Every village has one

I did makeup for a family shoot. A big family. A whole bunch of adult kids, and their spouses, and their respective in-laws. A big family. We did a series of shots and were running out of ideas when someone suggested they each wear something red.

Me: "ooh ooh ooh PLEEEEASSEEE let me give all the girls red lips!"

I have this persuasive/nagging talent, so I got to give all the girls red lips. But what to do with the guys? There was a box of props for them to dig through - a red tie, a red hat, a red scarf, a lot of options really.....

Undercover at a cover shoot

I was on the way to a shoot for Aim's Living Well magazine, the May/June 2011 cover, when I got a call from the tog:

Matt: "You are going to kill me"
Me: "WHAT DID YOU DO?!?"
Matt: "I forgot my camera at home"

To put the problem in perspective it was rush hour traffic time, and 'home' is in Hartebeespoort. We were in Roodepoort. Oops.

So Matt sweet talked his wife and convinced her to bring the camera, and along with that came their 3 kids. 3 kids who decided that being at daddy's office was the perfect chance for prank calling, each other. Each kid ran to a desk and started dialling a sibling's extension number.

"Hello Mrs Smith, you need to come fetch your child from school, he is being terribly naughty"
"Hello is that Mr Jones? This is the police and we are coming to arrest you"
"Hello Mrs Evans you have won a million Rand"

These weren't the actual conversations, I can't remember them all but they went along these lines.

One of the conversations I do remember clearly was made by the boss to his employee: "You stupid woman, you're fired!!"

At this point dad stepped in. "That's enough! You don't talk like that to anyone! You kids are being a nuisance and this stops right now". He had his angry face and stern voice which I'm sure works in most reprimanding situations but the kids just blinked a few times and carried on dialling each other. Why? Mom. She joined in on the fun. Good cop, bad cop.

But sometimes even the toughest cops can be lured to the dark side:
Dad with scary voice: "I know where you are and I'm coming to get you"
Youngest daughter in the next door office: *SHRIEK*
*Scary dad dials the next number* "I know where you are and I'm coming to get you"..... "It's my son, I'm getting burps. He doesn't scare as easily"

Believe it or not we did eventually get around to shooting the cover

The day I became a coffee snob

I have never been a coffee connoisseur, to me coffee is coffee. I lie. Ricoffy is my favourite - don't judge me. I went to a Patrick Holford seminar (not willingly - I got roped into going with my health freak of an uncle), he spoke about caffeine and how bad it is for you, I made a mental note. I had a shoot a few days later and was offered a coffee, I said no thanks (see Patrick? I did listen). The photographer insisted he had good coffee, but I was being 'healthy' and coffee is coffee. Then he mentioned that his wife won the coffee machine. People who win things fascinate me, why can't I ever win stuff? She didn't just win a coffee machine, she won a Nespresso coffee machine! If it's good enough for George it's good enough for me. Okay I'll have a coffee.

What flavour would I like? What? I can choose my flavour? Now I definitely want that coffee you offered!

There is a little booklet that tells you about each flavour, it's intensity level and whether it's best drunk as a cappucino, espresso or latte.

Level 10?? Death by caffeine. I won't be having one of those!

I settled for Dulsao do Brasil - a safe 5. The Thrill of Brazil is one of my favourite nail polishes so I figured I couldn't go wrong with this one.


And just when I thought this couldn't get any more fun he pulled out a container full of flavour refills, and let me fill the box!

Yes colourful things distract me, don't let me get started on shiny things! So you choose your flavour, pop the coffee capsule thing in the machine and it gets to work (I forgot to take a pic while the coffee was brewing so I let the machine make a play play one with water for an action shot)

And ta daaaa a seriously good cup of coffee. Now I know that all coffees are not created equal.

All that was missing was some chocolate sprinkles. And Marvellous George.

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