We have a tree!

I was never very Christmasy. Being Afrikaans and living in a small town we didn’t do the traditional gammon with cranberry whatsit and eggnog and all that. Plus, most Christmases for me involved huge family fights while I sat near the tree, grumpy that a silly spat was delaying present opening.

Two years ago I decided that I would bring on the Christmas cheer hard. Think choc mint cupcakes with candy canes and chocolate stars, illustrating personalised cards for everyone, beautiful wrapping, the works. I saved Christmas! [Well, in my own head]. 

This year I am exceptionally excited to make our flat Christmasy! We are now married, we live together, and we get to do Christmasy things as each other’s family! Hoorah!

And so we got our first tree! I wanted a real one, and not chopped down because then it would die and I would be sad and so would the earth. This one might not be the perfect cone shape, but it’s a pine tree and I think it looks lovely and we open our door everything smells like pine trees. We got this cool crumpled ceramic planter from o.live in Woodstock, and I happened upon the star-shaped lights while shopping at the V&A Waterfront this weekend.

When we switched on the lights, I literally clapped my hands and jumped up and down. Now to wrap presents and get them under that tree!

Making a House [well, flat] a Home

At 86 square metres, our flat isn’t exactly enormous! It’s been fun coming up with small space solutions and finding function in everything we can.

We had two “nooks” in the place. One in the living room, and one in the main bedroom. They’re just these narrow spaces which were really not usable, hence not great for a small space! The living room nook was perfect for book shelves, but the bedroom one was just so narrow, I wasn’t sure what to do with it.

A while ago we got Home Fixers in to help us with some small home things, like storage hooks and better towel rails and such. We also got them to put up shelves for us, and I am so happy with the end product! Their prices are good, the service is great. During their work I got numerous texts double-checking finer points, and the workmanship was wonderful. No complaints.

See how this space, without shelves, is not exactly useful?

 

Not so Feng Shui.

Much better!

Now, the bedroom nook… Too narrow even for a standing lamp. What on earth does one do with that?!

Shoes. The answer is always “shoes”.

 

Making a House a Home

Our flat is chaotic right now. We have stuff from when we moved in that hasn’t even been unpacked, we have stuff that’s been packed away for now but still needs to find a place in the house, we have new stuff from honeymoon, wedding gifts, and because it’s a small flat we haven’t got nearly enough storage [like shelves!]. It’s beautiful, but still needs a lot of work to make it functional, super stylish, and “home”.

But while we’re busy with bigger stuff like deciding on painting walls and where to put shelves [and and and], some stuff is already lovely. Like this vase:

It’s called the Phrenology Vase, from Chandler House by Michael Chandler. We got some pincushion Proteas at the Earth Fair last week and I just love how they look! It’s nice to have something gorgeous when everything else seems to be in a state of [slight] pandemonium.

I love Chandler’s stuff. I also want the Cape Gable book ends, and more than anything the Pierneef scatter cushion. How gorgeous?

More home updates coming soon!

Hello, My Name is Lize Hartley

We’re married!

And after almost a month away there is so much to catch up on. For now, a few wedding pictures. You can see the rest here.

The St Anne’s chapel.

Centrepieces.

The men getting ready.

St Anne’s admin building and front lawn.

My amazing maid of honour, Nina, who I love even a million times more [if that were more] post-wedding!

Reading my vows.

Praying at the ceremony.

My Loubis [of course].

Super love this picture.

One of my favourite pictures ever.

In the chapel.

It was pretty cold. Love this picture, too.

Dancing with my dad.

Just love this picture of my new brother in law.

Bubbles!

The night was just perfect from start to finish. Best wedding ever.

I have to mention Clip-In Hair. Yes, Natalie is a magician with hair and make-up but she would not have been able to create such a fab up-style with the measly bit of shoulder-length hair I have! They helped me out with some gorgeous, super duper long extensions. It took all of ten minutes to walk in, find a colour, attach them, and leave! They’re not permanent so you can re-use them as and when you please, without the pain and hassle of those glue-in ones. Can’t wait to use them again and be a Unicorn Mermaid Princess!

Hello, City Living!

On Saturday, I officially moved into our new place, and yesterday the registration went through officially and it now belongs to us. Hoorah! [Also got slapped with R800 bill for fridge fixing. Am officially a big person.]

The move was an easy two trips and although packing is also kind of tiring we’re about 97% unpacked and so far everything has been quite hassle-free. Obviously we will start to do handyman stuff and decorating and such after the honeymoon when SC moves in, but for now I am loving our new place beyond words!

It’s right in the city centre and super vibey without being annoyingly noisy. Our window looks onto beautiful old building and down onto St George’s Mall, a wide pedestrian-only street with shops, galleries, and restaurants. On Thursdays there’s the St George’s market, and we plan to meet there for lunch every week and buy fruit, vegetables, flowers, and whatever else is delicious or beautiful.

The best part is I get to WALK to work. I have wanted this for all my life and it makes me so so happy. I walk through Company’s Gardens so it’s all trees, runners, other walkers, and squirrels. And then I round the corner to walk by the national gallery and I get hit with beautiful Table Mountain in my face.

Here are some pics of the place, taken minutes after arriving. It came fully furnished so this is what it looks like before we get going on really making it our own.

Le kitchen. Also le frigo which was le broken.

View from the windows [to the right]. By estate agent standards this counts as “mountain views”.

Main bathroom. It has a light for the room, and then a special light just for the shower, which thrills me.

View from bedroom window [straight ahead].

St George’s Cathedral is right across the road and we can hear the church bells! Also v convenient for early morning prayer which I attend often during periods like Lent.

Le lounge.

State of fridge on Saturday. Later added sushi and beer.

Am officially so blessed and fortunate that I am just about jealous of myself.

Our Wedding Invitations

Now that 90% of our guests have their invitations, I feel I can post them online. I am just so happy with how they turned out!

It wasn’t easy to decide what to do. There are SO many options out there! From the very minimalistic, to the interactive, crazy expensive, intricate, unique. Eventually we decided we didn’t some crazy bells-and-whistles pop-up laser-cut machine that signs a song written especially for us when you about it. We wanted great design, something very personal, and great paper. I think we ticked all those boxes!

The front. Our stationery was mostly navy blue, red, and cream/white.

We stuck with the travel theme: Post card; plane; stamps; maps. 

We had some stamps designed for stamping the envelopes.

A great personal touch, I think.

We printed our invitations on gorgeous paper that had tiny dots pressed into it. Very fancy, but understated.

We tied everything, including our registry card, together with red and white twine.

I love them!

Once again, by the talented Ashleigh Rodda, who I simply cannot recommend enough.

 

Cuff Links: Check. And Check! Which Ones?

SC ordered two sets of cufflinks from over the seas recently, and they have arrived! I love them both. Quirky, like him [think: half-white beard (which is natural, not bleached); brightly coloured sneakers; interesting sense of humour], and fun without being too silly [think: naked women or talking mouths].

Option 1: Red Vespas. Cute, hey? Also perfect for two people who love Vespas, and who are going to Europe on honeymoon [totes taking Paris and Provence by Vespa in October!].

Option 2: Silver paper planes. Still quirky, but slightly less so. Fits in with the “travel” theme of our stationery, though.

Decisions, decisions! Can’t we just get married twice so we can use all the amazing ideas we have stored up?

Which do you like best?

Wedding Rings: Check

Okay, so we were a little over-eager on these. But hey! Another “thing” off the to-do list.

SC’s is from Shimansky. We got his a few weeks ago.

I picked mine up from Browns yesterday.

We had our wedding date [22-09-2012] engraved on the inside. Subtle. Special.

Just a little something sparkly, to enhance my Tiffany!

New Travel Accessory

Got this fab leather envelope today from Jean Kelly. Envelope bags, whether they’re wallet-sized or oversized clutches, are hot right now. Fact. This one is local, 100% leather, the most gorgeous teal, and the perfect size for me.

My plan for this is to use it as my travel wallet during our honeymoon. Think passport, boarding pass, maybe a little bit of cash, and other important documents. For an ordinary day about town, it can fit essentials like lip balm, mini mascara [love this one from Chanel], compact [Dior] my Ipod Shuffle, and iPhone.

Love.

Meet Keri Miller, World’s Most Awesomest Personal Trainer Ever In the World Ever

A few weeks ago, we got a personal trainer. Her name is Keri, and she’s awesome. We actually knew her from before, but then we somehow got onto the topic of personal training on Twitter, and boom! Keri became my trainer. And then she came up with the genius idea of training both of us! Right? Like, couples’ personal training! I know, we’re sickening.

So far we’ve been for 3 sessions. We go on Mondays and Thursdays at 18h30 [after Keri is done being a celebrity on the radio!] for an hour. Our first two sessions were introductions to the kind of workout we would be doing. I say “introduction”, but they were full-on killer workouts that had my muscles stiff for 2-3 days after. The first session included goals, and questions about your health and lifestyle, weighing, body fat percentage, measurements, and all that uncomfortable stuff. The third one was a fitness, which nearly killed us.

These sessions have been really amazing so far. I’m pretty lucky in that I have always been naturally slim, but because of that I never “needed” to do sport, exercise, or learn anything about nutrition. I just stayed tiny. I’ve learnt a lot about nutrition in the last year or two and I’ve started to eat more and more healthy. Thin does not necessarily equal healthy! Even a healthy body mass does not necessarily mean you’re all that healthy. Moreover, just because I’m small doesn’t mean I’m in good shape. While, being a size 2 [not quite zero, but hey] I may look very good in clothes [I'm trying not to sound arrogant here], my body doesn’t look that great in a swimsuit [for example] because I’m actually not in very good shape.

So this journey of training until our wedding [and continuing thereafter!] will definitely teach us a lot about our bodies, nutrition strength, and more. It will make us fitter, healthier, and stronger. It will make us look better, too! Which is, in truth, just an added bonus.

We’ve taken “before” pictures and I must say I was horrified. Sure, it was taken after a huge meal and in terribly unflattering fluorescent light, but my body looked awful! But this has only made me more determined to work damn hard with Keri at One80 Training. We’ll only be posting these before pictures once we have some “afters” to show with them, though.

It’s only been just over a week, but it feels great. Sure, it’s kind of painful, and sometimes during a workout you might feel slightly ill, but is there anything better than that feeling that your body really worked? Nope, not really. I’m looking forward to getting in tip-top shape by September.

For more One 80, check out their website, “like” their Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter.