Weekend Learning's

I had an extremely good weekend! London is total chaos currently. She is littered with tourists and shoppers and Christmas fanatics. Literally, people walking around in Santa hats and the Jamaican trio who play the metal drums at the station are now dressed in red and green Christmas pyjamas banging out a very festive jingly song. It is weird. I love it! Even the hobo’s who are usually sweary and bitter have the festive cheer, I saw one dancing on his mattress to another drummers rendition of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and singing something along the same lines... not really but he was trying and getting everyone in the mood and that is what counts! There is a lot of joy. And after being here for almost nine months… I am really loving it. I know, I know, I blow hot and cold, but I fricking LOVE Christmas, and it is on steroids here! And do you know why, there is a lot of sharing going on. It has made me gleeful. This is what else I learned;

• “For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.” - Audrey Hepburn
• Liberty of London is also one of the places to avoid during the December season. I needed to get something specific and stumbled out of the side entrance where the flower shop is. What a wonderful find! The aroma of fresh flowers is seductive! And during Christmas they have someone who hand makes Christmas wreaths for you to personalise and design yourself. Not only a beautiful gift, but a stunning keepsake. 
• “Always be touching her, even when your hands cannot reach her.” - J.R. Rogue
• In a world where everyone is overexposed, the coolest thing you can do is maintain your mystery.
• This is going to be a weird one. I love looking into peoples homes in December. Wait, I am not a creeper, let me explain. People in London, decorate their beautiful trees and then put them in their windows for all to see. They actually leave the shutters open. It is so gorgeous walking home at night, seeing all the pretty trees in the windows. Some are so sweet, decorated by children. I just love this! Something that you would never see in South Africa. People share their beauty with the outside world and I love it.
• “I am infatuated by the way desire dances down your delicate skin in molten liquid moonlight.” - The Word Virus
• Polpo is a bàcaro. This is a Venetian word to describe a humble restaurant serving simple food and good, young local wines. I visited this lovely restaurant with my closest friends in London. We shared wine, food and stories. We are all from South Africa, we all moved in 2015. I feel this is the smallest our table will be… 

Have a nice week my vanilla piccolo! Stay out of the Christmas rush, or maybe join it, embrace the tinsel party, share a little!

Xoxo

PS. My moon, my man, my everything. 

Leave a Comment Audrey Hepburn, Christmas, Christmas windows, December, J.R. Rogue, Liberty, London, love, Polpo, quote, quotes, share, The Word Virus, weekend

Weekend Learning's

SO it is Friday. What a late Weekend Learning’s this is! It is the first week of December. Back home we call this Silly Season. And for good reason! Here in London, there is not a name for it. Lame. I cannot wait to go home for Christmas. I love London, this is true, but I have had enough for 2015. I want my family, my friends, my dogs, my home… This is what I learned;

• If I have discovered anything this year, my heart, lives in South Africa.
• “You’re in my bones, and my blood, and my heart. I’d have to tear myself open to let you go.” - Cassandra Clare.
• Clifton Road Maida Vale is an amazing little road a good walk from my house. There are lovely little organic fruit and veg shops, deli’s, restaurants and even a pet store. A great London discovery.
• The use of swearing to alleviate stress or pain is called "lalochezia.”
• I finished another book this weekend. Yes I am proud of myself! Any suggestions on what to read next?
• "Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.” - Bertrand Russell 
• Shakshouka is a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chilli peppers, and onions, often spiced with cumin. I only came across this when I started dating my man. And I quite like it. I for some reason was craving it this weekend and decided to make it. Probably the fact that I miss him so much, maybe a little food could bring me closer to him... kind-of-maybe-not. Anyway! Easy, low cost, delicious. Craving killed.
• You can remove errant deodorant marks from dark clothes by wiping the white streaks with a dryer sheet. I found this out this weekend. Fuuuuun, I love doing my washing. This is one of those things you do living in London; your own washing. 
• “Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters.” - Margaret Peters

I hope you keep warm my little teacups. And if you are in South Africa, soak up that sunshine for me! Have good weekends.

Xoxo

PS. I want a pawpaw.

Leave a Comment Bertrand Russell, Cassandra Clare, Christmas, Clifton Road Maida Vale, December, home, London, Margaret Peters, Proudly South African, quote, quotes, Rare word meaning, Shakshouka, silly season, weekend

Weekend Learning's

Katie Holten's Trees of the USA.

Coldest weekend in London yet! It snowed on Saturday morning. Do not be daft, I did not see it, it was at 7 o’clock, I was in bed snoozing. But I did venture out, dressed like a snow man. By this I mean you wear so many items your arms stick out as there are so many layers, they sort of support your shoulder and armpits and create a funny bendy arm. As your elbow cannot bend either as that too, is padded to the max, it extends. It is fun actually. The blistery wind prickles your cheeks pink and puts a spring in your step. It is not as bad as I thought. This is what else I learned;

• Have you ever tried fresh mint tea. It is fresh, very. Try it. Delicious. 
• Tip: A woman can always tell if a man loves her by how much time he is willing to invest. Money spent is meaningless, but time spent is priceless. 
• I ventured to Zone Four this weekend to visit a family friend. It is really lovely out there. Nino’s in South Woodford is a great little traditional Italian restaurant. Really delicious and good value for money! Unlike anywhere I have been in the rest of London… Lol. Joke. 
• I also saw my first fox! In my friends garden! I could not believe it! I was so excited I almost ran into the glass doors. My friend was rather amused by my excitement, as locally these beautiful creatures are considered pests as they attack dogs, rip up garbage and poop in the street. He he. But I think Mr Fox was looking very fantastic scratching his fleas and then jumping through the fence… I felt like I reached a milestone in my move to London. Fox – Tick.
• “Later that night, I held an atlas in my lap, ran my fingers across the whole world and whispered; where does it hurt?” It answered; “Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.” - Warsan Shire. What has happened to our world? Why is there so much pain and hurt? I cannot stand to watch the news for another minute.  
• I am loving Francois-Henri Galland at the moment. He is a French watercolour artist. His new work is all of lovers, shapes and spills of colour. Simply beautiful, very suggestive. You are almost left to imagine what is not there, and more importantly what is. See some of his work {here}. 

Hope you have a positive rest of your last week of November and remember, stay weird, moon babies.

Xoxo

PS. “You are the calm that saves me from my own hurricane of maddness.” - Almaz A.

Francois-Henri Galland, Untitled.

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Weekend Learning's

The first weekend of October. Something changes in the air in October in London. Yes the weather, obs! But the menus at the markets have changed. There are now warm apple, pumpkin and cinnamon turnovers and hot spicy mulled wine. There are chimneys billowing white mist into the crisp blue sky. People are wearing burgundy and mustard coloured throws. There is a nip in the air but a warmth in the spirit, an English Autumn is vibrant and idllic! Also, while pottering around London, as one does, one noticed a lot of new things. Christmas decorations? Really? One cannot believe! This year has flown. And what a year it has been. This is what I learned; 

• “Like a wild flower; she spent her days, allowing herself to grow, not many knew of her struggle, but eventually all; knew of her light.” - Nikki Rowe
• I love to read. Sometime back home I would stop reading for long periods of time. I find I struggle to get into books. Now with my trusty iPad and kindle app, I have successfully finished three books since I moved here. I know for big readers a book every two months is not impressive but I am on my fourth book since I moved here and enjoying getting lost in my books more and more. I have been reading such scary books that I sometimes get too scared to go out into the hall, let alone get out of the bed and have to watch an episode of Friends to try and relax before bed… funny! I know I am silly… stop laughing!
• "Remember: the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself. Life’s cruelest irony." - Douglas Coupland, Shampoo Planet. I strongly believe in inner reflection. 
• There are so many health places in London. Honestly, healthy, vegetarian, vegan, lactose-free, animal friendly, green, organic and biodegradable eat-in / eat-out restaurants are the new black… it seems. I have many favourites, I am yet to find a smoothie place where I truly love the menu. Most places do juicing but I think they water a lot of them down and we all know me and a smoothie – a love affair in a plastic sippie cup. I had a great one at Crussh this weekend – The Bliss Blend - Mango, pineapple, peach, bananas, coconut milk, bliss blend booster. (I took out the orange juice and yoghurt you will see on the menu, cannot have those on the The Migraine Diet). Was a little Saturday morning treat! Their branding is terrible though… it pains me. Just saying.
• I finally finished Grey’s Anatomy Season 11. I cried like a blubbering little wet blanket, and I LOVED IT! Really was not the same watching it alone. I used to watch it with my little Sis, at least then we would cry together, and then laugh at each other. Quote I loved the most, Owen’s quote; "We're supposed to feel; we're supposed to love and hate and hurt and grieve and break and be destroyed and rebuild ourselves to be destroyed again. That's human; that's humanity. That's being alive," he told Amelia. "Don't avoid it. Don't extinguish it."
• I think its a joke that peanut butter says “once opened consume within 3 months”. Three months… do people really have that much self control that they can keep a jar of peanut butter for more than three months? Wow. A jar of peanut butter lasts me about eight days, sometimes a little more but three months… never! 
• "I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close." - Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets.

I hope you have an incredible Autumn week my fallen leaves. There will be no Weekend Learning’s next week, I am going on an adventure with my favourite sun baby!

Xoxo

PS. "Your flaws are perfect for the heart that is meant to love you."

Leave a Comment Autumn, Book, Crussh, Douglas Coupland, Grey's Anatomy, health, healthy, London, Nikki Rowe, October, Pablo Neruda, peanut butter, quote, quotes, reading, weekend

Weekend Learning's

Illustration; Bri Emery

Gosh. I have not done a Weekend Learning’s for so long. Where to start? At the beginning. This is what I learned;

• I live in a semi-detached, ground-floor, newly refurbished (so new it was finished two weeks after I moved in) house. It is complicated! I am still learning her ways. It reminds me of this quote to one of my favourite movies, Under The Tuscan Sun.
  "Pick one room and make it yours. Go slowly through the house. Be polite, introduce yourself so it can introduce itself to you." - Frances Mayer.
• Maybe I hope too much, maybe I dream too much, but at least I won’t give up until I’ve tried, and I won’t regret anything.
• Did you know that all the swans in London are owned by the Queen? Well since back in the day they are a protected species so the Royals look after them. I like it. Hurt them and get fined! Wish South Africa would do this for the Rhino’s. 
• “The best smell in the world is that man that you love.” - Jennifer Aniston. Oh how I miss the little things the most.
• I live in London. Just incase you forgot! Which means sometimes I will catch a bus somewhere and go past Marble Arch or Selfridges or Big Ben or any of these amazing landmarks! This weekend, the bus I caught took me past Harrods. Their window dressing is out of this world. Every time I realise I am about to go past there I get excited, open my eyes a little wider to see a little more (like a little kid) and gawk with my mouth open at the incredible display of the Harrods windows. This particular weekend I think I heard myself gasp out loud - they are magical! 
• “It takes both sides to build a bridge.” - Fredrik Nael
• My little sister is getting married! Yay! So I spend a lot of time looking into wedding stuff, did you know there is a bouquet glossary? Like a Pompander, is a flower covered ball tied with a ribbon for a flower girl? And a Nosegay is a compact cluster of flowers wrapped tightly and cut to one uniform length? And that is only two of them… I know. 
• I recently started a migraine eating plan to try and figure out what foods are triggering my migraines. I am a chronic sufferer. This means if I am not medicated, I can get 15 migraines a month… debilitating. So I am basically a vegan at the moment who cannot eat some select fruits and veg and nuts to add to it. But I feel great! Can you believe? I did have one migraine last week though… one is better than four… I’ll keep you updated.

Hope you have a Harrods window kind of week!

Xoxo

PS. Be grateful. Eat more vegetables. Love others. 

So many friends I thought would build haven't,
Friends I thought wouldn't have surprised me,
thank you.

Leave a Comment Frances Mayer, Fredrik Nael, Harrods, health, Jennifer Aniston, London, London Diaries, migraine, quote, quotes, SAFA in London, Stephs Wedding, swans, vegan, Wedding, weekend

London Diaries

How I felt... a lot.

Six months in London. What can I say? 

Well I can say that last month I was so convinced it was six months I tried to convince myself and my boyfriend it was until I actually said to him… “So I got here in March, so one month, twoooo, three, four… five… Oh...” It felt like six. It has felt like forever. But it has also felt like I left yesterday. It feels like yesterday I was trying to fit my life into 23kg’s of bag. Yes that’s all I could bring. It also felt like yesterday where I lived happily on my own and drove a car and NEVER took public transport for fear of death. 

It also feels like yesterday that I had my first night in London. I got lost on my way home. In the dark. No GPS. Naturally I feared getting stabbed or mugged (The South Africa Hangover I like to think of it as)… till I saw a girl, alone, sauntering down (what I thought) was a dark alley, iPod, cell phone and headphones blaring looking at me like I was insane… or escaped from Africa… which I kind of did… Now I walk home at night with not a care in the world. Can you imagine? I have to admit, living in a safe, first world country, swinging from train to sidewalk like a wisp in the night is a wonderful thing. 

I always dreamt of living in London, since I was a little girl. There is an electricity in this place that no other city spills. The old and the new. The creativity. The architecture that is juxtaposed by the nature, I love it! You can never be bored! OH a hedgehog! 

There are always a hundred things to do at any single moment. There are these sites and magazines which come out and tell you what you can explore, not monthly, not weekly, daily! And each one is different. You can walk down the street and find an artist selling his soul all for a penny and a pound. 

My favourite singer in Oxford Circus (I work here!! Wow hey?) is a man who sits with his legs crossed on the street and sings the same haunting song into an orange street cone which he rests on the sidewalk in front of him. What rubbish!? You say? His song is strangely melodic and he is very dirty and his song is very pure and I can hear him from five blocks away and the sound soothes my soul. I love his consistently, I love his brand! I truly will hang around him listening to his mad echo because compared to all the guitars and soapboxes littering London, this street cone songster, stole my heart. And this my darlings, is London. To be continued…

xoxo

PS. “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” - Samuel Johnson.

I am yet to see a fox, have heard one... scary.

Leave a Comment immigrate, immigration, London, London Diaries, move, new beginning, new life, Oxford Circus, quote, SAFA in London, South African hangover, take chances

Weekend Learning's

Dancing, with love under the trees, forever.

Moving weekend! And hell was it stressful. It is actually one of the top 5 most stressful things. And yes I know I'm not moving countries or anything. But living in the same room for 16 years… you collect a lot of stuff and become quite comfortable. And I'm still not one hundred percent into Coco's Cottage yet. But I'm getting there with a little help from my fantastic sister. I think the tear show on Sunday and the idea of double-breasted cupboard space pushed her into full gear. Thanks Pickle. Anyway, this is what I learned;

• I love my new space. I especially love living alone but if I need someone or some pup they're just a phone call away.
• There is no easy way from the earth to the stars but every time I look into your eyes baby, I feel a little closer to them. Yes I made this up myself.
• Nice is Parkhurst still, in Coco's opinion, has the best breakfasts. The queue is evidence of this. I love the Scrummy Crumpets and if you are still scared of the sweet strawberries and syrup and salty bacon combo (you nut) there is always the heavenly Egg Baskets which are always a huge hit! Scrumptious!
• Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow."
• There is nothing more wonderful than a fantastic summer's day on the grass with both old and new friends enjoying a spot of tennis, a dip in the pool all dressed in white while the braai sizzles and the sun beams, what bliss you were Saturday.
• Hello Miss Apple! Have you heard!? Well she's just the best thing since apple sauce! And her shipping is free over 50 Dollar, yay! Loving the chicken wishbone and anchor collection. Cute.
• I loath, and it must be said, I LOATH people who cut down old trees. At our old house there is… was… (sob) an old 90 year old oak who stood tall and proud. Bastards cut her down and a couple of exquisite old jacaranda's too. Surely there are laws against this? Luckily we managed to steal a slice (cringe) of her to keep. Oh the remains… the horror… just because it can't talk and can't fight and can't bleed or speak it doesn't mean it isn't alive!! Haven't you people seen The Happening?! Sigh.
• "She walks in beauty, like the night. Of cloudless climbs the starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright. Meet in her aspect and her eyes." - Lord Byron

Have a smashing week buttercups, in two weeks Coco is going to be jetting off to her two favourite cities, (apart from her precious Jozi) New York and London! Yay! Dream dream dream… see ya!

Xoxo

PS. "I've known others and I've loved others too, but I loved then 'cause they were stepping stones on a staircase to you."

Empty bed syndrome... always ^_^

Leave a Comment Coco's Cottage, Hello Miss Apple, London, Lord Byron, love, New York, Nice, sister, The Happening, Tyler Knott Gregson, weekend