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Inspired Living SA

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Be Inspired, Featured Posts, Interviews, Real Women.Real Life

Real Women Real Life Interview Series

Kathryn Rossiter Becoming You

Today we get to look inside the life of Kathryn Rossiter; Kathryn is the creator of the blog Becoming you.

Tell Us About Yourself:

I am from Cape Town, South Africa – the top tourism destination in the world!

I live in an area known as the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. It is a beautiful area surrounded by mountains, forests, nature reserves and beaches! It really is a paradise to raise small children and I have to pinch myself that we are so blessed to live in a place so many people pay a small fortune to visit on holiday. We enjoy a wonderful outdoor lifestyle with great weather (besides the wind!) I love living in Cape Town as I am very fortunate to have grown up here and all my close family live within 10 minutes drive!

I am passionate about my children, family, friends, chocolate, magazines, books, photography, blogging….

My Dream – To be a success at raising my children while not losing sight of who I am or how important my marriage is! To travel the world would be pretty nice too!

What Motivates & Inspires You?

Hard to know really but I do want to end my life knowing I was really great at something. The admiration of my children and family as well as an inner drive to succeed at all I do also spurs me onwards….

God, the ultimate creator, is a pretty awesome source of inspiration don’t you think??? Just look at nature and how perfect and scientific and beautiful it all is. I mean babies – come on they are the ultimate creation, totally amazing!

What Are Your Strengths & Weaknesses?

Strengths: The willpower to avoid chips and fizzy drinks Weaknesses: The lack of willpower to avoid chocolate and cake…. Seriously my greatest strength is my organizational skills; my greatest weakness has to be patience as a mom or on the road 😉

What Do You Treasure Most In Life?

My husband is a gem, memories, happy times with family, good friendships, holidays, photographs, sentimental jewellery like my engagement ring, and the security of my home!

What Are Your Fears?

Like most, the fear that keeps me awake at night is probably that health problems would befall me or my family, security is a big concern in SA and the future well-being of my kids is pretty scary too. But perfect love casts out fear and I’m pretty well covered by someone much larger than me who is looking out for all these concerns!

What Keeps You Busy?

I have always wanted to work in publishing from the age of 14, when I would spend all my pocket-money on magazines and then pour over them for hours in my room on my own! I still would love to do this but for now I have 3 jobs – the paying one is as a Media Liaison where I write documents, guides, newsletters, website content and do social media 1 day per week. The unpaying one is my blog – Becoming you – which is something I hope will grow into a paying job soon! It is my current baby and I love it. My unpaying, full-time, no overtime, intensively emotionally draining job is being a mom to 2 employers! 😉

What Do You Do For fun?

Have I said blog? Yes that is pretty time intensive at present. Also seeing friends, walks in nature, eating out when the budget allows, outings with my family, painting, and entertaining but not cooking, visiting the beach, reading, watching movies, camping holidays or weekends away.

I try to find time for blogging, photography, gardening, Beth Moore bible study, painting, some baking and sewing crafts or things for my kids occasionally (when patience allows)

What are your successes or failures?

My greatest successes are the 2 little people I birthed; my greatest failure is not always seeing what value lies in raising 2 little people to become successful big people!

What has been your greatest challenge thus far in your life?

As a child and teen my family went through a few rough years in terms of health, finances, job security, moving city, changing school and subsequent friend issues. It was a very hard time for me and not one I wish to repeat but I definitely think that what they say about difficulties making you who you are is true in this case. I learnt a lot during that time and I am better for it now. Another difficult period in my life was when I was newly married and living in a foreign country for 2 years with my husband. The experience was full of very high highs and low lows but we definitely learnt to rely heavily on God and each other during this time!!

If you could do something different with your life what would it be?

Occasionally I do regret that I didn’t go to university after school – not due to grades but rather finances…. I don’t think I am worse off today because of it but I would like to prove myself, mostly to me but to others too! I’m not sure if I’m committed enough to study part-time though, not yet anyway. If I could change something in my life right now it would be to have more travel experiences… I would love to see somewhere new or go on an adventure once a year.

Thanks Kathryn for sharing your life with us, we wish you every success and we hope that one day you will realise your dream of a life in journalism!

Also in this interview series Real Women – Real Life, meet Ellie Coburn from The Ellie Life….

Image Source: Kathryn from Becoming you

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FAR Photography, Interviews, Media, Media Mentions

Fiona Rossiter on neofundi

This week I had the great opportunity of doing an interview on neofundi, a wonderful innovative site, that brings like-minded creative souls together! Here is what I had to say…

[Read more…]

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Be Inspired, Life, Quotes

Monday Inspiration

 

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I recently took part in an interview series on the blog Becoming you, called What I. Answering the various questions got me thinking about what it is that motivates me on a daily basis, what gets me out of bed in the morning and what keeps me awake at night!

To quote myself: [quote style=”1″]Where to begin – I guess I want what we all want – world peace, an end to all violence and suffering! To be loved and to love! To be the best darn version of me I can be!  [/quote]These were among the “things” I want in life but more important were the “things” I need – [quote style=”1″] To be loved! To shop! To be more patient – especially with my girls! Nag less! Worry less! Laugh more! Not to care what others think about me and just be myself! [/quote]

What I have taken away from doing this interview is that first and foremost I have to be true to myself! I need to do the things that I love and in essence make me happy!

So take time out on this Monday morning and think about what makes you happy and DO IT!

 

Image Source: Pinterest

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Be Inspired, Guest Posts, Interviews

What I…My Blogger Interview on Becoming you

 

Today I am being featured on Becoming you’s What I series – this is a weekly series where Becoming you features the answers from “What I…” questions of various inspirational bloggers and today I was the lucky blogger!

It really is quite difficult to answer questions about yourself but it really makes you reflect on what is important in your life! Here are my answers to “What I”…

 

 

What I….

Know

I am someone’s daughter, someone’s wife, someone’s mother and a woman of God. That life is too short not to live every day to the fullest.

Love

What do I love? First and foremost my family! I am lucky to have married the love of my life & we are still living the dream after 15 years of marriage! I love life, food, my Lavazza coffee machine, good wine and pink bubbles – I guess the finer things in life! Pretty much anything creative – cooking, art, photography, fashion and writing – anything that helps me express the true me! Cape Town – the beautiful city I call home!

Read

I am a bit of a Psychological Thriller junkie! I have read almost every book, by local author Margie Orford – at present I am reading her newest novel Gallows Hill. My other recent favourites have been – The Help by Kathryn Stockett and I don’t know how she does it by Allison Pearson. I am not big on newspapers or other news publications – I am a bit of an ostrich when it comes to bad news!

Wear

This depends very much on the occasion at hand – if it’s during the school week you will find me in practical comfy stuff – jeans, shorts, t-shirts, vests depending on the weather. Pink is my favourite colour – the brighter the better! I believe shoes make an outfit – I love the wedge heels that are so trendy this season. I love dressing up and feeling sexy and sensual – so I need no excuse to get glammed up for an evening out! Locally I frequent shops like Poetry, Old Khaki and usually have success at YDE. I love shopping overseas, as I am a shorty I find it difficult to find pants and jeans that fit me in SA – I love Zara, Top Shop, River Island… in fact I feel the need for a shopping trip this year!

Need

To be loved! To shop! To be more patient – especially with my girls! Nag less! Worry less! Laugh more! Not to care what others think about me and just be myself!

 

Thank you “Becoming you” for this opportunity! To read the full article and more interesting posts by “Becoming you” click here to visit her blog.

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Be Inspired, Celebrations, Christmas, Featured Posts, Guest Posts, Lifestyle

Celebrating Christmas In South Africa – My Guest Post for A Little Inspiration

Celebrating-Christmas-in-South-Africa

Celebrating Christmas in South Africa – My Guest Post for A Little Inspiration – Thanks Angie for the invitation to do a guest post for your blog! To see my post visit A Little Inspiration – click here…

Celebrating Christmas in South Africa

Celebrating Christmas in South Africa

In South Africa we celebrate Christmas in a rather traditional manner, similar to the United Kingdom or Europe – the major difference being the weather!

Celebrating Christmas in South Africa

I love all aspects of Christmas including tree decorating, shopping, wrapping of gifts and the scrumptious meals; it all forms an important part of this rather special time of year!

Festivities become apparent from the end of November as many companies begin to wind down and schools close for the summer holidays. Shop windows are adorned with Christmas décor, Christmas carols are played in-store and the Christmas gifting displays begin to make their appearance. Christmas displays seem to appear in stores earlier and earlier every year!

In our home the festive season is officially on its way when we put our Christmas tree up, which happen fairly early this year, in early December. My girls had the job of adorning it with all the beautiful Christmas decorations, which we have collected over the past 15 years – since we got married! Our family tradition is to buy each of our girls a new decoration each year to build on our collection.

Christmas in South Africa

Another big festive tradition in Cape Town is the switching on of the Christmas lights in Adderly street, which is in the centre of town.  This is South Africa’s biggest free open-air event, the City of Cape Town’s annual switching on of the festive lights, which this year was held on Sunday, 4 December. The City’s Executive Mayor, Alderman Patricia de Lille, kicks off the summer Festive Season with the official switch on; this event usually draws a crowd of over 80 000 people.  A range of entertainment is available, including a carnival parade with floats, live performances and appearances by some of the leading television and radio personalities from Cape Town and South Africa.

Celebrating Christmas in South Africa

Our main Christmas celebration takes place on Christmas Eve when our extended family gathers to enjoy a special dinner together. We begin the evening by snacking on canapés and toasting with champagne – followed by the exchange of gifts.  Although the weather in South Africa is hot at this time of the year we still enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner, with roast turkey and gammon with all the trimmings, followed by a Christmas pudding (reminiscent of the British colonial tradition). To make things even more festive we usually insist on all members of the family donning a colourful paper hat that is usually found in the Christmas crackers, which are pulled before dinner.

Celebrating Christmas in South Africa

On Christmas day many people head off to church in the morning to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Christ, and sing carols. Our immediate family exchange gifts early morning; the girls are usually so excited and get us out of bed super early!

We usually enjoy a family Christmas Day lunch, which may involve a cold version of dinner, with gammon, turkey and vegetables or salad. Many families however prefer to have a braai (South African word for barbeque) and celebrate in a less traditional manner.

All in all Christmas is a rather significant occasion in South Africa, eagerly anticipated by many and which is celebrated by a large part of the greater community throughout the country. It is a time of the year that people put aside their differences and come together to celebrate this special event. I hope you have enjoyed my feature on Christmas in South Africa!

Wishing all a very Merry Christmas and a festive New Years!

 

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Meet Fiona Rossiter

Hi, I am Fiona Rossiter, from Cape Town, the writer and photographer behind Inspired Living SA Blog. If you love good Food and Wine, reading amazing Travel Adventures, keeping Fit and Healthy, as well following Decor Trends – then Inspired Living SA is just the place for you! Read More…

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