Hello Pretty

Win with Blossom Handmade and Hello Pretty! - CLOSED

One of the best parts of my job is giving away nice things on a Monday - what better way is there to brighten someone's day?

Today, in celebration of Blossom Handmade's new Hello Pretty Facebook store, we are showering you with gorgeous goodies:

All to the value of R755! Are you feeling lucky yet?

To enter:

Leave a comment here and tell us where you would wear your lovely new things.
Like Blossom Handmade on Facebook.
Get an extra entry by tweeting @HelloPrettySA with the hashtag #BlossomComp, and letting us know in the comments below.

Entries close at 10am on Friday 20th of March. Hello Pretty's standard competition Ts and Cs apply.
Only one entry per channel will be counted.

It's summer! Get active, feel attractive.

In Pretty Cool this week we gave you a collection of exercise- and fitness-related treats that you can find on Hello Pretty.

There's a new theme every week, and it's all full of eye-candy.

Fill in your details here to get in on that action:

Products pictured above:

Let's spoon!

A spoon full of sugar may make the medicine go down, but I would have to insist on a good looking spoon!

So grab a spoon Pretties!

Time to shop.

This week's Pretty Cool newsletter featured a selection of beautiful clocks, watches, and time-related things that you can buy on Hello Pretty.

There's a new theme every week. Fill in your details here to get in on that action:

Products pictured above:

RYO Coffee visits the Hello Pretty team

Last week Kirsten from RYO Coffee swung round to HQ to give us a crash course in home roasting - and guys, it's so easy.

She arrived carrying a box full of the green coffee beans that she sells via her Hello Pretty store, as well as some grinders - we showed her the kitchen and she lept straight in.

Tools needed: green coffee beans - we used the RYO Blend. Wok or saucepan. Spatula.

Not nearly as hectic as you'd think right? You start on a high heat, flipping the coffee beans over gently. Once they start getting a bit smoky you can turn the heat down, and consistently stir through the beans until you reach your preferred darkness.

Now note! These little suckers get crazy hot, so keep your fingers away from them until they've cooled.

Stir them through in a colander to remove the husks, and you're ready to grind. Don't have a grinder? No worries, RYO can sort you right out with one here.

My arms are more or less good for nothing, and even I could grind like a pro within seconds.

And we have coffee! RYO is making roasting your own coffee super accessible. It's really not a terrifying, technical process, as many coffee roasters would have you believe. (Not to knock their methods, because their coffee is delicious too!)

Impress your buddies with your own hand roasted, hand ground coffee at your next party - having gone through the ropes and tasted the results, we can highly recommend it!

*If you like this, stay tuned because on Monday we may have a little treat for you.*

Hexagon madness with Hello Pretty!

Hexagon madness with http://hellopretty.co.za!

Clean lines and geometric designs are always a win!

Hop to it!

Team Hello Pretty celebrated Valentine's Day with Fairview and Yuppiechef!

Pretties, will you judge us when I say that Team HP partakes in the labours of our nations wine industry with great enthusiasm? I hope not, because we do.

Our online store crush has always been Yuppiechef - they inspire our own customer service, because let's be honest, those guys are just so super friendly and on the ball.

So basically, our crush sent us our favourite thing for Valentine's Day! Aw Yuppiechef stahp, you're making us blush.

After we rolled around in all of the pink shredded paper like little kids, we found the gorgeous bottle of Fairview Brut MCC, which was promptly flung into the fridge to be opened when the clock struck five pm.

The good news for all of us is that Yuppiechef's great service is bringing Fairview's delicious wines straight to our doorsteps - as serial online shoppers, we revel in the idea of door to door wine delivery. I mean, there's nothing more terrifying than a mall on a holiday. (That's a whole big pile of nope as far as I'm concerned.)

To hear about any awesome news and specials, join the Fairview Wine Society over here.

To quote Fairview's Charles Back, here's to life, love and online shopping!

Year of the Goat with Hello Pretty!

Year of the Goat with http://hellopretty.co.za

So 2015 is the year of the goat - not that I need any particular reason to buy new things!

Celebrate with some of the cute goat inspired products on the site:

Clickitty click!

Lunch at The Table with the Hello Pretty team

Lunch at The Table with the http://hellopretty.co.za team

Towards the end of last year, we were lucky enough to spend one lazy Sunday together, drinking wine and absolutely gorging ourselves on the most incredible food.

It was a pretty great opportunity just to be together outside of work, unplugged, to reflect on our year. It just gave us a rare quiet moment (or like, three hours worth of lunch) to talk about what we had achieved, and what we wanted to achieve in 2015. Because we are all constantly moving and travelling, to be able to do that together is really rare, and we couldn't have asked for a better setting.

We headed out to The Table at De Meye on the most beautiful day with the top down, wind in our hair, Taylor Swift blaring. (Shame. Our one male team member has ZERO say in our music choices.)

We were welcomed with a complimentary wine tasting, and obviously all left clutching new bottles - the wine is delicious, easy to drink almost any time (our favourite) and super well priced. What a win.

But then the food. Oh the food. I don't even know where to start. Actually just look for yourself:

That my friends, in amongst the vineyards, under the trees, is a beetroot tarte tatin with sour cream and "magic greens" (a mix of over 20 micro herb, vegetable and salad leaves). I DON'T EVEN LIKE BEETROOT! And there I was shoveling it in my face like a fat kid with cake.

Jess Shepard, you are a wizard.

Other amazing treats on the menu included

Homemade ricotta whipped with lemon and thyme
Pickled grapes
Broad beans (from Spiers biodynamic garden) mashed with goats pecorino, garlic and olive oil
Schoon de Companje bread and Hjike real farm butter
Slow braised pork neck with crackling and roast potatoes
And then the most beautiful desert: rhubarb ice cream with strawberry compote and rose geranium jelly

I had so many feelings you guys. I just want to go back. I actually just want to move in. Gush much? Yes. Sorrynotsorry.

...

Sorry, I just had to take a second there. I was having a minor saliva situation.

But basically, the point of this post is to highly recommend going there. The people are kiff, the venue is drop dead gorgeous, and the food is basically art. It's fancy without the fuss, laid back without skimping on quality or details.

The folks who run the place are husband and wife team Luke and Jess, and they're really lovely people - I emailed back and forth about changing bookings and increasing table sizes and all sorts of nonsense beforehand (Ja I was *that* person), and they handled it with incredible grace, and welcomed us like family when our windswept selves finally arrived. (Driving with the top down has its pros, but also it's cons.)