Wallpaper or art?

As I was scrolling through my list of daily reads, I came across this post on Live Creating Yourself.
She found this amazing artist in the latest issue of Elle Deco. No idea which Elle Deco it was though.

I like to think of myself as a mini decorator. I will never offer my services professionally, but I always imagine how much some people's houses can look and give them a little advice. In short, I absolutely freaking love decorating. And moving into a new place, be it another room in my parent's house, my first flat at varsity, my first flat as a young working girl, sharing a house with a bunch of people or moving into another flat with my boyfriend, has always held a certain excitement to it. I am always looking at the latest decorating magazines and often lose myself in the extravagant ideas, even if I don't have anything to decorate.

But this lady, Payton Cosell Turner, takes the cake! She is just beyond amazing and has a masters degree from the at the Maryland Institute College of Art to prove it. 

This looks like wallpaper. No?

Take a closer look.

Still wallpaper, with, wait? What is that? Take another closer look...

Yup, it's stickers! Can you believe it. I know, she is sheer, pure genius. I am absolutely amazed.

Check out some of her other designs at Flat Vernacular. If I had half the time and patience this woman has. 

But in the meantime, I will just stare in awe.

Housekeeping:

Guys, yesterday I started a facebook page for this here blogggg.

Would you be so kind and go and like my page?

Ta

A sweet little bun...tutorial!

I absolutely love this website. The Glitter Guide. I am at a total loss when it comes to new ideas for hairstyles, and I do like to try something different every now and again. I actually hate wearing my hair loose, it's not curly and it's not straight, and frankly I just don't have the time to blow wave it every morning to look like some Hollywood hussy. 


And that is where Glitter Guide comes in. They have shown me quite a few styles that are quite easy to achieve.

The high bun

1. Start out with next day hair (meaning you haven’t washed it for a day).. Brush back your hair and place in a high ponytail, leaving out your bangs (if you have some) and some face framing pieces.

2. Back comb (tease) your ponytail using a brush or comb until it is full and messy. 

4. Secure the bun with bobby pins all the way around.

5. Separate your bangs in the middle using a comb and tuck the stray pieces of hair behind your ears. Spray with hairspray to finish. 

Pretty girl too! There you have it, the easiest way to achieve the high bun!

A sweet little love story

While on my two and a half hour walking tour of Munchen, we came across a municipal beer garden, surrounded by a lovely food market, known as Viktualienmarkt. While there, the tour guide showed us where we would find the best meat, nice treats to eat and other interesting German cuisine. And then he told us a little story, which is as much a part of the Bavarian tradition is as beer. Well, it all revolves around beer. And trees.

You see this tree? It's called a May tree. It's bolted to the ground. I'll tell you why a bit later.

All those people down there are drinking beer. 

This picture was taken about 11:30 in the morning.

And the picture doesn't really do justice to the immensity of this beer garden.

But back to the trees.

In Bavaria, the tradition goes that, when a boy likes a girl, he will plant a May tree in her front garden. When she likes him back, she will do a little dance around the tree and they will get married. Well, that's how I understood it.

Now, for the interesting part. Get this, if the girl doesn't like the guy and doesn't want to marry the guy, she declines by, and you really won't believe this, putting a keg of beer on his front porch. Ha! It's a win-win situation. Even though he loses the girl, he can get drunk. He'll be happy either way.

The tradition has been taken a bit further. The reason why the May tree is bolted to the ground, is to prevent people from stealing it. Yes, people in Bavaria steal trees. For FUN! The idea is that one village steals the tree from another village, and in order to get their tree back, the village that has been robbed from their tree has to throw the other village a party, which involves, you guessed it, beer! 

The tour guide told us that the security guards managed to steal the airport's May tree and that the airport had to throw their employees a party to get the tree back. I love tradition!

This morning I was woken with an sms. It was from my brother. "R.E.M broke up" it said "I'm trying not to cry on the train."

I phoned him to give my condolences and could hear that he was truly grief-stricken by the dissolution of his favourite band.

You can read his side of the story here. He mentions that in 2005, my matric year, he came to school and signed me out early, claiming that I have to go to the dentist. Meanwhile, we were actually on our way to the first REM show in South Africa. In his 1976 Volkswagen Beetle. I had forgotten about this. But what I do remember is, standing right at the front in the golden circle, in front of Mike Mills. I was in awe! And then he threw his plectrum into the crowd and my brother and I reached to catch it, but it was soon plucked out of the air by someone standing next to us. And Mike Mills looked at me and said "Sorry" Probably one of the most amazing things that have ever happened to me.

I have my brother to thank for most of my, even if I say so myself, amazing music taste and amazing music knowledge. He has always introduced new sounds and bands to me, and even if I didn't like them at first, he would eventually make me listen to it so much that I ended up liking it. It wasn't the same with R.E.M though. I've always liked their sound. I've always had a special bond with them, perhaps because of the bond I have with my brother and the bond he has with the band.

I remember lying in my bed on school nights, reading the latest Goosebumps book my mom bought me and listening to R.E.M playing loudly from my brother's room. In some way, R.E.M became a soundtrack to my primary school life. It was engraved into my thoughts and to this day I still associate certain books with certain R.E.M songs. When Goosebumps became too boring, I would try and read my brother's Stephen King books, and R.E.M was the theme song to even those difficult literatures.

I am sad with my brother. I also shed a tear because of his loss. Thirty one years is a long time to make music, and good music they made.

Last stop: Munich

Or Munchen, whichever way you like. As soon as my hosts heard that I would have to spend my last day in Crailsheim, which only has so much to see and only so much activities, they decided to book me into a hotel in Munich and I left for the city as soon as our conference was over.

Unfortunately I only got there at about half past eight, and I was just definitely not prepared on getting lost in the city at night. Even though my hosts kept telling me that it is not like South Africa, and I don't have to be scared about walking around on my own or take the subway. But I retired early and decided to get up early the next day and then take said subway to the places my hosts recommended. Speaking of which, I did get lost on it. For about a whole hour! I was looking for Central Station, so I could store my luggage.

I was also wearing my Springbok jersey on the day and was stopped three times because of this! One time I met some fellow South Africans on the station, another time some random guys shouted 'Aaaah, bokke!' I went bright red and they started laughing. And then the last time a random guy, with a thick German accent, but a green shirt with a South African flag asked me to go and watch the rugby with him the next day. I just laughed. 

Eventually I landed up on Marienplatz, which is almost smack bang in the centre. I think. As I was trying to get my bearings, I saw a group of people gather around someone with a sign that said "Pay as you wish. Munchen Tour." I signed up and got an amazing two and a half hour tour of the city.  Smart, aren't I? That way I couldn't get lost :) 

About five minutes later the history lesson started and we watched as the Glockenspiel started to turn and the bells started to chime. It was quite a sight. Quite magical!

Second stop: Rottenburg

This little village is ancient! It is filled with a lovely history and has so much to see and learn. I was lucky enough to have a tour, guided by someone who usually guides for celebs, he says he has even guided the likes of Ms Jolie. Well, there you have it. He said that unfortunately he could only scratch at the surface of his vast knowledge, as we had very little time, and believe you me, he really knew a lot about this little town. And he presented every little detail of this village with so much enthusiasm. I really enjoyed the tour. But unfortunately I cannot remember most of what he said, a result of fatigue. I was a zombie. So I decided to swamp you with pictures. For some reason they came out a little bit grainy. I think it has to do with the light.

Me, clearly red from sunburn

Later we had dinner at a fancy cute little hotel. I didn't quite catch the name, maybe you can see it from the photo I took. We had a TEN COURSE MEAL! Yes! And two of the courses included caviar. The other plates varied from mozzarella foam, to quail's egg, to dove breast. It was gourmet allright. One dish even had three different servings of tuna. Raw, semi raw and not so raw. That's basically what I can remember. After the last photo it basically became too dark to take any decent things. Hope you liked it.

A very interesting lamp in the restaurant

First stop: Crailsheim

After landing, I had another tow hours drive to  little village named Crailsheim. I can proudly say that I have been on the Autobahn. 

Driving without speed limits is awesome.

And I am amazed by the discipline the Germans have on their roads. 

They are such good drivers and so patient. A system like the Autobahn will never ever work in South Africa. Even though there are some of us who think it is the Autobahn, and that there are no speed limits. 

Ahem, guilty.

I dozed off in the car, only to be woken by my driver, excitedly telling me that we were now driving at about 220 km/h. I have never been in a car that could go that fast. My poor baby can only reach about 160 km/h and even then it shakes like a Parkinsons patient. But I have to give it to my care, it can drive on petrol fumes for about a week.

The German countryside is amazing. The roads was encompassed by endless forests, millions of trees. Later, a German journalist would inform me that, in the earlier years, Germans believed that their gods lived in trees and the trees were hallowed. He added that the Germans still love their trees today and there are many rules and regulations to protect the country's arbour.

Later, after resting a bit and taking a refreshing shower, I took to the streets of Crailsheim. People seemed to walk everywhere, but when a car did come around, it would be driven by cocky young guys in cabriolets. Funnily enough, everytime a car came by Give me Everything Tonight by Neyo and Pitbull were playing. They seem to like that song in Crailsheim.

There were church towers everywhere and I was in awe of the architecture that this seemingly modern village    had. One thing that is still a bit archaic is that nothing was legible. Or understandable. Yes, I know I was in a foreign country, but everything was in German. They sure love their language. While resting in the hotel room,   I watched Gilmore Girls, Will & Grace, Spongebob Squarepants and Scrubs in German. Hahaha. Luckily, Afrikaans has its similarities so I could pick up a few words here and there, but the rest was so to say Greek to me.

I finally settled down for lunch at a pizzeria. I ordered a salami pizza and when I got it, it was sooo hot that it was literally boiling in my plate. While I waited for it to cool down, I sipped on an ice cold beer. It's autumn in Europe now, not unlike our spring in South Africa, yet I managed to get sunburn. Something which I have not managed yet in South Africa.

              

After lunch I was exhausted from the long haul flight and drive, so I took a little nap at the hotel. Three hours later, my hosts picked me up and took me to another little village with amazing history. But more about this next time...

My first time in Europe

Hey guys! I am back from Germany! Whoohoo.

Well, can I just say that I still HATE flying? It is the bane of my existence. And whoever said flying is fun probably flew first class everytime!

However, I was fortunate enough to have shared the airspace with a bunch of eccentric Germans, who just returned from a South African food safari. They booked aisles and aisles of seats, so that they could spread their legs and sleep, which the occasion called for.

I had two seats to myself and in between the fifteen winks I managed to get in, I watched Something Borrowed (very sweet, but I was angered at what happened), an episode of Glee, Midnight in Paris, which was also sweet but also enraging. I mean, when did it become so acceptable to cheat on people and be so  nonchalant about it? Maybe it's just how I feel about relationships. They are sacred to me and it enrages me when I hear how people deceive each other.

Meanwhile, the weather upon landing was dire! It was grey and wet, but the descent was amazing. I wish I could have taken pictures. The sunrise was gorgeous. It gave the sky a lick of bright orange horizon, which turned to a lovely light blue, almost chasing away the dark purple of the night. I felt like an astronaut, watching the sun rise over the earth from outer space. And yes, I had a window seat.

Oh, and as the cliche would have it, a lady who had been sitting about two rows in front of me actually bought a wooden giraffe in South Africa. Can you believe it? Next thing I did was to start looking for flip flops with socks. No such luck.

I though I would give you a sneak preview of the some of the amazing things I saw in this amazing country. I really have so much to tell. Coming up, next time...

I'm going away for a few days

Hey guys!

How are you all? I have been quite busy the last couple of days, with a family reunion that took place this last week. I have so much to tell you, but I can't remember half of the events that took place the last week or so. Life is just too crazy.

But I do have something to share! I am going to Germany! Yes, I am flying tomorrow night. It's all business, but I will have a bit time for site seeing. I will be going to Munich and Crailsheim. At least I can say a few German words, so I won't be too lost. And Afrikaans is quite close to the German language, so if they speak veeeery slowly, I might even understand what they are saying.

I'm so excited, my I am scared shitless of the flight. This will be the first time that I am going to fly this far on my own. I promise as soon as I come back I will have some awesome photos! Wish me luck!

Seeing fashion from a different point of view

On Wednesday, I attended an event at the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. I was wearing grey skinny jeans, black cut out Woolies wedges, a lacy black top and a little short sleeve jacket. I felt corporate. I paired it with my newly dyed dark loose hair, an owl necklace and big silver earrings. I felt pretty.

And then I got onto campus. I felt old. And I'm only 23, a third of the students at Wits are about my age, some of them even older. But the majority was young, fearless. Fearless with fashion that is. I was envious.

We have Spring! Thursday was the first day of Spring, and boy could you see it in the clothes these students were wearing. What are those pants that look like Aladin's? It seems that everyone was wearing it, paired with a beautiful bright scarf and a nice floraly top and cute flats. I gaped at most of the students, some of them wearing gorgeous flowing dresses and others wearing playsuits. I was jealous. I was in awe. I wanted to rip off all my clothes and dress like a student again. 

One morning this week, my status on Facebook read: "One week my clothes are all like: "oh, we love your body, you look so nice in us," and the following week it says "We're not feeling you today." No compromise, no peace talks, no negotiations. Just war between fat and cloth." And it makes me feel sad that when I try to dress cute and try out different outfits it all looks awry and weird on me. I'm too tall, my bust is too big, my frame is too wide. Nothing ever fits nicely. And then I also have a scar on my shoulder that makes me self conscious about wearing short or no sleeve tops. 

But I decided to use these students as my inspiration. I will work so hard on my body, until there is almost nothing left and I too can wear cute outfits. I will work really hard. This Spring is my Spring!