pins of the week // 2

happy Easter Sunday, y'all :D

i'm having a relaxing holiday and i feel like it's about time for...

dream home

this house is absolute perfection! click through to the original link and look at ALL of the photos. i'm desperate to live there ;)

pin | origin

stuff i love

an astronaut duvet! space dreams :D

pin | origin

penguin skittles by Muji. guys. they're PENGUIN SKITTLES.

pin | origin

cat paperclips by Muji... because YES.

pin | origin

if you send in a child's drawing to Child's Own Studio, they'll send back a custom-made soft toy based on the illustration! how amazing is this?!

pin | origin

color

pin | origin

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dream wardrobe

first off, BASEBALL SEASON STARTS NEXT WEEK! :D this shirt perfectly depicts how i feel about the beautiful game...
pin | origin

...and i'd obviously need a pair of sunnies to accompany that shirt, right? :P
pin | origin

and then this two-piece swimsuit. how lovely is it? i'll answer that question... SO SO LOVELY.
pin | origin

food, glorious food!

this, my friends, is Grilled Balsamic Portobello Mushroom and Steak Salad. does that not legitimately sound like heaven? aaaah.
pin | origin

creative design

butterfly tea bag? don't mind if i do! (in fact, i think i may craft some of these... they are TOO beautiful.)

pin | origin

i love this origami alphabet - so clever :)

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party plans

these adorable DIY flower invitations might just be the best thing if my 21st plans pan out... :D the original link also has a number of incredible ideas for invites - love it!

pin | origin

quotes worth noting

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goin' to the chapel...

can we discuss how everything in this photo is perfect?

pin | origin

...and how incredible is the lace back of this dress?

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crafts and gifts

how cute is this leetle felt bow? how about an awesome tutorial and template on how to DIY? yes thanks! :D

pin | origin

...and those are all of my favourite pins from the week... have a wonderful rest of your Easter Sunday, y'all! 

lazy caturday

can i just mention something from the outset here? this post did NOT want to get written.

there were so many things i could've blogged about today - Easter, or baldness (cause it's the 2nd anniversary of Sindi and i shaving our heads - ha!), or baseball (!) - and i was just too lazy to blog about any of them. and i've been too lazy to do too much work during the holiday so far. FAIL.

and so i'm blogging about... laziness. ha! which means i have an abundant amount of material to work with - because we're talking about CATS here. cats are MASTERS of laziness. KINGS of laziness. hee ;)

take, for example, this kitty who just wants to sleep on the treadmill:

or how about the laziest fight of all time?

...and it's always great to discover a newer, easier way to manage the trip down those tedious stairs...

(except i'll only be really impressed when he demonstrates how to lazily get UP the stairs... ha ;) )

and then for some gratuitous photos of lazy cats:

and let's end off with a photo or three of some local laziness, right in my own home... courtesy of one Roo Mac.

firstly, Exhibits 1A and B:

and yes - that's my rear on which she's sleeping. it's comfortable, apparently :P

and finally, Exhibit 2 comes from earlier today, where without any ado, Miss Roo hopped right on up, curled into a ball and had a snooze on my lap.

oh laziness! how funny you are in cats :) you are, however, not funny in Hannah... and so you have been banished. i can't wait for the next enormously fulfilling week, lacking  completely in laziness! :D

happy Caturday, everyone!

i never saw you coming

"I love [you], and it is the beginning of everything."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

a couple years ago, around this time, i'd just started university; it was the final week of my first term at Rhodes and i'd met a vast assortment of students - during serenades, in my lectures and tutorials, on my walks up and down the hill, and eating in the dining hall.

being slightly shy (hahahaaa... no, REALLY) a lot of my acquaintances were made via my much more outgoing friend Pam, particularly when it came to meeting people in our dining hall. along the way i was introduced to a second-year in one of our hall's guys' resses; he was their Senior Student (which is pretty much the most important job on any house's committee) and his name was Chris.

i vividly remember seeing him smile from across the room and thinking, "wow... i have to talk to that guy." and so i did.

you come around and the armour falls.

now, i'm not the most open person in the world; i think a lot of people can relate to being wary of sharing their feelings and thoughts with others, because rejection and misunderstanding are both so possible and the thought of them is painful. and then i started talking to Chris, and that wariness fell away completely. it was gone.

i loved his smile, that i'd caught from afar before; i fell in love with his laugh, too. i admired his tenacity, his confidence, his well-thought-out opinions. i was grateful that he was a rugby fan like i am - because similarities are important! ;) above all of that, i loved that i felt cared for and listened to whenever i was around him.

in the months that followed, we began exploring the possibility of dating - but i knew, even in March, that i wanted this to last... and i'm so glad that it has.

this is a state of grace;
this is the worthwhile fight.
love is a ruthless game
unless you play it good and right.

i don't want to be overly sentimental and i think i'm already doing just that, so i won't say any more other than ek's lief vir jou, Christo :) and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

i never saw you coming...
and i'll never be the same.

for my Mama

i got home a little while ago from one of the funnest nights of my life - my mom had a birthday party!
i am not joking when i say that it's the second one she's ever thrown herself. the SECOND. ridiculous.

her birthday ends in 11 minutes (and then starts my guy's!) but before all the time runs out, i need to say just a few things:

• i have an INCREDIBLE woman for a mother. she is beautiful both inside and out, funny, loving, compassionate and just the right amount of silly :) also, she can cook and bake in a meeeeean fashion, yo! she has so many other fantastic qualities that i just can't list here for the sake of brevity. i mean, you don't want to be reading all of her great attributes for the rest of your life, do you? cause that's what would happen if i wrote 'em all down. true story.
• i am unbelievably blessed to know her, let alone call her my mom.
• i absolutely adore her - you'd better believe it!
• if i am a mother one day and i'm a fraction as amazing at it as she is, i'll be overjoyed :)

and now? TO BED!

...but i love you, Mama :)

party caturday

hi errr'body! Natty and i (and Cathy and Carissa and all the other good Party Bus folks) survived the Battle of Thursday - aka our 15-hour bus trip back to the 031.

i'm staying with the wonderful Nat till tomorrow, when my parents will come 'n' get me - but TODAY is Natty's 21st birthday party, so here're a couple partyin' cats to suit the mood...

...hahahahaa.

skillz, no?

and then the marvellous Party Cat...

LEGEND ;)

mmmkay, gonna get back to party prep now... but y'all have a great caturday! :)

BUS TIME!

wish me luck, as i go forth into the world of the unknown... okay, i have been on a Greyhound bus before. and it was pretty much horrible. BUT i'm holding out hope cause this time i know half the bus, and also it just should be legit :)

okay, have some love...

SEE YA LATER!

deadlines caturday

hmmmm... it is fast approaching midnight. funny that my post would be about deadlines today of all days, huh? when i'm rushing to meet the caturday deadline? that wasn't planned, i promise :P

with the end of term fast approaching (i officially have three working days left, and Wednesday really doesn't count because... well, i only have one class, maybe), my final term assignment deadlines are also getting all up in mah grill. and i'm reacting sort of like lil' Conan here:

"AAAAAAH NO A TERRIFYING HORRIFYING ASSIGNMENT IS COMING TO GET ME... RUN AWAY!!!!"

well. that's not the greatest attitude in the world...

but oh well! truth is, i'm feeling sort of like this:

...which is, um, again, not the most conducive attitude towards being an adult / having work to do / getting on with the more onerous tasks in life. but hey, at least i'm not alone - i have Noelle and Conan for company :D 

and now for more CATS! because, you know, it's CATURDAY. yep.

how about...

Sam, the eyebrows cat? i don't think he likes the thought of deadlines, either...

"maybe if i hide here in the corner, the deadline won't find me..."

"wait, no, why?! get away!!"

"oh, you fiendish deadline... i will never be free!!"

is he not the most expressive cat you've EVER seen? what a legend. follow more of Sam's daily escapades here.

 finally, i consulted the ICanHasCheezburger cats for their take on working, and got the following advice:

and finally...

BOOM. hold yourself back, deadlines... Hannah's coming for ya!

...but first: sleep. the cats would be so proud.

pins of the week // 1

hello, good folk! :)

time for a new feature on my blog, called...

(you'd have never guessed, right? ;) )

it's pretty self-explanatory - i'm a big fan of Pinterest, so every week - at any stage during the week - i'll choose my favourite pin/s from some or each of my boards and share them with y'all here, including a link back to the pin and the original image/recipe/design/whatever. sound good? :)

so, let's kick off!

places to go

first, i'd love to visit this Vertical Garden in Madrid, Spain... (pin | original image | more info)

and then i'd head over to Lake McDonald (great name you've got there, Lake!) in Montana, where i'd basically stare at its magnificence for hours... (pin | original image | more info)

...and finally i'd end off my traversing around the world with a cozy tea at King John's Hunting Lodge Tea Room + Garden in Lacock, Wiltshire, UK. follow the link to the original image to see more amazing images of this place... i'd be there in a heartbeat if i could! (pin | original image + more info)

dream home

these shelves of colourful bowls MUST be mine one day! :D (pin | original image)

dream wardrobe

this outfit is killing me with its cuteness. (pin | origin)

also, i can has songwriter's sweater? (pin | original image)

food, glorious food!

strawberry lemonade layer cake. om nom nom deliciousness. (pin | recipe)

strawberry-nutella stacked french toast. strawberries are a theme here, yo... (pin | tutorial/recipe)

aaaaand...

fruit tacos with chocolate tortillas! best idea ever :) and look, more strawberries!! except i don't know what agave nectar is and i have no idea if we can even get coconut oil in this country... hmmm. oh well! (pin | recipe)

party plans

i couldn't surpass this WONDERFUL point-by-point guide on how to throw a Proper Tea Party. this needs to happen in my life, and soon. (pin | origin)

crafts + gifts

how about an awesome tutorial on how to make a felt bow? yes please! (pin | tutorial)

animals

for Darsha, obviously :D (pin | origin)

stuff i love

these "stuff your face" mugs are priceless. except they do have a price... but you know what i mean. (pin | origin)

quotes worth noting

♥ (pin | origin)

aaaaand that's all for today, folks :) see you soon!