Events - Inspired Living SA

Cape Town, Cape Town Lifestyle, Events, FAR Photography, Lifestyle, Out & About

The Constantia Gift Fair 2012 Gallery

Last week I visited The Constantia Gift Fair, which was held at SARDA in Cape Town and thought I would share some of the images I took. If you missed this Gift Fair you will be pleased to know that they will be holding another one in Durbanville!

The Durbanville Gift Fair is launching from the beautiful grounds of D’Aria Wine Estate on Racecourse road in Durbanville, it is a lifestyle event full of inspirational ideas and hand-picked innovative products – a celebration of gifts with a difference.

There are fabulous home and garden accessories, stunning fashion items, and gorgeous must-have gifts. The deli section is an extravaganza of delicious and exotic food-gifts.Come and sample superb food and drink, soak up the magical atmosphere, let your children have a ball in our kiddies play area and enjoy a sensational shopping experience with friends and family.

The Durbanville Gift Fair will be held at D’Aria from the 29th November – 2nd December:

Thursday 29^th Nov: 9:00am – 17:00pm

Friday 30^th Nov: 9:00am – 20:00pm
(live music)

Saturday 1^st Dec: 9:00am – 17:00pm

Sunday 2^nd Dec: 9:00am – 17:00pm

Cape Town Lifestyle, Events, Fitness, Lifestyle, Out & About

My First Big Walk

Yesterday 31 000 Capetonians took to the streets for the 2012 Discovery Cape Times Big Walk. The weather was perfect for a brisk walk along one of the 10 routes on offer on the day.

Participants could choose a walk that suited their fitness levels from 5km, 10km, 11km, 12km and 13km walks, to the longer and more gruelling 20km, 25km, 30km, 50km and 80km events. While most walks commenced between 07:00 and 10:00 at various locations around Cape Town, the 80km and 50km events commenced at 03:45 and 06:15 respectively.

In a moment of sheer madness, I opted to do the 30km walk, which started in Simon’s Town at 09:00. The weather for the first half of the walk was cool and pleasant but it certainly heated up as the day progressed! There were plenty of refreshment stations and first aid stops along the way. I did make use of both of these to keep my fluids up and to nurse a few blistered toes! I must admit there were times when I felt like stopping and giving up but I just kept pushing myself and kept in mind the very worthy cause I was supporting.

The funds raised at the Big Walk go to CANSA, The Steenberg Foundation, Nazareth House, The Rotary Club of Claremont and Spartan Harriers to support the initiatives of these organisations.

Head of Sponsorships at Discovery, Jody Foster, says Discovery was delighted by the turnout for the Cape Town event.

“I am heartened by the enthusiasm and goodwill that was evident throughout the day. This type of initiative is firmly in line with Discovery’s vision of a more active and healthier South Africa with the population benefitting from fewer health risks and an improved quality of life.” ~ Jody Foster

Event Director, Tanya Carolus says that organising the 2012 Discovery Cape Times Big Walk required a significant amount of logistical planning and implementation, from determining the routes and planning medical points and refreshments stations to getting partners on board to help facilitate the event.

“Seeing how many people turned up in their walking shoes to enjoy the event makes it all worthwhile.” ~ Tanya Carolus

Discovery thanks all participants who took part in the event, as well as its partners, and the Cape Times for ensuring the day was such a great success.

I am certainly proud to have taken part in this event and would encourage anyone who has not yet done a Big Walk to get involved in 2013! I will be doing it next year along with my family but I may opt for a slightly shorter route!

Cape Town Lifestyle, Events, Lifestyle, Out & About, Proudly South African

The KLINK Awards

Last week I attended the KLINK Awards, which was held at the offices of DHK Architects, in Cape Town. What a truly amazing setting to celebrate some of the top achievers in the wine tourism industry. To get the evening started we were greeted with a glass of bubbles, nothing better on a balmy Cape Town evening! The waite-staff were top-notch, they kept the canapés flowing all evening! The food was certainly plentiful and rather scrumptious and the wine delicious!

On the stunning roof top terrace setting, overlooking the Mother City, Monica Alias from Wine Tourism SA, with the help of Mike Ratcliffe handed out the awards for the various category winners. As voted for by you the consumer.

The winners were as follows:

Beyond Expectations “Award for Great Food & Excellent Value” – Haute Cabriéré
Comfort Zone “Award for the Best Bistro or Cafe on a Wine Farm” – Harvest at Laborie
Connoisseur “Award the Best Cellar Tasting Experience” – Fairview Master Tasting
Country Comfort “Award for Boutique Accommodation on a Wine Farm” – Doolhof Grand Dédale
Crowd Pleaser “Award for the Best Wine Route Event” – Durbanville Wine Valley Season of Sauvignon
Delicious Deli “Award for Best Deli on a Wine Farm” – Fairview Deli
Family Day Out “Award for Best Child-friendly Venue on a Wine Farm – Blaauwklippen
Gourmet ” Award for Best Gourmet Restaurant at the Cellar Door” – Pierneef á La Motte
Happy Times “Award for Most Memorable Wine Route” – Franschhoek Wine Valley
Percale “Award for Best Accommodation on a Wine Route” – Majeka House
Tread Gently “Award for Most Green Wine Farm” – Villiera
Warm Family Welcome “Award for Best Cellar Door Experience” – Delheim
Wild Card “Award for Most Unusual Attraction on a Wine Route” – Cape Heritage Museum at Solms-Delta
Yin and Yang “Award for Best Food and Wine Pairing on a Wine Farm” – Creation Canapé Platter Pairing

Inspired by the marketing and consumer engagement efforts of the nominees, an additional award was specifically created for the #KLINK nominee with the most votes overall. The Supernova Award was presented to Blaauwklippen.

“Thank you to the thousands of domestic and international wine tourists who visited, voted for and provided feedback on their favourite nominees. The inaugural #KLINK Awards achieved our aims of using social media as a core marketing driver and important means of building relationships and engaging with potential and existing clients. Through the viral nature of these platforms, we have been able to reach a broad base of consumers. Congratulations to the winners. We hope that this encourages even more people to visit our winelands and give feedback on their experiences.” ~ Monika Elias, Wine Tourism South Africa and #KLINK Awards Founder

Thank you to Wine Tourism South Africa for a wonderful evening and congratulations to all the KLINK Award winners! Hope to see you all next year! To find out more about the winners pop over to the Wine Tourism website here.

Cape Town Lifestyle, Events, Fashion, Kids Fashion, Lifestyle, Out & About, Proudly South African

Trunk Show Launch Party

Last week I was invited to the Trunk Show Launch Party at the Tjing Tjing bar, in Cape Town. Trunk Show is not just another market it is a celebration of some of the finest local design talent in South Africa and a wonderful day out, filled with beautifully & locally made bespoke products! Do some gift shopping in the comfort of a luxury venue around the Western Cape, while sipping on some champagne and nibbling on cupcakes. It is shopping without the bustle and chaos of a mall or market and the perfect excuse for a girls or moms day out or for that anniversary gift that he’s been promising you 😉

Image by Mandi Schultz Photography

At the party I got to meet the two lovely ladies who are responsible for organising the Trunk Show every month – Francoise Brand, from Hello Nunu and Catherine Nebe, from Mr & Ms. It truly was a coming together of amazing talent, in a wonderful venue in the center of Cape Town and bubbly to sip on while you browse, what more could you ask for.

Mr and Ms is a gorgeous locally made fashion range, which is all about individual expression. The brand is not primarily about chasing current trends, but rather about taking inspiration from beautifully designed clothing from the past and applying that inspiration to today’s context.

Images by Mandi Schultz Photography

Hello Nunu for my regular readers needs no introduction! They create handmade, knitted and crochet clothing and blankets. Products also include hand knitted bed throws, linen and bedroom accessories. Such cute items for the little ones!

I love hats so you can imagine my excitement chatting to the wonderfully talented designers from The Little Hattery! They are a Cape Town based styling company that specialises in creating exquisite head-wear, accessories and custom clothing. I absolutely LOVE their hats and the waistcoats are stunning too, they are like something from another era! So if you are looking for a gorgeous headpiece for a special occasion or just to be noticed they are the ones to call!

Quiver offers handmade items, such as fabric covered rings and earrings. The fabric is sourced for its quality and design and used to accentuate these elements, to ultimately create a unique piece of jewellery. One could say that it is a method of up-cycling fabric off cuts and giving it a whole new purpose!

CosyKids sell a handmade range of bespoke linen and accessories, perfect to decorate your babies nursery or child’s bedroom. I love the little sheep – too cute for words 🙂

The designers from Anomali are truly amazing! You really must check out their website, to see more detail, my photo’s do not do justice. They have taken the boring out of jewellery design! I quote “Besides our highest regard for craftsmanship and originality, we believe jewellery is not really meant to be taken seriously, and we think that people forget this. To us, it has come to function as a type of grown-up toy and we always try to treat it as such. Instead of trying to create ‘status’ jewellery, we rather focus on pieces that will come to have value as time passes, when a person has spent time with it and have come to attach their own personal meaning.” Making jewellery pieces out of vintage spoons is certainly not something I would have thought of.

Last but not least was Luli pulani, who design and manufacture footwear and also offer footwear courses and workshops. Some of the shoes on display reminded me of satin geisha slippers and they look amazingly comfortable as well.

To find out when the next Trunk Show is happening, follow them on Facebook.

Cape Town Lifestyle, Competitions, Events, Lifestyle, Out & About

Win a Wine Tourism Handbook

Last month I posted about The KLINK Awards, which have been launched by Wine Tourism South Africa, publishers of the Wine Tourism Handbook, with the objective of inspiring South Africans to explore and enjoy the experiences offered by the country’s winelands.

A panel of industry-related professionals nominated the top five finalists in each of the KLINK Awards’ fourteen categories. Your job was to go to the Wine Tourism South Africa website , Facebook or Twitter pages, see which top wineland spots are amongst the nominees and vote. The full list of categories is available on the website and the winners in each will be announced on the 25th of October.

On the 1^st of November the country’s inaugural Wine Tourism South Africa #KLINK Awards will take place in Cape Town. Here the cream of the winelands crop will be recognised for their offerings in various categories – based solely on your experiences, as the consumer and feedback from you, received via email, Facebook and Twitter.

The event will be held at the De Waterkant Centre, headquarters of dhk Architects whose award-winning work has included several wineries such as Delaire Graff in Stellenbosch, Almenkerk in the Elgin Valley and most recently, Mulderbosh in Stellenbosch. Derick Henstra, Executive Chairman of the dhk Group, is also a wine connoisseur who has translated his love for wine into a growing resume of wine boutiques.

“The #KLINK Awards have given consumers a much-needed voice in determining which wine farms and routes are deserving of recognition based on their own experiences with them.~ Derick Henstra

As a special prize for Super Mom Blog Readers, WTSA have sponsored 5 copies of the Wine Tourism Handbook and still need to find winners for them! What an awesome guide to have while exploring the amazing wine regions of South Africa!

Please leave a comment below this post with your details and tell me what your favourite winelands spot is and you could stand a chance of winning 1 of 5 copies of the Wine Tourism Handbook! Please tweet about it on Twitter – Win a @WineTourismSA handbook on @supermomsablog 0r Post about it on Facebook – Win a @WineTourismSouthAfrica Handbook on @Supermomblog.

As a special prize for Super Mom Blog Readers, WTSA have sponsored 5 copies of the Wine Tourism Handbook and still need to find winners for them! What an awesome guide to have while exploring the amazing wine regions of South Africa!

I will announce the winners on the 26th October 2012.