1. Food Lovers Market in the CBD, I have recently started introducing fish into my diet, the only ones I can eat (i.e. face does not  swell up like the Hitch in the movie due to allergies) is tuna and calamari. Seared tuna and calamari rolls are the bees knees.
2. Primi Piatti side salad
   1. feta, tomatoes, olives, onion in a “something” dressing oooh yum!
3. Pre-vegetarian, the chicken spedini at Primi Piatti was my favorite, still good, but no chicken for me
4. Fruit strips, try Dischem, they are yumbo and fat free (okay not really) but healthy :)
5. Cape Town Fish Market calamari starter
   1. Introducing fish slowly – thick calamari is too much protein at this point, so the little thin guys are me favorite
6. Cape Town Fish Market and Willoghbys Edemame beans
7. Willoghbuys – Volcano Sandwich
8. Charly’s double choc fudge brownie
9. Haloumi Avo salad – Expresso – Johannesburg
10. Col’caccio margarita pizza

That’s it for now. More to follow. Think about your favorites and how yumm they are. I also particularly like a place more if the management team is friendly to me. Why? I am a solo diner sometimes and it helps when the are :).

Happy munching folks.

As we arrive, the place is already buzzing as if we had entered a bustling beehive, as bees hurry from bar, back to their tables and back to the bar again. I immediately whip out my camera and start snapping away. A catch 22 situation as I would love to chat to everyone, but capturing everyone having fun is .. well, fun.

I’ve met so many amazing Tweeple and Facebook friends, I am amazed at the quality of connections made these days. Lucky for me, I had a 10am talk to give at the University of Cape Town and could not get out of hand … too much anyway :).

So to Jon and Lianne for arranging and all the peeps who made it, thanks for making it happen. And to those I did not get an opportunity to connect with, the next time we meet, I will make it my duty to get to know you too.

Have a rocking, fun weekend!
Shana Kay

Apart from this, we need to honor and remember the women who fought for the rights we have today.

Think of Women’s month not as anti-men, but a celebration of how many rights we have today and all that we have achieved. We celebrate:

• the right to work and have children
• to play soccer/rugby/ or to box (why I don’t get it, but that’s the point, we can if we choose)
• to vote
• to not cook and order take-out
• to wear pants
• to wear dresses
• to celebrate the day, 9 August 1956, when women of all races and walks of life, marched to the Union buildings in protest against oppressive apartheid laws
• to celebrate the day that women from all walks of life became equal partners in the struggle for non-racial and non-sexist South Africa

More to follow as the month progresses. The point is to celebrate that which we have rights and access to now, and to remember the women, no longer with us, who made it all possible.

Women’s month, time to celebrate your womanhood.

The owner has generously agreed to provide some specials if we have enough peeps, so please feel free to join for 1 drink or 5 minutes to get out of your office or your house :).

http://twtvite.com/ctpeepup

Stretch those legs!

Okay so it’s been more than six months, but lots has transpired. Yes, I said “transpired“. Using the word “happened” feels insignificant at least.

So, we’re looking back and taking stock. What exactly has been filling my time? The new baby/business, the new-new business, new projects, new clients, new experiences.

I’ve officially decided to keep www.shanakay.com as my personal blog. Yes I have. Thank goodness. Now I can woo, swoon, laugh, cry, be silly and well, do anything I like …. almost ;0. What about the rest?

1. http://www.shanakay.com – personal
2. http://www.infointeg.com – business
   • http://blog.infointeg.com – business
3. http://www.theconnector.co.za – project
4. http://www.toydrive.co.za – charity
5. http://www.yourdigitalagent.com – business
6. http://www.findthefun.co.za – project
7. http://blog.onyxinterweb.com - portfolio / business

There are always exciting projects to work on, but one also needs to fill ones soul with that which gives us joy. So, Shana Kay, here to stay, in her own way, not for a day is here to say … life is short, play, laugh, love, live and have a great life.

Start it now!

Instead, my next awesome list rears its head and screams the following:

1. It’s been a month of World Cup madness, fun and excitement, the “gees” is strong in me and the whole country
2. I’ve been privileged to go to two live matches
3. Made an impression (who made an impression on me as well) on a visitor from Holland who is convinced that South Africa has the friendliest people on the planet *beam*
4. My partner gave me a “bass guitar” [r-o-c-k-o-n!]
5. My new business was placed 2nd in the start-up category, for the Cape Town Entrepreneurship Competition
6. I started another new business which is …. fun!
7. I have the most amazing partner in business and in life ♡
8. I did the fan walk with my BFF and my BF, separately
9. My post on Brand South Africa and being proudly South African was publish immediately
10. I may have the opportunity to finally write technology articles for publications I have always wanted to write for
11. Since my last awesome post, I got an awesome digital camera for my birthday
12. I had an amazing birthday with fabulous people, oh and my friends were there too ;)
13. Because I have my own business, on the stormy, miserable days, I worked from home.
14. Completed another business development programme
15. Received humbling and inspiring feedback from the delegates on the programme
16. Snow in the Overberg, up close and personal
17. Meet incredible people every day via social media
18. ….. and last for now, get to meet them in real life, sometimes.

Irrespective of whether everything in our lives seem to be going wrong, there is always something awesome that happens. The trick is, to look a little bit harder for them and not focus on the other “stuff”.

Get your awesome list cracking, and give yourself a dose of #feelinggood.

Brad's Grill

We arrive at “Brad’s Grill” in Harfield village, where Brads is buzzing with activity. As I walk through the door into Brads, the first person I see is a gentleman sitting on his own, wearing Dutch colours. My bf, his bff and I are seated and we start the catch up. Every now and then, we mention asking the gentleman dining on his own to join us and eventually, although our meal has already been polished off, Dean (bff) makes his way to the visitor and invites him over.

He introduces himself as Han and brings himself and his meal over and we start chatting. As it turns out, Han had just dropped his friend off at the airport, as both of them were meant to return home, but Han decided to stay. After all, watching Holland play Spain in the final was a once in a lifetime opportunity. He mentions that he had booked the trip in December already, which happened to be around the time ……….. and this is the sad part, his wife died.

The story continues with him telling us that they discover that his wife had cancer in September and in December, she died. How sad is this. She leaves behind a son and daughter 20 and 22 years of age. She was 50. The night continues with us chatting about life and the world cup and how wonderful the experience has been for us (locals) as well as the tourists.

Han writes his blog URL down on a piece of paper, and earlier today when we checked, he had already mentioned his encounter with us. Wow. Thank you Han, meeting you was special as well. It jolted my thinking into realizing that people may have come to our beautiful country to do more than watch the soccer. They may have embarked on this special journey to start a healing process.

So thank you Han from Holland, you’ve taught me to embrace every minute of life and to keep the special ones I love close and let them know how special they are. Thank you for coming to sit and chat to us and for making our day as well.

My take-away, to appreciate every moment of everyday and to keep the focus on the good and happy things we do have. I’ve always felt that the World Cup meant a lot to us as South Africans, and now we have evidence that it means a lot to others as well.

Ayoba South Africa, AYOBA!

Or should I……… okay so I am having second thougts, oh who am I kidding. It’s time to come clean. Hi, my name is Shana, and I am……. I am ………. a……. hopeless …….

…………. romantic! There, I said it. It is out in the world. For years I pretended to hate flowers, and dates and love, but no more. I love flowers. I love getting surprised with little things, like tea in bed. I love being asked out on a date, by the same man, because I truly believe it will keep the spice alive and I love the way I feel when I am in … love.

I love valentines day, I love sunsets, I love walks on the beach and I love to be loved.

Not much of a confession I hear you say? Well it is to me. I live in a mans world and I play by the rules of business which typically do not entail pink fluffy things and especially gooey things all love-filled. Now I am not saying I was faking it before, I was not. I’ve realised of late that this is the way I feel and perhaps it is all new to me?

But that is not why I confessed. I confessed because I see so many girls and guys play the game. Both of them may really like each other, but their “boys” or “girls” advise them to keep it cool. I confess because like so many other exciting things in life, excitement is something that I have noticed over the past few years, is something that we have very little of, in all aspects of our lives.

The prospect of a deal, downplay your excitement, keep the cool, we don’t want to show the client/supplier/investor how happy we are. The prospect of attending a game or play or movie we’ve been dying to watch for months or the birthday approaching in a few days, which we claim is “not that important” in order to avoid disappointment.

I am not saying that we are not disappointed when we get excited and are let down, but I honestly believe that when there is genuine excitement, the prospect of a postive outcome is much more outweighed than its counterparts.

So I confess, I am a hopeless romantic, I love stupid comedies, I movie talk and I sing (badly) in the car on my way to work and people stare or laugh at me as they drive by. Guess what, I don’t care, it makes my travel time, oooh, sooo much fun.

So, I date you to confess something good today. Something you love, something you like doing and something you need to do more of. I am confessing because I am not about to become complacent in a new relationship and stay that way for the next ten years. No way! Happiness, lots of sex, lots of romance and more is what I want and what we all deserve from our loved ones.

Okay, shhoooo, that was a relief. For the record, I am not “posting under any influence” and although I may feel as though this is a TMI post, who cares, I share because I feel the need to and it feels great.

Happy reading, happy confessing and happy living, it IS about time!

How much does it cost, 50c, I don’t have 50c, well that’s life!

And so it goes on and on. Life is like that. It throws you curve balls and challenges and sometimes, FUN things ;). Challenges are not always bad, I know this because I have had many over the past 9 months (yes as in the time it takes to make a baby!). So many things have changed since I left my previous company to pursue a new one and you know what, it is all good. I’ve been listening to Deepak Chopra and Anthony Robbins and others and the common message is to just “do” or just “be”. Fear is in my mind and the sooner I realise that and well.. get over it the more time I have to live and have fun !!

Control, yes we know I am a “control freak” doh! and this does not help. But listening to the words of wisdom of the ones I am inspired by helps. It helps me realise that I am normal and to get over myself. It helps me see that it’s okay to not be the “ray of sunshine” people know be to be, but to get through it one day at a time. It helps me realise that I am human and that it’s all sooo really normal.

Sigh*

Okay, so what?

So, that means that there are up times and down times and the way I deal with the down times makes all the difference. So, I am getting off my ass and getting things done, starting now. Wait, I have to do the dishes, then vacuum the floor, I HAVE to ;). Okay, seriously, as soon as I get that done, I am starting the new me. Or, I do feel sleepy, let’s start it all tomorrow. Yes tomorrow I will start the new me.

Giggle* Procrastination is my name and avoidance the game, but really I am exhausted, a week of sneezing and not sleeping .. really – no avoidance – promise :D.

Seriously though, life is all about the interactions and experiences we have. Else we do not learn and grow and have no fun. Starting now, I am living life and not being afraid of the unknown. For as Deepak Chpora says “if we focus on past and future, we do not live in the present and therefore we miss our on life!” or something like that.

Hang loose ya’ll!

Onto my second business, oh, I’ve started a third, called Onyx Interweb, which has a Digital Agency running social media campaigns in the technology industry mainly (www.yourdigitalagent.com), I wish I had thought of these six months ago. Nevertheless, here are some lessons I’ve picked up along the way:

1. supplement your income
   1. if you have not managed to plump up a cushion, you absolutely need to supplement your new business with something else. Funding always takes at least 12 times longer than you expect and having an additional income does help, start it immediately alongside your new business
2. apply to and for everything
   1. applications for funding, loans, grants etc. takes a long time, do a bunch of them at the start and get started on your business while the processes are in place
3. follow entrepreneurs in the same space as your business
   1. look at their challenges and lessons learned, it helps to know what the obstacles could be
4. put your pride aside
   1. if you believe in your business and your ability to succeed, put your pride aside and approach investors who you find suitable to be part of your journey
5. persist, persist, persist, persist
   1. there will be many no’s before your “yes”, expect that, thicken your skin and realise that no’s are great because you fill the gaps, and move one step closer to that yes!

Business owners, entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, realise that you are brave, courageous and full of guts to start your own business. Realise that it does take a little longer to build something great. And realise that you are doing what so many are afraid. When challenges arise, keep this in the fore of your mind and keep going. You know you can and you know you will. Why?

Because entrepreneurs are … just ….. like …….. that :).

Keep pushing on, until you get it.

Good luck!