I found this on Natalie’s blog and thought it was perfect for today, because I know I’m not going to have much time to spend at the computer.

I’m not going to tag anyone, but please feel free to do this one!

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now? Nothing.

2. When was the last time you threw up? About a year ago when I had gastro.

3. What’s your favorite curse word? Fuckit!

4. Name three people who made you smile today. Craig (!), Natalie with her countdown to meeting her adoptive daughter and my cat, Pepper.

5. What were you doing at 8am this morning? Well hubby’s off today, so…

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Digging Pepper’s claws out of my toes!

7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now? Hopefully having lunch at the juice bar.

8. Have you ever been to a strip club? No, but I’ve seen strippers perform.

9. What’s the last thing you said aloud? The bin, Angel! (It’s garbage removal day.)

10. What is the best ice cream flavor? I don’t know, I don’t eat ice cream.

11. What is the last thing you had to drink? Water

12. What are you wearing right now? Fluffy socks and glasses.

13. What was the last thing you ate? Salad for dinner.

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? Not for myself, but I bought a darling sweater for my niece.

15. When was the last time you ran? When someone chased me!

16. What’s the last sporting event you watched? Snippets of Sunday’s F1 Grand Prix in Monaco.

17. Who’s the last person you e-mailed? My friend Carina.

18. Even go camping? No

19. Do you have a tan? Not really

20. Do you drink your soda from a straw? I don’t drink soda anymore, but I didn’t used to use a straw.

21. Are you someone’s best friend? Yes!

22. What are you doing tomorrow? Writing a brilliant, well researched and informative blogpost. Or maybe just a funny one.

23. Where is your mom right now? House-sitting in Upington.

24. Look to your left. What do you see? A chest of drawers with pictures in a frame.

25. What color is your watch? Silver and blue

26. What comes to mind when you think of Australia? A possible place to settle.

27. Would you consider plastic surgery? I plan to have a breast reduction and lift one day.

28. What is your birthstone? Sapphire

29. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive-thru? I used to drive-thru, but these days I drive past!

30. How many kids do you want? Three

31. Do you have a dog? No

32. Last person you talked to on the phone. My mother

33. Have you met anyone famous? Simon Le Bon, Bryce Courtenay, Natalie Cole, Claire Johnston, Bantu Holomisa

34. Any plans today? Shopping for our trip and lolling around in the Jacuzzi.

35. Ever go to college? Yes

36. Where are you right now? In my bedroom

37. Biggest annoyance in your life right now? Africa

38. Last song listened to? The new Bryan Adams song on TV last night

39. Are you allergic to anything? Dairy

40. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? A pair of ethnic leather flip flops. In winter my sheepskin slippers.

41. Are you jealous of anyone? No

42. Who is your favorite actor/actress? Russell Crowe/Uma Thurman

43. What time is it? 09h51

44. Do any of your friends have children? Most of them do

45. Do you eat healthy? Yes, about 99% of the time

46. What do you usually do during the day? Blog, Jacuzzi, read

47. How old will you be on your next birthday? 39! (See #3 above)

48. Have you ever been to Europe? Yes

49. Name one thing you’d still like to do. Cruise down the Nile

50. Favorite colour? Blue

I just Stumbled upon this and thought I’d share it. It comes from H. Jacson Brown, Jr.

21 Suggestions For Success

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.

2. Work at something you enjoy and that’s worthy of your time and talent.

3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.

5. Be forgiving of yourself and others.

6. Be generous.

7. Have a grateful heart.

8. Persistence, persistence, persistence.

9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.

10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.

11. Commit yourself to constant improvement.

12. Commit yourself to quality.

13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.

14. Be loyal.

15. Be honest.

16. Be a self-starter.

17. Be decisive even if it means you’ll sometimes be wrong.

18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.

19. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the ones you did.

20. Take good care of those you love.

21. Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make your Mom proud.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again:  I love blogging.  Through blogging I have come to “know” some really awesome people.  People who inspire me, who challenge me to be the best Hanlie I can be.  People who make me laugh, make me nod my head in agreement, make me cry with their poignant stories and, very importantly, make me think and understand.

In my little blogging community we have all races, religions, ages, genders and backgrounds.  I am constantly amazed when I look at my stats to see where my readers come from - seriously, Japan?  Someone in Slovakia reads this?  Isn’t it great that borders and nationalities mean nothing when we are baring our souls and sharing our lives?  That  something that occurred to me this morning and which I shared on my blog, may be the impetus that will get someone else, thousands of miles away, to start making changes in her life.  To love herself more.  To drink more water or to juice some greens.

I love blogging! 

And I have to tell you, I love it even more when I get some recognition in the form of an award.  The beautiful Rupa, all the way from India has awarded me the Nice Matters Award!

“The Nice Matters Award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

Thank you, Rupa!  I’ll display it with pride!

When you have a google reader with almost 200 subscription (yes I know, it’s a wonder I get anything else done!), it’s hard to choose who to pass this on to.  But I’ve chosen a few people who mean a lot to me and I would like to award them with this token of my appreciation.

Chubby Chick for her upbeat and caring comments and support. I love your blog!

My wonderful friend Michelle who has sometimes almost carried me in this juice feast. If we lived in the same town, we’d be best friends!

My blogging sister, from whom I’m sure I was separated at birth, Daniele. Even though you’re taking a little break from blogging, I think about you often. I miss you!

I couldn’t possibly overlook Felicia, who is making life happen in such an inspiring way.  You are awesome!  Here’s some “huggles” and an award!

One of the first blogs I read every day is Ben’s. Another juice feaster who has taught me a lot and inspires me daily.

Then of course there’s Rebecca.  She’s such an interesting and courageous person and I love reading about her life and travels.

So many more of you come to mind!  But I suppose I’ve got to leave some for the above people to award.   

I need your advice.  Please!

I started blogging in July of last year, with Blogger.  Being a nitpicking, anal Virgo, everything had to be perfect from Day 1, which of course it wasn’t!  So I fired off some missives to the “Help” function, to which no replies were forthcoming.  In a fit of pique, I decided to try out a South African bloghost, iBlog.  I moved my few Blogger posts over and found a happy home for the next six months.  Then in January iBlog started suffering from serious blogstipation, becoming so slow and often not even allowing me to access my own blog.  I joined in the general exodus to Wordpress, and thought that I had finally arrived.  Except that Wordpress is so frigging exclusive, it won’t accept most html or support advertisements.  I can’t even get a slideshow going!

As you know, I gave up my high-powered corporate job to devote myself fully to healing, getting fit and losing weight.  But that means asking my husband for money for every little thing!  I would like to earn some money for myself… and I would like to do it online.  I’m not interested in selling Herbalife, or Amway, or any other multi-level marketing scheme, or pyramid scheme, or whatever crappy scam is doing the rounds.  Fortunately I have stumbled upon a few blogs that actually have good ideas on how to earn money online, but for that I need a less prissy bloghost than Wordpress.

So, where to now?  Back to Blogger?  I have since figured out the things I couldn’t do before.  Or do I make the leap to something like Typepad or whatever at a nominal monthly fee?  Think towards the future, when I may be promoting my book, writing about sustainable living, publishing newsletters, and keeping everyone up to date with the doings of my kids, cats and husband, etc?  Which would require a more involved setup that I can develop as I go along…  I wouldn’t want to move again, you know!

If you are hosted by someone other than Blogger or Wordpress, please let me hear your thoughts… and advice.

I love Tertia Albertyn. She wrote a painfully funny, brilliant book, So Close, about her harrowing journey to motherhood, via 9 IVF’s, numerous miscarriages, the death of her firstborn and the eventual birth of her twins, Adam and Kate, now three years old. Tertia introduced me to blogging. Without her I’d be a much poorer person in so many ways.

Tertia’s a real go-getter! And she’s about to launch an exciting new venture, that promises to change the lives of many people.

We are delighted to announce the launch of South Africa’s premier Egg Donor Program.

nurture Egg Donor Program is a concept conceived by two people who are passionate about the world of infertility and egg donation. Tertia Albertyn, well-known author, former infertility patient and now mother of twins, and Melany Bartok, former egg donor herself and the country’s leading Egg Donation Director are both elated to be doing what they feel is their life’s calling!

At nurture, our focus is on recruiting, selecting and supporting top quality donors who are committed to the process of donating. Our objective is to provide complete donor care – encompassing education, information and support throughout the entire process, from application through to donation and beyond.

We look forward to connecting with you and all the other people whose desire it is to give others a chance to realize their dreams.

For more information about Nurture Egg Donor Program please contact either Tertia (tertia@nurture.co.za / 0824418639) or Melany (melany@nurture.co.za / 0766848489)

It is still very early days. We might not have our website up yet or fancy stationery etc, but what we do have is lots and lots of passion and excitement; and 100% conviction that this is going to be absolutely wonderful, not only for us, but for everyone involved - the egg donors, the recipients and the clinics as well! We are totally into creating a situation where everyone benefits - a win-win situation for all.

PS: If you are a young, healthy 20-34 year old South African woman who would like to find out more about egg donation, please send an email to info@nurture.co.za. If you are an old bat with tired, overcooked (vrot) eggs like mine, but you know of young, healthy women who would like to find out more about egg donation, tell them to give us a shout.

PPS: If you are a South African blogger, please consider posting a note on your blog to spread the word about Nurture Egg Donor Program.

PPPS: If you are a man, thanks but no thanks. We don’t need your sperm right now, but thanks for the kind offer!

PPPPS: Woooo hooooo!!!! Do you have any idea how excited I am about doing something that could potentially mean so much to so many people! Very, very excited indeed.

Just when you think your know everything about me, I get tagged again!  This is courtesy of Natalie. 

A - Age: 38

B – Bed size: Queen

C - Chores you hate: Ironing

D - Dessert you love: Fruit salad with cashew cream custard

E - Essential start your day item: Barleylife

F - Favourite actor(s): John Travolta & Denzel Washington

G - Gold or Silver: White gold

H - Height: 1.77 m (5 ft 8 inches)

I - Instruments you play: Guitar – badly!

J - Job title: Home executive, Nutritional Consultant, Fitness Student 

K - Kids: Yes, please!  Make that 3…

L - Living arrangements: In our renovated Victorian house in the city (as opposed to the suburbs) with my husband and 3 cats.

M - My name is: Hanlie

N - Nicknames: Angel baby (of course only my husband calls me that!)

O - Overnight hospital stay: Laparoscopy, Myomectomy (removal of uterine fibroids), Appendicitis, Allergic reaction resulting in severe facial swelling, Appendectomy and then again to fix the mess the doctor made.

P - Pet Peeve:  Telemarketers!

Q - Favourite quote:  “If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come”. ~ Chinese proverb

R - Right or left handed: RightS - Siblings: One sister and a half sister

T - Time you woke up today: 06h45

U - Unique habit: I always give people the benefit of the doubt

V - Vegetable you hate: I like all vegetables! 

W - Wishing for:  A pregnancy later this year

X - X-rays you’ve had: Teeth, chest, ankle

Y - Yummy food you make: Soups and salads

Z - Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Now you know my ABC’s … Let me know if you’re doing this!

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I saw this on Kelly’s blog and thought it would be interesting! 

Here are the instructions:
1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.

This is from the brilliantly thoughtful Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Alblom.

The quote was from Ted Turner, the billionaire media mogul, founder of CNN, who had been lamenting his inability to snatch up the CBS network in a corporate megadeal. I had bought the story to Morrie this morning because I wonderered if Turner ever found himself in my old professor’s position, his breath disappearing, his body turning to stone, his days being crossed off the calendar one by one - would he really be crying over owning a network?

“It’s all part of the same problem, Mitch,” Morrie said.

This little meme is completely voluntary and open to anyone who wants it. 

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I was tagged by Natalie!

Welcome to the new edition of getting to know your friends.
Here are the rules.
(1) Link to the person that tagged you.
(2) Copy and paste on your blog.
(3) Fill out.
(4) Tag random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

1. What time did you get up this morning? About 7 am.

2. Diamonds or pearls? Sapphires

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Man On Fire.  That must have been in 2004! 

4. What is your favorite TV show? Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol, Survivor, The Amazing Race.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Fruit and nuts, but at the moment it’s only juice, of course.

6. Favorite cuisine? Mediterranean

7. What are your middle names? I don’t have a middle name

8. What food do you dislike most? Anything deep fried or vegetables with sugar added.

9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Paul Simon’s Graceland.  I used to have a copy, oh about 20 years ago, but it got stolen.  Hubby gave me another copy for Christmas and I’m really enjoying it.  I know I’m stuck in the eighties, but that was my heydey!  Here’s a picture circa 1985 (look I had a neck!).

10. What kind of car would you drive?  A luxury SUV.

11. Favorite sandwich? Hummus, tomato, lettuce, avocado, cucumber, sprouts

12. What characteristic do you despise? Victim mentality

13. Favorite item of clothing? I love wearing sarongs at home.  They’re cool and unrestrictive.

14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be? New Zealand

15. What color is your bathroom? The walls are a savannah green colour and the tiles are beige.  The accent colours are gold and maroon.  That probably sounds strange, but it actually works. Here’s a picture.

16. Favorite brand of clothing? I haven’t worn brands in years, since most of my clothes are made by my mother, but I want a pair of Levi’s one day!

17. Where would you retire? The country.  I’d go tomorrow!

18. What was your most memorable birthday? My 21st, which was in France.  I spent the day in Le Mans with my friend Theresa and then got champagne and cake from my “family” that evening.  Lots of people from home phoned me.  Here’s another pic.  (May the spiral perm never show its face again! Oh, and the scarf was a birthday gift.)

19. Favorite sport to watch? Formula 1

20. Furthest place you are sending this? Probably Canada.

21. When is your birthday? 5 September

22. Are you a morning person or a night person? A night owl.

23. What is your shoe size? British size 9

24. Pets? 3 cats - Bonnie, Lavis and Pepper

25. What did you want to be when you were big? A mommy

26. How are you today? Great

27. What is your favorite lolly/sweet/chocolate? Jelly babies

28. What is a date on the calendar you are looking forward to? Nothing springs to mind…  I appreciate every day. 

29. Piercings? Ears

30. Place of birth: Somerset West, Western Cape, South Africa

31. Love someone/something so much it made you cry? Yes, every day.

32. Favorite Restaurant: greek (that’s the name of the restaurant)

33. Favorite Alcoholic Drink: Good red wine

34. Favorite ice cream: I don’t eat ice cream - I’m dairy intolerant.

35. What color is your bedroom: The walls are crepe and we have wooden blinds and a wooden floor.  Our linen is white.

36. From whom did you get your last e-mail? Cape Town Fish Market - promotional stuff.

37. What do you do most often when you are bored? I’m never bored.  I wish there were more hours in the day for all the things I’d like to do!

38. Bedtime: About 11 pm.

39. What are you listening to right now: “What are you going to do with your life” by Echo and the Bunnymen.

40. What is your favorite color/s? All shades of blue and purple.

41. Which came first the chicken or the egg? Duh, the chicken.  Nowhere does it say that God laid eggs!

42. What are you wearing? Clothes for a change!  Blue top and navy pants.

43. What is the greatest place on earth?  Home.

44. How would you react to a flat tyre? I’d change it!

45. How many people are you tagging: Nobody!  This is totally voluntary.

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• A glass of freshly extracted barleygrass juice.
• Salad made with a wide variety of fruit and raw cashew nuts.
• An avocado.
• A cup of chai tea.

 Mmm, that avocado sounds delicious right now!  Did you know that it is one of the superfoods that we should eat every day? 

Avocados are an important source of Essential Fatty Acids and also have 60% more potassium than bananas. They are rich in B vitamins, as well as vitamin E and vitamin K.

A fatty triol, avocadene is found in avocado and has been tested for anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. These properties are likely related with the curative effects of avocado described for a number of ailments (diarrhea, dysentery, abdominal pains and high blood pressure).

Avocado is also thought to promote physical beauty and is used in cosmetics to this day. In fact, whenever I work with avocado, I always wipe my hands on my arms or legs, rubbing the avocado in, as it’s good for the skin! 

The Aztecs ate the vegetable as an aphrodisiac and called it “the fertility vegetable”.  Previously, avocados were not purchased or consumed by any person wishing to preserve a chaste image. Growers had to sponsor a public relations campaign to debunk the avocado’s unsavory reputation before they eventually became popular.  

I love avocados! 

If you want to know whether this weight loss and maintaining thing ever gets easier, read this brilliant post by Savy over at Shaping My Way.  It’s an eye opener!

Go Workout Mom is starting a series of posts on strength training.  I am all ears (or eyes, or that matter), because that’s something that I find rather intimidating at present.  I just don’t quite know where to start.  Read about how our great grandmothers trained!

Then, finally, I know that in the US catalogues are big. Tania at Freshtopia has a solution for stopping tons of catalogues landing in your post box every year. Go green and say no to catalogues!

I have been tagged by Kelly!  I find it hard to believe that there is something about myself that I haven’t shared yet (well there’s plenty, but I’ve swept my misspent youth under the rug and you’ll have to torture me to get it out!). So I hope you manage to stay awake through what promises to be 6 extremely arbitrary facts about myself.

Here are the rules.
(1) Link to the person that tagged you.
(2) Post the rules on your blog.
(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Okay, so here goes:

1. I drank ant poison (Dieldrin) when I was about two years old. Not because of the ennui of potty training and the lack of cartoons (we only got TV in SA when I was 6), but because it was within reach in a soda bottle. I’m nothing if not opportunistic.  I had to have my stomach pumped. Wonder if the experience scarred me emotionally…

2.  I’m extremely myopic.  I started wearing glasses at age 8, only in order to see on the blackboard and tv screen.  My eyes deteriorated over the next ten years to the extent that I would have had to wear glasses permanently, but fortuntately I got contacts, which I wore and didn’t clean properly throughout my aforementioned misspent youth.  In my mid-thirties I had developed so many problems with my eyes that I had to restrict my contact lens wearing and now I wear glasses again.  When I heard the news, I got Lizana, who is very cool and has excellent taste, to go with me and choose a funky frame.  Now that I’m doing pilates and aqua aerobics, I’m back to wearing contacts for a few hours a day.  This seems to be a happy medium.  Oh, by the way, the prescription for my left eye is -4.5 and for my right eye -7.5, meaning that my right eye is just about useless. 

Look at the glasses and ignore the orange hair… I have already forgiven myself!

3.  I am a great aunt to two little girls.  My father has a daughter  from a previous marriage, who had her children when she was very young.  Her son started a family at a young age too, so that makes me a great aunt.  My great nieces will be older than my own children!

4.  I’m addicted to Sudoku.  Not the online kind, it has to involve a very sharp pencil and a soft eraser.

5.  I don’t bake.  Never have, never will.  You can keep your cookies and cakes, they don’t tempt me at all!

6.  I once got given a boat my a one-legged man.  Long story.  Met him in a bar in Plettenberg Bay, where I was living at the time.  He mentioned that he had this boat at the lagoon, but that he couldn’t handle it himself on account of his leg.  He lied.  He couldn’t handle it on account of the boat being too big and heavy for one person.  As a boat owner,  I had a willing stream of ne’er-do-well lads who went fishing with me, rowed their merry hearts out and helped me drag the boat up and down the beach.  When I left Plett, I gave it to one of them.  And got fat.

This is what my boat looked like, except that it was orange (much like my hair years later…)

There’s a class I want to check out, called Body Sculpt: A low impact, overall body conditioning class using various techniques, to tone and condition different muscle groups. The use of Thera bands, Pezzi balls, your own bodyweight(!), and specific mat exercises provides a good workout that appeals to both men and women. Because you can never be too rich or too sculpted, you know…

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