Now Playing: Matthew Mole - The Home We Built

I stumbled onto Matthew Mole when I saw he's performing at Oppikoppi this year. I liked what they wrote about him in the artist profile section [Matthew Mole expresses himself best through music. It drives him and that's why he is the person he is today.] and so I checked him out on YouTube - and I liked what i heard. 

Then today I read on twitter that Matthew's debut album 'The Home We Built', is number one on iTunes SA! This intrigued me so I decided to buy the album and I was totally rewarded :) Upbeat, laid-back folk music with a meaningful message! Matthew Mole describes himself as a 'musician, illustrator, worshipper, Christ follower' on his twitterpage [follow him @MatthewJMole] and all this is portrayed in 'The Home We Built'. The album cover is beautifully illustrated, his musical talent is very evident and he is unashamed of his faith, clearly speaking about what he believes in his lyrics. I'm impressed and I can't wait to see him perform at Oppi! 

Check him out and lets support awesome local talent :)

Love,

Ms V.

Lomography and my La Sardina

Last Christmas Sihle fulfilled one of my big wishes and gave me a lomography camera - the La Sardina. For those of you who don't know, Lomography is experimental analogue photography. The La Sardina is a analogue wide angle lens camera. It takes standard 35mm film and it's relatively easy to use. One of the awesome things about the La Sardina is that it comes in many different amazing designs. Mine is the Capri and it reminds me of ice-lollies on the beach :) 

So the exciting thing is that this weekend I finally got my first roll of film developed! Yay! I was at first unsure where to take it but I eventually got them developed at a Kodak Express shop for about R170 in total. Out of 36, 27 pictures turned out well which I think is pretty good seeing that it's my first roll of film. Here are some of my favourites :)

I definitely feel inspired to play around more with my La Sardina now! If you want to know more about Lomography or the La Sardina check out these sites: 

www.lomography.com and http://microsites.lomography.com/la-sardina/. And if you own a lomography cam and have any valuable advise to share please leave me a comment ;)

Love,

Ms V.

Spoilt.

I was spoilt by my friends at work today. They threw me a mini surprise engagement party in the morning! I love surprises and it really made me smile :) 

They also made me a beautiful booklet full of wishes and messages...I've looked through it 3 times already - definitely something to treasure! 

This first month of being engaged has already been so special and I can't wait for everything that's still to come! If you've been engaged, what was your favourite thing about it all? I'd love to hear about it! :)

Love,

Ms V.

Starters and dessert please

I love trying new restaurants. One place I'd heard about a lot and have been meaning to check out is 'Throbbing Strawberry' in Douglasdale. Last night I finally did and I wasn't disappointed!

Ok so maybe the name's slightly strange but I guess it grabs your attention and so does everything else about this fabulous place. The atmosphere is cozy yet chic and stylish. There are several fireplaces so even on a cold winter night it's comfortably warm inside - and obviously it adds to the whole ambience :) Even the wooden menu just leaves an impression. And let me not get started on the food - Italian specialities like pasta and pizza, various interesting meat dishes, seafood and even sushi! I found it very difficult to decide on what to eat...

Me and my friends eventually decided to share 3 starters and then we shared 2 desserts. Everything was delicious and I ate so much I thought I'd pop. Oh and I don't think I've ever had a better strawberry daiquiri ;) 

Throbbing Strawberry is located on the corner of Leslie Ave and Douglas Road in Douglasdale. They are open on Mondays to Fridays from 11:30 to 22:00 and Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 to 22:00.  

www.throbbingstrawberry.co.za

Love,

Ms V.

Sweet Winter

Monday's are my cooking days. I usually like to try out new recipes so today I decided to make pumpkin pie. A friend from work gave me this recipe - she brought some of the pie to lunch and gave me some to try. Its a typical afrikaans dish. I absolutely loved the sweet smooth texture. It melts in your mouth! Yum. Like pudding :)

Mine turned out pretty good too. I served the pumpkin pie with rice and meatballs. A delicious hearty winter dinner!

Here is the recipe (the original is in Afrikaans but I translated it):  

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

250ml sugar

125ml margarine

3 eggs

750ml butternut, cooked and mashed

100ml flour

15ml baking powder

5ml salt

2,5ml cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 180C

Whisk sugar, margarine and eggs together 

Stir in cooked butternut

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together and add to the mixture

Pour the mixture into an oven proof dish and bake for 30min

I spent the evening sitting round the fireplace...the joys if winter :)

Keep warm!

Love,

Ms V.

First steps

The other day it hit me: I need to plan an entire wedding! What a MASSIVE task...

As I like to be organized and keep track of things I decided to get myself a book to do all my planning in. Although I've already started some boards on Pinterest and Sihle and I are using joint to do lists on Wunderlist I wanted to have a space where I can actually write stuff down on paper. And this was also a good excuse to buy nice things in Typo (really had to restrict myself - love that shop!).

I bought a big A4 book (only realised at home that the pages are made to be torn out...hope it lasts), some washi tape and a 'Love it' stamp. A few pages have already been filled... 

The first things we need to get done are to send engagement announcement cards and then throw an engagement party, but I'll post on those things as they happen :) Luckily Sihle is willing to add ideas to the whole planning process so I think it's actually gonna be quite fun ;)

Love,

Ms V.

P.S. Washi tape is seriously addictive. I will definitely try out some other creative ways to use it...

Hello

On the 20 June 2013 I was asked by my boyfriend Sihle Maseko to marry him! Obviously I said YES! Sihle and I had been dating for 3 years. We knew we wanted to get married but I was still very surprised (and overjoyed) when he asked me :) Now I wear a sparkling ring on my left hand and still sometimes feel like I'm dreaming.

I've wanted to start blogging for a while now and I figured, with all the exciting things happening in the next few months, now is a good time. Not only will I get married around October next year but I'm also going to be working in Switzerland for 6 months from January to July 2014. So this will be a lifestyle blog - initially probably focused quite a bit on wedding related things but when I'm overseas also on travel and new discoveries etc. I have been following a number of awesome blogs (will be putting up links to my favourite ones soon) and I just think blogging seems like such a great creative outlet.

So follow me if you are also getting married or are married or wanting to travel europe or have travelled or if you're simply interested ;)

Love,
Ms V.