Friday ramblings

Here are the "boy" cupcakes I baked for that order last weekend. The colours have come out strangely in the pics. They're actually aquamarine, royal blue and lime green in colour, despite the fact that some of them look purple here.







How cute are the little cricket bat and ball decorations? Gotta love Kadies!






My piping bag broke in the middle of icing this lot. It was 10.30pm on a Friday night and the cupcakes were being picked up the next morning, so a plan had to be made. I took a little plastic sandwich bag, cut a hole in the corner, stuck my piping nozzle in the bag and finished the job just fine.

I would love a snazzy, proper piping set though. But I can't justify the expense (they range from R160 to R450 for the good sets) right now. I have other things to pay for, like putting new heels on my overworked winter work shoes before the cold weather arrives.

What's everyone up to this weekend? I'll be doing a big writing assignment, watching STOMP! (can't wait, even though I saw it a few years ago - best show ever), switching off lights for Earth Hour and watching the Australian F1 Grand Prix . Bring it on!


Have a good one.

Anticip... ation

Counting down the hours until we hit the road.

Even if it rains the whole weekend, at least we won't be at home, following up on emails and being badgered to protest against the megastore (I just keep pointing people in the direction of committee members who don't seem to have done anything yet. I have done more than my bit so I don't feel obliged to stand on a street corner holding a banner. Besides, the tall people would be better at that).

This weekend, I plan to write. My course has me so inspired and I am bursting with ideas, but I have barely found time this week to have supper, let alone sit down and spend quiet time writing. I have warned TSC that I will spend hours scribbling. He says it's fine seeing he will have to do some studying for the three tests coming up this week, poor boy.

Other than sleeping and writing, I hope I get to read and swim. If I can do all of those things, it will be a joyous weekend indeed.

Can hardly wait!

Well, I will let you know on Monday. Until then, take care, be safe and have a fab weekend.

Explanations and deliberations

My blogging mojo, as you may have noticed, has been severely lacking. I put this down to a couple of reasons:
a) my creative writing course is keeping me so occupied that it's difficult to find a moment to blog, and when I do, I feel like I've used up most of whatever creative juices I might have had.
b) I have been otherwise occupied by a crapload of admin, mainly for church and my freelancing business, as well as by the fact that our neighbourhood is up in arms about this big warehouse store that wants to open on our doorstep, so we've been attending, photocopying notices and generally running around like headless chickens.
c) a lot of stuff that's going on in my little world is unmentionable on this-here public space, just in case the wrong people happen to be reading it.

But here I am anyway, so let me give you a little update on happenings:

• We saw Up in the Air on Friday. It was good. George Clooney is as gorgeous as ever and the movie was well made. But I don't quite see what all the fuss was about.
• On Saturday we visited Kitty Haven and signed up to volunteer. When asked about which area I'd like to help with, I ticked "Cat cuddler". Isn't that a dream job?
• We went for brunch at Melrose Arch on the way back at Grand Central. It's the first time I've been to Melrose Arch just for the sake of being there - I've only ever been there to the offices before for work meetings. I must say, we had a divine time at Grand Central. It is the first place we've found in the almost three years we've been in Joburg where the Eggs Benedict matches up to that perfect creation from The Gardener's Cottage in Newlands, Cape Town. TSC had that, while I enjoyed a homemade lemonade (yum!) with my brerakfast of polenta toast with sweet corn, avocado sala, sauteed cherry tomatoes, wilted rocket, pesto, Napolitana sauce and grated pecorino cheese. It was heavenly.
• I got seriously stuck into my garden on Saturday afternoon. I have the scrapes and bruises to prove it.
• TSC went to the rugby with friends and I enjoyed the opportunity to go out gift shopping for Roo and finish up TSC's Valentine's Day card.
• Yesterday we overslept. And it was bliss. Since I started this writing course I haven't been able to sleep properly with all the ideas running through my head (and not all of them are useful. Sometime early this morning, my dreams were telling me that there should be a giraffe as one of the central characters and that I should name her Abigail. Weird). Anyhoo, we spent our day having a picnic on our lawn with sparkling wine and chocolate mousse. It was the best way to spend the day - away from te madding crowds!
• Last night we met my folks for dinner at Primi Piatti in Midrand. It was nice to catch-up, although I did almost all the talking. I couldn't stop myself... I just needed a vent about this stupid warehouse store (noise, traffic, security and aesthetical issues, nevermind the fact that the value of our property will plummet if it goes ahead) and work stuff. The good news was that this Primi still had gnocchi bolognese on their menu. All the other branches have stopped making it and that dish was pretty much the only reason I ever went to Primi.
• Today was the deadline for the submission of our first writing assignment. I had great fun doing mine, but I'm terrified of the feedback! I posted my synopsis on the course forum and the course teacher gave me a great response. He loved my writing, although he reckons I'm giving myself way too much work. I agree with his poitn of using my granddad's life story as background and writing the last bit I'd planned - the relationship this old man has with his second love, and how he deals with the situation. Having a clear focus has helped me more than I can say. I may post the revised synopsis sometime for your thoughts.
• Have a great week. I promise I'll be back soon this time ;-)