The end of the 2011 ambassadors

Last night was the Chaeli Campaign ambassadors graduation. As some of you know I was an ambassador in 2010, it was amazing and I really learned a lot. needless to say, I was extremely excited t be able to pass on some of what I learned to the next batch of ambassadors, as one of their mentors.

I as not very consistent to making it to meetings this year, something I am not proud of. I could sit here and give you a million excuses as to why I wasn't there, but he truth is, it wasn't on my top priority list, and I somehow always had something else on, or I just plain forgot.

I have signed myself up to be a mentor again for the 2012 group, I plan to make more of an effort this time.

In other news, Zak was part of this years ambassador group. I was very proud of him, he wrote his own speech with no help! I remember how scary my first graduation was and how odd it was that the mentors weren't worried about their speeches, now I understand, once you do it once you can easily do it again with no problem, well that's just me ;)

Here is me receiving my certificate :)

And the whole group together :)

Zak's project was a quiz night. Jenna and I were also very involved with it as we were doing it for Walk for Wheels together as part of out co-op. It went really well, something we could easily do again :)

Another thing that I am doing this year is my bronze presidents award.

So here's to another good year with the Chaeli Campaign!

~Keren

Modelling

A while ago Tory's mom asked me if i would do some modelling for them. They were involved in a charity event which involved this fashion show. We each got to wear three outfits.

Here we are practicing before the guests arrived.

The first outfits we modelled were sporty outfits.

Mine and Amy's outfits were more girly sporty than the others.

The next outfits were ball gowns.

Kelsey....

....Me....

....Simone....

....me again....

....Nicole....

....Tory....

....Kelsey again....

....Amy.....

....Nicole again....

...(from left) Monique, Nicole, Tory....

....and me again! :)

The next outfits were dresses, these were probably my favorite!

Earlier that morning we had been at the Chaeli Campaign for the Art and Poetry Competition prize giving.

here are mine and Kade's entries, his is the Superman in the wheelchair, it says in the background 'Super Chair For Any Hero'. And you know which is mine :)

And here is Zak with his entry, the one with the brain :)

I ended up getting a commendation, as did Tammy (for photography), and Kade won!

All in all, a productive day :)

Update

OK, this post is going to be a bit all over the place! just wanted to get you updated on what I'm doing :)

Last night I made an Ina Paarman's chocolate cake mix, it was delicious!

On Friday we were going to drama, but were a bit early, so we stooped at Constantia Uitsig to take some photos of the beautiful Autumn vines!

On Tuesday I spent my morning baking, as I had to take tea to Looking Glass. So Mom said I should make some bread and muffins too while the oven was on.

Here is the recipe for the brownies:

• 150 g margarine
• 200 g (1 cup) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 5 ml vanilla essence
• 30 g (62 ml) cake flour
• 50 g (125 ml) cocoa powder
• 2ml baking powder
• 50-100 g pecan nuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180. Melt the margarine in the microwave, set aside. In a separate bowl beat the sugar, eggs and essence until very pale and thick. Beat margarine into egg mixture. Sift together flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and fold into mixture with pecans. Pour into a greased baking tray and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Now for the Jewish plaited bread:

• 4 cups of flour
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg
• warm water (about one and a bit cups)

Mix all ingredients together. Knead dough until it is well mixed and a pliable dough has been formed. Place bowl in a warm, sunny spot with a tea towel over it and let it rise for two hours, or until double in size. Once risen divide the dough into 3 equal parts, roll into longish fingers, squish the 3 ends together and plait the bread, the squish together at the other end too. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 until browned on the top.

The muffins were from a packet. Enjoy!

A while ago we went on an outing to Soil For Life, here are some pictures...

It was really fun!

Soil For Life is just up the road from Lane Stables. We got to meet some of the horses there, aren't they beautiful?

I am finally done Kade's mobile!

For art we did shadow puppets, Dad helped me make mine, they looked great, thanks Dad!

The cat has found a new place to sun herself now that the sun's rays aren't so harsh, how cute is this????

A few weeks ago it was Monica's birthday, I made her this......

The colours sadly didn't show up so well on the photo.

Mom has been knitting away, preparing for winter...

...She made me some leg warmers...

....fluffy fingerless gloves.......

....and, my favorite, a snood! Thanks Mom, love you!

Here is a pic of Zak's entry into the Chaeli Campaign Art and Poetry Competition! Isn't it great?

We have made a new family tradition, Dad and Josh cook once a month, shopping, cooking, and cleaning up, a meal of their choice. Me and Zak don't get involved since we often help Mom in the kitchen.

For dessert Dad made a lemon cheesecake with a pecan nut praline and biscuit base, delicious! When we asked how he made the base, he replied, with lots of love and patience!

And for the main meal he made paella, it was this first time I had ever tasted it, and I must say, it was amazing!!!!!!

So that's what I've been up to!

~Keren

My painting, The Freedom of the Dance

For this year's Chaeli Campaign Art and Poetry competition, I decided to do an oil painting. Last Sunday I went to my Grandpa, sort of knowing what I wanted to do, by the end of the day I had changed my mind! I didn't start the actual painting on that day, but I did everything I had to do to prepare. During the week, while my Mom was reading to us, I started the actual painting.

I just thought I would show this really cool art bag I got a while ago, it has loads of compartments, and is really useful!

Here I am still in the beginning stages......

It still had some touching up to do at this point (note my top, I was clean when I started!) I really enjoy using my hands while painting, it's a bad habit. :)

The Freedom of the Dance

TA-DAAA! Here is the finished painting! I was really grateful for the advice from my family and friends who popped in during the day. At one point my Mom stood behind me and started crying, I hope that means it's good!!!

Drop a comment and tell me what you think!

Keren <3

Today

Today was a really cool day! Before I can say what I did i have to explain. Sensei Dirk told us on Monday at Karate that it was our last chance to register for the fighting competition, so of course I entered. Then the other day my Dad called somebody to check it we (Josh and I) are actually entered, we were told yes of course! Then later that day we get a sms to be told that I wasn't actually entered! So then I decided to go with to the competition and Dad was going to see if he could get me entered, he did it of course. So then they said line up, and I wasn't even in a gi!!! So I ran into the bathroom, ripped of my clothes, got dressed and ran out again, leaving my stuff in the bathroom! So as usual I waited the whole day to go on and ended up only fighting Ashton and losing, anyway I learned new things and will be better next time! I don't regret losing for some reason, I'm fine with it. So that was my morning.

Then this afternoon Zak and I went to the Chaeli Cottage, him to me an ambassador, and me to be a mentor! I'm very excited o be a mentor this year, we will each be assigned a few ambassadors who we have to mentor, it's going to be loads of fun!

Tonight I'm going to watch Fame at BHS with my mom, I'm so excited, we have front row seats! We are going because my friend Nicole has a part in it, I can't wait!

~Keren

Car Rally

I think it's about time I posted about our car rally!!! For those of you who don't know about mine and Josh's event, it was a car rally that started at Meadowridge Park and Shop and ended at Kirstenhof Wetland. The reason we did this event, is because we are ambassadors for the Chaeli Campaign, and part of our year of ambassadorship, we have to have our own fundraising event for the non-profit organization of our choice. After much changing of minds, and losing an organizer, we decided we would do a car rally, and benefit the Pink Ladies.

The Pink Ladies are a group of volunteers who partner with the SAPS to look for missing and abducted children as well a providing emotional support for the families of the children. I found out about them by looking in the People's post or Bulletin (I can't remember which one), there was an article about them saying what they do and who they are. All of the members remain anonymous for their own safety. So even before we knew what we were defiantly going to do for our event, we knew the Pink Ladies would receive the proceeds.

Now, back to the rally, we spent so much time on the planning of the route and thinking up questions! The teams had to answer cryptic questions along a route that we mapped with the help of my mom's friend, Tanya. Tanya was such a blessing throughout this entire event planning! She has done car rallies before, so she knows what to do an who to talk to. It was fun, but difficult! When we were getting prizes, Tanya went with us the first day, and did all of the talking, but the next two days dad drove us around and only went into the first few shops with us, then we were on our own! I preferred going on our own, and we got way more vouchers and prizes by ourselves! It was a lot of hard work, but I think it defiantly paid off in the end!

We got to the Park and Shop at about one, and the rally started at 1:30. We set up the banners and the table, not long after that people started arriving. Zelda, Chaeli, and Justine from the Chaeli Campaign got there early, but could sadly not take part, since they had to be somewhere else.

The most exciting part was that Gran Dessie (founder of the Pink Ladies), could come and see us in the beginning. It was amazing to talk to her, she is just so, like, WOW! She was saying something about Josh and I staring our own Section 21 company! How exciting is that??!! Sadly, she also had to be somewhere, and could not do the rally.

Here are almost all the teams (some were late) just before they took off!

A few of the questions were at the Park and Shop, here are Brady and his Mom finding answers!

Here are Team ZU and The Whyte Knights answering questions about Meadowridge Common.

Team Tory, a very emotional picture!!!

Also at Meadowridge Common.

Team Delicious Lee (or Vicious Lee), at Meadowridge Football Club.

Tory at Meadowridge Common.

Paul of the Whyte Knights, and Tory of Team Tory, cheating and giving each other answers!

Dad taking a photo of Tanya, who was taking a photo of him taking a photo of her, confused?

Team Rogers and Team Stoltz, also cheating!

The answer to this one is Constantia Uitsig, Chardonnay Reserve 1997, Double Gold in 1998!

This is team Solartech at Constantia Uitsig, they were the coolest team in the rally!!!

Mom and Tanya tasting an answer at Constantia Uitsig.

"Speaking in pink..."

Michaela and Mom (the members of Team ZU) collecting a vine leaf!

Team Solartech were in it to win it!

Team Tory finding out how many baboons are on the sign (with help from me and Josh).

The rally was a huge success and everyone went home with a great prize! We were asked if this would become a yearly event, hmmm..... we'll see!

All in all, we all had a great time! And I'm so thankful that the Chaeli Campaign could give me this opportunity! I also want to say thank you to my Mom, who put up with us living in the dining room, and babysitting Tanya's kids, and cooking for four extra people on most nights. Also, I want to give a big thanks to Tanya, and her family as well as the rest of mine! They were all amazing!