My love for fashion and looking good.

They say that when you look good, you feel good. I have proven this in my own life. There was a time in my life when I just sort of let go of myself. This was when I concentrated on everything around me and neglected myself tremendously. The result was me feeling so stressed all the time and putting on so much weight. Never will I go back to that hell hole ever again. There is something so great about getting older. You learn to appreciate the good and bad about yourself. Funny enough I grew up knowing that I was ugly but as I grew older I got to define beauty in a different way,  a way that liberates me. I find that beauty manifests itself in very different ways. I have learnt to love my body and embrace it. I now have intimate conversations with my body to give it life and assurance that it is "The shit" excuse my French :)

I find that I love different styles in fashion but my style exudes sexiness. Fashion for me means being wearing something that is not only comfortable but enhances your femininity. What I wear depends on my mood at that moment. but often at times when I don't feel so good I make sure I look super good so that nobody feels my pain. There is so much sadness going around in the world and I don't wanna add to that sadness. 

I have found a fashion blog and a Facebook page called "Mad About Fashion" by Buhle. I love this woman's style and it is exactly how I would like to groom myself.  I love how this woman mixes colors and different textures. I love the different looks that she puts together which are fit for different occasions. The following is some of her work:

Mad about Fashion Facebook page

My social life

Like every girl I love spending time with my friends. I have a bubbly and welcoming personality and it is not difficult for me  to make and keep friends. I have discovered that I am a very versatile human being. I have different types of friends that satisfy different needs in my life. I wouldn't necessarily say that I have a best friend. I rather have close friends and acquaintances. I value my friendships because they help me deal with everyday challenges, are there when I need someone to listen, when I need a shoulder to cry on, to offer advise, to share my joys and my frustrations. There are friends that I meet once in a while but still play a very important and special part of my life. I am part of a girl's club called "The Classy Ladies of Umzansi" TCLM. We all met in 2009 at the University of Cape Town. These girls have special place in my life. They are driven and inspire me to be the best I can be. They are all very accomplished young women in their own rights. Through such friendship I have grown so much as a person. We have had incredible fun together and have shared tears and joys of our lives. These are truthfully my sisters forever. It just came naturally that I would be attracted to dreamers like myself. They are achievers but they are a fun loving bunch. We have done so much together and our friendship is forever.

From left: Nawaal, Gwen, Lillian, Zaheerah, Rebaone and Manono 

There are friends that have become more that friends but family and more especially the ones that are a bit older than me but we have grown to be incredible friends. As a result of their wisdom, they have become my mothers and I usually find refuge in them because they have traveled some of the this journey and they know how to give good advice. They have been there to help me be a better person, better mother to my kids and have offered support even when they didn't need to. These are people that always go an extra mile for me. Love them so much. They are so many but following two have been exceptional:

Busi 

Zonke and Manono 

My Black Management Forum Executive (UCTsc) team for 2010. I had so much fun working this this team of intelligent and innovation young people.

From top left: Ludwick Marishane, Papama Matsiliza - Nzuzo Sowazi, Zaheerah Mayet
Bottom left: Tsepo Mota, Lillian Moremi Manini and Manono

 My BMF Young Professional Peeps. Have learnt so much from these people

Nosisa, Iviwe, Elvis and Manono

My fun loving girls. Love them

Ayanda, Manono, Asah and Mpoome

I have so much happening in my social life that one post is not enough to capture all. It will take at least 50 posts too get an idea of what my social life is all about.

I love life and life loves me!!!!

My Entrepreneurial journey and my love for business

This has been an interesting week for me as it was an Exhibition week for Post Graduate  Management Diploma in Entrepreneurship. This is for the groups in the programme to showcase their innovative products.  This has made me think of my journey as an entrepreneur which began as a child. My journey as an entrepreneur has been an interesting one. This journey started when I was a little girl, probably in primary school if I remember correctly. My first business venture actually started through necessity. When I realized that I was in need of basic necessities such as toiletries, pocket money and the likes, I asked my grad dad Gideon Thusi (bless his soul) to buy me what we use to call " red mouth lollipops". During my time this was a favorite among children my age. This was because of its ability to dye one's mouth red. If you grew up in a township around the early 1990's then you will know and understand exactly what I mean. I was the first to sell these at school and my lollipops became a hit. I remember how exciting it was for me to be able to manage my own cash and save up for what I wanted to buy. Then I was in high school and everyone was selling these and I had to graduate to making and selling sausage rolls, which gave me a 100% return on investment which was super exciting and meant that I had to manage more relationships. Even with older students that were in higher grades. I embarked on so many small businesses after that such as selling fatkoeks/ amagwinya, amakota etc. (which are all typical township school food) See pics below:

Fatkoeks/ Amagwinya

Ikota 

Fast Fwd to 2005. I start working as a computer teacher at a primary school. I then developed and started a 3 month computer course for the adults in the nearby community to teach computer skills. This was such a challenging but fun experience for me. There is something so fulfilling about starting something from scratch and seeing it to finish. This was a very successful 3 months for the people of Umlazi C section. It was a group of 40 students. This group was made up of teachers, policemen and women, unemployed youth etc. that needed to learn computer skills. The environment was similar to the one below.

Students in a computer lab

FWD to 2008. When I started at UCT, I came with my babies

My babies (Thobile & Thobile)

, Thobile and Thobeka and to survive I saw opportunity to cater for student societies. Naturally, I started a catering business that offered catering services to student societies  and some departments at UCT. My business which is called  Indulge Your Tastebuds specialized  in food platters for events. See pic below

Some of the business offering 

My Catering business logo

In 2010 also tried my luck at the hair business, where I was selling hair extensions in Claremont Cavendish Market. This was very brief because I simply did not have the time andI was juggling too much. Lessons learnt here!!! Never bite too much than you can actually chew. 

FWD to 2013. I enrolled in Post Graduate Management Diploma in Entrepreneurship. This has been an incredible year. I have learnt so much about being an Entrepreneur and also about myself. I have grown so much in so many areas of my life because of this course. Doing this degree has been the best thing I have ever done for myself. I have never been challenged so much, both academically and business wise. The lessons I have learnt on this course I will carry with me throughout the days of my life. This has been an amazing journey and I cannot wait for graduation at the end of this year 2013. My team and I made Ipad covers made out bamboo. The name of this product is Thicket. This is not only stylish and trendy but environmentally friendly and durable.

My Genesis team during our Product Exhibition

Checkout our Facebook page on Thicket Group

I continue to grow as a Entrepreneur.

New Healthy Diet and Lifestyle

For me, health and looking good is of great important. Since I have moved into a new place in, I have decided to change my eating habits. As a busy student, entrepreneur and mom. I am usually so busy that I end up eating everything that I come across on campus or wherever I am. I nearly paid with my life in 2011 when I was diagnosed with having gallstones.  I couldn't understand where the severe pain was coming from. At last the doctors were able to diagnose it as gall stones. Which looks something similar to this pic I found on Google images:

More about gallstones or cholesterol stones.

The pain almost killed me. I was in hospital for a week. My whole bladder was taken out as a result. Now  I have to make sure that whatever I eat is good for me. I am quiet fortunate because I am not one of those ladies that have a sweet tooth. My biggest weakness when it comes to food is savory stuff. I also like bread but not cakes. But interesting enough when it comes to cakes, I love baking just not eating cakes. The following is one of my baking creations. I was quiet excited about making this cake and everyone that got to taste it loved it. I must admit that the cake was so delicious that I ate at least two slices myself, which is surprising from someone that is not a fan of cake eating. But well...... I am that good :). If you want to know how to make it I have left a link to the recipe under the picture.

My Delicious Red Velvet Cake 

Red Velvet Cake Recipe

 I have started a journey of healthy eating.  I have also started Gym at Zone Fineness for Women and I love it. In order to be able to take care of other people, one should be able to take care of self. I believe this is very true for my life. I need to take care of my health and the body that carries me everyday. In my journey to take good care of my self I have found two drinks with enormous health benefits. One is called Kefir and the other is called Miracle Juice. I am going to start exploring these very soon and I will blog about my findings.

So watch this space!!!

For now though Google them 

About Manono

Manono Thusi 

This blog is about my life. Things I love and what I do on a day to day basis. My life at the moment is centered around a number of things, i.e. business, academics, friends, food, health, love, books, travel, kids, fashion, gadgets, cars, houses etc. and in no particular order. The purpose of this blog is to document or capture each and every special moment in my life. Whether it is something that inspires me, something that makes me mad or something that makes happy. The aim is to make sure that I learn from all the lessons from each and every moment and that everyone who visits my blog is inspired to live his her life to the full everyday.

I am a fun loving person who is also a dreamer. I am versatile and interesting. I love the fine things in life and do not feel guilty for wanting to succeed and live the best life possible.

I love life and life loves me!!!!