Happiness is to enjoy the things you have

 

Before you read what I am about to tell you below, you must first play this song and let it play throughout. 

It will all make sense, don't worry. 

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Lately, I have been thinking about the things that make me happy, and I realised that it really is the little things in life. The fact that I have two pups who cannot wait for me to arrive home in the afternoon and that it takes almost half an hour to calm them down. Or that they love to jump in my car and take a ride with me while I drive into the garage.

It's the fact that I am still healthy, despite everyone around me being sick.

Take that winter. Mothersucker!

And no, I'm not jinxing myself, because I got a flu shot. 

Moving swiftly along, I made a little list of things that made me really happy yesterday, in order from little happiness to most happiness. I hope you understood that.

Things that make me slightly happy:

Taking the piss at Amanda Bynes and then having her favourite the the tweet I wrote about her, le so:

Yeah, I have to admit, I'm not so sure about my grammar there. But now you have reason to follow me on twitter. 

Everyone has been talking about her crazy antics, especially yesterday when she lashed out in racist tweets at Rihanna. But do you thin her twitter account is real? It's not certified. I wonder.

Things that make me really happy:

There is roughly four months left until the day I say I do. Side note: I am a bit sad about changing my surname. I'm thinking about keeping it for my professional life.

Things that make me so freaking happy that I am lyrically ecstatic:

The fact that I didn't gym last week, and that I ate like a pig - especially in my traumatic stupor at the Frankfurt Airport (read here if you want to know more about that). I mean, there were real German pretzels and nutella covered wafers in the slow lounge and I didn't hold back, I probably ate those wafers by the hundreds. I was an emotional wreck. I have also now come to the conclusion that I am, in fact, an emotional eater.

Anyway, getting back to my point, despite my sloth and glutton, I managed to maintain my weight loss. This only brings me to the conclusion that I lost more weight and then picked it up again, because I acted like a fool. This makes me so happy, because it means I don't have more weight to lose, although I still have weight to lose to look great on my wedding day. 

Did this make sense? Only in my mind? Okay.

And then, the reason for the song - the other thing that makes me so happy at the moment, and almost every day of my life is music - in particular anything by Jonsi or Sigur Ros.

What makes you happy? Leave me a comment.

Friday Fancies: Fashion that upsets me

Today's Friday Fancies will not be about clothes or style I am yearning after, but something I detest.  This is a bit of a rant. And no, it's not about someone wearing a fur coat to a red carpet event, because let's face it, no matter how many times people throw red paint on that expensive jacket, the world will always be filled with assholes who kill and skin animals. So, even though it upsets me, I will not dedicate this post to that.

No, oh no. This is a bit of a bridezilla-moment for me, if you will. And I don't think there will be many brides in agreement with me here, because I see it everywhere, ev-er-y-where! And quite frankly, it makes me think that you really hate your friend, or you so scared that she will look so much hotter than you on your wedding day, so you put her in this extremely unpleasant, unflattering monstrosity. It makes me want to cry.

Just remember one thing ladies, this is your wedding photos and memories we are talking about, and if you want to look at your friend's saggy boobs for the rest of your life, and it is your fault, then so be it. But please, people, please reconsider the twisty convertible piece of nylon garbage you are putting your friends in. And sorry if your face appears in the next few photos, but I am trying to make my point.

I am probably writing out of fear here, that someone puts me in this someday. It's not fair to big chested girls to put them in a dress like this. Really, not fair.  Love your friend, and give them support.

Rant over.

Milame Design winner!

I flew all the way to Germany to buy a book

I wish this was as cool as it sounds, like some Miranda Priestly-like crusade, trying to get the newest Harry Potter book before it has even been released. But unfortunately it is something entirely the opposite. I was more like Tom Hanks in The Terminal. Stuck. In a slow lounge. In Frankfurt.

You see, the initial idea was that I would have a connecting flight to Stockholm from Frankfurt. I would board at 6:40 AM, I would land at 9:00 AM and I would have the City of Stockholm to myself for a day. I planned on seeing Gamla Stan - the 13th Century birthplace of Stockholm; I planned on having a fikka; I planned on visiting the Vasa museum; taking a boat tour of the city; and finally, going on the business trip I was intended on going for - to the far north of Sweden.

And then - my passport went missing. Stolen I believe.

The best way to describe my next two hours following this discovery would be these three words:

Hysterical Ugly Crying.

Can you blame me? With an imagination like mine, thinking I'm going to get fired, I'm going to have to repay my business class airplane tickets (!), I will be stuck in this terminal forever, I'm in so much trouble.

And then I tried phoning Flip, and the company that invited me, to tell them what happened. I inserted my credit card into the telephone, and dialed the wrong number. Then the credit card stopped working, I couldn't phone or withdraw money.
More Hysterical Ugly Crying.

But at least there is still some good in the world;  a few traveling Germans saw my antics and offered me their last loose change to make a call. And then I remembered that I have a laptop and that airports always have wifi, but it was only valid for half an hour. Thank goodness for Facebook chat. It calmed me down for about ten minutes.

After receiving tickets for my return flight to South Africa, I remembered that business class flyers have access to a slow lounge. Oh, it was a mini-paradise for someone to be stuck in for 14 hours. I showered, had breakfast, had coffee - and then logged on to the internet to sort everything out. 

Slow lounges have free wifi for days!

This meant that I could chat with everyone and let them know my situation, send out emails to everyone that needed to be informed and, well, just generally surf the net. Eventually, I also started to wander about the airport and bought myself a book, called Me Before You.
I found it terribly boring, but I will finish it.

Even in my bad luck there was some good luck.
But I think it is safe to say that I still hate flying. I always will.

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*Photo via We Heart It
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A day in the life…

Living in Johannesburg might not be as grand as living at the foot of Table Mountain, or as blissful as a monastery in Tibet, but it’s the place I call home. Although I am not in the cultural heartland of the northern suburbs (side eye Parkhurst, Emmarentia, Melville, Parktown) or in the profligate plushness of Sandton – I am settled in Bedfordview.

1. On Kloof Road, everyday, you will find a haggard old black man, long forgotten by time, friends and family. He walks down the road everyday – in my mind he is looking for his place of being – his tired feet shod in oversized, torn leather casings, probably from his youth. Although saddening, I find it funny when he walks with his head just low enough to reveal his depilated scalp, cussing under his breath. Those brave enough to venture close to him get a lashing of words.

2. Around the corner, there is Gillooly’s Farm. A seemingly tranquil park, with all kinds of water birds, a dam, a playground and a little mountainous hill. On weekends, it is a hive of activity, with dogs and their owners running around, kids on their bikes, live music, the bustling café, the families braaing and playing cricket, laughter and great atmosphere. It’s also where we let Mila and Jethro run free and where we took our engagement photos a few weeks ago.

3. There is a pizza place in Edenvale, just off Linksfield. The best pizzas in Johannesburg. Wood fired ovens, that acts as a heater on nippy winter nights, a friendly owner that knows you by name, pizzas dripping with toppings and cheese – and a crazy car guard who will always tell you where to park and always talks your ears off. He takes his job very seriously.

4. When I am in the mood for biltong I go to the biltong shop in the mall, just downstairs from my office. I always ask for R10’s biltong, but the lady always gives me R11 or R12’s biltong. She doesn’t charge extra. This old lady also always greets my friend. “Hello my sweetheart, hope you have a lovely day today.”

 

Three years.

Thirty six months. In weeks, that's 156.532. Or 1095.73 days. I can go further, but I think the numbers might start hurting my brain.

Three years. Flip and I have been together that long today. To me, it's seriously an eternity. After wining and dining me for a few weeks, sending messages, never leaving each others side and a couple of movies, we were lying on Flip's couch - probably watching a Will Ferrel movie - and he turned to me. We were going to have 'that' conversation. You know, the one where you officially become boyfriend and girlfriend, but his speech was a little different.

"Miss Wait," he said. "Van Wyngaardt and company has been considering this for months now and we have decided that a partnership with your company will be beneficial. We can see significant growth in shares and value through this alliance. Would you consider the offer?"

After my laughing cleared up, I answered in the same financial terms. We were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Changed our statii on facebook and everything.

This has been three of the best years of my life, only a few of the days spent apart. I love you more and more everyday Flip van Wyngaardt and I cannot wait to be your wife. In four months and 28 days I will call you my husband and I will be the happiest girl for all eternity.

Thank you for pampering me, for looking out for me, for looking after me, for the late night drives to the pharmacy when I'm ill, the cooking of food when I don't want to - and when you don't want to - the takeaways, the adventures - the things we do over weekends, our silly jokes that we only we get, the fights - but then just hugging and kissing five minutes later. I love you with all my heart and all my being. Forever mine.

Happy Anniversary baby!

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*Photo via Emet Photography
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Friday Fancies: Weekend Wear

Happy Friday all you dear Sun House readers! I am so happy that it is weekend, because I had one busy week behind me. Between dance classes, boot camp, Ascension Day and editing about 100 articles, I am ready to kick back and relax.

My outfit for today is inspired by something I recently saw in a shop window, a soft pink top with a striking scarf. If luck is on my side, I might be arriving in Stockholm, Sweden next week Saturday and this is definitely a look I would like to pull off.

Semi-sheer silk Marni blush-pink top :: Rag and bone Jean :: Ballet Flats 

::  Michael Kors navy tote travel bag :: Sperry Top-Sider anchor infinity scarf :: Cheap sunglasses

:: Linking up with Long Distance Loving ::

Have you been to Stockholm? What was your favourite thing to see? Leave me some tips on what to see and what to do!! 

 

Milame Design {interview + giveaway}

The jewelery design industry has been overflowing with geometric designs lately, a trend that might stick with us well into 2014, or beyond. At the forefront of this favourable fashion is Emma Atkinson, designer and creator behind the Milame Design. But geometrics aren't the only focus of the Milame Design stall.

Emma explains that all items are handmade and individual in their outcome, allowing the buyer of a piece to feel they have purchased something special. The Sun House finds out more about the person behind the brand.

Emma, working for yourself is sometimes tough, but oh-so-rewarding. Why did you start Milame Design?

After starting my degree studying fine art at Stellenbosch I changed to Jewellery Design in my second year and my love of metals began. When I finished studying in 2010 my dream was to start up my own little jewellery design company. Milame Design was born at the beginning of 2011 and has been the most exciting adventure which has grown into a shop and workshop space where creativity is the main aspect.  I love love love making jewellery. 9

Your passion for jewelry making shows in your products. Where do you get your inspiration from?

My inspiration comes from all over really. Each new range I do grows from a new idea that I have and then build on. I recently created a range of jewellery that came from doodles which I have been drawing for the past seven years for example. I don’t really plan much as I love the idea of pieces and ranges growing quite freely into what they were meant to be without over thinking too much.     

What has been your proudest moment since you started?

I think building my store from scratch, mostly on my own, and then opening has been my biggest moment so far. 

Who is your favourite designer?

That’s quite a tricky one. There are so many amazing designers out there at the moment, but if I had to choose one right now, off the top of my head I would say “Maiden Name.”  I am crazy about ceramics and their little ceramic bokkies and owls are just my best.

What are some of the challenges of being your own boss?

I think one of the biggest challenges of being your own boss is the commitment and dedication you need to continuously put into your company. You soon realize that you are the only person there to really get things going and make things happen. At the age of 25 this can sometimes be a bit scary, but it’s my dream and I love what I do so the rest doesn’t seem to matter too much.  What's your favourite material to work with and why?

18 carat gold is just wonderful, but it’s rather expensive so I only get to work with it when making commissioned engagement rings and wedding bands. Sterling silver would be my next option. I love the colour of silver, it is just too pretty.  

What would you do if you won the lotto?

So many lovely things.  

If you're in Cape Town, make sure to visit her studio Milame and Friends at the Palmhof Centre in Union Street, Gardens. 

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Emma has kindly agreed to give one of her precious creations away to a lucky The Sun House reader. I have chosen to use rafflecopter for the giveaway today, so just follow the prompts on the entry form below and stand a chance to win this Tribute to the Cats of Morocco ring below, worth R450.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

               Fear (verb): he fears heights: have a phobia about, have a  
                                    horror of, take fright at.

I am afraid of a number of things, normal little girly things - spiders, insects, bigger things like losing my job, failure etc.

But I have a real, paralysing fear of the dark. And being alone. Being alone in the dark is just the pinnacle. I die every time.

For example, last week Flip had to fly to Cape Town for business and a funeral. I couldn't deal. It was only three days, two nights, but I skipped bootcamp so I can be home before dark;
all the lights in the house were switched on, I slept with the corridor light on and the door open just a bit so that I wasn't completely alone in the dark. 

It might be an irrational fear by far, but Achluophobia is very much with me.
I always feel like someone is watching me; I start to hear things, smell things, see things. I'm borderline asylum-patient when I'm alone in the dark.
Every little noise made outside, by the wind blowing or a car driving past our house woke me up.
Also, I live in an old house with wooden floors - can you imagine the horror that rushed over me every time a floor board creaked?

I knew that I wouldn't deal with being alone two nights in a row; and thinking back, I have no idea how I survived varsity and the first year in Johannesburg on my own, so I went to my parents and slept over at theirs.

I'm fine with being in the dark if the tv is on and if there are people around me, but being alone in pitch black? The absolute death of me.

I'm pretty sure my utter love for thrillers as a young child has contributed to this fear and I can think of two particular movies that could have instilled it:

IT (yes, Pennywise the Clown) &
Darkness Falls. That shit is scary!
Also, Paranormal Activity might have chiseled at my phobia as an adult.

Also, my other phobias include altophobia and agoraphobia - the fear of heights and the fear of open space, or crowded places, respectively.
I can deal with my agoraphobia, that isn't too bad, but my fear of heights is also stupidly paralysing. I cannot even stand on the second step of a ladder. It makes me want to cry.

This fear came from falling out of a 7 m lookout point on a game farm when I was 7 years old. Heights aint your friend.

I think the fear of dying, or losing a loved one is silly, we are all going to die - it's the circle of life. 

Just for kicks. Did you know that anatidaephobia - the fear that somewhere, somehow a duck is watching you is not a real fear? Nope. It's fictional. Or is it?

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*Photos via We Heart It
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Mothercity Memories

Earlier this year, we went down to Cape Town for a wedding. The groom borrowed my camera's memory card and I only got it back recently, so today I am sharing some of my favourite shots taken at the wedding.

 My extremely handsome husband-to-be. Oooh, shivers.

{Guest post} Anja talks about dogs

And now for something completely different.

Thank you Monty Python for the introduction to this post. I only find it apt that a group of comedic geniuses introduce one of the funniest people on twitter at the moment: Anja Wintour aka Anja van der Spuy; aka that crazy ..... {fill in the blank} She's hot, likes leopard print and jeans. And she's obsessed with dogs, like moi. So I let her write a post about them, because who doesn't want to read about dogs? No one. That's who.

This is her, of course you want to read on.

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All animals go to heaven

I remember watching My Dog Skip when I was a little girl and hoping that my dog would never die. It's funny, we all know that our loved ones will one day leave us, but we often forget that our pets are here for a very short period of our lives.

I went through 14 blissful years without thinking that my dog would ever die. We had a few scares - our dog was a reckless rockstar who pretty much YOLOd his way through life. He once drank a puddle of car oil. I'm not even kidding. He didn't give a shit about his health. He just wanted to have a good time and if that involved consuming flammable substances, then so be it.

His death shook me up very badly. I had known him for 14 years - that's more than half my life. It's been more than a month and I still miss him every day. He was the best childhood friend I could've asked for. Even though he wrecked 80% of my underwear as a puppy, and often did a number 2 under my bed, I loved him unconditionally.

But that's a story for another day.

I'm here to talk about my crazy stupid love for animals.

I'm a total animalholic. I can't go through a single day without Googling images of cats and pugs. I sometimes sit in my room and laugh at random animal videos instead of doing something productive like writing a blog post about how much I love animals. WUT?

                                      This Jenna Marbles video made me laugh FOREVER.

                                              WHAT ARE THIS? How genius is that?

Anyway, everybody knows that I'm a total Internet stalker. I stalk my crushes all the time - across all social media platforms. What they don't know, however, is that I'm also a pet stalker.

Yes. I stalk people's pets.

My favourite pets to stalk are:

Suzani's dog, Wolf:

Shane's cat, Tony Danza: (Who gets really high on catnip all the time)

And Chicara's chihuaha:

I know I'm going to die alone. OR I'M GOING TO DIE IN THE ARMS OF LABRADOR.
Seriously though, animals are the best thing that ever happened to this world and if you don't agree:

My one friend's mom once told us that we should always look at the way dogs respond to the guys we're into. If they bark and run away; serial killer. If they lick his hand affectionately; trouman.

This wisdom is obviously wasted on me because I'm going to marry a leopard, but I thought that I should share it with you ladies.

I love all animals (except sting rays and horses), and I can't imagine a life without them. My dog taught me how to love unconditionally, to care more about another being than yourself and how to detect a poo under your bed before it turns white.

I wouldn't trade that for anything.

Lately, I've noticed some gorgeous potted succulents at Woolworths, but I had a problem with the price. You see, they retail for R100 each, and I am a bit of a stinge, a cheapskate if you will, and I wasn't willing to pay that sort of money for something my garden is already overflowing with. So I decided to DIY it up. Gardening is something I'm really good at, so I'm sharing that for the second day of the SOML challenge.

{PS; the little plant in the pot above is colloquially referred to as Shrek's Ears. Cute eh?}

To make your own terrarium, you will need: 

- Glass vases or holders of different shapes and sizes. I got mine from Mr Price for R10 each.
- Sea sand, or silica sand as I used.
- White pebbles. You can use the marble chips that they put in the bottom of an aquarium.
- Succulents. duh.

First fill up all your glass containers with the sand. I got this bag of washed silica sand for R32 at my local nursery. If you want to add a different aspect to it, layer the sand with another colour, texture or size.

 Your next step would be to choose your succulents. Here I have a variety, including a cactus, a South African indigenous plant called Haworthia, a Sedum rubrotinctum aka 'jelly beans', hens and chicks  and something called Faucaria tuberculosa aka 'dragon.'

The last step is to plant the succulent by litteraly sticking your finger in the sand and sticking the plant in the cavity made. Or, you could hold the plant at the height you would like it, and scoop in sand until steady. Cover the silica sand with a layer of the white pebbles. Et Voila.

Sidenote: I didn't use the white pebbles, as they were crazy expensive. Instead I got a cheaper brown pebble, which I am regretting a bit, as it doesn't give as much contrast as I would like.

Two Fifty

No, my blog title isn't some cryptic message, or a time to get high like Four Twenty, but a summary of this post -  which is a summary of my life. I pretty much used what is on my About Me page, because it is round about 250 words. This is me.

{PS: I know I'm a day late with the challenge}

 {to find out more about this pic, you'll have to read le blog next week}

Megan here. I was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, studied BA Communications at Potchefstroom and after completing my studies, moved to Johannesburg, where I work as a journalist (for a technical magazine) and found the love of my life, which I am marrying on October 12.

My surname is Wait, which a lot of people find the most amusing and amazing thing (like the other day when a Pick 'n Pay cashier started laughing robustly after reading my name from my cheque card.) To me, it's just another surname. Hence the name WaitingforMeg. It's a play on my name see.

I have been in Johannesburg for a couple of years now, and even though in my school and varsity years I swore to never live in this city, I fell in love in, and with, this place over the past two years. I don't think that I would move to any other city in South Africa, unless the love has to move someday, as a result of work. I am currently also figuring out what a girl is supposed to do in this life.

I would love to move overseas for two years and just experience another country. I would also love to own exotic animals, such as a pot-belly pig, a snake, a bearded dragon and a cow. Cows are exotic.

My likes are Thursday night quizzes at local pubs with my friends; any sort of water mass in the city, ie Emmarentia dam and Gillooly's farm; dogs, any type of dog except things that you can step on by mistake because they are so small and dogs who shake all the time (like those timid little Doberman pincher minis); candyfloss fragranced perfume; coffee; Top Gear - the Tv Show (I have the world's only crush on James May); popcorn; pizza; greek salad; swimming and waking up every day.

I can't do maths.

linking up here.