Happy birthday Cath!

This weekend we journeyed out of Grahamstown and into the seaside town of Port Alfred. Cath turned 21 and it was lovely being able to celebrate the birthday of such a dear friend at the beach. It was the perfect opportunity to procrastinate (I wrote an exam the following day), pop open a bottle of champagne, enjoy the company of friends and take many many photos.

The weather was quite fickle at times but worked to our advantage - blue skies and sunshine at the beach followed by light drizzle coming in when we arrived back to Julia's cosy holiday home for tea and the best ever chocolate cake.

Driving back home we stopped at Bathurst to see the almost 17m tall man-made pineapple, one of the many out of the ordinary tourist attractions in the Eastern Cape. Yes, I felt like SpongeBob.

Simone says that it is tradition in her home to decorate the plate of the person celebrating their birthday with flowers, so she headed off to the garden to pick flowers for Cath. Is that not just the sweetest thing?

Another way of being one with nature?

Today is World Environment Day, and while I could give you a lengthy lecture on the importance of appreciating the environment, I'll leave you with this instead. If I have to describe these images from photographer Wilma Hurskainen, extremely cool would be an understatement. Titled Waves and Invisible respectively, they are inspired by the way animals mimic their natural environment in order to camouflage themselves. For more from Wilma, here is where you get clicking.

Thrifty book finds: childhood revisited

Pay day just arrived - the one time where I don't feel like a student and can buy things that I convince myself I really really need. This time I told myself that there would be no unnecessary spending but I just couldn't resist getting some books as they were being sold at a second-hand book sale at my church for the ridiculous price of R2 each.

I was drawn to the children's section where I found some of my childhood favourites that I haven't read in years. They all had that distinct old book smell and I just couldn't say no (as always).

I was particularly pleased with the Louisa May Alcott books that I found, although I have a suspicion that they won't be mine for much longer once my little sister finds them. Her constant re-reading of Little Women is the reason my old copy fell apart.

I also found a copy of Lewis Carrolls's Through the Looking Glass, and while the prettiness of the front and back covers was what initially caught my eye, the images on the inside were even better.

I'm hoping that with more searching, I can find some old copies of The Magic Faraway Tree series. Remember Mr Saucepan Man and Moon-Face and Silky and Dame Wash-A-Lot?

You're never too old for a little magic in your life, and if that means believing in trees that whisper in the wind and grow a variety of fruit all at once, or wishing that the Land of Birthdays would come around just in time for your own, then I don't mind revisiting some of my favourites.

Alas, I have a third year English Literature exam coming up and so for now, more grown up novels await.

Why Mondays don't suck at all

I was inspired to write a list of good things about my Monday after I saw some not-very-accurate-but-charming-nevertheless statistics as to why Mondays are not so bad after all.

What made your Monday happy? Here are my reasons:

1) Today is the birthday of a dear friend, Megan Kodi. She is one of the funniest, most beautiful, kind-hearted, friendly and encouraging people I know. She's also incredibly honest and tells me when I am dressed like a retard, which is important in a friendship I think. For some crazy reason, people always confuse us and so I got birthday wishes today as well. But this is for the real birthday girl: happy birthday Megan!
And for old time's sake... Remember this?

2) The sun was shining in Grahamstown today and it was actually warm! Hallelujah!

3) Kisses on my forehead. And having someone that always manages to put a smile on my face. I may blog about this more if I can find a way to make sure my mother can't read this (if you have an overprotective Indian mother you will understand).

4) I understood the importance of acting like a kid at Spur and not ordering real food. Choc brownies + ice-cream + choc hazelnut milkshake = good life choices.


5) Realising that an assignment I thought is due tomorrow is actually due today, going into immediate panic mode, followed by eating many spoonfuls of Nutella (straight to the hips!) and listening to some old Gwen Stefani songs (I don't even like Gwen Stefani!?) while slowly calming down. I finished the assignment on time, and was able to do happy dances in my room where no one could see how strange I look.

6) And songs like this which remind me that Friday and pay day (and Friars) will eventually come around.

SA jewellery designers - three new favourites

Rollin Vintage

Jewellery hand made from antique cutlery is possibly one of the best things I've seen in a long time. I love the idea of taking something old and making it new, especially when it's as beautiful as this. Rollin Vintage can be found at the monthly I Heart Market in Durban, or you can have a look at their blog.

Spoon pendants. 

A bangle made from bending a fork. How cool?

Dear Rae Jewellery

Simple yet stunning is what I think of the products from Dear Rae jewellery. I love their rings as I have really small fingers so I know what a struggle it is to find rings that don't look huge on tiny fingers, and I also quite like their pendants and bangles. The designers, Karin Rae Mathee, Morgan Xekethwana, and Raymond Kama are based in Cape Town but their jewellery can be ordered online.

Genevieve Motley

These are some new products from Genevieve Motley. These striking necklaces and other jewellery can be found at the flagship store in Durban, at various boutiques throughout the country or ordered online. 

Adventures at Addo

Yesterday I got the chance to play tourist in my own country when Kel, Ange, Cath and I went on a mini road-trip to Addo, an elephant park just outside the town that I live in. We planned a day of no studying, no work, no distractions; just friends, food, fun times and the beautiful outdoors.

Kelina, Angela, Carissa, Catherine: forget duck faces, here are our roaring lion faces!

We spent the day driving around ticking animals off our check list as we spotted them. One of the biggest misconceptions about South Africa is that lions and elephants roam around freely and that we keep them as pets. This is obviously far from reality and so it was exciting for me to have these animals so close. I particularly enjoyed being about 2m away from this elephant's bum as we drove past.

On numerous occasions, Kel would point to something excitedly and we would all crane our necks to see what it was. Much laughter ensued as every spotting of Kel's turned out to be a false alarm as she spotted a log, a stone, some bricks, a heap of sand and a leaf. Time for new glasses perhaps?

At this point, Kel is most likely pointing at a tree which she thinks is a giraffe.

No sightings of lions and leopards unfortunately, but lots of elephants, zebras, warthogs, kudu, dung beetles (and LOTS of dung), mongoose, a Blue Crane (our national bird), ostriches, and a few other birds and animals. At times it felt like we were viewing a typical scene from a movie set in Africa, especially with the zebras running around and the warthogs hanging around a waterhole. There were many lone elephants walking around, but seeing an entire herd walking together was quite a magical moment.

We stopped at a few picnic spots throughout the park to take in the amazing views of the place. My love for the beauty of SA was reaffirmed, as well as the knowledge that I have some pretty damn awesome friends!

On book shopping and dating an illiterate girl

So I went book shopping, one of the many things that make me extremely happy. Hopefully there'll be time to get through them within the next month, but if not, it's always comforting to know there's a book waiting to be read. 

Oh and if you haven't already read You Should Date An Illiterate Girl by Charles Warnke, go on and do so. It really is something worth thinking about.

Books for the month of May