Ready for the Weekend!

We live in a beautiful country and I am not sure if there is anyone out there who is more 'proudly South African' than I am (although... us South Africans are known to be pretty patriotic...) so when I saw this really epic music video I knew I had to share it.

Besides the really cute story, good music, occasional pun (look out for the trunk in a trunk) and great cinematography (is that what they call it... even for a music video?) a lot of the video is shot in SA! Yay for us :D enjoy the weekend!

Mystery Weekend Mix # 1

Some music for the weekend... (I haven't figured out how to install a playlist app just yet, so am just linking to the videos for now. I will tech-up soon ... hopefully).

1 One
2 Two
3 Three
4 Four
5 Five
6 Six
7 Seven
8 Eight
9 Nine
10 Ten
11 Eleven
12 Twelve
13 Thirteen
14 Fourteen
15 Fifteen

*disclaimer- please excuse some of the cheesy videos included via the links. 

I Dream of Tutus

I have been doing ballet for 4 months now and am loving it. I am not sure whether I have made any progress (I can't do the splits, put my leg high in the air and I have terrible turn-out), but it is a great workout and just so beautiful. 

We have a wonderful ballet teacher who teaches the Vaganova method. She is patient, firm (whilst, still being gentle) and offers us lots of praise to keep us motivated. I would really recommend ballet as a workout for anyone wanting to increase their core strength, improve their balance or just to burn calories.

Classical ballet is so beautiful, but I would love to see more modern ballet performances (by modern I mean classical ballet moves adapted and choreographed to work with more modern music) - does anyone know of any ballets that use more contemporary music? 

Something similar to the last dance scene in Centre Stage (hardcore ballet-enthusiasts please don't judge me!)

I'm in love... and yes... I do dream of tutus.

(source)

DIY tutorial here

(source)

(Oh- and I haven't forgotten about the promised giveaway ...  I have just been a bit slow getting things done -  I blame all the public holidays)

Parkour

Parkour aka freerunning (which differs slightly) aka l'art du déplacement is a sport which draws on the skills of speed, efficiency and spatial awareness. It is difficult to explain...

Tempest Freerunning Academy from The Cool Hunter on Vimeo.

Its like a mix of gymnastics, circus-like performance skill and crazy obstacle-course manoeuvres.

Find it fascinating and want to try it out? If you live in South Africa you can join the Parkour South Africa mailing list to find out about public parkour jams happening all across SA.

Who knows... in the next 5 years maybe we won't be sending our kids to ballet and soccer practice... we might be sending them off to parkour school...

(For music lovers -  the track from the video is Ellie Goulding - Lights (Bassnectar Remix)

Weekend Links

Just stopping by to say a quick hello and share some funny/pretty/fun/delicious things from around the internet:

What will you fill your home with?

A ring for her and a ring for him (and one for any guy who has trouble remembering those important dates)

Ever wanted to live inside a romance novel?

A sign to sing about
Earl Grey Cupcakes
I am a cat lover... and this picture is made of happiness (source)
I WANT, WANT, WANT this dress!
I have recently discovered the Gordon Ramsay Cook With Me application for iPad (Thanks V and M) and can't wait for winter to arrive so I can make these
Perfect, pretty pink picnic
Funny bunny 
Are you a fan of the Beastie Boys? No...? What about Will Ferrel, Jack Black, Ted Danson, Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly or Seth Rogan?

One of my favourite posters/ prints. So inspirational. Typography = <3

(source)

Up and away!

I just saw the most exciting thing... you remember the PIXAR movie, UP? Where Carl meets Ellie, they spend the best days of their life together, Ellie passes away leaving poor Carl on his own and he pursues their dream of visiting Paradise Falls... in a house carried by hundreds and hundreds of balloons?

Remember?

The balloon-transported house from PIXAR's 2009 movie, UP.

Well... the awesome team at Pinterest sent me an e-mail this week telling me about a group of scientists, engineers and balloon pilots who re-created the iconic house from Pixar's UP. Setting a new world record for the largest balloon cluster (and the house flew for more than an hour)!

It is quite something to see... let me show you-

So just how difficult can it be to get a house to fly?

Quite tough... apparently...

To read more about this amazing experiment visit the National Geographic Page here and to see something a bit more fun and whimsical... go here.

A Pretty Blog

I must confess - I am obssessed with The Pretty Blog (if you didn't know that already).

I haven't had a chance to blog much in the last few days, but here are some of my favourites from The Pretty Blog.

The most beautiful wedding dress from this gorgeous wedding.

'Quilt' cookies. Read more about them here.

Beautiful baby mobile. Seen on The Pretty Blog, available on Etsy.

And now for some wedding love...

Ballet is hugely popular at the moment with ballerina inspired touches being seen everywhere, and weddings are no exception. Check out this wedding that featured a live ballet performance as well as this wedding with the prettiest bridal (ballet) slippers (and an epic car).

Hope you had a lovely weekend! 

Oh... and before you go- please have a look at this fantastic wedding video. It is beautiful, sweet and filled with such intense and authentic emotion... its just perfect!

Falling For You

This is definitely one of the cutest (and funniest) videos I have ever seen. Makes me wish I knew the couple (Khali and Potsch).

Khali and Potsch directed and starred in this sweet silent movie which they debuted at their wedding.

Falling For You from Khali & Potsch on Vimeo.