Beach babies

In the last hours of that Friday I went to Durban for work, we decided to have a few sun downers at the beach, as our flight was still a few hours away. Enter the scene, Balitto and the eccentric bar-on-the-beach Beach Bums.

I wouldn't have wanted to end a busy day any other way.

Also having sundowners with her people was this lovely little lady. I believe her name was Sheila or Sasha. Any which way, she was such a sweet little puppy and she kept me busy for a few minutes. She was so friendly and well behaved. Like Mila. Mila just isn't well behaved.

Quick Poll: 

Below I have two pics, exactly the same, except for the editing. The first one is the original and the second is the edited image. Which one do you thinks looks best?

Let me know in the comments!

******
Guess what? I'll give you some clues.  It involves four wheels; an amazing compilation of music, even if I dare so myself; a few unplanned stops; some early mornings and the beach. Yes, we are roadtripping down to the east coast again. This time I won't be alone and I won't be there for a day.

We are heading down to St Lucia for a week.

I'm getting my everything fake on. Already had the acrylic french manicure nails. Got my fake tan this morning. What? Don't judge. Even though I'm a sunny South African, which should automatically make me tan, I normally just burn.

I am so ready to just kick up my feet and relax. Unfortunately, we had to leave the pups behind. A friend of mine will look after them. I'm going to miss them. Sad face.

We are moving!

This is mine. Not only is it mine. It is ours. It is Flip and I's first house. That we bought. Together!

We have signed the papers earlier this month, but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to post about the house yet, as I was (still am) not a fan of how the house is painted and didn't want to blog about it until I got all the colours under control. And as you can see, the stupid lazy-ass municipality didn't want to do maintenance in the region, so they decided to tar everyone's pavements. I hate this! It's so morbid and ugly and..and I need everything to be green, not black damn it. With respect to The Rolling Stones.

However, I will remain positive! This not only gives me free reign to let loose on my creative side and go crazy with my mad inherited gardening skills and creative ideas, but also a number of blog posts to come up in the new year of befores and afters as I make over our new house into a dream home! Who's with me?

I'm planning to break up the tar in the front, if the municipality gives me the permission, and create a gorgeous, lush garden with lavender, agapanthus, crawlers, ground covers, a few lollipop trees and a heck load of grass! As for the colours I want to paint the house and walls, I will keep that under wraps for now.

Pros of the house is pretty much everything! Including a lovely view over the city, as it was built on a hill (as you can detect from the slope of the wall). We are moving in at the end of January and in the meantime I am forcing all my loved ones to buy me vouchers for paint or decorating stores for my birthday, which is this Saturday.

No, it's not vain, it's smart!

(PS: I stepped on a bee yesterday running around in my mom's garden. It still hurts like hell.)

Tori Amos in South Africa

"Let's just pretend that we are all sitting in my lounge, just having a good evening. I'll take some requests, I got them here. And even if I don't play them tonight, I'll play them another night," she said.

The crowd reacted with cheers, perhaps a few tears were shed by the most die-hard fans. Tori Amos was in South Africa and I was there.

"I wrote this song for a friend of mine some years ago, when he was having a pretty rough time. That's when you know who your real friends are, when you're not popping champagne bottles and not making people's face pretty anymore. That's when you know who the cunts are, and there's a lot of them. There is some good one's too," she laughed as she started playing Taxi Ride on her piano.

Amos, who effortlessly switched between keyboard and piano, wowed the crowd with old favourites such as Bells For Her, where she ambidextrously played both piano and keyboard, Virginia and Cloud sleeping on my Tongue.

The intimacy of the concert delighted all senses, gripping the eyes in spectacular backdrops accompanied by the harmonic wailing of Amos's vocal prowess. The crowd was often stunned into silence, her voice transcending and whispering. Anticipation.

She still managed to surprise the listener, with little foxes slipping into her well known lyrics, mostly in the form of curse words. The crowd cheered in delight, every single time she cursed.

The esoteric singer never ceases to amaze. She uses normally perceived imperfections, the things our voice teachers always warns us against, such as swallowing and breathing heavily in her act. This wasn't on my bucket list, but it sure as hell should be!

My bucket list: Kings of Leon

Or as my cousin likes to put it: ‘Queens of Lyonne’. He isn’t a fan, but admitted that they should be commended for sounding live like they do in studio, unlike groups such as the Black Eyed Peas. I won’t go into what he calls them. It’s in Afrikaans and it’s rude.

I have been a fan of Kings of Leon since I first heard Charmer, from the Because of the Times album. I absolutely freaked when I first heard the song, I believe it was in 2007. So I can’t go around gloating that I have loved them forever, like many people do. It’s like a competition sometimes. “Oh no, I’m a bigger fan that you are, because I have listened to them since forever, which is like seven years now.” Well, hoorah for you!

However, I do like to distinguish myself from the commercial crowd who only realised that there is such a band as the Kings of Leon when they heard Sex on Fire. They are the ones who kept quiet when the less-than-known songs were played.

I agree with my cousin, they are commendable for sounding amazing live! No doubt, they are absolutely excellent in what they do and are really good looking and good sounding. Sigh, Caleb Followill! Nonetheless, I found the show to be a bit bland. Perhaps it was because I was seated and not with the standing crowd, which my feet are thankful for.

But in the days before the concert, radio stations and interviews created certain expectations, including that Mr Followill is a bit abusive with the crowd and likes to rowdy them up by cursing and so forth. There was none of that.

“But!,” argues some of my friends, “it wasn’t about the stage persona but rather about the music.”

“Yes, I agree,” I argue back,” but then if it was only about the music, I could have stayed home and listen to my iTunes.”

Everyone to their own. I guess I enjoyed it nonetheless. Something I can tick of my bucket list.

Oppikoppi #2!

As much as this festival is about music, I don't think it would have been the same without the people.

At Oppi, the slogan 'The weirder you are, the better' counts.

I met a few interesting characters in the four days there.

They provided some good laughs.

No idea!

Spongebob!

Guys wearing boxes as hats. As if the hats they are wearing isn't hatty enough.

We also saw two apparently straight guys in kilts making out. I have a photo, but I thought I would spare you the details.

Oh, and I forgot to add that this is another thing I can tick off my bucket list: Attend Oppikoppi.

My boyfriend can be such a little boy sometimes

Flip has two very contradicting personalities. And sometimes, these personalities combine, especially when he is very excited about something.

You see, he is a meticulous planner. I have witnessed him making the same calculations on his hands over and over again. While he is driving, watching Tv, cooking. I can see those little gears in his brain ticking like a well oiled clock.

But then he gets over excited and the little boy comes out.

Example: Today I received about twenty e-mails on one topic. The emails contained pictures of what he is excited about.

You see, we are going camping. However, I do not camp. Call me a bush snob, but I have been spoilt all my life with lodges, chalets, hotels and such. I did not even have to bother with the hard ground, the crawling bugs, the penetrating cold in the early morning hours. Instead, I have always had a place with a roof, a kitchen and a bathroom attached to brick and mortar walls. And I have to say that I prefer it that way.

However, this is not like any camping trip. This is for Oppikoppi.

What is this strange word I speak of? Let me tell you.
It's crass. People like to use cuss words and what South Africans call the party word.
It's filthy. People don't shower for the whole weekend.
There is never enough toilet paper, I have heard. And you can never have enough wet wipes.
It is attended by an average of 10 000 people.

In short, it is the most epic of epic music festivals. And this year will be my first time attending. I am an OppiKoppi virgin, so I am bit unsure about how I will experience it. The sole reason why I am breaking my non-camping rule. And yes, there is brick and mortar place for the more sophisticated people, called Kreef Hotel, but I can't say that I have truly experienced the affair if I am not camping. I think this article sums it up well. I will give my view on it after that fateful weekend.

This is what I sort of plan to wear for most of the Oppi-weekend.

Travel Tuesday: That time I rode an elephant

Last year we went to Phuket, Thailand for a two week vacation. It was an utterly amazing time, an experience I would never forget and something I want to do all over again. 

Even though the climate was stuffy, as a result of the humidity, not to mention the scorching heat, I loved every moment of it. I loved walking around in between the stalls of cheap clothing, I loved smelling the local cuisine, I loved playing with the local stray dogs, swimming in the clear, calm blue sea, going to all the different islands surrounding Phuket for cheaper than a new pair of shoes. The islands were spectacular. Breathtaking!

I wish I could go back there. And maybe this time I will go when Phuket is not having it's rainy season. I did not mention the amount of rain we had. But we still went out, in the rain. Drove our scooters around town, walked between stalls, went for a swim in the sea, went for a swim in the hotel pool. The rain couldn't stop us from exploring this amazing, unknown world.

Something we did not anticipate on doing, but ended up doing it for the experience, was an elephant ride. Gentle Giants. It was sad however to see that these elephants were scared of their trainers, and that they would make crying sounds if it looked like their trainers were about to hit them. In retrospect, I am very sad that I partook in this, as I only realised later, past the excitement of riding an elephant, that these poor beautiful creatures were being mistreated. They had food, yes. They had shelter, yes. But they didn't have proper shelter and they were not treated with respect, as they should have been.

To me it was an honour to walk with these tender beasts. They really are something precious. I just wish people would treat these animals better. I am a bit sad that I indulged in this silly tourist attraction, just for the sake of saying I rode an elephant. But it's something I can tick of my bucket list.

When mothers go crazy

I mentioned this on my bucket list, but I haven't posted about yet and thought that today would be a great opportunity to tell you about the day my mom decided to jump out of a plane.

That's my mom in the green suit

It's a bit of a soppy story, really. A guy I have dated for a year decided to dump me out of the blue. I was shattered, as any young person terribly in love would be. It was my right. Like most broken hearts, I was sad. I didn't, or rather couldn't eat, which was awesome, because I was probably the skinniest I have ever been in my life, however, these photos were taken before the drastic weight loss began. I didn't want to interact socially, that was too much. Let's just cut it short and say I didn't do much but sulk and cry.

And then one day, my mom came up with this brilliant recipe for a broken heart:

1. Take one mom.
2. Take one daughter.
3. Put them on a plane with guys strapped to their backs.
4. Jump.

And that is how my mom and I ended up skydiving. It was her way to give me that adrenaline rush, to shake me up. It was the scariest experience in my life and I will probably never do it again, except if I convince Flip to jump with me. It also hurt pretty much. I couldn't recalibrate like most other people do, and had to lie on the ground for almost an hour, with a headache, nausea and earache. (And I was waiting for my jump-dvd to be written. And maybe the symptoms were as a result of the slight hangover I had from the night before, my friends thought we should do a pre-jump celebration, in case I died.)

But was it a rush? YES!
Was it a thrill? YES!
Would I recommend it to anyone? OH HELL YEAH!

I believe it's one of those things that every person should at least experience once in their lives. So, if you have been thinking about doing something crazy like skydiving, then make your appointment!  It's something I will never regret.

Oh, and did I mention that my mother was a ripe 61 when she jumped? So, don't ever use the excuse that you are too old to do anything!

Touchdown! Oh my life, I love the ground

And here comes my mother!