Thursday, April 28

The Pink Frock

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Aloha! Hope my fellow Saffers are feeling well rested from all the public holidays? I had one goal for these holidays: to clock the Rio version of Angry Birds...and I did it! Well, I clocked the first two levels that came with the demo. Still. It was a proud moment. The little things, eh? So this is the vintage pink dress I bought in Howick a few weeks ago. It was only R30 but it has so much detail on it. You can't really tell from the pics but the hem, sleeves and collar all have a beautiful trim. I'm not sure what it's called...when there's a pattern cut out from the fabric...not embroidery. Anyway, it's very pretty. I'm not sure where I'm gonna wear it. A tea party perhaps? Anyhow, what else? The Royal Wedding tomorrow! I heard some people are having tea parties at work to celebrate! I kinda want to go back to work tomorrow with little treats and bung on the telly to watch with everyone. (Hi colleagues if you're reading!) Well, the original version of Angry Birds calls. Chat to you soon! x

Monday, April 25

Old Toys

Yesterday, I thrifted my own old cupboard! Well, my mom did. And by 'thrifted' I mean we dug out my Fischer Price toys. The popper and phone are a bit worse for wear but these musical ones have fared rather well. They even work still! I thought I would snap 'em before the stickers fade away. x

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Friday, April 22

Happy Easter

Just popping in to wish you all a Happy Easter! I'm on leave for eleven days and it feels absoluely marvellous. The weather in Durban is so lush this time of year! This morning, I bought two vintage tins and noshed some delicious scrambie eggs. Hope you're all having a blissful break as well. x

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PS: The tag swopping on the previous post was part of the (cliched) gag. Terribly cheesy I know! 
And the jar of goodies above is from Cupcake Couture.

Tuesday, April 19

Separated at birth....

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My mom dug out this gem a few weeks ago.
I've asked her to keep looking - I know there's a snap of me wheeling a Vuitton into a playschool. 
Cuz that's just how I rolled back then.
Oh my, I do think I'm hilarious at 11:51pm (!)

And the winner is...

....Jacci Hall! Congratulations girl. You just bagged all these goodies.
But remember, I did say the winner would have to fight me for them in an epic dual.
So Jacci, I'll send you an e-vite to that. It's gonna be great.

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To everyone else who entered, thank you sooo much. I'm wracked with guilt because you all wrote such hilarious/heart wrenching reasons about why you need a harmonica in your life. As soon as Steve Jobs (or whoever is the head of Acer in my case) invents the laptop that dispenses harmonicas, you'll all be getting one. That nugget of ridiculousness has alieved my guilt a smidge.

Monday, April 18

Bits & Bobs

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Hello guys. How were your weekends? Better than mine I hope! We woke up to find a dead bird on our balcony which was rather traumatic and  I spent the days in bed, plagued by sniffles and sinus grumbles. It's not like me to be so sickly and I hope I get over it soon. On a positive note, Craig  made Tacos while I had fun downloading tape strips and other cute thing from Pugly Pixel. Thanks to Nadia for the tip off! Crumbs, I can't seem to go a day without linking her. We're not in some linking conspiracy, I promise! Also, I'm drawing the giveaway winner tomorrow so Saffers, you still have today to enter if you haven't already. On top of the weekend blues, it rained non-stop so I only have these oldie pics to blog. Do you like the sailboat earrings I made? I'm quite chuffed with them! Well, here's to a happier week, let's hope.

Friday, April 15

East Coast Cat

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Well look at this cute cat. I met Jess and her friend, Meg, outside Mooi the other day. I love this look. The boots say, 'Mosh Pit,' the shorts say 'Sand Pit' and the sunnies say 'Ditch Jolie for me Brad Pitt.' Ha. See what I did there? I attempted wit. And failed. But it's late so you'll forgive me? Thanks guys.

Thursday, April 14

Warning - The book induces frenetic tea-fuelled home revamps

If - like me - you have an insatiable thirst for bric-a-brac-and-knick-and-knacks, you should probably not by this book because it will escalate your obsession to a whole new level. You will no doubt end up googling pink chairs and Union Jack bunting at one in the morning. Why not crank up the crazy and google 'cat to cuddle with in all manner of cuteness.' I know I did. And it lead to some weird things. But what I am trying to say is, Spaces is amazing. I know it has done the rounds on blogville but that is because it is everything us bloggers adore, bound into one awesome book. Saffers, you can order a copy from Nadia. Overseas humans - you can probably find one in your local bookstore.

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Wednesday, April 13

Rails to rummage through

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Nadia and Sarah pictured above.

These are just a handful of pics I've snapped on various thrifting adventures. Nothing says fun to me like a rail of pre-loved and vintage clothes! I spend a ridiculous amount of time day-dreaming about owning a cute little store, packed to the hilt with treasures and trinkets. I'm sure many of you do too? x

Tuesday, April 12

The retro Cupcake Couture giveaway!

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It's giveaway time but the winner of these will have to fight me for them in an epic dual.
Nadia has sponsored four awesome prizes and I've chucked in a few random fun ones too.
(I know, alot of CC going on in this blog. What can I say? I love me some CC shizzle.)

Up for grabs from Cupcake Couture are:
Three retro postcards with brown envelopes. One has a Diana Camera illy on it - it's cuteariffic.
A blue and yellow corsage fit for Betty Draper herself.
A sweet box of buttons because...well, who doesn't love buttons?
A pair of vintage-esque earrings that your gran will arm wrestle ya for.

Bonus goodies include:
Kitshy playing cards for wintery nights by the fireplace. (Or braai, ay Saffers?)
A harmonica for singing the blues because it's not nearly cold enough to have a fire in South Africa.
(Or at least in Durban.)
A bunch of candy jewels to get you lookin' like a blinged out Oompa Loompa.

The winner takes all! Dun dun duh duh!

Who can enter: South African gals..'n guys. Sorry overseas buds - next time!
How to enter: Tell me in a comment why you need a harmonica in your life. You know you do.

Extra Entries
Follow Glossary with Google Friend Connect
Follow Cupcake Couture with Google Friend Connect
Tweet about the giveaway. You can follow me here and Nadia here.
Join the Cupcake Couture Facebook group.

These are all not-so-subtle 'follow us' options. We're ok with this if you are.

Please tell me about each entry in a separate comment. Each comment = an entry!
This is complicated stuff people.
The winner will be drawn a week from now using random.org. Good luck and God Speed.
I snapped the prizes against the awesome Wonderwoman coffee table book that my friend Cath got me for Christmas. It is one of my most prized possessions. Thank you Catherine. (I suspect you may in fact, be Wonderwoman.)

Friday, April 8

Durban Street Style

Is it next week? Nope, ah well, I'm back! These are two of the gorgeous gals I snapped for Elle a little while back. The luurvly Genevieve Motely and the super duper talented Sinead from Fire Through the Window. Not all the pics made it in the mag because of space issues but at least I can blog 'em. x

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PS: Another Durban gal named Lauren (there were a bunch of us born in the 80's) has started a lush online fashion store called Lolly Loves. Ya can check it out here. There is also a pic of me dressed like a granny in the street style section. Hilar expression I'm pulling!
PPS: Cheers for the sweet comments on the previous post. x

Wednesday, April 6

Smitten Update

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The paddock behind the Kloof SPCA.

Hai guys. I just wanted to give you a little update on Smitten. As it turns out, traveling to take pictures, snapping said pictures and then editing those bad boys takes a fair bit of time. Something which I seem to be lacking in lately! Aren't we all? So yeah, as much as I LOVE taking pictures, I've decided not to 'advertise' Smitten as such anymore. I will of course continue to snap for Gloss and lend a hand with snapping for friends' projects. Thank you to everyone who got in touch with me regarding pics! I really appreciate your support. Someone asked me if I was doing Smitten full time - nope, nope, I work full time in advertising and then I do a chunk of freelance writing every month. Doesn't leave much time for blogging and well, having a life! Which reminds me, my new motto is less blogging, more jogging! Can also be substituded for snogging. With that said, I maaaay have a fun editorial project lined up. Will keep ya posted if anything exciting develops. See ya next week x

Tuesday, April 5

Giveaway Winner & New Email Addy

The winner of the £50 Daniel Footwear voucher is Leanne Rees!
Congrats Leanne, please pop me an email so I can email you the voucher.

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Image Credit: Elsie Flannigan via Red Velvet

Guys, thank you all so much for entering. I absolutely LOVED reading your takes on Uggs.
Some of your entries were seriously intense... and hilarious!
Some of them made me cringe at the memory of dashing to the off-license in my Fuggs.
(Fake Uggs)
All in all, I think we can agree that life's tricky topics remain S*x, Politics, Religion and...Uggs.
(*That's for all of you with heavy web filters at work. And my gran.)

Oh, one other thing. I also have a new email addy.
lauren.glossary@gmail.com

I'm slowly emerging from the dark ages.
Farewell Yahoo email account and Nokia brick.
Hello Gmail and it's-nice-to-meet-you Crackberry.

Now if I can just get it to stop spell-checking the word 'lols.'

Monday, April 4

What I wore: new market goodies!

Howdy all! Hope you had lush weekends? Saturday's market was awesome! I lent a hand at Nadia's Build-A-Brooch stand which was SO PRETTY! I'm sure she'll blog the pics soon. I hadn't had a chance to have a proper browse around the market for a while so it was nice to catch up with everyone, meet some fellow bloggers and have a bit of a shop fest! Here are a few goodies I bagged: Dress and harmonica from The Thrift Collection (Bevan & Pippa always bring the lols and great deals!), books from Hey Cherry (these girls are a hoot), brooch from Moxie Made (love this!) and Macaroons in my belly from Daniela's. I'll show you the few other goodies I got soon. (I know - I went a bit  nuts!) It was a wonderful day and it was so nice to meet some of you for the first time!

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Sunnies & Bow from Mr Price. (Old) belt from H&M. 
PS: My mom says cheers for your sweet comments on my last post!
PPS: Drawing the giveaway winner tomorrow. Have you entered? x

Friday, April 1

New City Nerves

In April 2008, I went to London on a little holiday with my mom.
Craig and I were due to move there a month later.
(The holiday was planned and booked before the move so the timing was a bit mad!)
I had been to London twice before but this time was different.


Mom,

As the morning light appears, you notice little icicles on our plane window. 'Snow!' we hope. 'Maybe we'll see snow.' Soon we are rolling our bags through Heathrow and texting the boys to tell them that it's actually sunny and amazing. We get our Travel cards, hop on the Tube and head into Central London! I am excited but there is a strange twinge in my stomach. After unpacking our bags in the warm student digs, we make our way to Carnaby Street. The buildings are magical but we're tired and my stomach is twisting badly. Every time a crowd rushes past my heart jumps. As we stroll down Charring Cross Road, offices empty with suited people and my eyes start to water. I ask if we can nip into Starbucks and you say, 'Sure.' As I'm ordering our coffees, I try to blink back the tears but they start to fall. You reach into your bag and grab me a handful of tissues because being a good mom, you always have tissues. I tuck myself away in the corner of Starbucks, sobbing into tissues and thinking there's no way I can survive in this city. Everything moves fast like the Tube and the people walk with such purpose. I think of calling Craig to tell him I can't do it anymore. I don't have whatever it takes to be one of these people. It wasn't like this on holiday. I loved London on holiday but today it is terrifying. Early that evening, I fall into a deep sleep in our toasty little dorm room. The following day, I'm determined to fill up with excitement as we wander around the city's attractions. But by night fall, I feel defeated by the city and want to crawl back into bed. You say, 'Why don't we go to that indie club you wanted to go to?' I'm shocked! 'Us - go to an indie club - mom and daughter? Haha!' But you say, 'Yes!' and soon I am trying to dust on some eye shadow in the hope of feeling like myself again. We make our way to Notting Hill and head into this poky little club where a mad band is playing and there is bunting hanging from the ceiling. There are cute couples making out in the corners and the friendly barman gives me a stripy straw with my drink. When the DJ plays the new Arctic Monkeys single, I start to smile and you tell me, 'See, everything is gonna be alright.' 

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Thanks for such a special holiday mom.
That year in London was one of the hardest but happiest years of my life.
Visas permitting, we would have definitely stayed for longer.