North Sea

Vengaboys - We're Going to Ibiza

It had been a few days since Jarryd arrived in Germany and we had just returned from our trip to Spain. What we were expecting was water, yeah, actually, just a bit of water since we’d traveled all the way to see the sea. We weren’t expecting the wild waves of Jeffrey’s Bay but I guess we’d both imagined a tad bit more water from the North Sea. This beach though offered a completely different view from what I usually expect from a trip to the sea. Shallow waters for QUITE a distance and on this particular day the sky was grey and instead of a few giggles from playful children, we walked into a calm scene of adults walking hands entwined across the shallow waters.

SH!T Happens

Photography by @Mizz_Daniels

Taylor Swift

You should all know by now that I'm not one to use foul language on social networks - for the sake of my younger readers and simply because I believe the English language has given us so many words that can fully express emotion without the use swear words. But after an incident this morning - there is simply no other way to write this post. Keep reading. I'm hoping my more sensitive readers will understand and will have forgiven me by the end of this post. Coz while most wouldn't consider "shit" a swear word, it is definitely vulgar and profane. Whew! Now that we have that out of the way - let us continue with this post.  So I sat down to enjoy yet another amazing breakfast at The Willows this morning. Surrounded by some incredible individuals. It was at this time that a rather large bird decided it was time to venture from the roof to a tree nearby. I am guessing we'd offered this dear bird a bit of a rude awakening because he began his escape to the gigantic tree by dropping me a warm blessing from above. 

The Sound of Music

Pictures - Courtesy of my external 

Sigma - Nobody to Love

So as time drew closer and closer to my return I started thinking of where I'd begin. From where we left-off or something completely new. First of all, so much has happened since I was blogging more regularly. Secondly, a repeat of my actions the past 3 months could possibly bore the life outta everyone following me on twitter (do the right thing btw @asilily). So while I’m dancing around my room, hair brush in hand, rollers in hair and dance moves on lock-down... it hits me. I’ve shared all sorts on Earth to Asi, but with the exception of my Blog tracks, I haven’t shown much love to a huge part of my life. Music. Let’s talk music.

Earth Mail

Taylor Swift - Shake It Off

Hey everyone. O man have I missed sharing with you guys. It’s been such an insane time away. I have laughed myself breathless and cried myself to sleep all in this beautiful month of October. My beautiful mom was born in October so October is a true blessing but I have to share something that’s weighing heavy on my heart right now.

A rock hard goodbye

Ijimaphi Le Weight - Professor

Photography - Marelize Smit

I love September. Sunny days, bright colours, the smell of rain and butterflies. My younger siblings were also born in this lovely month and this September in particular, has been filled with exciting things my side, both in blogging and just life in general. But while I love hiding away in my happy world of blogging, time unfortunately waits for no man. So while I may be many things, I choose to be a student first. This means I have to say goodbye to my dear corner of earth here on Earth to Asi for the next month but because I am the sweet person that I am, I thought I’d exit on a sweet note with some yum eye candy for my lady followers.

Snip Snap

The Soil - Sunday

Photographer - Marelize Smit

So you may have noticed inMy Heritage post that my hair is looking a whole lot shorter than before. I started this year off with shortish hair, changed my relaxer and my hair started growing seriously fast. I experimented with a number of youtube videos on hair growth and volume – everything from stretching my relaxer period, making use of homemade hair masks and at a stage I stopped applying heat to my hair and made use of good ol’ hair curlers (rollers). Basically, I was bored with my hair and my sensitive scalp forced me to put an end to all things hair extensions related.

EXtravaganza

Zahara - Destiny

I can’t believe 2 years have already passed since I attended my last extravaganza. An evening of lights, camera and tons of action from both the professional and our mighty talented Kovsies amateurs. The highlight of the evening of course- greeting the beautiful Zahara just as she was about to leave Callie.

One Lovely Blog Award

Taylor Swift - Shake It Off

Morning guys

So yesterday I received a lovely nomination from the beautiful Nati – another first this lovely September. This nomination got me smiling from ear to ear, making me feel a lovely part of blogville.  The nomination is for the One Lovely Blog Award, a cool blogger initiative that doesn’t only introduce different viewers to new blogs but also for us bloggers to just share ideas and get inspired.

My Heritage

Stimela - Hugh Masekela

Photography - Marelize 

Firstly, can you believe it's September already? Secondly, that it's already the 24th of September - meaning we're well on our way to October and before we know it, we'll be singing Jingle Bells and a Ho Ho Ho. So I realise that people across the world are sitting at their desks, earning a living, not in South Africa. We're outchea braaing and sleeping in late because the 24 of September is our annual Heritage Day, aka National Braai Day. But while I will be enjoying a lekke chop later on, I believe that we should all play our part in ensuring that this day is not minimised to a braai day, kodwa sikhumbule imvelaphi yethu. This one is quite a read, so lie back and let me tell you a little something about my heritage. 

Instagram Report

Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass

Pictures - @asi_lily

A little while ago someone asked why I’m so scarce on Instagram… So this is me giving the full story behind my disappearing act. What happened was, I “lost” my phone the day I left Germany. Lost is in inverted commas coz the “lost” phone was actually lying in a packet with some souvenirs  I’d bought that day. I didn’t think to check the packet coz I was just sure I’d left it in the tram but sometime in December I had to give a friend a souvenir and there lay my dear phone after 4 months chilling in a plastic bag. I then shared a few pictures from my vacation in Cape Town and JHB in December and I would’ve continued to share had I not dropped my phone, crashed the screen and was forced to say goodbye iPhone and hello Blackberry. So after a few months, I have made my way back to the world of insta-this and insta-that and this post will just answer a few things about @asi_lily on Instagram and what you can expect after you hit “follow”. 

Event | Store Launch

Fergie - Glamorous

I have been attending a number of events lately. Some academic, others work-related and some just in the name of fun. But last night I attended my first blogger related event hosted by Mr Jason Viviers, the owner of Jason Viviers Perfume. And what a lovely event it was.

Knowledge is as good as Gold

We Are Golden - Mika

Pictures - Courtesy of lecturers

And this post is dedicated to the end-year function that saved myself and a number of others from slight insanity. The venue was a beautiful display of gold -  complete with dripping candles and the lovely smell of olive quiche lingering in the air. The speeches kept to the principles of K.I.S.S. and after a sassy dance performance from one of my fav people, dinner was served and wine glasses refilled. And it was downhill from there… Only kidding, that’s just when all the fun began.

Once you go black

Florence + The Machine - The Dog Days Are Over

Photography - Marelize Smit  

The sun is starting to shine a little brighter, the sky bluer (if that’s even a word) and soon the birds will be a chirping busily at the break of dawn. Yes everyone, Spring is upon us. So I thought, before I bring out my short-shorts and everything else short, let me bid winter farewell with one last post dedicated to my fav winter colour and some of my go-to items this past winter.

Zambia | Booze Cruise

Kiesza - Hideaway

And so everyone... The story of the beginning of my obsession with the sun goes a little something like this... Setting – Zambia, the Zambezi River. Chilling in a boat with giraffe on my right and to my left, a very relaxed-looking crocodile eyeing its prey near the boat. Coming towards me, a smiling tourist with a glass of wine in hand and behind Caro’s voice, chatter and giggles from our fellow Booze Cruise passengers.

Zambia | New Adventures

Asa - Eye Adaba

I reckon it’s about time! About time I shared some of my travel experiences. A single picture can tell a thousand words but sometimes, only sometimes, pictures fail to reveal all the drama behind the snap. So while there will definitely be pictures in these travel posts, there will be a whole lot more reading than going through pictures. So grab a cup of tea or coffee, or a glass of wine if you may and feast your eyes on my first flight out of South Africa to beautiful Zambia.

Gold Skies

Sander van Doorn, Martin Garrix, DVBBS - Gold Skies

Photographer - Marelize Smit

When I got onto the boat that day I had no idea it was the beginning of one of my long-lived obsessions. My friend and I had booked the “Booze Cruise” for some sun downers in a boat in the Zambezi River where our mischievous tour guide had promised us the best sunset in Africa. I had seen many a sunset before this day but never gave the beauty of the setting sun the admiration it deserves. And since that day I have been clicking away at sunsets and sunrises out of pure gratitude for their physical beauty and the representation of an ending and new beginning.  So for this week’s post I thought I’d take advantage of one of nature’s most beautiful displays in a field not too far from where I stay.

My "scents" worth

The Temptations - My Girl

Photographer - Marelize Smit

Those who follow my Facebook page and @AsiLily on Twitter will remember me going ooon and on about creating my own fragrance a couple of weeks ago. So in order to give you sound feedback, I thought I’d splash myself with all that melon goodness for a couple of weeks, then only fill you in on the story of how inspiration from Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle met watermelon, clean cotton and rain.

Winter date night

John Legend - This time

Photographer - Marelize Smit

As a young girl I used to dream of the day I became a grown up and could wear make-up all day every day. I'm feeling pretty grown up right now and I'll tell you, nowadays I'm impressed with myself if I just manage to get some foundation on before I'm headed for work. So for this post I whipped out my make-up brushes and was well on my way to my take on date night in winter. 

Silver Lining

Fink - Pretty Little Things

On Wednesday I sat thinking, what am I doing with my nails this week. And that thought somehow led to thoughts about my good old days with gel nails. An entire month of great nails – no chipping what so ever – just days on end of creative bliss. 

Pre-Graduation

AKA - Congratulate

So despite the fact that I paid extra to have my graduation pictures emailed to me, I am STILL waiting for the email to come through. At the rate things are going, if they come any time before Christmas, I will be incredibly overjoyed. But my friends have been asking about these pictures for ages now so I thought, if I can’t share the real thing, I can at least share the build up to my GRADUATION.

Miss Asi

If you're happy and you know it 

O goodness, it feels like years since I was last home. I cannot wait to spend a week with my favourite lady in the whole wide world and to hear my dearies calling me “Miss Asi” all day long.

Sushi

Angus and Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane

Those who follow me on both Twitter and my Facebook page would've noticed my excitement for supper with Lien last Friday. I am a little sushi obsessed and if my wallet allowed it, I'd probably be addicted to sushi. But this was no ordinary sushi evening, this was a vegan sushi evening.

Port Elizabeth | A Sheepish Goodbye

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars (cover)

Another early morning after a late late night. The last morning in PE was one huge rush. After struggling to get out of bed I had to deal with the packing I should've taken care of the night before and before breakfast I squeezed in a quick visit from Dadddy.

Port Elizabeth ǀ Back to Business

Sia - Chandelier

My expectations were quite high for Volkwagen and just as I’d expected, VW didn’t disappoint. Tim is currently doing an internship at Volkswagen in Germany so once I managed to kick thoughts of him out of my mind I was ready to enjoy everything our tour guide had to say.

Port Elizabeth | Beach Bites

Carla Bruni -Qquelqu'un m'a dit

All I wanted was some vanilla ice-cream. But thanks to this cute restaurant I ended up enjoying the yummiest slice of organic apple and olive oil cake. That with an scoop of ice-cream of course. And as just when I thought things couldn't get any better, they went and played one of my favourite french songs by Carli Bruni. 

Port Elizabeth ǀ The Milky Way

Colbie Caillat - Brighter than the sun

Back to project PE. Every day in PE started at 06:30. This time was totally doable the Tuesday thanks to the early night on Monday – I can’t tell you what an issue it became after we’d completely lost track of time at Barney’s karaoke night and dancing my toosh off at Gondwana.

The Panda Made Me Do It

Sander van Doorn, Martin Garrix, DVBBS - Gold Skies (ft. Aleesia)

Yesterday's spontaneous shopping spree left me armed with two of my favs this winter -The teddy beanie and a dark lipstick.

The wheels on the bus

Capital Cities - Safe And Sound

See now I have actually become quite a pro packer. I remember a time I used to take an entire suitcase just for a weekend away – full of a whole lot of items I wouldn’t even use. Back then my excuse was that you never know what you’ll need. These days I plan my outfits in advance and just take an extra outfit, coz truth is, you really never know.

One o' the guys

James Morrison - Once when I was little

Thinking back to all the madness with these guys just makes missing home that much harder. 

Banana things

Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want To Have Fun

I’ve become quite the domesticated lady nowadays. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate washing dishes, you still won’t find me scrubbing my floor but I’m really having quite a ball with certain lady chores. Sewing  and baking are what we can now call “my thing”. I’ve actually always wanted a sewing machine to try my luck with that side of life but until now, I just never really got to it . I’ll see if we can’t change that soon.

The Boyfriend T

Shontelle - T-shirt

When it comes to deciding what to wear, Autumn can be majorly confusing. A t-shirt on its own is not enough but you find yourself boiling the minute you put on that cardigan. Luckily,  thanks to the controlled temperature at work, during the week I only had to worry about wearing something warm when I left my place.

Lush Lashes

Quelqu'un m'a dit _ Carla Bruni

So in the lovely month of May I got me some flirting devices.

Hay sweet. Water fresh. Peppermints

Magic Study 

Maria V. Snyder

Yesterday I read a book. I had the grandest adventure from the comfort of my bed. Look, I read a whooole lot on a daily basis, and while you can get hopelessly lost in a textbook, textbooks don’t exactly offer the same page-turning thrill I experienced last night. 

Thabazimbi | Accommodation

I'm like a bird - Nelly Furtado

Now I bet this is not what one would expect to find when someone tells you you’ll be staying in a tent for the weekend.

Thabazimbi | Man on Fire

Go light your world - Kathy Troccoli

Thanks to some mad skill building wild fires and making us the best burger patties, my bestfriend Jarryd left the weekend deserving a new title, The Man on Fire. 

Thabazimbi | Safari

Asa - Eye Adaba

Thanks to Rhapsody, we woke up bright and early with all the energy in the world. And after quick showers for some and no showers for others and too many muffins we were on the road again – this time to Thabazimbi.

Thabazimbi | Johannesburg

And as promised in It's been a WHILE!! – here’s the first of 6 posts of my beautiful weekend away a few weeks ago. This weekend was special for so many reasons – reminded me once again that although the destination plays an important role, the best adventures are determined by the company. 

They grow so fast

I headed home last Thursday for my little sister’s matric farewell. And what a beautiful journey it was. I haven’t been home since JANUARY!! (the trauma ^^). Taking the bus makes me seriously nervous at times but I wanted to get home really early on Friday so I had to face fears in the name of love and thanks to the lady seated beside me, my time in the bus left me with an inspirational story I’ll never forget. I’ll be sure to share in weeks to come.

 Now I would’ve been over the moon just seeing all the beautiful faces I've missed so much at home but Awo’s dance just ensured some added glamour and happiness to the whole trip. And while Ncebs and I were the ones taking care of the transformation, looking at my sister’s final-look, I couldn’t believe that my little person had now grown into such a beautiful, mature young lady with a personality to match. 

I am certain by now that you’re all well-aware of how much I enjoy doing hair and make-up so of course this day was ALL about my sister, but I’m telling you now, I had just as much fun prepping for the dance.  

Now these behind the scenes pictures only tell a quarter of the story – paint yourself a better picture by adding buckets of laughter, inevitable family chaos and crazy noises and comments from 3 year-old twins as we plucked, painted and powdered.

My fresh-faced princess ready for some ironing and curlers. 

A quick #nomakeup #sisterselfie before we proceed

Taming some wild brows. I'm sure some of what were supposed to be my eyebrows were kept for my sister.

I have to mention that only a few years ago, it would take Awo and I hours to apply make-up on her gorgeous eyes. My unenthusiastic model would always interrupt my make-over with constant blinking and undisciplined tears but here we were a few years later and she didn't blink once.

And with the make-up done, the lady of the day got into her dress and it was time to release those curls**

And VOILÀ!!!!

And the time had come... 

There was something about the smile on my mom’s face and the pride in my grandma’s eyes moments before Awo and her date left for the dance that filled my heart with the deepest kind of happiness.

Seeing Uncle Jeff waiting happily outside, ready to take the couple to the dance, reminded me so much of my dance many moons ago - minus the winter chill we had in my year of course.  

Isn't she lovely...

Have yourself a lovely week 
Xx

It's been a WHILE!

Where to start!?! I have missed blogging sooo so much - there was so

much to share but so little time. The month of March showed me

flames. And of course there were times I felt burnt out but I'm

talking good flames here - tons of excitement and happiness.

Those who follow me on Instagram and twitter @asilily will have

noticed a handsome fella besides me in recent posts. My

favourite person paid me a visit and made me the happiest girl ever

ever - I'm still smiling as I write this.

Those of you in long distance relationships will know just how rough

things can get. With exactly 13615km between us, I spend half the time

wishing Germany was a few steps away or that I owned a private jet and

could visit him as often as my heart desires.

Now South Africa had a long weekend not so long ago, celebrating Human

Rights Day. I have to say, the 21st of March was quite a big one for me this year.

Not only because I'm doing an internship at the Institute for

Reconciliation and Social Justice but also due to the fact that I got

to see my best friend, celebrated boyfriend's birthday in Jozi and started a

lovely safari weekend adventure to beautiful Limpopo, visiting my

sister from another mother.

Now I realise that I played quite the disappearing act in March so

I've decided that the next couple of posts will cover some of what I

got up to last month. I can't wait to share all sorts with you but for

now...

This may seem a little late but I guess if we did what we could to protect and respect the rights of others on a daily basis, we would be leaps closer to a better South Africa. Mutual respect could pave the way to a country free of discrimination based on gender, race and sexual orientation. 

O but it's good to be back!

Xx

A better place

You will have noticed that I added a link to my twitter account recently. Truth is, I signed up in 2010 already thanks to a dear friend. He was forever tweeting and naturally I wanted to join in on all the fun, FOMO tends to get the better of me at times. My first response then was, "Uhm, where are all the pictures?"

Now I love pictures and I think back then twitter was just status updates and comments (I could be wrong). I tweeted for two days and decided that I seriously had no idea what was going on in twitterville. So after two delightful days of confusion I deleted the app from my phone and accepted defeat. 

But now that I'm blogging I felt that being on twitter only made sense. So I ventured into the maze yet again and I really wish I could say I'm back with a bang but I kid you not, while I am doing far better this time around, I am still in the dark about too many things. 

I will now cut a not so lengthy story into an even shorter one by saying that I sent out a cry for help on twitter earlier this morning. I was so glad when someone responded without any judgement. This was very kind of him considering the fact that I couldn't figure out that #NF stood for "Now Following".

Turned out my "knight in shining armour", the man  who rescued me from the dark world of unknown hashtags was in fact a talented poet/artist. I checked out his page and found something so beautiful and so true. 

I will add a link below so you can enjoy some of his other videos but first I have to share another one of my favourites

W.A.G.E

Make my day and follow me on twitter @asilily

Xx

Gotta love Glamour

Now Glamour magazine knows just how to make a girl’s month.

I’ve been collecting Glamour goodies for as long as I can remember. I still remember rocking my first pair of Glamour shades in 2009. That was the beginning of my wonderful journey with over-sized sunnies. Getting the freebies gave me the opportunity to give the glasses a bit of a trial run. I was always a little scared of buying big glasses – I just thought it would be rather unfortunate if I bought the glasses only to realise a week later that the glasses didn’t suit me at all.

But moving back to some current affairs. This month’s issue comes with this divine GlamBerry lipstick. Now you shouldn’t judge me, but the golden packaging of this lipstick is what actually got me buying this magazine. I stood at Clicks thinking,”Well I can’t really tell what colour the lipstick is exactly but the packaging looks quite glamourous.”

One often needs to lower expectations when it comes to freebies. So I rushed home to see just how rich this “rich” hue was and of course, whether or not it would do my complexion and taste any justice. And I must just tell you ladies, I’m as impressed as I’ve always been with Glamour freebies.

 I easily keep a new pair of jeans or shirt in my wardrobe for months – but when it comes to beauty products I swear I often wish I could fly home! I had to just remind myself that vegetables WILL melt if I don’t put them in the fridge first. So after packing some groceries away I got down to the business of trying out this new shade and I tell you, it was definitely worth the risk of the unknown.

I’m off to a braai (South African for “barbeque”) after my jog tonight and while I would usually dress very casually for braai’s, tonight I’ll be adding some glamour to my outfit with this lovely GlamBerry. If you’re just as “Gaga” over this month’s issue, please do share a snap or two with the Glamberry or the GlamPink (available in other copies).

 

Some extras – previous Glamour freebies. 

I had such a good laugh when I started writing this post. I had to check when I got the over-sized sunglasses. 18 year old me was quite the diva it seems. Haha, still can’t decide what’s worse between the semi duck face and the weird neck angle but definitely great memories. (These are the only hoop earrings I’ve ever worn- perhaps I should give hoops another chance). 

I carry this make-up bag with me everywhere. It does a really good job ensuring that I can always touch-up my make-up a little whenever I need to.

 

Another pair of Glamour glasses. I got these ones last year and I love-love them. The beautiful thing about these sunglasses is that as much as I love them, because of their price, I really wouldn’t be very sad if I lost them. 

Have a lovely weekend all and Happy Woman's Day!!

Xx