New Years Resolutions

We all have them. We make these wonderfully big plans for the new year of things we want to do and places we want to see. Most if not all new years resolutions never end up materializing.

This year however, I would like to do things a little different. I want to pick one thing that I really want to accomplish and put all my energy into that 1 thing. I want to make it my goal and set me little targets to reach on my journey to accomplish my goal. Little "baby steps" is surely easier to maintain over a long period of time than the "big picture" or end result.

I will give this a try and will keep you up to date on my progress.

The goal is simply to play more tennis and get fitter. I only play saturday afternoons at the moment and when something comes up, I do skip my tennis some saturdays.

If you have any goals in mind for yourself, please let me know what it is.

You can write to me: yolande947@gmail.com or yolande@cashforafrica.com

Good luck

Inspiration

What inspires you?

To get inspired to do something that otherwise would not get done by your own hand.

To find true inspiration is very difficult. People are big-mouthed, preaching stuff that they themselves cannot or will not begin to participate in. There is a lot of falsehood out there.

True inspiration sometimes comes in the oddest forms. From people you don’t know and don’t know you. True inspiration can slap you so hard sometimes in the face and other times come in subtle undertones.

My recently discovered inspirer of all things good inside me is:

Peter Wingfield.

He is in all respects just a regular guy, living and loving his life.

Not only is he a brilliant actor, at the age of 50, he is in medical school. Now, I am the first to admit that studying medicine is not for everyone and certainly not for the faint-hearted. I have studied Biochemistry and Zoology and assume that I know how difficult it is.

Here is a man, who has accomplished so much already going back to school. Balancing school, acting, sports, a 12 year old son and a wife cannot be easy and he seems to breeze through it. He has just as much time in a day as you and I and yet he is taking on so much and completing every task he sets himself with ease and grace.

If that is not inspirational, I sure as hell don’t know what is.

Check it out for yourself at www.pwfc.org

What do you still want to do in your life? Does not matter how old you are, you can follow your dreams and have a wonderful life.

Makes me wonder why I have not taken on more in life and why I seem so directionless. I know what I want to do, but I always come up with excuses not to do it. It is time that I take up the challenge and start doing some of the things I always wanted to do.

First thing on the list is getting fit. Playing more tennis would be a great way to do that. I will try to play more tennis than the once a week Saturday afternoon schedule I am on now.

Will keep everyone posted on how well that is going.

Please write to me at yolande947@gmail.com to let me know some of the things you want to do, but need the proverbial kick in the pants to get started.

HOMAGE TO MY FATHER

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

With nothing but love in your heart, you have raised me.

 You taught me to be humbl and gracious. to be compassionate and adoring, to stand up for myself and not let people walk all over me.

 You taught me love and directed by example.

 You are my hero, my strength, my conscious, my protector and my standard to which I strive to live.

 You have taught me respect, not only for myself but for all I meet along my destined path.

 You taught me to laugh, about me, about love and about life.

 You taught me to cherish the little things in life.

The Wisdom you have graced my life with is priceless.

 I thank God everyday that he has blessed me with you at the head of our family table.

 You taught me the meaning and value of life.

Thank you for all my brilliantly euphoric childhood memories.

Thank you for all your efforts during my stages of rage and rebellion.

Thank you for your patience and understandng of things I have done and my motives for doing it.

Thank you for always being one step ahead of me so you could catch me if I fall.

 Thank you for never leaving my side, yet give me the wings to soar.

 Thank you for having the valor for me when I could not find it in myself to be so.

Thank you for worrying about me when I was experimenting with life (good and bad)

 Thank you for letting me experience diversity - From the passionate rendition of Shakespeare's The Twelth Night to rocking it up with Collective soul and everything in between.

 Thank you for giving me the astuteness to make my own decisions and trusting me enough not to make the wrong ones and loving me enough to stand by me when  do make the wrong ones.

 Thank you for building my confidence and never breaking me down.

 Thank you for your unconditional love, even when I did my best to push the bounderies

 Thank you for enforcing your rules on me and still give me the space to become my own person.

 Thank you for crying with me even though sometimes you did not know what I was crying about.

 Thank you for understanding my thoughts even though sometimes I could not find the words to explain it.

 Thank you for being my best friend and confidant and my parent when I  needed that the most.

 Thank you for sharing your abundant life with me.

I will love and cherish you for always.

Thank you for letting me be your little girl no matter my age

 Thank you for continuing to teach me everyday.

ALL MY LOVE

YOUR DAUGHTER.

Expanding Horizon's

It seems to be true that with age a certain wisdom creeps up on your conscious and unconscious mind.
For instance I am now listening to a wider variety of music than ever before. I am enjoying little things in life that was always there, but that I never noticed and now not choosing to ignore anymore.
A certain sense of freedom comes with being happy with oneself.
A certain sense of liberation comes with being happy with one's surroundings.
Soul searching becomes less painfull as you realize what you value and what you need to strive to.
It is true that certain people that you find yourself associated with can either lift you up and make you want to be better than what you were before and others that will bring you down at every turn.
It is a hard choice to disassociate with people that you beleive is not adding any value to your life.
At the end of the day, you have to add value not only to your own life, but to the people's life that you love and care for.

30 Seconds to Mars Live - 19 Nov , JHB, SA

Well, I never thought I would enjoy their show. My friend got tickets to see them live and begged me to go with. She did not want to go alone and bought the extra ticket for someone to go with her. I then half-heartedly said I will go with her. I really was not in the mood for the traffic there and back.
WOW! Was I glad she asked me along. It was an AMAZING show and I really had such a blast.
For anything and everything you can say about Jared Leto, everyone must admit, love him or hate him, he is a born entertainer. He got every single one that was there to party with him and enjoy the evening. Nobody felt left out. I must say that I have not had such a good time in a long time and I hope that he keeps to his promise of coming back to South Africa in the next 6 months.
I would love to see them again and maybe this time get golden circle tickets and be right there in the thick of things.
Great show, Great memory, Great evening.

The Vampire Diaries

So I have just finished a marathon session watching the 1 season of The Vampire Diaries.
Initially I was only going to watch a couple of episodes and before I knew it, I watched the complete season and I was so disappointed that it ended. I wanted MORE!!!
Whoever is writing the scripts are absolutely PHENOMENAL! And do I need to say anything about the cast.
Nina Dobrev is one of the best actresses I have seen on the small screen in a while. She is brilliant in both roles she plays and the amazing part of it all is that she keeps Elena and Kathrine so seperate. Amazing!
I love the way the characters grow and evolve from episode to episode and I love the way the creators makes you wonder and think about what is going to happen next and then hit you with such a curve ball that you never see it coming.
Edge of the seat stuff.
I love it and cannot wait for Season 2 to get to South Africa.
Riviting and powerful.

Age

Turning 30 was a big milestone in my life. I really thought the world will come to an end as I know it and in some ways it has. I am more clear now about what I want and what I need to do to get it. I am happy in my work and love the people I work and associate with. I am happy with the way I look and feel and that gives me more convidence to go out and help others. As an introverted person, I was never really "Out there" so to speak. Now, I can with confidence and conviction say my say without being arrogant and irritating.
I am in the prime of my life now. Enjoy every minute of yours.
If you would like to do something really nice without taking too much time, please visit http://www.barkingmad.co.za/ and click to feed an animal in need. It is free and won't even take you a minute.
Thank you.