COOKIE JAR

Where's my sun?

2011-04-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

The sun has disappeared. It's cold. I'm sad. In addition to sad, I also have an, er, erm..."condition". This is a "condition" that plagues me at the start of winter each and every year, without fail. I develop clothes dyslexia. Yes. Clothes Dyslexia. I am unable to figure out what matches with what as I haul all of my winter clothes from the back of the closet to the front, and bid farewell to my summer stock. After 7 months of easy warm weather wear, I simply cannot figure out how the winter layering works and what goes with what. This "condition" can be tricky to manage and leaves me looking as though I have dressed myself in the dark. It is hazardous to my buoyancy and makes me want to hide out until winter is over, with my duvet cover over my head, and by bedroom door locked, for good measure. Luckily it only takes me about a week or two to develop full winter wear fluency...until the next time. Since I am still dealing with my "condition", I share with you some before pics of an outfit I wore over the December holidays. It’s actually a top but since I am also vertically challenged, I can get away with wearing it as a dress.

Is it just me? Anyone else have clothes dyslexia?

Sparkly ring and a happy heart

2011-02-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

My apologies for my blogging hiatus, but I have been too busy basking in post proposal glory. The Boyf, who is now the fiancé, finally popped the question just before Christmas, while we were holidaying in San Lameer. I am completely over the moon and can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with MY one! Okay, for fear of losing my loyal readers due to the sappy soppy content of this post, I will stop right here and share a few pics with you. Ooh I must just mention that after the engagement we spent 4 magical days at the Oyster box in Umhlanga, it was like a mini engagement honeymoon. When the staff at the oyster box heard we had just gotten engaged they promptly upgraded our garden facing room to a luxury sea facing room, the view was spectacular! A full length post just for the oyster box to follow shortly, because they are just such dolls.

{This bright umbrella makes my heart so happy, hee!}

{Country Road towels kept the sand off our butts, Hah!}

{The view from our room at the Oyster box}

{My ring, I love it, it's totally handmade and unique, it makes my heart even happier than my umbrella.}

My Bucket List

2010-12-01T09:23:00.000-08:00

The gorgeously fantastical and talented Janine from Being Brazen has featured little old me on her Bucket List series, go HERE to check it out! Come on...you know you wanna!

A present...for me...how nice!

2010-11-24T09:30:00.000-08:00

This weekend I, though I would get ahead of the game and set out to do some early Christmas shopping, it was not a success. I got totally distracted when I spotted this dress and scooped it up as a Christmas present for myself instead! I will wrap it and put it under our Christmas tree, the note on the present will read:

"Dear Chantel,
You are have such great taste, Merry Christmas
From Chantel!"

Hah!

I was so excited with my purchase and immediately hauled it out of its bag to showed my mom, the minute I arrived home...she laughed! Yes. She laughed. Apparently to her eye, my purchase resembles a nightie more than it does the ubber stylish dress that my eye sees! The nerve! Lucky for me, people’s opinions never really deter me from what I like. And I really like this one. She soon changed her tune when she saw these pics. She now approves.

I need me a Price & Kensington...or 5

2010-11-18T12:48:00.000-08:00

Don't these just make you want to have a girly tea party and feed you face some cake? They do. Don't they? Especially the part about feeding your face some cake, the face can never get enough cake. Hee. These cutie pies are the creation of UK based Price & Kensington, and this company has been making them since 1896. How rad is that?! Seriously, I want one in every single colour!

I'm inspired to have a colourful tea party, where i would serve this...

oooh and these...

[images courtesy of freshbump, onedaywhenihavetime, Gilt Groupe]

You are all invited!

Love, Me

xxx

Blissful Bathers

2010-11-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

I am a huge fan of summer and all the things that come with it, like eating ice cream, wearing fun little sundresses...and of course, trips to the beach. As much as I adore the beach, I must be honest and admit that the thought of sqeeshing my wobbly bits into a teeny weeny bikini does make me want to run back to winter and hide myself under an oversized coat. That was until I discovered the cute little bikini's that are on offer this season. Armed with these babies, no one will even notice the jingly jangly bits, they will be way too distracted by the awesomeness that the bits are covered in. These are my fave pics from the interweb. What will you guys be wearing to the beach this summer?

1,3 and 5 swimweargalore, 2 lovewaterlove, 4 Zimmerman

I'm also in luurve with vintage inspired swimwear, and this high waisted bikini from swimweargalore is just the epitome of perfection...and the fact that it is perfect for hiding a post christmas paunch, has nothing to do with...well maybe just a little!

Love, me
xx

Gift Girls Goodies

2010-10-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of my parcel from Gift Girls ever since Janine from Being Brazen announced that I was the winner of their fabulous give away! I received this gorgeous purple flower ring as well as three cute pairs of earrings in varying shades of pinkish coral, all lovingly wrapped up in this pretty little blue box! How perfect is that shade of blue?! Gift Girls is based in Malta, so I felt super special to be receiving a parcel labelled Malta on the back of it. It felt like I was in my own version of “The Sisterhood of the travelling pants”, except this would be the sisterhood of the travelling...erm...accessories?!

This weekend I wore the ring and the pinkest of the pair of earrings, the boyf got the camera out and did his thing, and Le voila!

{How awesome is the detail on these leggings! I got them from Woolies!}

Do yourself a favour and go check out Being Brazen as well as the Gift Girls website and blog, you will not be disappointed, these ladies are absolutely fabulous and stylish!

Love, Me

Bird Brain

2010-10-11T04:30:00.000-07:00

My ever growing fixation with the purdy little birdie’s began when I first clapped eyes on this adorable little yellow clutch on Etsy (number 1 in the collage). Since then it has sort of spiralled out of control into a full on obsession and has spread out into an obsession with bird cages and other birdie paraphernalia. If I were planning a wedding (*fingers crossed*), I would certainly incorporate birdie bits and pieces into the theme, there would be antique bird cages hanging from the trees, feathers in the centrepieces, and the gorgeous cupcake wrappers (number 3 in the collage), would no doubt make an appearance as well. A girl can always dream!

1.Yellow Clutch bag- FA2u from Etsy

2.Bird cage tea light holders- The Knot

3.Perfect Pair cupcake wrappers- The Knot

4.Bird and Blossom necklace - Oria

5.Gift Card Tags- Mulberry Muse from Etsy

6. Bird and flower Necklace- Etsy, cant remember designer, sorry.

Have a lovely week, you fabulous people!

Love, Me
xx

A world of Numzies

2010-10-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

Imagine having a selection of dishes from the finest restaurants and chefs in your city, at your immediate disposal. You could have a starter from The Michelangelo, a main course from The Grace in Rosebank and a dessert at The Roots, well that's exactly what it was like when the boyf and I attended the Taste of Joburg food festival this weekend. Both of us being self proclaimed foodie’s, we were in pure foodie heaven! In actual fact we had more than one starter main and dessert, from various restaurants. The sample size of the dishes made it possible to taste an array of starters, mains and desserts before reaching full blown button popping status! I wore Jeans, which I regretted, I was so stuffed by the time I walked out of there I felt as though my pants would certainly split! Note to self, next time wear a dress with ample tummy expansion space. Here’s what I wore, saw and ate!

{Finally! The Aldo shoes that I bought on this weekend.}

{This has to be the most divine smoothie I have ever tasted, Pineapple, mint and Jasmine! I'm certainly going to attempt my own recreation of this one!}

{This is a sample of the well known Molecular Chocolate dessert from the Grace of Rosebank. Brace yourself for this description: Molecular chocolate and ricotta marshmallows with caramel and nougat sauce. Yumzies!}

{The Grace also had this divine chocolate tasting corner, where you could sample the best quality dark chocolate, I love the fact they come in cute little nibs}

We attended the evening session, and it was a wonderful alternative to just eating out at a Restaurant, I will definitely attend this event again!

Love, me

My Heritage Day

2010-09-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

In honour of Heritage day, which we South Africans celebrate this Friday, 24 September, a few fabulous bloggers have decided that we would celebrate our heritage by doing a little post about our favourite childhood outfit or toy. So here goes!

I wasn't really a fan of toys, despite having a room that overflowed with stuffed animals and a gigantic collection of Barbie’s (which I hardly ever played with). So what did I do for fun you ask...I read (well, paged through) the Colliers set of Encyclopaedias that I received when I was two years old. Yes. I would lie for hours belly flat on the carpet, legs in the air, crossed at the ankles, and devour each and every page. My family still talks about this and how weird I ~~was~~ am. My other favourite thing to do was to watch movies, not cartoons since I didn’t care much for those either, real movies. My Gran had my favourites which included, The Sound of Music, Salsa, Dirty Dancing, Girls Just want to have fun, and My Girl, recorded on VHS tapes, and I used to watch them over and over again, memorising the words and attempting to act out the scenes and dance routines.

My Girl was released when I was about 8 years old, and I became completely obsessed with having a mood ring just like Vada Saltenfuss (Anna Chlumsky's character), even though her friend was stung to death whilst attempting to search for the damn ring! Yes. Again. I ~~was~~ am strange. In any event, I searched high and low for a mood ring and finally found one when I was about 10. This was my absolute favourite toy/accessory, I would wear it whenever I had the chance, and would take it with me to school and carry it in my pocket, since we were not allowed to wear any jewellery at School.

Nope, not at all a typical child, but that’s just me!

Happy Heritage Day! Check out the other blog posts on this theme, on these fabulous blogs:

Fable Fairy: http://fablefairy.blogspot.com/
Glossary :http://glossaryzine.blogspot.com/
Bobbylicious http://www.bobbylicious.co.za/
Gorilla is my friend http://gorillamefriend.blogspot.com/
Kiss This Twice /http://kissthistwice.blogspot.com/
Lucky Pony www.superduper/lucky
Embracing Style http://www.embracingstyle.co.za/
Farm Girl http://plaasjapie-farmgirl.blogspot.com/

Love, me

Sun City

2010-09-21T06:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took a little drive up to Sun City for a much needed weekend away. We spent our Saturday meandering through the glorious jasmine scented botanical gardens, sipping Campari’s el fresco and just relaxing in true Sun City style. In the evening we had an unforgettable experience with Jeff Dunham, who had the entire crowd in stitched for two and a half hours, the man is a comical genius! I was just a bit disturbed that my big fat “Sweets from Heaven” packet, which was filled with an assortment of chocolate coated nuts, was confiscated at the entrance to the show. If you know me well, you will know that no one gets between me and my chocolate! I was certifiably enraged! Especially since the entire row in front of me seemed to have snuck in their little parcel of sweets undetected. I suppose it was the fat gods looking out for me.

I wore a mint green dress from twist and gladiator sandals that I bought at Zara in Florence.

Love, me

Minty Fresh

2010-09-15T02:50:00.000-07:00

I'm hacking away at my keyboard with my mint green manicured fingers, to acquaint you all with my current colour obsession, which coincidently happened to be... mint green, or sea foam green, as some like to call it! I love its retro vibe, and I'm loving it in nail polishes, accessories and even in interiors. It’s the perfect partner to my other colour crush for this season...coral. This season I will be wearing this shade of green with accents of coral. Both of which will compliment the summer tan, that I hope to acquire, beautifully!

{In this collage: Burberry dress; earrings and ring from etsy and shoes, none other than Christian Louboutin}

{I love the minty accents in this 1940's inspired lounge}

Love , me

The Wizard of Aus

2010-09-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

Coming out of winter my lips are still slightly chapped and irritated and this is hindering my experimentation with the beautiful bright lip colours that summer has to offer. No one wants their lipstick in clumps, stuck to bits of dried skin, Yuk! A few weeks ago I received an SOS to this problem in the form of a package from Aus, courtesy of my gorgeous Australian friend Justine. The stuff she sent me comes in a bright red tube, and works as my own personal wizard at fixing an abundance of skin ailments from chapped lips to burns and cuts... the wizards name is Lucas paw paw. Justine describes it as being an emergency kit for your handbag, and I must confirm that it has worked magic on my chapped irritated lips. It doesn’t hurt that it leaves your lips with a gloriously glossy finish and looks good on its own for those days when you want your make-up toned down a bit. I am now completely obsessed with this stuff, and have demanded that I receive a constant supply. I would love to hear your secrets for kissable smooth lips!

Local is lekker

2010-09-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had a fantastical time in Knysna and George, with just one whiff of the aromatic sea filled air, I was intoxicated. The highlight of the weekend was finding some very cool local shops, stocked with beautiful locally made gems. I get all giddy with excitement when I find fresh innovative pieces that are proudly South African, so this was the highlight of my trip. I bought this gorgeous handmade leather cuff at Leather Rose in Thesen Island, each of their pieces are handmade in Knysna and each piece is a one of a kind. The top I bought at the cutest little boutique store that sources their clothes from all over the country and many of their items are also one offs or produced for a limited run. I bought two gorgeous little tops there.

Spring has Sprung

2010-09-01T02:01:00.000-07:00

Dear Winter

It is with an eager smile and a joyful heart that I bid you farewell. I wish I could tell you that your absence will be felt, but alas this would be a lie. So off you go on your dreary way, don’t forget to pack your bags with your woolly knits and your sock and your gloves, as I have grown quite bored of these and will not require them whilst your , much prettier, sister Spring is here to visit. I wish you luck on your journey to the Northern hemisphere and welcome Spring with open arms.

Best Wishes
Me xx

This sunny season I plan on:

{Having lots of Picnics}

{Frolicking around in a costume, hopefully by the sea}

{Making lots of home made Ice cream}

{Wearing brightly coloured lips}

How do you envision your sunny season?

Images Courtesy of runway hippie, a cup of jo, country living and love annd vintage

Flavour of the month

2010-08-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

My propensity for the sweet stuff has been shared with you all here, here and here. At the moment the fairest of them all is still the red velvet cupcake. I’m a bit surprised at this fact since I tend to be a bit fickle when it comes to sweets, and the flavour of the month rarely occupies my heart for as long as the red velvet has. Last weekend I tried my hand at baking a batch of these delicious beauties. I was a bit disappointed with the colour, as it turned out a brick red colour instead of the vibrant red that I was after. I will keep trying until I get this right. In the meantime if any of you have any tips on how to get the colour right, please do share!

Spring Break

2010-08-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

As winter turns to spring, we females tend to run around frantically booking mani’s and pedi’s and preparing to “de-fuzz” for the start of the skin bearing season. This is not to mention the crash diets and sudden interest in exercise that occupy our every thought, in an attempt to chase away the winter bulge. It’s rough being a woman, especially when attempting to get ready for spring. With this post, I pledge to thee to make this transition a little easier on you, well at least on the fashion side of things, if you consider these easy tips.

1. Introduce POPS OF COLOUR gradually into your outfit with nail polish and

accessories like headbands and handbags;

2. Wear LIGHT WASH JEANS to brighten up your look a tad, I love these

faded ripped skinnies. In the dead of summer I will pair them with girly ruffle

tops, and with touches of floral and lace.

3. STRIPES are the print for all seasons so you can wear them through rain

and shine and they will never look out of place; let's take a lesson from Kim

here, shall we.

Pics courtesy of fashionably inspired

4. Keep it pretty and fresh with FLORAL PRINTS AND ACCESSORIES.

pics courtesy of cafemom

Love, me

Welcome to my bedroom

2010-08-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

When I furnished my room 4 years ago I thought it would be genius to put a gigantic red couch in it. It looked so pretty and was so me, it would be perfect! Right? Wrong! This gorgeous couch has now been downgraded to a glorified clothes hanger and general crap accumulator. Whenever I’m too lazy or too tired (which is always) to pack my shit away, that shit gets added to the huge pile of shit already on my couch! Not pretty on the eyes! So I had a brainwave and thought that I would feature my couch (the cleaned up version, sans the shit pile) in my next outfit post and if all went well, it would be a regularly featured prop in my outfit posts, which would certainly compel me to keep it clean and tidy. Sadly the lighting in my room is not great and so the quality of the pics isn’t the best. I will probably not photograph in my room again, so sadly the accumulation of crap will undoubtedly resume. I tried. I processed these pics with the orton-ish feature on picnik, so hopefully they are not too terrible!

{I told you here about most recent shopping escapade, this is the dress and one of the pairs of shoes that I bought}

Its almost Friday lovies, hang in there!

Love, me xx

The Big Cheese

2010-08-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

I heart cheese! Cheese in all shapes and forms, from soft stinky gorgonzola to gooey brie and everything in between. I have also shared another dirty little secret with you here, about my love affair with sugar and my tendency to eat dessert for dinner. Seeing as cheese + sugar = cheesecake, you can safely conclude that cheesecake is a weakness for me. This weekend I made the most delectable baked cheesecake, I just managed to steal myself a piece before the rest of my family attacked it. I got the recipe out of my new favourite cake book. This is a New York cheesecake.

{hmmm lets get started}

{quick taste test}

{this cheesecake is full on flavour and FAT, it takes almost 4 tubs of cream cheese, yikes!}

New York Cheese Cake:

Ingredients:

CRUST

85 g butter
280 g digestive biscuits

FILLING

900 g good quality cream cheese
250 g Sugar
45 ml Flour
3 eggs and 1 yolk
250 ml sour cream
7.5 ml Vanilla essence

TOPPING

250 ml sour cream
15 ml Castor Sugar
Juice from 1 lemon

Method:

Preheat Oven to 180 °C. Grease and line a 23 cm spring form cake pan.

For the crust, melt the butter in the microwave, and then stir into the crushed biscuits.

Press crushed biscuits into base and sides of pan. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Cool while preparing the filling. Increase the oven setting to 230° C.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add the sugar and flour and continue beating for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs and yolk one at a time. Stir in sour cream and vanilla essence.

Pour filling into prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 110° C and bake for a further 30 minutes. Switch off oven and open door, leave to cool in the oven for at least 2 hours.

In a medium bowl, stir the sour cream, castor sugar and lemon juice together until the sugar has dissolved. Pour over the cooled cheesecake and refrigerate overnight.

Say hello to my fury little friend

2010-08-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of a "freeze your tits off" cold front at the moment. I find it impossible to be cute and fashionable in this sort of weather. My main thoughts revolve around food, warm blankets, woolly unattractive socks, more food, hot chocolate, Oh and I don’t like to shave my legs either, you get the gist, it can get rather ugly! However, having said that, I do have just one item in my closet that, despite the lazy slump and lack of grooming that this dreadful weather brings, manages to ooze cool sophistication and turns me into a glamour queen at the flick of a hat, literally. I bought this funky fury hat on my recent trip to Prague, I affectionately referred to is as "my creature" throughout the trip. I must just mention that it was spring in Prague and the locals could spot the tourist, moi, a mile away. The one dude even had the gall to tell me that I was a season late for this hat. Rude! It’s cute, comfy and is every bit as warm as it looks. These pics were taken in Prague.

{this was taken in Old Town Square, Prague}

{Me and my boyfriend. He is the person responsible for all of the fabulous photography on my blog, have i mentioned he is a bona fide rockstar, check out his band, cutting jade on facebook.}

{The gorgeous Charles Bridge behind us, and the famous Lake Vltava flowing just under us}

It blows my mind that this city, which is situated in the centre of Europe managed to escape virtually untouched by the war that surrounded it. Whilst other countries were being bombed and invaded, Prague stood tall in all its glory and still stands today, unscathed. It’s no wonder it is called the Pearl of Europe. I like to think that this is because little tiny fairies inhabited the land back in the day and that their only task was to frolic all day, dusting the land with their enchanted dust. This is just the type of imagery that this mystical place conjures up. The Czech Republic boasts more castles per square mile, than any other major country, it’s just surreal and you can feel the magic right down to your toes.

Ahem...now for some shameless self promotion, if you feel that my blog is worthy of a South African Blog award, please do nominate me under the Best New Blog category, its number 9. You can just click on the badge on the right hand side. Go on now, clickety click! I will be hugely grateful.

Splurge filled Weekend

2010-08-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

I hope all my fellow South Africans had an awesome long week-end! This weekend I indulged in every way possible, I over slept, I over ate and I definitely over shopped. I went completely nuts at the mall this weekend, I'm afraid I might have seriously bankrupted myself this time! I walked away with 4; yes F.O.U.R. pairs of shoes, a dress, two tops and some gorgeous make-up from Benefit. I was going to take pics of all my purchases and share them with you, "one-time" (for all my foreign readers "one-time" is sort of South African for all at once!) But I thought nah; I’ll keep you in suspense and show off one piece at a time. So these pics feature the new clogs that I bought at Aldo, I took them for a test drive yesterday and am happy to report that they are super comfy. I also love this flapper style hat that I bought at Greenwich Market in London. The lady that was selling the hats is rumoured to be the very same lady that was commissioned to make all the Harry Potter hats, pretty cool!

{My bag is the wrong way around, Dope! I love this bag, will have to get better pics of it from the front!}

Orange and Hazelnut Yoghurt cake

2010-08-05T00:56:00.000-07:00

I don’t usually consider oranges to be the most inspiring of fruits. To me they are, well, quite boring and ordinary, actually. Except during this time of the year, our oranges at this time of the year are super sweet and filled with so much juicy goodness, that they just cannot be ignored. I decided to take full advantage of the season’s offerings and baked up this delicious Orange and Hazelnut Yoghurt cake this weekend. I got the recipe out of a book called Cakes to celebrate love and life by Callie Maritz and Mari-Louis Guy. The aroma that fills the air whilst this cake is baking is undeniably entrancing. The warm aromtic cake then gets doused in orange syrupy goodness, before being topped with roatsed crushed hazelnuts and candied orange slices.

Orange and Hazelnut Yoghurt Cake:

Ingredients:

Cake:

350g Self Raising Flour
115g Ground Hazelnuts
150g Castor Sugar
5ml Baking Powder
2 large eggs lighly beaten
250ml Bulgarian Yoghurt
155ml sunflower oil
zest of 1 Lemon

Orange Syrup:

280ml Water
350g Castor Sugar
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1 Lemon
zest of 1 Orange

Method:

Preheat the Oven to 180 degrees (Celsius). Combine all the ingredients for the cake and beat until everything is mixed together. The consistency will be very thick and sticky. Spoon batter into a prepared cake tin and baked for 30-45 minutes. While the cake is baking, prepare the syrup. Place all the ingredients in a small pot and bring to the boil, continue to boil until all the sugar has dissolved. Pour the syrup over the cake while it is still hot. Top with roasted crushed hazelnuts and candied orange slices.

Give me the funny

2010-08-01T00:46:00.000-07:00

I love to laugh, so it goes without saying that I am a huge fan of stand up comedy. Pablo Francisco is without a doubt one of my favourites, so you can imagine my delight when I found out that he would be performing at the Nando’s Comedy Festival at Monte Casino, along with a host of other talented comedians. I immediately snatched up tickets, and I'm so glad I did, it was just what I needed in the middle of a stress filled week. Our very own Trevor Noah was the MC for the evening and provided the audience with laughs the whole way through, it was my first time seeing him and he had me practically crying with laughter.

I also have tickets to see Jeff Dunham in September at Sun City. Yikes! I’m starting to sound like a comedy groupie!

{I wore a dark charcoal dress, with beading on the shoulders that i picked up at H&M in Berlin. I paired it with tights and Black Boots from Migato}

{Pink and purple eyeshadow, to brighten up the outfit a bit...and of course a headband!}

{The shoulder detail is so delicate, I get nervous everytime it gets washed}

I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!

Separation Anxiety

2010-07-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

I recently lost one earring from my absolutely favourite pair of earrings from Sass Diva (as seen here) and for some reason I just cannot bring myself to throw the remaining earring away. What use could I possibly have for one earring? None. No use. Useless. So, on this weekend I decided to go past Sass Diva hoping that I could get the same pair or at least a replacement pair. I was hopeful that finding a new pair would prompt me to throw the poor friendless earring away. I didn’t find the same pair but found a similar replacement pair, which is the pair in these pictures. Pretty, right? Then why can I still not bring myself to throw the other earring away? Am I deranged?

{I also purchased this super sized flower brooch at Sass Diva, which I thought brought my outfit just the right amount of quirky cuteness}

{I cannot wait to wear my summer shorts, so i figured, why wait then, and decided to pair them with some stockings}

{I hope you don't grow too tired of this fossil bag and my over the knee boots, because I just love them and I have a sneaky suspiscion that this wont be the last you see of them}

{Boots-Migato; Stockings-Woolworths; Shorts-Roxy; Black T-Woolworths; Cardigan-Woolworths, Earrings and Brooch- Sass Diva, Bag-Fossil}

I Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Vitamin C Lippie

2010-07-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been seeing all these fabulous dames sporting gorgeous bright orange lippie. I would imagine that this colour is probably better suited to summer, but I can't help thinking that in the midst of winter in South Africa, this could just be the perfect Vitamin C injection to help chase the winter blues away. I don’t know if I could pull the look off, with my lips being anorexic and all (have always had the hugest complex about my skinny lips) but these ladies make it look just gorgeous! Is orange the new red? We'll have to wait and see. (And maybe this trend will finally push me to treat myself to some lip plumping, but thats a whole other story, that will require a different type of injection, a painful one.)

Images Courtesy of Glamour by dawn; Morning Cloak and Sterling Style

Secret Treasure Trove

2010-07-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I discovered the gem that is 44 Stanley in Milpark Johannesburg. What used to be a whole lot of industrial buildings and dilapidated workshops, has been turned into an inspiring little boutique shopping experience. You can amble through all the speciality shops and little cafe's and restaurants while taking in all the artistic beauty that surrounds you. The original 1930's architecture remains, which just adds to the quaint beauty of it all. Here you will find something to amuse even the most discerning of tastes, whether it be vintage interiors, high fashion pieces or freshly baked goods, whatever your poison 44 Stanley has the antidote for you! I will most definitely return and will keep returning until I have eaten my way through every restaurant and browsed every corner of every store. I left there truly inspired.

{Over the knee boots-Migato; Tights-Woolworths; Handag-Fossil, as seen here; Oversized white shirt-Miladys, Black pullover with buttons-woolworths; headband- sass diva, Vintage Ray Ban sunnies- my mom }

{The restaurant we ate at, Il Giardino, I had a delicious pasta with mushrooms and parmesan cheese, followed by Lindt chocolate mousse, was divine! }

{spying on the people outside, don't you just love people watching?}

{cute little mismatched chairs}

{Me and my gorgeous friend Nina}

Unfortunately my camera died on me, so I didn’t get too many shots of the outside and all the little stores. Oh well, all the more reason to go back.

Fendi Find

2010-07-16T00:57:00.000-07:00

Venice is not like any city you have ever seen, I mean, it floats on water for goodness sake, it is mindboggling and feels completely unreal. Feels more like you're in a Disney amusement park! Except with the most gorgeous ancient architecture you can imagine!

Well the point of this post is not to gush over how great Venice is, believe me I am not able to do it any justice just by describing it in words. You have to experience it yourself. So if it’s not on your " To travel list" scribble it in there now!

The point is this post, is to give you some close up pics of the gorgeous Fendi sunnies, as promised here, that I picked up in Venice. My boyfriend- bless him- bought them for me for my birthday. They are so unique, they have cutsie little flowers on the bottom of the frames, that have been carved into the backside of the frame making it look as though the flowers are floating in the tortoise shell frame! The flowers are repeated in the ear piece of the sunnies as well! So gorgeous!

Monday Munchies

2010-07-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

Last night I ate a red velvet cupcake for dinner! Yes! For dinner! I am a total sucker for the sweet stuff. My current obsession is red velvet! Red velvet cake, red velvet cupcakes, red velvet anything really! It’s a really pretty piece of confectionary, the bright velvety red colour of the cake against the pale cream cheese frosting, makes it a delight for both the eyes and the taste buds!

Images courtesy of three-walls; womansday; myflourgarden & foodnetwork

Camden Town

2010-07-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

During my recent stay in London, my boyfriend kept nagging me to go to Camden Town. You're thinking "nag"?...why would he have to nag you to go to this amazingly unique shopping destination...Right? Right! Well, you see in my ignorance I was under the impression that Camden Town was only for metal heads seeking heavy metal t-shirts and the like- I don’t wear t-shirts! Yes, they do have this sort of thing too, but unbeknown to me they also have the most amazing selection of vintage clothing. Eventually my boyfriend got his way and we went to Camden Town, but unfortunately we only got around to it the morning of our departure back to South Africa and so we only had two hours to browse this massive market place. Needless to say I ran around like a headless chicken trying to see and buy as much as I could in two hours. Next time I go to London I will give Camden Town the attention it deserves.

{Dress and Shoes-Camden Town; Cardi-Woolworths, Handbag-Fossil, Stockings- Ballet Barre}

My favourite Camden purchase is without a doubt the Boots. They are a mission to lace up...oddly i find this quite therapeutic...I'm strange like that. And again we have the flesh coloured fishnets!

{Thats my doggie Milo, he wanted to be in the picture too!}

Brogue Agent

2010-07-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

{Brogues, Mr. Price}

I must admit, when the whole brogue trend hit I was not completely convinced that this one was for me. That was until I spotted these gorgeous ones at Mr. Price! Their floral print makes them so girly and I just feel totally vintage chic in them. I wore them on Saturday to the mall and got stopped by a bunch of people demanding to know where I got them from.

I am also loving my flesh coloured fishnets lately, I’m wearing them with everything! I even wear them with jeans, and then roll up the hem so that it shows at the ankles. I first got a pair of flesh coloured fishnets when I was in High School and my Gran (believe it or not!) brought me a pair from Portugal. Nowadays I get them from the Ballet Barre (a local ballet clothing stockist). It’s the only place I seem to find them.

{Headband- Sassa Diva; Poloneck-Woolworths; Skirt-Legit- Stockings-Ballet Barre; Knee length stockings- Aldo; Brogues-Mr Price; Ring-Sass Diva; Necklace-Woolworths }

Chignon à la français

2010-07-01T05:12:00.000-07:00

Paris! I love Paris! This city truly dazzled the socks off me when I was there last month. There is an air of fabulousness all around that you just can't help getting sucked in by it all. The glowing lights! The buzzing Brasseries! Not to mention all the Madams walking around, groomed to perfection with their chignon’s sitting prettily on their perfectly groomed heads. This city oozes glitz, glamour and elegance. I couldn’t resist donning my own interpretation of the chignon while I was in Paris.

Sunglasses-Fendi; Earrings-Accesorize; Peach Top-Edgars

{Thats the Louvre behind me}

Headband-Zara; Sunglasses-Fendi; Earrings-Sass Diva; Off Shoulder top-YDE

{I picked up these gorgeous Fendi sunnies in Venice! They are so unique that I'm going to dedicate a post solely to them, so stay tuned.}

As you have already seen here that I am obsessed with headbands lately; well this is where the obsession began. I bought this cutesy green feathered headband from Zara in Florence.

Dreaming of summer days

2010-06-29T05:37:00.000-07:00

It is officially the middle of Winter in South Africa! I.am.NOT.a.fan! In cold weather like this I always wish that i could magically transform into a bear and hibernate the whole winter away. But until i have figured out how to make this possible, I'll just have to dream the rest of the winter away with thoughts of the summer sky, lazy picnics and the golden beach sand…ahhhh…

Images 1 and 3, Apartment 34; Image 2, Sterling Style

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Go with the flow

2010-06-28T02:07:00.000-07:00

I just recently had a month long holiday in Europe and noticed all these girls wearing flowy, t-shirty type tops with asymmetrical hems. At first I was a bit apprehensive to try it myself; I thought it might make me look a bit chunky, so I didn’t buy any in Europe. Then I saw this darling one at a little boutique in Pretoria and decided to give it a try. I think the trick to avoid the chunk is to keep it skinny on the bottom. I teamed it with a head band, which I am loving as of late.

Grey sweater- Woolworths; Blue flowy top-Nikhon; Jeggings-Woolworths; Booties-Aldo; Handbag- Packwells; Necklace-Sass Diva; Headband-Woolworths

Perhaps the blue nail polish is slight overkill on an already very blue outfit, especially since i am not at all one for matchy matchy. The truth is that i already had that nail polish on before deciding on the outfit and was just too lazy to change it.

Hooray for my first outfit post!

Devilishly Dark

2010-06-25T03:18:00.000-07:00

My favourite accessory is without a doubt nail polish. I have been completely obsessed with this divinely colourful, nail coating liquid we call nail polish ever since primary school when my mom would only allow me to paint my nails during the school holidays.

Now that I am all grown up I am still hopelessly besotted with the stuff. Since it is winter in South Africa my latest nail polish love affair is with all things devilishly dark.

{I am in LOVE with these colours from OPI, this one is Suzi skis in the Pyrenees, i love the name too}

{This Beauty is called Russian Navy and makes me want to say "Da" "da" "da" "da" !}

MWAH! HAPPY WEEKEND

To bang or not to bang

2010-06-21T02:01:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember I have always had an obsessive love/hate relationship with bangs (or a fringe as we call it in South Africa.) I love the look, but hate the fact that it needs to be styled from scratch every morning. I am so not a morning person and much prefer having a few more minutes lay in time than washing and drying my fringe each morning. Having said that, I am still considering punishing myself and cutting some bangs. I have collected some fabulous celebrity bang styles for inspiration.

{My favourite has always been a heavy bang a la Nicole Ritchie, as luck would have it its also the trickiest to style}

{ Super sexy side swept bang, so glamorous and easier to style}

{oh dear! another heavy bang, guess i know which one i'm picking!}

Bonjour!

2010-04-19T06:47:00.001-07:00

As a result of the “mundaneness” that is my life I have decided to start a blog to keep me inspired and entertained. So here it begins!