Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Feel the Wheel

These days I often think about things that I used to love doing growing up, but hardly ever do anymore. Yesterday I mentioned running through the sprinklers on the front lawn. Today I thought about how much I used to love rollerblading up and down my street. I had rollerblades with glittery purple wheels.
I'm not sure how good I would be if I tried it now, but I reckon it's always worth a try. I am going to keep my eyes peeled for a pair of wheels. If you have a pair somewhere in the back of your closet or in a box somewhere in the garage, why not dust those babies off and take them for a ride?




Monday, August 30, 2010

Bloom me up

Image: Stickham/ Alexx the Sailor

I am literally counting down the days to Spring. Two more sleeps. I am going to wear my prettiest floral dress to work on Wednesday come rain or snow. but hopefully glorious sun. So ladies, dig out your peep toes and puff up your skirts. Spring here we come!



When was the last time you ran throught the sprinklers screaming your lungs out?  This picture makes me want to get out the hose and put on my swimmies!

So get out that old slip n slide, paint your nails a ridiculously bright colour, dust off your sunnies, test your beach umbrella and do what ever else you need to do to get yourself sorted for Spring! 


Saturday, August 28, 2010

Sand in my shoes

I woke up early this morning to get ready for the City to Surf 12km run.
It was wonderful. Just as I thought I couln't possibly go another 200m, I saw a glimpse of blue. Ah the ocean. What a great way to end a race. I got my medal and made my way down to the beach. I took of my trainers and stuck my toes deeeep into the crunchy sand. What a lovely way to spend a Sunday, just relaxing by the beach, thinking about my friends and family. See you all soon.


Image: This clever image of silhouettes on Long Beach, Noordhoek, was taken by Cape Town. Live it. Love it. group member Leigh-ann Crafford.

Herbies

Just thought I would put up some pics to show you guys how the veggie garden in the back is coming along..






Hope everybody is having a great weekend. .

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Good as New

A long time ago we used to have an old foot operated sewing machine in our garage. At the time I didn't realize how precious it was, and now I have no idea what has become of it. Sometimes there is still alot of life left in old, discarded, broken, useless or even ugly everyday household items and comsumables. So before you chuck out, check out some of these nifty ideas and reconsider. You never know what alternative use there might be for your scraps. Here are some of my favourite reinventions.

This old sewing table has been transformed into a bathroom beauty with very litle effort.




I think this table looks sooo nice in the kitchen. Very homey.


If you don't have an old sewing machine, maybe you know of an old sink laying around somewhere. I think these flowers look beautiful in their out of the ordinary home.


Every house has a stack of old magazines laying around somewhere. Tokyo-based artist Koshi Kawachi uses old comic books to grow plants in. It's called Manga Farming. Now that is what I call recycling!




Not a big comic fan? Well you must have one or two old books floating on a shelf somewhere. Try this:



Source: Forever Jann

Believe it or not, these bookends are old tub feet!




If you have a few more books than that, why not grab that old ladder out of the garage?



Source: RecyclArt




One last one for today:



Source: Curbly

Wow, I feel like going home and transforming eveything in sight! I will try and post some of these regularly from now on. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Get creating people!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Bon(kers) Voyage

When I see backpackers I can’t help but stare. I look at them and I wonder where they’re from and where they’re headed next. With only their tortoise shell like backpack to carry all that they need on their journeys, they look so carefree and easy going. No excess luggage, no carry ons, no itineraries, no schedules or deadlines. I thought just because I’m not a backpacker doesn’t mean that I can’t bring the same happy go lucky feeling to my upcoming trip to Queensland. I figured I could have the best of both worlds, the backpacker attitude, without having to actually be a backpacker. I’ve always thought of myself as a very easy going person, turns out being easy going is not that easy at all.



I started with the flights. Easy enough, just book the flights, pack my bag and off I go. That was up until the point where the computer rather convincingly asked me if I needed to book insurance. Insurance? Surely carefree world travellers don’t bother with insurance, but I thought, what the hell, rather safe than sorry. And that’s where it all started going down hill.



Next on the agenda were my dives. Simple enough you’d think. Turns out I am due for a scuba refresher. More money and more time being wasted on preparing for the fun stuff in stead of actually just doing it. But I thought, one can never be too safe, prevention is better than cure, or in this case, a refresher is better than a trip to the decompression chamber.


Next I needed to focus on my gear; right now I only have my dive computer and camera with me. The bare necessities. It just so happens that I have a contact in SA at the moment and have arranged for my wetsuit to be brought over. My wetsuit will make a 16000km trip just so that I won’t have to spend my dives wondering if anyone peed in the rental that I’m wearing. Great, gear sorted.


At this point I honestly thought that I had put in more than enough time, effort and money into organizing this supposed to be care-free-easy-going-no-worries-mate little getaway. Apparently not.


I realized that my dive insurance membership had expired. This is where I doing myself in international diver limbo. Apparently I am eligible for Asia Pacific membership but not dive injury insurance, so I nee to renew my Sa membership and just cross my fingers and hope that I am covered over here .


So just a quick summary then: Flights: Check. Wetsuit: Check.


Still outstanding: car rental, car insurance, dive membership, dive bookings, dive insurance and sea sick tablets.


Completely gone with the wind: I think it’s safe to say that my trip will be everything but easy going. I don’t know how backpackers do it, but kudos to them. As the Aussies say: No worries mate: Just too bad I am not an Aussie and I am worrying my saffy ass off.

Image: Flickr (Geishaboy500)

Timeless

I wanted to add this pretty clock to my blog, but apparently you need to be a computer genius to do it. It seems that the only thing I can come up with using the friendly instructions are error messages. So here it is in a post.

I have learned so much about so much since I started this blog, but I just realized that I still have a long way to go. At least for now, all my friends can see what time it is for me, makes me feel just a little bit closer to them. One of my dear dear friends actually set his clocks' second time zone to mine so that he could always see when I was at any point in time. It truly is the small things we do for each other that show how much we care.

I don't have to be on the same continent or even in the same time zone as my loved ones, our hears are in sync and that's all that matters. Paper covers rock, and my love covers the distance.



Thursday, August 19, 2010

Maca-ron for it

Every morning on my way to work, I walk past this french pastisserie. It didn't take long before I became a regular customer, great cuppacinpos. And every time I notice,  nestled there among the croissants and brioches, are these colourful ,funny looking biscuit type things. I've never asked what they are, or tried one, but I finally found out what they are. Macarons. If these lovely pictures are anything to go by, I am in big, big trouble.







So basically they are a sweet confectionary made from a mixture similar to that of a meringue, made with egg whites, sugar and almond flour. Thank goodness I'm not allergic to nuts.

These aren't actual macarons, they are soaps! How adorable! Can be found on Etsy.

So tomorrow when I grab my morning coffee, I will be sure to get myself my very first macaron. Oh happy day.


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Ain't no sunshine

I am just about ready for Spring. As much as I love my fluffy pink striped slippers and my cuddly flannel pyjamas, I am over it. I am yearning for summer with every frozen fibre of my being. So I thought  a bit of positve and reinforcing summer scenario planning from my side might take my mind of the mercury and make summer come all the quicker.
So I started thinking about what summer means to me and my friends, and what most peole generally associate with the glorious season that brings us lazy days on the beach, sweet and cheeky cocktails, frolicky bikin tops and melting ice cream in your hands. And one image is undeniably ethed into my mind : a sweet and lovely lemonade stand.
Nothing makes you go "hmmmmm" like a glass of your favourite beverage, and lemonade is unmistakably the ultimate summer thirst quencher. So here is a selection of bits and pieces that I hope will keep me motived and happy till summer finally comes.


beautiful engagement photo by greenweddingshoes photography


Gorgeous lemonade stand. I think this is a great way to greet your guests outside a party, wedding or summer function. Image: Catch my Party




Antique style lemonade bottle cap wall clock from Amazon.


Holy moly, doesn't this lemon ice cream look yum enough to die for? You can find the recipe on Kuidaore.

Well I feel better already. Summer is just around the corner, and I'll be sure to have my cozzie and my camera ready when it finally arrives.




Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Bric n Brac: Retro vintage is back

The best things in life are often a combination of unlikely elements. Like when rain and sun collide to make magical rainbows for us to gaze at. And that's what Houkie Poukie is, a creative collision between vintage and retro, pre-loved and original, romantic and shocking neon. A can't-help-but-love, must-have,design label by Stefanie Nagel, one of my way back uni friends. Here is a glimpse of some of the pieces from the Houkie Poukie label. Notice the ultra-hip style of photography accentuates the down to earth models, all of who are personal friendzies of Stefanie. May we all be so lucky to have a famous friend one day.





You can check out Houkie Poukie on www.houkiepoukie.com or search "Houkie Poukie Clothing" on Facebook.


What I heart about Houkie Poukie is that it simply feels like playing dress up with your bbf. There is no high-end, overpriced, who-would-wear that feel about the clothes, it's just beautiful, fun, quirky, one of a kind creations, made with good old fashioned loooove.




And here are my favourite pics.

Pictures above and below: Photographer: Leonard Miller.
His pictures are awesome, not going to say much more about him now, check out for a post on him soon.



Encore Houkie Poukie!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Frankie for President

I bought my first ever copy of Frankie Magazine today, and oh what a blessed purchase it has been. I think I'm in love. A breath of fresh air to the overcrowded, repetitive and unorginal world of magazines. If you can't get your hands on a copy, check out their website www.frankie.com.au.

Cover for the 2009 Calender by Frankie Magazine. It features illustrations by Katherine Brickman, Catherine Campbell, Jen Corace, Tinee Kleinschroth, Marjorie Liucci, Kat Macleod, Beci Orpin, Erin Paisley-Stueber, Lilly Piri, Rob Ryan, Mel Stringer and Eveline Tarunadjaja. Absolutely beautiful.


Sunday, August 15, 2010

Pencil Power

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I am amazed time and time again by the sheer creativity of some people. If you ever doubted the power of innovation and patience, maybe this will change your mind.
Check out these amazing minisculptures by Dalton Ghetti. He transforms pencil tops and ends into astonishing miniture sculptures. Wow.


This piece is the alphabet from A-Z. The precision is just stunning. I wonder how many pencils it took to come up with this end product?


Amazing isn't it? It takes Dalton days even weeks to create one of these pieces. I think I would give up after an hour. I will leave the pencils up to Dalton and stick to my keyboard.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

My bucket-list for kisses

I believe every girl has a list of fantasy kisses. Mostly this list is populated with  kissing scenes from romantic chick flieks, but most boys hate watching them, so how are they ever supposed to know our top fantasy smooches? Well, just in case I ever get my own exclusive smoocher, here is my list of fantasy pecks in no specific order.

First up, the "Umbrella kiss". Bonus points if it rains.


The Sailor Kiss. This one doesn't have to be with a sailor, but I want to be dipped down like a hollywood actress for this smooch. I love this picture, it's absolutely timeless. It was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in Times Square on Aug 14, 1945 during the celebration of V-J day, a celebration to mark the end of World War II. He didn't record the names of the two people in the picture, which I think just makes the picture all the more special. Just a caption of a perfect moment in time.



The "Upside down Kiss". Yep, you don't have to kiss Spidy to make this one happen.



The "Underwater Kiss"



The "Train Departure Kiss"



I better get working on a boyfriend if I'm to get through all these kisses!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

In the eye of the beholder

Some people simply amaze me. I am absolutely in awe of the sheer magnitude of creativity that certain people posses. I wish I had more of it, but I don't, so for now, I am happy to simply spread the news of their wonderful work to others.

I stumbled upon Martin Horspool's work while flipping through a magazine. Martin, a Welshman, went to Art colleges in Wrexham and Liverpool and currently lives in New Zealand. He travels all around and spends a lot of time searching for and collecting bits of scrap material to make his pieces. Most people would consider old and broken flashlights, door handles and other household appliances useless, but Martin takes these items and turns them into this:





I love this one, especially the detail on the feet. I will never look at the "H" on my tap again without thinking of this little guy

I think this next one is how most women wish they were equipped most days. Love the old sugar tin.


The next one is my favourite of them all. One word: Coffee.


This one is simply adorable. It's just magical how the character takes on a personality. Love the splash of colour and the salt and pepper shakers.

The pics that I have put up here are only a hand full of my favourite ones. Check out loads more original creations by Margin on his website: www.buggyrobot.com



LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails