New in my Stationery Store

Last week I finalised the finishing touches on my brand spanking new stationery store, filling it with individual items (pens, pencils, washi tape, lace paper doilies, packaging bags & notebooks) as well as making it easier for you to find what you need. The ordering process is simple, and I am now able to accept payment by debit and credit card (through PayPal).

Prices for items are as follows:

Pencils: $2

Pens: $2.50

Notebooks: $3.50 - $6

Pretty Packages: $15 - $30

Washi Tape: $2 - $3

Lace Paper Doilies: $2.50

Happy shopping!

How to style photographs for your blog

This post is all about helping you create beautiful photographs for your blog, using tools that you already have around the house. I want to show you that you don't need to have a big, fancy camera to create pretty pictures.  All of these photographs have been shot using an Iphone 4S, and when edited, they have been edited in Instagram.

The most important part of blog posts for me, is the images and photographs that go along with the text. If a blog post has terrible photographs, now matter how good their content is, I tend to move on to the next one and probably won't go back. I am a very visual person, and tend to skim over long, wordy blog posts but if a blog has pretty, creative photographs I can spend hours pouring over the details of the photo's, and I'm always left feeling inspired for my own blog. So this post is going to give you some tips for styling your photographs and making them look beautiful, without the need for any fancy equipment.

Step 1 {Think}

Think about the type of photograph you want to take. Are you going for soft and whimsical, or clear and bright? The kind of photo you want to create will determine the sorts of props you will need to make it happen. I wanted to create images images for this blog post that made use of the pretty bits if stationery I have. Most of my stationery colours are pastel and so I decided to go for a muted, warm feeling and added a candle for a little extra ambiance. If you want to style photographs for a recipe post, think about bright colours (possibly adding a variety utensils/fruit/bowls/chopping boards to the mix to give it a kitcheny feel). 

Step 2 {Studio Space}

The base for most styled shoots is a white background/surface so as not to distract from the actual content of your photograph. White also reflects light and when paired with natural light (place your products near a big window for the best natural light) creates a beautiful, soft glow and always looks very professional. I used 2 pieces of white foam board from my local stationery store. One piece for the 'table' or rather to cover my horrible green crates that I use for height, and then I used the other for the background in some of my images. When I didn't use the white board for the background I made sure to set up my 'studio' with a simple section of wallpaper in our apartment.

My studio (unedited). As you can see, you really don't need anything fancy. I used these crates instead of the table as I could move them to the big natural light source in our bedroom.

Step 3 {Play}

Now that you've got your space set up you need to play around with your props until you are happy. Try different angles, try playing with height, move objects around. The options are endless. This is the best and the worst part of styling for me. I love making things look pretty, but sometimes it can take up to 20 tries before I am happy with the photo's. 

Once you feel you've got some great photos, delete the ones you don't like (there's no use having 50 photographs of the same thing when you only need about 5 - 10 good ones). 

Styling your photographs is easy...you don't even need to be a very creative person, just play round with your props and have fun! You can read about more tips and apps for editing your phone pictures by clicking here and here.

Pretty Packages in the mail

A few weeks a go I received a very lovely package in the mail from my friend and fellow South African blogger, Nadia. Everything was put together with such care, such love and all in all...such pretty-ness! These pretty little packages are taking the world by storm under the name 'snail mail' (just do a search on Pinterest or Instagram to see the amount of time people spend on creating pretty packages of stationery and letters to send to friends and pen pals across the seas). 

In essence snail mail is the term given to the physical mailing of letters, which is such a rare thing these days with people opting to instead send instant texts and emails instead of the slower (ie snail) postal service. But, nothing quite beats that feeling of receiving something special from the post man, and that is what Snail Mailing is all about. Nadia has written a wonderful post with more information on snail mailing and how to find pen-pals to exchange packages with...click here to see more.

I have received some lovely packages in the past few months...click here and here to see them. 

Do you enjoy snail mail? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below <3

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Beauty in Korea {and our renewal interviews for year 2}

For those of you who are new here to my blog, my husband (Farmboy) and I have been teaching English in a small town in the South West corner of South Korea since June last year. We packed up our first little home after getting married in 2012 and decided to head out here to build a nest egg and do what we love doing most, traveling and adventuring together. We were here in Korea back in 2010, as a dating couple in the bustling metropolis of Daejeon. After finishing up one year we headed back home to South Africa to get married and get a feel for the job market (which obviously wasn't very exciting as here we are again!). This time around we are able to put a lot more money away as we now live together and share expenses (we chose not to live together before we were married) and because we are in a very small town out in the country. South Korea offers many benefits to their English Teachers (free housing, return flights, renewal bonuses, extra pay for being out in rural areas and for being at multiple schools and relatively inexpensive living costs).  Farmboy teaches at 4 schools, whereas I am lucky enough to be at just one, an all girls middle school. It has been an amazing experience so far, and we have, as planned, decided to stay in our same town and at our same schools for at least another year. 

Since June last year we have been to Malaysia, Vietnam, had to cancel a trip to Mongolia  and traveled extensively around Korea. There have been highs, and a lot of lows (being in a country where EVERYTHING is done so differently from your home country is difficult. The food is strange, the people can be strange, the way that a school is run is strange, the kids can be terrors and you will miss your family and friends more than you can ever prepare yourself for. But, at the same time, if you don't throw yourself head first into situations like these you will never find out how strong you are as a person and how much you are really able to handle. And then there are the positives too (our jobs aren't exactly rocket science and in most cases we are treated really well by our schools). There are days when all I want to do is go home, have babies and spend all day photographing them while baking up delicious chocolate treats. But then I am reminded that this opportunity here in Korea allows us to save for a house back home, meet interesting new people and travel the world. 

BUT the title of this post is about beauty and Korea ( and our interviews), and I seem to have gotten side tracked...I had planned to do an outfit post here, hence the pictures below, but it has turned into more of a reflective post on our time here. This often happens when I blog...and to be honest happens all day in my classroom (my kids love this as it inevitable means less learning and teaching and more stories about South Africa).

Where am I going with this...oh yes...Image and looks are extremely important here in Korea. That sounds awfully shallow but when you live here long enough you being to understand the reasons why. I do not agree with the Korean mentality that beauty is everything, but when someone spends time on their appearance and care has been taken to look neat and tidy this translates to an overall better image of that person than someone who looks sloppy and smells funny. Koreans always look amazing, their makeup and hair is always immaculate and they always look incredibly smart. It gives off a sense of pride, pride in their appearance and pride in who they are. On the other end of the scale, this obsession with outward beauty has led to a unbelievable amount of money being spent plastic surgery, makeup products and diet pills. I understand that for Koreans appearance is everything, this is ingrained into them from birth, and culturally this something us Westerners will never really be able to fully understand. For us, beauty is linked to vanity and is seen as something more on the negative side of things than what it is for the people here. 'Beautiful' people get boyfriends, get married and have a family. If this doesn't happen, the older generation will have no one too look after them when they get to old to work. That is pretty much how it works here. The older generations worked incredibly hard to put their kids through school and university so they can get good jobs. It is then expected that they will provide and care for their elders. It seems a bit odd considering our Western mindsets, but here in Korea there are very few old age homes. Family members are cared for until death, living with their children and their families. Hence why there is such a strong emphasis placed on family.

So it seems that beauty leads to a family which leads to safety and security for the old. Beauty is that important to Koreans. Having said that, I think that one should always try to look neat and tidy, and have a certain level of pride in our appearance. But as the younger generation starts to blend into the same person (having had the same procedures to achieve the perfect lips/chin/cheeks/eyes/mouth) as shown by the latest K-pop (Korean Pop) singer, it starts to be ridiculous. The young women in this society seem ashamed of their Korean looks and heritage , opting for eye lid surgery, cheek implants, lip injections, eye brow lifts and contacts to achieve an impossible level of beauty that borders on lunacy. Here is an article and the picture that went with it which circulated a few years ago about the Miss Korea pageant, I'll leave it up to you to decide for yourself whether or not the contestants all look the same (they are beautiful, for sure, but they look eerily similar, wouldn't you agree?) 

I have nothing against plastic surgery, I know lots of people who have had some form of surgery or another, and it's a very personal decision. What I don't like is that it's being done to such a point that people are barely recognizable as their 'pre-surgery' selves. I must still say that I do have Korean girl friends who don't agree with the plastic surgery craze, so it's important for me to note that not every Korean woman has undergone surgery. But, it is alarming when I ask my middle school girls (13 - 15 year olds) whether they think plastic surgery is a good thing and 65% of them put up their hands and tell me what they are going to have done when they are old enough. It's as common as makeup shopping, and apparently Korea is the cheapest place in the world to go under the knife. You can get your eye lids done during your lunch break and be back at work the next day with little to no recovery time needed.

It's rather strange that the first thing a Korean person will say when they meet you will have something to do with your looks "Oh...beautiful", "Pretty", "Handsome", "Small face", "Big eyes". It's all very flattering at first, but, when you actually think about it, it's really strange. Would the first thing you tell someone when meeting them for the first time be "Oh, you have such a small face. And really big eyes. And you're so pretty"? For Koreans, a small face is seen as 'cute' and whereas a big face is seen as masculine (my students have told me that this is why they make the 'peace' signs with their hands and fingers in pictures, to make their faces appear smaller and therefore more cute and feminine...bizarre).  

And now after all of the above, it seems rather conceited to be posting pictures of myself all dressed up. But I wanted this post to be an outfit one, and then I got a little carried away with the topic of beauty and anyway, here we are now.

This is what I wore to our renewal interview last week. We were meeting with the VIP's in the Education Office and had been advised by friends to go all out to really make a good impression. There have also been lots of rumors of budget cuts and a number of our friends have been been moved/lost their jobs due to these cuts. So we really did want to make a good impression, and were rather nervous throughout the entire interview. But, after lots of smiling and bowing we were done in a very short amount of time and have just been told that we have been accepted to renew. Phew! Then those heels (as little as they are were killing me!) and thin stockings in the middle of winter were worth it!

What do you think about plastic surgery? How do you feel about the fixation with beauty that seems to permeate not just Korea, but the entire world? Are we all just shallow beings, or are we trying to hide what we think is ugly, in the hopes that people will love us for who we really are? I've spent a lot of time thinking about these things since being in Korea, i hope this post today has given you something to think about.

x 

How to create your own homemade stationery {Guest Post}

Today's lovely post is from the very creative Yu Rong, who lives in Australia and has a delightful blog, xo-lovelee. I 'met' Yu Rong on Instagram. She posts the most beautiful photographs of stationery and letters, it's all just so pretty. Each of her photographs is lovingly styled and put together, and I spend hours pouring over every single detail. So I contacted her and asked if she would like to be on my blog, and share a little stationery love for all of you. Thank you for your wonderful words and pictures Yu Rong...it's been lovely following your blog and Instagram and getting to know you <3

Hello hello! My name is Yu Rong, the girl behind xo-lovelee; a fellow blogger and lover of beautiful stationery that is stylish and functional. I adore love letters, pretty colours and washi tape. 

As an avid snail mailer and penpaller, I have seen the most creative way to send beautiful mail. I cherish all the letters that I have received but there is always a special place in my heart for handmade notepaper that have been put together by the amazing creative minds of the writer. There’s something gorgeous about holding something handmade that someone has put time and effort into. Today, I would like to bring to you a combination of all of the above with some handmade stationery paper that can be used for letters, cards and notepaper!

This isn't hard, I promise! It’s super easy and fun to make. All you need are the basics, paper in whatever size you would like, grid or blank, and one of my obsessions at the moment, many different kinds of washi tape!

This is one of my favourites – to make this look, select four to five washi tapes that coordinate with one another. 

The next step is to tear off different lengths of the coordinating washi tape and layer them across the top of the pages. Don’t be afraid to get messy, you can trim off the excess when you’re done!I had so much fun that I just had to make another set!

As you can see, using different washi tapes can give you a different outcome, so don’t be afraid to experiment. You never know what you can create!

Another one of my loves are stamps, the above stamp was purchased from Oh Hello Friend and it makes the most perfect start to a letter, don’t you agree?

I love buntings, so of course I had to create this! Using different washi tapes, cut triangles and stick it on the paper in a row. Mix and match colours, use different patterns of washi tape and whatever else that tickles your fancy! This is very versatile and you can use this for birthday or party invitations. Feel free to use skinny washi tapes as borders for around the paper in order to “dress it up” a bit. 

I've already told you that I love snail mail so an air mail themed paper is required. Using air mail themed washi, I lined the top and bottom border, layering it. 

Washi tapes come in a large variety of patterns, colours and different themes. This makes them very versatile for many different creative creations. I hope you had a good time looking through these and that it inspires you to create your very own handmade stationery!

Do say hello! You can find me at:

Instagram: @xoylee 

Blog: xo-lovelee.blogspot.com

Life After the Dress {episode 9} Ché Dyer

In this series I interview married women of all ages and from all walks of life and ask them real questions about their lives now, after all the glitter and sparkle of the day is over. If you'd like to read more about the series and meet the other lovely ladies I have interviewed, click here.

Today I am so happy to have Ché up on the blog sharing her stories with us about her life after the dress. 

Ché and Warren are a fun loving South African couple living in London. Ché is a ball of energy and smiles and I feel like I have known her for years (even though we have only met once in 'real life' our paths have crossed virtually and we seem to have just missed each other wherever we have gone...we both went to Rhodes University, then to South Korea to teach English and then we were both back in the Midlands area for a short time before we both got married). We also both love sharing our passions with you on the world wide web. Ché has a delightful and hilarious blog called IndieBerries, the perfect place to pop on over to forget about your worries and your strife (no idea why The Jungle Book appeared in that sentence*) but her blog is witty, and full of fun, just like her. 

So grab yourself a cup of tea, make yourselves comfortable...and enjoy! x

Q1: Please introduce yourself (age, of both yourself and your husband, where do you live, what do you do & how long have you been married for?)

I’m Ché, I’m 28 and my husband is Warren who turned 31 last week! We are originally from South Africa, but currently live in Wimbledon, London. I am a freelance illustrator and designer and run the blog indieBerries. Warren is a portfolio manager for a Hedge Fund Firm. We have been married (almost) one year!

Q2: Which Disney character do you feel sums you up to a ‘T’?

Ooh, this one is a toughie! I don’t actually know!
I’d like to say Belle – if only for her epic library – and I definitely married a  handsome beast.
Or maybe that seagull from The Little Mermaid – I always feel like I’m losing my marbles.

Q3: How did you and your hubby meet?

We met at Rhodes University  - at a formal dinner. Really, there was nothing “formal” about it. We were all dressed like “Trailer Trash” and they served us KFC straight out the bucket.  

Q4: Was your wedding everything you hoped it would be? Would you go back and change anything? Do you have any advice for brides-to-be?

Our wedding was absolutely EVERYTHING I could ever have hoped for and more. We had the most incredible, beautiful, sunny day with our most favourite people celebrating with us. Unfortunately, we lost all our professional wedding photos in a horrific “dog-meets-hard-drive” accident

– so maybe if I could change one thing, I would have hired a different photographer! But, if hiring a different photographer meant that anything else about our day had to change, then I’d keep everything exactly as it is.
planning, preparing and the big day with the your gorgeous man! Think out the box! We had an awesome “food story” to go with our food and the guests LOVED it!

Make it your own and celebrate in a way that means everything to you. (also – double check your photographer’s back up system!) And my advice to brides is to ENJOY the planning and the preparing!

Q5: Has ‘life after the dress’ been as you imagined it would be?

Warren and I have had a strange journey – when we got engaged we were not even really dating, and we had been living in two different continents for the previous 3 and a half years (it’s a long story), so just about everything “after the dress” was new and exciting – including just being in the same country!  Moving into our first house together was SO exciting! (And super weird to begin with!) 

Q6: What do you think makes marriage work?

Being mindful, of yourself and of your partner –  appreciating him/her, having their best interests at the forefront of your heart. Laughter, love and complete support – even if it means sacrificing something for yourself – so that no matter what pitfalls or speedbumps you encounter in this life – you will always know that there is one person who will undoubtedly believe in you, always stand up for you and always protect you. Become the one thing – whatever it takes - that makes them feel happy to wake up every morning and come home to every night.

Q7: What have you learnt about yourself since being married?

That I have a freaken EXCELLENT taste in men.
Just kidding.

Warren has taught me to believe in myself on a level that I have never experienced before. He has taught me increasing patience and forgiveness and how to really listen, through the way he lives his own life and the way he is with me. I feel so privileged to spend so much of my time with such a true gentleman.

Q8: If you could describe your marriage in 3 words, what would those words be?
Beautiful precious cocoon

(I asked the same question to Warren and he replied with, “Better than sex” –which, is slightly inappropriate)

Q9: Do you have any pearls of wisdom you would like to share with my readers about being married? Perhaps something some wise person once told you, or something you’ve learnt the hard way?

I read somewhere recently a quote which said, “Don’t be afraid to be the one who loves the most” and I absolutely love it!

From my personal experience – I can totally say, before you move into your first house together (whatever stage of your relationship that may be) make sure you find out the exact procedures for trash and recycling – or else you will end up, up to your elbows in two weeks worth of stinking garbage juice – and there will be tears. Trust me.

You can find Ché at the following places:

Blog

Facebook

Etsy Stationery Store

Instagram

Twitter

I hope you have been enjoying this series as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.

If you would like to be featured here on the blog, you can drop me an email using the contact form above or leave me a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you!

x

Nail Inspiration

You may not believe me when I tell you this, but I used to bite my nails...badly. Not just the kind of biting that trims your nails, I'm talking nasty nail biting, fingers that I was too embarrassed to let anyone see, and then I would also bite my cuticles. It was horrible. Then I started eating a lot more yogurt and the extra calcium intake gave my poor stumps a little extra strength and I stopped biting. My nails were stronger, they weren't as brittle and finally they stopped chipping and flaking and began to grow slowly. When they started growing they looked better, and I became less embarrassed to show them off and began painting them and taking better care of my hands. Thank you yogurt (luckily I married a dairy farmer so I can have long, strong nails for ever and ever!).

Here are some snaps of what I've been doing to my nails over the past few months. These are very simple nail polish ideas, and usually you only really need 2 colours to achieve the look. Glitter polish is a great addition to your collection as it can update a manicure in a matter of minutes and prolong the wear of your polish by covering up small chips. If you want to read more about growing your own beautiful, strong nails...click here.  Remember to always use a base coat to protect your nails before painting.

Do you have any other nail art ideas? I have yet to really dive into the world of nail art, I don't think I have enough patience to wait for a million layers of paint to dry, but maybe this weekend I can put a few hours aside to get creative.

Teaching English in Korea...

Here are a few photographs of what I do all day here in Korea. It's not always this much fun, or this messy though. My main job is teaching middle school girls (click here to see more of that), but Farmboy and I both help out at an elementary school too. He mainly teaches the older students, and I get to to sing and play with the smaller ones.

Often they make me want to tear my hair out, or scream at the top of my lungs or just laugh out loud at the absurdness of certain situations. But on other days, they win me over with kisses and hugs and smiles that go on for days. And besides, I get to sing and dance to my hearts content, and they love it! It's a good way to get rid of the crazies, with sweet little souls who join right in.

This is what happened when we learnt about colours and shapes, with flour and water and a whole lot of paint...recipe to follow soon!

{sorry that the pictures are a little blurry…busy hands don't like to keep still for more than one second}

February through Instagram

March has just arrived, and with it the first signs of spring. All of our colleagues have said this has been the mildest winter they have had in years, especially in our small town out in the country. But, for me I have had to layer up all day everyday and as soon as I arrive at school I have had to spend half an hour thawing in front of the heater. The temperatures haven't been excessively cold (to my poor South African body they sure have felt excessive) but it's been the wind chill that has made it worse.

But yesterday we had a balmy 12 degree (Celsius) high and I removed my down jacket for the first time during the day...yippee! I might soon be able to stop wearing my gloves to bed!

Here is a little look back at some Instagram snaps from last month:

Photography Styling Challenge {Fashion}

Today is my fifth month contributing to a wonderful photography styling challenge started by Redesigned by M in June last year. 

The photographs cannot be edited, and only a maximum of five images may be posted. This is difficult for me as I tend to take so many photographs and I always struggle to choose JUST five. Each one appeals to me in a different way. But, in essence this is exactly the point of the challenge...to better yourself as a photographer and stylist. One of the biggest challenges for myself this year as a photographer is to shoot with more purpose, and not to just snap away and hope that 1 out of the 400 images i capture comes out exactly as I envision it. So yes, this series has been challenging, but I've learnt a lot about myself as a photographer and about my equipment too. I am very proud of myself to say that I only took 30 pictures for this shoot, I tried to put a lot more thought into each photograph. I had my husband as my model (he didn't enjoy being in front of the camera very much and there was such an icy wind...I had to shoot fast! But I'm very happy with how the photographs came out).

My first submission was for Morning {click here} followed by Bedroom {click here}, Order {click here} and Patterns {click here}. Each theme or concept is open to interpretation by the photographer, and it has been really interesting seeing how each of us has handled the themes in different ways. 

Here are my five chosen images for this photography challenge. I styled my husband for the shoot, and we went outside into the back streets of our little town here in Korea to make use of the slightly grungy setting juxtaposed against my male model. It was my first time shooting a man (as opposed to my female models) and it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. My model didn't enjoy being in front of the camera much, so I had to work quickly and give out as few 'orders' as possible while still guiding him into the right poses that worked with the setting. 

I used the following settings on my NIkon d300s & 35mm 1.8 lens:

-ISO 400

-Aperture variation of 5.6

-Shutter-speed 200

-I had my white balance on cloudy and right at the end for the last two shots I changed it to the indoor setting and suddenly the photos were a lot warmer and more inviting (I kept both to show you the difference, if I had more time I would have shot them all on the indoor white balance setting, but thought it was a good exercise to help me learn more about white balance)

I am starting to include my settings used in this challenge to give you an idea of how you can recreate the style of these images. I am constantly learning every time I pick up my camera too, but I hope these help you a little in your photographic journey. 

As always I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Make sure to pop on over to the other participants and see how they interpret this theme:

Redesigned By M

At The Corner Of Happy And Harried

My Food Tapestry

Inge Kathleen Photography

A Woven Life

The Delicious World Of Chefette Spicy

A Tree Grows in the Bayou

I Live Under A Rock

Hooked On Homes

And a warm welcome to two new members in our photography styling challenge:

MeraKitchen

Miss Wang Photography

Island hopping in Korea

I'm not sure you can really call visiting one Island here island hopping, but I like the sound of it for the title of this blog post. On valentines day, Farmboy and I had the day off as our schools had just ended for the 'spring vacation'. It certainly is starting to feel a little like spring, even if the icy wind hasn't been notified yet.

Our little town is a 40 minute local bus ride from the sea, and to make the most of the nice weather we headed out to Wido island for a picnic lunch and a stroll. Wido island is very small, and it's best not to get caught up on the term 'island' as most of the islands here in Korea look nothing like the exotic patches of paradise in the rest of South East Asia. Even with that said, it was still a lovely day out and the underfloor heating on the ferry ensured a good healthy afternoon snooze both there and back again, lying on the floor, sandwiched between some loud snoring Koreans.

As with most of the public transport here, things tend to be delayed for odd reasons (perhaps not so odd if we are able to understand more of the messages barked out by bus drivers) we nearly missed the last ferry back to the mainland. This wouldn't have been much fun as there are not hotels or restaurants on the island. Luckily, a friendly policeman spotted us wandering around aimlessly looking for the bus that dropped us off earlier and he escorted us to the ferry. We do so love Korea and it's friendly people...

Life After the Dress {episode 8} Fiona Rossiter

I am very excited to feature the lovely Fiona Rossiter today, the lady behind Cape Town based lifestyle blog Inspired Living. Fiona is the 8th guest I have had here on my blog in my Life After the Dress series where I interview woman of all ages and walks of life and ask them real questions about their lives now that all the fuss and fluff of the big day is over. 

I am hoping that when Farmboy and I get back home to South Africa in a couple of years time I will be able to meet these ladies for a real cup of tea. I have learned to much from each of them, and I love posting each of their stories here on the blog. Thanks for being a part of this Fiona! 

x

Q1: Please introduce yourself (age, of both yourself and your husband, where do you live, what do you do & how long have you been married for?)

Hi I am Fiona and I am happily married to the love of my life, Grant! Last year was quite an emotional year, with me reaching a major milestone in my life! I turned 40!!! Something I still do not like to say out loud but am starting to accept! My hubby Grant is only 11 months older than me so we keep each other young. We live in Noordhoek, Cape Town – in my opinion the most beautiful city in the world (not biased at all)! We have been married for 17 years – it’s was our anniversary on the 7th of December. I cannot believe how time has flown, it seems like just yesterday he was down on one knee, proposing to me! We have two gorgeous girls, who make our world a better place – our lives would not be complete without them. I am a full time mom, blogger and true creative at heart, with too many ideas and not enough hours in the day. Grant is a Portfolio Manager for an investment company (in his own words he makes other people rich ;) but a true entrepreneur at heart!

Q2: Which Disney character do you feel sums you up to a ‘T’?

Amazingly this was a bit of a difficult one to answer, I could not decide on my own, so I opted to do two on-line quizzes to see what the “experts” had to say! As a Disney Character I am apparently like PINOCCHIO yes Pinocchio! Even I was surprised – the synopsis:

“You like to work towards dreams you have, but you sometimes get tempted by the devil in disguise. But when it comes down to it, you're quite a happy person who just wants to be the best they can be!” I had a good giggle but in essence this is all very true. As a Disney Princess I am apparently much like Jasmine, as I dream of freedom from my lifestyle and I hate pompous jerks (ain’t that the truth)!

Q3: How did you and your hubby meet?

Funny story really – I was essentially his boss. I worked at a jeweler and he started working there, as a holiday job, while he was at university. I hate to sound cliché but it was love at first sight – well for me anyway! We were young but I think we both knew what we wanted out of life – or at least we thought we did. We did date for four years before we got married, which I think was important to establish our relationship.

Q4: Was your wedding everything you hoped it would be? Would you go back and change anything? Do you have any advice for brides-to-be?

My wedding was amazing, something fairy-tales are made of! Not having my own mom around when I got married was tough but I have been blessed with the most amazing mother in law! We did get married very young and were the first in the family to tie the knot, Grant is one of four boys and I have a younger brother. As you can imagine there was great anticipation from all involved, being the first to get married {no pressure at all ;)}. Would I change anything about my wedding day - yes I probably would. Our wedding was way too big but being the first in the family we did not know better. We had a very traditional wedding which we both wanted but I guess if I did have to do it over I would have a smaller more intimate affair. Please don’t get me wrong, I loved every minute of my day but know what I do now I would do it differently – I am wiser I guess. So my advice for brides-to-be, is no matter how big or small your wedding, make sure you actually enjoy it – dance, have fun because it is a once in a lifetime experience!

Q5: Has ‘life after the dress’ been as you imagined it would be?

I think that life is never exactly what you expect it to be but if you had to ask me if I was happy - I would definitely have to say yes. Growing up I dreamt that I would meet my prince charming, get married, have two children and live happily ever after – see dreams do come true!

Q6: What have you learnt about yourself since being married?

I am an extremely stubborn person and a perfectionist, someone who does not like admitting when I am wrong {which is mostly never} but marriage has taught me that if you want to be happy, you need to make allowances for others and at times compromises. This is true for all relationships in life but especially true, if you want your marriage to work. I was extremely independent before we got married, so for me the biggest lesson has been to learn to rely and trust someone else. Oh and as my hubby will tell you I am very high maintenance!

Q7: If you could describe your marriage in 3 words, what would they be?

LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, TRUST

Q8: Do you have any pearls of wisdom you would like to share with my readers about being married? Perhaps something some wise person once told you, or something you've learnt the hard way?

I think the most important thing is to marry your “best friend”, yes it is important to marry for love but you also need to “like” the person you are marrying. If possible marry someone with the same beliefs and morals as you have, this is especially important when it comes to parenting children. Don’t get me wrong I am not saying marry a carbon copy of yourself that would be boring but discuss what you want and envisage for your life before you get married, to ensure you are actually on the same page! Oh and most of all have fun, remember to laugh – if nothing else it keeps you young!

You can find Fiona at the following places (in particular on her Youtube channel where she posts great videos about her favourite makeup and beauty products, as well as showing you how to use the products!)

Blog

Facebook

Pinterest

Instagram

Twitter

I hope you have been enjoying this series as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.

If you would like to be featured here on the blog, you can drop me an email using the contact form above or leave me a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you!

x

{Studio} My current favorite photo editing app

"What Instagram Did For Photography, This App Will Do For Design" Mashable

I love how easy it is for me to share pretty content with my readers through my iPhone camera. Of course, the quality is nowhere near as good as my fancy Nikon. But, it's so fast, easy to edit (with fantastic apps like Instagram and A Beautiful Mess…click here for more tips on those apps) and most importantly, it's so easy to share content, that a lot of what I do post here on my blog has been taken and put together with just my phone.

Today I want to share with you my new favorite app. It's called Studio and it's free. You're welcome.

The app has a whole bunch of free 'packs' of text/quote overlays/images/graphics that are organized by theme. You download them right through the app and they appear in your 'Overlay' folder ready for use. There are some really nice ones for purchase too, but all of the above images I created with free overlay graphics.

The app works a little like photoshop in that you work in layers. Your image becomes the base image and you add text, graphics, frames, shapes, textures and a whole lot more on top of your photograph. You can change the colour of each of these elements, as well as swopping between them very easily. A lot of image editing apps don't have an 'undo' button and you have to start over each time you make a mistake. But Studio is super easy to use and make changes when you want to. You can also create really nice graphics (without the need for an image or photograph) very easily. This is really useful if you want to create graphics for your Facebook page or blog.

Studio also works as a social sharing platform, a little like Instagram, and you can 'like' pictures and comment away on anything that takes your fancy. And they are on android too so everyone can make pretty pictures.

Download it here for free!

If you do create something pretty, share it with me on my Facebook Page...I'd love to see what you come up with. 

x

IPhoneography

I recently wrote a guest post for the wonderful lifestyle blog A Bubbly Life written by the very sweet Laurel. In it I wrote all about my favorite two apps for editing photographs on your phone. I wanted to share the post here with all of you, and to tell you that I am going to be introducing you to another fantastic FREE app later on this week. You don't want to miss this one, it's like Instagram & A Beautiful Mess combined…it's beautiful. But for today, here is a quick post on tips for photography using just your phone.

As a blogger, I have come to really appreciate the true value of good quality photographs, and since getting my first 'proper' camera (the Canon pictured above) a few years ago I can really see the difference the photographs have made to my blog from a professional point of view. But, carrying a big, heavy camera around all day just to capture my coffee dates just get frustrating. And then I have to fiddle and play around with the settings to get the light just right, and never mind the editing that comes afterwards.

But, after getting my first iPhone last year, I cannot tell you how it has revolutionized my blogging. I am able to quickly snap bits of pretty-ness as I walk to work, sit at my desk and especially, while out and about with friends.

I can edit, add text and upload them to my blog in a matter of seconds. AMAZING!

Today I want to share with you my two favourite apps for blogging. I hope you find them useful. I have mentioned them both on numerous occasions on my blog and Facebook page, and that's because I think the are just wonderful.

One of them is only for the iPhone (Instagram) but A Beautiful Mess is for Android users too. If you know of any other great apps that you love to use, please pop me a comment below.

Happy Snapping!

Instagram has been around for a while, but it is still one of my absolute favourite apps for quick and easy editing on my iPhone. When posting photographs to my instagram feed I try and use the same filter so ensure consistency with my brand. It also looks a lot neater and is easier on the eyes when my photographs have a similar feel to them. But that is completely up to you, you can go wild with the filters and frames available and are only limited by your imagination! Download Instagram for free through Itunes.

Here are some images I've edited using the Valencia filter:

When you take photographs on your phone, play around with angles and make use of as much natural light as you can. Using a flash really takes away from the natural feel of your photographs and makes the look plain and artificial. Natural light is softer and more forgiving on people and products.

A Beautiful Mess is a photo editing app designed and developed my one of my favourite blogs...A Beautiful Mess. This app allows you to add backgrounds, make collages, add text, add cute doodles and frames and change the colour of each of those elements. Its super easy to use and the results are pretty amazing. I often get readers asking how I add all these effects to my photos, and it's so simple. This app has also recently been released for Android users. You can download it through the Itunes store for .99c

All of the photographs above were taken with my iPhone 4S. Nothing too fancy, but with a little bit of time and thought, you can really make your pictures pop! Do you have any other tips for taking great photographs with your phone?

Look out for my new favorite app coming to the blog soon.

A touch of glitter {nail art}

I love painting my nails (for me, this means one color on all nails…very boring) but have recently dabbled in the field of nail artistry (not that the picture above is anything fancy or 'artistry' like but with only a few extra minutes and another colour or two, you can really add a little something extra to your standard manicure and update your look). 

Glitter has sparked my fancy lately, and I have been painting one nail differently to all the others. Not just because its effective in it's simplicity, but if you make a mistake, it's only one nail that needs to be repainted, and not the whole bunch (ain't nobody got time for that).

I used a warm greyish mocha colour as my base colour, and then used a rosy pink shade for my focus nail, topped off with a slick of silver glitter from The FaceShop (my all time favourite skincare and makeup brand here in South Korea).

When painting your nails, always make sure to apply a base coat first (to protect your nail base from staining and being damaged) and then a top coat (to extend the wear of your manicure). Here is a post I did a little while ago on growing your own beautiful, strong nails. 

Life After the Dress {episode 7} Caley Rosenberg

Todays lovely interviewee is the sweet Caley who blogs over at Ellie Love. I feel like I've known Caley for years, thanks to the wonders of social media. We haven't officially met in person {yet} but I have loved following along in her blogging journey and seeing photos of her cute little one on Instagram. Her blog is a delightful place to wonder around and get lost in, so grab yourself a cup of tea and read all about her life after the dress.

In this series I will be interviewing ladies of all ages and asking them questions about their lives, after their big day. It is my hope that you feel inspired, and leave my blog feeling hopeful and happy, with renewed energy for your relationship, or excitement for what the future may hold for you.

Happy reading!

x

Q1: Please introduce yourself (age, of both yourself and your husband, where do you live, what do you do & how long have you been married for?)

Hi lovely CityGirl Searching readers. I am Caley and I blog over at Ellie Love. I am married to my gorgeous blonde husband, MC and we live in Durban, South Africa. Both born and bred in this beautiful coastal city, the sun, sand and sea are our home. I am a qualified primary school teacher but I am now a stay-at-home mom to our little 20 month old daughter, SJ and baby #2 on the way (due June 2014).  MC works for a Mining Facilitations Company and is involved in many mines in Africa and investments worldwide. We met in 2006, got engaged in 2009 and got married on 2nd October 2010 - a blissful and eventful 3 years of marriage.

Q2: Which Disney character do you feel sums you up to a ‘T’?

I would have to say Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Ariel is a free-spirited mermaid who knows her mind and doesn't follow the crowd. She overcomes the hurdles in her life and follows her dreams to find her Prince Charming and live her fairytale. There is also something magical about a mermaid's tail and living under the sea.

Q3: How did you and your hubby meet?

You can read our full story here but a short version is: we met in a local night club with me staring at MC's crotch area, admiring his impressive belt buckle (cringe!)

Q4: Was your wedding everything you hoped it would be? Would you go back and change anything? Do you have any advice for brides-to-be?

Our wedding was the most magical day of our lives - everything ran smoothly from start to finish and we had a lot of fun with special family and friends. We loved all our little details and really felt that everything was a true representation of us as a couple. A dream come true.

As the times and styles change over the years, there are definitely things I would do differently if I were to re-do it all over again - especially as there was no Pinterest during my wedding planning! But I would change anything from our special day.

My advice to other brides-to-be - stay calm and enjoy every moment. There is so much to do, so much to think about and potentially a lot to worry about but it really doesn't matter. Things find a way of all coming together and as a bride, it really isn't for you to worry about on your big day. Enjoy every moment from the second you wake up and open your eyes with a tummy full of butterflies and excitement to the pure content feeling of falling asleep in your husbands arms. The day goes by so quickly and you don't want to miss a thing - especially because you were too busy worrying about something trivial. Have fun and enjoy!

Q5: Has ‘life after the dress’ been as you imagined it would be?

It has been everything I had imagined, and so much more. Marriage has been the most wonderful commitment MC and I have made. It was also the start  of our lives together, in the same country (after our long distance dating) and spending every moment together has been magical. We have been blessed with a special bond and an incredible friendship that has blossomed into a strong and beautiful marriage - full of fun and special memories as well as sticking together and growing as a couple through the difficult times. "Life after the dress" has been exciting and fast paced and a great adventure, as well as the start of our sweet family.

Q6: What have you learnt about yourself since being married?

I have learnt that I am a changed and better woman with MC by my side. He brings out the best in me as well as calms me down and keeps me level-headed in moments of need. He has helped me grow as a person in all walks of life, realise my potential and encouraged me when I had my doubts. I have learnt to that I can defy all odds (and my upbringing) and be the wife and mother that I always dreamed I would be.

Q7: If you could describe your marriage in 3 words, what would they be?

Loving, supportive and exciting.

Q8: Do you have any pearls of wisdom you would like to share with my readers about being married? Perhaps something some wise person once told you, or something you’ve learnt the hard way?

Never say a bad word about your spouse and never put them down. You are there greatest supporter and number one fan, and your belief in them is what keeps them going each day. I cannot find a negative thing to say about my dear hubs and it's not because he doesn't have faults or traits I don't agree with but he is the man I married with everything so amazing about him, and the man I fall more in love with each day.

You can find Caley at the following places:

Blog

Pinterest

Instagram

Twitter

I hope you have been enjoying this series as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.

If you would like to be featured here on the blog, you can drop me an email using the contact form above or leave me a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you!

x

Banana Bread with cranberries & chocolate chips {recipe}

Here in South Korea it is a little tricky to get hold of most 'normal' baking ingredients (like butter for example). What tends to happen is that when you do find the item(s) you have searched for for weeks, you have to fork out double, more often triple, the price of it back home. So baking tends to be expensive. And that's why buying a small bag of 4 homemade cookie at the local bakeries costs nearly R60 or $6...outrageous.

So I have been doing a lot of baking in our new oven. And what I have been making an awful lot of is banana bread. It's delicious, quick, and the blacker the bananas (the more rotten they are, the sweeter they are for your bread!) the cheaper they are in the shops...it's a win win really.

So I'm going to post the original recipe here, and next to it I will post what I substituted with, or rather what I could get my hands on at the time.

Also, I am a little slap dash when it comes to cooking. I am not a patient person, and often will just start baking without checking if I even have all the ingredients in the cupboard. In which case I improvise. My friends are horrified when they find out that I use my eye to measure things, but they never complain about the final product. It's always yummy. It works for me but it's not everyone's cup of sugar :)

Prep: 5 mins Cooking Time: 30mins - 1 hour 

-it took a VERY long time for my bread to cook, but that is because I have a little oven that gets hot very quickly and tends to burn things on the top without cooking through. I would put the timer on for 20 minutes and then check your bread every 5 minutes after that. You will be able to see whats going on in your oven, and you also know if you have a decent 'will-cook-through-without-burning' oven. You want the bread to be moist, but cooked. Dry banana bread is horrid. So keep testing with a sharp knife. If it pulls away clean, your bread is ready. If it comes away with even a little gooey dough on the knife, leave it in for a few more minutes.

Ingredients

-3/4 ripe bananas, smashed (I used about 7 smaller bananas that had been sitting around for a good couple of weeks to ensure maximum ripeness)

-1/3 cup butter (I used a good few solid chunks of coconut oil heated quickly until softin a small pan)

-1 cup sugar (I used 2 small tablespoons and added a few more chocolate chips for added sweetness)

-1 egg, beaten

-1 teaspoon vanilla (I could only find vanilla powder and used a good heaped teaspoon)

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-pinch of salt

-1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and half a cup of almond flour I had left over from here)

-handful of cranberries

-handful (and a half!) of chocolate chips

Method

No need for a mixer, a bowl and wooden spoon are more than adequate. 

Preheat your oven to 180C. 

With a wooden spoon, mix your butter (coconut oil) into the mashed banana. Add the sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, and sprinkle in the chocolate chips and cranberries (and anything else you feel like adding...flaked almonds & cinnamon are good extras). 

Pour the mixture into a buttered (I used coconut oil again) loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour, placing on a rack to cool.

Original recipe from SimplyRecipes.

My top South African online stores

Source: DeathToTheStockPhoto

Online shopping in South Africa is definitely on the up with more and more stores offering free delivery and other great specials when purchasing online. But, it is a relatively new concept and a fair amount of shoppers prefer to physically touch the products they plan on spending their hard earned money on. Also, there is the age old fear of credit card fraud and the South African postal service to contend with too. I have been fighting with the post man when it comes to delivering my packages from my online store, but I am very happy and I hate to say it, surprised, to have had a 99% success rate on all my deliveries so far (the 1% being a package I sent to my mom last year which I believe has made its way back to me here in Korea after a rather unfortunate loss of the post mans arrival notification). I have a long term business plan for a nation wide delivery service, just for South Africans, that is fast, reliable and affordable...who wants to invest??? :)

BUT...the postage services are increasing in efficiency, with many online stores choosing to send packages with private services with a more reliable track record and all the shop owners I have spoken to have had no issues whatsoever. Which is good to know as today I want to highlight some of my favourite South African online stores. I haven't shopped at all of these yet as I have been out of the country for a while now, but there are a fair amount of birthdays coming up for my family & friends, I think I will just have to make some purchases soon.

(I had planned to blog about my Top 5 favourite stores and then spent hours scouring the web to fill my last 2 spots, but thanks to all the input from my lovely readers on Facebook, I was able to narrow their loooong list of great recommendations down to 7!).

And here they are, in no particular order:

Links to each website:

CityGirlSearching

ElephantShoe

LittleHoneyPot

Yuppiechef

Style36

Hey Gorgeous

HelloPretty

Vietnam through Photographs

Farmboy and I escaped the cold of South Korea for the sun, sea and sand of Vietnam over Christmas time last year. Or that's what we thought we were doing when we booked our flights the months previous, but only a few weeks before leaving we were told it had been snowing up North in Sapa, right where we were headed.

In spite of the chilly weather we experienced in the North, the central regions were wonderfully warm and we even managed to get two swims in! Our pale forms were a bit of a sight, but with our smiles we blended right in with the other tourists. We are known for searching out the quieter parts of cities and countries, but we were unable to escape the crowds in Sapa and Hoi An. We didn't mind though, it's all part and parcel of traveling these days.

I will be posting more in depth information on our 12 day trip to Vietnam (Hanoi, Sapa, Halong Bay & Hoi An) but for now I leave you with some photographs from an epic trip to an incredible country. It was one of our most favourite trips so far (even being on par with our honeymoon to the Greek Islands) and we will most certainly be going back to HoiAn.

The food was amazing and incredible cheap, the public transport, or rather the transport that was most readily available (metered taxis) were a complete rip off and despite being one of the most budget friendly countries in South East Asia, it became our most expensive trip due to missing our flight home. Thankfully we teach English in Korea, and can just about afford to make that mistake once, and only once. Besides, we got to spend 12 hours at the airport with no money, 1 coke, 1 bowl of Pho noodles and the movie Frozen on Farmboys ipad with 13% battery life...what more could you want for your last day of holiday together.

Enjoy

x

SkinFood Black Sugar Face Serum {review}

South Korea is known world wide as one of the leading producers and innovators of skin care products (and I will add stationery to that list too! Have a look at what I have in my store if you need convincing of the cuteness of the stationery here). Their most affordable flagship brands being The Face Shop, Innisfree, Tony Moly & Etude House. When we were first living here back in 2010, SkinFood was also very popular, but it seems to have taken a dive now and no longer seems to be producing award winning products. Or so I thought until came across their Black Sugar Skin Perfecting Serum. This particular bottle (pictured above) is from their Gold edition which was launched to celebrate their 10th Anniversary. The original packaging is a little less bling than the black and gold, but the box it comes in is just gorgeous...see picture below:

So what is a serum and do you really need one? Serums are formulated to target specific skin problems. They are oil or water-based products and have the ability to penetrate deep within the layers of your skin, so that you get phenomenal results. Unlike other skin products, serums have a higher concentration of active ingredients and usually come in a creamy gel form. The most common benefits of serums include hydration, increased nourishment, brightening of the skin, and acne prevention. They also help in strengthening skin cells. While other face creams contain only 5 to 10 per cent of active ingredients, a face serum can contain up to 70 per cent! (Idiva Beauty).

So, do you really need to add a another step to your beauty routine? Entirely up to you, but I have and I just love this one from Skin Food. This is my second bottle and I will be adding this to my 'must' buy beauty list. 

*just a little note, as serums are jam packed with active ingredients, sensitive skins should be extra careful as some irritation may occur. If possible, try samples first before investing, as most serums tend to be on the pricey side. 

What is special about this serum?

Most of the box is written in Korean but this is what I can read:

• it is made from Brazilian black sugar extract and is free from harsh chemicals often found in other serums: acrylamide, benzophenone, mineral oil, silicone oil, sulfates and talc (this can only be good right? The less chemicals the better!)
• It's claim to fame: sloughs off dead skin cells, hydrates skin from the inside out, brightens and adds a healthy glow and increases skin’s resilience. It claims to be an “All-in-One” serum as it acts as an exfoliant, toner, moisturiser, and anti-aging product.
• it comes with special cotton pads (I have yet to use them but as they are always out of my reach in the bathroom *reminder to self to move to a more reachable place!) but from the reviews these cotton pads do seem to be 'special'. They are double sided...one side being slightly netted to remove flaky skin...and the other side soft to allow full absorption of the product into your skin. The 'netted' side acts as a bit of an exfoliator, but I still choose to use a weekly scrub to really  help remove dead skin. If you have very sensitive skin (and have already tried this product to ensure you don't react) try using this product with regular soft cotton pads.

How to use it:

After cleansing your face, pat dry and immediately apply the serum using a cotton pad. Allow for full absorption into the skin (two - three minutes) and then follow with your regular eye cream, moisturizer and sun block. I skip out my regular toner as this serum acts like a toner without leaving my skin feeling dry. As it is winter right now, and only when my skin feels like it needs it, I make use of The Face Shop's Mango Seed Essence spray toner for a little added moisture.

My skin isn't left with a stinging sensation and doesn't feel look or feel oily after using this serum. The fragrance is very light and has a mild, sweet scent that doesn't linger. You will be surprised as how much dirt and makeup is left on your skin even after thorough cleansing, this is why the double sided cotton pads are useful when used. As for the anti ageing benefits, I can't say for sure whether my fine lines (oh the joys of heading into your late twenties!) have dissappeared, or whether I have stopped noticing them after my husband has helped me to worry less about the smaller, less 'significant' issues us women tend to focus on.

My skin is brighter, my pores are less pronounced, I have seen a decrease in pigmentation (it's still there, but definitely less noticeable...although it is winter here and I have spent less time in the sun and more time applying my sunblock too!) my skin is smoother and more moisturised and feels healthier every time I use it.

The biggest thing I have noticed is I no longer have a problem with flaky, dry skin around my nose area. I alternate between a lighter lotion and heavier cream for night time use and even when using foundation there has been a remarkable decrease in flakiness. I used to exfoliate nearly every day during winter time in the hopes that the skin on my nose area would stop flaking, but it didn't help one bit. Since using this serum this is no longer an issue for me and that makes this product worth every last cent.

The full size serum retails for W24 000 a bottle (+- $24) and currently includes a free travel size bottle of serum, a cute tube of hand cream and a big box of the 'special' cotton pads.

Have you tried this serum? Do you have any other Skin Food recommendations? I'd love to hear your thoughts below! 

x