amount of time she was super busy seeing so many different people. We decided before she left we needed to have a dinner for her.

A night on the town a few years back.

There are four of us that lived in Edgemead and travelled each day to Rondebosch for High school every day. Our four families all came together on Wednesday night at Vee’s house. We all sat around chatting for hours on end just catching up on lost time.

At Chelsea's 21st.

Dinner was served and wow, what a spread...Roast chicken and Lamb, Roasted Mediterranean vegetables, baked potatoes, mushroom sauce, pannini bread as well as a massive gorgeous green salad. Everything was so yummy.

My 21st. Vee giving my speech.

Then after a little breather between courses it was time for dessert which was just as delicious, Crème Brule and ice cream. Coffee followed and eventually we realised the time and thought it was best to leave before we out stayed our welcome.

The age they were when I first met them. Verity age 4 and Kate age 2.

It was such a special night and now that Vee is back in London I realise how much I miss having her live just down the road.

Wedding Cake in the Middle of the Road

I have finally been given the honour of being a bride’s maid to a close friend and my cousin’s fiancé, Jacky. I am so excited about the wedding and am extremely proud to have been given such a special part.

One problem when I was told by Jacky that she wanted me to be her bride’s maid, her best friend, Anene, was going to be her maid of honour. This meant that there would be less pressure on me for my first bride’s maid job. Then a few days ago Jacky mentioned she wasn’t speaking to Anene for personal reason and she wasn’t sure if she would attend the wedding. At this point the only words going through my mind were “DOES THIS MEAN THAT I WILL BE THE NEW MAID OF HONOUR???” I haven’t had the guts to ask her yet and am freaking out at the thought. I know this is a huge honour but it all seems a bit much for my first gig lol.

There is one thing that makes me feel confident, if I do turn out to be maid of honour and that is that I have a fantastic family and they will help me with every small detail to make sure Jacky’s fairly tale wedding is everything she has ever dreamed about.   

Blood Money

It has been a week from hell. I managed to wangle my way into another au pairing job. Not a bad idea when your broke and love kids. This job just happened to be for family so take a couple of zero’s off that pay cheque idea you had in your head.

It started out like any old job where all I had to do was look after my 5year old cousin, Daniel, after school for 8days. Then the real list started to appear once I began the job. For starters he wasn’t at school this whole week because its freaking school holidays, then I have to feed his ten fish, two birds, two dogs, pick up dog poo, look after his granny (wtf), feed them both three times a day, bath him, clean up after them, clean the house, answer all of his 5million questions an hour and to top it all off run my uncles wife’s dog food business for her – FML!!

Needless to say the amount of money this job is paying is far too little and after this week of not being able to get a single stitch of Uni work done I can honestly say I will not be looking after Daniel EVER again no matter what the situation is!!

I love kids but I do not enjoy being used by anyone.

To all the single parents out there…I salute you big time!!!!!