lazy days

Talking about me time... I've had a whole glorious week of it! Yeah! There have been relaxed late sleep-ins, and lying outside on the grass with a heap of pillows and my moleskine, some tv watching - Charlie & the Chocolate Factory AND the Fifth Element (such a beautiful love story!), some sitting around and staring into space day dreaming, and even some iBurst-connected emailing.

I am however, surprising as it is to me, getting bored, a little... I have concluded that it is because I am not used to spending so much time alone with me. Me is interesting, and intriguing, and witty, and wonderful, but I never really get away from me either.

That's where the socialising comes in. And thankfully I'm not doing too badly on that front. I managed to secure a ticket to the King Kong premiere, with its glitz glamour why are people wearing tuxedos and ball gowns finger foods free popcorn & coke, from my sister's boyfriend Brandon... thanks b you rock! :) Then there was Tings (do they have a home page?) at the new location with Daan and el-el-zed. Brilliant. I love the new venue, but I still miss the dodgyness of the old one. A picnic in the botanical gardens, which turned out to be lovely, even if I say so myself. :) I even managed to find Cremelat at Klaus Wasserthal, which was an experience of its own, and get some of their most divine Gorgonzola. Now there's a dodgy image... imagine this large round cheese beautiful in every way except for the bubbles of green mould erupting out of it. I'll leave you with that thought for a moment.

After the picnic, whilst still lying around agonising about having eaten too much, but still finding space for nougat (wow. must try, freshly made.) and custard fruit tarts from the Bread Basket, we decided we would like to go to the movies. There was a long and drawn out decision process, but evenutally it was decided that we were going to the Hatfield cinema and they happened to have an abundance of seats available for the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe sneak preview! Yeah!

Oh I nearly forgot about the night I spent in jhb. I went to one of my cycling buddy's braais... a quiet affair, but it turned out to be rather pleasant, and I met some new people. Having been stood up by my sister in favour of a Janice Honeyman pantomime (I don't blame her), the braaiers decided that we were off to... and now the name escapes me... a lovely restaurant close to Vodaworld. If I remember the name / where it is I will definitely go back... they have some awesome platters priced at about R75. After that place around 23:00 we were in a dancing mood. And Billy the B.U.M.s it was going to be. Oh yeah, and shake my booty I did... I was just in the mood for it, and the music wasn't too bad either. We eventually left at about 3, and there was no ways I was going to drive home to pta at that time... even though I had stopped drinking hours ago (why do jhb'ers get so persuasive over +-50km?). So with my emergency contact lens kit in tow along with the "bare essentials" I had packed in for going out that eve I was ready for a sleep over! (I love being the semi-obsessive prepared for almost anything girl I am! :) ) Thanks Kirst & Stuart for the bed, breakfast & company!

And that's not all...

I'm going to skip over some rather delightful meetings of minds with friends through the weekend and week (ok not that many)

Fast forward to yesterday, Friday 23 Dec. There was more socialising to be done. Things to do people to see. And this the day after I was lamenting in a rather pathetic and sorry-for-myself tone about how bored I was! I had a lunch scheduled at the Centurion Mall, but decided to go early so that I could do some shopping in a different environment. It was the first time I was driving to Centurion by myself, let alone shop at the mall! Lots of nearly getting lost, and trying to find parking was a nightmare! Centurion Mall is big. I had a ball buying from 3 shops practically next to each other, and none that I wouldn't have found in my usual shopping spots, but a change is as good as a holiday. Then it was to O'Galito's for a Calamari & Prawn salad (nice, but I think the seafood platter was nicer, more variety and garlic :D ) with Rudolf a guy with whom I've been working for 3 years, and is now off to greener pastures. The glasses of wine we had ordered arrived late, and so we were nearly done eating when they arrived, and that is the excuse I'm going to give for why half a glass of wine made me rather tipsy! To counter the warm and fuzzy and I can't feel my nose feeling we had cappuccinos. Is this getting to be a long post or what?! less detail I'm getting really really tired... and here's why...

After O'Galito's I managed to find my way out of the mall and Centurion (ok not the N1 as I was expecting) and off to Menlyn I went. This for a meeting of bloggers... Daan, Martin, and I! Really cool experience. Also Baobab is stunning, must return for a meal sometime. Next it was rush home to change for going out at Emperor's palace. In record time, but still a little late, I was ready with sister in tow to pick up the 3 guys. Zoom zoom zoom, and we were off in my little va va voom (1.2 nogal) only someone had forgotten to get directions! So a slight detour, some industria sight seeing, and a stop at a garage, we were back on track with me (the designated driver) in serious need of a tranquiliser. Blame it on the nerves and absence of dinner. Emperor's Palace looks quite a bit like Montecasino inside. Skies painted on ceilings & fake trees... Also a rollercoaster I managed to avoid! Monsoon Lagoon is really nice. I like the layout, for a club, and their chill out sofa areas are nifty. I had a really cool time there too, even though the place wasn't really pumping and the DJ wasn't so cool! At least there was music and laser lights. But it was the company that made everything really awesome. On the way back we got lost again! This time I was a little less worried even though we kept turning towards Tembisa, probably due to Daan's extreme calmness (at least that made one of us). And we did find our way eventually after our many adventures! All in all a really cool experience, ending in a delightful surprise, and with me driving through the surreal sun touched streets of Pretoria at 5am.