A photographer came here last week and took photos of all of us here at work. I am not photogenic, the photos of me publicly on display are usually the ones I don't look bad in but the majority of photos taken of me are not shown to people.
Years ago, people used to look at me with my blonde hair and immediately know that I was my mom's daughter. If my cousin Melanie was with us, they'd think she was my sister and Leslie, my sister, our cousin.
Years later I don't look as much like them as I used to but when I saw some of these photos, I was shocked. I looked just like my mom when she was younger and in one shot, I look just like Melanie with dark hair!
One day Melanie found a picture of her mom and my mom when they were teenagers and we stared at it in confusion wondering when the photo of us was taken, the resemblance was so strong.
I suppose hairdye only does so much.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Clarens - The jewel of the eastern Free State - pictures!! Oooh!!
After a conversation with a friend yesterday telling her how awesome Clarens in the Eastern Free State is, I decided to share my immense love of this place with everyone else as well as continue to tempt her to take a trip there to have some R&R.
If you're in Johannesburg, Clarens is a short 3 and a half hour pleasant drive away.
You'll know you're there when you see the rock formation below. This is called Titanic Rock. Doesn't it look just like the Titanic? So cool!!
The moment you get into the town of Clarens itself, you will notice how quaint and small it is. Unlike any place I've ever been to in South Africa (and I've been to quite a few places in SA), the effect of this totally different and sweet, little world is both calming and energising. It's like you've had a month's holiday after a weekend there.
The idea though is to appreciate Clarens for being so different in that you should find your accommodation, park your car and walk wherever you want to go and not use the car at all, even if it's raining.
What is there to do in this little town? Well, there are various things. The main attractions I suppose would be the amazing scenery, the art galleries and the food.
Being near the Lesotho border, the Maluti mountains are like...right there! If you're into taking hikes and walks or riding horses or taking pics of scenery...hang on, we've been called for pizza...and I'm back so anyway, if you're into the whole nature thing, this place is phenomenally beautiful!
Other than that, there are art galleries galore and restaurants that will have you dreaming of their food for years to come.
My personal recommendation is to go and have supper or lunch at Street Caffe (their burgers and fettucini alfredo are like no other that I've ever experienced) and then head to Clementines for dessert which should unmistakeably be their Lemon Meringue Ice-cream cake. It's R35 a slice (or was in December 2009) but is so worth it! Clementines also have a very good Ostrich Medallion dish! Yum! Yum!
The art galleries are not dreary and dull and you don't need to be one of those arty people to appreciate them. There's also a wine gallery if that appeals.
There are sports pubs and ice-cream shops that have decadent and interesting flavours and a few pancake shops too. Absolutely no chain stores when I was last there and I hope it stays that way.
If you're more into holidays with some sort of educational value, you can go and visit the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. It's very interesting and those pipes are so huge that it would take three of me (at 1.69 metres tall) on top of each other to touch the top of the pipe.
Clarens is the ideal place to get married if you're having under 50 guests and want somewhere beautiful and unique to have your special day.
One of the nicest wedding venues in Clarens is the Castle. It accommodates 20 guests for an intimate wedding and the decor is very 18th century and well, castle-ey.
If we didn't have so many people invited to our wedding, I'd have chosen to get married in Clarens in the one church in Main Road with food from Street Caffe and dessert from Clementines and then have the reception in the Castle.
Sigh! Clarens is my favourite place in the entire world thus far. I love everything about it. It's such an escape, the air is so clean and the water so sweet and the place filled with beauty and happiness and the chamomile tea better than any other in the country. If only there was a thriving job market there...
If you're in Johannesburg, Clarens is a short 3 and a half hour pleasant drive away.
You'll know you're there when you see the rock formation below. This is called Titanic Rock. Doesn't it look just like the Titanic? So cool!!
The moment you get into the town of Clarens itself, you will notice how quaint and small it is. Unlike any place I've ever been to in South Africa (and I've been to quite a few places in SA), the effect of this totally different and sweet, little world is both calming and energising. It's like you've had a month's holiday after a weekend there.
The idea though is to appreciate Clarens for being so different in that you should find your accommodation, park your car and walk wherever you want to go and not use the car at all, even if it's raining.
What is there to do in this little town? Well, there are various things. The main attractions I suppose would be the amazing scenery, the art galleries and the food.
Being near the Lesotho border, the Maluti mountains are like...right there! If you're into taking hikes and walks or riding horses or taking pics of scenery...hang on, we've been called for pizza...and I'm back so anyway, if you're into the whole nature thing, this place is phenomenally beautiful!
Other than that, there are art galleries galore and restaurants that will have you dreaming of their food for years to come.
My personal recommendation is to go and have supper or lunch at Street Caffe (their burgers and fettucini alfredo are like no other that I've ever experienced) and then head to Clementines for dessert which should unmistakeably be their Lemon Meringue Ice-cream cake. It's R35 a slice (or was in December 2009) but is so worth it! Clementines also have a very good Ostrich Medallion dish! Yum! Yum!
The art galleries are not dreary and dull and you don't need to be one of those arty people to appreciate them. There's also a wine gallery if that appeals.
There are sports pubs and ice-cream shops that have decadent and interesting flavours and a few pancake shops too. Absolutely no chain stores when I was last there and I hope it stays that way.
If you're more into holidays with some sort of educational value, you can go and visit the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. It's very interesting and those pipes are so huge that it would take three of me (at 1.69 metres tall) on top of each other to touch the top of the pipe.
Clarens is the ideal place to get married if you're having under 50 guests and want somewhere beautiful and unique to have your special day.
One of the nicest wedding venues in Clarens is the Castle. It accommodates 20 guests for an intimate wedding and the decor is very 18th century and well, castle-ey.
If we didn't have so many people invited to our wedding, I'd have chosen to get married in Clarens in the one church in Main Road with food from Street Caffe and dessert from Clementines and then have the reception in the Castle.
Sigh! Clarens is my favourite place in the entire world thus far. I love everything about it. It's such an escape, the air is so clean and the water so sweet and the place filled with beauty and happiness and the chamomile tea better than any other in the country. If only there was a thriving job market there...
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Man abuse and people in search of answers
I look at my stats now and then and I often see a pattern. The posts entitled "a hint of Madness" or "It's ok to talk to yourself..." and "Are the voices in my head bothering you" seem to be quite popular a lot of the time. This made me wonder if someone or lots of someones are either concerned about their own mental well-being and are looking for answers or if someone or lots of someones are concerned about my mental wellness and are looking for confessions.
If you're looking for answers, this is not the place to look. I am a first year psych student who reads a lot about people and how we think and what causes mental illness, etc but I am by no means any expert nor am I equipped to provide any sort of guidance yet. But be careful about what else you read out there, a lot of it is written by people who think they have all the answers. Always rely on an expert in the field for accurate information.
If your concern is for my mental health, I can assure you that I am quite normal :)
The man abuse is also not on a serious note so if you're a man being abused, get help, this is just nonsense and won't help you at all.
Last night I went to Al and said "I want to try this salsa turn I saw on Youtube with you slowly just to see if it would work without you breaking my arm accidentally". Now firstly, Alan is a lot taller than me and very strong and he often breaks things by accident because he just grabs the item or bends it too much or whatever and so this turn required that he put my right arm behind my back whilst facing me and then lean it and grab my right hand with his left hand and gently pull which would, in essence, unwind me.
So we tried very slowly and it was great. So he wanted to try a lot faster. So we did and as he started pulling I felt my shoulder strain and my elbow click and it started to hurt. I tried to frantically untwist myself before I was hurt and in the process, I elbowed his right eyeball! Needless to say, the veins were all inflamed and bleeding a little and it looked a little like what Arnold Schwarzenegger looked like in Terminator 1 when he took his eye out. O.k, not that bad but it was red. I felt so guilty! He was hoping the socket bone would bruise so that he could go to work and tell everyone that I beat him but much to his disappointment, it didn't.
So now his eye isn't so red and looks quite normal but it's still sore for him and his plea for sympathy from the ladies at his office will be met with doubtful looks :) Poor Al! All that pain and nobody to feel sorry for him. Except me. But that doesn't count because I was the instigator of the pain that should warrant sympathy. Poor Bunny :)
If you're looking for answers, this is not the place to look. I am a first year psych student who reads a lot about people and how we think and what causes mental illness, etc but I am by no means any expert nor am I equipped to provide any sort of guidance yet. But be careful about what else you read out there, a lot of it is written by people who think they have all the answers. Always rely on an expert in the field for accurate information.
If your concern is for my mental health, I can assure you that I am quite normal :)
The man abuse is also not on a serious note so if you're a man being abused, get help, this is just nonsense and won't help you at all.
Last night I went to Al and said "I want to try this salsa turn I saw on Youtube with you slowly just to see if it would work without you breaking my arm accidentally". Now firstly, Alan is a lot taller than me and very strong and he often breaks things by accident because he just grabs the item or bends it too much or whatever and so this turn required that he put my right arm behind my back whilst facing me and then lean it and grab my right hand with his left hand and gently pull which would, in essence, unwind me.
So we tried very slowly and it was great. So he wanted to try a lot faster. So we did and as he started pulling I felt my shoulder strain and my elbow click and it started to hurt. I tried to frantically untwist myself before I was hurt and in the process, I elbowed his right eyeball! Needless to say, the veins were all inflamed and bleeding a little and it looked a little like what Arnold Schwarzenegger looked like in Terminator 1 when he took his eye out. O.k, not that bad but it was red. I felt so guilty! He was hoping the socket bone would bruise so that he could go to work and tell everyone that I beat him but much to his disappointment, it didn't.
So now his eye isn't so red and looks quite normal but it's still sore for him and his plea for sympathy from the ladies at his office will be met with doubtful looks :) Poor Al! All that pain and nobody to feel sorry for him. Except me. But that doesn't count because I was the instigator of the pain that should warrant sympathy. Poor Bunny :)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
A hint of madness
This wedding thing is getting to me a little now. There are little things that are either just not happening or not happening at the right time and it's frustrating and stressing me out a lot.
It's so silly, all this nonsense for one day. All the stress and organisation for one day that will fly by so fast. How closely do people really look at the bridesmaids dresses or the way you tied the bows around the chairs or the hems of the overlays? I've never closely examined anything at a wedding, ok, maybe because I'd have to be standing like right on top of whatever it was and that just wasn't possible or normal at the time, but honestly, are things really that scrutinised?
All these websites and magazines telling you how to create the perfect day stress you out.
Yesterday, I attempted to write a thank you poem to our parents and I really struggled. I don't usually struggle to write things, it just comes out but yesterday, I couldn't find what I wanted to say in the way I wanted to say it. I managed 4 lines which I'm happy with thus far and then I scrapped the rest because of the word "Gun" being in it. Nowhere in your wedding should you thank your parents for not shooting you even if you sometimes gave them adequate reason, ok, more Al than me ;) and that's when it hit me that I need to stop now and get back into my body and let the wedding alien go free :)
I feel like I need a weekend off of wedding stuff completely. A weekend to just spend with Alan and maybe go and have a picnic or take a walk or something un-wedding related.
All I want is for the people I care about most to be there and for everyone to wear clothes and for the people invited to know that they're invited, it shouldn't be this much stress.
It's so silly, all this nonsense for one day. All the stress and organisation for one day that will fly by so fast. How closely do people really look at the bridesmaids dresses or the way you tied the bows around the chairs or the hems of the overlays? I've never closely examined anything at a wedding, ok, maybe because I'd have to be standing like right on top of whatever it was and that just wasn't possible or normal at the time, but honestly, are things really that scrutinised?
All these websites and magazines telling you how to create the perfect day stress you out.
Yesterday, I attempted to write a thank you poem to our parents and I really struggled. I don't usually struggle to write things, it just comes out but yesterday, I couldn't find what I wanted to say in the way I wanted to say it. I managed 4 lines which I'm happy with thus far and then I scrapped the rest because of the word "Gun" being in it. Nowhere in your wedding should you thank your parents for not shooting you even if you sometimes gave them adequate reason, ok, more Al than me ;) and that's when it hit me that I need to stop now and get back into my body and let the wedding alien go free :)
I feel like I need a weekend off of wedding stuff completely. A weekend to just spend with Alan and maybe go and have a picnic or take a walk or something un-wedding related.
All I want is for the people I care about most to be there and for everyone to wear clothes and for the people invited to know that they're invited, it shouldn't be this much stress.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Spring - My favourite Spring poem
The Budding Bronx - Anonymous
Der spring is sprung
Der grass is riz
I wonder where dem boidies is?
Der little boids is on der wing,
Ain't dat absoid?
Der little wings is on de boid!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
My dogs are so cute!
Yesterday afternoon, whilst lying in bed feeling ill, I started eating a punnet of cherry tomatoes. My dog, Fatty, who is completely food obsessed, decided that she'd like to try one. So I gave her one. She threw it up in the air and chased after it and threw it again and chased after it until eventually, in her eagerness to catch her tomato, she bit into it and decided that it tasted really good. So she came back for another and another and another. It was so cute!
My other dog, Gubs, had no interest in tomatoes but instead wanted the baby carrots I was also eating. Fats didn't like the carrots.
It was so nice to be home with them yesterday. I was sick and stayed in bed all day barring getting up to get some juice or water and the doggies slept all day with me, barring when we ate the tomatoes and carrots.
That's all. It's just a post about how cute my dogs are :)
My other dog, Gubs, had no interest in tomatoes but instead wanted the baby carrots I was also eating. Fats didn't like the carrots.
It was so nice to be home with them yesterday. I was sick and stayed in bed all day barring getting up to get some juice or water and the doggies slept all day with me, barring when we ate the tomatoes and carrots.
That's all. It's just a post about how cute my dogs are :)
Friday, August 26, 2011
What should I do with my hair, dol?
No, it's not like a vain post where I want to know how I should style my hair for my shopping for Alan's wedding shoes tomorrow thing, it's what happened this morning.
I am anal about my hair. Yes, you may look at it and think "You are?!" and well, o.k, I was. I'm not so much anymore because I just couldn't be as bothered because you know what, it's hair, it's on my head and it's a nice colour and it doesn't resemble clown hair too much and I can sort of kind of control the frizz and so it's fine. Whatever. But I used to be anal about my hair.
I would pull my hair elastic out of my near-perfect plait that my sister had just spent 20 minutes doing because there were "bumps" and it had to be bump-free. Eventually, she taught me how to do the various plaits myself and told me to do it myself. I did. It was fine. Bump-free!
But anyway, that is not the story. In fact, it's not even part of the story. In fact, I don't even know why I told you that. I now look like a prissy cow who demanded bump-free perfection every day and subjected her poor sister to her rantings. Ja, ok, it was like that but then I once ended up with pink hair, way too short hair, hair falling out and you kind of just get over your hair in time, I suppose. But ANYWAY, on with my story:
So last night I washed my hair and could not find my hairdryer anywhere! I don't sleep with wet hair generally as I get cold and don't sleep well but I decided to crank the heater up and just do it because I was too tired to look for my hairdryer after investigating Alan's wrinkles on his face for half an hour. It's most fascinating to look at someone's wrinkles really close-up. I'm straying again. Ahem.
So this morning I woke up and my usually wavy hair was a mass of mad spiralling curls that were all standing straight up in the air! Now my hair is half way down my back in length so it was hectic! I looked like Medusa! No, no, this could not happen and tying my hair up was out as I had a whopping sinus headache to boot. So I reached for my straightener whilst still in bed and when it had heated up to my desired temperature, I started the fixing process.
Now when you don't see very well, your other senses develope to compensate. My sense of touch is very good and I often rely on it a lot at night when trying to unlock doors, etc. So, I decided that I couldn't see the detail from so far away and so i would rely on my sense of touch as I usually do when straightening my hair because you can feel the waves, or mad curls in this instance.
Unfortunately, my sense of touch failed me. In patches. I ended up with one side of my head having wavy hair at the top and straight at the bottom and the other side having a patch of mad curls and straight around them and well, it just looked like I just couldn't decide what I wanted to do with my hair today so I did a bit of everything.
I have since taken headache tablets and tied my hair up. I may not be anal anymore about my hair but I'm not attention-seeking either!
I am anal about my hair. Yes, you may look at it and think "You are?!" and well, o.k, I was. I'm not so much anymore because I just couldn't be as bothered because you know what, it's hair, it's on my head and it's a nice colour and it doesn't resemble clown hair too much and I can sort of kind of control the frizz and so it's fine. Whatever. But I used to be anal about my hair.
I would pull my hair elastic out of my near-perfect plait that my sister had just spent 20 minutes doing because there were "bumps" and it had to be bump-free. Eventually, she taught me how to do the various plaits myself and told me to do it myself. I did. It was fine. Bump-free!
But anyway, that is not the story. In fact, it's not even part of the story. In fact, I don't even know why I told you that. I now look like a prissy cow who demanded bump-free perfection every day and subjected her poor sister to her rantings. Ja, ok, it was like that but then I once ended up with pink hair, way too short hair, hair falling out and you kind of just get over your hair in time, I suppose. But ANYWAY, on with my story:
So last night I washed my hair and could not find my hairdryer anywhere! I don't sleep with wet hair generally as I get cold and don't sleep well but I decided to crank the heater up and just do it because I was too tired to look for my hairdryer after investigating Alan's wrinkles on his face for half an hour. It's most fascinating to look at someone's wrinkles really close-up. I'm straying again. Ahem.
So this morning I woke up and my usually wavy hair was a mass of mad spiralling curls that were all standing straight up in the air! Now my hair is half way down my back in length so it was hectic! I looked like Medusa! No, no, this could not happen and tying my hair up was out as I had a whopping sinus headache to boot. So I reached for my straightener whilst still in bed and when it had heated up to my desired temperature, I started the fixing process.
Now when you don't see very well, your other senses develope to compensate. My sense of touch is very good and I often rely on it a lot at night when trying to unlock doors, etc. So, I decided that I couldn't see the detail from so far away and so i would rely on my sense of touch as I usually do when straightening my hair because you can feel the waves, or mad curls in this instance.
Unfortunately, my sense of touch failed me. In patches. I ended up with one side of my head having wavy hair at the top and straight at the bottom and the other side having a patch of mad curls and straight around them and well, it just looked like I just couldn't decide what I wanted to do with my hair today so I did a bit of everything.
I have since taken headache tablets and tied my hair up. I may not be anal anymore about my hair but I'm not attention-seeking either!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)