Live More, Travel More

As all the adults head back to work and all the youngsters enjoy their last week of freedom, I felt that reviving my blog would be a great way to celebrate the new year.

2012 was truly one of the best years of my life, not many people can say they got to live in a foreign country and travel Europe with three of their best friends. It wasn't all happy times though, we were truly being tested almost everyday we woke up in London, whether it be us waking up snuggled together on one bed in a friends home, or waking up in a bug infested hostel, or in a raging, steroid taking landlord's home, we knew we would always pull through in the end. Even after being jobless for the first month and living off Tesco's microwave dinners shared among the four of us, giving up was not an option. We were lucky enough to find a job which recruited us to various 5 star hotels, things only got better from then on.

I made a list of my favorite moments in 2012:

• The first day I walked in Oxford Circus, experiencing Primark, Top Shop and H&M for the first time.
• Our short trip to Camden Town, definitely my favorite place in London.
• Easter at Hillsong London
• My trip to Manchester United's Old Trafford, Everton v.s. United 4-4 possibly the best day of my life.
• Being employed
• Working at The W hotel.
• Moving into our first house share, thrilling at first devastating at the end
• Our trip to Amsterdam
• Seeing a couple of famous people from the likes of Cheryl Cole, Will.I.Am, Princess Anne (The Queen's sister) and Bryan Habana.
• The arrival of Jody
• Our Trip to Barcelona and Ibiza, where we partied to Calvin Harris & Paul Van Dyk at Amnesia
• Nikita, Adee and I's drunken pool party in Ibiza 
• Moving into our new, beautiful home.
• The arrival of Nico and Mike
• Coco-Cola at The Langham Hotel London for the 2012 Olympics.
• Watching the Olympic Women's Volleyball semi-final game: Brazil v.s. South Korea
• Our trip to Madeira
• Watching Steve Aoki in Madeira, possibly the best night of my life.
• When Felix and JJ moved in as well as meeting a whole bunch of new friends.
• Shopping time with Bee in Primark
• My first purchase at Top Shop
• The bus rides home from The Langham, honestly involved the craziest conversations.
• Roaming in Trafalgar Square after nights out, damn I love that city!
• Watching the sunrise behind the London Eye and The Houses of Parliament
• Sing-a-long's and sitting on YouTube for hours in Club Felix
• KING'S Cup
• Making my first omelette with the help of Felix.
• My trip to the V&A Design Museum and Tate Modern.
• Underground Drum and Base party at Fire.
• Our final trip to Paris and Rome.
• Putting a lock on Lock Bridge in Paris with BANA (Bianca, Adriana, Nikita and Anuschka) written on it.
• My trip to the Louvre and The Vatican Museum.
• The Numbers Warehouse Party
• Seeing art from the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh, Michelangelo as well as pattern design by William Morris and architecture by Gaudi.
• Surprising my family and friends when I arrived home in Cape Town earlier than expected.
• The year ended off perfectly as we got to spend New Years with all our friends at Rezonance outdoor festival.

2012 wasn't just about what I experienced but rather about what I have learnt, it wasn't just about the people I met but about the relationships I have built, it wasn't just about the countries I visited, it was about the goals I set and accomplished, it wasn't just about the hotels I worked for, but about the teams I worked with, it wasn't just about the art I saw but about the emotions I felt and it wasn't just about the friends I arrived with, but about the sisters I left with. 

I will forever be grateful for the year I had and would like to personally thank everyone that helped us through our toughest times, and those who celebrated with us during our happiest times! I'm looking forward to what 2013 has in store for me.

Two Month Jubilee

The weekend marked our two month anniversary in lovely London therefore I thought it would only be fitting to update you all on the dirty deeds since day one, and by dirty deeds I mean eating our first meal in London on the floor in front of Mc Donald’s, sleeping in dirty hostels, finding a pack of Mentos on the floor and eating it, turning the 10 second rule into the 1 minute rule (no food will ever go to waste), doing our washing in the sink to save money on laundry, drinking ‘Cup Of Soup’ out of our old coffee cups which we dug out of the bin, getting our hands dirty at work when clearing food off tables and cleaning plates before giving it to the porters, and moving into a home that is made of dust, grime and dirt. Okay.... before I suck you into our world of unforgivable dirtiness I think I should start from the beginning.

Our adventure began at Cape Town International, all of our families and friends joined us for a long and sad goodbye. We were not off to the greatest of starts as we almost missed our flight due to one of the airport staff telling us our flight was delayed when in actual fact it wasn’t. The next leg of our journey involved a 9 hour flight to Dubai followed by a 7 hour flight to London. London greeted us with grey clouds and 10’C weather.

We checked into our back packers late that afternoon, to our surprise Brazen looked nothing like the pictures on the net but it was home for the first month of our stay, if you get past the smells, the dirt and bug invested beds it wasn’t too bad of start. We made loads of friends there, from Hungary and his tasty Tesco doughnuts to Scotty and his pint of beer in the mornings. Most of the nights were spent making microwave food in the upper kitchen where we shared a meal meant for 2 between the four of us (this was during our “WE NEED TO SAVE PHASE”). The rest of our meals for the past two months have ranged from Burger King's 'King of the Day', Mc Donald's and Subway to dodgy Chicken shops or Tesco/Sainsbury meal deals, healthy I know...

The Job Hunt: 

As we all know one cannot survive in a country without a job, so when we arrived it was game on. I applied for numerous jobs over the internet, sending my CV to various businesses in the fields of design, hospitality and administration. The girls and I even printed off our CV’s and handed it out to businesses in Wimbledon. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so Nando’s was one of the lucky contenders I handed my CV to. After the trial shift, I never heard from them again, it’s safe to assume that my waitressing skills weren’t exactly up to scratch. In terms of my design applications, I got a call back for a job as an Adobe suite lecturer, I attended the interview and all went well. For a while I didn’t hear from them, however on the day I signed up for Elements, I got a call back saying I should come in for a trial shift as I was shortlisted for the position. I declined hoping that Elements would be the better option.

Before our shift at Hilton Park Lane

Elements is an agency which ‘hires’ you out to five-star hotels within London for banquets and events. Work varies from waitressing at weddings, serving drinks at buffets and my personal favourite doing room service at hotels. One of my favourite things about working for Elements is that you get to meet new people all the time, picking up friends along the way. From the awesome staff at The W to the crazy Auzzies/Kiwis we work with every day, each and every one of them keep me thoroughly entertained.

The things I have learnt from my job thus far:

• Napkin folding and polishing cutlery/glasses is an art.
• Silver service was invented to make you look like an idiot.
• Australian men wear “Thongs” haha!
• Never drop curry on a ladies bag or a glass bottle of water in a guests room because then you are an idiot!
• Always dish yourself three servings of food at the hotel cafeteria in order to save money, and keep eating even when you can’t anymore.
• Always say yes to free food, that’s why you doing this job in the first place.
• Whoever invented court shoes should be repeatedly beaten with it!
• Make sure you read the bus/tube maps properly otherwise you might end up in zone 5.
• Make sure you ask someone how to use a bottle opener before you attempt to tackle the task yourself.
• Always ensure that you know which celebrities are at the hotel otherwise you might be unaware of who you serving (as that look profoundly different in person).
• You can carry 10 plates on one arm and 8 wine glasses in one hand.
• Yeah... I'll rather stick to Graphic Design!

We haven’t shaped up too bad, we have a home and holiday plans for the up and coming weeks, I shall elaborate on these a bit more in my next post. I will also share my London site seeing with you and wait for it... my trip to Old Trafford which will be a post entirely on its own. The past two months have been an amazing adventure and I am looking forward to the new experiences with my Lundun Ladies!

The Circus is in Town: My 21st Birthday

I have always been fascinated with the circus, but not the circus of today. I much prefer the traveling circus, the circus where clowns were funny, lions jumped through flaming hoops and elephants were the main attraction. Okay I haven’t seen a proper circus before but I remember going to a similar circus in Wynberg as a child. It was a circus in a tent; we were greeted by the ringmaster and entertained by clowns, monkeys, dogs, snakes, elephants and horses. I still remember buying a huge bag of popcorn and enjoying every minute of the show while munching away.

I don’t know if many of you will remember this but many years ago SABC 3 use to show various circus and magic shows on Sunday afternoons. After Sunday lunch my father and I use to spend the rest of the day entrapped in a world of fantasy and entertainment. In 2010 The Great Moscow Circus was in Cape Town and I was lucky enough to score a free ticket from my aunty. My hopes for the show were high but I left there rather disappointed. The circus wasn’t in a tent, there were no animals, the clowns were boring and there was no magical atmosphere what so ever.

Most of my high school and College design work was inspired by the circus. It’s a great theme to run with as there is so much to it. Take a look at a couple of my circus themed designs:

So naturally for my 21^st theme I decided to go with… yes you guessed it a Circus theme. The party planning was an enormous task, and it was up to my mom and I to plan an awesome party on a small budget (as I am traveling to London for a year, blog post coming soon).

I had my party at home so that I could spend more money on the important things like décor, food and alcohol of course. We put a circus tent by the front door and had welcome shots for all the guests who arrived. The welcome shots were Apple Sourz accompanied with a sour worm.

The sweet table was also by the entrance and was filled with some of the yummiest candies, like candy floss, gum balls, chocolate marshmallows, popcorn, cupcakes and gummibears. Needless to say we had very little left over by the end of the night.

There was a jumping castle for the all the people who felt like being a kid again.

Bashews were a must at my party. Not only are they everyone’s most memorable childhood drink but the bright colours and glass bottles gave my party an extra edge.

We had a hubbly area which we decorated with bales of straw, colourful bean bags and red draping. This was by far my favourite section of the party.

The night came with a special surprise, a carnival games section. I wasn’t sure if my friends would enjoy it so I had to entice them with a prize, a bottle of Ponchos! Points were collected for each game and by the end of the night the points were tallied up and the winner was revealed which was Renaldo Da Silva. (He cheated though, and popped all the balloons with the tickets in it, not giving anyone else a chance to compete!)

The rest of the formalities followed including embarrassing yet touching speeches from my friends and family, with a beautiful song sung by my sister and her friend. The BLACKPANNDJAT gave me a wonderful surprise birthday gift, an iPod Touch and a charm bracelet. The charms represented my friendship with each member of the BLACKPANNDJAT.

One of the highlights of my night was definitely my Manchester United Ice cream cake and the ice cream fight that followed! Yes I picked out the design but I felt really proud trying to blow out the sparkles on the cake.

Good food, good drink, good music and great company. I couldn’t have asked for a better 21^st and a better bunch of friends and family to share it with!

Cousin Kit

I believe a great cousin is probably one of the best assets to have in life, all the love of a sister but all the fun of a best friend, they allow for the perfect balance between love and laughter! The great thing about cousins in the Portuguese community is that you can never have to many, even 6th cousins qualify as family. My family is rather small compare to most, I have several cousins but there is one who stands out above the rest. She is a cousin that I have spent my entire life with sharing some of the funniest and craziest memories. And yes, you have guessed it, we are only 4th cousins, but she is closer to me than any other first cousin could ever be. Her name is Nikita Da Silva, a black haired, brown eyed beauty with a heart of gold. She just turned 21 and is officially older than me until March. 21st birthdays are very important in our Blackpanndjat crew, most of the girls turned 21 last year but Nikita, Paulina and I were born a year later than them. Each girl has received a surprise gift from the crew, and Nikita's birthday was no exception. I had to hear about how much she wants an iPad2 for almost over a year, so what better present to give her. With the help of Blackpandjat, Renaldo, Darryn and her Mom we were able to make her wish come true. I put the iPad into a kettle box and wrapped it just so that should wouldn't guess what we got her when we handed the gift to her. 

The girls from Blackpandjat wanted to give her something extra as well, so we came up with an idea to create a fairy-tale book for her. Everyone wrote a little story to her, decorating their own page, and giving their own title, we also added in a glossary page filled with words that can only be understood by the girls in the group. We decided to try and make it look like an authentic fairy-tale book. The name of the book is The Adventures of Miss Da Silva.

With my pages I tried to keep it old looking so I decided to hand write and sketch pictures instead of using the computer. I must say it felt amazing to draw again, not that I am any good at it. The name of my story is The Fox And The Hound, there is no better title to describe our friendship.

We gave her the gifts at her party which was held on Saturday, she started crying after she saw it and that was truly the icing on the cake, no better reaction than that. 

I was also lucky enough to be asked to design her invite for her 21st, It had to be elegant and young at the same time, the colour theme was purple white and silver, this is what I came up with:

I could ramble on about how truly special Nikita is but I already did a speech for her at her birthday. Instead I will give you some fun facts about her:

• She's the Man: not only is it her favorite movie but she literally acts like a man sometimes, she throws a mean punch
• She brushes her teeth in the shower
• Her favorite food is her moms veggie soup and Greens ceasar salad and she hates any cooked fruit
• She laughs at anything, which is awesome because I always feel like a comedian when I talk to her
• She wears a size 7 shoe which is terrible because I can't borrow any of her awesome heels
• She is still a kid that acts like a retard in public, watches Disney Channel non stop and has every single Justin Bieber song.
• She always shotguns the front seat of the car before anyone else can
• If a Beetle drives past be wary that "Punch Bukkie Blue" will follow shortly with one huge pounding to the arm or leg 
• She is Kourtney Kardashian's doppelganger
• Her favourite colour is black 
• Her favourite singer use to be Britney Spears but now she loves Eminem more than any other
• She would choose savory over sweet any day.
• She never reads your bbm's
• She would literally sleep the entire day if she could
• Her best sleeps are when she drools and she makes a funny squeeling sound when she does a stretch after she wakes up.
• Her mom is her life
• Hubbly is her favourite pass time
• She was mean't to be my sister

Always keep your family close because in the end they are the reason for living. Love you Keeta!

Rezonance NYE festival

The expectation for New Years to be the best party of the year has always been a let-down in the past. My New Year’s used to involve last minute trips to Langebaan where we spent most of the night sitting in the car waiting for something interesting to happen and then eventually settling for a below average evening at Flamingos. House parties were also always on the agenda for New Years and jumping in the pool with my clothes on was possibly the most exciting part of the entire evening. This all came to an abrupt halt when I was introduced to the fascinating world of outdoor music festivals. I went to some amazing festivals in 2010 but Rezonance was the best by a long shot, I’m not sure if it’s because it had the NYE advantage but I do know that partying with thousands of people is way better than partying with a couple handful.

I decided to embark on the Rezonance adventure this year again, with my very best of friends it promised to be just as amazing as the previous year. One of the best things about Rezonance is that it is literally an 8 minute drive from home, which allowed for shower and sleep during the day while we waited for the nights to arrive. We decided to give Friday night a skip as we needed all our energy to go full out on NYE and Sunday night. We arrived Saturday afternoon and the parking was already full. There must have been several thousand people there already. After a quick trip to my friend’s tent to load off our stuff we headed to the dance floor. The layout of the stalls and stages were exactly the same as the previous year. We spent most of the evening at the Technodubfest Arena as we all have a great love for the electro music scene.

The beauty of the Prizm Stage however gets me every time and the amount of people who were dancing there always left me in awe. The lighting and set up of both stages was stunning as always. When the clock struck 12 pm all my close friends were at the electro stage, while some cried, I ended up hugging everyone thinking we might not have this moment again if the Mayans have anything to do with it. Towards 4 am I was left wondering Rezonance on my lonesome I lost most of my friends as they all decided to fade so I decided to party by the front left speaker at the Prizm stage till the sun rose. I don’t remember much but I do know I had one hell of a time. The Nutella Crepe was the icing on top of a perfect night.

After a good rest and refresh at my friends home we headed back to Rez for Niskerone and friends. We were all so tired but stuck it through thanks to our dear friend Red Bull, the rain started pouring down so everyone huddled under the Electro Tent. The music was better the Sunday night and I literally didn’t stop dancing until we left for home. I am now waiting anxiously for NYE to arrive once more!

I am truly blessed to have some of the craziest friends in town; after all it is not where you are but who you with that truly makes any experience worthwhile. 

The Awesome Foursome

The year has been absolutely amazing all thanks to my superheros The Awesome Foursome. Simoné plays the role of Whiplash, the Celtic woman with uber long powerful hair. Shanté is Harpy, she has sarcastic superpowers. Bianca is Buddha, she is the wise one with Chinese eyes, and my name is Fists of Fury (FF) I am a midget with overly large fists!


On a more serious note, we have all had some crazy times together, they have introduced me to the wonderful world of wine tasting and now I have a great love for wine (my initials are AA for a reason), okay I am just kidding! J.C Le Roux, Clos Malverne and The Devon Valley Hotel is among our favourites. We have also all gone on an epic journey from The Shire to Mordor, apparently I have found my soul mate along the way, he goes by the name of Gimli, the girls will never let me live that one down. We have also recently lost one of our beloved superheroes, Whiplash, she was kidnapped by gingerbread men with quilts and taken to the land of the Scots! She is now studying in Edinburgh but she will be returning during Christmas for a feast with the rest of The Awesome Foursome! We will also without a doubt beat Buddah and Harpy at 30 Seconds again, I am looking forward to it! Right now, Harpy, Buddah and I are occupying ourselves by following the tales of Batman before the return of Whiplash the Great!


We will be saving the world from boredom one great memory at a time! You guys truly are awesome!

BLACKPANNDAT

What would life be without friends? Boring and lonely to say the least!


I am lucky to have been blessed with the greatest girl group in the world, we call ourselves BLACKPANNDAT. The name is made up of the first letter of each of the girl's names in the group. My friends came up with the name when they were making pancakes one afternoon, they created a letter for each girl out of the pancake mixture and reshuffled it until it slightly resembled a name that made sense thus BLACKPANNDAT was formed. Our group was first formed during our Primary School years. It initially comprise of just BLAKPN (Bianca, Leigh, Anuschka (me), Kelly, Paulina and Nikita). Once High School came about more girls joined our group forming BLAKPANDAT (Adriana, Daniela, Ashleigh and Taz) which was our original name and earlier this year Carlin and Natalie were adopted into our group finalizing the name BLACKPANNDAT. It's always great to make new friends, and I love each and every single one of them! Girls nights, clubbing and getaways form a large part of our groups activities. A week is not complete if I have not seen my girls at least once. Each girl in our group is extremely unique and has a personality that is irreplaceable! 


Here is a short description of each:

• Bianca - Great organizer, best person to party with and always knows how to have a good time. She is also a great listener and gives the best advice! She loves soccer as much as I do!
• Leigh - Crazy, crazy person who has one hell of a sense of humor! She is also very smart and I regard her as the most mature and wise in our group.
• Carlin - She has one of the best laughs! She is also very creative, sincere and humble!
• Kelly - She does the most random and craziest things and she is hilarious without even trying!
• Paulina - She is very sassy and if you ever have a problem Paulie is your go-to girl! I regard her as the coolest and most laid back in the group! She also love's dancing and it's amazing to party with her.
• Ashleigh - She is definitely the craziest person I know, her laugh makes others laugh, she also gives the best nicknames EVER! 
• Nikita - Not only is she my cuzzie but she is like my sister! She is very caring and she cries when she sees her friends hurt or upset! She is also the most outgoing and loudest person I know!
• Natalie - She is one of my newest friends and she loves electro music as much as I do! She is so funny and is not shy at all. She says and does whatever she wants to do and I regard her as one of my role models!
• Daniela - She is regarded as the mother of our group, she is the most caring and will go to great lengths to stand up for her friends. She is also very confident and I admire her a lot!
• Adriana - She is one of the coolest people to hang out with, there is never a dull moment when she is around. She is a very witty person. She is also my music guru.
• Taz - She is very confident and not shy at all, she is super funny and does and says the most random things. She is always up for a great party. She is a very gnarly person! 

I truly do have the greatest friends, we have all shared a lifetime of memories and I can't wait to write the next few chapters of my life with them!