The Bucket Babe: Danicka Riehl

Greetings great readers of the Bucket, as always we strive to find the best beauties our land has to offer and this week we have one of note! She was a finalist in the Miss SA 2010 competition and has a rather impressive CV even though she is just 19 years of age. The beauty hails from Pretoria and is currently studying BSC Biological Sciences at the University of Pretoria. At such a young age and having achieved so much already we can only see her future being very more promising for her hence its a privilege featuring her today.  Without further adieu, here is Danicka!

I participated in many sports and cultural events on a regional and national level throughout High school. I had the honour of being the Head girl at Maragon Private school in 2009 and went on to participate in Miss South Africa in 2010.

I'm currently finishing up with my Business Management certification at Varsity College
, the bursary I received for becoming a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant in 2010. I'm also registered doing a BSc Biological Sciences at the University of Pretoria and I hope to narrow my field next year into medical research or genetics. 

I'm an equestrian enthusiast training my young thoroughbred horse in show jumping 3-5 days a week depending on my work and study schedule. to stay fit I enjoy dancing and gym classes. I participated in the Pole unity showcase earlier this year at the Barnyard theater where we supported 'Dancing for a Cure', an initiative to raise money for cervical cancer inoculations for young ladies. Swimming during the summer and living a healthy, outdoors lifestyle are high up on my list of priorities from September through April. 

I'm a model with Ice Model Management in Johannesburg since 2008 participating in Fashion Week and various other shoots and shows from the age of 16. 

I will be spending a month traveling in Europe from September 25th

 

2 Girls 1 Car

Note: This supposed to be a blog post but it turned into a diary of events that day. I blame my over active mind for it.

DJ Mixi & Stephanie Be with "Turbo Ted"

On Monday, the 15th of August 2011 I had the extreme pleasure in entertaining 2 of Cape Town's finest radio DJ's @StephanieBe and @DJMixi both of Goodhope FM. They were given an Opel Astra 1.4 turbo which they named "Turbo Ted" to test drive in a roadtrip around the country, dubbed the #REEDSroadtrip. When I first heard of this expedition of theirs I was quite anxious to meet them seeing that I've known Stephanie for a while via social media so I lept at the opportunity to be their host while in Durban. As Murphy would have it, the weekend they arrive I get struck down with flu and the weather turned a new type of ugly. For a city that boasts the best winter weather around, Durban really did its most to prove otherwise that day. Never the less, come rain or hail they drove all that way for a purpose and I wasn't prepared to let Durban down...okay that sounds a bit dramatic but I did the best I could.

Protea Hotel Edward

The guests spent their night at the Protea Hotel Edward on Durban's main beachfront. One of Durban's leading 4* hotels it boasts over 100 rooms with a roof top pool deck and over looks the warm Indian Ocean. Its been through a number of renovations to keep up to its high standards over the years so guests can expect nothing but the best from it and judging from the ravings of the two girls, the breakfast buffet is a must!

As summoned, 10am I was waiting for them in the hotel foyer. As a local you want to give visitors the very best impression of what your city has to offer. Especially since they were from South Africa's number 1 tourist destination, it was a hard act for Durban to follow but in our own unique way I feel the city does have the charm to pull it off. First order was to get some coffee but while we were on the beachfront I opted to take them for a drive to the Point Waterfront which is currently underdevelopment and if the Small Craft Harbour is completed, it could rival waterfronts across the world let alone the Victoria and Alfred. Once the short but sweet drive around was done, it was off to Florida Road in Morningside for a caffeine injection at the Vida E Cafe. On a good day Florida Road attracts a good number of people, whether its the restaurants or maybe to one of the parks for a walk, there always is a buzz to the road.

"Soo shoping in Gateway"

Upon having our drinks, we discussed the possible destinations on that rain riddled day, one of which was Gateway Theatre of shopping. Once they heard it was the biggest shopping center in the Southern Hemisphere, nothing more was needed to be said. Drinks were downed, phones packed away, off to the car and the next destination was Umhlanga. Being in the construction industry myself I love Gateway, the design is simple and while it might have its slight flaws, its main aim is achieved by having a hassle free setup. The parking is all conveniently located behind the entire mall length, the major supermarket retailers are situated in a separate level from your other boutique shops so if its just groceries you need, you don't have to venture through the entire center and the walkways are huge to accommodate high volume of shoppers. Errr I seemed to have drifted away from the topic here, back to the girls, they loved the place and let me make this official, for the first time in my life, I have taken a woman, be it more than one to Gateway, and we saw half the place in less than 20 minutes, that's 90 000 square meters! Of course my luck had to strike out soon as they found a shoe shop, or as they liked to call it, a "Soo shop" but I didn't mind, gave me a breather from the walking. The thing with shopping centers, you see one you see them all but luckily there are attractions that set Gateway apart from others, like the indoor fountain, to the largest indoor climbing rock, not forgetting the Wavehouse which has the longest free standing wave in the world as well as the Tony Hawk designed skate park ....but it was the kiddies rides that stole the attention of the two beauties, for reasons I cant state on the blog.... Moving on, we paid a visit to our favourite monkeys at Gorilla Creative Media offices which is situated in the Wavehouse, where we went to investigate what really goes on there. I was disappointed at the lack of banana's but there was plenty of Axe and Red Bull to go around! After saying about our good byes, we realised the sun decided to pitch up, it was time to chase it as it was making its way to the city.

Spice Emporium - via kishyr.ramdial.co.za

Now a trip to Durban wouldn't be complete if it didn't involve spice somewhere in it, due to my mind being clogged up I didn't think of it at the time but luckily MixiSpice Emporium. Importers of quality spice and everything Indian it was the best one stop shop you can find. Sweetmeats, poppadoms, curry mixes and samoosa's were the order of the day for our intrepid ladies who had a ball in there with the various scents, sights and eats.

The girls going through Moyo's cocktail list

All that shopping makes one tired, well sort off so we headed to the Moyo Pier bar to chill out on the top deck while injecting our blood stream with yet more caffeine The Moyo Pier bar that's located at the end of the uShaka Pier at uShaka beach is a must for any visitor. It offers unrivaled views of Durban's harbour entrance and the golden mile. They serve a variety of drinks, cocktails and beverages to cater for ones taste as well as a generous food menu to satisfy the light eater as the bigger meals are served in the main restaurant located on the main land inside uShaka. The weather decided to turn foul again while we were enjoying the view, running in the rain to the car was quite entertaining as we encountered a river of water at the entrance to the parking lot but that obstacle was soon crossed and got the visitors peckish.

The Roti

Now I've never driven around with 2 radio DJ's in my life, then again most of you reading this post hadn't as well so it must be said, there isn't a need for the radio to be on as they're pretty entertaining them self as their voices are ones that you'd be accustomed to hearing coming from the speakers but its even better live! So the trip from the Point to the our next destination was filled with random singing, talking and voice over intros for their shows on Goodhope FM. All good fun though!The choice for our late lunch was suggested by a friend of the girls on twitter. House of curries chips, cheese and gravy roti. Its the famous food of choice for the late night reveller, made famous by the original Johnnies Chip and Ranch of Sparks Road, Overport. Not only does it taste good but its fairly priced and huge! The 3 of us split one and it still managed to fill us. The girls were daring and since it was Mixi's first visit to Durban they decided to order some Bunny Chow's...now now, I know I said "chows" but these weren't the normal sized ones but miniature Bunnies, about 2 bites size. Its probably the most famous culinary item that Durban can be famous for, isn't that hard to make and tastes oh so good!

@iAvish_Karr in deep thought

The day, although full of activity was not over for that evening a good ol Durban tweetup was arranged in honor of our visitors from the Cape. The venue of choice was Livingstons Gastro Pub in Glen Ashley. The evenings weather wasn't much to speak of either so the turn out wasn't as impressive as expected but Durban's key tweeters were there to have a good time over a drink or "chucken pot paah". Present were @askashe, @ShansDBN, @waewest, @lizlaughalot, @madammichelle, @coaxel, @NevinSP, @iAvish_Karr, @shaunie2fly and of course myself. The evening which was full of laughs and fun ended earlier than normal since the girls had to make the drive up to Joburg the next day and as Nevin pointed out quite often during the evening that it was a Monday. That brought an end to a very interesting yet thoroughly enjoyable day. Now there have been rumors doing the rounds that I am Durban's unofficial tour guide, that isn't true. I'm not for hire, I'll only do it if you're cute ;)

The Bucket Babe: Ameena Khan

Having skipped a week, we understand that many of you might have been a bit worried that the segment was discontinued. Never fear as we're back! This weeks stunner that has been scouted hails from the shores of KZN but is currently residing in Cape Town, as most beauties do. Must be something to do with that damn mountain! Shes a model, actress, entrepreneur and a social media addict, shes part of a trio of sisters that could rival the Kardashian's in terms of style, beauty and they definitely have more brains than them. Enough chit chat, here is Ameena!

 Who am I?
Hmmm, where do I start?! I am Ameena Khan, better known as "Bollywood Barbie" in Mnet's reality show Rivals In Romance. A twitter-holic & facebook-freak! An aspiring model and actress with a passion for fashion & a serious make-up addiction! I've featured in the Bollywood movie Crook, alongside Emraan Hashmi! And recently signed to Alushi Model Management & Twenty Management.

My Goals (in no particular order):
•Start a clothing line with my sisters
•To be The Face of »insert cosmetics brand name«
•Learn Hindi & conquer Bollywood
•I would love to give soapies a try, I can see myself on Isidingo playing a really bad girl.  •Learn to drive!!! Haha
•I also have started my own jewelry line.

People who Inspire me:
•Walking-talking self-made enterprize, Kim Kardashian is my biggest inspiration!
•My sisters are my best friends, my biggest supporters & I would never have gotten this far without their encouragement! We fight like crazy (we ought to have our own reality show) but I love them most!

My favourite quote:
I believe in manicures.
I believe in overdressing.
I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick.
I believe in pink.
I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.
I believe in kissing; kissing a lot.
I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.
I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls.
I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles.
~Audrey Hepburn

The Italian Problem

The 2011/12 English Premiership season is almost upon us and barring any natural disasters or chav induced riots it should get under way this weekend. As always the summer transfer window has been an entertaining one and with our new owners it was good to see money being made available for the manager to purchase recruits that the he needed to improve the squad. Yes some may argue that the prices paid for certain players is rather much but when one has to see how the market has gone with clubs that are owned by the super rich making absurd bids for players and add that to the new FA rules, they are justified in a way.

Lots of teams have had a good preseason, Liverpool's hasn't been one that would have raised eye brows but 2 losses isn't so bad. Kenny spent most of the time playing around with formations and players, mixing youngsters in with the experienced guys, hoping to find some sort of magic between them. For most of the time, I couldn't see much happening but not to say we don't have some quality players coming into the squad. Lad's such as Kelly, Robinson, Spearing & Shelvy continued to show their quality and the new boys Henderson, Adam & Downing put their hands up as well. One player in particular caught my eye, we hardly see much of him so to me he is still like a new player even thought we've owned him for little over a season and a half now. Who am I talking about?

Alberto Aquilani, that's who. At the beginning of the preseason Kenny never did give him much game time, sending him out with 15 odd minutes left in the games to get some practice was all he was given. In true style he didn't just go out there to have a run around but had a proper go, showing his talents of what he is renowned for. Expert crossing, passing and surging into the oppositions box when ever possible. After every game he was the one substitute that stood out from the rest and made the biggest impact for the team. After the games many criticised Kenny for not praising the player, one can take that approach or look it from his point of view. Its a team game, you praise the team, not the individual and especially in preseason, you don't want other players heads to go down. You want to sing equal praises for them all, in order to build up the teams moral in preparation for the new season but Alberto was quite something it must be said.

When the tour of Asia ended, he was used more in the games against Hull, Galatasaray and made another super sub performance against Valerenga with 2 long range efforts resulting in corners for us and him subsequently taking them and on both occasions Daniel Agger scoring for us. He made another memorable performance against Valencia, a game in which he started for us and we ended up winning with a clean sheet. Now you must be wondering why the post for Aquilani? Well it is sadly quite evident he isn't wanted by the coaching staff, yes they might say they wont want to sell him but the writing is pretty evident that he will be sold, if not now perhaps in the winter transfer window. Now we always will have different opinions on players compared to the managers but bottom line we have to understand that they also wants whats best for the club and if they feel a certain player doesn't meet their requirements to their future plans, who are we to tell them what to do? After all they are the ones getting paid to do this, all we do is watch and cheer from the side.

Ultimately whether Alberto is sold/ sent on loan or if he does stay for the start of the season, I think he is a quality player and wish him well on what ever the case is but in saying that I am also a Liverpool supporter through and through and will respect any decision made by the manager and club. Like they say, there is no such thing as a player being bigger than the club.

Durban July 2011

Born and raised in the City that hosts undoubtedly the most glamorous social event of the year, The Vodacom Durban July, its hard for me to explain to you why I haven't been to one before. This year come rain or hail I was determined to go! So there I was at 8am standing in the bitterly cold Durban winters morning (about 11 degree's Celsius) outside the Greyville ticketing office, waiting to purchase my entry ticket as I was told the queues get ridiculously long after 10am. To my surprise, there were quite a bit of people there too, many of whom were staff at the various tents but some were there to purely just soak in the vibe from the morning.

R170 gets you this ticket

This years theme was "a Royal affair", seeing that we had 2 royal weddings in one year, it seemed fitting. Not being one for fashion myself I thought about going with a suit and crown but that idea got scrapped seeing I looked kinda stupid in it.

Greyville

The weather on the day was superb, glorious sunshine and clear blue skies. A perfect Durban winters day and with most people present at the event being from the northern parts of the country, it wasn't even winter weather for them! Once I entered the course, the sheer scale of the event hit me and as I walked around, I found me questioning myself  "why the hell haven't I gone to one before?" Not a long while later I bumped into a friend of mine @CassimJogee and we made our way into the madness that is "Tent City".

Tent City

The outfits, the people, the fashion, you don't know which way to look! Such an amazing buzz all around the place that I even didnt care about the actual horse racing! Some of the tents were unbelievable. From full glass double storey, fully airconditioned ones, to the huge out door marquee set up by 5fm and Miller, all trying to out do one another. Vodacom, Peroni, Joburg, MetroFM, Sibaya, MTV, to the private ones such as Palm Grove and Florida Keys. All the tents were abuzz and if you didnt have an entry ticket, dont sweat as most of them had counters outside to purchase entry but they all didnt come cheap. eg, MTV's "Pimp my crown" tent was R1200 for general access... Im sure they gave you loads of goodies inside but yeah, bit much if you ask me.

MTV Pimp my Crown tent

Walking around the place was cool, my legs weren't enjoying it but there was so much to see, its impossible to just sit in one place ...unless you got a bottle of something and friends. While the horse races went on, so did other events in various tents, with local artists performing, to the 2nd biggest attraction to the day which was the fashion show which happens adjacent to the massive scored board. This year saw a host of local designers slug it out against one another to see who can impress the judges the most. I only managed to stay till the semi finals as the contest does tend to drag on.

fashion show

As the day went on, the more better things got, bumping into people you know. Mingling with total strangers as we were all there just to have a good time. A couple of friends of mine even made the trip down from Joburg. After meeting them we made our way to the finish line just in time for the main race. Race number 7. The clear favourite was horse number 9, Igugu. Earlier on that day, me not being your average Indian, I know nothing about betting so I had my friend email me tips and what I should do, just so I can act like I do know whats going on. So there I was trying to explain to the trainee teller at the tote on what I want to bet, eventually with all the noise I just handed her the paper and paid. The entire racecourse waited in anticipation for the gates to open as the horses galloped round the track, eating up the yards faster than people put down shooters at the tents. Igugu managed to get into the lead but it was not clear cut until the final bend. As the track straightened out, she managed to get a good advantage over the others and strided home in first place.

Igugu comes through!

Like I said she was an out right favourite so the bookie's odds were pretty low, dubbed the "Princess of the turf" we saw why she is held in such high regard in the racing fraternity. Partially own by Sheikh Al Maktoum of Dubai, I'm sure he would have been proud of her result, the money must mean nothing to him.

Liesl and Me

 After that, the party began! roaming around the track and stands we even tried getting into the much hyped about Pegasus lounge. Alas we were denied entry so made our way back to track side where one of my friends realised that one of the track side picnic area's was rented out to his relatives. Dinner was sorted, just in time for the 13th race.... Moving on, the night had another surprise for me as I bumped into the social whore herself! @Liesldb aka Raven from www.mycitybynight.com, she and @Chilternburt made their way down from Jhb for the event. A few caramel vodka shots with them was a perfect way to get the evening of partying under way, as after that we made our way to the official after party thats hosted by 5fm at the DLI Hall. Each year the party gets bigger and better with this year included. Rodger Goode, FeU, Spindocter were just some of the DJ's that were tearing up the dance floor with epic beats that revellers danced the night away in.

DLI Hall after party

To end off, it was a brilliant day and really a must do event for any South African. Regardless if you have the cash to splurge, or not the avid horse racing fan. The vibe of it all simply cannot be explained but only experienced. Plus, who doesn't like a good party?