Weekends in Jozi

When we think of a beautiful part of South Africa, we always automatically jump to Cape Town.
Wine Routes, green mountainside scenery and blue, sparkling seas are part & parcel of what makes the Cape a very popular holiday spot.

Unfortunately we don’t all have a 2nd holiday home to stay in and the cost of flights and accommodation becomes a bit pricey if we wanted a regular break away.

Johannesburg is very under-estimated by many. Not only is it an exciting, cosmopolitan city, but it also has its’ fair share of beautiful spots and fun activities to enjoy.

Tiago and I have made it our mission to have a picnic (or at least a drink and a snack) in as many parks as we can in Johannesburg.

I am also enjoying the variety of events that take place in Jhb.

With all the pressures of careers and all these responsibilities we have as adults, it becomes very easy to fall into an unhealthy routine and before we know it, our spare time is filled with television and a couch (not that this is a bad thing… Just not all the time)

If you find yourself nodding along to this statement – then I challenge you to get out of your comfort zone and discover a beautiful picnic spot of your own.
It is a beautiful time of the year now – get out there and soak up some sunshine and happy vibes… Don’t forget the sunblock!

Ps: I’ll be making a concerted effort to blog again. I miss it and I really need to take control of my life again. I’m committing myself to once a week. Pop by every Tuesday and give me some encouragement ok?

Childbirth the Google Way

A few hours before- Trust me to take a selfie

It was a quiet Friday afternoon at the office & I was preparing for a meeting.

Jenna walks into my office and says, “I think my water just broke”
Never having a child before, I asked her a few questions (Got to love Google) & confirmed the diagnosis: She was in labour.

Off we go to the hospital… how ironic that the 1 friend who doesn’t like kids is the driving her to the hospital!

I am very calm in most situations – so while waiting to see the doc I happily read to her about everything she could expect to happen in the ensuing hours.
The receptionist insisted that J was not in labour – I disagreed and spent the next hour helping Jen with the aid of Google.
When the doc finally saw her, he confirmed she was in labour and off we went to admissions.

Hospital staff and Post Office staff seem to have a running competition to see who can assist you in the slowest manner possible.

Eventually Jenna was settled into her bed & the fun part started. Contractions, closer and closer….

I told her about a sentence I had recently read in a book – Giving birth is like the petals of a flower gently opening to allow the baby out. (Clearly written by a man not experiencing the uterus-splitting pain)
It made her laugh when things got really sore though.

There isn’t much you can do when a contraction strikes, but after 3.5 hours experience, I can suggest the following:
Have a towel handy for her to sit on while waiting to be admitted – when water breaks… it isn’t a once off thing, it keeps coming every now and then.
Bring an energy drink for her to sip between contractions, she needs every bit of energy she has. (& maybe even a snack if she feels like eating)
Have something soft like a stress ball that she can grab or squeeze when the pain gets bad.
Have a soft cloth or towel to wet with cool water for her forehead or back of her neck.
Childbirth isn’t very glamorous at all – perhaps schools should let young girls spend the afternoon amongst the women writhing in pain for hours – it might help put them off & make them go out and immediately buy contraception!

6 hours or so later, little Levi popped out & it was over.

Regardless of her sleepless nights, she is still looking great – motherhood agrees with her.
Now the hard part starts…
Raising a little person to be a good & kind person. To enjoy all that life has to offer and not be affected by the bad things in the world.

I drove home and thought about my mom and her 23 hours of labour and loved her even more just for going through all that to bring me into this world…

Mothers (the good ones) truly are special blessings on this earth.

{Bookless Club} Breakfast at Tiffany’s

All smiles

Breakfast at ?

I don’t entertain nearly enough as what I should.

I debated for hours over the perfect table and chairs and now I never seem to be home in order to entertain!

Luckily with Bookless Club taking place every 6 weeks, I know I will entertain on every 3rd rotation.

The girls go all out with themes (it used to be simple things like “Feather Boas”or “Comfortable Shoes”) and they have been inadvertently been challenging me to Up My Game.

The purpose of having a theme is to get us to think creatively and use what we have without buying costumes or props if we can help it.
So far, we have all managed to do a really good job!

This is a theme I have wanted to do for a while and as per usual, I remembered on a Friday afternoon and scrambled to prepare (what can I say – I work well under pressure)

The theme for this event was Breakfast at Tiffany’s

I had ordered cupcakes to be baked especially for the event from The Cupcake Boutique. Usually delicious, I was let down by the taste.

At least they looked pretty!

Special Order

I printed some cute props to use for photos and used a kebab stick as a handle.

Surprisingly, the girls didn’t complain too much for photos! Our biggest challenge was remembering to smile behind the glasses!

Faking it

All smiles

Once again my grandmother’s possessions came in very handy, I wish she were around to see how many times I use he stuff for events & decor. (Pearls in the foreground and a diamante bracelet I was wearing)

Table Decor

It’s a gorgeous day for some Champagne & OJ

 

Tips and Tricks:

1. Never throw items away that could be used to decorate a table. Something small like a feather boa can take your table from ordinary to extra-ordinary.
2. Linen napkins immediately improve the classiness of an event- Mr Price Home have a beautiful and very affordable range
3. Using easy printable and a bit of tape and imagination will save you a lot of money.

It’s Prestige Time!

Years ago I mentioned to my friends that Ster Kinekor or Nu Metro (cinemas) should install 2 rows of reclining chairs at the back of the cinema house and charge a premium for it.
I would pay extra for some added comfort in a movie house!

As with all my other brilliant ideas, I spoke about it and promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward to 2014 and Ster Kinekor now have the Cine Prestige. (I should have given them the idea and claimed free movies for a lifetime)

Tickets are quite pricey, but it is worth trying the experience at least once.

Your waiting area is a chic bar and comfortable couches and tub chairs.
The menu choices consist of delicious choices like Red Velvet cake, Meat and snack platters, Nachos and an assortment of drinks – all served on actual crockery.
Your order is taken at your couch and captured by friendly staff using an iPad and then delivered to your chair inside the cinema (your little side table even has a light).

I was intrigued by the walkway into the cinema, it felt like I was boarding a spaceship. I love the neon purple light!

All aboard!

As we sank into the comfort of our chairs, I realised that this would not be the last time I visited Cine Prestige.

The cup-holder even has a cooling function to keep drinks cold!

Reclining in comfort

We watched Begin Again with Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo & Adam Levine and I was able to snuggle up to T and even lie on his shoulder while watching the movie.

Smile!

This really was a fun experience, I really recommend you spoil yourself for date night and pay Cine Prestige a visit.

I would recommend that you make sure your toes look pretty – when the seats are back, your feet are up in the air for everyone to see!

PS: The movie is definitely worth a watch – I was so impressed with Kiera Knightley’s singing – her voice is beautiful.

This Weekend… I Camped

If you know anything about me, you would understand my inner laughter as I typed the heading for this post.

Sunset

I do not camp. 

I grew up on a plot (small-holding).

We had farm animals.

I do not camp.

Yet, this weekend (Saturday being the coldest night ever) I found myself in a sleeping bag, in an actual bona fide tent. FREEZING!

Home

Besides the cold, it was great getting away from it all and doing something out of my comfort zone. 

We were surrounded by baby ducks, deer and the occasional puppy from visiting camps.

 

We dozed in the sun and ate junk food galore. 

 

All in all – I would do it again (with extra blankets of course!).

Wish I was there

3 weeks ago I was relaxing in the park with mom, feeding the pigeons (ssshhh)

I am back from a 1 month break from work & I feel like a new person.

Hello everybody!

Just chilling

21 Things about Me # 4 / Twenty Wishes for 2014

I am a bit behind, so excuse me while I play catch up:

List FOUR goals you plan to accomplish in the future
I am actually not much of a planner – never have been. This list really is difficult & I cannot come up with 4 goals.
Most of my goals such as –  own a home, see One Direction live, take mom overseas for the first time – have been/are being realised.

So with that I will give you 1 goal:

1. Take my dad for an overseas holiday – probably to see the Rugby Sevens tournament somewhere awesome like Hong Kong.
   The bonding time with my mom in the UK is going to be amazing. I need the same with my dad. With all his health scares, I want to be able to do this with him before it is too late. Dad and I used to go on road trips to Cape Town and discuss all sorts of things on the 11 hour drive. We have not done this for a very long time.

The rest are all wishes & seeing as I have not yet posted my Twenty Wishes for 2014 ( I compiled it in January, but never blogged it) – here they are:

1. Buy a really pretty dress – Similar to a LBD – in case I ever need an outfit
2. Try Pilates
3. Host more dinner parties/luncheons
4. Learn to cook more recipes
5. Eat More fruit
6. Go to a movie by myself
7. Kiss a stranger
8. Take more photos & complete my Project 365 challenge
9. Fix my dry feet
10. Do another spontaneous thing (2013: Bought 1D tickets)
11. Have High Tea in London
12. Fall in Love
13. Buy a nice fitting blazer
14. Read a great book
15. Watch a classic movie
16. Drink more water
17. Get my weight below 70kg
18. Tone my stomach
19. Work less
20. Be a happier person

Bookless Club – Moustaches

Keep Calm

November is the month of Movember –  all in aid of raising awareness for male cancers such as testicular & prostate cancer.

Moustaches; therefore seemed only fitting for my Bookless Club theme. I was even more excited when I found pink Moustaches – whoop whoop!

Bought from Big Blue – they didn’t stick very well though!

Now before you think, “What a miserable lot”  – we couldn’t smile because the darn things kept falling off.

SMILE (not)

I had pretty much left all arrangements until the day before the event, so i had to come up with some quick & easy designs to implement.

I printed a few moustache images onto paper, photo-shopped a few in pink and used it for an extra decorative theme under the plates. I also downloaded a template of a moustache and cut it out in various sizes to stick on the napkin ring…

… and the champagne glass…

… and for the “Balls Bowl”

I also found a cute image which I printed and cut out into a square and stuck with some tape onto my coasters.

To finish the theme off…
I had painted my nails with the little moustache (my post here)

Moustache manicure

For the “manly” theme I had wanted to do male-inspired food such as beer (Savannah) and Burgers. But after I found the pretty pink moustaches, I settled on:

• Crumbed Chicken Breast on a Portuguese roll with cranberry sauce, Camembert cheese and rocket
• For Tee (the pescatarian): Fishcakes on a Portuguese roll with a home-made Sweet Chilli Mayo mixed with lemon juice and black pepper.
  …with a side of Sweet Potato Chips

Dessert was store bought Lamingtons which I had planned on cutting into a little moustache shape – but never got around to doing.

Would have been a nice touch – perhaps next time I won’t leave it until the last possible moment!

 

Travel Tuesday (Roadtrip)- HertFord House

Today’s post is not really about a travel destination per se… more of a road trip with the parents.

My parents stay in the deeeep south of Johannesburg in a small town by the name of Walkerville.

Everybody knows everybody – and there are almost more pubs than people in this little town.

People go to the shop without any shoes and the only people staring are the “out-of-towners” like myself.

My parents were burgled recently while they were asleep in their house. My dad – usually a light sleeper- never woke up and I am thankful for that. I am pissed off because my parents are not well off and everything they have has wither been worked really hard for, or given as a gift. They do not have insurance as it is simply too costly.

My biggest fear is losing my parents – I am not sure I would be able to cope with that loss…

Anyway, I digress…. I like to take my parents to new places outside of their sleepy little town, and this time I took them for Sunday lunch at Hertford House.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you would have read about Hertford House here when I went with my friends.

Here is a post from my roadtrip with my folks – and a silent thank you that they were unharmed.

Wondering why I am not focussing on them…

“Ah that’s better – our daughter knows how to use the camera”

My mom releasing the inner child

Mom wanting to play Photographer – making me a model

I love plants and flowers

Dad retaliating with his inner child

Gorgeous rock building

Pretty blossoms

 

 

Things I learnt about Blogging

At my 1st ever recent Blogger Meetup (to be blogged about soon), I was listening to all the lovely ladies chatting and after Sue Levy’s inspirational talk I realised/learnt a few things:

1. I shouldn’t worry about how often I blog. I was always stressing about not blogging every day. Now I feel fine with it as long as I blog regularly.
2. I should blog about what I want. Not worry about what others want to read. This blog is for ME. that was the whole reason I started blogging in the first place.
3. A schedule makes a whole lot of difference. I have my regular #ManicureMonday and #TravelTuesday posts, but I never read enough. I know how have a Bookmarks folder for every day of the week and I read a handful of blogs every day.
4. Leave a comment. We all like a bit of love, so it is really important to leave a comment. I committed to commenting, even if it is a smiley face. Kind of a “I was here”
   Having said this though – when I have to fill in those silly comment moderation things with the numbers and letters, I usually get it wrong. If you have that in your blog and I don’t comment as often, that’s because even when wearing my glasses I still got the letters wrong and gave up! (It is the thought that counts though!)
5. Reply to your comments as much as you can. When people take the time to comment on your blog, try to show your appreciation.
6. Don’t judge others. We are all human. I was feeling pretty self concious about getting there and being the only girl without expertly applied make-up and perfect nails. I wasn’t. Apart from a few absolutely gorgeous girls who belong on magazine covers (yes “sparkle shoes” you are 1 of them) we are all pretty much normal girls with a variety of interests and tastes. Yet we all had our love of blogging in common and that got us off to a great start.
7. Start that blog. Don’t be afraid. If you want to do it. Go for it. Do it for you. Enjoy it.