The Bespoke Artichoke

I love online shopping. I love how easy it is to click the “Add to Cart” button, and how it’s just a short hop, skip and jump to “Proceed to Checkout”. I’m sure many of you share in this delight and borderline addiction.

Our recent trip to South Africa this month offered me the opportunity to do just that, and I had solid intentions on getting my mitts on some vegan-positive merchandise.

After a little bit of time searching, I came across The Bespoke Artichoke, a lovely website with a range of clothing, jewelry, skin care amongst a myriad of other little delectable items. I knew, with swift certainty, that this was my place. This was a vegan smorgasbord deliverance, right into my little laptop screen.

And I was not disappointed.

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Ambitions of climbing the corporate ladder? How to tell the difference between a job and a career

Hello, lovely people!

Today we are going to talk about the differences between careers and jobs; how to tell which one you’re in, and what to do if where you are is not where you want to be.

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Freelancing – the Perks and Pitfalls

Many of us have a dream about being able to work for ourselves. To wake up when we want, dictate our own hours, and get paid a decent amount, while still making time for long lunches, catchup with friends, a busy social life and rewarding family life.

Truth of the matter is; that crap is crazy-hard sometimes.

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Book Review: Authority (Southern Reach #2)

Authority (Southern Reach, #2)Authority by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I originally started this series on the suggestion of my local bookstore owner; someone who knew I loved a good strong female character and story line. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with this book, having loved the first in Southern Reach Series. The female protagonists I had grown to love were only minor characters in this novel, and while the plot remained centered around the same themes, I found it moved much slower than anticipated, and as a result, abandoned it half way through.

I do maintain that the plot and story line of the series seems quite good, and so I hope to revisit this novel when I perhaps have more time to sit down and focus more on the subtleties between the newly-introduced characters.

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Nairobi Express

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Kenya for the first time as part of a whirlwind visit to friends and family.

And I really do mean whirlwind: from the moment I made it through customs, to the moment I got in the taxi to return to the airport was only around 50 hours; most of which were spent ogling the greenery or drinking wine (what health kick? Oops).

Fortunately, I kept enough of my wits about me to pull together a Last-Minute-What-Should-We-Do-If-We-Only-Have-One-Day Guide to Nairobi! AKA: The Nairobi Express.

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July Road Map: Checking in, Challenges and Crossing Things Off Your List

Personally, I consider July 1st like a second New Years. It marks the mid-way point in the year; a time when it seems appropriate to reevaluate where you are going, and how you are progressing on your various goals. A chance to reflect on your trajectory, and adjust your behaviour or output in order to realign with your intended destination.

For me, it’s also a nice prompt to layout what I have in store for this month’s blog content (and let’s face it, reawakening)

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The Altitude Journals, by David Mauro

The Altitude Journals: A Seven-Year Journey from the Lowest Point in My Life to the Highest Point on EarthThe Altitude Journals: A Seven-Year Journey from the Lowest Point in My Life to the Highest Point on Earth by David J Mauro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the easy-reading element of this book. Mauro uses language that is easy to digest, and with the entire novel being under 500 pages, it is a great size for a holiday read.

While Mauro comments that he does not climb for the love of mountains, as some of his climbing companions do, he clearly does have an emotional connection to the places he visits; shedding tears at numerous summits, and scattering the ashes of his brother atop six of the Seven Summits.

The novel is very present-tense; Now we are here, now were are doing this, etc. While it at times made the story appear overly simplified compared the magnitude of the accomplishment, it also encourages readers to follow the journey along with him; to live the story as he does – in real time.

I would recommend this book to other readers who are interested in climbing in a simplistic way – David’s accomplishments are amazing by all accounts, and the novel presents itself as a nice book to read, though perhaps not a technical manual or overly-specific memoir.

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Bean burgers you can’t say no to.

If you are a plant-based eater, chances are that more often than once you have been invited to a BBQ and not known what to eat. You want to have SOMETHING to put in your burger bun, but obviously meat is a no-go, and many commercially available meat substitutes are full of fat, oil, salt and preservatives.

Or, maybe you’re just an average person who is looking to improve their health by reducing their meat consumption a bit.

Of maybe you just like good quality food, like me.

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If its not on Strava, did you even exercise?

I have recently decided to refresh my feet (and fitness) and take up some running again, and I’m battling with the question of “Do I track my runs?” vs “Do I say I don’t give a crap how far/fast I run, and instead focus on just enjoying being outside”?

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Why goal setting doesn’t always work, and what to try instead

As much as we don’t always like to admit it, we’ve all failed in achieving a few (ahem, a lot of) goals. Whether it’s the January 1st promises of I will lose 10kgs by June or the wishful-thinking I will write a book this year, we’ve all fallen short at least once or twice.

The good news is that its not necessarily your fault. It’s just that your system is working against  you.

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