Alhambra, Granada

Another tick on my bucket list :)

Dont know where to start

So yeah I have no idea where to start with writing on here again. Once you get out of the habit it is just so hard to get back into it. This is something that I see over and over again on the other blog that I read. Life just gets manic and this is what suffers.

To be honest I have been thinking about some things that I've wanted to put on here but then I get really paranoid about what I write. Would people take it well if they found it? I know that some friends etc read this and so therefore I do edit some things that I would love to say to the big out there but it is going to leave someone maybe not happy. And well I'm not really willing to take that risk. It would just bring drama into my life and I dont do drama anymore.

Also it seems that I have the attention span of a fish at the moment...esp since I wander off from this post already to go find something else to entertain me. I'm really struggling with boredom and lack of motivation at the moment and it is really getting to me!

Oops, there I go again. I wandered off to go find the layouts that I'm considering for our bedroom. It is chaos in there at the moment and it needs emergency change/help. So I found us a free wardrobe and that is hopefully going to be the push I need to get organised and moving with all the things that I want to do.

One last thing before I wander off not to come back to this post... The one thing that is really getting me excited at the moment is photography. I've been so inspired and encouraged by the new photographer/climber friend that this is the first time I think that I could start taking my love of photography seriously. He is happily imparting all his knowledge :) And so hope to see some good things on here soon hopefully.

Off to pick up that wardrobe now... wish me luck getting it into the flat though!

Stockholm forest walk

Saturday on the southbank

Time for a refresh...

To be honest I've been completely uninspired by my blog these days... I look at it and just nothing - not interested. But I want to be. I like getting things down, having them there to look through etc. 

So since I've been doing an image overhaul on myself these days I've done a quick image overhaul on my blog. And to be honest I think and refresh is needed. I may even try keep it fluid and change a few things more often. Like the background image. I've been hugely inspired by my photography of late and am loving the cool quick and easy results I'm getting with my iPhone. It is crazy but you can create images that would take me hours in photoshop in just 10 minutes of work on the phone. I've yet to see how they translate to printed media and I doubt they'll print great quality at large format, but hey those are not my requirements. 

My photographer friend, havent figure out a name for him yet on here, and I have even been discussing the role he is finding in his work for the iPhone. He is happier with the iPhone results over his digital camera.... But of course not over his very awesome 6x6 "Mamiya" manual camera. May actually pop a link in here sometime and let people click through to his site as he is doing great stuff with his photography and I'm hoping he will the photography artwork of his forward and start exhibiting sooner rather then later. 

So here is hoping for inspiration....

New gadget

Well finally four generations later I've finally joined the ranks of iPhone owners. I have wanted this since the day the first one launched but I refused to be hemmed into one service provider.

So the point is that I have a shiney new toy to play with :)

Oh the amazingness that is apple. Let's just say that I'm one happy girl. I can be such a geek sometimes!

I'm hoping that I'm going to get more blogging done now when I have a spare moment like now on the tube on the way home

For Charity

Well it looks like my friends are being a pathetic bunch at the moment...

I'm trying to fundraise for a company cycle ride that we are doing for the Lennox Childrens Cancer fund, in the sense that I'm forcing C to ride and I'm doing the fundraising for us and I'm also fundraising for the company and helping organise the actual event. I'm making C ride 100km's for this cause!

As a company we are one of the only companies supporting the charity but actually putting on an event. They are really struggling as a charity at the moment and are in real danger of having to close the charity. That is incredibly sad since they provide support and positive influence in the lives of children fighting cancer. I think we all could try and imagine how hard it would be to go through cancer let alone how hard it would be for a kid and their families.

So i'm putting it out there and asking anyone who reads this blog to add to my little bit of fundraising. It is really easy to donate right here....




You can use a credit or debit card from anywhere in the world and no sign up is needed. It is all safe and secure :)


We are really wanting to make a seriously significant donation to the charity, something like they have never received before. 


oh and btw we want to have it all donated by the 11th June, the day before the cycle

Table designs

I've been trying to fill myself with design inspiration at the moment for home so this is a little look at my soon future plans...

This was the inspiration.... 

and this is the design for the Freecycle table I have sitting 

waiting for some designer TLC...

I get to use the above to make a template for the table top - I love having large format printers at work :) 

Hopefully I'l get started on this next weekend - it is a long weekend and all :)

Sun makes the British happy..

*Believe it or not this is London!

Yes, the sun is out and warm in the UK! It has definitely been a long time coming but will probably be gone by the long weekend coming up. That would be typical British weather.

Had a bit of a hectic weekend and thought I would be more shattered come this morning at work but it looks like a bit of sun was all I needed. I'm sitting here looking at the nice little bit of tan I got from the weekend. oh joy :)

Friday was a nice chill social evening which is maybe another little story - but was a very late night as we got home after 2:30am, only to have to be up and about cleaning flat for guests to arrive. We now have one of C's friends little brothers (and one of C's little scouts that he led) staying with us for a week. His friend is on this crazy mission to win this girls heart by flying over here and wooing her all week as a surprise. He didnt want to do this alone so brought Little Brother along with him. So far they havent spent much time together and he is being left a little high and dry as he couldnt really afford this. BUT it is his first time out of South Africa and that is super exciting. One needs trips outside of ones country to gain perspective on life I think.

So we took Little Brother for a little walking tour of London... Well when I say little I mean little in comparison to the whole of London. We walked and walked and walked. We did Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Soho, Bond St, Hyde Park (Speakers Corner, the serpentine lake, the awesome umbrella tree) Westminster Abbey, Parliment square (complete with protesters tents that they are busy trying to evict furiously), Big Ben, the houses of parliment, The southbank including: The London Eye, Oxo Tower, Tate Modern, The millennium bridge. Then St Pauls and finally back home! Wow my feet are sore even typing that... But I did get this pic...

*I do love St Pauls. It never ceases to awe

   
C has been a bit ill this last week and was just getting worse and worse each day. By yesterday he was just exhausted and since we were tired already of endless socialising we head off just the 2 of us to the reservoir that is just behind our climbing gym, just down the road. We have always known it was there but never walked the 30 secs down the road to the reservoir centre to check it out. It has a little cafe there that mostly serves the little sailing and canoe club but it open to the public. We sat out on the terrace in the sun sipping our drinks and chilling out. It was like a little bit of the Cape Town lifestyle in our back garden. It was lovely and just so relaxing! Definitely one of the "undiscovered" corners to London. There was also one VERY large fish cruise around feeding and popping its head out the water by the edge of the terrace...

*I missed it sticking its head out the water :(... and there is no scale to the pic but it was about 400mm long

Then we went for a walk through  the park to the gorgeous little high st in Stock Newington. We do love wondering along this street. Such lovely little shops and cool vibe and so villagey. We stopped for snacks at the Whole Foods organic shops (so cool) and headed back to the park to go lie in the sun and get all the Vitamin D we could.

What a lovely day :)

* Lying in the Park eating watermelon - perfection!

London to San Fran - 2 April... MY BIRTHDAY

So in an attempt to get writing again and with the subtle hint that Po would like to here about my trip to the US... here I go,

Day 1: My birthday

As usual this holiday started with some insane rush packing the night before to be done in only a few hours. I havent decided if I pack best like this or the worst. Anyway.
That morning we woke up stupidly early to get to the airport STUPIDLY early - which turned out to be just the right amount of early. This was going to be a VERY long birthday, 35 hours to be exact (or something close to that) what with flying into the past through time zones.

We decided to go on this trip with a group of climbers that we have become friends with through a meetup.com climbing group. Having been on a few local UK trips we thought it would be rather smooth and trouble free as we would have an idea on what it was like travelling with the people already. Boy were we wrong... the scale of this trip was just not 11 people large group friendly...

But I must move onwards now. After an incredibly long wait to check in etc due to the fact it was Good Friday and one of the busiest travel periods but them only having 3 desks open for all the morning's flights we managed to get through to the boarding gate where most of the flight had already boarded. It was a completely full flight and actually overbooked which has them offering money to take a later flight.

What can one normally say about a flight - they are most just a long slog as you are sitting there wishing you would just get to your destination faster. The fact that the flight was in the middle of the day and we were flying with time it was very difficult to sleep.. Then the one time that I managed to fall into a deep sleep I was woken up by our group (who were scattered in seats all over) singing me happy birthday and popping champagne! Now that is not something you see everyday! LOL

Once landing in San Fran and not getting the best looks from the Immigration staff when we tried as a group of 7 people we tried to head through the exit past them with all our bags on only 2 trolleys! Oops. Also no one remembered to take down the details of the hostel so they didnt fill out their forms correctly -not so happy with us. But I was to annoy them more later...

Once we have all gotten though the exit with ALL the bags and were making plans to find transport and other headed off to get the one rental car I settled down to nice warm beverage since it was cold and miserable outside JUST like the weather we had left in London - not a good sign!

After a while I was showing off the wonderful features of my luggage which i'm very fond of, and was wondering if they had chopped off my non TSA lock since there was no lock on it anymore. So being the paranoid South African that I am I opened my bag to check that nothing was missing out of it - esp since I had some very expensive and essential climbing gear in there... BUT NO GEAR.... wait also not my clothes... WTF, oh shit, this isnt my bag!!

This was seriously a huge surprise for me. I mean I dont have ordinary luggage. It is an outdoor gear brand and quite specific in look and colour. It took a bit of searching to find this bag. But here obviously someone had the same bag as me and had taken mine and left me their. I did con my way back into the immigration area - which they did not like to get to the airline counter faster to try and hopefully find the person in the airport with my bag. CRISIS - this is not good. We were leaving San Fran the next day for Yosemite and could not have this delay - and I really wanted my own stuff esp the climbing gear.

After being walk all the way through SFO airport to the domestic terminal where the lost and found desk was there seems to be no one of any real use. They could only tell me that my bag wasnt there and they then just wanted to take the bag I had away from me. I just wanted to get a hold of the people and swop bags. possibly even in the city if necessary.

After having a quick look through I did find a little piece of paper with a name, address and phone number. I called the phone number only to wake up the daughter of the guy whos bag I had. He had apparently borrowed it from her. She didnt have any information for me at all... other then they might be renting a car but she doesnt even know where they are staying. So I had C running all over the rental terminal trying to find him and me trying the phone number that the daughter had given me to no avail.

Finally I had to give up the other bag to the airline and head to the hostel with the rest of the group.... If only I had waited another hour I may have gotten the bag back faster - oh well.

After all that stress adrenaline and very little sleep the rest of the (VERY long day) seemed quite tame:

We checked into the hostel, took a streetcar tram that San Fran is so famous for and couldnt afford last time I was there, ate fast food, wondered around the pier area, went to Hooters for birthday dinner, and then a lovely little club for cocktails near the hostel. A few of the group were literally falling asleep sitting at a table in the club so most of the group headed to bed or on a crazy drive around to see the bridge. I'm sorry I missed the bridge this time. I did get a little glimpse in the photo below, but I was just too tired after 35 hours I just wanted bed... after C and I got a little bit of time just the too of us and a last cocktail in the gorgeously gay friendly bar (where the waiter was SO enjoying his little flirt with C)

And that was that... Definitely a very different birthday then the normal. 

*A gorgeous old school fire engine truck - complete with bell ringing guy on the back box 

*Alcatraz and a submarine 

* San Fran Tram ... I stood on the side board at the very front holding on  to the long white pole for dear life. Most of the time I had only 1 foot on solid surface with the other one falling off. What a ride :)

Where have all the bloggers gone...

I know that is a pretty broad statement, but that is how it feels. I was just thinking today that most of my favourite blogs are just not being updated. From me reading a good 10 or so regular blogs i'm now down to 2 !! Then I realised that I was lusting after my bloggie "friends" posts only to realise that I was being very hypocritical since i've seem to have fallen right off the face of the blogging world as well.

I could go on with all the excuses like I've not felt i've stopped going since touching down at Heathrow after my "holiday"* in the US. And how life is so crazy etc. BUT that is all so boring and I'll just honestly tell you that I've just had no interest in writing for awhile. I've also felt like I have to edit myself somewhat here and that is just seeming to be too exhausting.

Everything seems too exhausting at the moment... but i suppose this is how my life goes alot of the time. Not that it should be. Am reading a book at the moment about a guy that has ME and has recovered and is now running a specialist clinic in London. At the moment is it a pretty hectic book to read as it bring back and is so close to what I've been through and am going through. But hoping it will be enlightening and inspirational.

Anyway - so I think it is time to clear up my link list of blog on my sidebar. Sorry guys - but so many havent posted anything in over 6 months. Its depressing and I think I need some new blood in there.

Hope to write again soon...



* I have to say holiday like that since it may have been travels but it was far from a restful holiday - was actually quite stressfull. I did love the experiences and climbing and general travel. But i've also learnt some travelling lessons... No big groups ever again.

Damn where did the time go...

Seriously it has been ages since I've gotten a chance to sit and even catch my breath, let alone sit and actually blog something. Right now it is Friday evening and I'm still here at the office feeling a little strange from being over tired and over worked.

This year has gotten off to quite an interesting start I would say. I've come back to work and have been solidly working on a pretty huge project. £1.8 mil fit out job. Also this is a very high end client wanting high end (and above) attention. I'm seriously EXHAUSTED! But it has been good as well. I get to take on a more project orientated design role and it is pretty much a proving case to people that well I know my shit! I think the client likes my work a bit to much in the sense they seem to have it in their head that I'm the project manager... I guess that is what happens if you get things done. But there is also a big political office jockeying going on with this project and well I just dont get it. I dont really do the game playing.

They other interesting thing is that Iranian princess is preggers! So the design dept is about to get even smaller. I'm really hoping that we will get cover for her! cause otherwise it is going to be a seriously long year and I may just have a nervous break down!

In other news I already have my next trip planned. I do start wondering if I should be spending so much money on travel whims... and should instead be saving to buy houses and do all that grown up stuff. But then I dont think that is really me at this stage - or ever, who knows. At the moment all I want to do is travel and see more places and experience more. Plus now i'm back climbing and not so sore anymore I'm just wanting more and more climbing trips. Also the climbing in Namibia and back home in Cape town was just awesome and I want to get out onto the rock even more then this time last year. It does help that we have this really great climbing group that we are part of and they are all just as motivated (actually more) to get out there and climb.

So that brings me to the next trip... We are off to the US for 10 days! Flying to San Fran on my birthday (going to be a 35 hour day!!) and then drive off around california, nevada and Utah ...Climbing!! YAY. There is a lovely group of us going - about 10 in all. I'm so excited and it has really given me something to look forward to and plan... I become a little obsessed with travel planning! Maybe that should be my next career.

Ok am going to fall asleep at my keyboard... going to harrass C to head home now :)
Have a GREAT weekend

Back in the land of the freezing

So I've been off in South Africa and Namibia for the last 3 weeks and a bit. Got back to London on New Years Day to a lovely temperature of NOUGHT degrees! damn it was a shock to the body and involved me not really wanting to leave the house at all and pretty much hugging the radiatior all weekend.

I know there are tons of posts in my head esp about my trip home and to Namiba and loads of wonderful photos to share if I do say so myself. I had a great time and really enjoyed the time off. Today back at work is def a bump down to earth and i'm not sure I want to be here. Oh well.

Highlights of the trip to keep my mind off the cold:

• the heat
• Braai's (BBQ's)
• seeing friends
• the beach
• the wedding
• C's hawk hairstyle
• Spitzkoppe
• 4x4ing
• Climbing
• Yummy food... too much food
• tobogganing
• giving presents
• the tan
• the heat

The lowlights (have to be mentioned):

• the flights
• lack of showers in Nam
• getting burnt
• too little time to get everything done
• Not figuring out how to tell C about his Christmas present and having to wait to tell him and a very boring and mundane way

SO not too bad :)