Why Portugal Should Win The World Cup

I have just received these pics from my little sister...

On that note, have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!

Voyeurism

The home of artist Francesa DiMattio has some really off-the-wall, creative elements. Refinery29 featured this eccentric New York apartment yesterday and referred to it as apartment porn. I particularly love the skull mobile!

{See more pics of the apartment here}

Another i-thing

Apple has just launched a brand new product: the iPad. Touted as the "best way to experience the web, email. photos, and video. Hands down."

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To me it looks like a laptop screen, with all the functions of a laptop! (Read more about the features here). How handy. However, although I am a big Apple fan I am not exactly known for having the latest greatest tech gadgets, (I am still using a phone from four years ago) I don't think this is going to be top of my list of purchases.

The Nose and other adventures

Last night The Husband and I went to the launch of William Kentridge's The Nose series of etchings, along with a newly published book on the series, at David Krut Bookstore at Arts on Main. The Nose is based on the Shostakovich opera by the same name, which follows a story of a nose which leaves a face and travels the world! You can read more about it here, and lucky New Yorkers can see the opera at the Lincoln this March. It was wonderful to hear Kenrtidge explain the art of etching and I even got him to sign a copy of the book.

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It turned out to be quite an eventful evening: on the way there we decided to avoid the traffic-jammed highway and go straight through the middle of town. Shortly after the decision was made our car (actually my mom's!) started flashing red lights and smoke. Not a good sign. Luckily a petrol station was in view, so ignoring warnings of potential explosions we cautiously made our way there.

Garages in downtown Jo'burg are not quite the same as those in the Northern suberbs. In 5 minutes we had 5 heads in our bonnet watching green liquid bubble and spray out of some thingymajig. After 40 minutes a homeless guy, in a leopard print, wide brimmed hat and black trench coat, who seemed to be incharge of the repair operations declared us good to go.To the sound of applause from the onlookers we rushed back to our apartment, changed cars and still made it to the book launch (albeit 40 minutes late)!

LaZy BoNeS

I used to be an avid Yoga-goer. My apartment in New York was literally around the corner from the most wonderful yoga studio, East Yoga so there were no excuses for being lazy. It was the perfect start to a Saturday, and a perfect end to a Tuesday (after which my yoga-buddy and I would usually end up at some little neighborhood tapas bar like Pata Negra or Mercadito Cantina and undo all the good effects!). On most weeks I would go two or three times.

Since I have moved to Johannesburg I have not been such an avid class attendee, depsite finding the perfect replacement studio just up the road from me, Yoga Warrior. However, with three classes expiring at the end of the month (that is in one week time!) I have decided that today is the day I re-embrace my inner yogi and make yoga class a regular thing. Namaste.

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Of course, class attendence would be a lot easier were it to be accompanied by Stella McCartney's 2010 Adidas yoga collection. My favourite get up is this one, but check out this cool video promoting her entire 2010 Adidas range.

Weekend Review

Sunday mornings.. sigh

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Monday is almost over and I am still thinking about my weekend! I went out for dinner with the husband to a little restaurant two blocks away from us. We go there more for the setting (you can sit outside on their balcony) and the location (we walk there) than the food but it was perfect for a summer eve.

Saturday morning my sister and I walked walked to the Jo'burg food market (which you can read about here) and then I went along to give little sister moral support while she had her hair cut into a gorgeous new style, at Wyatt Hairdressing in Stanley Ave. I can't wait to book an appointment there myself!

On Sunday the husband and I went to Arts on Main (more on that later this week and here), cooked up a Sunday brunch feast and then watched the Australian Open (we finally got our TV installed!).

Happy weekend!!

I'm hoping for sunshine but it looks like it is going to be a rainy one.

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Can't stop the rain

It's another soaking wet day in Johannesburg- a perfect time to post my pics I took on a rainy day in downtown New York.

Pronunciation: \ˈhwim-zi-kəl, ˈwim-\

My sister celebrated her 30th birthday this weekend- under the trees in my parents' garden. It was a beautiful night and a perfect way to bring in a new decade.

Then...

The whimsical invitations

Decor by my sister and a friend's company In Good Company

Jo'burg summer evening

The guests- I love the effect of one long table

Interactive dessert: make your own lemon meringue pie from lemon curd, meringue, crushed biscuits, coconut flakes and pomegranate seeds

A birthday is not complete without a candles and a cake!

SA vs England

It was my first time at a live cricket match. I don't understand the game but it is a great way to spend a summer's day. And South Africa won!!

The Owl House

On our road trip we turned off onto a long, winding dirt road to arrive at the almost-deserted off to Nieu-Bethesda.

The reason for the detour was to see the Owl House , once the home of the strange and disturbed Helen Martins. The place was as strange and disturbed as one would imagine but at least I have now seen it.

Road tripping

The husband and I took a road trip down to his family's beach house for the holidays. We took two days each way and stopped over in Colesburg and Graaff-Reinet for the night. In Colesburg we stayed in the same guest house we stayed in on our first road trip together (and second date!).

However, it was my first time in Graaff-Reinet and loved the little town. We saw Pierneef's station panels at the Pierneef Museum, located in a beautifully renovated old church.

Pierneef station panel - Karoo

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We had a delicious dinner of oxtail and lamb curry at De Camdeboo restaurant at the Drostdy Hotel where we were staying but next time we go I want to try the legendary Gordon's Restaurant.

Speaking of books...

Isn't this a wonderful advert for the Prague bookstore Anagram:

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Middlesex

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974."

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And so begins Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex, one of the best books I have read in a long time. Recommended to me by my husband I highly recommend it.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

2009 told through pictures by Boston.com is worth a look!

A girl displaced from her home by a huge tidal wave caused by Cyclone Aila, stands in front of her temporary shelter on a river dam in Satkhira in southwestern Bangladesh June 2, 2009.

(REUTERS/Andrew Biraj)

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Bengal Tiger Kingda Ka smashes pumpkins during Fall at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, November 8, 2009. (REUTERS/Six Flags Great Adventure)

This is my favourite picture- unfortunately it is at Six Flags.

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An eruption of Mt. Redoubt seen at sunset from the cockpit of a DC-6 flying over Cook Inlet near Anchorage, Alaska on March 31, 2009. Photograph kindly provided by Bryan Mulder - pilot and photographer. (© Bryan Mulder)

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Mild Monday afternoon

I should be job hunting but thoughts of the holiday in Mozambique are a good distraction!

Happy weekend!

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Wonderland

Snowflakes {source}

Sweaters and scarves {source}

Snow cabins{source}

Hermes winter campaign {source}

Snow in the city

Winter skyline

It's the most perfect summer day in Johannesburg: 30 degrees celcius, no wind, dark clouds forming on the horizon, everything as green as it possibly can be... but a tiny part of me misses freezing cold New York mid winters.