Carmen's World

Lazy Saturdays

2012-01-21T07:49:00.001-08:00

So I'm chilling in the sofa messing around with the apps on my iPhone and I see that there's a Blogger app. Could it be possible that I can blog directly from my phone if the inspiration hits me?!? Well, this is the first attempt. Let's see if this thing works...

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-04T22:14:00.001-08:00

Hey, everyone!
Happy New Year! I hope you had an absolute BLAST over the holidays. I'm happy to report that I had one of those holidays where I did absolutely nothing. There were a few little parties and outings here and there, but after the hectic year I've had, it was wonderful to spend quiet time in my new home, enjoying the space and spending quality time with my family and friends.
I thought I'd start the year of with something off my Wish List - chunky knit bed throws.
Oh my!
Could anything be more cosy, comfortable and sexy... in a weird, Wintery, I'm-staying-in-bed-with-my-man-all-day kinda way?
Here's one I've seen on 1kinddesign.com:

And this one's from whatnomints,com:

Beautiful!

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

2011-12-22T06:06:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow's my last morning at work before we shut down and go on our Christmas break.
And I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish you a peaceful, blessed Christmas and a sparkly New Year.

May it be everything you dreamed it would be!

xox

Nifty Idea!

2011-12-19T06:32:00.000-08:00

Check out this awesome cell phone holder made from an empty lotion bottle.
Brilliant!
I'm always stepping on my cell phone / charger on the way to the loo in the middle of the night.
I'd love to make one of these, but I don't think I'll get it as neatly finished.
But you can try.
FInd out how here.

I don't know if I'll be making these again...

2011-12-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong! They were sinfully delicious, but that was about the only PRO in a gargantuan series of CONS.

But I'm getting ahead of myself! Let me start from the beginning.

Some of you may know that every Christmas my book club has a little tradition of making 8 little homemade Christmas gifts to pass around the table at our year-end dinner. It's fabulous! You get to make a few simple, cost-effective little gifts and in return, you get back SEVEN awesome homemade gifts from the girls sitting around the table. The whole idea is to be as creative, fun and frugal as you can, while completely dazzling your girls with your awesomeness.

This year I took home:
A cute little basil plant in a lace / bead decorated tin (from Maria)
A bottle of homnemade, eco-friendly detergent and desk calendar (from Vanessa)
A silver sequined bag (from Lorraine)
A jar of homemade mango cordial (from Gail)
A jar of cookie mix (from Kate)
And a jar of pickled chilies (from Terri)

Sacha sadly wasn't there this time, so there were 6 gifts instead of the usual, rocking seven! Still! As you can see, we were spoilt rotten.

For my contribution to the gifts story, I decided to bake some chocolate cookies and bung them into a pretty duck-egg-blue coffee mug for each of the girls. Lovely idea, but in my laziness to find a "quick and easy" recipe, I accidentally ended up spending way more than I should have and it took absolute ages to make. The recipe was alarmingly finicky for one that involved a ready-mixed box cake mix. *wtf*

I wanted to call them "Carmen's Kitchen Sink Cookies" seeing as there was a load of chocolate in them in various forms, but a quick Google search revealed that that name was already taken. So I made up something silly on the day, that I now simply can't remember. They turned out like Baby Elephant Turds, so maybe I should call them that? Or Angel Turds, seeing as they look revolting but taste like absolute heaven.
*quick google search*
Argh! Also not good.

Let's just call them "Carmen's Never-Again Cookies"

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Mix together:
1 box of chocolate cake mix
125g melted butter
1 large egg
1 cup white choc chips
1 cup brown choc chips
5 Snickers bars chopped into ±1cm cubes.

Using a 1TBSP scoop, place slightly flattened balls of the mix ±5cm apart on a baking tray lined with a silicone cookie sheet and bake for 15mins. Makes ±4 dozen.

And this is what you end up with:

A box of turds.
Fucking delicious, but expensive, time-consuming turds.
Not for me thanks. Pass.

Look what's in the window at Dionwired this Christmas!

2011-12-02T06:04:00.000-08:00

If anyone's wondering what to get me, that lime green smeg in the middle will do just nicely, thanks!
Any takers?
...
...
Anyone?!
...
...
I'll just wait to be surprised and find it under the tree on Christmas morning, m'kay? Yay!

HAH-zit! Goon-JAR-nee!

2011-11-25T04:35:00.000-08:00

The South African ad that has me in STITCHES every time I see it!
How larny is your accent?

Wish List: Dreamy, airy bedroom

2011-11-18T03:45:00.000-08:00

I'm not quite there yet... But I'm close!
This bedroom from Architizer captures the clean, minimalist yumminess I'd love to create in my bedroom.
I've got the wood floors and tons of white stuff. I've even got the weird angles, but I think what's missing is some light, white, gauzy curtains.
Soon! Budget permitting.

My handsome godchild

2011-10-28T05:14:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago my best friends Rachel and Nestor Martinez from Canada made my dream come true by bringing their son, my godchild Delwyn, to South Africa to meet me. This first pic is how he looked when he got off the plane. And the second one is how he looked three weeks later.

Is it just me or did he suddenly grow up from a little baby into a big boy in the space of 3 weeks?!
The best part of our holiday (apart from catching up and spending quality time together) was getting to see my country through the eyes of 2 foreigners. They had a good chuckle over a few things. We call traffic lights "robots". The Hyper By The Sea conjured up images of some kid going mad on the beach. Car guards...
When will I see them again?
Another 2 or 3 years from now?
I wonder what my godchild will be like when I meet him again.
In the meantime I made a little recording of the song that he played over and over on his baby laptop, so that I'll have something real to remember him by... Until we meet again.

You've guided me home, Umhlanga lighthouse!

2011-10-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering where I been, fellow bloggers, let me just tell you that my life has been a whirlwind of change and adventure. I've done it! I've FINALLY done it.
Carmen Gabriel has finally bought her first home. A snazzy little 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in Durban's Umhlanga Rocks. Ninety seven square meters of concrete, glass and wood that belongs to me... Finally.
It's been a long journey getting here. More than 6 years of dreaming and hoping, not to mention the frantic search since the beginning of this year, when my landlords announced that they'd be selling.
Nothing went as smoothly as I thought it would:
- I sold my stove and wardrobes too soon, leaving me with tv dinners and clothing on the floor for 2 months
- Everything cost way more money than I'd budgeted on... maybe I just can't count good, doh!
- I STILL have boxes to unpack after 2 whole months of being in my new place
Argh...
But I wouldn't change it for the world!
It's a great feeling knowing I've accomplished this thing that I've worked so hard for. Sure, the bank owns me for the next couple of decades, but who cares?! This is what happiness feels like!

winter loves soup

2011-06-14T06:04:00.001-07:00

Open letter to Clinique South Africa

2011-03-22T23:15:00.000-07:00

Sent on 17 March. Still waiting for a response.

Clinique, SA:
I am writing to report a very disturbing incident at the Clinique counter at Gateway, Durban.
Several months ago (during the last Free Gift offer) I went into Truworths to purchase my Clinique moisturiser and face wash as I always do. While I was there I decided to ask the Clinique sales person to recommend a night cream for me so that I could start using one regularly. I am 36 years old and currently using the Super Defense range because I don't have any lines or blemishes whatsoever. The Clinique woman told me that Clinique did not make a night cream in the Super Defense age group and urged me to buy the Repair Wear night cream for much older wrinkled skin.
I went home and tried to use the product for over a month. But every time I put it on my skin it would burn and feel very painful and uncomfortable. I eventually stopped using it because I was worried that I was damaging my skin. My R450 was wasted and I had no idea of what damage I had possibly done to my face during the course of that month.
Imagine my HORROR today when I went into Truworths to buy my Clinique supplies and asked them if there WAS in fact a night cream in the Super Defense group. The Clinique woman handed me the tube telling me that there was one all along. Truworths had obviously been out of stock of the one I wanted last time so the Clinique woman deliberately sold me a damaging product so that she could make her sale and reach her target for the month.
IS THIS THE WAY CLINIQUE TREATS THEIR CUSTOMER OF ±15 YEARS???!!
Not only have I lost R450 on a product that I cannot use, but I have been steadily burning and damaging my skin for more than a month because of the damaging advice of a Clinique sales person.
I trust that you will contact me at your soonest regarding this report and will notify me of the action being taken to rectify the matter.
Carmen Gabriel

New Obsession

2011-02-15T01:21:00.000-08:00

So, I've never really been one for gardening...
I've pretty sure that I've written once or three times about how my poor father used to beg / bribe / bully me and my brothers into helping him with our garden at The Old House. (I call it The Old House now because my parents have just bought a stunning new apartment in Umhlanga and will be moving in a few months.)
He never got it right... No matter how hard he tried, we would sit inside the cool, air conditioned living room, and watch him suffer through the glass patio doors. It just wasn't for us... All that dirt and sun, not the mention the threat of bugs and the odd garden snake. No thanks.
So imagine my surprise to find that, as I grow older, I suddenly seem to be craving plant life in my world. First the herb garden outside my kitchen window which, I must sadly add, I've kind of lost interest in. I have a few long-suffering curry leaf plants that refuse to give up, but the other herbs have pretty much kicked it for one reason or the other. Not all my fault, I swear.
Then came the micro-greens or linseed sprouts that I started to grow on my living room windowsill. All very cute and sweet until I grew tired of the taste of them in my salads and promptly stopped growing them. I might start again with some different seeds this time, maybe mung beans. I saw an interesting method of growing them in a glass jar on the net the other day that kind of interests me... It's part food, part science. I can dig that.
But now my new plant obsession is Peace Lilies or Spathiphyllum. My friend Noodle bought one for her desk a couple of months ago and I was hooked. It was love at first sight. Here's why:
- They have pretty white lilies that I find really cute.
- They are completely indoor plants that require no direct light.
- They let you know when they need to be watered... Bonus!
- They somehow absorb the negative rays that fly off your tv and computer monitor.
- And they pretty much do their own thing while you get on with your life.
I bought one for my desk that had just a single pretty lily on it. The lily is long gone and I've only since discovered that there are flowering types and foliage types. I think my desk one is a foliage Spathiphyllum. It's okay. At first I was a little bummed, but now I realise how lovely it is, even without the flowers and I've resigned myself to loving her regardless. I don't want her to develop some sort of inferiority complex because she can't deliver on my unrealistic expectations...
And the second one I've bought is this one for my home:

She arrived with tons of flowers on, some of which have gone now, but she still looks beautiful. I suspect that she may be more of the flowering variety, but again, I'll be happy with whatever happens. I've read somewhere that unscrupulous store people often pump the plants full of chemicals to make them flower and ultimately move off shelf. Once home, the plants start jonesing for more chemicals and then stop flowering unless you give them their fix. If anyone's going to be doing drugs at my place, it's going to be me... So there goes that idea Spathiphyllum!
We're just getting to know each other, my Peace Lilies and me, and I'm feeling really good about it.

Nostalgia

2011-01-17T06:50:00.000-08:00

I have a small confession to make. One of the main reasons I've been DYING to cook dinner for my cousin Jarrod and his wife Nadia, is that I've been looking for a good excuse to cook up and share some of the Taiwanese / Chinese dishes I learned to make in my year there teaching English. See, Jarrod's ouma was Chinese, so I've been threatening to cook something authentic in honour of his heritage for AGES.
This Saturday, we finally got our shit together and had our little dinner party. Just the three of us.
Sadly, I wasn't quick enough to get a good picture of the potstickers and dipping sauce I made for our main course, but earlier in the day, while going about my business, I'd made this for myself:

A bowl of spicy beef noodle soup.
It's not the one that you simmer on the stove for hours and hours. Nope... This is just a simple instant noodle version with a few fresh ingredients thrown in. I had made a special trip to the Chinese grocer down the road to pick up a few things for our dinner, and when I saw these on the shelf, the nostalgia hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to have them!
It's 40degree heart in Durban right now, but nothing was going to stop me from slurping on these spicy noodles... Nothing. No way.

I almost feel like I need to make a very important point here about instant noodles. These are something that we've really misinterpreted and gotten horribly wrong here in "The West". To us, instant noodles are a shameful, gross, cheap thing that starving students pour down their throats to keep themselves alive while they're literally on the bones of their asses.
But in the East, instant noodles are something completely different.
Yes, they're still cheap, easy and the first choice of starving students... But in the East they have loads more flavour and there's a bunch of fresh stuff that's added to them to make them utterly mouthwatering. There, instant noodles are fun, flavoursome and always fashionable because the manufacturers are always looking for ways to innovate.
When it comes to the fresh "additions" there are fresh vegetables... I used a crisp bunch of bok choy but corn on the cob cut into big chunks is divine.
There's the meat. I used the most incredibly marbled piece of ribeye steak. The little globs of melting fat were like finding the most delicious jewels of bone marrow from time to time.
Then there are other things that I didn't bother with, because I didn't feel I needed them, like chewy little dumplings that you could bounce like a rubber ball, or those tiny dried fish with the eyeballs still on. They look like white noodles, until you bring them closer to your face on your chopsticks and discover that there are two beady black eyes on one end. They're salty and fishy... and at first I didn't "get it" but now I do. Yum.
I also know now, that you should never buy the cheapest instant noodles around. They're really not "all the same"! Invest in a pack of noodles that's a little more expensive than the rest, and you'll find that the seasonings inside are way better and more authentic and they taste less "synthetic".
I added even more flavour to the broth by searing my steak, removing from the pan, resting and slicing. Then using the juices in the resting plate and the water that I used to deglaze the pan to rehydrate the noodles in the bowl. So here it is...

Carmen's Spicy Beef Noodle Soup Made with Instant Noodles... Believe it!
Serves 2; Preparation time ±15 minutes.

2 Ribeye steaks (±2cm thick; brushed with a mixture of melted butter and sunflower oil on both sides)
1 pack of your favourite instant Chili Beef Noodles
2 Baby bok choys
Water to rehydrate

Heat a dry frying pan until smoking and sear the 2 steaks on either side for ±2minutes per side.
Season and remove the steaks from the frying pan and place on a plate to rest for ±6mins.
While the steaks are resting, break the block of noodles into 2 bowls, and carefully divide all the seasonings equally between the 2.
Wash and steam the bok choy and place on top of the dry noodles.
Once the steaks are rested, slice and place on top of the bok choy, deglaze the pan with some water, add the resting juices and pour into the bowls until everything is covered, - just peaking out of the broth.
In 3-4 minutes (after the noodles have fully rehydrated) you'll have the best soup... EVER!
Enjoy.

I can honestly say...

2010-12-23T13:51:00.003-08:00

I have never been so in love before!
This, dear friends, is my very first post from my brand new MacBook Air.
I bought it! Yes, I did!
I could try to be all modest and coy about it but, quite frankly, what would be the point of that?
It's so sleek and sexy and beautifully AppleMac that you simply cannot try to be all modest about it.
It's the Ferrari of laptops... And I own it. Along with more than enough 3G internetty-goodness than I will EVER be able to use up from month to month.
This is the point where I "get real" with myself and give myself a quick, stiff kick in the pants.
For bloody AGES now I've been whining on and on about the fact that this was supposed to be my Big Tiger Year. As usual, I was totally up my own arse about shit that was so stupid and small and insignificant. Yet, AS USUAL, I failed to take into consideration that The Big Guy In The Sky (TBGITS) RARELY gives us things the way WE ask for them... I THOUGHT I wanted a certain thing... But my Goodness. I could not have been more WRONG about what I needed/wanted, or thought I loved.
Over this year TBGITS has cleared from my path all of the stumbling blocks that were put in my way and has blessed me with the life/things/people that I never dreamed I needed but now I know I could NEVER live without.
True friends who never forget every detail, even when I choose to block those pesky details out. Family bonds so rich and diverse, I don't have the brain capacity to take it all in. Things. THINGS like this new laptop and my new car and my new amazing career opportunity... We're always taught not to love THINGS because you may never have the ones you really want. The good ol' Christian "oh well, I guess it wasn't in God's plan for me to have this stuff..." story. But, my word, things are so nice and sometimes TBGITS actually WANTS to give them to you. Call me superficial... But then. You'd have to call yourself superficial too, because you know you want them too.
So now I'm finally off to bed after spending AGES messing around on my Mac.
It's Christmas Eve tomorrow and we'll be shutting down early and coming home to our families. But I won't be out of touch. If there's anything special I'd like to say, I'll do it immediately. I can now. The slick new love of my life will be here waiting to beam my stories directly to you.

WHA'? HEY?! Where am I??!

2010-12-07T22:54:00.000-08:00

So... I've been at Paton Tupper for a week now and if you haven't heard from me, dear bloggers, it's because I've been busy APPLYING MYSELF! Finally... :)
I joke. I always apply myself, dummies.
I've just been putting my head down and getting into the vibe... Learning new ways of doing things.
I'm not gonna lie: It's been a long, tough year. November was just insane, trying to get as much done as possible at Public Address. And now we're in December, and Paton Tupper is still COOKING when it comes to the work flow. So, yeah. no rest for the wicked, as they say. I'm quite desperate for the holidays to get here.
To top things off, I've offered to help the kiddies at church with the Nativity play... WHAT WAS I THINKING?
Just to put you in the picture, this is how rehearsals went down a week ago: The Three Wise Men ripped the head off Baby Jesus and pulled all his stuffing out. And Angel Gabriel (who kindly sponsored her dolly to play Baby Jesus) had a total meltdown. There was one little girl who just ran, TOP SPEED and screaming on top of her voice, from one side of the stage to the other and back again. For 20 minutes.
Just running.
And screaming.
I never thought I'd want to punch a child before, but now that I know what I'm capable of feeling, maybe it's a good thing I haven't had kids. Yet.
We practiced for less than 15minutes and it was GAME OVER! I went home to my parents’ place, swallowed 2 painkillers and 2 tranquilizers, slept for 3 hours, got up and got dressed and went straight to the office to put in ±5hours worth of much needed overtime.
This week's rehearsals went better. Nobody got the stuffing kicked out of them this time, but we did discover that one of the shepherds is a farter and now the other kids won't sit next to him. *sigh*
ANYWAY!
That's what I've been preoccupied with for the past few weeks, so please be patient with me if I don't update the ol' bloggeroo as often as I'd like to. I'll get better at it, promise.

On my last day at Public Address, I was so teary and emotional, that I knew I wouldn't be able to deliver a sob-free farewell speech, so I decided to put it all into a loooooooooooooooong email that I sent out to the staff as I exited the building. I thought I'd share it with you, in case you were interested. There are some nice historical bits about how we got started as an agency, as well as some guru-like advice on how to be the best you can be in the hectic world of advertising. Now that I'm reading it again after a whole long week, I can't help but have a chuckle at how freakin' sanctimonious it is in parts. But, hey! I guess along with the good times came a lot of tough times, and I obviously had a message to deliver to those that just weren't / aren't delivering. I suppose I just got really tired of the stress of running a business, of "paddling my own canoe", especially when not all or us were steering the canoe in the same direction. Not to mention the lazy ones that weren’t paddling at all, happy to just catch a free boat ride to who-knows-where? And others still, who were sneakily drilling holes in the canoe while the rest of us were paddling for our lives! So, here it is, my Jerry Maguire Manifesto. Enjoy:

So... I guess this is the part where I write my big farewell letter.
I’ve been composing it in my brain for weeks now, trying to think of what to say, and then I burst into tears, drink a bottle of wine and watch the National Geographic channel ‘til 2am, hoping it will all just disappear.
Here goes.
It started with Malibu-and-cokes at the Riverside Hotel on one of the most surreal Saturday’s of my life.
When the agency I’d been busting my butt for decided to kick me in the butt, Nic and Wayne said: “Fuck ‘em! You deserve better. Join us.”
It was an offer I, quite frankly, couldn’t refuse: The opportunity to work with Durban’s hottest advertising powerhouse duo (Wayne and Nic) as well as one of the most talented designers I’ve ever met (Reino).
From humble beginnings, trekking from Reino’s home office to Nic’s home office and back again, not even having enough office chairs to sit on so we could work together comfortably, we’ve grown to be the amazing advertising agency that we are.

I guess I should really start by thanking the people who’ve believed in us and help us make it happen...
Starting with Our Folks.

Poor Paul and Bev Potterton (Wayne’s folks) kindly rented us a part of their home to set up our first office. To thank them, we:

* Cursed and swore loudly amongst ourselves while they held their church meetings a mere 4meters away
* Ran over one dog
* Left the gate open so another dog could run away
* Fed yet another dog the “treat” of a bone that could have shattered in his tummy and put him in an early grave
* Constantly left our dirty dishes in their sink
* Steadily bored a series of holes in their new wooden floors with our designer heels
* Pissed off all the neighbours by RACING up and down the street (late for our meetings as always) to the point that Paul was getting death threats from some grumpy old dude down the street
* Invaded their privacy to the point that they could no longer take a romantic skinny dip in their own swimming pool for fear of us charging in at the most arb/obscure hours to work on something
* Played our “devil music” so loud, the devil himself could hear it clearly in the fiery pits of hell

The dogs farted.
Our clients farted.
Our suppliers fainted...
It was a circus!

We were really sad to leave Timavo, but I’m sure I heard champagne and celebration from inside Paul and Bev’s room.
All they got out of the deal was a huge amount owing on the rent and great big clumps of double-sided tape on the floors where we had tried to glue our fancy rug to the floor.
(WTF? Why did we try to glue the rug to the floor? What were we THINKING???!!)

Anyway!
So then we moved into the offices we’re in now.

I’ll never forget that first proud night, after we’d swept and dusted and arranged the desks and put all the new groceries into the kitchen cupboards...
Slowly everyone started to go home, and eventually it just Eric (my dad), Geraldine (my mom), Wayne and myself left behind.
And we got BLIND drunk. Blackout drunk. “Pee-in-your-pants-’cos-you-can’t-get-them-off-fast-enough” drunk.
The last thing I remember was curling up on the cold concrete floor in the middle of the studio (there were no chairs yet), trying to get some sleep. Eish.
The four of us refused to go home. We just kept talking and planning and dreaming about how AMAZING our agency was going to be...
Good times.

And I guess now would be a good time to thank my own folks for supporting and believing in the four partners, even though they’ve seen my ass in diapers, seen Reino and Wayne’s drunk asses at parties and... Hey! I guess Nic’s the only one who’s managed to maintain his dignity on the ass-bearing front. Or was I just not there that day?

Mom and dad:
Thanks for leaving your long-standing jobs at Ogilvy and TBWA (“That-Place-From-Whence-We-Ran-Screaming”) and taking a huge risk on us.
Thanks for dipping into your hard-earned retirement stash to help us pay salaries in the tough months.
Thanks for the leftover curries and for being the un-official Entertainment Committee, spoiling us CONSTANTLY, much to the detriment of my ever-expanding waistline.
Thanks for the expertise, knowledge and experience you’ve brought to our young agency.

In fact, now that I think about it... We’d been steadily bringing in new accounts and growing, but one of our earliest big breaks came from you, Mom. Remember?
My cousin phoned mom when she was still at Ogilvy to ask if she could recommend a good agency who could pitch on his business. She told him that I had just joined an incredible company called Public Address and gave him our number. We went on to win the ICESA pitch and the rest, as they say, is history.
It was a tough account. (Honestly? What account ISN’T?) But it was one of the big ones that helped us grow... Exponentially!
Thanks, Mom. Keep counting those beans. Every one of them matters in today’s tough economic climate!

A great, big thanks goes to each and every one of you who’s been on this journey with us. With me.
God help us, it’s been tough at times.
But we’ve never lost our sense of humour, our love of music, our determination, and we’ve never missed an opportunity to make fun of each other and ourselves!

I suppose this opportunity also calls for some “sage-like” advice from me to you, to make sure that our little agency continues to grow from strength to strength to become “The Biggest Ad Agency In Durban” as we’d drunkenly vowed that night we moved into Holwood Park. And to impart some of the wisdom I’ve acquired during my years so far in this ugly, cut-throat industry.

So, let me channel Mike Myers in The Guru and help you with some stuff, “you can’t face”:

1. Keep your eye on the prize and keep the silly games for the playground.
Far too many people in the agencies I’ve worked at have wasted valuable brain-space on plotting their next sneaky corporate move. You’ll find it gets you nowhere in the long run because everyone sees through you and the games eventually. Use that brain-space to think up new, innovative ways to make more money for the agency and, in turn, yourself.

2. Just be a good guy, for fucksake! It’s not hard to do.
Be honest and upfront with everyone you deal with. That way, you don’t have to waste valuable time trying to remember which lie goes where.
Have integrity. There’s a powerful saying that goes: “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

3. If it’s a CAREER you’re after, use what’s between your ears and not what’s between your legs.
People who try to sleep their way to the top unfortunately never get further than the middle. Every single job (NOT blow jobs!) that lands on your desk, no matter how small, provides a valuable opportunity to prove your worth and to flex your brainpower. If you’re a writer, there’s ALWAYS a better word/phrase/way-to-say-it. So, take the time to craft your work. That goes for designers too. And for crying out loud, designers – LEARN HOW TO SPELL! (Just kidding! You know I love you. xox) Client Service team, remember that every brief you send out is not just an instruction to the studio; it’s a reflection of how YOU see YOURSELF as a professional. A brief that’s typed up poorly and simply “shat out”, sends the message that you don’t have the confidence or know-how to do better.
I believe in all of you... MAKE ME PROUD!

4. Never forget that your reputation precedes you in everything that you do!
This next bit might sound like I’m tooting my own horn a bit, but every word is true: I have never applied for a job. Ever.
Every job I’ve had in my career has been because somebody, somewhere needed a writer, heard about me and called me in to “have a chat”. Nobody’s perfect... EXPECIALLY NOT LITTLE OLD ME! But, just be the best you can be and people will see spot your passion from miles away.

5. Never forget to smile. It’s weird, but people seem to like that...
I’ll never forget when I was working in Taiwan we were told that the Chinese are big on “saving-face”. They never show negative emotions in public, and will often smile even when they’re telling you to go fuck yourself. It’s strange, but somehow you felt better going off to fuck yourself knowing that the instruction was delivered with a smile. *shrug*

6. Read more books... Seriously!

I guess all that’s left, is for me to say goodbye to my three boys. My brothers. My partners in all sorts of crime!
Wayne, Nic and Rein, I wrote this stuff in my letter of resignation to you a month ago but I think it’s worth reiterating:

Wayne - Your entrepreneurial spirit and courage have inspired me to take more risks in life, and to stop waiting in the shadows for something to fall my way. While my two brothers are off in Jhb chasing fame and fortune, you have been a true brother to me. I cannot imagine my days without our chats...
Reino - People come to work to make a living. It’s a rare bonus for one to come to work and to still make real friends along the way. You have become a friend that I will take along my life’s journey, no matter what.
And Nic - How do I begin to say goodbye? Your integrity is one of the cornerstones that this company had been built on. It’s no empty compliment when I say that, of every Creative Director I’ve ever worked with, none have come close to your creative and strategic mind. I have learnt so much from you, and I know that you still have so much more to teach that I will be missing out on. Even though I will be able to pay my bills now, my life will be poorer for not having you in the office next door every day.

My years at Public Address have been the best of my career. I’ve learnt so much. I’ve grown as a professional, a creative, copywriter and leader. I’ve learned to finally take ownership of the jobs that land on my desk and to work, to the best of my ability, to deliver creative that is relevant, quirky and that cuts through the clutter.
Please send me regular updates with pics of the kids... I will miss my little family so much. It kills me that I’m not going to see the little ones as often as I’d like. They’re my babies too!

So cheers, Lords of Roxtown...

See you on the dance floor!

All my love,
Carmen.

So, here's what's been happening...

2010-11-19T06:25:00.000-08:00

Right!
Where do I start?
Maybe a good start would be with a small apology to my loyal readers for not updating my blog as often as I should. Both of you (see previous post) were pretty peeved! *snort*
But I’m hoping to make it up to you with loads of juicy gossip, tasteless innuendo (in-YOUR-end-oh!) and tons of graphic updates of my life that you can live vicariously through… When those kinds of things happen. All I can say in my defense is that, so much has been going on in the life of Carmy Gabriel, that I really haven’t had much of a moment to myself to put it all on paper. Just between the three of us, I just got royally kak-ed on for not doing something, that someone thought I should’ve done, when they didn’t know that I had done it already ages ago… Blah, blah blah!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Take a few steps back, Gabriel, and tell it like it is.
Since my folks’ scary hijacking a lot has happened in our lives… The first major thing I guess, is that I bought my very FIRST car out the box. My old VW Polo was about 3 years old when I bought her, and she was the love of my life. But it’s been a big ol’ dream of mine to own a brand new car, one that’s never been driven by anyone else before… One that smells of new leather and car polish. Yum! As it happens, by folks finally got paid out by the insurance people and were looking for a car to replace the stolen one. My brother owns a Renault, one of those super sporty ones (2 door, V6, only 15 of them in the country), and has been telling us for AGES that they’re the best cars around. So, when the folks saw an ad in the paper for a special offer on the new Renault Logan they decided to go in for a test drive. Me, being the nosy bitch that I am, simply had to tag along to see what the car was all about. Little did I know that I’d be signing on the dotted line for my own silver one the very next day. Here’s my new baby:

Check out the specs here friends.

I’ve called him The Wolverine… (Logan? Silver like the blades? Geddit?)
He’s a lot more “grown up” than the kind of car I’m used to (sedan vs hatchback) and I wasn’t planning on buying a new car until next year some time. But it was such an awesome deal and such incredible performance / bang for your buck (as you can see from the specs) that I really couldn’t resist. To sweeten the deal, the amazing folks at Renault even threw in the cream leather interior. Finally! My brand new car, out the brand new box, with the brand new smell of leather!
He runs like a freakin’ wild wolf in a freakin’ crazy forest with a freakin’ insane GROWL ripping out of his freakin’ chest! RRRROOOOOWWWWRRRR!
Ok… Maybe he’s a little tamer than that. He’s a lover not a fighter, my Wolverine, but don’t you ever back this baby into a corner. He’ll rip your head off if he has to! :)
Let’s see… What happened next?
I had a birthday. If it wasn’t for my cousins Jarrod and Nadia, my brothers’ expensive taste and for the book clubs girls, it would have been just another shitty birthday. Jazz and Nadia spoiled me rotten with about 2 tons of sushi and several gallons of white wine. My brothers bought me a very fancy camera because they know how trigger-happy I can get when “the light is right”. And the girls bought me the most amazing gifts. They know me well! There wasn’t a single thing I’d exchange or not use. Everything was perfect.
Oh! Then my folks decided to renew their wedding vows at our church when their new wedding rings arrived from the jeweller / insurance people. Thirty seven years together and they STILL wanted to make it official. Again! It was very sweet. There wasn’t a dry eye in the church that day as they stood at the altar to take their vows. Mom had pale lemon orchids in her wedding bouquet 37 years ago, so they were the logical choice for the flowers she would wear in her hair this time around. Dad wore one his coat lapel. I was emotional but tired, the super sweet smell of the 100 cupcakes I’d baked and decorated the night before still stinging my nose and clinging to my skin. Mom ordered hundreds of pale cream petit fours as the “wedding cake”. We piled them onto my grandmother’s 3-tiered cake stand, a priceless family heirloom that now resides with Proud Me. It was a wonderful morning of smiles and happy tears and promises of forever and champagne and family and friends and sore feet and laughing kiddies and sugary icing everywhere including my hair… It was several weeks ago already and it’s still the hot topic of conversation when we get together over Sunday lunch.

I was richly rewarded for my efforts on the day (and my support through the tough time of the hijacking)… Even though I insisted that they didn’t, my incredible mom and dad treated me to a stunning smoky topaz cocktail ring and used their jewellery connections to get me a great deal on another little diamond treat I’ve had my eye on for ages. So, yes, I’m both a nosy bitch AND a spoilt bitch. But then we all knew that already. Moving on.
Then what? Erm…
Little Baby Tannah had her blessing last week and I was her parents’ choice to lead the day’s formalities. She’s a lot bigger now than she was in the invitation pics, so here’s a pic of her at Grandpa’s house with the cutest little pink bow in her hair…

Lorraine and Robin must’ve been in the ultimate, prime Karma Sutra position on that fateful night to produce a child this cute. I’m going to have to ask them for some tips if/when it’s my turn. Her grandpa showed me one of his baby pics when I was there for the blessing and… wow! I never knew that kind of cloning was possible. She is the IMAGE of her Gramps. Too cute.
And finally… I’ve saved the biggest news for last!
On the 1st November I handed in my letter of resignation to my three other partners at Public Address. The amazing folks over at Paton Tupper have made me a wonderful offer that I simply couldn’t refuse. For those of you who know me well, you’ll know that this was a bitter-sweet change for me, saying goodbye to the agency that I’ve helped build from the ground up. We’ve come through some seriously tough times together and partied our asses off together during the good times, so the three boys (Wayne, Nic and Rein) have become brothers to me. I’ve learnt so much and grown so much as a writer, professional, leader, advertising creative, woman and friend, that even the tough times could never be wrenched from my tightly-clenched grubby paws.
But I felt like the time had come for a new set of challenges and a new beginning for Carmy Gabriel. I leave behind my family at Public Address (literally – my mom and dad still work there!) and some of the most amazing friends I’ve made in my lifetime… But then, have I really left them behind if they’re literally just up the road from the new place (like, 2kms away) and they’ll always be in my heart? Forever.
Incidentally... If you've been paying attention, this is why I was getting kak-ed on earlier. I've promised the Public Address guys I'll get as much of my work done as possible before I leave, but I guess I hadn't realised how much I'd have to take care of. Yikes. I'm getting there!
Paton Tupper, here’s to new friendships and even more stuff to build from the ground up. I’m scared, nervous and excited all at the same time. I feel like I have a lot to prove to show the new guys that I’m worth every penny they’re investing in me. Just the other night I had a nightmare that it was my first day there and the building had moved and I got completely late and lost trying to find it. When I eventually found the building I parked on the wrong end and had to walk for miles before I found where I’d be sitting. And yes, when I looked down, I wasn’t wearing any pants. (*sonofabitch*) It was one of THOSE dreams! I’m 36 and I still get nervous about the first day of school, hey?!
Here’s to new amazing beginnings for me! Maybe my Year of the Tiger has turned out to be amazing beyond my wildest dreams after all…
:)

OKAY, OKAY!!

2010-11-19T06:09:00.000-08:00

I get it!
I've been really bad with the blogging.
Here's what Nadia had to say a few weeks ago:

Dry. Short. To the point...

And here's Terri's latest edition of "Life's Biggest Annoyances":

Same basic message, but a little more elaborate in execution.

The slap on the wrist has been accepted. I've sat on the naughty chair and thought about my bad behaviour and now I'm ready to make amends.
Amazingness to follow!

What's going on with world today?

2010-08-21T23:27:00.000-07:00

In a completely unexpected twist to The Everyday, my parents were robbed at gunpoint in their home a few nights ago. Here’s the story…
Every-so-often, at the end of a hard day, my mom, dad and I decide that we’ve “had enough” and “we deserve to treat ourselves” to a special restaurant dinner. In truth, more often than not, we’re really just in the mood for something other than the usual grilled-chicken-breast-and-green-salad that I torture myself with every night, and the-breyani-that-just-won’t-go-away that my parents torture themselves with every night. (Breyani is the kind of dish you cook to feed a family of ten, or a wedding reception of five hundred. If you cook a SMALL breyani on a Sunday, you can expect to eat it for at least a week. *groan*)
So on Tuesday, we went off to the Cape Fish Market for a sushi / bento box / whatever-the-special-is dinner. Whenever we’re together we have a good time, my mom, dad and I. We drank wine. We debated what makes a good fish soup. I treated them to their first ever Original Martini. (My parents don’t usually do cocktails, so this was special.) And we talked for ages about how sad it was that Elvis died the way he did. (Martini = Elvis = WTF happened to Elvis??!)
Eventually, reluctantly, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.
Being the crime-plagued South Africans that we are, we’ve made it our tradition that we call each other the moment we get home to make sure that everyone’s safe. Seeing as I’m just four minutes from the restaurant, I thought I’d give them some time to get home (±20mins) and called Rockstar. He’d been trying to call and I was completely oblivious, scoffing tuna and swilling martinis at the restaurant. We chatted for a bit and said our goodbyes, and after a while I realised that my folks hadn’t called. (“Maybe they’d stopped for petrol or bread for their lunches the next day. I’d give them the benefit of the doubt! Don’t I HATE it when the immediately assume that I’m dead if I don’t call them in 10 minutes, flat?”)
Never in a million years did I think that my phone would ring (an unknown number) and my mom’s neighbour would hand her phone to my dad to tell me that they’d been robbed at gunpoint in our family home as they arrived from the restaurant.
My mind went blank. I thought about “the long drive” from my house to theirs. I could hear the neighbours talking to the cops in the background and imagined how I’d be getting in the way. I couldn’t make the mind leap from “oops” to “WTF”. It all seemed inconvenient, surreal, unnecessarily unfair…
Unfair on me.
It was my brothers, a million miles away, who shocked me to my senses over the phone and made me get behind the wheel and drive to them.
Their street was full of cars when I got there. The electronic gate wasn’t working when I hit the remote. A cop told me that the security company had pulled it off the rails so that they could get in. The neighbours stood in dark corners with serious looks on their faces, some of those faces not instantly recognisable after years of ignoring each other in the street over stupid petty shit. I looked up in the poor lighting, saw dad and said hello. When he came into view, it was his brother. My godfather, looking drawn and pale. And the whole time the disbelief turned to fear one heartbeat at a time.
I saw my mom first… We gave each other our special wry-smile-look; the one that says: *sigh* Can you believe this shit? I’m so tired. Please tell me I don’t look crap. My makeup wore off an hour ago. Who are all these people in my house? I hope there’s good toilet paper in the toilet and not the recycled single-ply crappy stuff we use just for us…
And then I saw my dad. His hair was all crazy. He was talking to the cops. His hearing’s not so good so, along with the trauma, his answers were coming out all wrong, disconnected and confused.
We figured out that two armed men had followed my folks into the yard, creeping behind the car in the dark shadows as they drove in from the restaurant. They hid in a corner while my dad disarmed the security system and my mom headed for the kitchen light switch, and by the time she turned around, the gun was in her face and a hand was over her mouth.
The two armed men threw them to the ground in my old room, making them lay, face down, yelling at mom and dad not to look at them the whole time. They hit dad in the back of the head with the gun a few times and made sure to punctuate every question/demand with a sharp kick to the ribs.
Dad whispered to mom to stay calm. She has a heart thing and he was worried. He tried to touch her hand to calm her, but she was scared that the robbers might interpret the touch as a secret signal of some kind and shoot them. She pulled her hand away. She shook her head and made him comply.
The fluffy rug made dad’s chest close up so he asked if he could sit up, or turn his face in another direction. They said no. There were more kicks to the ribs.
They interrogated dad about the valuables, and with his bad hearing, he couldn’t answer them. Mom answered and they kicked her in the leg for having “a big mouth”. They called her a bitch. They made her give up the pin numbers to the cards in her bag, while the gun was at her head. They went through her handbag, carefully going over her salary slips, but missing dad’s firearm license, a clear indication that there was another gun in the house that they could have used / taken with them.
They took the:
Tv
Surround sound
Speakers
Dvd player
Food processor
Crap floral dinner service we hated
Cup / saucer set (we also never used / hated)
Iron
Microwave
Kettle (Emptied it out, leaving a trail of water behind them… Hey?)
Credit cards
Cash (±R5000)
Jewelry (what little was left after the last burglary ±2 years ago)
… All piled into my dad’s car so that they could take that too.
As we look around, we keep finding other things they took along the way.
It was only the next day that we realised dad’s hearing aids (worth ±R12 000) were in the car’s glove compartment. He only used them at work, so he’d stored them in the cubby after hours…
The horror and devastation that comes with realising that you might have lost your parents in such a tragic way is something that truly shakes you to the core… as a daughter, child, sister, sibling.
But if I had to name the one MATERIAL thing that was taken and that cuts me to the core, it would have to be my parents’ wedding rings. Not my dad so much, because he often took his off and played with it, twirling it between his fingers like a coin and accidentally dropping it on the floor.
My mother’s wedding ring is a different story all together.
She was a skinny waif of a girl at 21, when she married my dad. Three children and 37 years later, when the robber jabbed at her finger with the gun to give it up, she wasn’t sure that she PHYSICALLY COULD take the ring off. It had bonded itself to her now curvy, 60-year-old body. It was a part of her, skin, flesh and bone. But every time she tells the story, she thanks The Blessed Mary / Her Guardian Angel for slipping it off her finger “like butter”.
To the naked eye, it was just a simple wedding ring. A plain gold band with 3 tiny diamonds in an old 70s style. Nothing special to look at.
It wasn’t worth a great deal of cash money, but to me its sentimental value is incomprehensible.
It was a solid, sturdy ring – a symbol of their strong love and bond that has been tested but has stood the test of time.
And of those 3 tiny diamonds, only 2 remained. The third was lost in one of my mother’s many sessions at the outside wash trough, washing our cotton nappies by hand. Not because she was trying to be a martyr of some kind, or to spare a buck or two, or because she gave 2 hoots about the environment, but because she simply wanted nothing less than crisp, clean, snow-white cotton nappies for her babies. Only the best.
I don’t think that the person wearing that ring right now is very happy with the old, out-dated style and missing diamond. Her boyfriend could not love her very much to steal such a piece of crap for her, right? And I am sure that with every breath she takes her arm grows heavier and heavier with the weight of that ring. The weight of all those memories. The weight of the symbolism and what that ring represents.
It may look like a broken old piece of crap from the 70s, but that style is a tribute to the decade that my parents were married in… a tribute to the decade that I was born in.
That missing diamond is a symbol of the hard work, the physical sacrifices that my mother made to make my brothers and me the incredible people that we are today.
That strong, sturdy design is a metaphor for my parents’ marriage that has stood the test of time.
As a 35 year old single woman, that ring has represented The Dream… Every time I looked at it, I saw two young people, deeply in love, pledging to stick with each other and support each other through thick and thin, no matter what. It’s almost like it’s the missing piece of bone that would make that left hand whole. And I guess that’s why, at 35, I’m not married yet. My parents have set the bar far too high.
I’ve seen perfection and I won’t settle for second best.
Could it be that in Africa today, life is cheap? With people dropping like flies from poverty, crime and AIDS, people here have “bigger things” to worry about? When we’re being told to rape infants so we’ll be cured from AIDS, could it be that stealing actual/material “things” have come to mean nothing in the grand scheme of things? That’s why we can take someone’s wedding ring today and think nothing of it. It’s meaningless when we’ll all be dead from AIDS / poverty / crime tomorrow, right?
Shame on you, Africa.
Shame on you.
Those animals took the rings, but they couldn’t take the caring, married hands that touched and consoled and calmed each other with true and lasting love in a time of extreme violence and pain.
You lost.
We won.

Shame.
On.
You.

What's this pretty picture?

2010-07-22T01:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while searching the net for exciting new ways to create graphs (work related) I found this super cool website that basically takes any website that you punch into the system and generates a graphical representation of the website. The one you see above is my actual blog and here's what the colours mean:

blue: for links (the A tag)
red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
green: for the DIV tag
violet: for images (the IMG tag)
yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
black: the HTML tag, the root node
grey: all other tags

Try it out for yourself right here and let me know how your blog / website turns out.

Girls like me, love makeovers like this.

2010-07-16T06:36:00.000-07:00

Little Tannah, who you might recognise from my previous post, has a lovely dad named Rob who just turned thirty. To celebrate he threw the monster of all parties last Saturday at the DHS Old Boys' Club, right here in sunny Durban. Or should I say, moonlit Durban.
The theme was "R" (for Robbin) - wear anything or dress as anything beginning with the letter R.
Now... let me give you a brief history about my foray into dress up parties. Being the super social, eager-to-please party girl that I am, in the past I've taken these dress up things very seriously. Some might say a little too seriously. And often, less than an hour into the party, I'm sweating my ass off under several layers of face paint, a wig and a ridiculous outfit that would NEVER in a million years get me laid, let alone a phone number. So this time around I decided the key words would be "Comfort", "Confidence" and "Sexy", so I decided to wear a little black dress, some killer heels, and a giant rose ("R" for rose, geddit?) in my hair.
But in an effort to look a little special, seeing as it was a special occasion, I booked an appointment at Truworths' Mac counter to have my make up done. I've had my face done there years ago for a wedding that I was going to and I quite enjoyed the experience. If any of you girls have ever had a Mac makeover you'll also know that you can dance, sweat, smooch, get wasted, lose your shoes, purse and specially coiffed hairdo, but your makeup stays right where they put it... Nice.
I'll be honest... I started to worry when I walked in the door for my makeover and my eyes caught sight of the tattoed freaks who were doing the makeovers. If I wanted to look like a hooker with syphilis, I would've snorted a gram, drank a bottle of cheap booze, waited a few hours and done my makeup myself. BUT! I very calmly waited in the seat, until God smiled on me and sent the most amazingly talented angel to do my face... Robyn did everything I asked for and more.
The brief was: Give me a Kim Kardashian smokey eye, with hints of colour to pick up on the bright pink rose I'll be wearing in my hair. I want drama. I want sexy and I want it NOW!
Well, I skipped all the way back to the car, making smokey-sexy eye contact with every hot boy I saw along the way. There's something about the power of The Smokey Eye that cannot be denied. No wonder Kim Kardashian manages to smoulder and pout and purr every time we see her on the red carpet. You really do feel super sexy.
When I got home, I was determined to capture the look on my camera, so I could remember the feeling, but also in the vain hope that I could look at the pics and practice in the mirror until someday, God willing, I would be able to achieve something even REMOTELY close to this perfection. Flash-forward three days, to me spending two hours at a make up counter trying to find colours that come close, that I can experiment with without breaking the bank; then flash-forward another three hours to me standing in the bathroom, COVERED in sparkly shit, red-eyed and teary from having poked my eyes out with various brushes and mascara wands. (Read: FUCK THIS!)
Anyway!
Here are some pics of me trying to catch the makeup in normal daylight, and looking like a total fool in the process:

And here's the finished product - hair, makeup and LBD:

Well... On several levels, we'll call it a success:
1. The last thing I remember was drunkenly trying to order a Steers burger at four the next morning. But my makeup was FLAWLESS when I got home at 4.30am. Result!
2. I met a super hot boy we'll call "Rockstar". More on this as things develop. *wink*
3. Super hot "Baby (Ron) Burgundy" mumbled that he's picking up a certain "change" in me... Mysterious. I like.
And yeah. I'd recommend it, and I'd suggest that you go as far out of your comfort zone as possible. Have fun, ladies. We've only got one life to live. Don't waste it on losers or playing it safe.

Once upon a time...

2010-07-14T01:23:00.000-07:00

...in a land far, far away (about 4 minutes from my house), there lived a little 8 week old princess named, Tannah. She had teeny tiny fingers and teeny tiny toes, and the cutest button nose you ever did see.

Now, her mom, Lorraine, a very good friend of mine (and normally very mild mannered woman) threatened to throw me into a hessian bag and beat me with a stick if I didn't make one of my crocheted baby blankets for her precious angel. But you see, she really didn't have to because, unbeknownst (spelled that correctly on the first try - HOORAH!) to Lorraine I had started the blankie months before she announced the pregnancy. This was only because I crochet so slowly, I'd need more than 9 months to get it done. Well, despite my head start, I still wasn't ready for the baby shower, seeing as smarty pants over here decided to try something new that didn't work and that had to be unpicked and started again. *sigh*
Eventually slow and steady won the race and little Princess Tannah got her baby blankie made with loads of love and the odd finger cramp or two.
Here it is in her cot.

And here she is, all snug as a bug... Precious!

You'll notice I rather sneakily put a little blue stripe in, just in case there's a little Prince sometime in the future - fingers crossed!
Tannah and I are best friends now. In fact, I'm her official babysitter. Jealous? You should be! She's an angel!

Books, booze and belly-stuffin' - in that order.

2010-07-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was my turn to host book club, and as ever, this Little Domestic Goddess planned a dinner that would have made Nigella proud... At least I think so.
We started with a Moroccan Lentil soup and mini bread rolls - a new recipe off the internet that worked out very well, although I could have warmed it a little more before serving. Oh well.
The main course was an oven-baked prawn pasta - my second time making this one, and just as rich and comforting as the first time.
And dessert was my special homemade apple pie - a tried and tested recipe from my mom that is so easy it's embarrassing, and so delish it always has guests coming back for more.
Here's a pic of the pie when it just came out the oven, and before it had cooled enough to be dolloped with fluffy clouds of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon:

It's basically a moist sponge cake, dotted with pecan nuts, on top of sweet, cinnamon apple slices. Yum.
I wish I had the good sense to take more food pics (of the other courses) before we devoured it all, but there was so much talking, drinking, eating and catching up to do, it clean slipped my mind.
Don't ask me WHAT we were thinking, ending the night off with cranberry schnapps shooters, but I was completely hung over and exhausted the next day.
Though... I'd still do it all again. And I wouldn't change a thing.
What a great night. Thanks, Eight Non Blondes, for making it so special.

Saturdays are CATurdays...

2010-07-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

... devoted to superior quality snoozing, sofa hogging and warming oneself in the sunny garden, if you could actually be bothered to get off the sofa at some stage.

FEEL IT! It's almost over...

2010-07-06T03:28:00.000-07:00

South Africa has well and truly experienced something the likes of which we'll probably never see again in my lifetime, through the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
My dad is a huge football fanatic, so I've grown up in a house where there was almost always the sound of a match humming through the tv, and my dad in his couch, nibbling on a bowl of peanuts, periodically yelling some sort of insult / instruction at the screen. So when we heard that SA had won the bid to host it, we were super excited! And as we watched the Durban stadium being built, and the growing number of SA flags flapping around everywhere that excitement grew. But, for whatever reason, we just didn't seem to get around to purchasing tickets in the early online stages. Eventually my dad felt that he might be happier just watching it all on tv (too lazy to get off the couch, I guess) until the day when ticket sales opened to the public and my brother Donovan decided that this was too good an opportunity for my dad to miss. So he offered to buy tickets for dad, mom and myself. My mom waited in the queue for almost an entire day, but by the end of it, she'd walked out of the bank with three tickets to a Round of 16 match at Durban's Moses Mobida Stadium. Success!
As the weeks rolled on, we watched all the matches on tv and prepared for our own, not even knowing who'd be playing... And just as luck would have it, mom and I came down with the rottenest flu EVER just a few days before the actual match. I was clever enough to see a doctor and get my antibiotics a few days before match day, so even though I was still on them, I was already feeling strong. NOTHING was going to keep me away from this one! Mom, on the other hand, adopted her usual Martyr Approach to dealing with the flu, which basically consists of her self-medicating on useless over-the-counter stuff, and slogging on at the desk until she can't go on, has lost her voice completely and is a walking snot / phlegm factory. Our match was on a Monday, buy by the Sunday night, she couldn't breathe and we had to rush her to the Ethekwini Hospital to see a doctor immediately. One hot Nigerian doctor, a couple of tests and some good drugs later, she was tucked in and hopefully on her way to being strong enough to attend the match at 4pm the next day.
Well!
Long story, short... Or long story, long, the three of us piled in to the car, all bundled up in our Winter gear and headed off to the stadium at around 1:30pm. By 2:15pm we'd found a parking and by 2:30pm we were walking through the gates of the stadium for the first time ever. Well, it wasn't dad's first visit there, as his jazz band had the honour of being one of the first artists to do a gig in one of the 5-star suites at the stadium a few weeks before.
The start of the experience was mind-blowing and exhausting and, well... altogether far too much for us to take in, so by the time we got to our seats we were completely deflated. We'd had no idea that our seats were at THE TOP MOST ROW of seats in the entire stadium. There were far too many stairs to 2 people on antibiotics and the vertigo at the top is so extreme, that for the longest time mom and I just sat there, holding hands, breathing deeply and trying not to puke.
My trip to the food stall wasn't any better... Not only did I pay R140.00 for 3 hot dogs, 3 cokes and a packet of chips (HEY??!!), but they insisted that it's stadium policy to take the caps off the coke and hand them to you already opened. So? We're supposed to drink flat coke by half time? And have all sorts of crap flying into the unopened bottle? I don't understand. ANYWAY! I then had to carry the cardboard box filled with our food and drinks all the way up the flippin' stairs again. By the time I got to my seat I was so dizzy, I thought it might be game over for Carma-Sutra.
We were early so, of course, people had only just started filtering in... First a few puffed out, happy faces peppered around the stadium, then a few more, and before we knew it, it was time to pop the earplugs in because of the deafening Vuvuzelas going mad around us.
A while ago, my friend Noodle mentioned that she felt an "ugly cry" coming on from all the pride she'd been feeling in the build up to the event and now it was finally here! Let me tell you, I cried my eyes out! One of the ugliest, sobbing, snotty, open-mouthed cries I've done in a LONG time. I didn't ever think I'd be that proud or that emotional, standing there in that crowd of 62000 people, most wearing orange like myself, with painted faces, sore hands from clapping as loud are we could, and swollen puffy lips from blowing on those Vuvuzelas with everything we had!
Netherlands kicked Slovakia's arse, 2-1, as I had predicted at the start of the match. Result!
It will be one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life.

Here are some pics of the stadium filling up:

The stadium bursting at the seams with ±62000 people:

Mom, dad and Me, the super happy football fans:

It's almost over. Can you believe it?
The semi-finals will be played today and tomorrow, and the finals will be on Sunday.
I feel like it's flown by so super fast, but on the other hand I think I've watched enough football to last me a lifetime.

Viva South Africa. VIVA!

It broke my heart when I heard that MY year was going to be a tough one.

2010-07-06T01:08:00.000-07:00

The Year of the Tiger. It only comes around every 12 years, you know.
It's supposed to be a really auspicious time for Tigers like me (born in '74) to marry, or have kids and basically to do anything of importance or serious significance.
I was in a relationship at the start of the year, and there were all sorts of wedding-y promises. But, I guess the things that I wanted for ME and MY Tiger year weren't what the stars or The Ruler of the Stars had planned for me. I didn't want to hear that my finances would be on shaky ground, or that this wouldn't be my year to find true and lasting love.
When the relationship ended violently and in a blur of confusion, anger and hurt, I thought that The Year had gotten me.
It was over, before it had even started.
I put up the protective barriers around my heart, carefully counted the pennies in my budget and quietly, softly waged my silent war against the stars and their Ruler.
I never thought this would EVER end up being My Year, or that the reason for my happiness would come from such unexpected "little" (?) places.
My best friend, Rachel, had a baby boy this January. Little Delwyn: The sunshiny-est bundle of joy to ever come out of a Winnipeg Winter. And on Sunday Rachel called all the way from Canada to ask if I'd be his Godmother. Me.
See, his folks have chosen two people in Canada to be the primary/local Godparents, and then one from the Philippines (where the dad's family is from) and little old me to be the International Godparents. Baby D is going to have Godparents on three different continents. Now that's what I call Spiritual Insurance at its finest.
We haven't yet figured out the scientific/IT bit yet on how I'm physically going to be a part of the Baptism (remember my Tiger year has doomed me to 12 months of canned soup and no international air tickets - whatever!), but if Neil Armstrong could send us a message from the moon IN THE SIXTIES, I think I'll figure out a way to let Delwyn know his (International) Godmother loves him and is there every step of the way...
I plan on taking this Godmother thing VERY seriously on a number of levels:
1. As FAIRY Godmother, I plan on granting His Royal Cuteness as many wishes as I possibly can. I'm thinking of getting him a lion cub for his first birthday... Too much?
2. As CATHOLIC Godmother I hope to be a spiritual lighthouse that he can call on at any time in his life when he needs a little guidance to help steer him safely to shore.
3. As SICILIAN Godmother I'm hoping to use my years of training at the gym to "take care of" any kneecaps that might get in the way of my Godchild's happiness... Capiche? (I'm not really Sicilian, but a little poetic license can be allowed on auspicious occasions such as this, I'm sure. For-geddah-bowd-it!)
Being the pretty serious Catholic that I am, I not entirely sure that Rachel and her husband Nestor quite understand how much this means to me and what an honour it is for me to be a part of Delwyn's life in this way. I'm sure that at some point I'll stop getting choked up whenever I think about it, but I'm not sure if that time will be any time soon or even in the next months or so.
However, just to make sure that I didn't get too confident, The Year of the Tiger distracted me long enough, for me to close a ten ton steel gate on my car on Sunday night, coming home from my parents' place.
The door's dented.
But nothing could dent the happiness in my heart.
What a great day to be me.

There he is, the little pudding...

Check it out! I've been tagged.

2010-06-17T06:44:00.000-07:00

My best maatie, Noodle, has tagged me in The Versatile Blogger Award thingy, and apparently all I have to do is share 7 random facts about myself... So here goes!

1. I am addicted to sleepwear and lingerie.
I've just recently felt like it's time for a small wardrobe clean out a la Clean House. Please understand, first of all, that my place is in NO WAY as chaotic as those homes on Clean House. I'm a bit of a neat freak... But! Every so often I open my wardrobe and ruthlessly start throwing things out. Last week I opened the doors, wondering what I would turf, and realised that more than a third of my folded stuff (not the hanging up stuff) is sleepwear and undies. I could never get through these in my lifetime but, I can assure you, I've already spotted some pajamas that I'm desperate for!

2. I'm also addicted to ANYTHING involving the kitchen.
Recipes... Gadgets... Food blogs... You name it, I'm there! It's actually a dream of mine to write a cookbook. Five ingredients in five minutes and a delectable dinner's on the table.

3. I'm incredibly jealous of ballerinas.
One of my biggest regrets in life is that I gave up ballet as a little girl. My heart stops completely when I watch them glide across the stage now. I should never have stopped. My parents should have dragged me to class kicking and screaming every Saturday instead of letting me quit. If I ever have kids someday and they want to just give up on something, I'll tell them this story and hopefully they'll stick with it for a little while longer.

4. I don't like the kind of humour that involves putting other people down.
You know the type? People who think they're super funny, when all they're doing is picking on other people in order to feel better about themselves. They also seem to be the kind of people who have the answer to everything, know more than everyone else, are always right, are always too-cool-for-school and always have a tumour when you've just got a little headache. Whatever...

5. I'm very old-fashioned when it comes to relationships.
I like men to be men. Strong, dependable, hardworking, honest, devoted, spiritual. Even though I do earn my own money, I'd like to know that he could take care of me if I wanted to stay home with the babies for a year or two. I like men to make the first move, and to save their last Rolo for me. Gentlemen... Where have they all gone? I can't remember the last time I encountered one face to face. Perhaps it's my entire generation that has forgotten how to treat a woman.

6. I'm super competitive when it comes to sports.
I can't just go spinning. I have to spin faster and harder than anyone else in the class. I can't just watch a football match. I have to get all worked up and start screaming obscenities at the screen, whether they're directed at my team or the opposition. The same goes for boardgames. It's a curse.

7. I HATE frozen fish.
LOVE sushi.
LOVE fresh fish done in anyway possible.
But don't EVER try to get me to eat the prepackaged, frozen, boxed, foul smelling crap they call fish from the supermarkets. Gross, gross, GROSS!
I have tried and tried to find ways of getting this good source of lean protein past my taste buds and into my tummy but there's nothing on God's earth that can camouflage the taste. ICK!!

Is it just me, or does the new scratching post look a little smug?

2010-06-14T06:37:00.000-07:00

Meet the new guy!

I paid WAY more than I had intended too, only because I am a total sucker for any sales pitch involving kitteh products.
I popped into Nature's Petland to replace the simple 150 buck scratching post, and came out with one for almost 300 bucks. *sigh*
The thing is... I do see it is a minor victory, in that, I happened to walk past the little snoozing kittens looking for new homes and bravely passed by without so much as a yearning squeeze in my chest. I must be growing up. Or I've clearly got my hands full with my own little bird assassin. If only she'd quietly "take care of" the frog that's living in my parsley patch. He keeps hopping onto my toes when I water my plants.
Check out the cute mouse.

Beena's already chewed his tail to nothing, and his shiny eyes have lost their sparkle. Sporadic attacks by an irritable old lady will do that to you.
If you look a little closely at the old guy you'll see the evidence of years of catnip abuse...

So, this big cardboard box arrives on my desk.

2010-05-26T04:57:00.000-07:00

Just the other day.
And my gut instinct was to think: "Hmm. I've pissed off a few crazies in my life. And now one of them has taken the time to mail me a severed head."
I'd sent my dad to the post office with the notice and my ID book because I was far too busy daffing around at my desk to do it myself. Little did I realise that my dad would not have the good sense to quietly put the severed head into the boot of my car where I could deal with it in the relative seclusion of my home. So, with great trepidation (AND THE ENTIRE AGENCY WATCHING) I carefully, cautiously opened the box to find a head-shaped thing wrapped in layers of bubble wrap. By this stage I had broken into a cold sweat, and the "ooh-look-someone's-sent-me-a-surprise" look on my face had frozen into a mask of calm terror. Resisting the urge to poke the head with a stick a few times to see if there was any blood or anything, I took a deep breath, threw my brain into autopilot and yanked the head out of the box.
Soft... Cream... Squishy.
This couldn't possibly be a head. Wait.
So I peel off the layers to find a stunning handbag inside. Hey?!
I rummage around in the pockets of the bag, and what do I find but this:

THAT'S RIGHT!!
I totally won a designer handbag from Cleo magazine, in a competition that I'd entered AGES ago and forgotten about! My ordeal with the severed head now long forgotten there was nothing more to do but sway my hips around the agency with my new bag slung over my shoulder.
Check it out. It's by a designer called Kathy Van Zeeland who, I've just discovered, has a swanky little store just down the street from me. Nice!

Who say nobody ever wins those things in magazines?!
This is the first thing I've ever won in a competition of this kind and I can honestly say that I'm hooked!

I've already entered a few more this month. Hold thumbs for me, people! If I win that African safari getaway I've got my heart set on, I'm opening up a Blog competition to see who gets to go with me. It could be YOU!

Retraction time... Oops.

2010-05-03T00:14:00.000-07:00

It takes a big woman to admit she's made a mistake! So here goes...
Thanks, Matt, for spotting that stupid boo-boo in my Alice review. Tim Burton had nothing at all to do with Titanic.
This is what happens when you read celebrity gossips sites while writing your blog. You're bound to mix up that guy who's wife beat him to the Best Director Oscar with the dude who keeps giving Johnny Depp a good excuse to act weird.
My bad.
Moving along...

Philosophical fail...

2010-04-29T00:27:00.000-07:00

Product Review - Pore Strips

2010-03-10T05:21:00.000-08:00

You know... I'm going to toot my own horn here for a bit, and start by saying that, for my age, I have pretty good skin. And one of the reasons I have good skin is that I don't experiment with just any old product.
All ANYONE needs is:
a good foaming cleanser
a good moisturiser with sunblock
a good night cream
That's it, seriously! At least, that's all I need.
Of course I use other "cosmetic" stuff, but as far as skin CARE goes, that rather short list has done me proud.
That is until I started getting irritated with my pores. They're not too dodgy; I just think they could be better. So going against everything I've ever believed in, I trudged off to my local Clicks to get my paws (not pores) on a pack of pore strips to try out.
Well!
I bought them a month ago and it took me a whole month to try them, because I had visions of them permanently bonding to my nose. Followed closely by visions of me yanking off chunks of nose along with the strips.
Not ideal.
So anyway... I decided to brave up last night and go for it, and MAN am I glad I did? Sure, there was a scary moment when I hadn't realised how HARD the dry strip is when it's glued to your nose, doing it's thing. But, once I got over my mild panic, and saw past the tears welling up in my eyes, I gently peeled the strip away and... wow!
I'm a convert!
I will do this once a week at least!
What a great product. My pores look great. The process was quick and relatively effortless.
Pore strips! Do it, girls. Just do it!!

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland - A review

2010-03-09T05:08:00.000-08:00

Let me start by thanking my cousins, Jarrod and Nadia, for getting me off my ass and off to the movies to see the new 3D phenomenon that everyone's talking about, Alice in Wonderland, directed by none other than Tim Burton of Titanic fame. I've just seen Avatar in 3D, so it's important to note that my expectations were ridiculously high for this one.
I'm going to start with the bad and end with the good...
As far as the story goes, you could pretty much sum it up in a sentence or two. And then Tim Burton took 2 sentences and spread them over ±1.5hours. It was draggy. Super draggy. Draggier than Ru Paul, draggy. Long, loooooooooooooooong. If you're expecting non-stop action and 3D mayhem with stuff flying at your head for the entire time, don't watch this movie. You will be disappointed. And now that I've had my bitch, onto the good stuff.
The landscapes and art direction were absolutely breathtaking! Quintessential Tim Burton at his absolute best. My eyes didn't know where to look; as every inch of it just oozed style and wonderfulness. Wowzer.

The acting was outstanding. Mr Depp was incredible as always, even though the writing didn't give him much to work with. There was a crappy dance at the end that had me cringing, but I'll forgive him for that as long as he replies to my marriage proposal promptly. Helena Bonham Carter was just FANTASTIC as the Red Queen, even though they didn't give her much to work with either. Fabbo!
And the best bit...
OMG, the costumes!

Or can you even call them "costumes"? Maybe the stuff that they had the regular characters in might be classified as "costume". But the dresses that they draped over that lucky bitch who played Alice were nothing short of sensational! There was a real Vivienne Westwood / Alexander McQueen vibe that blew me away. I LOVED Alice's dresses, especially the one that the Red Queen had made especially for her. Check it out:

These pics really don't do it any justice. It was structured, but feminine. It was MAD but completely made sense. OMG, I would wear that on my wedding day if I ever found a man rich enough to buy it for me! *swoon*
I need to stop gushing about this dress now, so... *sigh*
As far as the characters went, my favourite was the Cheshire cat. He was BEAUTIFUL and feline, and flowy and funny... Love, love, LOVE!

So jealous, I could scream!

2010-03-04T04:37:00.000-08:00

Check out my mom's curry leaf plant...

My dad pruned it down a few months ago and it looks like that was the best move EVER. The leaves are huge, lush and green, and the plant is thriving. The great thing about curry leaves is that they also dry and store well. What my mom does, is she pulls a few sprigs off the tree, washes and towel dries them thoroughly. Then she stores them in the same little glass jar that she keeps her curry powder / masala. The leaves will stay good for AGES, kind of like bay leaves. I have a puny tree that's struggling for dear life. *sigh*
But! Not to be undone...

The basil leaves in my lunch the other day, came from my very own basil trees, served here with a tomato/feta salad and two vegetarian bean patties.

And the countdown begins!

2010-03-02T00:04:00.000-08:00

So we have just 100 days to the start of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, hosted right here in sunny South Africa... And I couldn't be more excited.
I unfortunately couldn't tickets. I woke up far too late and the only ones that are left for Durban are for the N/Korea VS Nigeria match. I've got nothing against those two; it's just that they're not particularly wow. And at ±R500 a ticket for the only seats left, I'm not sure I'm THAT big a fan.
BUT!

Public Address is proudly flying the SA flag today, to mark the start of one of the most exciting times our country will ever see...
VIVA SOUTH AFRICA, VIVA!!

Happy 60th Birthday, mom!

2010-03-01T02:10:00.002-08:00

Here I am with my precious mom at the local seafood joint.
We decided to treat her and a bunch of her closest, dearest friends to a yummy seafood dinner and LOTS of booze. I'm doing the Lent thing at the moment so I felt very much like the chaperone for the evening, making sure that all my precise birthday arrangements ran according to schedule.
Invites, check.
Restaurant booking, check.
Taira and candles, check.
Bake surprise birthday cake, decorate and deliver ahead of time... Check. Check. Check!

She loved it. And even though she hates surprises and insisted on being involved with the inviting etc, she was totally blown away when they brought the surprise cake out and the entire restaurant sang for her!
Happy Birthday, mom! Here's to a million more.

I think I might have to agree...

2010-02-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine sent me this spoof cover of the Twilight books the other day, after hearing be bitch and moan and whine about how I can't wait to get to the end of the series... Not because I'm dying to know what happens, but really because I'm dying to get them out the way so I can read something worthwhile.
Apart from book four, Breaking Dawn, which was given to me by my prison bitch, Gail, I have to say that I was bored to TEARS by the rest of the books. At least some stuff HAPPENS in book four! Nothing happens in the others. I can't remember where I heard someone say that this is officially the series about nothing! And I have to agree. It's like the Seinfeld of books. (That Seinfeld thing was my addition.)
I don't know if Gail knew that she as giving me the best one in the series, but thank goodness she did! It has partially restored my faith in humanity.
But as for those Twi-hards who carry worn copies around with them in their handbags, and for all my friends and book clubbers who have pledged their undying/undead love for the series, I say: I have lost all respect for you as a reader / intellectual / book lover / critic. And to the masses who've made this series the pop culture phenomenon that it is, I say: Bugger off! You're retarded. Get out my face with your mouth-breathing stupidity.
Harsh? Yes. The world needs to hear the truth.

It's SO GOOD to be loved!

2010-02-22T05:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, after a long, hot day of ups and downs, it was like Little Astin was reading my mind and knew instinctively that I was in need of some care.
When I pulled up into the driveway, I saw her out the corner of my eye RACING off into the house to fetch the little gift she'd made for me...
The cover, complete with silver, sparkly stars:

And a beautiful message inside:

I had fortunately been saving 2 little heart-shaped chocolates for her since Valentine's Day, and handed them over in exchange. Beena thanked her by hissing and yowling and dashing under the bed... *sigh*
That cat really is "wered" (weird).
:)

Looking back...

2010-02-16T23:57:00.000-08:00

As my parents and I tucked into our fancy seafood dinner at my place last night, I pulled out some old pictures and came across these. After my letter to my gran yesterday, I thought I should share them, so you could see for yourself what an amazing lady she was. Here I am at ±1 year old with my dad's parents, my Grandpa Joe and Grandma Rosa Gabriel...

And just because I can... Here I am with my mom on my first birthday. Don't be deceived by the frilly dress and crocheted socks. I apparently kicked my butterfly birthday cake on the day, and proceeded to sit on the table and lick the icing off my shoes. There are also a few pics of my mom laughing and holding her hand over my mouth. I think I might have dropped a swear word or two just for good measure. Ghetto!

"Pancakes can go f@*& themselves" - An open letter to my late grandmother...

2010-02-16T00:13:00.000-08:00

Dear Ma...
When I realised this weekend that tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, of course the first person I thought of was you, and of course (again), the STACK of pancakes you would make for all the grandchildren on Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday. God alone knows how you kept your cool while making like, a hundred pancakes or something, seeing as there was a million of us rugrats to feed. Bless you, Ma.
And seeing as I'm officially A Traditional Old Fart, I decided to keep the tradition alive and make a stack of pancakes for my family-away-from-home, The People At The Office.
Well, Ma... I'm sure you had a good chuckle watching me from heaven, as I went through THREE different frying pans, trying to find one that wouldn't stick. I'm pretty sure you giggled at the clump of stodgy dough I scraped out of the first 2 and had to chuck in the bin. I'm fairly confident that you were rolling on the floor with laughter, when I put a tiny piece of pancake on the kitchen floor for Beena The Cat to turn her nose up at, and then stepped in it, and smooshed it all over my kitchen floor, after paying my cleaning lady to do a good clean up just yesterday.
Every.
Single.
Pancake.
Stuck.
To the pan.
Why, Ma?! WHY????
I followed the instructions. To the letter! But still, it was a nightmare.
You can see from the pic, I managed to get ±30 lacy pancakes out of the giant bowl of batter, but only through the mercy of God.
Ma? Unless you manage to whisper in the ear of mom/dad/Brendan/Donovan to buy me one of those fancy non-stick Bauer pans, I have to say that this is the last time I put myself through this...
Please forgive the swear word in the title of this letter, but I was really cross when I wrote it.
Say HI to Grandpa for me?
Love always,
Carmen.
PS. You're a legend!

What is it with little girls and shells?

2010-02-15T01:35:00.000-08:00

I spent yesterday wishing I was in a air-conditioned fancy restaurant sipping on expensive champagne. Instead I was getting my skin fried off at the beach, taking my little cousins on long walks to look for shells to make crappy necklaces out of.
Okay... I'll admit it. It was awesome and I loved every humid / blazing / blinding / sweaty / sandy / salty / burny minute of it...

Happy Chinese New Year for yesterday!

2010-02-15T01:18:00.001-08:00

Hey, folks!
In case you missed it yesterday, 14 Feb 2010, apart from being a particularly heinous day for singeltons everywhere, was also Chinese New Year... YAY!
And to make things even more exciting, it turns out that this Chinese lunar year, is The Year of the Tiger... THAT'S ME! So this year is officially my year, and in preparation I checked out a forecast of the year ahead and what I should be expecting. Here's my interesting "some-good-some-bad" Tiger forecast for 2010:

Your year has arrived, and you are likely to find it more comfortable than most. That does not mean, however, it will be more successful. This could be a case of too much of a good thing. Yes, you are lucky. Yes, you enjoy taking a risk. You can bet the year's ambiance will encourage extremes even beyond your natural inclinations. In other words, you are vulnerable to suffer from overdoing it, from living on the edge and falling off it. You are going to have a few splendid successes in 2010. On the other hand, do not be surprised if your failures are even more spectacular. Self control wins the day.
Career:
Tiger's natural leadership and charisma are enhanced this year, and you may find your ideas and initiatives get more traction than usual. It feels great to be listened to and treated like the boss. The only downside could come if you let this deference go to your head and fail to seek out others' expertise and experiential wisdom. Coworkers are not likely to reign you in, so you need to be extra vigilant to make wise, considered decisions and go out of your way to consult with respected peers and mentors. This year will present opportunities of your wildest imaginings, but you will need abundant self-discipline in order to make them realities. Success is within your reach, but beware of pride and overconfidence; it is not a foregone conclusion.
Relationships:
Personal relationships are likely to be Tiger's strongest suit this year. Your active and rewarding social agenda could be the envy of most others; expect to have fun in 2010. But even this pales in light of your prospects for love. Romantic passion is likely to be at its highest mid-year, which is also a very lucky time for a Tiger to marry. Domesticity could hold much of your attention this year. You may get special satisfaction in 2010 from time spent on homefront matters and family relationships. If you are single, important friendships should develop pleasingly over the course of the year and become a central focus of your life. In the spring you could meet someone who will play a key role in your life, possibly as part of a celebratory event.
Health:
Tigers could suffer the effects of exhaustion this year without even realizing they have overexerted themelves. It is in your best interest to take extra precautions to ensure you get enough sleep, and to practice healthful exercise and good nutrition habits to allow your body to recover from overindulgences, of which there may be many. Intensity and high stakes in almost every area of your life make you feel alive, but place stress on your overall health, something with which you may have to cope later. Let 2010 be the year you learn to love green foods. If you have experienced mental setbacks in recent years, you should benefit psychologically from new beginnings now.
Wealth:
This year is likely to bring an increase in the Tiger's wealth. Money could flow from unanticipated sources, and income is likely to increase. You will be best served financially by setting aside windfalls as savings. The temptation and, possibly, social pressure to consume your new profits could be strong. However, it would be a mistake to assume money will be here to stay. Maximixe your financial opportunities, but don't lose your head. Consider making large purchases at a discount and hunt for bargains, even if you can afford retail markups. Wisely shore up your position for the long term.

So freakin' yummy I had to blog it: Breakfast 11.02.2010

2010-02-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

Super soft, just-set scrambled eggs, with herby feta cheese and chopped parsley just picked from my garden...
That's what was on the menu at Chez Carmen this morning. So simple, yet so delicious. In fact, I'd go so far as to call it sublime.
I think I might have the same tomorrow. YUM!

Nigella could learn a thing or two...

2009-11-24T03:29:00.000-08:00

Well, people!
You'll be happy to know that since the Big Brown Moth cake from a few posts back, things have gone from strength to strength for me in the kitchen. Here's the same recipe, done in a round cake tin, with the same chocolate ganache and real black cherries:

I had originally planned on using marachino cherries, but when I saw these, I simply had to use them. The dark cherries against the ooey-gooey chocolate... Heaven!
Having Best Boy around on the weekends means that I now have a willing and hungry lab mouse to test my cooking and baking on. And I really couldn't be happier!
So far I've mastered a choc-pud for two... (Aaaaaaaaaw!) The look on Best Boy's face when I served it up was absolutely priceless. I'd whipped it up in no time at all and it was scrumptious! And then last week I wowed him with a warm banana tart-tartin (served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream) that had him in dreamland.
And as far as the savoury dishes go, I'm having loads of fun cooking things like:
Various kinds of roast chicken (Moroccan; peri-peri; BBQ spice)
Red Thai Chicken Curry and Basmati Rice
Creamy Garlic Mushroom Pasta
Oven Braised Guinness Beef Stew
Egg Fried Rice
... And much, much more!
I've even made some home made pies using the left over Guinness Beef Stew as filling. That was a really winner, especially if you keep them in the freezer and then pop them in the oven with some potato wedges for a simple, hearty, no-fuss dinner.
I made a tuna / rice casserole that I wasn't too keen on... I'm not sure if that's because it wasn't good, or because I'm BATTLING to find ways to get cheap / high-protein tuna into my body without GAGGING. When it comes to fish, it appears that I unfortunately have very expensive taste! Unless it's sushi or SUPER fresh fish done in a restaurant by a professional chef, I really. Can't. Do it.
I have tried just about everything. The only frozen / convenience fish that I like is crumbed and that flies against EVERYTHING I believe in, as well as my "no-major-carbs-after-five" rule. Oh well. I'm still trying and experimenting. I made some divine fish cakes a while back, but they did take time and I think I was too tired from work to enjoy the messy experience. Maybe if I make them and freeze them over the weekend I'll feel better about it. I make mine with mashed potato and egg (to bind), so they're completely gluten and fat free which is GREAT. It's just that they take time.
Oh! And Best Boy LOVES my heart shaped breakfast muffins on a Sunday morning. Oops. I just realised how naughty that sounded. *wink*
Here I am cooking up a storm in my mom's kitchen last Sunday, being extra silly when my friend Trysten pointed the camera at me!

(And thanks Gail for the pic of the cake... Stunning!)

Like OMG, you guys!

2009-10-30T02:08:00.000-07:00

I have finally joined the world of... ONLINE SHOPPING!
And my very first purchase was this outstanding cook book by my all time hero, Nigella Lawson. I've been hooked on the "Nigella Express" show for ages now, feverishly typing the recipes onto my cell phone (where I won't lose them) while Nigella deliciously (and effortlessly) shares all her time-saving, flavour making kitchen secrets. So when my best mate Noodle told me that she'd seen the book on an online shopping spot called Take2 I decided to go for it, and make the culinary investment of a life time. Now... Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Jamie Oliver. He's one of my heroes too. His recipes are also quite quick, fuss-free and, of course, packed with flavour. But there's something about Nigella's less-than-10-ingredients, ready-in-10-minutes, but still unbelievably decadent approach that speaks to the "Domestic Goddess" in me. She's the original, no doubt. But, dammit! I'm on my way to being a close second!
And yes... I can feel you from way over here, - feel you wondering WHY it's taken me so very long to join the wicked-convenient world of online shopping. Well, let me first share that I have only JUST started doing the online banking thing. Uh-huh... I have always felt the need to see the FACE of the person that I'm handing my hard earned moolah too, just in case! It's a been a long, winding road that has tested my determination with many a trust-issue inducing speed bump along the way, but I've finally made it. I ordered last week and a week later, the book was on my desk.
If that's not wicked awesome, I don't know what the fuck is!
And I know what you're thinking... This rush that I'm feeling is really just the start of yet another downward spiral into dept and financial ruin. It might be. But, knowing me (and as much as I've always had a weakness for nice things) I've always somehow managed to stick to my means.
Oh my gosh. It feels like Christmas!

Conversations: Coffee Shop

2009-10-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

A boy and girl sit close together at a coffee shop. While she sips on her chocolate milkshake and he munches on a burger, she notices the stares they're getting from passersby observing the couple's intimacy.
Girl: ... I don't think these people have ever seen a couple in love before...
Boy: Well. We're not in love.
Girl: We're not??!!
Boy: Nope... We're past that now. We ARE love.
Girl: :D

Older. Wiser. Fitter.

2009-10-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

Kinda like: Simpler, better, faster...
That's the way I feel at 35.
Yes people, Carmen has officially had yet another birthday and turned another year older... and she feels just fine, thank you very much!
Now that I'm hitting the gym pretty hard and feeling slimmer/fitter, I find that I'm sleeping better and feeling good. Those hard-to-hear old cliches about how good exercise is for you are all true, I'm afraid. There really are no short cuts to feeling good. One of the lessons I've learned in my grand old age is that you just have to get off your ass and DO IT ALREADY!
And... after the year I've had, I think I needed the extra surge of endorphins and adrenaline to lift my spirits and clear my head. It's been a year of fresh starts (moving into my own place), adventure (spending Christmas and New Year with good friends in Canada) and sad endings. For a while, I closed the door on a relationship that I thought would be forever, opening myself to a new level of sadness that I'd never experienced before. On the one hand I made wonderful new friends, and on the other extreme I watched a devastated family bury one of those new friends after he decided he couldn't go on any longer and ended it all. His passing opened my mind to thoughts I'd never had before. I wondered just how sad one would have to feel to take one's own life. I wondered how sad I would have to be, and I marveled at the inner strength and spirituality I managed to find, deep down inside, to pull myself through my own sadness. I thought about how, in our modern day quest for independence and privacy we've somehow opened ourselves up to a lonelier, more isolated existence. In my folks' day, by the time you were 35 you were having the 3rd kid, moving into your second (bigger) home and had at least 2 cars in the driveway. Those plurals seems to elude us at 35 today... I was reminded of the wonderful people and things I have in my life, and how I should thank God everyday for letting me know them and have them around. I realised how vain and arrogant we are to think that all the brilliant opportunities that God gives us will just keep coming forever; that we can turn our noses up at those opportunities, thinking they'll never dry up.
After a year of putting on a brave face, this has been a birthday FILLED will spoiling, love and attention and, I must be honest, I reveled in every second of it. I took a few days off, planned one little activity for each day and pretty much soaked up the peace and quiet of my place, my book and my state of mind. Oh! And I got my hair done... YAY.
Two of my favourite kids in the whole wide world treated me to a surprise party in the front yard, as I was leaving for work.

Declan and Astin, thank you so much for my precious card, pretty flowers, mini chocolate muffin birthday cake (with twirly candle), hugs and kisses. The best part was watching the two of you in a MAD scramble, trying to get the surprise ready without me finding out. *pfft*
My folks and brothers spoiled me rotten with gifts and calls from far, far away.
And my cell phone/facebook/email didn't stop with all the messages from friends and family, near and far.
After not having seen each other for ages, Best Boy treated me to a wonderful seafood lunch, showing me that the door hadn't closed, but opened onto a new level of grown up stuff. Thanks, Best Boy. Or should I call you "Mushashi" now? I can't wait to taste some of the Japanese food you're learning to make.
I've even started baking again. It's been the biggest dream of mine to bake up a storm for my loved ones every Sunday, but for some reason in this year of change, I'd never gotten around to breaking in my new oven with one of the thousands of recipes I've been collecting over the years. Somehow, this weekend, it all felt right and I baked a chocolate butterfly cake. Here it is straight out the oven.

And here it is after I'd smothered it in chocolate sauce and Flake.

My mom and I had a good chuckle that it looked more like a MOTH than a butterfly (seeing as it was all brown and stuff), but it was delicious anyway. Chocolate, brandy and coffee: a winning combination. I'll be making another one for book club next week so look out, girls!
Yeah... It's a new year for me. A new beginning. My Chinese sign is Tiger, and next year (2010) is the Year of the Tiger so I'm looking forward to adventure, prosperity, love, happiness, new beginnings... All that good stuff.
Thanks for joining me on this crazy rollercoaster we call Life.
I'm looking forward to the next 35 with an open heart and open mind.

HaikuNunu's "Sunrise"

2009-09-08T01:58:00.000-07:00

image

Insightful Graph: 1

2009-08-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

HaikuNunu's "Dreaming"

2009-08-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

Have you met Easy-Boy?

2009-07-27T01:16:00.000-07:00

He's Ella's best friend...
You might remember little Ella from this story.
Well... On Friday morning, Ella informed her dad, Wayne, that Easy Boy (she named him) was really REALLY missing Carmen (me!) and that he wanted to come to the office to spend the day (and some quality time) with me.
So, here he is, hogging my mac:

Easy normally smells like dog breath and toe jam, so I can't tell you how pleased I was to discover that he'd had a bath first before coming over to visit.

Sweet satisfaction!

2009-07-27T01:02:00.000-07:00

In a stressful, hectic life that can pretty much be summed up in the above pic (my car being towed to the mechanic) I find that it's the simple pleasures that bring me so much joy...
Introducing my sprouts:

Grown by little ol' me, on my windowsill for my salads.
In just seven days, these little beauties were ready to eat... But almost too pretty to eat.

Not only do I get the satisfaction of growing my own food (however small it may be) but now there's another living energy in my home that gives me such peace...
Watching sprouts grow, - one of life's sweetest, simplest pleasures.

When life gets stressful and everything's bringing you down...

2009-07-23T05:15:00.000-07:00

Remember to smile and celebrate.

HaikuNunu's "Mukluks"

2009-06-08T05:43:00.001-07:00

Introducing: The Last of the True Gentlemen

2009-06-08T04:35:00.000-07:00

Men of the world, take a page out of this young man's book and learn how to really treat a lady. His name is "D" and he is living proof that chivalry is NOT dead, but hanging on for dear life through the few good guys left. If you want be just like him, you might want to follow these few simple steps...
1. Be cute. - If you're not cute, stop ready now. There's no hope for you. D has the biggest, sparkliest eyes in the world. Like seriously.
2. Treat a lady, like a lady... NAY like a queen! - D does this by meeting me at the gate with handmade chocolates. (That's one in his little paw in the pic.) If you can't make chocolate and/or meet your lady at the gate after a long day at work with said chocolates, stop reading now. You're a lost cause.
3. Be a sport's legend in the making. - When this young man plays sport, he wins. Every time. No exceptions. If you're not a winner, stop reading now. You're wasting your time.
He's going to be such a little heartbreaker when he grows up...

I remember my first crush. I was in Class 1 (the first grade). His name was "M", and...
He
Was
Gorgeous.
He had the deepest dimples and longest, thickest eyelashes and he was the smartest, funniest boy in class. I remember us being silly together. He would play air guitar and I would sing along... *sigh*
Years later, in high school, he hooked up with a chick who really didn't dig me, and we (him and I) bumped into each other at some silly teenage party. He was there as her date and I couldn't tell him how I felt. I wouldn't have even if she wasn't in the picture. Fear? Pride? I don't know. All I do know is that it was quite a lost opportunity to remind him about the air guitar and singing. I wonder where he is now. I wonder if he'd even remember me. I remember, even in Class 1 he liked my best friend and I was just the silly tongue-tied, wide-eyed, clumsy girl in the background desperately wanting him to notice me, but hiding behind my painful shyness.
I've always thought that I didn't have a type but now that I reflect on those heavenly eyelashes, I realise that I've always gone for beautiful eyes.

Would I give it all to be D's age again? To experience those first crushes, first kisses, first heart breaks, first sweaty-palmed hand holding, first love letters, first walk home from school while he carries your books, first secret Valentine's hidden in your desk?
I don't thing so...
I've come too far.
My old heart has been through too much to be as open and free and fearless as D's is right now to enjoy every new moment for what it is.
But, man! He's in for such a journey. Such a rollercoaster ride.
Wouldn't it be great if we could wipe the slate clean and unlearn / forget all the things that have made is the guarded, cautious, scared little people that we are and just... live?

Dexter Season One: *****

2009-05-22T03:58:00.000-07:00

Is it wrong to be in love with a serial killer?
If it is, just lock me up and throw away the key... For I am truly, madly, deeply in love with Dexter.
I know I'm a little behind time on this one. Everyone watching the series on tv is already on season three, but you've got to understand that with my busy life I often end up missing episodes of my favourite shows, and then I lose interest and stop watching altogether. When you have a busy work life, plus the gym every day, a cat to spoil, a home to look after, books to read, projects to sew/crochet AND still need to find some "me time" is impossible to catch every episode when tv land thinks you should. So being able to get the various series on dvd has completely changed my life. No commercial breaks... No waiting one whole week to catch the next development... Pause-ability for loo breaks... Replay-ability for when you want to watch something again... It's great!
So my brother got my into Dexter when I visited last weekend and I'm so hooked. I basically marathoned the entire first season in 3 nights and I've managed to book season 2 and 3 with a friend of mine who's a bit of a collector. I can't wait, honestly!
The series is well written. The casting is good. The blood looks real.
It's.
Intoxicating.
Do yourself a favour and watch from the pilot episode. You won't be disappointed.

Three Quick Reviews

2009-05-13T00:53:00.000-07:00

Review One:
And Unfinished Life: ***1/2

If you're an aspiring writer you really want to give this book a read. I can't say that the plot was all that incredible, but the characters were simply amazing. Such depth, detail, honesty and insight! Mark Spragg captures little human moments that we see but don't register or take for granted. There's something cool that happens in your heart when you read a moment like that, recognise it in someone that you know and empathise. Give An Unfinished Life a try. You won't be disappointed.

Review Two:
Confessions of a Shopaholic: Zero Stars

What the fuck was I thinking?
There should be a law against this kind of shit. Movies like this make women dumber by the second. They suck the IQ right out of you through your eyeballs. I was at lest 5 IQ points lighter when I left the theatre. WTF.

Review Three / Contraption Review / "Best of the Internet from Last Week":
The Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator: *****

This little baby allows you to aerate our wine and drink it immediately, instead of having to open the bottle and allow the wine to "breathe" for several hours. On our wine tour in Cape Town last month, the guide advised us that you can actually open your wine in the morning if you're going to be drinking it later that night. I barely have time to remember to pack a healthy lunch, let alone remember to open my wine for that evening. Whatever. ANY contraption that allows you to drink your wine IMMEDIATELY is an winner in my book. Read more here.

HaikuNunu's "Thought Bubbles..."

2009-05-13T00:51:00.001-07:00

Completed Projects: Can I get a whoop WHOOP??!!

2009-05-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

All my life my mom has teased me about the fact that I start a million projects and never seem to finish. It's not just an accusation. It's a fact really, and the biggest piece of evidence would be a tapestry that I started when I was in primary school. It's still sitting in a plastic bag on top of my wardrobe right now. Half done. Half not done. To be fair, this level of procrastination doesn't come from nowhere. That particular tapestry was started by my mom, when she was pregnant with my brother, Donovan. Don will be 32 this year. The defense rests.
You can therefore imagine my elation when I actually manage to finish a project. You might remember that last year some time I taught myself how to crochet (from the INTERNET, thank you very much) and started a VERY ambitious project of a bed throw. Too big. I should have aimed lower, started smaller and set myself some achievable goals... Right now, the granny square blocks are in a bag at the back of the wardrobe. Not far from the tapestry.
So... I humbly present: Completed Project Number One! The first of its kind in Carmen History, EVER!

It's a baby blanket for little Max my best girl, Maria's, little boy. We didn't know he was going to be a boy until he popped out, so I stuck to neutral colours, buttery cream and chocolate. I'd say it took about 2 months of solid, frantic crocheting. This little baby went with me to the hair salon and even flew to minus 44 in Canada with me.
Completed Project Number 2 is a set of baby blocks for my friend Natalie's little boy, Xavier.

This project took very little time actually. Again, I kept the colours very "baby" rather than gender specific. Natalie also wanted to be surprised and didn't want to know the gender of the baby. I must say that this was a really fun project to do and the 3 little blocks turned out very cute.
And finally (for now), Completed Project Number 3: A sari book cover for my daily scripture book.

The actual cover was just awful and I couldn't bring myself to enjoy my daily meditation when this ugly cover was sitting in my lap. So in a fit of creative energy I cut up an old sari that I had lying around and sewed a cute little cover for my book. This was SO incredibly easy to do and I'm actually thinking of making a few more to hand out as gifts.
I'm getting better with this "completed project" business, as you can see. There's a half crocheted scarf and baby blanket in my crochet basket right now. Not to mention that damned bed throw. I should have just made one GIANT granny square instead of going for a patch-work / quilt type effect. Now I have a million granny squares to block and join. I'll never finish this one. I feel it in my bones...

It's great working in advertising... But let me tell you why.

2009-04-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Don't ask me WHY we thought it would be funny, but a bunch of the girls in the office (in a moment of complete boredom) decided to construct a willy out of a banana, 2 apples and a fake mustache, and place it on one of the guy's desks while he was out to lunch.
What followed for the next 15minutes was complete confusion as we argued over the anatomical correctness of the various willies we'd constructed.
Let's just say it took 4 girls, 4 attempts to get it "right".
Judge for yourself:

I hadn't laughed that hard in ages...

Contraption Review: Fail!

2009-04-24T05:02:00.000-07:00

Well... Being the little jet-setter that I am, I can hardly expect my wonderful friends and family to always be around to feed my beloved Beena while I'm away. So I decided to get one of these little feeders from the pet store.
Pretty simple: You simply fill it up with their food and as they nibble from the tray, the holder releases more food into the tray to replenish it.
I was really hopeful about this one, because my Beena is not a big eater and never finishes her full day's feed. So I knew that she wouldn't be liked some pets who gobble up all the food in the feeder and end up starving afterward. For a short trip of 2 days / 2 nights, this feeder would've held MORE than enough food for my little angel!
Unfortunately... The food kept jamming in the release opening and she didn't know how to stick a paw in to shake things around to release more food. :(
Don't bother getting one of these for your kitty / pup. They're just not worth it!
So, sadly we're back to relying on the kindness of others to feed my angel.
I'm off to Johannesburg next month for a few days...
Anyone keen to babysit?

Well, done my fellow South Africans!

2009-04-24T04:58:00.000-07:00

Well done for casting your vote and making your voice heard.
Here's hoping and praying that we're all equally and fairly represented in SA's new government.

HaikuNunu's "Flame"

2009-04-24T04:32:00.001-07:00

What an awesome way to end Lent and celebrate Easter!

2009-04-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

... In the Mother City, Cape Town with my mom, dad and youngest brother, Brendan.

Here's where I get to do my bit for SA Tourism and wax lyrical about what is truly one of the most amazing cities in the world. Mountains, beach, winelands, history, shopping, arts & culture... there's nothing that Cape Town is lacking in, and I'm probably sure I'm missing out a few key categories.
But, here goes...
There's no way I could possibly capture it all in words, so I'm going to let the pictures speak for me, with the odd note here and there to let you know what you're looking at.

This is how early we had to be at the airport. The sun was only just putting in an appearance as I took this pic from the restaurant window. I should mention here that I had been on my fast for Lent for about 40 to 50 days and only had that day (Holy Thursday) and the next day (til 3pm - Good Friday) to go. So while everyone else tucked into their bacon, eggs and toast I had eggs and chips. I'd given up booze, meat, fish, wheat and the obvious ones like chocolate and cake, - all the good stuff, and was left with veggies, fruit, dairy, eggs, tofu and legumes/nuts etc. I knew that I would make it gracefully to the end. I do it every year, but I will say that as you get older and look forward to that glass of wine with your dinner in the evening, it seems to get tougher and tougher not to feel a little sorry for yourself when you see others "indulging". It was also with mixed feelings that I left my beloved cat, Sabrina, in the care of my landlady (Shelley). I knew that she'd do a fantastic job of looking after her, but knowing that Beena's only been living with me for ±8weeks and was still adjusting to her new home, did worry me quite a bit. I knew she'd miss me and that made me miss her even more. I bought her a little radio so she wouldn't feel too lonely, topped up her clean kitty litter and made sure that Shelley knew where to find her food etc.

Well, we arrived in Cape Town without a hitch and met Brendan at the airport (he flew from Johannesburg where he now lives and works), collected our hire car and headed straight for our accommodation in Camps Bay. I'm told that we were blessed with 6 of the most stunning days (weather-wise) that Cape Town has seen in a long time, especially for this time of the year. As you can see, we had nothing but sunshine the whole time. You're looking at pics of our B&B and the views of Cape Town from all angles.

In the many, MANY times I've been to Cape Town I've never been able to go up Table Mountain. Just my bad luck, whenever I've gone the weather has always been a bit dodgy. But this time, clear skies and no wind meant that we could take the cable car up the side of the mountain all the way to the top to take in the breathtaking views, enjoy a light lunch and do a bit of shopping.

If there's one waterfront / harbour place you get to visit in your lifetime, make it The V & A Waterfront in Cape Town. Great vibe, live music on every corner, unbelievably good food, a wide variety of things to do, even seagulls that steal your fish and chips right out of your plate. That's one of them, checking out my chips in the bottom right pic. I bought the most amazing African dresses from the craft market... *happy sigh*

I've been once before, but I was happy to go to Robben Island for a second time in my life to see the prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his life. (He was incarcerated for 27 years, but 18 of them were on the island and the rest were elsewhere.) A ±45minute ferry ride takes you out there, and then a bus tour takes you around the island and an ex-political prisoner takes you through the prison facility. The bottom left pic is the lime quarry that has left Nelson Mandela partially blinded after years of crushing lime stone for no reason other than punishment. The lime wasn't used for anything after it had been crushed. The bottom right pic is of his 2m by 2m prison cell. The bucket on the right was his toilet and the blankets on the floor were his bed. Failure to fold them exactly as prescribed (seen in the pic) would result in solitary confinement.

That's the ferry that took us to the island (a former leper colony before it became a prison for political prisoners during the apartheid era). Looking at it like this, you would never believe that such pain, torture and suffering took place here. The pic in the top left corner is of an old Taiwanese wreck and the one on the right is the view of Table Mountain from the island.

Cape Point was truly one of the most amazing places I've ever been. It's the southern most tip of Africa where the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean meet. I've been to Cairo too, so for me it was really cool knowing that I've been to the Northern and Southern most tips of the continent. In the bottom left pic you'll see one of the many stinky baboons that hang out there waiting for scraps of food that dumb tourists feed them. (READ THE SIGNS PEOPLE! Don't feed the animals! Sheesh.) My brother and I walked all the way to the top in no time at all, but my folks took the little shuttle because it IS a little tough for the older folk to get to the top without being puffed out. The drive there and back to Camps Bay was stunning... Little seaside villages with quaint antique shops and book shops. *sigh* We stopped at a fish and chip place and had the BEST piece of battered fish I've ever eaten in my life... wait for it... FOR TWENTY RAND A PIECE! Practically for free. That's $2 (USD) a piece guys. Buttery, flaky hake in crispy, puffy batter. There are no words, seriously.

On the Sunday we popped into church for Easter Mass. The choir was pretty dismal but we felt good none-the-less knowing that we'd made it to the end of Lent. I had actually broken my fast on Good Friday evening with a double cheese burger and a scotch/soda... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Sweet freedom, you tickle my tongue and warm my belly.

We decided to save the best for the last day and booked a one-day tour of the Stellenbosch winelands, with a guided long walk through the Delheim vineyard, several wine tastings and a stop for lunch at one of Stellenbosch's posh little restaurants. I can't tell you how much I learned about wine, grapes and wine-making in that walk! I have a whole new appreciation for the poetic, philosophical process that is wine making. I love that kind of shit! It's right up my alley. I can now spot a Cabernet Sauvignon leaf from a mile away, or a "Cab Sav" leaf as we wine connoisseurs fondly refer to it. And in the bottom left pic you'll see the Pinotage vines soaking up the sun. Pinotage (just so you know) is a grape variety indigenous to South Africa. in fact it was created in a lab by a bunch of scientists keen to create a grape that would thrive in our climate. A well-known, regular variety that thrives here naturally is Chardonnay, so look out for a good SA Chardonnay when you're out and you won't go wrong! (Delheim's Chardonnay "Sur Lie"... Mmmmmmmmmmmmh!)

And finally some random people pics... My mom, dad and Brendan at the top of Table Mountain in the bottom right pic. Me at the top of Table mountain in the top left pic and Nisha, Shivani and me partying at Cubana for Nisha's birthday on Saturday night.

God, I love that city.

FRESHLYGROUND at the Durban Botanic Gardens

2009-04-02T05:33:00.000-07:00

Ok... So sue me!
I'm probably the only South African out there who really doesn't think that FRESHLYGROUND is "all that and a bag of biltong".
At least I didn't think so, until last Sunday and their awesome afternoon concert at the Durban Botanic Gardens. Haleluia! PRAISE GAHD! I've seen the light. FRESHLYGROUND rocks!
I only pitched up in the first place because two of my best mates were going to be there, and it was either the concert or dvds on the sofa... Bleh.
And I know what you're thinking: A bottle of wine in Durban's blazing Summer sun will make ANY band seem great. Well, just so you know, I'm completely sober these days thanks to Lent - it's a Catholic thing - and I was totally sober the whole afternoon.
There was an hour or so from the opening band, Maisha:

The buffed arms on the lead guy were killer! ROWR! And the music was good too. Very chilled, laid back, African vibe with a bit of reggae thrown in. Lovely stuff.
But there's a reason that FRESHLYGROUND has become one of the most sought-after SA headliners. They came out dancing and rocking and jumping and interacting with the crowd from the moment they hit the stage until they left about and hour later.

That little lead singer chick is AWESOME!

In spite of myself, I got the biggest goosebumps ever when she sang "I'd Like" and hit all the big notes, just right. My mate Lor is a big fan so she was right up front for all the songs, dancing the afternoon away. But it was quite funny when she turned around at one point to find that she was the only one standing there waiting for them to start playing. Everyone else had wandered off after Maisha and Lor was left standing there, staring at the stage until she had the good sense to turn around and head back to our picnic blanket.

That's Lor in the cream top, laughing her ass off... Hah!

Contraption Review: *****

2009-04-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

I'm giving this homemade contraption five stars, a kiss and a hug!
Let me tell you just what it does: Stops my kitty cat from climbing the tree and getting stuck in the branches or jumping onto the roof, from whence I will NEVER be able to help her down.

I wanted Beena to be able to play in her new garden and enjoy scratching / sharpening her claws on the massive trees in the yard (just like she used to do back home at my folks' place). But alas! In her nervousness with adapting to a new environment, I found that she would RACE up to the top of the tree at the slightest movement or loud noise, and it would take me FOREVER to coax her down again. Cats also tend to run AWAY from you while you're trying to help them, so I found that she would look at the roof (just a few inches away) and be getting ready to pounce on top, instead of coming to me and safety. At my parents' place, we found a little route that she could follow to get back to solid ground, but here at the new place, there's no such thing. I'd have to get a ladder... And even that won't work because, like I said, cats run AWAY from you when you're trying to help. It would have been a real disaster if she got onto the roof...

So my dad and I devised this cunning plan involving some plastic chicken wire, some washing line wire and a few bits of plastic coated wire to secure it all in place. It basically looks like a wire lampshade that sits around the trunk of the tree about 2meters off the ground. Beena can scratch as much as she wants and climb to a height of 2meters, but once she sees the obstruction, she quickly scampers down again and finds another curiosity to investigate elsewhere in the garden. Phew.

And of course, the tree is not harmed in any way at all and the contraption is barely visible from a couple of meters away.

I beg your pardon. I never promised you a herb garden!

2009-04-01T06:03:00.000-07:00

But I've grown one anyway.
Brilliant!

You've got to understand what a big deal this is...
My father, who is an avid gardener and lover of all things garden related, has always lamented the fact that my younger brothers and I have never shown any interest in the garden at all. He would often try to inspire us, encourage us and when all else failed he sometimes resorted to outright bribery and finally threats. None of it worked.
Don't get me wrong... I LOVE flowers. Adore them, in fact.
It's the bugs that completely freak me out.
I remember going through a particularly weird (read: "lonely") teenage phase where I decided to adopt a little potted green plant for my bedroom. I called her Wendy and decided that she was going to be my best mate. (If you grew up on movies like Revenge of the Nerds, or anything from that time featuring the Brat Pack, you would also have done weird shit like that. That's what they did in the movies, so that's what we all did. Pet rocks and shit like that.) Well... All went well with little old Wendy for about 2 weeks or so, until the one day I picked her up off the windowsill to "chat" and a giant bug crawled up my arm. I vaguely remember shrieking and FLINGING Wendy across the room. She hit the fridge door and landed in a thousand gritty pieces of wet sand, leaves and stems.
Not good.
And it got steadily worse from there. Once I started work I was determined to join my lady workmates in nurturing a little desk plant with pride and cooing admiration. So I said to myself, I said: "Self, if there's one thing NOBODY can kill it's a cactus; they live out in the desert; they go for months (nay, YEARS!) without water; they're indestructible." WRONG! What followed over the years was a basic mass genocide, a cactus holocaust if you will, as innocent baby cactus after innocent baby cactus perished under my watchful eye. Oh yeah... It was not a pretty sight and not something that I am particularly proud of.
Fast-forward to today and my new living space (with perfect garden area) and a growing obsession with cooking. To be honest, it's been a dream of mine for some time now to have a herb garden, but after my "bad luck" with plants, I was hesitant to add to the death toll. The carnage had to stop!
But lately, as I've matured, I discovered that I was beginning to find the courage to interact with the plant world again. So I got my dad to pot a few herbs for me. Nothing to major. Just some simple stuff to "get my feet wet"... And look!

Almost a month down the line: My basil is thriving. My chilli plant is not bearing yet but growing well. My curry leaf plant is looking good. My brand new parsley seems to be catching on and my sage is hanging on for dear life. My mint was looking good, but now the leaves have gone black at the tips and the thyme didn't seem to want to grow from the very start, so bleh!
Watering them every evening as the sun goes down and Beena romps in the background somewhere, has become one of the most peaceful, happiest parts of my day.

HaikuNunu's "Shoes"

2009-03-30T06:54:00.001-07:00

A Thousand Splendid Suns: *****

2009-03-30T05:54:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes someone tells you to read a certain book because it will "change your life"? And it doesn't?
Well this isn't one of those cases.
If you care AT ALL about the plight of women in Afghanistan this book will make you angry, will make you cry, will make you happy and hopeful... all at the same time. And though you might have heard stories like this in the media etc, the ART of storytelling in this novel makes the women's fear, struggle and heartache so much more real to women / people like us who could never even imagine living the way they do.
Read a review and synopsis of the book here.
If there's one book you read this year, make it this one. I know it's only April and there are hundreds of amazing stories waiting to be read. But trust me! I never buy books for my mom because, as much as she LOVES reading, she never seems to be able to find the time to finish anything, but I will be buying her a copy of this one.

Best from the internet last week...

2009-03-30T05:51:00.000-07:00

You owe it to yourself to watch this video.

My 5cents on Wondebra's National Cleavage Day...

2009-03-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

My Horizontal Life: 0 stars... YOU HEARD ME! ZERO!

2009-03-26T01:02:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for a no-brainer, you're in the right place.
In fact... You're not just in the right place. You've actually just bought a house there and you're probably the mayor of the town!
Eish.
I didn't know that a book about sex could be this boring.
If you're gonna write about smut, GIVE US SOME SMUT DAMMIT! The badly written constant teasing that something juicy is on the next page drove me mad.

Noodle, is it too late for a refund from the bookstore? Hehehe...
Don't feel bad, though! I've wasted many a good cent on books I thought would be incredible, but they weren't. When you spend as much as we do on the actual price of books, wouldn't it be great if there was some guarantee that the book would deliver every time?

Oh well.

One GIANT comeback, two reviews and three stunning pics...

2009-03-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

So you thought you could get rid of me, right?
Well... WRONG!

Yep, I admit that I've been out of commission for a while for a bunch of reasons completely unrelated to my blog, which I love and always have loved. It's not about the blog, people! But in a funny way, I'm glad I took a break from blogging, because it's given me a chance to think about some new ideas and what I'd really like to do with my "15" (... minutes of fame, duh).
So, yeah. I have a couple of ideas to keep things fresh and exciting in this new year of 2009. I do realise that I've wasted three months of it being the silly banana that I am, but yeah. Bygones.
So that takes care of the "one giant comeback", and now for the 2 reviews.
Not only have I rediscovered the joys of blogging, but I've also rekindled my love of the big screen. This weekend saw me catching two movies that everyone seems to be talking about, Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Slumdog Millionaire: ****

As I said to my best friend in an email earlier today: Go and check out Slumdog Millionaire if you get the chance. Some are calling it the feel-good movie of our time, but... WOW! I found parts of it very hard to watch. The poverty and child abuse in India are just so bad. If you stick it out and get to the end it IS actually very uplifting, but be prepared for the rough bits.
Readers, you have been warned!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: ***

In the same email: I also caught that new Brad Pitt movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And you know... I actually really dislike Brad Pitt as a person. I could very easily drop-kick him and his superficial wife right off the face of the planet. I try to avoid watching his movies, but whenever I accidentally do, I am always surprised at how breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL he is on screen. I mean... The camera f***ing LOVES Brad. For great special effects and a nice storyline AND some DAYAM nice shots of Brad here and there, go check it out. If it's value for money you're after, it’s certainly worth the price of a ticket when you consider it’s almost THREE HOURS LONG!
I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Hmmm.
In any event, the editing team certainly could have sharpened their scissors and knocked a good hour off the running time.
I will also mention that I have a new girl-crush. I've always thought that Kate Blanchet is beautiful, but she totally took my breath away in this movie. Her moonlit solo jazz / ballet dance in the one scene had me aching to take ballet again. (Why did I give it up at the ripe old age of FOUR? WHY??!!)

Finally... The three stunning pics.
As I was racing out of the door this morning to get to work on time, yacking to myself about what I need to get done, trying to remember everything I needed to pack and take to work, not stopping for a second, Sabrina helped me remember what it's really all about. She was sitting in silence on my rug on the living room floor, in a patch of golden sunlight, listening to the birds, eyes half-closed, just living in the peace, joy and simplicity of the moment...

I had to stop, put my bags down and take a few pics to help me never to forget.
How many mornings have a raced around without stopping to love the feeling of the sun on my face? Thank you, Beena.
These little pics hardly do the big ones any justice. But you get the idea...

From the little angels in my life...

2008-07-09T02:43:00.000-07:00

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

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

2008-06-26T01:52:00.000-07:00

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!

Finally!

2008-06-23T05:34:00.000-07:00

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

One of the Saddest Days in Internet History...

2008-06-13T01:29:00.000-07:00

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.

ABF Bowling

2008-05-30T04:53:00.000-07:00

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!!!

The new home of publicaddress:

2008-04-15T05:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Meet my new friend!

2008-04-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

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??!!

2008-04-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Pimp my ride, beyotch!!!

2008-04-03T01:08:00.000-07:00

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!

Major Eye-Opener

2008-03-07T03:59:00.000-08:00

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...

Kiff Lynx

2008-03-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

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...

Beautiful

2008-02-25T01:45:00.000-08:00

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

I’ve been tagged people!

2008-02-19T06:27:00.000-08:00

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…

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

2008-02-14T06:17:00.000-08:00

... 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

Great time-waster...

2008-02-12T05:03:00.000-08:00

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

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

2008-02-07T05:17:00.001-08:00

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

WB Yeats

2008-01-28T04:05:00.000-08:00

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.

Having made it to the end of the year...

2007-12-14T05:09:00.000-08:00

... I can totally relate to how Garfield feels in this strip.

In honor of the girls' lingerie party last Thursday...

2007-11-19T02:38:00.000-08:00

... a few solo-nookie positions for those who'd like to try out their new toys.

Hilarious!

Where in the world is Carmen Miranda?

2007-11-08T04:12:00.000-08:00

‘Ssup peops!
Life is just a crazy whirlwind of activity and fun for me right now... So much so that I haven’t had much time to write/blog. I’m pretty sure that my devoted blog readers are devastated that I haven’t kept in touch. All four of you must be falling to pieces... *snigger*
But anyway...
Here (in a nutshell!) is what Carmen Miranda’s been up to lately:
1. Boys
Well... One in particular! Between building a desk for his room (Plumber’s Butt and all - him, not me!), extolling the greatness of jazz on the sofa with closed eyes and faces filled with reverence as we listen to the greats, killing mozzies, partying like rockstars, chatting on gmail, having the most intense/serious conversations (like on his favorite music: “Why DOES it sound like Blade and the other vampires are having a show-down in your livingroom?”), pretending to be bad-asses to the sounds of gansta-rap, and making killer salads to be washed down with Woolies’ Juicy Red... there’s not much time for anything else! It’s all good. :-)
2. Church Stuff
This is a time of serious personal growth for me as far as my spirituality is concerned. New influences in my life have introduced me to a whole new understanding of God/Religion/Worship etc. While I consider myself to be a deeply spiritual person, it’s always nice to meet a new influence or two, who challenge you to reawaken the parts of your spiritual life that might be lagging or dormant. I’m enjoying gaining a viewpoint/appreciation outside of my realm of understanding of and experiences with Christianity. The pic of the stained glass window above is from the chapel at St Theresa’s in Sydenham. We were there on Sunday for a thanksgiving mass for the family... Old school is cool.
3. Trance Parties
Continuing along the theme of “church”, I’ve also been worshipping in the Church Of The Ministry Of Sound lately! (heh heh heh...) My mates got onto a mailing list and now we get sent an invitation to a trance party that’s held every month end at a different location. The first one was on the beach, - just beautiful watching the sun come up over the sea... Sigh! And the last one was in a “club” in Durban, where I managed to leave both my name and reputation. (Ug!)
4. Book club
Monday night saw the completion of our first “round” of bookclub, ie. all eight of us have now had a turn to “host” a bookclub. I had the most incredible prawn and asparagus linguini with a few crumbed mussels on top... But I think there might have been something in it that triggered and allergy of some sort, because by the time I got home, my face was completely itchy, ALL OVER! Ouch. (Maybe I’m becoming allergic to seafood. NO! That would be just too terrible...) Between the drinking and gossiping we did manage to do a massive spring-clean on the book basket, turfing out all the books that nobody wants to read and throwing in a few new ones... We’ll be getting together next month for a very special Christmas Bookclub and in the new year we’re looking forward a whole new bunch of books and possibly a different way of doing things, just to keep things fresh and exciting...

... And of course, there’s always my wonderful family, beautiful friends, awesome work/place and Beena...
Life’s good. Really good.

New additions to the publicaddress: family...

2007-10-23T02:04:00.000-07:00

The boys at publicaddress: have been quite busy getting married and making babies...
So I thought I'd treat you to pics of the two latest little people on our team. Meet Sophie Ambrose Potterton, Wayne's little girl...

And Bailey Rachel Williams, Oliver's princess.

And watch this space for Rein's little angel who's due in a couple of months!
Boy... There must be something in the water here! We're churning out babies like nobody's business. Sheesh.

The rain in Spain falls mainly on my new white sneakers!

2007-10-23T01:48:00.000-07:00

As you can see from this sorry pic, it was a rained out ABF Golf Day this year. Normally by lunchtime the golf course has turned into a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, with drunk "golfers" doing tequila body shots off semi-naked ho's at the various sponsored holes. The rain meant that the debauchery started a little later. It took everyone a little longer to "warm up" with all the free booze everywhere!
Fortunately, I got out of it about 4 glasses of cheap wine in, and made it safely to My Boy's place... where the drinking continued!
Box wine at the Golf Day + Good Scotch at My Honey's place = One-helluva-cross-eyed-me!

Sia, Buttons.

2007-10-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

I've watched this video for "Buttons" by Sia on YouTube like... a MILLION times already and I just can't get enough!
The song is killer enough, right?
... But the thing that I love about it, is the crazy-clever-cool way they've put the music video together. A locked-off camera, Sia, some sticky tape, a couple of pegs, an old pair of stockings, some cling-wrap and hey presto! You have a video that is SO watch-able... Over and OVER again!
It really makes you wonder about the big-budget music videos that we're bombarded with on mtv everyday... I'm pretty sure you could feed a COUPLE of starving African nations for what they blast on ONE five-minute video. Tragic.
Come on, movie makers!!!
Let's have more THINKING behind it all like Sia's creative/production crew, and let's have more entertaining videos for less...
(If that sounded heavily retail, it's because it was meant to!)

Having some fun at the shoot on Friday.

2007-10-15T01:59:00.000-07:00

One of our clients here at publicaddress: is the Ballito Lifestyle Centre, and we're currently in the process of putting together a whole new brand campaign for them for the year ahead. This of course involved setting up a shoot for images that we can use in the various campaign elements. Seeing as they wanted "real people" in the ads, we decided to tell the super-shmo-dels to take a hike and cast our friends and families in the shot list instead... Oh! And we made the cut too, unfortunately... I say "unfortunately", because those of you who know me will also know that I HATE having my picture taken... Why in the name of all that is holy would I EVER allow myself to be in a shoot (AGAIN!) is beyond me. Anyway... we had fun!
I'm still waiting to see what the real pics look like... These are just off my little cell phone.
Me and Gabby sharing a plate of chips at the Wimpy, talking about beads and all things pink...

Me and JaneO at the end of the LONG day, tired but silly as always!

Me getting all artsy-fartsy with my camera, getting a pic of the "sail" structure from underneath...

I've also wondered about the same thing...

2007-10-15T01:57:00.000-07:00

While I was taking notes in my meetings in Cape Town last week...

2007-10-09T02:16:00.000-07:00

... our house in Durban was being broken into!

There I was balancing on the roof trying to get a good angle on Table Mountain and the whole time a bunch of... I don’t know... Is there a name for them? A bunch of dead-if-I-ever-find-them a/holes were going through our personal, private, treasured things, throwing them around like they were trash, and pocketing pieces of jewelry that can never be replaced. It’s not about the money! The insurance will take care of that. (Or at least, we HOPE they will! All of a sudden there are all sorts of clauses and fine-print... Sigh.) It’s that they will never know how precious my grandmother’s bracelet was to me. She had nothing and she saved her whole life to buy that for me on my 18th birthday, - her only grand-daughter and the apple of her eye. They’ll never know the story behind the pearl earrings that my mother got me on my 21st, or the feeling I had when I bought myself those diamond channel set rings: Independent Woman, who can buy her own bling. Were they in Egypt watching the jeweler solder my name in hieroglyphics to a pendant? No. MY name. Not the name of the arb they’re going to sell it to. That’s MY name on the bracelet my grandmother got me.
But I didn’t lose half as much as my mother did. They didn’t find all of my stash... All my mother has left is what she was wearing that day. Her engagement ring is gone. The gifts her in-laws (my grandparents) bought for her when she joined the family. The diamonds my dad bought her will each baby that she blessed their home with...
Fuckers.
I hope they die.
It was difficult trying to put on a brave, professional face and take notes... Smile and nod... Say something witty... Throw your head back and laugh at all the right moments.
The beauty of The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa was lost on me. It’s apparently the place where Michael Jackson and Oprah like to stay when they’re in Cape Town. Fourteen thousand rand a night...

I just fought back the tears and counted the seconds until I could hop on a plane and come home.

On the eve of her 33rd birthday…

2007-09-27T02:01:00.000-07:00

… Carmi Carm is feeling a little contemplative.
I’ve been thinking about birthdays past and the kind of shizzle that normally goes down around that time (for me). Not so good, all of it.
When I was three my brother Dono was born a month or 2 before my birthday. It must have been quite a traumatic thing for me, because I actually still remember it! My earliest memory is of the night that my mom went into labour and went into hospital to squeeze Dono out. I remember that I was spending the night at my gran’s place. I was in my peach pajamas and safely tucked in for the night, when I heard my gran whisper to my grandad that mom was in hospital. I remember getting out of bed and walking barefoot to the kitchen on the cold floor and asking where mom was, and I remember my gran walking towards me and scooping me up to take me back to bed. Must’ve been a kak birthday with a new baby brother. My mom tells me that Dono didn’t sleep for the first few months of his life, ‘cos I basically stood outside his door and sang on top of my lungs to wake him up everytime he dozed off. I got lots of klaps for it, but it seemed worth it at the time. We’ve since grown to love each other. It took 30 years but we’re nearly there! (I was The Princess and he stole my limelight… WHAT?!!?!)
Then when I turned 7 we moved into our current house. Momentous. It was a spring filled with those bright gross locusts getting stuck to my clothes as we played in the freshly cleared area that was our yard… But 2 good things came out of that year. Well one good thing: Brendan, my baby brother, was born. (He’s still my baby and always will be! I hope he’s reading this, cos I really need a new bottle of D&G for my birthday. The last bottle he bought me is kaput. *snigger*) And I started school. Yuck.
My parents nearly called it quits ON my 21st birthday… On the actual DAY!
I survived typhoon season in Taiwan in the year that I was teaching English there… (I commuted to my 4 schools on a little bike the whole time the rain pelted down on me. I was just grateful that the rain mixed with the tears, so nobody could see how miserable I was…)
Last year I got kicked up the ass by my old workplace the day after my birthday.
And a week later my best cousin Lyn died in a car crash.
There have been lots of other little things along the way but those were the biggies.
It’s like… this year, I want to find a safe place to crawl into and just hide it out for a bit. I don’t mind getting older. It’s not about that. In fact, I love becoming more of a woman who knows who she is with each and every year. It’s the stuff I can’t control that’s freaking me out. Dumb, hey?
I suppose I could get drunk. (Stifled yawn.)
Or high. (SO 3 years ago.)
I could go dancing. But I do that everyday anyway.
I know what I want out of Life, but it gets quite frustrating waiting for it all to fall into place… My own place. Making the business a success. Financial independence. Lasting relationship/s… Sometimes birthdays can be a good time to enjoy looking back on how far you’ve come. Sometimes they’re just a shitty reminder that yet another year has past and you’re still singing the same old tune on a lot of the stuff you’ve been bitching about in the past.
This IS going to be a better birthday for me this year for a number of reasons… New someone in my life. Being with a great company and workmates. God and I are finally cool with each other, after me blaming Him for a lot of crap that I invited into my life… There are lots of cool things going on.
So what is this feeling?
Why won’t it go away?
i think I just need a whisky or seven. That should fix it!