Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. – Louisa May Alcott

I read many blogs (who needs magazines these days?) but following are short descriptions of my favourite ones.

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My sister is the MOST talented person that I know and I love every single post she has on her blog which is called the art of thought and imagination which I feel is apt as it encapsulates exactly who my sister is. She is a gorgeous girl with a gentle soul that sees the beauty in everything! She takes incredible photographs, makes jewellery, wraps presents too pretty to open and creates cards that one can give as the actual gifts. On top of all that she is a genius and is studying towards a Civil Engineering Degree. Did I mention that she also has South African colours in Rhythmic Gymnastic? Yes, I could ramble on for daaaays about my sister but instead visit her blog and get to know her yourself.

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My constant source of motivation, inspiration and unconditional love is my ma and she shares some of her enormous photographic talents (or rather, will be soon) on her blog called eyecinfocus. It is a work in progress but I know her photographs are amazing and cannot wait until she posts them for everyone to admire. Everything that I am or strive to be I learnt from her and if one day I am even half as strong a person and loving and caring mother as she is I will feel fulfilled and my future kids can count their blessings! Of course she is also multi-talented. Scrapbooks with a passion, creates beautiful cards, had her own successful business when she was my age and even purchased her first home by the age of 21! She then sold her business to become the best full-time ma two girls could have wished for and now that we are all grown up and pursuing our own lives she has some time to get back to hers. Seeing as this is meant to only be a summary of blogs I follow I will stop here but could also say a lot more about my accomplished ma.

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This blog is what I aspire my blog to be like on day! Gluten Free Girl and the Chef is purely wonderful. Her story is inspiring and her writing even more so. I absolutely love that she posts recipes but with a beautifully written entry before each one. She is a writer, loves food but cannot eat gluten and has a reading obsession. That description is pretty accurate of me too. I urge you to visit it and fall in love with her posts, her effortless but though provoking pieces, the delicious recipes and healthy gluten-free food options she provides and her photographs are beautiful too. I hope to buy her recipe book soon but in the meantime I am going to work my way through the ones she has posted here. The first post I read on her blog was called “Accepting the warm rays of the sun” and I knew from that first reading that I would be reading every single post from there.

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I discovered Wry Republic towards the end of 2012 and was so impressed with this local blog! The site’s tagline is “wit, wisdom and political water fights” and this is only a taste of the quirkiness that the blog offers. All the posts that I read were interesting as well as intelligent (not an easy combination to successfully pull off but here Candice Holdsworth and the other Wryters have done a sterling job). I emailed Candice to ask her to take a look at my blog and give me some suggestions/advice etc and I was so happy when she replied with some very lovely comments and asked me if she could republish some of my posts on her site. Of course! What an honour; a blog that I read everyday wanted to feature me? I am so proud to be a part of her project and I envisage great things to come from this entrepreneurial and spirited woman. My contributions to this blog can can be viewed here. It is all very exciting and the blogging community is one that I honestly inspires and drives me to carry on writing every day.

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An incredibly stylish friend of mine has also recently started a blog called  Rich Rayson and I am waiting in anticipation for sleek looks and DIY tips. This is one glamorous and gorgeous girl who always looks flawless. Her fashion sense, appreciation of art and design but especially her beauty, both inside and out, is why I am proud to call myself a friend.

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A blog that I absolutely have to read everyday is everywhereist. The writer is hilarious and blogs about travelling the world with her SEO/CEO husband who has to travel for conferences and she spends the time hunting for cupcakes exploring museums, restaurants and general tourist attractions. She loves food and travelling, similar interests much? The relationship this couple shares is also inspiring.

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The first post I read on Indieberries was this one and fell in love with Che’s (the blog writer’s) quirky style and her cartoon-drawing skills are fantastic! I am always a little envious of such talented people! Side note: take note on how this proposal was thought through boys – us girls expect a lot of attention to detail and surprises and love and flowers and hand-made jerseys and crafted notebooks and and and… oh and the bling will not hurt either 😉

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Fernweh, noun (origin. German) – a crave for travel; being homesick for a place you’ve never been. = ME!!! and I stumbled across this blog Heather and Fred’s Excellent Adventure which I absolutely love. This couple quit their jobs, put all of their belongings into storage and rented out their home to travel. And their travel destinations: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, Tibet, India and The Maldives. Basically EVERYWHERE I dream of travelling to! Their writing is great, the photographs are awesome and they are a good-looking couple too. Can you hear the green with envy tone I am writing this in?

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The Pretty Blog is just that, the pretty blog. The two girls love everything about weddings and consider themselves your online bridesmaids. Seeing love celebrated in beautiful and creative ways makes me happy and as such I love seeing new posts from this blog. They also have regular decor and fashion features.

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A gorgeous girl with incredible style is the author of the blog Cupcakes and Cashmere and a book by the same name. I am obsessed with her fashion sense and the photos are worthy of fashion magazines, what is great is that her husband takes all the pics of her. She also includes recipes and decor. I love this blog!

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The about page of the blog Mommy Man – Adventures of Gay Superdad describes the blog well. The writer is a stay-at-home-gay-dad and is hilarious. As you can imagine the journey of being a a stay-at-home dad is difficult enough with the common misperceptions people form and a gay one at that, I enjoy his writing style and it is obvious that he loves his children and is an amazing father and role-model.

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This food blog is awesome, the writer is only 16 years old and had her first cookbook published when she was 14! Her pictures are gorgeous and the recipes all look incredible. Nade in the Kitchen. She is professional, mature and creative.

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Pure Vege is food blog I am obsessed with. The blogger, Lakshmi, started cooking whilst running a yoga centre in Greece and I love that she cooks with respect to the pure and wholesome aspect of yoga. I have recently become enamoured by the entire concept of yoga, meditation and food nourishing the soul. Her food photography is also great. In her page describing herself and reason for her blog she states, “Cooking is a reflection of lifestyle and culture. It tells about the qualities we appreciate and adhere to. It is a form of social interaction and a way to share affection and care. It is a primary need that, unfortunately, is devaluated by the modern society. It bothers me. I hope it is a conflict worth of a blog.”

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Yes, I love reading recipes and feeling inspired to cook and A Cozy Kitchen is another great blog filled with easy to make recipes and here (as seems to be the name of the game with food blogs) the pictures are beautiful too.

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A South African food blog I love is Drizzle and Dip. Sam Linsell describes herself a freelance food stylist, writer, recipe developer and aspiring food photographer. What an incredible job to have! Her recipes all looks delicious and (again) the pictures on her blog are inspiration enough to get into the kitchen.

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Towards the end of  Form IV (Standard Nine) I was faced with all the “So, what are you going to study after matric?” questions. My answer kept changing so eventually I decided I would have to see a Career Guidance Counsellor as it would be impossible for me to be both a high-flying business woman, war journalist, doctor, chemical engineer, house-wife, professional chef, marketing strategist, psychologist, historian, English literature professor AND event co-ordinator during only one lifetime! I eventually decided to study towards a BCom as business is a great basis from which to do anything. It was during one of my tear ridden sessions with the counsellor (the confusion!) that he mentioned if I studied Investment Management I could eventually specialise in Behavioural Finance/Economics which incorporates Cognitive Psychology with Finance and my interest was immediately triggered. I follow Dan Ariely‘s blog as he explains his research into irrational behaviour in order to help people enrich their own lives. I read his book “Predictably Irrational” last year and loved it!

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Gus Silber is an award-winning journalist, author and scriptwriter. His wife used to do scrapbooking classes with my ma and I hosted a themed birthday party for one of his daughters back in the day. When I started working I came across him on Twitter and have loved following him since. His tweets are funny, clever and insightful and his blog is too. It is clear that this man loves words and experimenting with them.

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Who’s Who SA describes Dion Chang as “a corporate trend analyst and design consultant, as well as a freelance journalist, columnist and social commentator. He currently works as a trend analyst, runs his own company called Flux Trends, and is a freelance columnist and writer. Chang works both locally and internationally, and is regarded as one of South Africas top trend analysts and social commentators.” I love his work and think this is one inspiring individual. That question that is often asked in interviews, “Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?” well my answer would most definitely include him! Have a look at his blog Alien Adventures.

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Enjoy the blogs everyone but don’t get too wrapped up in the awesomeness of all of them and forget about my attempt here 🙂