With all the madness, I always find time to shop. Sometimes, it’s even when I am not even thinking about shopping. So this is my woeful story…My shopping this time started at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. I had popped in after my marketing block with Ricardo Machado. He was fabulously entertaining…born in Cuba, raised in the States and blessed with nine lives. I left the two day session with Ricardo feeling like I could start a revolution!

Back to the lust haves….I walked into Gibs to find that some of the 10000 Women delegates had set up displays of their products. And my eyes immediately fell on an Ostrich handbag….I just knew this was going to be trouble! Turned out this African Queen handbag was R8000.00. I was already reeling from the previous week’s shopping and then I spotted the most fabulous red patent handbag. I wanted it and then told the assistant that I would pop back to fetch. Imagine my horror, when I returned and found another delegate coveting my find…visions of KUNG FU FIGHTING from the HEAT advert popped up in my head. My opponent was taller than me and fitter too…so I did the cowardly thing and whipped out my credit card and instructed the assistant to put the transaction through immediately!

Nicola from African Queen is also part of the Goldman Sachs 10000 Women Program. Learning more about her business (I found this out on Facebook) made me feel fantastic about supporting her! One of the aims of African Queen is to support a feeding scheme – http://www.newlifecommunitycentres.co.za and also create much needed jobs. Handbags off to the African Queen Team! I do plan on visiting the store soon to view the bags and accessories…there is a Zebra print handbag that I have my eye on…and I would love to practice my shopping skills! Contact details: African Queen – Shop 9, The Parks, Cnr Jan Smuts & Wells Ave, Parkwood, 2193.

Next stop was Queen Street in Kensington. I roped my mom into coming along with promises of Trinchado and freshly baked Portuguese bread. But first, we needed to shop for props for my new recipe book. We headed off to ‘Ye Olde Collector’. Goodness Gracious!!! I think there is enough cutlery and crockery in this store for a few lifetimes…..Noritake, Royal Albert and Limoge….plus a hundred others that I have never heard off. Best you walk sideways in this store. There are plates, cups, saucers, ornaments, glasses and bowls everywhere! If you are shopping in Kensington…I would advise you to take your time and carry a Ventolin Pump…whether you have Asthma or not, you will surely need it. We left the store with a huge box of the antique platters, plates, bowls and some fine crystal ware too. After negotiating a good discount and then another discount after the discount…the haggling still went on a bit and when my mom started rolling her eyeballs at me, I knew it was time to wrap things up. I left the store feeling like I had done the owner a special favour by taking away at least some of his problems!

Next, it was Trinchado time at Euro Cafe on Queen Street. At 36 bucks a portion served with a bread roll plus a large plate of chips at R8.50…almost too good to be true but true! Now, these chips are worth a special mention….somewhere between edges and chunky chips, they are the home made sort that taste great when they are crammed into a bread roll and drowned in peri peri sauce. Two sodas and two starters, Portuguese rolls with a pretty price tag of R103.00! Oh, one more thing about Euro Cafe is they do sell those delicious red cakes that are dunked in a pinky red syrup and rolled in coconut.

We finished off with a trip to Sandton Square for a quick whizz past the Antiques Fair. A few things that were interesting but lack of credit card facilities brought my antique shopping to an abrupt end. So, our weekend shopping ended with a stop at Vanya’s store, Sun Goddess at The Square. I think I must have tried on twenty different dresses and was coaxed into trying a few of her ‘SEE ME ON’ pieces…handbags, beaded earrings, shwe shwe (my favourite) dresses and even shoes!

I started my ‘lust have’ shopping at African Queen and it ended at Sun Goddess…two iconic South African brands…coincidence or is it just the way shopping should be?