year of the dress

this is my first picture for 'year of the dress' on twitter. i was given this designer beauty by three friends for my birthday. a friend of mine sources exquisite clothing internationally for her boutique in stanford, called jaipur rose. it has already attracted a cult following, with people driving from all over for these designer beauties, sourced from all over the world. the cost? an average of R500 a dress... i've discovered peach - hold me back!

fowler's baubles

my friend, lauren fowler, recently launched a spellbinding range of necklaces - and i was lucky enough to receive one for my birthday! order your own here on her website or find her at her new studio in woodstock here

taking hearts to the next level

tutorial here

domestic goddess ambitions

my next list of desires (in order to attain domestic goddess status) is this set of 4 heart-shaped ramekins to accompany my large heart-shaped casserole dish - perfect for making individual warm puddings!  of course, to make these puddings, i would need a kitchenaid mixer - i just won't stop until i get one! i found these on the yuppiechef website here

mojo pin

 I'm lying in my bed, the blanket is warm
This body will never be safe from harm
Still feel your hair, black ribbons of coal
Touch my skin to keep me whole

If only you'd come back to me
If you laid at my side
Wouldn't need no mojo pin
To keep me satisfied

Don't want to weep for you
I don't want to know
I'm blind and tortured
The white horses flow
The memories fire
The rhythms fall slow
Black beauty, I love you so

Precious, precious silver and gold
And pearls in oyster's flesh
Drop down we two to serve and pray to love
Born again from the rhythm
screaming down from heaven
Ageless, ageless and I'm there in your arms

Don't want to weep for you
I don't want to know
I'm blind and tortured
The white horses flow
The memories fire
The rhythms fall slow
Black beauty, I love you so

The welts of your scorn, my love, give me more
Send whips of opinion down my back, give me more
Well it's you I've waited my life to see
It's you I've searched so hard for

Don't want to weep for you
I don't want to know
I'm blind and tortured
The white horses flow
The memories fire
The rhythms fall slow
Black beauty, I love you so

ipod docking stations

how very delicious! find them here on etsy

your family feature

the 'your family' magazine team contacted me a few months ago and interviewed me for this article about moms living creatively, and it's now on the shelves :)

two incredible february 21st women

two of the goddesses who i share my day of birth with...anais nin and nina simone.

best birthday of my life, part deux

as mentioned in my previous post, my friends made sure i had the best birthday of my life this year! my friends from cape town and stanford pulled out all the stops and treated me like a goddess. on friday night, a bunch of us headed out for pizza and ended up dancing at my favourite local night spot, oom steyn's. we pumped R2 coins into the jukebox and danced to all our favourite retro hits until midnight, armed with shots of caramel vodka that never seemed to leave our hands. magical stuff that. we headed for a night swim in the river, but were rudely chased out by seals at 2 in the morning.

on saturday, some of us (*cough*) were feeling a little fragile, so we all did our own thing until we headed to romantiques in hermanus to watch a vintage fred astaire and ginger rogers film at the little movie theatre there. natalie and nicole arrived and we headed upstairs to the vintage clothing room, where we proceeded to try on vintage frocks, giggling and heady with desire, like drunken schoolgirls. we left, armed with shoes and dresses from every era. strangely, it was pimms o'clock by the time we returned to my house, but we narrowly escaped the temptation and plunged our bodies into the river, before swilling the magical golden cocktail. we had one hour to prep before my party, which was to be held at my friend's awesome campsite/farm/festival site. we arrived at the venue and my friends formed a production line, pushing out salads and party food, while i knocked back chocolate tequila (damn you, steven) and several more pimms. it was a magical evening of guitar playing, singing, laughter, gratitude and love. thank you to jessica for the pics of the whole weekend and to everyone who made it so delicious and unforgettable!

the best birthday of my life

this weekend, my friends threw me the best birthday of my life. and as if the way they treated me like a goddess, driving out to the country to spend the weekend with me and spoil me wasn't enough, apparently they all conspired to pool their money and buy me the most beautiful gifts, sometime last week. i'm still speechless. i must be doing something right to have such beautiful people in my life.

they bought me the heart-shaped le creuset casserole dish i've been yearning for since it was designed! i also unwrapped a white cotton linen set for my double bed, from woolies, the hand-held mixer i've been needing for years, over 20 bottles of wine (!), two kate bush original vinyl records (speechless) from a wild man friend, bombay sapphire gin (swoon) from natalie, a wonki ware dinner service (yes, service) from nicole, the best tea in the world from 'lady bonin' jessica, and a canon slr camera from laura - yes, you read correctly. oh, and there were many more gifts too...um, ja. best friends in the world? i think so. come back to see pics of the weekend love extravaganza! thank you lauren for coming up with the brilliant group buying idea and for choosing these beauuuutiful gifts. love you all!

i teamed some of the shots with these beautiful black and white photogravures.

winter birds

 this song reminds me of stanford...

It's the widow now that owns that angry plow  

The spartan mule and the crippled cow  

The fallow field that will yield no more  

As the fox lay sleeping beneath her kitchen floor

The stream can't contain such the withering rain  

And from the pasture the fence it is leaning away 

The clouds crack and growl like some great cat on the prowl 

Crying out I am, I am over and over again

The days grow short as the nights grow long  

The kettle sings its tortured songs  

A many petaled kiss I place upon her brow  

Oh my lady, lady I am loving you now

The winter birds have gone back again 

Here the sprightly chickadee, gone now is the willow wren  

In passing greet each other as if old, old friends  

And to the voiceless trees it is their own they will lend

The days grow short as the nights grow long  

The kettle sings its tortured songs 

A many petaled kiss I place upon her brow 

Oh my lady, lady I am loving you now

Though all these things will change the memories will remain  

As green to gold and gold to brown  

The leaves will fall to feed the ground 

And in their falling make no sound  

Oh my lady, lady, I am loving you now

I've gathered all my money, I'm going to town  

To buy my lady a long and flowing gown  

'Cause come tomorrow morning we're off to the county fair 

I'll find a yellow flower and I will lace it in her hair

The days grow short as the nights grow long  

The kettle sings its tortured songs  

A many petaled kiss I place upon her brow  

Oh my lady, lady I am loving you now  

Oh my lady, lady I am loving you now

- Ray Lamontagne

extraordinary beauty

one of the most beautiful women ever to have graced the earth, emmanuelle seigner was at the top of her game in the film 'bitter moon' which you should buy immediately, because it's one of those unforgettable films you need to have in your collection. she married director roman polanski as a result of the film and they're still together twenty years on.

what a muse.

we all fall in love sometimes

 from another time, and gone far too soon, the inimitable jeff buckley...

Wise men say
It looks like rain today
It crackled on the speakers
And trickled down the sleepy subway trains
For heavy eyes could hardly hold us
Aching legs that often told us
It's all worth it
We all fall in love sometimes

The full moon's bright
And starlight filled the evening
We wrote it and I played it
But something happened it's so strange this feeling
Naive notions that were childish
Simple tunes that tried to hide it
But when it comes
We all fall in love sometimes

Didn't we? did we? should we? could we?
I'm not sure but sometimes we're so blind
Struggling through the day
When even your best friends say
Don't you find?
We all fall in love sometimes

hmmm...

Oh, yeah..
And only passing time
Could kill the boredom we acquired
Running with the losers for a while
And our empty sky was filled with laughter
Just before the flood
Painting worried faces with a smile

Wise men say
It looks like rain today
It crackled on the speakers
And trickled down the sleepy subway trains
For heavy eyes could hardly hold us
Aching legs that often told us
It's all worth it
We all fall in love sometimes

oh oh oh...

We all fall in love some times...

- Jeff Buckley (video)

1960's hair and makeup

patti boyd

marilyn

brigitte bardot

rita hayworth

twiggy

 joan vohs

 marianne faithful

jean shrimpton

images from here, here, here and villainously vintage