Xoxo Pottery Designs

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All pottery pieces & sculptures are handmade, unique, bespoke & one of a kind. Sculpting clay is a form of expressing my love- it's love made visible.

10/11/2026

I remember this day like it was yesterday.
It’s the day my life changed.
17th June 2016, walking my 1st camino along the Camino Frances on route to Santiago.
I had been walking for 17 days by then & had already
covered approximately 450km.

Those of you who know me in person or have been following me on social media will know that the Camino de Santiago holds a very special place in my heart.
My first camino in 2016 was a two fold life changing combo.
It dramatically changed my life and it afforded me
the courage & acknowledgement within myself that
I needed at the time to start living my dream.
To start acknowledging & living my creativity,
to stop shying away from my gifts and abilities & to listen
to that whisper in my heart. It encouraged me to be brave.

XoXoPottery Designs is the ‘love child’ of that awesome experience. It’s the love child of bravery, faith & acceptance
all colliding into my perfect storm.
In 2018 I returned to Spain, I had to confirm it wasn’t all
just a dream, an illusion or figment of my imagination.
My soul screamed “FINALLY you’re home” as my feet joined the path once more.
The camino euphoria is very real & although 2 years had gone by it felt like no time had lapsed at all.
It was all very real and even more incredible than I’d remembered.
So much so that in 2023 I had to go back for round 3.
This time I volunteered as a hospitalera, ran an albergue for 2 weeks as well as working for a week in the pilgrims office in Saint Jean pied de port in France, at the foot of the Pyrenees at the starting point of the Camino Frances.

It felt like coming home, a home I needed to visit.
Part of my soul lives along the camino path.
I breathe differently, I feel differently, I dream differently.
I say differently because my day to day life in reality is equally as beautiful & fulfilling, this is just a totally different feeling.

I believe in speaking my dreams into existence.
I also believe that when the time is right the things that are meant for you will find you.
All we need is a little faith, a dash of courage & vavavooom.
There will definitely be a 4th camino at some point.

This photograph reminds me to dream out loud🙌🏽

07/11/2026

Xoxopottery Quotes

04/11/2026

I love being back. 🫶🏽

Perhaps one of the most important things in life is for each of us to keep moving in our own right direction, finding our rightful place, somewhere our souls feel peace, belonging and stability. Somewhere that feels like our own version of Terra Ferma.

I have found mine.

I have found solid ground.

02/11/2026

Dear Diary…Day 10
Goodbyes are brutal💔

This week has been the biggest gift. Technically, I was the birthday gift, but somehow I’m the 1 who received the greatest gift: time with my favourite people, in my favourite city, making memories & sharing more love than we could imagine.

You’d think we’d be immune by now. It’s been 26 years.
WHY do we live on different continents again?
Who thought this was sensible? I’d like a word.

About 48 hours before goodbye, it hits me. My brain tries to prepare my heart for a pain it knows well, while my heart pretends it has no idea what’s coming. I’ve never seen my family for only 7 days on a trip. Our visits are usually much longer, so my brain forgot to activate its emotional survival switch. There I was, feeling ALL the feels.

Saying goodbye to Kori has always been hard, but add the kids & it’s a trauma fruit salad. We’d agreed: NO CRYING.
I was holding strong. Dying inside, obviously, but strong.
Then Michael hugged me for the 4th time.
This one lasted longer, the squeeze got tighter & suddenly
I heard his voice break: “I love you so much, Nanonia.”

BOOOOOOM.
Floodgates. No warning, no dignity, no recovery. 😭

When 2 hands wrap tightly around you, holding on with all the love in the world, something gives way. You realise how much these people mean to you & how terribly you’ll miss them. Nothing can stop your heart breaking.

Then Kori starts sobbing, having held it together by a thread, and that’s it. Full-blown family sob fest. Love declarations, tears, tissues, more hugs & increasingly unconvincing
“STOP NOW, we’ll see each other soon, we always do!” Someone has to walk away, otherwise we’ll still be standing there next Tuesday.

The love is enormous. Living apart feels incomprehensible.
I wish distance came with a return button. Or a family teleportation service.

It hurts because it matters. These are my people.
I’m lucky to have a love this big, even when goodbye feels unbearable.

What a week. What a family. What a gift.
Athens, you beautiful thing. You’re in all our hearts.

Thank you, God. Thank you, universe.
Thank you for the time, laughter, chaos, cuddles & memories.
Till we meet again🧿SOON!

01/11/2026

Dear Diary… Day 9 🎈
It’s my Kori’s birthday!

I’m so grateful to journey through life with my sister,
my built-in bestie from birth. We share a brain, a personality & the same answers to questions the kids ask us independently. They’re often in awe, sometimes in shock & occasionally disappointed when I give them the exact same answer as their mother. 🤣

We finish each other’s sentences & pick up conversations as if not a minute has passed. Tash is my person, no amount of time together ever feels like enough.
Thank you, God. My sister is one of my greatest blessings🩷

What a week this has been. Chats, adventures, wrong turns, right turns & little moments that become memories.
This trip happened so suddenly that I woke up every morning wondering if it was real.
Pinch me…is this really real?

Our mornings found their own rhythm. With a panoramic view of the Acropolis & the world’s best frappe downstairs,
I made my 07:30 daily pilgrimage for caffeine, in PJs, incognito under enormous sunnies (there wasn’t even any sun 🤭) & a poncho concealing all evidence of sloth mode.
Naturally, 1 coffee run became a bakery detour 2 blocks further. Did I care? Not remotely. Priorities.

I am in Athens with my Kori & the whole family. Nothing else matters. We spent the day wandering & returning to our favourite taverna. We’re creatures of habit, when the food is this good & the people make you feel at home, why not go back? They know us by now, so when I walked in armed with balloons & gift bags, the welcome was practically, “Go on, do what you need to do. This is your shop now.” 🤭

The day was perfect. Birthday cake, treats & an epic floor party in my apartment playing Imposter. Turns out we’re a convincing bunch of liars, but at least we’re honest about it.

Tomorrow is travel day for me. 💔
How can a week feel SO full & still leave you wishing for more? There are conversations on pause & moments I wish I could stretch longer. The best part of being together is also the hardest part of leaving.

We both declared early in the day: “NO CRYING Kori!”
Well… an ambitious promise from 2 sisters who share everything, including the inability to say goodbye without sobbing.

31/10/2026

Dear Diary… Day 8🇬🇷
It’s a roam freely & leisurely kinda day…

I decided the kids needed to experience Varvakios Food Market. Then I discovered Tash Pete had NEVER been. You can’t say you’ve experienced Athens until your lunch has made eye contact with you! 😂
Nothing says welcome to Athens quite like making eye contact with tomorrow’s pork chops. Vegans, trigger warning.
Think of lentils. 🌱fear not I won’t post pics!

Our family bonding has reached the point where we can discuss cuts of meat while standing beside the evidence. A lively conversation erupted as we navigated blades & machete-style knives slicing into whole animals. What would we cook? How would we cook it? Nothing says family bonding like planning dinner while meeting its former owner. 🤣

These butchers are incredibly skilled & take pride in their work. It’s an art. We were slightly traumatised by the pig heads, hooves & bits of anatomy none of us had encountered.
But nobody was traumatised enough to become vegetarian, because we walked straight out & headed for lunch. The pigs contributed to our education; the gyros were there for emotional support. It’s one thing to enjoy a gyro. It’s another to meet its extended family. 🤭

I bought a few things, & no, I will NOT be travelling home with pig hooves. Just the usual suspects: oregano, nuts, mastiha & ouzo sweets. Enough snacks to provision a village.
Some people have a shopping problem. I have a Mediterranean supply-chain strategy.

I might still swing by the cheese market & buy a few kilos of cheese, as I normally do. I am who I am, & I’ve accepted my Mediterranean crazy. 🤭🧀

We’ve been roaming Athens, exploring cobblestone & marble streets, little shops & beautiful ruins on practically every corner. You can pop out for a snack & accidentally walk past 2,000 years of history.

The kids are finding treasures, mostly musical things, plus basketball & soccer gear. Their suitcases are filling with memories… & an emerging sports shop.

Another fabulous day of wandering, eating, discovering & making memories. Tomorrow: more culture, more food & keeping me away from the cheese counter. No promises. 🇬🇷

30/10/2026

Dear diary.. Day 7
It’s OXI DAY🧿💙🇬🇷

How incredibly wonderful to be in Athens on such an auspicious day.
Obviously it had to start with frappe & pastry.
There are VERY few things I’ll stand in a queue but there I was for a second day in row queuing for tiropita, monkey bread & cinnamon rolls. Once I find something delicious everyone around me HAS to try it. So that’s how our day started…
A brief, quick and basic history lesson on why it’s a public holiday in Greece :

Today is Oxi Day 🇬🇷❤️ A day when Greece remembers the moment it said a resounding ΟΧΙ (OXI), meaning NO, to Mussolini’s demands to allow Italian troops into the country on 28 October 1940. Greece could have surrendered to a much bigger military power, but instead chose to stand its ground & fight for its freedom.
What followed was an extraordinary show of courage as Greek soldiers pushed the Italian army back into Albania, fighting through freezing mountains & brutal conditions.
This wasn’t just a NO to Italy. It was a NO to occupation,
a NO to intimidation & a refusal to hand over their homeland without a fight.

Walking around Athens today, you could feel that this is about so much more than a date in a history book. It’s about a nation’s spirit, its pride & the sacrifices made by ordinary people who stood up when it mattered most.
Greece was eventually occupied by German, Italian & Bulgarian forces, but its resistance had already made history & earned admiration around the world, including from Winston Churchill. Today, that little word, OXI, still carries enormous weight.

A reminder that courage isn’t always about knowing you will win. Sometimes, it’s about knowing what you’re not prepared to surrender. And honestly, there is something very Greek about that. 🇬🇷❤️

We dressed in blue and white, we watched the parade, we waved our flags and we felt very proud to be Greek.
“Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.”

We had no real itinerary set for today. We Just wanted to absorb the vibes and be part of the action in Athens, a parade, palomas in Plaka & a bakery queue. OXI to the N***s, but apparently never OXI to carbs. 😂🥐

29/10/2026

Dear Diary… Day 6🏛️
Let’s get cultural.

I insisted we experience the Acropolis with “virgin eyes”
before exploring the museum. That’s how I did it in 2022,
& I’m glad we repeated it. My idea of a perfect day involves
a gallery, a museum, something old & ancient, & anything that makes my soul feel connected to another time.
Well, QUE today!
The best part is, I got to do it with some of my favourite people ever. ❤️

Honestly, there’s only so much culture everyone can handle
at once. I would’ve lasted longer, but by the 3rd floor,
with the heating on & limited airflow, my anxiety kicked in FAST. I looked at Michael & whispered,
“Shall we bounce babes?” I’m working very hard at staying cool & current in my nephews’ eyes.
He said, “HELL YES, Nanonia, LET’S GOO!”
So we bounced!

Except we bounced a little TOO hard & didn’t realise that once you exit the museum door, that’s it.
You’re in exile. Done. Finished. O V E R.

Michael & I ended up in no man’s land while Tash, Pete & Nicholas were still trapped inside.
On entry, we’d been told to check in our extra bags, backpacks, umbrellas, water bottles…so in the rush to be “quick & efficient”, I shoved all my stuff in their bags.
BIG MISTAKE. Generally, I’m a lone wolf & travel solo because I’m in complete control. Famous last words.

Long story short, I was outside with Michael, no umbrella, jackets or water. Tash had technically left the museum but was still inside, while Peter & Nicholas were somewhere only
God & the archaeologists knew.
I was grumpy as f$&k, thirsty & desperate for a p*e,
neither of which was an option. Michael was worried we’d all been separated. I was like, “Yo buddy, I have free will & adult money. LET’S GO!”

Tash heard we were heading for lamb chops & committed
to a full exit. Priorities. It was pouring with rain, but we made our way back to our old-faithful taverna in Thissio.
I hadn’t even chosen a table before I was politely shouting
my order at our waiter, who now feels like family.
We were STARVING.

Lamb chops, tzatziki, white w**e & wonderful conversation followed. The best stories rarely follow the planned itinerary.
Tomorrow awaits 🇬🇷🧿💫

Address

Sea Point By Appointment Only
Cape Town
8005

Telephone

+27836020472

Website

http://xoxopotterydesigns.co.za/

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