lately I’m…

>> Reading Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman. This man. I’m obsessed, especially after discovering and reposting this video. He is a master of tales and characters. Cannot wait to get stuck into more of his work.
>> Watching The Great Gatsby on DSTV Box Office. Over and over again. I know a lot of people didn’t like Baz Luhrman’s interpretation of Fitzgerald’s classic, but man, the clothes, the music, the colours. And the enchanting Carey Mulligan… On repeat.
>> Drinking a Savana. But not out of a can. That’s just gross. Also, lots of ice cold water with lemon. Perfect for hot spring days and lemon is great for detoxing. Which I’m always in need of with my crazy lifestyle.
>> Eating lots of crunchy salads and especially enjoying the healthy, wholesome lunches at Cafe Bloom. And a pretty environment in which to sit and eat never hurt either.
>> Sponsoring my most favourite blog, indieberries, created by one of the coolest people I know, Che. Pop on over to look at my pretty ad space and if you haven’t already discovered indieberries, see ya later. You’ll be stuck there for days. Also, if you are a blogger, business owners, photographer, designer, general-all-round-cool-person, click here to sponsor indieberries too.
>> Dreaming about my holiday in Italy. Yes, I have decided that that is where I am going next year. Bottom line. Currently spending all the spare time pinning to my love(italy) Pinterest board.
>> Listening to Miley Cyrus. What?
>> Stalking Emma Jane Nation. This blog is my new favourite happy place. Also this post inspired said determination to visit Italy next year. And now you wanna go too, right? Let’s ALL go.
>> Shopping at the brand new Typo shop at Liberty Mall in Pietermaritzburg. Yes, you heard right. The Midlands opened a new shop before Durban did. And it’s glorious!
>> Totally digging this lady’s instagram feed, as well as her awesome illustrations.
>> Wearing pyjamas and my old Pass Out shirt. And the only pair of the four new pairs of jeans Andrew bought for me from London which actually fits. Which brings me to…
>> Running. EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Clockwise from top:  Vernazza, Italy (source); indieberries blog (source); my stash of new jeans; Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors; lunch at Cafe Bloom; illustration by Kat Cameron (source).

the hiatus

For various reasons, I have decided to remove my personal page from the land of Facebizzle.  It may be for a week, a month or forever. I guess I have reached the point where I can’t take reading updates from hundreds of  people whom I don’t have phone numbers for or whom I haven’t seen or heard from in ten years (or more).  These last few months I have found myself hiding more and more stories in my news feed from a number of “friends” – namely the ones spreading racist, narrow-minded links or other silly things that distract me from the primary task at hand: writing, working, exercising, blogging, being a good wife, a great friend and an inspired person.  I found myself more and more frequently logging off from Facebook with a bad taste in my mouth and so for now, maybe forever, I’m logging off for good.  I realise that I may lose some regular blog readers from my lack of personal Facebook to blog links, but I figure that if any of my FB friends really did enjoy reading this blog, they will eventually find their way back here. 

In the meantime, if you are one of those people who relied on my personal links to get to my blog and are looking for other ways to keep updated with new posts, you should follow me on one (or all) of the following:

Bloglovin’: this is a great app to have on your phone or iPad – a central site where you can follow all of your favourite blogs and which lets you know whenever a blog you have subscribed to publishes a new post.  Click here to follow midlands musings (and all your other favourite blogs) on Bloglovin’.

Twitter: if you’re not on Twitter yet, you should be. Especially if you’re clever and have a sick good sense of humour. With only a 140 character limit to work with, you have to be razor sharp to get your point across in one update.  Follow midlandsmusings on twitter by clicking here.

Instagram: the ultimate hipster app, Instagram has exploded in the last few months. An instant photo sharing application, it’s the perfect platform to display your mad photography skills or simply share snippets of your daily life with friends and followers. Follow me on Instagram by clicking here.

Pinterest: Well, now. This is the female equivalent to the X-box. If you possess a vagina and you’re not yet a member of Pinterest, I’m not sure if we can be friends. {I KID. KINDA} Be prepared to lose hours of your life to this magical wonderland.  In fact, I have literally been pinning inspiration and motivation into my daily life since I joined in 2011. Game-changer. Also, great for virtual window-shopping when your bank account is empty. Follow me on Pinterest by clicking here.

Facebook Fan Page:  I do still have my Midlands Musings fan page on Facebook linked to an anonymous administrator from which I will link my blog posts every day. To like Midlands Musings on Facebook, click here and then click the little thumbs up Like button (some people really battle with this part).

Email Subscription:  If you visit my blog’s homepage and scroll down a bit, you will see an option on the right hand column saying “follow blog via email” – simply put in your email address and you will then be sent an email every time a new post is published.

Easy, hey? So no excuses for not keeping updated – I promise I will try to share links on all of the above every time I write a new post. Deal?

Have a great week – I’m hoping for a healthy, happy one filled with lots of running sessions in this gorgeous warm weather!

With love x

Me with a pug puppy. To make your Monday better. It’s a pleasure. X

stripes bevok

Excuse me, I’m having a fashion moment.  Although I live on a farm now and don’t often get an occasion to dress up, I have always, and will always love clothes.  Not shoes so much – I’m a firm believer in owning no more than eleven pairs – all you really need is running trainers, Converse, flat boots, high-heel boots, pumps, open toe high heels in black and nude, wedges, closed heels for winter in black, pretty leather summer sandals and Havianas. :)  Anything else is a variation of this – but these are the essentials on the shoe front.  I’d much rather spend money on clothes than shoes, so as long as I have the basics, I’m good.  Many moons ago, I was an intern at Marie Claire magazine in Cape Town and man, was it fun.  Besides the fact that I was only paid R250 a week, which I made up for by working at Jo Borkett in the evenings (30% off staff account booyah) I absolutely adored working at a fashion magazine.  Every day was a fashion show and we were surrounded by beautiful clothes all the time.  You could try out the latest, scariest trends mixed with your oldest threads to work, and it would be appreciated.  You could put your entire wardrobe to work.  The more vintage the piece, the better, and the bigger the bargain – well, hell, you were hailed on high, as contrary to popular belief, magazines pay KAK salaries.  These days, however, if I wear high heels to Sapore on a Friday night everyone wants to know what the special occasion is.  Hey, I thought changing out of my pj’s and leaving the farm was an occasion, but then that’s just me.  From a little girl, I LOVED wearing dresses and heels, which I called my klip-klop shoes – I had a beloved patent red pair my grandmother bought me.  Very risque, but man they were the bomb.  I loved going to Rhodes University because there was always at least one dress-up party a weekend – FUN.  And Cape Town… well, in Cape Town you can do and wear what you want and no one even flinches.  Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that I love clothes, and thank God for Pinterest, because I get to live vicariously through all the beautiful outfits pinned on my Threads board.  And it was while I was furiously pinning outfits this morning that I came across this beautiful image of a young Bridget Bardot in a breton striped top:

How freakin’ cool/beautiful/gorgeous?  I just luuuurrrrve stripes.  In my wardrobe I have striped shirts, striped dresses, striped cardigans, striped skirts, striped scarves and striped socks.  I almost put my bridesmaids in breton stripes, I swear.  It was close.  In my humble opinion, there is nothing more classic and elegant than a breton stripe.  After finding the Bridget Bardot image, I searched pinned a little deeper – take a peek at the evolution of the humble breton stripe.

Nothing says casual chic like a classic breton striped tee.  Officially obsessed.  So I started trawling the interwebs to try find a good one – what I’d really like is an exact replica of Bridget Bardot’s in the first image… and can I tell you that a good, long sleeved, navy blue and white striped shirt is blerrie difficult to find.  This one by Michelle Ludek on 36boutiques is the closest I got – the stripes aren’t quite thick enough and the neckline is a little too scooped, but it looks like it’s the best out there – unless anyone else has seen anything better?  Please let me know, because I plan on rocking one all winter long.  And now I just need a black leather jacket to wear over it.  Oh, and a paying job to afford all this.  That might come in handy. ;)

PS: This post is dedicated to my best friend, Bryony, who is the only person I know to rock a breton stripe better than Coco herself. XXX

Images: source

London Calling

I don’t know if I have mentioned this yet, but we’re going on honeymoon in May – in 40 days and 40 nights time!  Since we were married back in February, I have found myself in what I like to call: “honeymoom limbo”.  This means that I sit around, daydreaming of our forthcoming holiday which will include London, Big Ben, Picadilly, Nottingham (I know, it rhymes.  I totally planned it)…oh, and the CARIBBEAN.  While I am super excited for sun, beach and cocktails I am REALLY keen to explore a bit of London again.  Last time we were there it was December 2010 (remember when they shut down all the airports beacuse of heavy snow – yep, of course we were there then) and it was cold, grey and miserable:

I was still SO excited (note the Big Ben Picture) to be there despite the fact that my extremeties almost froze off and I pretty much lived in three layers of clothing for the whole two weeks we were there.  We are in London in May this year so I am hoping it will be slightly warmer… but you never know – either way I’m so looking forward to exploring and touring and eating and catching up with family and friends before hitting the islands.  In the meantime, I will keep pinning/pining over pics of London like these:

Ooooooo ek kan nie wag nie!!!!

Images: source

pinning the interests {some recent favourites}

If you haven’t joined Pinterest yet, I’m not sure if we can be friends.  I LOVE Pinterest.  Obsessed might be a better word.  And have you tried Pinterest on an iPad? Oh my god, it’s waaaay better than on a PC.  If forced to make a choice, I’d chose Pinterest over Facebizzle, Twizzle and Instagram any day.  Pinterest is my happy place – the one site I go to when I need a dose of inspiration, a fix of fashion, a pinch of pretty and a virtual shopping spree.  For the last six months, my pins have all been a wedding-gaga.  It’s been quite refreshing to get back to some “normal” pinning again.  Here are a few favourite recents.  Hook me up on pinterest here >> kezleroux

You can tell a lot about a person by their pins… What do these tell you about me?

Join Pinterest, if you haven’t already.  Then we can be maats.

Images: source