Cape Town Mom Blogger Meet Up

I can't believe we are on the verge of entering a brand new month! It feels like the year has barely started and already we have reached the end of the first school term. I must admit, I have found my motherly duties extra overwhelming this year. It could be due to the fact that the older kids are entering a new and unfamiliar phase in their life and I'm feeling like I am navigating new and undiscovered territory having to mother them through it all...Which made the Cape Town Mom Blog Meet Up a few weeks ago, a welcomed reprieve from all the chaos!

I've always felt a little awkward attending events, but nothing bonds people together quite like shared experiences in motherhood. Conversations are easy to start and hard to end and one almost always leaves the company slightly wiser than you were before. Nobody understands the journey and sacrifices of a mother quite like another mother, and for once I attended an event where there was no awkwardness as we all relished in the comfort of our mutual struggles and experiences, glad to be having a break from it all!

Supermom, Cindy Alfino, managed to find time to co-ordinate this event, despite being a mom to three young kids, which makes me feel ever so slightly inadequate for only finding the time to blog about it a month later... and just about managing to get it posted before the next meet up is SOLD OUT!

The event was held at the very cosy Graze in Kenilworth, which afforded me the opportunity to network with other mom bloggers and gain some insight from guest speaker Nikki Lincoln on how to improve my blog. And though I walked away from this event richer in friendships and knowledge, I'm ever so grateful to the sponsors of the event who managed to fill our hands with spoils and gifts too...

What I wore

I was late and missed the first course...but this was my main meal...and yes, I ate the croissant!

Some of the beautiful, young moms! I was an 'older' mom!

Finally got to meet Fazila (right) in person!

With the beautiful Cindy

Spoils from MRP...personalised and perfectly wrapped winter wardrobe essentials for my kids! All 3 of them :-)

 Thanks for reading!

 

Peace,

 

NAMU :)

 

 

 

Awards - Liebster With a Twist

I have received so many of these awards over the past one and a half years of blogging and really, it is such an honour to be thought of and considered by someone else in the blogging sphere! The aim of these awards is to shine the spotlight on newbie bloggers with the idea of widening their audience. Since I've been nominated on numerous occasions, I have decided to do things a little differently this time...

I do follow lots of blogs, but hardly any of them would classify as new...but because I strongly believe in the gesture of spreading love in the blogging world, I decided to honour the ladies who have nominated me and do a link up to 2 new blogs that I have discovered recently and who I feel certainly deserves some attention.
 

 3 Kids, 2 Dogs, 1 Old House

 

Cindy  set some really (REALLY) hard questions that seemed impossible to answer! She is a young mom of three gorgeous kids (honestly, the most gorgeous family on the internet) and like me, her blog is very family oriented, but it's her writing style that keeps me going back over and over again! Cindy certainly has a way with words! 3 Kids, 2 Dogs, 1 Old House  is one of the few places left on the web where the reality that is life is not viewed through rose tinted glasses, but rather delivered with wit and a good dose of humour!

Just Ella Bella

 

Eleanor set some easier questions but gave an option as to whether or not I wanted to answer them. She is another mom blogger who is living out my dream job (journalist) and keeps me thoroughly entertained with her quirk and wit induced posts as she writes about being mom to little Aidan! She does stimulate some tears now and again as she touches on more personal topics too.  Eleanor's vivacious personality jumps right out at you! With her curly mane and great sense of humour, it's hard not to like this charismatic blogger...or her cute little tot!

Chasing Dreams

Who says life comes to a screeching halt once you become a mother! Fazila turns that theory on it's head by fighting harder than ever to hold on to her identity. Using her maternity leave to study a course in personal training; motherhood has only spurred this lady to into, well... chasing her dreams. Health and fitness freak, this supermom has lost almost 16 kilos in a record time after having her baby girl and uses her blog as a means to share tips and inspiration to help us achieve the same goal.

Tulips & Phoenix's

Fashion blogging sometimes gets a lot of flack for being narcissistic and superficial. Very rarely do people get the combination of words and pictures quite right and in this fast growing industry, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out. But honesty and authenticity draws me in like a moth to a flame. Tulips and Phoenix's is unpretentious. This young lady expresses her personal style and combines her love for words in an effortless manner!  

 

 



 

 Hope you hop over and view all the hard work these ladies plough into their blogs!

 

Thanks for Reading!

 

Peace,

 

NAMU :)

Conquering New Heights

Life is a lot like hiking...At some point, we all have to start at rock bottom! The climb to the top seems impossible, the pathway treacherous, but the journey, necessary. The pathway we follow is a constant, winding road, giving us no way of knowing what lies ahead and just as the ground beneath your feet becomes familiar, the terrain changes and the only comfort is knowing that there have been many who have trodden the same road before.
 

Some will brave their climb alone, others will journey along with their closest companions, but the only people who will understand your journey are the ones who have, or still are, travelling the same path as you!  There will always be someone ahead of you, someone behind you, someone who passes by you with an encouraging word...Some will banter along at a fast pace, others will be considerably slower, but the common thread is that we are all moving along towards the same destination...
 

Sometimes in life, we move along blindly, following the throes of human forms in an endless, vicious cycle. We become complacent in all life's familiarities and trod along aimlessly. No concrete; and sometimes fickle; goals or destinations. Sometimes we have to turn our back on complacency and be willing to stray off the beaten path towards territory unknown and get ready to make the ultimate climb!
 

After months and months of looking enviously at pictures of people who have conquered this famous Cape Town mountain range, I finally succumbed to the challenge of making my way to the top of Lion's Head; a challenge I agreed to embark on with our family hiking experts, Moon and Nur! I'm not going to lie, it wasn't all that easy, but conquering it, despite having some issues with heights, gives me a great sense of accomplishment! I have learnt that nothing is impossible. The first steps are the hardest. And your companions  make life's journey worthwhile! Life's a journey...and I am making the climb :-)

 Thanks for reading!

Peace,

NAMU :)