About

 

The Phrase

Life is a sponge that needs to be filled up and wrung out on a regular basis. Living big means living full. You get the idea. My little mantra here at Anchors & Proteas is Bis Vivt Qui Bene Vivit. In Latin Bis Vivt Qui Bene Vivit means: ‘He/She lives twice who lives well.’  This oh-so-catchy phrase to me means: we only have one life, so fill it up, grab it by the cajones and live it so awesome/active/full of love/adventure/smiles/good work that it FEELS like two rounds, not one.

Clockwise from top: Palm Springs, Mexico City, Addo Elephant Park, Jasper National Park.
Clockwise from top: Palm Springs, Mexico City, Addo Elephant Park, Jasper National Park.

The Blog

Anchors + Proteas is my blog baby based on a life filled with inspiring people, magnetic places, delicious food and life hacks worth sharing. It’s part travel blog, part ode to food, part avenue for me to write write write about things that give me joy: Travelling and eating, meeting new people. I’m an activist at heart who admires folks working to improve the environment and society, I look forward to sharing these with you dear reader. Join me – let me know what you think of the writing, topics, people on display here. Check out my Instagram feed, follow me on Twitter, send me an email. Heck, if you’re so inclined mail me a letter – this extrovert LOVES getting mail.

Logo inspo all courtesy of Flickr/CreativeCommons. Clockwise from top left: Leo Reynolds, Cole Ford & Natasha de Vere, Jacinta Moore, Julie Gibbons.
Logo inspo all courtesy of Flickr/CreativeCommons. Clockwise from top left: Leo Reynolds, Cole Ford & Natasha de Vere, Jacinta Moore, Julie Gibbons.

The Logo

For the last seven years anchors have been my talisman – they are simple, elegant, badass (plus I have a tiny fascination with pirates and pirate jokes). What an anchor symbolizes – keeping ships grounded, safe in a big swell is pretty cool too. Proteas are my favourite flower: as a Rotary exchange student to South Africa at the wide-eyed, adventurous age of 18 years the country’s national flower both enchanted and bewildered. I remember the first king protea I saw – it looked like it grew on mars, was tended by a Grecian god and its petals felt were as soft as a foal. I hope that this website will both anchor and inspire you dear readers. Maybe even motivate you to enjoy the things that make your life seem like two: good eats, great travels, peeks into other people’s jobs all with a dose of dogged pragmatism and verve.

The Gratitude

The Anchors & Proteas logo concept was my own: a digital family crest of sorts with of two of my favourite icons. The logo was designed by two extremely-talented Vancouver dudes: illustrator Ben Frey did the sketch while graphic designer Adrian Horvath finished it off for me.

While I’m on the topic of big ups: a huge thanks to my friend Leslie Pang at Plex Design Works for the WordPress set up, the folks at Pankogut for the sweet Amelie theme and my partner and wee man for putting up with late nights and gallons of coffee while glued to my lap top early in the morning or late at night.

Happy reading, mateys.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin