Category: Travel

south africa

On By lex270In Parenthood, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I have just returned from the most epic trip to South Africa!  It was extremely refreshing and revitalizing to get some winter sun as well; I get a bit grumpy in the winter months when I don’t see the sun, but who doesn’t.

To start our 24hr journey, we had to get to Heathrow board an 11hr night flight to J’bourg.  We had three seats between four of us (the babe is not two yet so he’s on our laps). The kids took it in turns to sleep, and got huge amounts of joy kicking the shit out of one another to wake each other up.  We did not get a wink of sleep.  I did not get to drink my mini bottle of wine and watch Bad Moms.  It was not a good flight.  The next flight was shorter therefore better.  However, I felt like I was on a ferry for the next day from all the motion.  Weird.

Moving on from the travel we arrived at Sunstays apartments on Lagoon Beach where our apartment overlooked the Atlantic, and the bar had a view of Table Mountain (YAAAAASSSSSS).  The place had blackout curtains as well which meant the kids slept from 8pm – 8:30am.  Winning at life right there.

The week in Cape Town was filled with family lunches at vineyards, climbing Table Mountain (well, the cable car, can’t really climb it with the littluns), hanging out at the V&A Waterfront, eating lobster, taking boat rides, swimming with penguins at Boulders Rock, using the facilities like the gym and roof top pool, and chilling on the beach with a Hunters Dry in my hand.  It was a fantastic week!

Then we moved on to Knysna where we stayed at Strode House.  This was epic.  It had incredible views, a pool and a friggin HOT TUB!!  Yes I drank wine in the tub while stargazing and loved every minute of it.  We took a trip to the Elephant Park where we got to feed the elephants (amazing!!!), trek through a pretty scary jungle where we got eaten alive, shop at the cute boutiques, (yes I bought my body weight in swimwear), found an epic backpackers lodge off the beaten track where we had lunch nearly everyday, got to have Valentines Day dinner in a ridiculously beautiful restaurant over looking the lagoon, and generally hit the beach and the pool and enjoyed the sun!  I even went boogie boarding.  Yes yes, boogie boarding.  There was an alright looking right hander about 300yards off shore, but no one was surfing it and I certainly wasn’t going to be the first, way to sharky.

It was time for our South Africa travels to come to an end.  We started out on our 24hr journey home, the short flight was a doddle.  We had a Wimpy before we flew which was gross.  Landed in J’bourg with a 5hr layover.  We hit KFC, which was also gross – what KFC doesn’t serve any form of sauce??  Then time for the 11hr night flight.  We took off, the four year old was watching Finding Dory, the one year old was passed out on my husbands lap.  I got myself a mini bottle of wine and settled into my seat watching Bad Moms.  I was as happy as a pig in shit.  I nearly ordered another mini bottle (it was a Malbec as well, nice), but I thought as I was already tipsy (I hadn’t had my plane food yet and the KFC was hours ago), it was best not to get drunk while looking after small people on a plane.

It was a brilliant family holiday and I never wanted it to end.  A definite highlight was explaining to the four year old that Daddy is South African, so that made him half South African.  I was literally watching his mind being blown.  Too funny.

 

the ocean and i

On By lex270In Fitness, Parenthood, Surfing, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The ocean and I go way back.  My first encounter was in the south of France when I was eighteen months old.  My folks walked me down to the ocean and apparently I just kept on walking until the water was nearly over my head.  That was it, I was sold.  I needed the ocean in my life.  Like many millions of other who feel they have a connection to the ocean, I have my reasons as to why I love it, and I’m sure you do too… Here are mine:

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1. Calmness.  When ever I pull up to the ocean, no matter what its doing, I get a wave (pun intended) of relief wash over me.  If you get the feeling you’ll know exactly what I mean, if not, its quite hard to describe.  Its like I’m exactly where I need to be.  The calmness sets in and time doesn’t exist.  (I get this feeling when I’m near any body of water which is probably why wakeboarding has stuck with me seeing as I’m landlocked!)

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2. The lifestyle.  I absolutely love waking up not have to worry about clothes or make up.  When I’m on a surf trip, everything is stripped back.  No outfits, no make up, no hair styling.. just glowing skin smelling of sunscreen, salty hair and slightly burnt lips.  Its the simple life and its fabulous.

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3. The beach.  I have always loved the beach, but now I have a new love for it because of my kids.  I’m doing all the fun stuff that my folks used to do with me, like build sandcastles and bury each other.  The beach is a much more valuable place for my kids to play than an indoor play centre.

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4. The ocean.  If there are waves you can surf.  If the conditions are not right you can do anything else, swim, jump over waves, body surf the shore break, paddle board, the list goes on.

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5. My body.  I absolutely love what the ocean does to my body, because I’m using it, it keeps me fit and healthy.  The salt heals everything.  Everything.  Also there are more negative ions around large areas of water which boost our mood and help us stay positive.  (Seriously, google it).

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So if you’re an ocean lover like me, high fives!  If you’re not, get yourself to your nearest body of water, take a moment to just stare in silence and see you can feel it.

 

Whats Social Media got to do with it?

On By lex270In Fitness, Parenthood, Surfing, Travel, Uncategorized, WakeboardingLeave a comment

As I sit hear listening to the baby monitor going off signalling its the end of nap time and my (laptop) work comes to an close for another day, I look at my saved ‘Posts’ box on my blog.  There are so many started yet unfinished blog posts from the past year or two.  Wondering why I never posted them, I read some.  Maybe I feel they might not be taken well, perhaps I feel I’m being too honest or sweary, or some I feel that are great memories to me but might bore others.  Why would others care to see a another photo of me: at a lake, at the beach, in a yoga pose, in a gym, in a winter wetsuit, in a bikini… cue the athletic gear lifestyle shot.

But I’ve just remembered that this is the age we live in now.  Its not the same as 10 years ago, or five years ago, or even last year.  I have never relied so much on my phone for work, information, contact, camera or goggling.  Everything is done via an app, I even use pinterest to get new outfit ideas instead of buying a magazine to see whats on-trend.  Apart from the September and March Issues of Vogue.  Obvs.  I like to think that I sit quietly and read it while drinking my vanilla latte in Starbucks.  I never do.

I got to thinking about how social media has changed our lives.  You never switch off because you can access all your work just on your phone.  Where does the work stop and the time off start?  Cue the I’m working in my on-trend office space shot.

After noticing that I spent a ridiculous amount of time on my phone a couple of years ago, I try to leave it until certain times.  Times when it doesn’t affect others, like during nap time.  I try not to ‘play’ (AKA Social Media, but Soc Media is actually part of my work so I shouldn’t call it ‘playing’) on my phone in front of the kids.  Obviously work calls come in and some need to be dealt with immediately, but have you tried to be on a work call with a one and three year old fighting for your attention?

What has social media done for me?  Its allowed me to make quite a smooth transition from being a Pro Wakeboarder into being a Wake Ambassador. Cue the wake lifestyle shot.

After popping out a couple of kids and having all the pregnancy and recovery time off from riding, the wake standard has naturally evolved (to a ridiculous level I might add) and without having the same amount of time to dedicate to riding that I used to, I have not progressed how I’d imagined it to.  I still have fun though.  Cue the riding shot.

Photo: Toby Oliver

Social Media has given me the platform to promote myself and my sponsors.  

How do you do this I hear you ask!  Well first, you must have your own Soc Media channels.  Over time you start to build up your following.  Do this by picking the theme, brand or image you want to portray to people.  I cleaned up my Soc Media outlets about a year ago when I finally realised that mixed photos of my kids, selfies and wakeboarding weren’t really doing it.  Then over time as you get more established, brands, companies or agencies approach you for various things whether its shooting product for them, doing a blog or instagram post, or becoming a Brand Ambassador.  And sometimes it works the other way, if you love a brand you might want to contact them for a collaboration.

There are so many blurred lines now with jobs when it comes to Social Media. People ask me what I do.. I find it hard to give them an answer most of the time.  I do so many different things: I’m full time Mum (to two boys, absolute effing nutters), I’m a Housewife, I’m in Property Management, I’m a Wakeboard Coach, I’m a Wake Ambassador and I work on my Social Media, Blogging and Instagramming.

I guess what I’m trying to get across is that Social Media has helped me develop and still developing where I’m trying to get to.  I have an image or a goal in my mind where I want to be and without Social Media, it would never happen.

And why on earth did I write this blog?  I guess because I’m at a point where I can get back into blogging more regularly again and I didn’t know where to start.  Like I said before, I have so many unfinished or unpublished posts, this one is to blow off the cobwebs. Enjoy xx