Wonderful Weekend

Quick thing: I will be choosing the winners of Friday's Deals on Meals give-away this evening and announcing them tomorrow ... so if you haven't entered, go do that now!

Another Monday morning ... the weeks and the weekends seem to be flying by. And I know April with it's long weekends is not going to be any different.

On Friday, I went out for after-work drinks while Varen had his work farewell (this is his last week, he is thrilled!). Work drinks turned into work dinner and I only ended up getting home after 10pm. Varen arrived about half an hour after me. It was a really nice night, doing something sort-of spur of the moment with a new group of people. I always think it's nice to be able to socialise with the people you spend all day working with.

We went to Primi Loft (I can't decide if I like the way they give each of their chain a different name of not). Now I will say that in the past, the thought of going to any Primi restaurant would've sent me screaming. I have never liked this chain. To the degree that if you rated it highly I probably wouldn't take restaurant recommendations from you. I'm glad to see it seems to have changed somewhat and it wasn't as dreadful as I remember. The cocktails were delish (Mojito's!) and I enjoyed my very average California (with Bacon) Pizza.

On Saturday morning, Varen & I went racing around to a few large pet shops to see if we could find a new giant hutch like the one I set my heart on last week. Or if, at least, I could find someone who could build one to my specifications. No such luck in Joburg so far, would you believe? I guess garden-carpentry isn't really big on online advertising (really, I have no idea what to call it which may be why I'm having no luck searching online!). The only place I've found so far that looks decent enough is in freaking Gordon's Bay :( But I've sent the guy my design and we'll see how much it's gonna cost ... including shipping all the way here :( I expect it'll be a fortune! Anyone know of someone they can recommend with the sort of woodwork & wire skills I need?!? Please ... ?

And then we rushed home so that I could pop a few rescue remedy tablets. I'd got an email from SAfm (they do not seem to have a very friendly website ...) asking if they could do a live interview on Michelle Constant's show just before midday. Boy was I nervous ... luckily I'd done an interview for today's "Blogger Episode" of The Digital Edge (it'll be out at midday, take a listen!), last week ... so I was a bit better than I probably would've been. The interview was fun and only about 10 minutes long. I'll tell you it'll probably much easier to do a radio interview over the phone because in a way you're not really aware you're one the radio, live. You're just having a nice conversation with someone. It was really nice to be on the radio because my family in Cape Town and Natal could all listen (is a bit hard trying to explain a podcast to my gran, but radio ... that she understands) :)

A little later I headed off to The Secret Garden for March's bloggirls lunch :) The company was great (with Jackson's Mom, Louisa, Jenty and finally, Boldy Benny who joined us for the first time, who I have been dying to meet IRL!) but the restaurant was just average in my opinion. It must be great if you have kids tho and Connor & Jackson who tagged along will attest to that, I'm sure. I will say it was lovely being outside on a lawn on such a beautiful afternoon instead of cooped up in a restaurant. The service isn't great, and the High-teas were fine enough - nothing very special in my opinion tho.

And then after plenty of girl-chatter, it was back home to Varen. We didn't really have plans for the evening and I wasn't really sure if we were going to do Earth Hour or not, but we decided to. Especially after Jenty gave me a wonderful suggestion to spend it in the garden on a blanket with a bottle of wine, which is exactly what we did. I will say I was disappointed. I expected to notice a difference. Our complex didn't appear any different than any other Saturday night ... other than us, the only people who seemed to be participating were those who weren't actually home! Even the complex didn't switch off the walkway lights! And our participation "picnic" was ruined by the screaming rugby-boys a few houses up. Their racket was quite unpleasant. This is so truly what I hate about complex-living. Having other people inflicted upon you when you're trying to enjoy some time in your garden. So yeah, I was not impressed.

Sunday was lazier. We got the week's shopping out of the way and finally got round to watching Slumdog Millionaire in the evening.

Jamal Malik, a penniless 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, is one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” But when the show breaks for the night, suddenly, he is arrested on suspicion of cheating. After all, how could an uneducated street kid possibly know so much? Determined to get to the bottom of Jamal’s story, a jaded Police Inspector spends the night probing Jamal’s incredible past - from his riveting tales of the slums, where he and his brother, Salim, survived by their wits, to his hair-raising encounters with local gangs, to his heartbreak over Latika, the unforgettable girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of Jamal’s increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show’s increasingly challenging questions.

I will say it was quite different to the book. But I managed to enjoy each separately ... I think because I read the book so long ago. I think I did still enjoy the book more tho, because it was a novel (scuse the pun) concept when I read it and because of the twist at the end. Varen & I tried out Cinema Nouveau's new loveseats for the first time and they are fabulous! It's like sitting on a couch :)