MarieClaire’s Green & Glam lunch

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This weekend, I was lucky enough to be invited to MarieClaire’s Green & Glam lunch that celebrated their ‘green-inspired’ June issue as well as ‘all things eco-friendly and fabulous’. The location was a big secret, so we all met at Carlucci’s next to Associated Mag’s offices in Hatfield street for a quick cuppa before jumping onto a luxury bus, the most earth friendly yet comfortable way to get around en masse…
 
The spread at Carlucci's. Thanks to that evil shortbread, I totally blew my post-Thai Thai diet for the day, but this was a good thing 'cos it freed me up to indulge in even more 'what the hell, I've ruined it, now I might as well go big' awesomeness later on...
Catching up with my MarieClaire mates, Annemarie and Eulogi. Loved Eulogi's bright red lippie. It totally brightened up a foggy winter's morning.

I got lucky with my bus buddy who turned out to be freediving champ Hanli Prinsloo.

Hangin' with Hanli.

If you didn’t know, chick is like a seriyas international sportshero and a champion for ocean conservation. Felt like a bit of douche talking about what I liked to do for fun (eat, sleep, shop, get drunk, read, write, play with make-up…) compared to her average weekend fare that includes hitting up ashrams, saving the sea and hanging out with tiger sharks… 

Niiiice sharky, sharky... (Yip, that's really Hanli in the pic. She says the tiger shark was 'kinda tame', but I dunno so much...)

Still, we soon found common ground in our mutual love of popcorn…

All guests got a little patkos for the road. You can't really see it, but there's a brownie in there too. It was the shizz and, 'cos Hanli 'doesn't do sugar', I got to score hers too!

Eventually, we pulled up to our mystery destination, The Conservatory. Set in the heart of the Franschoek Valley, this is one of the prettiest venues I’ve seen yet. Check it out:

Beautifully decorated tables surrounded by huge glass picture windows that give the place a lovely 'greenhouse'-type feel...
...and natural beauty a go go.

Interesting peeps on the scene included eTV’s Tanya Nefdt.

Love this chick; she's kiff.

Adore her handsakkie? It’s from local boutique Slate.

Totally dig the Chanel-style chain strap.

Supersport’s Lize West was also there, dressed in vintage fabulousness from head to toe…

Lize proving that green is indeed v. v. glam.

 …save for a pair of Vivienne Westwood PVC heels:

Lize said she liked these babies 'cos they reminded her of a 'pegasus and a unicorn'. Sounds totally mal, but if you follow her on twitter - she's @lizetheunicorn - it makes perfect sense.

Entertainment-wise, we got to listen to Hot Water, an ecletic afro-indie band. (One of the singers, Donovan Copely, is the brother of District 9’s Sharlto…)

On the left, that's a dude in a dress. It took us a while to figure out whether he was a she or not, so I thought I'd save you the trouble...

Generally I like my plastic, manufactured kak a la Lady Gaga and Mevrou Spears, but I actually enjoyed Hot Water’s music. It definitely helped create a nice, festive atmosphere and most chicas agreed that the dude dressed as a traffic cop was ‘kinda hot’.

After a big of schmingling and mingling, we all sat down to enjoy a yummy three-course organic meal. My organic beef fillet main was so tender that I could cut it with the cutesy little biodigradible knife and fork it was served with. 

Would they let me take it on an aeroplane?

After lunch, Michelle Garforth-Venter and her hubby, Riaan, gave a talk on how to live a greener lifestyle.

Michelle, the original Top Billing babe, is divine, not to mention nice and patient. We had to move to three different locations to get this shot 'cos the sun was going down the dappled light was messing up our snaps.

Later, we were given signed copies of Michelle and Riaan’s new book, The Green Line – a South African guide to green living. I had a look through it this avie and think it’s a fab resource for anyone wanting to live a more earth-friendly lifestlye, but not quite sure where to start. It’s also full of practical green-living tips, from how to recycle effectively to picking out energy-saving bulbs for your home. Don’t think I’m gonna be starting a wormery anytime soon (its a great way to make nutrient-rich compost), but I’ll definitely be putting some of their advice into practise. I’m also keen to put a few of Michelle’s ‘good for the environment’ beauty recipes to the test. (She claims you can create a handcream from lemon and tomatoe juice if you mix it up with glycerine…)

Once the ‘green speak’ wrapped up, there was a lucky draw in which both myself and Hanli won a Wonderbag, an electricity-saving sakkie that helps retain the heat of any pot you plop inside of it so as to slow cook food like rice, samp or beans.

Wonderbags - these guys are a creature all to themself that deserves their own post. Will be sure to whip that up later this week after giving my bag a bash. As I tend to subsist on Woolie's steam meals and can barely cook with just my oven and stove, so it'll be an interesting experiment, if anything...)

Anyway, once licquored up and sugar-rushing off my face from the copious amounts of nougat, meringue and Turkish delight that I stole off the dessert towers… 

Happiness is...

…I snapped up a bulging goodie bag and jumped back on the bus. Take a look at how spoiled we were:

Aside from the June MarieClaire and Michelle's book, the stash included a Hemporium T-shirt, Hot Water CD, Soy Lites candle and Honeybush tea from Lady Bonin's Tea Parlour.
We also received an earth-friendly reusable shopping bag from Garnier, the event's main sponsor, which contained an array of Garnier goodies.

Thank you Garnier and MarieClaire, I had a lovely time. And you’ll be glad to know I rejected a plastic bag this morning, opting to stash my steam meals in my handy Garnier sakkie. 

Me and vintage-clad MarieClaire ed Aspasia Karras. (While your company has craptastic Staff Training Tuesdays, MC has initiated Vintage Mondays...)

Love, love

Leigh

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