Wednesday, July 09, 2008

From the little angels in my life...

I just thought I'd do a little showing off today, and let the world know how much I'm loved by 2 of the cutest kids on the planet!

From Princess Ella, the "just because I love you" gift of a coloured-in unicorn:



And from Trysten, a "thank you for my birthday present" card:



Note: This card is ACTUAL sand art and the branch is made from gold glitter. Take THAT!

I'm SO spoilt! Both of these gifts are up at my desk, and they totally make my day every time they catch my eye. Thanks Ella and Trysten! xox

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Rose Mojitos - High fashion cocktails for a high fashion night!




Three cheers for the MTN Durban Fashion Week!
Last night one of my best girls, LorLor, hooked us up with tickets for the Ruff Tung and Leigh Shubert shows (as you can see from the ticket). I guess our big celeb claim to fame was that LorLor's mom was actually one of the dressmaker staff type people for Leigh Shubert... VERY cool.
Ruff Tung (Paul Botha) was very brave with a colour palette of soft greys and white, with hot lumi pink accents and pieces. I LOVED the range. In fact, there were one or two dresses that I'd LOVE to add to my wardrobe.
The Leigh Shubert collection on the other hand, left me a little lukewarm... It was very pretty and soft and well put together... I just only saw ONE dress that I'd pretty much kill for. And that was it!
We started the evening with mojitos and ended it with a few more!
Thanks LorLor for hooking us up with tickets and thanks Clint for your HILARIOUS running commentary throughout the 2 catwalk shows. You should get one of those super-shmodel hairdos... Seriously!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Finally!



The world's coolest invention EVER! A peanut butter or jam jar that opens on both ends...
WHY DIDN'T I INVENT THAT??!!! Doh...

Friday, June 13, 2008

One of the Saddest Days in Internet History...

You can't imagine how sad I am today to go to my FAVOURITE food website in the whole wide world, only to find this:



My life will never be the same now that www.tastespotting.com is gone. I know it's only 10.28am, but all I want to do is drown my sorrows in the latest, coolest cocktail, the... Wait a minute?! I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE LATEST COOLEST COCKTAIL IS??!!! Or the newest food trends!!! Tastespotting isn't here to inform me anymore...
Life suddenly just got sadder and harder.

Friday, May 30, 2008

ABF Bowling


A couple of months ago I blogged about the ABF (Advertising Benevolent Fund) Golf Day. Well... A few thursdays ago saw the ABF Bowling night. Talk about an "adventure"! Let's just say that I'm not exactly known for my sports' skills. So when the guys informed me that I would actually be bowling? GULP!
Aaanyhoo... I eventually got the hang of it and ended up having a blast, and didn't look like too much of a tosser.
The theme this year was "movies" so we went as the Lords of Rox-Town, seeing as we're from Umhlanga Rocks, and the boys here are all surfers and skaterboys etc.
It all started out innocently enough with pizza and bowling... And ended with a break-dance showdown and near arrest.
Viva ABF! VIVA!!!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The new home of publicaddress:


Exciting times indeed, peopz!
Last Friday was when we chose to pack up all our shizz and head off to our brand spanking new offices at Holwood Park, Umhlanga Ridge. I've never been happier and prouder than when we steeped into the door and saw our new place for the first time. So of course I totally did The Chick Thing and blubbed. Heh heh heh...
My spot is the one next to the window (the empty chair in the pic). I chose it especially so that I could gaze out the window and daydream when nobody's looking... *happy sigh*
It's been a whirlwind couple of days buying all the stuff we need and doing a lot of the final handyman stuff ourselves. The entire gang was here 'til 2am on Friday night pretending to work, shouting above the music blaring out of our new surround sound system, laughing, drinking whiskey, scoffing pizza and thinking back on how far we've come...
Yeah... The times they are a-changin' for publicaddress: and for me.
Watch this space for pics of the new place I'll be moving into at the end of May! I can't wait. It's more than I could have ever hoped to find for the money that I wanted to spend. And the people who own it are FABULOUS!
PLUS I'm transferring to the posh Gateway gym so that I'm closer to my office. Well... At least, that's the excuse I'm sticking to: I need to move to the posh gym to be closer to work... (Double heh heh heh!)
I'm gonna miss little Amber the pup and Ella (one of the director's 3-year old princess daughters) at the old office and I'll definitely miss my Beena at home, but after the giant lizard she left me last night, that scuttled over my toes at 5.30am this morning, I think weekend visits to my folks place to see her will be MORE than I can handle. Let's just say that if the pounding on its head with my shoe didn't kill it, then my screams most definitely gave it a serious, fatal heart attack!
Ag, Beena! My fuzzy angel.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Meet my new friend!



Everyone, please choon a lekker howzit to my new china, Amber.
She lives with the peops that we're renting our offices from and she's the cutest thing on four legs... Besides my Beena, of course!



Amber smaaks:
- Cuddling
- Nibbling on toes
- Missioning around the backyard (nose to the ground)
- Hiding under my long skirts
- Slurping water from her bowl

Amber choons "No way, bro!" to:
- Bella (the other, older dog of the house)
- Being confined to a safe space when she's left alone
- Night time
- Being locked out of our office (especially when she can check us through the glass doors)
- Stopping when she's had enough chow



Puppies are just too precious! I don't really know what she's going to grow up to be, ie. what "kind" of dog. But then, I prefer not to put race / breed / colour / creed / species / etc labels onto anyone anyway. It just takes us back ±20 years in this country. Amber can be whatever the heck she wants to be! 'Cos I she's a liberated chick! Just like me...

You mean this shizz actually HAPPENS??!!


So... there I was enjoying a cup of coffee with Best Boy during a daytime load shedding power failure in our hood, when out of the blue comes two cops to order... wait for it... a bunch of DONUTS and some coffee! They stood outside enjoying their snack, while I stared, open-mouthed! Cops?! Hanging out at the donut shop??!!
Come on!
I thought that shizz only happened in movies!
By the time Best Boy and I were ready to leave, at least 2 more cop cars pulled up for the same order. Must be their local haunt or something.
Classic.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Pimp my ride, beyotch!!!



So... Here's how it all went down.
On Tuesday night, I headed off to our weekly church home group meeting with Best Boy (*giggle*) and a family from the DRC that are in our group and that we give a lift to every week. We decided to use my car, seeing as there's more room for the guys in the back, and I was parked closest to the gate. Cool! First Best Boy and I stop to pick up the Danzala's (I think that's how you spell it) in a busy Berea street. We wait patiently for the guys to come out - they've only just come back from work and need to freshen up - only to be yelled at by some irate taxi driver who thinks I'm deliberately blocking the street for no good reason. Clearly, that's how I get my kicks, right? Sigh. Well! We eventually head off to home group not even 10kms away, everyone gets out the car so that I can park in the narrow little Morningside street, and I proceed to do my thing... Only to brush the curb / a stone / a nail somewhere and totally puncture my front left tyre. Double sigh. Much to my embarrassment and mortification, the entire home group meeting had to be scrapped so that the exhausted men could change the tyre by the light of the moon while the ladies sat inside sipping on coffee and talking about babies. Big giant sigh. (At this point I must stop to thank Best Boy, our home group leader and our mate from the DRC for not only changing the tyre, but machine-polishing out the nasty scratches I've managed to accumulate over the past month or so... See? There ARE a few good men left in this world!!!)
So the next morning, gym took the day off so that I could race to Tiger Wheel & Tyre to get the puncture fixed. Of course, my dad gave me a full briefing before I left...
1. Don't pay more than ±R25 to R50 for a repair.
2. If they can't repair it, get them to find a second hand tyre for you.
3. Don't pay more than R200 for the second hand tyre.
4. Make sure that they match the tyre to the others already on the car or else the alignment and balancing will go wonky. (NB: "Wonky" is a highly technical mechanical engineering term that will take me AGES to explain, so just trust me that "wonky" = "very bad"!)
5. WAIT THERE while they repair/replace the tyre. It's DANGEROUS driving around on the narrow little spare tyre (or Marie Biscuit) that comes with the car.
Sheesh.
To cut a long story short... I got there only to discover that my car's two front tyres were in dangerous condition and urgently needed to be replaced. They couldn't just fix the punctured one anyway. (Cha-ching!) What was supposed to cost no more than R200 is now looking more like R1200. I think, fine! Tyres are a grudge purchase. I'm not gonna love forking out the dosh, but I need them so whatever! I have 2 new tyres fitted... But... While I'm paying at the cashier, I notice the really nice mags displayed on the wall and casually ask what they go for...
Carmen: ... you know ... I've been wanting to get rid of the crappy hub caps on my car for ages... these mags look cool, hey? but I'm sure they're expensive, right?
(Carmen silently prays: Please God, let them be so ridiculously expensive that I don't buy them? PLEASE??!!)
Tyre Man: Well... As luck would have it, we had a special on this weekend, and these particular mags (he points to a lovely set on the wall) were going for ±30% OFF... it's a really good deal... the special is over but I'm sure I can get them to give them to you for the special price... yes?
(Cha-ching! Cha-ching!!!!)
Carmen: ... erm... eish... I'll take them!!!!
And that's the story of how my car got some new stilettos.
I love them! The car even feels faster and smoother, even though I know it's all in my head!

Friday, March 07, 2008

Major Eye-Opener

One of my best friends, Lis, sent me an email a few days ago that completely stopped me in my tracks. To say that it's one of those eye-openers would be a serious understatement. It's basically a summary, or grocery list of what different families around the world consume in a week, along with the cost of those groceries in USD. To think that I was stomping around the mall a few days ago, miserable over the fact that I couldn't find any avo's for my salad, and actually considered paying TWENTY SEVEN RAND A PAIR at a leading SA food retail chain (WHAT??!!) when there are families out there surviving on less than that for the week! I don't CARE if these avo's were grown in Spain! Isn't it just the height of arrogance / greed / ignorance that we are cheeky enough to spend and consume the way we do, with no thought / care at all to where our food even comes from? Maybe it's because I've already made it to 2 weeks before the end of Lent that I realise how precious a piece of chicken would be to me right now. I've cut out meat for the forty days. It's amazing how a steady diet of nothing but fish, fruit and veg has made me sharply aware of everything on my plate. I feel empowered. Strong. Healthier. More energetic. More alive. And eternally blessed for everything that God has given me that I take for granted everyday. So here it is. The email from Lis that made me think...


Take a good look at the diet of each country and the cost of what is eaten in one week.

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07



United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week $341.98



Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11



Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09



Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27



Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53



Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55



Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03



Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23



I have no idea where this research comes from or why it was done, but I'd love to know more...

Monday, March 03, 2008

Kiff Lynx


Hey folks...
Seeing as I often come across some interesting links in my daily quest for knowledge, I thought I'd start a new weekly post where I share some of the funny, clever, cool stuff I find with you...
Note: I see a LOT of funny/clever/stuff each week, but I'm only gonna post the stuff I think is worth checking out. Even if it's dumb shit, but funny shit.
So... Without much further ado. Here are this week's time-wasting links.

Cool new search engine...
Clever

Very interesting interview with a bunch of doctors:
Yikes

Take the quiz to find out how evil you are...
Silly

Great chocolate idea!
Yummy

KitKat flavours? Or stick to the original? You decide...
Weird

By the way... I would've posted these links AGES ago, but for some reason blogger was NOT loving the link function at all! Do you guys also have issues posting pics and links sometimes? Temperamental...

Monday, February 25, 2008

Beautiful

I came across these two quotes the other day, while looking for a good quote to use in an ad for a client. They are so beautiful, that I simply had to post them for all of you to enjoy:

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." ~ Mother Teresa

"My life is my message." ~Mahatma Ghandi

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

I’ve been tagged people!

My best mate Noodle has just tagged me and given me the impossible task of finding 50 random or weird things about myself… FIFTY!
I can’t even think of 20. So I’m gonna do 10.

According to Noodle’s blog, the rules for “7 random or weird things about yourself” are as follows:
- Link to the person who tagged you
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
- Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
- Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.


So... here they are: 10 Weird / Random Facts About Carmen.
1. If I see a pair of shoes that are randomly thrown around, I have to straighten them into a neat pair. My mind won’t rest otherwise…
2. I can’t sleep (peacefully) unless I’m on my right side, with my left knee bent and my right arm folded under my pillow. It has to be this way!
3. I’m terrified of locusts. Terrified! (*shiver*)
4. I carry a red Woolworths lunch baggy to work everyday with my foody all packed into neat little containers and plastic bags… (Nerd alert!)
5. I have a savory tooth, rather than a sweet one. Give me chips over chocolate any day!
6. I have every issue of SA Glamour since they came out here… They’re all stacked on my bookshelf in chronological order. Blind.
7. I drove a scooter around Taiwan for the year that I taught English there, but I have no balance on a bicycle.
8. I’m a major over-achiever: Head Girl, Captain of the Debate Team, Masters Degree, studied 5 languages (6 if you count my foray into mandarin in Taiwan), Grade 5 Piano by the time I was 15 (Royal School of Music)… But I still live with my folks. Eish.
9. My midnight/drunk craving is roti filled with melted cheese and chili sauce. Sweet. Heaven. Above.
10. I was a BROSette. I still have all the pictures and articles somewhere and my room was wall-papered in posters of Matt and Luke Goss. Funny. ‘Cos I don’t really like blonde boys…

I have absolutely no idea who to tag, seeing Noodle has already tagged Willem and Gail - the only other bloggers I know personally. Eish, Noodle!
So does the game die with me? Sadly, maybe yes…

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day to you!


... whether you're young or old, tall or short, plumpy or string-beany, single or buckled... No matter who you are! Because everyone deserves to be loved.
But a special Valentine goes out to you, my Best Boy. I love you with all my heart. xox

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Great time-waster...


Go check out the silly cartoons on roodiedoodie...
There's good for a chuckle. My favourite series is the ninja one. Hilarious!

Thursday, February 07, 2008

The funniest thing I've seen in a LONG time!

If you're in advertising or design, I'm sure you'll relate to this. Check it out...

Monday, January 28, 2008

WB Yeats

When you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.