Bullet point updates

Hello! Been desperate to blog all week and catch up on my reading, but it's been more of the same manic pace, I'm afraid.

So here are some quick bullet points:

• It's my birthday tomorrow. Renovations were supposed to be complete by then, but alas it was not to be. The cupboard guy's materials were delayed, so he can only come on Thursday. But the new carpets are in and they look amazing! And they feel good too. Who knew carpets could be so exciting? And yes, I realise I sound like a total loon, but I find them so awesome that I want to take a leaf out my cats' book and roll on them.
• I got rid of my accountants and found a new firm. Yay! The old ones were not very reliable in terms of communication and didn't take me seriously at all, so I'm glad to have found someone who is willing to answer my (probably silly) questions.
• My garden is coming alive again. I love it - spring is on it's way, at last! I'm enjoying peas, carrots, spinach, rocket, Asian greens, herbs and spring onions from my veggie patch, and the gorgeous primulas (two types) are in full bloom, making for pretty bursts of flowers all over the show.
• I took my brother out for coffee yesterday (had the most divine chai freezo at House of Coffees in Menlyn). I'm so loving getting along with him for the first time in my life. At long last, we can chat. And not just about jokes and the weather - about real stuff too. Without jumping down each other's throats! It's fantastic. Makes me very happy.
• TSC and I have settled on a theme for usual joint birthday bash. We're having a bring-and-share gyspy-themed picnic in our garden. So excited! Gypsy decor is such fun and virtually free. All I need to buy is a big bag full of gold coin chocolates ;-) We thought of having a picnic at one of the lovely parks, but I worry that it will rain (usually happens when I have picnics) and I'm not keen to put my friends through the traumas of the public loos (our favourite local park only has a port-a-potty). Also, I worry that if people want to drink wine, they'll get in trouble in the public parks. So our garden it will be.
  
• I cannot wait to show you renovation pics. Hoping by next week it will all be done. And then I'll post some before and after shots.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Weekend happenings and various random metaphors

The weekend felt like a very welcome water stop in the middle of a marathon - we were briefly refreshed and hydrated before hitting the road running again on miserable old Monday.

I don't know what I would do without TSC. Seeerrriousssly. When I arrived home on Friday I was bushed. I felt about as fabulous as a wrung out dishrag. And he let me drag myself up the stairs, throw myself on the bed and immerse myself in my book for a bit of an escape while he stacked the dishwasher and made supper - courgettes stuffed with mince. Yum! Then we watched a couple of Scrubs episodes to laugh a little and went to bed. Happy days.

Something else I realised again this weekend is that we generally get along with people who are older than us better with people our own age. There are exceptions. We have close couple friends Brett and Kim who are of similar age to us. But most of our friends are older. For example, we had our neighbours, let's call them The Italians, for supper on Saturday. They're a couple in their late 50s and are closer to my parents in age than to us. But we get along like a house on fire. They only left at midnight once we'd all devised a plan to bomb the new warehouse shopping centre should it ever come into being.

On Sunday we slept in.

I felt that sentence deserved its bold font.

It was wonderful. I have missed spending quality nap time with my bed. And my pillow. And, of course, my lunatic cats who climb on top of me and poddle away when I'm trying to snooze. As someone once said, "There's no such thing as a snooze button on a cat that wants breakfast."

We also went for a picnic at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens with my folks. It was my dad's idea. I was surprised, seeing he's not generally one for finger food or sitting on the ground. But a great time was had by all. After some delicious chilled wine, samoosas, roast chicken sandwiches and then candied cashew nuts (dessert), TSC and my dad were so relaxed that they fell asleep on the picnic blanket. My mom and I went for a walk to the waterfall and brought ice-cream back with us.

On Sunday evening we also had pizza with some mates after church at Ciro's - one of my favourite local spots. It was good to chat about stuff on our minds with other people (also much older and wiser than us). We needed it. I think they needed to share too.

Monday morning was a smack with a frying pan after such a great weekend. It was my only free night of the week. We have meetings galore this week and I'm on a few freelance deadlines too. Plus I am supplying Roo's birthday cupcakes. So I had better hop to it and do some work.

I can spot an oasis in the distance though - this weekend we're going camping. Yay! No emails, no meetings... can't wait.

Of Mondays and movies

Why does everything go wrong on a Monday? Is it so that you'll have the rest of the week to sort it out, or is it to drive home the point that the weekend is very definitely over? Just a question. Today hasn't been especially bad. Aside from the printer pulling its usual attention-seeking nonsense and the fact that ALL my colleagues are out of the office at an exhibition today, it's going fairly smoothly.

Our friendly kind-of-temporary receptionist, CK, is in for the day, so at least I have company in taking everyone else's calls and managing their clients. And it's unusually quiet, so I may actually get some of the things on my list done for a change.

The weekend was great. TSC's childhood family friend, Rob, spent it with us. He's really easy going and didn't seem to mind the fact that we didn't really give him proper guest status (which would've meant showing him the sights of Jozi [are there any?!?]; waiting on him hand and foot; and serving him 3-course gourmet meals). We treated him more like a member of the family, which means that he got to, go grocery shopping, sample my pasta a la Tamara, watch old DVDs with us and even help with the clearing up after meals.

We enjoyed having him, and I think he enjoyed his weekend. Yesterday was the long-awaited joint birthday picnic, which was AWESOME (in my opinion)! And yes, Slyde, after this, my b-day truly is over for the year, k?

It was a little windy, but we had a good turnout of over 30 people and there was more than enough food (I now have a fridge stocked with enough potato salad and various juices to last the next month). Everyone seemed to get along, and my only worry was that I didn't get to spend enough time with anyone because I was trying to talk to everyone.

Of the bloggers, Angel, Glugster, Ruby and Arkwife were in attendance, along with Angel's son, Damien (aka The Knucklehead). What an awesome bunch! I've only met Angel before, and I loved the chnace to finally meet her man in real life. He is just as sharp as he is on his blog. Although, Glug, if you're reading this, I still find you intimidating in all your technical wisdom ;-)

We made everyone play a loud and childish (but fun, I hope) game called 'Hah', which requires the use of both hands. Angel somehow managed to play with one hand while taking pics with the other. She also made THE MOST AMAZING CUPCAKES in the world! they were so beautiful you didn't want to eat them, but YUM, I'm glad I did! With purple frosting (my favourite colour), which was strawberry flavoured, and little sparkles and decorations, they were gorgeous works of art. And the red velvet recipe meant they tasted like a little slice of heaven. Mmmmm... making myself hungry now. Angel, I still have your cake tray! I must get it back to you sometime soon.

Ruby and Arkwife are also stunning ladies that I hope to see more of, and, despite the fact that they'd never met us before, they still managed to come up with a funky present - these spoons made entirely of chocolate that you stir into hot milk to make your own Belgian hot chocolate. How cool is that?

My only regret is that by the time everyone had left and we'd packed up, we were covered in sticky juice, various dips and other food remnants, so we decided to go home instead of visiting EXMI and went home to shower instead. Then we watched Untraceable, starring Diane Lane and Colin Hanks, which traumatised me with its twistedness.

Ugh... I get shivers down my spine just thinking about it. It's about an Internet serial killer who devises incredibly sick ways of killing his victims with help from his readers - the faster they post, the quicker they die. If you, like me, can't handle depictions of cruelty to animals or graphic scenes of torture, STAY AWAY from this one.

It would've been a bad end to a good weekend, but we saved it by rewatching one of my all-time favourite movies - Snatch, directed by Guy Ritchie. So funny, even the millionth time around.

Ok, this has been a long post. Ending it now. Happy 1st day of spring to those of you in the Southern Hemisphere!

The long walk to Friday...

Is, at last, over. It has been a rough week and I am super stoked that the weekend has arrrived.

I have as much energy right now as George Bush has common sense, so I won't be posting a long one today.

“Life is a cement trampoline.” —Howard Nordberg. Stolen from SA-Essay's blog, this is my quote for the day.

No, I'm kidding. It's really not so bad ;-) I have stuff to look forward to... picnic on Sunday, spa treatment for hubby and I next weekend (my birthday present from my parents), hubby's birthday next Sunday... And all these good things make the rough stuff okay.

Before I bugger off to spend some quality time with my pillow, a last cry to all those in Gauteng this weekend to join me for my birthday picnic. Mail me if you're keen: doodlesofajourno@gmail.com.

Have a good one!