Hello New Year

Sheesh, the Xmas break just flew by. And here I am sitting back at work. Not too many people here with me yet tho. Smart people. Or not, I definitely prefer to save my leave days for other times of the year (speaking of which, The Trucker and I are discussing Vietnam for this year!).

So, what have I been up to? I flew down to CT on Friday 23rd.We got to leave work pretty early and I managed to squeeze in a lunch with The Trucker and his sister before I had to pack and fly too :)

Spent Friday night at Dad's, catching up and watching the Russell Peter's Green Card Tour. On Saturday morning I headed to Mom's and entertained Finny&Jax (the kittens - who are too lovely) while she got things ready for our trip to the Beach Cottage. And then it was off down to the sea! The Peeb and Doc were already there and we all stayed till Monday. The weather was pretty awesome and we swam about twice a day (unheard of usually! But the water was wonderful).

Xmas was a day-long celebration with the extended family, lots of gifts and more than enough food! Everyone loved the Macaroon calendars I'd had printed ;) Monday was spent mostly just relaxing, and Mom took me back to Dad's in the evening (oh the traffic!!). Dad & I popped out for a quick dinner at Rock and then on Tuesday it was off to Montagu to see some of Dad's side of the family who have just moved out there and opened an art gallery :)

We stayed overnight and wandered the town in between plenty of reading and, of course, the cryptic crossword - haha. We ate dinner at Ye Olde Tavern, which was delish :) On Wednesday afternoon we headed home and Dad made us crayfish for dinner!

I'd dedicated Thursday and Friday to catching up with friends but things didn't go quite to plan. The original plan for Thursday was to have breakfast with the Grandgirls (which got moved to Friday), meet up with Jam in the afternoon (she had lots of news having moved up her wedding to Christmas Eve now that she is pregnant! But she wasn't feeling well, so that got postponed as well). And The Divine Miss M and I had intended to go to Beefcakes for their Drag Night ... but we hadn't booked so had to make another plan. So, pretty much none of what was planned for Thursday ended up happening :P

Instead, I had coffee with Interviewing For a Husband (delish Pineapple and Ginger Juice at Tasha's - which I normally hate going to). In a bizarre twist of fate, her life is repeating itself yet again - haha. It's actually quite surreal. Just before she has to leave the country for work (supposed to be for 3 years this time!), she meets a man she actually sees a future with. So, we had lots to catch up on.

After Jam cancelled, I called up @jarredcinman to see what he was up to. He was headed to Silvermine for the afternoon. I hadn't been since before I moved to Joburg - The Lying Pilot and I used to go often. So I met up with them there and we even swam in the Dam ... it looked freezing, but it was awesome! So much swimming this year!

And then I headed to The Divine Miss M's to see what our back up dinner plan was ... We started at Fat Cactus for margarita's and chili poppers and then headed to Miller's Thumb for dinner & dessert. She had a divine chili chocolate steak. I had an acceptable Tuna.

On Friday I had breakfast with the Grandgirls at Lazari's. What delish croissant french toast! And then, I was hoping to see Jam, but she didn't have any time before she was headed off for the long weekend. Such a pity :(

Instead I hung out with Dad for a while and then headed back to the Beach Cottage for the afternoon (was considering one last swim, but the tides were wrong and the wind had come up). Instead I played with the kits and hung out chatting with Mom. We then headed to Satori for dinner. I had some pasta and Mom had a pizza she raved about.

And that was my Cape Town break. I flew back to Joburg, and The Trucker, on Saturday morning. Oh it was so lovely to see him again :) We went shopping first thing and organised our New Years Eve (nothing like last minute - haha). And then headed back to my house so I could unpack and what not. And while I'd been away, he'd put up my lounge curtains, replaced my fan cord (I was worried about it because the bunnies had chewed thru the wiring back when I lived with Varen) and put a switch on my bed lights so I didn't have to keep plugging & unplugging them. On top of that he spent an amazing amount of time spoiling the bunnies with run-around time while I was away. I am still feeling very spoilt :)

And then it was off to The Trucker's house for our New Years Eve braai with his sister, @Toxic_Mouse and @zoosev & her hubby. We had a lovely evening and saw in the New Year quite quietly ... or we would've except for the billion fireworks going off around us! Sheesh. It was madness. Am not a fan.

We had a lovely first day of 2012 too. A lazy morning. Breakfast at Chocolat Cafe. And then a double feature at the movies :)

We started with the new Sherlock Holmes. I quite enjoyed it. But I still dunno why they bothered with the Sherlock Holmes aspect of it. Not that I know the Sherlock Holmes stories well, but it doesn't feel Sherlock Holmes-y to me. And it's not one of my favourite Robert Downey characters either. But yeah, generally good fun.

And then, because there were only about 4 people in the cinema, we followed that up with the new Mission Impossible.

I actually preferred this (The Trucker preferred Sherlock Holmes). It was pure escapism. I didn't really find it twisty & turny either, although I could tell they were going for that. Would kinda like to see the first one again now too tho. Curious to see if Tom Cruise has aged at all :P Haha.

And then it was home for a relaxing evening, with no more TV! Haha. But, we took a nice walk instead :)

Yesterday, The Trucker had some work to do so I only saw him in the evening. But I had plenty of admin to get done. And just generally settle back in at home. I got the last 2 curtains I needed for the lounge (didn't want to buy them till I knew if I need 1 more or 2 more). Did a big grocery shop - The Trucker came over for dinner and I made delish gourmet burgers and berries with frozen yogurt. And then after relaxing over midday (it was too hot to do the gardening I had planned), I did get stuck into my garden. Mowed & trimmed the lawn (can't believe how fast it grows!), cleaned the bunny hutch and went and got some new plants from Lifestyle and got them planted too. Also took out a whole lavendar bush. I was exhausted by the time The Trucker came over.

So yeah, so far it's been a good year :P Sadly that has now been ruined by having to come into work again. At least the traffic was still quiet and there aren't that many people here yet, so it's a slow adjustment.

I don't have any specific wishes for 2012. Just wanna get my house sorted (need a new kitchen!). But yeah, other than that ... more of the same. 2011 ended really well :)