Long overdue catch-up post

It's that insanely busy time of the year where freelancers are trying to make enough money to get through December and January, when the industry goes dead for two months. This means I've been working every hour that is sent and still struggling to fit everything in. Hence the lack of blogging.

Thankfully my huge 6 600-word report is done and dusted. Now it's just the client amendments and editing bit (my worst stage, actually). Hopefully the client meets his deadline, which is Monday.

I have a big business meeting tomorrow I still need to prep for, so I'll try to keep this brief, which means bullet points :-)

• Cape Town was awesome. It always is. I love it so much, even when the wind is crazy (it made the wedding interesting - all the men were wearing kilts seeing the groom is Scottish). Here are a few random pics:

Squirrels always make me think of Cape Town. Little little guy was spotted in the park right next to where our friends Matt and Nicola stay. He was quite friendly too.

On Friday, TSC and I spent most of the day exploring Franschoek - one of our favourite parts of the Cape. This extremely tame rooster was intent on sharing our breakfast at Cafe Bon Bon.

This is the view from Dieu Donne, where the wedding was held on Saturday. I managed to snap a shot just before the weather rolled in. We had thick fog and pounding rain - I think the Scots brought the weather with them!

• We discovered some lovely new wines. We tried to stay away from the "known" estates, many of which we've visited before, so we headed to Franschhoek Cellars (easy-drinking, affordable wines. Delicious cheeses too!) and Glenwood (most divine chardonnay!). Surprisingly, despite both of us being red wine drinkers, our favourite finds of the day were white wines.
• We got to catch up with friends. We did drinks with my varsity friend, Meg, on Friday eve, and on Saturday we had breakfast with Matt and Nic before the afternoon wedding and walked along Camps Bay beach. Definitely some of my highlights. Our flight was delayed on Sun morning, but seeing we were on the same flight as friends from Gauteng, we all had coffee together and caught up on news, which was lovely.
• Since the CT trip, it's been panic stations to get everything done! I've been asked to do another social media workshop at a company related to the one where I presented the last two, which will be fun, and I've had press launches, media releases, articles, web copy, brochures, reports and proposals to write, so it's been frantic. In between, I've been making jewellery to sell for Christmas money. I've decided not to hold an open house this year, but rather to invite people to let me know if they'd like to pop in to have a look. I'm also happy to take the jewellery to meet people where it suits them. I think that way there's less stress and emphasis on one day. I'm considering posting pics and prices here. What do you think? Is that a bit tacky?
• It's definitely the silly season in terms of social events - everyone is scrambling to see each other before the year ends and our weekends are jammed packed until the holidays. This weekend I get to see my uncle, who's here from Kuwait, with my family tonight. Then tomorrow it's a business meeting and TSC's project team year-end function (which means I'm missing out on a friend's hen party, unfortunately). Sunday we have our supper-club Christmas lunch, a church leaders meeting and then church in the evening. Thankfully next weekend is slightly less crazy!
• That's about it really. I've got lots I've been thinking about that I would like to blog (from thoughts on the R12 a day challenge to plans for Christmas presents, dealing with difficult people and a summary of 2011), but I have to take one thing at a time, and unfortunately right now I have to get my paying work done before I get to that stuff. Maybe soon :-)

Happiness and

*happy sigh*

It was a good weekend. TSC and I went to one of the nicest weddings we've ever attended and danced so that my feet still ache three days later. We met new people and watched our amazing friends celebrate the decision to spend their lives together. We ate good food and marvelled at the beauty of the venue. We plotted to kill their annoying peacocks (seriously - how is it that wherever I go there are damn noisy peacocks around?!) and took countless photos.

We spent time with my folks over a relaxed Sunday lunch and caught up on their news and snippets from their Russian trip. We enjoyed the sunshine and some great wine and talked for hours.

We studied TSC's varsity subjects together (anyone want to know about the different bedding classes for laying drainage pipes? No? Didn't think so) and watched the F1 race.

Well done to Jenson Button on tying up the driver's championship and Brawn for taking the constructors'. And, of course, well done to my boy Hamilton for driving from 18th place to a 3rd place podium finish.

And, finally, I got hold of my package from Kalahari that I ordered with my birthday voucher from Angel and Glug, which has been awaiting collection from the Post Office.

So exciting to get a package in the post! Made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning, even though I knew what was inside the box. I got a small bird guide (so I can figure out which birds my cats keep trying to kill), a LIVE CD, and... the book I have been hankering after since it was published, Jane's Delicious Garden.

For those of you who are not gardeners, excuse me while I sing the praises of this fantastic book. It's rare for me to find a non-fiction work that speaks to my soul, but this one does. Nerdy as that sounds. See, most gardening books are quite factual, scientific and logical and they seem to miss the absolute magic of watching things grow and the way a green garden produces peace. Jane Griffiths understands this.

She writes logically and factually, but the pages are also filled with gardening quotes, personal anecdotes and an underlying passion. From the first sentences, where she tells of how she used to pull carrots from the ground, wash them under the garden tap and enjoy them right there in her grandfather's garden (which is exactly what I would do in my grandpa's garden), I have been captivated.

I can't wait to get some reading time this evening!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Off to download my photos and get some Monday admin (yuck) over with. Have a good one!

Post-wedding stress disorder

The wedding was every bit as traumatic as I'd anticipated. And then some.

To give you an idea, some of the guests included:

• A lady who carried her blind dog around with her everywhere. The poor animal stood bewildered and miserable next to her chair for most of the event, too scared to move an inch, probably because it kept getting stepped on.
• The drunken and disorderly MC, Frank, who fed himself Schnapps with a spoon straight out of the bottle, tied one of the chair sashes around his head, smacked people on the back of their heads as he walked behind them (trying to get their faces into their food) and generally did anything else he could think of to draw attention to himself, including insulting the bridal couple* and swearing as many times as possible in one sentence.
• The world's most useles DJ and his two live singers. The one singer wasn't so bad, apart from his need to fit in as many 1980s country treffers (hits, for those of you non-Afrikaans speakers) as possible. The other one was... painful. First she butchered Purple Rain to a dgeree that it was barely recognisable, and then she proceeded to murder Neil Diamond too.

The wedding started at 4pm, and we left at about nine, but it felt like it was after midnight. Hubby and I were the only ones to give an actual gift, seeing my uncle had phoned around and told everyone to give money instead. Here's a pic of the tea tray we made for the couple. I was quite chuffed with it, and a little sad to see it go.

By far the cutest guests at the wedding were two little kittens. They need to be fed every hour, so they couldn't be left at home, but I still reckon that the smokey, noisy sports bar hall was the best place for them to be. Here's me with the bigger of the two. Check out my bright red nose and know how freezing cold it was!


At least it's over. My cousin is happy, and I'm happy for her. The groom seemed nice enough, although he was a little liquored up for some Dutch courage, so it was hard to tell. He's one of those people who talks really fast too, so I didn't get half of what he said.

The rest of the weekend was good. My gran's birthday dinner on Friday at Rhapsody's in Centurion was stunning, and the Grand Prix yesterday was interesting, if a little disappointing for my team, McLaren.

So now, in my last full week of working here, I'm just trying to tie up loose ends and figure out the bit that comes next.

*My cousin is rather large, to put it politely. She always has been. The groom happens to be exceptionally skinny. The contrast is obvious to all, but there was no reason for Frank to make them stand up and draw attention to 'Timone and Pumba' as he called them. Awful man.

Friday. YAY!

It may have been short week, but it felt like it took forever. So glad it's weekend. Except that tomorrow is the dreaded wedding. Ugh.

But, there's Formula One on Sunday, and we're all going out for supper for my gran's birthday this evening, and the afore-mentioned wedding is sure to provide good blog fodder for next week, so it's all good.

Thought for the day:

My cuz

Today is taking SO long! I'm editing horrible, boring content that seems neverending.

Somebody save me....

Now I'm going to have the damn Smallville song in my head for the rest of the day. Perfect. I guess it's better than the Fruit & Veg City jingle. Not much of a silver lining.

Here's a question I'd like help answering:
When I got married, except for my immediate family and remaining grandparents, none of my family came to the wedding - not my uncles, aunts or cousins. They all had excuses. We've never been particularly close, but that hurt a lot. Now my cousin is getting married to a dude I've never met, and I'm wondering if I should go. I like her and her dad, but I loathe the rest of the family.

I should probably go though, hey? Eish. Don't want to - it means I have to suffer through hours of boredom and them teasing my hubby (which means hours of placating him afterwards) and stretch my budget (what budget?!) to buy an expensive prezzie. Urgh.

Suggestions, anyone? I guess I could always stock up on rescue remedy and herbal tranquilizers beforehand...