Happy love Friday

Happy first day of February. Official month of love. Official glorious summer weather in Jo'burg. Unofficial actual start of my year (January may be the beginning but not my actual start).

{NY, October 2012}

Here are some links from around the web of things I love:

Our beautiful country feature on global sites
Craftmanship
Finding your inner child
Chocolate
DIY Valentines cards 
Odd balls and eccentrics
Swings
Walls of curiosities and fascinating things
Dinners at home
Day dreaming of far away places

Have a great day and better weekend xoxox

I say IKEA

It is always a sad day when you have to leave behind your beloved IKEA furniture. Furniture grows on you. It's part of your nest. In London I left behind a toolbox (which I passed on to a beloved Londoner) and a bookshelf that I roped an old-friend-from-way-back into carrying from the IKEA store to my apartment on the tube in peak traffic. Luckily I managed to fit a vintage looking (although mass produced) bowl and a blue frame into my bags as I set off to America. And then, a couple of years later I had to say goodbye to a bed, large bookshelf, dining table (whose assembly caused that belly-aching laugh) and many other odds and ends as there was no way their value could justify the shipping cost back to South Africa.

So you can imagine my delight when I found out that there is a way to get IKEA to South Africa without the exorbitant shipping costs that has prevented the idea thus far. Nevada furniture imports IKEA furniture to South Africa. They put orders in once a month and shipping costs are shared. It is a pretty easy system to submit your order.

I did some rough estimates on costing and it works out at about double the price of the item in IKEA. However, it still works out as a great deal for cool furniture.

 {All images from IKEA}

Guest post: Honeymoon

The husband and I went on honeymoon over December instead of straight after the wedding. Of course, everyone thinks that they did things the perfect way, but for us it was wonderful to have the honeymoon to look forward to after all the wedding excitement had cooled down. 

We chose Hong Kong and Vietnam for our romantic trip. The husband had been to HK before, but I had never and now it is definitely one of my favourite cities in the world. We chose Vietnam because I had always wanted to go their, we wanted an adventure and neither of us had visited the country before. We had a glorious trip... I want to go back.

Here are some of our pics. 

The Hong Kong skyline

 

The crazy Hong Kong streets

The busy streets of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam

Bicycle love in Ho Chi Minh City

One of the many pagodas in Ho Chi Minh City

The food market in Hue, central Vietnam

 The most blissful town in Vietnam, Hoi An

Cycling through the countryside, Hoi An

Halong Bay, the most spectacular site! 

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam

Vintage post

I was going through some old posts of mine from my first blog (!) came across this draft post I wrote 5 years ago. January 2008 doesn't seem that far away but reading this makes it seem like a life time. I like the honesty I had then. And the expectations. There's a good dose of uncertainty. Maybe I haven't changed that much? It makes me wonder what I will think about myself as I am now, in 5 years time... 

 {via here}

hello goodbye

According to the Chinese, the year of the Golden Pig occurs only once every 600 years. One could say it's a significant year. 2007 was a significant year for me. I should have known because throughout 2006 I kept thinking it was 2007. It was a year of extremes: I cried my eyes out and laughed til I cried. I had some of the best days of my life, and the worst day. There was no specific changing event: no deaths or births, or moves to another country. But there were many moments that changed me or at least revealed something new. I danced with with more abandon, I visited new cities. I became more adventurous. I got very little sleep. I had my heart broken. I lost my best friend. I fell in love. Twice. I realised that not everything is possible but also learned that you are never given a wish without the power to realise it. I spent my first Christmas away from my family. I made friends I want to keep forever. I questioned myself. About many things. And didn't find as many answers but realised that's life. I don't know if I would say I grew up, but I got to know myself a bit better.

I have just finished studying. I'm looking for a job. I'm moving apartments. And I have no idea what is going to happen. A perfect way to start a new year. I just have to figure out what I want to wish for...

We all need a pep talk

 Have a good week awesome peeps. xoxo

On breakfast

In the week, I start my day off with a super healthy breakfast: raw muesli with a sprinkling of Miracles Plus Plus (yes, that is really what my mix of flax seed, sunflower seed, sesame seed and pumpkin seed is called - Rich in essential fatty acids. Bursting with life potential. Incredibly nutritious - how can you resist?), soaked in boiling water, and topped with bananas, peaches and blueberries. Quite delicious in fact.

However, one of my favourite breakfasts is so completely the opposite. So thank goodness  this breakfast can only be found on the other side of the world: French brioche, soaked in syrup  laden with bananas, walnuts and mascarpone cheese. And THAT is what I feel like this morning.

Have a lovely day readers xoxo

Guest post: Wedding pics

This is a bit of a long post but I couldn't choose which wedding pics from our photographers Travis and Maike, of We Love Pictures, to share with you... so here they are.