Friday, October 21, 2011

Friday Fangs - 21.10.2011

It’s Friday! And, for the first time in weeks, I’m feeling super bouncy. So, even though this post is a couple of days late, here’s this week’s list of awesome!!

* Angie and Alex’s wedding, in all it’s glory and splendor, takes the first spot on the list of things that have made me happy this week. It was just… sublime. The ceremony was gorgeous – and hysterical. The drive to the reception was thoroughly entertaining. The reception was one of the best jols I’ve had in absolutely ages. There was (forced) stripping, (surprise) puking, (astounding) dancing, (crazy) conversation and (drunken) pouring-and-scraping. It made for one of the most awesome weddings I’ve ever been to!

Via Southern Cross Productions

* Throwing a pair of jeans on over my pjs and bolting out of the house in a frenzy with La on Sunday, just to leap into the car and go in search of the Ice Cream Van. We were lethargic, and we decided that the most awesome thing that could happen would be for the Ice Cream Van to come past. But she said she hadn’t heard it around for ages, so we resigned ourselves to no ice cream. And then…. We heard it….. The Ice Cream Van. We leapt up and ran outside to listen for him, but he must have stopped somewhere and we co0uldnt’ hear him… we waited a bit, but figured that if we left it much longer, he would be gone, so we ran back inside, threw on jeans, grabbed wallets and legged it! Alas, after cruising around Germiston for about twenty minutes or so, we realized we’d lost him. So we went to KFC and got ice cream there instead.


* Our incredible, spectacular Joburg sunsets. It may be the pollution, but there’s nothing quite like it in the world!
(Photos taken by Mister Boo from the Gautrain Station in Rhodesfield)
* On a more serious note: 10 Things You Should Know Before You Kill Yourself. Mental Illness and Suicide are things that MUST NOT be ignored. Suicide and its effects reach further and deeper than anyone could imagine, and I really do think that reading something like this if you’re contemplating making such a shattering decision in the depths of despair and loneliness is a good idea. There are always – ALWAYS – people who want to help, and there is always – FUCKING ALWAYS – another way. Even when there’s not, there’s got to be!


* The Jacaranda trees are in bloom!!!! That means: rainy season, slippy roads, slippier pavements, dirt, mud, purple mush and glorious, glorious purple-bedecked streets throughout the city! I always feel tetchy at this time of year, but as soon as I see the Jacarandas blooming, I feel like it’s okay to breathe again. Finally! I thought they were never going to burst!

* Being asked to write project summaries for a design company’s portfolio! Eeeeeep!!! (A draft of which I shall have on Monday – I know you’re reading this J )

* My new jeans. I can’t WAIT to debut them! They’re just…. splendid! 

* The new tunic I got this week – at half price! It’s going to look SPECTACULAR with said new jeans! Eeeeep!  

* Freedom! This week I’ve been happier than a bird with a French fry, and I wish it could last forever! It won’t be long now before we can make it happen, long term, though!

* New Miss Boo Originals designs! Can’t wait to get them rolled out – keep a look out; it won’t be long!

* The delicious risotto I made last night for dinner!!! NOMNOMNOMNONMNOMNOM!

Little things that made me smile this week:

* “Many of the colours” * Mister Boo’s first Gautrain trip * Overcast mornings. It’s no secret that I love the rain, so the grey clouds that have everyone else whining have totally made my day * Bohemian Rhapsody. By William Shatner. * Cream Soda – aka, the Green Ambulance – curing my weekend exhaustion and latent babelaas on Monday. Yay for that! * Super lazy Sundays, consisting of rolling out of bed at 9H30, coffee, junk food and DVDs. Awesome! *

So, Boo-lettes, what's made you ecstatic this week?

X

NOTE: All photos, unless otherwise stated, are sourced via Pinterest

Thursday, October 13, 2011

TiLT - 13.10.2011


So… it’s full moon this week, and my mood is looking up! (Curse being ruled by the moon sometimes!) Yay for that, at the very least! Here are some other things which have made me happy this week:

* My new hair!!! It’s not blue, it’s not pink, it’s not purple…. But it’s incredible. After two years of incessant bleaching and My Little Pony colours, there were parts of my hair that started to feel like shredded paper – NOT GOOD. So that, in conjunction with a tighter Breadwinner’s Budget, led to the decision to shock the socks off of everyone and do something relatively normal. It’s dark, but it’s still extreme – I still have a rock star cut, just in a normal-ish colour. But I just LOVE it!!! The last couple of times I’ve coloured my hair, I’ve spent weeks toying with the idea of just going dark for a while and giving the rainbow hair a break, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it. But now is the right time, and I am in love with my hair again, for the first time in a little while. Every time I look in the mirror, I beam because it looks so fabulous. And let me tell you, it’s already opened up a whole new box of ideas for make up and outfits now that I have a more versatile palette to work with! For. The. Win.

* Dying. I spent last Thursday dying clothes. I have a skirt that I love – it’s jersey knit, it’s the right length, it’s got navy stripes and it fits like a dream. The trouble with it was that the navy stripes lay on an off-white background, and I just don’t have enough off-white to make it work for me. Nor do I have more than one top in the right shade of blue to make it worthwhile in its original form. SO, after much consideration, I took to it with charcoal dye. Much like the top my darling Mister Boo ruined a few months back (which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, despite the fury he faced!), it looks incredible in charcoal and navy stripes, and I’ve been loathe to take it off. In the same dye lot, I dropped a crisp white tank top, with little bits of string wrapped around it in random places. This is the result of such genius: I’m in LOVE. (I will post some pics soon - just have to squeeze in a few moments for a mini photo-sesh!) I’ve been a very busy Boo!

* Down time. Even though we haven’t done much, socially, for a while, I have still felt totally rushed off my feet the last couple of weeks. I think it’s a combination of raging emotions and the markets we’ve done than anything else, but I’ve felt utterly exhausted. Last weekend, except for de-fuzzing and hair-awesoming (it’s totally a verb!!!), I did as little as possible. And it was SPECTACULAR. I feel so revitalized and refreshed, and ready to tackle the epic weekend ahead.

* On that note, ANGIE’S GETTING MARRIED ON SATURDAY!!!!! I’m SO freaking excited for her; I have spent so much time squeeing that I risk ending up like Adele. I’ve got my outfit together (figured out a pop of colour solution in my outfit planning this morning) and am now ready to rock and roll. Excite!!!

* Mister Boo’s anticipation at his first Gautrain ride. I’ve been riding solo the last couple of times, and I rave about the experience each time, so now he’s super excited to try it out for himself! Yay!

This made me cry with laughter!
* The Springboks. They may not have come home with the trophy, but, as far as I’m concerned, they came back with their dignity intact (more than I can say for the team who knocked them out of the tournament, to whom the rules clearly didn’t apply in the last match!!) and were received as heroes nonetheless. I was very tempted to develop a sudden-onset case of rabies to get off work and rush to the airport to throw myself at certain returning Boks…. Offer a sympathetic and attentive shoulder to cry on…. *cough* welcome them home.

* On Sunday night, at the dinner table, I almost got pumpkin to fly out of Maja Boo’s mouth, all over the Family Boo. It went like this:
Miss Boo, at seeing an advert for my insurance company: “Ah, shyte, I have to cancel my insurance!!”
Mister Boo: “Yea, but you’ll be doing Pierre Spies out of his sponsorship money.”
Maja Boo: “I’m sure she can think of things to do to make up for it.”
Mister Boo: “Screw Pierre Spies then.”
Miss Boo: “Um…. With pleasure?!”
Mister Boo: “So when you cancel your insurance, Pierre Spies can give you your out-bonus.”
Miss Boo: “I should bloody hope so!”
Grampa Boo: “Well, (Mister Boo), you walked right into that one!”

* Being filled with an inexplicable, overwhelming feeling of love. Which is especially unusual for a Monday morning. It’s awesome. More of that, please, Universe!






* Naturally, the Johnny Cash Project is the next point!


* Picking up my guitar last night, after a rather long time, and getting the hang of it again quickly. And then attempting one of my ultimate songs to learn

* Also: Picking up my tarot cards last night, after over a year, and doing a spread. Lots to ponder now!!!!


* Little girls in princess dresses playing pirates and kicking little boys' asses at it


* Walking with my iPod. I have a whole playlist of the best music for exercising, and last night I finally remembered to take it with on our walk. It made such a difference! I rocked that walk so hard!! (Incidentally, the music I have on there is less like Nts-Nts dance music, and more along the lines of Smells Like Teen Spirit, Black Dog, and Papa Was A Rolling Stone)


* The Avengers trailer! I JUST watched it, and nearly fell off my chair in excitement. EEEEEEP! Roll on May 2012!!! (Incidentally, the Thor DVD hit shelves here today..... go out and get your copy! But... leave one for me too, yea?)

* There's a pink-haired tattooed Barbie now! 
Via



Little things which made me smile:


* Basmati Rice * Glass biscuit jars with fairy lights inside * Treble Clef earrings * Wanderlust. Actually, I keep bitching about it at the moment, because I feel like I'm stuck in a rut when I should be out there, experiencing the world. But it's still on my list of things to love. I'm trying, okay?! * Plants vs. Zombies * Stylin' Scarf Styling * New ideas for Miss Boo Originals! * A good night's sleep last night. For the win!! * Deciding on the last details of my outfit for Saturday - Eeep! * Tomato soup * New recipe ideas *

Et vous, Boolettes? What's made you happy this week? I'd love to hear in the comments!

X

Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Loss of a Legend

The first thing I heard when I woke up this morning was this:

"Steve Jobs, CEO and founder of Apple, and creator of devices including the iPod, iPhone and iPad, has died at the age of 56."

I was surprised to find a rather large lump in my throat at the news. I was just thinking about him yesterday, incidentally. I saw a cute Angry Birds post-it art installation, which got me thinking about the iPhone and iPad, and then about Jobs himself and the speculation that surrounded his step back from Apple in August. I sent a little ray of light to him as he struggled with his health, and went on with my day, thinking nothing of it.* And then I woke up to this.




His 'back story' is a reminder that that you don't have to have the degree or the money behind you to succeed. 
"Although he dropped out after only one semester, he continued auditing classes at Reed, while sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple." (Wikipedia) 
His definition of success was a little different to the 'standard' ideas, too, which, naturally, caught my attention.  

From the day I found the quote below on some random website or another, it's resonated with me in such a profound way.

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the trouble makers, the round pegs in square holes... the ones who see things differently. They're not fond of the rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do."

And this morning, I read a beautiful post about the effects of losing one's idol here. This stood out so powerfully that, for the first time in a very long time, I had a lump in my throat as I read it:

Bad guys die, and heroes such as Steve Jobs die, because both bad guys and heroes are simply humans who have touched our lives in an enormous way.  It’s important to always remember that heroes are people; that they don’t have powers that the rest of us don’t have the chance to possess: they simply make choices that lead them in one direction or another.  We all have the ability to become someone’s hero, and I fully suspect that one day, the Wolvog will be someone’s hero.  And that while heroes themselves die because they are human, what continues to live on are their ideas, the actions they took while on earth, the people who remain alive who think about them and love them.  That he will never be fully gone from this earth because there are tangible reminders of him in our very house with our iPad or our iPods.  And the way we really honour our heroes is to emulate them; to grow up and similarly repeat (while putting our own flair on it) the good things they did.  Following his computer bliss would be the best way to honour Steve Jobs’ life.  Finally, I told him that the chicken he had eaten at Rosh Hashanah had been my grandmother’s recipe, and I had made it to feel close to her since I was having my parents over for dinner too.  So while she is gone, we still are connected to her through her recipes — these cooking ideas that were so important to her while she was living — and we will still be connected to his hero via enjoying his ideas, his inventions.

I am very surprised that the passing of a stranger - a great man, without doubt, and someone to be admired, but a stranger nonetheless - has brought on such a response from me, but at the end of the day, a great man is gone from this world. We are lucky enough to have lived alongside someone so great, and our collective existence has been touched by his ideas in some way.

X


* Incidentally, this isn't the first time I've thought about someone only to hear in the following days that they've popped off. I hope this isn't a hidden skill! O_o

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Wednesday Wonders - 05.10.2011


It's that time again! Wednesday!! Here's a list of things which have made me happy in the last week:

* The Blues Brothers
Via

* Impromptu lunch-and-dinner at my sister, with awesome music, photos and randomness to round it off
* Seeing my gorgeous niece on Monday night. What a cool party!
* My new leopard print belt. Yayness!! It might be a bit of a Jerseylicious influence in my life, but I’ve been craving leopard print in my life for a while now, and a belt is much cheaper than the shoes I have been coveting, so it’s a winner!
* My new cellphone cover. Being the clumsy fool I am, I need something to protect my phone from the various collisions it has with walls, desks, floors and other random objects (and sometimes, people). It’s so pretty!
* Rethinking my next hair plan. Now that Mister Boo is a househusband again, the budget is a little tighter than I’d thought, so the turquoise mermaid hair will have to wait a little while. But it’s all good; it will give my hair time to recover from two years of bleaching and assault.
* Sleep. Apparently it’s lame to like sleep as much as I do, but it’s something I can’t really function without for too long. And it’s become a bit of a rare commodity in my life lately, so any sleep I can get my hands on is as good as gold.

* This:

* My new make up supplies. At the end of last month, I was literally scraping the last of my blush and setting powder out of their pots with ear-buds in order to loosen them enough to use. And don’t get me started on the state of my brushes! So once payday rolled around, I skedaddled over to DisChem and purchased myself a new foundation brush, angled liner brush and some translucent powder. My skin feels amazing now that I’m using the right products and tools again!
* FINALLY going brown after my apocalyptic sun burn. At the River Deck market last weekend, Amy D and I managed to get what looked and felt like 7th degree sunburn. Parts of my body went a charming shade of mauve. That part of my body is still, over a week later, a little bit pink, and rather disgustingly, scaly. But most of the peeling is finished now, and everything except that tender little patch has turned a lovely brown. I LOVE being tanned, but I LOATHE tanning and burning. And I refuse to do sunbed or spray tan sessions. O_o
* It’s Mister Boo’s birthday this month, and I have a few awesome plans up my sleeve. Can’t wait to unveil them!!
* Mister Boo doing so well at the markets. It’s so rewarding to see him doing something he loves, and that makes him happy, and seeing him succeed at it, no matter how ‘small’ that success may be at the moment. The only way is up!
* Jackson Browne
* Integrity
* Navy and Hot Pink



* Navy and Apple Green


* Navy and Turquoise



* Neil Young
* The idea of doing this for Hallowe'en, if we end up having a party:

* My body. We’ve been at odds on and off (but mostly on) for most of my life, for one reason or another, but when it comes down to it, my body and my mind are starting to synchronise better and better lately. For example: The knowledge that certain foods are ‘bad for me’ has never been enough in the past. It’s always been a vague term that meant I should feel guilty for enjoying the little treat of the moment. But now, my body is taking control and putting its foot down with me. Now, when I have sugar, my body shows me why it’s bad for me. Now ‘bad for me’ means something completely different, and since it’s tangible, it’s easier to avoid the ‘bad for me’ things. Sometimes, just sometimes, I think I should be called Clever Kevin. * (Ten points if you can name the movie without googling it!)
* Spring rains!!!! This weekend marked our first thunderstorms of the season, and while they got out of hand in some parts of Jozi, we were lucky enough to be untouched by the hand of disaster, and the rain was spectacular. I slept like a baby** on Saturday night and woke up so refreshed and invigorated on Sunday.

Little things which made me smile this week:
* Acceptance * Walking in the sunshine, even if it’s a little chilly at the moment * Pinterest. I have a problem * Tangled * Impending dye jobs *
** Why do people say 'I slept like a baby' to describe a good night's sleep? Babies wake up every few hours, crying and more often than not, covered in poop. Yay?

X

NOTE: All images via Pinterest, unless otherwise stated.