A Beautiful Life

I'd like to share two goals that we've decided on to fulfill right now.

Firstly, we have settled so well into our new apartment (5th month!), but we are not 100% happy as it is very noisy early in the morning and late at night. We anticipated some level of noise when staying within such close proximity to neighbors, but not THIS much! :(

So...Lee and I started talking and we decided that the best option for us would be to take a big step and move to a house in December when our lease expires. This may sound insignificant, but to us it means even more responsibility, a whole house to furnish and of course, our own privacy and space. I believe you have to dream big and make risks to move up in life sometimes...so this IS a big risk financially and in many other aspects, but it will be the very best option for us.

OBVIOUSLY...I have been indulging in whims of flawless interiors and furniture to match that.
So please let me share some inspirational images with you as part of the rpesentation of my dreams coming true ;)

HI Friends!

So..I'm late on week 13 and will be on time with week 14. Here goes anyway...

Adi lost ANOTHER tooth which means she scored big with the tooth fairy! She's growing up SO fast!

I made my legendary stir fry with my own recipe for sweet and sour sauce. I will be posting the recipe here. It's a winner EVERY time!

Lee's parents moved into a beautiful new home this past weekend. We helped them and this was taking at the end of it all when a house started becoming a home. Family time is so important and amazing!

I found this little butterfly outside in the garden and had to chase it for a while before getting the shot! The last remnants of Summer as it's almost Winter here in South Africa!

We had our first Shabbat in the new house and I got to set the table. Of course there were flowers...

Our friend; Steven got this huge Sub Woofer in the boot of his car. My ears were blown away. Don't know how he does it!

Cocoa spent the weekend following me EVERYWHERE because he doesn't know the new house yet! He even slips in behind me when I go to the bathroom. What a sweet little thing! x wends x

Hello Friends!

Finally, I have a moment to sit down and update the blog a bit!
Here is week 11 PLUS the pics I promised from my little shopping trip with my godmother Vivienne. (We went crazy...sigh!)

Lee and I used to take so many pics...wait for it....When. We. Were. Young...;) So I am making a point of it to take more so that we can preserve them for our posterity ;)

I took on the large task of repacking our shared cupboard last Saturday. It took forever and although to you it doesn't look like an amazingly neat set-up, it is - believe me! Leeron owns more tracksuit pants than I do pairs of shoes.Scary stuff.

I had an amazing mani and pedi at the Beautique courtesy of Mr Lee HRH[andsomeness] himself...It was so divine and SO welcome!

We spent a lot of time over at Imma and Abba's place this weekend and it was so very enjoyable #FamilyLovin'

In addition to the cupboard cleaning, Lee and my dressing table got an organizing too. I organized all my different routines into easy to access glass bowls. This means that my Foundation products + concealers + tinted moisturizers are in one dish whilst my eye highlighter + Cake Liner + Highlighter + blush + kabuki + fave blush + Mac Setting spray are in another and lastly my mascaras + liquid and kohl liners are in the last. Easy access for the win!

I've always loved soup because I've eaten eat often since a child. Although I didn't make this one myself it reminded me so much of my gran who so often satisfied my love for tomato soup. I miss her every day.

This was so good that I'm not even ashamed to showcase it here! I promptly went downstairs and got 6 for our parents! HAUL - SHOPPING section

These two items aren't exactly ones that I bought for myself. Mali gave these beautiful army/rider boots to me. They are the most comfortable thing next to my slippers. And they are going to be so great for winter! The bag has received SO many compliments. It's a 'speedy' type shape, black leather, shoulder strap + loads of space and just so handy and beautiful! I'm so spoiled by Lee's Imma!

Steve Madden had a sale, we couldn't walk past without going in. The result was this. I've worn one pair and people stared. A lot. I LOVE these shoes!

Viv and I went to the huge annual Woolies end of season sale to go buy loads of amazing stuff like we always do. I have seriously NEVER been so dissappointed in my life! Of ALL the things, this was the nicest and the ONLY thing I would even think to buy. What a waste of time! At least I have a stunning bikini for next Summer! And yes! It IS as bright as you can imagine!

Although I found almost nothing at the sale, I am a SUCKER for anything Country Road. Especially their sweaters. They are so amazing! Really! I got this gold studded one to style with tights and a scarf for Winter. Yes please!

These are the most comfortable and charming ankle boots ever. I bought myself a pair at Woolies last year and they were so amazing paired with stocking tights with dresses, tights, jeans, slacks...anything! Obviously as they're last season, you're probably wondering how I have a pair... Lee's mom bought these for his sister, Dani who never wore them as she wasn't too fond of them. She gave them to me the other day...Wendy - like a fat kid with cake happy!

And just to end off...firstly there are 4 items from Mango that I also purchased which were in the wash/mountains of ironing when I snapped the pics. They were two pairs of they're amazing tights + a spaghetti strap top in ivory with ribbons and a dusty pink cardigan.  Also, the pic above is from our foyer table. I shared it because I love flowers in the home as it feels like people live there whenever I see flowers in a home. And that said, I wish a wonderful week ahead and much love in your home! wends x

A week and two days ago, Lee and I made the big move to our little home and boy was it a move of EPIC proportions! So here are a few peeks at our place which I have been [very] slow at uploading - Sorry!

The beautiful sunset on our first night at home - a welcome end to a VERY long day of moving!

Beautiful Roses as a gift from Lee's family, gracing our foyer with the promise of good things to come in 2013!

Our kitchen and balcony view - glorious afternoon sunshine.

A special gift from Lee after his insistence that I grow a garden - on the balcony!?

Another view from the balcony, this time of the ridge, during the day.

Welcome home! [Lee looks less than impressed]

The Passageway. AFTER my floor cleaning escapades!

My currently messy dresser - more organization must still take place.

The one side of our bathroom - a weird set-up, don't ask!

Hello Friends!

Well well well! The last time we spoke, we were surrounded by boxes, and funnily enough, we still are even though we've moved into our special little space!

A few things have changed in the past five days...

*We now have a beautiful view (of which I will soon post pics!)
*We have been lifting weights of a different kind and my arms, legs and back are against another move soon!
*We have been spending quality one-on-one time with so many of our friends and family for the first time in months! (Amazing how life experiences can bring people together).
*We have been doing grocery shopping and buying things that WE love.
*We have been listening to all our old [literally!] favourites of which Billy Joel, Alice Cooper and Julio Iglesias are but a few.
*We have been losing, finding, and losing and finding again all the various sets of access cards and keys that secure our home.
*We[ndy] has been cleaning, scrubbing, and wait for it....WASHING DISHES! - I think it's safe to say that I must be on some different cloud if I'm washing dishes!

In short, we're loving our new home and the wonderful facilities close by. AND - we promise to post pictures ASAP!

wendy x
[CEO of housewifery ;)]

Hello friends! 
It's been a [very] hectic week and weekend with all sorts of drama in the form of burglaries at work, studying [lots of it] at home and truckloads of work in preparation for the end of the year. But nonetheless this weekend has almost come to a close and after tomorrow some of the stress will be lifted when Lee finishes two BIG exams! We simply can't wait!

In the meantime whilst Mister has been studying, I've been doing everything EXCEPT the buttload of work I brought home to finish over the weekend...which means I've been on Pinterest [again!] slaving away at finding image inspiration and dreaming of all the home decor that I will: 1. never afford 2. never have the energy to attempt.

Anyhoooo....I did find some nice images to share with you [again] - this time of living spaces as well as some definitive items that I'll be scouting for over the next few weeks as we count the tedious countdown to the move [19 days!!!] and then move and THEN...decor-ate. We're getting there. 

*Random fact - I'm listening to Julio Iglesias' Moonlight Lady whilst listening to this so I'm feeling very odd, old and eccentric and like I should be swaying my hips instead of lying on my stomach typing like a spider monkey.

 

 

 

 

 

Hello again!
I gave you fair warning that I would be posting *a lot* of home inspiration here! And here I am with another post with some beautiful image inspiration...

In 25 days we get to move into our new apartment and boy are we excited!? I can't wait to put some pics up here for you to see! We've opted for a smaller [and more expensive!] space in order to be close to work, varsity and Leeron's parents, but what we didn't compromise on is modern fittings and finishes. It's such an awesome blessing that we both love the same decor styles otherwise we could end up having quite the mash-up!

I must also apologize for Lee. He hasn't posted a single thing yet! But I assure you that he has been [very] busy studying for his finals, but has still been giving feedback and constructive criticism as I've constructed our blog and sat for hours debating over which shade of gray to use. 

But don't stress! After exams you'll see some lovely posts from my better half! As for now, you're stuck with my decor inspiration boards! This one is more style orientated as opposed to the previous one which was a selection of beautiful items. Without further a due...

Hello Friends!

It's been a little while, but I promise I've been working on a post in the meantime! Maybe I'm useless at browsing the web or maybe I'm just picky, but trying to find pictures that accurately depict my taste as far as home decor goes has been a mission indeed! I thought to quickly browse the net for some inspirational images the other afternoon and what I thought would be a simple 30 minutes of relaxation and fun turned out being a folder called 'blog', created on my laptop for 'if' and 'when' I actually find pictures of things I like...

This afternoon I started wracking my brain for web domains that I -knew- existed and took my fancy instead of starting from scratch with a few keywords and a Google search. Needless to say I remembered my love of Country Road and Etsy which proved to be a great help for both things I liked and confirmation of the things I really, really don't like!

I have never felt (or had) the need to decorate a space pro-actively, so this is a big thing for me...prepare to see lots of decor-orientated posts in the future! But this fact has created an even-bigger problem that I never really needed to face before. I have always been decisive when it comes to style choices. I know what colours, clothes, shoes, jewelry, make-up works best with my body, complexion and taste, but to decide what colours and styles to incorporate in our home has been a challenge (of epic proportions) of it's own.

I would like to interject for just a moment and mention that if I ever doubted that Leeron was a man, I am now sure he is. This was reiterated by his response to my question of what colour scheme we should adopt when we walked into a home store recently. 

"Does it really matter? It's just plates and bowls!?"

Horror of horrors.

Ofcourse I rebuked him for his insensitivity and reminded him that these would be items that we would keep (G-d-forbid one of our kids breaks something!) for the rest of our lives. At this point he walked off towards the steak knives section. A girl can try.

I do however come with glad tidings! I have decided on navy blue. It's my favourite colour and I will concede to Lee taking all the credit for this genius suggestion. But all is not well in the land of mixing bowls and coffee mugs, Friends! Because - navy blue is not as popular and frequently found as we like to think.

Have you ever noticed that when you start paying attention to a certain new car model (hint to Lee) or a new fashion trend or colours that have come into style, you start to see it in places where you never did before? No...not only in your desirable dreams, but out and about in your daily doings. Well...I am hoping by all hopes that I start to somehow see navy blue accent items for the kitchen 'cos I'm not too keen on starting this whole deliberation process from scratch!

I've decided that the style I would like to channel throughout the home is modern elegance with vintage accents. I'm not a fan of the harsh lines of modern decor or frilly lace collectibles, but I do love it when a perfect balance is struck between the two. How gratifying to finally name it!

So without further a due and much less babbling, here are some wonderful images that have sent me on a journey of inspiration and long lists of promised decorating. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Moving into a new home is both exciting and draining. I am so excited at the thought of the beautiful space that we're making our own, but so overloaded with ideas, concepts and 'to-do' lists that I find myself thinking it will never get to the point that I've envisioned.