Diversity

THURSDAY 16 MAY, 2013  /   COMMENTS [1]

Sorry for the radio silence over here this week. I've been editing non stop trying to get work out before we go on holiday this friday. We're going on a little Cape escape, starting with a hike and camp out on the Table Mountain reserve with a few other bloggers this weekend. I'm so excited for a change of scenery and a break from the two glossy screens that I spend all my time with.

We've been working hard, and I have so many nice shoots I still want to share with you guys. In the past few weeks we've been doing a lot of different work, which has been a wonderful break from shooting weddings. Don't get me wrong, I love weddings but it's so nice mixing it up with other types of shoots too. Here are a few sneak peeks of our latest work:

A maternity shoot that looks nothing like a maternity shoot.

 A fashion look book for a local boutique.

and a really fun, no cheese, couple shoot.

Now I just have to get around to actually blogging it all!

Soft serve bouquets

FRIDAY 8 MARCH, 2013  /   COMMENTS [0]

I'm getting very excited about Kinfolk Vol. 7, and waiting with baited breath (as per usual) when Warm & Glad will announce they have stock. I am in love with these dreamy images popping up everywhere of these huge ice-cream cones full of beautiful flowers! Like clockwork the Northern hemisphere is exploding with beautiful spring images while my garden already has crispy autumn leaves scattered on the grass. I love this time of year, and i'm pretty excited for some cooler weather. Shot by Parker Fitzgerald and styled by Amy Merrick. Images via

Italian pop up lunch!

MONDAY 4 MARCH, 2013  /   COMMENTS [0]

There is an awesome (pretty new) Italian lunch spot that has recently started popping up every Tuesday at the Rosebank fire station from 12 - 2. I went last week around 12:30 and it was PACKED! You pay R45 for a take away box and then you get to fill it with all sorts of delicious Italian dishes from their harvest table.

We tried almost everything, but while we were there they kept on bringing out more and more dishes!

It is run by a couple of authentic Italian families and they all make a dish or two of something delicious. It's also a great place to learn a few Italian phrases (which will come in handy for our Italy trip in July!).

If you're bored of your usual lunch/take away and work near Rosebank it's definitely worth the visit - parking is a bit of nightmare so come on your vespa or car pool! 

Topshop has landed

THURSDAY 22 NOVEMBER, 2012  /   COMMENTS [3]

Topshop has finally opened it's doors in South Africa and people couldn't wait to get their paws on all their clothes (some people even slept over to be the first in). I went through this morning and was completely overwhelmed.

The shop is small-ish (if you're comparing it to the Oxford Street Topshop), with quite a small shoes section (I didn't find anything in my taste) but there is a full make up bar and a large denim section!

I found most of the clothes to be very dark and edgy - a lot of gold, black, velvet and studs on everything (!) and I gravitate more towards the plainer items. That being said it is flipping awesome to have the latest stuff straight from London, on trend and will definitely change the way the average South African sees fashion. Price-wise, it's similar to Zara but I actually found some of the items to be a bit more expensive like the blazers were R1000 compared to Zara's R599, and the jeans/pants were around R699 (the clothes are very high quality though and definitely worth the splurge.)

Here are a couple of items that caught my eye.

The stash.

What can I say? I love the basics.

I also bought some of their make up which is amazing (My favourite red lipstick is from Topshop. It's called Rio Rio and it's the nicest shade of red). Did you know their make up is made in the same factory as Mac? So it's similar quality just a bit cheaper ; ).

Go have a look, i'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed!

The drinks trolley

MONDAY 5 NOVEMBER, 2012  /   COMMENTS [2]

We found this beautiful drinks trolley in a dusty auction house a few months ago. I'd been looking for one for a while and this one was really special. I fell for the details, and the cute wheels.

However, it was very rusty and squeaky in places. To get rid of the rust we used good old Handy Andy and a scourer. To get rid of the extremely squeaky wheels we used Q20.

Now it's fancy and shiny and fully stocked! (Here is a very cute article on how to stock your bar cart.)

I'm planning to do a series of some of my favourite summer drinks, all inspired by the drinks trolley.

Any requests? : )

Gap denim

TUESDAY 30 APRIL, 2013  /   COMMENTS [9]

Last week I was invited to the first ever Gap Styling Session hosted by Grazia SA. We all got to pick out a pair of Gap jeans to take home and style with whatever we already had in our wardrobes. I decided to take a bit of risk and go for these bright floral jeans. They just jumped out at me, and told me I had to have them and go out and 'be bright'.

I decided to put together a summer meets winter look. I paired my summery floral jeans with a light blue denim shirt that fit the blues of the jeans perfectly. I added my go to brown leather boots which have been with me for two winters already and a neutral trench coat (Gap has an amazing version of this in stores). Moving on to accessories, the leather back pack is from Red Oker, and the hat belonged to Dylan's grandpa.

Ella Anne

WEDNESDAY 6 MARCH, 2013  /   COMMENTS [3]

Ella Anne is a beautiful new shop in Sandton stocking a range of amazing brands imported from Austrailia and Bali. The brands include Mink Pink, 3 of something, Finders keepers, Keepsake and Bali Design.

I popped in yesterday to see Gaby, and to take a few pictures of some the gorgeous clothes. She's imported some incredible pieces that you won't find any where else ranging from short shorts to sparkly party dresses. 

You can find Ella Anne at 183 Rivonia Road, Sandton Court (behind the Shell Garage)

Mon - fri 11 - 4pm, Sat 11 - 2pm

Food Wine Design 2012

SATURDAY 24 NOVEMBER, 2012  /   COMMENTS [0]

Before the weekend is over I thought I should get a post out about the wonders of Food Wine Design so you’re not angry with me for blogging about it on Monday when it’s all over ; ) and if you've missed out!

If you have been to this event before it’s a huge improvement from last year, it’s bigger and there’s far more variety as well as a lot of new things I hadn’t heard of or seen before. The food, wine and design are all in separate tents so you can start in one section and move along naturally.

So let’s start with food. We ate. A lot.

We started at the Dim Sum Vin stand where they have 4 different dim sum platters that are paired with two glasses of wine. We had one each and got to taste a whole lot of bite size combinations. The steamed dim sum (green) was a lot tastier than the cold option (blue), but the colder option had a much nicer wine! It was a Chardonnay from Plasir De Merle, and I do love chardonnay.

We then had a plate of stuffed Zucchini flowers at the Mastrantonio stand paired with wine imported from Italy (delicious flavours!) these were really interesting, something definitely to try out!

We also had a small Kobe Style beef burger (a bit pricy at R50 a burger the size of a Slyder but Dylan educated me that Kobe beef is world renowned as some of the best Beef in the world). Anyway, it was quite delicious and something Ron Swanson would be proud of. It was basically a bun and a patty with nothing else. Find this at  the Braeside Butcher stand.

For pudding we had a haagen dazs mint ice-cream and brownie combination, not the most adventurous but it was pretty tasty.

Moving on to design. We perused a lot of stalls but these were my favourites.

above: Magpie

above: Pedersen & Lennard

above & below: Anatomy design

above & below: Hunter cycling Jhb

above & below: Dark horse

We bought this dark horse leather strap for a special home project.

above & below: Dear Rae.

Dylan bought me this 'heart of gold' ring which i've been coveting for a long time.

above: Mat blac - very cool men's accessories like ipad covers and wallets.

I highly recommend going to the fair, just remember your credit card ; )

Melissa's in Parkhurst

FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER, 2012  /   COMMENTS [2]

Lovely Melissa's has finally graced Joburg with her presence and delicious products. I can't imagine a better place than Parkhurst for the first JHB store - it's like a mini Cape Townian suburb.

Pop in for the freshest bread, roses, coffee, cake, salad and anything else you can think of. It's in the newly built centre in 4th avenue (right at the end).  

New from Lad & Lass

MONDAY 22 OCTOBER, 2012  /   COMMENTS [1]

So you might have seen by now that I take wedding pictures on the weekends with my husband Dylan. We used to be called Hello Harbour (which is our overall company name) but we now go as Lad & Lass wedding photography.

These are a few pictures from our latest wedding, which i'm so proud of. It was such an epic wedding. 400 people and the most ridiculously good looking family you've ever seen. The whole bridal party (including the kids) looked like they had just stepped out of a magazine. It's weddings like these where taking pictures doesn't feel like work at all, it feels like you're hanging out with awesome fun people all day long. We only left at 1 am and the party was still going on.

For the full post go here. Do it.