Journal || a record of news and events of a personal nature

It’s quite something to come face to face with the deepest longings within yourself. The acceptance is colossal. Standing still for them to envelop you and wear them like a cloak as you… Read more: READY BUT TREMBLING

Welcome to your forties. Where a flesh eating bacteria can kill you, chivalry is dead but polyamory isn’t and nesting without anyone in it, is a thing. The past few weeks have been… Read more: Learning…and then some

I think I’m finally living. Sitting on a bench in my garden, looking at the afternoon light flop into the kitchen like an old familiar friend. Every day at the same time, like… Read more: THE WAY OF LIFE

What can I say? Do you know how many times a week I sit down to write only to admit to myself that I might not have anything worthwhile to say. I’m one… Read more: LOVE IS AN ILLUSION

I can go on and on about what I do for a living. How intricately entwined everything I do in the workshop is with the matters of the heart. I, personally am convinced… Read more: H A N D MADE

I lost a lot of friends today. Maybe they weren’t friends in the first place but clowns, parading through my life with masks of good intent. It still hurts when the clown laughs… Read more: FRIEND OR FOE

I have felt absent from the world of late. Been on cruise control for a while. I used to want to make a difference.  Be a voice for those that couldn’t speak for themselves. … Read more: CRUISE CONTROL

We can mourn the things that happened to us but have you ever mourned the things that didn’t? Some things were just not meant for everyone. Over the past few months I’ve been… Read more: UNASSISTED SOLOING

My very first studio was named Sunshine and Dandelions. After following the summer between England and South Africa for three years in a row, I woke one morning with a knowing that it… Read more: DEATH AND DANDELIONS

The spirit of adventure has been knocking on my door again of late. For the longest time she has been absent and I have missed her. She’s been coaxing me out of bed… Read more: {Ele}mental

I had a long and rather intense story lined up for today. But sometimes the seriousness and intensity can wait, be put aside, put down, not focused on to make space for the… Read more: AN ODE TO SAFE SPACES

I’m sitting in the sun. Glorious. I don’t remember the last time I sat in the sun for no reason at all. I work hard at life ten out of ten times of… Read more: ok

I’ve settled back into the slow and simple existence that is my curated life here at the foot of the Cape Point mountains. Maybe the places we find ourselves in unplanned and unexpectedly… Read more: LIFE LATELY

I feel lost when I can’t create. As if unshackled from an anchor and I am adrift at sea or about to float into the air without compass or direction. I get easily… Read more: All I want is ART

You know how some adventures go down, not according to plan and you get home understanding that you’ll have to go back to that place some day and finish what you started? Well,… Read more: The Tankwa Tango

Sherbert. That’s usually all I can get out when the world, life and all things surrounding me seem a bit much. It’s been a bit of a sherberty few weeks really. I just… Read more: STORY TIME

Long runs are brutal and I’m a rookie at it. It’s not entirely true. I hate that ones life is often the sum of what people can see. We are so much more… Read more: Acceptance

It’s the day before my birthday. The world has been all sorts of crazy of late and yet my life has simplified ten fold and I am in what feels like the smoothest… Read more: Life at forty

Today was a great day. Each day a privilege, of course. But today was one of those days that just stood out. When I opened the studio in August, the transition from a… Read more: Everyday reminders

Over the years I have come to know my mind as a sneaky character, not always so willing to make the best decisions for my future self. Before I know it, I’m hurtling… Read more: Braving the changes

New year, same me only with a few more softened edges. Quick recap… Quit a four year salary paying job. Went into 2023 as a full time creative. Made use of my freedom… Read more: Another year

I’ve had some really big emotions of late. Emotions that even me at almost forty am struggling to navigate through. I wonder what it looks like to be great at channeling emotions and… Read more: Endings and beginnings

Let’s get down to business. By this time of the commission I feel a little like the Bushman that have been trekking an Eland for days. The final strategy is in place, it’s… Read more: From start to finish – Part three

This week brought all sorts of wild ups and downs – business and personal. Since opening the shop the ebb and flow of panic and trust has left me exhausted most evenings. Just… Read more: From start to finish – Part two

Every week I promise myself that I’ll write the next Monday write up sooner rather than later. But every Monday I sit at my desk and only start writing after a day of… Read more: From start to finish – Part one

I had every intention of unpacking the jewellery making process and explaining the behind the scenes, the how to get from point A to B. Then I got in my car and geographically… Read more: REROUTE

Good morning! Why is it a good morning you might ask? Well, the night that brought horizontal rains (at times the rain even rained up back to where it came from) and wind… Read more: Finally! A post about what I actually do for a living

I go through stages where I feel I have a lot of worthwhile things to say and at other times I wonder if it’s even worth raising my voice. I’ve been wanting to… Read more: Trust and resilience and a sprinkle of intuition

Stefni Studio is officially up and running outside of home premises. The past two weeks were spent setting up shop and manufacturing space and it has been quite a push to get things… Read more: Sunday on a Monday

It’s Monday evening and I’m staring at a blank screen. Actually been staring at the screen for a few days now. I had every intention of letting the words fall out of me… Read more: CHANGE – a choice and a challenge

I don’t believe that when we do things we have done before it necessarily means that it’s going to be the same. Each previous experience came with a certain set of circumstances, just… Read more: HERE WE GO AGAIN

Over the years I have been witness to a lot of love stories. Mainly because I’m a jeweller and part of what I do is making sure the guy has a ring to… Read more: WALL FLOWER

I found my sea legs here, at this break, at the tender age of twelve. Since then I have been to Indonesia a few times, my first trip at only sixteen; I have… Read more: ON THE ROAD AGAIN – chasing the dreamscape

It’s been a tough few months of winter in the Cape. Work has been great but it has kept me home and somewhat stationary. Although grateful for work in the quiet of the… Read more: ROAM, MOVE, SHIFT

I’m reading a book about running. I am increasing my running days per week. It’s the only discipline that keeps the weight off me and keeps my muscles lean, long and lanky. It… Read more: WHY DO YOU RUN?

There are ways to spend your life and then there are ways to spend your life. Usually it simply comes down to consciously and consistently choosing what is good for yourself. The world… Read more: WEEKEND THINGS – Deep South cruising…

The Garden Route still holds secrets we have long forgotten about. Nature still has the upper hand here and once you’re off the N2 (that nearly stretches straight through the middle of the… Read more: GARDEN ROUTE ENIGMAS

The way the light falls at different times of the day changes the atmosphere in studio. Some mornings start by desk lamp, depositing its singular light beam on the bench. Warm, focused, exposing… Read more: A SACRED ENTANGLEMENT

I’ve been home, sick, for the past few days.  Actually been nursing the ebb and flow of a sore throat for a week now.  Mornings and evenings and all those moments in between… Read more: LET THE RAIN IN

“Trauma can occur when we experience things that happen too much, too fast, too soon or too little for too long for our nervous systems to handle” – Tim Morrison. This trip was… Read more: THE LONG ROAD NOWHERE

Six am wake up call. I’m off to the mountains today, been getting some climbing in, setting some goals.  I’m not ready though. Consciously or subconsciously.  I pull the covers over my head,… Read more: CHECKING IN WITH REALITY

My alarm goes off at five. I’ve been longing for a mission. Craving actually. A deep calling within, luring me to any and all wilderness spaces. An unquenchable thirst for nature and her… Read more: AN ODE TO DAWN AND DISCOVERY