Out and About in Town

The great thing about Cape Town...there's always a new place to discover. There's always a new festive event and there's always new experiences at old favourites.

Over the past couple of weeks we've been out and about in town discovering new coffee shops, visiting markets and finding the perfect way to end a night.

In a mini version of our Coffee Club, we tried out the new Yours Truly in Kloof Street. We visited the one in Long ages ago and it still boasts the best cup of coffee I've ever had. This branch is attached to a very hip hostel which explains all the good looking boys with accents. The location (Kloof Street aka the street of cool) explains why it's always full.

  

 

 In the day it's the place to get your caffeine and sandwich on while at night, it's bustling with cute boys in skinny jeans and lots of girls with fringes in tights and their gran's jumpers. Not that I am knocking it. It was awesome and looks like a fun place to spend an evening. If we can ever get a table. If you're keen, make sure you get there early. It's never not busy.

I was so miserable this day. I had a cold sore and thought no one would ever love me.

 

House and Leisure had their Night Market at Wembly Square recently. Despite the wind howling outside, the place was packed. Sadly it was more of a food market (not that I am complaining, it's the way markets should be for me) than design and homeware but it was still good. We walked around, bought some treats including an amazing ceramic brooch and had some of the best Dim Sum ever. It was so good there wasn't time to take pictures.

 

 

 

My new brooch of awesomeness.

To celebrate a bestie's birthday we visited The Tap Room in Salt River. Like Woodstock it's becoming the place to be. This little bar/restaurant/lounge is kinda hidden but once you find it you'll be glad. It's home to the Devil's Peak Brewing company so there is some great craft beer on hand. I tried two and one left me a little underwhelmed but the other was quite tasty. Please just don't ask me for names, i notice words like caramel, richness and smooth when ordering drinks.

 

 

They also serve some other liquors and food. The food deserves a mention. We weren't going to eat but after watching tray after tray of food porn pass us by we couldn't resist. Their pulled pork sandwich can change lives, it's that good.

Power and The Glory is my favourite place for a G&T and a hot dog. But sometimes you're not in the mood to drink. I am always in the mood to eat though. But those are personal issues I am working on. So when the summer night doesn't call for gin, it calls for iced coffees. And cookies! Chilled, relaxed, awesome.

 

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

It's Begining to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

...which means I'm in the most amazing mood.

It really is my favourite time of year. Everyone is happy (if you avoid the shops), there are carols, there are Christmas movies and you get to spend time with peeps you like.

Apart from putting up a massive Christmas tree and playing carols nonstop (which is what I've done since Mid-November) I'm also going to be spending my time on Christmas crafts. If I ever had any cool points, I have a feeling they have fallen away.

Since this time of year happens to be the most expensive time of the year, I am looking at cutting down costs and making a lot of shit myself. So I've turned to Pinterest for some help in this area.

First up, I am shamelessly stealing this idea for the table. How cute. I'm planning on getting cheap material and sewing these myself. It's gonna be a pain to find ones the right size.

Then I thought I'd put up these candle jars. I did something similar last year. Except I printed carol sheet music and tied them with some twine. As we're not blessed with cold weather (I love winter so I'm really sad about this) candles on a hot day can be a bit much. So I'm making my way to a cheap store for those flameless tealights.

This is one idea I'm dying to try out but not sure how to pull it off. But not so sure how I feel about the white on brown. I've seen some awesome printables to make your own wrapping paper but not sure if I'm that ambitious. This might work for smaller gifts though in just brown paper. Definitely an opportunity to use that red and white twine I bought in bulk.

This is on my bucket list. I really, really want to make a gingerbread house. I love to bake and most of the time my stuff tastes amazing but my presentation is shitty. I have no qualms about it. I'll never be trending because of perfectly iced cupcakes or perfectly round and iced cinnabons but I know they'll taste good. That's why when I am truly ready aka not so lazy I'll attempt this.

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

A Few Of My Favourite Things

The Great British Bake Off

 

You know how people discuss food porn, well for me, this show is my porn. Like for reals. I get all sweaty and turned on when I watch it. I love baking; it's one of those therapeutic things for me. I don't get nearly enough time to bake as I don't like to rush it either. But watching this show makes me want to get out my Nigella books and go to town. It's one of those great reality shows where it's not too cheesy and the judges are not going out of their way to be mean and critical. Also it's focused on the baking. There's not much on the contestants but that's okay. Their personalities come out through the challenges. And trust me they are hectic. But at the end of the day, you get to see some beautiful baking.

Shortstraw

This is a South African band. And sadly that's the extent of what I know about them. I will learn more particularly as I really like their music. I've been streaming it on the daily. If you haven't heard of them, make sure you give Good Morning Sunshine a play. I've done that a gazillion times and it's still a great song. 

Bootcamp

Although it pains me to say it and to actually type this. I joined up for 4 weeks with some buddies. We're just going 3 times a week but it's a lot more than I was doing previously. Normally I'd chill on one of those reclined exercise bike with a Kindle and catch up on some books. Now I'm sweating and swearing whenever I need to do anything with dumbbells. I haven't noticed a big difference in weight loss and centimetres but I don't think I'm carrying as much water weight. Also my appetite has increased tenfold. So that sorta explains why I'm not a skinny bitch yet. At the same time though I'm have the most awesome sleeps. So if anything, yay for that!

The Cape Royale VIP Sky Bar

Click to Enlarge

I was lucky enough to attend the official summer opening of the bar. It was a miserable day. But even the rain and clouds couldn't hide what an amazing venue it was. We may have been huddled under the heaters but even without sunshine, it's a great place to hang out. If you're looking for the perfect summer bar with breathtaking views of the Mother City, then this is your place. They also have great specials on food. If you want to book a table, send a mail soon to allie@redcarpetconcepts.co.za to get your name on the guestlist. 


Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

 Images via here, here, here and here.

My Life In Gifs Part Sept

When I realise summer is around the corner and I spent all of winter eating 

When I get tipsy before going out 

When someone eavesdrops into my conversation and then proceeds to give their input 

When the cute guy I go on a date with turns out to be a closet homophobe/racist/Oedipus 

When I’m off my guard and realise I’m left alone in the kitchen with the office creep 

When a boy is nice to me, this is literally my thought process

When said boy has rejected me and I end up drunk

When everyone around me is getting married and buying houses and shit 

When I say I’m busy to get out of lame weekend plans

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

Images from here, here, here, here and here. 

Preach!

This excerpt comes from Gone Girl which is currently a bestseller and movie rights have been sold and basically it's the It Girls of books right now. I've read the book. Didn't LOVE it but the suspense kept me glued and I really appreciated the twist. I'm not going away spoilers, all the reviewers mention this twist.

Like I said I wasn't enthralled by the story and definitely not the main characters -they are horrible peeps - but there is this one passage that really struck a chord with me. Amy, the girl part of Gone Girl, gives off a little rant about the cool girl. You know the type of girl most guys want and compare all other girls to. The kind of girls they put on a pedestal. The girls most of us cannot compete with in little boy's heads. And there's my rant ;)

"Men always say that as the defining compliment, don't they? She's a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she's hosting the world's biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don't mind, I'm the Cool Girl.

"Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they're fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, co-workers, strangers – giddy over these awful pretender women, and I'd want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who'd like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them."

And here is all I have to say on the subject:

Happy Friday Bitches!

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Oh Dear Megan Jewellery Launch

Last week I was lucky enough to attend the launch of the summer collection of Oh Dear Megan.

*On a side note, how awesome is that name, it's like when you have this really kooky friend who always does weird-off-the-wall stuff like Luna Lovegood or Cassie from Skin and you want to be surprised but in the end you're all like Oh! Dear Megan and shake your head knowingly*

In case you don't know ODM is a Cape Town-based studio which specialises in jewellery with a local flavour and is a big hit with those uber stylish peeps that roam the streets of the Cape.

 The summer collection launch was held at a studio at The Woodstock Exchange. If I was to describe the collection, I'd say it was the thing that candy-coloured, summer dreams are made of. And true to these words, the range was displayed alongside jars of pastel-coloured candy while we were served pink bubbles and ice-cream. I was in my own little happy place.

 

 

The collection is filled with intricate little pieces of jewellery that are good enough to eat. And they add a bit of whimsical fun to your look without the risk of looking like you went into your younger sister's jewellery box. It's just the right amount of playfulness.

BUT my favourite part of the collection has to be the coins. I love me some coins. I have had dreams of OWNING the Grecian goddess look for years. And these pieces will definitely help me finish off the look. And they're made of vintage South African coins so there's a bit of heritage along with the style.You can bet this is the first thing I'll be buying when the new collection is available.

If you're also keen to get your hands on some, check out Style36 or get on down to shops like Purr and The Fringe Arts.

Thanks to the fabulous Style Guide PR for the invite, the bag of candy and the goodie bag.

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!

Raw Espresso Bar

So people have left countries, people have moved flats, some have been on holiday and some have injured themselves, but once everything settled down, we were all able to meet up for a long-awaited coffee hood.

In my new hood, I spotted Raw Espresso Bar. I want to say it's a little hole-in-the-wall but that conjures up images of dodgy bars with sticky floors and decades-old music which I secretly love but it doesn't do the place justice. It's tucked away on a side street and if you got your blinders on you'd miss it. And you'd be sorry.

Raw is a nice and simple coffee shop. But that is not a bad thing. It's got comfy chairs, it's got tables for intimate dates and a counter where we spotted the early-morning work crowd. We're mostly the don't-want-to-go-to-work crowd so we parked off in the comfy chairs and ordered our coffees.

Service was very friendly and quick which is my favourite. Coffee was courtesy of Deluxe which means it was a winner. The boys had some breakfast and I was very jealous as I watched them tucking into pastries and rolls (trying to be good and work on that summer body).

If you want no-frills, unpretentious coffee with a chilled setting, then this is your place.
Go and check them out at Spin Street. They're open from 06h30 until 16h00.

some of my peeps. i didn't add the other one as i looked like a heifer, sorry jared.

Ex-Oh! Ex-Oh!