Unexpected

It seems that we are going to the Japan vs Paraguay game in Pretoria this afternoon. Hope it's not too cold!

As requested...

A short summary of the visitors we've had so far:

• 2 x crazy, fun-loving, affable, not-very-concerned-about-time Mexicans
• 1 x chilled, sweet, un-British Brit who lives in Barcelona
• 2 x lovely, can't-drive-a-stick-shift-but-game-for-anything-else, thoughtful Americans from South Carolina
• 2 x self-sufficient, quiet, pleasant New Yorkers (originally from the Philippines)
• 2 x generous, curious Canadians (1 of whom was born in Romania and grew up in Spain)
• 2 x relaxed, easy-to-talk-to Aussies who have been travelling for three months
• 2 x young, friendly Malaysians (at the stadium as I type)

TSC and I are loving it, although it is rather exhausting to host all these people. We are looking forward to a break next week between guests and are considering finding a nice sunny spot to getaway for a day or two and be looked after by someone else.

Three guests to go and then we're done. I'm going to miss the buzz and meeting new people, but I am so keen for some sleep!

No time to write the post I want to...

...But here's something to make the Saffers smile ;-)

So out of the loop

I hate not blogging everyday. I feel like I'm on a hamster wheel at the moment though (are we human, or are we hamster?) with all that's going on.

At least we have a self-sufficient couple of guests staying with us at present, which means that yesterday we actually had a free day. They are New Yorkers, which may explain it. They have a rental car and we only see them briefly in the mornings before they disappear to explore Joburg or in the evenings before they go to bed.

I must say, it's a nice break from having guests who have totally underestimated the lack of public transport options in South Africa and need us to drive them everywhere. Shame, the last couple we had was also from the USA and they had a rental too. Problem was, they'd never driven a "stick shift" / manual car before, so it was pretty useless for them. They eventually handed it in early because trying to learn how to operate the gears at the same time as the clutch was just too much, especially seeing everything here is also on the opposite side of the vehicle and we drive on the other side of the road. Apparently renting an automatic is double the price though. They'd just assumed the car would be automatic and were REALLY surprised to find out that most of our cars here are manual.

Saw Toy Story 3 yesterday. LOVED IT. I was surprised by that. Sequels generally suck, but this was divine. I definitely recommend it.

Anyway, off to pick up the Mexicans from the Gautrain now, so must dash. Hope to be a better blogger this week!

Of vuvuzelas and V8s

What an awesome weekend!

Friday's opening soccer match of the World Cup between South Africa and Mexico had us all on the edge of our seats. The 1-1 draw was probably the best result for TSC and I, seeing we had two Mexicans staying with us ;-) At least relations were still friendly. I'd have loved our Bafana to win though, obviously.

Saturday turned out to be far more exciting than expected - we headed to the FIFA ticketing centre to see if we could still get tickets for any of the games, now that we have a better idea of what our guests are up to and when we will be free.

We managed to get Premier Tickets for the Nigeria / Argentina game at Ellis Park that afternoon. They cost a fortune, but we figured it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so we took the plunge and let our poor credit card take a beating.

In the afternoon, we travelled with our two Mexicans to the stadium, us wearing our SA kit (TSC insisted on wearing his Springbok jersey in support of the Boks, but he did let me paint our flag on his cheek) and them wearing their Mexican wrestling masks. While we drove we listened to the Afrikaans radio commentary of the Boks thrashing the French rugby team. The commentator was getting very excited when Gurtho Steenkamp charged down the field to score a try. The Mexicans obviously had no idea what was potting and asked us if Gurtho Steenkamp was some sort of rude phrase. We said yes, in a manner of speaking. If you're French, it is ;-)

It took us ages to get to the Park and Walk facilities at Athlone Boys' School. We walked almost 2km to the stadium, which I thought was great fun - families came out into the street to blow vuvuzelas and cheer on the groups walking to Ellis Park and enterprising locals tried to sell flags, vuvuzelas and other paraphernalia.

At the stadium, I stopped to paint South African flags on the cheeks of some Japanese visitors before we made our way to our box / suite. When we got there we discovered that we had no seats. Either FIFA oversold the seats available, or people had climbed into our box from the one adjacent, but there was nowhere for us to sit.

We were furious, having paid a huge sum for the tickets. Thankfully, there were two seats available in the box next to ours, which was filled with Nigerian fans. A kind Nigerian gentleman named Andrew let us sit next to him. When he invited us into their box at half-time for a drink and snacks, we realised (on seeing the bodyguards) that we were in the Nigerian presidential box!

Thank you, Andrew, whomever you may be. You saved our game.

It was another nail-biting game. We blew our vuvuzela until we were light-headed and cheered Nigeria on. Unfortunately, the hooligans from Argentina tried to hang one of their banners in front of our seats, but the police came along and took it down, putting an end to the fight (which was about to get physical) between the Nigerians and the Argentinians.

The game, as I'm sure most of you know, ended 1-0 to the Argentinian side.

We said goodbye to the Nigerians we'd met, after stopping to help them take photos of the group, met up with the Mexicans, walked back to the school, sat for 30min trying to get out of the parking field and headed to Nandos for supper.

Apparently our cricket team also performed well against the Windies, but aside from watching the game live, my favourite part of the weekend was last night's Grand Prix, which was epic. Not a single boring lap and my boys from McLaren came in first and second (and in the order I prefer). We watched with our Italian neighbours at our place, having taken the Mexicans to the airport for their two-day Cape Town joint.

What a cool weekend. Hope yours was good too!

Today...

...I am so proud to be a South African.

This country has its problems, but boy has it delivered this time. Viva Bafana Bafana!!!

Midnight again

I seem to be up at this hour a whole lot over the past two weeks, whether because I've been on a crazy deadline for a massive (and by that I do mean insanely huge) freelance project or because I've been out at Montecasino with my two eternally energetic Mexican World Cup guests (as was the case tonight - in fact they are still there, at the Black Jack tables).

WOW. It's been insane.

And yet I'm so happy right now. Perhaps it's because that deadline for the massive freelance project is gone and the work is done, or perhaps it's because my guests have not burnt down my house, but turned out to be extremely cool people instead. Or perhaps it's because I've had a couple of glasses of red wine, or because my cat is sleeping next to me on the bed. Or because World Cup Fever has hit. Or because my head has gone loopy from all the vuvuzelas blown in my ears.

Who knows?

But whatever the case, I am exhausted and yet excited. And I am sorry I haven't read your blogs this past while, but I promise you that I have not even had time to learn the Diski or file the annoying hang nail on my right hand.

I will try to be better next week, when the Mexicans have gone off to Cape Town for a bit. Until then, I will dream of visiting Mexico in the brief periods its locals give me to sleep.

And think of the extra line to the song we've given them... Waka waka eh eh... gaan kak in die mielies ;-)

Feel free to translate in the comments sections for the readers abroad, all you saffers.

Oh, and have a happy first game today. Go BAFANA!!!

Self-employed

Today I got up as usual, showered and got dressed for work. The difference was that when it came time to leave for the office, I pulled on my slippers, put in a load of washing and sat down behind my laptop at the dining room table (where the sun shines in through the window).

Yes, this self employment thing has its benefits. Aside from the sound of the washing machine and the builders somewhere in the complex, all is quiet. No incessant phone ringing. No annoying music playing (that always drove me mad at the office). I had done more by 9am this morning than I would normally have accomplished by lunch time at the office.

Of course, it also has its pitfalls. Like yesterday, when TSC was at home trying to study for his geology exam and the once-a-week cleaner and gardener we employ were also here. Between the vacuum cleaner, lawn mower and constant questions (What does argillaceous mean? Where's the tile cleaner? Can I cut this branch off?) I got nothing done. It was infuriating.

I'm guessing that Tuesdays will be my client meeting and outings days in future.

The cats can't quite decided whether me working from home is a good thing or not. On the one hand (paw) they know that I am now at their beck and call all day long. But on the other, they can't get up to mischief without me knowing about it either.

There's two sides to every coin, hey ;-)

Amazing people rock my world

I am so blessed to have awesome people in my life. My family and friends are the best I could ask for and my husband is my personal Prince Charming. But I realised today that even some of the "peripheral" characters in my life are incredible.

See, I'm doing a workshop on personal branding and marketing next week and as an exercise before the event, we've been asked to contact 10 people we work with in some form or another (colleagues, mentors, managers, associates from places where we volunteer) and ask them for honest opinions on how they perceive us.

I sent out my email this morning and the responses I've had from people have been really touching, especially seeing I hardly know some of these people in a personal capacity. The fact they are willing to take time out of their hectic schedules to help me with this exercise is really sweet, but the fact that they are saying lovely things just makes me want to cry. I'm so grateful for the relationships I have in this world, both in my personal life and in my work capacity.

And it makes me realise how much impact a good compliment can make on someone. So I challenge you to find 10 people you come into contact with regularly and pay each of them an honest, agenda-free compliment over the next few days. You'll not only make them smile, you'll improve your relationship with them too.

Have a fab Friday.

New and improved (please to ignore the oxymoron)

I have FINALLY updated my blogroll (thanks for the prompt, Cam). Not a simple process. It meant finally moving my feeds across to Google Feed Reader and weeding out all the blogs that are dormant, defunct or not on my reading list anymore to ensure that my subscriptions are all up to date. I think it's fine now. But if you think you should be on that list and you're not, please mail me at doodlesofajourno at gmail dot com because my brain is like a sieve and I can't promise that I've remembered everyone.

Let me say though, that if you have not updated your blog in months or years, if your blog is now private and you haven't invited me to read it or if I haven't stopped by your blog in more than six months, you won't be on the list. Sorry, folks. But as Run DMC said, "It's like that, that's just the way it is."

In other news, our church small group decided to go for a salsa lesson as a social last night at Marrakesh Lounge. It was good fun. You pay R50 for a beginners' lesson of an hour and then you can hang around, have drinks, watch the intermediate group and practise later on in the eve. We unfortunately couldn't stay much longer than our class as TSC had studying to do, but we had a great time and even ran into a few people we knew. The beginners' classes are great for singles or couples as you rotate partners and get to meet a bunch of people. There must have been about 40 of us there. If it weren't on a Wednesday evening when we have our small group we'd probably go more often.

Off to follow up with some difficult-to-pin-down interviewees for a big freelance project now. Seriously, some people think the world revolves around them. *sigh* Patience is required.

Lacking in logic

Is it just me, or is common sense a thing of the past?

Take, for example, the local car dealership situated within walking distance of my house. One would imagine that when constructing such a development, it would be wise to consider how the cars that will be sold are going to arrive at the dealership. But no, the clever people who built it made sure that the entrance is impossible to access for the car delivery vehicles. See, those long trucks can't turn too well, so putting two turning circles in the narrow entrance to your dealership is not a good idea.

What now happens is that the trucks have to offload the vehicles in the middle of the road that goes through the suburb and then drive each car separately the rest of the way into the dealership development. This causes nightmares for the other cars trying to use the road while the trucks are offloading.

What's worse is that once the trucks have offloaded, they can't turn around. So they have to drive down the rest of the road, which ends in a cul de sac outside the development where we live and then do a 60-point turn to get to face the opposite direction so that they can get back onto the main road. If you live in the development where I do, it is common to be kept waiting at the main gate for ages while you wait for the poor truck driver to complete this mammoth manouevre.

Like so...

Lacking in logic.

In another prime example of the inability to think rationally, there's the client who told me I can't use the term "SA is currently soccer mad" in a press release because it has negative connotations and people might think that I'm insinuating that South Africans have become mentally insane.

Deficient in common sense.

And, of course, there's the client who insisted on having a media release translated into Afrikaans before the English version had been amended and approved, meaning that every time she makes changes on the English one, the Afrikaans one has to be changed again too.

Short on reason.

Of course, I can't forget the estate agents who don't call before they bring a prospective new tenant to see the house we're using as Red Tree offices and then get annoyed when there's nobody here to let them in.

Without sound judgment.

*sigh*

I know I'm not alone in my frustrations. Someone else feels my pain - check out this obituary for Common Sense.

Da-dalalala, da... dalalala...

We're leaving together, but it's still farewell, and maybe we'll come back, to earth, who can tell?

...

It's the final countdown...

Less than a week left at Red Tree! Less than two weeks until our first World Cup guests start to arrive! Less than three weeks until the opening match!

All the exclamation marks are making me panic!!!

Exciting / scary / awesome / stressful / brilliant / freaky stuff, people. Especially on a tame Tuesday morning.

I wish Mondays were less regular

Weekends are so cool, even when nothing particularly exciting happens, which was the case over this one. Unless you're a rugby fan, which I'm not really.

The only real drama this weekend was that our cat, Marble, managed to injure his front left paw on Friday. My poor baby - I was so worried about him and convinced he'd fractured it. But once I got TSC to hold him still and had a good look at it, it turned out that it was just a small (but sore) gash on one of his foot pads. You'd never have guessed by the fuss he was making, hopping along on three legs and meowing piteously. He had managed to get it dirty, so we cleaned the wound, applied some soothing antiseptic cream the vet gave us last time one of the kitties had a little injury (why do they make this stuff lumo orange, I'd like to know?), and bandaged the leg.

After that Marble truly did feel sorry for himself and meowed as loudly as he could while hopping about and trying to shake the dressing off. TSc and I were convinced our neighbours were going to report us to the SPCA with the sounds coming from our house.

Marble took about an hour to get the bandage loose, but at least the cream had a chance to work a bit. Plus he was so exhausted from all his protesting that he just settled down in the sun and rested the paw.

Today he's walking almost normally again. I'm almost sure he exaggerates the limp when he realises someone's watching ;-)

We spent most of the weekend (aside for supper club on Fri) working and repainting some of the pine boxes I've been given from Red Tree's offices. One would think that would be an easy job. Not if you're married to uber-perfectionist TSC!

They had to be sanded on each side (that's eight sides per box), have the (miniscule) cracks filled with wood filler, be resanded, get coated with universal undercoat and then be painted with two coats of enamel paint. And I couldn't just slap the paint on either. I had to "cut in" neatly in the inside corners and then coat each side with a small paint roller.

We're not done yet. We've only done the first coat. Still, they do look gorgeous. And they were free. So the DIY was definitely worth the effort. I'll take photos once they're done.

Love 'em links

A few places you might find me procrastinating on the internets...

The Cupcake Lady. Just looking at Angel's gorgeous cupcakes make me happy. And hungry. And Shayne's Yummy Mummy treats are just as tempting!

The new Pick 'n Pay website. I had NO idea that PnP offered travel packages! Plus you can coordinate all your recipes online (great for people like me who tend to lose things written on paper) and even draw up a shopping list that you can then view on your phone while you're instore.

Photoshop Disasters. The name says it all. Originally introduced to me by Phillygirl, this is now a regular hangout of mine. Makes you feel a bit better about yourself when you can see even Kimora is subject to body swaps to be magazine cover friendly.

The Secret Beauty Blogger. She works for a beuty mag, where she has to say nice things about the products, but she spills the real deal on her blog. Plus, if you are fashion and beauty clueless like me, SBB has the answers you need.

Three sites that Helen has introduced me to (not sure if I love her or hate her for these):
Sleep Talkin' Man (the insanely amusing nocturnal ramblings of an Englishman), Autocomplete Me (the bizarre crap people plug into Google search) and The Impossible Quiz (yes, it is pretty damn impossible).

Rotten Tomatoes. I'm actually quite compulsive about this site. I have to, have to, have to check out movie ratings here before I book to see a new film. I even access this site from my phone to check ratings while I'm browsing in the DVD rental shop. It has, I must admit, spared me from many soppy romcoms, action-less action flicks and pointless political thrillers.

And if I'm not on these sites when I'm online, chances are I'm on your blog.

Have a fab weekend, all.

How can it be Thursday?!?!

This week has been insane. I won't bore you with the details, but here are the highs and lows Paula style)...

LOWS:

• Spending the whole day at one of the PR clients yesterday for no apparent reason. What a waste of time!
• Finding out that someone has reversed into the front passenger side of my car and buckled the whole panel above the wheel arch. They of course, did not bother to leave a note. I hate that I will now to pay an excess and have it fixed when it wasn't my fault.
• Realising that I will have to confront Red Tree and Orange Coffee about the arrangement with me going forward.
• Not having enough time to blog, read blogs or comment :(
• Not having a free night of the week.
• Going to Santini's for the first time on Friday to sokkie and there not being enough space to stand on the dance floor, let alone actually dance.

HIGHS:

• Reading through all your supportive comments on my stressed out post last week.
• Getting loads of house stuff done on Saturday that will help get everything ready before the world cup folks arrive.
• Painting murals at Kitty Haven on Sunday and spending quality time with the new kittens (there are about 120 of them, so if you know someone who is looking to adopt...).
• Getting a special mention on Cam's blog when he wrote his 500th post.
• Realising that there's nothing I can do about the whole government project thingey until they actually come up with a brief and put it to me in writing, which has stopped me stressing about it until the ball is in my court again.
• Having awesome sushi at Best of Asia on Tuesday (their buy two, get one free night).
• Lighting a fire for life group last night and having quality chats with our group in the nice warm lounge with hot chocolate.

What's up with you guys?

In a Flap on a Friday

Long post ahead, more because I need to get all this stuff out of my head than because I want you to read it. But feel free to leave your point of view for me - it helps to have someone see this from the outside.

Feeling unsettled today. There are many reasons for this:

The massive freelance project I've taken on doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I've asked the editor what comes next (he's supposed to be supplying me with some guidelines and contacts), but he's not been very helpful and I'm petrified that the deadline will arrive and I won't have been able to complete the 10 000 words of copy that I'm supposed to hand in!

I had a meeting this morning scheduled for me by my boss at Red Tree with the ad company it is merging with, let's call them Orange Coffee (in the great tradition of random agency names). She seems to have given the folk at Orange Coffee the impression that I'll be available to them as part of my agreement with her to continue writing for Red Tree clients for the two months after I leave the company on a contractor basis to assist her with the transition.

This is not my plan at all! I don't want to take on any further PR or advertising work. I want to stop doing it. To give you an idea of why... one freelance feature story for a publication I often work with pays me more than my monthly salary at Red Tree. Surely I should be pursuing the work that I enjoy and that pays decently rather than the work I dislike that doesn't pay?

Then, the man I met with at Orange Coffee proceeded to take me to a meeting with the advertising wing of one of the local publishing houses and introduce me as the copywriter on a major project they want to undertake with government, which they would pay me for as a separate fee. This meeting made me very uncomfortable. There are also many reasons for this:

• I have not signed any agreements with Orange Coffee, but will now feel guilty if I say no to this project as they've already introduced me to the client and "sold" me and my skills to the company. I know that it's silly to feel bad about something like that and will do my best not to, but I know myself.
• I don't like working with government. In my experience, they have big ideas but move incredibly slowly, are often unreliable (in terms of deadlines and payment) and I've burned my fingers with projects for them before. Orange Coffee assures me, however, that I would be paid by the agency, not the client, and that boundaries would be set in place to ensure that no work gets done without government supplying the necessary funds, information etc. Not sure I fully believe this.
• This project would mean a year-long committment to produce four sets of content at three-month periods (ie. one project per quarter). I would need to travel around the country to visit local government branches to collect the info and would probably have to give up at least two weeks of the month every third month to work on this project solidly. Now, I can't predict what will happen in a year's period. And I have other committments to keep in mind. I have monthly retainer clients whose newsletters or web copy needs to be written at a certain time during the month. I oversee a deacon team at church with TSC and lead a weekly small group. It would also tie my hands in terms of taking on new freelance clients in case the deadlines fall during those two-week periods when I would be travelling or unavailable. Furthermore, I'm not keen to tie myself to an unknown quantity for a year. But there's apparently no chance of doing the first project of the four and then making a decision - this is a package deal.
• Once again, this would essentially be PR work thinly disguised as journalism. It's not the direction I want to head in. I want to write feature stories, not ad or PR copy. I've done that and I don't enjoy it.

On the other hand, this project would pay incredibly well. As in, one of the four sets of content would probably make me more than I've earned in a year of freelancing to date. And, although I'm not about the money, I do have to consider the wisdom of turning down such a big sum that would give us more financial security while TSC is studying and would give me more freedom in the jobs I choose to tackle going forward. All the same, this doesn't sit well with me at the moment. I think lots of prayer is needed and some advice from people on the outside. So hit me with your best shot.

Off to think about how I can put together a contract for the next two months that protects me from abuse from both Red Tree and Orange Coffee.

Have a good weekend.

Southern Sun Montecasino competition

The new, swanky 4-star Southern Sun Montecasino opened on 24 April and they're now running a competition to get some attention for the hotel from bloggers. You can win a weekend at the hotel as the prize and all you have to do is post the questions below and your answers and then email the link to sheenag at aquaonline dot com before 14 May (tomorrow). Best get on it!

So here goes:

1. What is the opening rate special? R1050 per room per night (B&B for two people sharing)
2. Where has the latest Southern Sun opened? Montecasino, Fourways, Johannesburg
3. Who is the General Manager of the hotel? Robert Jasper
4. How many rooms are there in the new hotel? 194
5. When is their room service available, how many hours a day? 24 hours a day. Pretty cool.
   Which item would you most like to order off the Punchinello’s menu? Hmmm.... the Lamb Manti: Turkish Lamb pastry envelopes on a Tomato Ragout with a Yogurt and Paprika burnt Butter. Yum!

Yesterday, today and tomorrow

Yesterday:

• I got meet Damaria IRL for the first time. She very kindly agreed to give up a big chunk of her afternoon to chat through some of the things I'm going to have to deal with as a fulltime freelancer. What an awesome, knowledgeable lady! And so willing to share her experiences and the lessons she's learned.
• TSC spent the whole day studying for his first exam. He was so desperate to get out of the house that he came along with me when I met Damaria and he sat on the other side of the coffee shop with his books and an Americano coffee. His brain was fried after doing a squillion hydraulics calculations, so we decided to see a movie last night to give him time to unwind.
• We saw Iron Man 2. I was expecting to be disappointed because sequels usually suck big time. But I actually really enjoyed it. Yes, the plot is totally ridiculous (c'mon, people - it's based on a comic book, not a biography) and it probably doesn't do justice to the original Marvel characters (I'm not a comic book fan, so I wouldn't know). But the explosions are big, the CGI is impressive, there are nice touches of humour and there's even a Grand Prix scene. I was sold. If you haven't seen it yet and are still planning to do so, make sure you stay till the end of the credits. There's a (very) short Easter Egg scene that links the film to the next big Marvel adventures with Thor and The Avengers.

Today:

• I woke up this morning to find that I had managed to get rid of the mouthguard I was supposed to be sleeping with sometime during the night. I must have spat it out in my sleep. Even my subconscious objects to wearing the thing.
• I arrived at the office to find an email from one of the PR clients wanting to know how the writing is going on a piece I haven't been briefed on. The deadline for this piece is apparently Friday.
• The freelance client I am supposed to be meeting this afternoon has not responded to my emails requesting confirmation and address details. Why is everyone seemingly incapable of adult communication?!

Tomorrow:

• Is the only day of this week without meetings scheduled. I plan to enjoy that.
• I was supposed to have a cupcake order due, but it has been cancelled. I am relieved. I would have had to fit in the baking between meetings and church small group this evening, which would have been a mission.
• The day before Friday. Yay!

Assorted catch-up again

I'm feeling a bit out of it today. The headache has now been with me constantly for more than a month. I've stopped noticing it so much, except when it's particularly bad, which it was this weekend. The muscle relaxants my doc gave me helped diddly squat (ie. not at all) and so yesterday I finally got me some sleeping pills. I took one last night and although it didn't seem to help, I'm now feeling zonked. Delayed reaction?

My mom also told me to try sleeping with a mouthguard, which apparently stops you clenching your teeth in your sleep, which in turn stops stressing your neck muscles that cause the tension headache.

I duly went and purchased one, which TSC finds hilarious because I think mouthguards are the most unattractive thing in the world. It took me an hour and a half to fall asleep with that thing in my mouth. And then I woke up with it hurting me at about 2am, so I took it off. I possibly should have been less of a cheapskate and bought one of the more expensive options that looked a bit softer, but I'll give it another go tonight and see if I get used to the piece of plastic in my face. Ugh.

Other than beign dazed and confused, I'm doing fine. I think. Had a great weekend - we had a bunch of people over for a potjie and red wine tasting on Sat, which went really well. We asked everyone to bring two bottles of the same red wine. We opened the first bottle of each (after I'd wrapped them in masking tape and written just a number on each so people couldn't see the labels) and used those for a blind tasting. We then voted for our favourite number before unveling the wines. The winning wine, which we all thought was a nice aged shiraz, ended up being a cheap but glorious wine that none of us had ever heard of before (Gôiya). The wine TSC and I had picked came second (a blend called Cederburger).

We then ate lunch (TSC's DIVINE lamb potjie - yum!) and afterwards played the crazy-Santa gift-swap game with the second bottle of each wine so that each person went home with a different bottle to the one they'd bought. It was so much fun and we'll definitely do it again.

Mothers' Day was also awesome, despite a touch Grand Prix for my team (Lewis Hamilton's tyre delaminated on the second-last lap). We went to Capeesh with the parentals and it was a lovely time (although my pasta wasn't great the chocolate mousse cake made up for everything). My mom, who has the flu, seemed to ilke her presents, which is good seeing I chose the one from TSC and I and then told my dad and brother what to get her when they each phoned me from the mall on Saturday ;-)

Off for coffee with Damaria now. Chat to y'all tomorrow.

7 facts on a Friday

Well, they're not really facts.


But seeing Ruby and Louisa gave me this award (thank you, my friends), I'm supposed to tell you seven interesting things about me and pass this along to seven people. But you get to hear about me in almost every blog post here, so I'm just giving you all the information I would've posted today anyway in seven bullet points.

• Yesterday I got a surprise phone call from the awesome Damaria. I'd emailed her asking for any advice on transitioning to self-employment as this is something she's done successfully. She gave me a ring and we're going to hook up for coffee next week. Will be so nice to meet her after reading her blog for so long.
• I saw The Men Who Stare at Goats last night with TSC. It was ok. There were some hilarious laugh-out-loud moments, but there was lots of randomness and mediocrity too. I'm glad we saw it, even if the story doesn't really go anywhere. I'd give it 6.5 out of 10.

• While we were at movies at Montecasino, I ran into a girl who was at highschool with me. In fact, we were both in the boarding establishment for grades 11 and 12, so we saw loads of each other. I haven't seen her since. And seeing we went to school in Durban, which is about 600km away from Johannesburg, it's quite a coincidence to run into her at movies on a Thursday night in my neighbourhood after eight years. She's now a doctor, doing her internship. She couldn't believe that I've got married (probably because last she saw me, I was convinced I'd never get hitched). We swapped phone numbers and will hopefully make a plan to catch up soon.
• TSC and I are hosting a red wine and potjie lunch tomorrow for a couple of people we haven't seen in too long. I can't wait! This winter weather is perfect for a potjie.
• I managed to get half of my mom's mother's day present yesterday. Seeing she and my dad have taken to occasionally lurking here, I can't mention what it is.
• I heard a new term this week: vajazzling. I find it a bit freaky actually.
• I am going to suck up my OCD just this once and end on seven points and not a nice, proper even number. Rules are rules.

Although rules are made to be broken, aren't they? I'm not going to nominate seven people to pass this along to because a) so many of the bloggers I would nominate have done this already and b) I don't want anyone to feel obliged to do this meme. But know that if I read your blog, I rate you as a Beautiful Blogger (substitute a suitable adjective for all the men bloggers). So please go ahead and do this meme if you like.

And have a good weekend.