Firmoo review

I'd like to start off by saying I'm sorry it took me so long to put together this post, I've been super busy sorting out my life, visas, packing stuff, selling stuff, and catching up on housework. FUN!! I know I'm late, but I'm sure you'll find it in you to forgive me?? Pretty please!! Anyway, as promised last week, here it is...my very first sponsored product review.

Please note that all opinions on this product and the service received are my own, I don't claim to be an expert in any way and I am simply expressing my opinion.

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Tina at Firmoo, if you are unfamiliar with them, Firmoo is an online optical store. Since I don't wear glasses I was very unsure of what to look for in terms of the glasses.  You can choose from tons of frames, and have your strength lenses put into your selected frame, or you can select a clear lense (like I did) and just use the glasses as a fashion accessory. They also sell some pretty cool sunglasses.

I started by deciding on the kind of frame I wanted, definitely black, preferably something that looks like the glasses Zooey Deschanel wears in New girl.

After browsing the frames for about 2 hours I decided on these, I really had a hard time deciding since I don't wear glasses, so I have no idea what would suit me. You have to give them the distance between your pupils, so off I went to the bathroom with my ruler to measure that myself, that was a laugh and a half. Do people that wear glasses know these things?? I also made use of the photo try-on...more on that later!

So I placed my order and 7 days later I received my glasses! Impressive is an under statement, I was expecting it to take at least 2 weeks since we live in South Africa and they are based in New York, also the delivery documents were in Chinese so I don't know if that's where the glasses came from.

I had the glasses delivered to Riaan's office, and he was like a kid at Christmas, he opened them up and sent me a few candid snaps!!

The glasses came with an awesome case, as well as a glasses bag.
Since I don't know much about the quality of glasses and how comfortable other glasses are compared to these, I have recruited Riaan to tell you about those aspects and what he liked about these glasses!!

"When I opened the parcel the first thing that caught my attention was the schweet ass case.
The printing on the case looks like a vintage map and the quality of it seems to be very sturdy. It also came with a pouch and repair tool. The pouch is nice and thick, and will offer more protection than my current pouch.

The initial feel of the glasses were very comfy and light, but after wearing them for about an hour, they got really uncomfortable above my ears - maybe the frame just didn't work with the shape of my head.

I quality tested them to quite an extent and they seem to be of good quality. I applied a fair amount of pressure on the lenses and they won't be falling out any time soon. The arms of the frame are also quite strong, when I bent them they didn't break off."

I don't think the pair I chose look too bad, the photo try-on facility works quite well, the glasses are a little uncomfortable, but that could just be due to the fact that I'm not used to wearing glasses. I would say the only downfall to buying glasses online is not being able to try them on, so you won't really know if they suite you or if they are comfortable.

All in all I think I made a good choice, what I like most about my pair is that they are unisex and they suit Riaan and I both!

Freebie alert!! They have a first pair free policy for new customers, it's only on a handful of frames but I think it's an awesome gesture, you can find out more about that here.

Based on the high service delivery, ease of use of their website, convenience and the quality of the product in relation to the price, I would most likely order from them if I wore prescription glasses.

A week away

Good morning everybody!

I have not fallen off the face of the planet, just incase you were wondering...

Blogging for 31 days in a row was quite a challenge, in the beginning I really didn't think it would be that difficult but we all know that blogging does take a bit of time so that ended up being my biggest challenge because October is always a busy month for me. This October was extra busy - I baked my first 3 tier wedding cake! It was delicious!

Last weekend we went to Sun City for a mini-break and on Sunday I was off to Durban for the week, I've been here since and although it has been quite overcast it's hot and humid as always! I'll be going home tomorrow and I can't wait, I'm missing my better half like crazy!!

So that's just a little catch up for now, I haven't had a chance to edit any pictures and to be honest with you I haven't really taken too many pictures. There are a few snaps up on my Instagram account if you want to see what I've been up to.

On Sunday I'll be posting my first sponsored product review so stay tuned for that, I was quite excited when approached because it's a first for me!

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!