Obsessions

Yesterday was my birthday, yay for me. I love my birthday, and it's always a huge thing because the day after (today) is a public holiday so usually I end up having a whole long-weekend worth of birthday. This year though we are busy getting everything ready for our engagement party, which is next weekend so my birthday wasn't really anything big. We went to dinner last night with a whole bunch of friends and it was wonderful. I'm so grateful for the amazing people that I have in my life.

What it also means is that I've had my camera for a year now...and I still love every day with it. Last year this time it was glued to my face and I shot an entire memory card full of images. Lately I haven't been using it as much but I need to get back into the swing of it because I really do love taking photos.

As a birthday treat I thought I would share another obsession with you. Jars. I LOVE glass jars. I recently re-organised my bookshelf, that you saw here, and added a whole shelf of jars. They are such a beautiful storage mechanism because they become a display item at the same time.

I suppose it doesn't really help me that the Consol shop is literally over the road and I can buy boxes of jars for really cheap there. (Dunno if you noticed the increase in ribbons on my bookshelf as well - yup, can't help myself, and I even think there are more since I took this photo!)

I have so many jars of things in this house, our cereal is in jars, some of my baking ingredients and even my cupcake cases. That is probably my favourite jar because its the perfect storage place for all those cases - I tend to compulsively buy those as well so I have millions of them (also more since the pic was taken).

Have a good day all :)

Exercise...and the lack thereof

Two years ago I did a fun run/walk thing with my family. And I enjoyed it. Right then I decided that I would start running.

My family has always been very exercise conscious. Not to the point that we are fitness freaks but rather just that family holidays and days out together usually involve some form of exercise...mostly cycling. My dad started cycling years ago when he made a bet with a few friends that they would do the Argus together. The Argus is a 109km cycle race around Cape Town, it is a very beautiful race and one of my favourites. Since then we have all been roped into it at some point or another. I have done three Arguses and a couple (maybe four or five - I can't remember) 94.7's. I stopped cycling when I went to University, I did my last Argus in 2005 and then just...got over it.

But I have never been a runner.

The closest I ever got to running was doing the 3000m race in school just so that I could be part of the athletics team and not have to sing on the stands all day. So when I decided to start running it was all new, but because I've been involved in big sporting events for so many years doing something big - sporting wise - isn't too much of a big deal. I decided to do a half marathon, no half measures here (actually it is a half measure but 21.1km's isn't really a quick stroll around the block). So I entered a race, trained and ran it.

And loved it.

I loved running and once I was fit I wanted to do it everyday, except maybe after those REALLY long work days. I didn't win the 21km or anything, but I finished and I was proud. It was also so much harder than any of the cycle races or mini-triathlons I had done before. Now...two years later, I haven't run anything impressive since. Then about 2 months ago a friend sent me a link for this race, Run Jozi, and said we should enter.

You see the thing that happens once you do something like run a half marathon is that everybody starts to think of you as a runner. Which is cool, I like to think of myself as a runner too, but to be honest I haven't run in two years so I can't really claim that I am. But I entered, because I thought that it would get me back into training and help me get fit again. Needless to say I didn't train a step. Roll on Run Jozi and the 10km's awaiting me, so yesterday we (my sister and best friend had also entered) kitted up - in our lumo yellow shirts, yellow laces, UV face paint and timing chips and off we went.

This post isn't about the actual race, which you can read/see more about here or here, that was epic in itself.

It's about me...running.

I managed to run for 90% of the race and only walk a little. I finished happily and realised how much I have missed my running. The point of this whole long spiel is that I should be running more. And I might just try it again. Maybe another half marathon before the end of the year...we'll see.

Travel Tuesday

Amsterdam was possibly one of the strangest places we went, now that I have to think about what to say about it. It was strange because of the massive contrast I felt between Amsterdam at night and Amsterdam in the day.

We arrived in Amsterdam in the evening (well it's winter in Europe so evening is from about 4pm!) and went straight to our hotel. After dinner we started the night with a canal cruise with free wine and Heineken. It was great to see Amsterdam from the canals but it was raining to you couldn't really see much. Since this was our very first night together as a group we got to know a few people and met most of the people who would later become great friends.

After the cruise we went to explore Amsterdam at night...which is a bizarre experience to say the least. Walking through the red light district is a bit like walking through a dream, everything feels kind of unbelievable and so real at the same time. A friend asked me after our trip if I noticed how pretty some of the girls were, to be honest I didn't really, because I felt like such a voyeur that I didn't want to look properly, it just felt weird.

The next morning we were dropped off at Anne Frank house, where everyone on Contiki went in except for my sister and I (we later learned that we didn't miss much). We took the famous picture in front of the green door and then made our way to the Van Gogh Museum, we were only in Amsterdam for a couple of hours so we decided to do the Museum and then go to the Heineken Brewery.

Walking through Amsterdam that morning had the strangest effect on me. It felt like home. I loved it so much. I can't explain or understand why, but for some reason it just felt like I could easily live there and feel completely at home, and the city is as different from South Africa as you can get, but there is something there that just feels right. This is one of the big reasons why I loved Amsterdam so much.

Another reason was the Van Gogh museum.

Seeing a Vincent Van Gogh painting in real life is truly unbelievable. I can't describe how amazingly beautiful they are. My favourite was this picture, which I have in a book at home, but I have never really noticed it or paid any particular attention to it. It was so fresh and light and beautiful. I stared at it for ages.

I kept having to resist the urge to take the paintings off the walls. I literally had to hold my hands behind my back so that I wouldn't touch them and then probably get arrested. They just pull you in and consume you completely. I want them all.

At the museum we bought playing cards for our Secret Santa party that evening (it was Christmas Eve). Looking back now I do wish I had bought myself something as well because it was definately one of my highlights of the trip.

After Van Gogh we walked across to the Heineken Brewery. They call the visit The Heineken Experience because you get to walk through the old brewery and see the history of the beer - I have never seen a beer with so many medals and awards - there was even a Cannes lion there! We also got to have a beer tasting and you get two free beers at the end, which we didn't have because we ran out of time, but I'm very glad we went, it was an awesome experience.

We also walked past an awesome little shop with lots of random design things in it. It was closed when we walked past so we just drooled at things through the window.

Loved these signs - This is how you push a button, in case you aren't 100% sure.

I loved Amsterdam and would definitely love to go back there someday.

Contiki

Today is my last day of work and then on Monday, my sister and I fly to London to begin our holiday of a lifetime!

We will be spending three days in London with a friend and then we will be geading of on this whirlwind Contiki tour. Here is the map

We will be in Munich for Christmas and Lucerne in Switzerland for New Years eve and then Paris for New Years day. It's all very exciting!

I can't even describ how crazy excited I am. You see I studied design/art and my sister studied architecture and neither of us have ever been to Europe so this is going to be a HUGE experience for both of us. We will both get to see things we know and love so well but have only ever seen on paper. After our Contiki we are going to Vienna, Austria so that I can see this painting...

Gustav Klimt is my favourite artist in the whole world and a large amount (more than in any other single place) of his paintings are here, in the museum in Vienna. And I get to go see them ALL. I can't even describe my excitement to you. Last year my sister gave me a set of mugs (one of which Troy broke on about the second day we had him), but this was even before we had decided to do Contiki and Vienna so I've always been obsessed with him.

This weekend we will be packing and freaking out and trying to find enough warm clothes so that we don't die of cold the moment we step out of the plane in Germany.

I will be sharing parts of our trip with you once we get back, and if there is something I really just can't wait to tell I might find a quiet little spot to blog.

Have a great holiday everyone :)

I'm thankful for...Friday

I had a bit of a mini a-ha moment this week.

I bought this really nice set of pens while I was shopping for my santa shoebox and as I was standing there in the stationery aisle I was thinking about school days when you bought a whole set of new stationery at the beginning of the year. Wow did I love that! Stationery is one of my favourite things in the world, I love it so much. New stationery particularly, but stationery in general is something I could buy every single day and never get tired of it (I could dream of buying it every day at least, I don't have a money tree).

I thought, I actually haven't bought stationery in ages, and maybe I'm not so obsessed with it anymore. When suddenly I realised...my stationery has just grown up with me. Now I buy Moleskines and beautiful paper and ribbons, tons and tons of ribbons (I'm totally classifying ribbons as stationery here). I also spend a lot of time designing and making stationery, custom stationery - that's like the utopia of stationery! Wedding invitations and menu's, letterheads and business cards, notepads and books. I'm completely surrounded by it, and it's amazing!

Yes...that is a pencil case made completely out of a very long zip! :)

I am so thankful that I have a job that I love and that I studied a degree that completely satisfies my creative urges. You see, I was going to study Accounting, but luckily I changed my mind and I have awesome parents who were totally fine with sending their child off to study some arty-farty course just because she loved it.

So thanks Mom and Dad, and thanks Staedtler

I'm thankful for...Friday

I'm a HUUUUGE bookworm. I love reading and always have. When we moved, the one thing we had tons of was books and bookshelves. We have 5 bookshelves in our house, that's more than we have rooms!

Today I am most definitely thankful for books, more specifically for the kindle and even more specifically, for the fact that my kindle wasn't stolen. Yes it sounds strange but here's the story: I read a lot, and I love my kindle, like LOVE LOVE LOVE it. So everyone I know who reads, should have a kindle...in my opinion. I have personally been responsible for 14 kindles being bought. Seriously, if you read...buy a kindle, now! The new ones are super cheap as well so you have no excuse.

Anyway, on my mission to convert everyone to kindle readers, I lent my kindle to a friend so that he could try it out and see if he should get one (which he obviously should) and he had a break-in and thought it had been stolen. I wasn't too sad cuz he said he would just buy me a new one, which is great cuz then I could get the new little one, but then he found it squished in between his desk and couch.

So I still have a kindle, with a really nice cover. But if you don't have one yet, and you read, even a little bit, go here and buy one now.

Here is a peak at my one bookshelf. One whole shelf is dedicated to Wilbur Smith, my favourite author. Ken Follet is another one of my favourites, but I've been reading most of his books on my kindle so they aren't on the shelves. I hate Marion Keyes...I've read some of her books (cuz I can never start a book and not finish it) but her characters just annoy me, don't let her blue book in the first picture fool you, it's just there because I would feel bad burning it.

The surprise I was talking about here is related to this post as well. Sorry it's taking so long but I will get there...one day! Also sorry about this long wordy post...but it's about reading, so what do you expect.

Obsessions!

I went on a bit of a shopping spree this weekend. I bought things I don't really need, like MORE ribbons (see those SEVEN new rolls on the right).

I'm completely obsessed with ribbon and buttons and Moleskines and material. I have an abundance of all of these things - like an ABUNDANCE. There are a large amount of little bags full of buttons and random metre long pieces of material that I have no plans for - they are simply just pretty I and love them.

When we moved I created this little area to keep my ribbons and Moleskins. Some of these ribbons (as you can see) have not even been opened yet, I just buy them to look pretty on my shelf. Similarly there are a couple of Moleskines there that are completely blank, and others that get used daily. But I do plan to use everything at some point...eventually...and you never know when you might just NEED some stripy brown ribbon?!

I did buy some things that I actually plan to use. If my plan is successful then maybe someday soon you can own your very own [one]...it's a surprise!

Check back soon for a sneak peak of what it is that I'm making!