Tips and tricks
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DIY storage space ideas
If you live in a matchbox, like I do, I’m sure you’re always looking for ways to maximise your space. I’m learning the hard way that life with boys can definitely leave your home feeling cluttered. Can you imagine the state of my (spreadsheet) brain when I come home to shoes and Xbox games and the likes, scattered around the house? Order must be kept!
And then its choruses of “Babe, where are the car keys?” and “Mommy wheres my [insert random object of importance here]? I reeeaaally need it for school tomorrow!”Such a fun time.I will accept a little bit of the blame.I am the eternal collector and have a large collection of CD’s and DVD’s. (Aint nothing like the reeal thing baby).With that said, I am always looking for nifty ways to store or display things and found Google to be really helpful with this.Check out what I’ve found:
“Your car keys are behind the frame, dollface!” 
My pots n pans cuboard is the worst! 
This is cool! 
This is so easy to make! 2Litre cooldrink bottle! 
Some magnetic action going on here 
No need to lift up a bunch of pots to take out the tray 
Hmm… but then to store the storage boxes. Not sure how I feel… 
Love this! It’s a frame! No, its a book case! 
CD case 
Magnets again! 
A hanger. Love. 
Again, where to store the boxes? 
Great idea! -
Babyshower: Oh Boy! It’s a cowboy babyshower!
This past weekend we hosted a cowboy babyshower that had me saying heeehaaaa! (I just had to do that).
It was also fun to have everyone dress up in their best cowboy chaps. I mean, who doesn’t love a cowboy hat?! Decor was fairly easy… lots of cowboy hats and cowboy boots. I loved the theme and found lots of ideas on the net, but you could get away with anything as long as you have denim, burlap and hay! A cheap decor idea was to get bandannas in different colors which we used as overlays for the tables and even as chair back covers.
2 bales of hay were used to display the gifts on and I placed clever quips on the table, to add to the atmosphere. I tried my hand at bunting. (No, not BANTING. No banting at this party. Hahaha) For my bunting, I literally just cut out triangles with pretty cowboy print on them and pritt together. I also made little flags for the burger sliders, just to give it that some’hin, some’hin.I loved this take of a diaper cake. My friend, Melissa, created this baby (no pun intended) all on her own. What do you think? And then, lastly, I saw a really cute idea on how to make cowboy-looking brown paper bags on I Gotta Create. We filled them up with popcorn as a nifty thank you gift.
Cowboy babyshower fringed popcorn bags
Thank you to I Gotta Create for this brilliant idea! For my cowboy fringed popcorn bags, I needed the following supplies:
Brown paper bags
I took a normal brown paper bag, measured off about 5 centimeters of it, and made a fold.
I then cut strips that are about 3-4 centimeters in length. Fringe look = Check.
I cut off the sides until I just had the front and back fringes, like so:
Took a koki and drew “stitches” on the top. And ta-daaahhhh!
A fun time was had by all, especially my beautiful baby and her bigger pals.
I know her facial expression says “Mom, why are you over there and I’m over here?!”, but trust me, she had fun.
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Happy Fathers Day, okay now here, eat my home made tart {recipe included}
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| To the dad in our house, from the kiddos (but mom made the card) |
For Fathers Day this year, my dearly beloved family decided to have a Sunday lunch. It’s one of those kindsa lunches where everyone comes (I’m talking kids running around, husbands sitting by the tv and chatting, wives in the kitchen doing all the slave work) and it’s a bring and share, so each mom brings something.
This year, I committed to making dessert.
Now if you know anything about me, you’d know that this is a big deal because:
1. I am generally not well known for my amazing cooking abilities.
2. I never ever make or even serve dessert at my house. My family treats their 2nd and 3rd servings of the main course as dessert. Yep, we eat a lot.
3. I don’t bake.
4. My family make fun out of all of the above, so I had a lot to prove!
Right, so let’s make dessert!
Someone really close to me told me about a no bake strawberry yogurt tart.
It sounded easy enough and no bake, so I was like, yeah!!
But instead of making strawberry, I opted for lemon instead (think: lemon meringue) and I must say it came out pretty darn awesome! I was ready to release my own cookbook and everything!
(And then after feeling like the female version of Jamie Olivier, I googled and found that other people had been making this kinda tart for like, millions of years already. So that kinda rained on my parade, but only until my second helping of tart and then I was okay again).
Another thing that I really appreciate about this tart is that the ingredients are all super easy to find and are probably stuff that you have in your cupboards already. I mean, how frustrating is it, when you’re searching for “EASY –” or “DIY –” and all you find are recipes that require herbs only found on the very top of Mount Everest or ingredients that costs you the amount of money you’d spend at KFC (bad example) for a family meal.
Anyways, enough dilly dally. Herewith please find:
The World’s Most Amazing No Bake Lemon Yogurt Tart
Ingredients:
1 packet of lemon flavored jelly
6 tablespoons of lemon juice
450g plain yogurt
1 tin of condensed milk
1 packet of tennis biscuits
250g of butter
200ml boiling water
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| Those are not my hands |
Step 1 – The base:
Melt the butter
Crush the tennis biscuits (Clip note: I love how there are tons of different flavors now! I used the cinnamon flavor for my Fathers Day tart)
Mix melted butter with crushed biscuits, to form a nice paste.
Press this into your tart dish and refrigerate while you prepare the mix.
Step 2 – The tart mix:
Add the boiling water to the jelly and allow to cool.
In a separate bowl, mix the condensed milk with the lemon juice.
Then add yogurt and mix well.
Lastly add the cooled jelly.
Pour the mixture over the base and allow to set in the refrigerator for 1 – 2 hours.
I normally make mine the evening before.
And taaa daaaaaaaaaaah!
You can add whipped cream as an optional topping.
I wish I took pics of the end result, but I promise you, one minute it was there, the next it was gone!
1 tart gave us 12 decent sized portions (which wasn’t enough for my group of savages).
If you’d prefer the strawberry flavor, then ditch the lemon juice and replace the plain yogurt with strawberry yogurt and the lemon jelly with 2 packets of strawberry jelly. Add strawberry pieces for added awesomeness.
Hey, who knew I could give cooking tips nogals!
Hope you all had a lovely Fathers Day filled with food, fun, family and lots of dishes to wash afterwards!
xxxL
Maternity photography: how to keep it classy
Do preggy photo shoots make you cringe? Well, they don’t have to! In fact, there are really stunning maternity photography ideas online. Okay, okay, I’ll admit, while prepping for my maternity shoot, I found some that literally hurt my eyeballs. But it was a big help because I immediately knew what I wanted (and DIDN’T want) in my photos. Let’s call them the what’s hots and what’s nots of maternity photography, shall we? But hey, see for yourself:
Not hot: I knew that I wasn’t particularly fond of having my undies on display. I didn’t want over the top nakedness either. There are ways of showing off your bump, that does not include exposed nipple. I’m convinced. (Not sure what the tyre is doing in Pic 2 there. But yeah, that too.) 
Not hot: I knew that I wanted to incorporate something that I really love into my shoot. Which is what guy with gun (Pic 1) is probably trying to demonstrate? With that said, I wanted it to look like I’m not a crazy person (reference to Pic 2). Also, yes, I had to deal with stretchmarks (don’t we all, Kim Kardashian?) but I wasn’t about to make it a permanent feature in my maternity photos. 
Not hot: I never fully understood why the dad has to be naked in maternity photos. Why dads? For the love of all that is good, WHY?! I wasn’t comfortable with having my hubstopher’s skin on display. He’s not pregnant, anyways. I am. So that settled it. 
So with all of this in mind, this is what my maternity photo shoot ended up looking like:
Maternity photography: How to prepare
1. Know what you want and what you don’t want! Get pics to show the photographer.
2. Get your hair did! Get your make up did! You need to feel beautiful and like the babe that you are!
3. Decide on whether you’d want specific props or things to feature – try to make the shoot uniquely you.
4. Take snacks and have a nap before the time!
5. Make sure your photographer has a heater in studio (weather dependent). It was quite chills on the day of our shoot and our photographers heater really helped.
6. Explain to Dad that you carry the cargo, so you are the main feature 🙂 Dads are usually very understanding about these kinda things. He must also decide on the full extent of his nakedness in these pics.
7. Find out by your photographer if she/he has a preggy/newborn package. Some photographers have really sweeet deals which includes your newborn photo shoot.
8. Try to remember that you’re still sexy and drop dead gorgeous. So you don’t have to have a cheesy “yeah, I’m a whale right now but that’s okay I’ll just smile” look on your face. Flirt with the camera. Try.
9. Most photographers understand that mommy can only sit in certain positions for a short period of time, before it becomes uncomfortable. Don’t be too timid to speak up if you’re not happy.
10. Have fun!
Mom: The Collectors Edition
The possibillities are endless!
Its time to chill…
It’s so chill out now. And because of this, and boredom and because we need new clothes, Chris and I checked out the very awesome and user friendly Mr Price website.
Its so fetch.
Anyways, so we kinda picked out clothes for each other. I know, some of them don’t maybe match or make sense, but hey we think it’ll look cute on each other, okay! I think that we really love each of these pieces individually, more than as an ensemble. Our favorites?
Chris:
For Him – I love the red hoody because I don’t know what to say except that I love it.
For Her – The jeans, because I know it’ll look good on my fiancee. 🙂
For Him – Love the Brooklyn shirt and the arm bands. Totally cute and the colors are so Autumn/Winter-ish.
For Her – The blazer. The cross. The bracelet. The shirt. The jeans. The pumps.
See style board below. Isn’t it inspiring? Our pleasure.
Weirdest (and quickest) way to dry up a cold sore
Ever wake up with a tingling on your lips… and no, I’m not talking about passionate kisses. I woke up with the worlds ugliest cold sore ever! And it’s not even cold. Where is the justice?! This thing is so ugly, it needs to be contained and thrown into a deep, dark pit of fire. I, of course, did what any rational human being would do in a dilemma such as this: I Googled a solution!
Some of the advice Google threw at me:
– Drink Lysine tablets
– Rub salt (literally in my wounds)
– Soak my lip in alcohol (those days are long behind me, buddy)
– Rub someones pee in it. I know, right?
– Apply ice
– Buy some cold sore ointment
The last one is the one that made more sense to me, so I got me some Acitop at the chemist. I didn’t need a prescription for it, so that was pretty cool already. I knew I had found a winner. I dabbed on a little a heck of a lot and sat at my desk at work, looking like I had rabies. Hey, I’m not complaining coz within half an hour, the monster seemed to have shrunk somewhat. I am now sitting with a small little blister that needs to be dried out. The worst is over folks. Please, move along, nothing to see here…
Anyways, so I decided to contact Google again to finds ways to dry up the blister.
I was advised to:
– Mix salt and toothpaste, apply and walk around like that
– Mix alcohol with something and do something with it
– Apply some nail polish remover every few hours
Yep, you guessed it, I am currently sitting with a cutex-remover-lip. Nail polish remover! On my lip! It actually really works ya’ll! Apparently the acetone, in the remover, dries the blister right on up. Obviously you need to take precaution and I have been applying Labello to the area around the infected part, so that the remover does not affect my skin etc. But this actually works, folks! My pleasure.
But oh! those Summer nights!
Summer’s around the corner and Mr Price seems to be speaking my fashion language! In honor of Tuesdays Are Shoesdays, I found really stunning pair of wedges on the Mr Price website. I know, right? Can I just stop with the Mr Price already?! I’m sorry guys, I’m hooked.
I love how bold these pieces are. Something that I am NOT! But hey, I am planning on getting a hair cut beginning of December, so why not a style makeover too? 🙂
I’m guesstimating that this entire spread will not cost you more than R500. Yes. Awesome.
Love the skirt! Love the wedge! Perfect for a (summer) night out. Love the animal print bangle and earrings. Soooo fetch! 😉
Happy Almost Summer!
Pantry Party!!
Sup y’all! I’ve been quiet of late, coz I’ve been busy of late. Hmm… who came up with the term “of late”… it sounds weird. Any the hoo! My bestie is getting married soon! AAAAAAAACK! I (along with my fellow bridesmaid) hosted a pantry party at the beautiful Bonamia restaurant on Saturday morning. Yes, I said morning. That’s coz it was a breakfast party, of sorts. Which worked out excellently for us, because we were able to order scrumptious breakfasts for all the guests and were out of there by 11:30! So Tess had the rest of the day to sort out wedding stuff etc.
I had meant to hang up a washing line, with these dish clothes etc on it. But there was no space in the restaurant for my creativity. Boohoo. She didn’t mind, either way 🙂 Please note her totally cute outfit 🙂 Love the apron. Wish I coulda gotten it in purple (wedding colors). But pink still works. The hat is compliments of her sister (fellow bridesmaid). I think it adds some Je ne sais quois to her already darling outfit 🙂 hehehe
If the vases were a bit more broader, I woulda added more spatulas to my “kitchen utensil bouquet”. Oh and please note The Good Wife’s Guide on your left. Its a 1955 magazine article written in all seriousness about how to be a good wife. Yeah. I know, right? Google it. Its pretty funny. 🙂
Our family group sisters baked some “nom nom nom” worthy goodies, which I promptly decorated with my little toothpick flags 🙂 Please see my ridiculously fabulous scarf used as a table runner.
So I had created a personalized logo for Tess’s party. The theme was “Theresias Kitchen”. I used this logo on the thank you cards, banners, invites etc. The coins are actually made out of chocolate, and I used them as prizes when we played games.
Oh, talking about games, these 2 were super cute:
1. Guess the utensil
I printed a bunch of really interesting kitchen utensil pictures, and had her guess what it was used for.
2. Whats that powder?
I had a few different “white kitchen powders” and she had to guess (without smelling or tasting) which powder it is (eg. washing powder, flour, icing sugar)
Above would be what I’d like to call a STAPLE in every kitchen. I love me some paper towels. Anyways, the guests each sent me their favorite EASY recipe, which I will be adding to a personalized cookbook for Tess! This cookbook will include pics of the pantry party and personal messages from each guest. Guests were encouraged to give gifts that are themed around their recipe. Eg. I shared my Luchaes Secret Molto Gustoso Pasta recipe with her (yeah, the name is awesome 🙂 and my gift was spaghetti, pasta sauces and pasta spoons etc.
We had lots of fun and Tess appreciated the cooking tips, recipes, ingredients and kitchen goodies. I’m sure her future hubby will enjoy them too!
