Life lately - 16 March 2015

Time sure does fly when you're having fun...or when you are just crazy busy!!

Since we last caught up I had my first full pay cheque, and that only means one thing...shopping!! 30 kg's worth of clothing/personal belongings really isn't that much when you unpack it.

We ventured down Oxford Street 2 weeks ago and wandered in and out of the hundreds of shops that line the street, Primark was the most fruitful destination on that day! We went back to Oxford Street on Saturday afternoon, this time for Riaan (ok, mostly for Riaan - I couldn't resist a new handbag from Aldo, mine saw its ass this week!!)

We located the ONLY Steers in London and embarked on an adventure along the South Bank with our eye on the prize - a juicy King Steer Burger!! We ended up walking all the way to Steers (12 miles), which really isn't that bad when you're just strolling along taking in the beauty of the River Thames. It's on adventures like these that we find awesome places...like this craft beer boat!!

We have both got our NI numbers and I'm waiting for my residence card from Home Office, hopefully we get it before the end of April...we need our passports back because we want to go to the Netherlands for our second wedding anniversary, continuing the tradition (or starting the tradition? It can't be a tradition after only doing it once right?? Hmmmm food for thought!!) of going to a new place for every anniversary. *Awwww*

I started my weekend lectures for ACCA the weekend before last, which is why I've been so busy. I spent the week in Oxford, and I'm spending this week there aswell, it's such a pretty little town. Emphasis on the little!

On Saturday we went to Camden Market! It is awesome and I highly recommend this, if you have a open Saturday with nothing to do, head down to Camden Market! Take a few hours and just browse the stalls, there is literally something for everyone there! Art, antiques, food, clothing, home decor and random gadgets. I found a 60's style pin up dress that I love...I see another shopping mission in the near future!

My favourite face!!

Yummy!!!

After Camden we went to Oxford Street and after all the shopping we were ravenous! We roamed the streets of Soho and in true Riaan and Simone style it took us over an hour to decide where to eat! We eventually settled on a lovely little Italian Restaurant we found called Stefs. We had champs to celebrate Riaan's new job... he starts tomorrow!! Oh and some delicious italian food , creamy mussels, calamari, and linguine with salmon and spinach, accompanied by a smooth red of course!

Somewhere in Soho

Our plans for the next few weekends include the Portobello Road Market, lectures, Brighton for our birthdays and some random wandering adventures!

If you have any suggestions about where we should go or places you'd like to go to that we can test out for you, let me know in the comments below!!

Living in London - 5 Essential Apps

I'm a very excited girl! More than one of my friends is looking to move to London and/or the UK in general in the coming months. Some have spilled the beans recently and some we knew about before we left, either way it's all very exciting!!

So, I have taken it upon myself to help them (and anyone else looking to take an amazing leap of faith) out. I will provide knowledge where I can and share what we've learnt in our first 2 months in London.

My 5 Essential Apps

 1. City Mapper
City mapper is my new BFF...for realsies!! I just tell it where I am, and where I want to be and it will tell me how to get there (walk, cycle, taxi, tube - along with a multitude of different line options, bus), how long my different options will take and how much said option would cost. It gives you to the minute updates on train statuses, which pretty freaking awesome! It also has a "more rain safe" option, perfect for the unpredictable weather in London!! We've actually been rather lucky since we got here, but I do believe it will start raining more as it gets warmer...

2. Google Maps
When I'm looking for my nearest tesco/waitrose/sainsburys I just type it into google maps and they pop up all over my screen, little red dots of convenience! It's just as helpful when you're wandering around London, on a general explore and want to see what's in your immediate surroundings. Don't forget to zoom in and take a screen shot if you're low on battery power, GPS can drain that very quickly!

3. Whatsapp/Viber/Skype
ET phone home! Whatever your preferred method of communicating with your loved ones back home, it will become your daily go to.

4.Wingit/Hype
These nifty little apps tell you about cool/fun things happening in your area/wherever you find yourself wandering around wondering what to do on a Saturday/Sunday or any day really.

5.Word Lens
This app isn't really applicable for London, we only really used it in France, but if you find yourself if a foreign restaurant/shop in London this will definitely come in handy. You enter your language and the language to be translated and then, using your phone's camera you aim to the text to be translated (as if you were going to take a photo) and your phone will translate the text to your chosen language!

There are a few more apps that I will be trying out over the next few months as we settle in, I'll be sure to let you know what they are and how good/helpful they are.

So, that's it for now, I'll be back soon, sooner than last time, I promise!

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??