Friday, August 20, 2010

how can you hate on balloons?

I know a lot of us (and by us I mean you!) have been spewing hateful words on wedding pictures with balloons / cupcakes / mustaches / vintage furniture in fields, but can I just show you one more little local wedding? Remember over here in Africa we're not all sitting on the internets all the time pouring over wedding porn, we're busy hunting and gathering and grooming and training our elephants to ride around on. So things that may be old and over over there, can still be good and clean and fresh (tra-la-la) over here. Whatever, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, they are so much more eloquent.


Girl has a lovely blog.
Photographers are pretty awesome.

have you seen her?


The little sunbather on the promenade


She has a friend, a dragonfly


But I like the little sunbather best


This is exactly how I feel, when the sun is out


I would like to bring her home to live with me

Installation art by Marieke Prinsloo Rowe

Thursday, August 19, 2010

who doesn't like a bit of tmi first thing in the morning?

While the blogger's block has had me firmly locked in it's jaws...
And about a hundred years ago, Tenille of Nine Years in the Making tagged me, and I meant to respond, really I did.

Tenille said:
This is kind of like the 25 things - except there are pre-decided questions and it's about you and your spouse, not just you. Come on, play along - inquiring minds want to know! ;-)

♥ What are your middle names?
Neither of us have any... Thanks parents!

♥ How long have you been together?
Very nearly three years now. (Crikey time is FLYING by!)

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Three months.

♥ Who asked who out?
It started with us seeking each other out at parties of our mutual friends... Then I invited him and a few other friends (for cover - I just wanted to see him!) out, we ended being the last two at the bar and he sweetly, yet confidently, stated his interest. Aw.

♥ Whose siblings do you see the most?
Mine, in a social context. But we see his siblings and parents together a lot more, visiting as a family.

♥ Do you have any children?
No.
And that's all I have to say about that right now, lovely yet persistent Mother-in-law and aunt-in-law plying us with baby-makers!

♥ What about pets?
None. We travel for long periods of time, quite a bit. We go away for weekends, very often. We go out, all the time. I would like to have a little fishy or two though!

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Lately, different social needs. I.e. I want to 'socialise' all the time and till late (who are you calling a lush?!) and he... doesn't. (Who are you calling a bore?!)
Not sure who changed? Think both of us, in opposite directions.
(Oops.)

♥ Did you go to the same school?
No.

♥ Are you from the same home town?
No.

♥ Who is the smartest?
Ha. Trick question!
Probably Werner, because he has language AND maths aptitude. But don't tell him I said that! We have scrabble death matches and are about even in trivia & general knowledge.
I rule at rock, paper, scissors though!

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
I am, by miles.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Breakfast favourites like Liquorice&Lime in Kloof Street.

♥ Who has the craziest ex?
Haha, debatable. Fortunately, our exes don't really feature.
Unless you count the (numerous) girls in our extended circle of friends that he's snogged before?
Hi girls! (Refer: Question #26 below - no jealousy, for real.)

♥ Who has the worst temper?
Werner. No, don't you even dare try and argue!

♥ Who does the cooking?
The Chinese place around the corner.
(Pine Garden, Buitenkant Street: awesome Thai Red Curry!)
The Italian place next to the Chinese place.
(Narona: Delicious pastas and oddly, burgers!)
Beluga, Prestwich Street, Green Point: Blue Plate sushi special: heaven.
And then about twice a week, when I'm overtaken by guilt over my lack of culinary effort... I do. Kicking and screaming and cursing and producing lacklustre, though highly consumable atoms arranged in the guise of 'food'.
Werner makes all the coffee and strong, sweet, milky tea a girl could need, a mean breakfast and loves to swoop into the kitchen at the last possible moment of my cooking efforts to steal my 'thunder' by making things taste better, mostly through the vicious abuse of Wellington's Hot Sweet Chilli Sauce.

♥ Who is more social?
I thought he was, but that seems to have been a side-effect of bachelorhood. Now, it's definitely me. (Refer: Question #8 above, things that are hard.)

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
ME! Now go tidy your blog!

♥ Who is the more stubborn?
Werner.

♥ Who hogs the bed?
Werner. I was shocked and in awe the first time I woke up from an elbow in my eye. There was Werner, all stretched out diagonally across the bed, arms behind his head, king of his castle. I'm still shocked when awoken in this manner, but not so much in awe anymore...

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Werner.

♥ Where was your first date?
Reuben's in Franschhoek. Brilliant food, super romantic ambience, surprise gifts... Very cheesy - perfect.

♥ Who has the bigger family?
Well, they are 6 kids. Who do you think?

♥ Do you get flowers often?
Not often, but in bucket-loads when I do!

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
Driving between his family's Stilbaai beach house, my family in George (Mom) & Langebaan (Dad) and ex-pat friends visiting in Cape Town. Luckily, I love driving.
(No, I don't, I fricking hate it.)

♥ Who is more jealous?
Neither.       

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
Not very long at all. 18 July (express romantic interest in each other) till 28 August (asking me to 'be his girlfriend cause he didn't want me kissing other boys' till 27 October (engaged!) Aw again.

♥ Who eats more?
Well. Surprisingly, and quite possibly against all laws of physics, metabolics and/or biology, we share most meals 50/50. This doesn't seem fair or accurate, considering we have quite a substantial height and weight difference. He's a big, very tall guy and I'm a slim-ish, slightly tall gal. Where does it go??????????..........   

♥ Who does/did the laundry?
Our cleaning lady. When she comes. Which isn't very often lately. So then I do. But if I scream-cry when it starts raining on my washing drying on the line, Werner will run out and take it down very quickly, while I carry on cursing the clouds who are "out to get me".
Aw, true love.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Uhm, mr. Apple Gadget-freak... When we met I'd just bought my first PC and had dial-up internet installed, whoo-hoo! But I taught myself to blog in html code till Werner got tired of my swearing and pointed out the 'compose' button, which means you compose posts using wysiwyg. See, I'm smart too!

♥ Who drives when you are together?
Werner. (Refer: Question 25 above, I really, really hate driving so thankfully we live in the city where I can walk (almost) everywhere, yay!)

Tagging people seems to have gone out of fashion, so do this if you're stuck for something to write or if you too love sharing inappropriate amounts of information with strangers over the internet! And then let us know that you did. xx

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

back(b)log


    

One day, an innocent, unassuming little bride-to-be discovered blogs.
Beautiful blogs and cool blogs and truthful blogs and lovely blogs and heartwrenching blogs.
She read, then followed and eventually devoured obsessively all the poetic language and dreamy images of the blogs and the little bride-to-be found it intriguing, stimulating, and inspirational.
She was so inspired that one good day, she felt compelled to put her own incredible adventure into words, and pretty soon the little bride-to-be had her very own blog!
The beautiful and the cool and the truthful and the lovely and the heartwrenching ladies, and a whole bunch of others besides, read the little bride-to-be's blog and left beautiful, supportive comments and sent other readers there with their beautiful, supportive words.

The little bride-to-be poured her heart out.
She told of the wondrous love she'd found, when she least expected it.
She recounted the remarkable journey she'd undertaken to test her love, which yielded more than she'd dared to hope for.
And she shared all the little details of the many happy plans that were made to celebrate her love.
The little bride-to-be loved her blog.
She couldn't wait to share another piece of her life and her love with the wonderful friends she found there.
Some friends were so very far away, that little gifts had to be shared in the place of coffee dates, and some were so very close by that coffee dates could be swopped for tequila nights and turn acquaintances into real life friends, as if by magic.  

The big, happy day came, and the little blogger bride-to-be was a bride.
The little bride enjoyed a wonderful wedding day, and undertook a fantastical journey with her little groom.
They travelled and they returned and they searched for a brand new home of their own and found one!
They grew and they laughed and they learnt and they loved, oh did they love.
But the little blogger could blog no more.

Where before she found other blogs intriguing, stimulating and inspirational, she now found them competitive and intimidating.
Where before her mouth was filled with the words of her remarkable journey, she now felt dumb-struck in the face of measurement and comparison.
She tried to tell another story, of another time with another meaning but it wasn't quite the same.
Months went by and while the little blogger still read and followed and devoured the blogs of her friends, her voice remained lost in silence.

Somewhere amid the silence, the little blogger realised that she really, really missed writing her blog.
She still had much to say and share. Many opinions and ideas and questions and reflections.
But then she couldn't write because there was so much to say, to share, to exclaim, to ask and to reflect upon, and that kept her silent still.

One good day, and one good friend came along.
This was a very good friend, a friend who had been found through this wondrous world of blogs, and who had been cemented as a friend through shared tequila nights and many other fantastic adventures.
This friend encouraged, and perhaps even forced, the little blogger to just sit down and write.
The silence echoing from the little blogger's blank page compelled her to remember that in the beginning she wrote for no-one but herself.
That in the beginning, it was about keeping a journal of thoughts and feelings and plans and images and that it mattered not one bit how her thoughts and feelings and images were judged by others, because this blog, this very special first and personal one, was just for her.

Just like that, our brave little blogger was back.

image from vault49 via katrinleblond

Friday, August 13, 2010

threads

I miss my sexyredframe, I really do.

But I've been busy, very very busy doing something else that I love almost just as much.

It involves dresses and shoes and make-up and hair and lights and cameras and action!

Please visit me here if you like:

But one day I'll be back here more regularly, cause if a girl gets lazy with just one little blog, having three will certainly inspire her to get busy!