Weekend with Mom

It was a great weekend. It started on Friday night when Varen & I arrived home to a delish home-cooked meal by Mom. She made us an Indian dish called Lamb Saag. It was planned tho cause she had to bring up like a million spices from home that she knew there was no way I'd have ;) And boy was it good! I miss mom's cooking.

On Saturday we were up early and headed out to get the Xmas shopping over with (at this point Varen & I had yet to start!). But first we had breakfast at Europa in Rosebank. What a mistake. Our food took about an hour. And yes they were busy. But when we eventually complained (it was 11 o'clock by now and we hadn't eaten yet!) the waiter told us they'd had a problem with their kitchen staff not arriving ... my first question was surely you mention that to people about to order in a fairly full restaurant. I mean really :P And then about 2 minutes later we saw a tray of egg's arriving ... I wonder what the real reason for the huge delay was! Why can't people just be upfront and honest?

But after we'd eaten and could get on our way, our moods definitely improved :) We managed to get the bulk of the gift shopping done on Saturday and went home to relax for a little bit. Varen had to work on Saturday evening :( But Mom & I went to watch The Women.

This film tells the story of Mary Haines (Meg Ryan), a clothing designer who seems to have it all – a beautiful country home, a rich financier husband, an adorable 11-year-old daughter and a part-time career creating designs for her father's venerable clothing company. Her best friend, Sylvie Fowler (Annette Bening), leads another enviable life – a happily single editor of a prominent fashion magazine, a possessor of a huge closet of designer clothes and a revered arbiter of taste and style poised on New York's cutting edge. But when Mary's husband enters into an affair with Crystal Allen (Eva Mendes), a sultry "spritzer girl" lurking behind the Saks 5th Ave perfume counter, all hell breaks loose. Mary and Sylvie's relationship is tested to the breaking point while their tight-knit circle of friends, including mega-mommy Edie Cohen (Debra Messing) and author Alex Fisher (Jada Pinkett-Smith), all start to question their own friendships and romantic relationships.

I wouldn't drag any men-folk to see this one. There's not a man in the cast. Seriously. But it's a nice feel-good girly flick. I just have 3 major things to comment on. Firstly, the cameo's. Bette Midler & Carrie Fisher. Even Jada Pinkett-Smith & Debra Messing. Not very crucial roles ... In fact it felt almost like they were thrown in for good measure to try capturing another "girl-type" (Debra the mother to 4 and Jada the lesbian). Secondly, the very typically Hollywood "follow your dream and you'll be amazing and your lying cheating ex husband will want you back". Yeah, sure. Plus, the women in movies who do that always have the money to throw at their passion. If only I had pots of cash to spend my days doing all sorts of things that interested me. And lastly, jees does Meg Ryan look lik Nicole Kidman with her hair straightened. She really should not have had her lips pumped full of botox or whatever either.

But it was still nice to just get to hang out with Mom :) Varen & I are really discussing the move-back-to-Cape-Town idea these days. At the moment, we're actually aiming for end 2009. I'm sorta excited abotu that, even tho I am loving my job up here at the moment ... besides, who knows what can happen in a year ;) But I know that I would love to live in the same city as my family again. I never really planned on being in Joburg for 5 years!

On Sunday we got a little more gift-shopping out of the way (well, Mom & I had also done even more before the movie!) and went home to enjoy a relaxing Sunday afternoon braai. And I got most of the presents wrapped (having them all wrapped and waiting is actually my favourite part! I love to wrap them as soon as they're bought and put them on display) ... and then the sticky tape ran out :(