Wednesday, August 31

Cupcake Couture Goodies!

Huzzah! So these are some of the shots from our day of happy snapping. Let me tell ya - editing these puppies was a mission of note! I did the entire batch in Photoshop, went to print some to check the colour and realised they were totally over-saturated. Cheers to my screen not being properly calibrated! Then I re-edited the whole lot in Lightoom and under saturated 'em. Grief! I tinkered a bit more and even tonight I was still tinkering with the colour on some of them. Anyway, sweet Nadia said she was happy with them so that's good. I love taking photographs but man, I do not cope well with the pressure of shooting for other people. Fortunately Nads is like my little cheerleader! Speaking of Nads, she is making so many wonderful corsages at the mo...corsages for every occasion including weddings, birthdays, you name it! If you're ever after some vintagey, whimsical ideas, Nads is your girl! You can find Nadia on Blogger, Twitter and Facebook. x

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Tuesday, August 30

The gang (or the 'groep' as we referred to ourselvelves as!)

I just gapsed this pic off Bridget's facebook! It's a rare thing to have the highschool gang together for a photo. The photographer snapped one too so hopefully I can get a copy framed. x

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Monday, August 29

Introducing...Kitchen Pen Pals!

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Aloha! I'm super psyched to tell you guys about a new joint blog feature called Kitchen Pals! A little background before I dive into the deets: To put it simply, I can't cook. Friends have kindly tried to teach me over the years but I'm a bit of a disaster in the kitchen. Burnt Pots. Fire Trucks. Soured Fondue. It's one calamity after the next.

See, I come from a family of grazers. Healthy, gym-going grazers. But I can't bare raw nuts and the like! So I tend to eat a lot of processed junk. 'Tis no good, I know.

But I am determined to cook once and for all. And I'll tell you who inspired me to officially challenge myself before the year is up.

I was recently reading Siân's blog and I thought, 'Heck, if this girl can cook these amazing meals with a handful of ingredients picked from her veggie garden in Zimbabwe, I can muster up a meal with store-bought stuff!'

Siân used to live in Johannesburg where she owned a successful boutique catering company called the Pink Kitchen. As fate would have it, she's since moved to Zimbabwe for love! I read with intrigue how the grocery store is miles away from Siân's country home and that even when she does visit the store, she can't buy much because the ingredients are so expensive. The Zim currency has gone bananas! So Siân's been making scrummy homemade meals with just a handful of ingredients - many of 'em picked from her own garden. In Siân's words: "I love knocking up quick, healthy, yummy food. I bake bread nearly every day and we eat out of our veggie garden."

Wholesome and delicious - sounds good to me!

I wrote to Siân and told her how she'd inspired me to give cooking one more bash. I asked her how she'd feel about sharing one recipe with me per week and she kindly obliged to help me out of culinary ruin! Once a week, I'll blog my attempt at cooking one of Siân's recipes, and if time and internet permits, she'll blog her (profesh!) version too.

We're aiming to do it for eight weeks but we'll see how we go. I'm so chuffed to have made a Kitchen Pen Pal in Siân! And it's kind of serendipitous that we're the same age and living in Africa. We both love a good shopping sesh too!

I was also wondering how you guys would feel about having a Kitchen Pen Pal? It could be fun to hook up people in different countries, or even provinces. Let me know your thoughts if you'd like to partake in something like this. Maybe we can all blog our cooking escapades once a month, or if you have time, once a week like Siân and me. There needn't be any hard and fast rules. I could link us all up and create a little blog badge of sorts. These are just some thoughts...feel free to weigh in! I'll blog my first recipe from Siân next week. And all her recipes will be the sort of dish that you can whip after work with a couple of items bought from a regular grocery store. I can't wait to begin! x

PS: Excuse ridic posed pic of me! Only one that would fit in that area. (I don't cook with sunnies on. Promise.)

Friday, August 26

Some press bits and pieces

Cant believe I'm scribbling this but I'm in the September issues of Marie Claire and Cosmo - eep! The grungy teenage me would have had such a laugh at the older me in the "Style Council" section! Oh, if only you guys knew what a scruff I really am. I did the one inty yonks ago and both just happened to be published this month. Thanks to everyone who tweeted and texted me about the articles - so sweet, you lot are - and a special thanks to Bronwyn who bought the mags and carted 'em back to London - haha! The other day Bridget said, 'Remember in high school when you started every sentence with, "I read in a magazine that..." My mom and I were magazine junkies. And now I'm in some - crikey. Thanks to every one of you who pop in everyday - I truly appreciate it. x

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Edit: I also did a little inty here a while back. Thanks Sara for the chinwag!

Wednesday, August 24

Bridget's Wedding - Happy Snaps

Huzzah friends. Thanks for all your feedback on the previous most. I want an Instax more than ever now! These are just some happy snaps from the wedding. I should have put my camera on auto and snapped, flash and all, but I had it on the no-flash setting (hoping my hand was steady enough) but alas, many of the pics came out a blur. I was running about like a madmin most of the time! Ah well, I think there's enough here to give Brij a feel for the day from our point of view. Been having a blast with the overseas gals but the last one flies back tomorrow. This weekend, I sleep!

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(Friends, if your pic isn't here, 'tis only cuz it was a touch blurry. Soz. x)

Tuesday, August 23

Bridget's Wedding - Fuji Madness!

Bridget and Barry hired a Fuji Instax and bought boxes of film so we could snap instant pics to pop into their wedding guest book - such a great idea, hey!? There was also a dress up box and we went absolutely mad with the props and camera! They also made life-size Jenga and handed out Bubble Guns which were an all-night hit. Oh, there was also Zulu dancing so while the couple were off having their pics taken, we had plenty of funtivities to occupy ourselves with! A Fuji Instax is now at the top of my wishlist. I see a pack of film for the 210 model (below) is about R110 for ten sheets. Pretty pricey but Polaroid film is R279 for ten sheets. That's just madness! And why I have yet to use my 'roid. Have any of you got an Instax? The photos come out so great - I'm guessing the occasional splurge on film is worth it?  Do tell Fuji fans. I'd love to plaster a wall with pics!  x

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