New Year Maxi Dress

Hello dear readers, 

And Muharram Mubarak! (Wishes for the New Year, Blessed Muharram) to all my Muslim readers. 

As with all new beginnings, one tends to take stock of life, how far one has come and set goals for the future. I have made some really important realisations this past year, have learnt some big lessons and discovered my inner strength. This inner strength has been brought to light by trying to heal old wounds with the focus on working from within. 

Once I had worked at healing on the inside, concentrating on me and not external noise, I found that all those external stuff no longer affected me as much. All those external forces which try to derail you from progress, which deter you on your path to a better you, soon become unimportant and superfluous. 

I have found a better me, 

A stronger me, 

And realised that all the noise 

Which constantly encircled me, 

Faded into oblivion, 

Like storm clouds disappearing 

From my horizons forever. 

They will never hold power over me, 

They will never regain control of those reins. 

As I continue on my path, 

Filled with promise and positivity, 

I give thanks daily and practice gratitude with regularity.

Love and Peace.

I have found my peace, my happiness and will forge ahead armed with new weapons, and skills to navigate my way.

Blessed New Year!

Today’s post features the maxi dress from A Sense of Style, which will be available at next weeks Vintage High Tea (read about it here). I have styled it three ways, which is similar to what can be expected from our live styling demo. This dress is perfect for balmy Summer nights out, scorching days on the beach over a swimsuit or as a long length layered item over jeans for a modest look.

A dressed up look, belted slightly, with heels

Or change it up with sneakers and leave it open (I wrapped the ties to the back
around the neck so it drapes like a waterfall

Outfit details:

A Sense of Style Maxi dress

ZARA caged sandals

Forever New Wool floppy hat

Micheal Kors handbag

Woolworths t-shirt

Woolworths white straight legged jeans

Thurman silver pumps

Adidas Stan Smith sneakers

Vogue sunglasses

American Swiss earrings

Caio for now, 

RuBe xoxo

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Leather, lace and Stripes

Hi again readers,

And so the end of the fast has come to an end and I can't help but feel sad, for the tranquillity this month has afforded me. Sad for the moments of reflection, the rewarding feeling of being mindful of and participating in the increased charity this month and the special times spent in prayer with my family. With each year that passes I feel as if I have made great progress on my path to a better me and Ramadaan is the time that I make the most progress. So before I get back on the roller coaster of normal life, where the schedule is crazy and the pace chaotic, I'd like to pause and appreciate the time I have been gifted. I trust that everyone has found that inner peace, and had a rewarding and blessed month, culminating in a wonderful celebration of Eid tomorrow.

Eid Mubarak!

I feel as if I have been in hibernation, venturing out on essential errands only and keeping up to date with news via occasional visits to social media. By next week I will be longing for this time holed up at home with nothing to do but spend time with the kids and cook and in prayer. The cold weather seems to be encroaching and I will be back on the frosty soccer field every Saturday morning ... So by next week, I will feel as if this past month has been little more than a dream, or I may not even have the time to think of it with the return to being busy mom. 

One thing, I'm really happy to be returning to normal, healthy eating patterns...

And onto today's look, typical relaxed look and perfect to run that quick errand. This dress is actually a Forever New summer piece, which I chose to layer with leather look leggings and a leather jacket. I absolutely love leather jackets and have quite a collection to choose from, the great thing is that they have all been good buys from diverse stores. My gifted handbag, Mango flats and the formerly Bespoke Hijabi scarf finish the look.

Outfit details:

Forever New Dress

Leather jacket from Indian Fair

Country Road handbag

MrP leather look leggings

Mango (Dubai) flats

Hse of Bespoke by WH scarf

Old bracelet, pearl earrings and necklaces

Caio for now, 

RuBe xoxo

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Sunday Morning Maxi

Dear Readers, 

I’m in the middle of exams, and I say “I am” because I am stressing in solidarity with my teenagers. My home has been transformed into Pollsmoor, meaning no TV, Playstation, no playdates or friends visiting - so it’s really super quiet. The only stress relief for the boys being their physical exercise, training goes on as normal of course!

With our kids growing up, hubby and I find ourselves busier than ever, often driving in opposite directions to fetch and carry from sports or parties or playdates or whatever… After 19 years of marriage and 16 of them as parents, our lives literally revolve around children’s schedules and those first 3 free years a vague memory. As a family we eventually all meet up at the end of the day for dinner, at about 7:30pm each night - when they’ve done with their activities.

So when Sunday morning comes around, and the boys are off to madresa (muslim school) for a few hours, we get an early start doing actually anything from furniture shopping, to gardening, to browsing markets and expos. It’s so important to connect with each other, however brief, as life gets in the way and time passes by in such a haze. Husby and I chat about the week, reflect on things and just spend the time being together. 

This lookpost is from one of those quiet mornings, when we were out scouting for some furniture pieces. It was a sweltering day, so the light maxi dress and hat proved to be uber comfortable.

Outfit details:

Studio W dress (last year)

Country Road cardigan (old)

New Look wedges (own import)

Country Road Bag

Accessorise hat

Collete Hayman necklace & ring

Forever New earrings

Caio for now, 

RuBe xoxo

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Maxidress and leather

Hello again lovely readers!

This has been a whirlwind week, with so much happening and I find myself exhausted beyond belief at the end of the day! I sometimes wonder how I managed to hold it all together with a full time career as well…. and then I realise that I actually didn’t! The stress and burnout eventually caught up with me and my body gave me some warning signs- lesson learnt- listen to your body.

The problem is I cannot be idle, my brain struggles to shut down properly so I can have a good nights sleep, I can’t nap during the day and don’t even know the meaning of the word CHILL. The list of things to do pop into my head at any moment and the anxiety sets in if I missed anything on that ‘list’! I know this may sound crazy, and since going on sabbatical I’ve tried to work really hard to be more relaxed, and to fight the urge to control everything. Needless to say, its still a work in progress, I believe it always will be. I hope one day I will find that place… where I can shut down and have some internal peace.

Today’s look is one that I threw together on the spur of the moment, one where I thought very little about it, and just ran out the door with my jacket in my hand. It’s indicative of a more relaxed and peaceful ME.

My outfit:

Michelle Ludek dress from Zando

Indian Fair leather jacket

Shoes own import

ZARA handbag

Scarf old

River Island earrings

Zuri bracelets

Caio for now, 

RuBe xoxo

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