AMAZING long-weekend in Stellenbosch

So I arrived back last night after such a much-needed stunning brilliant 4 days with some of my bestest friends in the whole world. We arrived Wednesday eve, feeling very tired but SO excited. Needless to say we stayed up until 2h30 am chatting. Thursday was beach day in Cape Town... we went to Clifton beach and the weather was SUPERB. It also wasn't too busy and everything was just perfect. Sun, sea, sand, laughter, pizza.... wish we had more time for more beach visits or an entire beach holiday! Thurs eve we had supper at a wine bar in Stellenbosch called Brampton, where we had such cheap and amazing eats and drinks.

On Friday we had brunch in town at a bakery with a Netherlands/historical theme in a VERY old bank building, Schoon De Companje, I had bread, pesto, olive tapenade and brie... YUMMYNESS... afterwards we went to the wine farm Vrede en Lust, where we did our first wine tasting. It was lovely and I bought 2 bottles of rather expensive 2008 wines for my 7 year lungaversary supper (2008 is the yr I got the lungs... obviously). In the evening we met up with Louzanne at a moonlight market (although the market wasn't too fantastic, but  seeing Louzanne WAS). Glad I got to see her and Wouter as well!

Saturday we set off to the wine-lands again, and this time started with beer tasting at the Spice Route. It was nice but not as great as the wine! This was followed by more amazing food. We were invited for supper at my friend Ditha's parents, who I haven't seen for like 10 years. Great company, great food and the cutest dogs EVER... Zorro and Ginger. We even took them for a short walk. Another AMAZING day.

Sunday unfortunately arrived as well.... we packed up all our stuff, and went to a market called Root 44 that we heard was amazing. It did not disappoint, with SO MUCH of delicious food and cool crafts. Had breakfast, shopped for some xmas gifts, followed by more food..... dessert! We felt that we needed to add some more tasting experinces to our trip, and decided to do champagne tasting at JC Le Roux. Unfortunately they were fully booked, so we just drank champagne (well sparkling wine) in the restaurant. From there it was all sadness and going to the airport :-(

So glad we were lucky enough to do this. Even though I'm working through December with no more holidays in sight, at least I had these 4 days of heaven with the type of friends who you can LITERALLY just be yourself with (I will spare you the detail but let's just say we were very comfortable and relaxed!). So here are the "then and now" pics (had to do 2 "then" pics to get everyone in), and a quote that sums up the whole weekend perfectly. Proof that you can look better in your 30's than in your 20's (and... in my case, have better lungs)!

I will post more pics in the next post.

And then.....

Happy 7 years of existing bloggy!!!

This little website is 7 years old today!!!! Started in a place of misery but lifted out of it soon thereafter! May we have many more years together my bloggy.

Mandela Tribute and my Dr's medal

Friday marked the one year anniversary of Nelson Mandela's passing away. A very sad day for the country and all of us. He was such an amazing role man and the type of politician they don't seem to make anymore.

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, my transplant/lung Dr, Dr Williams, treated Mandela for quite a few years before he passed away. On Sunday he received some WELL DESERVED recognition for the job he did by being awarded a Presidential Gold Medal (I think that's what it is called??) I am sooooo proud of him and feel so lucky to have this man in charge of my healthcare! I have met all too many doctors in my life and he is truly one of a kind. WELL DONE PAUL!

I recorded the event with my phone.... so here it is, if you can excuse the cat purring in the background and my phone getting a text message half way through!!!

One of my favourite Afrikaans singers did a tribute video for Madiba, and it's very touching. Do yourself a favour and watch it!

Great weekend!

Had a much-needed awesome weekend. Friday eve I was so tired after a very rough week at work that I just crashed and burned. Sat was pretty productive... Took 2 items in to be framed (to the place at 44 Stanley that did such an awesome job with my Alice in Wonderland vintage cards). They are so popular though that I will have to wait till 24 Jan to get them,,,, but hey then at least they will be a good lungaversary gift to myself. Afterwards I met Chrislie at Lifestyle Garden centre where I managed to contain myself and spend lass than R100! Only bought Oregano, a succulent and soil. Need to do some gardening before I go away, hopefully tomorrow after work.

We celebrated my friend Bianca's in the late afternoon/eve by lounging around by the pool, eating and drinking... we were then forced to play a game of 30 seconds by candle-light thanks to load-shedding (to any non South Africans.... due to bad planning and people being idiots we don't have enough electricity in the country right now, so they cut power to neighborhoods  according to a very inaccurate schedule). Luckily the power went back on and we watched a cute Afrikaans movie, Pad na jou Hart.

Today I slept till 9h30am this moring, which must me close to a personal record for me! I made nice breakfast, and watched my amazing Dr receive a medal from the President for being Nelson Mandela's Dr during his final years. Very proud, and will do a separate post on that in the week. We had lunch with Fawn and an awesome couple at their house. Got to swim AGAIN (yay! summer vibes) and just had an amazing afternoon. This was Fawn's first swim in like 7 odd years!!!! We obviously had champagne to celebrate :-) Yay for amazing lungs!

Hopefully this short week goes super fast and Wednesday eve is here in no time.....

4 more sleeps!

So just 4 more sleeps till I fly to Cape Town with Andrew to join up with Ditha, Brendan and Jo-Mari for our fantastic mini varsity reunion! We used to spend a LOT of time together at university, had some great road-trips, and they were some of my bestest friends, through sickness and in health!

However for the last few years we have been spread across  3 cities and apart from at my wedding (which doesn't really count), we have not all been together at the same place or the same time! So it's high time for a GOOD catch-up session.

The below pics were all taken in 2003 and 2004.... some of the best years! Consider these the "before" pics and brace yourselves for the "10 years after" edition to come soon!

Looking at these pics make me feel emotional all of a sudden, and it's a bit insane to think that without my amazing donor and pretty lungs (even at their 48%, they are a million time better than the old ones) this reunion would not be possible. Had a rough week but so excited for this.

My teeny tiny little interview on Joburg Today

I'm about 2 mins 50 secs into this video. Very short! But keep on watching, the insert after that about fat not being the enemy we were taught is also something I believe in and that we try to follow at home.

Lung func report-back

Yesterday's check-up went well. Lung func very stable... FEV1% was up 1% to 48% (first time in over 2 years that is has been UP by anything at all), FVC (lung capacity) is 91%. Bloods were great. X-ray showed nothing new, just the usual hyperinflation apparently. Weight down a bit so need to eat more. My next appointment will be the day before my 7 year lungaversary.... 21 Jan! So no more Drs for the rest of the year.

This week was completely non-eventful, and next week is month-end so also just a case of going to work and then home. Maybe gym once or twice. Meh.... Just looking forward to the 10th when I'm having my mini varsity reunion with 4 friends in Cape Town for 4 days.

ALSO heard that my PE friend Antoinette is coming from 26 Dec to 1 Jan, which will be GREAT.

So lots to look forward to in Dec once the first week of it is over!

Check-up tomorrow (third time lucky)

So hopefully tomorrow I actually make it to my appointment without being rescheduled again, esp after being at work at 5am like last week!!!! The joys of having the best lung Dr in the country I guess :-p

Not bothered much by any results, lung func will probably be down a tad, bloods and x-ray should be fine... so whatever. Same old same old. Will report back tomorrow or so.

Good weekend and new look for blog

Firstly, welcome to the new look.... just changed some aesthetics... thought it was a nicer look for summer and a bit neater. Let me know what you think!

On Friday eve we went to see the new Hunger Games movie.... Mockingjay Part 1. It's the second last movie in the series. I really enjoyed it as I have read the books. If you didn't read the books it might have seemed a bit slow-moving, judging by my friends' reactions! Also LOVE the theme song by Lorde, so that's already been downloaded on iTunes!!!!

Sat morning on the day of my lungaversary was the CF walk... I was a bit disappointed by the turn-out, as it seemed rather badly attended compared to previous CF walks. It could also be the early starting time, but who knows. It was still fun catching up with the people who WERE there, esp Shaun and Alet. Some pics below (last one was taken by Janice Barnard)

Last night was Andrew's dinner party (see previous post) which was AMAZING. Today I had to go for bloods, and then we had my parents and Chrislie and Pierre over for lunch (even though the rain almost ruined our plans!). The rest of the time we just chilled out.

On Friday I go for lung check-up again (touch wood that appointment won't be rescheduled for a third time!!!!!). And hopefully going for bloods this morning after a late night and too much champagne was not a bad idea :-p If bloods are great though I know what I need to going forward LOL.

Le Diner Blanc pour Noel

Last night my very good friend Andrew hosted a very classy french white Christmas dinner. We all contributed a course on the menu, and ate like kings!!!! Got home at almost 1 am which is a sign of a good party!!! Definitely have to make this a tradition!

RIP Lily kitty :-(

Our family kitty that we got in 2002 passed away this morning :-( She was a pure-bred Chocolate Burmese cat.... I had just finished school when we got her (it was December holiday) and she caused such drama as the older cat Emma wanted to kill her... for real. We had to send Emma away for a while to give Lily time to grow up and defend herself. They eventually became "friends" after a few years, but I think it was always a love-hate relationship. Except now Emma (who is turning 16 years old in Jan) is missing her partner in crime :-(

So sad when pets pass away, they are under-rated family members :-( RIP Lily

It's the weekend....