Southern Wedding Traditions

So I am constantly learning the way of The South and this seems to be a big time for weddings. This weekend I was invited to a Pampered Chef party for a bride-to-be which was great fun.

The idea is the same as that of a Tupperware party – the rep comes along with a bunch of their kitchen goodies and demonstrates and talks you through everything. The difference with having it as a pre-wedding party is that they will make the bride-to-be demonstrate the cooking of a dish or two making use of all the Pampered Chef products, which include pots and pans and all your general kitchen items.

After that we all eat the prepared food and other snacks and have good ol girly pre-wedding chats. Then you would all fill in your order forms, including things for the bride-to-be off her pre-registered request list.

All in all it was a great day and I was one more tradition down on the list of pre-wedding parties involved in a Southern Wedding. Next weekend – I attend my first bridal tea.

Yet Another Administrative Nightmare

What is it with people being completely stupid whenever you need to get anything done? Why cant S&^%t just be simple?

The issue of the day is Social Security - this is a number that anyone living in America needs to get anything done. Without a social security number (SSN) I cannot open a bank account, I cannot get a drivers license and I basically cannot do much.

So a month ago I went down to the SSN office and filled out their mounds of paperwork, showed them my birth certificate, passport, greencard and multiple other things to prove I am who I say I am. They said I would receive confirmation and ultimately my SS card in the mail. A month later - what do you know - nothing!

So today I venture all the way down there again to find out what is taking so long. Of course before this I tried to phone and go online but that obviously didn't work - why has every company fired all their employees and are resorting to stupid automated tele systems. Anyway back to the point - I spent another hour of my life today waiting to be seen by somebody who has better thing to do than issue my card.

When I finally got to speak to someone, guess what, I had to do it all again!
Apparently after I've filed everything for the second time I should get a response whithin the next 2 weeks - we'll see about that and I'll keep you posted.

Rugby, Rugby Players and Writing

So finally my writing has led me to write about something close to my heart …Rugby, but more specifically NZ rugby! OK South Africa friends and family before you all have nervous breakdowns, these All Blacks have also played for the Crusaders and no one can argue against their brilliance and on field (and social) personalities.

Everyone knows that rugby is special to me being a Saffa and all and I have to say a heart felt sorry to my dear sport for being such a poor supporter over the past year. I promise that even though sadly most of my time is now spent on American Football, rugby is still my first love.

So I hope that I am on my way to redeeming myself with the sport by taking on the task of writing about two fantastic Crusader (All Black) players. Maybe soon someone will pay me to write about South African rugby then I can prove my loyalty there too.

But for now, if you would like to read about Dan Carter or Richie McCaw please feel free. I hope to have more profiles to add to this collection soon.

Turning over a new Leaf

In the recent past years I have gone from being a once a week Pilates rehab patient to being a twice a week advanced Pilates student to an avid gym bunny but no more Pilates and recently to a reluctant gym go-er with no motivation.

Feeling fat, inflexible and lazy I decided that it was time to make some changes and get my A back into G.

So my new regime started today. I went online and purchased some DIY at home Pilates DVD’s and have made an unbreakable pact with myself that every morning will begin with a Pilates workout. Nothing too crazy, just some simple exercises to get my metabolism started and my muscles thinking about doing something.

I really hope that with my morning Pilates and afternoon gym we will be seeing some differences – mental and physical.

I have to say though – I have missed Pilates, it really is amazing and makes me feel great! OK its not completely the same without my instructor Sandy pushing me that little bit further and making me realize that I actually can bend my body like a pretzel, but its better than nothing.

So I hope to have regular updates of my progress and my experience – for now however . . . wish me luck!

A day out in Birmingham

So I have to just tell you about my day. To avoid another boding day inside, Mom-To-Be and Dad-To-Be dragged The Other Half and I out into the sunshine for a full day of things to do, see, taste and experience.

Our first experience was Yogurt Mountain. Now if I can even try and explain the joy of this place it would not do justice. So I will describe every step… you walk in, pick up a rather large tub and proceed to the frozen yogurt wall. Yes wall. With a choice of probably ten or more flavors from chocolate and vanilla to cheesecake, peanut butter, cookies and cream, cake batter and so much more you help yourself to as much as you like of anything you like. You mix and pick and choose to your hearts delight.

But it does not stop there, you then move to the toppings wall – yes another wall – this time filled with every ice cream topping you can think of. From chopped up chocolates to M&M’s, Reece’s, cereal, fruit and ht fudge. Again – take as much as you want of whatever you want. The outcome is a bowl full of goodness exactly as you like it. You pay by weight but that’s beside the point, you can still create your own ice cream masterpiece. And the best part – the frozen yogurt is fat free!

From there we proceeded to drive around Birmingham, looking at houses that we hope to one day be able to afford and some that we know we will never be able to afford but its good to dream. We found mansions on top of hills and castles in the trees.

We ended the day with more great food at Full Moon barbecue where we could not possibly eat all the delicious onion rings.

Full of fun, full of laughs and adventure, truly a great day. It just shows that you don’t have to venture too far to discover new things – most of the time you do not even know what is in your own town.

Bridal Teas and Gift Registry's

So, to bring everyone up to speed there is a tradition in the South called a Bridal Tea. Basically it is what we would do at home to the magnitude of ten! We are inviting over 100 people and it is going to be a big event.

So even though the big event between The Other Half and me is still two years away, the tea is being held sooner for a number of reasons.

Today we embarked on the mammoth task of setting up a gift registry. Now we are planning on doing this at 3 or 4 stores and today we made it half way through one!

Who knew that trying to make every decision relating to furnishing a house you do not have could be so exhausting!

So with The Other Half armed with the scanning thing and I with a clip board and lists we set off through Bed, Bath and Beyond trying to think of absolutely everything we may need in the future.

We were advised to over scan so that there was enough choice on our lists and more of a chance that we get what we need, so we did – our list now consists of around 4 chopping boards and 5 whisks (did anyone even know that whisks came in different sizes?)

One store pretty much done and at least two more to go, we still have a lot of work ahead of us. Thank goodness for the online resource where we can go back and see exactly what we have on there – I have already been on and noticed a few things that I did not select – like 4 whisks (lets just remember who was carrying the scanner!)

For pics click here

Snow!

Ok so first to explain why this is so exciting to me. I come from Cape Town where the extent of cold is blissfully nothing to brag about.

We Capetonians hate the cold and as soon as the temperatures drop below 20 C (68 F) we go into hibernation mode and don’t come out for much. Our days are shorter and our weekends quieter. The cocktail on the beach are substituted for red wine by the fire and this generally occurs in our own houses because God forbid we get wet walking to the car.

So now I find myself in Alabama, I was told it doesn’t’ get cold here – they lied! It is FREEZING, and I mean literally – there are tiny thing slivers of ice falling from the sky! OK it has only happened like three times but still this is not what I’m used to.

But all things aside, I love the snow! Besides the freezing coldness, I think there is nothing more beautiful that snow on the ground, treetops and roves of houses. It makes everything look clean and it glistens (yes you know how I love shiny things).

Maybe it’s the sense of reminiscing – it makes me think of childhood when the first sighting of snow on the Ceres mountains meant dad would pack the whole family in the car and together with the rest of the Cape Town plebs, we would embark on the journey all wrapped up with flasks of hot chocolate in hand. Ok granted when we got there we were faced with muddy slush because of the droves of people who got there before us but that’s beside the point.

The point is I still hate the cold but I love the snow. Click here to see pics.

Flick the Switch

So have you ever just wished that you could turn your brain off in order to get a good night’s sleep? That’s how I’ve been feeling lately. As soon as I close my eyes the thoughts start coming at a rapid pace and the more I try to clear my mind the more I am thinking about not thinking.

And the strangest thing is that I seem to be in a sort of half sleep. Like I’m sleeping but I’m thinking about how my thoughts are disrupting my sleep – it’s all very strange.

So how does one clear your mind before bed in order to actually sleep? According to Wiki, these things may help:

1. Write down your thoughts before you go to bed to clear your mind
I’ve tried keeping a notebook next to my bed so that when I think of something
I can write it down rather than thinking that I really need to remember this
thought in the morning – but that didn’t work for me as I’m simply too lazy to
open my eyes to write it down. So maybe I should try writing things down before I
actually get into bed, maybe that will help

2. Counting sheep
Apparently this is the most traditional way of dealing with an over-active mind
late at night. The logic behind this approach is that you will bore yourself to
sleep. But for me, I feel that I will probably find myself thinking about how
boring and stupid this is.

3. Focus on one, boring thing, with the purpose of stopping your mind from running
so fast
Focus on something that is far away from your head, such as the tiniest toe on
your left foot. Try to feel your toe, and think only about the toe. If you slip
up, return to the toe. To me, this just sounds like more things to think about.

4. Imagine you've won a million dollars, and then imagine you're spending it
Calculating how much you'd need to get that boat, dream house, new wardrobe. OK
now this will keep me up all night thinking about how many pairs of Jimmy Choo’s
I can buy with a million dollars.

5. Try to calm down your mind before going to sleep
Doing a crossword puzzle, sudoku, or reading a little may calm your mind down so
that you fall easily asleep. This will probably leave me pondering about the
answers I could not get.

6. Instead of focusing on your mind, focus on your body
Doing some yoga right before you go to bed will make your body sleepier. You know
what, I think I may purchase a yoga DVD and try this one before bed. Besides, at
least if it doesn’t help me sleep I may gain some flexibility out of it.

7. Meditation
Meditation calms the mind, and some types of meditation teach you how to clear
your mind completely. To me meditation means thinking about not thinking…

8. Try creating a very detailed story to yourself,
something that interests you, you will fall asleep far before you come to the end
of the story.
Somehow I doubt it.

9. Clear your head of all thoughts and focus on how
good it feels to have your mind completely empty
Well now this is the whole problem!

10.Imagine being able to change anything about you
Again, this would keep me thinking all night

11.Slowly paralyze yourself starting from your toes, working slowly until you are all the way up to your head
Finally I think this one may work – although I’m thinking less about
mentally paralyzing myself and rather more about potential vodka induced
paralysis.

Blue Blue Monday

So I haven't really found myself suffering from Blue Monday Fever for a while now, I thought that was because with no job and no life the days sort of blended together and Monday simply meant the start of another week of nothingness.

Well today I found myself waking up on completely the wrong side of the bed and even after going back to sleep and trying again on the other side, (I have no job so I can do that) I felt no better.

Now I guess I do know the bottom reason of my bad feelings, I have a very amazing friend in a very serious condition and I find that that is all I can think about. She is in my every thought and every prayer and nothing I do can shake my feeling of sadness.

But then I read Crazii's post for the day and see that she too is feeling that sense of Monday doom and then I think well maybe friends are connected and we could be feeding of each others negative energies? Is that possible across continents? I mean I've heard of girls that live together or work together (ie spend too much time together) will eventually come on the same menstrual cycle - maybe that's God's way of keeping the cat fights within one week a month.

So for now I will resort to actually doing some work to earn minimal monies, or rather indulge in some online shopping to try keep my mind on the moment and try rid myself of the not so nice thoughts. On the other hand, maybe I'll just go back to bed and try again...

Feeling Far away

Everyone always asks how I’m coping with being away from home and my answer is always “fine so far”. Well today I realized the worst part of being away from home, that’s when bad things happen to people that you love.

2009 seemed like a year when so much bad was going on in terms of friends being hurt by horrible boys and it sucked when I couldn’t be there to support them in terms of chocolate and movie nights, but it’s a different story when a friend is physically hurt and there is nothing you can do.

To find out on Facebook that an amazing person is in a bad condition really sucks and it’s even worse when you are too far away to do anything about it. This is when the distance really gets to you because you can’t just jump in the car and race to the hospital to be by their side and updates on their condition take a while to get to you.

So if anyone had to ask me now what’s the worst thing about being away from home I would say, “Not being able to be there for the people you love when they need you.”

For now all I can say is Sushi please get better soon, I love you and I’m thinking of you every second.

And for the rest of you , please stay safe and happy.

Nightmare!

So, when you spend pretty much all day every day sitting in front of your computer applying for countless amounts of jobs – some that you really want and some that will just be a time filler to pay the rent, how do you make sure your resume gets to the top of the pile?

I mean when you come across a job that you are so perfectly qualified for in education and experience and know that not only will the job be fantastic but that you will be fantastic in that job, how do you get noticed?

I can’t really phone these people every day and tell them how wonderful I am and that if they do not hire me it will be immediate and irreversible suicide for their company – or can I?

But seriously – recession aside – there are so many jobs out there, and I have applied for every one, well the fantastic ones at least, but why am I getting nothing back? I’ve even taken to wishing on shooting stars! Yup I saw an amazing shooting star last night, haven’t seen one of those in years, maybe it was a sign – but I digress…GIVE ME A JOB!!!!

2010 is supposed to be this amazing year filled with opportunities and exciting things, well maybe it still will be but is surely is off to a slow start. We were so excited about moving to a new city and getting an apartment and sting to actually live our lives but the holdup is finding jobs first.

Come on universe; work your magic…please.

A big announcement

So again I feel the need to apologize for my lack of interesting topics.

The only news for today is that I feel we have finally decided on a country to hold the elusive wedding in! OK I guess that is big news. And the winner is . . . . CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA!

So from not thinking about anything wedding related and not having any idea of what I actually wanted, I find my thoughts and dreams consumed with everything wedding related.

Now don't get me wrong, I too have pictured and planned my big day ever since I was a little girl, but of course, ideals and ideas of pretty can change over time. The strange thing though is that since I entered into the world of event planning I did everything to avoid actually planning an event for myself, and that included thinking about planning an event for myself. So even when I has presented with my big, beautiful diamond(s) I still did not even want to think of planning a wedding. I had no idea of what I wanted but I had lots of very clear ideas of what I didn't want!

1 - I do not want to feel the need to invite people I have not spoken to in years just because I don't want to hurt their feelings
2 - I do not want to spend thousands on a cake that will not get eaten
3 - I do not want to spend fortunes on invitations that get thrown in the bin once the details have been written down
4 - I do not want bridesmaids that look like poorly dressed barbie dolls

But now that we have decided to actually start planning this thing it is all I can think of. Although the only thing we have actually decided on is the city and the year - yes, very broad I know but at least its a start.