Carly's Cameras

When my blogger bud, Carly, posted these today, I practically cartwheeled off the couch! Well, I hyperventilated and asked her if I could pleeeease tell you guys about them. She sweetly said yes, and here they are, her latest awesome illustrations. I've cropped 'em a bit here but you can see the full size  pics on her blog. I love the treatment she gave these. I love cameras. I love Carly's work!

Babies, Bunnies, Birds & Bulldogs

The bunny and bird is the best R10 I've spent in an age! I've also updated Smitten with some family pics. How precious are these kiddies? More snaps coming soon to the blog and Facebook page.

You can meet these guys and their parents here x

Pretty Things

These are just a few lovelies I spotted at Fat Tuesday after my visit to the SPCA. The 'Tuesday website is looking awesome by the way! And for those who wanted to know more about the SPCA, the Kloof team has a Facebook page here and their physical address is 29 Village Road, Kloof, KZN, South Africa. I'm so happy to hear that many of you know and love this place as well!

Hey Portia, you're so fine

I ran into an old friend at Corner Cafe. This is Portia and she is a delight! I thought she looked so cute, I just had to snap her for Gloss. Poor friends, always being thrown into spontaneous shoots!

The Kloof SPCA (A thifter's paradise!)

I treated myself to a morning of funtivities on Saturday! "Funtivities" is a term I like to borrow from Michael Scott - my second hero, after Adrian Mole. So can you believe the last time I visited the Kloof SPCA was when was about six - six! That's shocking. Well, virtually every time I stop someone in Durban to ask them where they got their bag / scarf / top, they reply, "Kloof SPCA" or "Hospice." Hence, I've been meaning to visit the shops and animals of the Kloof SPCA for an age. Twenty-two years to be exact. Problem is, Saturday mornings are usually a write off for me. I tend to sleep in shamefully late. But not this Saturday. Craig and I were off at 11am (Ha! Still late) and took a gander around the SPCA premises. OH MY WORD. It is awesome! Clothes, vinyls, books, zillions of ceramic animals (and real ones), plants, old 80's printers, Soda Stream machines, crazy 70's curtains, VINTAGE CAMERAS - whatever you can think of that was awesome from the past is here. And you can take 200 zars and practically buy the whole shop. Well, sort of. Not really but there are some amazing gems at brilliant prices to be found here. It is my new place to go - for everything! And all the proceeds go towards helping the animals. What could be better than that.

I only had 40 bucks on me but I bought two cokes, a camera and two ceramic animals that I will show you soon. Thanks for a wonderful morning SPCA! And yes, I'm back this week:)

Be Back Soon (I hope!)

Sheesh guys, three days without blogging - think that's a record for me! I'm just popping in to say I might be 'offline' for a bit longer than I'd like. 2011 is proving to be a very busy year and I'm currently in the midst of many a project. Apologies if you've emailed me about blog stuff and I haven't responded. I promise I will as soon as the dust settles. In the mean time, here is an 'outfit post' from the other day. Sorry I look a bit snobby - don't think my face wanted to play ball that day! Well guys, this is Red Squirrel, over and out for now. Have wonderful weekends and chat soon hopefully.

PS: Wouldn't wanna type out a whole letter on that typewriter - takes so much space just to punch out three words (Ha! I'm delirious.)

Louder Than Silence

Whenever someone new comments on Gloss, I do my best to click on over to their blog. Well, the other day I received a comment from Louder Than Silence and when I clicked on their blog link, I  virtually lept off the couch with happiness! They are a British couple who scribble about music, design and fashion. Their blog is full of dreamy outfit posts and whimsical encounters. My heart pines for London while reading their posts! They actually remind me of a British version of Hannah and Landon. I especially love to follow London-based bloggers because they help me feel connected to my old home-for-a-year. So if you have a link to share, please don't feel shy.



Thank you so much for your encouraging words about Smitten! It's thanks to you lot that I decided to give it a go so cheers gang!

Smitten Pictures...my 'business' baby!

Hello guys! Hope you all are having lush weekends? I've got a bit of news to share today. Because my thoughts are bit scrambled at the mo', I thought I'd scribble 'em down in bite-sized bullet points.

• It turns out I do have a 'proper' New Year's resolution. Or more of a goal, per se. I'd love to develop my photography this year - so much so, that I've decided to have a bash at some weekend freelance work. (I still work full-time in advertising.) My new little biz goes by the name of Smitten Pictures! Pro photogs - you may commence eye-balling rolling sequence at another amateur with a DSLR!
• I want to put lots of TLC into Smitten's 'brand' as it were but I haven't begun proper work on it yet. I'm hoping to have some stationery and marketing material good to go by April.
• Smitten does have a blog but it's a bit like a stripped down version of Gloss at the mo. I do have some ideas on making it a fun place to visit so do swing by for 'tea' and pictures!
• If (hopefully, when) I do some official shoots, I'll bung a pic or two on Gloss and then post the rest on Smitten.
• You can also find Smitten on Facebook - wahey! Hopefully, that will grow into a cheerful community of clients and friends. Right now there's only 20 odd of us, bless.
• I also treated myself to a Flash Gun for Christmas. I expect to not buy as much as a pair of socks till April. It's gonna be awesome. Photography = skintness.
• I am a bit concerned that I have minimal equipment and experience but hey, ya gotta start somewhere I suppose.
• Here is a pic of me scarfing down cake at Unit 11. A guest post to follow on their blog soon.

PS: I'm hoping to have some relaxed shoots under my belt before I even contemplate weddings but I would love to shoot some whimsical weddings one day!

Sweet Storage Ideas

Before I made digital scrapbooks, I made real-life ones. Those were the days, eh? Toiling with scissors, glue and sugar paper. I still like to pull things out of magazines (Mom, ha! How much am I like you with this!?) and keep 'em for future reference. I really love these storage ideas that were in Elle SA about a year and a half ago. Does anyone know where you can find an old coat rack like this in SA? We don't wear coats in Durbs so I doubt I'll find such a gem. Any ideas guys? Thanks in advance!

Brighton, you beauty

I was flicking through some old photos last night and I came across this Brighton bunch. Craig and I spent a dreamy weekend with friends in the famous seaside town one summer. We did all the crazy things you do in Brighton and I absolutely loved it. I mean, LOVED it. This place has the trappings of my dreams - ferris wheels, music stores, vintage galore, my name on candy. That's right people, - candy. Heck, it is even has a South African store on the pier so I can stock up on home essentials should I ever get homesick. I think that pic of me with my 99 Cone pretty much sums up just how happy I was. And the best part about that trip - Kid Rock's, "All Summer Long" had just been released and played all weekend long so we even had our own holiday soundtrack!

I'd love to know what your dream town is!

Vintage Camera Illy!

Today I found this wonderful illustration of vintage cameras! They're drawn by Christine Berrie, a Glasgow-based artist with an Etsy shop and blog full of beautiful pieces. I'm just in love with this!

Lose your cool in public

That's a Kills lyric that always reminds me of the awkwardness that is outift picture taking! And speaking of pictures, I found some great photoshop actions via Lily's Blog. I downloaded a bunch from here and tweaked one of 'em to edit these pics. I mentioned the actions on Twitter and loads of you said that you love using them too - they're so much fun! I've also noticed a few new eyeballs around here and I just wanted to say 'Hello and thanks for visiting!'

This entire outfit is Mr Price (ha!) except the bag which is from Aldo and the sunnies which are from Woolies.