Allsorts

Shew so much going on ... thank goodness I have a nice long weekend to look forward to :)

On Monday I had a nice evening home alone because The Trucker was working late. He ended up working late on Tuesday too, but I had other plans. I headed off to Ghazal's for dinner with @Rubyletters and @Arkwife. So lovely to catch up :)

Last night The Trucker came home a little later than usual, so we didn't get to eat dinner together, but he was still home before I was in bed, which I consider a plus :) He's off to Cape Town on Sunday till Wednesday for his uncle's wedding (I didn't go because I had to spend 1.5K on my American Visa .... my interview is later this morning - eep!). And I have booked myself up like a crazy person seeing friends while he is away. I'm actually really excited and looking forward to it :)

And there has been some more bunny kitten bonding going on :) It seems to be going quite nicely. I mean they're not bffs or anything yet ... but they seem to be less worried about each other - until Gypsy forgets that she's supposed to be calm around the bunnies and goes a bit stalkey (after birds or sometimes them) and races across the garden. Gave Lily quite a fright yesterday :)

In that one photo, Gypsy had hopped over the trellis we guard the jasmine with and Rex decided that it was safe to get up close ... was quite funny when she backed off as he stuck his nose thru! And then he got a bit of a fright when she wanted to use her paw to say hello (so glad I trimmed those nails!).

Oh and the other awesome news I got this week was my electricity bill. Yes, I know that probably sounds crazy, but I have been waiting to see the results of my geyser blanket & timer switch, my LED bulbs and my roof insulation. And there is quite a nice difference! It went from 312 units on January 22nd down to 238 units on February 20th and down even more to 186 units on March 20th! Not bad for a 2 bedroomed place with 2 people living there? It is a bit confusing tho, apparently units are kWh. And a friend of mine is paying a *lot* less per kWh than I am! She is using more and paying much less ... I am about to start an investigation into Electricity tariffs. Apparently different providers offer electricity at different rates ... and they all service different areas. So I'm pretty sure you sadly don't even have a choice in providers. In which case, WHY are they not all charging the same? I will keep you posted on my findings.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you ... we didn't get the place :( Apparently that right-of-first-refusal thing does not apply to rentals :( And the owner decided to go with the other tenants since they had kids (apparently, I'm not sure I believe the agent we were dealing with exactly). I guess after 4months of no rent, you're looking for the people who seem more stable and probably likely to settle and stay for longer. That said the folks who are living there now have kids and haven't paid their rent ... Oh well. The hunt continues, here's hoping we find an even better spot :)

The Rune by MK Muerte

The northern continents are over-populated and there is little arable land remaining to support the continued growth in population. Mankind should be working together, but the hands of chaos are interfering. Two superpowers vie against each other in the race to cross the equatorial Barrier. It has never been done before. One superpower sends out a team to find the source of myth in a hope of an easy way out, whilst also attempting a solution through technology. The other superpower looks to force as a means. War is imminent, while a far a greater threat lies lurking; a threat of legends and myth. 

Mkay this is a weird review to be writing ... because I know the author. Which is the reason I read this book. It really isn't my usual genre. Which is why it took me ages to read ... 

So yeah, it's hard for me to recommend. I think if you enjoy this sort of genre, then you might enjoy this book. It started really slowly for me, making the same mistake I feel Heroes made and Game of Thrones is in the process of making ... too many characters to follow. All telling the story from their point of view. It was hard, I kept forgetting who was who (even by the end of the book, there were one or two people who had completely fallen out of my brain ... I assume they'll become relevant in the later parts of the trilogy, which has yet to be written). But there were definitely also characters I liked and wanted to read more about :) By the end I was on board with the story line and quite enjoying it :) (The last 20% went much quicker!) Which is why I think people who are used to this style and genre will probably like it.

I am not a fan of flowery descriptive verbage. It's a large part of why I could never read Lord of the Rings .... 4 pages to describe a forest, no thank you very much. (Yeah I know, it's a classic :P) So I did find this overly descriptive (not nearly as bad as that tho!), which also added to it taking a little determination from me to finish.

I struggled with the vast geography (my electronic version didn't have a map in the front I could keep flipping to ... although I did have a link to the map, it's hard to keep checking back online while reading). I recommend you print the map out, in hindsight, I really should've.

Also I didn't like the ending, it felt more like one story split into three parts ... so didn't really feel like it ended, just paused. I guess technically that is what a trilogy is :P I'm far more accustomed to reading books in a series, so they have all the same characters but each book is an entire stand-alone story on it's own.

Anyway, I think it's an amazing achievement, a whole book. By someone I know :) I definitely support that!

Woweekend

Wow, the weekend just fly by! But boy am I grateful for all these public holidays making the weeks just a little shorter :) It's another 4 day week, baby!

Anyway, the weekend. We signed the lease for the place we found on Friday :) But after all that excitement, we're still not quite sure what's happening. On Saturday The Trucker got a call saying they had another offer for R500 more a month. R500 more a month would still be fine with us, it's still below what we were looking at. But The Trucker feels like they are trying to hussle us ... legally apparently we have the right of first refusal because our offer was signed first. So The Trucker has told them, we don't mind paying the extra R500 monthly to seal the deal, but first he wants to actually see the other signed lease. Apparently some agents try to (illegally) pretend there is a higher offer to get you to increase your bid (on sales or rentals) so asking for proof is the smart thing to do. Neither lease is final till the owner signs it too. So we sit in limbo. Hopefully we find out later today, and hopefully the place is still ours.

Anyway, on Friday afternoon, we popped past the vet with all 3 animals in tow ... getting all their nails clipped before they get to meet each other up close. Don't want any scratching if I can help it!

And then in the evening, we went to see our second Cirque production together, Dralion (this was one of the things I was going to be really sad about missing with him when we broke up ... thank goodness I got to enjoy it with him instead!).

We had a quick dinner at Mugg & Bean beforehand ... there really aren't too many options at Northgate and the show was at The Dome (like last time). Meh, it really is a sucky venue. But I will admit it was a vast improvement on last time! They had big black cloth walls enclosing the space, which led to a much better experience. We had great seats again and both agreed this was a far better show than Saltimbanco. Seriously, it's still showing in Joburg so if you can, I'd highly recommend going to see it :) It was quite beautiful!

On Saturday we got our admin out of the way in the morning, The Trucker had to work and I went and did our grocery shopping and got some bank statements for my US Visa Application interview (which is happening later this week - eep!). I'm sure it'll be a mere formality, but I plan on taking as much back-up documentation as I can. Am still a little nervous tho, as with all Visa applications.

In the afternoon, we headed to SA on Tap where @WhizBangLouLou was having her 2nd birthday get together (we'd missed dinner with her on Friday because of Cirque). I was excited because, although I don't really drink beer (in South Africa), I have found a few craft beers I like who were all going to be there. And I absolutely loved how they did it. Everyone gets a glass on entry and you use tokens to either get a taster (1 token), a half glass (3 tokens) or a full glass (5 tokens). And tokens were R5 each. Perfect for me and for tasting a variety of things. Clever!

So I started off trying Everson's Pink Lady (just a taster). It wasn't too bad, but I think I'll stick with their Apple Cider instead. After that we headed to Black Horse where I was hoping for a Stallion, but they weren't serving it so had a Ginger Beer instead (not sure if it was alcoholic or not). And then I had some of the Darling Brew Bone Crusher ... which I already knew I liked, it has a bit of a sasparilla flavour, if you ask me. And then I ended off our afternoon with a good old Everson's Apple Cider (we also bought a 4-pack to take home with us).

After that we headed to Gilroy's for a friend of The Trucker's 30th where we had something to eat and then headed home for a lazy evening in front of the TV. We tried a few movies, but I couldn't get into any of them: The Hobbit, Lawless and Alex Cross.

Sunday was a very early, lazy morning ... for me. The Trucker slept till at least 9. I was up from 6:15am with the kitten. And I made our first attempt at a little closer interaction ... using the same method I had with introducing Coal and Rex to the older bunnies. It seemed to go quite nicely. Rex definitely seems more interested in the kitten than Lily who keeps a bit more distance.

I finished my book, I watched some Vampire Diaries ... and when The Trucker woke we continued our lazy morning with coffee and rusks on the couch :) Was quite nice really.

After we both showered, I took him out to Something Country for lunch. I'd heard about it a couple of months ago from the girls who own Bleached (run from the same property), so thought it'd make a nice weekend outing. It was a lovely day for sitting outside in the shade enjoying some yummy food! Next time we're thinking of a bike-run we'll have to remember this place. And we took a wander to the Bleached showroom. Man their stuff is gorgeous! Saw a Plasma unit we both quite liked ... so maybe once we're all moved in and can see what we still need (I don't think either of us really has a decent TV cabinet) mebbe we'll go have another look :)

Then The Trucker went to work some more and I settled in for a lazy afternoon on the couch with the kitten. Seriously tho, she is such a Daddy's girl ... haha.



In the afternoon when he got home, we let Gypsy and the bunnies all run free in the garden. I use the term run loosely ... while there was a mad dash of scattering by Rex & Lily when the kitten first jumped down from the veranda onto the grass at their level, there wasn't a lot of running after that. There was a lot of very slow movements and sitting still eyeing each other. Rex & Gypsy were quite lovely together, they even sat and relaxed within centimetres of each other. And even Lily did have some moments of curiosity and relaxedness around Gypsy (keep in mind we didn't let them out together for too long ... maybe 15mins). But Gypsy was still going into stealth, stalker mode. I think she just wants to play with them ... but you can see how that might a) be a problem and b) terrify the bunnies. So we took her inside and left them to relax and recover outside. Not too shabby for week 1, I'd say?

Life is Good!

Wowee. What an awesome public holiday. But far too much eating out. The Trucker and I are not being very good at sticking to the eating plan at all. You'd think with us both on it it would be easier, but it's not - haha. Ah well, I'm happy with the improvements I've made since September 2012 and since I haven't changed since the beginning of December, I'm feeling okay about it all :)

Whew, a bit of a side-track there. Just feeling a little guilty, I guess :) On Wednesday evening we headed thru to The Good Luck Club for dinner. Shew, I do love that place. It has replaced Cranks for me, since that has closed down. We started with sharing 2 portions of Spring rolls: Chicken, Avo and mozzarella spring rolls and Prawn summer rolls. Then we shared their Beef in Satay Sauce and their Red Chicken and Prawn Curry. Lovelovelove that place.

I fell asleep while The Trucker watched Jack Reacher when we got home.

Then on Thursday morning, we had a public holiday :D Big grin. I do love a public holiday! We didn't get much of a late sleep. Firstly Gypsy was allowed into our room while we slept ... and started playing at 4:30am. Yes, she has a name :) Well, The Trucker is still considering options cause although it seemed right initially he doesn't think it quite fits. But we'll see ... for now that's it.

Then we'd planned a bike ride on The Trucker's motor bike. It's the one he bought in Cape Town over Xmas. It's been in for a service and he finally got it back and I was dying to go for a spin. It's a BMW Touring bike (whatever that means .... apparently it has to do with how upright you sit, or something).

So we headed out at 8am and took a ride out towards Cradle and then all the way back (via Brixton apparently) to Salvation Cafe for breakfast. It has been too long since we were there too! Yum, I do so love their Haloumi Wrap. Winning at life :)

We had an appointment to view another potential house at 11am. And yes folks, we think we've found "The One" (or at least the temporary one till we buy a place together, but I wanted to try out this whole living together thing for a bit first). It's one road up from where The Trucker is currently renting (where his sister is staying, now that he is living at my house), which is about 1.5km from my house. It needs a little work, which the landlord is willing to do apparently and it seems like it will be perfect for us :) He's meeting the agent with all our paper work this morning to sign the lease hopefully :D If it goes ahead we will probably start renting from mid-April and do a phased move of our stuff to the new place and then his sister's stuff into my place (she'll be renting from me). And then he'll be able to give notice on 01 April to his current landlord. Very very exciting! A whole new life feels like it's starting this week: new pet and new house, all completely shared <3 It's a feeling I can't explain and I've never quite had before ...

We had a pretty relaxing afternoon. Except for some shopping for Gypsy ... she needed more food and we're trying out a new litter and, of course, some new toys! Haha. Bunny-Cat Bonding is going slowly. The Bunnies have ventured into the house to smell her and I put her outside in her cat box while they were running around ... only Rex really showed any interest in this yowling kitty. And she did investigate them while they were in their hutch a bit more too. We'll try that a bit longer before letting them free together.

 
In the evening we headed to my all-time fave sushi spot in Cedar Square for dinner :) See, far to much eating out! And then another crazy kitten play-time at 3:30am. Yawn. But yay, it's Friday and we're off to Cirque this evening :)

Kitty in the House

Yes, yes, I know, a kitten update is probably due ....

But really there isn't that much to tell. She seems to be settling in well, but I've never owned a kitten or a cat before so I pretty much suck at this. The Trucker is luckily taking charge. He knows what to feed her and how much. I get to be the cuddling parent :P haha.

We are taking the Bunny-Kitten introduction very slowly. I took her outside for a little on Monday and Tuesday afternoon and on Monday she was quite fascinated with them in their hutch and they were at first nervous and then curious. They sniffed at each other and almost touched noses thru the bars. On Tuesday no one was interested. I've kept her inside while letting the Bunnies run in the garden and because they are used to being allowed into the lounge, they run up to the glass sliding door. There was a fair amount of checking each other out thru the glass.

On Tuesday again tho, there was barely any interest. I put her in the spare room and opened the sliding door for the bunnies to have some "free" time .... was kinda hoping they'd come inside and smell her there. But they have steered clear both evenings.

Not quite sure where to from here but am hoping with the public holidays coming up we'll have some more opportunity. Am thinking the next step might be putting her in her cat box and letting the bunnies out and going up to her on their terms (if at all).

I need to find out about getting her claws trimmed too. She is very scratchy with me when she plays and I have a bit of an allergy (under control since I'm on a daily anti-histamine already for my Allergy-Induced Asthma) and when she scratches my skin, I get terribly itchy for ages afterwards. Plus when she actually meets the bunnies in the open I do not want her to be able to hurt them badly. Cat scratches and bites are very bad for bunnies sensitive skin which can easily get infected.

Need to get Rex's nails trimmed too ... but will definitely be doing that separately at the vet. Maybe if The Trucker and I go together we can take them at the same time and get them a little more accustomed to each other in the car while in separate boxes ... we'll see.

I think she is getting used to her new home. My favourite times with her are after my shower in the morn (before 6am), the first contact she has each morning. She is very friendly (I think she might be hungry ... she always thinks she's hungry!). And then when I get home in the afternoon ... I guess cause there's been no one around to play with her all day. She lay nicely with us on the couch while we watched TV on Monday eve but then spent the whole evening under the couch on Tuesday eve. Funny thing.

Although she is using the litter tray (albeit very messy!), she still seems to go into the bathroom and scratch the bath mats and walk in the shower looking for it (it is in the spare room with the rest of her stuff for now). But it is a good indicator for us that she needs the loo! Haha.

Shew and did she ever howl at me while I was in the shower after Boot Camp yesterday afternoon! Funny thing.

And no, she still doesn't have a name yet :( Am hoping we'll have come up with something before the end of the weekend! Suggestions welcome :)

So yeah, that's about been my week. In other exciting news, I did finally get around to putting those Caracal and Cub photos up from our Pilanesberg weekend ... check them out :) Too cute!

Oh, and I've started my American Visa application process :) Very exciting and a little nerve-wracking! Annoying how they tell you not to make any travel plans prior to getting your visa but then still ask you for the address you're staying at :P Oh and I had to quickly mail The Peeb's American hubby and ask him if I could list his folks as my American Contact Person. I mean really ... I'm going on holiday, I don't have a contact person. I'm an adult, I am just going to check out a new place in the world, why would I have a contact person there :P Oh well. Just have to figure out my Monthly Cost-to-Company and I'll be paying and booking that appointment.

Why does everyone seem to assume I know what I earn ... what I earn is completely irrelevant to me, what I know, and what is most relevant, is the amount that arrives in my bank account that I have to spend and survive on. That other number is pretty much imaginary if you ask me :P #sigh Anyway, will ask HR later :) Haha.

Dive 2013

Righto so we left nice and early on Wednesday afternoon (about 15h30 ... a vast improvement on the last time!) and we made amazing time. We originally thought we'd stop for dinner in Ermelo, but pushed thru to Piet Retief and stopped for dinner at the Spur at about 7pm.

Not sure what time we got to The Dive Inn in Pongola, but it was straight to bed. The Trucker and @Toxic_Mouse woke up later to let in the rest of our convoy who'd only managed to leave Joburg just before 7pm.

We were up earlyish and had a quick Wimpy breakfast in Pongola and then were on our way. We had a bit of a longer journey to Sodwana because we trusted the gps which was supposed to be set to tar-roads only (although we were in the Pajero, the others were in a little i10). Needless to say we ended up trying a new shorter route and quickly found ourselves on some serious dirt roads. We turned back and took the old faithful route via Hluhluwe.

Needless to say we arrived at Mseni Lodge around midday. We had a pretty relaxing first day with a walk down to the dunes. A brief attempt at swimming, but it was too rough. And then we headed round to the bay-side for a swim instead. Much better :) Wow, I can't explain the difference being here off-season. It's so quiet, what a pleasure!

We headed back to the chalets and had a late afternoon Rib braai. Superb! What a fantastic first day :) And a cute little black kitty showed up along with the monkey's to inspect our food.

The next morning we were up at 6:30am to get ready for our first dive. We dived with Amoray again. Shew, today's 2 dives were very surge-y, lots of finning about. We dived Wayne's World and Simon's Cave. At least on Saturday our dive was much better. After a 73min first dive, The Trucker and I decided we were done diving for the weekend and skipped the second one. We dived 4 Bouy and honestly, it was probably easily in the top 5 dives I've done. Such an easy, smooth dive. Mostly just floating, being taken along the reef with the current. And really great viz. What we saw on each dive does blur a bit, but we saw 2 reef shark on the edge of viz (2 separate dives), a few moray eels (incl one swimming), some blue-spotted rays swimming and even a round ribbontail ray (which I've never seen before). Seriously, the coral was beautiful and the fish abundant on all of our dives. It was beautiful :)

The rest of our time was spent napping in the afternoons (with the cat on the bed even!) and swimming on the beach (sadly the wind came up a bit in the bay tho).

The Trucker and I had dinner out, just the 2 of us, at The Lighthouse on Friday evening. He had their fillet with the most delish Chocolate Chili sauce and I had their Prawn salad. We were saving ourselves for the pizza there with everyone on our last night's dinner there too. We went all out on Saturday evening and shared 5 of their delish pizzas! I think the Camembert was my favourite of the evening.

Oh, and in case you were wondering. We did have yet another surreal wildlife experience at Mseni ... just like last time! Haha. This time it wasn't bushbabies, it was mongooses. Seriously, we saw one, then another. Then they ran away. Then suddenly there were maybe 30 all heading our way. They were making their way under the bigger chalet (The Trucker and I were in a separate 2-sleeper, the others were in a 5-sleeper) which is where we were sitting having a drink at the time. The were quite curious and came quite close to look for food. And they had so many babies with them! It was quite amazing. Shew and the weird little squeeky noises they make! Haha.



The Trucker and I had a lazy Sunday morning while 3 of the others decided on one last dive ... And we accidentally adopted a kitten. Haha.

So yeah, that little black kitty who arrived on the first day never left. She stayed with us, following us around and even playing in our chalet when we were there and napping with us on Saturday afternoon. Seems she picked a new Mom and Dad. So on Saturday The Trucker started throwing out the idea of taking her home with us ... I said okay, but only if we asked the Lodge owners and made sure she didn't actually belong to someone there and was just playing with the guests.

As soon as we walked in and asked the guy behind the desk, he was like "If you want her, please take her!". He thinks she came from a settlement outside the reserve. A German couple there a few weeks ago did try to adopt her and got in touch with the SPCA and all, but they couldn't take her to Germany with them ... so she stayed. And just like that, it was decided. He gave us a cardboard box and we drove 6.5hrs home with her sleeping. Okay so she did cry for a little while, she is a generally chatty cat, but as soon as she got some attention she quietened down and slept. Shew. We own a cat now.

Seriously, it was a total accident. But she seems happy to be home. The Trucker is taking her to the vet this morning to get her looked over, she probably need a tick-dip and to get her chipped. We need to find out about vaccinations and sterilisation. We think she's about 4months old. I'm wondering how we introduce the bunnies ... although there are plenty of stories of bunny-cat bonding online. I'm worried cause Lily already seems skeptical (she came inside last night and could clearly smell something that made her nervous). Fingers crossed.

Oh, and she needs a name too. We're trying out Padi at the moment ...

So yes, it was a pretty fantastic weekend. And no, I didn't have to worry too much about the impact of the other people ... there was a little bit of a wobbly early on, but things soon got settled :) Have I told you how much I absolutely love this boyfriend of mine <3 Completely adore him, I do! And now we have a pet together ... eep. I woke up a little panic-y this morning about responsibility and life and all ... I think it's just back-to-work jitters after such a lovely break.

Worrywart

Whoop whoop, it's Friday! Well, it is for me at least :)

Yesterday was the turn-around point in my little moody drama and things seem on the up. Yes, I shouldn't get so affected by things being good or bad between The Trucker and I, but I do. When they are good, I am a heady explosion of anything-is-possible and life is amazing. When they feel out-of-synch (for something as mundane as us both having bad days at the office, although you'd think that'd put us in-synch :P), I feel more sensitive to everything and take everything that little bit more personally. While I'm a lot more confident in our relationship and the fact that he's not going anywhere after his Grand Gesture, I'm still not unshakeable ... I hope to never be, so that I never take him for granted either.

Soooo anyways. Monday was a bit of a weird evening at home. Tip-toeing. We sorted it all out and yesterday things got back to normal.

I'll admit I think some of it is a) this impending weekend away with his friends. For so many dumb reasons in my head that if I write them down, I'm sure you'll think I'm certifiable. But they're there anyways, gnawing away. I may travel extensively, often in groups. But I rarely go away with people I know or friends. I mean, obvs I go away with the boyf regularly, but you see generally you'll have an unspoken understanding of agreement and accommodating what the other wants to do. I don't have much experience with it, but my idea of traveling with friends is an exhausting push-me-pull-you of who wants to do what and dragging other people along because everyone must do everything together. See, I'm sure it's probably not like that ... but I'm afraid of it. I like to do what I like to do, and while I enjoy other people's suggestions and organised things, I like to have the choice of participation without being considered the odd one out.

I'm afraid that The Trucker will be put in a situation of hanging out with me or them. So that has been weighing on me. Honestly, I am sure it'll probably turn out to be more fun than not ... but I'm no good with anticipating the unknown, especially when I don't expect I'll like the unknown. I like to be in control, in the driver's seat. It is hard enough for me letting The Trucker organise all the accommodation, food and everything without my input for this weekend and feeling like I'm just his Plus 1. This group of friends has all known each other for almost 10 years, I'd guess, and seem to have spent almost every weekend together while we were broken up ... I don't really have these sort of non-stop-hanging-out friends. Seeing anyone more than once a week (other than my boyf) seems too much ... and I feel like I have too many other people to see. I know, I'm probably the weird one here, not them.

I did so enjoy our last Sodwana trip together :) And I can't wait for another pizza at The Lighthouse! Promise to spend today feeling positive and upbeat and letting it go ... #sigh. Yes, it takes concentration for me - haha.

The other thing that has been weighing on my mind is yet another trip to Cape Town. On Saturday, The Trucker got invited to be Best Man at his uncle's wedding on Easter Monday. This is not a normal request as this uncle barely speaks to any of them. The uncle is getting married in Cape Town. I am not ready for another Cape Town trip ... we've just been. Anyway, the flights would be expensive (Easter!) but I organised a spot in Pringle Bay for us to stay for 2 nights (R400 for the place per night!) for the Friday and Saturday, so we could feel like we were getting a little bit of a break. Cape Town isn't the holiday for me that it is for him. He barely works while we're there. I have a longer (albeit prettier) drive to the office there than I do here. Then it's always this whirlwind of dinners out and trying to fit in seeing everyone and family. Which is lovely, don't get me wrong. But I feel like we've hardly had a minute to breathe yet with all these weekends away.

So anyway, I'm not going with him and he is probably just going for a few days instead of a whole week. With the Sodwana trip this weekend and paying for our April Kruger Long weekend, it seemed silly to spend another 2K each on a flight back to Cape Town so soon. And I have my US visa to apply for next week (YAY for Bermuda in September!) ... which is probably gonna cost almost as much.

So yeah, things are feeling a little lighter ...

More Mood Swinging

Harumph. Another weird mood morning today. Woke up after a very weird dream feeling overly emotional about life ... must phone the folks and touch base. Took a minute for a few extra cuddles with The Trucker this morning. Hopefully it'll sort itself out during the day :)

It was also quite and up and down mood weekend. The Trucker and I were annoying each other a little this weekend and that's never fun. We do seem to have found our balance of giving each other space in the same little house tho, so that's good.

So on Friday after work I headed off to Rocket for a catch-up drink with some of the girls from work. Can't believe how we never see each other anymore even tho 3 of the 4 of us are actually still in the same office! Anyway, that was really nice and a good start.

When I got home just after 7, I declared sushi for dinner, since we were both feeling indecisive. And what a bad mistake that turned out to be :( We headed to Lok Fu, where we'd had The Trucker's birthday dinner ... 2-for-1 special every day of the week. Stupid. It was Friday night and they only had one sushi chef for some reason. They didn't warn us till after we'd received our drinks :( We shouldn't have stayed. They said, there'll be about an hour wait. Well, we figured we aren't in a rush, that's fine. We had a spring roll and shared some hot & sour soup to tide us over ...

I think that was our second mistake. I reckon we must've got bumped to the end of the sushi queue. And it definitely felt like they were getting all the take-out orders out of the way ahead of us. They kept saying yes they're busy with it, but by the time we gave up, went inside and said we'd take it home with us instead, they just seemed to be starting on it. It was over an hour. Our moods were frayed. And then the sushi turned out to be terrible. You know when all you can taste is rice! Yuck. We didn't even finish it. What a terrible evening. If we do go back there (because it really was quite nice the time before), I will definitely be asking upfront how many chefs they have working. And it won't be on a Friday night!

On Saturday we were up earlyish because I had to get to the bank to collect my new card. ATM swallowed mine and caused a fuss over month end when you stupidly can't log into internet banking because you don't have a new card. I didn't care when I cancelled it as I had no plans to draw from an ATM, but linking my online login to my CARD and not my actual account seems like the stupidest user experience decision Standard Bank has made.

Anyway, after not quite an hour there, we did our grocery shopping and then headed to breakfast. We had a mostly avoiding each other, relaxing morning after that. After lunch the dust had settled (I think we ate breakfast too late) and the afternoon sped past in a blur of series watching.

On Saturday evening we headed to Edenvale for a friend of mine's 90s themed birthday party. Only 1 other person from work showed up ... although there were supposed to be at least 5 of us (why are people so flakey?). But we had a good evening anyway :)

On Sunday morning our alarms went off early, at 7am ... we'd planned a pre-dive-trip pool session. But it was overcast when we woke up and we decided the morning could be far better spent in bed napping and reading :) And then we moved to the couch with the duvet. It was a *perfect* Sunday morning, with scrambled eggs for breakfast.

I headed to Peach Cafe for lunch with @WhizBangLouLou which was lovely :) I really like this place. Am dying to take The Trucker there sometime.

The rest of Sunday we took easy, The Trucker napped and worked while I watched series and then we made some very yummy ostrich burgers for dinner :) Perfect end <3

Bad to Awesome in One Week

Shew. What a topsy-turvy week ... My mood did not start out well, but by today it has vastly improved and I'm back to my blissed up, in love with the world, happy face :) None of it was Trucker-related. Mostly I have been in a very bad place work-wise and I think it collided with a temperamental week hormone-wise. It wasn't pretty. I was pretty blue with no light on the horizon.

But the week passed in spite of myself ... On Tuesday The Trucker & I had our first real spat (over nothing really, I'll now admit). Thank goodness I dragged myself to Boot Camp and for the first time ever I saw the results of exercise on a bad mood and left feeling far better than when I arrived. But I headed off to SCM Dinner and The Trucker had a late Action Cricket game so I didn't see him till much later when I barely woke as he climbed into bed next to me.

On Wednesday I was supposed to go to dinner with some friends from work, but I was feeling like what I really needed was one of those quiet evenings to myself at home. What with plans every day from Tuesday to Sunday this week, I was feeling a little socially overwhelmed. So I cancelled my dinner plans (because I will be seeing the same bunch at a birthday party tomorrow evening). The Trucker ended up cancelling his plans to meet @Toxic_Mouse for a drink so I went and grabbed some dinner supplies for us after my wax. I settled in to watch Grey's and he headed to gym. Dinner was delish and then we started on the new season of Californication. It was exactly the evening I needed! I was in a much better mood on Thursday morning :)

And things at work started improving yesterday ... I finally got a new project to sink my teeth into. I am absolutely no good at having no direction or nothing to work on ... I get very despondent. I even brushed off my CV earlier this week.  And I'll admit I saw a position going at Yuppie Chef this morning and I'm a little tempted ... but it's in Cape Town.

Anyway, last night was another fantastic evening. Spending time with The Trucker makes my heart soar and everything seem sparkly :) We went to the March Night Market hosted at Market on Main. I love doing something different.

Shew, but we ate! Well, we started with a drink while we wandered past all the stalls ... I had a very nice (if over priced) Mojito and The Trucker had a Bonecrusher from Darling Brews. I even quite liked it! It reminded me of the Sasparilla-flavoured drinks we'd had in Vietnam. Then we decided to start off sharing a plate of Chicken Nacho's from Mama Mexicana. (Excuse the crappy photo from my blackberry, my upgrade is due in May! Can. Not. Wait! And all I have on this computer is Windows Paint ... #sigh) Superb. To temper the spicy, I suggested something sweet next ... and we spotted some Chocolate con Churros (which I am a big fan of :) ) at the Culinary & Pastry School stand. We got one to share, they were huge! And so good :) We also tried a Cannoli each. And, as we chatted to the lovely lady serving us, we heard about the Pasty School's classes ... they apparently do a couple's pasta evening on Friday night for R250pp. The Trucker & I are totally doing that in Winter :D

We took another wander around and got a cheese samoosa each. Yummy. And then The Trucker wanted to try the Chicken in Pita from Soul Souvlaki. It was delish, some very good flavours combining. And I'm a big fan of the thick flat pita bread they used!

After that we decided to grab our last desserts (which we had sneakily already bought and asked the stall to keep for us because they looked like they were selling out fast ... and just as well, because they had!) and head home. I got a S'mores cupcake and The Trucker had a honeycomb cheesecake from Private Chefs. They were both good, but mine won hands down! Wow, superb.

Loved it :) Scarily tho, I have a check-in with my Nutritionist this morning ... I am hoping it won't be too bad, but am not expecting anything good after our trip to Cape Town, Valentines Day, our Sun City weekend and general eating out en masse. Haha, I keep expecting life to slow down a bit but really, it never does :) I am reminded what a lucky girl I really am <3 Which is definitely what I needed after this week ...

Girl Stuff

So, here's a weird one ... something I wouldn't usually post about. But my experience yesterday triggered it and I'd like some opinions.

Bikini Waxing. Do you wax? Or do you shave? What are the alternatives? I waxed for years before I took the plunge and moved over to Laser. I had the IPL Laser treatment at Matis in Cresta. Which I discovered last year has now closed down (and the other Matis branches don't seem to offer it). Devastated. Does anyone else find it horribly difficult to find a new "Salon"?

Now here's the thing, I was thrilled after I switched to Laser, I had great results. But it was freaking expensive, R400 a pop instead of the R60 for a wax. Yes, this was a few years back. But it was totally worth it and I never looked back. Now that I can't find a replacement Laser place, everywhere seems to be charging R100 for a hot wax. And can you believe I've phoned some places that say they only offer strip waxing. On a Bikini line ... Sorry what? And I have found a few Laser options, but to pay R700 or R800 a session for something that takes less than half an hour ... well just work out how many waxes that is per session. For me, that is more than a whole year of waxes. And it's not like you have the Laser once and bam, you never have to go again. You go less often, but you still go every 3-4 months (well I did).

So I went for a wax yesterday afternoon, in anticipation of the upcoming Sodwana trip next week. Let's just point out here that shaving has never been an option for me, the itch and ingrown hairs are intolerable. I guess the only way to find a new favourite is to try a few places. I've tried Sorbet in Cresta, which was fine, but that is a little out of the way for me now that I'm not actually getting the service I specifically want (the Laser) and honestly the convenience is as much of a contributing factor as the experience itself. Last night I tried Placecol. And it was awful. I won't be going there again. I'm still sore and tender this morning. It may have been a once-off (apparently the wax wasn't cooling fast enough because the air-con wasn't working and my hair has been left much finer from the Laser treatment), but it was enough that next time I'll definitely be looking for another new place.

Anyone got somewhere they love and would recommend to me? Anyone else going the Laser route and have a recommendation ... cause honestly I'd much prefer to go back to that!

Still Get The Blues

Meh. Woke up in a weird mood this morning. Yes, even tho life is pretty much the perfect example of awesome these moods still arrive ... I guess there is something to be said for a hormone fluctuation.

Actually I think the thing really weighing me down is work. I woke up with that terrified in the pit of my stomach feeling. That This is My Life feeling ... the overwhelmed-by-responsibility clues. I find in those moods you just have to wait for it to pass before you make any sudden moves or decisions. This too shall pass. Tomorrow everything won't seem so impossible and insurmountable. And now I know I have my Trucker next to me ... even when he's having a bad day too. So of course everything will be okay!

I don't know what to do about work. I have a horrible gut feeling that I don't really know what my dream job would even be ... so how can I look for a new position? And I have doubt. I've never really known how to sell myself. And now I've been here doing this job for almost 5 years, do I know how to do anything else? I'm pretty senior here and can trust my decisions on projects, from experience. I'm terrified of a new environment ... what if I can't? So yeah, I'm pretty certain that's what triggered this morning's mood. I just want everything to work out and not be hard and there not to be upheaval ...

I think sometimes this feeling also comes from feeling rushed off my feet. I've been busy (socially), I know. And it's not slowing down till after next weekend. It's hard to say no to a whole slab of Cadbury Bubbly! Haha.

Oh, and in other upheaval stories, we went to look at 2 more houses yesterday. Both were quite the step up from the first place, Thank Goodness! The one needs quite a bit of work, which the owner is planning on doing between tenants. And the other, well it was just about perfect. But we can't take it because, even with 3 bedrooms, it still has the exact same parking set up as my house (which is one of the major reasons we need a new place, what with y car, The Trucker's car, the pajero and his bike). And they sound like they have very strict pet policies. Which always worries me for the bunnies :( I never know if I shouldn't mention them at all or be honest ... they're quiet and not going to bother anyone, which is really the only reason I can see for requiring people to register their pets anyway (no one cares about those 10 goldfish you have, you know?). But still, this place is double storey (which The Trucker loves, I don't see the appeal of stairs) so the neighbours can see into the garden ... so keeping the bunnies a secret could backfire :P Anyway, so sadly it's a no ... Still need to decide on the first place.This is so much harder than I thought.

Oh, but Thanks to everyone who has voted for me so far on the Big Blog Exchange. Although I'm no where near the top 16, I am in the top 100 ... for now, there is still more than a month left to vote.

I do Love a Mini-Break

Wow. What a weekend. I had serious Sunday blues last night. But more on that later.

Friday was a wonderfully rainy evening so we got some Indian take-out from the Mumbai Palace and watched Argo. I really quite enjoyed it :) It's an interesting story and I do so love things that inspire me to go and find out more after seeing or reading about them! I'd recommend people watch this one.

On Saturday morning we were up super early so that we could get on the road to Sun City! Whoop whoop. Can you believe that in all my very nearly 9 years of living here in Joburg I have never been to Sun City before? Okay, after having been, I'm unlikely to be heading back soon so I guess it's not that unbelievable - haha. But I am glad I've now been and we had a fun day :)

We stopped for a quick brekkie at Wimpy in Harties and arrived at Sun City at about 9:30am. I'm a little blown away at the fact that you have to pay *twice* to get into the Valley of Waves. Seriously? Anyway, we waited ages for the transport to get from the parking lot to the casino ... there is a little sky-train we were told could only take 20 at a time (on our return tho, when we did catch it it had big signs saying max 50 passengers, so not sure why they were making people queue!). So we waited for buses ... which they eventually sent (they started out with a single mini-bus).

Anyway, I'm glad we went on Saturday, it was quite overcast and not as sweltering hot as it could've been! We did a few of the super tubes (not really my thing), we played in the wave pool, which is quite nice, I lazed on the grass reading my kindle and then we all moved up to the top pool, which was really cool. There were definitely moments where it was a little chilly but the sun came out and warmed us up again :)


We had some lunch at the Steers and The Trucker and I took a "spin" around the lazy river. And then the boys (we were there with @Toxic_Mouse and his current girl as well) took a few more trips down the Tower of Courage before we headed off.

We drove thru Sun City and into Pilanesberg and took a meandering drive to our overnight spot at Bakgatla Resort. Shew, I can NOT believe how many Rhino we saw on our drive. It was quite amazing :) And surprisingly no Elephant (since that is a staple of The Trucker & I on game drives). But we seem to be continuing out no-big-cats curse :( Hopefully we can turn that around at Kruger in April!

It was raining as we arrived but we had an awesome evening braai-ing ... far too much food :)

We had a bit of a lazy morning on Sunday, breakfast at the Resort restaurant and then off on another bit of a game drive before heading home. The most exciting thing we saw was a Caracal with her 2 little cubs (I am gonna try get a pic up later). That was pretty awesome :) So cute, the cubs were at that tumbling all over each other exploring age :)





On the way home we stopped at The Black Horse Brewery for lunch. Lovely setting, good beer (even for me!) and yummy food :)

We proceeded to crash on the couch for the rest of Sunday (after getting the grocery shopping and unpacking out of the way!).

Have I mentioned how much I adore my boyfriend. OMG so much. I am so impossibly spoilt. *swoon* Life is pretty damn amazing. Isn't typical then that work sucks at the moment. I really have no inclination or interest in my job at the moment :( Am considering starting to hunt for a new one. Can you believe May will be 5 years since I started here ... longest ever! I dunno what to do, finding a new job seems so daunting. And I won't lie it feels a little like I'm stuck in a Frying Pan (staying) vs. Fire (going) sort of situation here. Anyway, so aside from the joy my non-work life is giving me, my work-life is pretty meh at the moment :(

Oh, and one quick other thing. So, there is this Blogging competition on for 16 bloggers to exchange lives & blogs with someone, somewhere else around the world for a week in June ... So um, yeah, you know me, how much I love travel. Could you click on this link and give me a vote? Thanks :)