Congratulations, Mr & Mrs Gibbs!

That's me at my friend, Kate's wedding this Saturday. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CELEBRATION! The bride looked stunning; the groom was dashing as ever; the decor so elegant and special and the food was out of this world!
The great thing about having your wedding at home, in the garden? No cash bar! You can ply your guests with as much alcohol as you'd like, and not have to worry about the drinks bill later!
Cheers!

Boy...

I'd much rather be lazing around the house today, than at work...
I can't WAIT for this long weekend!

Check out this AWESOME blog!

So... there I was, stuffing around at my desk one day, when I stumbled upon Shorpy, the coolest blog I've seen in a while. Here's how it describes itself:

Shorpy.com is the 100-year-old photography blog that brings our ancestors back, at least to the desktop. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a boy who worked in an Alabama coal mine near the turn of the century. What became of Shorpy? Here's a summary of what we think we know, based on research using census and death records, contributed by visitors to this site: Shorpy -- Henry Sharp Higginbotham -- was born Nov. 23, 1896, in Jefferson County, Alabama, to Phelix Milton Higginbotham and the former Mary Jane Graham. On Nov. 19, 1927, he married Flora Belle Quinton. On Jan. 25 of the following year he died in a mine accident at the age of 31, crushed by a rock, and was buried in Jefferson County. He became a father, posthumously, when his widow bore his child in the summer of 1928. The writer Joe Manning says he has spoken with Shorpy's son but that he didn't want to talk.

The pictures tell amazing stories and I'm absolutely hooked!

Here's where all the magic happens!

My desk... and as you can see I'd rather be blogging than working!
And the view from the glass doors of our office, - the sparkly pool that we take a dip into whenever it gets too hot. (It's Durban, you know! You gotta be prepared for the 40degree summer heat!)

I ADORE rainy days!

... But Sabrina hates them!
She can't wander around the garden, sniffing every blade of grass & "securing the perimeter" against stray cats. She can't perform the most basic of loo-functions seeing as the earth is far to damp and gross to dig into. She can't terrorise the birds, - in fact there are no birds to even look at anyway.
Yes rainy days are sucky for cats!
GREAT for humans, but sucky for cats!

MAO'S LAST DANCER - LI CUNXIN **

Amazon.com says: From a desperately poor village in northeast China, at age eleven, Li Cunxin was chosen by Madame Mao's cultural delegates to be taken from his rural home and brought to Beijing, where he would study ballet. In 1979, the young dancer arrived in Texas as part of a cultural exchange, only to fall in love with America-and with an American woman. Two years later, through a series of events worthy of the most exciting cloak-and-dagger fiction, he defected to the United States, where he quickly became known as one of the greatest ballet dancers in the world. This is his story, told in his own inimitable voice. Li Cunxin was born in a village near the city of Qingdao, in northern China. At eighteen, he was selected to perform with the Houston Ballet, leading to his dramatic defection to the United States. Li, who has performed as a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet, now lives with his wife and their three children.
I say: The 2 stars are purely for the story, not the writing! Before he put his amazing story down on paper, Li should have read Stephen King's book on writing, and followed the always-chop-it-by-a-third-no-matter-how-good-it-is rule! This book was about 100 pages too long, and it also felt a little too sentimental and wishy-washy at times. Li is wracked with guilt over leaving China and his poverty stricken family, but no matter how many pages he throws at us, he's never going to be able to change the past. What's done is done. Get over it, Li. Your family loves you for the success that you've made of yourself, and please... No more books! Stick to ballet.

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL - ANTHONY BOURDAIN ****

Publishers Weekly says: Chef at New York's Les Halles and author of Bone in the Throat, Bourdain pulls no punches in this memoir of his years in the restaurant business. His fast-lane personality and glee in recounting sophomoric kitchen pranks might be unbearable were it not for two things: Bourdain is as unsparingly acerbic with himself as he is with others, and he exhibits a sincere and profound love of good food. The latter was born on a family trip to France when young Bourdain tasted his first oyster, and his love has only grown since. He has attended culinary school, fallen prey to a drug habit and even established a restaurant in Tokyo, discovering along the way that the crazy, dirty, sometimes frightening world of the restaurant kitchen sustains him. Bourdain is no presentable TV version of a chef; he talks tough and dirty. His advice to aspiring chefs: "Show up at work on time six months in a row and we'll talk about red curry paste and lemon grass. Until then, I have four words for you: 'Shut the fuck up.' " He disdains vegetarians, warns against ordering food well done and cautions that restaurant brunches are a crapshoot. Gossipy chapters discuss the many restaurants where Bourdain has worked, while a single chapter on how to cook like a professional at home exhorts readers to buy a few simple gadgets, such as a metal ring for tall food. Most of the book, however, deals with Bourdain's own maturation as a chef, and the culmination, a litany describing the many scars and oddities that he has developed on his hands, is surprisingly beautiful. He'd probably hate to hear it, but Bourdain has a tender side, and when it peeks through his rough exterior and the wall of four-letter words he constructs, it elevates this book to something more than blustery memoir.
I say: This book gets 4 stars because I am, at present, madly in love with Anthony Bourdain. The man can do no wrong right now! What can I say? I always get a little neek-in-the-wees when there's a Bad Boy around and Anthony is the quintessential bad boy of the kitchen! It's crazy... I'm crazy... Crazy in lurve!
(Oh yes... The book is also very good. Do yourself a favour and find out where your hollandaise sauce really comes from, and why you should ever have the half price sushi. It will change the way you look at the restaurant industry forever!)

OK! So they're not perfect...

... But they're MINE!
These are 2 of the ±10granny squares that I've already crocheted as part of my homemade afghan project. Also in the shot you'll see the colours that I've chosen: ivory, denim blue and dusty pink. (Ok! I know that granny squares are traditionally made up from the scraps of wool that you don't want to throw away, but this is my first project and I therefore don't have any scraps to begin with! Hence the new wool.) I've started with plain squares for now, just until I get the hang of it, and then I'll attempt some stripy ones, alternating the 3 colours until I have my 6 rows. So far, by some miracle, they're all the same size and seem to be consistent. (Consistently wonky, but still consistent!)
It all started at my friend Debbie Veldman's baby shower, where I was completely blown away by the beautiful baby blankets that Deb's aunt had made for the baby. They reminded me of the baby blankets that my aunts made for my brothers and I 25-32 years ago (which I still have by the way) as well as the beautiful baby things that my mom knitted for us while she was pregnant. She was quite an ace, and I think that she still has some of those things locked away in a trunk along with our white baby baptismal gown. (All 3 of us shared the same one, - a family heirloom. I think it might have been made from white fabric from my mom's wedding dress, but I'm not sure. Don't quote me.)
As you can tell, I'm a real sucker for traditional stuff, - a sentimental old fart, if you will. So the thought of being able to make something for my brothers' children (and my own?) when they/I eventually decide to have kids, really appealed to me. And even though my crochet stitches are a little "tense" and not quite soft/fuzzy enough, my mom has been impressed enough to ask me to make a small blankie for my gran, - just big enough to throw over her knees when it gets a little chilly...
Apart from these reasons, crocheting granny squares is perfect for me, because I never seem to finish my creative projects! It's a running joke at my house that you can often hear me rummaging around in the middle of the night, fiddling with my "project-du-jour", - beading/sewing/creating something! And before long, I lose interest (or get distracted by another sparkly thing) and the project gets thrown in a packet at the back of my wardrobe somewhere. Granny squares are great because:
1. I can do them while I "watch" (read: absorb) tv, so I'm not missing any of my precious tv time.
2. I can complete a square in ±1hour (6 rows).
3. Each finished square feels like a successfully completed project. (There's nothing like tying those final lose threads together securely!) I'll join the squares together eventually but I'm not focusing on The End, or The Big Picture, losing track of the work process like I always do. Now I'm taking it one successfully completely square at a time!
So... I'm not going to ask you to watch this space to catch the progress of my afghan, because quite frankly, it could take years to complete. And I'm fine with that. What I will do is post pics from time to time, to show how the squares are adding up, and to show off how adventurous I might get with the alternating colours/rows etc.
And that's all for today from Carmen's World, where it's hip to make squares!
*giggle*

Bella Ella!

What is it with girls and shoes?
I work with little Ella Potterton's dad, in a converted granny flat at his mom's place. His mom (the granny) looks after Ella for a couple of days every week, so we have the absolute pleasure of watching her grow up and catching all of her antics!
Her latest obsession is shoes... The higher, the better! Seeing as I've fallen down the driveway three times already, I put the heels on hold until we get premises of our own preferably with a level driveway that 2-left-legged people like myself can't do serious damage on! But Jane, our admin/traffic lady is still brave enough to wear her red patent leather wedges every-so-often... And of course, Ella is smitten! She comes in to great us, searching out Jane's heels out of the corner of her eye and nabs them when her dad's not looking. Jane has been known to go the entire day without her shoes, often sitting in meetings with clients with bare feet, while Ella is taking her afternoon nap upstairs, comfortably tucked in, with Jane's red heels still on her little feet...
Her dad has finally resorted to buying her little plastic dress-up shoes for kids but, if you ask me, the ones he chooses just aren't pink/sparkly enough, so you can image my excitement this weekend when I spotted these!
She couldn't wait to put them on this morning when I gave them to her, and has been quite happy klonking around on her grandparents' wooden floors for hours now!
* sigh *
It's GREAT being a girl!

Love and Romance in Kommetjie

This weekend saw the wedding of Nic Kinghorn (the executive creative director at our advertising agency) and Lisna Erasmus (a cool designer and Nic’s lovely lady!) in Kommetjie, Cape Town. Three people from our agency were invited so we decided to make a holiday of it in the fairest Cape.
We flew out super early on Friday morning (Mango Airlines, Dbn-CT return for just ±R500!), had a disappointing breakfast at the beautiful Rhodes Memorial (my Spanish omelet was full of eggshell, - cringe!), bummed around Cape Town for a bit and then braaied and crashed at an old mate’s place. We would have done the B&B thing, but these mates insisted that we crashed with them for the three nights that we were there, and I’m so glad that we did! We were just so comfortable and we had our very own tour guides for the entire duration of the trip! (Thanks Jason and Lea! You guys rock!)
After a good sleep, it was off to The V&A Waterfront for coffee and then to The Goatshed for brunch. What an experience! Fairview dairy has opened up a stunning restaurant and farm shop to showcase their awesome range of cheeses (and a few of the local wines). And boy are they doing it well! Everyone’s favourite seems to be the cheese platter, - R28 for 6 cheeses; R35 for 8 cheeses and R42 for 10 cheeses, served on a wooden cheese board with some preserves and warm freshly baked bread rolls... Yum! They had more than TWENTY THREE different kinds of cheeses to choose from, allowing you to choose which 6, 8 or 10 cheeses you wanted to sample on your board. Seeing as I’m not eating bread anymore, I decided to give the cheese board a skip and had the roasted veg quiche and salad instead. It was a fabulous choice and I was ready to explode by the time we hit the farm store for a quick browse! From there, I slipped away (to Cavendish Square) to find some pretty beads to wear with my dress for the wedding the next day and then it was a quick freshen up for dinner at a quaint pizza place around the corner from Jason and Lea’s place. I ordered the bacon/feta/olives/avo/chili number, - perfection! And so ended day two.
Day three saw me tucking into rusks and coffee for breakfast, basking in the morning sun and sighing over the beautiful view of The Mountain from Jason and Lea’s backyard. We then bundled ourselves into the car and headed off to Sinful for some toasted coconut icecream with a scoop of hazelnut icecream on the side (drool!) and a long brisk walk on the beach at Hout Bay. The little puppies galloping on the shore were just too cute and it took Lea and I way longer than it should have to finish our walk. We kept stopping to scratch behind some furry pup’s ear, or to ruffle their soft fur! Too cute. We then took a lazy drive along Chapman’s Peak and got back to the house in time to get dressed for the wedding at 5pm.
Nic and Lis are quite unconventional, so we didn’t know quite what to expect, except that the wedding would be very special and different. All we knew is that we would have to wear easily removable shoes because the wedding itself was on the beach. If you’re South African, the name “kommetjie” stirs up all kinds of pretty images, and yes, it didn’t fail to deliver. Kommetjie is so small, if you blinked while driving through, you might actually miss it! It’s not a fishing village, - not smelly enough! It’s not just a seaside village, - you’re only 2 streets and a factory or two away from the “town”... It’s all of these things and more, with its sun-bleached wood and walls and powder soft white seasand. They couldn’t have chosen a lovelier place to finally tie the knot, ending an 11 year courtship. The pics on this post are taken from my cell phone so you can’t see very much and it doesn’t do the beautiful bridal party justice at all, but they’re all I have anyway...
It’s funny how my horoscope said that romance was in the stars on Sunday 25th March. What could be more romantic than a beach wedding, under the stars in Kommetjie... Sigh!
We eventually found our way back around the mountain in the dark and settled in for a wonderful, last night’s sleep before we reluctantly had to hop on a plane to Durban.
With a calamari and sushi brunch from Panama Jack’s filling our bellies, we boarded at 3.30pm and were back in Durban by 6pm, where it was already dark and gloomy. Our cell phones hadn’t stopped ringing all afternoon with calls from work and by the time we unpacked and got ready for bed, it was like we’d never left Durban at all...

If you just can't bear to stash your Prada bag under the dinner table...

... then this one's for you!
The very clever people at Luxe Link have designed this elegant little toy to hold your designer bag to the table, while you casually sip on your champagne and tuck into your lunch!
It's just what every fashionista needs. And it's yours for just $45 if you order online, otherwise you'll have to fly to LA and fight Lindsay Lohan for the last one on the shelf! (She's apparently a big fan, if anyone cares.)
I WANT ONE! ... NOW!!

Now THAT'S hot...

Boy!
That Ryan Reynolds has come a LONG way from that silly "Pizza" sitcom...
He's lost his shirt in this pic, and quite frankly, I hope he never finds it!

Sandra's rocking the grey...

Now this is how you wear this season's biggest colour trend.
Well done, Sandra. You're normally one of the most boring people on the planet when it comes to wardrobe, but this time you got it right!

"The Queen" vs "The Last King of Scotland"

Where do I begin to compare the 2 latest movies that I've seen? The Queen vs The Last Kind of Scotland.
How are they alike?:
1. They're both about controversial "leaders".
2. They both document turbulent times in their relevant countries.
3. They've both produced Oscar Award winning performances from their lead actors.
How do they differ?
Well... in a nutshell: one was completely unforgettable and outstanding, and the other was quite "blah", for want of a better term.
Sure the attention to detail on The Queen is phenomenal, and yes, I'll admit it, I got a little choked up when I saw the actual footage from Di's funeral. Read more about it here. But, if you want to watch a movie that will change your life, you simply cannot afford to miss The Last Kind of Scotland! Pretty much everyone seems to agree that Forrest Whittaker gives the performance of his life in this terrifying story set in Uganda and recounting a few months in the life of a doctor working for Idi Amin. I was literally on the edge of my seat and you will be too, I can guarantee it! I happened to catch an interview with Forrest on the E-Entertainment channel the other day, where he talks about his portrayal of one of the most feared and hated men of all time. He was saying that he is very aware, as a fellow black man, of how black leaders would have been vilified and demonised by the West in a time when black people around the world were fighting for their freedom from colonial rule and western oppression. Yes, he knows that Idi Amin as a dictator and killer, but he wanted to show the man that Uganda loved and put into power first, before we see what we already know about him, - the paranoia, the ruthlessness... Forrest was going for a multi-dimensional portrayal of a man that everyone only knew one side of, and he's achieved it. He more than deserved the Oscar for best actor. I doubt that he will ever find a role like this one again, but even if he doesn't, believe me when I say that Forrest Whittaker's work is done here, people. He can quite happily retire, knowing that he has nothing more to prove to the world!

"Perfume" Patrick Susskind ****

Amazon.com says: Upon its publication last year in Germany Susskind's first novel Perfume immediately became an international best seller. Set in 18th-century France, Perfume relates the fascinating and horrifying tale of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a person as gifted as he was abominable. Born without a smell of his own but endowed with an extraordinary sense of smell, Grenouille becomes obsessed with procuring the perfect scent that will make him fully human. With brilliant narrative skill Susskind exposes the dark underside of the society through which Grenouille moves and explores the disquieting inner universe of this singularly possessed man. The translation is superb. Essential for literature collections.
I say: Geez... And I thought that Running With Scissors was messed up! Patrick Susskind has taken "sick" to a whole new level, but in a completely unimaginable way. And the worsed part is that you totally empthise with the murderer and you completely want him to succeed. (A lot like American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis, where you so want Pat Bateman to get away with it all!) This book gets top marks for creativity and imagination. And it has to be one of the best researched book of all time. Only after I read it, did I read the bit about the author... turns out that Susskind is a historian. That would certainly explain the attention to detail. I've also got to give top marks to the translator. If you've ever tried to translate something from one language to another, the first thing that you realise is that a literal word-for-word / phrase-for-phrase translation is simply insufficient in getting the message across. Certain parts of language rarely mean what they actually are written as anyway (proverbs, sayings...). Any literary theorist (like myself) will tell you that language is an ever evolving means of communication that is loaded with social implications that are specific to where/what/why/how it's used. To cut a long story short... you can't just translate a book to get its meaning across. You have to rewrite it using "the language of the people/time". What a special book! Just read it, - trust me!

Durban at night

These are just 2 images captured from the Roma Revolving Restaurant, showing off my great city at night.
Who thought Durban could ever look so cool?

Books, babes and breadsticks

Wednesday night saw our second book club get together, and this time Maria chose to host it at the Roma Revolving Restaurant. She chose it for the awesome 360º views of Durban. Breathtaking! What a fabulous night! The final 2 members (Terri and Sacha) signed on officially, bringing our number to a perfect eight, and they’ve both thrown in some incredible books for us to devour!
For those of you who’re wondering why we have our book club get togethers at restaurants, I can’t remember if I’ve explained why in my previous book club blog. Anyway, here goes a brief summary anyway. Seeing as not all of us have our own places, or want to be bothered with preparing a meal for 8 on a weeknight, or are tired of complaining that we live in a city that we know very little about, - we’ve decided that we will each have a turn to choose a different Durban “hot-spot” that we could visit. We meet on the first Wednesday of every month and so far it’s been great! Now when people ask us if we’ve been to “that cool new place they featured in this month’s Glamour magazine” we can answer in the affirmative.
We’re quite chuffed with ourselves that we ‘re killing several birds (not each other!) with one stone:
- awesome company
- the sharing of great books
- brilliant conversation
- entertainment at a different venue everytime
... And now we can also add Maria’s positive community project to the long list too.
I’ll tell you more about it when we stop talking about it and actually make it happen.
This time I’ve borrowed Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” and a book called “Mao’s Last Dancer” (I’ve forgotten the author) and I started reading IMMEDIATELY!
Watch this space for my reviews and inane observations...

Ag man!

WHY won't Sabina wear a sweater and just make me, her loving mother, happy?
Just once?!
Just look at how cute this little guy looks. His mother made it for him and he wears it in Winter to keep his old bones warm. I WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING FOR MY CHILD TO WEAR!
... But unless I want to get mauled and have to go around looking like a recovering heroin addict who's just tried to slit her wrists, I better banish the thought.
Forever.
People always talk about the joys of motherhood, but nothing ever really repares you for the pains for motherhood...
I guess you just have to realise eventually that, even though you've loved and raised them, you must know when to let them be the people that they really have to be.
("Ting!" - the sound of the light bulb in my head suddenly switching on.)

I'm trying to figure out how to do proper links...

... so bear with me as I get it right!

There are loads more awesome pics of Paolo Nutini on his official website. So check him out when you get a chance. He's just beautiful, don't you think?

Lemme know if that damn link works, m'kay?

Who is this Paolo Nutini?!

And how is it possible that his cover of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" is actually better than the Any WInehouse version?!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uV0yeeP1X2E&mode=related&search=

Do yourself a favour and check it out...

When you're good, you're good!

It started out as a simple dream really, - to create a mouthwatering hummus that any Middle Eastern babe would be proud to put on her table. Several botched attempts later... Tah dah! The dream came true!
But I couldn't keep it to myself... Oh no! I've decided to share the joy with my friends and family, starting with the girls at my friend, Debbie Veldman's, baby shower this Saturday. It was a hit! (Debz even asked if she could keep some for her dinner later that night...)
Thanks, Noodle, for taking that beautiful pic. Now I have proof that I really am a living legend.
Tee hee.

It’s official: The cutest dog in the world lives in Umhlanga!

Look out beyotches and ho’s!
His name is Reggie and he’s the hottest bachelor in Durban.
Reggie’s only 4-5months old, but he’s already turning heads as he strolls/sniffs around the park. Maybe it’s the twinkle in his eye… maybe it’s his debonair almost regal look… it could even be the way his belly hardly ever leaves the ground? But whatever it is, Reggie is Poochie Heaven!

Reggies turn-ons:
- bulleting around the park, top speed
- toes
- a comfy lap to nap on

Reggies turn-offs:
- being sent outside
- having his toys taken away
- being ignored

Sigh...

Some day, when I get my shit together, I'm gonna look just like Halle Berry.
Some day...
Well, not "just like" her, but maybe something like her if the person looking at me is cross-eyed, high, drunk and in another room altogether. Yeah... That'll do it!
:-/

And the Oscar goes to...

Here they are eveyone! Hot off the presses. They've barely ended their speeches and the winner's list is out on the web!
So what do you think? Did this lot deserve that gold statuette?

Best Picture: "The Departed"
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker, "Last King of Scotland"
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
Best Film Editing: Thelma Schoonmaker, "The Departed"
Best Song: "I Need to Wake Up," "An Inconvenient Truth"
Best Original Screenplay: "Little Miss Sunshine"
Best Original Score: "Babel"
Best Documentary: "An Inconvenient Truth"
Best Documentary Short: "The Blood of Yingzhou District"
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"
Best Foreign-Language Film: "The Lives of Others"
Best Visuals Effects: "Pirates of the Caribbean 2"
Best Cinematography: "Pan's Labyrinth"
Best Costume Design: "Marie Antoinette"
Best Adapted Screenplay: "The Departed"
Best Animated Feature: "Happy Feet"
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Best Sound Mixing: "Dreamgirls"
Best Sound Editing: "Letters from Iwo Jima"
Best Live Action Short: "West Bank Story"
Best Animated Short: "The Danish Poet"
Best Makeup: "Pan's Labyrinth"
Best Art Direction: "Pan's Labyrinth"

My thoughts?
I've just watched The Queen this weekend and DAMN, Helen Mirrin was AWESOME! She really had it down, and she really captured the general feeling about the royals in the UK (amongst the British themselves) right now. They HATE the fact that the royal family get to live in the lap of luxury, but at the same time, eveyone gets a tear in their eye when they hear God Save The Queen. The royal family is a very big part of British identity and as much as they hate them today!
I'm off to see The Last King of Scotland next weekend. My brother has just checked it out and he says it's PHENOMENAL. I saw the making last night and Forest Whitaker said some very interesting stuff about how conscious he was (throughout the filming) of the fact that Idi, although a total a/hole, was also the last big African dictator that the racist West could demonise. A lot of what the public around the world actuall read was big time propaganda. Don't get me wrong... We KNOW about the eveil stuff that went down, for SURE! But Forest was saying that he didn't want to show just a one dimensional character, but one that the people actually voted into power in the first place. Interesting...
I'm don't know how I feel about Jennifer Hudson getting the gold for Dreamgirls... I've heard that her performance was very cool and she gave it her all. But I don't know what it is about HER that I don't like...
I'm glad Marie Antoinette got it for best costume. Jeez, they deserved it!
And it's about time Martin Scorcese got an oscar. He was a GREAT fish in Shark Tale, heh heh heh...
I'll leave it there.

I blinked and missed Christmas.

... And now we're already into Lent!
When I was younger and surviving on carrot sticks and black tea, it was easy to give up just about everything as my fast / sacrifice over the ±40days. (I used to consume nothing but fruit, veg and dairy.) But now... Let's just say, I LIVE for that scotch&soda on a friday! I thrive from one steak in red wine sauce to the next! I've been spoiled by the good life... So now it's harder to give it all up. I guess that means my fast is even more important to me now. I understand now. So here's what I'm giving up this year:
1. Booze
2. Red meat
3. Any junk food / "luxuries" (chocolate, soda, chips, etc)
But... Enough of that! The left hand is not surposed to know what the right hand is doing, blah blah blah...
So! To all my Catholic friends, I wish you a wonderfully profound, sincere and sacred Lent. I hope we use the time to reflect and meditate, and I hope we each discover something special and meaningful through it all.

God bless.

Wow! What a crazy couple of weeks it's been!!

... And thanks for bearing with me during this blogging dry-spell!
I've been busy jorling. Tee hee!
It all started with the first ever get-together of our brand new book club on Wednesday, 7th February at Elements, The Beverly Hills Hotel (Umhlanga). It was awesome getting together with such amazing and amazingly different women. Talking, drinking (Mojito's... Yikes!), eating (Cape Salmon) and being inspired by the many different things we've all been up to! We're all travelers, readers, creatives and FABULOUS! I'll be posting a book review soon with the very first book I've taken out. Watch this space.
THEN I went on a cruise with my family to the Portuguese Islands, on board the MSC Melody. What an unforgettable trip!
I’m waiting for my pics to be developed and to get a bluetooth adapter so that I can link my cell-camera to my laptop, so I can download the pics I’ve taken... There’ll be a cocktail-by-cocktail account of all my antics soon. Watch that space too!
And it all culminated in the very best Valentine’s Day ever! No... I haven’t met my dream man and fallen madly in love. My mom and dad were my Valentine’s this year, preparing an unforgettable chinese dinner for my Valentine-less brother and me. The day started with me finding a rose on my desk from my “secret admirer”. I know it’s probably from the guys at work... But it still made me smile! I know it’s kinda goofy, but it was quite sweet spending the day speculating over who it could be or rather, making up some fantastic Mr Perfect who happened to spot me from across a crowded mall, followed me to my office and secretly left me a single red rose... Hot! I then made my way home to be greeted at the door with cocktails served up by my mom and dad. They lead us through to the diningroom, where they had set the table in red and white, and placed chocolates all over the place. My mom had cooked her killer stir-fry. Dad was in charge of drinks and serving up the dessert. What a great evening. Let me tell you, no guy has ever made that kind of effort for me, so I felt really really special. Thanks mom and dad. You guys are the best!

The coolest MOST ROCKING thing in the world!

http://roxik.com/pictaps/index.html

All sushi'd out?

You know, you'd think that after a MASSIVE sushi dinner on saturday with Noodle (my best mate) and a GIGANTIC sushi with the girls two nights ago I'd be all sushi'd out. But it really is quite the contrary! I'm addicted. More than ever. I do think that Durban's summer heat has something to do with it. The thought of eating anything even vaguely hot/spicy just freaks me out!
OK! I know what you're going to say... To much sushi is a bad thing. Even the japanese themselves restrict their sushi diet for week to week. And the fish is not as pure/clean as we think it is, when you consider the polluted state of our water. But I say... BAH!
BAH TO YOU, SUSHI PARTY POOPERS!
Oh... and pass the wasabi, please.

2007 is the year of The Greens!

... Well for me, at least!
Happy 2007 everyone. I'm so sorry for not wishing you sooner (or even saying goodbye before my holiday, for that matter - oops!) but life's been... life's been... what's the word?... life's been for the living, I guess.
This holiday I made sure that I lived it, - not vegging out on the sofa day after day, but getting mylsef out of bed early each morning and doing SOMETHING everyday. Even if that "something" was as small as driving along the coast, with the sun on my face and the wind in my hair, and stopping to have lunch on the deck of a restaurant overlooking the beach. Beautiful.
But now that I'm back to reality, Green is the new Fat... And I'm LOVING IT! After just a week at work, detoxing, working out and eating "clean" I'm feeling stronger, slimmer and more "alive" somehow. Ok so I had a couple of glasses of wine a few nights ago, but I watered them down with some sparkling water and felt SO proud of myself all of the next day!
And read my lips! This is no New Year's resolution. This is a way of life. And it's going to be easy for me to implement because I've already been putting the various elements into place one by one during the course of last year. So this year, all I've done was give up ONE thing... The Final Thing that makes the whole plan come together... BREAD!
Goodbye Saturday morning toasted sarmies.
Goodbye free restaurant breadrolls.
Goodbye midnight peanut butter sarmies washed down with a good scotch & soda.
Goodbye special bakery cheese loaves and croissants...

And goodbye heartburn, butt-block, 2-day bloat and not fitting into my dresses anymore!

I won't miss you, bread. You're like an emotionally abusive boyfriend. I've always somehow known that you were bad for me, but you just felt so damn good.

Now that you're gone, I look you and I can't believe that I ever loved you so much.
Go make some other woman miserable!
I'm over you.

Birthdays ROCK! Drunk driving SUCKS!

My friend, Gail (the aunty in the middle of the pic), had her birthday at Bean Bag Bohemia last friday... What a jorl!!! The food was incredible: thai chicken wontons, YUM! And the people were great. My mom and I pretty much spent the evening shooting the breeze with Noodle (first from the left).
I was totally bummed that I was driving and couldn't really let my hair down, but it was a good thing I kept it tidy. On the way home, mom and I went through our first road block for the season. The Booze Bus was parked on the side of the road, next to the rows and rows of cars belonging to drivers who flunked the breathaliser test. Scary! I'm always really irritated when I go through these things. I go to all the trouble of staying sober, and the cops don't even ask to see my license! They just assume that, as a woman, I'm less likely to be driving home wasted, but let's face it... In this country I think the chicks take just as many chances with drunk driving as the men! Those of us who are single still want to have a good time, and we still need to get home somehow! Cops need to catch a fat wake-up! I know everyone keeps telling me that I'd be singing a different tune if the cops DID catch me for drunk driving. Make no mistake: You do NOT want to spend a night in jail in this country! But, I limit my drinks, pace myself and even if it means I've got to stop drinking and move around for a couple of hours to sober up, then that's what I do! People who get behind the wheel while they're still smashed should also take responsibility for what might happen to them if they get caught! (Boy. When I think about how young guys brag about getting home while trashed, I actually feel sick.)
I often get to work in an absolute STATE after having driven in front of / behind / near a reckless driver. It always frightens me that the reckless people are rarely hurt / killed in the accidents that they cause. They can see it coming, so they're "prepared" for the impact. It's the innocent guy/girl that gets hurt/killed. They're blissfully unaware that driving safely/defensively simply isn't enough. If some reckless a/hole is gonna take you out, they're gonna take you out and there's nothing you can do...
Boy that was a bleak blog.
It started out so good, and then it got wierd...
ANYWAY! The message is this: Be careful on the roads this festive season. I've lost far too many people lately, and I can't do any more funerals.

Lynette (1971-2006)

Lyn...
Christmas Day was always our day together. Every year, you'd come over in the afternoon and we'd laugh 'til 2am the next morning, over shooters and a bunch of dumb jokes. So, wherever you are, I know that you know I'm going to miss you very much. I don't want to be sad, but I'm already getting choked up whenever Christmas day pops into my head. This lump in my throat is going to suffocate me. I'm trying hard to do what you always did in tough times: put a radiant smile on my face and never let them see me down. But I can't do it like you did. The lump in my throat keeps squeezing big, giant tears out of my eyes. I'm going to miss your baking and the thoughtful gift. I know that your folks need us this festive season more than ever, but I can't look at them. I just can't. I wanted a change of scenery... maybe Christmas lunch at a nice restaurant somewhere. Anything to be able to stay away from the memories... But my parents need the comfort of their own home right now. As much as they don't want to think about you too, they want to be near the places they know you'd be happy.
I'm going Christmas shopping today. I'll be picking up something for Liam, Tatum and your folks. But I don't think any store out there has what we'd all really like this Christmas:
1. Lump-in-Throat Remover
2. ... and few more moments with you.

Is it Christmas time yet?

No?
Oh well... bummer.
...
...
...
...
How 'bout now?

Life of Pi **********

Amazon.com says: Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don't burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination. In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: "It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion."
I say: After reading a book like this, I feel inadequate even trying to find the words to review it! Life of Pi will no doubt be in my Top 10 books of All Time... In fact, it might very well be in the Top 5. I'm one of those people who could NEVER read a book more than once, - unless it's for study purposes and I really really really I HAVE TO. I've always admired(?) people who can read a book over and over again. It's a special gift to be able to be "surprised" again and again by the same words on the same page. (It's different with movies, - they're no-brainers anyway...) I could enjoy reading a passage over and over again while I'm in the process of reading a book for the first (and only!) time, and I often do when I find something particularly poignant / meaningful / skillfully written. SO, for ME to say that I would go back to this book and re-read it, is a MAJOR thing. There's nothing particulary clever about Martel's vocabulary - I find Big Words incredibly boring anyway. But the storytelling is something else. Wow, what a story. I'm a big cat lover (as you know by now!) so there were times when I didn't know WHOSE side I was on, but what I do know is that it was physically painful at times to hold my breath until I knew everything was going to be okay. I think I was expecting a Disney Fairytale when I heard about it? Maybe it's the cover that misleads you, so the first 2 chapters kinda threw me. But once I got into it, I was hooked. I could taste/hear/see/feel/smell every change in the weather/water/sky/sun that Pi experienced in his 227 days on the water.
If there's one book you read this holiday, make it Life of Pi. The story is meant to be a sad one, but there is so much hope, strength, resilience and beauty in it, it has to be one of most uplifting books I've ever read! Ten out of five, Martel. Ten out of five!
(Thanks, Noodle, for lending me your copy. I think I just might buy one of my own soon!)

Jorling LATE on a Saturday night...

So Brendan and I ditched the dumb concert and went off to Suncoast Casino. My mom wanted to try her hand at some gambling and we offered to give her a lift home after the concert. Little did we know that we'd leave the concert so early. But I'm really glad we did. Brendan, my mom and I ended up having the time of our lives!!
We started out by losing a bunch of cash on the slot machines. (When we lose, we lose with STYLE! Everytime the machine made a noise - any noise - we'd do a little dance, much to the amusement / confusion of the serious gamblers.) Then a drunk guy walked up to me and slurred a "Hello. I love you...", to which I responded, "Oh. Thanks, hey." Brendan laughed about that all night long. And nows he's starting a vicious rumour that the only reason I'm still single, is because I'm too picky. In his version of the story, the drunk guy was a perfectly presentable young man who cared about me very deeply. Hmff!
We ended the night off with a bottle of wine and a seafood dinner at the John Dory's, at the casino. It was wonderful! The food and service were great, even at that time of the night.
By the time Brendan drove mom and I home, we were pretty wasted and were falling apart in a fit of giggles everytime we thought about the drunk-guy-in-love...
All-in-all a great day/evening/night out!!

Jorling on a Saturday night...

Well!!
Let's just say that my brother and I should have stayed at jorl number ONE (the BBB picnic).
We managed to score comps to the East Coast Radio Birthday Concert so even though we had no idea who was performing, we thought we'd go. (Everyone else was raving about the line up... So what the hell, right?)
WELL!!
The first sign that things weren't going to go so well was when we were still queueing to go in. Let's just say that there were far too many 16 year old girls in cropped jeans, knee high stilettos and poor-boy hats for my goddam liking. (GROSS! I'd like to bitch slap the person who invented the poor-boy hat. I think it might have been those losers from Oliver Twist. The Artful Dodger, my freakin' butt! He won't be able to dodge one of MY klaps!) And the REALLY worrying part was... most of these 16-year olds were with their parents! Sadly Brendan and I were clean that night, otherwise anykind of hard dwelms might have helped... a little!
So we eventually got in and decided to make the best of it... SOBER! They were only selling soft drinks and beer - neither of which we drink. (Groan.)
And then the music started...
Followed by the rain.
By the time Bananarama started (yes... BANANARAMA!!) Brendan and I had had ENOUGH! I was really looking forward to yelling "Sing, little leprechaun man, SING!!!" to Ronan Keating, but alas, he was coming on far too late and we were ready for the next jorl!
So we got in the car in the poring rain and drove off to jorl number three... or "jorling LATE on a Saturday night"!

Jorling on a Saturday afternoon...

So I managed to crack the nod to the Bean Bag Bohemia picnic this year, thanks to my friend Gail. The theme was Black and Bling, so I pretty much wore all black and every piece of jewelery that I own... Oh! And I made sure that I had the biggest hair there! The girls and I got there on time (ie. TOO EARLY) and ended up getting completely wasted in vodka and red bull (FREE!) before the food even got there... Nice. The food was really awesome, though. It always is at BBB. Lovely sushi, pizza, chicken/beef rolls... and the dolmades were to die for!
I think it would have been a really late night for me if the NEXT party for the evening wasn't waiting for me! So off I went to party number two, or "jorling on a Saturday night".

Like Water for Chocolate *** (for STYLE not CONTENT)

Here's what the reviewers say: Like Water For Chocolate is a deceptively simple book - a love story set in Mexico, interspersed with recipes, related in unadorned, uncomplicated language. Yet when the ingredients are combined and simmer, subtle and unusual flavors emerge. On one level, this is the story of Tita, youngest daughter of the formidable matriarch Mama Elena who forbids Tita to marry her true love Pedro because tradition says that the youngest daughter must care for her mother until her death. When Pedro marries Tita's oldest sister in order to be near Tita, it begins a life-long conflict filled with passion, deception, anger, and pure love. Interwoven throughout the narrative are the recipes, which, like an ancient Greek chorus, provide an ongoing metaphorical commentary on the characters and their culture. Finally, there is the food itself that Tita creates as head cook on the family ranch, food so vibrant and sensual, so imbued with her feelings of longing, frustration, rebellion, or love, that it affects everyone who eats it. The combination of all these elements, with a good measure of the supernatural thrown in, makes for an earthy, quirky book, sad and funny, passionate, and direct, told by Tita's grand-niece who follows in her footsteps, using her cookbook and continuing a tradition quite different from the one her great-grandmother tried to impose. (From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Erica Bauermeister)
Here's what I say: GIMME A GODDAM BREAK!! How any woman can love a man who marries and makes babies with her SISTER just to get close to HER is beyond me! Laura gets 3 stars for style. (I like the way she paints a picture, and the recipes are a nice touch even though it's highly HIGHLY unlikely that all of them work. I do a lot of baking and cooking, and some of those recipes looked VERY strange to me.) But she gets a big fat ZERO for content. I have no patience for people who feel they have to be stuck in a shitty situation forever, just because that's their lot in life. Bollocks. I found the protagonist irritating and furstrating... And as for the love of her life??!! He's lucky he died when he did. I wanted to kill him myself! All I can say is, THANK GOODNESS it wasn't a long read. i don't know if I could put up with the whining for another 50 pages!!!

The sun is shining!

I wish I could send you a pic of how beautiful it is today. The sun is shining; the sky is the bluest it's ever been; and I'm working outside on the deck, with the sunshine sparkling off the pool... WHAT A DAY!
That's one of the great things about being a free agent. While all the other boring, old stiffs are working indoors in the sterile air-conditioning, I get to work with the sun on my shoulders, while I sip on something cool. It's nice.
It's not going to last very long... But it's still nice while I can enjoy it.
There are so many things going on in my life right now, but I'm not gonna zap them with bad mojo by talking about them before they come to fruition, Just bear with me, but DON'T STRESS! I'm doing well.
Even though my cousin Lyn isn't going to be with us and I'm going to miss her very VERY much, I think this is going to be one of the most amazing summers for me... EVER!
So... back to your dumb desk you go!
I'm going to take the laptop into the shade, poor myself another fruit juice, and watch the trees swaying in the afternoon breeze. Ah! What bliss.

Man. What a crazy world we live in...

If you scroll down this page, you'll see some pics of my cousin Lynette and me on the "Wow! I'm getting really nifty with the ol' flat irons" blog from a few weeks back.
Well... Lynette died in a car crash a week ago and I'm devastated. She was 35, married and on her way to work.
I wish I could say more, but it's too hard to get anything out.
I'm angry.
I'm sad.

I'm just over bad news and funerals.

I'll be posting some nice pics of the two of us growing up together, just as soon as I can bring myself to look for/at them.

Anyway. Peace.

Here's to new beginnings!

Hey friends!

What a crazy couple of weeks this has been...

I've quit my job and I'm officially on The Adventure Of A Lifetime.
I'm sorry that I haven't updated my blog over the past couple of weeks, but let's just say... I've been MORE than a little distracted.
I can't give you all the details about my new venture just yet, seeing as I'm still fine-tuning the details, but it is going to be SO cool when it all comes together! (Why did that sound like something out of the A-Team?)

Please bear with me while I sort out my internet at home.
I'll be able to blog more often once that's done... Promise!

You can mail me on: carmen.gabriel@gmail.com

Later! xox

HAH!!!

I knew it.

Ponies are cool.

Here's my brother, Brendan, with my little cousing Tatum at the birthday party. They were keeping the ponies company while I was attacking the trifle at the buffet table. Trifle is even cooler than ponies. It's a close one? But the trifle wins.

Barney is the devil.

Can somebody please explain the Barney phenomenon to me?
I guess kids dig him, so that's all that counts. He does make me really nervous though. It's like I gotta wonder about the freak INSIDE the costumer. And those songs... Crikey.
These are some pics from my cousin's kid's (Kelcey) first birthday party a couple of weeks ago. There is Barney stuff EVERYWHERE and the kids went completely ape.
There were no major casualties so I guess all's well that ends well.
Except... well... I'm still seeing purple wherever I look.