2014 in summary

2014 was quite a year, it was challenging and rewarding, we had lots of fun BUT it was frustrating at times and it definitely taught me A LOT!

January:
In January I learnt A LOT about myself, besides the fact that I confirmed that I'm a little dyslexic - I've known it all along (See pic above) hahaha! I learnt that I value myself more than others' opinions and that I actually don't care what others think or have to say about me because I am a good person, I do things with love and kindness from the bottom of my heart and I like who I am and I won't be changing for anyone.

February:
In February we competed in our first warrior race, for those of you that don't know what it is, it's an obstacle course race that sees you running climbing walls crawling through mud and swimming through dam water, it was absolute fun - beside the fact that I nearly died...slipping off the edge of a platform a few stories high as I was about to jump into a pit of water, my head missed the side of the pit by centimetres and I completely winded myself, not fun!! We chose red as our team colour, needless to say that shirt never made it back into my cupboard!

March:
March was amazing, besides for it being a huge birthday month in our family, I graduated from UNISA, with my BCompt Accounting Degree, after 5 years of part-time studying, the hard work and dedication paid off! Booya!! But of course it doesn't end there, I enrolled for ACCA and wrote my first exam in the beginning of December, hopefully by this time next year I'll be qualified!

April:
In April we celebrated our first wedding anniversary, we went to Swaziland for the long weekend and had some well deserved R&R! The first year of our marriage flew by and I can't believe that we are already running head first towards our second wedding anniversary.Oh, I also cut my own bangs back in after the weekend in Swaziland, it went quite well actually but I get bored so quickly so I let them grow out again.

May:
May was pretty uneventful, but we did get our gorgeous little black kitty, Arya. South Africa also had it's fifth general election, unfortunately corruption still triumphed and the ANC won the elections again. Hopefully next time the DA wins.

June:
I'm already over this post, recapping on a year is such a long post!!! Hang in there peeps, we're half way! June was pretty uneventful for us, but I did bake this awesome chocolate fondant for Fathers Day, best chocolate desert EVER!!

July:
In July I baked a lot, is it just me or do I seem to be getting better and better? JK!I'm enjoying the baking challenges this year, I did lots of very awesome cakes. I almost forgot and had to come add this in after re-reading my post... Our Flavourful Life was born this month, I've enjoyed every step of the blogging journey so far and I thank you guys for reading and the comments, much appreciated!!

August:
In August I went to Dubai, it was ridiculously hot, but it was awesome, it's such a beautiful place with so much to see and do, we will definitely be making a stop over for a couple of days when we come back to SA for a visit!

September:
September saw us telling all our friends and family that we'll be immigrating to the UK, with only 10 days to go now, it's very real!! Luckily our family and friends are supporting us all the way, and they are excited for as, they are the absolute best!

October:
I dyed my hair purple!! It wasn't as much of an impulse decision as I had been contemplating it for a while. I loved it! BUT it's high maintenance, it fades unbelievably quickly despite being a permanent colour. I also baked my second solo wedding cake for friends of ours, it was delicious! The cakes are definitely getting better and better!! I took part in my first blogtober, it grew my readership and I think it made me a better blogger! Also we can't forget that Oscar Pistorius got sentenced for murder...5 years in prison, not enough if you ask me...

November:
November was quite chilled, I went to Durban for a week, we threw a surprise 50th birthday party for my Dad, started sorting all our plans for Paris and London and I finished up with work for the year. I can't believe I've been done with work for a whole month already!

December:
And finally, December, it was easily the busiest month of my life, I wrote exams, we sold almost all our belongings, packed what was left into a few boxes and suitcases and moved out of our house, in between all of that we have had farewells, Christmas and New Years. It's been super busy but lots and lots of fun!

A few of my favourite songs from 2014:
John Legend - All of me
Taylor Swift - Shake it off, Blank Space (I'm loving Taylor Swift lately, it's all about the catchy lyrics!)
Meghan Trainor - All about that bass
Ed Sheeran - Thinking out loud
George Ezra - Budapest
Coldplay - A sky full of stars
Ellie Goulding - How long will I love you
Imagine Dragons - Demons
The Vamps - Somebody to you

A few things I'll be happy to see stay behind in 2014:
Justin Bieber - This little boy needs a smack!
Miley and her tongue and gyrating antics.
Kim K and her butt, and her sex diets, BS!!
Hacked/Stolen nude pics and sex lists, seriously people, this stuff should be private, don't put it in the cloud.
Missing planes.
Internet trolls.
Bae.

A few things I'd like to see more of in 2015:
Celeb group selfies like this one

People treating other people the right way.
Honesty in people and also less corruption in governments.
More feminism...

That's the end of this long-ass post!! Thank you all for sticking around with me and stopping by throughout the year!

What would you like to see more/less of in 2015?

My Halloween Costume...#Blogtober14 Day 31

So it's officially the last day of #Blogtober14, I have enjoyed this challenge so much and I loved linking up with other new bloggers, it was awesome!! Having said that, I can't wait to start a weekly series or two and get back to posting recipes, and lifestyle goodies.

As I mentioned over here, Halloween isn't really a thing in South Africa, and our group of friends have not planned anything this year, so no real dress up costume from me. I learnt an interesting fact today though, in the Southern Hemisphere it is actually Beltane (beginning of summer) today, it's kind of the opposite of Halloween which is also known as Samhain (beginning of winter) in the Northern Hemisphere.

According to this source, Beltane is a holiday of Union - both between the Goddess and the God and between man and woman. Handfastings (Pagan marriages) are traditional at this time. It is a time of fertility and harvest, the time for reaping the wealth from the seeds that we have sown. Celebrations include braiding of one's hair (to honour the union of man and woman and Goddess and God), circling the Maypole for fertility and jumping the Beltane fire for luck. They also say that Samhain (Halloween) is the Wiccan New Year. This is the time of year when the veil between the world of the dead and the world of the living is said to be it's thinnest. Spirits and souls of loved ones are said to have more power and ability to visit us. This is the time of year for remembering and honouring our dead, and many people will leave a plate of food and a glass of wine out for wandering sprits.

I found this really interesting, I didn't know that Halloween was actually a Wiccan celebration. Happy halloween to everyone celebrating!

If I were dressing up for Halloween this year, I would go full on Katy Perry!!

But instead, Riaan and I will be spending the weekend lounging alongside the pool at Sun City, soaking up some vitamin D, so the only costume I'll be putting on will be my bikini!!

What will you be getting up to this weekend??

Facts about me...#Blogtober14 Day 30

I very excited today!! I got my UK Visa and it's now official that we'll be moving to London in January!! That's fact number 1! As for the rest of this post I am just going to tell you a bunch of random facts about me today, some might be super random and others you might already know since I did post a few facts about myself on my One Lovely Blog Award Post.

I love it when people get personal and reveal a little bit about themselves, it just makes them seem more real.
It also gives a bit of insight about what kind of person they are. Hopefully my facts give good insight to the type of person I am...Here they are:

- I really want to learn to take amazing photos, so we'll be investing in a kick-ass camera soon!!

- Riaan say's I went to Hogwarts because our school song was not your normal school song and I loved it there, I actually went to Colin Mann Primary School, I really did love it there,though!

- I won the Best Chocolate Cake in South Africa Competition last year, it was awesome!

- I have big feet...size 8 to be precise!

- In school I enjoyed sport, I played netball, cricket and soccer, I also did cross country running, swimming and shotput.

- My favourite TV show in highschool was Ugly Betty, I could relate to her. It was second to Grey's Anatomy though, which is still a firm favourite of mine.

- I prefer red wine to white wine.

- One day Riaan and I will run the 2 Oceans Half Marathon, it's claimed to be the world's most beautiful race.

- I love animals, especially giraffes, they're my absolute favourite!

- I enjoy being active, running, riding bike, exercising, you name it, I'm game!!

- My cocktail of choice is a frozen margarita.

- I love the sound of rain tapping on a window, I also love sleeping in a tent when it rains, it's so peaceful, haven't done it in years though.

- I love being creative, I bake, scrapbook and paint to release my creative juices.

- I'm a bit of a social media addict, not too much though.

- I love watching live bands, I hope to see Coldplay, Green Day, My Chemical Romance and Mumford and Sons live.

- I was born on my mom's 21st birthday!

- I am one of those girls that's lucky enough to have an awesome mom-in-law, we get along like a house on fire!

I think that's enough for now, hopefully you enjoyed it!!

My most embarrassing moment...#Blogtober14 Day 29

Only two days left of #Blogtober14, I can't believe it's almost over and that I blogged almost every day for 31 days straight!!

I think today's prompt could get quite interesting so head over to Helene's blog to find some more entertaining posts.

I have had so many embarrassing things happen to me in my life, mostly because I'm a complete ditz, so a good giggle is never far away, luckily I've come to accept it, and so have mine and Riaan's families.

The time I ripped a light fitting out of the roof...at a bar!

Let me start of by saying this probably would have been much less embarrassing if I had been a little drunk, but unfortunately that's not the case. A couple of years ago we met up with a couple of friends at a local bar, it was a rather busy evening and the bar was buzzing, everyone was in a good mood and the music was good, there was a live band playing - this resulted in me and my two best friends dancing on our chairs, and then on the table. We had only had a drink or two each, it was still early in the evening (I promise!!).

So there we were, shaking our behinds, waving our hands in the air, really enjoying the music and having the best time, the song ended and we promptly hopped of the table, we were so busy laughing and singing that I never realised my bangle had hooked onto the light fitting - I wouldn't call it a chandelier, it's one of those old school pub lights that takes three globes (you can see in the background of the picture of hooligan Caitlin below - taken on the night) - anyway, as I hopped off the table, hands still in the air the light fitting ripped out of the ceiling and we shrieked in shock, then we had a good laugh, I untangled my bangle from the light and apologised to the waitress.

Riaan and I - We've changed alot!

Hooligan Caitlin

It was so embarrassing, we moved to another table outside, where no one had seen what happened, people kept laughing at the situation and making comments the whole evening.

We still laugh about that evening to this day, these are the things memories are made of after all!

Superstitions...#Blogtober14 Day 28

Things I am superstitious about, there are a few...Friday the 13th is definitely one of them! Crossing paths with a black cat isn't...more on those two in a few.

I think there are certain superstitions that are a load of rubbish, but some of them I stick to, just because it makes me feel better.

Like I said I'm not superstitious of black cats, I have one, Arya, and she is the cutest, most playful little thing. I love her so much, she makes us laugh all the time and we haven't had any bad luck since we got her (Touch wood!).

Here are a few of the things I am superstitious about:

1. Saying touch wood & preferably touching something wooden in order to avoid tempting fate after making a favourable observation.
2. Friday the 13th - My brother has broken his leg and been involved in a car accident on Friday the 13th.
3. Making wishes - I believe in making wishes on dandelions, eyelashes, birthday candles (only if you blow them all out in one breath), wishbones and shooting stars. And you can't tell anyone what you wished for!!
4. Good luck - Finding a four leaf clover and crossing your fingers, apparently these bring good luck, and for some odd reason I believe it...
5. Bad luck - Walking under a ladder or breaking a mirror, these are things I try to avoid.
6. Frogs/toads cause warts - Gross, anything to not have to touch a frog!!
7. You must put money in a wallet/purse when giving it as a gift, otherwise the recipient will have bad luck with money.

That's just a few, but the ones I believe most.
YAY!! I'm back on schedule!!  Can't believe we only have 3 days left of blogtober, this makes me quite sad, I have made so many blogger friends along the way!

A letter to my younger self...#Blogtober14 Day 27

Hello Mony (Hahaha yes this is your nick name at four, it is said with love and fondness, but don't worry, you outgrow it!)

Mom plays Billy Idol's song Mony Mony for you all the time - that's your song!! I still listen to it now, it's great!!

Listen, you need to be more careful, you're a 4 years young little lady, perhaps you should calm down a little, nah you have a great childhood, carry on, just be careful, you break, crack and fracture so many bones in your youth. It hurts! Believe me!!

I know that by now you have already broken your right thumb, I don't know if you've had stitches in you chin yet though...if you haven't then great, no chin scar! (P.S. building a tower of chairs on your pink play table, scurrying to the top and jumping off is not a good idea!! Don't do it!) If you have done that already, I'm sorry, you're going to have that chin scar for the rest of your life!

I'm not saying don't have fun, I'm just saying if you carry on like this you end up breaking your wrist - that wasn't you fault, some silly girl tripped you while you were playing netball, you also crack your right elbow, fracture the same elbow and crack the left wrist in one shot. I think that's about all, but don't worry you're not alone, your little brother ends up breaking a lot more bones than you do!

I know you probably want to go play with your little brother now, he's got a lot of new toys from his 1st birthday party last weekend.

Lots of Love,
Future you

I know I'm behind, but I'm catching up!!

What a weekend!! & #Blogtober 14 Days 25 & 26

This weekend was pretty awesome and super busy!!
We celebrated the wedding of close friends of ours, Derick & Mariaan.
The setting: A farm-style rustic, vintage wedding. It was beautiful, the colour scheme was black, white and grey. All of the accents were wooden with a vintage vibe.
Mariaan made a beautiful bride and Derick looked handsome, they suit one another so well!!
We partied into the wee hours of the morning, and after a brief 4 hour power snooze we were up and about, we had breakfast at the venue and chatted about the evening's events.
What a lovely way to spend a weekend!!

As a result of the awesome celebrations on Saturday and the lethargic Sunday I missed days 25 & 26, so now it's time for a little catch-up!!

My favourite book - Day 25
Well that's just unfair!! I can hardly remember the names of 15% of the books I have read in my lifetime!!
There are just so many good ones!! At the moment I am reading The Fault in our Stars and The Book Thief, I regret watching The Fault in our Stars before reading the book, I have yet to watch The Book Thief, not making that mistake again!!

My favourite is definitely the Harry Potter set. My Gran came back from London when I was about 13 with the first 3 books for me, I was so excited. I read them within a couple of days. As the books came out I read them, my aunt/great gran were sending them to me from the UK, I love that I got my set from the country in which it was written. Hopefully someday I'll get them autographed!

Who would play me - Day 26
I can think of a few, if we were going on personalities I would say Kate Hudson, Emma Watson or Lea Michelle. They are straight-forward, hard working ladies. What I like about Kate is her quirky, gutsy attitude and her fun, bubbly sense of humour, Emma is a feminist and I grew up watching her grow up, also she's smart and down-to-earth, Lea on the other hand sings, dances and is a determined, strong young woman...All of which are traits that I see in myself.

If we're going on looks, right now it'd be Katy Perry, thanks to the purple hair!!

Otherwise Kaley Cuoco Sweeting, or Mila Kunis. I've also been told I look like Drew Barrymore. I don't see it though...

One beauty product I can't live without...#Blogtober14 Day24

I'm late, I know, but with good reasons! Note: REASONS!!

1. I've been toying with the idea of changing my hair colour for a while now, for about the past three months every time I see a girl on pinterest with purple hair I feel like "I need that in my life!".
So! Today I took the plunge. Purple hair!! Oh yeah!!

Let me know what you think??

2. I spent my day baking a wedding cake! Its a 3 layer vintage cake, vanilla, red velvet and carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting. I obviously can't post any pictures of the cake until after the wedding. So you can expect a few snaps on Sunday!!

3. It's my father-in-laws birthday! So we went out for a lovely dinner to celebrate.

Now that I've finally got a break I can do my Blogtober post.

The one beauty product I can't live without is a nude eyeshadow palette. At the moment I'm using Avon (it's in the car because that's where I normally do my make up lol), the eye shadows I use usually vary between Yardley, Avon and Rimmel. I'm not really a make up girl. I prefer a natural make up look. My usual look would be a nude shadow, with eye liner and mascara. That's it!

I have recently discovered Garnier BB Cream, it's amazeballs! I was at the supermarket to by my usual even tone Garnier moisturiser but then I found the BB Cream, which does exactly the same as the even tone cream but has a tint to it so it provides a light coverage. No extra time spent applying foundation! Perfect!!

 

What's your number one beauty product??

 

My favourite editing apps...#Blogtober14 Day23

Today we're talking about editing apps. If you want to join in on #Blogtober14 link-up with Helene & Tay, it's never too late to start! The more the merrier!

Editing photos takes up alot of time, especially when it comes to the blog.
I seriously had no idea what a mission it can be editing photos until I started this blog, sure I've worked with photoshop a couple of times but I am by no means an expert!
When it comes to editing photos for my blog I'm a picmonkey junkie!! What I love about picmonkey is the user friendliness and ease of use.

On 2 Broke Girls Max said "Twitter is stupid and Instagram is Twitter for people who can't read", that made me laugh so hard! But I love instagram, really I do. I like seeing what my friends are getting up to. You can follow me on instagram @ simmyvos.

My typical instagram process goes like this:
I take a photo using my phone camera - never the instagram camera.

I then edit it in Photo Grid, this is a free app and it's super handy. You can edit single pictures, and put a coloured background/frame around it so that the entire picture fits into the instagram frame. You can also make photogrids, collages and video slides on it. It has some awesome filters and is super easy to use.

If I want to add some words to a picture I use InstaQuote, it's a fairly simple app but has a few pretty fonts and does the job so why complicate things??

At one stage I was using Cupslice and Snapseed aswell, Cupslice is a bit limited in terms of it's capabilities while Snapseed has some really cool filters as well as editing options.

Then I go into instagram, upload my photo, hashtag away and post!!

Whyyyyy?? Just why????...#Blogtober14 Day 22

I have a couple of pet peeves, but not too many, thank goodness. There are days when I am way more irritable than others, on these dreaded days EVERYTHING will tick me off. From a sidewards glance to some idiot in the traffic that is driving like it's Sunday.

Here are a few of my pet peeves:
 1. People that don't know how a traffic circle works.
 2. People that click/crack their knuckles.
 3. People that wear crocs or worse, sandals with socks. WHY???
 4. Slow drivers.
 5. People that post attention seeking statuses on facebook - this is not your diary.
 6. Guys who think they are God's gift to women and can't take a hint.
 7. When my nails are wet and I smash them or they chip 2 days after being painted.
 8. People that have no idea what personal space is, they come right up to your face to talk to you or they stand against you in a queue, seriously, what's that all about?
 9. People that don't know the difference between two, to, too / there, their / were, we're.
 10. People that think they are better than everyone else because of their beliefs or religion.
 11. Facebook game requests!
 12. People that stop the microwave when there is 1 second left.
 13. Tangled cables, headphones or necklaces.
 14. Being judged on your taste in music.
 15. People that don't wash their hands, you know when you're sitting on the loo and you hear someone flush, the door opens, then the exit door closes, but the tap never goes on...now I have to touch that same door handle you touched with you unwashed hand? GROSS!!
 16. When Riaan watches me putting my make-up on.
 17. Couples that don't share their food at restaurants...mostly because we do it alllll the time.
 18. When people take forever to put their stuff in the overhead compartments on the plane causing the mother of all traffic jams.
 19. Traffic cops.
 20. The South African justice system along with the Government.

OK...So I actually do have alot of pet peeves, I could go...but I won't. These things make me feel like this.

Am I the only one or do these things annoy you too? What other things get your panties in a bunch??

My dream vacation...#Blogtober14 Day 21

I have a bucket list of destinations, there are so so many... but here are my top 10!

I'm super excited that in January I'll be crossing off numbers 1 and 7 of the top 10! Although we don't have time to do my dream France holiday in January, one day we will!

My dream holiday in France would start with a week in Paris, seeing the sights and spending at least a day in Versailles and a day in Montmarte. Then we would hire a car and drive through the country to Marseille, spend a few days there, spend a few days in Nice, and go right down south to a little fishing village called Meillon which is where my great grandfather was from!

Nice - France

One of the places that I would love to go to that isn't on my top 10 list is Bora Bora! Definitely worthy of the dream vacation title!! I mean just look at it!!

It just doesn't get much better than this!! I could easily spend 2 weeks lounging aroung here!

Ah, enough dreaming now, time to get back to planning the January trip!! Paris here we come! Allons-y!!