24 of the best 90s and 00s kids TV Shows

Don't you just love getting a little nostalgic over your childhood? - The fun parts I mean - not the part where your 4 year old brother went to creche in his very loosely fitting summer pyjamas without underpants on and proceeded to run around and climb all the jungle gyms all free willy like, if you catch my drift...At the time I was horrified, such a dramatic little 7 year old!!

A while ago Riaan and I got a little nostalgic over a few glasses of red wine chatting about all the TV shows we used to watch in our adolescent years. I was quite surprised that we actually watched a lot of the same shows since a) We have a 4 year age gap, and b) He's a boy! Why does he know the theme song to Braceface??

TBH it made me laugh a little to hear him sing it.

I spent hours in front of the TV between the ages of 9 and 13 (thank you Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network!) and I feel sorry for kids these days because they will never know the awesomeness of the shows we had as 90s / 00s kids.

Here are a few of our (mostly mine) favourite shows (in no specific order):

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles


Mighty Morphin Power Rangers


The Flinstones


Tom and Jerry


Animaniacs


Pinky and the Brain


Hey Arnold!
 

The Powerpuff Girls


Courage the Cowardly Dog

Cow and Chicken


Rugrats
 

The Magic School Bus


Dexter's Laboratory


SpongeBob SquarePants



Ed, Edd n Eddy


Johnny Bravo
 

The Simpsons


Recess


The Amanda Show


As Told by Ginger
 

Braceface



Lizzy McGuire


Kim Possible
 

The Wild Thornberrys


I literally could go on and on, I did love cartoons, and still do!
Did I miss any of the really good ones??

Lets talk about being bitchy

I've been wanting to write this post for a while now...The only thing that has been stopping me is that by writing this post I'll probably be seen as coming across a little bitchy...and I've decided that that's fine actually, because I can be a bitch, I know it and I'm not afraid to admit it. I also know that being a bitch usually does more harm than good, and after I've been a little bitchy I don't feel any better for it.

Let's start it off on a light note, according to my friends I'm a "basic bitch" for the following reasons:
I can sing to every song on the radio. Yes I can!
I talk about Yoga/any form of exercise really (but I do go)
Weekends consist of netflix/movies and wine.
I love Ryan Gosling...hahaha yup!
I have a shit ton of scarves. Aaha, it was so hard leaving more than half of them in Johannesburg!
I'm obsessed with Paris. At least now I have gone, but yes, still obsessed!
I have/had quotes all over my house.
I quote "Mean Girls" - guilty. And it goes with this post so prepare yourself!
I love frozen yoghurt and scented candles. Guilty again.
I have brightly coloured under garments. Too many!
Things I'd we'd say in a normal conversation include..."Cray", "Totes", "I love Katy Perry" and we always throw in a little "Swag, swag, swag" for Riaan just because he hates it so much! Haha!

When I look at this list I really don't see a problem with being a "basic bitch", I like who I am. Also, I'm a feminist at heart. But I'm not here to talk about me...I'm also not here to talk about the "bitches" that are blunt, straightforward, speak their mind and generally don't take shit from anyone. Being nice gets you nowhere, as a woman you need to stand your ground and stand up for what you believe in. But if that's what you're going to do then do it consistently, all the time. Not just when it's easy.

I'm here to talk about the girls that are snide, mean, hateful and malevolent. Towards each other. We live in a world where people seem to think it's OK to bring other people down to make them feel better about themselves, girls especially. When did it become OK to intentionally try and hurt someone? Is it really worth all the effort you put into it? What do you gain from it?

Society has set us up to constantly compare ourselves to one another, but instead of making a snide remark like "Oh she's so fat!" or "She should eat a burger!" take a second and think about what you are about to say...

Why?? Why would you, being a girl, knowing how hard it is to get through a day with your sanity intact, being constantly judged based on how you look, what you say, what you wear, what you eat and what you do to name a few things, think/feel that it is okay to make another girls day a little harder by taking a dig at them? I am perplexed! I just don't get it!

We could take a tip from the guy's here - they just say whatever it is that's pissing them off, they have it out and then they apologise and most times they get over it. This may seem a little testosteroney and somewhat primitive, but I still feel that it's a better way of handling a problem than by being ambiguous, deceitful and spiteful. I'm not saying bring out the claws, I'm saying get it out there and get it over with!!

Regina George, why can't Gretchen Wiener wear gold hoop earrings? Because you wore them first, of course! BUT you were NOT the first person EVER to wear gold hoop earrings!! SERIOUSLY!!! It seems to me that some girls get stuck in "high school", they just don't get past being cliquey or being a bitch behind your back and playing nice to your face. Just like in Mean Girls, the whole "I love your skirt" and "You can't wear gold hoop earrings" scenes happen over and over every day!! Why?? Why is it OK for you to do that? What makes you better than that girl? What makes you think you have the right to deprive someone of something they enjoy/like or hate on someone for liking something that you generally don't like, or god forbid, you liked first?

This is a serious problem that people face, not just girls, everyone! People are always so brave when they are hiding behind a keyboard and a screen, but 9 times out of 10 if you take that away from them they'll have nothing to say.

So now I have to quote Mean Girls, you leave me no choice - "Calling somebody else fat won't make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you any smarter, and ruining [my friend's] life definitely didn't make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you."

I know I have been guilty of  being a bitch, I belonged to a clique in high school. Luckily we left the bitchiness in high school and I have made the choice to stop being bitchy. I learned that you need to be happy with who and where you are in your life, do what makes you happy, be with those that make you happy and most importantly be yourself. It's highly likely that the problem isn't with the person you are berating, judging and breaking down.

So I leave you with this...

Rant over.

Travel tip/life hack - DIY wrinkle release spray

Don't you just hate stepping off a plane/train or climbing out of a car after a long trip looking like you just stumbled out of the laundry basket?? All wrinkled and frumpled up...I'm not sure if frumpled is a word but I'll go with it!

When I discovered this anti-wrinkle spray I instantly thought of a friend of mine...she is extremely proud of the fact that she has not ironed a single item of clothing, in 4 years, if I'm not mistaken...*cough* *cough*, you know who you are and I think you might just love this post!!

So I think this could be an awesome travel tip or a really good life hack for those of you with a fear/hate of ironing.

I made a little bottle of this magic potion the night before we left for Paris, if you make a small enough bottle you can take it on the plane with you, I use a 100ml bottle, it's perfect to fit in my handbag!!

This is what you'll need:

A spray/spritzer bottle, fabric softener and water. That's it!!

For every 60mls of water in your bottle add a teaspoon of fabric softener.
Close it.
Shake it up.
Aaaand you're done!

All you have to do is lightly spritz the wrinkled area.

Smooth the wrinkles out with your hand.

And that's it, you're done!

I've found that with figure hugging items it is easier to do this with the clothing on.

I've used it on Riaan's jeans, my blouses and sweaters and pretty much anything that has a crease in the wrong place. It was a life saver when we got to London late on Sunday afternoon and I had to start work on the Monday. I just took my outfit for Monday out of the suitcase, lightly spritzed it and smoothed out the wrinkles.

As a side note, deeper creases need more spray and then they need to dry, a hairdryer helps with the drying process. It doesn't work too well on very deep creases, sometimes you just need to suck it up and whip out that iron.

 So now there is ALWAYS a bottle of stuff this floating around our apartment, it's a life saver really!

Do you have any travel tips/life hacks to share??

Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Oat Cookies - 3 ingredients (sans optional extras)

So after Tuesday's healthy banana pancakes - which turned out to be amazingly delicious, I have been very intrigued by the idea of baking with bananas (besides banana bread)! That along with my recent lus (for lack of a better word!) for crunchy oat cookies got the gears in my brain turning.

So I thought ... surely if I could bake a pancake with banana and eggs, I could make an oat cookie using a similar method. So I turned to trusty old pinterest to see if it has been done, I went through tons of recipes, a lot of them called for apple sauce, some called for vanilla essence, flaxseed, almond milk, the varieties are endless.

So based on what I read I decided to give it a go, with peanut butter of course, that's why they are 3 ingredient cookies, but if you don't dig the PB then skip it and turn them into 2 ingredient cookies!!

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
1 cup of raw instant oats (give or take, depending on the size of your bananas)
2 teaspoons of peanut butter

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Using a fork mash up the bananas in a bowl, try to get it quite smooth.
Add the oats and mix thoroughly until well combined. If you are using large bananas you'll need more than one cup of oats, otherwise your cookies won't be very crunchy but rather dense and chewy.

Mix in the peanut butter.
Once everything is well combined, add in your optional extras (apple and cinnamon, fudge pieces, dried cranberries, nuts and raisins or choc chips).
I went for the dark choc chips!

Roll the dough into balls of your preferred size and place them on a greased baking sheet. (I lined our oven pan with tin foil and sprayed it with cooking spray.)
Flatten the dough balls out, they don't spread or rise so you don't have to accommodate for a cookie spread when you place them on the tray.

Pop them in the oven for 15-20 minutes, the tops will go golden brown and the edges of the cookie will start browning.
Once they are ready, take them out the oven and let them cool.

The recipe yields between 12-16 cookies and the hardest part is not eating them all on the same day they were made...we did! OOPS!

At least we don't have to feel guilty about it, it was really just a banana, a teaspoon of peanut butter and half a cup of oats each with a sprinkling of choc chips!

They are surprisingly filling and would be great for breakfast on the go, or a pre/post workout snack.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any interesting variations I can try!!

Life lately - 20 February 2015

Hi everyone! I was very surprised to see my last life lately post was almost a month ago...Damn! I'm sorry! I know a few of you want to keep up with how things are going here and what we are up to, so here goes...

Last time we caught up I told you that we'd be moving in to our new apartment...we moved in, and we've been busy sorting out paper work and updating all the service providers with our details and all those fun things you have to worry about when you're an adult...I often wonder why I was in such a rush to grow up when I was little, then a few minutes later I remember - independence and freedom. I have no one moaning at me for going through a bottle of peanut butter a week (except Riaan HAHA!), but I have good reason, I'm still in search of a good replacement for Yum Yum...So far the Waitrose brand is in the lead, but I'm on my 3rd bottle from Waitrose and every bottle has tasted different - it' so weird!! Any London-based self-confessed peanut butter lovers willing to help a sista out??

Talking about peanut-butter...in case you missed it, here's a snap of the awesome peanut butter hot drink I found here! It's super tasty!!

So for the first week we got by with the bare minimum, not because we couldn't afford to buy everything we need but because we couldn't carry everything we needed to buy on our first trip three trips to the shops. It's so weird not having a car!! We ended up going to the shops three times to get the bedding right...THREE TIMES? IN ONE WEEKEND...That's not normal!! On the Saturday we bought a duvet inner, pillows, flat sheet and fitted sheet, but no duvet cover set because we couldn't find one we liked. We got home to discover the bed actually isn't a double, it's bigger, so we had to go exchange everything for the correct size - back to the shops! Then we got home to discover we got a valence sheet instead of a fitted sheet - so on Sunday we had to go exchange that. What a mission!! In and amongst all these trips we bought some groceries and a few basic kitchen utensils. The stuff urban survival is made of!

The following weekend we did some shopping in Stratford at the Westfield and on Sunday we missioned to Wembley to go to Ikea and Curry's PC World. The TV and TV stand we got at Curry's was so big and heavy that we didn't bother going to Ikea because we wouldn't be able to carry anything else, we had decided to get the TV and stand home by train because the delivery fee was a rip off. Well that was fun!

The following weekend we went to Ikea again, we spent almost the entire day there, it's just so big and fascinating. They literally have something for everything. I found stuff I never knew I needed, what sorcery is this?? We ended up buying some shelving solutions for our shelveless cupboards and some basic house stuff. The kind of stuff you don't realise how much you need/use it until you don't have it. Hangers, coat hook, shower caddy, clothes airer etc.

I love Ikea, we are going again tomorrow to order this awesome shelving unit for our lounge, and to get some decorative goodies for the apartment.

Image source

Last weekend we celebrated Valentines day and spent the day sightseeing and wondering around London. I will share our day in  photos with you soon! Here's a sneak peek for now!

We happened to see two vossies (foxes), one was next to the river on the south bank in between the restaurants. The other one was in the woods across the road from our apartment, that one told us the long awaited answer to the question "What does the fox say?"...The fox doesn't say anything, it screams, like a young girl being attacked. It's quite disturbing actually.

So that's it, a month summed up, nothing too exciting or eventful. Oh it snowed!! That was awesome, a tiny bit of snow, but hey who's counting, snow is snow!! Hope you enjoyed the post!!

Shrove Tuesday AKA Pancake Day

Since tomorrow is it's almost Shrove Tuesday AKA Pancake day here in London, I am going to share 2 recipes with you...

1 - The healthy banana pancake recipe I plan on trying for breakfast tomorrow morning (follow me on Instagram if you want to see how it turns out).

So since I started Kayla Itsines again today after a few months of being WAAAY to inactive, I decided to try healthy pancakes for Pancake day tomorrow!

I found the recipe for 4 ingredient choc chip pancakes here, but I'll be adapting it a little...

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup of ripe mashed banana
A pinch of baking powder

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Heat your pan and coat it with spray and cook.

Pour about 1/4 cup batter into the pan and spread it into a circle.

Let it cook until it's light brown, flip it over when the edges are dry and the bottom is pretty golden.  Cook it for about a minute on the other side.

Put the pancake in a plate to one side.

Continue making pancakes until all the batter is used up.

I'll be having my pancakes topped with peanut butter and apple, don't judge...just try it!!

2 - The recipe for the French crepes I made for Valentine's Breakfast this weekend.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of flour - sifted
250ml water
300ml milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Butter/spray and cook to coat the pan

Method:

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together, except the butter.

Make sure there are no lumps and the batter is well combined.

Set the batter aside for about an hour is better, or overnight in the fridge if possible.

Heat the pan over medium-high heat, melt a little bit of butter, just enough to lightly coat the pan, or coat it with spray and cook.

Pour the batter into center of pan, jug, cup or ladle. 

Spread with the ladle/swirl the batter until you've made a circle.

Cook for 2 minutes or until the edges start browning and bubbles form in the batter.

Flip (with the mad skills that I know you possess) and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.

Place the crepe in a plate to one side, continue making crepes until all the batter has been used up.

Re-grease the pan every few crepes.

Once all the batter has been used up, you can add all kinds of awesomeness to the crepes.

We melted nutella in and folded them over French style, and then served them with fresh dark red cherries and blueberries.

Note - I added a little extra milk to make batter and crepes thinner. You can play around according to your preference.

I was going to share Aunty Annies awesome pancake recipe with you but I need to find the additional notes to it, so keep an eye out for our recipe for awesome pancakes.

For a yummy savoury filling in your pancake/crepe try filling it with some cheese, a sprinkle of aromat and a few drops of tabasco, then pop it in the microwave until the cheese melts...AMAZEBALLS!!

What will you be making for pancake day? Traditional pancakes or something a little different?

A week in Paris - Day 5

On Friday we were supposed to go to the Palace of Versailles and tread in the dainty footsteps of Marie Antoinette through the extensive gardens. Unfortunately the gardens were closed due to the weather and heavy winds experienced during the week. Another thing for next time!!

So we had a day with absolutely no plans.

Before I tell you what we did on our completely open and unplanned last day in Paris I would like to introduce you to the Blue Cat...

The Blue Cat made it's way into our house (and friend group) in 2013 at "The awesomest party that never should have happened" - According to Melanie (pictured on the right). The Blue Cat attended various parties and was always a good conversation starter, so Cindy went and bought a second Blue Cat.

Before we left SA, on one of our last "kuiers" we decided that the Blue Cat would travel with us, one with Riaan and I, and one with Cindy and Marcelle. The Travelling Blue Cat would see all the awesome sights in the world, and go on the most amazing adventures!

And that brings me to our last day in Paris. Every single day so far, we had completely forgotten to take the Blue Cat with us, what idiots! So on our last day we took Blue Cat on it's first adventure, to see all the best that Paris has to offer.

We started off at the Arc de Triomphe, we didn't take many photos here, Parisians don't seem to have the best sense of humour early on a Friday...I think they were just jealous of our schweet hat!!

Then we took a stroll to the Eiffel Tower, it was such a beautiful day, naturally we had to take a few selfies ... lucky you, you only have to see this one!

We strolled through the Champs de Mars and stopped for some more photos, the Blue Cat enjoyed the Eiffel Tower, we have that in common. It was our third visit in 5 days!

We admired the view, and discussed the oddly trimmed trees in the background ... Feline a little playful the Blue Cat did a little photo bombing - the targets didn't seem to mind!!

 Can I reach the top??

 What about now???

 OK, fine! I'll just be cute!

 Oh yeah! People are looking at us funny, but we don't care, we're having a blast!

Can I reach the sides??? Nope!!
Hahaha, if you had a better photographer you'd probably be able to reach the sides!!

We admired Notre Dame, from all angles! And then...
...
...
The Hunchback of Notre Dame paid a little visit!

Ah man! I giggled so much at this! It was so funny! Riaan always knows how to make me laugh!! People looking at us like we're crazy, laughing! This is exactly what memories are made of!

We walked across the Seine, to show the Blue Cat the outdoor ice rink outside Hotel De Ville, but first we stopped to imagine what it would be like to live in that apartment up there. Such a pretty French apartment!

As you can see, we ended up being captivated by the guy blowing gigantic bubbles, it was much more entertaining than anything else.

Our last stop for the day was the Louvre Museum, after a few candid pictures we made our way home to enjoy a last bottle of French wine and pack our bags.

On Saturday we left our hotel and made our way to Gare Du Nord, only to find that our train to London was delayed indefinitely, we checked in at a hotel nearby and hung around waiting to hear what to do, at about 4pm they told us we had to come back in the morning for further news. So we had an extra day, that was pretty much over, but we made the most of it, we had a great dinner at a little bistro and a little too much red wine. On Sunday morning bright and early we went back to the station and were lucky enough to get the first train to London. It was a mad rush to go back to the hotel, check out, and get back to the station but we made it, and after being stuck on the train for another minor (2 hour) delay we finally got to London on Sunday afternoon.

In case you were wondering, at the moment the Blue Cat is in Canada on an awesome adventure with Cindy and Marcelle!!