iTumble

I'm a very visual person. I live for collages, scrapbooks and any sort of collection of pictures. Naturally, Tumblr and Pinterest make me very happy. Above is a screenshot from my tumblr. My love for tumblr went up a couple million notches when I found the perfect theme, the theme organizes it in a way that is really just about the pictures. No titles, links, etc.  Take a look at it, if that's your thing.

www.luxethrills.tumblr.com

ANTM

I heard rumors about this a few months ago, I'm happy they are true. The America's Next Top Model franchise is headed to the motherland. I have not watched ANTM in years but I love Oluchi and this will be shot in the gorgeous city of Cape Town, South Africa -- so I will watch! 

Lookbook: Night On the Town

Wishlist: Valentino

Maison Valentino has stolen my heart.

The rockstud slingback heels are gorgeous. This is a shoe that has character: T-strap, studded, slingback, patent leather......some may say that is doing too much, I say it is perfection!

Available here and at all major retailers. 

Taibo Bacar AW 2013

Everything about this. Taibo Bacar is just wow. 

Gilt Home: Art

The other day I tweeted: "I want art money" -- That's courtesy of Drake's song "Dreams Money Can Buy." (Which I still abuse months later) Someone asked me what "art money" is.... having art money is when you are financially stable enough to justify spending large amounts of money on pieces of art. I appreciate beautiful art just as much as anyone but I'm not there yet. Anyway, over the past three months I've been exposed to so much beautiful art, I'm getting obsessed with paintings. I ended up on gilt.com and noticed their art section, with some discounted pieces.

Instagram Chronicles

I haven't had an instagram roundup post in a while because my instagram has been dull, lately. 

This week I did manage to post a bit so here goes.

1.  I've been spending a lot of time outdoors, Spring has been disappointing because temps are not getting as high as I would like but I definitely enjoy the days I can sit outside in the grass with a good book or my millions of magazines. 

2. I surpassed my fundraising goal for AIDS Walk! The walk is exactly 3 weeks away and I have raised $350. I am so excited about that. In these tough economic times it means a lot that people are willing to part with money for a good cause! You can read my post on why I decided to do AIDS Walk here. 

3. Yesterday was my friend Driesa's birthday. We went to dinner and then we ended up at the W Hotel in Times Square. I do not go out much anymore so it was a very welcome night out on the town.   

4. That breakfast was actually divine. Nothing else to say really. 

Follow me on instagram: glamgirlZ

Sunday Lookbook

Color The Walls

When I was little I would ALWAYS write on the walls. There was always plenty of paper around but I just preferred the walls. One of the few times I ever got a beating was when I drew a picture on our freshly painted walls in our new house. Anyway that's a random story, this post is really just about fun wall colors! Which ones do you like? Would you go the bright route or stick with more muted and traditional colors for your home?

KICKSTARTER x The Teacher

Please support the making of this movie!

One of my talented friends Tarisai, a graduate of the New School, is producing a special film called, The Teacher. It warms my heart to see people living their dreams (even when it includes 4am call times.) The Teacher is a story about NYC public schools. I was drawn to it because we all know what an important role teachers can play in the lives of young people. Also my mother and sister are teachers so I really believe teachers do not get enough credit and I love to see movies giving them their due..

This what the writer/director Jeremy Engle has to say.

I was a high school teacher for over 10 years and have worked with schools and teachers across the country as a professional developer. I have drawn upon these experiences to create an intimate story about the relationships between a teacher and his students.
I hope to challenge some of the conventions of the high school film. There is no sex, drugs, gangs or teenage pregnancy in THE TEACHER. And there also won't be any heroes, white saviors, convenient villains, easy answers or false uplift that we often see in Hollywood films about high school.

THE STORY

THE TEACHER is the coming of adulthood story of Vance Stewart. Young, white and idealistic, Vance has always been successful in everything he has done. Now he faces his biggest challenge, teaching in a NYC public high school. Vance doesn’t want to be a traditional, “authoritarian” teacher who stands up in front of the classroom and lectures all day. He wants to be a different kind of teacher – creative, original. He wants to give his students a voice, to hear their stories.

His ideals are put to the test when his students challenge his every step and misstep. Despite his best intentions, his students see him as just another teacher and they interrupt, ignore, question, and resist his efforts.

Will Vance survive the year? And will he survive with his ideals intact?

Please support the Kickstarter Campaign! They've raised $32k but need $50k, if they do not reach the goal they get $0. Only 4 days remain.

Printed Pants

Goodtimes

Recently, I came across this video. Nandi Mngoma is a South African singer and actress. It's a simple and charming video.

Picture of The Day

by Lakin Ogunbanwo

Casual Friday

AIDS Walk New York 2013

I have recruited some of my friends to walk with me in this year's AIDS Walk. Super excited about it!

• Approximately 34 million people are living with HIV/AIDS world wide. 
• 68% of all people living with HIV/AIDS are in Sub-Saharan Africa
• 91% of ALL children with HIV/AIDS are in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Approximately 20% of people are unaware they are HIV positive.
• New York City remains the epicenter of the epidemic.
• Gay and Bisexual men remain most affected.
• African Americans are disproportionately affected. 12% of the population 44% of new infections. 
• Overall 60 million peopled have contracted HIV/AIDS and close to 30 million have died from it. 

These are very sobering statistics. I have personally seen the devastating effects of this epidemic  within my own family and home country, Zimbabwe. However, there is good news. AIDS related deaths & new infections across the world have declined; largely due to HIV/AIDS education & services being provided along with the availability of antiretroviral medication (ARVs). 

When you see fundraising being done for HIV/AIDS, know that it is making a difference. The money is used to help with research, awareness education and ensuring that those living with the disease (especially the poor) have access to free or very low cost medication and in many cases food so they can maintain a healthy diet. Although there is still no cure for the disease, we are moving in the right direction. We have come so far and HIV/AIDS is no longer the death sentence that we used to be. I think it is a worthy cause to support!
My team would like to raise $500. We know that times are tough but if you can make a donation, I would appreciate it. The minimum online donation is $25 (if you can only donate less, please let me know)

MAKE YOUR DONATION HERE -----> http://bit.ly/149gDyf

isthisAFRICA?

all love.

What Chinua Achebe Meant To Me

Me, receiving the English prize in Grade 1

I have always enjoyed reading. At boarding school in grade six, we would have competitions to see who could read the most books in the least amount of time.  Every week we were allowed to pick  a book from the school’s one room library which was filled with secondhand books from the UK and America. Maybe it was because cellphones were not as widely available then, but everyone read so much. At night after lights-out, the braver ones would go into the bathroom and read there while the rest of us would hope the light streaming in from outside would be enough to help us see the words on the pages of our books. What were we reading? Well, personally I could not get enough of Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and the Baby Sitters Club. Even though there was never anything I could relate to, never any descriptions of places I had been to or people who looked like me, I loved those books. I could not get enough of them and I never wondered what authors in Zimbabwe were writing about or if they wrote at all. I get the feeling that if he knew me, Chinua Achebe would have scolded me for that.

I knew how important Things Fall Apart was before I ever laid eyes on it. I remember my mother mentioning Okonkwo as though he was an actual historical figure, as if he had been alive and died at some point. She is a historian, she talks about so many events and characters so this was not unusual. What made this different was that she was not alone; it seemed like everyone talked about Okonkwo and Chinua Achebe and Things Fall Apart. So, I knew they were important.

Read the rest at isthisAFRICA?

My Top 5 Apps

My phone lives in my hand. It literally has become part of me, so much so that sometimes I think I have lost it, meanwhile it is in my hand. Please don't judge. I've started putting my phone down in one room and leaving it there, on silent, for at least 30 minutes. It is something small but I have to get a grip somehow.
I have had so many apps come and go but I'm going to share the Top 5 that are ALWAYS there. I'm always looking for (free) apps, so if you can recommend any, please do.

1. Instagram

If you know anything about pop culture, you know that instagram is a HUGE deal. You also know that us iphone users were the first to have it, so we used to feel so cool and exclusive. Anyway, I am truly a picture-taking maniac. I take pictures everywhere and of everything. I am the quintessential "can't leave the house before taking 10 pictures of the outfit- spending 10 minutes picking a filter- posting and captioning it with #ootd" girl. I really enjoy instagram. When you look past all our meal and #selfie pics, you find many gems on there. Life is so much more fun in pictures :)

From the archives: Springstagram. Wine & a good book. 

2. Evernote

I discovered this app in my former miserable life as a law student. I typed my notes in Evernote so that I would always have access to them for reviewing purposes. I feel bad for ever disrespecting Evernote in that way because it is WAY cooler than that. Evernote allows you to take pictures, voicenotes, locations, files.....EVERYTHING and store it in this one app. I am a big notebook person, I write down quotes I like, things to remember, ideas I have and I constantly make lists so Evernote has been a Godsend. now that I am using it to its full potential I love it and I have it on all my gadgets.

3. Twitter/Echofon

 I have tried and failed so many times to take a Twitter break but I just can't let it go. Sometimes it can get annoying, it feels like sitting inside the heads of x number of people, not to mention the trolls and those who just RT and share anything no matter how ridiculous. But for the most part I really enjoy it and it is so useful for firsthand on the ground info. The thing about twitter is who you follow, follow the right people and you will love it. My personal follow rules are NO CELEBRITIES, definitely no brands and everyone gets once chance to do/say something annoying before I unfollow or  mute them forever. I use both apps because these two together equal the perfect app, there are small things that one has and the other doesn't.

Real Messages -- Dove Real Beauty

We live in a world that is always trying to make us feel like we need more -- more voluminous lashes, shinier hair, skin that glows more and this and that . Being content with who you are and what you have is not really part of the program. So many of the messages we see only serve to make us feel just a little more inadequate. I don't think I know a single woman who is truly HAPPY with her body, we always find something to hate, some small thing that we would like to change and when it changes it's on to the next. We are hard on ourselves and Dove has a message for us about that.

Watch this video. It is so moving. Well done, Dove :)

Best Dressed: Elie Tahari Skirt

Can we discuss how gorgeous that skirt is? It's hard to see but it has a neon yellow waist trim. I'm in love. Well done Elie Tahari.

Lookbook

It is nice outside and I am happy about that. Happy Friday! Enjoy the weekend :)

Sindiso Khumalo

The South African edition of ELLE Magazine partners with fast fashion retailer, Mr. Price, for a yearly Rising Star design award. In 2010, I loved the winner, Cleo Droomer, so I started to pay attention to the competition. Last year, the winner was Jane Elizabeth Kotze. I honestly don't remember her or her collection but I do remember liking Sindiso Khumalo, another finalist.

This is the SS 2013 collection from textile designer, Sindiso Khumalo. I love the geometric designs and the colors. I've become obsessed with designers who make their own prints. Hence my fascination with Maki Oh, Jewel by Lisa and the likes. Because of my conservative style, I prefer the looks with the crisp white blouse. I love some of the others but I definitely would not wear them together,  too loud for my taste.

Official Website

Bedside Flowers

One thing I have been a bit obsessed with lately is bedrooms, most specifically the bedside area. I love the idea of fresh flowers right next to your bed.

I used to be so indifferent when it came to flowers but now I have gotten into the habit of buying them frequently. They remind me of Spring and they do make a difference for me, mood wise.

Here are a few bedside flower setups that I like.

Source: www.songofstyle.blogspot.com

Source: www.thirbly.tumblr.com

Soure: www.thepeakoftreschic.com

Source: www.splendidsass.blogspot.com

You can see more of these on my Pinterest page!

Wedding Perfection: Inbal Dror

I'm helping a beautiful bride-to-be plan her wedding so now I have a legitimate reason to troll wedding website and have a "wedding" pinterest board. In my research I came across an Inbal Dror collection. I love these dresses mainly because of the lace and simplicity. I am a fan of the sexy/romantic look. Prepare to be wowed....or maybe you have bad taste so you won't like them lol, only a joke.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find out more about Inbal Dror. While I am a woman of many talents, reading Hebrew is not one of them. But my educated guess would be that the designer is located in Israel. You can check out my pictures at the official website: http://inbaldror.co.il