anybody home?

yoo hoo! anybody home? 

I'm way overdue for my post holiday updates, but the bad news is I'm really just snowed under at the moment. The good news is that the reason I my life is so hectic is because I got a promotion at work!

Yep, I'm officially second-in-command to the Creative Director (we've never been huge on titles). And straight into my first week, I'm on my ace keeping things running smoothly. It's been quite an adrenalin rush so far, and I seem to be managing okay which is awesome. So hold thumbs that I can get the studio through the week unscathed!

So I will get around to posting about the holiday, there are so many lovely bits that I would love to share… In the meantime, check out the holiday snaps on Flickr - I've finally finished uploading them all!

PS. Went to the first game at the Moses Mabhida Stadium yesterday, pity about the soaking rain, but we have an AMAZING stadium in Durban that I am so proud of! And the refreshment kiosks have the COOLEST automatic draught beer machines. You just snap the cup onto this thingy, that fills the cup automatically from a valve under the cup! No more queueing for beer… yay!

we're baaaaack!

We arrived back home yesterday after more than 36 hours of travelling. Exhausted and exhilarated, and already missing the yummy and cheap street food. I'll start wading through the pics and get them onto my Flickr account, but as for blogging I don't think I will be doing the same 'diary style' like last year. Instead I plan on focusing each post on a special area of interest from the trip.

'Til then...

happy loi kratong!

Happy Loi Kratong to everyone in Thailand!

toodle loo

Mr T and I are off to Thailand and Cambodia for 3 weeks… Yay!

Bye for now!

the hunter and the hunted

Chloe has been pretty good these last months with no longer leaving footless geckos on my bathmat. Either she understood my scolding and turned over a new leaf, or else the gecko population had been decimated.
But it now seems to be hunting season again.

I arrived home on Tuesday night to find a poor little dead sparrow on the bathmat. Thankfully all in one piece. So here we go again!

Wednesday night I sorted my laundry and did one load, leaving the rest to do on Thursday. So last night as I'm shaking out my laundry from the toploader, what do I find amidst my clothes? A slightly turgid full on garden variety lizard (one of those dark brown ones with the 2 stripes) with a bloody stump where its tail should be. FML. It took a great deal of strength to calming remove it and carry on shaking out my washing like nothing happened. A lizard in the spin cycle with my favourite leggings? Noooo…

So later on, as I'm heading to bed I hear some scuffling from upstairs. First I thought it was a feral cat sneaking in, as Chloe is usually pretty chilled up there. As I go to investigate, I discover my bathroom in more disarray than usual, with Chloe chasing after the cutest, tiniest mouse ever. At least the poor thing still had feet.
Cue loads of shouting and trying to chase my cat out the house whilst keeping an eye on the stray vermin… Holy crap. Eventually I get Chloe outside and now have to go mouse hunting. Luckily I managed to catch it without too much palaver and set it free down a storm water drain. Is this what summer has in store for me?

the moreish irish…

If you haven't seen these in store yet, keep a look out. The old Flanagans from my youth are back, and they are so crunchy delicious its insane… yum, yum, yum.

PS. and I designed the new bag :)

phinda - rock lodge

Mr T and I were lucky enough to have a long weekend at Phinda this weekend gone. His brother and sister-in-law both work there and are kind enough to share their perks. And what a perk it is. Phinda is really just too amazing. Luxury safaris are so the way to go to forget the meaning of the word stress. The most difficult decision all weekend was what shall I have to drink with my lunch?

We stayed at Rock Lodge this time (like, John Cusack has stayed there with his family, serious), and it was wonderful. I can't even begin to explain how amazing and abundant the food is. We had barely recovered from one meal and it was time it eat again. And it ain't easy to show restraint when the spread on offer is so delicious. We literally ate ourselves sick.

We also had a good few game drives, most of which were in the pouring rain. But we stayed strong, though during one particular downpour the outlook was pretty bleak. The ponchos were soaked through and we were no longer warm and dry underneath. And it was POURING. But we made it through, and the sun even started to shine a little after… Either way I loved sitting in the big 4 x 4 and flying over all the bumps in the road.

We had such a special time, and I can't wait to see Phinda again some day.

I heart the bush

hmm… where to begin?

our room

holga love… finally

After my first roll of film got erased - long story, film wasn't labelled and so the lab used the wrong process :( with loads of pics from my sisters wedding gone forever :( I finally got around to finishing my 2nd roll of film.

It was great to FINALLY see what my camera is capable of. A lot of the shots didn't come out due to poor lighting and me forgetting to charge the flash. I guess digital photography has made me lazy, though I wasn't exactly a natural at getting a basic exposure back in the day.

But I did get a few nice shots and look forward to a lot more happy snaps, and a lot less booboo bin!

the subscriber you have dialed is unavailable at present…

Carte Blanche broadcast a segment on cell phone tariffs two Sundays ago. The main concern was the inter-connect charges which are heavily bloated compared to prices worldwide. Icasa is currently in talks with our service providers, and so hopefully we will see a resolution soon.

But regardless, I do believe that generally cell phone costs are very high, even though majority of our poorer population rely on them for communication. I think if we even fathomed the profits that the service providers make DAILY, we would be ill. Think about it, they set up the transmitters years ago, so basically they can just sit back and rake in the profits daily. Easy money.

So why are we happy with paying so much more than the rest of the world, even though South Africa was a worldwide pioneer in cell phone technology?

Well I would like to do something about it. I want the big guns out there to stop and take notice - that the days of taking consumers for a ride is over.

I'm suggesting picking one day a month as a 'Cell Free Day'. No mobile calls, no text messaging. No revenue for the service providers. I'll sooner sign onto their website and use my 10 free sms's a day.

Just one day a month, every month until they sit up and take notice. I'm dead keen.

shine shine

Check out these great local printed fabrics… I love the football fan!

All designs are available in cotton, oilcoth and upholstery linen from Shine Shine.

sweet life

My friends Bridget and Mark left our shores last week to embark on a little 9 month round-the-world trip. Nice one hey?

What makes it a little interesting is that Bridget is a Type I diabetic, so they will be blogging each stage of their trip to show that being diabetic doesn't mean that you can't do cool stuff! You can read more about Bridget's story in the August issue of Shape magazine.

They've managed to rustle up some cool sponsors too, to make their trip a little easier. Very exciting stuff, I'm sure we would all jump at the chance to travel the world, but they have made it a reality. We can only watch and drool.

For now, check out their blog, Sweet Life. They have started their trip in Thailand and I am already so, so jealous…

keep in touch

I've been busy with life and stuff so its time for a little update…

CINEMA: Saw District 9 on its opening weekend. What an incredible movie, like nothing I have ever seen before. I loved seeing Joburg on the silver screen, it played its part so well, dusty and not too pretty but exactly what it needed to be. The movie had me on the edge of my seat from word go, and I read so many layers and themes into the story. A very clever way of holding a mirror up to humanity…
I'm so excited for the director, Neill Blomkamp, he has shown incredible promise for his first film - and its time that South Africa made itself known on the movie-making map. I'm ready and waiting for District 10!

DVD: Gran Turino. What a brilliant film. Clint Eastwood is sheer movie-making genius. G-E-N-I-U-S.

WORK: This year has been our busiest ever. Insane, but wonderful that the economic recession hasn't affected us as it should have. But aside from the sharp pains I developed in my left wrist a month ago, which disappeared after wearing a chic flesh-toned wrist brace for a few days, I am now finding myself experiencing some tingling slash numbness in my left arm. Now THAT's a fun one to Google. So I went to the GP at Mr T's insistence, he tried to get away with just prescribing me heavy medication, but I'm so not for the treat-the-symptom vibe. So he did some x-rays to rule out any spine issues, and suggested I exercise and go for physio to see if that helps out any.
I went for my first physio session on Friday (waaaay better than chiro in my opinion) and left feeling elated. I moved my neck for the first time in MONTHs. I'm already feeling less tension, and will also be more aware of my posture to avoid tweaking any more nerves. I look forward to more physio and getting my spine strong and healthy. Yay!

MUSIC: Have you heard the new A-Ha single, Foot of the Mountain? Beautiful in a Keane-like kinda way… Love that they have still got it. Also LOVING Le Roux's Bulletproof, listen to this DJ Copycat remix for all you dance fans out there…

AND STUFF: So The Killers are on their way to Cape Town and Jozi in December, and I wish I was more excited, but then I am from Durban. But something I'm looking forward to is John Legend, who will be playing at the ICC next month. I do love all his albums and think he will be wonderful live.

Did I mention that I'm going on holiday in 6 weeks!?

spring!

Yay for Spring! I finally managed to get my hands on some beautiful yellow pom poms of Craspedia…

I look forward to getting home during the week and the sun is still up and my legs looking brown and healthy. I look forward to my holiday in Thailand with Mr T.

I look forward to So You Think You Can Dance V starting on the Series Channel tomorrow night at 8pm.

Bring on summer!