That Blog

Remember I told you about the beautiful personalised stationery and other beautiful goodies available at Love Letters Stationery? Well, I have some more exciting news for you…the very creative Bridget from Love Letters Stationery has offered some of these gorgeous goodies to you!!

Yip, that is right…we are going to be giving away one of those awesome stick-on chalkboards AND a set of personalised gift tags.

Personalised Gift Tags

All you need to do is mail thatblogger@thatblog.co.za with “Stationery Competition” in the subject line and in your e-mail, give me the name of one of the Design Sets for the Personalised Stickers.

Stick-on Chalkboards

Competition closes 17th June 2010.

Good Luck!!

If you are a fan of the Twilight series you either fall into the Vampire camp (Robert Pattinson fans) or Werewolf camp (Taylor Lautner fans). Anyway, if you fall into either camp, you are probably very excited about the third movie in the series that is starting on 30 June 2010. Personally, I am a Werewolf fan…not so sure about pasty white, sparkly vampires…they just don’t do it for me.

Anyway, here’s the storyline that we have to look forward to…

As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob — knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. (Source: Wikipedia)

If you are not a fan of the Twilight series, you are almost certainly pretty indifferent on werewolves or vampires and will be skipping this post to read about something more interesting on That Blog!

You may recall that That Blog ran a competition a little while back to win a Breakfast for 2 at Miss K Food Cafe in Green Point.

Well, the time has come to announce the winner…

Kim Main

Congratulations Kim!!! Enjoy your breakfast!

If you were not lucky enough to win this great prize…why not just treat yourself to a Miss K meal anyway. The new menu is great and with this grim weather, how can you resist that yummy Lindt Hot Chocolate…

I was introduced to this wonderful website the other day and thought that I should share it with you.

Love Letters Stationery & Paper Goods make some of the most beautiful personalised stationery I have ever seen. Everything from monogrammed cards and envelopes to colourful placemats, printed gift tags and even personalised pencils.

I am a really big fan of the stick on chalkboards that are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes…what a great way to organise your life AND look good whilst you are doing it!! The animal shapes are great for kids rooms or playrooms.

The personalised placemats are great and what a brilliant idea for a birthday present with a difference! There are different designs for Boys and Girls and they certainly will brighten up meal times and lure the family to the dinner table rather than TV dinners. The mats are made of melamine, board and cork and are heat-resistant and scratch resistant.

Personalised Placemats

Have a look at the great little invitations available. Just gorgeous images and they come with a Microsoft Word template that will help you easily print your own invitations.

I just loved the really cute gift tags for Christmas…which are something quite special and different to the usual tacky little stickers and cards available at Christmas. It goes SERIOUSLY against the grain for me to even start thinking of Christmas this early in the year…but maybe this might inspire me to be a little more organised than normal!

Please do yourself a favour and have a look at the other beautiful things available on their website www.lovelettersstationery.co.za or contact Bridget at lovelettersstationery@gmail.com or +27 83 327 5363 for more info and tell her that That Blog sent you.

Personalised Gift Tags

Sales of Pond’s Cold Cream have soared after Kylie Minogue attributed her youthful good looks to the old faithful pot o’ Cold Cream.

Kylie, who turns 42 on Friday, admits that she has had a few botox injections too…but apparently it is actually the Pond’s beauty treatment that really has given her such a beautiful skin. She says she has never had any cosmetic surgery, she just followed her Mum’s advice and Mum was right (isn’t she alway )…so apparently a dollop of Cold Cream every night and perhaps the occasional Botox injection and look what your skin can look like! Pretty flipping good actually!!!

Kylie Minogue (Photo: REX FEATURES)

I suspect that a marketing/advertising person or 2 somewhere in the world with the responsibility of managing the rather lack-lustre brand of Pond’s Cold Cream must of got quite a shock when the so-called “Kylie effect” hit the world because I can’t recall the last time I even saw an ad for the product.

Mmmm…I don’t know about you girls, I am not completely convinced. Waddaya reckon? She does look fab, but I am not sure I am dashing off to the local Clicks to stock up on a tub of the stuff that reminds me of School Plays and Drama class. I think my skin would probably benefit at LOT more from making use of a few of the great winter specials available at the various spas and salons!!

That Blogger hit the Sunglass Hut sale today and can safely report that there are some SERIOUSLY good deals to be found and some beautiful sunnies to be purchased.

I was unable to limit myself to just one pair and in fact got completely carried away with the whole event…so needless to say, I have gone from being the owner of one rather scratched pair of sunglasses (that were brought out of retirement after fav pair were nicked) to probably being able to wear a different pair on each sunny day we will see until November and not have to use any pair more than once! (OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration…but not far off, if we have a bad Winter!). At one point in the purchasing process, I had so many pairs in my hand that if you had put a flag or a vuvuzela in my other hand I would have done a very good impersonation of someone standing at a major traffic intersection!

Anyway, so what I am saying is that you REALLY need to get yourself to the North Building, Black River Park, Fir Street, Observatory as soon as possible because the sale ends on Saturday 29th May (open all day Saturday). Ray-bans are selling from R370.00 and Pradas, Chanels, D&G, Miu Mius and DKNY (amongst many other names) are selling at a serious discount!

My favourite purchase...the DKNY pair

Happy shopping Gals!!

It is a fact universally acknowledged that a single woman (over the age of 28) living in Cape Town is lamenting the barren or dire state of the man-scape (apologies to Jane Austen for the misquote).

However, when I spotted this pic I had to laugh and thank my lucky stars that things aren’t quite so dire that you might feel the need to respond to, perhaps, the worst personal ad EVER written!!! And when I say written, I mean it….because it is actually hand written!!

I particularly like the part about meeting “Tina Turner’s Son in person 7 times”…

It is 17 days until we take on Mexico for the opening game of the World Cup and it is all getting VERY exciting!!

The world’s advertising peeps have done so well to produce some awesome ads and promo videos for the Big Event and I thought you might like to check out a couple of them to get you in the mood!!

This one is great…although not entirely sure where a Chimpanzee would fit into the African picture???

This one was produced for BBC Sport and is a great clip to get you feeling really positive and proudly South African!

This one could in fact be one of the most expensive ads ever made. It shows how soccer could write the future for sports stars. It includes some of the biggest names in Soccer at the moment. Remember the educational video clip that I showed you a little while back…do you recognise any of those guys here??  Perhaps you recognise Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba? Maybe even Wayne Rooney or Ronaldinho?? You would be right in thinking you spotted Roger Federer in there too, as well as Kobe Bryant (the basketballer)…and my personal favourite Homer Simpson! Well done Nike, this is awesome!

I have to be honest and say that That Blogger LOVES a wine festival! This is why I was very excited to hear about the upcoming Agulhas Wine Festival being held from 28th to 30th May 2010 at the De Hoop Collection in the De Hoop Nature Reserve. The wine festival will showcase some of the award-winning wines from the Agulhas area – including Napier, Elim and nearby Gaansbaai. De Hoop is described as the “Jewel of the Western Cape” and really is such a beautiful setting for this festival and this is a great opportunity to taste some of the most delicate and decadent wines on offer from the area.

Wine estates on offer at the festival include:-

• Black Oystercatcher, Jean Daneel, The Berrio, Zoetendal, Strandveld Wines, First Sighting, Quoin Rock, Lamond, Brunio, Ghost Corner and Lands End

How exciting is that? Those are really some of my favourite wine estates and now they will all be gathered together in spot for tasting!

The festival begins on Friday evening with sundowners and snacks overlooking the De Hoop Vlei, where you can relax and enjoy the tranquil beauty of the surrounding wildlife and fynbos. On Saturday, from 11am to 2pm, the wine tasting starts and just to make the whole event even more decadent, you will be able to sample the freshly prepared canapés on offer. Later, from 6pm-8pm, another wine tasting will be held, followed by a sumptuous dinner at The Fig Tree restaurant, complete with wine pairing. On Sunday morning, the festival will close in style – with a luxurious champagne breakfast at the Fig Tree Restaurant to celebrate the area’s local bubbly.

Whilst the Reserve is open for day visitors, this is a fabulous opportunity to make this a “Weekend away with friends” type of event (Aren’t we always looking for a reason to get out of town?) There are plenty of accommodation options to choose from that suit all budgets. You can choose from the affordable campsite rondavels, an assortment of self-catering cottages and larger houses or the Opstal Manor House (which incl meals catered for at The Fig Tree Restaurant). If you are looking for something really special and more private, there is the beautiful Koppie Alleen set on its own overlooking the bay.

De Hoop Koppie Alleen Cottages

The Reserve is a World Heritage Site and really has so much to do if you are looking to take a break from the wine tasting. You can do some mountain biking, hiking, birding, animal spotting, snorkelling and even some whale watching! You are welcome to leave your vehicle at any time and wander around the reserve.

Black Oyster Catcher

De Hoop Nature Reserve is about 3 hours drive from Cape Town. It is in the Overberg region near the Southern tip of Africa can can be approached from either Bredasdorp or Swellendam. Reserve gates open at 7am and close at 6pm (7pm on Fridays). Late and early arrival can be arranged with Management at a small extra cost.

For further information, call the De Hoop Collection on 0861 33 4667 or the Cape Town reservation office directly on 021 405 4587 or email res@dehoopcollection.co.za.

You can also visit the website for more info www.dehoopcollection.co.za

De Hoop Collection

That Blog is bringing you a Winter Specials List with a difference…this is a list of the Winter Specials offered by Salons and Spas in Cape Town and the Winelands.

This list will be updated constantly and so it is good to check back regularly and see if there are any new exciting specials on offer.

Click here to view the full list….

Come on Girls, treat yourselves, you deserve it!!

If you are a Spa or Salon owner and would like to have your Winter Special listed here, please mail me at thatblogger

The “That Blog” Winter Specials List is just massive now. Just click on the link to see what I mean.

It seems to grow every day and there are some AWESOME specials to be found for dining out in the City and in the Winelands and all over the Cape actually!

If you plan to go to a restaurant any time in the next few months, you really would be very silly to head out before checking out the specials list first.

As I said, the list is updated almost daily, so make sure you check it regularly to ensure you aren’t missing out anything that just SCREAMS value!

Happy dining!

By the way, there are even more specials to be found at Whale Cottage Blog

You really should try get there…

I headed out for a little mid-week winelands meander the other day and the luncheon destination of choice was The Restaurant at Jordan. I have always been an serious fan of the city version of George Jardine’s culinary delights and so was very eager to see what life in the country had done to this award winning chef. I was not disappointed.

After a spot of wine tasting, we ventured into the restaurant. The weather was playing along on the day and so we opted for a table out on the terrace. That is a pretty impressive view! This little snap was taken from where I sat on the terrace…not a bad view from the table?!

A nice way to while away a week day afternoon...

Anyway, so we opted for the Menu du Jour with wine pairing (R220 incl 2 glasses of Jordan Wine). Believe me when I say, it was not an easy decision to make! There was also the option of selecting from a choice of 3 starters, 4 mains and 3 desserts (at R200.00 for 2 courses or R225.00 for 3 courses excl wine). The options all sounded so enticing that the Menu du Jour eventually got my vote because there were less decisions to make! We selected our 2 wines to go with our meal and sat back, enjoyed the view and waited to see what would emerge for the big open kitchen.

We started with a complimentary amuse-bouche, Chicken liver and foie gras parfait with celeriac chantilly, toasted brioche and prune. From the first mouthful, I knew that country living had only done good things for our Chef! The wonderfully unique flavours and textures combined to make each mouthful special.

The starter was a barrel smoked yellowtail, which really was an very different way to prepare a fish that we have all tasted so many times.

Barrel Smoked Yellowtail

We followed that up with a honey glazed pork belly, served with braised wheat, pancetta and shallots. So succulent and cooked just the way I like it…Yummy!!!

I didn’t think I would have space for it, but when I spotted the carmalised lemon tart, I managed to find just a little gap. A really light dessert and just the right ending to an amazing meal.

The Restaurant at Jordan really is a beautiful setting but the truly special part is the meal prepared so carefully by George and his team.

The Menu Du Jour is part of the Jordan winter special and really is great value for food of this calibre. If you are heading out towards Stellenbosch any time soon and are looking for a great lunch venue, you should seriously consider paying Jordan a visit. There is a special 6 course tasting menu available for dinner on Thursday and Friday evenings with/without wine pairings.

Book a table on 021 881 3612 or e-mail Jordan restaurant

A recently released on-line poll conducted in the UK by the online fashion retailer offerssupermarket.co.uk, has revealed the top 10 iconic dresses of our time. I have a sneaky suspicion that No 1 might not fall into a global opinion of Most Iconic Dress of our times, but interesting to see what was voted for in the UK.

The poll does not give any detail on the sample of people questioned or whether they were actually qualified to give a view on this…while I do agree that everybody is entitled to their own opinion, I cannot believe a representative sample of the UK population came up with this selection!!

No 1. Geri Halliwell – Union Jack dress at the Brit Awards in 1997

No 2. Liz Hurley – Gianni Versace safety pin dress worn in 1994 at the London premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral

No 3. Marilyn Monroe – White dress in Seven Year Itch

No 4. Audrey Hepburn – Black dress and pearls in Breakfast at Tiffany’s

No 5. Lady Gaga – White outfit and wig worn to the Brit Awards

No 6. Diana, Princess of Wales – Wedding dress designed by The Emanuel’s

No 7. Kylie Minogue – Gold hot pants worn in the Spinning Around video, 2000 (Do hotpants count as a dress??)

No 8. Jennifer Lopez – Sheer green Versace dress worn to the Grammys

No 9. Björk – Swan dress worn to the Oscars designed by Marjan Pejoski, worn to the 2001 Oscars

No 10. Cindy Crawford: Red Versace dress worn to the Oscars

Right, so part of this whole Soccer World Cup vibe is learning the appropriate dances. These may need to be enacted in the event of Bafana Bafana actually winning a game or failing that, just general jubilation in the stands/fan parks. That Blog is here to help you!!!

There are two important dances to know…the Diski Dance (which I have to admit is definitely the higher grade version) and then the Waka Waka dance (the much easier version a.k.a the 27 pints of lager and much joviality version). The video clips attached will give you all you need to know to learn the dances and be able to practice them in the comfort of your own home before having to bust out some moves in Green Point Stadium/Soccer City/the place you are watching the game.

The Diski Dance…

The Waka Waka Dance…

Maybe if you really perfect your Diski Dance, you can use it as a sneaky intro when you spot The Princes in a nightclub in Cape Town!

Or maybe not…

This does not relate to the trashy 90′s song that will probably be stuck in your head now that I have mentioned it…this relates to the REAL DEAL. Yip, Prince William and Prince Harry are heading to SA for that Soccer Spectacular that we are all getting excited about…the 2010 Soccer World Cup!!  So, Girls, I have told you who you can be watching for on the field, now you know who to be looking for in the stands!!!

Prince William is President of The Football Association and so he is  visiting South Africa on their behalf and then I am quite sure, purely co-incidentally, Prince Harry thought that some time in June 2010 was a good time to go and check out some of the charity work he did in Lesotho in 2008. They will also be stopping off for a visit to Botswana, where Prince William is involved with the wildlife charity Tusk Trust. The visit to South Africa will be the first time that The Princes have carried out joint engagements overseas.

The Princes will attend the match between England and Algeria…which, in case you didn’t know is being played in Cape Town!! They are also expected to be attending England’s first group C match against the United States on June 12 in Rustenburg. We know that certainly the younger of those two boys is not adverse to a nightclub…so Girls, you will need to keep a serious look out!!

The awesome “Tourist in your own country” special at Delheim has started. Have you booked your table yet?
Unfortunately, it is only available for lunch…but if you can sneak out of work, take a client to lunch or are lucky enough to be a “Lady who lunches” then get there!!

The special runs until 21 May.

Please make your reservation at Tel: +27 (21) 8884607 or online at restaurant

Conditions apply:

• One starter, one main and one dessert per person
• One booking per group for the week
• SA citizens only – please bring your SA passport or ID
• Offer does not include drinks

Jennifer Hudson at Cannes 2010

Jennifer Hudson is set to start filming a biopic of Winnie Mandela and Winnie is not impressed. The movie will be based on Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob’s biography, Winnie Mandela: A Life. Apparently, Winnie isn’t too pleased with how she is painted in the script and her lawyers have expressed fears that the project is a veiled “character assassination”. Despite this, filming is set to start on May 31 in SA and the director Darrell Roodt has said “We don’t shy away from the controversies”.

Honestly, what does Winnie expect? By all accounts, Ms Madikizela-Mandela, has not lead the life of a saint. Winnie should just be pleased they picked J-Hud to play her…look at that pic of Jennifer, she is looking great! Although, we all saw what they did to Charlize in Monster…so anything is in fact possible!!!

I think this is going to be an interesting one to watch. I suspect this movie isn’t going to inspire quite the national pride that the recent movie, Invictus, managed to achieve!

Winnie on her wedding day (1957)

A more recent photo of her

As the most popular social network in the world, Facebook has become the de facto destination for web users to share their thoughts, photos and videos and connect with long lost friends and loved ones.

However,  there does seem to be growing movement calling for people to delete their Facebook accounts. Critics of the social networking site, are citing privacy concerns and plummeting trust in the company and its leader, Mark Zuckerburg. The “delete-your-Facebook” movement-scheduled for May 31- doesn’t seem to have picked up quite as much support as its originators had hoped…but maybe it is still early days.  There are over 450 million Facebook users at the moment…it is going to take a serious amount of disgruntled users to put a dent in that number!!

Facebook, it would appear, is comfortable that most users won’t even consider quitting despite the multiple bugs. Maybe, Facebook are relying on the fact that when it comes to the web, most users tend to gravitate towards the familiar. For example, when it comes to search and e-mail, they go for Google…and Facebook is the tried, tested and trusted social media space…that, and the difficulty of actually deleting a profile on FB (by all accounts, it is not an easy thing to do).

Facebook recently launched a platform that allows sites and apps to share information about the users in order to tailor offers, features and services to each users interests and tastes. The use of the Facebook “Like” button on non-facebook sites will give users the ability to share their favorite songs, movies, restaurants and news items back with their Facebook friends and integrate them into their profile. This information can be made available to vendors looking to gather information about potential customers. This leaves many people completely mortified at the through of so much personal information being made public.

I personally am quite a fan of FB and so am not sure that I will be signing up to the 31 May initiative, but will be watching with interest to see what happens. Will you quit?

I read an article on the weekend and could immediately relate and thought I would share the gist of article with you…

A pensioner spent 8 years working a 5000 piece puzzle only to discover right at the end that there was 1 piece missing!! Now, admittedly, he couldn’t have been working at break neck speed to complete the puzzle, because a bit of simple arithmetic tells me he wasn’t even placing 2 pieces a day…but then maybe there was a lot of one colour (you know…sky, sea etc)

Apparently, he was so devastated on discovering the missing piece, that his family contacted the makers of the puzzle to try and get a replacement piece. Alas, he had taken so long to complete the puzzle, that they had stopped making the puzzle.

Shame, bless…

Heartbroken pensioner and the missing puzzle piece

There is a great new buying club idea about to launch in SA and will give you access to some incredible specials and discounts. If you haven’t heard about it already, you can just thank That Blogger for keeping to up to date with what’s happening on the great world wide web!!! The site is called Twangoo and the guys behind the idea are working hard to secure some awesome exclusive deals at restaurants,  spas, hotels and some great exclusive retailers just for their members.

Keep a look out for more details on Twangoo launch date on That Blog and some of the awesome deals that will be on offer. But, in the mean time…why not sign up for their newsletter and check out their page on facebook. They are running a competition to win a R3000.00 Diesel voucher…now that is not something to sneeze at!!

Exciting times aren’t they??