lisa's-days

Here? Already...

2012-02-01T10:20:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that in 6 months, I will be a qualified montessori directress for children aged 0-6! It has been so amazing to meet so many different students and teachers whilst i have been studying. (again) A little boy, who greets me every morning, told me today that he has learn't back stoke. I asked him where he had learn't this from and he said he copied his friend at nursery. He was not under the impression that back stroke was done whilst swimming but rather whenever you walk somewhere. During the whole day, whenever he had to go somewhere, he walked everywhere doing back stroke! It was ridiculously sweet and still brings a smile to my face when i think of those little arms flinging past his head.

We have started studying language materials for montessori now and I am amazed how much i have forgotten! Even for a 0-6 year old! Needless to say, I now find myself spelling out every item i see phonetically! I think next time i do a group lesson or have a placement at a nursery, it would be fun to do an afrikaans song from South Africa. Any suggestions?

A crafty christmas

2011-12-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

Phew what a year it has been! I have changed directions and instead of carrying on with design full time I have started working with children. I have just finished my three week placement at a nursery and it was so amazing - i really loved it! Children say the cutest (and most bizarre) things! Everyday is so different which I absolutely love! Whilst doing my teaching prac and various child based essays - my crafty fingers have started to itch and I have started to do little things around the house in my spare time. I plan to start a little etsy shop of some treats of mine so keep your eyes open :)

This christmas Ivan and I are travelling to London to spend christmas with some family. Exciting! We are going to winter wonderland in hyde park which I am sure is a completely different atmosphere to what it is in South Africa at the moment. For one, I will be wearing many many MANY layers and dancing on the ice rink in my skating shoes....
What are you all up to this christmas?

I hope you all have a lovely christmas and festive season!!

Hyde Park - Winter Wonderland

Montessori madness

2011-10-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

I have started studying for my montessori diploma - four weeks in and I am swamped!
Juggling nursery observations and lessons with designing at my current work place is definitely a mega challenge! Although completely exhausted, I am loving it so much! I have to prepare and present a winter activity soon and although a bit nervous, totally excited to get creative with the little ones. Still struggling on some ideas but I will share it with you all when the inspiration finally flows...

In other news, I was recently woken up by the image of an engagement ring on my mom's finger. She is getting married in December next year. I am super happy for her! ! Added bonus - I will be in South Africa next year! I miss you all dearly ...

New Hair :)

2011-08-17T03:26:00.000-07:00

Love getting pampered, new hair and feeling slightly naked but still, nice :)

1 more month to go and I will be studying and teaching tiny humans - I am excited.
I have to read, The discovery of the child to prepare for the first time and it is so interesting.

I am finally making use of the library and these two books are on my bedside table at the moment:

Hello Songbird

2011-08-16T01:40:00.000-07:00

See I told you I would get one!!
This one is called a song bird and it now goes everywhere with me tucked in my bag.
You can find them at Staples or on E-bay - such a great buy and it is never ending since you can just buy or make refills... thumbs up filofax!

Eating animals part 2

2011-08-10T02:05:00.000-07:00

When flying back to the UK, i left my book, Eating animals, in the plane. Lucky bugger who got it.
I know I have already gone on about this book in a previous post but I cannot stress how amazing this book is! It is written so incredibly well and the arguments given are so powerful and inspirational. For someone who chooses to eat meat, I think it is a definite read, you need to know what is going on and in these animals. You cannot simply say that you do not like reading about animal cruelty or that it is okay because you buy organic eggs. More of a reason to read it, the picture is so much bigger.
I will gladly buy this book for anyone who wants to read it and learn more about factory farming.

Don't get me wrong, I used to love ordering the garlic steak at cattle baron and sushi at beluga. Don't even get me started about ice cream and cheese. But I don’t love any of that nearly enough to be willing to support an industry that is not only being so cruel to animals but also destroying my planet and my health. It tastes good but not that good.

Im in peanut butter heaven..

2011-08-10T01:25:00.000-07:00

This week I received a lovely little book by Alicia Silverstone called, The kind diet.
Remember her - Clueless flash back!! She is also a vegan and she shares lots of amazing and inspirational animal stories and scrumptious meal plans and recipes. Of course I decided to make one of the desserts first and I chose to make Crispy peanut butter treats with chocolate chips! Goodness me, they are ridiculously good tasting and apparently not too bad for you if you use the right ingredients.

Have a go, you will not be disappointed! Well done Alicia, you make my tummy happy!

Ingredients:
1 box of rice crispie cereal
1 3/4 cups of brown rice syrup (couldn't find it and used maple syrup)
Fine sea salt
3/4 cup peanut butter/almond butter, preferably unsweetened and unsalted. (no such luck for me)
1/2 cup of non dairy chocolate chips or carob chips

Pour the rice cereal into a large bowl.
Heat the syrup with a pinch of salt over low heat.
When the syrup liquefies, add the peanut butter and stir well until combined.
Pour over the rice cereal and mix well with a wooden spoon.

Once thoroughly mixed, add the chocolate chips. Make sure it has cooled down otherwise you will have melted chocolate instead of chocolate chips! Turn the mixture into an 8 x 8 inch baking dish and cool in fridge for an hour before cutting into squares!

Voila :)
Enjoy!

Im bringing sexy back..

2011-08-01T03:22:00.000-07:00

I remember my mum having one of these when i was a young'in and it would follow her wherever she went. Work, shopping, meetings, toilet - ok well maybe not the toilet.
I was getting my morning fix of pinterest when i stumbled upon some of these lovely filofax treats.
Im bringing sexyback and buying one of these bad boys for when i start studying again in September. Why don't you join me, we can have secret meetings with our super organised filofaxes?

Simply beautiful...

2011-07-29T03:21:00.000-07:00

Something so simple and pretty for a Friday morning.
Any plans for the weekend? It's the food and wine show here in bournemouth so hopefully we will have some lovely sunshine and some play in the park. I am reading Jodi Picoults, house rules at the moment and it is an addictive read!

House Rules is about Jacob Hunt, a teenage boy with Asperger’s Syndrome. He’s hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject – in his case, forensic analysis.

He’s always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do…and he’s usually right. But then one day his tutor is found dead, and the police come to question him. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger’s – not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, inappropriate affect – can look a heck of a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel -- and suddenly, Jacob finds himself accused of murder. House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, how autism affects a family, and how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way – but lousy for those who don’t. Very very good!

Until the end...

2011-07-29T03:10:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong, I adore Harry Potter (Go Go Ron Weasley) but this might be taking it a little far.
Then again, I wouldn't mind having my own wand that I could poke in peoples faces.
Expecto Patronum.

Nearly there.....

2011-07-28T02:50:00.000-07:00

I am in hysterics at my desk - Oh lovely kitty, I know how you feel...

xxx

2011-07-26T02:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend I;
-Watched No Strings attached, hello girl crush - Natalie Portman

- Realized I would never look like Natalie Portman and had coke and a chip roll instead

- Had nervous feelings about one day teaching a classroom full of kiddies
- Made chocolate brownies that were called "The ultimate chocolate brownie recipe"

- Looked up the word, ultimate. We must have different definitions...
- Sat on the internet for way too long staring at things I cannot possibly afford.
- Looked on ebay instead..,

Hope you had a lovely weekend, back to work it is....

Oh birthday, I wish you weren't over!!

2011-07-26T01:57:00.000-07:00

See you at custard past sky-blue

Brilliant !

Ahoy matey..

A bag that I could cuddle all day, everyday

This might be pushing it a lil

Maybe for christmas....

Happy Friday, Happy Vegan Tummy Treats

2011-07-22T03:22:00.000-07:00

To celebrate making it through this rainy week, this is what's number one on my to do list for the weekend. That and watching way too many soppy movies and series... who's in?

Dry Ingredients
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar (I used raw cane sugar, but feel free to use white)
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp (scant) Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Wet Ingredients
1/2 Cup Soymilk (I’m sure this would work with any milk or non-milk substitute)
1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar (I believe you can substitute this for regular white vinegar)
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Egg Replacer for 1 Egg (If you don’t use egg replacer feel free to use 1 egg)
4 Tbs Earth Balance (regular margarine should work too)

Icing Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered icing
1 tbsp soy milk
sprinkles

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Take all the wet ingredients and put in a small pot on the stovetop on low. Whisk ingredients together to blend well. Do not let the mixture get too hot, it should just be warm to the touch. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just incorporated. Do not over mix. The batter will be 1) Very very sticky- but don’t worry, and 2) It tastes like a dream- try not to eat all of it.
Now comes the tricky part. Putting the batter into the doughnut pans. After a few trials, what I found worked best was taking a tablespoon’s worth of dough (if using the mini pans) and scooping it directly over the individual mold. Then take your fingers to press it out and make the middle pop through.
Bake for 12 minutes. You don’t want them brown, but they should slowly pop up when pressed with a finger. Cool on a wire rack and then decorate!
Makes 20 mini doughnuts.
Don’t have doughnut pans?
Now if you don’t have doughnut pans (and really who does??) you can shape them by hand. The trick is to WET your hands very well or the dough will stick to you like nobody’s business! Keep wetting your hands as soon as the dough sticks. I will show a picture of my ‘handmade’ doughnut below. It isn’t picture perfect, but they don’t need to be. What I also wish I did, is try making Timbits (or as the Americans call them, ‘doughnut holes’) by just making round balls of dough. The round balls would be really fun to roll in sprinkles too!

Thanks to The lovely Oh she glows directions and piccies.

My latest guilty pleasure

2011-07-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

"The notes collected here were written only for a lover's eyes; they are unflinchingly honest. Reading them is like picking the lock on a stranger's heart and peering inside during the most intense moments of his or her life. But the fascination here is more complex than a simple case of voyeurism. Because, on a deeper level, the heart you're looking into is your own."

Reading through;
-Break-up letters
-Postcards from loves long lost
-Emails that were never sent
-Drunken confessions scribbled on bar napkins
-Steamy text messages
-Valentine's cards.

My lovely new book that I simply cannot put down, definitely a must read!
- Get your hands on it now!

From this to that

2011-07-21T04:02:00.000-07:00

In September, I will be moving from this little design desk:

To this:

Yikes!

Stamp you, stamp me

2011-07-21T03:44:00.000-07:00

Lucky me, look what I arrived from South Africa in the week. My lovely friend made me my own set of stamps, I plan on stamping everything and everyone that comes past me. Michelle Baron, you are my hero!

Three weeks ago

2011-06-03T03:19:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago I was doing my usual time waster on the internet and stumbled upon Ellen degeneres's video about the gentle barn. It's amazing what the internet can do - from there I hopped over to way too many links on animal rights and the environment. Before I knew it, I was watching the earthlings trailer having a little sob at a little pup that was being stripped for its fur. This isn't anything out of the ordinary for me since this is what made me become vegetarian in the first place. I ended the day watching a you tube documentary by an animal activist, Gary yourofsky. He spoke about veganism and about the true meaning of animal rights. He has been heard by more than 60,000 students in 170 middle schools, high schools and universities across the nation. Gary uses thought-provoking prose, inspiring stories, indisputable facts, quotes from Pythagoras, W. R. Inge, and other great thinkers, plus graphic footage from slaughterhouses (land and sea), to ask people to be kind to animals and, ultimately, go vegan.

He is so great! Ivan and I were in awe listening to Garys speech. Being vegetarian for years now, veganism has always crossed my mind but after trying once and failing, i assumed it too hard of a challenge.

With this post I do not plan on preaching but just to declare that three weeks ago I became vegan and im happy.

Food has been amazing! So many spices and amazing vegan meals to try! You have not lived until you have tried my vegetable cashew nut korma! Please come over so I can cook for you yes?!

“I highly recommend hugging a cow” - Portia De Rossi

Royal wedding

2011-04-21T04:09:00.000-07:00

I have been living in England for almost 6 months now so the royal wedding was bound to creep into the home and work place. A week to go and it's all the English are speaking about.
I was asked to put together a quick lil invitation for a hotel in Bournemouth who are going to screen the wedding and have a lil wedding celebration feast on the day.
I designed a typical spoof wedding invitation that looked like this:

The Lord Chamberlain is commanded by the Queen to invite:

If your invitation from the Palace got lost in the post, you can still join in with the
pageantry and excitement of the Royal Wedding.

There was also a little menu and other details included but they must be on my work computer. Apologies!!

And then I had the lovely job of printing 2000 of them and creasing and folding them.

Drool..

2011-04-21T03:32:00.000-07:00

Gotta get going on with my design otherwise I will never have a place like this:

All taken from one of my favourites, www.pinterest.com

Thank you Jonathan Safran Foer

2011-04-21T03:01:00.000-07:00

My lovely friend who recently has just passed her one year mark as a vegetarian (hip hip hooray) told me about a book that I would absolutely love. Since she is my favourite person and always spot on about these things - i popped onto amazon to order the book that she so raved on about. I now plan to do the same to all of you!!
Wow wow wow. Most books that I have read about eating animals or vegetarianism always seem to have a "preacher tone" and although i am always completely in and for the argument, I wonder about the other people who are reading it who are not like me. This book however seems to form such a great argument including both sides of the story that really kept my brain awake all night (more nights than I would like to admit) The humour caught me off guard and the writing itself is beautifully crafted.
I became an "accidental"vegetarian in my first year at Vega after watching a documentary. I say accidental because after the documentary, I did not decide on not eating meat, I just couldn't stomach looking at what was on my plate that evening when my lovely mum served chicken and rice. From then on, the need for it wasn't there anymore.
From then on, numerous books and dvds have backed up my reasoning and calling myself a vegetarian is one of the things I am so very proud of calling myself.

Vegetarian or not - have a look at this book next time your in exclusives or online shopping. I promise you will not be disappointed but I also cannot say that you will not shed a few tears - if your a sissy like me. See a little insert below about this lovely treat of a book:

Like many others, Jonathan Safran Foer spent his teenage and college years oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood—facing the prospect of having to make dietary choices on a child’s behalf—his casual questioning took on an urgency. This quest ultimately required him to visit factory farms in the middle of the night, dissect the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probe some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong.

BULLSHIT
1) The shit of a bull (see also: environmentalism)
2) Misleading or false language and statements, such as:

BYCATCH
Perhaps the quintessential example of bullshit, bycatch refers to sea creatures caught by accident — except not really "by accident," since bycatch has been consciously built into contemporary fishing methods. Modern fishing tends to involve much technology and few fishers. This combination leads to massive catches with massive amounts of bycatch. Take shrimp, for example. The average shrimptrawling operation throws 80 to 90 percent of the sea animals it captures overboard, dead or dying, as bycatch. (Endangered species amount to much of this bycatch.) Shrimp account for only 2 percent of global seafood by weight, but shrimp trawling accounts for 33 percent of global bycatch. We tend not to think about this because we tend not to know about it. What if there were labeling on our food letting us know how many animals were killed to bring our desired animal to our plate? So, with trawled shrimp from Indonesia, for example, the label might read: 26 pounds of other sea animals were killed and tossed back into the ocean for every 1 pound of this shrimp.
Or take tuna. Among the other 145 species regularly killed — gratuitously — while killing tuna are: manta ray, devil ray, spotted skate, bignose shark, copper shark, Galapagos shark, sandbar shark, night shark, sand tiger shark, (great) white shark, hammerhead shark, spurdog fish, Cuban dogfish, bigeye thresher, mako, blue shark, wahoo, sailfish, bonito, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, longbill spearfi sh, white marlin, swordfish, lancet fish, grey triggerfish, needlefish, pomfret, blue runner,black ruff, dolphin fish, bigeye cigarfish, porcupine fish, rainbow runner, anchovy, grouper, flying fish, cod, common sea horse, Bermuda chub, opah, escolar, leerfish, tripletail, goosefish, monkfish, sunfish, Murray eel, pilotfish, black gemfish, stone bass, bluefish, cassava fish, red drum, greater amberjack, yellowtail, common sea bream, barracuda, puffer fish, loggerhead turtle, green turtle, leatherback turtle, hawksbill turtle, Kemp's ridley turtle, Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross, Audouin's gull, Balearic shearwater, black-browed albatross, great black-backed gull, great shearwater, great-winged petrel, grey petrel, herring gull, laughing gull, northern royal albatross, shy albatross, sooty shearwater, southern fulmar, Yelkouan shearwater, yellow-legged gull, minke whale, sei whale, fin whale, common dolphin, northern right whale, pilot whale, humpback whale, beaked whale, killer whale, harbor porpoise, sperm whale, striped dolphin, Atlantic spotted dolphin, spinner dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, and goose-beaked whale.
Imagine being served a plate of sushi. But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi. The plate might have to be five feet across.

Days like today...bake bake bake!

2011-01-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

Winter is good for one thing and one thing only, eating!! A month later i have baked almost anything i can get my hands on and although this sounds too awesome for words. I am also 5kgs heavier. How cruel of you England!! Cruel indeed, but that doesn't mean it's any less yummier:

Spinach and Feta Filo Pie - Me oh my delicious!

100g pine nuts
5 eggs
300g feta cheese
50g Cheddar cheese
dried oregano
1 lemon
a good knob of butter
400g pre-washed spinach
1x 270g pack of filo pastry
cayenne pepper
1 whole nutmeg.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Put an ovenproof frying pan (around 26cm diameter) on a medium heat.

Toast the pine nuts in the dry frying pan until they start to colour. Crack five eggs into a mixing bowl and crumble in the feta cheese. Add the cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, oregano, lemon zest and a tablespoon of olive oil. Stir in the toasted pine nuts and mix well.

Heat the frying pan with a bit of olive oil and butter then add half of the spinach. Move the spinach around in the frying pan for about a minute and once it has wilted add the remaining spinach. Stir frequently.

Cover your worktop with a 50cm piece of greaseproof paper (shiny side up), which has been greased well with olive oil. Scrunch the paper up and then lay it back out flat. Working quickly, arrange four sheets of filo pastry in a square, making sure that the inner edges slightly overlap. Drizzle a little olive oil over the pastry sheets before sprinkling with cayenne pepper. Repeat this process until you have three layers of pastry.

The spinach should have wilted by now. If it's very wet, drain it in a colander then add it to the egg mixture and grate in half of the nutmeg. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Pick up the greaseproof paper that the pastry is sitting on and transfer it to the frying pan (or cake tin in my case) so that the edges hang over. Push the pastry into the sides of the pan (don't worry, filo is stronger than it looks) then pour in the egg mixture. Fold the sides of the pastry into the middle to seal the pie and put the frying pan back on the heat for a few minutes.

Transfer the frying pan into the oven to cook for around 20 minutes.

Enjoy

Ebay madness

2010-12-23T01:55:00.000-08:00

Being from South Africa, websites like amazon and ebay are more like dream websites, sites that are so super awesome but can't be used because you pay through your butt to send it home. So a major plus for England is that Ebay and Amazon are now my good friends! Good? Yes i would of thought so too. BAD! Too addictive i tell you, i want everything! This little painting went for £1.50 and every second day or so i was out bid and i would simply bid £0.10 higher.

Sadly yesterday i received this email:

Someone bid £11 just before the bid ended, sneaky little hobit'ses!! Byebye sweet painting, you will be missed.

O rudolph, you crack me up.

2010-12-21T06:31:00.000-08:00

In mean girl movie terms, been seen in this little fella would be social suicide. Right?
Wrong! Well i don't think so anyway ;)
I was lucky enough to pick up this little guy for £8 in Bournemouth a while back and he has become my bestfriend. He is rather warm and cuddly! Jealous much?

Oh hello:

2010-12-21T02:18:00.000-08:00

Type is something special - even better when related to doggies!

Christmas time already?

2010-12-20T03:54:00.000-08:00

Wowza can you believe it is a week until christmas! Where has all the time gone? This will be my first christmas away from home and i must say, its not easy! This time of year in South Africa, i am used to beach days, the smell of suncream, denim shorts and loads and loads of shopping! This year in England it is a tad different. Many many layers, comfort fatty food and the budget of all budget christmas shopping! Luckily after work on christmas eve, i am going to London :) Home sickness is such a horrible thing to have and i hope in a few months it will be a bit easier to function. Job hunting has become what everyone has preached to me about, they are hard to come by. (design jobs especially) Im trying to remain positive but right now, i would like to come home. Missing all of you my friendies and family. This is the best thing for ivan and i, time to grow up and gain some independence whilst working and travelling, i guess it just takes time.
To cheer me up, look at these lovely teapot treats:

Oh and these lovely salt and pepper shakers:

Yes Yes a thousand times yes

2010-12-17T03:20:00.000-08:00

Ok someone propose to me RIGHT NOW.. I need to be surrounded in all of these lovely treats! Maybe this isn't the best reason to get married? no? Ok lets have a pre-primary wedding where we all dress up and make all things pretty and then the following day, we can play kiss catch with all the other boys ;) Before you start thinking, 'Ugh cliche weddings, get me outta here' Look again:

But wait, theres more: http://lovemademedoitx.blogspot.com

Post secret

2010-12-16T09:22:00.000-08:00

O my favourite post secret for this week, yep christmas is here folks.

The future Nigellas' of the world

2010-12-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, a friend and I had the sudden urge to bake up a storm!! Of course it did not help that when we went to the grocery store hungry! We ended up leaving ASDA with ingredients to bake for the masses. Here is what we made:

Yes – bow down to the domestic goddesses:

Yes please

2010-12-08T04:41:00.000-08:00

Look at all these lovely treats from urban outfitters, i would like them all please Santa:

And while you are it, please ask Rudolph to provide me with..

A lovely place like this for my one day kiddy to have one day:

A dress like this for a special occassion:

To triple my tea cup collection and laugh at this womens pityful collection:

To have the ability to bake like this and to eat it too:

And last but not least, to see these beautiful munches when i got home:

More discoveries

2010-12-08T03:59:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that in 5 days time, i would of been living in chilly england for 1 month already.
This calls for another list of lisa's discoveries to this country:

- Friendly greetings to shop cashiers results in very bizarre looks
- Jaffa cakes are as yummy as i remember when i was a little one.
Orange and chocolate with biscuit, what more could you ask for.
- Walking in snow without falling requires a special kind of waddle of which i have not mastered.
- Dinners and series watching with friends makes me feel at home.
- People are mean when it snows, they like to throw things at you.
- When people say, 'you alright'? This does not mean, pour your heart and soul on the matter if you are actually okay or not but merely a 'howsit' greeting. Best received when your answer is, 'ye'

In other weird and wonderful but slightly boring news, i am rather hungry and just found a lovely sight to oogle on whilst drooling all over my desk:

A spoon full of chocolate! Yes please!

He is clever yes, AND super special

2010-12-08T03:49:00.000-08:00

Ivan, my lovely boyfriend has started another blog :) 3 cheers for ivan. He has just started at the Arts Bournemouth University studying illustration, im rather jealous! Have a looksie at his yummy work from this year sofar:

Go have a follow, go on: http://papercutsandpencilshavings.blogspot.com/

Snowsnowsnow

2010-12-02T05:02:00.000-08:00

As my Wednesday morning began, I was super happy. Judging on the photies, you would think the reason for this would be the snow. Nope. Dear friendies Naomi and Joe and Ivan and myself were going to go see Harry potter. Yesyes, spot the harry potter fan. I guess its not so much harry but super cool Ron and Luna lovegood! So moving on, Naomi made a yummy jamie oliver soup and strawberry crumble before the movie and from then on, i had a happy belly in the movie cinema with lovely company. Ivan and I were super excited because we are religious cinema watchers but because it is so expensive here, we hadn’t gone before. The movie was really cool AND when we came out, double cool – SNOW!! Naomi’s car was full of snow and we ended the evening by driving 10km/h all the way home!! (and getting hit by a few snowballs)

When I woke up this morning, it had been snowing all night which I hear is quite rare for Bournemouth. I walked to work with a few waddles here but I made it to work ☺ wet feet and all.

Yes please santa

2010-11-30T07:08:00.000-08:00

I find myself always blogging about tea, oops. Teateatea. I am completely obsessed with this little submarine tea dispenser. Anyone want to buy me one for christmas? Agreed. Thanks.

The Tuesday giggles

2010-11-30T05:32:00.000-08:00

So with my interning comes a lot of research and lucky for me, a lot of blog reading. This is really amusing for a snowy Tuesday in England http://tinythingsihate.blogspot.com/
It’s a site called 1000 tinythings I hate:
Hope they make you giggle just like I am right now:

#0183. Turning up late for a meeting and jovially declaring, A wizard arrives precisely when he means to! And then realising it’s quite a serious meeting.

#0181 People who would rather walk around all day doing this face than buying a cheap pair of fucking sunglasses.

#0177. They way my friend, Dave brags about how long he has cooked something for in his precious slow cooker.

#0153. The constant and overwhelming urge to let my one asian friend know that I’ve finally seen slumdog millionaire.
It's only been 24 hours and already I'm getting the urge to text him with the big news. I'm 99% certain this is the final proof I'm not racist. But I'll wait. I'll wait until we're next on the train together, then as soon as there's a natural lull in the conversation, I'll hit him with it.

Some many many tiny things i hate:
1) People who feel the need to walk in the street with their music blaring from their phone.
2) People who use big words to feel bigger, better and more important.
3) Warm milk in cereal, why oh why would you do this to yourself.
4) Grumpy cashiers, oh i wish you would smile.
5) The super trooper song by ABBA, go to hell.

No one wanting your crappy phone?

2010-11-29T08:07:00.000-08:00

A new country means new television channels which then means loads of weird and wonderful tv offers. So apart from the ad being really weird, this whole idea actually works. So cash4phones is all about helping the environment and not only are you helping but you are also getting paid for helping. So what happens is:

1) Find your mobile phone online to see how much its worth (http://www.cash4phones.co.uk/)
2) Send contact details
3) They send you a free post return envelope
and then cha-ching
4) They pay the money to you in 24hours via online transfer or cheque depending on what you prefer.

How cool. So im looking into getting rid of my old blackberry 8520. They are offering me 66 pounds which is equivalent to R734.00. Just for recycling my phone ;) super.
I also had a LG chocolate which is rather old and they were offering me 2 pounds. Aw shame poor fella.

A happy filled weekend

2010-11-29T03:18:00.000-08:00

Whoa is it Monday already? I hate that feeling. The feeling where you wake up on a Monday morning and the idea of getting up in the cold and walking to work, makes you the grumpiest girl in the room. Poor ivan. Messing the whole bottle of vitamins on the floor did not help either. Stupid child lock. Its getting really cold here but my body is getting more and more used to it so I don’t feel like im an eskimo in a bikini anymore. So instead of ranting and raving about my grumpy Monday, I can reminisce about my happy filled weekend. Ivan and I were lucky enough to be introduced to lots of new places by family here in Bournemouth. We went to Christchurch and Southampton which also included lots of yummy eats, awesome ikea and warm peoples houses. Bless y’all. Ikea is super cool, South Africa is really missing out. Jee whiskers. The place is absoloutely huge! It has 3 floors and im guessing around 8 floors of parking. We were in there for three hours, can you believe it. I also fell for the marketing booboo and got myself an ikea card. Cmon it was free ; ) and also gives you 25 per discount and free tea and coffee in the week. Who wouldn’t get an ikea card?

Aren't the Kiddies rooms the sweetest.

Oh hello

2010-11-26T09:18:00.000-08:00

In other cool things i got up to today, i have stumbled upon some pretty neat things while researching today:
So Marc Johns is an awesome gentleman and i learnt about him from seeing my friend, michelle, giggling away at her wallpaper. He does these ridiculously cool illustrations:
(sorry there are so many, i couldn't decide which ones were my favourite.)

And today on the cherryflava blog, i found this: (thumbs up Sir Marc Johns for some super cool public interventions)

Interning begins

2010-11-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

While everyone in cape town is finishing off their month internships, im just getting started. I am interning at a digital agency called Strange. I found them due to a fellow tweeter who said they are one of the best in Bournemouth. So on the 23th November, you would of been able to spot me waddling to work in my winter gear with my *game face* on. Who knows what a game face actually looks like but im imagining something like this;

The work environment is really great, relaxed but not lazy and all the people hae friendly faces. I started off my internship with researching a brand called, drunknmunky. Strange also re designed their website and it looks like this - www.drunknmunky.eu and http://www.drunknmunky.co.uk (silly blogger is playing up with links)
The idea of starting an internship always gives me butterflies but it really isnt that bad, well at Strange anyway. I think its all the scary little experiences people share about interning. People who had to sit on the floor because no one had a spare chair, people who had to make coffee every minute of the day and if you were lucky could mount something and even people who had to wash their employees cars. I mean, cmon man.
Luckily I have my own little desk and hey, I even got offered a cup of coffee from the creative director as soon as I got in ;)

Three days of waking up early and walking to work in the freezing cold has left me with a very sore throat and a rudolph nose to match the christmas vibe. I am glad its Friday. Have a happy weekend friends.

Have no fear, selk bag is here.

2010-11-26T02:37:00.000-08:00

So after obsessive complaining, rants and moaning about how cold it is, someone has answered my prayers in the form of a puffy sleeping bag. Have a look at these bad boys:

Looks, um, interesting. right?

Thank you madly

2010-11-21T11:08:00.000-08:00

Thank you lovely Michelle and Ivan for more stationery to fall in love with. Just before i left South Africa, Michelle handed me a beautiful hand made calender, a elle magazine and this beautiful cupcake letter set and as i walked in my front door here in Bournemouth, Ivan gave me the hugest eraser i have ever seen. How cool.

On a completely different note, Ivan and I were invited to a Jamie Oliver at home evening lastnight. We were both super confused as to what that was?! Does everyone dress as Jamie? Do we all cook? Are we all naked chefs? Anyone...
But as soon as we got there, it made sense. A jamie consultant comes to your house with all Jamie Oliver cookware and you get to have a "evening with jamie"

This all started with a fun quiz. Now ivan and i normally rule quizzes but when it comes to a quiz on cheeses, we were out for the count. I mean who knows who the queen of cheese is? really? Needless to say, we were the tie losers with an Argentinian woman and her daughter with a score of 1 out of 10. Oops.
The winner received a jamie cupcake recipe and cupcake holders. Dam.
If you host the party you also receive points where you can buy some really super things. The host received 460 points which was about 20pounds and she chose a Jamie Oliver mezzaluna. I have my eye on these supersweet alphabet cookie cutters.

Welcome Home

2010-11-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

Bournemouth beginnings, What have I learnt?

First and foremost, it is cold! Wrap up warm if you would like to feel your toes and fingers for the next few hours. This does not apply to other England locals who believe the weather here is still warm.. say what.

Converting pounds to rands leaves you feeling rather hungry.

It gets dark at around 4 o clock. This results in me falling asleep at 6 o clock. Nevermind dinner, i just want my bed.

The water can be described as thick and heavy. Who knows what that means, all i know is that my treasured tea does not taste the same. Wendy suggests i buy bottled water for my kettle and buy pg tips tea. Don't you think pg tips is a weird name for tea? I find it to sound much like something you would paint your house with.

ASDA sells everything AND at the same time steals your life away, I blame mommy.
Ever since shopping with my mom from a small age, we can be described as religious aisle by aisle shoppers. This means we have to walk down each aisle and cannot, i repeat, cannot skip an aisle. This is fine in Spar or a Woolworths. ASDA i think not. Ivan and I were there for three hours. Sorry ivan...

And last but not least

It is no longer ya but ye.

Tea and cake for the soul

2010-11-19T13:55:00.001-08:00

Ingi made this beautiful tea cake for me on the day that i left South Africa. It is super cool, so cool that it deserves its own blog post. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to have a slice, my nerves were just too much to handle, but im sure it tasted just as good as it looks. Baking in the little England kitchen is going to be a challenge but i am sure i have it covered.

My byebye dinner

2010-11-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

On the Friday night before i flew to England, I decided to throw a little "see you soon" dinner with some of my "favouritist" (yes, favouritist)friends. My friend Claire delighted our tummies with a roasted tomato and thyme pasta with mini garlic toasts and a berry pavlovas with berry and wine sauce for dessert. Amazing that one.

Beautiful photography compliments to the great and talented Justin van Zyl.

Happyhappy dear mich

2010-11-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

It was a very special girls 21st birthday this weekend, thats you mich! The lovely and talented Michelle decided to have a carnival 21st and it turned out so beautiful. To celebrate, veronica and i decided to make her some moustache cookies. The first batch we decided to follow an ideas magazine tutorial on how to make moustache biscuits on sticks..sounds simple right? WRONG!

After it reached 12pm, we decided to make these instead:

What a lovely lady she is. So lovely that I had to spoil her. I bought 21 gifts for a 21year old mich.

And to finish it all of, her beautiful party celebrations :)

Who wouldn't want to work in advertising?

2010-11-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

I love this video and after you watch it, im sure you will to. Like Tony the tiger says, "It's Grreat!"

Tea anyone?

2010-11-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

For those who didn't make it, this was what my table looked like for my final exhibition for my college work. The whole concept was based around the idea that i am "at home with design" and it can be seen as my comfort and a place where i can be myself and completely honest and relaxed. homey home. This lead me to use the whole idea of home sweet home and alter it to design sweet design. Therefore, everything used in the in and around the concept had a homey feel to it.

If you want to see the work in that "little" white book, iv put it online here, http://www.designsweetdesign.blogspot.com/

O'Deer

2010-11-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

Michelle and I decided to do a long street walk after a big and i mean BIG sushi lunch at Beluga on a Friday. I love it there but does it really have to be so expensive? Also, can they provide for human girls who aren't a size 0 because seriously, long street doesn't do well for the self esteem when your trying to fit into a dress that marks one size fits all. Don't get me wrong, its a beautiful treat but i always leave feeling pretty bummed. I think michelle and i will stick to our usual hospice hunting and mr price stores. sheesh, don't get me started on Mr Price.
Well besides all of this, we were actually there looking for a carnival themed dress for my lovely friends 21st.
Her invites were super noic and i will be posting some piccies soon.

But wait theres more:
The only thing i could afford and wanted in my life, badly, was this:

I think it is the coolest thing "alive" while others ahem, mr ivan griessel think it's just "okay" Gosh, just okay? really?

Days like today there is no more vega.

2010-11-03T23:22:00.001-07:00

This amazing bunch have finally finished their three year course at Vega. (including me here) Hoots for us. Three years of learning that concept is key, red bull helps and that people will always be slightly mad. (This is a plus)

So Wednesday night, we all exhibited our work and before i could look again, it was all over. (The copious amounts of sweeties helped) After three years of having the longest to do list that never ever got finished, it finally is and now i do not know what to do with myself. Hmph. Any ideas? I feel this weird need to do something that iv always wanted to. Almost like, "This holiday Im going to do so much; write a book, learn a language, bake more and lose weight" This then turns into a potato looking lisa that has seemed to of messed glue on her cupcake butt and does not move for DAYS! Speaking of all of this, isn't this the coolest. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaoIsPZAgck)

A great thing is that im moving to England in 12 days and my new life over there begins. Ivan is already there and he is settling in nicely so its super cool that i can go join him very soon. I have a happy internship starting from the 24th nov to the 24th december(think of me on christmas eve) and they seem like a real dandy place.Its And whats ALSO super super cool is that i can finally give this little blog some love. Im excited... are you too?

The greatest necklace that ever lived:

2010-11-03T00:39:00.002-07:00

This little treat of a necklace has made my jewellery collection :) How beautiful is it. It caught my eye and as soon as i found out it could open with a little i love you note attatched, i knew it was love at first sight. :)
It also comes with a ring that you can open too. wheeei.

Days like today...25 more sleeps to go

2010-10-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

So in 25 more sleeps i will be venturing off to bournemouth England.. can you believe it? The Lisa that loves her little comfort shell is leaving South Africa. Heres my little illustration of me conquering off with a teapot hat :)

Hi my name is Lisa and I am a stationary hoarder!!

2010-10-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

So I happened to walk past this beautiful eraser today that said erase with a nice illustrated pencil on it. O my gummy gumdrops, I just had to have it.
"Lisa, buy me, another eraser to add to all your other super important stationary that you really really need in order to survive but will probably never use"
Aha i just love these little erasers, i need more in my life ....

Hapa culture is just too amazing for me to handle. (thanks kristian for the introducing :)
Time to embrace my inner geek and add more to my collection:
Please tell me you are getting excited with me..
Mr and Mrs penguin...

And this little fella is an environmentally friendly eraser which i love!! He is the size of a fist and the packaging comes with all this super cool info about saving the animals...

Bear.Bear.Bear

2010-10-03T02:42:00.000-07:00

Ok how beautiful are bears... please buy me one for my birthday :) go on then, what are you waiting for?

41 more sleeps until i move to the great old england!! Thats why i shouldn't be blogging about bears but scouting for internships... hmph. bye bye then.

Brand challenge OVER

2010-10-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

A challenging four weeks of brand challenge is finally over. op(can i hear a whoop who) Brand challenge is a 5 week industry based project that allows a group of strategists and creatives from different years to work on an existing brand. Our group was briefed in by truth coffee. After piles of research and strategy, we could then do the funsie stuff. We ended up creating corporate ids, posters, in store communications, direct mailers and a strategy doc. The concept we went with for the campaign was exposing pretense and puffery about coffee drinkers. This concluded to Truth being all about the coffee. ( we drink coffee for the coffee)

Oliver Munday, you are cool..

2010-10-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

This excites me way too much...

Ever heard of geocaching?

2010-08-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

The other day i overheard a conversation about something called geocaching. Geocaching? What?

Today i experienced it!

The best explanation for me is that Geocaching is a grown up treasure hunt and a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache anywhere in the world and by providing the co ordinates on the web (www.geocaching.com)allows anyone to go search for it. Sounds fun right?
But thats not all...

When you get to the co ordinate you still have to search and it does get quite tricky. Iv seen ones the size of a ice cream tub to the size of my pinky nail hidden in the most interesting ways. (in a tree trunk, drilled into wooden poles, under rocks, and behind signboards) When you find the cache, depending on the size, you will stumble upon a hamper of goodies and a little book of some sort. Here, the hider congratulates you and you can write your name and comment with a date. You then can add something to the treasure and take something out. You can also just add or just add your name or photo. So far i have seen alot of keyrings, toy cars, and fun little games.

Not only is this so much fun but you also get to feel like a young kiddy again. It's like when we used to go searching for a easter egg! Also, most places where people hide things are amazing places with beautiful views and breathtaking journeys. One day when i have a family of my own i would love to do this with them and share happy car trip moments. Much better than being cooped up inside :)

Today i also found a cache labelled nana's cache. It was a beautiful tin cache hidden under a electricity box that contained a photo of her and a lil booklet where you could write whatever was on your mind. This is such an amazing thing to do that Ivan and i have started a profile of our own and plan to hide a cache before we leave to england and start looking for more when we are in england.

For tomorrows hunt, i have found special little leave behinds with different meanings and made stickers with ivan and i's team name :)

If you want to know more, go to the website (www.geocaching.com) and go have a looksie. All you do is create a profile and then add your co ordinates or address and this allows you to search for caches that are closest to you.

Anorak makes me happy

2010-08-04T03:49:00.000-07:00

You know when you find that beautiful magazine that you could just take to bed and live with forever? Well, iv found mine.. Hello Anorak magazine! The happy mag for kids. Isn't that sweet?
I would love to go work for Anorak magazine and surround myself in all the layouts and happy illustrations!
You can see why:

Slowly but surely..

2010-07-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

My blogging affairs just aren't what they used to be. I find myself reading every blog i can click on but when it comes to giving days-like-today some love, i fade! Maybe it's due to the fact that my third year is coming to an end and although i should be working my ass off, im slowing everything down. Only three more projects and i will be qualified to be working in the big bad scary design world. Not only that, but i will be doing it in a different country! Hello england, bye bye south africa! Ivan and i have started packing and i feel the emotions rolling in! Since we are only packing certain things, i have to decide what stays and what goes. I wish i could take everything with me but i know it is best to leave my kajillion teapots at home. Im also really struggling to throw stuff away although i haven't used some of the things in ages! i mean who could throw a face steamer away?

But it needs to be done so ivan and i will be getting rid of all the unwanted things and saying goodbye to them at the good ol milnerton flea market! Michelle and i went for a look around on the weekend and left with more cling on's than ever! Ironic much? Michelle bought some porcelain swans and an old grimms fairytale book. I bought two beautiful spoons and a teacup. Another teacup! I have a sickness!
I also took some photies for a magazine project and got some really sweet photies!

There was a man selling a collection of owls, he had 500 to start and these were the ones that were left...

A little baby pet goat

Trying to set up a shoot for my magazine cover
The unphotoshopped idea :)

P.S my design lecturer had a looksie at my blog and demands that i change my font to normal not bold! As soon as i figure this out, i will do it! There you go Carmun! :)

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride

2010-07-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

A sneak of my visual identity for portfolio..
On the back it reads: Lisa Cobley, designer/art director, obsessive tea drinker and at home with design. (Contact details)
The image of me sitting with a piece of toast, a mini screwdriver (the only "paintbrush" i could find) and bovril will frustrated me for as long as i live! I was painting with bovril and sewing mini patchwork letters the whole weekend, what were you doing?

Did someone say presents?

2010-07-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

I could not come to terms with posting a blog about my birthday and not about my pressies so i invite you to goggle through all my pressies and yes, dream you had them ALL...

Firstly, michelle is amazing! We met as two 1st year design nerds not knowing a clue about photoshop or words like kerning and paper gsm. She is a favourite. period.
Look at what she made me for my birthday:

More teapots and teacups to add to the collection:

I also got tons of beautiful jewellery (thanks to claire, bianca, veronica, wendy, fiona, ivan)

Im a sucker for books! books! books!
ALice in wonderland, sleeping beauty, charlie and lola's, and lotsa beautiful illustrated childrens books.

Lisa would not be lisa without all her little gadgets:

Ok im tired of taking photos - i knew this would happen! You should applaude me for getting this far. For the remainder - use your amazingly decorated imagination will you...
I also got some really pretty scarfs, a rocking horse ring, citroene diamond ring, charm bracelet, too many sweets, clothing, vouchers and a blackberry.

The end

Oh hello:

2010-07-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

Instead of a million excuses and apologising for not blogging for the past century, i decided to just act like it didn't happened. Poof!

I am back into the routine of college - which is not so jolly! i repeat - not so jolly! My first deadline was on Monday and of course, that came with a lot of sighs and less sleep! Thankfully it has all been handed in and i can worry about it later when it gets to my portfolio. ta da!

It was my happyhappy 21st birthday this month and what a birthday it was! It has definately been the best of all my birthdays. My family and friends made it super special and it was neverending. I counted it twice just to make sure but yes, i had 6 birthday events in the space of a week!
My alice in wonderland high tea at the mount nelson was defiantely a highlight!
You saw the invites in an earlier post and here are some outcomes of the day:

A alice on her mushroom throne:

Accompanied by her mad hatter:

Lots of tea with tweedledum and tweedledee

and many other crazy guests:

OOh and beautiful decor:

Sorry for the overload of photos eating away at your cap, i just couldn't help sharing!

Days like today.. Time spent with cats is never wasted!

2010-06-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

A blog post about my cat? Is this normal? Well normal or not, he deserves a blog post. I love him too much! He's just too adorable! Look!

Although i am a huge dog lover, there is something so special about cats!
Ivan and i became to be parents to little oliver when he was very young.
My aunt, samantha bought him from a pet shop and as most stories go, wasn't allowed to keep him. I wouldn't allow for him to be put out so although ivan and i had only been dating for a few months and still living with my parents, we offered to take him.
Oliver and ivan on the first night

We named him Oliver after Oliver twist and ever since he has been my little joy.
Why?

1)He cuddles in my arms when i study into the night

2)He sleeps with ivan every night (bed hoggers!)

He even spoons:

4)He likes to read with me: (jodi picoult <3)

5)He even loves Greys anatomy:

And the best:
Whenever we come home, he comes to the car to greet us
And he even comes to the bathroom with me whenever i get home!

Im going to miss him so much when i leave for england but i trust he will be happy in a nice big home with his granny :)
And theres my cat lady blog post.
The end

Days like today.. daddys little girl!

2010-06-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

I love any reason to steal my daddykins away and spend time with him just the two of us! We went 4x4-ing in the dunes in altantic beach for daddys day! Very cool! I gave him some biltong and made him 3 compilation cds, daddy rocks vol.1-3! We spent the day playing in the sand and eating yum yum foods! (you must try the sundried tomatoe , feta and basil pesto dip from woolies, wow)

By the time i got home, i was exhausted and crashed till 1pm the next day (blush,yes,1pm!)

Yes, im making a snow angel, in the sand?
When i get to england, i will do the real deal :)

A beautiful view of the dunes

Days like today..Sarah turns two!

2010-06-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

My beautiful cousin, Sarah turned two years old on Friday and to celebrate, we had a great night at Spur and a huge kiddie celebration the following day!! I helped my aunt to set up the big day, wow - i give many thanks to my poor mommy who had to throw 18 beautiful parties for me, they're tough work! We baked, cleaned, made activity packs, lucky packets, decorated and even made vuvuzuela labels!! 110% went in and it was such a nice day! I am totally exhausted after the long day but it was all completely worth it! Here are some piccies to share:

Ivan and Lily decorating biscuits late into the night

Ivan and i bought her a felt board with felt stickers. I think it is just too adorable, I love them!

And last but not least, the fun kiddies table! Each kiddie had a activity pack with stickers, in the night garden colouring pages, bubbles, playdough, crayons and vuvuzuelas to boot. (Ayoba!)

Whoops it's already one in the morning again and i have to be up very early to spend the day with my pappa bear! We are going 4x4ing :) Im going to try forget the fact that it will be 7am on a sunday morning and enjoy the beautiful time. I have just finished making him 3 complilations for the trip. I named them Daddy rocks volumes 1-3 .. haha. Post photos tomorrow. Have a great Daddys day tomorrow everyone :)

Days like today.. theres nothing like a good movie!

2010-06-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is lisa and i am a stationary hoarder,tea addict,inspired baker,animal lover,comfort reader,design whore,yoga inspired,a cuddler and a professional kid all in one! WIth this comes an addiction to movies!!

I watched such a sweet movie the other night called Julie and Julia. Theres nothing wrong with a chick flick now and then :) It involved all the beautiful things i love!! Baking, blogging and Meryl Streep shouting, "They're as hot as a stiff cock"(you will love her character)

A must see ladies !!

Days like today.. we're all quite mad here!

2010-06-15T06:26:00.001-07:00

I finally sent out my invitations for my 21st birthday on Monday. I must say, it did take a little longer than expected but i am happyhappy with the result. I always seem to choose the most complicated ways to do things?? I could simply design a invite on one piece of paper but nooo, lisa MUST make a booklet that HAS to have a die cut keyhole, sweet images and have cute binding? Silly me!

Since this is for my mad hatter tea party theme for my huge family at the mount nelson hotel, i went with the whole alice in wonderland vibe. I also included chapter seven, the mad hatter scene in the lil booklet. It is such a sweet read. Next, im going to pay the second hand book shop a visit to try find old copies of the alice in wonderland book to place on the table. What a treat!

Here are some piccies of the finished product... hope you like.

p.s isn't that ring beautiful!! I saw it on etsy :)

Days like today..im back!

2010-06-10T15:15:00.001-07:00

I must apologise for not keeping everyone up to date with the ups and downs of lisa land, you can say i've been all over the place! but hallejujah it is finally holiday for me, for a WHOLE month! Thank you worldcup!
SO what have i been up to?

1)Friends came down from england this week which is so exciting! I got some pressies too! A corigato bear, cupcake erasers, a big ben template, a fuzi pencil and the most awesome book and cd. The cd is zooey deschanels band, she and him.

The book is just so cool... Every page has something daring, fun, scary and also extremely embarassing things to do. This one is hilarious!!

I look forward to doing them and keeping you all updated on how they go.
Aswell as:

2) Planning my merry merry unbirthday! MY 21st Birthday is coming up, yay yay yay, i love birthdays! 21st planning is always a bit more stressful but im looking forward to it. Unfortunately my birthday is on the worldcup final so im changing my dates a bit so people can make it and so we don't get bombarded in town by vuvuzuelas!! Im plannning a mad hatter tea party at the mount nelson for a high tea and a din dins with all my friends at the bombay bicycle club in kloof street owned by madame zingara. Can't wait to spend the special day with all my loved ones! Invites coming soon :)

eat me eat me eat me!!

3) Eating my troubles away! I haven't seen a yoga studio or gym in about a month or even two months so i feel a lot more sluggish than usual.. This you think would stop me from eating junk however, the munch monster has hit!! i made chocolate walnut brownies today and guilt munched most of them with ivan today. I blame winter :)

4) Designing invites!! Invites invites invites! Its my mums, boyfriends birthday coming up and iv been asked to design the invites. He is doing a 80s theme so iv decided to do a mini vinyl invite. I bought the mini vinyls from mabu vinyl in town for R5 each and im going to design the sleeve and sticker as the invite! With those, i have also done my cousins invites for her 2nd birthday themed, in the night garden! Im sure all the mommys know this show, little kiddies love it!! Next, come my invites!

5) Reading! My year of meat by ruth l ozeki!! The title sounds so haunting and animal activist but its really an amazing read. Its not what i expected actually but it has some very nice passages and deals with cultures and feminism. Im really enjoying it!

6) Series addicts!! House, true blood, greys anantomy, how i met your mother,friends! Now that college is over for a while, i should be designing my portfolio so i can get a job in england, you think i would be doing this.. but no such luck here!!

Have a happy weekend :)
xxx

Days like today.. saturday nights

2010-05-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been complete madness so on this saturday night, i choose to visit my mommy with pizza, two lil puppies, online surfing and lots of blankies watching americas got talent.With hours of happy online searching i have found some pretty beautiful things...

1) Beautiful jewellery, yes it is my birthday coming up :)

2) The clients from hell book
Hilarious! Some of my favourite extracts..

Client: “I want a great corporate logo that looks like a Fortune 500 company’s logo.”

Me: “Okay, I can do that. I bill at $XX an hour.”

Client: “Well I guess just don’t spend more than a few minutes on it.”

Client: ”When this gets printed, what sort of colors get mixed together?”

Me: “Well, anything that gets printed is basically a combination of black, yellow, cyan, and magenta ink or toner…”

Client: “That’s unacceptable! I’m printing these for boys, not girls. Magenta is a girls color. Take the magenta out of your printers and replace it with red. Red is much manlier.”

3)Beautiful posters on Paiges blog, http://amillionmilesfromnormal.blogspot.com/

4)Creative food: Michelle gave me the link to this amazing blog. (http://www.jimspancakes.com/) Jim makes different pancakes each morning for his daughter.HOw sweet!

5)Hugelove Chalkboard craze,who wouldn't want this?

Days like today.. its a good hair day

2010-05-22T06:18:00.001-07:00

Goodbye Ugly regrowth, hello pretty hair...

My mumi and i finally got our hair done (3 months late) and i feel much happier, yay for me.With that i also went to the british consulate to do all my england passporty stuff. So thats two things off my to do list... now for the million other things.

Days like today...sending postcards

2010-05-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon a thooper nice blog today (http://sending-postcards.blogspot.com/) and before i knew it, two hours had past and i was still reading posts that had been dated more than a year ago. Its basically a blog about a beautifully sweet couple, alex and mina. They sold their house, quit their jobs and as they said, got married in the sun. They have travelled to numerous places and document pretty much everything. It so awesome to see where they've been and especially now that they have recently visited south africa its even cooler :) They visited robben island, the mount nelson, v and a waterfront, two oceans aquarium and even where i live, blouberg :)
Very cool!

Another thing is that the photography is absoloutely beautiful, it inspired me so much so i decided to dig through all the photos i took from playing around in the dark room. i found these 3 photos that i completely forgot about, i took them while i was away at the Berg River. he has so much character, ilove cute kiddies!

Days like today..i am wishing sweet claire a happy birthday!!

2010-05-10T07:53:00.003-07:00

It was a very special birthday today for a friend of mine, Claire. We celebrated with some yummy sushi and some vida numnums at Beluga. I have had sushi at so many restaurants but i must admit, beluga is just so divine! I had a huge hot chocolate!! These winter comfort cravings are starting to attack my body and soon i will have my nice winter chubchub layer - o nice! Its been about two months since i have been to yoga and although i miss it soo much, i just cannot seem to find the time and when i finally have a gap, i crave sleep!!

Claire was showered in lovely gifts and received bath milk, hats, lipstick and a scarf. Ivan and i gave her a tea shaped chalk board, a chunky knit scarf and some organic honeybush tea. Unfortunately we had to go back to class when we were done but nonetheless the day was beautiful.

And although we are getting older, judging by our bank cards, we are still very young at heart...

Days like today.. i am surrounded in cuteness!!

2010-05-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

I love anything tea and cupcakes so can you imagine my face when i saw my friendy michelle wearing a teacup and spoon necklace as well as olga wearing a cupcake ring saying eat me! Grr im jealous for them finding it before i could get my hands on it. I just had to take a photie,Beautifully cute don't you think??

Days like today.. i am off subway for a while...

2010-05-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

No matter how many people tell you how bad redbull is for you, it is the only thing that works when doing design all nighters. Michelle and i did a record of a 46 hour design craze. Thankfully we finished just in time(to the minute!!!)and could go finally go home and make ourselves look human again. the brief we did was called a speed brief and we had tw oweeks to do a instore communication camppaign for a fast food franchise. We chose subway and we communicated subways message as, so much to choose from or choose whatever you want. Ah i love subway and all toppings but for the meanwhile i cannot stand to think of subway...

We went along the lines of variety and so we played with the whole idea of different objects being different things. For example for our coffee cups, we communicated that a cup could be half a madonna bra, a party hat for your monkey, a useless telehpone or a pig snout. FOr our tablecloths, they could be a shower curtain, poncho, halloween ghost costume, a rainjacket etc. It was a really fun brief and i loved working with a great friend. So great, we are working on the next brief together aswell which we got briefed on today.
Here are some illustrations that we did:

This was all suppposed to be designed around a promotion and our promotion was a design a sub competition. You had to spend a certain amount of money at subway and you could receive a entry form where you can design a sub using stickers. funfun!

Days like today..i could make babies with beautiful packaging!!

2010-05-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

You know what i love most about grocery shopping? Packaging packaging packaging! Dont you just love it?

I love how woolworths have started packaging some of their products. It's one of the best places to loook at new goodies. Unfortunately, not all brands focus on their packaging and it really upsets me when i see ugly poo packaging. Ivan and i went mommies day shopping this weekend and he mentioned that i seem to pull my nose up to alot of things picking on the gross font or the use of design. I never knew i even did that and i felt extremely conscious of it. I guess being in a design college and having to crit work all day just makes you very aware of design all around you. But in my defense, the font did look extremely euw!! But here are some happy packaging designs that i cannot get enough of..

Days like today...winter is here

2010-05-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

16 degrees and im already kitted with my gloves, blankie, hoodie, tea and loads of comfort food. Oliver must also be cold because he is cuddly as ever. Look who came to sit with me while doing my work in the study. ALthough slightly uncomfortable, i don't have the heart to kick him off. isnt he sweet...

And yay excellent news, all my blogging has rubbed off and Ivan is starting up one of his own. A blog of all his creativity, ideas and i's with dots on them? He told me to say that yes? Will be sharing the link as soon as its ready. Exciting!

Days like today...out with the old, in with the new..

2010-05-04T05:47:00.000-07:00

So last week i handed in my project and now we are onto the next one for friday. Luckily its in teams of two so i am with my dearlet, ,michelle and its going better. Misery loves complany. Well not really misery but more stressful designers loves company.. :)

Here are some images of what i handed in on friday. It was a brief to launch a new tv channel and i decided to do a quirky fun channel based around two mascots, twisted and difference.

Mich and i are now working on an instore campaign for a fast food franchise. We chose yummy subway. Maybe i will post that when we are done too.

My two characters - Meet Twisted and difference

Logo design

One of my tv idents

Days like today.. i reminisce

2010-05-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

Ivan and i with our lil pressies - excuse the way we look, we just woke up :)

About three years ago, a shy lisa walked into kodak with cv in hand hoping that i would be able to get a job over the december holidays. I was expecting a casual job, little pay and lots of camera talk. But what i left with was a more happy lisa with a ivan glued right beside her. The day i walked in to hand in my cv, the manager was busy with a customer and although i had already been helped and was patiently waiting for the manager to be done, ivan walked over to me and asked if i needed any help. I replied with a little yes thank you and an awkward smile. I remember turning to my bestfriend, jeanne and saying, aw he was cute and that was all i remember about him until about a month later.

I then went on a job interview with the manager and after lots of weird chitter chatter, i was hired. (Only now do i know that when the manager came back to the shop, ivan had read my cv and eagerly asked if i was going to be hired.)
Nine am on a tuesday, I was extremely nervous on my first day wearing three quarter black pants and a long grey t shirt and as i arrived, i was met by two girls who said a quick hello and went about looking at everybodys photos while talking about boys and there "cool" weekends with pumping music and lots of alcohol. I remember thinking to myself, "maybe this isnt for me"
With that, a customer walked into the store and remembering what ivan did a month ago to me, i did to my customers. What silly lisa didn't know was that they wanted to buy a fancy slk camera and here i was as their sales women. Poor people didnt know what was coming...stuttering, blushing, shaking, finger twiddling and lots of, i don't knows and let me checks. Weirdly enough, i must of had some lucky charm hovering above me because i sold the camera AND a bag and album to finish the sale off.Yay Lisa...
After that, i was actually noticed by the two girls and finally got a bit of training and by training i mean how to take id photos and go onto facebook.

What i didnt know was that a second shift of people were coming into work later that day and so imagine my suprise when ivan and a friend walk in. Unlike the two girls, both say hello, shake hands and introduce themselves. Ivan was a lil shy but incredibly cute, he was wearing jeans, a white t shirt and a blazer. (yes,i remember the sad details of what people were wearing :)
After the warm welcome, ivan started showing me around the shop, helping me with customers, camera info and customer problems. I felt so much better and of course, had a bit of a crush on this boy that was helping me so much.
Two or three days went by with lots of innocent smiles, eye contact and arm nudging. Everything was so exciting working in close contact with someone you knew you had a connection with.
From here on out, we were both hooked and spent most of our days working together, taking lunch breaks together, eating dinner and chatting on the phone. Of course no one at work could know we were into each other so we would try not be together all the time although i do not think for one second that we had anyone fooled.

Ivan would sometimes write me a little note on kodak sheets and stuff them in my hand as he walked past. At night, he would drop me off at home and he would make a special effort to drive as slow as possible so we had more time to chat. He would sms me the schedule of his favourite cartoon shows so we could watch them together and always treat me with such care. These little things made me sure that this was something special.

Two and a half years later, i know what we have is special and am extremely happy to be with such a loving human.

On being together for two and a half years, I was woken up with a very sweet heart shaped chalkboard and a card designed by ivan. In return, i gave ivan a lil voodoo doll that is made to watch over him and his loved ones. Very sweet. Unfortunately we will not be able to be together on our three years so we made this one count.
We then had a cuddly day filled with lots of love, movies and happy food.

Days like today.. ivan and have a lil home

2010-04-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

So after weeks of hunting, ivan and i have found us a lil home in bournemouth, England. It is so close to his college,is fully furnished and looks like it has a beautiful view.It looks pretty cosy and can totally see myself plodding around in my winter jammies. Its all so exciting and while Ivan is over there making that side pretty, i will be packing up our old flat in South Africa. Here are some little photies to share, you can't see much but thats all i have at the moment...can't wait to decorate :)

Days like today.. i am wishing briony happy birthday.. AGAIN!

2010-04-26T07:37:00.001-07:00

This is briony :)
10 things about the birthday girl
She loves Hello Kitty
She also has a blog - http://www.findingmyunicorn.wordpress.com/
She loves yoga
She has a cute yaris with a xoxo number plate
She can't cry in sad movies - unlike me who balls her eyes out in anything!
She has an adorable dog called bruno
She is addicted to coffee, i think she should be the face of vida
She is a true sun baby
She loves dressing up and just having fun
She loves packaging and is even cooler because she bought me cute Disney popcorn

Happy birthday my sweet friend
To celebrate her birthday we went to the Bombay bicycle club for dinner and then off to Tiger Tiger for some dancing. It was such an amazing night and i fell inlove with the Bombay bicycle club as soon as i walked. It has a little cramped bohemian vibe with so many exciting things everywhere. I found myself staring at all the decor instead of actually eating my food. They are also veggi friendly which was awesome, actually, our waitress was vegetarian so that was pretty cool. The photos really don't do it justice but i will post some up anyway. Because i loved it soo much, im really considering hiring the top floor for my 21st, its going to be so much fun. The music is old school fun and the toilet is one of the best parts , haha. Its like you have to crawl through a really narrow hallway to actually get there. NOte to self - do not go after you have eaten, lisa you will not fit ...

What a fun night, we got home in the early hours of the morning and because i hadn't gone to bed the previous night, i slept like a baby. So much like a baby, i woke up at four o clock the next day. Ah bliss..

Here are some happy shots of the night..

The decor on the walls where we ate our dinner..

Ivan and i.. happy happy

The beautiful couple, Claire and her Jason :)

Claire and i at Tiger

The birthday girl

Days like today.. im back!

2010-04-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

Yay i am finally able to blog, yay yay yay, i am so happy to be able to write again and once again be able to share with family and friends my thoughts and activities of my days.. Unfortunately I had run out of cap for my internet so i couldn't even go on to check emails and all.. wow it's really scary to realize that i felt sad that i couldn't blog and check what everyone else was up to on facebook and "blogland". Iv been reading quite a lot lately about the back lashes to this whole idea of social networking with the use of twitter, blogs and facebook. There was a study taken and i think it was 43% of people update their twitter or facebook status after having sex. How weird is that?? DO they really need to know what mind blowing or crappy sex you just had?

I was reading another article where it mentioned that we no longer take photos as memories but to show off to our facebook and twitter friends what we are doing and where we have been. To some extent, i can completely understand, photos these days are being taken left right and centre and i myself love taking photos but sometimes i do look at photos on facebook and blogs and sometimes i think, are you actually having fun and enjoying yourself at this restaurant or club or wherever you are at or are you just taking photos of yourself "having fun".
Not only does this annoy me but girls that and boys that have petty fights over facebook and decide to use their statuses as a tool instead of actually meeting and talking? Its so bizarre, i had a girl the other day that was fighting with her friend and basically voiced to everyone that she knows about her abortion during high school and called her and her mother a slut. (??) I was so hurt for the poor girl until she also did the exact same thing and hung out her dirty laundry for everyone else to read. COme on, do we really want to read this?? I couldn't of deleted them faster.. grrr, it made my blood boil.

ANyway this was just something i was thinking about and i decided to vent a bit, just beacuse i can..

On a more happier note, A friend over at rhymesandreasons.co.za mentioned looking at your yantra. The word "Yantra" is derived from two Sanskrit words - "Yam" means "to support" and "Trana" means "freedom". SO i decided to go have a looksie what mine said about me...

These are some summarized extracts :)

You are able to make money from your communication skills, usually your talking abilities. For instance, you would make a good sales person, entertainer or teacher.
(For a while now i have really been considering teaching as a career choice. I love design and being creative but a part of me loves the idea of teaching children and i can bring the creativity in to the field of teaching..hmm, i guess only time can tell)

You are happiest inside a good, strong, loving relationship. You do not feel complete unless you are surrounded by your loved ones. This is usually your partner and children, but can also include very close friends. You are caring, and enjoy expressing your love and affection.

You are happiest when helping people less fortunate than yourself. You enjoy working for charities and philanthropic organisations and are always willing to lend a helping hand. You also love creative activities and enjoy giving away what you produce.

You put your enthusiasm and energy into home and family life. You enjoy puttering around the house and love family activities. You are prepared to do anything for loved ones and are inclined to be self-sacrificing at times. You enjoy beautifying your surroundings and put a great deal of energy into anything you regard as being creative.

What is your yantra - go have a looksie..
(http://www.markfarrar.co.uk/yantra01.htm)

Days like today.. F.R.I.E.N.D.S

2010-04-13T13:36:00.000-07:00

I have no shame in admitting that i am a complete FRIENDS fanatic! wow wow! I remember watching taped VHS episodes at Wendys house when i was a little and fell inlove with it atraight away (although at that age, i probaly didnt know what i was laughing at)And now a million years later, im inlove as ever and still watch it everyday. Its not really about watching it, its just comforting having it in the background while i work or do stuff around the flat. Its a known fact that Olga and i can have a whole hour and a half long traffic conversation just quoting friends. We are nutters! Since i have the whole box set and its always on my tv, Ivan has also become accustomed to the friends quotes and hes also a comlete friends nutter. Today was definately a friends day. A rather useless day was endured by chatting about obese people and tv channel identities that left me feeling abit well um whats the word, poofy??! I got home to a empty flat, put on my pjs, made some TNT popcorn and watched friends :) bliss.

My relevant friends quote for the day -
Joey: Pheebs, you wanna help?
Phoebe: Oh, I wish I could, but I really don't want to.

Coming close, very close friends is how i met your mother, love love love the show!

Days like today..sushi and hospices

2010-04-10T03:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i planned a lil get together with some of my friends that were in boarding school with me. We try see each other as much as possible but because we are all living on different sides of the planet, we hardly get to catch up. Im sure everyone knows how that lil high school promise goes.. that promise that no matter what, we will always be friends and see each other all the time (yea right)and then after the first few months, poof, most of them you will never see again..
Luckily i still get to see the true great ones :)
Renee (Studi=ying health and beauty at stellenbosch and then fashion design)
Ruth (studying in Rhodes)
Jeanne (ok ok, i see you all the time, shes my bestest)

We went to beluga for some sushi and cocktails although i stuck to coffee since i still had the sniffles and the fact that i go extremely red and blotchy when i drink, lovely stuff.

Oh, the school days....

And then after we rolled out of beluga with out full tumtums, renee and i went to visit some hospices shops for some vintage shopping :) I found some cute things and they are in the wash as we speak :)

A sweet knitted off the shoulder jersey (R5)

A cute top (R10)

A beautiful floral blazer only R15

Days like today..sniff sniff cough cough

2010-04-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

I have caught my first cold for the colder seasons of the year.. how annoying! There is nothing more annoying than a horrible cold when you need to work on design. A sniffy snotty lisa is not a happy girl. I admit i am the biggest baby when i am sick, this noramlly includes tears of feeling sorry for myself.Whoops! Luckily, i have family and my mommy is just a call away. So instead of working on my typography brief, i am lying in bed watching greys anatomy and sipping on med lemon.

I love my mommy - two photos with different hair, which one do you prefer?

On a more happier note, i made a divine cashew nut Paella last night, vegan friendly :) Ivan chose the recipe.
(Wendy i will be sending you some recipes soon, promise)

Days like today.. i put the PRO in PROcrastination!

2010-04-05T03:29:00.000-07:00

Whos the retard? Me...
Iv had a week long holiday which i promised myself that i would get all my heaps of work sorted out. Did i keep this promise? Well as you can see im still blogging which means i am rather blogging and not doing:
1) My critical studies essay
2) Emailing my creative development lecturer on what my term project idea is which is.... I HAVE NO IDEA
3)Looking at visual communications brief and deciding which IDST brief i am doing. (i do not even knkow what IDST stands for and i will be consulting tommorrow)
4)Getting my british passport done at the british consulate
5)Doing the powerpoint for my brand strategy group on Dunkin Donuts
6)Looking for jobs in england
7)Going to the gym

With the negative, i WILL include the positive...
So instead of doing all of the above, i have accomplished
1) a happy week of being a vegan and feeling healthy
2) being with ivans family in strand sharing happy memories
3) eating yummy chocolate from easter.. thanks mommy :)
4) iv been cooking a lot more now that i have "time"
5) blog loving
6) i actually have time to look after myself without worrying about work and our flat.

Note to self-Lisa, BREATHE...

Days like today...2nd last night of my happy hollies!

2010-04-05T03:10:00.000-07:00

So it was Easter sunday and we all jumped in the car and drove from strand to tygervalley to go have some suhsi and play some tenpin bowling! So much fun! Unfortuantely it didn't help that i was bragging the whole way there how pro i am and then i end up coming stone last :) But hey, everyone had so much fun it really didnt matter. We also had some divine sushi.. and when we got home we got two movies out ivans mum, ingi, made home made ice cream. We watched the soloist with jamie fox and robert downey jr and Paranormal activity! I really don't do well with scary movies so i was extremely terrifed afterwards and was in much need of lots of happy cuddles to make me feel better. So yay a great night was had by all..

Days like today.... I feel quite uninspired (hence the lack of blogging)

2010-04-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

Lately i feel like i have nothing really to share with my fellow followers which is quite sad. I apologise..
I haven't been doing anyting creative really although i am knitting myself a scarf. T hee - yes i am now dubbed granny lisa yet again. (I do love my tea and my knitting so sshh!)

Although feeling rather uninspired about things at the moment, i have been researching veganism abit more and its incredible how much we do not know about what goes on in the meat industry. I cannot believe what i am actually watching. Also, i have found so many cool vegan blogs and this always makes me super happy to read amazing blogs. Im really enjoying the whole experience actually.. yesyes people do keep saying, "how do you live without cheese?" But trust me, its really not that hard and i think its really worth the cause. Take a look on v-isforvegan.blogspot.com for some of the yummy foods that i am eating.

Today was a beautiful good friday and the griessel family and i went to Tallas tavern on the beach and we had lunchies. I had a vegetable plate and everyone else had seafood. We then took a drive to rooi els, pringle bay, gordons bay and where ever else.. i am so directionless. But it was really beautiful and we saw seals, dolphins, baboons and dassies. Unfortunately i forgot my camera so i have no pretty photies for you :(

Tomorrow i plan to do the heaps of work i need to do for college, im so far behind and procrastinating the way i am right now is really going to come back to bite me in the ass!

Days like today... how to train your dragon is amazing!!

2010-04-01T00:27:00.000-07:00

Lastnight ivan and i were like two lil kiddies with our popcorn hopping in our sits to see the opening of how to train your dragon. What a sweet movie! I sobbed my heart out as per usual but i really enjoyed it in the end. You must really go see it! Theres so many good movies out that i want to see.. The blindside, the hurt locker, the book of eli and shutter island.

Toothless is way too adorable!

Days like today.. im supposed to be spring cleaning...

2010-03-31T05:02:00.000-07:00

i have a super stiff body from yoga and all i feel like doing is lying on my bed and watching how i met your mother. Argh..unfortuantely our flat is in desperate need of some cleaning..sigh. We were away in strand for a week and it seems like the whole neighbourhood of cats have been visiting our flat. Not only visiting but fighting in our flat too. I love having a lil flat, i cant imagine moving to anything bigger, i cant clean anymore :) Anyone know the number for a cleaning service? haha... one day one day

i also went to pilates this morning and went to get some foodies and my passport photies done to get my british passport. O hideous, i didnt know you had to have all your hair out your face, ears shown and no smile or teeth shown. Needless to say, i look like a sweaty serial killer in gym clothes :)
I would post it up to actually show you however, i am scared i might be losing half of my followers ...

Yesterday, i went to the wellness warehouse in kloof street and to beluga with some friends and had divine vegetarian sushi. Yumyumyum and then i came home to have a sushibelly napnap. What a happy day :)
Its day 4 of being a vegan and its all going well, i do not miss anything and the dark chocolate is divine! Im visiting the doctor tomorrow for a full checkup so he can sign me off to go to england and then i can also ask him about being vegan and making sure i am getting all the right nutrition. My holiday is almost over and i havent even thought about all the work im supposed to be doing. Doesn't life move so so quickly.

Happy photies from Ivan and I's little home..

Beautiful Oliver sleeping with his daddy

Coffee Kama Sutra packaging - designed by Olga

I love bathing, i got these from at home.

Days like today.. go have a looksie..

2010-03-28T03:32:00.000-07:00

OK my new blog is up and running :)
http://www.v-isforvegan.blogspot.com/
See you there

Days like today.. goodbye vegetarian, hello vegan..

2010-03-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Some people go vegan after looking an animal in the eye and realizing that there's a "who," not a "what," looking back. Others avoid meat, eggs, and dairy foods to ditch unwanted pounds or because they want to help the environment. Whatever the reason, there's never been a better time to cut the meat and other animal-derived products out of your diet.
Change your life for the better and save the lives of animals by pledging to be vegan!

I have signed a pledge to become vegan for 30 days. Please still be my friend :) haha
I know how many people are against this but this is something i strongly believe and want to achieve. As the pledge says, i I want to vote with my knife and fork against animal cruelty, environmental destruction and world hunger. I pledge to eat only vegan food for 30 days. With this pledge, i am also doing an essay on comsumption and consumerism and of tomorrow will be opening a new blog. It would be nice to hear from all of you over on that one too. you might think im bonkers and thats ok.. :)
Since i am already vegetarian, i do not think it will be as hardcore as other people who decide to do this from being natural meat eaters. However, i think eggs will be a challenge for me, ooh and chocolate. Otherwise, i am very excited ...

Dear Lisa,
You have just taken the first step toward a healthier and more compassionate life. Being vegan has never been easier, and we're here to help! For delicious recipes and nutritional information, visit our "Vegetarian Starter Kit" online.
A vegan diet is truly a lifesaver: Vegans and vegetarians are less likely to suffer from heart disease, obesity, and several types of cancer, according to the American Dietetic Association. Plus, vegan foods are delicious!

Days like today..baking makes me happy!

2010-03-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Ok ok so i didnt make these but soon i will, i found an amazing fondant icing recipe and hopefully i will get time this holiday to make some cute lil cupcakes.. (michelle this is our time to shine :)

And to go with these lil baking treats, sweet briony blogged about my new cup cake dress-go have a looksie at her blog... www.findingmyunicorn.wordpress.com
I also bought some sweet earings, this is my last buy for a while, im now a poor student again,fun times!

Days like today.. ivans getting ready for england!

2010-03-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

Ivan went shopping today to get some warmer clothes for the winter months of icey england - compliments of his generous mommy. I just had to post a photie of how cute he is looking in his winter warmies. He will be leaving in September (tear) and i will have to live in our lil flat alone but hopefully i will have some friends over to keep me company.
Iv been emailing a few agencies in England for some jobs but its pretty hard to organise internships when i haven't even graduated over this side.grr frustration... I feel like i have a hell of a lot of growing up to do before i leave and it's all pretty stressful. Thankfully, i am on holiday..ok ok its only for a week but still..
I haven't been to yoga in two weeks and i seem to be eating everything in sight, sigh! Im going to be opening up a new blog for an environmental essay that needs to be handed in a month so feel free to let me know what you think when its up and running. Its going to be about human animal relations so if you are into that kind of thing, go check it out.

Days like today..Zooey makes me happy

2010-03-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

Ok i have a celebrity obsession!Last night i watched 500 days of summer again, i won tickets the first time to go see it and i really enjoyed it but then again, how could you not when Zooey Deschanel is in it.wow...she is such an awesome actress and all her roles are so interesting!I love how different the movie is and its very well directed. dont you love a good movie!
Shes also been in..
Yes Man
Failure to launch
500 days of summer
Elf
Almost famous
Hitchhikers galaxy

Narrator: This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy until the day he met the one. This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total mis-reading of the movie 'The Graduate'. The girl, Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan, did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parent's marriage she'd only love two things. The first was her long dark hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing. Tom meets Summer on January 8th. He knows almost immediately she is who he has been searching for. This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.

Arthur: Normality? We can talk about normality until the cows come home.
Ford: What is normal?
Trillian: What is home?
Zaphod: What are cows?

Allison: The world's a playground. You know that when you are a kid, but somewhere along the way everyone forgets it.

Days like today... i get to share my moyo experience!

2010-03-24T00:45:00.000-07:00

It was jeannies, ivans sisters,birthday on Monday so we decided to celebrate it at Moyo. What a beautiful place, the atmosphere is so nice and we all had such a nice time.I had a vegetable curry and way too much selection of breads and so when i couldn't eat anymore, i still went and ordered a cinnamon dark chocolate cake but 5 secs later i came to my senses and ran back to the waiter and told him to cancel it before i pop. I settled on a capucchino instead. yum!

AFter the great night, i still had to finish a brand strategy assignment on woolworths, i thought i could quickly finish it when we got home. Needless to say, i am more naive than i thought, i finished at 7 am...naughty Lisa!

Days like today.. i went shopping!!

2010-03-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

I was paid a few days ago for working at the argus expo and i was supposed to go on a yoga retreat with my dear friend, briony, but unfortuantely it was cancelled so i got to treat myself with some new clothes instead. I hate having photos taken of me but i thought what the hell, im gonna do it. So heres all my new clothes :)

Justin and i at work! go team!

My beautiful bow..im inlove

Stripey stripes

Floral=love

Nice for the winter..

How ironic is it that my last post was about saving money and this one is about me spending lots of it. Oh well.. :)

Days like today.. i envy..

2010-03-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

"It was only when i freed myself from money, that i realised how much tension and worry it had bought to my life. People often ask me if i miss my old world? Stress,traffic jams, bank statements, utility bills..why would i miss any of that?"

While i was reading a magazine last night, i read an article on Mark Boyle. Wow, what a guy... He's a 30 year old man who used to work as a manager of an organic food company until he ditched his job, his money and his lifestyle. He is described as the moneyless man and depends purely on nature and human kindness or giveaways. He has no income and lives off the basics, it is an amazing read and it is just amazing to realise how much we as humans depend on pure luxuries to survive. Mark lives off his vegetable garden and lives a stress free life since he does not have to deal with accounts and money stresses.
"Money is holy and god like in the Western world. It is seen that if you don't have a plasma screen TV, you are not successful. But money can't give you secuirity, only friendship with others, yourself and nature gives you that"

Some interesting lil bits..
He lives in a caravan that he was given for free
He makes his own toothpaste from cuttlefish, squish and fennel seeds andsoap from nut extract.
He has a solar panel to charge his phone and laptop and is currently writing a book and managing a blog. (www.justfortheloveofit.org)
He makes his own clothes and furniture
He is the fittest and healthiest he has ever been in his life

Look, im not saying everyone should go this extreme, but if everyone made an effort not to depend on luxury and money, maybe we would all be happier and less stressed about life.

Days like today, i get to doodle faces!

2010-03-20T10:28:00.001-07:00

Yay welcome to Kristain, Claire, Imogens garden, Narique, justinee, dhu and Rick. Sadly i had to leave out Nat, Paige, Celeste, Nora, Kim and night owl because i could not find photies of you. (Please email me one on mushmoomjeli@yahoo.com) I love having new blogs to read and with lots of blogging comes lots of divine tea. Look at this awesome origami tea i found.. wow wow..

Today, i also had a go on the Wi fit! I did some yoga, kung fu and balancing. They are soo much fun but completely intimidating. I had to be weighed and did various balancing tests to see my bodys capability. At the end of all this they give you your Wii age.. i had the cheek to laugh at ivans saying he was 24 and then i quickly shut up when i saw my age is THIRTY FIVE! I was so shocked-Lets just say, i no longer like the wii fit...:)

See the resemblance? haha

No

Days like today.. i am finished!!

2010-03-19T12:15:00.000-07:00

SO my deadline was finally met and as you can see my study looked like a complete mess! After an all nighter with copious amounts of coffee, dark walnut lindt chocolate and play energy drink, I am physically and creatively drained and I have still not gone to bed since wednesday night!!Luckily, i am in strand for the weekend and plan on doing absoloutely nothing for tonight and tomorrow. Maybe get some blogging and reading in, i am in definate need of a long bath..!!

I definately learn't a few things during this brief. I guess the whole concept of third year has finally hit, im supposed to be ready to work in industry next year and why do i not feel ready? AT ALL!! I guess i still feel so small and it's like i have soo much to learn still. Going into industry next year is definatelty going to be a huge learning curve and this brings me to my next question, do i even want to work in the industry? I envy those pro active people who go out there and make things happen for themselves. i wish i could just go out and make a lisa product that i love creating and make people happier.Why must i design logos? Why can't i make sock bunnies or amazing accessories for the rest fo my life???. haha -or maybe im just crazy??lack of sleep has definately gotten to me!

Heres some pieces of my book covers, its not in the proper layout or anything, i just wanted to show you what iv been up to... I worked with quotes from the actual books and then tried to portray what the books are about through suggestive type.

On a completely different train of thought, i was recently sent a link to sign a pledge to become a vegan for 30 days. I think its such a great idea for our animals and the environenmet. I am already a vegetarian and really considering this challenge and contributing to the stand against exploitation of animals...

Days like today.. someone asked what we do at college?

2010-03-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

So lots of people have asked what kind of work i am busy doing at vega and so instead of me trying to explain that we are known as a brand communication school and i am specialising in visual communications, i figured it would be easier just to show you.
These are some projects from last year.. blush*

Direct mailer

Game design and unique packaging

Chilli packaging

African cookbook design

Exclusive books, ambient campaign. The message is, reading helps.

Craft project-a bell made out of paper

Days like today.. im keeping you updated on my week!

2010-03-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

Wow has this week been ridiculously busy for you too?
Iv had so much stuff to do, i don't know what to do with myself!
Iv been trying to remain positive in whatever i do lately but this book cover design brief has really bummed me out. Theres nothing like your lecturer telling you that your not thinking straight and you have a weak concept... sigh!
Also, I just got home from a shift working at the argus expo centre and i am pooped. I made myself a student din dins, marmite and toast, and now i finally get a lil time to chat to you :) But instead of ranting and raving, i thought i would share some happier photos of my week.

Thinking what i want to order at Beluga..

My yumi egg noodle and vegetable stirfry

Ivan and Sarah

Ivans Birthday cake

Jeannie and i at kirstenbosch

I ordered sushi :)

good deed of the day - purchased a ticket to raise money for the blind and their guide dogs.
love quote of the day - "Happiness isn't Happiness without a violin playing goat." Notting hill (isn't that so sweet)