September: The Click Frenzy

Since it's the last day of the Month (Can you handle it!?) Here is the first edition of The Click Frenzy: September - a collected list of awesome things I've stumbled upon around the internet this month -

Bon apetit!

Just. BE. Happier - the Happiness Habits of exhuberant Human Beings

If you're a creative blogger - you need to click this.
Seriously, what would YOU do if you weren't afraid?
How about some watercolour downloads to make your iPhone background pretty.
So this is causing a bit of buzz in South Africa right now.
Exactly. Happy Monday!
Something introspective: what's your relationship to life?
Loving this Breathless 1960 montage.
Ok, so I've unsubscribed to their email lists, like - a hundred times - but the You and Your Wedding people keep emailing me. Anyway - I do love this Festival Inspired Wedding Vibe.
A delicious and super healthy snack that's easy to make - click here!
Awesome post encouraging us to "be the change"
This new Guinness Beer ad - gives. me. goosebumps. (and maybe a sneaky little tear).
An open letter to all your Facebook Friends- what would you say? "Dear Facebook friends...
A DIY striped iPhone case - get on it.
10 Awesome book shops from around the world - I have actually seen the Words on Water store floating around these parts!
Sob! - this makes me miss my time in Korea!
I love the idea of this Three Things Concept.

7 things Sunday

Seven Things from the week:

1. Had a Sunday Bake-off: Pancakes, Bacon and Maple Syrup.
2. Watched husband waltz around the lounge, in his pyjamas, by himself.
   like actual waltzing.
3. Ran a sneaky mid-week 10km
4. Watched as husband took on the Red Dog Saloon (hottest-chili-in-the-world) Wings Challenge - more to follow.
5. Had my face appear on Nubby Twiglet's blog - *dies* 
6. Have had a strange longing to do a jigsaw puzzle. It must be the weather. 
7. Getting ready to launch some exciting new projects next week! Look out for it!

10 facts to make you SMARTER. FUN FACT FRIDAY!

Welcome to the fifth edition of FUN FACTS FRIDAY!

They don't know me.

They aren't in my house.

Those ten minutes are the minutes I speak to myself.

Am clearly well above average.

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New York Times Article published March 4, 1876

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Am curious - is this for both boys and girls?

Also - saw a tweet the other day - 

"Why do toilet paper ads exist?

I mean - WHO is not buying this stuff?"

* * * * * * * * 

We all know if they were called what they looked like they'd be called "Hershey's nipples".

Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about.

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although, if you're this gal - 

it's probably a lot more.

too. much. cookie.

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Side Note: I have started a facebook page for stationery addicts - for no other reason than just to share awesome stationery I see from around the internet/world: pretty papers, cute diaries, pencils, pens, washi tapes, Filo Faxes etc - I may do a separate page for WASHI TAPE - but for now I will just post washi tape inspiration and stationery all in one happy pretty place. You can follow it here if you want.

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Get the coffee, Jude!

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and you can't even DRIVE a hamburger.

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Seriously - 

was there not enough space on that door for the both of you?

Selfish.

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Second Side Note: If you would like to read a really interesting (and entertaining) blog post about what your poop says about you - click here.

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the end.

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Third Side Note: Am FULL of side notes today.

Fourth Side Note: Husband is doing the RED DOG SALOON HOT WINGS CHALLENGE tonight. See video below for what this entails -

we are so funny.

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Fifth Side Note: eerrrrmaagheerd what did I tell you about these side notes?!

Sixth Side Note: I have a really awesome announcement to make soon for the indieBerries readers based in London! Stay tuned!

* * * * * *

Happy weekend y'all!

So tell me - what are your plans?

Photography: Eat n Snap Walkshop

Last Saturday, Michelle from MY Creative, invited me to one of her Eat n Snap Photography "walkshops". It's a really fun concept - you meet for brunch, talk photography (ISOs, Aperture, Shutterspeeds, getting onto manual, composition and lighting and etc) and then you head out to snap some pics. We met at Market Cafe near the Broadway market for some yummy nosh and then we headed out to take some snaps of the market happenings.

When I was at university, we did a short photography course as part of our design course - of course back then I was "all about the party" and got my photojourn-student friend to take my photos didn't really pay tooooo much attention to f.stops and hoo-haa's. I got my SLR camera a few years ago and have loved snapping away for fun and trying to recall those lectures I sat through on shutter speeds and depth of field. I have become quite lazy with "taking the perfect pic" because I know a lot of what I'd want to change about a photo I can do in photoshop. (Lazy!) So for this Eat n Snap workshop, I decided I would take pics and put them up on the blog completely unedited - so here are some of the snaps.

Side Note: Michelle has a really excellent blog post on Making the Move over to Manual - definitely worth the read if you are still playing around on auto (naughty you) or on priority modes.

Composition:

After discussing a few vitals in terms of setting your camera up based on the light and the type of photo you want to take - we chatted a lot about composition. Composition in photography is very similar to composition in design - I actually love this blogpost Michelle wrote on the composition of Dutch Still Life Paintings - translated into photography and her still life shoot.

1. Rule of Thirds

There are loads of different websites and photography blogs that will tell you aaaalllll about the rule of thirds and if you do a quick google image search you will see exactly what it means. The idea is that the composition or the framing of a photograph is much more interesting and appealing to the eyes if the main subject is not slap-bang in the middle of frame. From our many design courses (and from what I can still remember about eye-track theory) if you position your main subject on one of the third grid lines - your eye will immediately go to that "thing" as the strongest point of reference in your frame (in the case below, it is the lovely Xandra from Fashionably light) After that, because it has been positioned on the third line - you eye knows exactly what it must do - it must travel right to explore the rest of the picture. Your brain and your eyes are not in conflict - it is peaceful. Peaceful = harmonious = good picture. If Xandra had been slap bang in the middle of the picture - your eyes would have settled on her straight away - because she is the main subject - but then you would have entered a state of INNER PHOTOGRAPHIC TURMOIL - (I made that up) and your eyes would be thinking "should I go left? should I go right? up? maybe going down?" And then your brain will explode. Make it peaceful for the viewer - use the rule of thirds.



2. Geometric shapes:

Let me tell you something - humans are lazy. Our eyes want to settle on things that we already know. Things that are easy for us to look at. Like shapes - they are easy to look at - we've been looking at them since we were 3. Our eyes don't have to do much work to settle easily on different shapes - so look for them, naturally occurring in your photos



3. Repetition and Patterning:

There is also the idea of repetition and patterning - which Michelle went through with us. Similarly focusing on lines and shapes that draw our eyes peacefully through a picture. Basically you want to take a picture where the eyes know exactly what they are supposed to be doing or that they are being "led through the picture" with your composition of different shapes and patterns.



 

4. Balance and Symmetry

There are also plenty of posts which talk about symmetry and balance and you can see a lot of examples in Michelle's still life snaps - I love the way she uses negative space to balance out the subjects in her pictures.

and just a few other snaps from the day - 

(the husband met me for a drink and a game of backgammon in a local pub after the walkshop - he took this construction/building pic above)



Photography is also very subjective and what is pleasing to one person may not be all that great to the next. Personally, I lean very much towards pictures that are lighter and more over-exposed than what would be considered "good". For example, I took these three fig pictures on different settings and although the two below are very "blown out" - I actually really like them -



For me, there is some kind of whimsical and intriguing mood that is created - and your eyes have to search around a little to see what is going on - almost a bit of a nostalgia/dreamy kind of quality -

what do you think?

Thank you so much for inviting me on your Eat n Snap workshop Michelle - I had such a lovely day - and I can fully recommend this walkshop to anyone regardless of photography level - I came away from the Walkshop feeling super inspired and making a promise to myself to take my SLR with me more often on my adventures and to snap away... on manual! I loved all your tips and your peaceful and gentle teaching manner.

Michelle is heading over to Italy in the next few weeks - but she is running her next Eat n Snap walkshop from Paris on the 19th of October - book yourself a place - because what is better than croissants, coffee, the Eiffel Tower and photo-snapping? Nothing. And her walkshops come with an awesome hand-out that is the perfect size to slip into your camera bag to remind you of everything you've learned!

And if you have time for a quick something beautiful - check out  Michelle's inspired by words series - how gorgeous are these pictures?!

ps: forgot to add - Michelle is also South African - double bonus.

A few changes around here...

After attending The Blogcademy a few weeks ago and being inspired to re-think/re-brand and re-launch indieBerries as a platform for my creative business, with a stronger, more focused direction - I have had a good think about some regular features which I wanted to share with you today.


Apart from the usual "things" you can expect to find on indieBerries - Cartoons || Personal Stories || DIYs || Funny Moments || Extreme Washi-taping - you can now look forward to some of these new features -

WEEKLY and BI-WEEKLY FEATURES:



Fun Facts Friday!

I have been running the "FUN FACTS FRIDAY!" segment for 4 weeks now - (has it already been that long?!) It has been really well received by everyone, so I will continue to post a list of Fun and Random facts every Friday - the perfect timing for you to take your new random knowledge into your weekend dinner party conversations and make yourself seem really well-read and filled with random knowledge. You can thank me later.



Educate Yourself

I have been playing around with the idea of doing a weekly (or bi-weekly) "EDUCATE YOURSELF" feature - this would include things like learning to use grammar correctly, common spelling mistakes and other basic things you should already know. These types of posts have been popular in the past, but as I said - I'm still just playing around/thinking about including this feature - since there are only so many ways I can tell you "the difference between Too, To and Two". I may extend this "Educate Yourself" feature to include cartoon posts on "How to change a tire" or "How to change a lightbulb". We'll see how it goes...



indieBusiness & indieBlog Bites

As I move towards setting up my creative business I want to share my journey with you. In the "indieBusiness Bites" posts I will be sharing any small-business related tips that I have found useful and any resources that I have found handy or have created for myself - (I have the first indieBusiness download ready for you this coming Tuesday!)

Initially I had thought to separate this feature into "indieBlog Bites" and "indieBusiness Bites" - but I think that these days having a creative business is so often linked to successful blogging and online presence that it would almost be silly for me to separate them. For now, I will be running this feature bi-weekly - every second Tuesday. Some weeks I will be sharing blogging-related tips, other weeks I will be sharing more business-related tips. Having said that, I am no Warren Buffet and I can almost guarantee you that the things I will be posting are not going to catapult you into a five star yacht on The Med. But they may give you some tips on effective time management, finding your own voice and being more pro-active in what you were meant to be doing.


MONTHLY FEATURES:



People of Awesomeness

I have recently opened up indieBerries to outside sponsorship - for bloggers, small business owners and awesome people to advertise on indieBerries. (I already have 5 awesome sponsors this month - (Midlands Musings, Berry Diaries, Midnight Rambler, Deecoded and Ellie Love) YAY! You can click over to their blogs on the right and give them some love!) Every month I will be doing a "Monthly Sponsors Feature" introducing you to these "People of Awesomeness" and sharing some of my favourite blogposts/products/services from them. This post will go up on the first Wednesday of every month - so look out for it next week! I can't wait to share my favourite blog-posts from these lovelies!

For the sponsor who has booked the Main Sponsorship slot - (this month: Midlands Musings) there will also be a solo cartoon feature post - I'm really excited about this month's main sponsor - because I know her in actual real-life flesh. Get excited for the cartoon post for this lady - HINT: it involves wine. All the wine.



The Click Frenzy

When I first started blogging - I absolutely loved scouring the internet looking at different blogs, reading up and delving into the lives of strangers, their businesses, their arts, crafts and generally being inspired by the awesome people hanging out in cyberspace. Over the years I've stopped reading as many blogs as I used to (time/life/actual books/husband/laundry/etc). I want to make an effort to re-visit some of the old blogs I love and share some of my favourite posts with you. At the end of every month, I will be putting together a list of my favourite posts from around the internet - and hopefully you will discover some new blogs to love! This will be on the last Friday of the month (as an additional post to the Fun Facts Friday!)



Cooking for Noobs

If you have been following indieBerries for some time, you will know that I completely suck in the kitchen. "Suck" is such a horrid word to use - but there really is no other way to describe it. Wait, let me tell you about the time I blew-up an egg. I have been wanting to do a Monthly Video Series on the blog - and have decided to produce my very own cooking show: Cooking for Noobs.

We filmed the first episode last Saturday.

Husband thought it was hysterical when I attempted to make a curry paste by mixing milk and kaffir lime leaves in a bowl with crushed nuts. I was, in fact, following the recipe. But it turns out you are supposed to read the entire recipe once over before you actually begin anything. Who woulda thought. And actually, we had a really good time drinking wine and chatting in the kitchen while my chicken caught fire.

Anyway - we have had a slight problem with some of the videos - they are not opening on my computer :( (I have taken it as a sign that the world is trying to save me from myself) Anyway I am determined to get at least one of these "Cooking For Noobs" videos out - so that I can gauge your interest/reaction and see from there. Hopefully we can figure out a way to get the rest of these videos to open - otherwise I may need to ruin something else in the kitchen before I have something to show you.

The aim of this series is to provide fellow kitchen-noobs with some confidence and friendly chef-types with some entertainment. You may even learn the art of a delicious new recipe!

But, probably not.

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To sum up the New Features on indieBerries:

Every Week: Friday Fun Facts - Friday

Every Week/Bi-weekly: An Educate Yourself Cartoon

Every Second Tuesday: indieBusiness Bites

First Wednesday of Every Month: People of Awesomeness Blog Post

Last Friday of the Month: The Click Frenzy

Every Month (pending viewer reaction): The Cooking for Noobs Show.

and a good dose of the usual personal stories, DIY crafts, cartoons and pretty things peppered in between. I will also be posting daily "things you should know" and other fun links via my twitter and facebook accounts.

You can follow me here:

twitter || facebook 

National Braai Day: 5 Simple Codes of Braai Conduct

Example:

You will be shunned from your braai-clan and you shall NEVER be allowed to return.

May you roast in the fiery BBQ pits from whenst you came.

Everyone should roughly look the same,

(give or take some pigmentation).

Appropriate attire - 

Vuvuzela's are especially great for re-directing braai-smoke away from yourself.
You will also find that they are highly entertaining for a few toots after a few toots.

If you were shunned from your braai-clan for using inappropriate "barbeque-terminology" you may wish to appear at the next braai in this South-African-Flag-attire. The braai clan will notice your reignited commitment and they may let you back into their smoke circle.

It's worth the risk - but,

It's not guaranteed.

At the very least, you will have earned back some of your own self-respect.

* * * * * * *

When waiting for your meat to be perfectly cooked, 

snack on some meat that is perfectly un-cooked.

Side Note: If you have per chance braai-ed anything from the right hand side column, 

you will know that your (very) beautiful wife, has gotten the better of you.

haha.

not cool guy.

Repeat: DO NOT cry about this situation. However, depending on how many beverages you have consumed at this point, crying may be involuntary. Which brings us to Point # 5:

Coincidentally, all the boys will also have brought a few extra beers "for the boys" - which, coincidentally leaves an excellent little surplus. Whatever shall we do with these extra beers?

I know!

Give an extra beer to your wife!

oh, wait - 

she's in the kitchen making salad.


*the end
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If you enjoyed this post - you may enjoy:

Confessions of a Rhodes Bride

How NOT to deal with a hangover.

10 things your South African Man NEVER wants to hear you say

Also be sure to check out these posts from this month's sponsors:

How holding a pencil between your teeth can benefit you || Handling humiliation with humour || A High Five piece on Body Image || How life is cheap in Africa.

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For more cartoon fun and to keep up to date with latest posts, you can follow indieBerries on twitter, facebook or bloglovin.