Weekend Learning's

Leslie Ann O'Dell, epic art... divine and disturbing.

Hello peaches. Last weekend of the first month of 2013, can you believe it! Utterly unbelievable. Life is flying by and I can hardly keep up. It is true what they say; the older you get the quicker it goes? I better keep living it to the fullest or I might miss a moment. This is what I learned.

• This first point needs a little more than to just be a point. Friday was my Interbrand Day. What is this you ask? It is the anniversary of the day I started at this wonderful company… my second home. Five years! Yes that is right, I have been here at Interbrand Sampson for five long, hard and magical years. It was an emotional day and I am glad to say that I have no regrets for the people and things I have given up for my career. I love my job, my work place and the people. Proudly Interbrand Sampson!
• Getting a new pair of glasses is too much fun! I'm loving my new rims. And having your eyes tested is an important thing. You really should start looking after yourself, we're not getting any younger kids!
• "As you dissolve into love, your ego fades. You’re not thinking about loving; you’re just being love, radiating like the sun." - Ram Dass
• I love Leslie Ann O'Dell. Some of her art is above. You know Coco loves macabre. She's not totally sick but a little dark and disturbing… quite moving, lovely.
• I am obsessed with Peppermint tea. I thought I hated it. I tasted it once two years ago and cringed and now I cannot get enough… pass me another tea bag you tea pot!
• Extend the life of your mani by waiting two full minutes between applying your base coat, polish and top coat. I like mine to last 7 days… that’s the test, and when I do it myself it does.
• If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
• I forgot how much I like Summer days in Greenside in the sun with my friends listening to music. Blissful.
• "You don't love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear." - Oscar Wilde. I love this... lala laaaa.

Have a divine week darlings, or whats left of it!

Xoxo

PS. All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be.

How much do I love this? A LOT!

 

Leave a Comment Interbrand Day, Interbrand Sampson, Leslie Ann O'Dell, Oscar Wilde, quote, Ram Dass, weekend

Apple Spice Granola

Everytime I look at this picture I took my mouth waters... dammit.

Honestly. If you buy and eat store bought Granola and like it, it is only because you know no better. I do not eat Granola unless I make it myself. Apart from all the (excuse my French) shit they add to it, making it totally unhealthy! The amount of times I've imagined rather eating the box for enjoyment or almost breaking a tooth on a rock hard nut or raisin (no I do not know how they get them that hard either)… It is all rather annoying and exhausting for something which is meant to be delicious, moreish and enjoyable. So I make my own. And it is goood, and healthy. You can eat it plain as a snack, or with yoghurt or milk or even on ice-cream! It is so yum that I double this recipe because it is not enough for a week of eating… I need more. Hope you like it! Let me know what you think!

Ingredients: 
(all organic, raw and unsweetened if you can)

• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 8 dates, chopped
• 1/3 cup shredded coconut
• 2/3 cups of raw oats
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ground ginger
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce (Woolworth Grannysmith is the best)
• 1/3 cup macadamia nut oil
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup (preferably the Lyle's Golden Lion Syrup in a can, it is just better)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking sheet with wax paper.
Add nuts, dates, coconut and oats to a food processor and pulse to slightly chop nuts. Add spices and salt and pulse again to evenly distribute.
In a small bowl whisk together apple sauce, oil, syrup, and vanilla. Place wet ingredient into the food processor with dry ingredients and pulse to combine.
Now take off your rings ladies! Evenly distribute granola (using fingers) on prepared baking sheet. Try not to get it too thin at the ends because this can burn very quickly and will ruin the whole taste… smoked granola is really not great.
Place in oven for 30 to 35 minutes until golden.  Stop to stir / check ingredients halfway through the baking so the edges do not get over brown.  It will allow things to cook evenly.  The granola will harden up once cooled completely.
I recommend keeping your Granola in a Tupperware in the freezer.  It keeps the granola crunchy! On nom!

Happy munching little squirrels!

Xoxo

PS. You don't HAVE to share... ^_^

Yes, Julia, yes!

Leave a Comment Apple Spice Granola, food, Granola, Lyle's Golden Lion Syrup, recipe

Weekend Learning's

Pretty, flowers, sculls, white, wood, tusks and pillows... lets stay in.

Third detox weekend has come and gone and it was spent relaxing to the max. Literally, we were bed ridden. This is what I learned;

• The weather is definitely a determining factor on my mood and social skills. Water falls from the skies, I retire, call it the cat in my star sign, but I do not like to get wet and especially not cold, EVER.
• "I can't get out of bed. These blankets have accepted me as one of their own and If I leave now I might lose their trust." - Alan, The Hangover.
• Breakfast in bed is such a rare commodity when you get it there is nothing better and it was very well received. I am a spoilt Coco, best boyfriend!
• Love is not about finding the right person, but creating the right relationship. It is not about how much love you have in the beginning but how much love you build till the end.
• I love noodles!
• Soho beauty salon gives epic mani and pedi's in Sandton City. And let me just tell you… the Reflexology! Good grief! Ask for Elizabeth and be prepared to be educated through your feet, heavenly!
• Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith.
• I am totally addicted to The Walking Dead. Oh my gosh, I forgot how much I love to be scared! Little Sister was right! Best. Show. EVER! Addict here!
• January Curse, as I know it, is when my mind is constantly ticking. It is literally  planning the next 12 months, sorting, filing, diarising 2013 into categories so that by February my mind, body and soul will naturally take the steps in order to perform smoothly. For example: Point 125b: "Take winter jackets to dry-cleaner in mid March before Autumn chill sets in…" Type A my darlings, Type A. Does anyone else out there do this?
• Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.
• I forgot how delicious homemade Granola is. I made one of my favorite recipes this past Sunday, Apple Spice Granola. Healthy and totally moreish it is amazingly easy and inexpensive. Coco's recipe to follow this week!
• I can't wait to move into my little house. I really do not care how tiny it is or how small the garden is or how empty it may be at the beginning. All I know is it is mine and the memories I create in it will be the best yet. Maybe I will never leave… except to go to work to pay for that little roof over my head… YAY tiny tin roof YAY! *Coco jumps for joy!

Have a special and star-bursting week my shining lights.

Xoxo

PS. Petrichor (n.) the smell outside after the rain.

...pretending to be your friends... A lesson from Walking Dead!

Leave a Comment boyfriend, Coco's Cottage, family, Granola, January Curse, Reflexology, Sandton City, sister, Soho, The Hangover, The Walking Dead, Type A Personality, weekend

Weekend Learning's

I enjoy, every little thing.

First sober weekend of the year. If you have been a dedicated Coco reader for over a year, or two… or three (and I greatly thank you for this!). You will know that I always refrain from drinking in January. It is my 'clean slate' start to the year. This year I am enjoying it more than ever and finding it so easy. It might be the fact that I am not doing it alone and my partner-in-crime slash hero slash boyfriend is sticking to it with me or maybe it is the simple fact that I am just loving the cold hard fact that I wake up every morning feeling amazing ready to seize the day and boy do I get a full weekend this way! This is what I learned;

• Retrouvailles (French) The happiness of meeting again after a long time. This weekend was a great 'catch up with friends' weekend.
• The first week back at work is always the longest.
• "There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice." - F Scott Fitzgerald. And I am very, VERY thankful for this blessing.
• I love my new Nespresso! Now that I have mastered the cappuccino, I can call myself the Mini Barista! Well kinda.
• Be kind. Speak truth. Love others. Show grace. Work hard. Be grateful. Follow faith.
• I think I have a little of what I like to call "beginning year blues". It is when the year begins and you miss the holidays and Coco's travel feet start to itch and the pressure starts to push and the wallet has moths… thank goodness I look okay in blue, always the optimist this Coco!
• "When someone else's happiness is your happiness, that is love." - Lana Del Rey.
• There is a kind of strange human truth about the real reason why I love my automatic Merc. I love her because I get to hold your hand instead of changing gears. Better, much better.
• Moemas new breakfast is probably one of the best menus in Jozi. And do you know what they do which is totally magical? The serve macarons with their cappuccinos… yes, OMG! You spoil us Moemas!
• Be careful if you make a woman cry because God counts her tears. The woman came out from his ribs, not from his feet to be walked on, not from his head to be a superior, but from his side to be equal, under the arm to be protected and next to the heart to be loved… perfect quote!
• I like Dog Friendly venues. That is all.
• If you carry bricks from your past relationship you will end up building the same house.
• A little hot summers braai with friends on a Sunday is a great wind down to the weekend, blissful summer months!
• Actually I just woke up one day and decided I didn't want to feel like that anymore, or ever again so I changed. Just like that. 

• There are two people you’ll meet in your life. One will run a finger down the index of who you are and jump straight to the parts of you that peak their interest. The other will take his or her time reading through every one of your chapters and maybe fold corners of you that inspired them most. You will meet these two people; it is a given. It is the third that you’ll never see coming. That one person who not only finishes your sentences, but keeps the book. - I love this so much!

Have a good first week to all of you back at work! And to the rest of you on your second week, the worst is over!

xoxo

PS. The simple pleasure of watching you potter around the kitchen, making me tea. 

5 precious points.

1 comment Barista, boyfriend, coffee, F Scott Fitzgerald, Lana Del Rey, Life Quote, love, Macaroons, Mercedes-Benz, Moemas, Nespresso, quote, weekend

Weekend Learning's - Holiday Vibes

Coco, light, love, sun, flowers, sunny skies, smiles, a perfect start to 2013!

I've never had a holiday where I've just let go and felt like I could do what I want when I want without a care in the world. Where I could just one day do nothing and one day do everything and still feel like both days were equally important as each other. I've also never had a holiday when I have been glued to someone so tightly that the minute our hands leave one-anothers' it felt as thought there was a cold and empty gap gaping in my palm. This is the kind of holiday I have been looking for all along and never knew it until now. This is not a Weekend Learning's, no no. This is a Holiday Learning's from December to January, 2012 to 2013, this is what I learned,

• We have become inseparable and I am inlove with this fact.
• The word “poecilonym” is actually the synonym to the word “synonym".
• “Your lips are like wine, and I want to get drunk.” - William Shakespeare.
• My life. My choices. My problems. My mistakes. My lessons. Not your business. Mind your own problems before you talk about mine.
• “Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.” - A.A. Milne.
• When a guy can handle your flaws, love you on your moody days, and say you're beautiful in your sweatpants & PJs, he's worth loving.
• Once the game is over, the king & the pawn go back in the same box. -Italian Proverb.
• Cafuné (v.) running your fingers through your lover's hair. I LOVE this!
• Don't mess with someone else's relationship just because you can't get one.
• Whatever is true, whatever is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy - think of such things. -Phil 4:8.
• You can't make footprints on the sands of time by sitting on your butt... and who wants to make buttprints?
• And then my fair friends, last but not least a quote from my favourite poet, Tyler Knott  “I will thank the tides, for washing up my old soul, on your perfect shore.”  And oh so perfect it is. 

 I hope your year started as blissfully as mine did, happy 2013 angel dust.

xoxo           

PS. I love you, not only for what you are but for what I am when I am with you.

Something to live by, a life quote for you and Coco.

Leave a Comment A.A. Milne, Bible quotes, boyfriend, Cape Town, Happy Holidays, Life Quote, love, quote, Tyler Knott Gregson, weekend, William Shakespeare