Yesterday morning I hosted a few friends for tea at Jam and Daisies in Brooklyn, Pretoria. I love this place – the menu is original, the service is good, the décor out of a magazine!

In addition to the snacks and tea/coffee, I ordered a couple of bottles of J.C. le Roux, because what is a celebration without a few bubbles? I’d set the dress code as “Pearls and heels, not pants allowed!” and then had such a mission to find a dress to my liking. I finally found a dress by Amanda Laird Cherry at The Space on Friday.

I had a great time, and trust my guests did too. My gifts included a beautiful red bag from Typo for my gadgetry (I might consider getting a smaller laptop/netbook now; I love my HP Pavillion, but it’s not exactly petite), an original piece of lipstick art by Sarah Britten, gift vouchers, chocolate, candles, twine – so many fabulous goodies!

Two-thirds of my Jo’burg guests took the Gautrain to spend the morning in Pretoria. Thanks to the great Gautrain app we could also see what time the train departed again, and because we’re smart girls (we all had a pair of flats on standby for before and after the party), Nafisa and Sarah were able to run to catch the train without breaking their necks! Sarah did take a pic of me in my heels for her back pain blog since it’s clear that I’m not allowing any silly spinal fusion to prevent me from wearing them high 😉

The goody bags (the ones up for grabs in this week’s birthday giveaway) were a hit! Sarah immediately used her handbag hook, Helena (who flew to Norway last night on holiday) popped the compact mirror and the nail files into her handbag, and Carmen told me how much she needed the notebook.

I’d like to once again thank the girls for their friendship, for taking the time (and making the effort – and dressing up) to spend the morning with me, for the incredible gifts. I am truly blessed to have you all in my life.

It’s still a couple of days to my birthday, but I’m looking forward to the next year. It is going to be amazing; not least of all because of the people in my life.

*Thanks to Nafisa for the pics.