IM DREAMING OF A GLAM CHRISTMAS

Be warned, I am obsessed with Christmas! From now on there will be dangerous amounts of jingle bells, ho ho ho's and a sickening amount of cheer and general Christmas based hysteria oozing out of this blog so don't say I didn't warn you! What better way to start the official kick off to Christmas obsessing than with this glorious gold and silver Christmas decor... 

 Via Citified

Via prinscharming

HOW DID WE MISS THIS

I was at a little farmstall in the Karkloof this weekend and there was the most hilarious guinea pig waddling around that looked exactly like Zach Galifianakis's.  Can you see the striking resemblance? I can't believe we never saw this sooner...

BUNTING LOVE

I am currently having a love affair with bunting. It is so simple and also super affordable I saw one made out of newspaper and gold foil the other day and it was so so gorgeous. All you need is some scissors a piece of pretty string and a whole pile of triangles and you can make something really pretty. You could even add some baubles and string it up over your Christmas tree- I think Im going to experiment.

1. Bunting and lanterns via lefleurdelis . 2 . Advent calendar bunting via Insidetheloop . 3 . Cake bunting via Wedfully . 4 . Disk bunting- source unknown . 5 . Classic bunting via Emmas design Blog . 6 . Bunting Illustration via Sugarspicedesignblog

HAIR DO HOW TO

In only 1 more day Christmas party season will be upon us (I am hysterical with excitement and already have my Woolies advent calendar ready and waiting). For the most part December is a fab month packed with family, sunshine and lots of delicious mince pies nom nom nom. There is however, a small window of panic that bursts open onto some days releasing a flurry of panic in the form of the onslaught of Christmas party's. The never ending hysterical wardrobe mining as you feverishly dig to the depths of your cupboard trying to find something that will help you camouflage the evidence of all those mince pies without making you actually look like a mince pie. Unfortunately there is little that I can do to help you keep that window of doom firmly shut what I can do is show you how to whip up a killer hair do in 6 easy steps... so you can spend more time panicking over what to wear... (source - Citified)

{one} 
Using a round brush, blow-dry hair smooth and straight, focusing on the top sections

{two} 
Once dry, use a large-barrel curling iron to create waves from the ears down

{three}
Build height and volume at the crown by teasing hair gently with a fine-tooth comb

{four}
Gather hair into a low ponytail; twist it along the nape of your neck, pinning as you go

{five}
Once you reach your ear, shape the remaining hair into curls, and pin them back over

{six}
Red, red lips and platform peeptoes and you're set!

POSITIVE VIBES FOR MONDAY'S THOUGHTS

WILTON ARTISANS

Don't you think these bottle top necklaces from Wilton Artisans are such a lovely way to recycle old bottle tops? They could make really cute Christmas baubels too -  ah christmas, Im too excited!

WE BE LOVIN' IT

Because

In today's day and age saying you  like something pretty much means sh*t. Facebook's little button has found its way onto just about every t shirt, Chinese vase and hamburger costume for your dog and very few fb statuses have been left un "liked" and "poked." Liking something is just not enough anymore. That's where WElove comes in. WElove is a place you can go when you just love something so much you want to blog it, tweet it, cry hysterically because of it, but you don't want people to think you are an obsessive lunatic. When you have these urges about things like great coffee, sushi, shoes, french fries or even good looking spatulas (speaking of, have you seen the LeCruset ones at Yuppiechef?) go to www.welove.net and spill out your emotions in a safe an contained environment for all the world to see. If you are completely devoid of emotion and are looking for something to love, head over there and click about. Who knows you could find the Sushi restaurant to spend your life at.

LEOPARD PRINT LEGGINGS IN THE PARK

Being Wednesday and the middle of the week (nothing exciting ever happens on Wednesday) all I figured I would give you guys a little pick me up in the form of weekend entertainment. What are you up to? I am planning on hitting the DUT show on Friday night, I must say I had a little sneak peak of some of the designers stuff and I was totally blown away by some of the garments you should come check it out. Saturday will see me hitting Woolies for a cold bottle of Pierre Jordan Tranquille, some melba toast dippers and a little pate which will be accompanying me and my leopard print leggings to the Mango Groove concert in PMB.
 

 I went to the one in the Durban Bot gardens and it was an absolute hoot so I am giving you 4 days to call your mates, get organised, dust off your shoulder pads and make plans to hit PMB for a little fruit salaad. The show will start around 15h00 and will cost R150 smackeroos tickets are available at the PMB spar or on Ticketbreak. See you there:)

THE TRIPPLE "I HEART DURBAN" WHAMMY

Do you know what I love more than a Christmas market? 3 Christmas markets:) Hooray!

WOMEN'S HEALTH GIVES US THE SKINNY ON HEALTHY SNACKING

Womens Health has the raddest website filled with fantastic tips and tricks on keeping a sexy, healthy bod. It is jam packed with work-out, health and weight-loss inspiration that will have you on the road to bootayliciousness in no time. This is what they suggest you add to your shopping list if you are looking to bring the heat to Summer. Do you have any other suggestions we can add to the list?

 

1. Woolworths Melba Toast Dippers   2. Parmalat Fabulite Strawberry Yoghurt  
3. Woolworths Raw Breakfast Mix    4. Weigh-Less Microwave Or Air-Popped Popcorn 

5. Solero Mini Lollies  6. El Paso Wholegrain Tortillas   7. Woolworths Brilliant Braai Prego Chicken Fillets

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY WITH RUSSEL WASSERFALL

I am so excited I could pop! I don't care what I have to sell to be able to raise the rubels to do this course. If you are a budding food blogger like myself, you should recognise this here bull and grab it by the horns, I sure as hell am going to:)

 

The Blogger Course
Photography for Food Bloggers aims to equip all those interesting people who are blogging about food with the skills to work at improving their photography and add to the quality of food images out there. Along with my comely young assistant Sarah, we will look at how a camera works and getting the best out of what you have, how to use natural and artificial light, making creative and styling choices, post-production and processing and then applying all this to food still-life and portrait photography. Discussions about the industry and the craft will be led throughout. And we'll feed you lunch.
See here for more info.

BANANA LOAF

 I can say with one hundred percent certainty that this is the best flippen banana bread recipe on the planet- ever! It is mandatory that you serve it straight out of the oven, slices must be thick as door stops and smothered in cold butter, you could eat it some other way but I'm not quite sure on how to top my serving suggestion it really is the only way.

 




2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
120 g butter
2 eggs
3 big ripe bananas (the browner the better- bananas
that look the worst often make the best banana loaf)
65ml water
a splash of vanilla essence
7 ml baking powder
5 ml bicarb
some salt

1. Beat together the butter and sugar until you get a light fluffy mixture that's baby yellow in colour.

2. Shmoosh the bananas in with the butter mixture (your mixture might look like it has split but ignore this all will be made right later)

3. Beat in the eggs until the mixture is nice and smooth, then, chuck in the flour, baking powder and salt and stir to blend.

4. Dissolve the bicarb into the water and chuck in the vanilla essence then beat the liquid into the batter.

5. Grab a bread tin, I personally like to line it with baking paper but f you don't feel like the luss its not an issue just grease it up, pour the banana mixture into the tin and chuck it in the oven at 180 degrees C for about 45 minutes or until your kitchen smells like a cloud of banana heaven.

WASHI TAPE ALERT!

The day of celebration is upon us! and our days of pining and scheming are over, finally. Washi tape has been made available to us needy Saffers thanks to the best company in the Universe- In Good Company. I don't know about you but my Christmas wrapping is pretty much going to bring down the house this year, who cares what is inside the box when its all stuck together with awesome washi love hooray! get yours here. P.S please don't be selfish and buy it all, lets be kind and leave some for our friends too:)

CANDICE BOUCHER FOR KENNETH WILLARDT

If Edward Cullen had a love child with a girl version of Marilyn Manson (when she was going through a pin-up phase) in a grungy back alley I imagine this is what the kid would grow up to look like, not to shabby but im not sure if its my vibe, do you like?

IT TAKES TWO TO TWANGOO

How cool is Twangoo? I have recently been introduced to this clever little venture and I must say it's pretty cool.  Twangoo is a super cool buying club that has harnessed the power of collective buying to bring you the best most exclusive deals in SA. You just rock up on their site and all the deals are there just waiting to be scooped up.  Deals include stuff like spa packages, tickets to shows,  meals at premium restaurants all kinds of rad stuff and all at very very reduced prices.

Here’s how it works:
1) See something you like? Reserve your deal by clicking the "buy now" button and entering your credit card details.
2) Once the required number of people have signed up to the daily offer, the deal is on - so invite your friends using email, Twitter or Facebook.
3) If the required number of people signs up then the deal tips! Only at that point will we charge your credit card for the deal. Once the payment is completed you will receive the voucher by email.
4) If not enough people sign up, the deal is canceled and you will not be charged a cent.

Twangoo is pretty much operating in most owns of SA and has finally got their act together and launched in Durbs so we can share in the fun too ( Durbs gets left out so often- thanks for nothing 30 seconds to mars) anyway Head over to Twangoo, perooze their deals and click away, im personally gunning for the massage so I can float around on a cloud and be glowey like this chick...

 Love the lighting in this shoot see more of it here

FREEDOM CAFE

 

Oh.My.Lord have you even been to Freedom Cafe? Yesterday I was lucky enough to go on a lunch date with one of the Girls and I actually left feeling depressed, cheated in fact, that I have been living up the road for months satisfying my hunger with regular lunch things like cous cous and chicken salad when all along, my taste soul mate has been living practicaly next door. Travesty. I don't even think mo and I said a word to each other from the moment the food arrived we were both too involved in our sexy little lunches. I tucked into a tart made by the lord himself Wild Mushroom tart that just too ridiculously scrummy, a light, heart shaped, pastry shell stuffed full of all kinds of mushies- ooooh yum:) Mo had a squash Lasagne, I had a bite and then spent the rest of the lunch torn between loving mine and being jealous of hers! 

  
Our service was super, all the staff were really friendly and keen to tend to our every beck and call with giant smiles on their faces. Freedom Cafe comes highly recommended. 

Like I need help picking a pastry, why would I pick one and leave the others out- that's just nasty:) Nom Nom Nom

  XXX Mints with your bill, nice touch.

ONDAS AND THANDANA OPENDAY!

We all know that you actually eat your lunch at 10am and then have to suffer through your lunch break empty stomached. I offer  a solution for today. Leave the lunch break blues at your desk and pop down to the Ondas and Thandana open day. If you box clever you can have half your Xmas shopping done before you can say tuna salad:) See you there ladies

 

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

EMMA WATSON FOR VOGUE UK

I cannot get over how beautiful this girl is. She was a knockout when she had a full head of hair and now she has chopped it all off to reveal a startlingly elegant young woman. What a beauty. Shot by Mario Testino.