Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Product Review - Pore Strips



You know... I'm going to toot my own horn here for a bit, and start by saying that, for my age, I have pretty good skin. And one of the reasons I have good skin is that I don't experiment with just any old product.
All ANYONE needs is:
a good foaming cleanser
a good moisturiser with sunblock
a good night cream

That's it, seriously! At least, that's all I need.
Of course I use other "cosmetic" stuff, but as far as skin CARE goes, that rather short list has done me proud.
That is until I started getting irritated with my pores. They're not too dodgy; I just think they could be better. So going against everything I've ever believed in, I trudged off to my local Clicks to get my paws (not pores) on a pack of pore strips to try out.
Well!
I bought them a month ago and it took me a whole month to try them, because I had visions of them permanently bonding to my nose. Followed closely by visions of me yanking off chunks of nose along with the strips.
Not ideal.
So anyway... I decided to brave up last night and go for it, and MAN am I glad I did? Sure, there was a scary moment when I hadn't realised how HARD the dry strip is when it's glued to your nose, doing it's thing. But, once I got over my mild panic, and saw past the tears welling up in my eyes, I gently peeled the strip away and... wow!
I'm a convert!
I will do this once a week at least!
What a great product. My pores look great. The process was quick and relatively effortless.
Pore strips! Do it, girls. Just do it!!

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland - A review



Let me start by thanking my cousins, Jarrod and Nadia, for getting me off my ass and off to the movies to see the new 3D phenomenon that everyone's talking about, Alice in Wonderland, directed by none other than Tim Burton of Titanic fame. I've just seen Avatar in 3D, so it's important to note that my expectations were ridiculously high for this one.
I'm going to start with the bad and end with the good...
As far as the story goes, you could pretty much sum it up in a sentence or two. And then Tim Burton took 2 sentences and spread them over ±1.5hours. It was draggy. Super draggy. Draggier than Ru Paul, draggy. Long, loooooooooooooooong. If you're expecting non-stop action and 3D mayhem with stuff flying at your head for the entire time, don't watch this movie. You will be disappointed. And now that I've had my bitch, onto the good stuff.
The landscapes and art direction were absolutely breathtaking! Quintessential Tim Burton at his absolute best. My eyes didn't know where to look; as every inch of it just oozed style and wonderfulness. Wowzer.



The acting was outstanding. Mr Depp was incredible as always, even though the writing didn't give him much to work with. There was a crappy dance at the end that had me cringing, but I'll forgive him for that as long as he replies to my marriage proposal promptly. Helena Bonham Carter was just FANTASTIC as the Red Queen, even though they didn't give her much to work with either. Fabbo!
And the best bit...
OMG, the costumes!



Or can you even call them "costumes"? Maybe the stuff that they had the regular characters in might be classified as "costume". But the dresses that they draped over that lucky bitch who played Alice were nothing short of sensational! There was a real Vivienne Westwood / Alexander McQueen vibe that blew me away. I LOVED Alice's dresses, especially the one that the Red Queen had made especially for her. Check it out:





These pics really don't do it any justice. It was structured, but feminine. It was MAD but completely made sense. OMG, I would wear that on my wedding day if I ever found a man rich enough to buy it for me! *swoon*
I need to stop gushing about this dress now, so... *sigh*
As far as the characters went, my favourite was the Cheshire cat. He was BEAUTIFUL and feline, and flowy and funny... Love, love, LOVE!

Thursday, March 04, 2010

So jealous, I could scream!

Check out my mom's curry leaf plant...



My dad pruned it down a few months ago and it looks like that was the best move EVER. The leaves are huge, lush and green, and the plant is thriving. The great thing about curry leaves is that they also dry and store well. What my mom does, is she pulls a few sprigs off the tree, washes and towel dries them thoroughly. Then she stores them in the same little glass jar that she keeps her curry powder / masala. The leaves will stay good for AGES, kind of like bay leaves. I have a puny tree that's struggling for dear life. *sigh*
But! Not to be undone...



The basil leaves in my lunch the other day, came from my very own basil trees, served here with a tomato/feta salad and two vegetarian bean patties.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

And the countdown begins!



So we have just 100 days to the start of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, hosted right here in sunny South Africa... And I couldn't be more excited.
I unfortunately couldn't tickets. I woke up far too late and the only ones that are left for Durban are for the N/Korea VS Nigeria match. I've got nothing against those two; it's just that they're not particularly wow. And at ±R500 a ticket for the only seats left, I'm not sure I'm THAT big a fan.
BUT!



Public Address is proudly flying the SA flag today, to mark the start of one of the most exciting times our country will ever see...
VIVA SOUTH AFRICA, VIVA!!

Monday, March 01, 2010

Happy 60th Birthday, mom!



Here I am with my precious mom at the local seafood joint.
We decided to treat her and a bunch of her closest, dearest friends to a yummy seafood dinner and LOTS of booze. I'm doing the Lent thing at the moment so I felt very much like the chaperone for the evening, making sure that all my precise birthday arrangements ran according to schedule.
Invites, check.
Restaurant booking, check.
Taira and candles, check.
Bake surprise birthday cake, decorate and deliver ahead of time... Check. Check. Check!



She loved it. And even though she hates surprises and insisted on being involved with the inviting etc, she was totally blown away when they brought the surprise cake out and the entire restaurant sang for her!
Happy Birthday, mom! Here's to a million more.