What I am Wearing Wednesday

Despite the title of this post. This outfit is actually what I wore yesterday, Tuesday. I had a bit of an Internet malfunction do didn't get to post it, but I am in love with this new coat so I thought I would share.

I spotted this coat in Mr Price. Walked away from it. Walked around the mall for a bit and came back for it.  The print looks a little like a snowflake but it's not quite so obvious. There is a buttery/ sandy colour in there too which I thought was more yellow initially but isn't really.
I wore it with black tights, a short black dress from Edgars (years ago, but I love it because it has pockets) and although you can't see them, black boots from Green Cross.
Green Cross? I hear you asking: "Aren't they those yucky aunty shoes that are good for your feet?"
Well they are good for your feet but a couple of years ago they brought out a beautiful boot range. Mine are black leather riding boots with lace up detail on the back.
And the earrings are the same ones I threw into my stationary post yesterday. They were on sale for R30 from Lavisa.

Cheerful stationary from Typo.

I'm back from my week in Johannesburg and will hopefully be blogging more regularly again now. I was there for training relating to a journalism fellowship which I am doing this year, and while completely unrelated to the pretty things I blog about here, it did give me an opportunity to splurge on some new stationary.
I am an absolute stationary fiend and remember spending almost all of my pocket money when I was a child on pens and notebooks and things. It's no co-incidence that I became a journalist- free pens and notebooks? Yes please, I'll take that career.
Anyway, because the fellowship requires some long term work, I knew I would want a journal to keep track of everything, to write up ideas and bits of story and the like. I also knew I would want at least one dedicated notebook and I didn't want it to be a "regular" one. Mostly because I wanted new stationary.
The fellowship does involve some funding so I suspect while my colleagues were considering spending theirs on tools like laptops and cameras, I may have been the only one wondering how many notebooks one could buy and reasonably pass off as "for work purposes."
Anyway, I found these at Cotton On. They're all by Typo-which according to the label is designed in Australia and made in China.

The multi-coloured one is the journal and what sold me was that scattered throughout the book are cardboard dividers which have pockets, which would hold photos, slips of paper and general bits and bobs that a reporter on a year long fellowship might gather. I think it was a bargain at R49.
The other two came in a pack. They're lined inside and one is a buttery colour and the other is bright pink. They did cost a little more at R179 for the pack (gasp) but I rationalised it by telling myself they were cheaper than one Moleskin. I didn't realise until I got them all home, along with the yellow earrings I bought (the yellow round things in the pics), that everything matched.

I love this inside: (if you can't read it, it says: This epic journal can be returned to. And even has space to write a reward amount!)

I also bought some coloured fine liners yesterday. They're triangle shaped so they're nice to hold, but seeing as though I bought them in the grocery store and they cost around R10 for 10, the're not exactly prize winning writing material.Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Red carpet red dresses- Taylor Swift v Cheryl Cole.

I just wanted to pop by and apologise for my appalling lack of posts this week. I am currently in Johannesburg on work related things and am spending all day every day in workshops so have no time to hunt for pretty things, much less post about them.
Normal programming will resume next week.
In the meantime, there are two gorgeous red dresses that caught my eye over the past two days. Please enjoy Taylor Swift in her gorgeous red Ellie Saab Billboard Awards dress. How classy does she look? And even though it's sheer and red and racy all at once, it's dreamy and grown up too.
Beautiful.

Also here for your viewing pleasure is Cheryl Cole at Cannes in this jaw dropping Stephane Rolland dress. The sleeves, the back, that train. Sigh. I am not a big Cheryl Cole fan, but she did good on this one. (Pic is from The Mirror.)

Who wins in the red carpet red dress stakes? I feel torn but may lean a little more towards Cheryl on this one for the sheer drama of the whole thing!

Holiday post no.1: Delicious Things

When I heard I was going to Holland I jokingly started saying I was going on a pie eating tour.
I was only partly wrong. Mostly because in Holland, there is no pie. But the South of Holland is known for something called "Vlaai" (pronounced like you would say "fly"). It's a tart of sorts. Most have a fruit filling but there are custard and rice type fillings too.
It almost seems obligatory to serve them when people come to visit.
On my first day in Holland I was offered a choice of cherry or apricot.
On my second day there was this one:

That there is a strawberry one. It had a custard filling and a layer of chocolate between the base and the custard.

One Sunday we went to this farm where they make them in a pizza oven on the first Sunday of every month. These are some of the little, individual ones that I found when I popped into the kitchen to see how it's done.

Everyone sits in the barn, next to the tractors and farming implements and eats their vlaai with a cup of coffee. There are lots of different sorts to choose from.

I had the apricot:

The Dutch have a real sweet tooth. They eat delicious chocolate sprinkles on their bread for breakfast. They   make amazing pancakes. And vlaai. And things called Strropwafels which are biscuits that taste like waffles. With syrup inside. They will change your life.

They changed mine. And probably my waistline too.

I saw this one day in Maastricht and thought it was apt.

On the Hunt

While I was in Holland I bought this top from De Bijenkorf:

It looks a bit blah in the photo (it's the product shot). It's a much brighter orange. It has navy and white polka dotty things on it. The pussy bow is removable and it has quite a cute, rounded collar. The thing though, is on its own it looks a bit "air hostess". And I had planned to wear it with a thin navy sweater.

Only, do you think I can find such a thing?

Th ideal sweater would be a thin, light knit. It has a crew neck and it's navy. To tone down all of that orange.

But everything I've seen either has the wrong neckline, has some kind of a print on it, like stripes, or costs a bazillion rands.

These are what I had in mind:

This one is JCrew. But unfortunately, it falls into the category of costing one bazillion South African Rands.

This one from Asos falls into the same category of being perfect but costing too much:

Not sure why the model is wearing a jersey with those teeny tiny shorts. Does she suffer from unusually cold arms or unusually warm legs?

Anyway, if anyone can point me in the right direction, I would be ever so grateful!

Pretty Please?

The Perfect Bag

So I'm back from my travels. I will be blogging some pics as soon as I've had a chance to look at them all. But fear not, it wont be one of those situations where you're forced to look through 4000 of someone else's holiday snaps.

I have been in the market for a new handbag for a while. My old "everyday" bag is a giant Nine West number that was beige to start with and is now a weird shade of "just plain hideous". It was pretty, but it wasn't practical.

There are a few things I require of my everyday bag. It needs to be big enough to fit a reporter's notebook. It needs space for all the other things that wind up in a woman's handbag. And most importantly, it needs to have a shoulder strap or a cross body style. I know this now because my last bag just had regular handles and in my job, I found myself hanging on to my bag in strange places while also trying to write notes in a notebook. My next bag needed to be hands free, I told myself.

Enter this guy:

It's by Fossil and it's called the Maddox cross body bag. I saw it in a shop in Holland and fell in love with it. But I didn't buy it right away because it was a little over my daily spending limit that I set myself. So I spent the whole afternoon thinking about it, and when I was on the way back to the car, went in and bought it. It made me feel a little better that it was marked down from 160 Euros to 80 Euros. But it still felt like a lot to my South African wallet.

It is everything I want in a bag. I love the colour. It's real leather. It's well made and will last a long time. These are the things I told myself while I was trying to make up my mind whether to buy it or not.

And now that I have it in my possession, I'm happy to report they're all true.

I did however take the ornamental key off, because it jingled when I walked. And that was annoying.

Here it is from another angle:

Pretty right?

Local Friday: Soetcookie Ceramics

One of the things that has been on my wishlist for the longest time is one of these bunnies by local ceramicist Soetcookie- which is the work of the very talented Tanya Laing.
The name Soetcookie directly translated from Afrikaans means "Sweet Biscuit", but it's more like a sugar cookie.

Look how cute this little fellow is! They come with various faces, colours and ear directions but this is my favourite. It's like he's asking a question with his ears. I think he's saying: "Can I come home with you?" Soon, my little friend, soon.

Tanya also does other little creatures. I love that her stuff is really sweet, but can have a bit of an edge or some humour to it.

He's crying 'cause he also wants to live with me.

These plates and cups are so much fun. They're ceramic but are meant to look like paper plates and cups.

It's genius.

To visit the Soetcookie website, click here