#AGAIN STUNNINGGGGG

[ariescults]

AYO EDEBIRI on GOOD MORNING AMERICA

[tittysuckersworld]

THE PEOPLES LIKE MINE ARTTTTT AAAAAAA

[marlenesluv]

i was wondering if you could do an america's sweetheart victorias secret angel reader whos 19 x charles. in this universe victoria secret still has their show and it's like peak vs again. its very miss americana and the heartbreak prince. and there's some light cheating because shes still with her boyfriend Arber Xhekaj (if you don't know gf omg hes so fine and his fights are amazing) and she meets Charles at the after party of the show. and like erin heatherton fc plz from like the 2010s

Angel. (CL)

tbh, i love watching the old vs shows, ugh. i rly love this idea. erin heatherton is stunninggggg. i hope you enjoy!!

pairing: charles leclerc x vs model reader

fc: erin heatherton

warnings: light cheating, cussing, fans slut shame (for the plot, also don’t do this or i’ll throw chicken legs at you)

note: cheating is not slay, don’t do it. (i’ll only condone tho if you cheat to be with an f1 driver, jk jk) also, the first post is the night after the after party. but it twists so stick with me.

masterlist here -> masterlist link

^ check my list for all posts! ^

twitter:

Gossip Column @gossipoftoday • 4hr

Big news for our Formula 1 watchers and Victoria Secret enjoyers! Y/N Y/L/N, 19, has been a model for Victoria’s Secret for two years, one of our favorite Angels. She has been dating Arber Xhekaj, Canadian Hockey Player, these past eight months.

The couple has been fairly public, but these past few weeks, we have noticed a decrease in posts by the couple. This might have something to do with last nights show.

Last night, Y/N opened for the show, looking absolutely stunning on the runway. The after party is what we want to discuss though…

Charles Leclerc was seen at the show and the after party. Heavy, and we mean heavy, dancing was shared between Charles and Y/N. Rumors have it, Arber might be interested in another girl, but the party hasn’t broke off their relationship. So imagine our shock when we find this out!

Now, Charles and Y/N would make a hot couple, but are we behind cheating? I’m not too sure about this.

↳ Bellaaa @charfanpage33 • 4hr

Y/N is actually stunning, but I hope her and Arber broke it off because cheating is not hot.

↳ Jacobs Cavern @formula1overu • 3hr

Y/N is definitely hot, but is she gonna cheat on Charles too?? Like, come on. Once a cheater, always a cheater

_______________________________________________

liked by: charles_leclerc, victoriassecret, and 983,025 others

y/n.user: such an amazing show last night, i hope you enjoyed, loves!!

view comments…

vsmodelpicsss: you were stunning, per usual👏👏

user9: i need the water she’s drinking

f1wags: hmmmmm

↳ charfp: HM?????

ferraribabyyy229: is that charles….?? he liked too..soooo

↳ smoothoperatorpageeee: i’m questioning it

y/n.fp: abt to make a thread cuz WTF IS GOING ONN

xanderfppp: she’s literally hoeing around?

↳ y/n.editzz: nah babe. we don’t even know the full story, or if it’s charles🖕

papayafans: y/n would be an amazing wag. i need her in the paddock

yourbsf: YOU LOOKED SO FUCKING AMAZING💓💥🥵

↳ y/n.user: i’m soooo glad you could make it! TY ILY💓

user8: it looks like char’s hair…..

_______________________________________________

liked by: lanacondor and 82,024 others

arberxhekaj_: 🔛🔝

view comments…

user02: nah cuz why wasn’t he at the last vs show..

↳ user3: maybe they broke up?

↳ nhlfan8: just bc he didn’t go to show, doesn’t mean they broke up-

lanacondor: ✨✨

↳ user4: girl. now what is THIS?!?!

y/n.fp: does he have another gf?? did i miss a BOOK??

f1user: all of us are equally confused rt? they unfollowed each other too…

↳ arberxy/n: WHAT

user0: oh hunny….this is so confusing. are y’all pranking us?

f1editpage: y/n is not the cheating type imo. maybe arber cheated….

↳ user5: or they both did

arberfanpage: maybe they’re still together and we’re all wrong?

↳ y/nsfan11: nah, i don’t think so

_______________________________________________

twitter:

Jaime💋 @y/nswifeasf • 3hr

Thread on why I think Y/N Y/L/N and Arber Xhekaj have broken up:

↳ Jaime 💋 @y/nswifeasf • 3hr

Reason #1) Y/N and Arber haven’t posted each other in literally two months. Maybe they want privacy, sure. But I think we can all agree that that is not the reason.

↳ Jaime 💋 @y/nswifeasf • 3hr

Arber hasn’t been attending the Victoria’s Secret shows for the past month-ish. Same with Y/N not attending Arber’s hockey games/practices.

↳ Jaime 💋 @y/nswifeasf • 3hr

They have also both unfollowed each other on all social platforms: Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Since then, Arber has followed Lana Condor, and Y/N has followed Charles Leclerc, along with many other Formula 1 drivers, all of them follow her back.

↳ Jaime 💋 @y/nswifeasf • 3hr

I want to end this thread with my personal thoughts on this couple. Personally, I love Y/N, and I don’t believe she would cheat. Arber, I’m not so sure either… I think we should all just wait till they release something about the matter.

*comments have been disabled on this tweet*

_______________________________________________

liked by: charles_leclerc, landonorris, and 1,231,035 others

y/n.user: this is definitely not how arber and i wanted to do this, but i think it’s what has to be done. yes, arber and i have decided to end things. arber can tell his side, i wont speak for him. but let’s just say that i found myself in a hard spot. charles and i are dating, we have been for the past four weeks. arber and i broke up two months ago, so i did not cheat. as for lana and arber, once again, not my story to tell. please respect mine, charles, and arbers privacy. i’m sorry you had a shit explanation. i appreciate you all for being supportive. ily.

view comments…

charles_leclerc: ❤️❤️

*liked by creator*

papayafanpage: as long as she and charles are happy, i’m happy. fr

user3: you don’t need to apologize! your private life is more important than social media. your guys’ privacy comes first

francisca.cgomes: i love and miss you🩷pierre and i would love to get dinner with you two!

↳ y/n.user: i love and miss you too🩷and yeah, we would love that too! i’ll text you

↳ francisca.cgomes: okay🩷

f1wags: y/n and kika🥲🥹

↳ y/neditsss: the wags have to stick together fr

arberoveru: as long as arber and y/n ended things well, who tf cares abt who they date? i j want them happy

lailahasanovic: i’m sorry you had to post like this :( let’s get together soon, pretty girl!

↳ y/n.user: ty laila<3 and yes i’ll text you!

_______________________________________________

twitter:

Arber Xhekaj @arberxhekaj_ • 2hr

I don’t have much to add to what Y/N posted earlier today. We did break up two months ago, she didn’t cheat. I did, though. Details are not needed, I prefer to keep it at that. She didn’t deserve it, and I regret it deeply. I will always love her as a friend, and it makes me happy that her and Charles are so happy. Please don’t let my drunken mistake alter your feelings on her. I’m so sorry.

*comments have been disabled on this tweet*

_______________________________________________

liked by: y/n.user, carlossainz55, and 1,023,783 others

charles_leclerc: how did i get so lucky?❤️

view comments…

user4: god. they make me feel so lonely and they j started dating 🥲

y/n.user: char🥹

↳ charles_leclerc: chérie?

↳ lestappenfanpage3: IM SOBBING 😭 SO CUTE

danielricciardo: someone needs to post me like this😪

↳ maxverstappen1: posting you rn

↳ danielricciardo: thanks max😁🫶

user7: K. IM NOT LONELY AT ALL. K.😫

yourbsf: WOOOO MY PARENTS POSTEDDDD👏

↳ y/n.user: OMFG💀

↳ yourbsf: you’d be a hot mom

↳ y/n.user: thx🤭 you’d be a hot aunt

↳ yourbsf: i knowwww🥶

f1fp: y/n’s bsf def knew from the start

↳ leclercbrosfp: arthur prolly did too LMAO

↳ f1fp: TRUE

_______________________________________________

(reposts, comments, and likes are appreciated!^-^)

[chaotic-deity]

OMG YOU JUST EARNED A NEW FOLLOWER BCUS THAT DRSWING OF SCARY PRINCESS PEACH IS STUNNINGGGGG. OMG IM SO EXCITED TO SEE MORE DRAWINGS FROM YOU <333333 THANK YOU FOR BLESSING MY EYESSS EHEHEHE

TYSM!!!!!! <33 I'm so glad y'all liked it that much 😭💕💕 def made me wanna start drawing scary/body horror stuff again

[lqvesoph]

the right shirt 2 - joão félix (social media au)

joão félix x ronaldo!sister

request: Heyyy are you doing social media au's? Cause I'd love to request a João Félix x Ronaldo's sister. Maybe like that Ronaldo wants her to wear his shirt to the matches but then she starts dating João

Yess, ofc. I have a love hate relationship with Social Media Au's tbh. I really hate to read them but I'm slut for writing them. I'll probably make this in 2 party cuz you can only add 10 pictures per post. Also I'll probably just mainly use pictures of his real girlfriends cause she's stunninggggg and has quite a lot of pictures that fit well

masterlist | part 1

liked by: joaofelix79, avrilsantos, kikalurez and 3,262,529 others

yndossantos: Someone teach me how to handle these

comments:

joaofelix79: Pretty necklace

→ yndossantos: Right??

avrilsantos: YOU WENT ON A SUSHI DATE?? WITHOUT ME??

cristiano: WOW, that's why you couldn't come to movie night?

→ yndossantos: Cris, is this really necessary?

milagomes: Babe, you look so gorgeous

fan: How's Avril coping with seeing Yn eating sushi with someone else??

→ rodrigolurez: Not good

carolinaferreira: Girl how are you so pretty??

goncaloramos88: How did you manage to eat this??

→ yndossantos: I failed miserably

→ fan: Why's he still commenting on her posts?

fan: You're so beautiful omfg

fan: Girl get away from my husband!!

→ fan: Chill down, you're 13

fan: Everyone knows...

load more comments...

liked by: joaofelix79, georginagio, milagomes and 3,892,627 others

yndossantos: Pool Day

comments:

avrilsantos: Look at this ass omggg

→ yndossantos: 😘

kikalurez: What a beautiful pool

→ yndossantos: Big enough to...

→ cristiano: YN!!!

→ yndossantos: swim laps

milagomes: This is so aesthetically pleasing

rodrigolurez: My best friend's prettier than yours

→ yndossantos: Awww

fan: oh- OH

fan: Does she think she's distracting us with that first picture? nah nah nah. we see him, girl, we see him

fan: Why is she with him??

fan: Girl. Get away from him!!

fan: The mad 11 year olds in her comments LMAOO

load more comments...

liked by: avrilsantos, georginagio, antogriezmann and 5,628,926 others

yndossantos & joaofelix79: Surprise

comments:

avrilsantos: HUGE surprise

→ yndossantos: Shhh

kikalurez: Y'all are so adorable!!

antogriezmann: Congrats but what surprise

→ yndossantos: Shhh, go along with the joke

fan: Important question, what does rodrigolurez think of him?

→ rodrigolurez: He's quite alright ig

avrilsantos: Yeah your welcome for taking the video

→ yndossantos: Thank youuuu

→ joaofelix79: Forever in your debt

→ avrilsantos: That's what I want to hear

→ fan: He's got a good relationship with her family already, i love it

rodrigolurez: Too much pda guys...

→ milagomes: Be happy you weren't there, there were making out the entire time

→ cristiano: WHAT!?

→ yndossantos: WE WERE NOT!!

→ avrilsantos: Where did you disappear to for 20 minutes?

→ yndossantos: Uh- bathroom

→ milagomes: Together?

→ joaofelix79: You're not making it look better, fofinha...

reinildoo17official: Congrats bro

fan: She's only with him for his money and fame

→ Please, she's literally Ronaldo's sister. She's got more fame than him since the day she was born lol

fan: They're mad cute

fan: Does Ronaldo approve?

fan: Bitch get away from my husband

→ fan: Tf!?

fan: How old is she?

→ fan: She's turning 19 this year

load more comments...

tagged: yndossantos

liked by: yndossantos, antogriezmann, avrilsantos and 2,651,972 others

joaofelix79: Weekend recap

comments:

cristiano: Where are your clothes!??

antogriezmann: Still don't know how you pulled her...

→ cristiano: Yeah me neither

avrilsantos:

kikalurez: God, she's so pretty

→ joaofelix79: I agree

rodrigolurez: Alright now, give her back again

fan: Her eyes omgg

→ joaofelix79: Beautiful, aren't they?

fanciscoborba: I want that dog

→ yndossantos: He's mineeee

→ fan: Isn't it João's?

→ yndossantos: No, I stole him

reinildoo17official: Bro got major rizz

fan: I don't know if I want to be her or be with her

fan: Yn always having her fingers in João's hair is so adorable!!

→ fan: Omg you're right, I've never noticed

→ yndossantos: He's got soft hair...

fan: They're both so attractive. HELPPP

fan: Idk who I'm more jealous of...

fan: João majorly fangirling about and crushing on her in the comments

→ fan: It's so cute

load more comments...

tagged: joaofelix79

liked by: joaofelix79, kikalurez, rodrigolurez and 4,628,529 others

yndossantos: hi

comments:

cristiano: YN!!!!

joaofelix79: You might've just signed my execution papers...

→ cristiano: Damn right...

→ fan: João, count your days lmao

antogriezmann: Bro...

avrilsantos: If Cris suffers a heart attack from this, I for sure will show this picture to your kids istg

→ cristiano: WHAT KIDS??

→ rodrigolurez: WHAT KIDS??

→ kikalurez: Avril babe YOU just gave him a heart attack lmaoo

milagomes: I'm not ready to be an aunt yet

fanciscoborba: I will show this to your dad

→ yndossantos: You don't dare

reinildoo17official: Oh so that's why you were late for training

→ cristiano: WHAT!??

→ joaofelix79: I was not

fan: Whoop

fan: CR won't be happy about that

→ fan: Seeing his little sister naked in bed with his teammate? Nah probably not

fan: I just had...

→ fan: ... and it felt so good

cristiano: Please stop posting pictures without your clothes on, thank you!!

→ cristiano: I have a suggestion as well, of what you could where. My football shirt!!!

load more comments...

--

part 1

[thebestieyoureinlovewith]

In exchange of sending me some headcanons about dark Hufflepuff, I send you some about light(er) Slytherin (I'm afraid they won't be as good as the ones you sent me 🙈 I still try lmao)

I like to think that the common room isn't as dark as others portray it to be. The lights are green yes but they're on a much lighter tone. Students need to see if they're reading their homework or something else.

The giant squid in the Great Lake seems intimidating at first but it's actually one of the friendliest creatures of Hogwarts. When it swims before the glass of the room the students wave at it and it waves its tentacles back.

The squid even makes some cool tricks in the water when it sees the first years feeling intimidated by it. Wants to impress them.

Some Slytherins talked with Professor Sprout and Flitwick that they want to thank the squid its kindness to them. They get gillyweed from Sprout, learn a bubble enchantment from Flitwick and go to the lake and began to swim to find it. The squid is so happy that many came to "visit" it. It even lets the students to pet its tentacles.

The students hug the squid's giant body. The squid now truly feels home. They're family.

Being ambitous and clever doesn't mean someone's evil or edgy. Contrary to the popular belief Slytherins can be one of the kindest and funniest people you ever met (I knew a little girl from a camp three years ago she had so many funny remarks, and she was a proud Slytherin!)

"We are often on our own carrying our queendom in our hearts. Letting someone in means the world to us." [x]

I want to show you other Slytherin videos that I love: [x] [x] They're just so pretty!

Again thank you for the hcs! 💚

AAAAA I'm so obsessed with this!! I love thinking about way people aren't set in stone by their houses!!

Thank you for taking the time to do this! And the videos are stunning STUNNINGGGGG <3

[nonchalanttoh]

Spop reactions s5 e6, execpt it's taking longer and longer to finish each episode because I have to keep pausing while I die inside.

• Hey wait sec! What happened to our new friends in ep 5????

HEY WAIT A SEC!! WHERE'S DT?? DON'T TELL ME THEY JUST UP AND LEFT AFTER 1 SEASON??? NO WAY!! DT is wayyy to amazing of a character to just throw away.

• Ok waiaiaiaiwait, This hurts. Entrapta is dragging along this clone who has no idea who she is thinking he's just like Hordak??? The angst that's possible if the Hordak who actually recognizes Entrapta's trail reaches her and find our he's been replaced for a "better" and "functional" version. AHHHHHH

• You can do this Bow!

• WE MUST BE STRONG******

• Goodness the ptsd these kids are gonna have

• Sassafras is back :) and her friends: "You," "Sparkles," "Arrow Boy," and Entrapta.

• What just happened??? I look away for 5 seconds to type and Catra turned jnto a bitch again like hun you are making it really difficult for me to try and root for you to get better WORK WITH ME PLEASE I DONT WANT TO HATE YOU

• Spinerella!! And Netossa!!! Are Frosta's!!! Moms!!!

• They kissed!! On screen!! So gently!! My heart!! Is going to burst!!

• I have an awful feeling that something is going to ~happen~

• Micah: How do you do fellow kids?

• Yes!! Glimmer!! They did it!! Catra isn't going to instantly become a good person!!

• I need to have more faith in Noelle. My trust has been shattered by voltron ffs.

• What does Wrong Hordak's Apron say. Give me 10 minutes and I will translate.

• First word: empty triangle is an S sound, filled in diamond is an M sound. Then it seems like the word ends but theres a random upside down triangle floating in the middle not attached. The only word it could connect to is the first one. That triangle is an SH sound. So : SMSH?? Maybe missing something? Is it supposed to be smash? Or smush? Oh wait maybe those two little circles are the long vowel sound for E (like eh) then it would be closer to "Smash" Moving on.

• Second Word: fancy triangle makes the TH sound and the empty circle is the short vowel sound for E (like ee). Sounds like "Thee" {i dont like where this is going and im 80% sure the last word is chef without translation}

• Third Word: it's literally Chef I'm gonna show myself out

• PLEASE TELL ME I MADE A MISTAKE THAT APRON CAN NOT SAY "SMASH THE CHEF" I'M DONE

• Bow needs a vacation and so do I

• Ohhhh yikes. Yall should be better than that. Do not eat the food.

• Everything about this sucks.

• Catra: GET OUT

• Also Catra, not even 10 seconds later: Please stay.

• Like ajsualqlwnfnfkskajaka I can't handle you.

• Adora blushin like 😳

• LEAVE SWIFT WIND ALONE HE'S GOING THROUGH IT

• NETOSSAAAAAAAA

• Hi, um, I'm a little offended on everyone's behalf that Micah really said that Frosta is the strongest one there like he is a master sorcerer who studied under the best mage in mystacor

• Heh thats gay

• THE MAGICAL GIRL TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCE OF MY DREAMSSSSSS

• GOD SHE IS STUNNINGGGGG

• she ra? she pretty. 🥰

• SWIFT WIND GOT A POWER BOOST TOO

• She Ra is so Powerful she doesnt need oxygen or gravity or an atmosphere to prevent her body from imploding

• Her magic is so pretty.

• There's four minutes left!! And its buffering to all hell!!

• More! Baby steps!! For forgiving Catra!!!

• Unlikely friends 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

• I was just about to type Spinerella and Netossa own my whole heart but NO NO NO NOP NOPITY NOPE NOPE NO THAT IS NOT MY SPINERELLA WHAT HAVE YOU DOOOOONE

[bartonclinton]

✨ and /tagged/* :))

Hi katie!! 💖 You have so many gorgeous edits; I already KNOW it’s going to be hard to narrow down. 

1. this sex education one this is literally so pretty?? I’m obsessed with the cyan/red combo! Especially the gif with the words; that cyan POPS. it’s so hard to do 2 color sets like that and you did such a good job with this!

2. this knives out one gorgeous!!! stunninggggg. these gifs are so hd it’s insane lol. LOVE the coloring, especially in the last gif. it’s so bright & vibrant & hd as hell. Loved the movie & love this!!

3. this devi one You just posted this one & I adore it & her so much. Love the scenes you chose - she really is the most relatable lol. And your coloring is on point, as always :’)

4. this psisly one I watched the first one but still haven’t seen this one yet. I’m in love with this color palette though. idk how you come up with such good complementary colors for sets & pull them off so well every time. Love the yellow/blue contrast and how sharp the colors look!

5. this maeve one AGAIN beautiful coloring <3 Love her and this. I especially love the colors in the 2nd & 3rd gifs!

[lilliansucks]

girl if you're in shoal bay defs go find dutchies beach/bay. Especially at sunset if you keep walking down the grass path to the left of the beach you come out at a beautiful point and its STUNNINGGGGG

ugh amazing advice thank you... im actually already home in Sydney, but ill be back again, its such a beautiful area and I will 100% go there 

[felixmakemedoit]

HC about slys prefect

He's very serious but still have fun with his "friends" and by that he means like two real friends and other allies that he has in his year and upper, hes not usually one for being friends with younger ones since he thinks that being the prefect they kinda need to look up at him, but that changes in the third year of MC bc they are more friendly that what is spected

Most usually see him studying but when they see him having fun dosent weird them out, but they just know it will be long before they see that happening in the open again

He has almost all the female population of Hogwarts having a crush on him and at least half the male population (bc lets remember this is set in the past and wasnt so acceptable, at least to what i know)

Dosent have a formal girlfriend (arrange marriage in France maybe?) but has dated some girls but never for the looks (even tho a lot of them looked stunninggggg) but for their brain and a bit for their relations to some people

Hes a perfectionist so he needs, NEEDS to win the house cup and the quidditch cup

He will help any sly kid and tutor them so they become better (and win house points lmao)

If he think someone is worthy he will teach them more spells that know to be harmless but usefull

Every body says that they like his cheekbones but his bodypart he likes the most is chest

[ohkimani]

Her hair is like the perfect length for her face

i wonder if she’s actually growing it out again or just keeping it at this length because it honestly looks stunninggggg

[laurenborrelli]

Lekkerrrr

When I moved to Boston 3 years ago, I got a text within my first 48 hours saying Kate and Daniel had booked a trip to visit the following weekend.  The weekend of their visit, I distinctly remember Dan telling me he was interested in applying to University of Pittsburgh because of their study abroad program in Cape Town, South Africa.  And then 3 years later he was attending that program through Pitt and I booked a flight to visit!

Dan is my childhood neighbor and 5 years younger.  So I had to mentally prepare to be around kids that were barely 21 years old...AND tackle it as my first semi-solo trip.  Not to mention I was able to use credit card points and fly for FREE!

Itinerary:

Wednesday, November 29th 2017:  My flight departed Boston in the evening and I arrived at my layover destination in the AM.  With a 9 hour layover in Munich, I ventured outside the airport to the Christkindlmarkt in the city center.  With a full belly of sausage, one (ok two) gluhwein, and new cashmere scarf to keep me warm during the snowfall, I headed back to the airport nice and tired.  Topping off with more hefeweizen (best type of beer to drink solo!) at the airport, I at least boarded verrrry sleepy for my 12 hour flight to Cape Town.

Friday: FINALLY arrived in South Africa around lunch time!  Since Dan’s semester had just ended, the school let us stay there for a crazy affordable price.  Would have been good to know that before we booked the airbnb in CBD...(theme with 21 y/o’s lol).  A couple dead cockroaches in the kitchen and no central wifi BUT I had an incredible view of table mountain from my bedroom window.  We spent most of this day booking tours / airbnb’s for the rest of the trip.

Saturday: We went to the Woodstock Market in the late morning.  Half is local food vendors and the other half is local artists selling jewelry, household goods, clothes, you name it!  Oh yeah and there was a DJ in the center right next to an aperol spritz station.  I mean...what could be more perfect?!? Started with an amazing pour over and some stuff avocado.  Then moved on to a spritz while I bought some awesome jewelry and a vegan leather clutch.  I could have stayed here alllll day!  And i probably spent less then $30 USD total.  Then we headed to the central business district (CBD) to check out the Company’s Gardens.  It is a beautiful public with a really awesome natural irrigation system for their vegetation.  AND super cool mega sized whicker baskets as swings and tree houses.  We grabbed fresh Juice on Long Street and ordered flights to try from brewery Beerhouse.  A quick freshen up and we grabbed dinner on the waterfront meet up with some of his friend’s.

Sunday: Dan was super sweet in arranging a day to hang to check out the newly finished Zeitz Contemporary Museum of Art!  It’s superrrr sick - a restored grain factory turned into museum.  Concrete was cast around the old silos, which created a traditional deceiving form on the exterior.  While the interior is just the reverse - a HUGE curvilinear entrance with a skeleton of a pterodactyl very Game of Thrones like in the center.  A guy who worked in Dan’s study abroad office was a recent architecture grade from the University of Cape Town - so he joined us on our day of touring architecture!  In fact, he is the one that told me there was a bit of an uproar of a British architect being selected for Africa’s first contemporary art museum.  The attention to detail and design was immaculate in the city - makes it hard to believe there were no African-based architecture offices that couldn’t have tackled the challenge... We then checked out the watershed project.  It’s an old industrial boat storage facility turned host for local artist vendors on the ground floor and communal “we work” style offices on teh second floor.  Once again, a SUPER cool space!!!  (BTW - this will be the theme of my architecture comments for this trip).  The enclosed food market next door was a perfect stop for lunch.  After walking around the waterfront some more, we made our way over to Camp’s Bay to watch the sunset.  This area reminded me a lot of Southern California w/o the prices plus mountains in the background.  Truly it was the most stunning sunsets I have ever enjoyed (and wth a spritz too!).  Quite possibly my favorite day in Cape Town of the trip!!

Monday: It was a big weekend of activities for Dan so he slept in while I wandered around a bit on my own!  Started with trying the world’s strongest cup of coffee at Haas Coffee (great I would only need one cup this morning!).  Then went to the District Six Museum - which is a museum dedicated to the district segregated and then bull-dozed down during apartheid.  Really heartbreaking but an excellent intro to how it has only been 50 years since this epidemic happened!  To put into perspective, my parents were born before this happened (sorry for the age exposure mom and dad)! I then grabbed lunch and took the scenic route from the V/A Waterfront allll the way down to Clifton Beach.  Stunning views, beautiful weather, and a good opportunity to see what South Africa’s non-working people are doing along the water at this time of day.  They consisted of surfers, mothers and sitters pushing kids in strollers, LOTS of people running or roller blading, and a handful of “lookers” that suddenly stop what they are doing when you walk by.  The beach is tucked between a bunch of wealthy homes in a pretty private location.  A great spot to water-color the ocean crashing into seals on the rocks beyond!  After much relaxing, I headed home for a quick change before Dan and I headed to hike Lion’s Head at sunset.  An easy hike but the views are stunninggggg.  Ended the evening with take-out of a Cape Town quintessential BFA (bacon feta avocado) pizza.

Tuesday: Walked to grab coffee in the nearby neighborhood of Rondebosch and then took a car to the beautiful, traditional Bo-Kaap neighborhood!  Vividly painted stucco buildings line the streets and are very well preserved amongst the expanding urbanism surrounds.  We took a cooking class with Cape Malay cuisine.  The culture descends from Southeast Asian, but brought to Cape Town through the Dutch Indian Trade Company.  So the cuisine has a interested blend of all three cultures - deep curry flavors with just enough spice for white people to tolerate LOL.  Great day learning more about the history and making amazing, brand-new dishes!  With very full bellies and a very strong sun overhead, we noodled to Camp’s Bay beach with a handful of Dan’s classmates.  They were a bit of a handful and we had to lay on every piece of clothing so it wouldn’t get swept up in the immense ocean wind, but the views were stunning!  We ended the night with trivia at a local bar.  Luckily we had a couple South Africans on our team, so they were able to help us answer “what is the most played African song in foreign films.”

Wednesday: Dan and I headed to CBD to pick up a rental car for our trip outside of the city!  We drove along swerve-y, cliffy edge road from Camps Bay, down through Hout Bay, down to the Cape of Good Hope!  It’s basically a national park with...wild baboons roaming around!  We went to the lighthouse at the Cape Peninsula and it was so windy I was scared to take my phone out in case it would fly away!  Awesome perspective of the peninsula if you had a strong enough grip of the railing surrounding you!!  I did a bit of hiking around the rocky cliffs while Dan and his friend Allie took lots of selfies around the water.  We then checked into out ocean-front apartment  in St. James that was so. freaking. BEAUTIFUL!  Unreal views, unreal price, unreal sunsets/sunrises.  Even got to see whales breaching form the balcony!!  We finished the day by grabbing dinner and drinks from the great restaurant Tiger’s Milk in Muizenberg.

Thursday: I started with a sunrise run along a beautiful ocean-front path that went right by all the morning surfers in Muizenberg and the super man-made formed but naturally resourced ocean pools in St. James.  We then hopped in the car for a morning snorkeling with seals, to only find the currents and wind were too strong. :(  Instead we headed to check out the legendary warm-weather penguins at Boulders Beach.  I grabbed some coffee, and a meat/cheese delicious hot-pocket style snack for lunch, and we headed the immaculate Noordhoek Beach.  Bright white sand, turquoise water with minimal waves - never seen a more beautiful beach!  So stunning and barren, for some very strange reason...maybe the large number of horse flies?  LOL despite getting swarmed it was so hard to not want to get swallowed up in the beautiful vista.  Even if I did leave with over twenty bites on my legs alone.  We headed home and while those two napped, I walked down to check out the shopping in Kalk Bay.  Also shops and the store owners were all super friendly - one woman’s husband photographs architecture professionally!  After stirring them awake we headed to Muizenberg to watch the surfers at sunset and check out the infamous painted beach shacks. We bounced around at a couple out door bars before ending up at the great Tiger’s Milk.

Friday: Another sunrise run and yoga on the deck.  I grabbed coffee at the super cute shop blonde + beard in Muizenberg, then we jumped in the car to head back to Cape Town.  We moved into a different university student housing buildling upon our return...and this is the point where I decided it was worth spending the money for a nice apartment not in the college area of the city.  We went to a natural watering hole only known to locals/students.  Amazing views of table mountain and the water was super clean and hella refreshing.  We grabbed dinner at an Indian restaurant close by then headed to drinks at Yours Truly on Kloof Street.  My. Favorite. Bar. HANDS DOWN!  Different DJ each level, awesome craft brews and cocktails, beautiful string lights and plants climbing up the terraces, super funky furniture, and people rocking all different trendy outfits.  Dan’s friends felt out of place but I freaking loved it!!  Finally I caved with how much they were itching to leave, and we grabbed Italian food down the block.  We then stopped at their favorite 21 y/o hangout sgt pepper on Long Street and I hung on the smoker’s deck with Dan while his friends had a couple items stolen from them on the sweaty dance floor.

Saturday: Time for our wine tour!  $60 for a round-trip bus to the infamous wine town of Stellenbosch. Tasting #1 included an array of cheese.  Tasting #2 was in a beautiful outdoor garden.  Tasting #3 tour of a cute farm where we tried wine from the syringe!  Plus a fullll traditional braai (barbeque).  Tasting #4 tiny little private winery.  Tasting #5 pairing with Chocolate!  Best part was bonding with everyone else on our tour!!  An american couple on grad school holiday, an older couple with one descendent of Upper Saint Clair, super cool British couple my age, older British couple who have travel to 80% of the world, and a British dad with his daughter about my age who works in an art gallery.  Great convos about how crazy Trump is but it humanized the U.S. to not be this great country anymore, to why haven’t I signed up to do bungee jumping yet, to you are crazy for staying with a bunch of 21 y/o’s up until now!  Left with lots of souvenirs and great memories!!  Brought my stuff to my new adorable apartment downtown and crashed during the sunset while watching elf on Netflix.

Sunday: Headed out solo to grab coffee/breakfast and then check out the Castle of Good Hope.  Strangely enough there was a cross fit competition taking place in the main courtyard, so that was a bit entertaining to peak at in between taking in all the history.  It was a dutch fort along the East India Trate Route to Indonesia - but more specifically acted as the home base during teh British invasions.  Free tours are given by of the military museum and the inter-workings of the castle which turned out to be very light and engaging!  I think picked Dan up and we went to the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens.  Amazing variety of wildlife here and a good chance to hang with Dan one-on-one.  We went to Moju Market and drove by a crowd letting out for the Springbok Rugby game.  Now those fans where some crazy costumes!  The market was superrrr lekker (va bene in Afrikaan).  There was a station for trendy oysters, a “salad bae” stand, local wines shop, curry shop - everything plus an elevated ocean view.  Awesome way to fuel up before Dan and I conquered a Table Mountain hike the next day.

Monday: I grabbed breakfast at the adorable Skinny Legs cafe and then coffee and beans at Origin Coffee Roastery.  Both make my mouth water thinking about them (and their beautiful interiors too!).  Then when to meet Dan at Kirstenbosch, where the beginning of our hike up Table Mountain began.  Started pretty steep, up wooden ladders in woodsy areas.  At the top we stumbled upon a completely barren water source.  It looked to be a collection spot for a small reservoir.  The water was unnaturally a rainbow gradient and was in a bit of a small canyon - making it seem like people were going to jump out at any moment like the hunger games.  We randomly heard a siren here too, making us jumping in our pants even more!  We then continued along the top of table which is mostly huge boulders - but it started to get windier.  We soon found that it was too windy at the top for the gondola to take us down!  So we had to bare the exposed edge by foot!  This was seriously soooo hard because any time we would hear a huge wind gust coming, we would have to duck and hold onto any possible branch around us.  Took a while it felt such a  rush of accomplishment as we ate at an Indian buffet afterwards!

Friday: Last day!  My flight was leaving in the evening, so i tried to squeeze in as much as I could!  Morning at Clifton Beach then lunch of mussels and a glass of chenin blanc at the waterfront with Dan.  Was able to do a little shopping at the artist in the waterfront too - most sold awesome sustainable home goods too!  Probably did the most shopping / consuming of good food/drink this trip - but thats because it was all my style, amazing flavors, accessible, and reallllly affordable!  I’m already counting this as one of my top 3 favorite cities and I can’t wait to go back and visit!!!

What brought me excitement:

Design Aesthetic: Yes the city is BUMPING with architecture, both new and old.  Now this may sound crazy, but when i walked into a basic enterprise office in the CBD, something struck me.  I followed the datum of the square floor tile, that then aligned with the line of small stair landing, that then aligned with the rectangular wall base, that then aligned wth the curtainwall mullion.  MY JOB IS TO ALIGN FINISHES FOR A MUSEUM!  How do these simple alignments just happen in the least design conscious interior spaces?! Still blows my mind the attention to detail and craft the culture just exudes.  And it is oh so clear in every interior of every store, restaurant, coffee shop, boutique, refurbished space.  Really inspiring as someone in the design field!!  Nothing boujee or over the top either, all very minimalist, modern, simple, earthy designs - amazing!

Cultural Blend: My first day at the beach, there were a bunch of middle school age kids that all playing soccer together.  A girl in a hijab kicking a ball to a blonde haired boy kicking to a black boy .  The integration of the future generation was so heart-warming to see it made my eyes ACTUALLY well up!  I’m not kidding too!!  It’s location is an ideal spot for not just europeans on holiday, but a great stretch of immigrants from the middle east and asian as well!  I can’t wait to come back in just 5 years and see how progressive it will be!!

What left me uneasy:

White Guilt: Learning how recent apartheid and many racist epidemics had occurred, it really left a sinking feeling in my stomach.  I felt guilt vacationing here because I didn’t want any locals (no matter their ethnicity) to feel like I was taken advantage of their home.  I didn’t want it to seem like I had some money to spend so I was creating a larger economic divide and taking anything away from the locals.  It was probably the biggest guilt I have ever felt, even though it wasn’t me personally who had done those hurtful injustices.  But it is up to me to stand up for those that are still getting hurt today.  It certainly empowered me to not bat an eye and turn a shoulder when something is happening you don’t believe in.

Water Crisis:  At first I was wondering why toilet’s in the student housing were never flushed!  Then i realized it was to preserve water.  They were in a serious crisis and I didn’t fully understand it still we were at our airbnb in St. James.  I remember standing at the sink washing my hands, looking straight ahead at the 180 degree ocean view.  After drying my hands, I stepped on the balcony to take in the view even more.  A line of people about 100′ away caught my eye and I realized they were waiting at a public water source.  The government has shut down water to certain neighborhoods - unfairly.  These people weren’t stumbling out of overcrowded buses - they were coming with buckets out of private cars in nice clothes.  I felt sooooo guilty that I had a water source right here yet these people are waiting for this small spigot down the street.  Would the airbnb host downstairs be pissed if set a couple of buckets of water outside for these people?  But also, how could the host bat an eyelash and not be wanting to do the same thing?  This tore at my gut throughout this entire trip.

Safety: Cape Town is a very walkable, and even bikable city!  Unfortunately i didn’t realize how much I had to worry about safety even during the day.  I do look like the native Afrikaan, as many people spoke it to me before I spoke English back.  However, I think the economic divide is still too much for there to not be some animosity between the various parties.  It made me feel a little limited, that I couldn’t safely take the public train to the beach or rent a bike along the coast - all things I take for granted in my day to day life.