20 things that make me happy…

We went to the Drakensberg this last weekend on our first holiday jaunt! It was FANTASTIC!!!!!! I have so many pics to share… so I’ll do a new post later!

But for now, I’d like do my 20 things… I saw Jeanette did hers and I loved it! So i thought I needed to do one as well… here it goes…

20 things that make me happy

1. Getting a kiss on my nose

2. Coming home from work and having tea and gossiping with my best friend

3. going dancing with the girls!!

4. cuddling up on the couch with my boyfriend

5. having coffee and long chats with my mom

6. going on holiday to the seaside!

7. getting a “pat on the back” for work well done

8. realising that the first campaign that I ran… people actually saw what I did!

9. Reading my sisters blog

10. having dinner with bryan (in fact… just spending my weekends with bryan!)

11. listening to the rain when I’m sleeping

12. buying shoes! and clothes! and MAC makeup!!!

13. snuggling into a blanket on a cold winters night

14. connor saying “HELLO LAINY” when I come home, and Erin calling me “LAINYBUGS”!!!

15. helping Bradley write and spell words (even though I’m not that good at it!)

16. coming out of a pilates class

17. having bubble baths

18. swimming in summer

19. summer evening Braai’s with my friends

20. watching the sunset

and one more…

21. having a cup of tea after a long day at work

Nando’s does it again

I’ve just been surfing the net for work and I found Nando’s new website!!

WOW is all I can say. They have really taken webpages to a new level! Nando’s have always been synonymous with excellent marketing. Their latest marketing viral campaign featured the result of the FIFA Confed Cup. Obviously Brazil beating USA 3:2. Fantastic isn’t it? (don’t forget to read the small print at the bottom of the ad)

Anyway back to their site. It’s so funky! They are even starting a recipe book online, so you can send them your Mediterranean recipes and they post it in their book… its fantastic!

check it out… http://www.nandos.co.za/ (seriously, and spend a little bit of time there, there are so many things to click on and interact with!

a long stretch

 

Last night I went to my evening Pilates class. I do pilates every Monday and Thursday evenings now that I’m working. My best friend and I used to go to gym everyday and either do Pilates or play squash, and now that work has started I find it impossible to keep the gym thing going. So I found out that my pilates teacher does private classes ( ) so I could go in the evenings.

I love the way pilates moves my body. I did ballet for 13 years and had to make a very hard decision that it was time time to stop a few years ago. I had 2 injuries and being at varsity demanded more time than I could handle. So the ballet era of my life ended and since then I have missed it very much.

However, the one thing that keeps me going is the pilates. For the hour that I am there I can completely forget about what’s going on outside the room, and I can stretch my body and work the muscles which always feels so great afterwards.

Anyhoo… last night we did a stretch class. We did about 15 min of warm up with the ball, then began the long stretch class. It was so great… my teacher is also an ex-ballet girl so she does all the stretching we used to do. I struggle a little with some stretches because my injured hamstrings still give me some hassles (even though it was years ago since I hurt them). But the pilates is helping alot with taking the pain away. Anyway, we do this once strange stretch (that I absolutely cannot explain in words, I would need a diagram! ) then while I’m doing it, Paula says “for those who feel like it, you can move into a full split”. hmmmmm I think, I wonder if I could do it? Well surprise, surprise… I got so close!!! I was so so proud of by body and my legs to even remotely try and do a full split! I was so happy!

So now I’m going to keep pushing the boundaries until I can get flat in the slits again. It felt so good after the class, I really felt like I had accomplished something! I know it may seem silly to you, but being able to that is a huge improvement for my damaged hamstrings and I feel like I haven’t completely lost my ballet training all together!

holiday excitement…

I am so excited! Bryan and I have booked a few trips away…

The first is at the end of the month. We are going to the Drakensburg Sun for 4 days. Bryan has never been to the Drakensburg, so I can’t wait to show him how extremely beautiful it is there. It is definately one of my favourite places in SA. It’s a pity that we are going in winter though. Summer in the ‘burg is spectacular and you can use the good weather to your advantage… hiking, horse riding, swimming, sun downers in the evening overlooking the mountains. But anyway, I’m sure winter will be just as good… we’ll just have to light a fire and snuggle with blankets in the evenings. Our friends Robyn and Mark have just come back from their Drakensburg trip, so they have some good places that we can go visit while we are there.

The second trip is to Cape Town. It was a last minute decision over the weekend. I’d love to see my family and we got an AWESOME deal on flights and car hire.

We don’t really have a plan yet, but it’s only in October so i have lots and lots of time to plan the trip I think for the first few days I’d like to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Hermanus. Bryan has never been there either (even though he lived in Cape Town for 3 years… I know it’s ridiculous ). We will be going just in time to see the end of the whale season, which will be brilliant.

This is Hermanus (beautiful isn’t it?)

The next 3 days/nights we are going to stay with my other Aunt and Uncle in Somerset West. I have not seen them in ages (it’s been WAY too long), and I really need to see my cousin. We always got on so well as children, but living so far apart is horrible when you grow up. So I think that will be GREAT fun… no dought it will involve wine tasting and beach trips and more fun in the sun! I really can’t wait!

The pity is I have to wait 4 weeks for Drakensburg (sigh) and 3 months for Cape Town (even bigger sigh). At least I have something to look forward to though.

I just can’t believe how much I have been thinking about a holiday lately. I think it’s because I actually have never worked for a period of 6 months without a holiday (being in varsity and all). So I really can’t wait to spend these weekends relaxing and having fun!