Everyone keeps asking me about the wedding but it’s not just the wedding day we have to prepare for – it’s also about the days after the wedding. Logistically, we’ve decided to move in to the fiancé’s apartment. We both currently have 2 bedroom apartments and we need to manage to squeeze in everything we want into just one of those apartments.

I’m not too worried about the big appliances. The daunting task is figuring out how all my clothes are going to fit into his place.

This week, a friend asked for pre-loved clothes to donate to a charity. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to actually take stock of the clothes we have and cut down where we need to. And in the process, create cupboard space for myself.


We first started with the fiancé’s wardrobe to create the cupboard space and then moved on to mine. The fiancé is actually quite reasonable with understanding what needs to be kept and I am a lot more emotional. Here are my tips, if you are planning on spring cleaning your wardrobe anytime soon.

Don’t hoard
I am a hoarder. I don’t buy a lot of clothes so when I do buy something, I just add to my existing pile of treasure. My cupboards get untidy again or I find myself without time to dress up in the mornings and then I end up wearing the same things over and over again. Most people I know will update their wardrobes by buying a new collection of clothing. If that’s you, great – you can now get rid of the older stuff in order to make space. It’s a great idea but I wouldn’t do that so I need to find another way to stop my hoarding. Maybe regular spring-cleaning…

Adding to the give-away pile
I decided to try on all of my clothes while cleaning out my closet. Because of that, I knew exactly which ones to add to the give-away pile:
- It’s out-dated, faded or doesn’t look nice on me.
- It’s too small. When I moved to Joburg, I was a size 28. Now at size 32, I really doubt I’m going to get that skinny again to keep those clothes.
- Too much of the same item. The fiancé realised he had tons of blue jerseys so he just added some of them to the give-away pile

Adding to the repair pile
There’s always those items that still offer quite a bit of life to them but need to be repaired. If you’re lazy to do them yourself, take your shoes that need new heel tips, jackets with missing buttons and any garments that need to be hemmed to Fordsburg one day. You’ll find tons of cobblers and tailors who are much cheaper than anyone in the northern suburbs. All you loved items will be renewed!

Donate
Giving to those less fortunate than me is quite dear to my heart and considering that I missed the Twitter Blanket Drive this year, I think 3 massive suitcases filled to the brim more than makes up for it. A lot of people take for granted what they have and don’t realise that there are a lot of people out there who desperately need some clothes. If the opportunity doesn’t come knocking at your door, there are other ways from giving the clothes to specific individuals to donating it to a church, the Salvation Army, the SPCA and even to specific drives that come around every once in a while like the Twitter Blanket Drive.

Assess your clothing needs
When I was done, I realised that I have so little clothes left. I think I gave away more than I actually kept. This is probably cos I refused to buy clothing in my size for a long time. I kept thinking that I would get back to a size 30. At this stage, most people would assess their clothing requirements now and go out and buy what they need. I need to first pay for my wedding and then I’ll look at stocking up.

As emotional as the process was of getting rid of my things, I actually feel quite relieved right now. Logically, it made sense to not hoard so much of things. I’m now giving others a chance to benefit from my clothing. And the most important part is that there’s space in the fiancé’s closet for me…and my clothes will be able to fit in there.

Hopefully this inspires you to spring-clean your cupboard and if you did, let me know if you also shared similar rollercoaster emotions. 
Even though, we've been in the midst of winter, we are so lucky to have been experiencing lots of sunny hot days. Tonight is the start of a cold front that I am dreading. And what better time than now to share with you my winter survival kit - how I get through the cold.


As much as I prefer the cold to the scorching sun, winter doesn't seem to like my skin very much. I end up dry, itchy, scaly-looking and with a host of other dehydrated skin problems. Here's how I help my skin fight off winter.
- Nivea in-shower body lotion. I've been raving about this since I tried it. It's like magic. Just apply it in the shower, rinse off and get dressed. You've got beautifully moisturised skin that lasts all day.
- Softlips. Dry, cracked lips are ugly and uncomfortable. I keep my lip balm in my handbag and apply it whenever my lips need attention. I've also got lip balms lying all over the house, my car and the office.
- Dermalogica. I've been using Dermalogica for over two years and I started in winter. It's been the only product that keeps my skin feeling soft, smooth, moistured and free from pimples.
- Dermalogica facials. A professional's touch is needed in winter. They have these amazing treatments that you can only get at the spa, like the oatmeal face mask. I go to the ladies at Sorbet and they are great is assessing exactly what your skin needs to survive winter.

Some of my skin's dehydration is my own doing. Water just doesn't cut it in winter. This weekend, I stocked up on Milo, hot chocolate, tea, instant coffee and the type that goes into the coffee machine. And I got a bunch of snacks to go with them - like chocolate chip cookies, chocolate and murrkoo (one of my favourite Indian snacks).

If you don't have someone to cuddle with at night, my favourite alternative is my electric blanket. I'm actually going to switch on my electric blanket as soon as I get home and spend the rest of the night being all toasty in there.

I love my Woolies fleece PJs. Firstly, they are a size XS so they make me feel really good about my size. They are super warm. Unfortunately, the fiance won't allow me to leave the house in them.

When you're not in the mood to leave your warm cosy house, spending an evening at home works perfectly...if you have enough things to keep you busy. The fiance is well stocked with his James Bond DVDs (which I am forced to watch *sigh*). I have a hard drive filled with series to keep me occupied. And then there's always the DSTV's offerings. They have some pretty captivating new series.

The fiance introduced me to K-Way, a Cape Union Mart's range of clothing which is meant for the outdoors. Aha! That's how you know it's going to keep you warm. I love their new soft shell jacket range. Also, because I don't like wearing too many clothes, I like how light their jackets are. I sometimes wear a tank top for the lightness and then my K-Way jacket on top of it to stay warm.

If you have some better things in your survival kit, let me know. Who knows; it might help me get through this winter.
I don’t understand people who feel that food is just fuel for the body. For me, food is something to be shared with friends. Food needs to delight my taste buds. And food should also be enjoyed in a relaxing environment. That’s why I love eating out so much and why I love that the fiancé regularly cooks amazing dishes for us.

Since I moved to Joburg, eating out has been a regular thing for me to do – usually to catch up with friends. I realised that I used to stick to the same old restaurants that I was used to or tried out new restaurants in the shopping centres that I was used to. Let’s face it, finding a new restaurant is a schlep. That’s why I love Zomato. They take out the hard work of finding a restaurant and provides you with tons of options in just a few clicks through their app.

Zomato took the South African food community by storm last year and in no time mapped out almost all the restaurants in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban to create an online directory – a first of its kind. The concept is amazing – you have access to every restaurant in your city on one website. Similar sites exist but this surpasses them all with their current information and exciting vibe.

Their star feature is that users can post detailed reviews of their experiences – the food version of Trip Advisor. It’s also kinda like the online version of word of mouth. You can check out trending restaurants, eateries within a specific suburb and you can see what ordinary people rate them. Zomato has actually become my first point of call when wanting to access to restaurants’ operating hours, contact details and menus instead of googling or going to their website.

I also really like that they keep their content fresh by constantly looking at innovative ways to update their website. Their latest offering is a feature called Collections. You can browse for restaurants for a specific theme, e.g. romantic. Do you know how difficult it’s been for me to think up first date restaurant ideas? Luckily I don’t need to do that anymore but I suspect I’ll be working my way through the Healthy Eating collection now.

The fun part of this is that Zomato’s decided to spoil one of my readers with a meal voucher for two worth R200 to use a Vasili’s in Morningside. Entering is easy! Just remember to use the Rafflecopter widget for your entries to be valid. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
When I went to London, I had three days to spend and I wanted to see as much of London as I could. Given that I was alone, the most cost effective way to do that was to do the hop-on-hop-off Red Bus Tour. For two days, it took me all over the most famous landmarks in London and I chose where to hop off and explore further on my own.

As with most people, I don’t know my own city well enough. Last week, I changed that by trying the Johannesburg Red Bus Tour. Although I had been to many of the stops on the itinerary, I hadn’t really done it as a tourist.


We took the Red City Tour and Soweto Combo. You can hop on at any of the stops but I suggest parking at Gold Reef City (parking is free) and starting from there. Here are all the stops:
- Gautrain Park Station
- Gandhi Square
- Carlton Centre
- James Hall Transport Museum
- Gold Reef City
- Apartheid Museum
- Mining District Walk
- Newtown
- Origins Centre at Wits
- Braamfontein
- Constitution Hill
- Back to Gautrain Park Station

We started with the Soweto Tour first which I recommend you do as well. The tour is done in a taxi so if you’ve never been in a taxi, you’ll get a taste of it here. The first taxi to Soweto leaves at 10am from Gold Reef City and because it was early in the morning, our group of 6 were the only ones in the taxi. It’s much more fun when you’re exploring with only your friends.


The Soweto Tour is a two hour tour with a guide explaining the history of Joburg, how Soweto came into being and how it has transformed over the years. The two hours is not enough to see everything in detail but it does touch on a little of everything so you can come back and do something specific in a bit more detail. We drove through most of the famous places in Soweto but our specific stops were:
- Soccer City (I’ve never seen Soccer City so quiet before, i.e. without a concert when I usually frequent this venue)
- Diep Kloof (The entrance of Soweto)
- Hector Pieterson Memorial (For a little bit of history not too far from where it all happened)
- Vilakazi Street (We walked past Mandela’s and Desmond Tutu’s houses)
- Kliptown (An amazing tribute to our constitution)

My crew in Soweto

A rather quiet Soccer City

If you look carefully, you can see someone bungee jumping!

Hector Pieterson Memorial

Craft market outside the Hector Pieterson Memorial

Desmond Tutu's house
A quote by Nelson Mandela

The pavement on Vilakazi street

The principles upon which our constitution is built

In no time, our Soweto Tour was over and we were back at Gold Reef City. We jumped on the bus and headed to the hipster hang-out – Braamfontein. Throughout the bus tour, there was running commentary of the interesting history of each area that we passed.


We soon got to Braamfontein and headed straight for lunch at Neighbourgoods Market. Given that we only had a day on the bus, in hindsight, we should have given this a miss. It is way too busy to try to fit in when you have other places to see. I would have rather scheduled this for another Saturday morning. Nevertheless, we checked out some cool stalls and as soon as we got (to the front of the queue to get) lunch, we were on our way to catch the next bus.


Because we spent so much time in Braamfontein and because things close early on the weekend, we weren’t able to do a proper tour of Constitution Hill. But we did get to check out the premises and give ourselves a tour.


The last stop we made was at Carlton Centre – once the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. A uniformed Red Bus Tour guide escorted us from the bus to the Top of Africa and back again. Although, I’ve never really had an issue in this part of town before, it is nice that the security of our tourists is being considered. We bought our tickets and went all the way to the 50th floor. We did a walk around the entire floor checking out famous Joburg landmarks from a breath-taking bird’s eye view.


Will I do this again? Definitely…with friends that haven’t been before. Next time I will make sure that we are able to stop at the Apartheid Museum. This time I was just happy that I got to do the Soweto Tour.  
If you want to find out more, check out their website. 
A few months ago, the fiancé decided we should try to eat healthier which I reluctantly had to go along with. I hate healthy eating because I like tasty food and let’s face it, although healthy food is good for you, it doesn’t really taste nice.


This weekend, I was invited to try out the health food sensation that Cape Town’s been enjoying for a while now, Nu Health Food Café in Waterfall Corner. I had a look at the menu and grimaced at the thought of how all those healthy ingredients would taste and I already decided that I’d probably stick with oats as the safe option.


When I got to their little café and spoke to the staff and eyed the other customer’s plates, I decided to be a bit more adventurous and I was not disappointed. This restaurant offers mostly vegan/vegetarian food with a few other protein options. Their aim is to provide an outlet for people to get healthy food that tastes good. I tried the breakfast wrap made with eggs, avo, tomato, rocket and mozzarella. The finance decided on an open smoked salmon omelette served with the creamiest avocado. I can’t believe how delicious the food tasted. I was also surprised at how light the meals were and I didn’t feel stuffed afterwards.


Speaking to the staff who worked at Nu Health Food Caf̩, I was amazed at how passionate they are about their food Рfrom the waiters to the managers. They work hard at sourcing the freshest organic ingredients, with no additives, all from within South Africa. You really can taste the freshness like with the avocados and the honey.


I know all about the honey because we were treated to a little bit of dessert after breakfast – gluten-free and sugar-free banana-coconut bread served with honey, slices of cinnamon-dusted banana and peanut butter. This did not look healthy at all and it tasted so sinfully decadent. I had so much fun cutting my bread up into little squares and deciding on a topping for every bite. This is the one dish that will keep me coming back to this restaurant and it is the dish you need to try!


The restaurant’s ingredients are halaal although their restaurant isn’t halaal-certified but they take their food preparation so seriously that they only use certain knives and chopping boards for certain ingredients to reduce the risk of cross contamination. I love that special attention because it really gives people a great deal of comfort especially if you’re restricted to eating certain foods for religious purposes.


They have a wide range of sugar-free hot drinks and smoothies made with their own low fat plain frozen yogurt. You can also have that frozen yogurt on its own or topped with an array of yummy bits like goji berries and flaked almonds.


We had breakfast at around 10am and it kept us full until 5pm. I love eating lots of little meals but I am definitely a believer in this low GI thing now – especially if it means I can eat a filling breakfast and have dessert for much less calories than my usual greasy breakfast fare.


I later tried the nu-green quinoa salad and given that I don’t like salads in general, it’s no surprise that this salad wasn’t too my taste – way too many raw ingredients for my liking. A lunch-time wrap that I can definitely recommend, though, is the iron kick. Among other ingredients, it’s made with chickpeas and lentils lightly spiced and wrapped in a low GI multigrain wrap.



If you’re keen to find out more, check out their amazing website, www.nufood.co.za – it breaks down every meal to its ingredients list and gives you the nutritional values. Or pop in to their café at Waterfall Corner and try it out for yourself.  
Oh the shock and horror of realising that I hadn't put up a new blog post in over a month! And it's not that I have nothing to write about; it's all the busy bits of life that just get in the way. Last Sunday, I decided to take a break from it all, gather some friends and chill at the Fourways Farmer's Market. This place isn't new to me but I liked it so much when I checked it out last year, that I decided it would be an awesome place to get some friends together for a catch up.

Seems like people need their morning cuppas on the weekends too

I've been to a few of these outdoors markets - it's a great way to catch some sun while checking out the artisanal food vibe. Stall vendors showcase their spreads of jewellery, fresh veggies, jams, biltong, ice-cream and anything else you can imagine and all of these aren't the normal flavoured stuff you find at the supermarket. I even have friends that frequent this joint for a specific brand of coffee that isn't readily available in Joburg.

Champagne breakfast!

I like trying out the different foods on offer. There's a huge variety of foods ranging from different cultures such as Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Asian and proudly South African cuisine. The balkan burger is a firm favourite and I just love Vuyo's fancy boerewors rolls. You know Vuyo from the Hansa Pilsner ads? The story is real!

Vuyo's boerwors rolls

There are plenty of places to sit down on the picnic benches or tree stumps near the craft beer stalls to enjoy a drink or food and listen to the live entertainment which is mostly just background noise while you're busy browsing through the stalls. When I'm done walking around, I like finding a quiet little spot to just enjoy the feeling of the sun on my skin and the music drifting through the air. All that's missing is a place to nap ;-).

Mmmm delicious fried foods

There's also a nursery on the premises. I usually find that area to not be as crowded as the rest like on today's busy Mother's Day.

Pulled pork and other meaty stuff

If you're looking for something chilled to do on a Sunday morning, try Fourways Farmer's Market. This market is open every Sunday from 9 - 2 and is right across the road from Montecasino. Bring your kids and your dogs.
While at the Hair2Go launch last week, I bumped into the sisters of Trinket Trove. I fell in love with their jewellery the moment they showcased them.


I tend to think that all jewellery are the same but these ladies really offer some unique products. I was amazed by their Inspirational wraps. It’s a long chain of pendants with inspirational words on them that can be worn as a necklace, bracelet and even an anklet. How cool is it to look down at your wrist to see some beautiful inspirational words. Sometimes that’s all you need to cut through life’s stresses. The Inspirational wraps come in 3 different categories: Crystal Wraps (glass crystals with inspirational words), African Wraps (African charms with inspirational words) and Standard Wraps (Inspirational words with metal beads).


The next product I loved was a pair of earrings. It had that mismatched-yet-still-goes-together-type theme. The earrings I was given comprised of one earring being a hairdryer and the other a comb! How cute is that? I was ogling through their earring photos on Facebook and I found another pair I love – a wine bottle and a wine glass. If you like the normal matching earrings, don’t despair – most of their earrings are made like that.


Their latest product range introduces the small wraps and Love necklaces which will be in stores shortly.


You’re probably wondering what's the damage on these items and you’ll be surprised to know how affordable they are. The prices range from R30 (for certain earrings) to R150 (for the crystal wraps).


If you’re interested in their products, it is sold at Crafters Market Stores at Cradlestone Mall, Clearwater Mall, The Glen Shopping Centre, Woodlands Boulevard and The Grove Mall. Watch out for them as they’ll be expanding into more Crafters Markets Stores over the next few months.


If you absolutely can’t wait to get your hands on one, you can contact them on Twitter and Facebook.



And the best part is that ladies at Trinket Trove are giving away a hamper of some of their products worth over R700 to one of my lucky readers. Here's what you can win!
- 1 3-braid-with-chain bracelet
- 1 love bracelet
- 1 multi-cord bracelet
- 1 3-in-1 African inspirational wrap
- 1 3-in-1 Crystal inspirational wrap
- 1 multi-trinket necklace
- 1 3-braid hoop earrings
- 1 pair of large trinket earrings
- 2 pairs of small trinket earrings


All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me what you favourite inspirational word is. Don’t forget to enter through the Rafflecopter widget in order for your entries to be valid. I'm very jealous of this prize so good luck :-)


a Rafflecopter giveaway
Last week I was invited to the launch of Hair2Go at Blo Hairdressing Salon. Now, despite my long tresses, I don't frequent salons much but I loved Blo's look. I has such a young and vibey feel - I can definitely see myself getting my next haircut here.


Hair2Go is all about being able to style your hair differently for any occasion in only a few minutes. It's for busy woman who are always on the go. I'm blessed with long hair but my usual "styles" involve me leaving my hair loose or tying it up in a pony tail. I was amazed by the hairstyles that these ladies come out in. They modeled a day look for their hair and then in a few minutes, they completely transformed their hair into a night look...right in front of us and all by themselves. I was amazed by it!

The day looks
Two of the transformed night looks

Blo is introducing Hair2Go courses to teach women how to do this on their own. Included in the course will be a bag with all the accessories need to create and transform these looks. Snacks and drinks will be served along with a step-by-step manual to take home so you'll never forget what's taught in the classes. I think I definitely need to go to one of these courses.

If you are interested in the Hair2Go classes, you can contact Blo Hairdressing Salon on Twitter, @blohairsalon.
I’ve had countless discussions with people with money and they always say “money doesn’t buy happiness”. It’s something I’ve heard all my life and it’s definitely not a revelation. Of course money doesn’t buy you happiness! But the rich bemoan as if it’s the one thing that they can that they can complain about; that their lives aren’t filled with happiness because of money.


Basically, the argument is that even though the rich grew up with money, it doesn’t mean they had a happy childhood. And they’ve seen that poor people are much richer in terms of the friends and family that they have. This opinion piece is why I think their argument is flawed.

We all have our problems and while money does not solve all of them, it does make things easier. Here’s an example. Person A professes to have daddy issues because daddy was never around because he was too busy making more money. Person B also has daddy issues because daddy was never around because he was too busy working a menial job in order to put food on the table.

In both cases, they weren’t happy. But Person A got to be more technologically advanced, got a better education and got the advantage of a head start in life because of money. Person B followed in his parents’ paths in life and struggled to make ends meet. Yes, in both cases the individuals weren’t happy but didn’t money in this example make life just a little bit easier.

There are a lot of reasons for unhappiness: poor health, the inability to make ends meet, suffering of loved ones – these are things that afflict both the rich and the poor. Money solves these problems or makes them a little easier.

And granted there are sources of unhappiness that can’t be solved with money like the search for a soul mate or being in a job you hate. Again these things affect both the rich and the poor and money will probably be of little help here.

Then there’s the theory that poor people are rich in family who love each other. What bullshit! Not having money is extremely stressful. It’s the source of many fights between couples. When you need to make sure that the basics like food, healthcare and school fees are covered when you’re in a minimum wage job; it’s certainly not a happy place to be in. And even if you’re lucky enough to be surrounded by love and family, it still doesn’t mean you’re happy.


So to the rich people out there, the poor don’t have the upper hand at happiness. Let’s level the monetary playing field first and then we can all bemoan about how our money doesn’t make us happy. Don’t believe me? Get rid of all your money and prove me wrong. Go be happy.
Dhall, as it’s more commonly known across the globe, can be likened to a lightly spiced lentil soup. In Durban, we pronounce it dholl and it’s pretty much a staple in every Indian home.  It can be used as gravy for a dry meal like rice and roast chicken. It can be used for some additional flavour in breyanis. It can be eaten alone with rice or bread. I like to use it in meals where I have tomato chutney where I need to cut the richness of the chutney. Or you can even drink it plain. Here’s how I make it at home.



You will need these ingredients:

1 cup of yellow split pea lentils
1 teaspoon of hurdee or turmeric powder
2 tablespoons of salt
1 tablespoon of oil
1 tablespoon of jeera or cumin
1 sprig of dried curry leaves
Half an onion sliced
3 cloves of garlic finely sliced
3 green chillies with a slit cut down the middle

This is how you make it:

Rinse the lentils in water until the water runs clear and leave it to soak in water overnight. Boil the lentils for an hour with salt and turmeric powder. If you live in Joburg where cooking takes so much longer, I recommend blending the lentils after you boil it. Then put it back on to boil with about three cups of water. Allow about a cup of the water to boil off so that the consistency is still runny. It must not be as thick as a cream-based soup.

When you’ve achieved the correct consistency, temper the rest of the ingredients in some oil in another frying pan. Add the fried spices to the dhall. Have a quick stir and a taste test for flavour and there you have it: comforting dholl.