Wednesday, January 29

Conversations with Tall One

La: Are you making rice with the curry this evening?

Jon: Nah.

La: So are we just gonna have curry with curry?

Jon: I'm making cauliflower rice.

At this point, I proceeded to leap five feet into the air.

La: WHAAAAAAAATTTT!!!?? You are JOKING. JOKING, PANDA. I saw cauliflower rice on instagram the other day and I screenshotted a pic for you. I've been meaning to show you. OMG, I can't believe you're making that. How do you make it? I have been wanting to try that. It's much healthier!! 

Jon: Sweet.

FYI: It tasted AMAZING.
FYI: I can't believe I have a boy to cook me healthy versions of my fave meals when I'm stressed and working late. (I looked a little like this)


And thanks to him, I didn't eat this:




(That's for Friday night) 

x

Monday, January 27

Weekend in the Berg!

Howdy gang! We're back from an awesome weekend in the 'Berg! On Friday night, we arrived to an epic storm which we watched from our balcony overlooking the valley below. When the rain slammed down, we huddled inside and played card games and erm, drank! In the morning, we woke up to sunny skies so we skottled up some scrambies and headed to the dam. Tall One took me for a paddle on the kayak which was amaaaaaaazzzing! In the afternoon, we played tennis, watched rugga and roasted marshies. After a couple more rounds of drinking cards, we headed to the games room for pool and foosball. Then it got a bit outa hand so we'll leave it at that. x

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Friday, January 24

Catch Up!

Word, friends! How are we all? Not a whole lot been going down here but here's a little catch up anyways. After my first week back at work, we went to Inanda Dam for a camp out. After three Savannas, I was like, "Guys, we live in AFRICA. AFRICA, GUYS. AFFFRICA. HOW AWESOME IS THAT??!! There are ZEBRAS here. ZEBRAAAS." Sometimes I get super stoked about the fact that you can drive a few minutes down the road to have sundowners with Zebras.

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Jon drinking a beer. Me instagramming. This shot about sums us up.

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Panda horse! "Om nom nom."

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^^Heart this one to bits^^
Lets me snap zebras when I should be helping to bang tent pegs into the ground. 

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(Lols at the man in the background. Looks like he has the same hat as Skippy!)

I don't think I mentioned this in my last post but one of my other New Year goals is to try and make each weekend feel like a little holiday. Hence, the Inanda getaway. Then the weekend before last, I went to the Bird Park with Tracy, Gordon and Baby Rachel. It was hot as hell but helluva exciting when a bunch of birds started clawing at our hair and climbing all over us. Of course one of the birds went Number 1 on me so I had to have a dunk in the pool with the God kids later that day.

"YAY, this rules! I am the bird whisperer!"

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"Guys, get it off me. I don't like this anymore. It's eating my necklace.
Still gonna take a selfie tho. #birdsgotswagger"

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"Guys, seriously."

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What else? I watched the Wolf of Wallstreet - my satchel. What a rollicking ride that was. My eyes are scarred. Other than that, I don't really have any more news. Tall One and I are escaping to the Berg this weekend with a bunch of mates. Pandy's also coming with so sh*ts gonna get real! Hope you have excellent weekends! x

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Wednesday, January 8

The ubiquitous 2014 goals post!

Word! I have been reading everyone's "2014 Goals and Resolutions" posts which have been mega inspiring. I however, have not been able to write one because I have been in denial that the holiday season is officially over for me. But after five days back at work, I have finally accepted this cold fact. So long holidays. You were epic. Especially epic because...well, I'm not sure how I engineered this but I hardly ran any errands this holiday. Or did anything for that matter! Maybe it was because I had the cold from heck? Maybe it was because I thought, "Hot dog remnants on the floor? No worries! Filthy mud-fossilised car? It's all gooooood." I literally spent the entire holidays chilling bar the odd bit of stationery organising spring cleaning. I didn't entertain anyone (bar Tall One who is happy to play Angry Birds on my bed for nine hours - also, I like saying 'bar') and I had a super thrifty Christmas. I am so happy to belong to a family that doesn't expect fifty zillion gifts. Three for two deals for all!

But..I suppose one must get with the programme and scribble one's 2014 goals and dreams. I for one, am not a list person. I do try with them from time to time. If work is especially nuclear, I will make a list but otherwise, I tend to wing things! (Everyone who I work with - you did not read that. I will buy you all marshmallow fish tomorrow if we just pretend I never wrote that.) So yes, I am clearly missing the 'list' gene that all other girls seem to possess.

I'm sure it horrifies Tall One who is the most methodical, logical, analytical human on the planet. He has a spreadsheet for literally everything. I am pretty sure he is tracking my PMS. Overshare. Carrying on.

I am much more of a visual creature. Last year, I started a secret Pinterest Board of my 2013 Hopes and Dreams. Bless my socks. This thing actually worked wonders for me. I dipped into it throughout the year and felt immensely chuffed to see that I was ticking things off.

So for the sake of giving some semblance to my 2014 Pinterest Board, herewith the DL* of my 2014 Goals.

*Mom - that stands for 'download.' But don't worry, I still say words like 'herewith.'

- The standard lose-five-kilos immediately. I am currently obsessed with Lauren Brimley's Eating Whole (@eating_whole) Instagram. I screen-shot her meals for inspiration. I was EXTREMELY excited to make spaghetti squash until Tall One explained to me that this is not the beloved gem squash that us Saffers know and love. Can we buy spaghetti squash here? Lauren also recently steered me towards Casey Ho's Instagram (@blogilates) - this looks like a life-changer! As an aside, I really miss Lauren's personal blog. She was one of my faves. I interviewed her once for Gloss. 

- Move into a bigger home. One with at least an actual bedroom. I am over operating out of a studio. I do literally everything in my bed. It's not as saucy as it sounds. While in new home, buy some furniture and appliances. I rent all these things but I suppose I should actually own some one day. Anyone planning a New Year chuck out? Give me a call! I'll take that daggy sofa off your hands. #secondhandforlyfe

- Thiiiiiiinking of having a little photography exhibition but am terrified that no one will be remotely interested in it. Over Twitter, a few of you said I should go for it which was very encouraging. But what if no one actually comes? Hey ho, YOLO.

- Make every weekend feel like a little holiday! To be fair, I usually am on weekend missions but towards the end of last year, my weekends degenerated into 'eat-sleep-read ten thousand instagrams - repeat.' So, I am keen to explore our local sights as much as possible. Bring on the bird park! Wow, that sounds lame. (Am genuinely excited for the BP, none the less.)

- Two years ago I decided to only blog when I had the time/inclination to. At the dawn of Gloss, I blogged because I was excited to share things but after some positive feedback - which was lovely - I suddenly felt this pressure to always be blogging. Then I decided to remove all the pressure and I started blogging less. You know what happened? Just what I thought! My readership plummeted. The comments stopped rolling in. No one new added me on Twitter. Lols. But I didn't care! Over the last two years, I have only blogged when I've genuinely been excited to share something/had the time to share it. I wish I could snap pics all day and blog more often but I don't have the time anymore and that's ok. I often read posts like, "Tips for blogging if you don't the time for it...." Here's my tip: Don't blog if you don't have time! And don't worry about it. I get the worry because I still worry sometimes but I know that I will always blog the special stuff and on the mundane days, I'd rather be glugging vino with my friends or snugging Tall One.

And lastly, my word for the year is simplify! But more on that another time. I'm so bored from writing this list. Did anyone read all of this? If so, you're a champ!

I can't think of any other goals so I'm going to bath and listen to some more of Michael Mcintyre's audiobook "Life and Laughing." It's a right lol. x

PS: I wanted to fill this post with inspirational quotes and cr@p but the bubbles are calling me.

PPS: I feel that I should tell you that I have in fact cleaned my flat and I will be going to the car wash this weekend. I am not as gross as that first paragraph makes me out to be!

Wednesday, January 1

Crocs, burgers and old stuff!

Happy New Year, friends! I hope you all had a great evening? We noshed pasta, watched Seinfeld and headed out to see the fireworks at midnight. A pretty perfect New Years in my books! This morning, Tall One and I decided that we had to get out of bed and do something fun after trying to rest off our colds over the last couple of days. We headed off on a gentle drive through Hillcrest but ended up going on an epic adventure that included three of my favourite things - animals, food and thrifting! Such a brilliant start to the New Year! I mixed the photos together for added randomness. x

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