Marvelous Monday

Hello dear readers, I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are feeling rested and ready for this new week ahead.

This week I would like to focus on a few things in and the around the kitchen. With Anton having started eating solid foods in the past few weeks, the husband providing too much meat for two people to consume from the farm - Kudu, Eland, Impala... you name it, I have it! - I am foreseeing a good few hours in the kitchen.

Can anyone say venison pie, steamed, liquidised veggies, kudu roast or biltong !? Let the cooking games begin!

Although I do like to page through recipe books, read cooking or recipes specific blogs and watch cooking programs, I am not one to strictly follow recipes. I find recipes too regulated and strict, but great for inspiration and sparking ideas; the kitchen is where I like to experiment and play.

A few of my favourite culinary inspirations include:
Punchfork
Foodgawker
I love cooking
Whats for dinner

My kitchen_this is where I play!

Perhaps with spring winking at us some of you are less focused on food than on putting on your gym gear, but who said cooking and eating cant be yum and healthy!? More on this tomorrow.

DIY Thursday_ Blog-loving

I am aware that I have not posted a DIY tutorial in a while now and today I am trying to make up for it by posting a few great sites for some serious DIY inspirations. Let me know if you try any of these!

My list of Do-it-yourself inspirations include:

DIY Inspiration

Scrap Hacker

Pinterest

Design Sponge

I specifically like Scrap Hacker! They have some awesome DIY projects that makes sense to attempt. like these:

Monogram Monday - see here

Duct Tape Delight - see here

DIY Rope hacks- see here

Happy DIY dear readers, I hope this post inspires!

Bloglovin'

I found this amazing photography blog yesterday! It is one of the Blog lovin' award winners for 2012 and I can clearly see why! It includes fashion, interior, architecture, landscapes and movies - you will find something of everything here!

From me to you is a blog by a photographer that lives and works in New York and who has an eye for all that is interesting and nice... Here are a few of the shots featured on the blog, but for the full experience I recommend viewing From me to you!

Fresh beauty - from here

Rhinebeck Retreat - from here

Perfect day to spend at the museum - from here

You scream, I scream - from here

I'm in a New York state of mind - from here

Great inspiration to take more photos of where we are right now!

Getting rid of the clutter

Hello dear readers - lets hope this week is better and runs more smoothly than last week!

This week I am getting rid of clutter, literally and figuratively!

No more clutter!! From here

 Stock-taking and spring-cleaning in March you may ask, well its pretty simple actually! As my work situation will be changing soon I am doing exactly this - spring-cleaning my study (my soon to be office) and stock-taking on life and getting rid of the clutter.

Now although this exercise includes boxes of unwanted and unneeded "stuff" to be removed from my house it also includes getting rid of the time consuming clutter of my everyday life. I am saying goodbye to procrastination, StumbleUpon, too much blog reading (can't give this up completely!) and all other time consuming nonsense!

The biggest hurdle of this exercise is saying goodbye to my very special and dearly loved Pinterest account - I've decided to this because it has literally become an addiction and consumes too much of my time - personal and work time! SAD!! But I think it is a good move!

Aiming to be more like this! From here

Today I am saying hello to order, time-management and self-discipline (with a bit of blog-loving and writing in between!)

Wishing you a lovely week!!

DIY Thursday_ Pretty gets it done

Dear readers, I must apologise for being so quiet this week, unexpected travels have thrown my week out of order.

The Pretty Blog, one of my most frequent visited wedding and inspirational blogs, have some GREAT do-able DIY projects and it is definitely worth browsing through. So I thought I would post some of my favorites...

Fridge-poetry

Confetti Pouch

With Easter just around the corner these are awesome Easter Brunch Printables

High Tea Inspiration

I hope you enjoy browsing through their wonderful projects as much as I do! 

All images and DIY projects from The Pretty Blog

Local Inspiration

Meet Ingrid E Uys, an independent artist and creative who lives and works in Jo'burg. She spends her days making the most beautiful paintings, teaching art, to invalids like me, looking after her muched loved pets and being husband Pieter's biggest fan. But it is on her art work that I would like to put the spotlight today.

I was introduced to Ingrid by another close friend and since I have now been painting in her studio on a weekly basis for the past 7 months I have gotten to know and appreciate this angel woman, with her love for all that is beautiful and good. I find her passion for art and life inspiring and like a breath of fresh air in this fast city life we are living.

Here are a few of my favorites:

I absolutely LOVE her birds range

I own this work

A beautiful collection of paintings using her wedding as inspiration

The studio where she teaches

To find out more about Ingrid please visit her blogs for the love of a blank canvas and one swallow does a painting make.