The Real Jenty

There are a few questions I haven’t answered yet, so here goes…

Angel asked: Before you started taking pictures, did you have a hobby of some kind?

I did fabric painting (I’ll post a few photos of what my work) and decoupage and cycling… I’ve cycled the Argus twice, and the third year we were going to do it, I broke my arm by falling off my bike… and then I fell pregnant so that was the end of that.

Angel asked: How do you manage to fit in parenting, work, and your photography sideline?

With difficulty, but I seem to be managing, only just, for now.  I’m not getting enough sleep though.  And I’d like to fit in some exercise as well, but there are just not enough hours in the day. I’m actually considering getting an admin person or someone to help with editing for a few hours a week

Laura asked:  WHEN are you going to stop doing what you dont want to and start doing what makes you happy? (workwise)

Funny thing is, I like what I do during the day, so it’s not that easy   I like the people I work with, I’m learning LOADS, and my thoughts are valued (this point is the biggest point of all).  I’d like to at some stage reduce my hours at my day job, but that won’t happen this year, because I’m working on a monsterous project or two.  I’ll explain a bit about what I do in another post tomorrow.

Cat asked:  1.   What dress did you wear to the launch and show it?

I’ll take a pic the next time I wear it, but it’s a satin dress/tunic and flowered leggings

2. Are the puppies being good and did you train them?
No to both, they desperately need training.  Kimo is worse than Kitara, and still takes stuff from the house to chew… he still loves clothes and toys of any shape or form.  One of my summer tops has a new hole in it thanks to him, and I’ve only worn it twice!

3. Is Lance happy in the new job?

No, he was very very unhappy, so much so that he has yet another job and started yesterday.  Hopefully this one is better.

I got 3 questions posed about treats etc, and thought I’d answer in one post

Sharon asked: What makes you happy? Something that puts that silly grin on your face and you cannot wipe it off because it has made you happy from deep within your soul?

When someone loves something I’ve done.  Like this morning, when Beauty got her prints, and she had tears in her eyes and told me “that you know just how to shape me, and I’m not fat. I was thinking about why I bother dressing up when I come to work in the morning, but you’ve made me see myself differently”
That made me cry, and smile all the way to work this morning.

Tara asked: I dare you to share 3 guilty pleasures. Like, that chocolate you buy at the shops and then scoff before getting home (not that I do that. Much.)

1. Putting on the TV for the kids, so I can read some blogs
2. Plant shopping at Lifestyle cos it’s just so nice, and I should rather spend the money on the kids. I haven’t had much time to do that recently.
3. Buying new lingerie every few months… I just love it.
Seriously, if I buy myself a chocolate to have on the way home from the shops, I’ve normally bought some for the kids and Lance too.

Laura asked:  What is your favourite sweet?

Definitely chocolate, as long as it’s not Beacon.  I hate Beacon.  My favourite chocolates are Crunchies, and Cote d’Or Noir chocolate.  I love a good dark chocolate.  Or Caramello Bears, now those are also yummy!

Laura also asked: If you had just R150 to spend on YOU – what would you spend it on?

Only R150? That’s tricky. Probably a pedicure, summer is coming.

This is the first answer from the questions posed to me the other day.  Cat wanted to know more about using Twitter, the basics, because she doesn’t feel that she gets it.  Well, it’s not that tricky actually, but it doesn’t happen overnight and I think that’s where people make the mistake with Twitter.  They give up too easily, and it looks overwhelming and they don’t know where to start, so they leave it.

Getting value out of it takes time, you need to build a network.  It only makes sense, and you get value out of it, when you have a network of people that talk about topics that interest you, AND you’re following people that follow each other.  The reasons are the following:

1.  You can only see replies to someone if you follow the person being replied to and the person who is sending the reply.  For example, if I follow A, and A sends a reply to B, I’ll only see it if I follow B too.

2.  People share/tweet information all day about topics they’re interested in (and random stuff too), so if you’re not interested in the topic they’re talking about, you’ll just think it’s noise.  But there’s value in that for someone… Twitter is how I learn.  For example, Cat would probably be interested in design (just guessing here) and parenting, so she’d get value by following other twin moms and some designers and architects.

It’s cool because you end up knowing about things happening in the world way before the news item hits regular radio or TV news, but it’s not overpowering, so you end up learning how to filter out the noise (the random drivel about what people are eating… which could actually be interesting if you’re hungry and need ideas for a meal).  You also get to learn about where people are shopping, and what they’re buying, and what they’re finding cool.  You’re learning from your peers.

Now building the network is the trick, and here’s one way to get there:

1.  If you’re following blogs, chances are that the blogger also tweets.  You already have some kind of interest in what they talk about, so follow them on Twitter too.  Their Twitter handle (name) will be somewhere on their blog… hint… a button that looks like a blue bird.

2.  Find your friends that you’re linked to on Facebook on Twitter… by searching for their names or linking to Facebook to find them.

3.  Now you need to find people that they’re linked to.  There are 2 ways to do this.  One is to go through their “following” list to see who they like to listen to, and start following those people too (don’t go through their follower stream because they might not find those people interesting).  Secondly, open their twitter stream, see who they’re replying to, or retweeting (like forwarding an email which means that they like that that person is saying), and if they’re talking to someone about something that interests you too, then follow them as well (by clicking on that person’s name and pressing the follow button).

4.  Look at the lists that are on your tweeple’s twitter page.  Most people’s lists are made by topic.  If you look at mine, I have one with mom-bloggers, and another with photographers.  If you’re interested in those topics, then start following some of the people on those lists.

5.  Don’t be scared that you’ll offend someone by following them.  It’s not like Facebook where you only link to people you “know”.  No-one on Twitter really cares that you’re following them, they just like their voice being heard.   And if they end up speaking a load of rubbish, unfollow them… again, you won’t offend them.  It’s not as personal as Facebook.

6.  Upload a photo of yourself.  Don’t have a blank avatar because no-one will take you seriously and people will think you’re a spammer.  You have to be real in the space.

7.  Start sharing.  Start tweeting links to sites that you like, or blog posts that you’ve read and think other people will like.  Talk about something.  Reply to someone.  Retweet something you like that someone else has said.

8.  Make sure that you give credit to people. If you’re retweeting something, make sure that the first person who tweeted it is in the tweet.  If you’re tweeting about someone, be sure to add them into your tweet with their handle with the @ sign, that way they’ll see it in their stream even if they don’t follow you.  If you want have a private chat, use the Direct Message format (or DM).

9.  If the website irritates you, like it irritates me, then use a tool to follow your streams like Hootsuite (I use this) or Tweetdeck.  Load a Twitter app on your phone like SocialScope, or Hootsuite or countless others.

And that’s how you do it   And if you want to link to me, then my handle is @jenty

It’s been a rough few weeks with huge deadlines at work, and far too many photos to edit at night.

I’ll get to your questions tomorrow night, but tonight is about regrouping. In fact the whole of today was.

I spent the morning with Madelein at Body Sense Day Spa.

Love that place!! We had an hour long hot stone massage (which was to die for) and a Guinot facial… and ended the morning with a glass of amarula and a chocolate

If you plan on going there, look at their specials first… make so much more sense than their full price individual treatments… we went on a package called “Woman’s wellness” which was a package for Woman’s day.

It was just perfect… and I just have to do it more often.  In fact, we’re planning our next trip already

Ask me something… anything?

I’ve hit a blogging slump, I can’t think of anything to write that you might want to know… so I thought I’d open the floor to you all

Ask me a question in the comments, and I’ll answer over the next few days.

He gets left alone for 5 minutes, and comes up with a plan… every single time!

I got from work this evening, and he proudly showed me his new “tattoos”…

He wasn’t happy with transfers today, he got hold of stamps from somewhere in Bradley’s room, coloured them in with koki (coloured marker pen), and then stamped them all over his arms.

LOL!  Hopefully it’ll come off in the bath, Lance has no idea which type of koki was used.

And this in a week with all the strikes… which means that he’s not even going to be able to run off that energy at school because we’ve been told today that his school is closed until Monday because the primary school down the road was threatened.

Don’t you also get flash backs of memories when you eat or even just taste certain things?

That happened to me this morning, and in fact happens every time I eat Otees cereal.

Otees’ cereal is one of Connor’s favourite type of cereal, and I had a few while I was getting his breakfast ready this morning.  Not the fancy strawberry or chocolate flavoured one, just the plain one.

Just the taste of them sets off my memories.

I immediately remember being on holiday, as a child, at my grandmother’s house in Harare, Zimababwe.  I thought it was a huge treat to eat that type of cereal when we visited her that time (no idea when that was, but I’m sure my mom will give the answer in the comments to this post). I loved it, the cereal that is

And every time I eat it now, I immediately picture myself eating them in her diningroom.  I also remember the cuckoo clocks, and the kitchen, and the enormous garden with big trees… and the private road that they lived on, that for some reason fascinated me.

Isn’t it funny how such a simple taste can bring back so many memories?

Why do people have to be so spiteful?

I got an email from an old friend this morning to tell me that one of our shared Facebook friends is having a problem.  Her ex-husband has got hold of her Facebook password and cellphone and is sending random messages to her friends.

This is the second time this has happened to a friend of mine!

I have a few things to say about this…

1.  WTF are you thinking when you do a stupid thing like that?

2.  WTF do you think you’re actually achieving?

3.  You do realise that that instead of getting the support that you’re clearly craving, that you’re alienating yourself entirely.

4.  The person you want to hurt by doing this is ending up being the hero.

What an idiot!

Start acting like a man and get on with your life, like she clearly is!

You would think that after eating quite a few of Angel‘s red cupcakes on Friday and yesterday, that I would have had enough.
But nooo, today Bananaramagirl and Snowgoose had cupcakes for us to eat for the photoshoot… and they were divine.  These ones were chocolate with butter icing and the most gorgeous crowns and gold T’s decorated them.
In fact,  I’m yearning for more.  They would go down so well tonight, while I’m editing… and we don’t even have a chocolate in the house!

Oh woe is me (

When Exmi asked me a few months ago to participate in a new secret blogging project, just for girls, I was intrigued, and of course I said YES!

How could I not?  It sounded like such a cool idea… a bunch of girl bloggers from all walks of life, at varying degrees of technical proficiency… all reviewing the latest and greatest gadgets from a chicks point of view.  Brilliant plan!! Plus the fact that I like them all, and we get together every so often to talk about the gadgets and have wine… like a book club just better!!

Anyhoo, Girl Guides is finally live… in a beta version…

Check it out, and let us know if there are any issues with it

Oooh and also read my review of the Macbook Pro… which is why I bought it in the end

I can’t wait to play with my next gadget actually!