A friend indeed!

A BIG thank you to my friend Stefani! Not only was she instrumental in getting me in my hiking boots for the first time, she also asked all her friends to donate money to the hospital on her birthday instead of giving her gifts...

Stefani, to you and all your amazing friends, A BIG HUG! :)

It's starting to happen!

A big thank you for the wonderful donation of R5 000.00 received yesterday!! You know who you are - you have a big heart and the kids at the hospital will be better off because of your gesture. THANKS A MIL!

And if that was not enough - Rohan Vos from Rovos Rail confirmed this morning that they will be donating R2 000.00 as well! Thank you Rohan - great to see business people in our community give back in this way.

The planning of future events is getting started now, the elegant Nina Brown, a very successful image consultant based in Stellenbosch, has agreed to do a morning of personal image consulting for ladies who are interested. I just spent a weekend at a women's camp where Nina shared a bungalow with me - imagine this - 8 women sharing a bungalow for an entire weekend! Let me just say, Nina is one of the most elegant women I have ever met and I'm standing first in line to get my look sorted out!!

We have to finalize the date, venue and cost before I can post any details but if you want to secure a place you are welcome to send me a note and I'll put your name on the list.

Nina's home was featured in one of the recent 'Tuis' magazines - will find out the specific date and post it next...

This week I will be chatting to a well known chef to arrange a cooking class somewhere special on a Saturday morning or perhaps in the evening - will keep you posted - once again, I'm putting names on the list if you are interested.

Thanks again everybody!!

Girls supporting the cause...

As you know by now, the Hair Spa day hosted by Wayne and his team was a HUGE success! Thank you so much Wayne, Neville, Nicole and Elsa - your hard work on Monday is appreciated!! We had some dramatic make-overs and the spirit on the day was just wonderful.

We feel good when our hair looks good and if we're supporting a great cause whilst getting all dolled up - well, lets just say the day couldn't get much better!

Again, a great thank you to all who participated - we managed to raise a total of R5250.00 for the hospital!

Melissa and Tristan after their session with Wayne!

Sharon before...

AND

Sharon after!

Wayne doing the hair of my friend/running partner/supporter-of-all-my causes, Gaye...

AND

The elegant (as always) Gaye after!

Another elegant lady, Kaye Sher, looking absolutely stunning!

Nicole with Kaye's daughter Sandi (my bubbly contact person at the Hospital Trust), before....

AND

Sandi after!

Wendy before....

Faye before...

Wendy inbetween.... (always knew you were smoking hot Wends!)

AND

SO ready for the front page of Vogue!

The lovely Kaye from the 'Table 13' club (if you've been following the blog - we met at a booklaunch a couple of weeks ago - the title of the book, very aptly - '29 Gifts'!)

Another one of my 'Table 13' friends, Ann, before...

AND

Ann after, with her husband Mick. Ann and Mick are active Rotarians and have gone out of their way to help raise awareness for the project. A BIG thank you to both of you!

Kanya simply had to turn her head sideways for me - the cut is just perfect!

My longtime friend Erina - before

AND

Erina after! So glad to have caught Erina here, she lives abroad for six months of the year. So amazing to have friends who join in and support - you're a star Erina!

Angel Sue who answered the call to support immediately, before.....

Sue inbetween....

AND finally...

Ready for a night on the town!

Thank's a MILLION for your support Sue - if anyone needs travel arrangements made, Sue's your girl.....

Phew! One event down, hopefully many more to come!

                                                                                   

The first event - a huge success!!

The Hair Spa day at the One and Only was a huge success - loads of fun was had by all and 15 girls treated themselves to great new hairdo's! I will post loads of pictures tomorrow, have to prepare for the Rotary Club talk tonight first....

Thanks to Mick and Ann for inviting me to tell their Rotary Club club all about the project this evening. The nerves are a bit shaky but I'm sure it's going to be ok.

Full report tomorrow!!

THANK YOU WAYNE.COM!!!

Online auction

Our first event is fast approaching - 4 days to go to the Hair Spa day! I am really excited and can't wait to meet everyone and of course post some before and after pictures on the blog! I am overwhelmed by the response we got and hope that future events will be just as well received!!

The next focus is to create an online aution of note. I hope to be able to offer a top quality range of goods and services that we can convert into money for the project. SO - if you have any ideas or would like to offer something that we can include in our auction, I would love to hear from you. I already have a top quality bottle of collectors wine that was donated by my wine-fundi friend, thanks Janet! I also have a few big ones up my sleeves, as soon as they're confirmed I'll be telling you all about that. Don't want to jinx it before it's in the box!

Just figuring out how to make the online auction get the most exposure

The hiking has been put on ice until after the Two Oceans Marathon - legs can only take so much!

Thanks Wernich for joining the project - Audi Centre Cape Town have come on board and have agreed to host their own events in the near future. I am super excited about that - great to have a company give back to the community, another good reason to support them in the future!

Our little gem

How wonderful to see Tristan grow up to be a happy, healty, fun loving little boy! We are truly blessed to have this little child in our lives. Every milestone is a highlight, every new word or new skill brings proud smiles and you'd swear we're the only people in the world with a grandchild!

When I look at how his wounds have healed I become more and more determined to make a success of this fundraising effort - things could have been so different!

Slowly but surely more and more people are offering services and ideas - thanks Ina and Justine, I am really excited about your suggestions. Will tell more once things have been finalised - watch this space!!

As for the Hair Spa day - there are still a number of places available. Even if you don't want to come yourself  (some of my friends - hi Lizanne - would love to come but have really short hair, so not candidates for haircuts right now!), why not tell a friend, or even better yet, sponsor someone special?

Legs are feeling much better today, I think there's hope yet...

One thing leads to another...

A couple of Saturdays ago a friend invited me to come along to a book launch. The book was called '29 Gifts - How 29 days of giving can change your life'. I was about to receive what could possibly turn out to be one of the biggest gifts this project has received up to date!

We joined 6 complete strangers for lunch. By the end of the morning we had set a date for another lunch and the 8 of us had started a brand new friendship - the '13 Club' was born! We've since met for a second time and I can't wait to catch up with everyone at the next book launch!

This is the part that just makes me sit back and smile - one of the couples are active members of the Hout Bay Rotary Club. They heard my Kili story and have invited me to come and talk to the club about the project at one of their weekly meetings. They have just recently sponsored a local lady on a Kilimanjaro climb as well, so they know all about the possibilities of creating projects aound something like this.

SO....on the 16th of March I will be telling the Rotarians about my project and if they are prepared to join me in raising funds for this incredible cause it will be like receiving a lifetime's birthday presents in one go!! The Hospital Trust have kindly offered to join me on the evening and they will be presenting a short summary on the Burns Unit and their needs. Great stuff!

Thanks Reinke, Ann, Mick and Sandi for making this possible!!

As for right now, I am shattered. We hiked up 'Frustrasion Gorge' near Hout Bay today. Saw the most amazing disas, cooled my feet in ice cold mountain water and survived 30+ deg celsius!

Thanks Irene and Stephanie for supporting me all the way -  your help in getting me prepared for the climb in July is invaluable! :)

Going to call it a day for now - that is if these legs can carry me up the stairs....

Updates...

I've been away for a week - watch this space for an update and new pics - lots to tell!! Will update soon...